New magnetic Co3O4/Fe3O4 doped polyaniline nanocomposite for the effective and rapid removal of nitrate ions from ground water samples

In the present study, a new nanocomposite of iron/cobalt oxides and magnetic nanoparticle doped with polyaniline (PANI-Co3O4@MNPs) was synthesized and subsequently, evaluated for its potential in decontaminating nitrate ions from ground water. Various important parameters such as pH, mass dosage, adsorption time, initial concentration, and temperature were experimentally investigated. The important surface and chemical properties of PANI-Co3O4@MNPs, such as surface morphology and roughness, composition and chemical structure were evaluated using field emission scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared. Finally, the removal of nitrate was assessed using kinetic, adsorption isotherm, and thermodynamic studies to investigate the underlying mechanism of the removal process. Maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 68.96 mg/g for nitrate ions at pH 6, adsorbent dosage 60 mg within 60 min. The kinetic studies and the adsorption isotherms have been well fitted using pseudo first and the Freundlich models respectively whereas the thermodynamic parameters have been described in terms of enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy which showed a negative value signifying that the adsorption process was exothermic and spontaneous in nature

Maxadilan Prevents Apoptosis in iPS Cells and Shows No Effects on the Pluripotent State or Karyotype

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a structurally endogenous peptide with many biological roles. Maxadilan, a 61-amino acid vasodilatory peptide, specifically activates the PACAP type I receptor (PAC1). Although PAC1 has been identified in embryonic stem cells, little is known about its presence or effects in human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In the present study, we investigated the expression of PAC1 in human iPS cells by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot analysis. To study the physiological effects mediated by PAC1, we evaluated the role of maxadilan in preventing apoptotic cell death induced by ultraviolet C (UVC). After exposure to UVC, the iPS cells showed a marked reduction in cell viability and a parallel increase of apoptotic cells, as demonstrated by WST-8 analysis, annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) analysis and the terminal transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The addition of 30 nM of maxadilan dramatically increased iPS cell viability and reduced the percentage of apoptotic cells. The anti-apoptotic effects of maxadilan were correlated to the downregulation of caspase-3 and caspase-9. Concomitantly, immunofluorescence, western blot analysis, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis and in vitro differentiation results showed that maxadilan did not affect the pluripotent state of iPS cells. Moreover, karyotype analysis showed that maxadilan did not affect the karyotype of iPS cells. In summary, these results demonstrate that PAC1 is present in iPS cells and that maxadilan effectively protects iPS cells against UVC-induced apoptotic cell death while not affecting the pluripotent state or karyotype

Investigation of potential cognition factors correlated to fire evacuation

The design of a navigation system to support indoor fire evacuation depends not only on speed but also a relatively thorough consideration of the cognition factors. This study has investigated potential cognition factors which can affect the human behaviours and decision making during fire evacuation by taking a survey among indoor occupants in age of 20s under designed virtual scenarios. It mainly focuses on two aspects of Fire Responses Performances (FRP), i.e. indoor familiarity (spatial cognition) and psychological stress (situ-ated cognition). The collected results have shown that these cognition factors can be affected by gender and user height and they are correlated with each other in certain ways. It has also investigated users‟ attitudes to the navigation services under risky and non-risky conditions. The collected answers are also found to be correlated with the selected FRP factors. These findings may help to further design of personalized indoor navigation support for fire evacuation

Effect of gamma irradiation on Cysticercusbovisin infested cattle carcasses

Taeniasis is one of the parasitic zoonotic diseases that could transmit through the consuming of semi-cooked or raw beef infested with Cysticercosebovis. Irradiation as a safe approach can be applied in order to eliminate parasites from foods. It can be used as a control method to prevent parasitic foodborne diseases. Therefore, in this study the cattle muscles containing live cysts were selected from two slaughterhouses of Alborz province and were subjected for gamma irradiation with different doses (0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, 1 and 1.5) KGY. Afterwards, the samples were stained with Eosin Methylene-Blue and were observed with light microscope to determine the viability of the cysts. The analysis of data was conducted with SPSS version 22. The results indicated that 0.8, 0.9, 1 and 1.5 KGY doses were capable to inactivate viable cysts significantly, with 72%, 82.6%, 90.9% and 91.6%, respectively. Therefore, 1 KGY is recommended as appropriate dose for elimination of C. bovis