A review on activated carbon modifications for the treatment of wastewater containing anionic dyes.

Polluted water resources, particularly those polluted with industrial effluents' dyes, are carcinogenic and hence pose a severe threat to sustainable and longstanding worldwide development. Meanwhile, adsorption is a promising process for polluted/wastewater treatment. In particular, activated carbon (AC) is popular among various wastewater treatment adsorbents, especially in the organic contaminants' remediation in wastewater. Hence, the AC's synthesis from degradable and non-degradable resources, the carbon activation involved in the AC synthesis, and the AC's modification to cutting-edge and effective materials have been modern-research targets in recent years. Likewise, the main research focuses worldwide have been the salient AC characteristics, such as its surface chemistry, porosity, and enhanced surface area. Notably, various modified-AC synthesis methods have been employed to enhance the AC's potential for improved contaminants-removal. Hence, we critically analyze the different modified ACs (with enhanced (surface) functional groups and textural properties) of their capacity to remove different-natured anionic dyes in wastewater. We also discuss the corresponding AC modification techniques, the factors affecting the AC properties, and the modifying agents' influence on the AC's morphological/adsorptive properties. Finally, the AC research of future interest has been proposed by identifying the current AC research gaps, especially related to the AC's application in wastewater treatment.

Sustainable mixed matrix membranes containing porphyrin and polysulfone polymer for acid gas separations.

The synergetic effect of nitrogen-rich and CO2-philic filler and polymer in mixed matrix-based membranes (MMMs) can separate CO2 competently. The introduction of well-defined nanostructured porous fillers of pores close to the kinetic diameter of the gas molecule and polymer matrix compatibility is a challenge in improving the gas transportation characteristics of MMMs. This study deals with the preparation of porphyrin filler and the polysulfone (PSf) polymer MMMs. The fillers demonstrated uniform distribution, uniformity, and successful bond formation. MMMs demonstrated high thermal stability with a glass transition temperature in the range of 480-610 °C. The porphyrin filler exhibited microporous nature with the presence of π-π bonds and Lewis's basic functionalities between filler-polymer resulted in a highly CO2-philic structure. The pure and mixed gas permeabilities and selectivity were successfully improved and surpass the Robeson's upper bound curve's tradeoff. Additionally, the temperature influence on CO2 permeability revealed lower activation energies at higher temperatures leading to the gas transport facilitation. This can be granted consistency and long-term durability in polymer chains. These results highlight the unique properties of porphyrin fillers in CO2 separation mixed matrix membranes and offer new knowledge to increase comprehension of PSf performance under various contents or environments.

Human and ecological risk assessment of heavy metals in different particle sizes of road dust in Muscat, Oman.

Heavy metal contamination of Hg, As, Cu, Cr, Zn, and Pb was investigated in three different fractions 45, 125, and 200 µm of road dust in Muscat, Oman. Dust samples were collected from three different traffic roads, viz. high, medium, and low based on traffic volume and then sieved individually before they analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Cu has the highest level among the analyzed metals while the lowest amount was for Hg. Most of the metals in all traffic sites have higher concentration in finer fraction and the concentrations of Cu, Pb, and Zn in HT road dust decreased significantly from finer fraction (45 µm) to bigger fraction size (200 µm). The risks of analyzed heavy metals to the urban ecosystem and human health were calculated by the potential ecological risk index and human exposure model, respectively. Risk index levels of studied metals in the three fractions and roads vary from strong to very strong potential. Hg found to have the greatest contribution in risk index in the three different fractions and roads. The values of risk levels for individual metal contamination in the dust street samples from different roads and fractions were ranked in the following order: Hg > Cu > Pb > Cr > Zn. Ingestion is the main pathway of exposure to road dust particles for both children and adults, followed by dermal contact absorption. The HI for children and adults exposed to 45- and 125-µm particles were higher than exposed to 200-µm particles, which indicated that finer particles tend to have higher non-carcinogenic risk. The non-carcinogenic risks of the studied heavy metals to children and adults are within safe threshold value; however, health risks of Cr, Pb, and Cu were relatively high for children.

Potential of dates (Phoenix dactylifera L.) as natural antioxidant source and functional food for healthy diet.

Date fruit is well known for their taste and concentrated nutritional components. Present study investigated two Omani date varieties i.e., Umsellah and Khalas, related to their physical traits, antioxidant properties, carbohydrates and nutritional values. Results showed that total-phenolic in Umsellah were 62% higher compared to Khalas, i.e., 164.22 and 103.85 mg/100 g. Among antioxidants, gallic acid in both Umsellah and Khalas were 35.77 and 27.41 mg/ 100 g respectively. Caffeic and syringic acid resulted 50% greater in Umsellah compared to Khalas. The ρ-coumaric acid contents in Umsellah and Khalas were 24.94 and 21.69 mg/ 100 g respectively. Total sugar in Umsellah (51.37 g of glucose equivalent / 100 g of dates) was found higher compared to Khalas (44.78 g of glucose equivalent / 100 g of dates). Among nutrients, potassium (K) level is very high (> 450 mg/100 g) in both the varieties with optimum range of other nutrients. For dietary fibers, Umsellah (81.17 g/100 g) reported higher proportion than Khalas (67.35 g/100 g). Overall findings inferred that Umsellah contained greater amount of beneficial individual phenolic and sugar compounds for the nourishment of health than Khalas. Therefore, as high antioxidant and nourished with several nutritional components, Umsellah and Khalas can be well adopted as organic and medicinal diets and can be used for various by-products irrespective of their market value.

Pyrolysis of solid waste residues from Lemon Myrtle essential oils extraction for bio-oil production.

Solid waste residues from the extraction of essential oils are projected to increase and need to be treated appropriately. Valorization of waste via pyrolysis can generate value-added products, such as chemicals and energy. The characterization of lemon myrtle residues (LMR) highlights their suitability for pyrolysis, with high volatile matter and low ash content. Thermogravimetric analysis/derivative thermogravimetric revealed the maximum pyrolytic degradation of LMR at 335 °C. The pyrolysis of LMR for bio-oil production was conducted in a fixed-bed reactor within a temperature range of 350-550 °C. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry showed that the bio-oil contained abundant amounts of acetic acid, phenol, 3-methyl-1,2-cyclopentanedione, 1,2-benzenediol, guaiacol, 2-furanmethanol, and methyl dodecanoate. An increase in pyrolysis temperature led to a decrease in organic acid and ketones from 18.09% to 8.95% and 11.99% to 8.75%, respectively. In contrast, guaiacols and anhydrosugars increased from 24.23% to 30.05% and from 3.57% to 7.98%, respectively.

In silico analysis of four structural proteins of aphthovirus serotypes revealed significant B and T cell epitopes.

Foot and Mouth disease (FMD) is economically devastating, highly contagious transboundry viral disease of livestock with 100% morbidity, rapid spread and severe production losses in animals. The FMDV has seven different serotypes. There is no vaccine that can protect animals from all serotypes. Hence, it is need of the day to develop a vaccine that protects animals from hetrologous challenge. In this study, we used immunoinformatics approach to find T and B-cell epitopes that will help to construct a universal vaccine for FMDV. For this purpose, first we constructed a consensus sequence for four structural proteins (VP1, VP2, VP3 and VP4) of aphthovirus for seven serotypes (A, O, C, Asia1, SAT1, SAT2 and SAT3). Various computational tools were used to perform multiple sequence alignment to identify the conserved regions, generation of consensus sequence through conserved regions, structures prediction and finally prediction of B and T cell epitopes. We predicted 5 B cell and 18 T cell epitopes. Finally a GPGPG spacer was used to join these epitopes to decrease binding affinity around the core binding regions. Hence, our study identified the epitopes which can be used to develop cross protective vaccines against all the fatal strains of Aphthovirus which can easily protect all the serotypes. Though, successful In vivo and In vitro studies are required to determine the genuine strength of our predicted epitopes against the fatal strains of Aphthovirus.

In Silico Identification of Novel Apolipoprotein E4 Inhibitor for Alzheimer's Disease Therapy.

INTRODUCTION: Apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE) is a major genetic factor for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). It plays a vital role in brain to maintain a constant supply of neuronal lipids for rapid and dynamic membrane synthesis. Aggregation of beta amyloid plaques (Aß) and neurofibrillary tangles in brain are responsible for onset of AD. The current study is designed to predict a drug against over activity of apoE4. 22 natural compounds (marine, microorganism and plant derivative) were used in current study. METHODS: These compounds were used as inhibitors to target apoE4 protein activity. Moreover, six synthetic compounds were docked with target protein to compare and analyze the docking results with natural compounds. S-Allyl-L-Cysteine, Epicatechin Gallate and Fulvic acid showed highest binding affinity (-7.1, - 7 and -7 kcal /mol respectively). Analysis of the docked complex showed that Epicatechin Gallate bonded with Gln156 and Asp35. Furthermore, Fulvic Acid showed hydrogen bonding with Glu27. Among synthetic compound, Tideglusib had highest binding affinity with target protein but did not show hydrogen bonding with any amino acid residue. Moreover, a natural compound S-Allyl-LCysteine also showed highest binding affinity but did not show hydrogen bonding with any amino acid residue. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Our study highlighted Epicatechin Gallate as a potential lead compound on the basis of binding affinity and hydrogen bonding to inhibit the progression of AD.

Comparative Modeling, Molecular Docking, and Revealing of Potential Binding Pockets of RASSF2; a Candidate Cancer Gene.

RASSF2, potential tumor suppressor gene, acts as a KRAS-specific effectors protein and may promote apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. It stabilizes STK3/MST2 by protecting it from proteasomal degradation. RASSF2 plays a significant role against the inhibition of cancer. MODELLER (9v15) and online servers (I-Tasser, SwissModel, 3D-JigSaw, ModWeb) were utilized to generate 3D structures of the RASSF2 based on homology modeling. A comparison between models predicted by MODELLER (9v15) and Web servers had been checked through utilized evaluation tools. The most potent model for RASSF2 was analyzed and selected for molecular docking studies. The binding pockets were revealed for binding studies through Site Hound. AutoDock Vina and AutoDock4 were utilized for molecular docking, and the attempt of this experiment was to identify the ligands for RASSF2. The selected compounds may act as regulators and regulate the normal activity of RASSF2. It was also analyzed and observed that the selected compounds showed least binding energy and high-affinity binding in predicted top binding domain. The determination of protein function is based on accurate identification of binding sites in protein structures. The binding site is known, and it may allow the ligand type and protein function to be determined by performing in silico and experimental procedures. The detection, comparison, and analysis of binding pockets are pivotal to drug discovery. It proposed that predicted structure is reliable for the structural insights and functional studies. The predicted binding pockets may lead to further analysis (drug discovery), used against cancer study.

Genetic variants in FGFR2 and TNRC9 genes are associated with breast cancer risk in Pakistani women.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) lead to genetic differences in breast cancer (BC) susceptibility among women from different ethnicities. The present study aimed at investigating the involvement of SNPs of three genes, including fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), trinucleotide-repeat-containing 9 (TNRC9) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 1 (MAP3K1), as risk factors for the development of BC. A case­control study (90­100 cases; 90­100 controls) was performed to evaluate five genetic variants of three genes, including FGFR2 (SNPs: rs1219648, rs2981582), TNRC9 (SNPs: rs8051542, rs3803662) and MAP3K1 (SNP: rs889312) as BC risk factors in Pakistani women. Significant associations were observed between BC risk and two SNPs of FGFR2 [rs2981582 (P=0.005), rs1219648 (P=9.08e­006)] and one SNP of TNRC9 [rs3803662) (P=0.012)] in Pakistani women. On examining the different interactions of these SNPs with various clinicopathological characteristics, all three associated genetic variants, rs2981582 rs1219648 and rs3803662, exhibited a greater predisposition to sporadic, in comparison to familial, BC. Furthermore, there was an increased effect of BC risk between haplotype combinations of the two SNPs of FGFR2 (rs2981582 and rs1219648) in Pakistani women. The results of the present study suggest that variants of FGFR2 and TNRC9 may contribute to the genetic susceptibility of BC in Pakistani women.

Three-Dimensional Echocardiographic Assessment of Aortic Dissection.

In the present study, we report our experience of using three-dimensional reconstruction of transesophageal two-dimensional echocardiographic images in the assessment of aortic dissection (22 patients), aortic rupture (1 patient), aortic aneurysm without dissection (2 patients), and aortic tumor (1 patient).