Biotechnological applications of polymeric nanofiber platforms loaded with diverse bioactive materials

This review article highlights the critical research and formative works relating to nanofiber composites loaded with bioactive materials for diverse applications, and discusses the recent research on the use of electrospun nanofiber incorporating bioactive compounds such as essential oils, herbal bioactive components, plant extracts, and metallic nanoparticles. Inevitably, with the common advantages of bioactive components and polymer nanofibers, electrospun nanofibers containing bioactive components have attracted intense interests for their applications in biomedicine and cancer treatment. Many studies have only concentrated on the production and performance of electrospun nanofiber loaded with bioactive components; in this regard, the features of different types of electrospun nanofiber incorporating a wide variety of bioactive compounds and their developing trends are summarized and assessed in the present article, as is the feasible use of nanofiber technology to produce products on an industrial scale in different applications

The Importance of Imaging Assessment Before Endovascular Repair of Thoracic Aorta

AbstractIndications for and experience with placement of endovascular stent grafts in the thoracic aorta are still evolving. Recent advances in imaging technologies have drastically boosted the role of pre-procedural imaging. The accepted diagnostic gold standard, digital subtraction angiography, is now being challenged by the state-of-the-art computed tomography angiography (CTA), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and trans-oesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Among these, technological advancements of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) have propelled it to being the default modality used, optimising the balance between spatial and temporal resolutions and invasiveness. MDCT angiography allows the comprehensive evaluation of thoracic lesions in terms of morphological features and extent, presence of thrombus, relationship with adjacent structures and branches as well as signs of impending or acute rupture, and is routinely used in these settings.In this article, we review the current state-of-the-art radiological imaging for thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR), especially focusing on the role of MDCT angiography. After analysing the technical aspects for optimised imaging protocols for thoracic aortic diseases, we discuss pre-procedural determinants of candidacy, and how to formulate interventional plans based on cross-sectional imaging

Fracture simulation of viscoelastic membranes by ordinary state-based peridynamics

Despite a load below the elastic limit is applied on a viscoelastic material, the material may fail after a long duration of constant loading because of the time-dependent viscous deformations. ln this regard, a viscoelastic material model in the ordinary statebased peridynamic framework is proposed to capture crack propagation in polymeric water treatment membranes. The defom1at ion state is decoupled into dilatational and distortional parts, and it is assumed that the dilatational part of defom1ation is elastic, while the distortional pru1 is considered as viscoelastic, whose behaviour can be represented by the Prony series. First, we verify our implementation with FEM results for a benchmark case. Afterwards, the crack propagation is studied by the viscoelastic ordinary state-based peridynamic model

Evaluation of dynamic behaviour of porous media including micro-cracks by ordinary state-based peridynamics

Reliable evaluation of mechanical response in a porous solid might be challenging without any simplified assumptions. Peridynamics (PD) perform very well on a medium including pores owing to its definition, which is valid for entire domain regardless of any existed discontinuities. Accordingly, porosity is defined by randomly removing the PD interactions between the material points. As wave propagation in a solid body can be regarded as an indication of the material properties, wave propagation in porous media under an impact loading is studied first and average wave speeds are compared with the available reference results. A good agreement between the present and the reference results is achieved. Then, micro-cracks are introduced into porous media to investigate their influence on the elastic wave propagation. The micro-cracks are considered in both random and regular patterns by varying the number of cracks and their orientation. As the porosity ratio increases, it is observed that wave propagation speed drops considerably as expected. As for the cases with micro-cracks, the average wave speeds are not influenced significantly in random micro-crack configurations, while regular micro-cracks play a noticeable role in absorbing wave propagation depending on their orientation as well as the number of crack arrays in y-direction

Identification of Lactobacillus strains from human mother milk and cottage cheese revealed potential probiotic properties with enzymatic activity

Abstract The main attempt of this study is to isolate, determine potential probiotic properties and enzyme production of some lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Among all isolates, two LAB strains isolated from human mother milk and cottage cheese revealed antimicrobial activity against some tested pathogenic strains. Both isolates inhibited all the tested pathogens except Escherichia coli. The two isolates were identified by morphological, biochemical properties and then by 16S rRNA gene sequencing technique as Lactobacillus acidophilus SAM1 and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum SAM2. Potential probiotic characters were investigated. Both strains survived in relatively low pH and high bile concentrations and were able to grow at 0.5% of pancreatin concentrations. Their growth decreased by increasing phenol from 0.2% till 0.5%. Both strains did not show hemolytic activity. Coaggregation potential was exhibited by the two strains against Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Hydrophobicity of Lactobacillus acidophilus SAM1 and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum SAM2, with ethyl acetate; were 88.1% and 82.8%, respectively. Lactobacillus acidophilus SAM1 was susceptible to Ampicillin, Penicillin, Erythromycin, Ciprofloxacin and Tetracycline; on the contrary, it resists Vancomycin and Cefoxitin; while Lactiplantibacillus plantarum SAM2 resists all tested antibiotics. Maximum growth was achieved using glucose as a carbon source and yeast extract as nitrogen source for both strains; however, glucose is the most preferred carbon source for microorganisms and it prevents the uptake of carbon from other sources like yeast by catabolite repression mechanism. Lactobacillus acidophilus SAM1 produces lipase enzyme, while Lactiplantibacillus plantarum SAM2 produces amylase and protease

Controllable Fabrication of Zn²⁺ Self-Doped TiO₂ Tubular Nanocomposite for Highly Efficient Water Treatment

Tailoring high-efficiency photocatalytic composites for various implementations is a major research topic. 1D TNTs-based nanomaterials show promise as a photocatalyst for the remediation of organic pigments in an aqueous solution. Despite this, TiO2 (TNTs) is only photoactive in the UV range due to its inherent restriction on absorption of light in the UV range. Herein, we provide a facile recipe to tailor the optical characteristics and photocatalytic activity of TNTs by incorporating Zn (II) ionic species via an ion-exchange approach in an aqueous solution. The inclusion of Zn (II) ions into the TNTs framework expands its absorption of light toward the visible light range, therefore TiO2 nanotubes shows the visible-light photo-performance. Activity performance on photocatalytic decontamination of RhB at ambient temperature demonstrates that Zn-TNTs offer considerable boosted catalytic performance compared with untreated tubular TiO2 during the illumination of visible light. RhB (10 mg L−1) degradation of around 95% was achieved at 120 min. Radical scavenger experiment demonstrated that when electron (e−) or holes (h+) scavengers are introduced to the photodegradation process, the assessment of decontamination efficacy decreased by 45% and 76%, respectively. This demonstrates a more efficient engagement of the photoexcited electrons over photogenerated holes in the photodegradation mechanism. Furthermore, there seems to be no significant decrease in the activity of the Zn-TNTs after five consecutive runs. As a result, the fabricated Zn-TNTs composite has a high economic potential in the energy and environmental domains

Effects of Thymoquinone Alone or in Combination with Losartan on the Cardiotoxicity Caused by Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Hypercholesterolemia

Dietary cholesterol accelerates oxidative and pro-inflammatory processes, causing hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, the purpose of the current study is to compare the protective effects of thymoquinone (TQ) alone or in combination with losartan (LT) against the heart damage caused by a high-cholesterol diet (HCD). HCD-fed rat groups revealed an elevated activity of indicators of cardiac enzymes in the serum. Serum and cardiac lipids were also found to be significantly higher in HCD-fed rat groups. Cardiac pro-inflammatory and oxidative markers were also increased in HCD-fed rat groups, whereas antioxidant indicators were decreased. However, all of these biochemical, inflammatory, antioxidant, and oxidative change indicators returned to levels similar to those of normal rats after treatment with TQ alone or in combination with LT administered to HCD-fed rat groups. Hypercholesterolemia considerably induced the lipid peroxidation product, thiobarbituric acid reaction substances (TBARs), and oxidative radicals in cardiac cells, which were attenuated by QT and LT treatments, particularly when combined. Finally, QT, LT, and their combination were able to reduce the histological changes changes brought on by cholesterol excess in cardiac tissues. In conclusion, administration of TQ in a combination with LT which has a better protective effect, significantly reduced the hypercholesterolemic-induced oxidative and inflammatory changes that occurred in cardiac tissue