Polyethylenimine‐grafted and HSA‐immobilized poly(GMA–MMA) affinity adsorbents for bilirubin removal

The epoxy‐group‐containing microspheres from cross‐linked glycidyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate, poly(GMA–MMA), were prepared by suspension polymerisation. The epoxy groups of the poly(GMA–MMA) microspheres were used for grafting with an anionic polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) to prepare non‐specific affinity adsorbents (poly(GMA–MMA)–PEI) for bilirubin removal. The specificity of the poly(GMA–MMA)–PEI adsorbent to bilirubin was further increased by immobilization of human serum albumin (HSA) via adsorption onto PEI‐grafted poly(GMA–MMA) adsorbent. Various amounts of HSA were immobilized on the poly(GMA–MMA)–PEI adsorbent by changing the medium pH and initial HSA concentration. The maximum HSA content was obtained at 68.3 mg g^?1 microspheres. The effects of pH, ionic strength, temperature and initial bilirubin concentration on the adsorption capacity of both adsorbents were investigated in a batch system. Separation of bilirubin from human serum was also investigated in a continuous‐flow system. The bilirubin adsorption on the poly(GMA–MMA)–PEI and poly(GMA–MMA)–PEI–HSA was not well described by the Langmuir model, but obeyed the Freundlich isotherm model. The poly(GMA–MMA)–PEI affinity microspheres are stable when subjected to sanitization with sodium hydroxide after repeated adsorption–desorption cycles. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Effects of oleaster flour supplementation in total phenolic contents,antioxidant capacities and their bioaccessibilities of cookies

Food Science and Biotechnology - In presented study total phenolic contents, antioxidant capacities and their bioaccessibilities from cookies supplemented with oleaster flour were investigated....     

In vitro and in vivo antifungal activities of the essential oils of various plants against tomato grey mould disease agent Botrytis cinerea

The aim of this study was to find an alternative to synthetic fungicides currently used in the control of devastating fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of grey mould disease of tomato. Antifungal activities of essential oils obtained from aerial parts of aromatic plants, which belong to the Lamiacea family such as origanum (Origanum syriacum L. var. bevanii), lavender (Lavandula stoechas L. var. stoechas) and rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), were investigated against B. cinerea. Contact and volatile phase effects of different concentrations of the essential oils were found to inhibit the growth of B. cinerea in a dose-dependent manner. Volatile phase effects of essential oils were consistently found to be more effective on fungal growth than contact phase effect. A volatile vapour of origanum oil at 0.2 μg/ml air was found to completely inhibit the growth of B. cinerea. Complete growth inhibition of pathogen by essential oil of lavender and rosemary was, however, observed at 1.6 μg/ml air concentrations. For the determination of the contact phase effects of the tested essential oils, origanum oil at 12.8 μg/ml was found to inhibit the growth of B. cinerea completely. Essential oils of rosemary and lavender were inhibitory at relatively higher concentrations (25.6 μg/ml). Spore germination and germ tube elongation were also inhibited by the essential oils tested. Light and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations revealed that the essential oils cause considerable morphological degenerations of the fungal hyphae such as cytoplasmic coagulation, vacuolations, hyphal shrivelling and protoplast leakage and loss of conidiation. In vivo assays with the origanum essential oil, being the most efficient essential oil, under greenhouse conditions using susceptible tomato plants resulted in good protection against grey mould severity especially as a curative treatment. This study has demonstrated that the essential oils are potential and promising antifungal agents which could be used as biofungicide in the protection of tomato against B. cinerea.     

Exp-function method for solving nonlinear evolution equations with higher order nonlinearity

In this paper, the Exp-function method is used to obtain generalized solitary solutions of the generalized Drinfel’d–Sokolov–Wilson (DSW) system and the generalized (2+1)-dimensional Burgers-type equation. Then, some of the solitary solutions are converted to periodic solutions or hyperbolic function solutions by a simple transformation. The results show that the Exp-function method is a powerful and convenient mathematical tool for solving nonlinear evolution equations with higher order nonlinearity.     

A Study of the Microstructure and Properties of Copper Composites Reinforced with Co – Ti

Metal Science and Heat Treatment - The microstructure and the hardness of composites with copper matrix and reinforcing additions of 5, 10 and 15 wt.% Co – Ti obtained by mixing particles of...     

Influence of different light-curing units on monomer elution from bulk fill composites

Objectives: This in vitro study assessed the effect of different light-curing units on the elution of monomers from bulk fill composites with different thicknesses. Methods: Five bulk fill composites (Filtek Bulk Fill Flowable, SonicFill 2, SDR, Tetric N-Ceram Bulk Fill, and Venus Bulk Fill) and one conventional composite (Filtek Z250) were selected for the study. The cylindrical specimens in thickness of 2?mm or 4?mm were prepared and photopolymerized for 20?s with a light-emitting diode (VALO Cordless) or a halogen (Monitex BlueLuxer) light-curing unit. The specimens in glass vials were covered with a 75% ethanol/water solution. Ethanol/water extraction solutions were collected for high-performance liquid chromatography analysis after 24?h, 3 days, and 7 days. The data were analyzed with repeated measures and three-way ANOVA (p?<?0.05). Results: The total monomer amount was significantly influenced by light-curing source used and thickness. The highest levels of Bis-GMA and Bis-EMA were eluted from Tetric N-Ceram BulkFill and Venus Bulk Fill, respectively. SonicFill 2 released the highest level of TEGDMA at 4-mm thickness. The highest levels of UDMA release, from 4-mm-thick Filtek Bulk Fill Flowable, were attained using the halogen unit. Conclusions: Light-curing sources affected the number of monomers released by materials. The amount of eluted monomers declined over time. The increased ratio of released monomers to increased thickness is material dependent. The number of residual monomers is highly associated with the resin ratio and crosslinking network of the composites.     

Determination of insecticide pymetrozine by differential pulse polarography/application to lake water and orange juice

A simple, fast and sensitive differential pulse polarographic method (DPP) for the determination of pymetrozine insecticide in pure form, agrochemical formulation, natural water and orange juice samples is proposed. The polarographic behavior of pymetrozine exhibited a double well-defined polarographic peaks at -580 and 950mV (versus SCE), respectively. The peak potentials were strongly pH-dependent in that they shifted to more negative values with increasing pH. The polarographic reduction corresponding to the first peak at pH 2.0 (B-R buffer solution) showed quantitative increments with the additions of standard pymetrozine solution under the optimal conditions and the corresponding peak current was linearly proportional to pymetrozine concentration in the range of 4.97x10(-7) to 7.35x10(-5)molL(-1). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were obtained as 1.48x10(-7) and 4.93x10(-7)molL(-1), respectively. The mean recoveries of the 5.0x10(-6)molL(-1) pymetrozine spiked to lake water and orange juice were (4.89+/-0.23)x10(-6) and (4.97+/-0.19)x10(-6)molL(-1) at 95% confidence level, respectively. The method was extended to the determination of pymetrozine in agrochemical insecticide formulation Plenum and accuracy was in agreement with that obtained by HPLC comparison method. Influences of some interfering ions and some other pesticides were also investigated. The mechanistic study was not pursued.     

Surface modification of calcite by wet-stirred ball milling and its properties

This paper investigates the surface modification of calcite from the Ni?de region of Turkey with sodium oleate (SDO) as a modification agent, which is incorporated into the calcite with wet ultra-fine grinding in a laboratory stirred ball mill. The effect of surface modification is evaluated by a floating test, which measures the active ratio (AR), fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT/IR) and thermogravity analyses (TG-DTA). The results indicate that the hydrophilic surface of calcite becomes hydrophobic after the incorporation of SDO through wet-stirred ball milling.