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In this study the possible health effects of consumption of benthopelagic (Johnius Belangerii (C); JB) and demersal (Cynoglossus Arel; CA) fishes were evaluated. These fish species living in the Musa estuary (the biggest estuary in the south of Iran and in the northern coastline of Persian Gulf) are likely to be polluted with Hg, V, Ni and Tl. The food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to estimate fish intakes in the residents of Mahshahr city. Also, heavy metal concentrations were determined in fishes and compared with the maximum permissible levels (MPLs). The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) showed high bioaccumulation ability for Hg and Tl in both fish spices. The ratio of TDI/EDI showed the importance of the health hazard by both fish consumption. Also, Hg and Tl in fishes had a higher calculated target hazard quotient (THQ) than the limits. Regarding with the high possibility of serious health concerns associated with Hg and Tl contamination in the Musa estuary, it is suggested to do appropriate and urgent actions by the governors., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Heavy metal contamination is a threat to global food safety. Reducing heavy metal uptake in plants is a promising way to make plants safer, yet breeding the right set of traits can be tedious. We test whether microorganisms are able to impact the plant's hormonal balance hereby helping to manage plant heavy metal uptake. We focus on ethylene, a plant hormone regulating plant stress tolerance and nutrition. We grew three phylogenetically distinct plants, Rumex palustris, Alcea aucheri and Arabidopsis thaliana, on a cadmium-spiked soil. Plants roots were coated with the bacterium Pseudomonas putida UW4, which degrades the precursor of ethylene, or an isogenic ACC deaminase-deficient mutant lacking this ability. We followed ethylene concentrations, plant growth and cadmium uptake. Wildtype bacteria reduced shoot cadmium concentration by up to 35% compared to the control, while the mutant increased cadmium concentration. This effect was linked to ethylene, which was consistently positively correlated with cadmium concentration. We therefore propose that bacteria modulating plant hormonal balance may offer new possibilities to improve specific aspects of plant phenotype, in the present context reducing heavy metal. They may thus pave the way for new strategies to improve food safety in a context of the widespread soil contamination., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) sub-micro particles were prepared through sol-gel synthesis and possessed a uniform and spherical structure with particle size of 302 ± 43 nm, a pore size of 4 nm and a high surface area of 354 m 2  g -1 . Alendronate (AL) is often used for the treatment of bone associated diseases, in particular osteosarcoma. However, due to the low bioavailability and high toxicity at increased doses, local and sustained release would be an ideal approach to AL delivery. Here, MBGs and aminated MBGs (AMBG) were applied as carriers for AL loading. High encapsulation efficiency of 75% and 85% and loading efficiency of 60% and 63%, for MBG and AMBG, respectively, was achieved. The release profile of AL from AMBG showed a better sustained and controlled release mechanism compared to MBG. In vitro results demonstrated the non-cytotoxic nature of both MBG and AMBG following exposure to MG63 osteoblast like cell line. AL release from MBG and AMBG, even at lower concentration, provoked decreased MG63 proliferation. The osteogenic potential of MBG and AMBG following exposure to dental pulp stem cells was evaluated using alizarin red assay., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The main aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of mercury and vanadium in Johnius belangerii (C) fish in the Musa estuary. A total of 67 fishes were caught from the Musa estuary during five intervals of 15days in the summer of 2013. After biometric measurements were conducted, the concentrations of mercury and vanadium were measured in the muscle tissue of fish using a direct method analyzer (DMA) and a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer, respectively. The mean concentration of mercury and vanadium in the muscle tissue of fish was 3.154±1.981 and 2.921±0.873mg/kg w.w, respectively. The generalized linear model (GLM) analysis showed a significantly positive relationship among mercury concentration, length, and weight (P=0.000). In addition, there was a significantly negative relationship between vanadium concentration and fish length (P=0.000). A reverse association was found between concentrations of mercury and vanadium. Mercury concentration exceeded the allowable standards of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in J. belangerii (C)., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) process utilizes microorganisms or their metabolites to mobilize the trapped oil in the oil formation after primary and secondary oil recovery stages. MEOR technique is considered as more environmentally friendly and low cost process. There are several identified mechanisms for more oil recovery using MEOR processes however; wettability alteration and interfacial tension (IFT) reduction are the important ones. Enterobacter Cloacae, a facultative bio-surfactant producer bacterium, was selected as a bacterial formulation due to its known performance on IFT reduction and wettability alteration. To quantify the effects of these two mechanisms, different tests including oil spreading, in situ and ex situ core flooding, wettability measurement (Amott), IFT, viscosity and pH measurements were performed. The obtained results revealed that the experimental procedure used in this study was able to quantitatively identify the individual effects of both mechanisms on the ultimate microbial oil recovery. The results demonstrated considerable effects of both mechanisms on the tertiary oil recovery; however after a proper shut in time period, more tertiary oil was recovered because of wettability alteration mechanism. Finally, SEM images taken from the treated cores showed biofilm formation on the rock pore surfaces, which is responsible for rock surface wettability alteration., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)