A Chalcone Based Novel Fluorescent Nanoprobe for Selective Detection of Al 3+ Ion in Aqueous Medium

Abstract A chalcone based novel fluorescent organic nanoparticles are prepared by reprecipitation method. The Dynamic Light Scattering histogram shows narrow particle size distribution and the average diameter of particle is 37.2 nm. The Scanning Electron Microphotograph shows the fibre like morphology. The blue shifted UV-visible spectra. The significant large Stokes shift of Trans-3-(9-Anthryl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one nanoparticles (APPONPs) in aqueous suspension as compared with that of a dilute solution of Trans-3-(9-Anthryl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one (APPO) in acetone indicates H-aggregation of molecules by π-π stacking. An intense fluorescence band peaking at 556 nm is attributed to Aggregation Induced Enhanced Emission (AIEE) by direct excitation of APPONPs. The binding of Al 3+ increased the fluorescence of APPONPs while other cations actually decreases the fluorescence. The fluorescence enhancement of APPONPs by Al 3+ was discussed on the basis of hard and soft acid and base (HSAB) theory. The enhancement of APPONPs emission is linear in the concentration range 0-80 μM of Al 3+ . The enhancement of fluorescence of APPONPs results obeys the straight line equation with RSD = 0.9879%. The present method has Limit of Detection (LOD)= 1.148 μM of Al 3+ which is lower than the LOD reported for Al 3+ by using other methods like colorimetry, potentiometry. This study was succesfully applied to develop fluorimetric method for determination of Al 3+ in environmental samples. The method affords fairly practical and economical approach

Interdisciplinary Diabetes Care: A New Model for Inpatient Diabetes Education

A patient-centered interdisciplinary diabetes care model was implemented at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, N.C., a 909-bed tertiary care teaching hospital, for the purpose of providing all patients with diabetes clear and concise instructions on diabetes survival skills. Survival skills education during hospitalization is needed for safe transition to community resources for continued and expanded diabetes self-management education. This article describes the process used to develop, implement, and evaluate the model. This initiative achieved substantial cost savings, with no significant changes in length of stay (LOS) or diabetes readmission rates. This patient-centered model demonstrates how a team of interdisciplinary health care professionals can integrate services in providing care for a large population of patients with chronic disease

Photoelectrocatalysis of Cefotaxime Using Nanostructured TiO₂ Photoanode: Identification of the Degradation Products and Determination of the Toxicity Level

Nanostructured TiO₂ thin films were fabricated via a facile, economical, and energy-efficient microwave-assisted dip-coating (MWDC) technique. Further, the resulting TiO₂ films were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, selected-area electron diffraction, Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy techniques for their phase structure, morphology, and optical and surface properties. TiO₂-mediated photoelectrocatalytic degradation of the antibiotic cefotaxime (CFX) in an aqueous solution was studied by varying the pH under UV illumination. The degradation intermediates and possible reaction degradation path of CFX were analyzed by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS). The MS spectra revealed that degradation of CFX occurs through β-lactum corresponding to the cleavage of the cephem nucleus. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of CFX prior to and after photoelectrocatalytic degradation was carried out to analyze the toxicity against <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> and salmonella typhi bacteria. Interestingly, it was observed that the antibiotic activity was drastically inhibited after photoelectrocatalytic degradation of the CFX solution. The photoelectrocatalytic stability of a nanostructured TiO₂ electrode was evaluated by recycling the degradation experiments. It was observed that there was no significant decrease in the catalytic activity, indicating potential applications of the TiO₂ electrode prepared by the MWDC method