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This comparative study was conducted to assess the intramedullary bone tissue reaction of an ion-releasing resin modified glass-ionomer cement with claimed bioactivity (ACTIVA bioactive resin) restorative material versus Mineral Trioxide Aggregate High Plasticity (MTA HP) and bioceramic putty iRoot BP Plus. Fifty-six adult male Wistar rats were assigned into 4 equal groups (14 rats each). A surgical intramedullary bi-lateral tibial bone defects were performed in rats of the control group I (GI) and left without any treatment to be considered as controls (n = 28). The rats of groups II, III and IV were handled as group I except that the tibial bone defects were filled with ACTIVA, MTA HP and iRoot BP, respectively. In all groups, rats were euthanized after one month and specimens were processed to histological investigation, SEM examination and EDX elemental analysis. In addition, semi-quantitative histomorphometric scoring system was conducted for the following parameters; new bone formation, inflammatory response, angiogenesis, granulation tissue, osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The clinical follow-up outcome of this study revealed the recovery of rats after 4 days post-surgical procedure. It was observed that the animal subjects returned to their routine activities, e.g., walking, grooming and eating. The rats showed normal chewing efficiency without any weight loss or postoperative complications. Histologically, the control group sections showed scanty, very thin, new bone trabeculae of immature woven type located mostly at the peripheral part of the tibial bone defects. These defects exhibited greater amount of thick bands of typically organized granulation tissue with central and peripheral orientation. Meanwhile, bone defects of ACTIVA group showed an empty space surrounded by thick, newly formed, immature woven bone trabeculae. Moreover, bone defects of MTA HP group were partially filled with thick newly formed woven bone trabeculae with wide marrow spaces presented centrally and at the periphery with little amount of mature granulation tissue at the central part. The iRoot BP Plus group section exhibited an observable woven bone formation of normal trabecular structures with narrow marrow spaces presented centrally and at the periphery showed lesser amount of well-organized/mature granulation tissue formation. Kruskal Wallis test revealed total significant differences between the control, ACTIVA, MTAHP and iRoot BP Plus groups (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, Mann–Whitney U test showed significant difference between control and ACTIVA groups, Control and MTA HP groups, control and iRoot BP Plus groups. ACTIVA and MTA HP groups, ACTIVA and iRoot BP Plus (p ˂ 0.05) with no significant difference between MTA HP and iRoot BP Plus (p > 0.05). The elemental analysis outcome showed that the lesions of the control group specimens were filled with recently created trabecular bone with limited marrow spaces. EDX tests (Ca and P analysis) indicated a lower degree of mineralization. Lower amounts of Ca and P was expressed in the mapping analysis compared with other test groups. Calcium silicate-based cements induce more bone formation when compared to an ion-releasing resin modified glass-ionomer restoration with claimed bioactivity. Moreover, the bio-inductive properties of the three tested materials are likely the same. Clinical significance: bioactive resin composite can be used as a retrograde filling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The synthesized Zeolite A/ZnCl2 nanoparticles via the hydrothermal route were characterized using FTIR, XRD, and SEM/EDAX techniques. The characterized catalyst was used for the eco-friendly synthesis of 4,5-dihydro-pyrazole-1-carbothioamide derivatives. Under solvent-free conditions, a multi-component reaction between hydrazine, isothiocyanate, and chalcone was done with a prepared nano-catalyst as an inexpensive, recyclable, easy-to-get, and nontoxic catalyst. The molecular docking study explained that dihydro-1-carbothioamide pyrazoles can be considered COVID-19 main protease (Mpro) inhibitors. In order to investigate the 3D conformation of the compounds that were synthesized, the density functional theory (DFT) was applied with a B3LYP hybrid functional and a 6-311++ G(d,p) basis set. This allowed us to investigate the compounds' electronic and charge transfer properties. In this series of compounds, the derivative 30d showed the lowest HOMO-LUMO energy gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanotechnology has the potential to increase the efficiency and quality of agricultural production. So, this research work was carried out to assess the effect of some soil conditioners at different rates and foliar application of antioxidant on the performance of wheat plants grown on sandy soil. The treatments were T1: Control (without soil addition);T2: 0.50%Normal compost (bulky);T3: 0.25% Nano compost;T4: 0.50% Nano compost;T5: 0.50% Normal agricultural gypsum (bulky);T6: 0.25% Nano agricultural gypsum;T7: 0.50% Nano agricultural gypsum; T8: 0.50% Normal sugar lime mud (bulky);T9: 0.25% Nano sugar lime mud;T10: 0.50% Nano sugar lime mud; F1: without proline and F2: with proline. Wheat plants treated with compostpossessed the highest values of all growth criteria (e.g., fresh and dry weights, plant height and leaf area), photosynthetic pigments (after 70 days from sowing), yield, its component, and grains quality (at harvest stage) under sandy soil conditions followed by that treated with agricultural gypsum than the plants treated with sugar lime mud, while the untreated wheat plants with any soil conditioner (control treatment) possessed the lowest values of all aforementioned traits. Nano form was superior compared to the normal form with all studied soil amendments. Also, all aforementioned traits increased as the rate of Nano form increased with all studied soil amendments. Regarding the foliar application, the proline treatment was superior compared to the control treatment (without foliar application). The control treatment (without soil and foliar applications) led to raising the enzymatic antioxidants content in the straw of wheat plant after 70 days from sowing, where the cultivation without any both soil conditioners and proline caused an increase in wheat self-production from these antioxidants to scavenge the ROS (or as named free radicals) resulting due to the poverty of sandy soil, thus increase of tolerance. Generally, it can be concluded that all the studied soil conditioners (i.e., gypsum, compost, and sugar lime mud) in either normal form or Nano form have a beneficial effect on improving the performance and productivity of wheat plants grown under sandy soil conditions. Also, the findings of the current work confirmed proline is one of the plant's protective ways from the poverty of sandy soil fertility, where it works as an antioxidant and leads to an increase in wheat plant tolerance to the poverty of sandy soil fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper-based oxide glass-ceramic was successfully synthesized through the single-step melt annealing technique. Synthesized glass-ceramics was characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) supported with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and mapping. Pyrazolo[1,5- a]pyrimidines 5a-f were synthesized via the reaction of 5-amino-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxamide (1) with enaminones 2a-f in the presence of synthesized oxide glass-ceramic catalyst powder under solvent-free condition. The molecular docking study demonstrated that the COVID-19 main protease (MPro) inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New biologically safe thin adsorptive films were synthesised using chitosan/polyacrylamide polymer blend (Ch/PA) via thermal crosslinking technique for the separation of Cu₂+ and Pb₂+ from aqueous solution and natural water samples. The prepared films were characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. Thermo-gravimetric analysis revealed an enhancement in the thermal stability of the prepared thin films with increasing polyacrylamide content. Kinetic and thermodynamic studies were evaluated by batch-type experiments. The obtained results indicated that the adsorption isotherms were well described by Freundlich model, and Ch/PA have adsorption capacities of 177.9 and 126.58 mg.g-1 to Cu₂+ and Pb₂+, respectively. Under optimum conditions, calculated detection limits were as low as 0.018 and 0.034 µg.L-1 for Cu₂+ and Pb₂+, respectively, and relative standard deviations of less than 4% for five separate experiments. Moreover, the traditional Lagergren adsorption kinetic model provided the best fitting for the kinetic data. Furthermore, the reusability studies revealed a decrease in the adsorption capacity by about 8% after three adsorption-desorption cycles. The prepared thin films were successfully applied for the separation of Cu₂+ and Pb₂+ from natural water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]