Ultra-long Magnetic Nanochains for Highly Efficient Arsenic Removal from Water.

The contamination of drinking water with naturally occurring arsenic is a global health threat. Filters that are packed with adsorbent media with a high affinity for arsenic have been used to de-contaminate water - generally iron or aluminium oxides are favored materials. Recently, nanoparticles have been introduced as adsorbent media due to their superior efficiency compared to their bulk counter-parts.

"Smart" theranostic lanthanide nanoprobes with simultaneous up-conversion fluorescence and tunable T1-T2 magnetic resonance imaging contrast and near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy.

The current work reports a type of "smart" lanthanide-based theranostic nanoprobe, NaDyF4:Yb(3+)/NaGdF4:Yb(3+),Er(3+), which is able to circumvent the up-converting poisoning effect of Dy(3+) ions to give efficient near infrared (980 nm) triggered up-conversion fluorescence, and offers not only excellent dark T2-weighted MR contrast but also tunable bright and T1-weighted MR contrast properties. Due to the efficient up-converted energy transfer from the nanocrystals to chlorin e6 (Ce6) photosensitizers loaded onto the nanocrystals, cytotoxic singlet oxygen was generated and photodynamic therapy was demonstrated. Therefore, the current multifunctional nanocrystals could be potentially useful in various image-guided diagnoses where bright or dark MRI contrast could be selectively tuned to optimize image quality, but also as an efficient and more penetrative near-infrared activated photodynamic therapy agent.

Sublethal effects of CuO nanoparticles on Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) are modulated by environmental salinity.

The increasing use of manufactured nanoparticles (NP) in different applications has triggered the need to understand their putative ecotoxicological effects in the environment. Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NP) are toxic, and induce oxidative stress and other pathophysiological conditions. The unique properties of NP can change depending on the characteristics of the media they are suspended in, altering the impact on their toxicity to aquatic organisms in different environments.

Cytotoxic and genotoxic characterization of titanium dioxide, gadolinium oxide, and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles in human fibroblasts.

Engineered nanomaterials have become prevalent in our everyday life. While the popularity of using nanomaterials in consumer products continues to rise, increasing awareness of nanotoxicology has also fuelled efforts to accelerate our understanding of the ill effects that different nanomaterials can bring to biological systems. In this study, we investigated the potential cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of three nanoparticles: titanium dioxide (TiO(2)), terbium-doped gadolinium oxide (Tb-Gd(2)O(3)), and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA).

NaDyF4 Nanoparticles as T2 Contrast Agents for Ultrahigh Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

A major limitation of the commonly used clinical MRI contrast agents (CAs) suitable at lower magnetic field strengths (<3.0 T) is their inefficiency at higher fields (>7 T), where next-generation MRI scanners are going. We present dysprosium nanoparticles (β-NaDyF4 NPs) as T2 CAs suitable at ultrahigh fields (9.

Comparative cytotoxicity evaluation of lanthanide nanomaterials on mouse and human cell lines with metabolic and DNA-quantification assays.

Lanthanide nanomaterials are considered a less toxic alternative to quantum dots for bioimaging applications. This study evaluated the cytotoxicity of terbium (Tb)-doped gadolinium oxide (Gd(2)O(3)) and dysprosium oxide (Dy(2)O(3)) nanoparticles exposed to human (BEAS-2B) and mouse (L929) cell lines at a concentration range of 200-2000 μg/ml for 48 h. Two assay methods were utilized-WST-8 assay (colorimetric) based on mitochondrial metabolic activity and Pico-Green assay (fluorescence), which measures total DNA content.

Bimodal magnetic-fluorescent probes for bioimaging.

Fluorescent optical probes have been intensively used in the area of bio-imaging. In this review article, we describe the recent advancements in the synthesis and application of bimodal magnetic-fluorescent probes for bioimaging. The bimodal probes consist of fluorescent [semiconducting quantum dots (e.

Gadolinium oxide ultranarrow nanorods as multimodal contrast agents for optical and magnetic resonance imaging.

We demonstrate a simple synthetic strategy for the fabrication of single-phase rare earth (RE) doped gadolinium oxide (Gd(2)O(3):RE where RE = terbium (Tb), ytterbium (Yb), and erbium (Er)) nanorods (NRs) as multimodal imaging probes. The NRs are ultranarrow and exhibit both emission and magnetic characteristics. The Tb-doped and Yb/Er-codoped Gd(2)O(3) NRs exhibit down- and up-conversion fluorescence respectively, and also exhibit paramagnetism.

In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation of biomedical nanoparticles and their extracts.

The present study presents a new approach for evaluating in vitro cytotoxicity of nanoparticles. The approach is based on American National Standard ISO 10993-5. Hepatoma HepG2 and fibroblast NIH3T3 cell lines were incubated with nanoparticles, and their associated extracts were derived at 70 and 121 degrees C.