A coloured polyester fabric with antimicrobial properties conferred by copper nanoparticles

In this study, we aimed to produce a coloured polyester fabric through the in situ sonosynthesis of copper nanoparticles using copper sulphate, hydrazine, sodium hydroxide and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The treated fabrics were characterised by X‐ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy and elemental mapping. Moreover, mechanical properties, wettability and antibacterial/antifungal activities of the treated fabrics were evaluated. Central composite design based on the response surface methodology was used to study the effect of copper sulphate, hydrazine hydrate and sodium hydroxide on the weight gain and colour of the treated fabrics. In addition to their roles as reducing agents, hydrazine and sodium hydroxide were responsible for the simultaneous aminolysis and hydrolysis of polyester, increasing the adsorption of nanoparticles on the surface. According to the results, the reddish brown samples treated with copper nanoparticles showed excellent antibacterial and antifungal efficiencies, improved tensile strength and decreased wettability.     

Spam detection on Twitter using a support vector machine and users’ features by identifying their interactions

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Spam tweets might cause numerous problems for users. An automatic method is introduced as a proposed method to detect spam tweets. This method is based on...     

Development of a Green Chromatographic Method for Simultaneous Determination of Food Colorants

A green chromatographic method for the successful separation and determination of eight synthetic food colorants (Tartrazine E 102, Quinoline Yellow E 104, Sunset Yellow E 110, Carmoisine E 122, Ponceau 4R E 124, Allura Red E 129, Indigo Carmine E 132 and Brilliant Blue E 133) was developed. A C8 stationary phase was used and the mobile phase was a mixture of 50 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7 containing triton X-100 (0.25% v/v). The method was validated as regards its selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ). LOD of colorants varied between 0.17 μg mL⁻¹ in Allura Red and 1.91 μg mL⁻¹ in Quinoline Yellow. In the case of LOQ, it was ranged from 0.52 in the Allura Red to 5.79 in the Quinoline Yellow. The method applicability was verified by the determination of colorants present in 22 samples. The 15 samples were only unicolor and the color concentration in these samples varied from 18.426 ± 0.100 to 610.390 ± 4.711 ppm. The method can be used successfully to the determination of binary and ternary color food and drug samples too. This method provides substantial green benefits without using organic solvents in extraction procedure and in both liquid and paper chromatographic methods.     

Investigation of the electroactivity,conductivity, and morphology of poly(pyrrole‐co‐N‐alkyl pyrrole) prepared via electrochemical nanopolymerization and chemical polymerization

The copolymerization of pyrrole (Py) with N‐ethyl pyrrole, N‐butyl pyrrole, and N‐octyl pyrrole (NOPy) was carried out by electrochemical and chemical oxidation. In the electrochemical method, copolymer thin films with different feed ratios of monomers were synthesized by the cyclic voltammetry method in a lithium perchlorate (LiClO₄)/acetonitrile (CH₃CN) electrolyte on the surface of a glassy carbon working electrode. The deposition conditions on the glassy carbon, the influence of the molar ratios of the monomers on the formation of the copolymers, and the electroactivity of the copolymers were investigated with cyclic voltammetry. Nanoparticles made of a conjugate of the copolymers with different feed ratios of monomers were prepared by chemical polymerization (conventional and interfacial methods) in the presence of iron(III) chloride hexahydrate (FeCl₃·6H₂O) as the oxidant. Nanostructural copolymers with higher conductivities were synthesized by simple tuning of the preparation conditions in a two‐phase medium. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and four‐probe conductivity measurement techniques were applied for the characterization of the obtained copolymers. The conductivity of the obtained copolymer by an interfacial method with chloroform as the organic phase was 20 times higher than the copolymer obtained via an interfacial method with toluene as the organic phase and 700 times higher than the copolymer prepared by the conventional method (for a molar ratio of 70 : 30 Py : NOPy). © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Vitamin D and Evening Primrose Oil Administration Improve Glycemia and Lipid Profiles in Women with Gestational Diabetes

Limited data are available assessing the effects of vitamin D and evening primrose oil (EPO) administration on markers of insulin resistance and lipid concentrations in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study was designed to evaluate the effects of vitamin D and EPO administration on insulin resistance and lipid concentrations among women with GDM. In this prospective randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical trial, 60 participants with GDM were divided into 2 groups of either 1000 IU vitamin D3 and 1000 mg EPO or placebo for 6 weeks. At the beginning and end of the study, fasting blood samples were obtained from the participants to measure related variables. After 6 weeks of intervention, changes in fasting plasma glucose (?3.6 ± 7.5 vs. +1.5 ± 11.4 mg/dL, P = 0.04), serum insulin concentrations (?2.0 ± 5.3 vs. +4.6 ± 10.7 µIU/mL, P = 0.004), homeostasis model of assessment (HOMA) insulin resistance (?0.5 ± 1.1 vs. +1.1 ± 2.5, P = 0.003), HOMA‐B cell function (?7.7 ± 23.3 vs. +17.4 ± 42.9, P = 0.007) and the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (+0.01 ± 0.02 vs. ?0.01 ± 0.02, P = 0.007) in the vitamin D plus EPO group were significantly different from the placebo group. In addition, compared with the placebo, vitamin D and EPO supplementation resulted in significant reductions in serum TAG (?20.0 ± 54.3 vs. +34.3 ± 38.2 mg/dL, P < 0.001), VLDL (?4.0 ± 10.9 vs. +6.9 ± 7.6 mg/dL, P < 0.001), TC (?22.1 ± 32.6 vs. +5.3 ± 20.1 mg/dL, P < 0.001), LDL concentrations (?18.0 ± 25.5 vs. +1.8 ± 15.7 mg/dL, P = 0.001) and TC/HDL (?0.3 ± 0.4 vs. +0.3 ± 0.5 mg/dL, P < 0.001). We did not observe any significant effect of vitamin D and EPO supplementation on serum HDL concentrations. Clinical trial registration number: http://www.irct.ir : IRCT201509115623N52.