Determination of total arsenic in soil and arsenic-resistant bacteria from selected ground water in Kandal Province, Cambodia

Cambodia has geological environments conducive to generation of high-arsenic groundwater and people are at high risk of chronic arsenic exposure. The aims of this study are to investigate the concentration of total arsenic and to isolate and identify arsenic-resistant bacteria from selected locations in Kandal Province, Cambodia. The INAA technique was used to measure the concentration of total arsenic in soils. The arsenic concentrations in soils were above permissible 5 mg/kg, ranging from 5.34 to 27.81 mg/kg. Bacteria resistant to arsenic from two arsenic-contaminated wells in Preak Russey were isolated by enrichment method in nutrient broth (NB). Colonies isolated from NB was then grown on minimal salt media (MSM) added with arsenic at increasing concentrations of 10, 20, 30, 50, 100 and 250 ppm. Two isolates that can tolerate 750 ppm of arsenic were identified as Enterobacter agglomerans and Acinetobacter lwoffii based on a series of biochemical, physiological and morphological analysis. Optimum growth of both isolates ranged from pH 6.6 to 7.0 and 30–35 °C. E. agglomerans and A. lwoffii were able to remove 66.4 and 64.1 % of arsenic, respectively at the initial concentration of 750 ppm, within 72 h of incubation. Using energy dispersive X-ray technique, the percentage of arsenic absorbed by E. agglomerans and A. lwoffii was 0.09 and 0.15 %, respectively. This study suggested that arsenic-resistant E. agglomerans and A. lwoffii removed arsenic from media due to their ability to absorb arsenic.     

Comparison of BOD optical fiber biosensors based on different microorganisms immobilized in ormosil matrixes

Fiber-optical microbial sensors for determination of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) are described. Sensing films consisting of layers of an oxygen-sensitive fluorescent material and two different kinds of seawater microorganisms immobilized in poly(vinyl alcohol) sol–gel matrix were investigated. Tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline)ruthenium(II) perchlorate was used as the oxygen fluorescent quenching indicator. After preconditioning, the BOD biosensors could consistently perform well for up to one month. For films of domestic bacilli and films of sieved bacteria from seawater, the linear fluctuant coefficients (R ²) in the range of 4–200?mg/L were 0.9975 and 0.9783 when a glucose/glutamate BOD standard was applied. The relative error of standard deviations for the two microorganism-immobilized BOD sensing films were within 4%?and 2%?of the mean value, respectively. The effects of temperature, pH and sodium chloride concentration on the two microbial films were also studied. For low biochemical oxygen demand, a film of sieved bacteria from seawater had superior sensitivity and is expected to be developed further.     

A Designed 5‐Fluorouracil‐Based Bridged Silsesquioxane as an Autonomous Acid‐Triggered Drug‐Delivery System

Two new prodrugs, bearing two and three 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU) units, respectively, have been synthesized and were shown to efficiently treat human breast cancer cells. In addition to 5‐FU, they were intended to form complexes through H‐bonds to an organo‐bridged silane prior to hydrolysis‐condensation through sol–gel processes to construct acid‐responsive bridged silsesquioxanes (BS). Whereas 5‐FU itself and the prodrug bearing two 5‐FU units completely leached out from the corresponding materials, the prodrug bearing three 5‐FU units was successfully maintained in the resulting BS. Solid‐state NMR (²⁹Si and ¹³C) spectroscopy show that the organic fragments of the organo‐bridged silane are retained in the hybrid through covalent bonding and the ¹H NMR spectroscopic analysis provides evidence for the hydrogen‐bonding interactions between the prodrug bearing three 5‐FU units and the triazine‐based hybrid matrix. The complex in the BS is not affected under neutral medium and operates under acidic conditions even under pH as high as 5 to deliver the drug as demonstrated by HPLC analysis and confirmed by FTIR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopic studies. Such functional BS are promising materials as carriers to avoid the side effects of the anticancer drug 5‐FU thanks to a controlled and targeted drug delivery.     

Purity assessment for avoparcin

Well-characterized pure-substance reference materials for the use as calibrants are essential to establish the metrological traceability of the results of chemical measurements. Normally, the characterization of this type of reference material is conducted through a thorough purity assessment of the compound concerned. For this reason, studies on purity assessment, especially for neat organic compounds, continues as an important part of work being undertaken by metrological institutions around the world. Among others, the need for certified pure reference standards continues to increase for residues analysis in foods, particularly for those compounds which have been banned for food safety reasons, but their residues in foods are still monitored under food surveillance program in many countries. In this respect, avoparcin serves as a very good example where testing laboratories have difficulties in obtaining traceable and comparable results on determination of avoparcin in food matrix samples due, in part, to the unavailability of certified pure-substance reference material as calibrant. In this study, it was attempted to assess the purity of a commercially available test material of avoparcin using the mass balance approach. The objective of this paper is to share the difficulties encountered during the course of purity assessment and how they were addressed. As expected, the most challenging part of work was to identify and estimate the amount of unknown impurities, both organic and inorganic-related ones, given the chemical structure and properties of avoparcin. For instance, avoparcin exists in two forms in the test material, i.e., α- and β-avoparcin, and they were found to be susceptible to hydrolysis under certain conditions.     

Challenges and strategies in the preparation of large‐volume polymer‐based monolithic chromatography adsorbents

To date, the number of published reports on the large‐volume preparation of polymer‐based monolithic chromatography adsorbents is still lacking and is of great importance. Many critical factors need to be considered when manufacturing a large‐volume polymer‐based monolith for chromatographic applications. Structural integrity, validity, and repeatability are thought to be the key factors determining the usability of a large‐volume monolith in a separation process. In this review, we focus on problems and solutions pertaining to heat dissipation, pore size distribution, “wall channel” effect, and mechanical strength in monolith preparation. A template‐based method comprising sacrificial and nonsacrificial techniques is possibly the method of choice due to its precise control over the porous structure. However, additional expensive steps are usually required for the template removal. Other strategies in monolith preparation are also discussed.     

Carbon‐Coated LiTi2(PO4)3: An Ideal Insertion Host for Lithium‐Ion and Sodium‐Ion Batteries

We report the extraordinary performance of carbon‐coated sodium super ion conductor (NASICON)‐type LiTi₂(PO₄)₃ as an ideal host matrix for reversible insertion of both Li and Na ions. The NASICON‐type compound was prepared by means of a Pechini‐type polymerizable complex method and was subsequently carbon coated. Several characterization techniques such as XRD, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), field‐emission (FE) SEM, TEM, and Raman analysis were used to study the physicochemical properties. Both guest species underwent a two‐phase insertion mechanism during the charge/discharge process that was clearly evidenced from galvanostatic and cyclic voltammetric studies. Unlike that of Li (≈1.5 moles of Li), Na insertion exhibits better reversibility (≈1.59 moles of Na) while experiencing a slightly higher capacity fade (≈8 % higher than Li) and polarization (780 mV) than Li. However, excellent rate capability profiles were noted for Na insertion relative to its counterpart Li. Overall, the Na insertion properties were found to be superior relative to Li insertion, which makes carbon‐coated NASICON‐type LiTi₂(PO₄)₃ hosts attractive for the development of next‐generation batteries.     

Synthesis,Characterization and Biological Evaluation of New 3,5-Disubstituted-Pyrazoline Derivatives as Potential Anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra Compounds

A total of fourteen pyrazoline derivatives were synthesized through cyclo-condensation reactions by chalcone derivatives with different types of semicarbazide. These compounds were characterized by IR, 1D-NMR (¹H, ¹³C and Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer - DEPT-135) and 2D-NMR (COSY, HSQC and HMBC) as well as mass spectroscopy analysis (HRMS). The synthesized compounds were tested for their antituberculosis activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra in vitro. Based on this activity, compound 4a showed the most potent inhibitory activity, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 17 μM. In addition, six other synthesized compounds, 5a and 5c–5g, exhibited moderate activity, with MIC ranges between 60 μM to 140 μM. Compound 4a showed good bactericidal activity with a minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) value of 34 μM against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra. Molecular docking studies for compound 4a on alpha-sterol demethylase was done to understand and explore ligand–receptor interactions, and to hypothesize potential refinements for the compound.     

Selective image encryption using a spatiotemporal chaotic system

A universal selective image encryption algorithm, in which the spatiotemporal chaotic system is utilized, is proposed to encrypt gray-level images. In order to resolve the tradeoff between security and performance, the effectiveness of selective encryption is discussed based on simulation results. The scheme is then extended to encrypt RGB color images. Security analyses for both scenarios show that the proposed schemes achieve high security and efficiency.     

Generation of 250 mW narrowband pulsed ultraviolet light by frequency quadrupling of an amplified erbium-doped fiber laser

We demonstrate a high-power, narrowband pulsed source at 390 nm by two stages of frequency doubling in periodically poled MgO:LiNbO(3) and periodically poled KTiOPO(4) of an amplified, passively mode-locked fiber laser. With a frequency quadrupling efficiency of 5.5% and a 0.1 nm bandwidth, the 250 mW ultraviolet source is a suitable compact pump source for many entanglement-based quantum information processing tasks.