Comparative Analysis of Microbial Consortiums and Nanoparticles for Rehabilitating Petroleum Waste Contaminated Soils

Nano-bioremediation application is an ecologically and environmentally friendly technique to overcome the catastrophic situation in soil because of petroleum waste contamination. We evaluated the efficiency of oil-degrading bacterial consortium and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with or without fertilizer to remediate soils collected from petroleum waste contaminated oil fields. Physicochemical characteristics of control soil and petroleum contaminated soils were assessed. Four oil-degrading strains, namely Bacillus pumilus ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KY010576","term_id":"1248281175"}}KY010576), Exiguobacteriaum aurantiacum ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KY010578","term_id":"1248281177"}}KY010578), Lysinibacillus fusiformis ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KY010586","term_id":"1248281185"}}KY010586), and Pseudomonas putida ({"type":"entrez-nucleotide","attrs":{"text":"KX580766","term_id":"1159332275"}}KX580766), were selected based on their in vitrohydrocarbon-degrading efficiency. In a lab experiment, contaminated soils were treated alone and with combined amendments of the bacterial consortium, AgNPs, and fertilizers (ammonium nitrate and diammonium phosphate). We detected the degradation rate of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) of the soil samples with GC-FID at different intervals of the incubation period (0, 5, 20, 60, 240 days). The bacterial population (CFU/g) was also monitored during the entire period of incubation. The results showed that 70% more TPH was degraded with a consortium with their sole application in 20 days of incubation. There was a positive correlation between TPH degradation and the 100-fold increase in bacterial population in contaminated soils. This study revealed that bacterial consortiums alone showed the maximum increase in the degradation of TPHs at 20 days. The application of nanoparticles and fertilizer has non-significant effects on the consortium degradation potential. Moreover, fertilizer alone or in combination with AgNPs and consortium slows the rate of degradation of TPHs over a short period. Still, it subsequently accelerates the rate of degradation of TPHs, and a negligible amount remains at the end of the incubation period.     

Lipid-lowering effects of ethyl 2-phenacyl-3-aryl-1H-pyrrole- 4-carboxylates in rodents

A series of substituted 2-phenacyl-3-phenyl-1H-pyrrole-4-carboxylates were prepared from substituted acetophenones in 6 steps. The final condensations between a chloroenal and an aminoketone were carried out under neutral conditions in parallel to yield the series listed below. Selected pyrrole derivatives proved to be potent hypolipidemic agents lowering serum triglyceride concentrations in CF-1 male mice after 14 days of I.P. administration. One agent orally lowered serum cholesterol in Sprague-Dawley male rats at 2mg/kg/day after 14 days. The agents demonstrated a lowering of mouse serum LDL- cholesterol levels and selected compounds showed an elevation of serum HDL-cholesterol levels. The cholesterol concentrations in the liver were raised while the cholesterol and triglyceride contents of the aorta were significantly lowered by the selected trisubstituted pyrrole.     

Diagnostic Application of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Oncology Field: Hopes and Challenges

Abstract

Cancer is one of the big killers of world population. The majority of cancers are diagnosed at a late stage, making a cure almost impossible. Fluorescence spectroscopy is an emerging diagnostic tool for various medical diseases including premalignant and malignant lesions. Fluorescence spectroscopy is a noninvasive technique and has been applied successfully for the diagnosis of multisystem cancers with high sensitivity and specificity. Fluorescence spectroscopy minimizes the need for repetitive biopsy, which is routine practice for cancer patient follow-up. But there are many aspects of this new diagnostic technique that should be discussed in future research to overcome limitations and challenges faced by this technique for diagnosis of cancers.     

Compressive sampling based differential detection for UWB impulse radio signals

Noncoherent detectors significantly contribute to the practical realization of the ultra-wideband (UWB) impulse-radio (IR) concept, in that they allow avoiding channel estimation and provide highly efficient reception capabilities. Complexity can be reduced even further by resorting to an all-digital implementation, but Nyquist-rate sampling of the received signal is still required. The current paper addresses this issue by proposing a novel differential detection (DD) scheme, which exploits the compressive sampling (CS) framework to reduce the sampling rate much below the Nyquist-rate. The optimization problem is formulated to jointly recover the sparse received signal as well as the differentially encoded data symbols, and is compared with both the separate approach and the scheme using the compressed received signal directly, i.e., without reconstruction. Finally, a maximum a posteriori based detector using the compressed symbols is developed for a Laplacian distributed channel, as a reference to compare the performance of the proposed approaches. Simulation results show that the proposed joint CS-based DD brings the considerable advantage of reducing the sampling rate without degrading the performance, compared with the optimal MAP detector.     

Switchable dual-wavelength fiber ring laser featuring twin-core photonic crystal fiber-based filter

A simple configuration for the generation of a switchable dual-wavelength fiber ring laser is presented.The proposed configuration employs a short twin-core photonic crystal fiber acting as a Mach–Zehnder interferometer at room temperature.A polarization controller is further utilized to enable switchable dualwavelength operation.     

Photophysical Investigations of Carmoisine Interacting with Conventional Cationic Surfactants Under Different pH Conditions

The present study describes the extent of interactions of an efficient food dye, Carmoisine (CAR), with conventional cationic surfactants, hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide, and ethylhexadecyldimethylammonium bromide (EHDAB). The study was carried out by quantifying the spectral changes of CAR as a function of premicellar to postmicellar surfactant concentrations at various pH conditions. The quantification of CAR molecules entrapped by cationic micellar systems has been estimated with the help of mathematical models. Binding parameters of each surfactant were calculated using differential spectroscopic method. The enhanced solubilization of dye by switching the pH was observed. In support of the electrostatic forces, the larger and more hydrophobic head group favors the promising solubilization of CAR in the outer region of the micellar interior. These findings extend the proficiency of dye molecule as a reporter for sensing electrostatic environment in lipidic membranes and related organized assemblies.     

Free‐Standing CoO‐POM Janus‐like Ultrathin Nanosheets

A single‐step solution‐based strategy is used to obtain 2D Janus‐like free‐standing ultrathin nanosheets build from two structurally unrelated species, that is, polyoxomolybdate (POM) and CoO. A controlled 2D‐to‐1D morphological transition was achieved by judiciously adjusting the solvent choice. These POM‐CoO heterostructures can behave as an ideal catalyst for the epoxidation of styrene. Benefiting from their amphiphilic nature, these 2D POM‐CoO nanosheets have also been used as surfactant to emulsify immiscible solvents. It is anticipated that structurally diverse polyoxometalates will offer promise as design elements for variety of structurally and compositionally tunable van der Waals integrated heteromaterials having a broad range applications.     

Relationship between Dough Properties and Baking Performance of Panned Bread: The Function of Maltodextrins and Natural Gums

The effectiveness of hydrocolloids (2% maximum in various combinations) from various sources, including maltodextrins (MD) with polymerization degree (DP) 18 and ziziphus gum (ZG), on the dough properties and quality of panned bread, as well as the possibility of using them to delay the bread staling process, have been investigated after 24, 72, and 96 h of storage. By evaluating the pasting capabilities of wheat flour slurry, dough properties, and the final product, the effects of the ziziphus gum (ZG) and maltodextrins (MD) were ascertained. A TA-TXT texture analyzer, a texture profile analysis test, and Micro-doughLab were used to evaluate the dough mixing properties. Additionally, a hedonic sensory evaluation of the overall acceptance of the bread, as well as its texture, aroma, taste, and color, was done. It is clear that MD had a more distinct impact than ZG on the way dough was mixed, the texture of the gel, and the finished product. The combination of MD and ZG significantly altered the bread’s physical characteristics and its aging over time. The decreased peak viscosity and noticeably smaller setback of wheat flour gels, which corresponded to lower gel hardness, serve as evidence of reduced amylose retrogradation. At 2%, MD outperformed ZG in terms of increasing water absorption, dough stability, and bread loaf volume. With the exception of the blend that included three times as much MD as ZG, all mixes, including the control, exhibited an increase in bread firmness as a function of time after storage. Overall, the panelists liked (score of 5 and above) the bread made with mixes that had either MD or ZG, or a combination of both.     

High throughput synthesis of diverse 2,5-disubstituted indoles using titanium carbenoids bearing boronate functionality

A titanium benzylidene complex bearing a boronate group converted resin-bound esters into enol ethers. Suzuki cross-coupling with aryl iodides followed by cleavage with acid completed the solid-phase synthesis of 2,5-disubstituted N-Boc-indoles. Also reported is the use of tert-butyllithium and 2-isopropoxy-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl-1,3,2-dioxaborolane to convert an aryl bromide into an arylboronate in the presence of a dithiane, with simultaneous reduction of an aryl azide to an amine.     

Development of thermoplastic polyurethane/polyaniline-doped membranes for the separation of glycine through electrodialysis

Recently, membrane-based separation processes, particularly electrodialysis, have attracted attention for the separation and purification of organic and amino acids from animal feedstock waste. In this study, cation exchange membranes were synthesized by making a composite of thermoplastic polyurethane and polyaniline (PANI) via the doping of various aromatic sulfonic acids, such as β -naphthol sulfonic acid and phenol sulfonic acid. The PANI was prepared using a standard method, which was further used in the composite blending at varying concentrations of 10%–20%. The impact of the concentration of PANI and the nature of the dopant on the membrane characteristics were comparatively studied. The membranes were analyzed by electric conductivity, water swelling, morphological studies (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis. The membranes were used for the separation of glycine hydrochloride via electrodialysis.