Binding properties of coumarin phthalonitrile derivatives in methanol

The complexation properties of coumarin phthalonitrile derivatives 1-3, towards some transition, heavy and lanthanide metal cations have been investigated in methanol by means of UV spectrophotometry and conductivity experiments. The stoichiometries of the complexes formed and their stability constants were resolved by digital processing of data. A binuclear M2L (M = Metal, L = Ligand) species were formed and the profiles of affinity of ligands 1-3 towards transition metal cations illustrate their selectivity towards Cu2+

Sludge-derived biochars: A review on the influence of synthesis conditions on pollutants removal efficiency from wastewaters

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process that permits the conversion of biomasses into energy (bio-oil and biogas) and a solid residue called biochar. The generation of biochar from lignocellulosic materials has been, for longtime, the predominant research focus. Wastewater treatment plants produce huge amounts of sludge biomass and there exists an increasing evidence for their possible reuse as a promising pyrolysis feedstock in recent literature. Though the valorization of biochars generated from lignocellulosic biomasses has been the subject of many reviews, there exists a critical knowledge gap regarding the effect of synthesis conditions of the sludge-derived biochars (SDBs) on their efficiency in the treatment of wastewater. This review critically analyzes the available literature related to SDBs characteristics and application to adsorb inorganic and organic pollutants from effluents. The physico-chemical properties and adsorption efficiency of SDBs are mainly tuned by the nature of raw sludge, pyrolysis conditions, and pre/post-treatments. Indeed, biochars originating from digested sludge have better adsorption capacities towards nutrients and heavy metals compared to those obtained from the non-digested sludge. The nutrients recovery from urban wastewater could be significantly improved when the raw sludge is mixed with lignocellulosic biomass and Mg/Ca rich materials. On the other hand, the chemical activation of sludge at reagent/sludge ratios higher than 2:1 permits to generate SDBs with adsorption capacities comparable and even better than commercial activated carbons. Moreover, the embedment/coating of SDBs with specific nanomaterials and tailored functional groups could significantly improve the adsorption capacities of various organic toxic pollutants and at the same time enhance their chemical degradation. The effect of the nature of target pollutants (organic or inorganic) on the underlying adsorption mechanisms by SDBs was also deeply reviewed. Finally, this paper provides the main application challenges as well as insights regarding the promising future directions for SDBs research and development

2-Hydr­oxy-3,3-dimethyl-7-nitro-3,4-dihydro­isoquinolin-1(2H)-one

In the title compound, C11H12N2O4, a new hydroxamic acid which belonging to the isoquinole family, the heterocyclic ring adopts a half-chair conformation. The nitro group is essentially coplanar with the aromatic ring. Inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds assemble the mol­ecules around inversion centres to form pseudo-dimers

Ethyl 6-amino-5-cyano-4-isopropyl-2-methyl-4H-pyran-3-carboxyl­ate

In the title compound, C13H18N2O3, the two H atoms of the NH2 group are engaged in hydrogen bonding with the N atom of the cyano group and with one O atom of the ethoxy­carbonyl group, building a chain parallel to the [100] direction. The N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds assemble the mol­ecules around inversion centres, forming dimers with an R 2 2(12) graph-set motif

Optimized removal of chloroform and DMDS using synthetic zeolite (Na-P1) and activated carbon composite

International audienceIn this study, pure synthesised zeolite (Na-P1) and synthetic activated carbon were investigated as adsorbents for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such chloroform and dimethyl disulfide. Here, Na-P1 was synthesised from Illito-Kaolinitic clay of Tejra region (South-east of Tunisia), while a novel activated carbon was synthesised from wooden tongue depressor waste collected from hospitals during the first wave of covid-19 pandemic. The mineralogical properties of raw clay and the synthesized materials were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Attenuated Total Reflectance-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Morphological characteristics were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), which revealed a high degree of particle size uniformity in Na-P1 zeolite and a well-developed, clearly defined structure in activated carbon. The Na-P1 zeolite shows a high-cation exchange capacity, reaching 279 meq/100 g. BET (N2 adsorption-desorption) analysis reveal a high specific surface area (1511.842 m2/g) and a mean pore volume equal to 0.621 cc/g. A fraction of the synthesised activated carbon has been added to Na-P1 zeolite which enhanced its misopores characteristics, thus increasing its adsorption capacity. Additionally, Kinetic model data are well fitted to pseudo-second order. The Langmuir model provides the best fit for isothermal adsorption equilibrium data, and according to this model, the Na-P1-activated carbon composite demonstrated a maximum adsorption capacity of 54.13 mg/g for chloroform and 28.16 mg/g for dimethyl disulfide

Crystal structure and investigation of phase transitions in hexa (2 amino-indolinium) dodecachlorobithallate(III) and quinolinium tetrachlorothallate(III)

International audienceTwo new thallium containing salts with different aryl ammonium cations have been prepared and characterized by X-ray crystallography, infrared spectroscopy and dielectric measurements. The salt [C8N2H8](6)Tl2Cl12 (1) crystallizes in the monoclinic system with space group Pn. The unit cell dimensions are: a = 15.120(5), b = 11.825(5), c = 17.167(5) angstrom, beta = 104.460(5)degrees with Z = 2, D-calcd = 1.818 g cm(-3), R = 0.0369. The structure consists of 2 amino-indo-linium cations and monomeric TICl63- anions. The TICl63- has a strongly octahedral geometry presenting five short and one long (T11-C113 = 2.739(5) and T12-C126 = 2.684(5) angstrom) Tl-Cl bonds. The presence of multiple hydrogen bonds is considered to be responsible for the octahedral distortion. However, the second compound [C9H8N]TlCl4 (2) crystallizes in the Pna2(1) orthorhombic space group, with a = 9.253(1), b = 9.799(1), c = 14.558(2) angstrom, Z = 4, D-calcd = 2.397 g cm(-3), R = 0.0608. The structure of the quinolinium tetrachlorothallate(III) is characterized by tetracoordinate thallium, forming a regular tetrahedral TlCl4 with Tl-Cl distances between 2.366(2) and 2.451(3) angstrom. The structure consists of quinolinium cations separating chains of TlCl4- tetrahedra, these chains being perpendicular to the c axis. Infrared spectra confirm the presence of the organic cations. Differential scanning calorimetry study was carried out. Electrical measurements were performed to discuss the mechanism of the phase transition

Multi-lingual character handwriting framework based on an integrated deep learning based sequence-to-sequence attention model

Online signals are rich in dynamic features such as trajectory chronology, velocity, pressure and pen up/down movements. Their offline counterparts consist of a set of pixels. Thus, online handwriting recognition accuracy is generally better than offline. In this paper, we propose an original framework for recovering temporal order and pen velocity from offline multi-lingual handwriting. Our framework is based on an integrated sequence-to-sequence attention model. The proposed system involves extracting a hidden representation from an image using a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BGRU), and decoding the encoded vectors to generate dynamic information using a BGRU with temporal attention. We validate our framework using an online recognition system applied to a benchmark Latin, Arabic and Indian On/Off dual-handwriting character database. The performance of the proposed multi-lingual system is demonstrated through a low error rate of point coordinates and high accuracy system rate

Co-inhibitory receptors in female asthmatic patients: Correlation with IL-17 and IL-26

Background: Asthma is an immunological disorder in which T helper 2 (Th2)-type cells and inflammatory cytokines have a prominent role in its pathogenesis. B- and T-lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed death 1 (PD-1) are co-inhibitory receptors that regulate T cell activation. Objective: In the present study of asthmatic patients we measured the soluble isoforms of BTLA (sBTLA), CTLA-4 (sCTLA-4) and PD-1 (sPD-1) in induced sputum fluid with the aim to evaluate their utility as responsible for exacerbation. Methods: Eighty patients with asthma and 30 healthy controls (HC) were included in the study. Sputum fluid concentrations of sBTLA, sCTLA-4 and sPD-1 were measured with ELISA. Comparisons were made with Mann-Whitney U test and correlations with IL-17, IL-26 levels and FEV1 (%) were assessed with Spearman’s Rank correlation test. Results: sBTLA levels were significantly higher in the severe and moderate asthmatic patients compared to healthy controls. Significant differences were observed between severe and moderate asthmatics (p < 0.0001). No significant differences were found between mild asthmatics and healthy controls (p = 0.799). Soluble PD-1 levels were higher in severe and moderate asthmatic patients compared to HC and no significant difference was observed between these two asthmatic groups (p = 0.124). Mild asthmatics and control subjects expressed similar sPD-1 levels (p = 0.856). Soluble CTLA-4 was exclusively expressed in certain severe asthmatic patients. IL-17 inflammatory cytokine was significantly correlated with BTLA and sPD-1. IL-17 and IL-26 cytokines were highly expressed in sputum asthmatic groups compared to sputum from HC. Severe asthmatic group was characterized by the highest levels of both IL-17 and IL-26 mediators. Soluble BTLA correlates positively with IL-17 (r = 0.817; p < 0.0001) and IL-26 (r = 0.805; p < 0.0001) inflammatory cytokines. IL-17 and IL-26 levels were associated with the asthma clinical severity from severe to mild asthma (p < 0.0001). The inflammatory cytokines IL-17 and IL-26 were positively correlated with the percentages of macrophages, PNN and FEV1 (%). Conclusion: Here, we provide the first report on the increased expression of sBTLA and sPD-1 in induced sputum of severe asthmatics. IL-26 and IL-17 appeared as a novel proinflammatory axis. Both sBTLA and sPD-1 might be involved in the pathogenesis of asthma and were associated with a poor prognosis

Cultivation-Dependant Assessment, Diversity, and Ecology of Haloalkaliphilic Bacteria in Arid Saline Systems of Southern Tunisia

Haloalkaliphiles are polyextremophiles adapted to grow at high salt concentrations and alkaline pH values. In this work, we isolated 122 haloalkaliphilic bacteria upon enrichments of 23 samples from 5 distinct saline systems of southern Tunisia, growing optimally in media with 10% salt and at pH 10. The collection was classified into 44 groups based on the amplification of the 16S–23S rRNA internal transcribed spacers (ITS-PCR). Phylogenetic analysis and sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes allowed the identification of 13 genera and 20 distinct species. Three gram-positive isolates showing between 95 and 96% of 16S rRNA sequence homology with Bacillus saliphilus could represent new species or genus. Beside the difference in bacterial diversity between the studied sites, several species ecological niches correlations were demonstrated such as Oceanobacillus in salt crust, Nesterenkonia in sand, and Salinicoccus in the rhizosphere of the desert plant Salicornia. The collection was further evaluated for the production of extracellular enzymes. Activity tests showed that gram-positive bacteria were mostly active, particularly for protease, lipase, DNase, and amylase production. Our overall results demonstrate the huge phenotypic and phylogenetic diversity of haloalkaliphiles in saline systems of southern Tunisia which represent a valuable source of new lineages and metabolites