Water pollution caused by dyes is a significant environmental issue, necessitating the development of effective, cost-efficient decolorization methods suitable for industrial use. In this study, a Chitosan-Fe polymeric gel was synthesized, characterized, and tested for removing the azo dye Direct Red 83:1 from water. The polymeric magnetic chitosan was analyzed using various techniques: Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) revealed a porous structure, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) demonstrated the thermal stability, Infrared Spectrophotometry (IR) indicated the successful coordination of iron at the C3 position, and X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) confirmed the crystalline nature of the polymeric structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Europe, sports food supplements (SSFs) are subject to specific laws and regulations. Up to 70% of athletes are highly influenced by the information on the label or the advertisement of the SSF, which often does not correspond to the scientific evidence, such as health claims. The aim is to analyze such claims relating to sports drinks (SDs) in commercial messages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Mol Sci
February 2024
The significant environmental issue of water pollution caused by emerging contaminants underscores the imperative for developing novel cleanup methods that are efficient, economically viable, and that are intended to operate at high capacity and under continuous flows at the industrial scale. This study shows the results of the operational design to build a prototype for the retention at lab scale of pollutant residues in water by using as adsorbent material, insoluble polymers prepared by β-cyclodextrin and epichlorohydrin as a cross-linking agent. Laboratory in-batch tests were run to find out the adsorbent performances against furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide as pollutant models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), metabolic rewiring and resistance to standard therapy are closely associated. PDAC cells show enormous requirements for glucose-derived citrate, the first rate-limiting metabolite in the synthesis of new lipids. Both the expression and activity of citrate synthase (CS) are extraordinarily upregulated in PDAC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSkin wound healing is a physiological process that involves several cell types. Among them, endothelial cells are required for inflammation resolution and neo-angiogenesis, both necessary for tissue restoration after injury. Primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (C-HUVECs) are derived from the umbilical cord.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWound healing is a complex process to restore skin. Plant-derived bioactive compounds might be a source of substances for the treatment of wounds stalled in a non-resolving stage of wound healing. Oleanolic acid (OA), a pentacyclic triterpene, has shown favorable wound healing properties both in vitro and in vivo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmaceutics
June 2023
Acute and chronic bone infections, especially those caused by methicillin-resistant (MRSA), remains a major complication and therapeutic challenge. It is documented that local administration of vancomycin offers better results than the usual routes of administration (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic made evident that there are only a few drugs against coronavirus. Here we aimed to identify a cost-effective antiviral with broad spectrum activity and high safety profile. Starting from a list of 116 drug candidates, we used molecular modelling tools to rank the 44 most promising inhibitors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWheat is critical for food security, and is challenged by biotic stresses, chiefly aphids and the viruses they transmit. The objective of this study was to determine whether aphids feeding on wheat could trigger a defensive plant reaction to oxidative stress that involved plant oxylipins. Plants were grown in chambers with a factorial combination of two nitrogen rates (100% N vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant phytoprostanes (PhytoPs) are lipid oxidative stress mediators that share structural similarities with mammal prostaglandins (PGs). They have been demonstrated to modulate inflammatory processes mediated by prostaglandins. The present study aims to test the effects of the most abundant oxylipin from , ent-9-D1t-Phytoprostane (9-D1t-PhytoP), on platelet activation and vascular cells as well as clarify possible interactions with platelets and the endothelial EP3 receptor Platelet and monocyte activation was assessed by flow cytometry in the presence of purified 9-D1t-PhytoP.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to obtain solid carvacrol-cyclodextrin (CD) complexes for use in the pharmaceutical industry. To this end, the complexation of carvacrol at different pH values was studied in detail, to determine the type of CD and the reaction environment that supported the highest amount of encapsulated carvacrol. Evidence of the capability of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrins (HP-β-CD) to form inclusion complexes with carvacrol (K = 5042 ± 176 L mol) and more high complexation efficiency (2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNuts are widely consumed worldwide, mainly due to their characteristic flavor and texture, ease of consumption, and their functional properties. In addition, consumers increasingly demand natural or slightly processed foods with high quality. Consequently, non-thermal treatments are a viable alternative to thermal treatments used to guarantee safety and long shelf life, which produce undesirable changes that affect the sensory quality of nuts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShelled walnuts are considered a microbiologically low-risk food but have been linked to some outbreaks, and a treatment aiming to decrease this risk is desirable. Pulsed light (PL) may be an alternative, providing it does not seriously impair their quality. This work assessed the impact of PL on some quality attributes of walnuts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe glucose oligosaccharide-derived cyclodextrins (CDs) are used for improving bioactive compound production in plant cell cultures because, in addition to their elicitation activity, CDs promote product removal from cells. However, despite these advantages, the industrial application of CDs is hampered by their high market price. A strategy to overcome this constraint was recently tested, in which reusable CD polymers coated with magnetic FeO nanoparticles were harnessed in Vitis vinifera cell cultures to produce t-resveratrol (t-R).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUsing cyclodextrins (CDs) in packaging technologies helps volatile or bioactive molecules improve their solubility, to guarantee the homogeneous distribution of the complexed molecules, protecting them from volatilization, oxidation, and temperature fluctuations when they are associated with polymeric matrices. This technology is also suitable for the controlled release of active substances and allows the exploration of their association with biodegradable polymer targeting to reduce the negative environmental impacts of food packaging. Here, we present a fresh look at the current status of and future prospects regarding the different strategies used to associate cyclodextrins and their derivatives with polymeric matrices to fabricate sustainable and biodegradable active food packaging (AFP).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study is aimed to validate water-insoluble cyclodextrin-epichlorohydrin polymer (β-EPI) use to remove, by adsorption, sulfamethoxazole (SMX) from water and then release it via an environmentally friendly treatment so that the adsorbent can be recycled according to one of the objectives of the European Project Life "Clean up" (LIFE 16 ENV/ES/000169). SMX adsorption experiments on β-EPI polymer in-batch were performed, varying different experimental parameters of the process, such as contact time, pH values, and so on. The adsorption process, exothermic and driven by enthalpy, occurs both through the formation of inclusion and association complexes, involves mainly hydrophobic and hydrogen bonds, has a rate-controlling step depending on both pollutant concentration and adsorbent dose and can be described by the Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich models which confirm the polymer surface heterogeneity and the physical nature of the adsorption.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe inactivation of diverse food enzymes by pulsed light (PL) has been described before, including the inactivation of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) (at pH 6.5). Since the pH affects the conformation of enzymes, it may influence the inactivation of enzymes by PL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlackberries and raspberries are highly perishable and fragile products, which limits their shelf life. The effect of biodegradable active packaging of blackberries and raspberries containing 2.5% and 5.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFis a wine spoilage yeast that could be inactivated by pulsed light (PL); however, this technology may induce changes in the quality of this alcoholic drink. The present research aimed to determine the potential of PL to inactivate inoculated in white wine and to assess the effect of this technology on the color and aromatic profile of the wine. For this, a cocktail of strains was inoculated into the wine and its inactivation by PL was determined and fitted to a microbial inactivation model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng
February 2021
Due to the negative effects of emerging contaminants on the environment, that can potentially induce deleterious effects in aquatic and human life, this paper focuses on the removal from the water of Furosemide, through the adsorption process. Indeed, only a few papers are available in the literature about the Furosemide adsorption and, chitosan films are thus proposed for this purpose as safe, sustainable, and recyclable adsorbent materials. In the present work, the effects on the adsorption process of several experimental parameters such as the pH values, ionic strength, amount of adsorbent/pollutant, and temperature values were investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of the present study is to obtain linalool- cyclodextrin (CDs) solid complexes for possible applications in the food industry. For this purpose, a detailed study of linalool complexation was carried out at different pH values, to optimize the type of CDs and reaction medium that support the highest quantity of encapsulated linalool. Once demonstrated the ability of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CDs), to form inclusion complexes with linalool (K = 921 ± 21 L mol) and given their greater complexation efficacy (6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConsumers demand the use of eco-friendly fungicides to treat fruit and vegetables and governmental authorities have unauthorized the application of chemical antifungals for the efficient control of sour rot. In the present research, the microwave irradiation (MW) method was used to encapsulate thymol into 2-hydroxylpropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and the effect of these HP-β-CD on controlling sour rot in citrus fruit, caused by , was evaluated. Amounts of 25 and 50 mM of HP-β-CD-thymol were used, and compared with propiconazole, to control the decay of inoculated lemon fruit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTwo cyclodextrins (CDs), γ- and hydroxypropyl (HP)-γ-CDs were used to synthesize new adsorbents by using epichlorohydrin (EPI) as cross-linking agent in order to remove Direct Red 83:1 (DR) from water. Both polymers were characterized in terms of Fourier spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, particle size distribution and thermogravimetric analysis. Experimental data for both polymers were well fitted to the pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion model, indicating that in the adsorption both chemical and physical interactions are essential in the removal of DR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF