Search

Cancer is most frequently treated with antineoplastic agents (ANAs) that are hazardous to patients undergoing chemotherapy and the healthcare workers who handle ANAs in the course of their duties. All aspects related to hazardous oncological drugs illustrate that the monitoring of ANAs is essential to minimize the risks associated with these drugs. Among all analytical techniques used to test ANAs, electrochemistry holds an important position. This review, for the first time, comprehensively describes the progress done in electrochemistry of ANAs by means of a variety of bare or modified (bio)sensors over the last four decades (in the period of 1982–2021). Attention is paid not only to the development of electrochemical sensing protocols of ANAs in various biological, environmental, and pharmaceutical matrices but also to achievements of electrochemical techniques in the examination of the interactions of ANAs with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), carcinogenic cells, biomimetic membranes, peptides, and enzymes. Other aspects, including the enantiopurity studies, differentiation between single-stranded and double-stranded DNA without using any label or tag, studies on ANAs degradation, and their pharmacokinetics, by means of electrochemical techniques are also commented. Finally, concluding remarks that underline the existence of a significant niche for the basic electrochemical research that should be filled in the future are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In New Zealand, agriculture accounts for around 50% of total gross greenhouse gas emissions, energy production and use account for 40%. Given the limited possibility of reducing methane from the agricultural sector, we focus on the shape of, and factors influencing, the energy-related emissions profile. A single framework that combines environmental input–output analysis with structural decomposition analysis is established to systematically investigate driving forces shaping energy-related greenhouse gas emissions at national and sectoral levels. Results show that emission intensity, population, and consumption volume are dominant factors influencing shifting the energy-related emissions profile from 2007 to 2013. To achieve a net-zero-carbon economy, decarbonizing the transport sector is foremost and should be given priority. Policy directed at improving energy utilization in private consumption and exports, and the adoption and utilization of advanced technology in manufacturing, would contribute to achieving emissions reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is about a package of infrastructure investment, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This paper uses a range of theoretical perspectives (buttressed by historical and contemporary evidence) to think about the likely impact of CPEC on economic (especially industrial) growth in Pakistan. The theory includes crowding in of private by public investment, social savings, spillovers and the leading sector, and industrial policy. Theory points to some likely growth promoting effects of CPEC, on corporate logistics, shorter transport routes to China, and greater local production of cement. The impact of CPEC is unlikely to be transformative. There is little evidence that CPEC has improved corporate logistics in Pakistan. CPEC may reduce physical distances for overland trade with China but trade is likely to remain seaborne. CPEC construction activity has generated positive spillovers in local construction employment and cement production but no spillovers in either bitumen or steel production. Pakistan lacks a capable state and commitment to an industrial policy that historically have proved important in leveraging transport infrastructure into domestic industrialisation. The most important reason is that Pakistan is a middle-income country and CPEC is too small to create more than modest economic growth benefits for Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an encouraging technology for hydrogen and power co-generation with efficient CO2 capture. Utilization of the captured CO2 is a much more important task to realize negative CO2 emissions. The objective of the work is to explore a case study of carbon dioxide utilization (CDU) in the form of formic acid synthesis using the captured CO2 and co-generated H2 from coal direct chemical looping (CDCL) power plant. Steady-state simulations are performed on the power and H2 co-generation CDCL plant integrated with formic acid synthesis and presented a comparison of overall performance of the CDCL plants with and without CDU integration. The simulation results revealed that the formic acid synthesis integrated CDCL plant avoids release of 62.49 kg.CO2/GJ of fuel input into the environment and utilizes the captured CO2 completely with the net electrical efficiency penalty of 5.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil health refers to its functionality and ecological equilibrium. Different indicators of soil health include its physical, chemical, biological, and biochemical attributes. The present study was undertaken to check the stress generated on the addition of urea in five different soils, sampled from various regions of state Haryana. The change in pH and urease activity was observed on urea treated soil, fertilized with two potential urease inhibitory plant extracts, Cassia fistula and Phyllanthus niruri. Urea incorporation raised the pH and urease activity of all soil types. Plant extracts fertilization positively regulated both attributes of all soil samples. Although Cassia fistula possessed excellent in vitro urease inhibitory potential as compared to Phyllanthus niruri, but for soil health Phyllanthus niruri and formulation Cassia fistula + Phyllanthus niruri (10:90) proved significantly better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grapes used in the wine or juice production are mainly Vitis vinifera and Vitis labrusca and possess high amounts of polyphenolic compounds. These compounds are associated with the reduction of the inflammatory processes, oxidative stress, and protection against cardiovascular diseases. The industrial processes used for juice and wine production may interfere with the antioxidant composition of these products and the effects on human health. The aim of this review is to compare the effects of the consumption of wine or grape juice on cardiovascular risk factors. We used PRISMA guidelines and Medline/PUBMED and EMBASE to perform our search. The main effects of red wine and grape juice in humans were a reduction of body mass index, waist circumference, glycemia, plasma lipid peroxidation, total cholesterol, LDL-c, triglycerides, blood pressure, and homocysteine levels. Both wine and grape juice possess numerous bioactive compounds that are potentially responsible for many beneficial effects on human health. Nevertheless, there is a need for more double-blind, randomized controlled studies comparing the effects of juice and wine consumption without the biases that occur when comparisons are made with different populations, ages, doses, and different types of wine or juice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FeCl2/K2CO3 catalyst system was used successfully for the synthesis of oil soluble N-benzylated cobalt phthalocyaninetetrasulfonamide by the reaction of benzyl alcohol on water-soluble cobalt phthalocyaninetetrasulfonamide via heating at 135 °C for 20 h under N2. The new oil-soluble peripherally N-benzylated phthalocyanine was characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV–vis, TG and mass spectrometry. The catalytic activity of this new cobalt complex for oxidation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) was evaluated in n-dodecane (a middle distillate model compound) using H2O2 as an oxidant. The acetonitrile was taken as an extracting solvent for further extracting DBT sulfoxide and sulfone. The novel peripherally substituted cobalt(II) complex showed better oxidative desulfurization catalytic activity than cobalt phthalocyanine and cobalt phthalocyaninetetrasulfonamide. DBT oxidation kinetics were evaluated by lumped nth- and first-order kinetic models. The maximum removal of the DBT was found to be 85% at the optimized dose and experimental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2, which is considered to be one of the major causes of climate change, has reached to critical levels in the atmosphere due to tremendous consumption of fossil fuels all over the world. In this study, anaerobic bioconversion of CO2 into bio-methane using a novel bioprocess configuration (HYBRID bioreactor) was studied under mesophilic conditions. Varying ratios of H2/CO2 gas mixture and volumetric feeding rates were investigated and no additional organic matter and trace element were needed throughout the study. The maximum methane production of 19 m3 CH4/m3reactor/d was achieved at a H2/CO2 ratio of 4:1 and feeding rate of 24 m3 gas/m3reactor/d. It was determined that H2 conversion rate is about 96%. For demonstration purpose, real stack gas sample from a petrochemical industry was also tested under optimized operational conditions. No inhibitory effect from stack gas mixture was observed. This study provided an environmentally friendly and sustainable solution for industries such as petrochemical industry in order to produce extra energy while capturing their waste CO2. Thereby, a sustainable and environmentally friendly model solution was presented for industries with high CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phase separation control is an important factor to prepare a porous monolith by an aqueous sol-gel reaction. Here, we report a surfactant-free synthesis method to obtain hydrophobic polymethylsilsesquioxane aerogels by copolymerizing a cationic-functionalized alkoxysilane N-trimethoxysilylpropyl-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride. The resultant materials have low-density, high visible-light transmittance, and high thermal insulating equivalent to those of prepared under the presence of surfactant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-state urea clathrate formation (SSUCF) as a chemical separation method prior to stable carbon isotope fingerprinting of diesel fuel contaminations was studied. The stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) ofn-alkanes in diesel fuel can be used to trace the origin of a contamination. The accurate measurement of the stable isotopic composition of individual compounds requires baseline separation from any other co-eluting compounds. For this purpose silica gel column chromatography (SGCC) and SSUCF were applied. Detailed optimisation of SSUCF was performed: different activators, clathrate formation temperatures, activator volumes, clathrate formation times and sample capacity were investigated. The main benefits of the developed method are reduced clathrate formation time and increased recoveries for lower molecular weightn-alkanes. The recoveries of the developed SSUCF method ranged between 63 and 100% for C10–C24n-alkanes with relative standard deviation no more than 7%. The precision of the gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry measurement was acceptable with a standard deviation of the δ13C values ranging between 0.08 and 0.15‰. The absence of isotopic fractionation was also investigated. The robustness of the method was tested within a model experiment. Nine different water samples including distilled water, tap water, river water, industrial wastewaters and groundwater samples were spiked with the same diesel fuel. The water samples were extracted withn-hexane and after purification with both SGCC and SSUCF n-alkanes were measured. The δ13C values ofn-alkanes were found to be similar for all samples. The importance of sample purification prior to compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) was also demonstrated within this model experiment by analysing samples from different stages of the sample preparation. Our results show that the proposed method can remarkably improve the precision of compound-specific stable carbon isotope analysis ofn-alkanes originating from diesel contamination of the aquatic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The cuticle plays an important role in determining characteristic traits of wool fibres, but little is known about the identity and abundance of its proteinaceous constituents and whether there are unique differences in cuticle composition of wools from different breeds of sheep. In this study, protein profiles of enriched endocuticle fractions from fine (Merino), strong (Romney) wool and a sheep that sheds its wool (Wiltshire) were determined by LC-MS/MS and LC-MALDI, quantitative differences being determined by iTRAQ-labelling. Although keratin composition of the cuticle was similar between breeds, with the exception of K82, there were clear differences in the number of identified keratin-associated proteins. Overall, both qualitative and quantitative differences in protein composition of the cuticle from different sheep breeds were found, which may contribute to the unique characteristics of these wools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An electrochemical immunoassay for microcystin-LR (MC-LR) detection was developed using multi-labeled horseradish peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as electrocatalyst for signal amplification. CNTs were covalently conjugated to multiple DNAzyme along with MC-LR for a competitive immunoassay. The as-prepared DNAzyme/CNTs/MC-LR biolabel was specifically captured on the electrode surface, and current responses were obtained upon the electro-catalytic reduction of hydrogen peroxide by the captured biolabels. Under optimal conditions, the electro-catalytic current decreased linearly with the increase amount of MC-LR in the range from 0.01 to 7.0 µg L−1. The linear regression equation was I (µA) = 12.96 − 1.48 X[MC–LR](µg L−1), with a correlation coefficient of 0.989. The limit of detection of MC-LR was 2.31 ng L−1. Application of the immunoassay method and LC/MS/MS method for MC-LR determination on spiked reservoir water gave recovery range of 91.7–105.2% and 94.0–105.0%, respectively. The resulting versatile immunoassay exhibited high sensitivity, good precision and satisfactory reproducibility, which could have vast potential in routine water quality monitoring for various environmental toxins. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Global climate change, its present control and even its future reduction have been considered. Energy has been proposed as the main feed of comprehensive development. The way for meeting energy needs which certainly affects the existing energy resources will have forceful climate consequences. The purpose of this study is to explore how, in practice, the energy requirements of sustainable development can be afforded without any climate-change aggravation. Two fundamental approaches were proposed and completely discussed: the first long-term developing approach is the use of advanced energy-productive technologies instead of the existing ones and/or implementation of hybrid processes, a combination of conventional systems with a newly low energy-consumptive and emission-reductive technology in a newly installed system. The second most sustainable scheme is the development of alternative renewable energy (RE) resources. In this case, available internationally legal documents discovering the RE policies were explored and their commitment strategies were taken into original and deliberate challenges. It was concluded that the best solution to afford energy requirements is the expansion of RE sources, excluding or rarely without any sanctions reflected on the main documents of international climate policy. Since the dominant conditions of international investments have more tendencies to the short-time cost-efficient methods, the documents have only provided a limited situation for the expansion of REs. As a result, the present weak status of REs in the documents comprises their attitude towards the long-term developing scheme (the first approach) and not to the most sustainable scheme of altering the energy resources (the second approach). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With the rapid growth of its economy in the past two decades, China is facing a serious energy shortage. Energy consumption of China is currently based on coal, but intensive exploitation of coal resources is accompanied by serious threats to the environment. In order to balance economic development, environmental protection, and natural resource conservation, there is an opportunity for development of eco-industry in the coal industry. This paper examines a case study of Yanzou Coal Mining Group (YZCMG), which can be viewed as a typical mining enterprise in China. The aim is to identify the benefits of developing an eco-industry in the coal industry. The significant reduction of environmental pollutants, economic benefits from recycling and reuse of wastes, and increased energy efficiency, together with reduced consumption of natural resources (mainly coal and water), reveal that development of an eco-industry within YZCMG is a promising option. This is also an opportunity for the coal industry to contribute to more sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arachidonic acid (AA) was separated and purified from microbial lipids by the combined method of urea inclusion reaction and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography. At first, AA was concentrated from free fatty acids made from microbial lipids by a urea inclusion reaction. The optimum conditions were as follows: methanol was the suitable solvent, the ratio of free fatty acids to urea to methanol was 1:2:8 (wt/wt), and the temperature of the urea inclusion reaction was -10°C. The AA content was increased from 38% to 79%, and then AA was purified on a C18 preparative column (300 mm×30 mm I.D., dp=15 µm), using methanol-water (95:5, v/v) as the mobile phase, at a flow rate of 5 mL/min. The purity of AA after two steps purification reached 99%. This result indicates that the combined method of the urea inclusion reaction and reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography is a promising technique for purification of AA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mixed-mode electrokinetic capillary chromatography (mixed-mode ECC) has been used for the enantioseparation of organophosphorus pesticides. In mixed-ECC, a combination of three pseudostationary phases including surfactants, neutral, and charged cyclodextrins, are used to resolve very challenging enantioseparation problems. The conditions mimic a mixture of micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography (MECC) and dual-cyclodextrin electrokinetic capillary chromatography (dual-CECC) conditions. In this work SDS, carboxymethyl-β-CD, hydroxypropyl-BCD, and organic modifiers were mixed at various concentrations in order to achieve enantioseparation of three organophosphorus pesticides - cruformate (ruelene), malathion, and fensulfothion. The best condition for separation of ruelene enantiomers was by using a mixture of 70 mM SDS/15 mM carboxymethyl-BCD/45 mM hydroxypropyl-BCD/20% (v/v) acetonitrile in 20 mM borate buffer at pH 8.6, with applied voltage of 25 kV at 25°C. Malathion enantiomers were successfully resolved using either 10 mM SDS/50 mM CM-BCD/40 mM hydroxypropyl-BCD or 50 mM CM-BCD/50 mM hydroxypropyl-BCD/20% (v/v) methanol in 20 mM borate buffer. Fensulfothion enantiomers were successfully resolved using a mixture of 75 mM SDS/12.5 mM carboxymethyl-BCD/45 mM hydroxypropyl-BCD in the same 20 mM borate buffer. The results demonstrate the versatility of the mixed-mode ECC technique in handling very difficult separations such as the organophosphoramidate enantiomers. It offers options for selectivity control by combining three or more pseudostationary phases in the background electrolyte (BGE). The approach to optimization in mixed-mode ECC is generally more straightforward than the use of a solid stationary phase(s) in HPLC. In theory, the separation selectivity of such mixed-mode ECC system can be modified to the extremes of MECC and the dual-CECC of the chiral selectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urea inclusion compound (UIC) formation was used to fractionate carbohydrate polymers, poly-l- and poly-dl-lactic acid, by molecular weight. The UIC fractionation process employed was rapid, simple, scalable, and may have potential for use in preparative- and large-scale purification of polymers. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements reflect the formation of UICs for both polymer types. Under the conditions employed, the resultant UIC-rich solid phase contained polylactic acids of molecular weight distribution similar to the process feed sample, whereas the solvent-rich phase contained polymer of significantly lower molecular weight. The difference in molecular weight increased with the average molecular weight of the polymer and the degree of incorporation of polymer in the solid phase, and was greater for poly-d,l- than poly-l-lactic acid. The distribution of urea between the solid and the solvent-rich phases was independent of the molecular weight of the polymer or stereochemistry for a given polymer–urea–solvent ratio in the mixture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]