Removal of various contaminants from water by renewable lignocellulose-derived biosorbents: a comprehensive and critical review

© 2019, © 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Contaminants in water bodies cause potential health risks for humans and great environmental threats. Therefore, the development and exploration of low-cost, promising adsorbents to remove contaminants from water resources as a sustainable option is one focus of the scientific community. Here, we conducted a critical review regarding the application of pristine and modified/treated biosorbents derived from leaves for the removal of various contaminants. These include potentially toxic cationic and oxyanionic metal ions, radioactive metal ions, rare earth elements, organic cationic and anionic dyes, phosphate, ammonium, and fluoride from water media. Similar to lignocellulose-based biosorbents, leaf-based biosorbents exhibit a low specific surface area and total pore volume but have abundant surface functional groups, high concentrations of light metals, and a high net surface charge density. The maximum adsorption capacity of biosorbents strongly depends on the operation conditions, experiment types, and adsorbate nature. The absorption mechanism of contaminants onto biosorbents is complex; therefore, typical experiments used to identify the primary mechanism of the adsorption of contaminants onto biosorbents were thoroughly discussed. It was concluded that byproduct leaves are renewable, biodegradable, and promising biosorbents which have the potential to be used as a low-cost green alternative to commercial activated carbon for effective removal of various contaminants from the water environment in the real-scale plants

The genomic landscape of cutaneous SCC reveals drivers and a novel azathioprine associated mutational signature

Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) has a high tumour mutational burden (50 mutations per megabase DNA pair). Here, we combine whole-exome analyses from 40 primary cSCC tumours, comprising 20 well-differentiated and 20 moderately/poorly differentiated tumours, with accompanying clinical data from a longitudinal study of immunosuppressed and immunocompetent patients and integrate this analysis with independent gene expression studies. We identify commonly mutated genes, copy number changes and altered pathways and processes. Comparisons with tumour differentiation status suggest events which may drive disease progression. Mutational signature analysis reveals the presence of a novel signature (signature 32), whose incidence correlates with chronic exposure to the immunosuppressive drug azathioprine. Characterisation of a panel of 15 cSCC tumour-derived cell lines reveals that they accurately reflect the mutational signatures and genomic alterations of primary tumours and provide a valuable resource for the validation of tumour drivers and therapeutic targets

Sexual dimorphism in cancer.

The incidence of many types of cancer arising in organs with non-reproductive functions is significantly higher in male populations than in female populations, with associated differences in survival. Occupational and/or behavioural factors are well-known underlying determinants. However, cellular and molecular differences between the two sexes are also likely to be important. In this Opinion article, we focus on the complex interplay that sex hormones and sex chromosomes can have in intrinsic control of cancer-initiating cell populations, the tumour microenvironment and systemic determinants of cancer development, such as the immune system and metabolism. A better appreciation of these differences between the two sexes could be of substantial value for cancer prevention as well as treatment

Preparation of hybrids of wood sawdust with 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane. Application as an adsorbent to remove reactive blue 4 dye from wastewater effluents

Background: Biomass-based materials present low sorption capacity. In order to overcome this disadvantage, chemical modification of these materials is required. Methods: Hybrids of biomass-based materials were obtained by reacting (25%-200% weight) 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTES) with the biomass Ayous wood sawdust (AW), obtaining the hybrid materials [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected], that were characterized by hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance, CHN elemental analysis, surface area, TGA, FTIR, and pHpzc. Significant findings: For screening purposes, the five materials were tested as adsorbents to remove reactive blue 4 (RB-4) from water. The results showed that [email protected] attained the maximum removal of RB-4. The kinetics and equilibrium data were suitably fitted by the nonlinear General-order kinetic (GO) and Liu equilibrium adsorption models. The maximum amount adsorbed of RB-4 dye was 415.1 mg g − 1 using [email protected] (50 °C). An increase in the Qmax value of [email protected] concerning unmodified AW attained up to 21.6 times. The ΔG° and ΔH° indicated that the adsorption processes of RB-4 onto adsorbents are endothermic and spontaneous, and the magnitude of enthalpy of adsorption (25.10 kJ mol−1) is compatible with the electrostatic attraction mechanism. The adsorbents’ applicability for treating simulated dye effluents showed an excellent efficiency attaining 98.66% removal of the effluent