Adsorption Studies of Radionuclides and Toxic Metal Ions on a Modified Mesoporous Lanthanum(III) Silicate

A new adsorbent, modified mesoporous lanthanum(III) silicate, has been prepared with various molar ratios of Si/La (10, 20, 40, 80) and cethyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as structure directing agent. XRD, nitrogen sorption, SEM, IR, thermogravimetry and sorption of radionuclides and toxic metal ions have been studied. The results show that adsorption amount of some element such as Pb(II) and Th(IV) has been increased significantly by incorporation of lanthanum ions in the framework of adsorbent. Separation of Co(II)‐Th(IV), Co(II)‐U(VI) and Mo(VI)‐U(VI) has been developed on columns of this adsorbent.     

High efficiency solar cells using quantum interferences

In this paper, we propose a solar cell model that absorbs specific band of sunlight and investigate the effect of noise–induced quantum coherence in enhancing the output power of this cell. We numerically demonstrate that such induced coherence can increase the maximum output power from a nano structured solar cell by more than 25% as compared to the same system with no coherence. We also study the influence of increasing the bandwidth of absorption on the solar cell power and numerically show that in spite of decrease in output power due to enhancement of thermalisation loss, presence of quantum coherence effect still increases the output power of solar cell compared to non-coherence case.     

Study of the effect of praseodymium substitution on hydrogen storage and electrochemical properties of cerium-rich AB5 alloys

Journal of the Iranian Chemical Society - In order to investigate the hydrogen storage properties of cerium-rich RE-based alloys, series of MmNi5 and Mm(1−x)PrxNi3.55Co0.75Mn0.4Al0.3...     

The Antimicrobial Effects and Metabolomic Footprinting of Carboxyl-Capped Bismuth Nanoparticles Against Helicobacter pylori

Organic salts of bismuth are currently used as antimicrobial agents against Helicobacter pylori. This study evaluated the antibacterial effect of elemental bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs) using a serial agar dilution method for the first time against different clinical isolates and a standard strain of H. pylori. The Bi NPs were biologically prepared and purified by a recently described method and subjected to further characterization by infrared spectroscopy and anti-H. pylori evaluation. Infrared spectroscopy results showed the presence of carboxyl functional groups on the surface of biogenic Bi NPs. These biogenic nanoparticles showed good antibacterial activity against all tested H. pylori strains. The resulting MICs varied between 60 and 100 μg/ml for clinical isolates of H. pylori and H. pylori (ATCC 26695). The antibacterial effect of bismuth ions was also tested against all test strains. The antimicrobial effect of Bi ions was lower than antimicrobial effect of bismuth in the form of elemental NPs. The effect of Bi NPs on metabolomic footprinting of H. pylori was further evaluated by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Exposure of H. pylori to an inhibitory concentration of Bi NPs (100 μg/ml) led to release of some metabolites such as acetate, formic acid, glutamate, valine, glycine, and uracil from bacteria into their supernatant. These findings confirm that these nanoparticles interfere with Krebs cycle, nucleotide, and amino acid metabolism and shows anti-H. pylori activity.     

Synthesis and in vitro anti-Toxoplasma gondii activity of a new series of aryloxyacetophenone thiosemicarbazones

Molecular Diversity - A new series of aryloxyacetophenone thiosemicarbazones 4a–q have been synthesized as anti-Toxoplasma gondii agents. All compounds showed significant inhibitory activity...     

Determination of methotrexate, 7-hydroxymethotrexate,and 2,4-diamino-N10-methylpteroic acid by LC–MS/MS in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid and application in a pharmacokinetic analysis of high-dose methotrexate

A rapid and robust method for measuring methotrexate (MTX) and its two primary metabolites, 7-hydroxymethotrexate (7-OHMTX) and 2,4-diamino-N¹⁰-methylpteroic acid (DAMPA), was developed for use in pharmacokinetic studies of plasma and cerebrospinal fluid samples collected from infants with malignant brain tumors. Sample aliquots (100?µL) were prepared for bioanalysis of MTX and metabolites using a Waters Oasis HLB microelution solid-phase extraction (SPE) plate. Chromatography was performed using a Phenomenex Synergi Polar-RP 4 µ 75?×?2.0?mm ID column heated to 40°C. A rapid gradient elution on a Shimadzu HPLC system was used, with mobile phase A consisting of water/formic acid (100/0.1?v/v) and mobile phase B consisting of acetonitrile/formic acid (100/0.1?v/v). Column eluent was analyzed using AB Sciex QTRAP 5500 instrumentation in electrospray ionization mode. The ion transitions (m/z) monitored were 455.2?→?308.1, 471.1?→?324.1, and 326.2?→?175.1 for MTX, 7-OHMTX, and DAMPA, respectively. The method was linear over 0.0022–5.5?µM for MTX, 0.0085–21?µM for 7-OHMTX, and 0.0031–7.7?µM for DAMPA. The method was applied to the analysis of serial plasma samples obtained from infants diagnosed with malignant brain tumors receiving high-dose methotrexate and results were compared to MTX concentrations from an immunoassay based on fluorescence polarization.