A study to assess the knowledge and practice of medical professionals on radiation protection in interventional radiology

Objective: Ionizing radiation has been extensively used in medical procedures throughout the world. Such interventional radiological procedures could result in occupational exposure that needs urgent control. Therefore, MPs (medical professionals) should receive education and appropriate training on occupational radiation protection. In this context, the present study is aimed to investigate the MPs’ knowledge and practice regarding radiation protection principles during interventional radiological procedures. Material and Methods: A descriptive questionnaire-based study was carried out among 215 MPs involved in interventional fluoroscopy procedures. The practice of 31 MPs was studied using a checklist based on ALARA principles and ICRP guidelines. Results: A total of 43.3% and 45.1% answered correctly for knowledge and practice. However, the difference between radiation protection knowledge and practice between the physicians and nurses was statistically significant. The knowledge and practice survey of MPs demonstrated that nurses rarely adhered to radiation-protection measures. Conclusion: The present study reflects the lack of knowledge and practice concerning radiation protection concepts among the nurses. This deficiency needs to be resolved by periodic practical radiation protection courses in the curriculum of medicine

Preparation and Characterization of Mn_0.4Zn_0.6Fe₂O₄ Nanoparticles Supported on Dead Cells of Yarrowia lipolytica as a Novel and Efficient Adsorbent/Biosorbent Composite for the Removal of Azo Food Dyes: Central Composite Design Optimization Study

The removal of hazardous dyes is of great importance to making healthy and drinkable water. Here, a new ferromagnetic composite based on Mn_0.4Zn_0.6Fe₂O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) supported on dead Yarrowia lipolytica ISF7 (D-YL-ISF7) was prepared. Nanoparticle aggregation was inhibited using D-YL-ISF7, which causes the availability of more active sites. The dead D-YL-ISF7-supported Mn_0.4Zn_0.6Fe₂O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), <i>X</i>-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy dispersive <i>X</i>-ray (EDX), Brunuaer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis and used as robust adsorbents/biosorbents to simultaneously remove tartrazine (TA) and ponceau 4R (P4R) azo food dyes in their binary solution. First-order derivative spectrophotometry was implemented for the simultaneous analysis of dyes in binary mixtures. Central composite design (CCD) was used to evaluate the influence of pH, sonication time, Mn_0.4Zn_0.6Fe₂O₄-NPs-D-YL-ISF7 mass, and initial TA and P4R concentrations on the efficiency for the removal of the studied dyes. At optimum conditions (pH 2.0, sonication time 5 min, Mn_0.4Zn_0.6Fe₂O₄-NPs-D-YL-ISF7 mass 0.015 g, TA concentration 12 mg L^–1 and P4R concentration 16 mg L^–1), high removal efficiencies (>99.0%) were obtained for TA and P4R dyes, reasonably well predicted by the model. The CCD allowed the optimization and the scale-up of the process, which presented a good correlation between large and small scales. Adsorption isotherm data fitted well to the Langmuir model. Under ultrasound, the Langmuir adsorption capacity of Mn_0.4Zn_0.6Fe₂O₄-NPs-D-YL-ISF7 was obtained to be 90.827 mg g^–1 for TA and 101.461 mg g^–1 for P4R. A pseudo-second-order reaction model was chosen for kinetic study

Antibacterial Activity Assessment of Bi₂WO₆/Ag₃PO₄/Ag Photocatalyst and <i>Persian</i> <i>Oak fruit</i> Phytobiotic

The antibacterial effect of the previously reported Bi2WO6/Ag3PO4/Ag Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst compared with a phytobiotics named, aqueous extract of Persian Oak fruit. The impact of both materials on the expression of the urease gene was checked in two kinds of samples such as clinical and standard Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). The gene expression differences were collected by real-time PCR from clinical strains and the standard of H. pylori as well as the MIC and MBC were found to be 3.1 and 0.8 mg/mL, and 6.2 and 1.6 mg/mL, for Bi2WO6/Ag3PO4/Ag photocatalyst and Oak fruit Phytobiotics, respectively. Due to the impact of Oak fruit extract on the urease gene of H. pylori, it is possible to use it as a disinfector against this bacterium and the proposed photocatalyst, for efficiently purifying H. pylori bacteria from contaminated environment

Antibacterial Activity Assessment of Bi2WO6/Ag3PO4/Ag Photocatalyst and Persian&nbsp;Oak fruit Phytobiotic

The antibacterial effect of the previously reported Bi2WO6/Ag3PO4/Ag Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst compared with a phytobiotics named, aqueous extract of Persian Oak fruit. The impact of both materials on the expression of the urease gene was checked in two kinds of samples such as clinical and standard Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). The gene expression differences were collected by real-time PCR from clinical strains and the standard of H. pylori as well as the MIC and MBC were found to be 3.1 and 0.8 mg/mL, and 6.2 and 1.6 mg/mL, for Bi2WO6/Ag3PO4/Ag photocatalyst and Oak fruit Phytobiotics, respectively. Due to the impact of Oak fruit extract on the urease gene of H. pylori, it is possible to use it as a disinfector against this bacterium and the proposed photocatalyst, for efficiently purifying H. pylori bacteria from contaminated environment