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Abstract The aim of this research was to estimate the immunopotentiation effect of brown algae Padina boergesenii water extract on Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus through resistance to Pseudomonas putida infection. Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry was utilized to characterize the seaweed phytoconstituents. One hundred and twenty-six fish were divided in triplicates into two equal groups corresponding to two diet variants that used to feed Nile tilapia for 20 successive days: a basal (control), and P. boergesenii water extract supplemented group. Fish samples were collected at 10-days intervals throughout the experiment. Serum biochemical constituents, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and some immune related genes expression of the spleen and intestinal tissues of experimental fish were studied, as well as histological examination of fish immune tissues. Moreover, following 20 days of feeding, the susceptibility of Nile tilapia to P. putida infection was evaluated to assess the protective effect of the used extract. The findings indicated that the studied parameters were significantly increased, and the best immune response profiles were observed in fish fed P. boergesenii water extract for 20 successive days. A bacterial challenge experiment using P. putida resulted in higher survival within the supplemented fish group than the control. Thus, the lowered post-challenge mortality of the fish may be related to the protection provided by the stimulation of the innate immune system, reduced oxidative stress by higher activity of TAC, and elevated levels of expression of iterleukin-1beta (IL-1β), beta-defensin (β-defensin), and natural killer-lysin (NKl). Moreover, the constituents of the extract used showed potential protective activity for histological features of the supplemented fish group when compared to the control. Collectively, this study presents a great insight on the protective role of P. boergesenii water extract as an additive in Nile tilapia feed which suggests its potential for improving the immune response against P. putida infection.

Abstract Polyester manufacturing industries produce highly polluted effluents, containing organics, nutrients, trace metals, and 1,4-dioxane, requiring a high degree of treatment before being discharged into the water bodies. This study focused on removing complex pollutants from a diluted polyester industrial effluent (DPIE) via a cost-efficient anaerobic/aerobic combined system, with biogas recovery. The integrated pilot-scale system was composed of an up-flow anaerobic multi-staged reactor (UASR; V = 41 L) followed by an auto-aerated immobilized biomass (AIB; Vsponge = 9.54 L) unit and operated at a total organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.75 ± 0.16 g COD/L/d and pH of 7.14 ± 0.14 at 25 °C. The UASR achieved removal efficiencies of 17.82 ± 3.14% and 15.90 ± 3.08% for chemical oxygen demand (COD, total and soluble) and 15.83 ± 4.68% for total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), with bio-CH4 yield of 263.24 ± 31.98 mL/g COD. Adding the AIB unit improved the overall CODtotal, CODsoluble, and TKN to 93.94 ± 2.39%, 94.84 ± 2.23%, and 75.81 ± 3.66%, respectively. The NH4-N removal efficiency was 85.66 ± 2.90% due to the oxic/nitrification condition on the sponge’s outer surface. The entire system also achieved 73.26 ± 2.68%, 77.48 ± 5.74%, and 81.26 ± 6.17% removals for Fe (3.93 ± 0.95 ppm), Zn (5.92 ± 2.32 ppm), and 1,4 dioxane (2.50 ± 0.61 ppm). Moreover, the UASR-AIB maintained removal efficiencies of 76.53 ± 8.47% and 77.51 ± 7.38% for total suspended solids (TSS: 335.95 ± 42.84 mg/L) and volatile suspended solids (VSS: 263.50 ± 36.94 mg/L). Regarding the DPIE toxicity level, the EC50 value increased from 12.9 to 39.4% after UASR/AIB application. The UASR’s microbial community at the genus level demonstrated that the synergistic cooperation of solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis, and methanogenesis was responsible for the degradation of DPIE components.

While several studies have assessed the applicability of using biochar in cement mortar and concrete preparation based on the best mechanical properties, this evaluation method should be improved to consider the techno-economic feasibility and the environmental impacts. To address this research gap, this study attempts to compare between the conventional concrete with 100 % cement as a control mixture (CM) and dumping of sludge into open sites (scenario_1), and biochar concrete using alum sludge biochar (ASB) as a partial cement replacement (scenario_2), regarding the project life cycle assessment (LCA) and economic feasibility. A multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework was used to assign scores to the environmental LCA criteria, material functional performance tests, and cost considerations. The two scenarios were arranged in SimaPro LCA software, and then the different criteria were analyzed using the TOPSIS technique to choose the best alternative. The study demonstrated that the functional properties of the cement mixture containing 5 % of ASB were almost comparable to those of CM, owing to the presence of significant amounts of quartz (SiO2) that bonded strongly with cement molecules. This ASB mixture also enjoyed the least environmental impacts, reducing the global warming potential (GWP) by 32.2 % compared with the CM scenario. The scores of the “Cost” criterion, considering the price of raw materials, energy, production, and maintenance, for the two alternatives were almost comparable, depicting that scenario_2 achieved the highest closeness coefficient of 0.95 in the MCDM overall scoring. This study concluded that biochar could be incorporated into cementitious mixtures due to its lower impact on global warming to maintain a sustainable and economic concrete industrial strategy. Future studies should focus on studying the long-term durability of the biochar-based concrete mixtures and integrating into the MCDM strategy; in addition, determining the correlation between sustainable construction implementation and sustainable development goals achieved.

While several researchers have investigated the anaerobic digestion (AD) of textile wastewater for dye degradation, their studies suffer from lower biogas productivity due to substrate inhibition and the occurrence of secondary pollution from digestate disposal. Hence, this study focuses on using the extract of wheat straw (WS) as a co-substrate to facilitate the dye AD process, followed by recycling the digestate sludge for biochar production. In the first study, the batch digesters were operated at different dye wastewater (DW)/WS ratios (0–50% v/v), substrate-to-inoculum ratio of 0.28–0.50 g/g, pH 7.0 ± 0.2, and 37 °C. The digester operated at a DW/WS fraction of 65/35% (v/v) showed the best chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 68.52 ± 3.40% with bio-CH4 of 270.52 ± 19.14 mL/g CODremoved. About 52.96 ± 3.61% of the initial COD mass was converted to CH4, avoiding inhibition caused by volatile fatty acid (VFA) accumulation. In the second experiment, the dry digestate was thermally treated at 550 °C for 2 h under an oxygen-deprived condition, yielding 0.613 ± 0.031 g biochar/g. This biochar exhibited multiple functional groups, mineral contents, and high stability (O/C = 0.193). The combined digestion/pyrolysis scenario treating 35 m3/d (106.75 kg COD/d) could maintain profits from pollution reduction, biogas, biochar, and carbon trading, obtaining a 6.5-year payback period.

The valorization technique successfully transformed waste polyethylene terephthalate (PET) into valuable carbon nanomaterial (CN)/graphene, while doped and undoped ZnO nanopowders were synthesized via sol–gel methods. Utilizing XRD, BET, TEM, EDX, FTIR, and TGA analyses, the synthesis of sp2 2D sheet, pristine, and doped ZnO nanostructures was confirmed. Solid-state gas sensor devices, tested under 51% relative humidity (RH), 30 °C ambient temperature, and 0.2 flow rate, exhibited a 3.4% enhanced response to H2 gas compared to CO2 at 50 ppm concentrations over time. Notably, the ZnO/CN sensor surpassed CN and ZnO alone, attributed to CN dopant integration with decreasing order of response performance as ZnO/CN > CN > ZnO. This study underscores the efficacy of valorization techniques in generating high-value carbon nanomaterials and their efficacy in bolstering gas sensor performance, with ZnO/CN demonstrating superior response capabilities.

Discharging shipboard bilgewater (SBW) into seas and oceans without proper treatment could poison marine organisms and negatively impact transportation-related activities. This study focuses on the treatment of synthetic SBW using a simple and cost-efficient physico-chemical process. This treatment system included coagulation-flocculation (CF) using alum coagulant and fixed-bed column adsorption using rice husk-derived biochar (RHB). The optimization and effect of CF process parameters, viz., pH, fast stirring speed, and alum dosage, on surfactant and COD removal efficiencies were studied using a central composite design-response surface methodology (CCD-RSM). At optimum conditions (pH of 6.4, rapid mixing speed of 160 rpm, and coagulant dosage of 140 mg/L), the surfactants and COD removal efficiencies were 46.31±1.48% and 84.67±2.61%, respectively. The adsorption column optimum conditions were flow rate= 5 mL/min and bed depth= 16 cm, giving a surfactant removal efficiency of 96.6%. The primary adsorption mechanism was physisorption, including electrostatic attraction, hydrogen bonding, pore-filling, and hydrophobic interaction, as revealed by SEM, EDX, and FTIR characterizations. The adsorption data fitted well with Thomas model predictions, giving the best kinetic constant (KTh)= 0.305 mL/min/mg and equilibrium surfactant uptake (qo)= 11.05 mg/g (R2= 0.996). The Thomas model's coefficients were successfully used to predict the breakthrough curves and determine the column dimensions for pilot-scale (3 L/h) and large-scale (300 L/h) fixed-bed adsorption units. The estimated cost for the on-board treatment of SBW by the proposed system was 2.51 US$/m3. Future studies are required to implement the proposed combined coagulation/flocculation/adsorption system to treat real SBW from medium-sized ships.

Abstract Background Focused echocardiography is increasingly used in acute and emergency care, with point-of-care ultrasound integrated into several specialist training curricula (e.g. Emergency Medicine, Cardiology, Critical Care). Multiple accreditation pathways support development of this skill but there is scant empirical evidence to inform selection of teaching methods, accreditation requirements or quality assurance of education in focussed echocardiography. It has also been noted that access to in-person teaching can be a barrier to completing accreditation programmes, and that this may affect learners disproportionately depending on the location or nature of their institution. The purpose of the study was to determine whether serial image interpretation tasks as a distinct learning tool improved novice echocardiographers’ ability to accurately identify potentially life-threatening pathology from focused scans. We also aimed to describe the relationship between accuracy of reporting and participants’ confidence in those reports, and to assess users’ satisfaction with a learning pathway that could potentially be delivered remotely. Methods 27 participants from a variety of healthcare roles completed a program of remote lectures and 2 in-person study days. During the program they undertook 4 ‘packets’ of 10 focused echocardiography reporting tasks (total = 40) based on images from a standardised dataset. Participants were randomized to view the scans in varying orders. Reporting accuracy was compared with consensus reports from a panel of expert echocardiographers, and participants self-reported confidence in their image interpretation and their satisfaction with the learning experience. Results There was a stepwise improvement in reporting accuracy with each set of images reported, from an average reporting score of 66% for the 1st packet to 78% for the 4th packet. Participants felt more confident in identifying common life-threatening pathologies as they reported more echocardiograms. The correlation between report accuracy and confidence in the report was weak and did not increase during the study (rs = 0.394 for the 1st packet, rs = 0.321 for the 4th packet). Attrition during the study related primarily to logistical issues. There were high levels of satisfaction amongst participants, with most reporting that they would use and / or recommend a similar teaching package to colleagues. Conclusions Healthcare professionals undertaking remote training with recorded lectures, followed by multiple reporting tasks were capable of interpreting focused echocardiograms. Reporting accuracy and confidence in identifying life-threatening pathology increased with the number of scans interpreted. The correlation between accuracy and confidence for any given report was weak (and this relationship should be explored further given the potential safety considerations). All components of this package could be delivered via distance learning to enhance the flexibility of echocardiography education.

This study focuses on recycling Shammi corn stalks in the cement industries, further avoiding air and soil pollution caused by their improper disposal. This crop residue was thermally treated at 700 °C for 2 h under an oxygen-rich environment to produce Shammi corn stalk ash (SCSA). This SCSA was used as a cement replacement material (2–10%, w/w), whereas the control sample included only cement. The compressive strength values for the 4% (w/w) replacement ratio at 2-, 7-, and 28-day ages were greater than those for the control by 26.5%, 15.8%, and 11.4%, respectively. This 4% (w/w) also maintained a better flexural strength than other mixtures, with proper initial and final setting times (135 and 190 min), workability (18.5 cm), and water consistency (27.5%). These mechanical/physical properties were integrated with socio-enviro-economic data collected from experts through a pairwise comparison questionnaire, forming the inputs of a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model. Recycling SCSA in the cement-manufacturing process attained positive scores in the achievement of the three pillars of sustainable development, revealing an overall score greater than the control. Hence, the study outcomes could be essential in developing green concrete, cement blocks, and mortar, based on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agenda.

Ammonia is one of the most harmful water quality parameters restricting the growth and survival of aquatic living organisms. As a result, fish must adapt to this stressor by modifying physiological processes that are governed by gene expression regulation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression profiles of antioxidant related gene, catalase (CAT) in common carp (Cyprinus carpio) fingerlings after exposure to 0.7 mg/l of unionized ammonia (UIA) in water. The relative gene expression was measured in liver, gills, and brain tissues at four time points (12 h, 2 d, 4 d, and 7 d post exposure). The expression level of CAT gene in the liver and brain peaked after 7 d of ammonia exposure by 13.3 and 5.2-folds, respectively, but in gills it upregulated only after 2 d (2.7-folds) and downregulated at the other time points. This study proved that exposure to ammonia affects the antioxidant status of common carp as indicated by the altered levels of expression of CAT gene.

Compared with conventional soil additives, biochar has found successful application as an organic soil amendment to improve crop productivity coupled with climate change mitigation via carbon sequestration. This study investigated the synthesis of biochar from wastewater sludge, followed by its application for lettuce plant growth. Biochar was added to the soil at three rates of 2.5%, 5%, and 10% (w/w) using pot experiments under greenhouse conditions. Biochar application demonstrated an economic feasibility scenario with a payback period of 0.89 years. Hence, the study outcomes can contribute to eco-friendly crop management, soil conservation, and combat climate change, providing a reliable strategy for achieving targets of SDG 2 “Zero hunger,” SDG 13 “Climate action,” and SDG 15 “Life on land.”

Objectives: Various studies have identified green tea and Aloe vera as a suitable medium for avulsed teeth. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the viability of periodontal ligament (PDL) fibroblasts following treatment with the extracts of these two plants and their mixture. Materials and Methods: Human PDL fibroblasts were purchased and treated with different concentrations of Aloe vera, green tea, and a combination of these two extracts. Hank’s balanced salt solution and culture medium were employed as positive and negative controls, respectively. Viability was assessed using the MTT assay. Two-way ANOVA and post-hoc tests were used for statistical analysis (P

A downflow hanging sponge (DHS) unit was established for treating synthetic domestic wastewater (SDW) for over 100 days of continuous feed. The DHS system was operated at a chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of 531.62 ± 93.6 mg/L, and different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) = 6.0–2.0 h to determine the system kinetics. The substrate removal kinetics of the DHS reactor was calculated using modified Stover–Kincannon, Monod, Grau’s second-order and first-order models. The Monod model has the following decay coefficient (Kd), yield coefficient (Y), and maximum specific growth rate of bacteria (μmax) that were, respectively, 0.0025 1/d, 0.1337 gVSS/gCOD, and 0.0364 1/d. Maximum substrate utilization rate (Umax) and saturation value constant (KB) for the modified Stover–Kincannon model were determined to be, respectively, 15.46 and 14.45 g/L/d. While the kinetic coefficient for the second-order model ranged was 0.516–0.641 1/d versus 27.627 1/d for the first-order model, the constants of the Grau second-order model (a and b) were estimated as 0.0366 and 0.9215. The Grau second-order and modified Stover–Kincannon models showed an R2 value of 0.995, making them the most convenient for the experimental results. The results indicated that these models could be used to predict the DHS reactor behavior at different scales.

Heterogeneous photocatalysis has been studied with various semiconductor materials for the efficient degradation of various water pollutants; however, there is the challenge of wide-bandgap photocatalyst materials, which limits their application under visible-light irradiation. Herein, a ZnO@MgO core–shell nanocomposite was synthesized using co-precipitation and applied to the photocatalytic degradation of MB dye under visible-light irradiation. MB degradation was optimized using the response surface methodology, resulting in 95.948% and ≈91% predicted and actual MB removals, respectively, at a 10 mg/L MB concentration, 1000 mg/L catalyst dose, pH 10, and time of 115.7 min. The degradation kinetics were studied, and it was found that the degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with a rate constant of k = 0.07593 min−1. A cost–benefit analysis was undertaken, and the operating costs were estimated based on the optimized conditions at $7.6/m3 with a payback period of 3.2 years.

Washing Bay effluent contains several organic and inorganic pollutants that require effective treatment techniques. The new trend of utilizing plant-based coagulants for treating washing bay effluent can help overcome drawbacks associated with chemical coagulants such as large sludge volumes, health risks, and high costs. Hence, this study evaluates the comparative performance of C. arietinum and alum coagulants in continuous feed bench-scale experiments for treating washing bay effluents. The multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) was performed using the Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method to determine a sustainable coagulant material based on the established criteria. The results showed that the C. arietinum bio-coagulant produced a higher utility value than alum; hence it could be a preferable alternative in the C/F/S treatment of washing bay effluent based on the selected criteria and weights.

Al2O3–MgO nanocomposite was synthesized using the co-precipitation method for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV–Vis light. Box–Behnken design (BBD) in response to surface methodology (RSM) was used for the optimization and modelling of the photocatalytic degradation of MB dye. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a quadratic model with an R2 of 0.9880. MB removal followed the first-order kinetic model (R2 = 0.9520, k1 = 0.007 min−1). Economic feasibility study at optimized conditions showed that the wastewater treatment cost is USD 16.50/m3 and the payback period is 3.17 years.

Chordomas account for approximately 1–4% of all malignant bone tumors and 20% of primary tumors of the spinal column. It is a rare disease, with an incidence estimated to be approximately 1 per 1,000,000 people. The underlying causative mechanism of chordoma is unknown, which makes it challenging to treat. Chordomas have been linked to the T-box transcription factor T (TBXT) gene located on chromosome 6. The TBXT gene encodes a protein transcription factor TBXT, or brachyury homolog. Currently, there is no approved targeted therapy for chordoma. Here, we performed a small molecule screening to identify small chemical molecules and therapeutic targets for treating chordoma. We screened 3730 unique compounds and selected 50 potential hits. The top three hits were Ribociclib, Ingenol-3-angelate, and Duvelisib. Among the top 10 hits, we found a novel class of small molecules, including proteasomal inhibitors, as promising molecules that reduce the proliferation of human chordoma cells. Furthermore, we discovered that proteasomal subunits PSMB5 and PSMB8 are increased in human chordoma cell lines U-CH1 and U-CH2, confirming that the proteasome may serve as a molecular target whose specific inhibition may lead to better therapeutic strategies for chordoma.

The significant increase in the number of individuals with chronic ailments (including the elderly and disabled) has dictated an urgent need for an innovative model for healthcare systems. The evolved model will be more personalized and less reliant on traditional brick-and-mortar healthcare institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, and long-term healthcare centers. The smart healthcare system is a topic of recently growing interest and has become increasingly required due to major developments in modern technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). This paper is aimed to discuss the current state-of-the-art smart healthcare systems highlighting major areas like wearable and smartphone devices for health monitoring, machine learning for disease diagnosis, and the assistive frameworks, including social robots developed for the ambient assisted living environment. Additionally, the paper demonstrates software integration architectures that are very significant to create smart healthcare systems, integrating seamlessly the benefit of data analytics and other tools of AI. The explained developed systems focus on several facets: the contribution of each developed framework, the detailed working procedure, the performance as outcomes, and the comparative merits and limitations. The current research challenges with potential future directions are addressed to highlight the drawbacks of existing systems and the possible methods to introduce novel frameworks, respectively. This review aims at providing comprehensive insights into the recent developments of smart healthcare systems to equip experts to contribute to the field.

Abstract Measuring the Lewis‐acidic surface sites in catalysis is problematic when the material‘s surface area is very low (SBET ≤1 m2 ⋅ g−1). For the first time, a quantitative assessment of total acidic surface sites of very small surface area catalysts (MoO3 as pure and mixed with 5–30 % CdO (wt/wt), as well as CdO for comparison) was performed using a smart new probe molecule, tetrahydrofuran (THF). The results were nearly identical compared to using another commonly used probe molecule, pyridine. This audition is based on the limited values of the surface area of these samples that likely require a relatively moderate basic molecule as THF with pKb=16.08, rather than strong basic molecules such as NH3 (pKb=4.75) or pyridine (pKb=8.77). We propose mechanisms for the interaction of vapour phase molecules of THF with the Lewis‐cationic Mo and Cd atoms of these catalysts. Besides, dehydration of isopropyl alcohol was used as a probe reaction to investigate the catalytic activity of these catalysts to further support our findings in the case of THF in a temperature range of 175–300 °C. A good agreement between the obtained data of sample MoO3‐10 % CdO, which is characterised by the highest surface area value, the population of Lewis‐acidic sites and % selectivity of propylene at all the applied reaction temperatures was found.

Petrochemical industrial wastewater (PIW)contains toluene and xylene (TX), and various organic and inorganic pollutants, causing severe risks to human health if improperly released into the environmental matrices. For the long-term reliability of environmental conservation, this study illustrates the interlinkage between PIW treatment and the three pillars of sustainable development. Sewage sludge biochar was modified with eggshell, showing a relatively high fixed C content (increase in carbonization degree), and small O/C and N/C ratios. The prepared biochar was employed for TX adsorption in mono-component solutions, giving removal efficiencies of 79.1% (T) and 86.6% (X), at pH =10, adsorbent dosage =2 g/L, and Co =40 mg/L within 60 min. The main adsorption mechanism was physisorption, including precipitation/pore-filling, π-π dispersive interaction, and van der Waals force. The modified biochar also treated real PIW under five adsorption/regeneration cycles, providing essential steps toward large-scale applications. According to an economic feasibility estimation, the biochar application for treating 1 m3 of PIW would offer a payback period of 6.9 yr. The study outputs could be linked to the restoration of water-related ecosystems, biochar modification for industrial applications, and climate change mitigation, adopting the 2030 agenda and its sustainable development goals (SDGs).

River Yamuna is one of the most sacred major tributaries of river Ganga. This study aimed to assess the level of heavy metals in monsoon and non-monsoon season in river Yamuna in Uttar Pradesh, India and to assess the possible source of contamination and its associated health risk. Except for iron (Fe), the mean levels of all metals were within drinking water safe limits in both seasons. Except for chromium (Cr), lower values were observed for other metals in the monsoon season could be attributed dilution effect. Multivariate analysis indicated that both geogenic and anthropogenic sources contribute to heavy metals in river Yamuna in monsoon and non-monsoon seasons. The health risk in terms of hazard index (HI) and fuzzy-logic hazard index (FHI) demonstrated that both HI and FHI values among children exceeded the safe limit in most of the sites in non-monsoon seasons and in few in monsoon season. For adults, HI and FHI values were within safe limit.

Predicting the adsorption performance to remove organic pollutants from wastewater is an essential environmental-related topic, requiring knowledge of various statistical tools and artificial intelligence techniques. Hence, this study is the first to develop a quadratic regression model and artificial neural network (ANN) for predicting biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removal under different adsorption conditions. Nanozero-valent iron encapsulated into cellulose acetate (CA/nZVI) was synthesized, characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDS, and used as an efficient adsorbent for BOD reduction. Results indicated that the medium pH and adsorption time should be adjusted around 7 and 30 min, respectively, to maintain the highest BOD removal efficiency of 96.4% at initial BOD concentration Co=100 mg/L, mixing rate=200 rpm, and adsorbent dosage of 3 g/L. An optimized ANN structure of 5–10–1, with the “trainlm” back-propagation learning algorithm, achieved the highest predictive performance for BOD removal (R2: 0.972, Adj-R2: 0.971, RMSE: 1.449, and SSE: 56.680). Based on the ANN sensitivity analysis, the relative importance of the adsorption factors could be arranged as pH>adsorbent dosage>time≈stirring speed>Co. A quadratic regression model was developed to visualize the impacts of adsorption factors on the BOD removal efficiency, optimizing pH at 7.3 and time at 46.2 min. The accuracy of the quadratic regression and ANN models in predicting BOD removal was approximately comparable. Hence, these computational-based methods could further maximize the performance of CA/nZVI material for removing BOD from wastewater under different adsorption conditions. The applicability of these modeling techniques would guide the stakeholders and industrial sector to overcome the nonlinearity and complexity issues related to the adsorption process.

The ECG changes produced by antipsychotics and other psychotropic medications are studied mostly regarding QTc interval prolongation. This study aimed to investigate ECG changes beyond long QTc interval produced by psychotropic medications. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the effect of these agents on RR, PR, TpTe intervals and TpTe/QT ratio among Jordanian outpatients. The RR interval was significantly shorter among patients on TCAs versus those not receiving TCAs and among patients on polytherapy versus those on monotherapy (p < 0.05 for both comparisons), when adjusted for age, gender, BMI, caffeine intake, smoking, presence of diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and medications known to produce heart rate changes. Positive correlations were found between the PR interval and age in patients treated with SGAs, SSRIs, citalopram, polytherapy and in the total sample (p < 0.01 for all). Inverse correlations were found between the RR interval and the number of psychotropic medications among patients treated with SSRIs and in the whole study sample (p < 0.01 for both). In conclusion, various ECG changes beyond QTc interval prolongation are observed in patients on antipsychotics and other psychotropic medications, in those on polytherapy. It is recommended to obtain an ECG before starting patients on psychotropic drugs known to produce electrocardiographic changes and their combinations.

For the first time, this work conducted a comparison of two indigenous plants in Iran, namely, Syzygium cumini and Psidium guajava, which were prepared as low-cost adsorbents to remove fluoride contamination from aqueous solution. The results revealed the nonlinearity of the interactive effects and showed that the pH and adsorbent dosage were the most influential factors during fluoride adsorption. The results of characterization exhibited a mesoporous structure of prepared biosorbents; therefore, the adsorption process may involve multiple functional groups, resulting in electrostatic attraction and hydrogen binding between fluoride ions and the biosorbents. In the case of Syzygium cumini, the maximum removal efficiency of 72.5% was obtained under optimum experimental conditions (Co = 6 mg/L, pH = 5, adsorbent dose = 8 g/L, and contact time = 75 min). For the Psidium guajava, the maximum removal efficiency of 88.3% was achieved at a Co of 6 mg/L, adsorbent dose of 6 g/L, initial pH of 5.1, and a contact time of 90 min. Moreover, four consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles with the chemical agent of NaOH solution (0.1 mol/L) showed excellent reusability of the biosorbents. The adsorption isotherm fitted better to the Langmuir model and the kinetic data best accorded with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model for both biosorbents, expressing a monolayer chemisorption process with recorded maximum adsorption capacities of 1.14 and 1.50 mg/g for Syzygium cumini and Psidium guajava, respectively. Therefore, given their removal capacity and potential utility, the prepared biomass could be effective reusable biosorbents to treat water contaminated with fluoride.

Tungsten disulfide nanosheets were successfully prepared by one-step chemical vapor deposition using tungsten oxide and thiourea in an inert gas environment. The size of the obtained nanosheets was subsequently reduced down to below 20 nm in width and 150 nm in length using high-energy ball milling, followed by 0.5 and 1 wt% graphene loading. The corresponding vibrational and structural characterizations are consistent with the fabrication of a pure WS2 structure for neat sampling and the presence of the graphene characteristic vibration modes in graphene@WS2 compounds. Additional morphological and crystal structures were examined and confirmed by high-resolution electron microscopy. Subsequently, the investigations of the optical properties evidenced the high optical absorption (98%) and lower band gap (1.75 eV) for the graphene@WS2 compared to the other samples, with good band-edge alignment to water-splitting reaction. In addition, the photoelectrochemical measurements revealed that the graphene@WS2 (1 wt%) exhibits an excellent photocurrent density (95 μA/cm2 at 1.23 V bias) compared with RHE and higher applied bias potential efficiency under standard simulated solar illumination AM1.5G. Precisely, graphene@WS2 (1 wt%) exhibits 3.3 times higher performance compared to pristine WS2 and higher charge transfer ability, as measured by electrical impedance spectroscopy, suggesting its potential use as an efficient photoanode for hydrogen evolution reaction.

Chlorothalonil is a pesticide that can contaminate water bodies, detriment aquatic organisms, and cause cancers of the forestomach and kidney. In this study, a powdered activated carbon prepared from casuarina wood was used for the adsorption of chlorothalonil from aqueous solutions. Based on Scanning Electron microscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analyses, the adsorbent material comprised pores and multiple functional groups that favored the entrapment of chlorothalonil onto its surface. At initial chlorothalonil concentration of 480 mg L−1, the equilibrium uptake capacity was 187 mg g−1 at pH: 7, adsorbent dosage: 0.5 g L−1, contact time: 40 min, and room temperature (25 ± 4 °C). The kinetic and isotherm studies indicated that the rate constant of pseudo-second-order model (k2) was 0.003 g mg−1 min−1, and the monolayer adsorption capacity was 192 mg g−1. Results from a quadratic model demonstrated that the plot of adsorption capacity versus pH, chlorothalonil concentration, adsorbent dosage, and contact time caused quadratic-concave, linear-up, flat, and quadratic-linear concave up curves, respectively. An artificial neural network with a structure of 4–5–1 was able to predict the adsorption capacity (R2: 0.982), and the sensitivity analysis using connection weights showed that pH was the most influential factor. An economic estimation using amortization and operating costs revealed that an adsorption unit subjected to 100 m3 d−1 containing chlorothalonil concentration of 250 ± 50 mg L−1 could cost 1.18 $ m−3. Keywords: Activated carbon, Artificial neural network, Chlorothalonil pesticide, Cost estimation, Kinetics and isotherms

Electrocoagulation (EC) was studied in this study as a potential alternative approach for treating Olive Mill Wastewater (OMW). Aluminum plates were utilized as anode and cathode to evaluate the removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) from OMW and the aluminum electrode’s weight loss. Central Composite Experimental Design (CCD) and Response Surface Methodology were used to optimize its performance. Anodes were weighed before and after each electrocoagulation experiment, to compare the experimental and the theoretical dissolved aluminum weights calculated using Faraday’s law. We discovered the following EC conditions for CCD: current density = 15 mA/cm2, pH = 4, and electrolysis time of 30 min. Under these conditions, the maximum COD removal ratio was 41%, equating to an Al weight loss of 288.89 g/m3 at an estimated operating cost of 1.60 USD/m3. According to the response optimizer, the most economical operating settings for COD removal efficiency of 58.888% are pH 4, a current density of 18.41 mA/cm2, electrolysis time of 36.82 min, and Al weight loss of 337.33 g/m3, with a projected running cost of 2.00 USD/m3.

This study assessed spatial variations in physical and chemical properties of an agricultural drain near Borg El-Arab city, Alexandria, Egypt. Pearson’s correlation coefficient indicated that salinity had strong correlations with total dissolved solids (TDS) (r 0.999, p

Monitoring of groundwater quality is one of the important tools to provide adequate information about water management. In the present study, artificial neural network (ANN) with a feed-forward back-propagation was designed to predict groundwater salinity, expressed by total dissolved solids (TDS), using pH as an input parameter. Groundwater samples were collected from a 36 m depth well located in the experimental farm of the City of Scientific Researches and Technological Applications (SRTA City), New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt. The network structure was 1–5–3–1 and used the default Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm for training. It was observed that, the best validation performance, based on the mean square error, was 14819 at epoch 0, and no major problems or over-fitting occurred with the training step. The simulated output tracked the measured data with a correlation coefficient (R-value) of 0.64, 0.67 and 0.90 for training, validation and test, respectively. In this case, the network response was acceptable, and simulation could be used for entering new inputs.

Artificial streams were set up to test the relationship between near-bed water velocity and periphyton growth. Periphyton community samples collected from a Japanese stream were incubated for 44 days under a light intensity of 252 ± 72 μmol·photons/m2·s, a temperature of 20–25 °C, and three near-bed water velocity classes: low (32.8 cm/s). A logistic model was applied to estimate the maximum net growth rate (μmax) and carrying capacity (Bmax). A response surface method was also applied to estimate chlorophyll a (Chl-a) and ash-free dry mass (AFDM) with respect to the independent variables (i.e., time and water velocity). We detected both the highest μmax (1.99 d−1) and highest Bmax (7.01 mg/m2) for Chl-a at the moderate water velocity. For AFDM, we observed the highest μmax (0.57 d−1) and Bmax (1.47 g/m2) at the low and moderate velocity classes, respectively. The total algae density in the region of moderate velocity at the end of the experiment was 6.47 × 103 cells/cm2, corresponding to levels 1.7 and 1.3 times higher than those at lower and higher velocities, respectively. Our findings indicated that the moderate near-bed water velocity provided favorable conditions for algal growth and corresponding biomass accumulation.

Introduction : Nowadays, medical equipment is essential to provide health care services in hospitals. Since 20% of the hospitals costs are devoted to providing such equipment, an appropriate management is required to maintain it. In this study it is intended to investigate the maintenance management of medical equipment in hospitals. Methods and materials : it is a cross-sectional study. The population of the study consisted of 40 managers, nursing services menagers, the head of medical engineering or medical equipment unit in hospitals affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The data were collected by a questionnaire which was checked for its validity and reliability. Results : planning organization, coordination and management of maintaing the medical equipment had the following mean scores respectively : 62%, 44%, 54% and 42% . Conclusion : In order to improve the quality of medical equipment maintenance management, the required financial and human resources must be supplied. It seems essential to train a person as a medical equipment expert, to hold training courses for the hospital personnel to learn how to use this equipment and to provide a software for medical equipment maintenance management. Keywords : equipment and supplies – materials managemeat, hospital – hospitals – hospitals, university

Introduction: Upper respiratory tract infections and sinusitis are more prevalent in children than in adults. Unilateral sinusitis is not uncommon disease. Our aim was to analyze the disease characteristics in children with unilateral sinusitis and compare them with those of adults. Materials and Methods: This study included 124 patients with unilateral chronic sinusitis divided according to age into two groups: pediatric group =18 years (66 cases) and adult group >18 years (58 cases). The groups were compared in terms of demographic data, side, clinical manifestations and radiological findings. Results: In pediatric patients, the most common inflammatory pathology was antrochoanal polyps, followed by allergic fungal sinusitis. On the other hand, chronic sinusitis without nasal polyps is the most common in adults, followed by antrochoanal polyps. The mean duration of clinical manifestations before diagnosis in pediatric patients was significantly shorter than that in adults (P=0.001). The most common symptoms in both pediatric and adult patients were anterior nasal discharge and nasal obstruction. Proptosis was significantly higher in pediatric group than in adult group (P=0.015). On computed tomography (CT), the most commonly affected sinus in both pediatric and adult patients was the maxillary sinus followed by the anterior ethmoid sinus. Bone expansion, erosion and involvement of adjacent structures were significantly higher in pediatric patients (P=0.028, 0.027 respectively). Conclusion: Pediatric patients have a high incidence of antrochoanal polyps and allergic fungal sinusitis as unilateral inflammatory lesions. These lesions require surgical management. Inflammatory paranasal sinus lesions in pediatric patients have a shorter duration of clinical manifestations and a higher incidence of bone erosion and involvement of adjacent structures; therefore, early diagnosis and management prevent complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]