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This work goal is to develop a valuable biodegradable material for sustainable packaging. The utilization of agriculture wastes to produce biodegradable packaging films based on carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) will reduce its price. CMC was prepared from sugar cane bagasse, and used to prepare composite films with mandarin and cantaloupe peels extracts of different ratios. The effects of these extracts on the mechanical and antimicrobial properties of the prepared films were evaluated. Thus, the films incorporated with 10% concentration of mandarin and cantaloupe peels extract exhibited excellent antimicrobial properties against gram positive, gram negative bacteria and pathogenic yeast than the other lower concentrated films. The physiochemical properties of each developed biodegradable films were characterized using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and antimicrobial. The reflected work is a novel approach, and which is vital in the conversion of organic waste to value-added product development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bisphenol A (BPA) used in plastic industry. This study evaluate ameliorative effect of vitamin E and selenium in combating BPA toxicity in spinal cord (SC) and submandibular glands (SMGs). Thirty rats divided into three groups [Group I, controls; Group II, BPA orally (25 mg/kg) three times a week, 60 days; Group III, BPA (25 mg/kg) plus vitamin E and selenium in water (1 ml/L/day)]. By histopathological, immunohistochemical, and biochemical investigations. Bisphenol A group showed degenerative alterations. SC gray matter showed pyknotic nuclei and white matter revealed neuropil degeneration. Myelinated fibers showed dispersed myelin. SMGs, exhibited vacuolated cytoplasm in acinar cells. Intense glial fibrillary acidic protein in SC and strong proliferating cell nuclear antigen in acinar and ductal cell nuclei of SMGs. Malondialdehyde elevated in SC and catalase decreased in SMG. Group III, SC and SMG revealed partial recovery. Vitamin E and selenium displayed protective effects against BPA toxicity in SC and SMGs. BPA had a neurotoxic effect on spinal cord of albino rats. BPA causing degeneration of nerve fibers with axonal disappearance of white matter. BPA caused GFAP proliferation and high MDA level in spinal cord. BPA caused degeneration of submandibular gland's acinar cells and duct system. Both vitamin E and Selenium had a protective effect against BPA toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we prepared highly swelling, stimuli-responsive hydrogels capable of the highly efficient adsorption of inorganic pollutants. The hydrogels were based on hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) grafted with acrylamide (AM) and 3-sulfopropyl acrylate (SPA) and were synthesized via the growth (radical polymerization) of the grafted copolymer chains on HPMC, which was activated by radical oxidation. These grafted structures were crosslinked to an infinite network by a small amount of di-vinyl comonomer. HPMC was chosen as a cheap hydrophilic and naturally sourced polymer backbone, while AM and SPA were employed to preferentially bond coordinating and cationic inorganic pollutants, respectively. All the gels displayed a pronounced elastic character, as well as considerably high values of stress at break (several hundred %). The gel with the highest fraction of the ionic comonomer SPA (with an AM/SPA ratio = 0.5) displayed the highest equilibrium swelling ratio (12,100%), the highest volume response to temperature and pH, and the fastest swelling kinetics, but also the lowest modulus. The other gels (with AM/SPA = 1 and 2) displayed several times higher moduli but more modest pH responses and only very modest temperature sensitivity. Cr(VI) adsorption tests indicated that the prepared hydrogels removed this species from water very efficiently: between 90 and 96% in one step. The hydrogels with AM/SPA ratios of 0.5 and 1 appeared to be promising regenerable (via pH) materials for repeated Cr(VI) adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]