Polyoxometallates as effective photocatalysts in water purification from pesticides

Polyoxometallates (POM), i.e., metal oxide clusters of mainly tungsten are effective homogeneous photocatalysts for the mineralization of organic pollutants. POM are, at least, as effective as the well studied TiO2. OH⋅radicals formed by the reaction of the photo-excited polyoxometallates with H2O, appear to play a key role in the process. In this study, the photocatalytic activity of POM have been tested on some diversified pesticides of interest such as lindane, bentazone and fenitrothion to determine the feasibility of decontamination of aqueous solutions from these pollutants. The results show that aqueous solutions containing the above pesticides, upon photolysis in the presence of polyoxotungstates undergo effective degradation to CO2, H2O and the corresponding inorganic anions. The intermediates identified give rise to complicated degradation mechanisms prior to mineralization. The characteristic reactions that take place consist of hydroxylation, H-abstraction, dehalogenation, denitration, desulfurization, breaking of the C-C bond etc

Polymorphism Gln27Glu of β2 adrenergic receptors in patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy

Background: Polymorphisms of the Adrenergic Receptors (ARs) might affect the development and progression of Heart Failure (HF) and the response to treatment with β-blockade therapy. Objective: To examine the role of the Gln27Glu polymorphism of β2-AR in HF development and to assess the hypothesis that Gln27Glu is associated with coronary artery disease in patients with ischaemic HF. Methods: In this case control study we enrolled 155 consecutive patients with symptomatic HF of ischaemic aetiology with impaired Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) ≤35%. The control group consisted of 133 patients with no obstructive coronary artery disease and or evidence of HF. Results: Concerning HF and control subjects there was no significant differences in the prevalence of Gln27Gln homozygotes (46 vs. 44%, p=0.82). In HF patients concerning the differences in patient characteristics between allele categories (Gln27Gln vs. Gln27Glu/Glu27Glu) there was no difference in risk factors, LVEF, treatment, the clinical status and NYHA categorization of patients, and in the prevalence of multi-vessel coronary artery disease. Interestingly, participants homozygous for Gln had significant higher prevalence of previous myocardial infarction (Gln27Gln vs. Gln27Glu/Glu27Glu: 77 vs. 23%, p=0.02). Conclusion: The present study shows that the Gln27Gln genotype of β2-AR is the most predominant while the Glu27Glu is the least prevalent in our HF population. There was no difference in the prevalence of polymorphism Gln27Glu between HF patients and control subjects. However, the presence of Glu allele was associated with lower myocardial infarction rate. © 2018 Bentham Science Publishers

First interlaboratory exercise on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs analysis in environmental samples

Comparability of monitoring data are essential for any meaningful assessment and for the management of environmental risks of emerging pollutants. The reliability and comparability of data at European level is often limited, because analytical methods for emerging pollutants are often not fully validated, not harmonized or not suitable for all relevant matrices. This paper describes a collaborative interlaboratory exercise for the analysis of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) residues in freshwater and wastewater, held in the framework of the EU project "Network of reference laboratories for monitoring of emerging environmental pollutants" (NORMAN). The NSAID compounds selected in this study were ketoprofen, naproxen, ibuprofen and diclofenac. Thirteen laboratories distributed along nine European Countries (Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland) took part in this exercise, 126 samples were analyzed and a total number of 473 values in duplicate were collected. Samples selected in this study include environmental water (river water and waste water) and artificial water (fortified environmental and distilled water) with different ranges of complexity. Two analytical methods were proposed by the organiser; one is based on the use of solid phase extraction (SPE) followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and the second one is based on SPE followed by gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), however, in the first round some different approaches were also admitted. The main goals of this interlaboratory comparison were to evaluate the available analytical schemes for NSAID analysis in natural waters, to evaluate the repeatability (r) and reproducibility (R) between participating laboratories, and to evaluate the influence of the analytical method and sample matrices on the results. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved