CO2 introduced the coagulation-flocculation of oil acidized wastewater: pollutant removal and cost analysis.

It is difficult to adjust the pH of oil acidized wastewater rich in Ca2+, thus hindering the polyacrylamide (PAM) flocculation. This study aims at accelerating the flocculation process by introducing CO2 into the water to induce the formation of CaCO3 nuclei. The order in which CO2 and NaOH were added affected the floc structures. Compared with CO2-NaOH-PAM, the flocs of NaOH-CO2-PAM were more compact and more CaCO3 crystals were formed. The aqueous Ca2+ involved in the reaction reached 20%, and CO2 utilization was enhanced. The settling time was shortened by half (from 20 to 3 min), and NaOH consumption was reduced by one-tenth (from 0.03 to 0.003 mol), hence significantly reducing the costs. Due to the higher settling rate and shorter contact time, the NaOH-CO2-PAM flocs adsorbed less so that the residual oil was 124 mg·L-1, while in the case of CO2-NaOH-PAM it was 88 mg·L-1. As a promising coagulation aid, CO2 can also be used to mineralize pollutants in wastewater.

A Quinoline-Based Ratiometric and Reversible Fluorescent Probe for Cadmium Imaging in Living Cells.

We report a novel ratiometric and reversible fluorescent probe for Cd(2+) detection utilizing a 6-(dimethylamino)quinaldine derivative as the fluorophore and a 2-hydrazinopyridine derivative as Cd(2+) chelator. This ratiometric fluorescent probe possesses favorable photophysical properties. It shows a large (55 nm) red-shift from 515 nm to 570 nm in the emission spectrum. Moreover, this probe also exhibits an excellent linear relationship of fluorescence intensity ratio (F570/F515) (R(2)=0.989) vs. Cd(2+) concentration in the range of 0-10 µM at physiological pH, which can serve as a "quantitative detecting" probe for Cd(2+). Utilizing this sensitive and selective probe, we have successfully detected Cd(2+) in living cells.

Samidorphan for the treatment of weight gain associated with olanzapine in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

INTRODUCTION: Olanzapine (OLZ) is one of the most effective antipsychotic agents, however, its clinical utility has been limited by weight gain. Samidorphan (SAM) is a µ-opioid receptor antagonist and it can reduce the weight gain associated with OLZ. A combination of OLZ and SAM (OLZ/SAM) has been developed to provide the antipsychotic efficacy of OLZ, while mitigating OLZ-associated weight gain. AREAS COVERED: A comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed. Key search terms included SAM and weight gain associated with OLZ. The pharmacological action, clinical efficacy, and safety of SAM were reviewed. EXPERT OPINION: OLZ can lead to weight gain. SAM is a new drug that acts as an opioid receptor antagonist that can decrease weight gain. SAM mitigates OLZ-associated weight gain while preserving the antipsychotic efficacy of OLZ. Clinical trials have confirmed that OLZ/SAM significantly improved psychotic symptoms, and resulted in significantly less weight gain than OLZ. OLZ/SAM was well tolerated. Therefore, it is a potential new treatment option for schizophrenia.

Solriamfetol for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness associated with narcolepsy.

Introduction: Narcolepsy is a chronic disabling condition, excessive daytime somnolence is the main symptoms of it. There is currently no cure for narcolepsy, and hence there is a great need for new treatment options. Solriamfetol is a new selective dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor with robust wake-promoting effects. The purpose of this paper is to review solriamfetol. Areas covered: The chemical property, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, clinical efficacy, and safety of solriamfetol are introduced in this paper. Expert opinion: Solriamfetol can bind to dopamine and norepinephrine transporters and inhibit reuptake of dopamine and norepinephrine. Clinical trials showed that solriamfetol could significantly improve the ability to stay awake and subjective symptoms of excessive sleepiness in adults with narcolepsy. Solriamfetol was well tolerated. Very common adverse reactions were headache, nausea, decreased appetite, insomnia, and anxiety.

Sludge char-to-fuel approaches based on the pyrolysis III: Adding protein without dehydration.

Urban expansion has led to the accumulation of sludge, and its disposal has to meet increasingly stringent requirements. Therefore, pyrolysis has become an alternative option. However, it was still unclear which part of the sludge could be pyrolyzed to generate the product with a higher heating value, and therefore we divided sludge into extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and cell phase and measured their heating values respectively. The obtained results showed that the high heating value (HHV) of the pyrolysis cell phase accounted for 85% of the sludge pyrolysis, and the addition of protein significantly increased the heating value of each component. Although the HHV of the pyrolysis cell phase increased by 1.8 MJ kg-1 for every 1% increase in protein, the HHV of the pyrolysis sludge and EPS increased by only 1.2 MJ kg-1. It is therefore suggested that EPS may contain substances that inhibit heat release. Properly increasing the cellular or protein components in the sludge could significantly increase the HHV produced by pyrolysis. Based on the measurement of fatty acids (FAs) and alcohol content and FTIR results, the addition of protein could increase the saturated FAs and accelerate the replacement of oxygen with nitrogen in the pyrolysis product, resulting in higher HHV. If the sludge was not dehydrated, more volatile compounds were carbonized and the HHV increased from 12 MJ kg-1 to 19 MJ kg-1. In short, since the HHV of the sludge was mainly derived from the cell phase, the HHV generation could be improved by increasing the cell phase or protein content without dehydration.

Sludge char-to-fuel approaches based on the catalytic pyrolysis II: heat release.

The pyrolyzed sludge is concerned currently, while the produced higher heating value (HHV) is unclear yet. In this work, the effects of moisture content (MC), catalysts amount, and catalytic types on the HHV production were investigated. Based on the known fatty acids (FAs) and alcohol content, the heat release by catalytic and non-catalytic pyrolysis product was examined. A good correlation between the measured and calculated HHV in non-catalytic pyrolysis indicates that the method can effectively evaluate the pyrolysis effect. The results show that a higher HHV can be obtained by adding a catalyst when the MC was between 20 and 40% compared to the non-catalytic pyrolysis. In the catalytic pyrolysis, the maximum HHV produced by bentonite is 50.61 MJ kg-1. Bentonite can rapidly initiate the decarboxylation but sand was a potential efficient catalyst because of the enrichment of large amounts of FAs C16:0. If sand is used in combination with bentonite, C16:0 may be enriched and further decarboxylated, eventually releasing more heat. Since sand is composed of SiO2 and Al2O3, in the production of HHV, the addition of Al2O3 has a better catalytic effect than adding SiO2. For the evaluation of catalytic pyrolysis products and HHV, it is proposed that the possibility of adding two types of catalysts for pyrolysis is of great significance for realizing sludge to the fuel.

Influence of chlorination on metal binding by dissolved organic matter: a study using Log-transformed differential spectra.

This study employed the method of Log-transformed absorbance spectroscopy to probe interactions of Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA) and Aldrich humic acid (AHA) affected by chlorination with Fe(III), Al(III), and Cu(II) ions. Cl2/DOC ratios of 0.2 and 1.0 (mg/mg) were selected to represent chlorine doses that are commonly used in pre-chlorination and disinfection in water treatment processes. Spectroscopic data were interpreted based on non-ideal competitive adsorption coupled with a Donnan electrostatic sub-model (NICA-Donnan model) that was employed to quantify the constants describing relevant complexation equilibria. The data demonstrated that effects of chlorination on dissolved organic matter (DOM) and metal interactions depend on the metal, chlorine dose and intrinsic DOM properties. Fe(III) was observed to form strong complexes with DOM and relatively little change of Fe(III) binding were observed both SRFA and AHA affected by chlorine. The amount of bound Al(III) decreased significantly at high total Al(III) concentrations (>5µM) due to the reducing of phenolic groups after chlorination. The amount of bound Al(III) decreased only slightly for chlorinated SRFA but for AHA Al(III) binding increased at low total Al concentrations (<1µM) due to the generation of additional carboxylic groups after chlorination. It is different from Fe(III) and Al(III), the dominant involvement of Cu-DOM binding is carboxylic groups in both fulvic and humic acid, especially for humic acid, the increase of carboxylic group after chlorination for SRFA at low Cl2 dose and for AHA at both low and high dose lead to increase the total amount of bound Cu(II).

[Evaluation of the acute toxicity of pharmaceutical wastewater to luminescent bacteria].

Acute toxicity of wastewater from 5 nodes of technological process in the pharmaceutical factory sewage treatment station was studied by luminescent bacteria tests. The EC50, TUa and LID of the wastewater in underground regulating tanks was 3.44%, 29 and 625, respectively, indicating the water was extremely/highly toxic; for the wastewater in surface regulating tanks, the EC50, TUa and LID was 2.46%, 41 and 244, respectively, also extremely/highly toxic; for the wastewater in middle sediment tanks, the EC50 > 100% and LID was 10, which was moderately toxic; for the wastewater in secondary sediment tanks and the final effluents, the EC50 was above 100% and LID was 1, with no observed toxicity. The results indicated that the existing treatment process effectively reduced the acute toxicity of the pharmaceutical wastewater to luminescent bacteria, the effluents showed no observed toxicity to luminescent bacteria, which was lower than the relative effluent limits of pharmaceutical wastewater. The wastewater in lower concentration did not inhibit the luminosity, but enhanced the luminosity.