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Microalgae and Cyanobacteria extracts can be used for the synthesis of spherical silver nanoparticles by the reduction of AgNO 3 under air atmosphere at room temperature. Here, we synthesized AgNPs using extracts of one cyanobacterium (Synechococcus elongatus) and two microalgae (Stigeoclonium sp. and Cosmarium punctulatum). The nature of the AgNPs was characterized by TEM, HR-TEM, EDS, and UV-Vis. Considering the large quantity of functional groups in the ligands of AgNPs, we suppose they could retain ion metals, which would be useful for water decontamination. Thus, their capacity to adsorb iron and manganese at concentrations of 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 mg L -1 in aqueous solutions was evaluated. All experiments were performed in triplicate of microorganism extract with no addition of AgNO 3 (control) and AgNP colloid (treatment) at room temperature. The ICP analyses showed that the treatments containing nanoparticles were commonly more efficient at removing Fe 3+ and Mn 2+ ions than the corresponding controls. Interestingly, the smaller nanoparticles (synthesized by Synechococcus elongatus) were the most effective at removing Fe 3+ and Mn 2+ ions, probably due to their higher surface area:volume ratio. The green synthesized AgNPs proved to be an interesting system for the manufacture of biofilters that could be used to capture contaminant metals in water., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Diabetes mellitus has been regarded as a condition capable of influencing the evolution of periapical lesions. Therefore, this study evaluated the immunoexpression of IL-1 β , TNF- α , and IL-17 in apical periodontitis from type 2 diabetic patients through immunohistochemistry. Twenty-six periapical lesions were selected, and the images obtained through immunohistochemistry reactions were analyzed. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. IL-1 β expression was considered focal (54%), weak to moderate (38%), and strong (8%) in diabetics, and focal (46%), weak to moderate (31%), and strong (23%), in controls. TNF- α was focal (85%) and weak to moderate (15%) in diabetics, and focal (92%) and weak to moderate (8%), in controls. IL-17 was focal (8%), weak to moderate (46%), and strong (46%) in diabetics, and focal (62%), weak to moderate (8%), and strong (30%), in controls. The quantitative analysis revealed greater expression of IL-17, with a significant difference between IL-17 × IL-1 β  × TNF- α ( p =0.0009) in the diabetic group. The cytokines IL-1 β and TNF- α did not express statistical differences between the tested groups. The IL-17 showed higher immunoexpression in the diabetic group ( p =0.047), which may suggest higher bone resorption activity in chronic apical periodontitis in this group of patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Estéfano Borgo Sarmento et al.)

The currently most efficient polycrystalline solar cells are based on the Cu(In,Ga)Se 2 compound as a light absorption layer. However, in view of new concepts of nanostructured solar cells, CuInSe 2 nanostructures are of high interest. In this work, we report CuInSe 2 nanodots grown through a vacuum-compatible co-evaporation growth process on an amorphous surface. The density, mean size, and peak optical emission energy of the nanodots can be controlled by changing the growth temperature. Scanning transmission electron microscopy measurements confirmed the crystallinity of the nanodots as well as chemical composition and structure compatible with tetragonal CuInSe 2 . Photoluminescence measurements of CdS-passivated nanodots showed that the nanodots are optoelectronically active with a broad emission extending to energies above the CuInSe 2 bulk bandgap and in agreement with the distribution of sizes. A blue-shift of the luminescence is observed as the average size of the nanodots gets smaller, evidencing quantum confinement in all samples. By using simple quantum confinement calculations, we correlate the photoluminescence peak emission energy with the average size of the nanodots.