Extensive sorption of Amoxicillin by highly efficient carbon-based adsorbent from palm kernel: Artificial neural network modeling.

In the present study, a new sorbent was fabricated from Palm kernel (PK) by dry thermochemical activation with NaOH and characterized by FTIR, X-ray diffraction, FE-SEM and BET, which was used for the Amoxicillin (AMX) sorption from aqueous solution. The influence of effective parameters such as pH, reaction time, adsorbent dosage, AMX concentration and ionic strength on the sorption efficacy of AMX removal were evaluated. The main functional groups on the surface of the magnetic activated carbon of Palm Kernel (MA-PK) were C-C, C-O, C[bond, double bond]O and hydroxyl groups. The specific surface of char, activated carbon Palm Kernel (AC-PK) and MA-PK were 4.3, 1648.8 and 1852.4 m2/g, respectively. The highest sorption of AMX (400 mg/L) was obtained by using 1 g/L of sorbent at solution pH of 5 after 60 min contact time, which corresponding to 98.77%. Non-linear and linear models of isotherms and kinetics models were studied. The data fitted well with Hill isotherm (R2 = 0.987) and calculated maximum sorption capacity were 719.07 and 512.27 mg/g from Hill and Langmuir, respectively. A study of kinetics shows that the adsorption of AMX follows the Elovich model with R2 = 0.9998. Based on the artificial neural network (ANN) modeling, the MA-PK dosage and contact time showed the most important parameters in the removal of AMX with relative importance of 36.5 and 25.7%, respectively. Lastly, the fabricated MA-PK was successfully used to remove the AMX from hospital wastewater.

Human Vascular Wall Microfluidic Model for Preclinical Evaluation of Drug-Induced Vascular Injury.

Drug-induced vascular injury (DIVI) in preclinical animal models often leads to candidate compound termination during drug development. DIVI has not been documented in human clinical trials with drugs that cause DIVI in preclinical animals. A robust human preclinical assay for DIVI is needed as an early vascular injury screen. A human vascular wall microfluidic tissue chip was developed with a human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC)-umbilical artery smooth muscle cell (vascular smooth muscle cell, VSMC) bilayer matured under physiological shear stress. Optimized temporal flow profiles produced HUVEC-VSMC bilayers with quiescent endothelial cell (EC) monolayers, EC tight junctions, and contractile VSMC morphology. Dose-response testing (3-30 µM concentration) was conducted with minoxidil and tadalafil vasodilators. Both drugs have demonstrated preclinical DIVI but lack clinical evidence. The permeability of severely damaged engineered bilayers (30 µM tadalafil) was 4.1 times that of the untreated controls. Immunohistochemical protein assays revealed contrasting perspectives on tadalafil and minoxidil-induced damage. Tadalafil impacted the endothelial monolayer with minor injury to the contractile VSMCs, whereas minoxidil demonstrated minor EC barrier injury but damaged VSMCs and activated ECs in a dose-response manner. This proof-of-concept human vascular wall bilayer model of DIVI is a critical step toward developing a preclinical human screening assay for drug development. Impact statement More than 90% of drug candidates fail during clinical trials due to human efficacy and toxicity concerns. Preclinical studies rely heavily on animal models, although animal toxicity and drug metabolism responses often differ from humans. During the drug development process, perfused in vitro human tissue chips could model the clinical drug response and potential toxicity of candidate compounds. Our long-term objective is to develop a human vascular wall tissue chip to screen for drug-induced vascular injury. Its application could ultimately reduce drug development delays and costs, and improve patient safety.

Cytotoxicity Activity and Druggability Studies of Sigmasterol Isolated from Marine Sponge Dysidea avara Against Oral Epithelial Cancer Cell (KB/C152) and T-Lymphocytic Leukemia Cell Line (Jurkat/ E6-1).

BACKGROUND: Marine sponge is a rich natural resource of many pharmacological compounds and various bioactive anticancer agents are derived from marine organisms like sponges. METHODS: studying the anticancer activity and Drug ability of marine sponge Dysidea avara using Cell lines oral epithelial cancer cell (KB/C152) and T-lymphocytic leukemia cell line (Jurkat/ E6-1). Marine sponge was collected from Persian Gulf. Several analytical techniques have been used to obtain and recognize stigmasterol, including column chromatography, thin layer chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The PASS Prediction Activity was used to investigate the apoptosis-inducing effect of stigmasterol. The cytotoxic activity of stigmasterol was examined using yellow tetrazolium salt XTT (sodium 2, 3,-bis (2methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino) carbonyl]-2H-tetrazolium) assay. The stigmasterol were docked within the protein tyrosine kinase (PTKs) (PDB code: 1t46) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRK) (PDB code: 1M17). Also, the pharmacological characteristics of stigmasterol were predicted using PerADME, SwissADME, and Molinspi ration tools. Apoptosis-inducing effect of stigmasterol indicate the stigmasterol in terms of the possibility of apoptosis in cells. RESULTS: The apoptosis inducement results of known stigmasterol were determined by PASS on-line prediction. The compound exhibit potent cytotoxic properties against KB/C152 cell compared to Jurkat/ E6-1 cell. The stigmasterol showed the cytotoxicity effects on KB/C152 and HUT78 with IC50 ranges of 81.18 and 103.03 µg/ml, respectively. Molecular docking showed that, stigmasterol bound stably to the active sites of the protein tyrosine kinase (PTKs) (PDB code: 1t46) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFRK) (PDB code: 1M17). CONCLUSION: The compound showed desirable pharmacokinetic properties (ADME). This provided direct evidence of how a prospective anti-cancer agent can be stigmasterol. The preclinical studies paved the way for a potential new compound of anti-cancer.

Synthesis and characterization of citrate intercalated layered double hydroxide as a green adsorbent for Ni2+ and Pb2+ removal.

Recently, a considerable attention has been paid on the preparation of layered double hydroxide (LDH) as a green adsorbent. This research presents a study on nickel and lead removal by Ca/Fe layered double hydroxides intercalate with citrate anions (Ca-Fe/LDH-Cit) which was successfully prepared through the co-precipitation and hydrothermal method. The as-synthesized Ca-Fe/LDH-Cit was characterized by various techniques including FT-IR, XRD, TGA, FE-SEM, and TEM techniques. The maximum uptake capacities of Ca-Fe/LDH-Cit were 2.26 mg/g for Ni(II) and 61.73 mg/g for Pb(II) inferred from the Langmuir model at the contact time of 30 min and pH of 7. Based on the results, the adsorption and kinetic isotherms were in good agreement with the Langmuir model and the pseudo-second-order equation, respectively. The results suggested that the composite adsorbent has the good ability to remove the Ni2+ and Pb2+ ions from aqueous solutions. The results reveal that the composite adsorbent can be considered as a high-capacity absorbent for Ni(II) and Pb(II) removal and also as a potential candidate for practical applications.

Wastewater treatment for Amoxicillin removal using magnetic adsorbent synthesized by ultrasound process.

In this study, the effect of magnetic adsorbent prepared from Olive kernel (MA-OK) was studied in the Amoxicillin (AMX) removal. The synthesized adsorbent, under a sonochemical method, were characterized using Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The absorption functions in the batch experiments were studied using the expected parameters for the maximum absorption capacities (qm) such as pH, contact time, the dosage adsorbent, and the initial concentration of AMX. The residual amount of AMX were recorded after injection into the HPLC. The proportion of the mobile phase was methanol to water (40:60) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Adsorption experimental results indicated that the removal efficiency reaches its maximum using 0.5 g/L of the adsorbent, concentration of AMX (200 mg/L) at contact time of 90 min and pH of 6. The kinetics of the reaction and the adsorption isotherm could be well described by the pseudo-second order equation and the Langmuir adsorption isotherm with a regression coefficient of 0.9981 and 0.9979, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained from the Langmuir model was to be 238.1 mg/g. The ionic strength of the solution has no significant effect on increasing the AMX removal efficiency. Eventually, application of this adsorbent was successfully performed for removing AMX from aqueous and hospital wastewater solutions.

Preparation, characterization and Cr(VI) adsorption evaluation of NaOH-activated carbon produced from Date Press Cake; an agro-industrial waste.

Date Press Cake (DPC) is an inevitable by-product of date processing industries and may pose environmental problems if not managed properly. In this study, DPC was converted into activated carbon using solid NaOH under various activation conditions. The prepared activated carbon showed high specific surface area (2025.9 m2 g-1) and microporous texture (86.01%). It was successfully applied for the adsorption of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions with maximum monolayer adsorption capacities as high as 282.8 mg g-1 (pH = 2) and 198.0 mg g-1 (pH = 5). The kinetic and isotherm experimental data of Cr(VI) adsorption onto the activated carbon were best described by Elovich and Redlich-Peterson models, respectively. It was found that the Cr(VI) adsorption onto the DPC-derived activated carbon was predominantly a chemisorption process with limited desorption rates (below 50%). Overall, Date Press Cake could be considered as an abundant and renewable agro-industrial precursor for the production of high quality activated carbon.

Single-use thermoplastic microfluidic burst valves enabling on-chip reagent storage.

A simple and reliable method for fabricating single-use normally closed burst valves in thermoplastic microfluidic devices is presented, using a process flow that is readily integrated into established workflows for the fabrication of thermoplastic microfluidics. An experimental study of valve performance reveals the relationships between valve geometry and burst pressure. The technology is demonstrated in a device employing multiple valves engineered to actuate at different inlet pressures that can be generated using integrated screw pumps. On-chip storage and reconstitution of fluorescein salt sealed within defined reagent chambers are demonstrated. By taking advantage of the low gas and water permeability of cyclic olefin copolymer, the robust burst valves allow on-chip hermetic storage of reagents, making the technology well suited for the development of integrated and disposable assays for use at the point of care.

Ex Situ Integration of Multifunctional Porous Polymer Monoliths into Thermoplastic Microfluidic Chips.

A unique method for incorporating functional porous polymer monolith elements into thermoplastic microfluidic chips is described. Monolith elements are formed in a microfabricated mold, rather than within the microchannels, and chemically functionalized off chip before insertion into solvent-softened thermoplastic microchannels during chip assembly. Because monoliths may be trimmed prior to final placement, control of their size, shape, and uniformity is greatly improved over in-situ photopolymerization methods. A characteristic trapezoidal profile facilitates rapid insertion and enables complete mechanical anchoring of the monolith periphery, eliminating the need for chemical attachment to the microchannel walls. Off-chip processing allows the parallel preparation of monoliths of differing compositions and surface chemistries in large batches. Multifunctional flow-through arrays of multiple monolith elements are demonstrated using this approach through the creation of a fluorescent immunosensor with integrated controls, and a microfluidic bubble separator comprising a combination of integrated hydrophobic and hydrophilic monolith elements.

Pen microfluidics: rapid desktop manufacturing of sealed thermoplastic microchannels.

A unique technique for the rapid fabrication of thermoplastic microfluidic chips is described. The method enables the realization of fully-sealed microchannels in around one hour while requiring only minimal infrastructure by taking advantage of a solvent swelling mechanism that allows raised features to be patterned on the surface of homogeneous thermoplastic materials. Patterning is achieved without photolithography by simply drawing the desired microchannel pattern onto the polymer surface using a suitable ink as a masking layer, either manually or under robotic control, followed by timed exposure to solvent vapor to yield a desired depth for the masked channel features. The channels are then permanently sealed through solvent bonding of the microchannel chip to a mating thermoplastic substrate. The process is demonstrated using cyclic olefin copolymer as a thermoplastic material, with fully operational microfluidic devices fabricated following a true desktop manufacturing model suitable for rapid prototyping.

Microscale patterning of thermoplastic polymer surfaces by selective solvent swelling.

A new method for the fabrication of microscale features in thermoplastic substrates is presented. Unlike traditional thermoplastic microfabrication techniques, in which bulk polymer is displaced from the substrate by machining or embossing, a unique process termed orogenic microfabrication has been developed in which selected regions of a thermoplastic surface are raised from the substrate by an irreversible solvent swelling mechanism. The orogenic technique allows thermoplastic surfaces to be patterned using a variety of masking methods, resulting in three-dimensional features that would be difficult to achieve through traditional microfabrication methods. Using cyclic olefin copolymer as a model thermoplastic material, several variations of this process are described to realize growth heights ranging from several nanometers to tens of micrometers, with patterning techniques include direct photoresist masking, patterned UV/ozone surface passivation, elastomeric stamping, and noncontact spotting. Orogenic microfabrication is also demonstrated by direct inkjet printing as a facile photolithography-free masking method for rapid desktop thermoplastic microfabrication.