Sand bath assisted green synthesis of carbon dots from citrus fruit peels for free radical scavenging and cell imaging.

A sand bath assisted strategy for the synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) using citrus fruit peels as a renewable green resource is reported in this work. The CDs were synthesized without any alkaline or acidic environment. The synthesized CDs were characterized by various spectroscopic and microscopy techniques. The CDs exhibited excellent water solubility and superior optical properties like excitation dependent emission, and multicolor fluorescence. In addition, the CDs have exhibited remarkable free radical scavenging activity (EC50: 4.7382 µg ml-1).The CDs were highly biocompatible and showed lower toxicity. The CDs when modified with folic acid have shown a significant potential as biological labels for cellular imaging at multiple excitations. Synthesis of CDs from natural fruit peels as an excellent carbon source for versatile applications has been demonstrated.

Hot sand baths (psammotherapy): A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Psammotherapy is a traditional practice in which hot sand baths are employed for therapeutic purposes. This systematic review aims to investigate the potential efficacy of psammotherapy in the treatment of any disease. METHODS: Medline via PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched for articles describing studies on the efficacy of psammotherapy in patients with different health conditions. Articles were screened by the two author independently and, in case of disagreements, items were discussed until consensus was reached. All relevant clinical outcomes (symptom and pain relief, modifications in any functional and laboratory parameter, changes in drug consumption, variations of quality of life) were extracted from included studies. RESULTS: After article screening and selection, three studies were included in the review. One study involved patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, while in the other two studies patients with rheumatoid arthritis were recruited. Included trials indicate that psammotherapy might be useful for the management of studied diseases. DISCUSSION: Based on available data, no conclusions can be driven on the clinical efficacy of psammotherapy. However, very limited evidence suggests that hot sand baths might be useful in improving symptoms and functionality of patients with some rheumatic and respiratory chronic illnesses. Further studies are encouraged to better assess the clinical efficacy of hot sand baths.

Add-on Effect Of Hot Sand Fomentation To Yoga On Pain, Disability, And Quality Of Life In Chronic Neck Pain Patients.

BACKGROUND: Neck pain is one of the commonest complaints and an important public health problem across the globe. Yoga has reported to be useful for neck pain and hot sand has reported to be useful for chronic rheumatism. The present study was conducted to evaluate the add-on effect of hot sand fomentation (HSF) to yoga on pain, disability, quality of sleep (QOS) and quality of life (QOL) of the patients with non-specific neck pain. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 60 subjects with non-specific or common neck pain were recruited and randomly divided into either study group or control group. Both the groups have received yoga and sesame seed oil (Sesamum Indicum L.) application. In addition to yoga and sesame seed oil, study group received HSF for 15 min per day for 5-days. Assessments were taken prior to and after the intervention. RESULTS: Results of the study showed a significant reduction in the scores of visual analogue scale for pain, neck disability index (NDI), The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and a significant increase in physical function, physical health, emotional problem, pain, and general health both in study and control groups. However, reductions in pain and NDI along with improvement in social functions were better in the study group as compared with control group. CONCLUSION: Results of this study suggest that addition of HSF to yoga provides a better reduction in pain and disability along with improvement in the social functioning of the patients with non-specific neck pain than yoga alone.

Effects of Uygur sand therapy on the mechanical properties of femurs in osteoarthritic rabbits.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Uygur sand therapy on the mechanical properties of the femur bone of osteoarthritic rabbits. METHODS: Sixteen rabbits were injected with papain in the right posterior femoral articular cavity on the first, fourth and seventh day to establish the osteoarthritis (OA) rabbit model. Animals were divided into the experimental group and control group (8 rabbits each). The experimental group was treated with sand therapy, and the control group received no sand therapy treatment. Computed tomography (CT) scanning was used to collect the data of the femur before modeling, after modeling and 14 and 28 days after sand treatment. A 3D model of the femur was generated with the MIMIC software the bone layer was divided according to the different gray values and the change of the bone volume was analyzed. The body mesh is divided, and the material properties are given, then the three-point bending simulation is performed in Ansys. Additionally, the three-point bending test was performed on all the rabbits' femur to obtain the deflection and maximum stress values. And the effects of the sand treatment on the volume and mechanical properties of the bone were analyzed. Finally, the simulation results are compared with the experimental results, and the effects of sand treatment on the volume and mechanical properties of the bone are analyzed. RESULTS: (1) there is a tendency in the control group to convert the hard bone into dense bone and soft bone, while in the experimental group, the soft bone is converted into dense bone and hard bone obviously; (2) the morphological parameters of the experimental group are lower than those of the control group, whereas the maximum load, maximum normal stress, maximum shear stress of the experimental group are higher than those of the control group. (3) The mechanical test of three-point bending test was carried out using the three dimensional finite element model of rabbit femur. CONCLUSION: The sand therapy has positive effects on the volume distribution of bone layer and the mechanical properties of the femur of adult osteoarthritic rabbits.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus Isolated from Recreational Waters and Beach Sand in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

Background: Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to commonly used antibiotics is linked to their ability to acquire and disseminate antimicrobial-resistant determinants in nature, and the marine environment may serve as a reservoir for antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This study determined the antibiotic sensitivity profile of S.aureus isolated from selected beach water and intertidal beach sand in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Methods: Two hundred and forty-nine beach sand and water samples were obtained from 10 beaches from April 2015 to April 2016. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the samples using standard microbiological methods and subjected to susceptibility testing to 15 antibiotics. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was detected by susceptibility to oxacillin and growth on Brilliance MRSA II agar. Antibiotic resistance genes including mecA, femA rpoB, blaZ, ermB, ermA, ermC, vanA, vanB, tetK and tetM were screened. Results: Thirty isolates (12.3%) were positive for S. aureus by PCR with over 50% showing phenotypic resistance to methicillin. Resistance of S. aureus to antibiotics varied considerably with the highest resistance recorded to ampicillin and penicillin (96.7%), rifampicin and clindamycin (80%), oxacillin (73.3%) and erythromycin (70%). S.aureus revealed varying susceptibility to imipenem (96.7%), levofloxacin (86.7%), chloramphenicol (83.3%), cefoxitin (76.7%), ciprofloxacin (66.7%), gentamycin (63.3%), tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim (56.7%), and vancomycin and doxycycline (50%). All 30 (100%) S. aureus isolates showed multiple antibiotic-resistant patterns (resistant to three or more antibiotics). The mecA, femA, rpoB, blaZ, ermB and tetM genes were detected in 5 (22.7%), 16 (53.3%), 11 (45.8%), 16 (55.2%), 15 (71.4%), and 8 (72.7%) isolates respectively; Conclusions: Results from this study indicate that beach water and sand from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa may be potential reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant S. aureus which could be transmitted to exposed humans and animals.

Nocardioides litoris sp. nov., isolated from the Taean seashore.

A novel Gram-stain-positive, irregularly rod-shaped actinomycete, designated strain 002-2T, was isolated from sand beach sediment collected from the Taean seashore, Republic of Korea. Cells were aerobic, oxidase-negative and catalase-positive. Colonies of cells were bright yellow, circular, smooth and convex. The diagnostic diamino acid in the cell wall was ll-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H4). The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, an unknown phospholipid and two unknown amino phospholipids. The major fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0 and C17 : 1ω8c. The DNA G+C content was 68.8 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain 002-2T belongs to the family Nocardioidaceae and formed a cluster with Nocardioides rubroscoriae Sco-A25T (98.1 % sequence similarity) and Nocardioides plantarum NCIMB 12834T (97.6 %). On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain 002-2T (=KCTC 39838T=DSM 103718T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Nocardioides, for which the name Nocardioides litoris sp. nov. is proposed.

[Application of ammotherapy for the remedial treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the rehabilitative phase].

The objective of this study was to evaluate clinical and physiological efficiency of ammotherapy (PT) applied to the treatment of 112 patients in the phase of partial remission. It was shown that combination of standard baseline therapy and ammotherapy ensured positive dynamics of clinical symptoms and substantially improved parameters of external respiration and hemodynamics. It is concluded that ammotherapy can be recommended for a more extensive application to the management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

[Mechanical properties of therapeutic sand upon femur and its finite element analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To study the mechanical properties of therapeutic sand for femur used in the Uygur medicine. METHODS: Rabbits were randomly divided into the treatment group and the control group. Rabbits of both groups had arthritis. No treatment was carried out for the control group. Only sand therapy was offered for the treatment group. After sand therapy was completed, rabbits specimen were removed and grouped. The NJ-100B device was employed to measure the femur tensile and compressive strength and the analysis of finite element performed upon the experimental data. RESULTS: At different sand temperatures below 55 degrees C, there was no significant difference in maximal stress and elastic modulus of tensile/compressive/bending of each femur sample. CONCLUSION: Under different temperatures, the in vitro heating has no obvious effect upon the bio-mechanical performance of bone tissues. The static tensile strength of ex vivo femur shows no obvious decline. And the compressive strengthen improves somewhat over the normal group.

[Stimulation for sebum excretion of PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs on bathing ceramic sand bath].

We previously reported that high risk environmental contaminants such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are excreted not only in feces but also in the sebum of the face and body in both normal subjects and Yusho patients. A combination of administration of rice bran fiber and cholestyramine increased fecal excretion of PCDFs and PCBs. In the present study, we stimulated excretion of these compounds in sebum using a ceramic sand bath, a kind of sand bath using small ceramic balls (3.5 mm diameter) instead of natural sand. Five normal volunteers participated in this experiment. Sebum eliminated from the body on bathing ceramic sand bath was collected and weighed and then concentrations of the compounds interest in the sebum were determined. We also examined the effects varying the bath conditions such as temperature of sand, length of bathing time and frequency of taking bath on the amounts of the compounds in the eliminated sebum. The results can be summarized as follows: 1. The average amount of sebum per one bath eliminated from the body during the ceramic sand bath was 0.252 g, and those of PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs in it were 2.2, 2.0 and 2.2 pg of TEQ (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin equivalent quantity). It was considered that the amounts of these compounds corresponded to between one quarter and third of those eliminated through the sebum in a day. On the other hand, 0.05 g of the sebum was collected from the face during the bath, included 0.39, 0.39 and 0.59 pg TEQ for PCDDs, PCDFs and coplanar PCBs, respectively. 2. As the number of bathing times a day increased, the amount of sebum per bath gradually decreased. However, we could not determine the influence of the conditions of the bath such as temperature and time.

Removal of Harderian exudates by sandbathing contributes to osmotic balance in Mongolian gerbils.

Whittow [18] has inquired whether any animal can limit insensible perspiration through the integument. Sandbathing by the Mongolian gerbil may be a behavioral mechanism to such effect. Ordinarily, Harderian exudates from the external nares of the nose are spread over the pelage by autogrooming and are removed by sandbathing. Several experiments were designed to explore the hypothesis that removal of Harderian materials from the pelage by sandbathing aids osmoregulation through lowering rate of insensible perspiration. An initial experiment showed body weight losses during water deprivation were greater in intact than in Harderianectomized (Hx) gerbils when neither group could sandbathe, but were equivalent when sandbathing was allowed. Subsequent work indicated that variation in relative humidity was associated with magnitude of the difference in weight loss during water deprivation between intact and Hx gerbils, while change in the ambient temperature was not. Checks on these findings showed (1) that nonthirsty intact and Hx gerbils do not differ in amount of internal water and (2) that grooming water losses probably are equivalent in intact and Hx gerbils.

A monazita - nova medicacao radioativa natural indicada no tratamento do reumatismo, dermatoses e outras doencas alergicas. / The monazite - a new natural radioactive medication in the treatment of rheumatism, dermatosis and other allergic diseases

As curas de doencas reumaticas e outras enfermidades observadas nos ultimos 40 anos, que a intuicao popular discerniu nas praias de areia monazitica da cidade de Guarapari, foram confirmadas pelos medicos locais e visitantes da grande estancia radioclimatica.Os efeitos da nova medicacao, atribuidos pelo medico brasileiro Silva Mello como resultantes da radioatividade ambiente, foram confirmados pelos fisicos da Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro, os padres jesuitas Roser e Cullen, apos investigacoes em rigorosas determinacoes fisicas sobre a radioatividade decorrente do oxido de torio, existente na proporcao de 6,4%. E este o novo medicamento original e inocuo, desconhecido nos anais da Biologia medica, que divulgamos no presente estudo, sugerindo a nossa juventude medica novo tema de investigacoes de alto interesse medico-social