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Melt-quenched borosilicate glasses, co-doped with Bi and V ions, exhibited broad visible spectrum emissions. Bi ions primarily existed as Bi, acting as network modifiers, lowering the glass transition temperature linearly with increasing Bi content. V ions adopted tetrahedral coordination as [VO] units. Photoluminescence of Bi ions is shifted from blue to longer wavelengths with higher Bi content, associated with the stabilization of Bi and the presence of Bi in different local environments. Combined with V ions, the glasses emitted light covering the entire visible spectrum, offering the potential for white LED applications with correlated color temperatures ranging from 6135 to 4010 K. The highest QY was 11.9 and 8.0 % upon excitation at 325 and 340 nm.

Rare-earth (RE)-Oxygen-Hydrogen compounds are versatile materials whose composition and properties can be significantly varied by changing the relative O and H contents. Among them hydrides and oxyhydrides have been thoroughly investigated due to its photochromic properties. Instead, research of RE-hydroxides and oxyhydroxides (RE-OH and RE-OOH) is scarce although they show promising properties as light emitters. However, their use and integration in solid state devices have been hindered so far because their usual chemical synthesis routes yield materials in bulk or powder configurations. In this work we demonstrate a physical deposition route based on pulsed laser deposition that results in the unprecedented preparation of high-quality Eu oxyhydroxide (EuOOH) thin films. The synthetized EuOOH films show a well-defined monoclinic structure, are optically active and show a robust red emission related to the intra-f transitions of the Eu3+ ions. The excellent quality of these crystalline films has allowed us to obtain relevant properties of the monoclinic EuOOH phase not previously reported such as its refractive index and its Raman spectrum, including the identification of the characteristic phonon modes. These novel EuOOH films have been prepared both on Si and fused silica substrates, and thus are ready for potential integration in solid state optoelectronic components and devices. © 2023 The Authors

A new carbonation procedure is presented to recycle waste from phosphoric acid production, known as phosphogypsum (PG). The PG is treated with lye (NaOH solution) used in the olive industry instead of commercial NaOH. Chemical analyses confirm that the reaction of these two industrial by-products shows very good carbonation efficiency. In addition, it has also been confirmed that the radionuclides present in the starting PG are mostly transferred to the solid by-product. The concentration of hazardous trace elements present in these solid by-products is low enough to allow their use in civil engineering applications. Therefore, this procedure can be a new management strategy for PG and waste streams from the olive industry and can be explored to exploit the potential of the PG by-product as a CO2 sequestration agent. In addition, it improves the economy of the process and mitigates the environmental impact of discharging of these caustics because it results in a neutral pH residual liquid

Chemicals infiltrate our daily experiences through multiple exposure pathways. Human biomonitoring (HBM) is routinely used to comprehensively understand these chemical interactions. Historically, HBM depended on targeted screening methods limited to a relatively small set of chemicals with triple quadrupole instruments typically. However, recent advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) have facilitated the use of broad-scope target, suspect, and non-target strategies, enhancing chemical exposome characterization within acceptable detection limits. Despite these advancements, establishing robust and efficient sample treatment protocols is still essential for trustworthy broad-range chemical analysis. This study sought to validate a methodology leveraging HRMS-based strategies for accurate profiling of exogenous chemicals and related metabolites in urine samples. We evaluated five extraction protocols, each encompassing various chemical classes, such as pharmaceuticals, plastic additives, personal care products, and pesticides, in terms of their extraction recoveries, linearity, matrix effect, sensitivity, and reproducibility. The most effective protocol was extensively validated and subsequently applied to 10 real human urine samples using wide-scope target analysis encompassing over 2000 chemicals. We successfully identified and semi-quantified a total of 36 chemicals using an ionization efficiency-based model, affirming the methodology's robust performance. Notably, our results dismissed the need for a deconjugation step, a typically labor-intensive and time-consuming process.© 2023. The Author(s).

Little is known about the presence of organic pollutants in human brain (and even less in brain tumors). In this regard, it is necessary to develop new analytical protocols capable of identifying a wide range of exogenous chemicals in this type of samples (by combining target, suspect and non-target strategies). These methodologies should be robust and simple. This is particularly challenging for solid samples, as reliable extraction and clean-up techniques should be combined to obtain an optimal result. Hence, the present study focuses on the development of an analytical methodology that allows the screening of a wide range of organic chemicals in brain and brain tumor samples. This protocol was based on a solid-liquid extraction based on bead beating, solid-phase extraction clean-up with multi-layer mixed-mode cartridges, reconstitution and LC–HRMS analysis. To evaluate the performance of the extraction methodology, a set of 66 chemicals (e.g., pharmaceuticals, biocides, or plasticizers, among others) with a wide range of physicochemical properties was employed. Quality control parameters (i.e., linear range, sensitivity, matrix effect (ME%), and recoveries (R%)) were calculated and satisfactory results were obtained for them (e.g., R% within 60–120% for 32 chemicals, or ME% higher than 50% (signal suppression) for 79% of the chemicals).

Recycling symposium This talk presents how we can separate the fine active particles (lithium metal oxides and graphite) from the black mass by using froth flotation. This research demonstrates that graphite can be recovered from spent lithium ion batteries and recycled into new anodes

Presentation about Li-ion battery characterization ia automated mineralogy with a particular focus on the flotation of graphite in black mass.

La Línea de Investigación I+D en Informática Educativa de la Universidad EAFIT, diseñó, estructuró y puso en marcha un conjunto de soluciones para la incorporación de tecnologías en la educación que fueron formalizadas en el Modelo UbiTAG, propuesta de aprendizaje ubicuo que aporta en el proceso de interacción entre la tecnología, el aprendizaje y la gestión educativa de forma coordinada para facilitar la formulación de propuestas educativas exitosas.

Introduction: Antipsychotic (AP) safety has been widely investigated. However, mechanisms underlying AP-associated pneumonia are not well-defined. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the known mechanisms of AP-associated pneumonia through a systematic literature review, confirm these mechanisms using an independent data source on drug targets and attempt to identify novel AP drug targets potentially linked to pneumonia. Methods: A search was conducted in Medline and Web of Science to identify studies exploring the association between pneumonia and antipsychotic use, from which information on hypothesized mechanism of action was extracted. All studies had to be in English and had to concern AP use as an intervention in persons of any age and for any indication, provided that the outcome was pneumonia. Information on the study design, population, exposure, outcome, risk estimate and mechanism of action was tabulated. Public repositories of pharmacology and drug safety data were used to identify the receptor binding profile and AP safety events. Cytoscape was then used to map biological pathways that could link AP targets and off-targets to pneumonia. Results: The literature search yielded 200 articles; 41 were included in the review. Thirty studies reported a hypothesized mechanism of action, most commonly activation/inhibition of cholinergic, histaminergic and dopaminergic receptors. In vitro pharmacology data confirmed receptor affinities identified in the literature review. Two targets, thromboxane A2 receptor (TBXA2R) and platelet activating factor receptor (PTAFR) were found to be novel AP target receptors potentially associated with pneumonia. Biological pathways constructed using Cytoscape identified plausible biological links potentially leading to pneumonia downstream of TBXA2R and PTAFR. Conclusion: Innovative approaches for biological substantiation of drug-adverse event associations may strengthen evidence on drug safety profiles and help to tail

Drug safety issues pose serious health threats to the population and constitute a major cause of mortality worldwide. Due to the prominent implications to both public health and the pharmaceutical industry, it is of great importance to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which an adverse drug reaction can be potentially elicited. These mechanisms can be investigated by placing the pharmaco-epidemiologically detected adverse drug reaction in an information-rich context and by exploiting all currently available biomedical knowledge to substantiate it. We present a computational framework for the biological annotation of potential adverse drug reactions. First, the proposed framework investigates previous evidences on the drug-event association in the context of biomedical literature (signal filtering). Then, it seeks to provide a biological explanation (signal substantiation) by exploring mechanistic connections that might explain why a drug produces a specific adverse reaction. The mechanistic connections include the activity of the drug, related compounds and drug metabolites on protein targets, the association of protein targets to clinical events, and the annotation of proteins (both protein ta