Recent Advances in Anticancer Activity of Novel Plant Extracts and Compounds from Curcuma longa in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

PURPOSE: Among all forms of cancers, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common cancer worldwide. There are several treatment options for HCC ranging from loco-regional therapy to surgical treatment. Yet, there is high morbidity and mortality. Recent research focus has shifted towards more effective and less toxic cancer treatment options. Curcumin, the active ingredient in the Curcuma longa plant, has gained widespread attention in recent years because of its multifunctional properties as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anticancer agent. METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, Embase and Google Scholar was performed for studies reporting incidence of HCC, risk factors associated with cirrhosis and experimental use of curcumin as an anti-cancer agent. RESULTS: This review exclusively encompasses the anti-cancer properties of curcumin in HCC globally and it’s postulated molecular targets of curcumin when used against liver cancers. CONCLUSIONS: This review is concluded by presenting the current challenges and future perspectives of novel plant extracts derived from C. longa and the treatment options against cancers

Fourth-generation glucose sensors composed of coppernanostructures for diabetes management: A critical review

More than five decades have been invested in understanding glucose biosensors. Yet, this immensely versatile field has continued to gain attention from the scientific world to better understand and diagnose diabetes. However, such extensive work done to improve glucose sensing devices has still not yielded desirable results. Drawbacks like the necessity of the invasive finger pricking step and the lack of optimization of diagnostic interventions still need to be considered to improve the testing process of diabetic patients. To upgrade the glucose-sensing devices and reduce the number of intermediary steps during glucose measurement, fourth-generation glucose sensors (FGGS) have been introduced. These sensors, made using robust electrocatalytic copper nanostructures, improve diagnostic efficiency and cost-effectiveness. This review aims to present the essential scientific progress in copper nanostructure-based FGGS in the past ten years (2010 – present). After a short introduction, we presented the working principles of these sensors. We then highlighted the importance of copper nanostructures as advanced electrode materials to develop reliable real-time FGGS. Finally, we cover the advantages, shortcomings, and prospects for developing highly sensitive, stable, and specific FGGS

Determination of Hildebrand solubility parameter of pure 1-alkanols up to high pressures

An extended approach to determine Hildebrand solubility parameter (HISP) of pure 1-alkanols by precise calculation of the isothermal compressibility coefficient and heat capacities is proposed. The approach is introduced during its implementation for four pure polar 1-alkanols, namely 1-heptanol, 1-octanol, 1-nonanol, and 1-decanol. Having described the approach, the prediction ability of that is compared with the previous methods for calculation of the properties. Comparisons show that for all the three mentioned properties, the proposed approach provides significantly better predictions. The mean absolute error for prediction of the isothermal compressibility coefficient, isobaric heat capacity, and HISP by the proposed approach are 1.77, 1.32, and 0.17% (for 1-heptanol), 1.54, 1.11, and 0.18% (for 1-octanol), 2.90, 0.97, and 0.28% (for 1-nonanol), and 1.39, 1.61, and 0.39% (for 1-decanol), respectively. In addition to checking the accuracy of the proposed approach, to investigate the impacts of temperature and pressure as two key parameters on HISP of 1-alkanols, sensitivity analyses are conducted. The results of sensitivity analyses show that same as the non-polar substances, in the case of polar compounds, increase in pressure leads to an increase in HISP. Furthermore, when temperature does not change, HISP approaches a constant value at high pressures. Moreover, the relationship between temperature and HISP is linear.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/molliq2021-01-01hj2020Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineerin

An eco-friendly remote sensing assisted development procedure to install renewable energy infrastructure for highest techno-economic gain

By taking socio-economic, terrain, and meteorological impacts into account, an eco-friendly methodology to sort the potential locations for installation of renewable energy infrastructure has been proposed, which is also able to address the most important challenge in the field, i.e., determination of the best contribution of the renewable energy sources. For this purpose, three advanced approaches, namely, remote sensing by geographic information system (GIS), optimization, and weighted decision-making are employed. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the influence of land prices, nominal capacity, and relative importance of technical and economic indicators in decision-making. Iran is chosen as the case study because it has significant solar and wind energy potential and also has serious energy, economic, and environmental issues. The findings indicate an optimal land price of $200 per m2, a hub nominal capacity of 50 MW, and an equal weighting of objective functions for the case study. The average energy generation, levelized cost of energy (LCOE), PV ratio, and land utilization are projected to reach 288.5 GWh.year−1, 0.3260$.(kWh)-1, 4.15 %, and 2362334 m2, respectively when the optimal procedure is applied. The sensitivity study also shows that relative to PV, the contribution of wind turbines increases with plant size

DEA-Impregnated Cross-Linked Polyvinyl Alcohol/Glutaraldehyde Polymeric Systems as CO2/CH4 Gas Separation Membranes

Developing new methods and technologies for CO2 removal with a variety of applications, such as purification of synthesis gas, natural gas sweetening, and greenhouse gas sequestration are nowadays carried out in research works involving polymeric membranes. By employing suitable reactive carriers into themembrane matrix, the solubility and absorption rate of the reactive gas (i.e., CO2) are enhanced. In facilitated transport membrane, the selective transport through the membrane occurs owing to a reversible reaction between the reactive carriers and the target gas, while in contrast the solution-diffusion is the dominant mechanism for permeation of inert gases such as CH4, N2 and H2. In this work, the cross-linking of diethanolamine (DEA)-impregnated polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) by glutaraldehyde (GA) with different blend compositions (GA/PVA: 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 7 ratio%) were performed in the absence of an acid catalyst and organic solvents in order to avoid any interference in CO2 facilitation reaction with DEA. The fabricated membranes were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanningelectron microscopy. Furthermore, the effects of cross-linking agent content and feed pressure on CO2/CH4 transport properties were investigated in pure gas experiments. Finally, the cross-linked membranes showed reasonable CO2/CH4 permselectivity indexes in comparison to uncross-linked membranes. The best-yield in CO2-selective membranes (DEA-PVA/GA (1 wt%)/PTFE) represented the best CO2/CH4 selectivityof 91.13 for pure gas experiments

A numerical study of the nanofluid mixtures inside a Buoyancy-driven cavity in the presence of a variable magnetic field

While magnetic flow applications have become a topic of great interest for decades, the coupling between fluid flow and electromagnetic forces is not straightforward. Therefore, the necessity of a robust guideline to simulate these types of problems has become apparent. Moreover, the heat transfer capabilities and the interaction between electromagnetic forces such as Lorentz and Kelvin require further investigation.In this regard, two objectives are pursued to address the noted issues. First, a robust and flexible solution framework using User-Defined-Functions (UDF)s is presented so that magnetic flow applications can be investigated without software limitations such as discretization scheme, solution setup, and simultaneous use of other advanced modules. Next, the impact of electromagnetic forces on streamlines and isotherms has been studied, and the forces’ area of influence is carefully investigated.Based on the results, the introduced framework has successfully predicted consistent results for three previous studies. Next, by considering a wide range of Rayleigh (Ra), Hartmann (Ha), and Magnetic (Mn) numbers, valuable revelations regarding the force interactions, thermofluidic properties, and force area of influence were revealed. Finally, the situations in which the Kelvin and Lorentz forces are influential are identified based on dimensional analysis

Trimetallic CuO/Ag/NiO supported with silica nanoparticles based composite materials for green hydrogen production

Abstract Production and utilization of grey and blue hydrogen is responsible for emission of millions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) across the globe. This increased emission of CO2 has severe repercussions on the planet earth and in particular on climate change. Here in, we explored advance bimetallic (BM) CuO/Ag and trimetallic (TM) CuO/Ag/NiO based nanoporous materials supported with silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) via sol–gel route. The explored nanocatalysts were characterized by Powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmittance electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Raman spectroscopic techniques. These advance nanocatalysts were evaluated for the green hydrogen production through electrocatalysis and photocatalysis. The catalysts exhibited an exceptional catalytic performance, the onset potential for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was determined to be − 0.9 V BMSiNPs-GCE and − 0.7 V (vs Ag/AgCl) for TMSiNPs-GCE, whereas η@10 for BMSiNPs-GCE and TMSiNPs-GCE is − 1.26 and − 1.00 V respectively. Significantly, the TMSiNPs composite and the BMSiNPs composite exhibited superior photochemical H2 evolution rates of 1970.72 mmol h−1 g−1 and 1513.97 mmol h−1 g−1, respectively. The TMSiNPs catalyst presents a highly promising material for HER. This study reveals a cost-effective approach to develop sustainable and resourceful electrocatalysts for HER