Mitochondrial apoptosis induced by Chamaemelum nobile extract in breast cancer cells

Chamaemelum nobile (Asteraceae) commonly known as ‹Roman chamomile› is a medicinal plant used for numerous diseases in traditional medicine, although its anticancer activity is unknown. The present study was carried out to investigate the anticancer as well as apoptotic activity of ethyl acetate fraction of C. nobile on different cancerous cell lines. The cells were treated with varying concentrations (0.001-0.25 mg/mL) of this fraction for 24, 48 and 72 h. Apoptosis induced in MCF-7 cells following treatment with ethyl acetate fraction was measured using Annexin V/PI, flowcytometry and western blotting analysis. The results showed that C. nobile ethyl acetate fraction revealed relatively high antiproliferative activity on MCF-7 cells; however, it caused minimal growth inhibitory response in normal cells. The involvement of apoptosis as a major cause of the fraction-induced cell death was confirmed by annexin-V/PI assay. In addition, ethyl acetate fraction triggered the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by decreasing the Bcl-2 as well as increasing of Bax protein expressions and subsequently increasing Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. Furthermore, decreased proliferation of MCF-7 cells in the presence of the fraction was associated with G2/M phase cell cycle arrest. These findings confirm that ethyl acetate fraction of C.nobile may contain a diversity of phytochemicals which suppress the proliferation of MCF-7 cells by inducing apoptosis. © 2016 by School of Pharmacy Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Health Services

The Impact of Storage on Phthalic Acid Esters Concentrations in Yogurts Packed in Plastic Cups

Phthalic acid esters are used as plastic softeners and also can be found in food packaging materials. European legislation defines specific migration limits of plastic additives for plastic materials that come into contact with food. This study monitors the phthalic acid ester concentrations in yogurts after manufacturing and then after a 3-week storage. The studied yoghurts were natural yogurt with 1 % of chia flour, natural yogurt with 5 % of chia flour, natural yogurt with 1 % of bamboo fibre, natural yogurt with 5 % of bamboo fibre and natural yogurt. The analysed phthalic acid esters were dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). The average phthalate concentrations in plastic cups were detected for DBP of 59.5 µg/g and for DEHP of 9.0 µg/g of the plastic material. Higher DBP concentrations than DEHP concentrations were also found in all studied yogurts. The average DBP concentrations in yogurts were detected from 1.8 µg/g up to 5.0 µg/g of the original matter and the average DEHP concentrations were determined from 0.5 µg/g up to 1.0 µg/g of the original matter. No statistically significant difference was found when comparing phthalic acid ester concentrations in yogurts immediately after production and after three weeks of storage. However, in our study in all cases of yogurts, the DBP concentrations were higher than the specific migration limit set by the legislation (0.3 mg/kg) and the DEHP concentrations were in all cases of yogurts lower than the specific migration limit set by the legislation (1.5 mg/kg).O

Degradation of Organophosphorus Pesticides in Water during UV/H2O2 Treatment: Role of Sulphate and Bicarbonate Ions

Abstract: The photodegradation of two organophosphorus pesticides, malathian and diazinon, by sulfate radicals and bicarbonate radicals in aqueous solution were studied. The effect of the operational parameters such as pH, salt concentration, water type, H2O2 concentration and initial concentration of pesticides was studied. Gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used for analyses of pesticides. When salt effect was studied, it was found that sodium bicarbonate was the most powerful inhibitor used, while sodium sulfate was the weakest one. The highest degradation in UV/H2O2 process for malathion was found in alkaline condition and for diazinon in acidic condition. The photodegradation in all waters used in this work exhibited first order kinetics. Photodegradation rate in distilled water was higher than real water. The degradation of pesticides increased with increasing of H2O2 concentration

Organophosphorous Pesticides in Surface Water of Iran

Abstract This research aims to evaluate the presence and distribution of pesticides in Babolrood River of Mazandaran Province in Iran. Mean diazinon levels in surface water ranged from 77.6 to 101.6 lg L-1 with maximum level of 768.9 lg L-1 and mean malathion levels ranged from 55.7 to 75.9 lg L-1 with maximum level of 506.6 lg L-1 . The residues of malathion and diazinon pesticides in all of the stations, 2 weeks after spraying, were more than allowed limits

The Effect of Storage Time, Temperature and Type of Packaging on the Release of Phthalate Esters into Packed Acidic Liquids

Kisele tekućine, poput soka od nezrelog voća, limunovog soka i octa često se konzumiraju u Iranu. Različite vrste kiselih sokova pakiraju se u boce od polietilen tereftalata (PET) i polietilena velike gustoće (HDPE). Postoje dokazi koji upućuju na mogućnost otpuštanja ftalata iz PET i HDPE boca. U ovom je radu ispitan utjecaj trajanja skladištenja, temperature i vrste pakiranja na migraciju ftalata u kisele tekućine, čuvane pri različitim uvjetima, i to prije skladištenja, te nakon 2, 4 i 6 mjeseci. Određene su srednje vrijednosti koncentracije ftalata od <0.04 do 0.501 μg/L u sokovima od nezrelog voća, od <0.04 do 0.231 μg/L u limunovom soku i <0.04 do 0.586 μg/L u octu. Najveće koncentracije dietil ftalata (DEP) i dietil heksil ftalata (DEHP) izmjerene su u PET i HDPE bocama. Rezultati prije i naklon skladištenja pokazuju da su se, pri određenim uvjetima skladištenja, koncentracije DEP, DEHP i dibutil ftalata (DBP) povećale u kiselim tekućinama. Rezultati dokazuju da je moguć prijelaz estera ftalne kiseline iz plastičnih pakiranja u sadržaj spremnika.Acidic liquids such as verjuice, lemon juice and vinegar are frequently consumed in Iran. Different kinds of acidic liquids are packaged in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles. There is evidence indicating that phthalates can leach from PET and HDPE bottles into their contents. In this work the effect of storage time, temperature and bottle type on the migration of phthalates from packaging materials into acidic liquids is studied by analyzing the samples stored under different conditions, before storage and after 2, 4 and 6 months of storage. The determined mean phthalate concentrations in μg/L were: <0.04 to 0.501 in verjuice, <0.04 to 0.231 in lemon juice and <0.04 to 0.586 in vinegar. The highest concentrations of diethyl phthalate (DEP) and diethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP) were found in PET and HDPE bottles, respectively. Results of analyses before and after storage indicate that under some storage conditions, the concentrations of DEP, DEHP and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) increased in acidic liquids. The possible migration of phthalic acid esters from plastic packaging materials into the contents was indicated by the results of the present study

Heavy metals in recycled pastry packages and pastries

The safe use of recycled paper and board material for food packaging applications is a major area of investigations. Therefore, the aim of current study was to evaluate the amount of heavy metals in recycled paper pastry packages and measurement of migration over the time into pastries. In this study, the presence of heavy metals in common confectionery packaging and effects of storage time and kind of pastry on the migration are investigated. The results of the study indicate that harmful metals such as Pb are detected at high concentrations in most of the recycled boxes that are used for pastry packaging, and heavy metals could migrate from the recycled packages into food during usage. It seems that the procedure of preparing recycled paperboard for food packaging should be reconsidered

One-Pot synthesis, characterization and adsorption studies of amine-functionalized magnetite nanoparticles for removal of Cr (VI) and Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution: Kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic studies

Background: Discharge of heavy metals such as hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) and nickel (Ni (II)) into aquatic ecosystems is a matter of concern in wastewater treatment due to their harmful effects on humans. In this paper, removal of Cr (VI) and Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution was investigated using an amino-functionalized magnetic Nano-adsorbent (Fe3O4-NH2). Methods: An amino-functionalized magnetic Nano-adsorbent (Fe3O4-NH2) was synthesized by compositing Fe3O4 with 1, 6-hexanediamine for removal of Cr (VI) and Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution. The adsorbent was characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM). Also, the effects of various operational parameters were studied. Results: According to our finding, Fe3O4-NH2 could be simply separated from aqueous solution with an external magnetic field at 30 s. The experimental data for the adsorption of Cr (VI) and Ni (II) ions revealed that the process followed the Langmuir isotherm and the maximum adsorption capacity was 232.51 mg g-1 for Cr (VI) at pH = 3 and 222.12 mg g-1 and for Ni(II) at pH = 6 at 298 °K. Besides, the kinetic data indicated that the results fitted with the pseudo-second-order model (R2: 0.9871 and 0.9947 for Cr (VI) and Ni (II), respectively. The results of thermodynamic study indicated that: standard free energy changes (�G�), standard enthalpy change (�H�), and standard entropy change (�S�) were respectively -3.28, 137.1, and 26.91 kJ mol-1 for Cr (VI) and -6.8433, 116.7, and 31.02 kJ mol-1 for Ni (II). The adsorption/desorption cycles of Fe3O4-NH2 indicated that it could be used for five times. Conclusions: The selected metals' sorption was achieved mainly via electrostatic attraction and coordination interactions. In fact, Fe3O4-NH2 could be removed more than 96 for both Cr (VI) and Ni (II) ions from aqueous solution and actual wastewater. © 2016 The Author(s)

Correction to: Indoor and outdoor concentrations of BTEX and formaldehyde in Tehran, Iran: effects of building characteristics and health risk assessment (Environmental Science and Pollution Research, (2018), 10.1007/s11356-018-2794-4)

The original publication of this paper contains a mistake. The correct name and affiliation of the 3rd Author is presented in this paper. © 2018, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes modified with iron oxide and silver nanoparticles (MWCNT-Fe<inf>3</inf>O<inf>4</inf>/Ag) as a novel adsorbent for determining PAEs in carbonated soft drinks using magnetic SPE-GC/MS method

The synthesis of compounds with an excellent adsorption capability plays an essential role to remove contaminants such as phthalic acid esters (PAEs) with potential carcinogenic characteristics from different food products. In this context, for the first time, a novel adsorbent (MWCNT-Fe3O4/Ag) was synthesized by using iron (magnetic agent), and silver (catalytic and surface enhancer agent) to further approach in a magnetic SPE-GC/MS method for determining of PAEs in carbonated soft drink samples. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values of MSPE-GC/MS were determined in six PAEs as a range of 10.8–22.5 and 36–75 ng/L, respectively. Also, the calibration curves of PAEs were linear (R2 = 0.9981–0.9995) over the concentration level of 10.000 ng/L and the recoveries of the six PAEs were ranging from 96.60% to 109.22% with the RSDs less than 8%. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and transmission electron microscopy analyses (TEM) were utilized to characterize the produced MWCNT-Fe3O4/Ag. Based on the findings, the surface of MWCNT is relatively uniform, which became coarser after loading with Fe3O4/Ag particles. Also, EDX spectrum showed the carbon (C), iron (Fe), oxygen (O), Ag and copper (Cu) are the main components of synthesized MWCNTs-Fe3O4/Ag. The successful adhesion of Fe3O4/Ag on the texture of MWCNTs using a co-precipitation method was confirmed by XRD and FT-IR assays. Additionally, excellent crystallinity and clear lattice nanocrystals fringes of prepared MWCNT-Fe3O4/Ag was demonstrated by TEM analysis. Based on the obtained VSM images, the prepared sorbent (MWCNT-Fe3O4/Ag) has the good magnetic performance for magnetic separation and extraction processes. It was concluded that the synthesized MWCNT-Fe3O4/Ag could be used as an efficient adsorbent for determining contaminants such as PAEs in different beverage samples. © 201

Monitoring of salt iodisation programme in Iran; Health outcomes, shortages and perspective

Iodine deficiency disorders include a wide range of metabolic and nonmetabolic disorders including goiter. To control IDDs, the World Health Organization and responsible agencies in countries established daily iodine uptake. Almost all the countries in the world provide the required iodine through salt iodisation. IDDs are not completely eradicable, so monitoring the salt iodisation programme is necessary for control of IDDs. In Iran, a salt iodisation programme was started in 1996. In this study, we took salt samples from all legally produced salt brands in Iran in 30 provinces and measured iodine concentration. The results of the monitoring programme for iodine concentration in schoolchildren's urine was used to compare accessibility to iodized salts and health outcomes. The results show that more than 80 of available salts have a suitable or acceptable concentration of iodine. Despite large variance in iodine concentration in available salt in some provinces, the median of iodine concentration in salts is within an acceptable range. Also, the urinary concentration of iodine (national median = 161) confirms that shortage of iodine intake is very low in Iran. The high rate of salt consumption of the Iranian people also has a significant effect on iodine uptake, but can lead to hyperthyroidism and hypertension that must be controlled. © 2018 Elsevier Gmb