A sodium alginate gel bead adsorbent doping with amidoxime-modified hydroxyapatite for the efficient adsorption of uranium.

In this work, the modified­sodium alginate gel beads were prepared by sol-gel method. Due to the presence of water channels in the sodium alginate gel bead, amidoxime groups and PO43- were exposed to the surface of the adsorbent to the maximum extent, resulting in the excellent adsorption capacity of modified­sodium alginate gel beads. The introduction of amidoxime-modified hydroxyapatite significantly improved the adsorption capacity and the adsorption rate of the gel beads. The adsorption capacity increased from 308.7 to 466.0 mg/g and the adsorption equilibrium time was shortened from 300 min to 120 min. The modified­sodium alginate gel bead possessed the advantages of short adsorption time, high adsorption efficiency and large adsorption capacity, which could be regarded as a potential adsorbent for uranium. Moreover, the uranium removal ability on the modified gel beads was mainly attributed to the Coulomb force between PO43- and uranium and the complexation between uranium and amidoxime groups. In summary, this work would provide a new idea for the modification and application of sodium alginate-based materials.

Correlation between the cardiometabolic index and arteriosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: The cardiometabolic index (CMI) is a new metric derived from the triglyceride-glucose index and body mass index and is considered a potential marker for cardiovascular risk assessment. This study aimed to examine the correlation between the CMI and the presence and severity of arteriosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: This study involved 2243 patients with T2DM. The CMI was derived by dividing the triglyceride level (mmol/L) by the high-density lipoprotein level (mmol/L) and then multiplying the quotient by the waist-to-height ratio. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the correlations between the CMI and BMI blood biomarkers, blood pressure, and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV). RESULTS: Patients were categorized into three groups based on their CMI: Group C1 (CMI < 0.775; n = 750), Group C2 (CMI: 0.775-1.355; n = 743), and Group C3 (CMI > 1.355; n = 750). Increased BMI, fasting glucose, insulin (at 120 min), total cholesterol (TC), and baPWV values were observed in Groups C2 and C3, with statistically significant trends (all trends P < 0.05). The CMI was positively correlated with systolic blood pressure (r = 0.74, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that an increased CMI contributed to a greater risk for arteriosclerosis (OR = 1.87, 95%CI: 1.66-2.10, P < 0.001). Compared to the C1 group, the C2 group and C3 group had a greater risk of developing arteriosclerosis, with ORs of 4.55 (95%CI: 3.57-5.81, P<0.001) and 5.56 (95%CI: 4.32-7.17, P<0.001), respectively. The association was notably stronger in patients with a BMI below 21.62 kg/m² than in those with a BMI of 21.62 kg/m² or higher (OR = 4.53 vs. OR = 1.59). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the CMI is a relevant and independent marker of arteriosclerosis in patients with T2DM and may be useful in the risk stratification and management of these patients.

[Vibrational spectrum and XPS contrastive studies on pyrochlore-type oxygen-rich Ce2Zr2O8 and oxygen-defective Nd2Zr2O7 phases].

Pyrochlore-type oxygen-rich Ce2Zr2O8 phase was prepared successfully by graphite reduction method. With the oxygen[U8]-defective Nd2Zr2O7 substituting for the oxidized precursor phase CeZrO3.5+Δ was carried out the structure comparative analysis with Ce2Zr2O8. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (Raman), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the crystal structure of samples. The XRD experimental results show that Ce2Zr2O8 bulk phase contains the typical structure of pyrochlore, the superstructure peaks that characterize Ce/Zr cations ordering arrangement are very obvious, but the Zr-O ligands had also transformed from octahedrons of the co-top connection in the precursor to cubes of co-edge connection in the Ce2Zr2O8, and the formation of [ZrO8] ligand reduced greatlly the structural stability of Ce2Zr2O8 phase. Raman and IR results show that vibrational spectra bands of Ce2Zr2O8 phase increased significantly, meaning that the enriched oxygen ions result in a removal of the degeneracy peak for Ce2Zr2O8 phase, which confirms further the structural symmetry of Ce2Zr2O8 phase lower than its precursor. XPS results show that Ce (IV) characteristic peak (916.3 eV) in the Ce2Zr2O8 phase surface is very obvious. No the appearance of Ce (III) peak (885 eV) suggests that Ce3+ from the precursor has been completely oxidized into Ce4+ in the Ce2Zr2O8 phase; the Zr(3d) binding energy is close to fluorite phase with Zr4+, which confirms that [ZrO8] ligand in the Ce2Zr2O8 surface is consistent with the bulk phase. The increasing low binding energy of O(1s) shows that oxygen species in the Ce2Zr2O8 bulk phase are between lattice oxygen and adsorbed oxygen, the presence of high oxygen peak suggests that the surface of Ce2Zr2O8 contains adsorbed oxygen, and the bonding strength between adsorption oxygen and Ce2Zr2O8 bulk phase is between CeO2 and Nd2Zr2O7.