A Review on the Bulk and Surface Chemistry of Iron in Atmospherically-relevant Systems Containing Humic Like Substances (HULIS)

As the fourth most abundant element by mass in the Earth’s crust, iron is ubiquitous and its chemistry is rich and interdisciplinary in nature. This review synthesizes the current state of knowledge of iron chemistry in multicomponent atmospheric aerosols, which is also applicable to other atmospherically-relevant systems that include iron-containing anthropogenic nanodust, ocean surfaces and buildings. Because of the abundance of humic-like substances (HULIS) in these systems, studies on their chemistry with iron and those used as models for HULIS are the focus of this review. Findings from field measurements and laboratory studies are summarized to highlight major themes in iron chemical reactivity that varies depending on the solubility, redox conditions, absence and presence of UV-visible light and reactive oxygen species, pH, and temperature. The review also highlights key differences between bulk and surface chemistry of iron-containing materials, which varies considerably because of the structure of interfacial water and solvent cage effect. Additional laboratory, field, and modeling studies are needed to better understand the contributions of transition metals chemistry to secondary organic aerosol formation and chemistry, uptake, and release of trace gas phase species. This information will improve the predictive power of models that incorporate aerosols chemistry and physics

Theoretical Treatment of Electronic Distribution of Phynelene and Thiophene Systems

Present work deals with density functional theory to investigate the electronic distribution of phynelene and thiophene compounds and their adducts, the position of interaction between the two structures changes to include six systems. The  electronic properties were studied in two ways, the vertical energy method and vertical orbital method include the chemical potential, chemical molecular hardness, chemical softness, electrophilic index and polarizability. The geometry optimization was calculated at b3LYP level of theory. The results showed that the new structures are more reactive,  they have low chemical hardness with large electrophilicity.

Optimization Of Sludge Settleability And Dewaterability Using Pilot Scale Liquid State Bioconversion Process Under Non-Controlled Conditions

The study of microbial treatment of domestic wastewater treatment plant (DWTP) sludge, by liquid state bioconversion (LSB) process, was conducted using several approaches under sterilized controlled conditions in a bench scale with co-substrate supplementation. For this purpose, the mixed strains (P/A) of two selected filamentous fungi SCahmA103 (Aspergillus niger) and WWZP1003 (Penicillium corylophilum) were used to evaluate the performance of the LSB process in the bench scale and pilot scale, under optimized non-controlled conditions without cosubstrate in terms of biodegradation, bioseparation, biosolid accumulations, settling and dewatering of the DWTP sludge. Three numerical parameters, namely sludge concentrations TSS (w/w %), inoculum sizes (v/w %) and inoculum feeding intervals (hrs.), with three levels statistical design under the response surface methodology (RSM), were optimized with and without co-substrate supplementation to evaluate the performance of the process in terms of acclimatization and biodegradation of the DWTP sludge, under non controlled (natural) conditions. The optimum process parameters of the TSS (w/w %), inoculum size (v/w%) and inoculum feeding interval (hrs.) were observed to be 1% w/w, 5 %v/w and 11 hrs, respectively, without any co-substrate supplementation to get the maximum predicted values of adaptation, and the COD removal of 98% and 96.7%, respectively, in the fungal-treated sludge by LSB under the noncontrolled (natural) conditions in shake flasks. Another three-level statistical design under RSM was used to optimize the process parameters of aeration rates (vvm) and mixing rate (rpm) in a 100 L pilot-scale using the optimized value obtained from the shake flasks. This design was selected to evaluate the bioconversion performance, using the mixed culture P/A, under natural conditions in the pilot-scale in terms of biodegradability and biodewaterability of the DWTP sludge. The optimum aeration rate (vvm) and mixing rate (rpm) of 0 vvm and 10.5 rpm were respectively used to obtain the maximum predicted COD and SRF responses of 98.9% and 98%, respectively in the fungal-treated sludge by the LSB, under the natural conditions in the pilot-scale. In terms of biodegradation, bioseparation and biosolid accumulations of the DWTP sludge, the validation results gathered from the statistical models in the shake flasks and pilot-scale showed that the LSB efficiency was higher in the pilot-scale than in the shake flasks. Consequently, the optimized values obtained from the two statistical models were used at a 200 L pilot-scale to investigate the settleability and dewaterability characteristics in fungal treated with DWTP sludge, under natural conditions. The results for settleability suggested that 65% of the sludge was settled after one minute of settling period, with a maximum TSS reduction of 99%. The sludge volume index (SVI) reduction of 86% for the treated and untreated sludge was 10 minutes and 180 minutes, respectively. Specific resistance to filtration (SRF) was found to decrease by 98% in the treated sludge after 3 days of fungal treatment, as compared to the untreated sludge. This suggested that the settleability and dewaterability of the DWTP sludge, in the developed LSB process, were highly influenced by the fungal mycelial entrapment under the non-controlled (natural) conditions in the pilot scale

A murine model for developmental dysplasia of the hip: ablation of CX3CR1 affects acetabular morphology and gait.

BACKGROUND: Developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is a debilitating condition whose distinguishing signs include incomplete formation of the acetabulum leading to dislocation of the femur, accelerated wear of the articular cartilage and joint laxity resulting in osteoarthritis. It is a complex disorder having environmental and genetic causes. Existing techniques fail to detect milder forms of DDH in newborns leading to hip osteoarthritis in young adults. A sensitive, specific and cost effective test would allow identification of newborns that could be non-invasively corrected by the use of a Pavlik harness. Previously, we identified a 2.5 MB candidate region on human chromosome 3 by using linkage analysis of a 4 generation, 72 member family. Whole exome sequencing of the DNA of 4 severely affected members revealed a single nucleotide polymorphism variant, rs3732378 co-inherited by all 11 affected family members. This variant causes a threonine to methionine amino acid change in the coding sequence of the CX3CR1 chemokine receptor and is predicted to be harmful to the function of the protein To gain further insight into the function of this mutation we examined the effect of CX3CR1 ablation on the architecture of the mouse acetabulum and on the murine gait. METHODS: The hips of 5 and 8 weeks old wild type and CX3CR1 KO mice were analyzed using micro-CT to measure acetabular diameter and ten additional dimensional parameters. Eight week old mice were gait tested using an inclined treadmill with and without load and then underwent micro-CT analysis. RESULTS: (1) KO mice showed larger a 5-17% larger diameter left acetabula than WT mice at both ages. (2) At 8 weeks the normalized area of space (i.e. size discrepancy) between the femur head and acetabulum is significantly larger [38% (p = 0.001)-21% (p = 0.037)] in the KO mice. (3) At 8 weeks gait analysis of these same mice shows several metrics that are consistent with impairment in the KO but not the WT mice. These deficits are often seen in mice and humans who develop hip OA. CONCLUSION: The effect of CX3CR1 deletion on murine acetabular development provides suggestive evidence of a susceptibility inducing role of the CX3CR1 gene on DDH