Heavy metals and major nutrients accumulation pattern in spinach grown in farm and industrial contaminated soils and health risk assessment

A pot experiment was conducted to study heavy metals and major nutrients accumulation pattern and to assess possible health risk for adult male and female human through consumption of spinach grown in farm and industrial contaminated soils. The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr and Pb in aqueous extracts of leaves and roots were determined by an atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The present study revealed that spinach grown in both soils accumulated higher amount of Cr, which could pose potential health concern to the local residents. On the contrary, it could be a good source of S, Ca and Mg for adult male and female human. Accumulation of heavy metals and major nutrients in leaves of spinach was in the sequence of Fe > Zn > Cr > Mn > Cu > Pb and K > S > Ca > Mg > P, respectively for industrial contaminated soil, while the order was Fe > Mn > Cr > Zn > Cu > Pb and S > K > Ca > Mg ≥ P, respectively for farm soil. The sequence of Zn, Mn, Ca, K and S accumulation in spinach was leaf > root. But in case of Fe, Cr and P the order of accumulation pattern was reverse. Among the metals, the calculated THQ value for Cr surpassed 1, and the values for male were 2.85 and 6.86 and for female were 4.47 and 10.75 due to consumption of spinach grown in farm and industrial contaminated soils, respectively. The study results inferred that Cr health risk through consumption of spinach is unsafe in industrial contaminated sites; and in both places female is more vulnerable than male

Use of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers for the development of controlled release tizanidine matrix tablets

The aim of the present study was to develop tizanidine controlled release matrix. Formulations were designed using central composite method with the help of design expert version 7.0 software. Avicel pH 101 in the range of 14-50% was used as a filler, while HPMC K4M and K100M in the range of 25-55%, Ethylcellulose 10 ST and 10FP in the range of 15 - 45% and Kollidon SR in the range of 25-60% were used as controlled release agents in designing different formulations. Various physical parameters including powder flow for blends and weight variation, thickness, hardness, friability, disintegration time and in-vitro release were tested for tablets. Assay of tablets were also performed as specified in USP 35 NF 32. Physical parameters of both powder blend and compressed tablets such as compressibility index, angle of repose, weight variation, thickness, hardness, friability, disintegration time and assay were evaluated and found to be satisfactory for formulations K4M2, K4M3, K4M9, K100M2, K100M3, K100M9, E10FP2, E10FP9, KSR2, KSR3 & KSR9. In vitro dissolution study was conducted in 900 ml of 0.1N HCl, phosphate buffer pH 4.5 and 6.8 medium using USP Apparatus II. In vitro release profiles indicated that formulations prepared with Ethocel 10 standard were unable to control the release of drug while formulations K4M2, K100M9, E10FP2 & KSR2 having polymer content ranging from 40-55% showed a controlled drug release pattern in the above mentioned medium. Zero-order drug release kinetics was observed for formulations K4M2, K100M9, E10FP2 & KSR2. Similarity test (f2) results for K4M2, E10FP2 & KSR2 were found to be comparable with reference formulation K100M9. Response Surface plots were also prepared for evaluating the effect of independent variable on the responses. Stability study was performed as per ICH guidelines and the calculated shelf life was 24-30 months for formulation K4M2, K100M9 and E10FP2

Propagation rate coefficients of styrene and methyl methacrylate in supercritical CO2

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Outdoor continuous cultivation of self-settling marine cyanobacterium chroococcidiopsis sp.

Spontaneous settling of certain aggregating microalgae or cyanobacteria could potentially alleviate the energy requirement in biomass harvesting. A locally isolated floc-forming marine cyanobacteria, Chroococcidiopsis sp., was initially grown indoor to study its self-settling efficiency; 97% of the biomass settled spontaneously in 1 h. Later, the strain was grown in outdoor raceway tanks (1 square meter) for 70 d. Every alternative day, 50% of the culture was harvested by self-settling, and the supernatant was recycled back to the tank. Average biomass productivities for the strain was 16.08 g/m2/d. The biomass had an average 2.26% water extractable phycobiliproteins that comprised of both phycocyanin (11.4 mg/g) and phycoerythrin (10.6 mg/g). Since Chroococcidiopsis sp. biomass can be harvested very efficiently, it would reduce the energy and cost of biomass production which are deemed necessary for microalgal animal feed and biofuel applications. Furthermore, its ability to produce high-value pigments will also make it economically very attractive from biorefinery approach. Copyright 2018, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 2018.The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF, a member of Qatar Foundation) for providing the funding (under grant NPRP8-646-2-272) for this study.Scopu

Solar Wind Hydration of Itokawa Olivine

No abstract available

Solar Wind Hydration of Itokawa Olivine

No abstract available