Biomedical waste management by using nanophotocatalysts: The need for new options

Biomedical waste management is getting significant consideration among treatment technologies, since insufficient management can cause danger to medicinal service specialists, patients, and their environmental conditions. The improvement of waste administration protocols, plans, and policies are surveyed, despite setting up training programs on legitimate waste administration for all healthcare service staff. Most biomedical waste substances do not degrade in the environment, and may also not be thoroughly removed through treatment processes. Therefore, the long-lasting persistence of biomedical waste can effectively have adverse impact on wildlife and human beings, as well. Hence, photocatalysis is gaining increasing attention for eradication of pollutants and for improving the safety and clearness of the environment due to its great potential as a green and eco-friendly process. In this regard, nanostructured photocatalysts, in contrast to their regular counterparts, exhibit significant attributes such as non-toxicity, low cost and higher absorption efficiency in a wider range of the solar spectrum, making them the best candidate to employ for photodegradation. Due to these unique properties of nanophotocatalysts for biomedical waste management, we aim to critically evaluate various aspects of these materials in the present review and highlight their importance in healthcare service settings

Gum Tragacanth (GT): A Versatile Biocompatible Material beyond Borders

The use of naturally occurring materials in biomedicine has been increasingly attracting the researchers' interest and, in this regard, gum tragacanth (GT) is recently showing great promise as a therapeutic substance in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. As a polysaccharide, GT can be easily extracted from the stems and branches of various species of Astragalus. This anionic polymer is known to be a biodegradable, non-allergenic, non-toxic, and non-carcinogenic material. The stability against microbial, heat and acid degradation has made GT an attractive material not only in industrial settings (e.g., food packaging) but also in biomedical approaches (e.g., drug delivery). Over time, GT has been shown to be a useful reagent in the formation and stabilization of metal nanoparticles in the context of green chemistry. With the advent of tissue engineering, GT has also been utilized for the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds applied for both hard and soft tissue healing strategies. However, more research is needed for defining GT applicability in the future of biomedical engineering. On this object, the present review aims to provide a state-of-the-art overview of GT in biomedicine and tries to open new horizons in the field based on its inherent characteristics

Thermal Diffusivity of Silver Metallic Nanoparticles in Clay Matrix

In this work, we have applied thermal lens (TL) technique to measure thermal diffusivity of clay suspensions containing metallic silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) prepared by chemical reduction method in different concentration. This study carried out with diode laser (wavelength 514 nm, power 80mW) as the excitation source and intensity stabilized He-Ne laser as a probe beam. The results show that thermal diffusivity of fluid increases when Ag-NPs concentrations increase

Association of RS4784227-casc16 (Loc643714 locus) and RS4782447-ACSF3 polymorphisms and their association with breast cancer risk among iranian population

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2D-coordination polymer containing lead(II) in a hemidirected PbO4S3 environment formed by molecular breaking of the 1,3-oxathiolane ligand

new 1,3-oxathiolane-based ligand, 2-(1,3-oxathiolan-2-yl)pyridine, was prepared and its coordination to lead(II) was investigated. Experiments revealed a ligand-breaking reaction during the complexation process, which leads to the formation of a 2D-coordination polymer of lead(II), [Pb(μ3-HME)(μ-OAc)]n; H2ME: 2-mercaptoethanol. The compounds have been characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, 1H NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. X-ray analysis revealed a 2D-coordination polymer extending via acetato bridges. The lead(II) center adopts a rare PbO4S3-distorted pentagonal bipyramidal geometry with a hemidirected arrangement. Upon coordination, the thiol group of the H2ME ligand is deprotonated to coordinate as an anionic ligand. The network extends in sheets in the crystallographic ab plane via Pb–S–Pb and Pb–O–Pb bridges, aided by O–H⋯O hydrogen bonds.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Preparation and characterization of gelatin mediated silver nanoparticles by laser ablation.

We successfully prepared colloidal silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) using a nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG laser, λ = 532 nm, with laser fluence of approximately about 0.6 J/pulse, in an aqueous gelatin solution. The size and optical absorption properties of samples were studied as a function of the laser repetition rates. The results from the UV-vis spectroscopy demonstrated that the mean diameter of Ag-NPs increase with the laser repetition rate increases. The Ag-NPs have mean diameters ranging from approximately 9 nm to 15 nm. Compared with other preparation methods, this work is clean, rapid, and simple to use

Hookah smoking is strongly associated with diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and obesity: a population-based study

Objectives The adverse effects of cigarette smoking have been widely studied before, whilst the effects of hookah smoking has received less attention, although it is a common habit in the Middle East. Here we have investigated the effects of cigarette and hookah smoking on biochemical characteristics in a representative population sample derived from the Mashhad stroke and heart atherosclerotic disorder (MASHAD) cohort study, from Northeastern Iran. Study design A total of 9840 subjects from the MASHAD population study were allocated to five groups; non-smokers (6742), ex-smokers (976), cigarette smokers (864), hookah smokers (1067), concomitant cigarette and hookah smokers (41). Methods Baseline characteristics were recorded in a questionnaire. Biochemical characteristics were measured by routine methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results After adjustment for age and sex; the presence of CVD, obesity, metabolic syndrome, DM and dyslipidemia were significantly (p < 0.001) related to smoking status. After multivariate analysis, HDL (p < 0.001), WBC (p < 0.001), MCV (p < 0.05), PLT (p < 0.01) and RDW (p < 0.001), and the presence of CVD (p < 0.01), obesity (p < 0.001), metabolic syndrome (p < 0.05) and DM (p < 0.01) remained significant between cigarette smokers and non-smokers. Between hookah smokers and non-smokers; uric acid (p < 0.001), PLT (p < 0.05) and RDW (p < 0.05), and the presence of obesity (p < 0.01), metabolic syndrome (p < 0.001), diabetes (p < 0.01) and dyslipidemia (p < 0.01) remained significant after logistic regression. Conclusion There was a positive association between hookah smoking and metabolic syndrome, diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia which was not established in cigarette smoking

Potent cytotoxic effects of Calomeria amaranthoides on ovarian cancers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ovarian cancer remains the leading cause of death from gynaecological malignancy. More than 60% of the patients are presenting the disease in stage III or IV. In spite of combination of chemotherapy and surgery the prognosis stays poor for therapy regimen.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The leaves of a plant endemic to Australia, <it>Calomeria amaranthoides</it>, were extracted and then fractionated by column chromatography. <it>In vitro </it>cytotoxicity tests were performed with fractions of the plant extract and later with an isolated compound on ovarian cancer cell lines, as well as normal fibroblasts at concentrations of 1-100 μg/mL (crude extract) and 1-10 μg/mL (compound). Cytotoxicity was measured after 24, 48 and 72 hours by using a non-fluorescent substrate, Alamar blue.</p> <p><it>In vivo </it>cytotoxicity was tested on ascites, developed in the abdomen of nude mice after inoculation with human OVCAR₃cells intraperitoneally. The rate of change in abdomen size for the mice was determined by linear regression and statistically evaluated for significance by the unpaired t test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two compounds were isolated by chromatographic fractionation and identified by ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR and mass spectrometry analyses, EPD, an α-methylene sesquiterpene lactone of the eremophilanolide subtype, and EPA, an α-methylene carboxylic acid.</p> <p>Cytotoxicity of EPD for normal fibroblasts at all time points IC₅₀was greater than 10 μg/mL, whereas, for OVCAR₃cells at 48 hours IC₅₀was 5.3 μg/mL (95% confidence interval 4.3 to 6.5 μg/mL).</p> <p>Both, the crude plant extract as well as EPD killed the cancer cells at a final concentration of 10 μg/mL and 5 μg/mL respectively, while in normal cells only 20% cell killing effect was observed. EPA had no cytotoxic effects.</p> <p>Changes in abdomen size for control versus Cisplatin treated mice were significantly different, P = 0.023, as were control versus EPD treated mice, P = 0.025, whereas, EPD versus Cisplatin treated mice were not significantly different, P = 0.13.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>For the first time both crude plant extract from <it>Calomeria amaranthoides </it>and EPD have been shown to have potent anti-cancer effects against ovarian cancer.</p