Recycling and the Environment: a Comparative Review Between Mineral-based Plastics and Bioplastics

Since their conception in the 1950s, mineral-based plastics have completely revolutionised our society with production reaching record highs year upon year. This cheap, and durable material has seen usage across a plethora of diverse industries and products, replacing traditional materials such as metals and wood. However, our reliance on mineral-based plastics has led to their improper disposal across the global, affecting our environments and ecosystems. As a response, different methods have been developed to help dispose of the large amounts of plastic waste produced, such as incineration or dumping in landfill sites, but these methods are not without their drawbacks including release of toxic substances into the air and leachate into the soil and waters respectively. Consequently, much interest is generated and channelled in recent years to the introduction of several types of biopolymers. These include plastics based on cellulosic esters, starch derivatives, polyhydroxybutyrate and polylactic acid. These biopolymers have been viewed as a suitable replacement for mineral-based plastics, and their production a good strategy towards sustainable development as they are mainly composed of biocompounds such as starch, cellulose and sugars. This short review article provides an overview as to whether biopolymers can rival mineral-based plastics considering properties such as mechanical strength, Young’s modulus and crystallinity and could they be regarded as a suitable material to reduce our reliance on mineral-based plastics, whilst simultaneously reducing non-renewable energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions

Plastics and Environment: Is There a Happy Medium?

In 2013 alone, 56 million tons of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) was produced worldwide. It’s low cost of production, coupled with desirable properties such as high durability and plasticity has led to its extensive use in many different applications, from mobile phones to medical equipment to clothing. Demand for PET is steadily increasing year by year. However, PET is mineral-based and is a non-degradable material due to its synthetic nature. It accumulates within the environment globally, and this has led to collective global efforts for developing strategies to tackle the issue using various different options. Biopolymers such as Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) present themselves as a possible solution and as suitable alternative to help manage the ever-rising global demand for plastics as well as alleviating the global environmental crisis arising from non-degradable plastics. Capable to be produced in an eco-friendly manner and possessing biodegradable properties, biopolymers should be set to replace non-degradable plastics, but despite extensive research on production of biodegradable plastics, the cost of their production is too high to lend them to large-scale production. This project focuses on economic production of PHAs. In this context, several approaches are adopted. Cheaper media such as orange peel, wheat bran, and spirulina with other quality enhancing ingredients have been tried; dual polymer production has been proved a possible option, and stage-wise fermentations, appart from fed-batch have been tried. Furthermore, downstream processing strategies such as planned time of harvest have the potential to attenuate adverse effects of extraction methods for PHA extraction. A holistic approach promises positive future for biopolymer industry

Hydrogen adsorption on sub-bituminous coal: Implications for hydrogen geo-storage

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that can potentially revolutionize the energy supply chain and decarbonize fuel consumption. However, a key hurdle that needs to be overcome before a full-scale hydrogen economy can be established is hydrogen storage which is currently the main limitation. Here, we propose that hydrogen gas can be stored in underground coal seams, where it adsorbs on the coal surface. However, currently, no hard data related to such a procedure exists. We, therefore, demonstrate experimentally that significant amounts of hydrogen gas can be stored via this route. Hydrogen adsorption capacities reached 0.6 moles H2/kg of coal at 14.3 MPa, and adsorption capacity initially increased strongly with pressure (up to ∼4 MPa) and then plateaued out, while temperature only had a very minor influence. This study provides fundamental data for hydrogen storage in coal seams, and thus aids in the industrial implementation of a hydrogen supply chain

Explanation the experiences of mothers with gestational diabetes about the factors affecting self-care: A qualitative study

Background and aims: Diabetes is the most common medical complication of pregnancy. This disease is a growing health problem in the world. Self-care is the most important factor in the control of chronic diseases such as diabetes. Several factors include biological factors, psychological, economic, social, cultural and health care system. Community Treatment is effective directly and indirectly on self-care behaviors in patients with diabetes.The aim of this study was to assess mothers, experiences with gestational diabetes on the factors influencing self-care. Methods: This study is a qualitative conventional content analysis research. In this study, data were collected by semi-structured individual interviews. Interviews were performed based on interview guidance. Participants were pregnant women diagnosed with gestational diabetes in 24th-36th week of pregnancy who referred to the clinics affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. After 12 interviews with participants, data were saturated. Conventional content analysis was done for data analysis. To assess the accuracy and reliability of data, four criteria provided by Lincoln and Guba, including dependability, credibility, confirmability and transferability were used. For the analysis of qualitative data in this study, the conventional qualitative content analysis methods and software MAXQDA 10 was used. Results: Perception of pregnant women led to the extraction of two themes: barriers and facilitators to self-care. The former was featured with four main categories: insolvency, perceived problems, admission disease and support from others. 13 sub- categories were also classified in the main form. Results showed that mothers for self- care actions, need to get further information via health-care provider and get more support from their relatives. It was also found barriers and facilitators to take care of mothers in most societies is almost the same. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, it is needed to do appropriate proceedings to promoting culture, providing appropriate information and higher quality services, and promoting healthlevel and self-care of mothers with gestational diabetes

Fluorescence emission spectra of silver and silver/cobalt nanoparticles

AbstractVarious aqueous solutions of silver and silver/cobalt nanoparticles (Ag and Ag/Co NPs) were obtained, and their fluorescence emission spectra have been studied. First, colloidal Ag NPs were prepared by an electrochemical method under different time intervals and at different rotation speeds of rotating electrode. Next, in a reduction method, Ag/Co core–shell NPs were prepared, using Ag NPs as a core. The core–shell structure of Ag/Co NPs has been demonstrated by the Transmission Electron Micrograph (TEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern. The fluorescence emission spectra of Ag and Ag/Co NPs, at different ranges of excitation wavelength, were investigated, which revealed two kinds of fluorescence emission peak. The shorter emission peak was fixed at about 485 (for Ag NPs) and 538 nm (for Ag/Co NPs). For both NPs, with an increase in excitation wavelength, the latter emission peak becomes red-shifted. The effect of duration time and rotation speed of the rotating electrode, in the electrochemical preparation of Ag NPs, on its fluorescence emission spectra, has also been investigated

Development of chitosan, pullulan, and alginate based drug-loaded nano-emulsions as a potential malignant melanoma delivery platform

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer and various treatments have been investigated to treat this disease, but drug resistance remains an important factor in the failure of conventional therapeutics. Here we describe the development, optimisation and characterisation of alginate, chitosan, pullulan, and their combined nano-emulsions as drug delivery platforms for potential application for melanoma. A novel nano-emulsion delivery system was designed and assessed by determining in vitro drug release, cell viability (MTT), cellular apoptosis (ELISA) and confocal microscopy. A comparative analysis of the effect of the nano-emulsions on BRAF-mutant melanoma (A375) and keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells was conducted, with the “pullulan-chitosan” nano-emulsion chosen as an approach for melanoma drug delivery. Increased apoptosis induction of melanoma cells was recorded as 90% after 72 h of treatment with doxorubicin-loaded optimal nano-emulsion. Similarly, in the same treatment, the viability of melanoma cells was decreased by 70%. More importantly, A375 cells treated with naïve doxorubicin were 100% viable compared to cells treated with doxorubicin-loaded nano-emulsion which were only 30%viable. Achieved results are indicating the importance of the drug carrier’s polymeric combination and the impact of the drug release pattern on the efficiency of the treatment. This offers potential for the abrogation of drug- efflux-related chemo-resistance

Reliability and validity of the persian version of compulsive eating scale (CES) in overweight or obese women and its relationship with some body composition and dietary intake variables

Objective: Compulsive or binge eating is a kind of disturbed eating behavior, which is mostly observed among dieting women, and is integrated with appetite disorder, and uncontrolled eating of plenty of junk food. The Compulsive Eating Scale (CES) created first by Kagan & Squires in 1984, is an eight-item self-reporting instrument that is made to measure the severity of binge eating disorder. The aim of this study was to provide the reliability and validity of the Persian version of Compulsive Eating Scale (CES) among overweight and obese women in Iran. Method: One hundred and twenty six (N = 126) overweight and obese women consented to participate in this study. We estimated the anthropometric indices, including body weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, a total body fat percentage, and visceral fat level with body analyzer all in standard situations. Then, the participants completed the CES. Next, to assess concurrent validity, Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger anxiety scale, appetite visual analogue rating scale, Food Craving questionnaire, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18, and Restraint eating visual analogue rating scale were performed simultaneously. To assess test-retest reliability, CES was repeated for all the participants two weeks later. Moreover, we reported the internal consistency and factor analysis of this questionnaire. Furthermore, we estimated the concurrent correlation of CES with logically relevant questionnaires and body composition and anthropometric indices. Results: Based on the reliability analysis and factor analysis of the principal component by Varimax rotation, we extracted two factors: eating because of negative feelings, and overeating. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the CES was 0.85 (Cronbach alpha of the factors was 0.85, and 0.74, respectively). The test-retest correlation of the CES was 0.89. Also, the split-half reliability of the questionnaire was established with the correlation coefficient between Sets I and II. The correlation was 0.85. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the CES. This instrument would be helpful in measuring the clinical practice and research studies of obesity, appetite and eating disorders reliably and validly

The Effectiveness of Religious-Spiritual Psychotherapy on the Quality of Life of Women with Breast Cancer

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers around the world that leads to a decreased quality of life. Since one of the supportive measures is the use of spiritual teachings, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of religious care on the quality of life of women with breast cancer. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2017 among women with breast cancer who referred to Qom health centers at least two months after their diagnosis. Seventy subjects were selected through convenience sampling and were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. For the intervention group, 6 sessions of religious – spiritual psychotherapy were held with the focus of communication with God, other people, self and environment. The quality of life of the subjects was evaluated before the intervention, immediately after the intervention and two months after that using The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) with mean score of 0 – 100. FINDINGS: The results showed a significant difference between the dimensions of quality of life in the control and intervention groups: total health and quality of life (57.61±9.42) vs. (60±19.51) (p=0.002), physical health (46.22±19.53) vs. (61.35±13.36) (p=0.016), mental health (57.85±24.16) vs. (67.55±13.24) (p=0.005), social health (54.88±24.44) vs. (62.79±18.35) (p<0.001), and environmental health (62.05±3.55) vs. (67.33±33.43) (p=0.048), indicating that the results were stable over time. CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that religious–spiritual psychotherapy increases the quality of life of women with breast cancer