In vitro and in vivo evaluation of cytotoxicity,antioxidant, antibacterial,antifungal, and cutaneous wound healing properties of gold nanoparticles produced via a green chemistry synthesis using Gundelia tournefortii L. as a capping and reducing agent

The exploitation of various plant materials for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles is considered a green technology because it does not involve any harmful chemicals. The aim of the experiment was chemical characterization and evaluation of cytotoxicity, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, and cutaneous wound healing activities of gold nanoparticles using aqueous extract of Gundelia tournefortii L. leaves (AuNPs@GT). These nanoparticles were characterized by fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDS), and UV–visible spectroscopy. DPPH free radical scavenging test was done to assess the antioxidant properties, which indicated similar antioxidant potentials for AuNPs@GT and butylated hydroxytoluene. Agar diffusion tests were applied to determine the antibacterial and antifungal characteristics. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC), and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) were specified by macro‐broth dilution assay. AuNPs@GT indicated higher antibacterial and antifungal effects than all standard antibiotics (p ≤ 0.01). Also, AuNPs@GT inhibited the growth of all bacteria and fungi and removed them at 2‐4 mg/mL concentrations (p ≤ 0.01). In vivo experiment, after creating the cutaneous wound, the rats were randomly divided into six groups: untreated control, treatment with Eucerin basal ointment, treatment with 3% tetracycline ointment, treatment with 0.2% HAuCl₄ ointment, treatment with 0.2% G. tournefortii ointment, and treatment with 0.2% AuNPs@GT ointment. These groups were treated for 10 days. For histopathological and biochemical analysis of the healing trend, a 3 × 3 cm section was prepared from all dermal thicknesses at day 10. Use of AuNPs@GT ointment in the treatment groups substantially reduced (p ≤ 0.01) the wound area, total cells, neutrophil, and lymphocyte and remarkably raised (p ≤ 0.01) the wound contracture, hydroxyl proline, hexosamine, hexuronic acid, fibrocyte, fibroblast, and fibrocytes/fibroblast rate compared to other groups. The synthesized AuNPs@GT had great cell viability dose‐dependently (Investigating the effect of the plant on HUVEC cell line) and revealed this method was nontoxic. The results showed that the leave aqueous extract of G. tournefortii is very good bioreductant in the synthesis of gold nanoparticles for treatment of bacterial, fungal, and skin diseases.     

Evaluation of toxicity level of the polluted eco-system for an industrial city of Pakistan

The indiscriminate discharge of untreated industrial effluents and solid wastes into the open environment poses a serious threat to the ecosystem. Gujranwala is an industrial city of Pakistan wherein a large number of different industries are situated and majority of them are not equipped with proper recycling or effluent treatment plants. Unfortunately, untreated industrial effluents are locally used for the irrigation purposes which may result in higher concentrations of toxic metals in the crops and vegetables. Therefore, prime objective of the present study was to determine concentrations of toxic metals in the polluted soils, vegetables and crops grown in the vicinity of industrial areas using neutron activation analysis technique. The results obtained showed higher values of toxic metals in the studied samples. The observed highest concentration of As (0.94 ± 0.06) in spinach, Br (69 ± 9) in turnip, Co (0.83 ± 0.01) in millet, Cr (51.7 ± 4.2) in wheat, Mn (76.2 ± 7.3) in tomato, Sb (0.5 ± 0.06) in rice, Cl (31698 ± 3921) and Se (3.4 ± 0.4) in carrot. These values are higher than those reported in the literature.     

Controlled Release of an Antihypertensive Drug through Interpenetrating Polymer Network Hydrogel Tablets of Tamarind Seed Polysaccharide and Sodium Alginate

The application of interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) hydrogel tablets of tamarind seed polysaccharide and sodium alginate for controlled release of a water-soluble antihypertensive drug, propranolol HCl (PPL), was investigated. The IPN tablets loaded with PPL or PPL–resin complex (resinate) were prepared by a wet granulation/covalent cross-linking method. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopic confirmed the cross-linking reaction and IPN formation, while X-ray Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy studies confirmed the amorphous dispersion of the drug within the IPN tablets. The plain drug PPL showed complete release within 1 h, while drug release from the resinate was prolonged for 2.5 h and the IPN matrices showed drug release up to 24 h. The drug release rate from the IPN matrices was affected by polymer concentration and cross-linking time; the higher the cross-linking time, the slower was the drug release. The drug release mechanism was found to be of a non-Fickian type.     

The admissible parameter space for exponential smoothing models

We discuss the admissible parameter space for some state space models, including the models that underly exponential smoothing methods. We find that the usual parameter restrictions (requiring all smoothing parameters to lie between 0 and 1) do not always lead to stable models. We also find that all seasonal exponential smoothing methods are unstable as the underlying state space models are neither reachable nor observable. This instability does not affect the forecasts, but does corrupt the state estimates. The problem can be overcome with a simple normalizing procedure. Finally we show that the admissible parameter space of a seasonal exponential smoothing model is much larger than that for a basic structural model, leading to better forecasts from the exponential smoothing model when there is a rapidly changing seasonal pattern.     

An Effective and New Method for the Synthesis of Polysubstituted Imidazoles by the Use of CrCl3.6H2O as a Green and Reusable Catalyst: Synthasis of Some Novel Imidazole Derivatives

New, efficient and environmentally adapted synthesis of polysubstituted imidazoles in one‐pot is found. The multicomponent reaction of various aldehydes, benzil, aliphatic and aromatic primary amines and ammonium acetate under solvent‐free condition is explained. The highly efficient role of CrCl₃.6H₂O as catalyst in this synthesis was shown. By this advantage, several polysubstituted imidazoles as pharmaceutical important molecules can be prepared in high yield and high purity. This method is a very easy and a rapid reaction for the synthesis of imidazole derivatives. The crude products recrystallized to afford the crystalline pure products. Furthermore, catalyst exhibited remarkable reusable activity.     

A colloidal route to fabricate hierarchical sticky and non-sticky substrates

Ginsenoside Ro (Ro), a natural anionic biosurfactant derived from ginseng, has been found to markedly increase the solubility of saikosaponin a (SSa), which is the active ingredient of Radix Bupleuri. SSa is minimally soluble in water. To determine the mechanism by which Ro solubilizes SSa, the self-assembly behavior of Ro and the phase behavior of blended Ro and SSa systems were studied by mesoscopic dynamics (MesoDyn) and dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The simulation results show that Ro can form vesicles via the closure of oblate membranes. At low concentrations, SSa molecules are solubilized in the palisade layer of the Ro vesicles. At high concentrations, they interact with Ro molecules to form mixed vesicles with Ro adsorbing on the surfaces of the vesicles. The evaluation of the SSa solubilization process reveals that, at low concentrations, Ro aggregates preferentially to form vesicles, which then absorb SSa into themselves. However, at high concentrations, SSa first self-aggregates and then dissolves. This is because the solubilization behavior of Ro shifts the precipitation-dissolution equilibrium in the direction of dissolution. These results of the simulations are consistent with those of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS).     

Study of seasonal variation and source characteristic of PM10 of Shanghai urban atmosphere using PIXE

This study is a one-year monitoring of the inhalable particulate matter (PM10) of Shanghai (from January 2006 to December 2006) to study PM10 pollution. Proton-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) was used to investigate the chemical elements in Shanghai PM10. The study finds seasonal variation in both mass concentration and of chemical elements in PM10. The results of the enrichment factor show that the chemical elements in the inhalable particles could be divided into two categories, soil elements from earth crust and anthropogenic pollution elements. The high enrichment factors suggest that anthropogenic activities were the dominant source for elements such as S, Cu, Cl, Zn, Pb and Br. Strong correlation of K, Ca, Fe and Ti, from factor analysis, indicates these elements coming from earth crust or soil, S, Zn and Pb from industrial pollution and/or traffic and Cl from coal combustion.     

Intuitionistic Fuzzy Soft K-Algebras

Intuitionistic fuzzy sets and soft sets are two different soft computing models for representing vagueness and uncertainty. We apply these soft computing models in combination to study vagueness and uncertainty in K-algebras. We first introduce the notion of ${(\in, \in\vee q)}$ -intuitionistic fuzzy K-algebras and discuss some of their properties. Then we introduce intuitionistic fuzzy soft K-algebras and investigate some of their properties. Finally, we introduce ${(\in, \in \vee q)}$ -intuitionistic fuzzy soft K-algebras and present some of their related properties.     

Spectrophotometric and electrical studies of charge-transfer complexes of sodium flucloxacillin with pi-acceptors

The present study is interested to develop a simple, rapid and accurate spectrophotometric method for determination of sodium flucloxacillin (fluc) in pure form and pharmaceutical formulations. The charge-transfer (CT) interactions between sodium flucloxacillin as electron donor and chloranilic acid (CLA), dichloroquinone 4-chloroimide (DCQ), 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinone (DDQ) and 7,7,8,8 tetracyano-p-quinodimethane (TCNQ), as pi-electron acceptors have been investigated spectrophotometrically. Different variables affecting the reaction were studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, linear relationships with good correlation coefficients (0.9979-0.9995) were found between the absorbance and the concentration of the drug in the range 16-880 microg ml(-1). The proposed methods were applied successfully to the determination of the examined drug either in pure or pharmaceutical dosage forms with good accuracy and precision. The formation of the CT-complexes and the sites of interaction were confirmed by elemental analysis CHN, UV-vis, IR, (1)H NMR and mass spectra techniques. Based on Job's method of continuous variation plots, the obtained results indicate the formation of 1:1 charge-transfer complexes with the general formula [(fluc)(acceptor)]. Statistical analysis of the obtained results showed no significant difference between the proposed method and official method.     

Five Coordinated Zinc(II) and Tris‐Chelate Cadmium(II) Complexes with 2,2′‐Diamino‐5,5′‐dimethyl‐4,4′‐bithiazole – Syntheses,Spectroscopic Characterization,and Crystal Structure

The new synthesized ligand (DADMBTZ = 2,2′‐diamino‐5,5′‐dimethyl‐4,4′‐bithiazole), which is mentioned in this text, is used for preparing the two new complexes [Zn(DADMBTZ)₃](ClO₄)₂. 0.8MeOH.0.2H₂O ( 1 ) and [Cd(DADMBTZ)₃](ClO₄)₂ ( 2 ). The characterization was done by IR, ¹H, ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and single crystal X‐ray determination. In reaction with DADMBTZ, zinc(II) and cadmium(II) show different characterization. In 2 , to form a tris‐chelate complex with nearly C₃ symmetry for coordination polyhedron, DADMBTZ acts as a bidentate ligand. In 1 , this difference maybe relevant to small radii of Zn²⁺ which make one of the DADMBTZ ligands act as a monodentate ligand to form the five coordinated Zn²⁺ complex. In both 1 and 2 complexes the anions are symmetrically different. 1 and 2 complexes form 2‐D and 3‐D networks via N‐H···O and N‐H···N hydrogen bonds, respectively.