Site selection of rural waste landfill using the AHP model and GIS software (Case study: the central part of Ejroud city)

Background and Aims: Site selection and management of a landfill site is one of the main pillars of sustainable development. Selection of an appropriate site for the burial of rural wastes is of utmost importance in rural areas.  At present there is no coherent management in the field of rural wastes. Selecting the right place for landfilling requires considering several complex factors and thus the need for use of spatial information technologies and their incorporation to other managing and planning issues are raised.Materials and Methods: In this study, nine important affecting parameters in locating the waste burial site including the slope, aspect, elevation, distance to the rural points, distance to the channels, distance to the roads, distance to the faults, erosion, and land use were considered to assess the appropriate site for burial of the rural wastes of the central part of Ejroud city. The identified parameters were compared by incorporating the Analytic Hierarchy Analysis (AHP) method in a pairwise manner and the corresponding weight of each factor, which indicates the effect of that factor, was calculated utilizing the Expert Choice software. All stages of this research were conducted ethically.Results: Through the incorporation of weight layers obtained in the ArcGIS  environment, the final locating map for burial of the rural wastes in the study area was prepared and categorized into 5 classes (completely inappropriate, inappropriate, intermediate, appropriate and completely appropriate).Conclusion: The results showed that the appropriate and completely appropriate zones with 251.1 and 158.1 square kilometers had respectively the highest prefer ability for burial of the wastes in this categorization. Totally, about 41.8% of the total area of the town, was prioritized for the waste burial plans.

Mechanical damage to pinto beans as affected by moisture content and impact energy

 Mechanical damage to seeds due to harvest, handling and other process is an important factor that affects the quality of seeds.  Seed damage results in lower grain value, storability problem, and reducing of seed germination and seedling vigor and subsequent yield of crops.  Tests were conducted to determine the extent of percentage of physical damage (PPD) and percentage of loss in germination (PLG) (physiological damage) of pinto beans due to impact.  The effects of beans moisture content (9.25%, 12.51%, 15.02% and 17.50%, wet basis) and impact energy (0.09 J, 0.19 J and 0.29 J) were determined.  The tests were conducted under laboratory conditions, using an impact test apparatus.  Results showed that effects of moisture content and impact energy on seed damages were significant.  PPD of beans was higher than PLG.  It found that the total damage of beans increased from 54.45% (48.14% PPD and 6.31% PLG) to 73.20% (63.40% PPD and 9.80% PLG) as the impact energy increased from 0.9 to 0.29 J, for all the moisture contents used.  With increasing the moisture content from 9.25% to 17.50%, the mean values of the percentage of loss in germination of beans increased from 0.53 to 15.30%.  However, by increasing in the moisture from 9.25% to 17.50%, the mean values of percentage of physical damage to beans decreased from 92.67% to 21.53%. Keywords: physical damage, reduce in germination, moisture content, impact energy, pinto bean 

Effect of Surface Chemistry on the Immune Responses and Cellular Interactions of Porous Silicon Nanoparticles

Porous silicon nanoparticles (PSi NPs) have recently drawn increasing interest for therapeutic applications due to their easily modifiable surface, large pore volumes, high surface area, nontoxic nature, and high biocompatibility. Nevertheless, there is no comprehensive understanding about the role of the surface chemistry of these NPs on the biological interactions and the therapeutic effect of the PSi-based nanosystems. Therefore, extensive attempts are still needed for the development of optimal PSi-based therapeutics. The first step for evaluating the biological activity of the NPs was to investigate the potential toxic effects. Accordingly, the immunotoxicity and hemocompatibility of the PSi NPs with different surface chemistries were assessed at different concentrations on the immune cells and red blood cells, since these are the first biological cells in contact with the NPs after intravenous injection. PSi NPs with positively charged amine functional groups showed higher toxicity compared to negatively charged particles. The toxicity of the negatively charged particles was also highly dependent on the hydrophobic nature of the NPs. Moreover, RBC hemolysis and imaging assay revealed a significant correlation between the PSi NP surface chemistry and hemotoxicity. To further understand the impact of the surface chemistry on the immunological effects of the PSi NPs, the immunostimulatory responses induced by a non-toxic concentration of the PSi NPs were evaluated by measuring the maturation of dendritic cells, T cell proliferation and cytokine secretion. Overall, the results suggested that all the PSi NPs containing higher amounts of nitrogen or oxygen on the outermost surface layer have lower immunostimulatory effects than the PSi NPs with higher amounts of C‒H structures on the NPs surface. Combination cancer therapy by the PSi NPs was then studied by evaluating the synergistic therapeutic effects of the nanosystems. Sorafenib-loaded PSi NPs were biofunctionalized with anti-CD326 monoclonal antibody on their surface. The targeted PSi NPs showed a sustained drug release and increased interactions with the breast cancer cells expressing the CD326 antigen on their surface. These NPs also showed higher antiproliferation effect on the CD326 positive cancer cells compared to the pure drug and sorafenib-loaded PSi NPs, suggesting CD326 as an appropriate receptor for the antibody-mediated drug delivery. In addition, anti-CD326 antibody acted as an immunotherapeutic agent by inducing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and enhancing the interactions of immune cells with cancer cells for the subsequent phagocytosis and cytokine secretion. Next, the development of a stable PSi NP with low toxicity, high cellular internalization, efficient endosomal escape, and optimal drug release profile was tested by using a layer-by-layer method to covalently conjugate polyethyleneimine and poly(methyl vinyl ether-co-maleic acid) copolymers on the surface of the PSi NPs, forming a zwitterionic nanocomposite. The surface smoothness and hydrophilicity of the polymer functionalized NPs improved considerably the colloidal and plasma stability of the NPs. Moreover, the double layer conjugation sustained the drug release from the PSi NPs and improved the cytotoxicity profile of the drug-loaded PSi NPs. In conclusion, this work showed that the surface modification of the PSi NPs with different chemical groups, antibodies and polymers can affect the toxicological profiles, the cellular interactions and the therapeutic effects of the NPs by modifying the charge, stability, hydrophilicity, the drug release kinetics and targeting properties of the PSi NPs.N

An insight into gastrointestinal macromolecule delivery using physical oral devices

Oral delivery is preferred over other routes of drug administration by both patients and physicians. The bioavailability of some therapeutics that are delivered via the oral route is restricted due to the protease- and bacteria-rich environment in the gastrointestinal tract, and by the pH variability along the delivery route. Given these harsh environments, the oral delivery of therapeutic macromolecules is complicated and remains challenging. Various formulation approaches, including the use of permeation enhancers and nanosized carriers, as well as chemical alteration of the drug structure, have been studied as ways to improve the oral absorption of macromolecular drugs. Nevertheless, the bioavailability of marketed oral peptide medicines is often relatively poor. This review highlights the most recent and promising physical methods for improving the oral bioavailability of macromolecules such as peptides. These methods include microneedle injections, high-speed stream injectors, magnetic drug targeting, expandable hydrogels, and iontophoresis. We highlight the potential and challenges of these new technologies, which may impact the future approaches used by pharmaceutical companies to create more efficient and safer orally administered macromolecules

2D and 3D Covalent Organic Frameworks:Cutting-Edge Applications in Biomedical Sciences

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are crystalline porous organic structures with two- or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) features and composed of building blocks being connected via covalent bonds. The manifold applications of COFs in optoelectronic devices, energy conversion and storage, adsorption, separation, sensing, organocatalysis, photocatalysis, electrocatalytic reactions, and biomedicine are increasing because of their notable intrinsic features such as large surface area, porosity, designable structure, low density, crystallinity, biocompatibility, and high chemical stability. These properties have rendered 2D and 3D COF-based materials as desirable entities for drug delivery, gene delivery, photothermal therapy, photodynamic therapy, combination therapy, biosensing, bioimaging, and anticancer activities. Herein, different reactions and methods for the synthesis of 2D and 3D COFs are reviewed with special emphasis on the construction and state-of-the-art progress pertaining to the biomedical applications of 2D and 3D COFs of varying shapes, sizes, and structures. Specifically, stimuli-responsive COFs-based systems and targeted drug delivery approaches are summarized

Controlled release device for oral cavity

The present invention relates to a controlled release device for oral cavity, which is attached on a hard dental surface of a tooth. The attachment is done using any adhesive layer that can attach on enamel surface of a tooth or using a holder attached to the hard dental surface, to which holder the device can be attached, clipped or fastened. The device comprises of two or more polymeric materials forming a polymer matrix or matrices. The polymer matrices incorporate one or more agent(s), which release rate in the oral cavity can be con-trolled with the polymeric materials in the matrices. The invention also relates to a method producing a controlled re-lease device for delivering an agent to the oral cavity

Immune Cell Membrane-Coated Biomimetic Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Therapy

Nanotechnology has provided great opportunities for managing neoplastic conditions at various levels, from preventive and diagnostic to therapeutic fields. However, when it comes to clinical application, nanoparticles (NPs) have some limitations in terms of biological stability, poor targeting, and rapid clearance from the body. Therefore, biomimetic approaches, utilizing immune cell membranes, are proposed to solve these issues. For example, macrophage or neutrophil cell membrane coated NPs are developed with the ability to interact with tumor tissue to suppress cancer progression and metastasis. The functionality of these particles largely depends on the surface proteins of the immune cells and their preserved function during membrane extraction and coating process on the NPs. Proteins on the outer surface of immune cells can render a wide range of activities to the NPs, including prolonged blood circulation, remarkable competency in recognizing antigens for enhanced targeting, better cellular interactions, gradual drug release, and reduced toxicity in vivo. In this review, nano-based systems coated with immune cells-derived membranous layers, their detailed production process, and the applicability of these biomimetic systems in cancer treatment are discussed. In addition, future perspectives and challenges for their clinical translation are also presented.Peer reviewe