Removal of toxic metals using iron sulfide particles: A brief overview of modifications and mechanisms.

Growing mechanization has released higher concentrations of toxic metals in water and sediment, which is a critical concern for the environment and human health. Recent studies show that naturally occurring and synthetic iron sulfide particles are efficient at removing these hazardous pollutants. This review seeks to provide a concise summary of the evolution in the production of iron sulfide particles, specifically nanoparticles, through the years. This review presents an outline of the synthesis process for the most dominant forms of iron sulfide: mackinawite (FeS), pyrite (FeS2), pyrrhotite (Fe1-x S), and greigite (Fe3S4). The review confirms that both natural forms of iron sulfide and modified forms of iron sulfide are highly effective at removing different heavy metals and metalloids from water. Concurrently, this review reveals the interaction mechanism between toxic metals and iron sulfide, along with the impact of conditions for remedy and rectification. None the less, modifications and future investigations into the synthesis of novel iron sulfides, their use to adsorb diverse environmental pollutants, and their fate after injection into polluted aquifers, remain crucial to maximizing pollution control.

Nano ferric oxide adsorbents with self-acidification effect for efficient adsorption of Sb(V).

It is urgent and essential to remove antimony from wastewater due to its potential carcinogenicity. In this paper, a nano ferric oxide (NFO) adsorbent was synthesized in a one-step low temperature calcination (150 °C) process. It presents a surprising self-acidification behavior, could automatically adjust the pH to around 4 from different intimal pH values (4-9), which enable it to efficiently remove more than 99% of Sb(V) from wastewater in a wide pH range. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis proved that the self-acidification function was originated from the hydrolyzation of surface Fe atoms on ferric oxide nanoparticles. The maximum adsorption capacity of this adsorbent is 78.1 mg/g which is 2-3 times higher than that of the samples obtained at higher temperatures (250 °C and 350 °C), and also its adsorption kinetic constant is ten times higher, which can be attributed to the larger surface areas and smaller sizes of ferric oxides synthesized at 150 °C. In the actual wastewater treatment, the effluent's concentration after treatment can be maintained below the instrument detection limit even under low initial antimony concentration. We believe that this new adsorbent has great potential in the practical application in the treatment of Sb polluted wastewaters due to its simple synthesis, high efficiency, and low cost.

[Analysis on Performance and Microbial Community Dynamics of a Strengthen Circulation Anaerobic Reactor Treating Municipal Wastewater].

A strengthen circulation anaerobic reactor (SCAR) treating artificial municipal wastewater was investigated under different volumetric loading rate(VLR) and the reactor performance, characteristics of granular sludge and microbial community structure were also tested in this experiment. The results of the experiment demonstrated that the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6h could be regarded as the key parameter dominating the efficient operation of SCAR reactor, in which condition the COD removal efficiency was above 75%. The coenzyme F420and the maximum specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of granular sludge increased with increasing VLR, and the EPS contents, especially TB-EPS in the granule sludge also increased obviously. Consistently, the characteristics of anaerobic granular sludge and the removal efficiency of the reactor were influenced by both sludge loading and HRT. The microbial community structure and its spatial distribution in the reactor were also affected by sludge loading, while the relative abundance of the microbial community with different metabolic characteristics in different spatial positions changed with the adjustment of the sludge loading.

Stability of the recombinant anti­erbB2 scFv­Fc­interleukin­2 fusion protein and its inhibition of HER2­overexpressing tumor cells.

The anti­erbB2 scFv­Fc­IL­2 fusion protein (HFI) is the basis for development of a novel targeted anticancer drug, in particular for the treatment of HER2­positive cancer patients. HFI was fused with the anti­erbB2 antibody and human IL­2 by genetic engineering technology and by antibody targeting characteristics of HFI. IL­2 was recruited to target cells to block HER2 signaling, inhibit or kill tumor cells, improve the immune capacity, reduce the dose of antibody and IL­2 synergy. In order to analyse HFI drug ability, HFI plasmid stability was verified by HFI expression of the trend of volume changes. Additionally, HFI could easily precipitate and had progressive characteristics and thus, the buffer system of the additive phosphate­citric acid buffer, arginine, Triton X­100 or Tween­80, the establishment of a microfiltration, ion exchange, affinity chromatography and gel filtration chromatography­based purification process were explored. HFI samples were obtained according to the requirements of purity, activity and homogeneity. In vivo, HFI significantly delayed HER2 overexpression of non­small cell lung cancer (Calu­3) in human non­small cell lung cancer xenografts in nude mice, and the inhibition rate was more than 60% (P<0.05) in the group treated with 1 mg/kg the HFI dose; HFI significantly inhibited HER2 expression of breast cancer (FVB/neu) transgenic mouse tumor growth in 1 mg/kg of the HFI dose group, and in the following treatment the 400 mm3 tumors disappeared completely. Combined with other HFI test data analysis, HFI not only has good prospects, but also laid the foundation for the development of antibody­cytokine fusion protein­like drugs.

Phylogenetic analysis and prokaryotic expression of NMAAP1 derived from BCG-activated murine macrophages.

BCG-activated macrophages exerted anti-tumor activities. Cell surface molecules play an important role in mediating endocytosis by macrophages. In the previous study, we identified a group of 454 membrane proteins specifically expressed on BCG-activated mouse macrophages, including a protein named NMAAP1 (novel macrophage activated associated protein). In this study, we aligned the full-length nucleotide sequences of NMAAP1 and its homologous sequences to construct its phylogenetic tree, and cloned the NMAAP1 cDNA from BCG-activated macrophages to generated NMAAP1 fusion protein in Escherichia coli. Purified the fusion protein were applied for generation of polyclonal antibodies. Western-blotting detection showed that the polyclonal antibodies have high specificities to recognize target protein.