Synthesis of Substituted ATF Ligands and Their Evaluation for Metal Dissolution and Recovery from Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment

The dissolution and recovery of metals from waste electronic and electric equipment is important because the demand of precious metals in industrialization has increased and the quantity of natural raw metals has decreased therefore increasing the costs. Extraction of these metals is also important because it helps with environmental legislation thus making it easier to dispose WEEE. This is considered the secondary source of metals. Precious metals are used in a wide range of electronic appliances like, phones, modems, and computers. The types of precious metals that are usually found in waste electronic and electric equipment are gold, copper, silver, and palladium. In this study, there will be the synthesis of substituted ATF ligands and evaluation for metal dissolution of waste electronic and electrical equipment. The process utilizes a mild redox-active ligand series (azothioformamides or ATF) capable of dissolving metals and metal salts into ligand-metal coordinative complexes. These recovered complexes will undergo electrochemical processing to recover high purity metals and fresh ligand, providing a fully recyclable system. The recovery of metals from waste electronic and electric equipment has a positive impact on the environment because it reduces the toxic chemicals released by the WEEE into the atmosphere and reimagines how metals are sourced. The recovered metals can also be used for future industrial processes

Evaluation of Azothioformamides and Their Copper(I) and Silver(I) Complexes for Biological Activity

Redox-active azothioformamides (ATFs) contain an NNCS 1,3-heterodiene motif typically found in other molecular subclasses that exhibit a wide range of cytotoxic and anti-neoplastic effects, either alone or as chelation complexes with various metals. For this study, a small library of ATF compounds was synthesized and tested across a range of microbes, fungi, and cancer cell lines for biological activity, both alone and as metal chelates of copper(I) and silver(I) salts. Alone, the ATF compounds exhibited little antimicrobial activity, but all inhibited the cell growth of A549 lung carcinoma cells (IC50 values of 1–6 μM). As copper(I) and silver(I) coordination complexes, several of the ATFs showed antimicrobial activity against gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis cells (IC50 ∼ 5–20 μM) and the fungi Candida albicans (IC50 ∼ 8–12 μM); as well as cytotoxicity against both lung carcinoma A549 cells and lymphoblastic leukemia K562 cells

Pathways to effective surgical coverage in a lower-middle-income country: A multiple methods study of the family physician-led generalist surgical team in rural Nepal.

The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery (LCoGS) recommends using specialist surgical workforce density as one of 6 core indicators for monitoring universal access to safe, affordable surgical and anaesthesia care. Using Nepal as a case study, we explored the capacity of a generalist workforce (led by a family physician or MD general practitioner and non-physician anaesthetist) to enable effective surgical delivery through task-shifting. Using a multiple-methods approach, we retrospectively mapped essential surgical care and the enabling environment for surgery in 39 hospitals in 25 remote districts in Nepal and compared it with LCoGS indicators. All 25 districts performed surgery, 21 performed Caesarean section (CS), and 5 met at least 50% of district CS needs. Generalist surgical teams performed CS, the essential major operation at the district level, and very few laparotomies, but no operative orthopaedics. The density of specialist Surgeon/Anaesthesiologist/Obstetrician (SAO) was 0·4/100,000; that of Generalist teams (gSAO) led by a family physician (MD General Practitioners-MDGP) supported by non-physician anaesthetists was eight times higher at 3·1/100,000. gSAO presence was positively associated with a two-fold increase in CS availability. All surgical rates were well below LCoGS targets. 46% of hospitals had adequate enabling environments for surgery, 28% had functioning anaesthesia machines, and 75% had blood transfusion services. Despite very low SAO density, and often inadequate enabling environment, surgery can be done in remote districts. gSAO teams led by family physicians are providing essential surgery, with CS the commonest major operation. gSAO density is eight times higher than specialists and they can undertake more complex operations than just CS alone. These family physician-led functional teams are providing a pathway to effective surgical coverage in remote Nepal