Removal of acid dyes from aqueous media by adsorption onto amino-functionalized nanoporous silica SBA-3

Adsorption of acid dyes on SBA-3 ordered mesoporous silica, ethylenediamine functionalized SBA-3 (SBA-3/EDA), aminopropyl functionalized SBA-3 (SBA-3/APTES) and pentaethylene hexamine functionalized SBA-3 (SBA-3/PEHA) materials has been studied. The structural order and textural properties of the synthesized materials have been studied by XRD, FT-IR and nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbents varies in the following order: SBA-3/PEHA > SBA-3/APTES > SBA-3/EDA > SBA-3. The SBA-3/PEHA is found to have the highest adsorption capacity for all acid dyes. The adsorption mechanism which is based on electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding is described. Batch studies were performed to study the effect of various experimental parameters such as chemical modification, contact time, initial concentration, adsorbent dose, agitation speed, solution pH and reaction temperature on the adsorption process. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models have been applied and the Freundlich model was found to be fit with the equilibrium isotherm data. Kinetics of adsorption follows the second-order rate equation.     

Hydrogen sulfide sensing properties of multi walled carbon nanotubes

This paper investigates the effect of functional groups on the hydrogen sulfide sensing properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes using carboxyl and amide groups and Mo and Pt nanoparticles as decorated precursors in gaseous state at working temperature. Carbon nanotubes were synthesized by the CVD process and decorated with the nano particles; provide higher sensitivity for H₂S gas detection. The MWCNTs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ATR-IR absorption and Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) analyses. The MWCNTs were deposited as a thin film layer between prefabricated gold electrodes on alumina surfaces. The sensitivity of carbon nanotubes was measured for different H₂S gas concentrations and at working temperature. The results showed that the measured electrical conductance of the modified carbon nanotubes with functional groups is modulated by charge transfer with P-type semiconducting characteristics and metal decorated carbon nanotubes exhibit better performances compared to functional groups of carboxyl and amide for H₂S gas monitoring at room temperature.     

Shedding light on the poly(5-ethylidene-2-norbornene) microstructural differences: Skeleton rearrangements during polymerization

Here, an attempt is made to study one of the less noticed aspects of the polymerization of 5-ethylidene-2-norbornene (ENB) by nickel α-diimine catalysts. Therefore, several (co)polymerization runs using MMAO-activated binuclear catalyst (BNC) and mononuclear catalyst (MNC) were undertaken. Catalyst activities as high as 561.1 and 925.0 (kg_pol mol⁻¹_Ni h⁻¹) were observed for ENB polymerization by MNC and BNC, respectively. However, the utilization of comonomer (norbornene [NB]) led to a dramatic decline in the catalyst activities, reaching low levels of 69.4 and 144.4 (kg_pol mol⁻¹_Ni h⁻¹), respectively. Structural characterization (NMR and FTIR) corroborated the occurrence of ring opening via β-C elimination and the subsequent β-H elimination. Additionally, tandem transannular polymerization and ring-opening metathesis polymerization of ENB were evidenced. The findings demonstrated that the transannular polymerization prevailed during the polymerization, albeit the MNC catalyst showed a higher contribution of ring opening via β-C elimination. Importantly, comonomer (NB) was displayed to alter the governing polymerization mechanism. According to DMTA analysis, the structures of the monomer and catalyst were found to significantly influence the polymer damping behavior and microstructure heterogeneity. That is, the NB-ENB copolymer obtained by MNC exhibited the lowest T_g value and highest tan δ along with the diminished microstructure heterogeneity.     

Investigating preparation and characterisation of diphtheria toxoid‐loaded on sodium alginate nanoparticles

This paper aims to investigate the preparation and characterisation of the alginate nanoparticles (NPs) as antigen delivery system loaded by diphtheria toxoid (DT). For this purpose, both the loading capacity (LC) and Loading efficiency (LE) of the alginate NPs burdened by DT are evaluated. Moreover, the effects of different concentrations of sodium alginate and calcium chloride on the NPs physicochemical characteristics are surveyed in addition to other physical conditions such as homogenization time and rate. To do so, the NPs are characterised using particle size and distribution, zeta potential, scanning electron microscopy, encapsulation efficiency, in vitro release study and FT‐IR spectroscopy. Subsequently, the effects of homogenization time and rate on the NPs are assessed. At the meantime, the NPs LC and efficiency in several DT concentrations are estimated. The average size of the NPs was 400.7 and 276.6 nm for unloaded and DT loaded, respectively. According to the obtained results, the zeta potential of the blank and DT loaded NPs are estimated as −23.7 mV and −21.2 mV, respectively. Whereas, the LC and LE were >80% and >90%, in that order. Furthermore, 95% of the releasing DT loaded NPs occurs at 140 h in the sustained mode without any bursting release. It can be concluded that the features of NPs such as morphology and particle size are strongly depended on the calcium chloride, sodium alginate concentrations and physicochemical conditions in the NPs formation process. In addition, appropriate concentrations of the sodium alginate and calcium ions would lead to obtaining the desirable NPs formation associated with the advantageous LE, LC (over 80%) and sustained in vitro release profile. Ultimately, the proposed NPs can be employed in vaccine formulation for the targeted delivery, controlled and slow antigen release associated with the improved antigen stability.     

Spotlight on Exosomal Non-Coding RNAs in Breast Cancer: An In Silico Analysis to Identify Potential lncRNA/circRNA-miRNA-Target Axis

Breast cancer (BC) has recently become the most common cancer type worldwide, with metastatic disease being the main reason for disease mortality. This has brought about strategies for early detection, especially the utilization of minimally invasive biomarkers found in various bodily fluids. Exosomes have been proposed as novel extracellular vesicles, readily detectable in bodily fluids, secreted from BC-cells or BC-tumor microenvironment cells, and capable of conferring cellular signals over long distances via various cargo molecules. This cargo is composed of different biomolecules, among which are the novel non-coding genome products, such as microRNAs (miRNAs), long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), and the recently discovered circular RNA (circRNA), all of which were found to be implicated in BC pathology. In this review, the diverse roles of the ncRNA cargo of BC-derived exosomes will be discussed, shedding light on their primarily oncogenic and additionally tumor suppressor roles at different levels of BC tumor progression, and drug sensitivity/resistance, along with presenting their diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive biomarker potential. Finally, benefiting from the miRNA sponging mechanism of action of lncRNAs and circRNAs, we established an experimentally validated breast cancer exosomal non-coding RNAs-regulated target gene axis from already published exosomal ncRNAs in BC. The resulting genes, pathways, gene ontology (GO) terms, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis could be a starting point to better understand BC and may pave the way for the development of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and therapeutics.     

Gastrointestinal Tract Stabilized Protein Delivery Using Disulfide Thermostable Exoshell System

Thermostable exoshells (tES) are engineered proteinaceous nanoparticles used for the rapid encapsulation of therapeutic proteins/enzymes, whereby the nanoplatform protects the payload from proteases and other denaturants. Given the significance of oral delivery as the preferred model for drug administration, we structurally improved the stability of tES through multiple inter-subunit disulfide linkages that were initially absent in the parent molecule. The disulfide-linked tES, as compared to tES, significantly stabilized the activity of encapsulated horseradish peroxidase (HRP) at acidic pH and against the primary human digestive enzymes, pepsin, and trypsin. Furthermore, the disulfide-linked tES (DS-tES) exhibited significant intestinal permeability as evaluated using Caco2 cells. In vivo bioluminescence assay showed that encapsulated Renilla luciferase (rluc) was ~3 times more stable in mice compared to the free enzyme. DS-tES collected mice feces had ~100 times more active enzyme in comparison to the control (free enzyme) after 24 h of oral administration, demonstrating strong intestinal stability. Taken together, the in vitro and in vivo results demonstrate the potential of DS-tES for intraluminal and systemic oral drug delivery applications.     

沿同心环面层流流动的气体中颗粒的传热沉积物的预测:发展中的流动和已充分发展的流动的比较

Thermophoresis is an important mechanism of micro-particle transport due to temperature gradients in the surrounding medium. It has numerous applications, especially in the field of aerosol technology. This study has numerically investigated the thermophoretic deposition efficiency of particles in a laminar gas flow in a concentric annulus using the critical trajectory method. The governing equations are the momentum and energy equations for the gas and the particle equations of motion. The effects of the annulus size, particle diameter, the ratio of inner to outer radius of tube and wall temperature on the deposition efficiency were studied for both developing and fully-developed flows. Simulation results suggest that thermophoretic deposition increases by increasing thermal gradient, deposition distance, and the ratio of inner to outer radius, but decreases with increasing particle size. It has been found that by taking into account the effect of developing flow at the entrance region, higher deposition efficiency was obtained, than fully developed flow.     

Morphology formation during the nonisothermal thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS) process

In high-viscosity polymer solutions and blends, temperature variations during the quench process of the thermally-induced phase separation (TIPS) influence the dynamics and thermodynamics of phase separation. Hence, this study aims to investigate the impact of temperature variations on the morphology formation during the TIPS process. First, the influence of temporal temperature variations on phase separation is investigated by coupling a transient heat conduction model and the Cahn–Hilliard equation, and the results are compared with the isothermal phase separation process. Next, the morphology formation during phase separation is inspected by applying quench from two opposite sides of the sample to the same and different temperatures through coupling the Fourier heat transfer equation and the Cahn–Hilliard equation. The influence of the enthalpy of demixing on the morphology formation and the competition between the heat and mass transfer is also evaluated. It is confirmed that temporal variations of temperature alone have a significant impact on the morphology formation during the TIPS process. In addition, quenching the system to the same and different temperatures both leads to anisotropic morphology formation, which is affected by the quench rate, quench temperature, solution viscosity, and enthalpy of demixing. Upon applying different quench temperatures from opposite sides, two different types of morphologies and droplet sizes were formed as a result of the difference in the cooling rates between the two sides. Employing the enthalpy of demixing during phase separation induced a shallow quench effect on the deep quench side due to the fact that the heat moved toward the lowest temperature in the system, which led to the formation of a distinctive structure.