Hydrogen Selection: A Fuel Suitable for environment as an opportunity for teaching green chemistry

With emergence of green chemistry, some scientific principles, approaches and methods appeared. One of its advantages is human and environment health. Green chemistry is a dynamically social, economic, and scientific adjustment. Increasing consumption of fossil fuels and the shortage of these resources on one hand and seriousness of other problems derived from the increase of environmental pollutants have made politicians and programmers in energy sector mobilize their expertise in order to be able to carry out structural researches on how to change energy carriers. In comparison with other fuels, hydrogen, if mixed with oxygen without producing common pollutants, can become a kind of energy with high efficiency due to its high thermal value; hence, all other industries including automobile industry have commenced to conduct broad researches on how to use this energy. Using hydrogen with fuel cell depicts a bright future. In the long run, hydrogen, as the best choice and the most economic fuel, has high potential to be used in fuel cell automobiles. Iran’s development depends on the use of fuel cell technology. In near future, fuel cell will compete with ignition engines. Therefore, hydrogen production and saving solar energy using photo -catalytic decomposition can be considered as a suitable way to solve some of the problems that we addressed. Nowadays, many students are interested in preserving and surviving environment. They want to know how human activity and chemical industry affect our planet health. So, chemistry and its correct teaching provide a suitable opportunity to start discussing chemistry, environment and human health

Microbial Protein Production from Candida tropicalis ATCC13803 in a Submerged Batch Fermentation Process

Background and Objective: Microbial protein production can resolve one of the major world challenges, i.e. lack of protein sources. Candida tropicalis growth was investigated to specify a medium to reach the highest cell proliferation and protein production.Material and Methods: Fractional factorial design and the index of signal to noise ratio were applied for optimization of microbial protein production. Optimization process was conducted based on the experimental results of Taguchi approach designs. Fermentationwas performed at 25oC and the agitation speed of 300 rpm for 70 h. Ammonium sulfate, iron sulfate, glycine and glucose concentrations were considered as process variables. Optimization of the culture medium composition was conducted in order to obtain the highest cell biomass concentration and protein content. Experiment design was performed based on the Taguchi approach and L-16 orthogonal arrays using Qualitek-4 software.Results and Conclusion: Maximum biomass of 8.72 log (CFU ml-1) was obtained using the optimized medium with 0.3, 0.15, 2 and 80 g l-1 of ammonium sulfate, iron sulfate, glycine and glucose, respectively. Iron sulfate and ammonium sulfate with 41.76% (w w-1) and 35.27% (w w-1) contributions, respectively, were recognized as the main components for cell growth. Glucose and glycine with 17.12% and 5.86% (w w-1) contributions,respectively, also affected cell production. The highest interaction severity index of +54.16% was observed between glycine and glucose while the least one of +0.43% was recorded for ammonium sulfate and glycine. A deviation of 7% between the highestpredicted cell numbers and the experimented count confirms the suitability of the applied statistical method. High protein content of 52.16% (w w-1) as well as low fat and nucleic acids content suggest that Candida tropicalis is a suitable case for commercial processes.Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest

Transesterification of Waste Cooking Sunflower Oil by Porcine Pancreas Lipase Using Response Surface Methodology for Biodiesel Production

Background and Objective: Biodiesel production from recycled vegetable oils is considered as an economically acceptable alternative for fossil fuels in the recent years. In this work, porcine pancreas lipase as an active catalyst in transesterification reaction of waste cooking sunflower oil with methanol for biodiesel production was used.Material and Methods: In order to define optimum process parameters and predict the best results, response surface methodology and the central composite design was performed. The effects of methanol to oil molar ratio, lipase concentration and reaction temperature on transesterification were investigated. Biodiesel production was carried out in 25 ml shake flasks at 180 rpm for 72 h.Results and Conclusion: Under optimal conditions, the biodiesel yield was 75% which was nearly consistent with the predicted yield of 76%. At optimal conditions the molar ratio of methanol to oil, reaction temperature, and lipase percent were determined as 3:1, 44°C and 4.4%, respectively. Due to relatively high obtained yield, biodiesel production from waste cooking sunflower oil has provided a sound environmental and commercial process.Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

Evaluation of Natural and Chemical Coagulants Performance in Treatment of Municipal Wastewater of Behshahr City

Municipal wastewater is one of the largest volumes of wastewater which contains various organic compounds from proteins and fats to carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Municipal wastewater of Behshahr city (Mazandaran, Iran) was evaluated using aluminum sulfate and iron chloride as chemical coagulants and pectin and sodium alginate as natural ones. Biological oxygen demand was investigated at different temperatures and coagulant concentrations. The fraction of full factorial statistical method and Qualitek-4 software were applied for designing experiments and analyzing the results to determine the optimal conditions for achieving the highest reduction in wastewater organic load and biological oxygen demand. In the case of biological oxygen demand, the optimal condition was achieved at 25°C, using 1, 0.02, 1.5 and 1 g/L of aluminum sulfate, sodium alginate, iron chloride and pectin, respectively. Under the optimal condition, the percentage of biological oxygen demand reduction was equal to 34.5%. Maximum BOD removal of 40.9% was obtained at 25°C using aluminum sulfate, sodium alginate, iron chloride, and pectin at concentrations of 0.6, 0.02, 1.5, and 6 g/L, respectively. The contribution of aluminum sulfate, sodium alginate, iron chloride, and pectin concentration in biological oxygen demand removal of the studied wastewater was 3.8%, 22.4%, 16.3%, and 14.4%, respectively. Coagulation temperature and aluminum sulfate concentration with approximately 42.7% and 3.8% contribution values were determined as the most and the least effective factors in biological oxygen demand reduction

Inhibitory effect of gold nanoparticles conjugated with interferon gamma and methionine on breast cancer cell line

AbstractObjectiveTo develop a gold nanoparticles complex conjugated with interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and methionine along with application of hyperthermia using near-infrared laser beams for the treatment of cancer cells.MethodsGold nanorods (10 nm) were conjugated with IFN-γ and methionine using carbodiimide family and characterized after purification by dialysis bags. Breast cancer cells were cultured and incubated with gold nanorods at different concentrations followed by irradiation with near-infrared laser beam. Samples were then evaluated for their viability in order to determine the effect of treatment and variables by MTT assy.ResultsZetasizer results confirmed the conjugation of gold nanorods with methionine and IFN-γ. The median percentage of cell viability in 0.30 μg/mL concentration of gold nanorods was 82%. The cell viability reached to 85% at the same concentration of gold nanorods, which existed in the assayed complex. The results of MTT assay showed that the 0.60 μg/mL concentration of gold nanoparticles complex was toxic on tumor cells (P < 0.05). After exposure to hyperthermia, the viability of cells at 6 min decreased to 77% in 0.30 μg/mL concentration of gold nanorods complex.ConclusionsThe size and concentration of gold nanorods was not cytotoxic. However, their presence during irradiation near-infrared laser increased the number of dead cells during the treatment of cells

Primary Ovarian Ectopic Pregnancy: A Case Report

Introduction: Ectopic pregnancy is a serious health problem that leads to maternal mortality and morbidity. The current article was based on the record of a female patient with primary ovarian ectopic pregnancy. Case Presentation: The patient was a 28-year-old female with regular previous menstrual cycle and without using any contraception method. She presented with right lower abdominal pain and amenorrhea. Transvaginal sonography findings revealed a gestational sac in the right ovary. Finally, primary ovarian ectopic pregnancy was diagnosed by laparotomy and confirmed by histopathology. Conclusions: To prevent misdiagnosis, an awareness of this issue should be developed by gynecologists, surgeons, and radiologists. Keywords: Ovary, Ectopic Pregnanc

Patterns of substance abuse among Iranian bipolar inpatients: a descriptive research on existing data

Introduction: Substance abuse/dependency is one of the most important comorbidity in bipolar patients. Therefore, recognizing the patterns of substance use is valuable in treatment and management of patients. This study was conducted to determine patterns of substance abuse among bipolar patients who were hospitalized in an educational hospital.Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical study on existing data of 322 patients with bipolar disorder admitted in the psychiatric ward of Imam-Hossein hospital. Types of used substances studied and some variables such as gender, types of bipolarity, duration of admission, age of onset of bipolar disorder, number of hospitalization and types of prescribed treatments were compared in users and nonusers groups.Results: In this study, 84 patients (26.1%) had substance abuse. 40.5% were using opioids, 6% mood-elevators, 7.1% alcohol, and 46.4% were using multiple substances.Conclusion: It can be concluded that substance abuse frequency among patients with bipolar disorder is high. Using more than one substance was the most frequent pattern of substance abuse in these patients as well. Thus, it is necessary to consider possible comorbidity of bipolar disorder in front of patients with substance related disorder.Declaration of Interest: None.Keywords: Bipolar disorder, Substance abuse

Inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus growth in fresh calf minced meat using low density Polyethylene films package promoted by titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles

Antibacterial properties of TiO2, ZnO as well as mixed TiO2-ZnO nanoparticles coated low density polyethylene films on Staphylococcus aureus PTCC1112 were investigated. Bactericidal efficiency of 0.5, 1 and 2 Wt% for TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles and also 1 Wt% mixed TiO2-ZnO nanoparticles with TiO2:ZnO ratios of 25:75, 50:50 and 75:25 were tested under UV and fluorescent lights exposure at two different states: films alone (Direct effect) and fresh calf minced meat packed inside the films. ZnO nanoparticle showed good antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus PTCC1112. Maximum CFU reduction of 99.59% and 97.07% were obtained using 2 and 1 Wt% ZnO nanoparticle coated LDPE film under UV light for films alone as well as 62.43% and 59.57% for fresh calf minced meat packed. The best antibacterial functionalities of 96.25% and 77.11% CFU reduction were recorded for 1 Wt% TiO2 nanoparticle coated LDPE films in the presence of UV light at direct contact with bacteria and fresh calf minced meat packed, respectively. In the case of mixed TiO2-ZnO, maximum CFU reductions of 98.37% and 97.84% were obtained using 50:50 ratio of TiO2: ZnO nanoparticles at the presence of UV light for direct effect and fresh calf minced meat packed, respectively. 2 Wt% ZnO nanoparticle as well as 1 Wt% mixed TiO2-ZnO nanoparticles in ratio of 50:50 coated LDPE films were identified as the best case to improve shelf life and prevent Staphylococcus aureus PTCC1112 growth in fresh calf minced meat