Epigenetic effects of graphene oxide and its derivatives: A mini-review.

Graphene oxide (GO), an engineered nanomaterial, has a two-dimensional structure with carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal array. While it has been widely used in many industries, such as biomedicine, electronics, and biosensors, there are still concerns over its safety. Recently, many studies have focused on the potential toxicity of GO. Epigenetic toxicity is an important aspect of a material's toxicological profile, since changes in gene expression have been associated with carcinogenicity and disease progression. In this review, we focus on the epigenetic alterations caused by GO, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and altered expression of non-coding RNAs. GO can affect DNA methyltransferase activity and disrupt the methylation of cytosine bases in DNA strands, leading to alteration of genome expression. Modulation of histones by GO, targeting histone deacetylase and demethylase, as well as dysregulation of miRNA and lncRNA expression have been reported. Further studies are required to determine the mechanisms of GO-induced epigenetic alterations.

Study of the adsorption and photocatalytic properties of copper oxide with different morphologies in removal of Cr(III) ion from aqueous media.

Chromium Cr(III) is considered as a toxic pollutant in industrial wastewater. Photocatalytic processes can be used as an efficient method for the treatment of heavy metal wastewaters. This study was conducted to synthesize copper (II) oxide (CuO) with dendrite, leaf and feather morphologies. Synthesized CuO with dendrite and leaf morphologies were characterized by XRD, SEM, and BET/BJH and CuO with feather morphology by XRD, SEM, BET/BJH, FTIR, TEM and DRS techniques. Parameters such as morphology CuO, the contact time (h), and adsorbent dosage (g) in adsorption of Cr(III) and morphology CuO, pH and initial concentration of Cr(III) in the photocatalytic oxidation were investigated. The results demonstrate that CuO feather at 24 h contact time with 0.1 g adsorbent with an adsorption efficiency of 57.24% has the highest efficiency compared to CuO of dendrite and leaf. Oxidation results demonstrate that CuO feather at 2 h with 0.1 g adsorbent dosage and pH = 7 had 89.14% removal efficiency. Also, oxidation results demonstrate that CuO feather at 2 h with 0.1 g adsorbent dosage and pH = 8 had 99.99% removal efficiency, which indicates the high efficiency of the feather.