Development and characterization of hydroquinone-loaded nanofiber for topical delivery: effect of chitosan

Hydroquinone (HQ) loaded polymer solution was electrospun for its topical application. Nanofibers were then investigated in terms of stability, drug release, and antifungal activity. The effect of chitosan (CS) was investigated on the viscosity, stability, drug release, and antifungal activity of the developed formulation. Results indicate a significantly stable HQ-loaded nanofiber formulation. The addition of CS caused hydration of the drug delivery system and enhanced drug release but reduced its stability. HQ-loaded nanofiber mat showed significant antifungal activity, however, there was no inhibition zone in samples containing CS.     

Gelatin Nanoparticles with Enhanced Affinity for Calcium Phosphate

Gelatin nanoparticles can be tuned with respect to their drug loading efficiency, degradation rate, and release kinetics, which renders these drug carriers highly suitable for a wide variety of biomedical applications. The ease of functionalization has rendered gelatin an interesting candidate material to introduce specific motifs for selective targeting to specific organs, but gelatin nanoparticles have not yet been modified to increase their affinity to mineralized tissue. By means of conjugating bone‐targeting alendronate to biocompatible gelatin nanoparticles, a simple method is developed for the preparation of gelatin nanoparticles which exhibit strong affinity to mineralized surfaces. It has been shown that the degree of alendronate functionalization can be tuned by controlling the glutaraldehyde crosslinking density, the molar ratio between alendronate and glutaraldehyde, as well as the pH of the conjugation reaction. Moreover, it has been shown that the affinity of gelatin nanoparticles to calcium phosphate increases considerably upon functionalization with alendronate. In summary, gelatin nanoparticles have been developed, which exhibit great potential for use in bone‐specific drug delivery and regenerative medicine.

     

A novel approach for determining total titanium from titanium dioxide nanoparticles suspended in water and biosolids by digestion with ammonium persulfate

Titanium dioxide (i.e. TiO₂) in nano-form is a constituent of many nanomaterials that are used in sunscreens, cosmetics, industrial products and in biomedical applications. Quantification of TiO₂ nanoparticles in various matrixes is a topic of great interest for researchers studying the potential health and environmental impacts of nanoparticles. However, analysis of TiO₂ as Ti⁴⁺ is difficult because current digestion techniques require use of strong acids that may be a health and safety risk in the laboratory. To overcome this problem, we developed a new method to digest TiO₂ nanoparticles using ammonium persulfate as a fusing reagent. The digestion technique requires short times to completion and optimally requires only 1 g of fusing reagent. The fusion method showed >95% recovery of Ti⁴⁺ from 6 μg mL^?1 aqueous suspensions prepared from 10 μg mL^?1 suspension of different forms of TiO_2, including anatase, rutile and mixed nanosized crystals, and amorphous particles. These recoveries were greater than open hot-plate digestion with a tri-acid solution and comparable to microwave digestion with a tri-acid solution. Cations and anions commonly found in natural waters showed no significant interferences when added to samples in amounts of 10 ng to 110 mg, which is a much broader range of these ions than expected in environmental samples. Using ICP-MS for analysis, the method detection limit (MDL) was determined to be 0.06 ng mL^?1, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.20 ng mL^?1. Analysis of samples of untreated and treated wastewater and biosolids collected from wastewater treatment plants yielded concentrations of TiO₂ of 1.8 and 1.6 ng mL^?1 for the wastewater samples, respectively, and 317.4 ng mg^?1 dry weights for the biosolids. The reactions between persulfate ions and TiO₂ were evaluated using stoichiometric methods and FTIR and XRD analysis. A formula for the fusing reaction is proposed that involves the formation of sulfate radicals.     

ZnO/Fe3O4 nanoparticles promoted green synthesis of pyrazolo pyrimidinones: Study of antioxidant activity

The preparation of pyrazolo pyrimidinone derivatives was performed by using five component reactions of phthalaldehyde, cyanomethylamine, electron deficient acetylenic compounds, isocyanate, hydrazine, and catalytic amounts of ZnO/Fe₃O₄-magnetic nanoparticles as a high performance catalyst under ultrasonic conditions at ambient temperature in aquause media at room temperature. It should be mentioned that this catalyst was prepared using Spinacia oleracea water extract. In addition, for investigation of antioxidant ability, radical trapping by DPPH and reducing power of ferric ion experiments was performed. As a result, synthesized compounds show excellent radical trapping by DPPH and good reducing ability of ferric ion. The current procedure has the benefits for instance excellent yield of reaction, green media, and easy separation of product and catalyst.     

Emission and performance analysis of DI diesel engines fueled by biodiesel blends via CFD simulation of spray combustion and different spray breakup models: a numerical study

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In the current study, computational fluid dynamics code was used to perform 3D simulation of mixture formation and combustion of biodiesel fuel spray...     

Enhancement of distillate selectivity in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis by using iron and cobalt catalysts in a novel dual-bed reactor ?

Summary An integrated process for producing liquid fuels from synthesis gas via a two-stage Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction is disclosed. An iron catalyst was used in the first bed of a fixed-bed reactor followed by a ruthenium promoted cobalt catalyst in the second bed. The activity and selectivity of the dual-bed system were assessed and compared with those using catalysts in a single bed system, separately. The methane selectivity in the dual-bed reactor was about 11% less compared to that of the single-bed system. The C₅⁺ selectivity for the dual-bed reactor was 19.7% higher than that of the single-bed system.     

Elastic-plastic contact model for rough surfaces based on plastic asperity concept

A mathematical formulation for the contact of rough surfaces is presented. The derivation of the contact model is facilitated through the definition of plastic asperities that are assumed to be embedded at a critical depth within the actual surface asperities. The surface asperities are assumed to deform elastically whereas the plastic asperities experience only plastic deformation. The deformation of plastic asperities is made to obey the law of conservation of volume. It is believed that the proposed model is advantageous since (a) it provides a more accurate account of elastic-plastic behavior of surfaces in contact and (b) it is applicable to model formulations that involve asperity shoulder-to-shoulder contact. Comparison of numerical results for estimating true contact area and contact force using the proposed model and the earlier methods suggest that the proposed approach provides a more realistic prediction of elastic-plastic contact behavior.     

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils from leaves, stems and flowers of Salvia reuterana Boiss. grown in Iran

The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves, stems and flowers of Salvia reuterana (Lamiaceae) were analysed by GC and GC/MS. Germacrene D and beta-caryophyllene were the major constituents in all the three oils: (28.5, 27.7 and 32.5%) and (15.5, 11.4 and 16.6%), respectively. Bicyclogermacrene (10.2 and 13.2%) was also prodominated in the stem and flower oils. The composition of the oils was mostly quantitativel rather than qualitatively different. All the oils consisted mainly of sesquiterpenes and a small percentage of non-terpenoid compounds. In all the three oils, monoterpenes were in a concentration less than 0.5%. Antibacterial activity was determined by the measurement of growth inhibitory zones.     

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Thymus kotschyanus extract and evaluation of their antioxidant,antibacterial and cytotoxic effects

Present study used ecofriendly, cost efficient and easy method for synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) at the room temperature by Thymus Kotschyanus extract as reducing and capping agent. Various analytical technique including UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy determined presence of Ag NPs in the solution, the functional groups of Thymus Kotschyanus extract in the reduction and capping process of Ag NPs are approved by FT‐IR, crystallinity with the fcc plane approved from the X‐ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) determined existence of elements in the sample, surface morphology, diverse shapes and size of present Ag NPs were showed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Beginning and end destroy temperature of present silver nanoparticles were determined by thermal gravimetric spectroscopy (TGA). In addition, antibacterial, antioxidant and cytotoxicity properties of Ag NPs were studied. Agar disk and agar well diffusion are the methods to determined antibacterial properties of synthesized Ag NPs. Also MIC (Minimum Inhibitory Concentration) and MBC (Minimum Bactericidal Concentration) were recognized by macro broth dilution assay. DPPH free radical scavenging assay was used for antioxidant property and compare to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as standard antioxidant that showed high antioxidant activity more than BHT. Synthesized Ag NPs have great cell viability in a dose depended manner and demonstrate that this method for synthesis silver nanoparticles provided nontoxic. The average diameter of synthesized Ag NPs was about 50–60 nm.