Hereditary thrombophilia and thrombosis of tunneled hemodialysis catheters: A single center study

Introduction: Vascular access thrombosis increases the risk of mortality and morbidity in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis (HD). This study aimed to evaluate hereditary thrombophilia factors in HD patients and its association with tunneled cuffed catheters’ thrombosis. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 consecutive patients with ESRD on HD with tunneled cuffed catheters were selected. Inherited thrombophilia factors (Anti-thrombin III, Protein C, Protein S, and Factor V Leiden) were measured and the patients were followed for 3 months to evaluate the incidence of catheter-related thrombosis. The association between these factors and catheter thrombosis was assessed. Results: The mean age of patients was 60.30 ± 8.69 years. Forty-seven patients (78.30%) were female and thirteen patients (21.70%) were male. The most common cause of ESRD was diabetes mellitus (41.67%). The most catheter site was the right internal jugular vein (55%). There were 22 (36.67%) and 8 (13.33%) cases of thrombosis and mortality, respectively. The association between hereditary thrombophilia factors and catheter thrombosis was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In this small group of our patients, the frequency of hereditary thrombophilia was not significantly different between those with and without thrombosis of tunneled HD catheter

Characterization of cenospheres from Malaysian coal generated power plants: Jimah, Kapar and Manjung

Cenosphere is a component of fly ash (FA) and has been used as part of sustainable material in wastewater treatment, automotive, ceramic, and construction industries due to its properties. This research presents the first study on characterization of cenospheres from Malaysian power plants namely Jimah, Kapar and Manjung. The characterization was conducted via X-ray fluorescence (XRF), particle size analyzer (PSA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRF analysis consisted of oxides elements ranged from 14.70 to 22.63% (aluminum oxide, Al2 O3 ), 3.78 to 13.44% (calcium oxide, CaO), 34.73 to 57.67% (silicon dioxide, SiO2 ), 0.42 to 1.07% (sulphur trioxide, SO3 ), 9.09 to 24.92% (iron oxide, Fe2 O3 ), 3.62 to 3.67% (potassium oxide, K2 O), 1.76 to 4.24% (titanium oxide, TiO2 ) and 0.16 to 0.93% (magnesium oxide, MgO). The classifications of cementitious materials by American Standard of Testing Materials were Class F (Jimah, Kapar) and Class C (Manjung). The classification represents the quality and capability of cementitious materials as cement replacement material, additive, and filler in concrete mix. The sizes of cenospheres were Kapar > Jimah > Manjung. The sizes of cenosphere were found to be larger than FA (Jimah: 2.720-49.21 µm, Kapar: 5.069-98.29 µm, Manjung: 1.084-3.986 µm). Cenospheres contained quarts (Jimah, Kapar, Manjung: 26°) and silicates (Kapar, Manjung: 45°). Ferrospheres, cenospheres, aluminosilicate-spheres, plerospheres and carbon fragments were observed. The cenosphere from Manjung showed high quality as cement replacement material, additive, and filler with 13.44% of CaO

Valorization of Wasted Black Tea as a Low-Cost Adsorbent for Nickel and Zinc Removal from Aqueous Solution

Characteristics and efficiency of wasted black tea (WBT) were investigated as a low-cost sorbent in removal of Ni2+ and Zn2+ ions from aqueous solution. Initial findings showed WBT potential to be applied as an effective sorbent due to high concentrations of carbon and calcium and high porosity and availability of functional groups. Sorption dynamics were studied with varying pH, contact time, and adsorbent dose. Maximum percentages of metal ions removal were recorded at pH 5, contact time 250 min, and 20 g/L of adsorbent concentration. Binary metal sorption studies showed that Ni2+ and Zn2+ do not compete with each other for available sorption sites, so the adsorption trend in binary system appears similar to monocomponent metal adsorption. Evaluation of the isotherms confirmed that WBT has high value of adsorption capacity. Sorption data fitted well with both Freundlich and Langmuir models. In the optimum conditions, maximum capacity of WBT could reach up to 90.91 mg-Ni/g adsorbent and 166.67 mg-Zn/g adsorbent. This experiment demonstrated the ability of tea waste as an effective, sustainable, and low-cost adsorbent for removal of the heavy metal ions

Study of oil sorption behaviour of esterified oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) fibre and its kinetics and isotherm studies

Oil spills concern the public as they are incredibly harmful to the environment and the economy. A collection of business frameworks has been created to control oil spills, such as the utilization of agricultural wastes as sorbents. This paper demonstrates the use of raw and modified fibre from empty bunches of palm fruit, a low-cost adsorbent material for the oil spill in the marine environment. To improve fibre's sorption capacity, the fibre was modified by esterification using oleic acid. The modified fibre was tested to adsorb crude oil in a batch system (Tapis and Arabian). The extent of modification was given according to weight percent gain (WPG), which was calculated on the basis of difference in weight before and after the treatment. To increase the esterification productivity, an optimization study was conducted at various concentrations of oleic acid and temperature, and achieved higher WPG (with 4.32%) and subsequently higher oil sorption capacity of 5.8 and 5.96 g/g for Tapis and Arabian crude oil, respectively. Besides, this study also focused on correspondence of surface functional groups of the adsorbent using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum, surface morphology by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and measure the contact angle using Interfacial Tension. Two well-known adsorption kinetic and isotherm models of sorbents were utilized to explain the mechanism of adsorption of oil onto the modified OPEFB fibre. The predicted result exemplified that, Pseudo-second-order model from the kinetic and Langmuir model from isotherm study were well represented to remove crude oil onto the treated OPEFB fibre regarding the highest correlation coefficient (R2) and closely of maximum crude oil adsorption in theoretical (q0) and experimental (qe) data.

Removal of Lead using Activated Carbon Derived from Red Algae (Gracilaria Changii)

Red algae-derived activated carbon was evaluated for its ability to remove lead (Pb) from synthetic aqueous solution. The activated carbon was prepared at a constant temperature of 300°C for 1 hour using a muffle furnace. Effect of pH contact time, initial ions concentration, and activated carbon dosage as important operating variables on the reaction process were also investigated. The batch experiment was conducted for adsorption experiment. The maximum lead uptake capacity was obtained at pH 6 and operation time of 30 min. the maximum uptake capacity of Pb (II) was found to be 0.1 mg/g. This work confirms the potential use of red algae Gracilaria changii for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater

Removal of Lead using Activated Carbon Derived from Red Algae (

Red algae-derived activated carbon was evaluated for its ability to remove lead (Pb) from synthetic aqueous solution. The activated carbon was prepared at a constant temperature of 300°C for 1 hour using a muffle furnace. Effect of pH contact time, initial ions concentration, and activated carbon dosage as important operating variables on the reaction process were also investigated. The batch experiment was conducted for adsorption experiment. The maximum lead uptake capacity was obtained at pH 6 and operation time of 30 min. the maximum uptake capacity of Pb (II) was found to be 0.1 mg/g. This work confirms the potential use of red algae Gracilaria changii for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater