Concurrent removal of Cr(III), Cu(II), and Pb(II) ions from water by multifunctional TiO2/Alg/FeNPs beads

The use of multifunctional materials for water remediation is a modern approach where adsorption phenomena and heterogeneous photocatalysis can be applied for the removal of pollutants. Since the ideal remediation system should be able to remove both organic and inorganic pollutants, a crucial aspect to consider is the knowledge of operational parameters affecting the removal process, especially when heavy metal ions are present in concoction as in real systems. Given the proven efficiency of multifunctional TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs magnetic beads for the removal of model organic pollutants, this study investigated the possibility to exploit such system also for the removal of mixed heavy metals (MHM), specifically Cr(III), Cu(II), and Pb(II) ions, under ultraviolet irradiation at a wavelength of 254 nm. After a preliminary screening on the optimal catalyst loading, operating parameters such as the initial concentration of metal ions, contact and irradiation time, and pH were investigated to optimize the removal of metal ions using response surface methodology (RSM) via Box–Behnken design. Starting from a MHM solution containing 44 ppm of each metal ion, the removal of Pb(II), Cr(III), and Cu(II) ions in the aqueous solution was nearly completed (>98.4%) for all three ions within 72 min of irradiation at almost neutral pH (pH = 6.8). The stability of TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs was confirmed by retrieving and reusing the beads in three consecutive cycles of heavy metals removal without observing significant changes in catalyst efficiency.     

Magnetic hybrid TiO2/Alg/FeNPs triads for the efficient removal of methylene blue from water

A new adsorbent material with combined adsorption, photocatalytic, and magnetic properties has been successfully synthesized and tested for the efficient dye removal from methylene blue (MB) contaminated water. A facile non-thermal method was applied to synthesize a hybrid nanocomposite consisting of TiO₂/calcium alginate (TiO/Alg) and magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles (FeNPs). The potential of the adsorbent Alg as a barrier to prevent direct contact between the magnetic core and TiO₂ was experimented by varying the synthesis conditions. The performance of four differently synthesized TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs samples (TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs-1, TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs-2, TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs-3, and TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs-4) was found to be fairly comparable and stable based on their efficiency in removing MB from aqueous solution due to the physico-chemical characterization (surface morphology, functional groups and elemental analysis) which supports the performance of TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs. For the optimization study using the response surface methodology (RSM) with three factorial Box-Behnken experimental designs, TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs-2 was selected as it exhibited the highest MB removal of 97.6% after 120 min under ultra violet irradiation (254 nm wavelength). Among the three independent variables studied (i.e., pH, contact time and initial MB concentration), the initial concentration of MB had significant effect towards the MB removal performance. A recycling study was performed, thus confirming the stability of TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs-2 up to three cycles, with only a slight drop in the removal efficiency from 93.1% to 88.5%. The fabricated TiO₂/Alg/FeNPs nanocomposites could be a potential functional material for treating artificial dye laden wastewater such as in textile, cosmetic, and paper industries.     

Intestinal Alkaline Phosphatase Attenuates Alcohol-Induced Hepatosteatosis in Mice

Digestive Diseases and Sciences - Bacterially derived factors from the gut play a major role in the activation of inflammatory pathways in the liver and in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver...     

Experimental Validation of Longitudinal Speed of Sound Estimates in the Diagnosis of Hepatic Steatosis (Part II)

This study validates a non-invasive, quantitative technique to diagnose steatosis within tissue. The proposed method is based on two fundamental concepts: (i) the speed of sound in a fatty liver is lower than that in a healthy liver and (ii) the quality of an ultrasound image is maximized when the beamformer's speed of sound matches the speed in the medium under examination. The method uses image brightness and sharpness as quantitative image-quality metrics to predict the true sound speed and capture the effects of fat infiltration, while accounting for the transmission through subcutaneous fat. Ex vivo testing on sheep liver, mouse livers and tissue-mimicking phantoms indicated the technique's ability to predict the true speed of sound with errors less than 0.5% and to quantify the inverse correlation between fat content and speed of sound.     

Molecular dynamics and quantum chemical studies on incremental solvation of glycine

The conformational analysis of Glycine (Gly) amino acid in the presence of explicit water molecules is done using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation for over 10 ns time scale with step of 2 fs. Based on the hydrogen bond interactions, the solvated states of Gly and their distribution functions have been analyzed to identify the number of water molecules which fall within the first and second solvation shells. The ab initio and density functional theory (DFT) methods have been used to study the incremental solvation effect on Gly in gas phase with one to nine water molecules by constructing a hydration shell around Gly. Molecular geometries and energetical parameters of Gly?(W)_nn = 1–9 complexes were studied by MP2, B3LYP and B3PW91 methods using 6-311G (2d, 2p) basis set. The interaction energies with BSSE corrections and the strength of the hydrogen bonds have been analyzed. The chemical hardness at HF/6-311G (2d, 2p) level of theory has been calculated for all the optimized structures. The topological analysis has been carried out for the water interacting complexes using Bader’s atoms in molecule (AIM) theory. The charge transfer from the proton acceptor to the anti-bonding orbital of proton donor in Gly?(W)_nn = 1–9 complexes has been analyzed through Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. NMR calculations have been carried out on the basis of Cheeseman coworkers method at B3LYP/6-311G (2d, 2p) level of theory to analyse the molecular environment as well as the delocalization activities of electron cloud.