Protective effect of Nasturtium officinale R. Br and quercetin against cyclophosphamide-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.

Cyclophosphamide (CPA) is used in the management of autoimmune conditions and malignant illnesses. However, its therapeutic use is limited because of its severe side effects, especially hepatotoxicity attributed to oxidative stress. Nasturtium officinale R. Br (watercress or WC) has pharmacological properties, such as anti-inflammation, and antioxidant activities. Therefore, the present study was design to assess effects of WC or its active ingredient, quercetin (QE), against CPA-induced hepatotoxicity. For this study, 49 male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were randomly selected and categorized into seven equal groups. The animals were pre- and post-treated with both hydroalcoholic extract of WC (500 mg/kg) and quercetin (75 mg/kg) for 10 consecutive days, and intraperitoneal administration of CPA (200 mg/kg) was performed on only day 10, one hour before the last dose of WC or quercetin. On day 11, all the animals were sacrificed, and their blood and liver were gathered for evaluation of the liver enzyme, hepatic oxidative stress markers, antioxidant enzymes activity, and hematoxylin and eosin staining. CPA significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PCO) and nitric oxide (NO) levels and liver biomarkers. Otherwise, hepatic catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), total thiol content (tSH), and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were considerably lower than the control group. Results showed that WC has the ability to reduce the changes (MDA, PCO, FRAP, CAT, ALT and AST) and QE (MDA, PCO, AST) induced by CPA (p < 0.05). Histopathological finding confirmed the indicated results. These findings propose that WC and QE have protective effect against the CPA-induced hepatotoxicity by decreasing oxidative stress.

Rapid ultrasound-assisted microextraction of atorvastatin in the sample of blood plasma by nickel metal organic modified with alumina nanoparticles.

In the present work, nickel-1,4-benzenedioxyacetic acid was synthesized as a rod-like metal organic material and then modified with alumina nanoparticles to synthesize nickel metal organic modified-Al2 O3 nanoparticles. The material was found as an efficient sorbent for the enrichment of atorvastatin in human blood plasma. After the extraction of the sample of plasma by ultrasound-assisted dispersive solid phase extraction, high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet was used to determine the quantitatively pre-concentrated interest analyte. The conditions for optimum extraction were achieved by the optimization of the volume of eluent, dosage of the sorbent, and time of sonication. Solution pH of 7.0, 250 µL of ethanol, 45 mg of the sorbent, and 10 min of sonication time were the conditions for extracting the atorvastatin maximum recovery of higher than 97.0%. By using desirability function for the optimization of the process, the present method showed a response that was linear ranging from 0.2 to 800 ng/mL with regression coefficient of 0.999 in the plasma of human blood with a satisfactory detection limit of 0.05 ng/mL, while the precision of interday for the current method was found to be <5%. It can be concluded that dispersive solid phase extraction method is effective for the extraction of atorvastatin from human plasma samples (97.4-102%) due to its easy operation, simplicity, repeatability, and reliability.

Magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction with the CuO/ZnO@Fe3O4-CNTs nanocomposite sorbent for the rapid pre-concentration of chlorogenic acid in the medical extract of plants, food, and water samples.

Herein, the CuO/ZnO@Fe3O4-carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-nanocomposite (NC), as a sorbent for magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction, was developed for the determination of chlorogenic acid (CGA) in the medical extract of plants, food, and water samples in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography. The CuO/ZnO@Fe3O4-CNTs-NC was characterized by FESEM, EDS, XRD, TEM, BET, FT-IR, and VSM. Significant parameters (pH, temperature, eluent volume, vortex time, sonication time, CuO/ZnO@Fe3O4-CNTs-NC mass, and desorption time) that affected the extraction efficiency of CGA were optimized using Plackett-Burman as the screening design and the central composite design as the optimization strategy. Under the optimized conditions, the analytical parameters were obtained. The optimized method showed good linearity and a linear regression coefficient >0.9893. The enrichment factors ranged from 102.43 to 123.76 with the preconcentration factor of 60.0. The limits of detection (LOD) and the limits of quantification (LOQ) were 0.034-0.061 ng mL-1 and 0.114-0.202 ng mL-1, respectively. The method also reflected acceptable accuracy (from 94.07% to 109.7%) and the broad potential applications of CuO/ZnO@Fe3O4-CNTs-NC for the detection of CGA content in the medical extract of plants, food, and water samples.

Dispersive micro-solid phase extraction based on Fe3O4@SiO2@Ti-MOF as a magnetic nanocomposite sorbent for the trace analysis of caffeic acid in the medical extracts of plants and water samples prior to HPLC-UV analysis.

In the present work, a simple and rapid method, namely magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (MD-µ-SPE), was developed using magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2@Ti-MOF (metal-organic framework)-nanocomposites (NCs) as a viable and efficient sorbent to pre-concentrate and assess caffeic acid (CA) in the medical extracts of plants and water samples. The Fe3O4@SiO2@Ti-MOF-NCs were characterized by various techniques, including FESEM, EDX, FTIR, BET, XRD and VSM. Following the extraction process, HPLC was employed to quantify CA. The effects of different parameters on the MD-µ-SPE method were fully investigated by the Plackett-Burman (PBD) and central composite design (CCD). The highest extraction percentage (99.76%) was obtained under different conditions: pH 4.8, 9 mg of Fe3O4@SiO2@Ti-MOF-NCs, sonication for 5 min, and an eluent solvent of 240 µL. Under optimum conditions, the limits of detection (LODs) and the limits of quantitation (LOQs) were obtained in the range of 0.016-0.021 ng mL-1 and 0.052-0.068 ng mL-1, respectively. The reproducibility and repeatability (RSDs, n = 5) were in the range of 3.65-8.66% and 1.84-5.54%, respectively. Overall, the proposed method was successfully used to determine CA in the medical extracts of plants and water samples with favorable recoveries.

Ultrasound combined with manganese-oxide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon for extraction and pre-concentration of thymol and carvacrol in methanolic extracts of Thymus daenensis, Salvia officinalis, Stachys pilifera, Satureja khuzistanica, and mentha, and water samples.

A dispersive micro solid-phase extraction (DMSPE) technique was developed using manganese-oxide nanoparticles loaded on activated carbon (Mn3O4-NPs-AC) as an effective sorbent combined with ultrasound for the extraction and determination of a trace amount of thymol and carvacrol in methanolic extracts of Thymus daenensis, Salvia officinalis, Stachys pilifera, Satureja khuzistanica and mentha, and water samples. Thymol and carvacrol phenolic compounds were extracted from real samples using acetonitrile (ACN) as the desorption solvent. Using central composite design (CCD), the effects of pH, ionic strength (NaCl), nano-sorbent mass, contact time, and desorption volume were investigated. Additionally, based on five-level variables, response surface methodology was used to determine the individual and interactive effects between factors on the process. The optimized extraction conditions included 12 mg of Mn3O4-NPs-AC as the sorbent, 300 µL of ACN as the desorption solvent, pH 3.0, 0.5 w/v% of NaCl, and 4.5 min sonication time. Under the optimized conditions, for all the samples, the limits of detection were 0.054-0.104 ng mL-1 and the limits of quantification were 0.178-0.345 ng mL-1. The correlation coefficients of the calibration curves were >0.985, i.e. in the range of 0.4-6000 ng mL-1. To validate the effects of the matrix, the recovery, reproducibility, repeatability, and overall uncertainty were calculated for the five methanolic extracts, at 50, 100, and 500 ng mL-1. The recovery ranged between 94.5% and 109.0% with a relative standard deviation of <8.0% for the repeatability and reproducibility precision, which strongly supports the favorable repeatability and reproducibility of the method. The presented method also has the excellent sorbent features of NPs for the sorption of the analyte, which is due to the use of ultrasound for dispersion of the material in the sample matrix.

Application of experimental design and derivative spectrophotometry methods in optimization and analysis of biosorption of binary mixtures of basic dyes from aqueous solutions.

Simultaneous biosorption of malachite green (MG) and crystal violet (CV) on biosorbent Yarrowia lipolytica ISF7 was studied. An appropriate derivative spectrophotometry technique was used to evaluate the concentration of each dye in binary solutions, despite significant interferences in visible light absorbances. The effects of pH, temperature, growth time, initial MG and CV concentration in batch experiments were assessed using Design of Experiment (DOE) according to central composite second order response surface methodology (RSM). The analysis showed that the greatest biosorption efficiency (>99% for both dyes) can be obtained at pH 7.0, T=28°C, 24h mixing and 20mgL-1 initial concentrations for both MG and CV dyes. The quadratic constructed equation ability for fitting experimental data is judged based on criterions like R2 values, significant p and lack-of-fit value strongly confirm its high adequacy and applicability for prediction of revel behavior of the system under study. The proposed model showed very high correlation coefficients (R2=0.9997 for CV and R2=0.9989 for MG), while supported by closeness of predicted and experimental value. A kinetic analysis was carried out, showing that for both dyes a pseudo-second order kinetic model adequately describes the available data. The Langmuir isotherm model in single and binary components has better performance for description of dyes biosorption with maximum monolayer biosorption capacity of 59.4 and 62.7mgg-1 in single component and 46.4 and 50.0mgg-1 for CV and MB in binary components, respectively. The surface structure of biosorbents and the possible biosorbents-dyes interactions between were also evaluated by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The values of thermodynamic parameters including ΔG° and ΔH° strongly confirm which method is spontaneous and endothermic.

Synthesis of ZnO-nanorod-based materials for antibacterial, antifungal activities, DNA cleavage and efficient ultrasound-assisted dyes adsorption.

Undoped and Au-doped ZnO-nanorods were synthesized in the presence of ultrasound and loaded on activated carbon following characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis spectrophotometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The Au-doped ZnO-nanorod-loaded activated carbon (Au-ZnO-NRs-AC) was used for the simultaneous removal of methylene blue (MB) and auramine O (AO) from aqueous solutions. Central composite design (CCD) under response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to model and optimize the dyes removal versus adsorbent mass, pH, and initial dyes concentration and sonication time as well as to investigate the possible interaction between these variables. The optimum values of the initial MB and AO dyes concentration, adsorbent mass, pH and sonication time were found to be 12 and 10mgL-1, 0.0124g, 6.4, and 4min respectively. The rapid adsorption process at neutral pH using very small amount of the adsorbent makes it promising for the wastewater treatment applications. More than 99.5% of both dyes was removed with maximum adsorption capacities in binary-component system (107.5 and 95.7mgg-1 for MB and AO, respectively). The kinetics and isotherm studies showed that the second-order and Langmuir models apply for the kinetics and isotherm of the adsorption of MB and AO on the adsorbent used here. Moreover, the wastewater treatment by using an antibacterial/antifungal adsorbent makes the process much more valuable. Therefore, additional studies were performed which showed efficient antibacterial/antifungal activities and DNA cleavage of undoped and Au-doped ZnO nanorods as constituent of the adsorbent applied here.

Multi-responses optimization of simultaneous biosorption of cationic dyes by live yeast Yarrowia lipolytica 70562 from binary solution: Application of first order derivative spectrophotometry.

Present study is based on application of live yeast Yarrowia lipolytica 70562 as new biosorbent was investigated for the simultaneous biosorption of Crystal Violet (CV) and Brilliant Green (BG) from wastewater. The effect of operating parameters such as initial dye concentrations (6-14mgL-1), solution pH (4.0-8.0) and contact time (4-20h) was investigated by response surface methodology (RSM) for modeling and optimization of biosorption process and accordingly the best operational conditions was set as: initial CV and BG concentration of 8.0, and 10mgL-1, pH of 7.0 and contact time of 16h. Above specified conditions lead to achievement of maximum biosorption of 98.823% and 99.927% for CV and BG dyes, respectively. The experimental equilibrium data well explained according to Langmuir isotherm model with maximum biosorption capacity of 65.359 and 56.497mgg-1 for BG and CV, respectively. The second order and intraparticle diffusion models as cooperative mechanism has high efficiency and performance for interpretation of real data.

A new tannin-based adsorbent synthesized for rapid and selective recovery of palladium and gold: Optimization using central composite design.

A tannin-based adsorbent was synthesized by pomegranate peel tannin powder modified with ethylenediamine (PT-ED) for the rapid and selective recovery of palladium and gold. To characterize PT-ED, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS-Mapping), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were used. Central composite design (CCD) was used for optimization. The kinetic, isotherm, interference of coexisting metal ions, and thermodynamics were studied. The optimal conditions, including Au (III) concentration = 30 mgL-1, Pd (II) concentration = 30 mgL-1, adsorbent mass = 26 mg, pH = 2, and time = 26 min with the sorption percent more than 99 %, were anticipated for both metals using CCD. Freundlich model and pseudo-second-order expressed the isotherm and kinetic adsorption of the both metals. The inhomogeneity of the adsorbent surface and the multi-layer adsorption of gold and palladium ions on the PT-ED surface are depicted by the Freundlich model. The thermodynamic investigation showed that Pd2+ and Au3+ ions adsorption via PT-ED was an endothermic, spontaneous, and feasible process. The maximum adsorption capacity of Pd2+ and Au3+ ions on PT-ED was 261.189 mgg-1 and 220.277 mgg-1, respectively. The probable adsorption mechanism of Pd2+ and Au3+ ions can be ion exchange and chelation. PT-ED (26 mg) recovered gold and palladium rapidly from the co-existing metals in the printed circuit board (PCB) scrap, including Ca, Zn, Si, Cr, Pb, Ni, Cu, Ba, W, Co, Mn, and Mg with supreme selectivity toward gold and palladium. The results of this work suggest the use of PT-ED with high selectivity and efficiency to recover palladium and gold from secondary sources such as PCB scrap.

Targeted delivery of interleukin-12 plasmid into HepG2 cells through folic acid conjugated graphene oxide nanocarrier.

Successful gene therapy relies on carriers to transfer genetic materials with high efficiency and low toxicity in a targeted manner. To enhance targeted cell binding and uptake, we developed and synthesized a new gene delivery vector based on graphene oxide (GO) modified by branched polyethyleneimine (BPEI) and folic acid (FA). The GO-PEI-FA nanocarriers exhibit lower toxicity compared to unmodified PEI, as well as having the potential to efficiently condense and protect pDNA. Interestingly, increasing the polymer content in the polyplex formulation improved plasmid transfer ability. Substituting graphene oxide for PEI at an N/P ratio of 10 in the HepG2 and THP1 cell lines improved hIL-12 expression by up to approximately eightfold compared to simple PEI, which is twice as high as GO-PEI-FA in Hek293 at the same N/P ratio. Therefore, the GO-PEI-FA described in this study may serve as a targeting nanocarrier for the delivery of the hIL-12 plasmid into cells overexpressing folic acid receptors, such as those found in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Green and low-temperature synthesis of the magnetic modified biochar under the air atmosphere for the adsorptive removal of heavy metal ions from wastewater: CCD-RSM experimental design with isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies.

The accumulation of heavy metal ions in living cells leads to biological damage, which makes the necessity of using new methods to effectively remove heavy metal ions from the environment more vital. In this work, a magnetic modified biochar was prepared under regular air atmosphere and low temperature (220 ºC) and used as a low-cost and green adsorbent for efficient adsorptive removal of cobalt (Co(II)) and Lead (Pb(II)) ions from contaminated waters. The adsorption process was modeled and optimized using CCD-RSM to maximize the removal efficiency of heavy metal ions, as well as was monitored in detail by isotherm, kinetic, and thermodynamic studies. The results show that the Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity of the adsorbent reached 237.92 mg g-1 (single) and 121.23 mg g-1 (binary) for Co(II) and 207.21 mg g-1 (single) and 106.56 mg g-1 (binary) for Pb(II) under the short time of 25 min and solution pH of 6.0. The kinetic studies revealed that the pseudo-first-order model was the best-fitted model to experimental data and indicated that the adsorption process was mostly through chemisorption. Also, thermodynamic studies showed that that adsorptive removal of Co(II)and Pb(II)ions followed an endothermic and spontaneous process. The reusability studies demonstrated that the adsorbent could be successfully regenerated with 5 mL of 0.1 mol L-1 HNO3 solution, and the adsorption efficiency was retaining about 90% after four adsorption-desorption cycles. Also, the results from using real water samples, including drinking water, groundwater, and river water, implied that the synthesized magnetic modified biochar was highly efficient for practical treatment processes. Overall, the results indicated that the proposed magnetic biochar can be considered as a cost-effective and efficient adsorbent for adsorptive removal of heavy metal ions from contaminated waters.

The potential application of bio-based ceramic/organic xerogel derived from the plant sources: A new green adsorbent for removal of antibiotics from pharmaceutical wastewater.

A bio-based ceramic/organic xerogel (BCO-xerogel) was obtained from the combination of sugarcane bagasse ash, polyvinyl alcohol, and pine cone-derived tannin extract, which are abundant, non-toxic, and renewable sources. The as-prepared BCO-xerogel was used as a low-cost green adsorbent for the eliminate of four types of the most widely used antibiotics, including amoxicillin (AMX), tetracycline (TC), cefalexin (CLX), and penicillin G (PEN G) residuals from contaminated water. The simultaneous effects conventional variables including adsorbent dosage, antibiotic concentrations, solution pH, and contact time were studied and optimized by central composite design (CCD) under response surface methodology (RSM). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed as a statistical formula to determine the significance of operating environmental conditions and their interactions with 95% confidence limits. Under optimized conditions, the experimental removal efficiencies for AMX, TC, CLX, and PEN G were 98.78 ± 3.25, 99.12 ± 2.52, 98.02 ± 1.98, and 98.42 ± 2.19, respectively. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics were better fitted with Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models, respectively. Thermodynamic studies showed that the adsorption process was endothermic, spontaneous, and occurred by combination of physical and chemical mechanisms. Also, evaluating the ability of BCO-xerogel to adsorptive removal of AMX, TC, CLX, and PEN G antibiotics in real wastewaters showed about 97.4-98.6% adsorption efficiency in river water and about 67.1-71.3% in three hospital effluents. After the adsorption process, the antibiotic-loaded adsorbent was regenerated by NaOH (0.01 mol L-1), and the reusability tests showed that the removal efficiencies of the antibiotics in the four recovery steps were still above 90%. This work explored the development of green, efficient, and economical bio-adsorbent that can be utilized for the removal of antibiotics from contaminated wastewaters.

In-situ hydrothermal synthesis of CNT decorated by nano ZnS/CuO for simultaneous removal of acid food dyes from binary water samples.

The zinc sulfide/copper oxide-carbon nanotube nanocomposite (ZnS/CuO-CNT) was fabricated by using an in-situ hydrothermal synthesis method and was used for simultaneous ultrasound-assisted adsorptive removal of a binary mixture of ponceau 4R (P4R) and tartrazine (TA) acid food dyes from contaminated water. The as-synthesized ZnS/CuO-CNT was described by FESEM, XRD, FTIR, BET, and zeta potential analysis. The results included nested network morphology, high purity with the crystalline structure, oxygen-containing functional groups, mesoporous/micropores texture with cumulate interspace, specific surface area of 106.54 m2 g-1, and zero-point charge (pHzpc) of 5.3. In adsorption experiments, the simultaneous effect of main independent variables, including solution pH, adsorbent dosage, concentration of each dye, temperature, and sonication time on the removal efficiency of dyes was studied systematically using the central composite design (CCD) method based on response surface methodology (RSM). Also, the second-order multivariate equation was presented to determine the relationship between the removal efficiencies of P4R and AT dyes and six independent effective variables. The high correlation coefficient (R2 ≥ 0.99), significant p-value (P < 0.0001), and non-significant lack-of-fit (P > 0.05) showed the high accuracy, and validity of the proposed model to predict the removal efficiency of P4R and TA acid food dyes. The experimental removal efficiency for P4R and TA dyes was found to be 98.45 ± 2.54, and 99.21 ± 2.23, respectively. Also, the Langmuir maximum adsorption capacity for P4R and TA dyes was determined to be 190.1 mg g-1 and 183.5 mg g-1, respectively. Finally, the adsorbent's reusability was tested for six periods and could be reused repeatedly without significant reduction in adsorption performance.

Experimental design for the optimization of paraquat removal from aqueous media using a fixed-bed column packed with Pinus Eldarica stalks activated carbon.

In this study, a fixed-bed column packed with an activated carbon (Pinus eldarica stalks (PES-AC)) was used to evaluate the performance of paraquat removal from wastewater. The effect of bed height, initial paraquat concentration, contact time, flow rate on the removal of paraquat was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). From the RSM model, the optimum experimental conditions to achieve 94.65% removal of paraquat were solution pH of 8.0, 6 mg L-1 of paraquat, 4 mL min-1 of flow rate, 0.8 cm of the bed height, and 40 min of contact time. The breakthrough data were significantly fitted with Thomas, bed depth services time (BDST), and Yoon-Nelson models. The high values of NBD (14.33, 32.29, and 54.46 mg L-1) and critical bed depth (0.396, 0.370, and 0.330 cm) obtained from BDST model revealed the high efficiency and suitability of the adsorbent. Adsorption of paraquat on PES-AC was strongly dependent on solution pH, indicating an electrostatic attraction mechanism.

Stachys pilifera Benth: A Review of Its Botany, Phytochemistry, Therapeutic Potential, and Toxicology.

Background: Stachys L. (Lamiaceae) includes more than 300 annual or perennial species growing in temperate regions of Southern Africa, the Mediterranean, America, and Asia. Stachys pilifera Benth (S. pilifera), also known as Marzeh Kuhi, is an endemic species from Iran. It is found in the mountainous habitats of the Zagros area. It has various traditional uses, and the phytochemical ingredients and some biological activities of this species have been examined in previous studies. Methods: PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Science Web databases were used to gather the data. The purpose of this review is to consolidate the scattered knowledge reported in the literature about botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological properties, and safety of S. pilifera and suggest its potential medicinal properties. Key Findings. In traditional Iranian medicine, S. pilifera manages various illnesses, such as rheumatoid arthritis, common cold, infections, asthma, and tussive. More than 30 compounds have been identified in S. pilifera essential oil. The compounds found in S. pilifera are phenolic compounds, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids, which have various properties such as antioxidant, nephroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, and anticancer properties. Conclusions: The literature reveals that S. pilifera is an essential source of bioactive phytochemicals and illustrates the unknown area of this plant for new investigations. Moreover, we recommend that future research focus on toxicology and quality control studies for S. pilifera to fill the knowledge gap and provide theoretical support for the plant's possible functional and clinical uses.

Evaluation of the Biodistribution of Arginine, glycine, aspartic acid peptide-modified Nanoliposomes Containing Curcumin in Rats.

Background: Liposomes, as a biological membrane, is successfully used for drug delivery, reduces toxicity in normal cells and improves bio-accessibility of the drug to the target cells. Curcumin, as a bioactive substance with pleiotropic biological activities, is an anti-inflammatory compound and has several anticancer effects in different cancers such as pancreatic and breast cancer. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the bio-distribution of arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD)-modified nanoliposomes containing curcumin in different tissues of rats. Materials and Methods: The amount of curcumin in each tissue was examined by HPLC analysis. The distribution of liposomal Hoechst in the rats was evaluated by using fluorescence spectrophotometry, live animal imaging analyses and histological methods. Results: HPLC analysis showed the mean of curcumin in the blood significantly increased in the liposomal curcumin modified with RGD compared to free curcumin. These results were confirmed by fluorescence measurement for RGD modified liposome containing Hoechst dye. There was negligible fluorescent intensity in the blood rats, which received Hoechst alone. Live animal imaging analysis showed the presence of fluorescent color in heart tissue for all groups. It was also detected in kidney tissue for liposomal Hoechst modified with RGD group. Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that RGD-modified nano-liposomes can significantly improve drug retention time in the blood of rats.

Decorating graphene oxide with zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) and pseudo-boehmite offers ultra-high adsorption capacity of diclofenac in hospital effluents.

This study reports on an easy and scalable synthesis method of a novel magnetic nanocomposite (GO/ZIF-8/γ-AlOOH) based on graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets decorated with zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), pseudo-boehmite (γ-AlOOH), and iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles by combining solvothermal and solid-state dispersion (SSD) methods. The nanocomposite was successfully applied to remove of diclofenac sodium (DCF) - a widely used pharmaceutical - from water. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the adsorption process and assess the interactions among the influencing factors on DCF removal efficiency; including contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial pH, solution temperature, and DCF concentration. Adsorption isotherm results showed a good fitting with the Langmuir isotherm model with an exceptional adsorption capacity value of 2594 mg g-1 at 30 °C, which was highly superior to the previously reported adsorbents. In addition, kinetic and thermodynamic investigations further illustrated that the adsorption process was fast (equilibrium time = 50 min) and endothermic. The regeneration of GO/ZIF-8/γ-AlOOH nanocomposite using acetic acid solution (10% v/v) after a simple magnetic separation was confirmed in five consecutive cycles, which eliminate the usage of organic solvents. The nanocomposite has also shown a superior performance in treating a simulated hospital effluent that contained various pharmaceuticals as well as other organic, and inorganic constituents.

Highly effective pre-concentration of thymol and carvacrol using nano-sized magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer based on experimental design optimization and their trace determination in summer savoury, Origanum majorana and Origanum vulgare extracts.

To ascertain thymol and carvacrol in pharmaceutical syrups, a valid and effective magnetic molecular imprinted polymer dispersive solid phase microextraction (MMIP-DSPME) process was developed in this study, which was in combination with a high performance liquid chromatography-ultra violet (HPLC-UV) technique for the assessment of thymol and carvacrol separation and pre-concentration. Contact time, eluent kind and volume, pH, the mass of the MMIP were all taken into consideration as key factors. Design expert and multi-objective response surface methodology (RSM) were used to optimize these variables. The mass of the MMIP, sample pH, eluent kind, time of sorption, the volume of eluent, and time of elution were 10 mg, 6, acetonitrile, 28 min, 200 µL, and 5.5 min, respectively, for the maximum extraction recovery of the analytes. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.042 ng mL-1 at the optimal conditions, while the value for the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.140 ng mL-1. At the optimized conditions for thymol and carvacrol, the suggested MMIP sorbent had sorption capacities of 64.1 and 72.6 mg g-1, respectively. Furthermore, for triplicate measurements, the linear dynamic range (LDR) was 0.40-5000 ng mL-1, and the method's accuracy (RSD %) was 6.26%. The saturation magnetization for the MMIP was 19.0 emu g-1 obtained by VSM, allowing the sorbent to be separated quickly. The sorption experiments confirmed the large sorption capacity of the MMIP for thymol and carvacrol, as well as its homogeneous binding sites. The extraction recovery for thymol and carvacrol was 96.9-103.8% and 96.6-105.4%, respectively, at all spiked amounts (20, 100, 200, and 500 ng mL-1). The findings of seven desorption-regeneration cycles using MMIP demonstrated the high stability of the sorbent. The MMIP revealed a particular behavior of sorption for thymol and carvacrol, implying a selective, simple, effective, and flexible analytical method.

Synthesis of magnetic tungsten disulfide/carbon nanotubes nanocomposite (WS2/Fe3O4/CNTs-NC) for highly efficient ultrasound-assisted rapid removal of amaranth and brilliant blue FCF hazardous dyes.

In this research, the potentiality of magnetic tungsten disulfide/carbon nanotubes nanocomposite (WS2/Fe3O4/CNTs-NC) as an adsorbent for the ultrasound-assisted removal of amaranth (AM) and brilliant blue FCF (BB FCF) dyes was investigated. The experiments were conducted using a central composite design (CCD) with the inputs of solution pH (X1: 2.0-10), adsorbent mass (X4: 4-20 mg), AM concentration (X2: 10-50 mg L-1), BB FCF concentration (X3: 10-50 mg L-1), and sonication time (X5: 2-12 min). At the optimum conditions, the removal percentages of 99.30% and 98.50% were obtained for AM and BB FCF, respectively. The adsorption of the dyes was described by Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic models. The maximum adsorption capacities of AM and BB FCF were 174.8 mg g-1 and 166.7 mg g-1, respectively. The adsorption thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption of the dyes occurred endothermically and spontaneously. The removal percentages of AM and BB FCF from the real samples were in the range of 94.52-99.65% for the binary solutions. The removal percentage for each dye after five cycles of adsorption/desorption was > 90%. This work provides a useful insight to the potential application of CNTs-based magnetic nanocomposite for the treatment of wastewaters contaminated with dyes.

A reusable mesoporous adsorbent for efficient treatment of hazardous triphenylmethane dye wastewater: RSM-CCD optimization and rapid microwave-assisted regeneration.

In this research, mesoporous calcium aluminate nanostructures (meso-CaAl2O4) were synthesized using a citric acid-assisted sol-gel auto-combustion process as the potential adsorbent to eliminate toxic triphenylmethane dye malachite green (MG) from synthetic/real effluent. The surface morphology of meso-CaAl2O4 was highly porous with nanometric size and non-homogeneous surface. The specific surface area, total pore volume, and BJH pore diameter of meso-CaAl2O4 were 148.5 m2 g-1, 1.39 cm3 g-1, and 19 nm, respectively. The meso-CaAl2O4 also showed a very high heat resistance, due to losing only 7.95% of its weight up to 800 °C, which is mainly related to the moisture loss. The optimal adsorption conditions were obtained based on response surface methods (RSM)-central composite design (CCD) techniques. The Langmuir isotherm model was used for fitting the adsorption measurements, which presented 587.5 mg g-1 as the maximum adsorption capacity of the dye. The data obtained from the adsorption kinetics model were found to correspond to the pseudo-second-order model. Also, the thermodynamic parameters including enthalpy change (ΔH°), entropy change (ΔS°), and Gibbs free energy change (ΔG°) indicated that MG dye adsorption by the meso-CaAl2O4 was feasible, endothermic, and occurred spontaneously. Furthermore, the meso-CaAl2O4 was regenerated by microwave irradiation under 900 W at 6 min, and the MG dye removal efficiency was remained over 90% after the five cycles of microwave regeneration.