Radioactive Barium Ion Trap Based on Metal–Organic Framework for Efficient and Irreversible Removal of Barium from Nuclear Wastewater

Highly efficient and irreversible capture of radioactive barium from aqueous media remains a serious task for nuclear waste disposal and environmental protection. To address this task, here we propose a concept of barium ion trap based on metal–organic framework (MOF) with a strong barium-chelating group (sulfate and sulfonic acid group) in the pore structures of MOFs. The functionalized MOF-based ion traps can remove >90% of the barium within the first 5 min, and the removal efficiency reaches 99% after equilibrium. Remarkably, the sulfate-group-functionalized ion trap demonstrates a high barium uptake capacity of 131.1 mg g^–1, which surpasses most of the reported sorbents and can selectively capture barium from nuclear wastewater, whereas the sulfonic-acid-group-functionalized ion trap exhibits ultrafast kinetics with a kinetic rate constant <i>k</i>₂ of 27.77 g mg^–1 min^–1, which is 1–3 orders of magnitude higher than existing sorbents. Both of the two MOF-based ion traps can capture barium irreversibly. Our work proposes a new strategy to design barium adsorbent materials and provides a new perspective for removing radioactive barium and other radionuclides from nuclear wastewater for environment remediation. Besides, the concrete mechanisms of barium–sorbent interactions are also demonstrated in this contribution

Characteristics of the Study Chinese Population in the PURE Study.

<p>Characteristics of the Study Chinese Population in the PURE Study.</p

Sulfate-Rich Metal–Organic Framework for High Efficiency and Selective Removal of Barium from Nuclear Wastewater

Capture of radioactive barium from nuclear wastewater is of great importance for environmental protection. Here, [Zr₆(OH)_10.8(SO₄)_3.6(BDC-NH₂)₃(H₂O)_7.4]·nH₂O (Zr-BDC-NH₂-SO₄) was selected as an adsorbent for its high content of sulfate group, which is a strong barium-chelating group, and its binding sites are fully exposed. Zr-BDC-NH₂-SO₄ exhibits high adsorption capacity of 181.8 mg g^–1, which is higher than those of most reported adsorbents, and showed excellent high selectivity even when the concentrations of background metal ions are 10 times of Ba²⁺. The breakthrough study showed good adsorption performance with fast kinetics and low outlet concentration. In addition, the great stability of Zr-BDC-NH₂-SO₄ under γ radiation has been confirmed, making it possible to be applied in real nuclear wastewater treatment. Moreover, the adsorption of Ba²⁺ is irreversible and therefore it could avoid secondary pollution. Overall, this work provides a stable, efficiency adsorbent for removing radioactive barium from nuclear wastewater

Comparison of healthy lifestyle behaviors among individuals with and without cardiovascular diseases from urban and rural areas in China: A cross-sectional study

<div><p>Introduction</p><p>The study aimed to explore the gap of prevalence of healthy lifestyle behaviors including smoking cessation, quitting drinking, physical activity and healthy eating between Chinese adults with and without cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).</p><p>Methods</p><p>This study is a cross-sectional component of Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE)-China study, which recruited ~46,000 participants from 70 rural and 45 urban communities between 2005 and 2009. Participants were divided into disease (with CVDs) and control (without any diseases) groups. The adjusted rates were estimated for different strata by the generalized, linear mixed-effects model, including community as a random effect with additional adjustment for age, sex, education and income.</p><p>Results</p><p>Among 40,490 participants, <10% had all four healthy lifestyle behaviors (disease group versus control group: urban areas: 7.8% versus 8.1%; rural areas: 3.4% versus 3.2%). The rates of smoking cessation and quitting drinking were significantly higher in disease group for both urban and rural residents (P<0.001). In urban areas, higher rates were observed in all other three healthy lifestyle behaviors except physical activity in low-income regions (P<0.05). Similarly, the higher trends were observed for stopping smoking and drinking while opposite trends for healthy eating among rural residents from low-income regions (P<0.05).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Our study showed that the prevalence of adopting all four behaviors was low among Chinese adults. Individuals with CVDs were more likely to follow healthy lifestyle behaviors, but it still indicated a large gap between the actual and ideal adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors, which called for the promotion of population-wide strategies to modify lifestyle behaviors in addition to individual health-care intervention strategies.</p></div

Baseline characteristics of participants with and without cardiovascular diseases.

<p>Baseline characteristics of participants with and without cardiovascular diseases.</p

Participant enrollment and study population identification.

<p>Participant enrollment and study population identification.</p

Adjusted prevalence of adoption of 2 or more healthy lifestyle behaviors by number of diseases.

<p>Adjusted prevalence of adoption of 2 or more healthy lifestyle behaviors by number of diseases.</p

Adjusted prevalence^a of smoking cessation, quitting drinking, high level of physical activity and healthy eating.

<p>Adjusted prevalence<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0181981#t002fn001" target="_blank">^a</a> of smoking cessation, quitting drinking, high level of physical activity and healthy eating.</p

Three methods to estimated 24-hour urinary sodium excretion.

<p>Three methods to estimated 24-hour urinary sodium excretion.</p

Characteristic of participants (n = 116).

<p>Characteristic of participants (n = 116).</p