Cyclodextrin applications in pharmacy,biology, medicine,and environment

Environmental Science and Pollution Research -     

Targeting NLRP3 inflammasome as a chief instigator of obesity,contributing to local adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Inflammasome activity plays a vital role in various non-microbial disease states correlated with prolonged inflammation. NLRP3 inflammasome function...     

Dynamics of harmful dinoflagellates driven by temperature and salinity in a northeastern Mediterranean lagoon

To attempt to determine the effects of temperature and salinity on the dynamics of the dinoflagellate community, a monthly sampling was carried out from October 2008 to March 2009 at eight sampling stations in Ghar El Melh Lagoon (GML; Mediterranean Sea, Northern Tunisia). Dinoflagellates were dominant among plankton, accounting for 73.9 % of the lagoon’s overall plankton community, and were comprised of 25 different species among which 17 were reported in the literature as harmful. While no significant difference was found in the distribution of dinoflagellates among the stations, a strong monthly difference was observed. This temporal variability was due to an increase in the abundance of Prorocentrum micans from December to February, leading to a strong decrease in the Shannon diversity index from station to station. At the onset of P. micans development, dinoflagellate abundances reached 1.26.10⁵ cells l^?1. A redundance analysis indicates that both temperature and salinity have a significant effect on the dynamics of the dinoflagellate community. Using a generalized additive model, both temperature and salinity appear to have significant nonlinear relationships with P. micans abundances. Model predictions indicate that outbreaks of P. micans may occur at a temperature below 22.5 °C and with salinity above 32.5. We discuss our results against a backdrop of climate change which, by affecting temperature and salinity, is likely to have an antagonistic impact on P. micans development and subsequently on the dinoflagellate dynamics in GML.     

Remediation of Soil and Ground Water Contaminated with PAH using Heat and Fe(II)-EDTA Catalyzed Persulfate Oxidation

The feasibility of degrading 16 USEPA priority polycyclic aromatic (PAH) hydrocarbons (PAHs) with heat and Fe(II)-EDTA catalyzed persulfate oxidation was investigated in the laboratory. The experiments were conducted to determine the effects of temperature (i.e. 20 ^∘C, 30 ^∘C and 40 ^∘ C) and iron-chelate levels (i.e., 250 mg/L-, 375 mg/L- and 500 mg/L-Fe(II)) on the degradation of dissolved PAHs in aqueous systems, using a series of amber glass jars as the reactors that were placed on a shaker inside an incubator for temperature control. Each experiment was run in duplicate and had two controls (i.e., no persulfate in systems). Samples were collected after a reaction period of 144 hrs and measured for PAHs, pH and sodium persulfate levels. The extent of degradation of PAHs was determined by comparing the data for samples with the controls. The experimental results showed that persulfate oxidation under each of the tested conditions effectively degraded the 16 target PAHs. All of the targeted PAHs were degraded to below the instrument detection limits (∼4 μ/L) from a range of initial concentration (i.e., 5 μ/L for benzo(a)pyrene to 57 μ/L for Phenanthrene) within 144 hrs with 5 g/L of sodium persulfate at 20 ^∘ C, 30 ^∘C and 40 ^∘C. The data indicated that the persulfate oxidation was effective in degrading the PAHs and that external heat and iron catalysts might not be needed for the degradation of PAHs. The Fe(II)-EDTA catalyzed persulfate also effectively degraded PAHs in the study. In addition, the data on the variation of persulfate concentrations during the experiments indicated that Fe(II)-EDTA accelerated the consumption of persulfate ions. The obtained degradation data cannot be used to evaluate the influence of temperature and Fe(II) levels on the PAH degradation because the PAHs under each of the tested conditions were degraded to below the instrument detection limit within the first sampling point. However, these experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of degrading PAHs in aqueous systems with persulfate oxidation. Additional tests are being conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of treating PAHs in soils and obtaining the rate of degradation of PAHs with persulfate oxidation. Two sets of laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the ability of sodium persulfate in oxidizing real world PAH-contaminated soils collected from a Superfund site in Connecticut. The first set of soil sample were treated only with persulfate and to the second batch, mixture of persulfate and Fe(II)-EDTA solutions were added. The results of the second test showed that within 24 hours, 75% to 100% of the initial concentrations of seven PAH compounds detected in the soil samples were degraded by sodium persulfate mixed with FE(II)-EDTA.     

Development of a model to assess environmental performance, concerning HSE-MS principles

The main objective of the present study was to develop a valid and appropriate model to evaluate companies’ efficiency and environmental performance, concerning health, safety, and environmental management system principles. The proposed model overcomes the shortcomings of the previous models developed in this area. This model has been designed on the basis of a mathematical method known as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In order to differentiate high-performing companies from weak ones, one of DEA nonradial models named as enhanced Russell graph efficiency measure has been applied. Since some of the environmental performance indicators cannot be controlled by companies’ managers, it was necessary to develop the model in a way that it could be applied when discretionary and/or nondiscretionary factors were involved. The model, then, has been modified on a real case that comprised 12 oil and gas general contractors. The results showed the relative efficiency, inefficiency sources, and the rank of contractors.     

Sample Preparation Followed by High Performance Liquid Chromatographic (HPLC) Analysis for Monitoring Muconic Acid as a Biomarker of Occupational Exposure to Benzene

Factors affecting solid phase extraction (SPE) of trans,trans-muconic acid (ttMA), as a benzene biomarker, including sample pH, sample concentration, sample volume, sample flow rate, washing solvent, elution solvent, and type of sorbent were evaluated. Extracted samples were determined by HPLC-UV(highperformance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet). The analytical column was C18, UV wave length was 259 nm, and the mobile phase was H2O/methanol/acetic acid run at flow rate of 1 ml/min. A strong anion exchange silica cartridge was found successful in simplifying SPE. There was a significant difference between recoveries of ttMA when different factors were used (p < .001). An optimum recovery was obtained when sample pH was adjusted at 7. There was no significant difference when different sample concentrations were used (p > .05). The optimized method was then validated with 3 different pools of samples showing good reproducibility over 6 consecutive days and 6 within-day experiments.     

Hybrid power supply solutions for off-grid green wireless networks

Increasing deployment of cellular networks across the globe is pushing the energy consumption in cellular networks at an exceptional rate. The integration of renewable energy (RE) harvesting technology into future mobile networks has the potential to positively cope with environmental contamination and ensure self-energy sustainability as a means to decrease fossil fuel consumption. Diesel generator (DG) in conjunction with on-site RE harvester has emerged as an economic and extent efficient option where commercial grid supply is not viable. This paper is focused on the cost aware energy management framework addressing to least net present cost (NPC) for the envisioned hybrid powered green cellular base stations (BSs) considering tempo-spatial traffic dynamics. In such wireless networks, solar photovoltaic modules are considered as a primary energy source, while the DG and energy storage device are kept as the standby supply in case of inadequate solar energy to ensure zero outage. A comprehensive simulation-based investigation is carried out in the context of downlink Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular networks for evaluating cost-efficiency and reliability performance under a wide range of network settings. Particularly, this paper examines the energy yield, greenhouse gas emissions, and cost analysis based on the optimal architecture of Remote Radio Head-enabled LTE BS. Moreover, wireless network performance in terms of throughput, energy efficiency gain, and radio efficiency is thoroughly investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. Numerical results demonstrate a substantial reduction of carbon footprints with minimum NPC while satisfying the quality of service requirements.     

Gaseous ethylbenzene removal by photocatalytic TiO2 nanoparticles immobilized on glass fiber tissue under real conditions: evaluation of reactive oxygen species contribution to the photocatalytic process

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) using a TiO2 catalyst is an effective technique to remove gaseous volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Herein, a...     

What factors drive copepod community distribution in the Gulf of Gabes,Eastern Mediterranean Sea?

The spatial and temporal variations in copepod communities were investigated during four oceanographic cruises conducted between July 2005 and March 2007 aboard the R/V Hannibal. A close relationship was observed between the temperature, salinity, hydrographic properties and water masses characterising the Gulf of Gabes. Indeed, water thermal stratification began in May–June, and a thermocline was established at a 20-m depth, but ranged from 25 m in July to more than 30 m in September. The zooplankton community is dominated by copepods representing 69 % to 83 % of total zooplankton. Spatial and temporal variation of copepods in relation to environmental factors shows their close relationship with the hydrodynamic features of the water column. Thermal stratification in the column, established in summer, supports copepod development. In fact, copepod abundance increases gradually with rising water temperature and salinity, starting from the beginning of thermal stratification (May–June 2006) and lasting until its completion (July 2005 and September 2006). When the water column is well mixed (March 2007), copepod abundance decreased. Our finding shows that temperature and salinity seem to be the most important physical factors and thus strongly influence the taxonomic diversity and distribution of the copepod population. They are characterised by the dominance of Oithona nana, representing 75–86 % of total cyclopoid abundance. The most abundant species during the stratification period were O. nana, Acartia clausi and Stephos marsalensis in July 2005 and September 2006. However, during the mixing period, Euterpina acutifrons was more abundant, representing 21 % of the total. Unlike the copepod community, which is more abundant during the period of high stratification, phytoplankton proliferates during semi-mixed conditions.