Designer biochar with enhanced functionality for efficient removal of radioactive cesium and strontium from water.

Radioactive elements released into the environment by accidental discharge constitute serious health hazards to humans and other organisms. In this study, three gasified biochars prepared from feedstock mixtures of wood, chicken manure, and food waste, and a KOH-activated biochar (40% food waste + 60% wood biochar (WFWK)) were used to remove cesium (Cs) and strontium (Sr) ions from water. The physicochemical properties of the biochars before and after adsorbing Cs and Sr were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, extended X-Ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX).

Characteristic and remediation of radioactive soil in nuclear facility sites: a critical review.

A huge amount of radioactive soil has been generated through decommissioning of nuclear facilities around the world. This review focuses on the difficulties and complexities associated with the remediation of radioactive soils at the site level; therefore, laboratory studies were excluded from this review. The problems faced while remediating radioactive soils using techniques based on strategies such as dry separation, soil washing, flotation separation, thermal desorption, electrokinetic remediation, and phytoremediation are discussed, along with appropriate examples.

Experimental Demonstration of 3 × 3 MIMO LED-to-LED Communication Using RGB Colors.

Optical wireless communication (OWC) is one of the promising candidates for beyond fifth-generation communication (B5G). Depending on the type of transmitters, receivers, and information carriers applied in the system, OWC can be categorized into visible light communication, light fidelity, free-space optical communication, optical camera communication, etc. In addition to these OWC subcategories, this paper proposes light-emitting diode (LED)-to-LED communication as another subcategory of OWC technique.

Sorption behavior of cesium on silt and clay soil fractions.

The effect of clay mineral composition on Cs adsorption behavior of silt and clay fractions (SC-fractions) of soil was investigated. Surface soil samples were collected within 2 km of Kori and Wolsong nuclear power plants in South Korea, and SC-fractions (<20 μm) were separated. The physicochemical properties of SC-fractions and types of clay minerals contained in the SC-fractions were analyzed.

Biflavonoid-rich fraction from Daphne pseudomezereum var. koreana Hamaya exerts anti-inflammatory effect in an experimental animal model of allergic asthma.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Daphne pseudomezereum var. koreana Hamaya is distributed in the Gangwon-do of South Korea and is traditionally used to treat chronic inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Aim Of The Study: We investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of biflavonoid-rich fraction (BF) obtained from an extract of D.

Cs desorption behavior during hydrothermal treatment of illite with oxalic acid.

The desorption of radioactive cesium (Cs) in soil is influenced by the clay mineral type, adsorption site, and concentration of Cs. In this study, experiments to detect desorption of non-radioactive and radioactive Cs from illite using oxalic acid were performed for 2 days at 70 °C in hydrothermal conditions. The results showed that the Cs removal efficiency by oxalic acid and inorganic acid treatment was similar at high concentration (22.

Application of polyethylenimine-coated magnetic nanocomposites for the selective separation of Cs-enriched clay particles from radioactive soil.

The separation of Cs-enriched fine particles is a highly effective way to reduce the volume and radioactivity of contaminated soil. This work demonstrated the application of polyethylenimine (PEI)-coated FeO nanocomposites and a mesh filter for the selective separation of clay particles from Cs-contaminated soil. The PEI coating on the FeO nanoparticles enhanced the binding force between the magnetic nanoparticles and clay minerals electrostatic attraction; thus, approximately 100% of the clay particles were magnetically separated from solution by FeO-PEI nanocomposites at a low dose (0.

Selective separation of Cs-contaminated clay from soil using polyethylenimine-coated magnetic nanoparticles.

We evaluated the feasibility of using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) coated with polyethylenimine (PEI), a cationic polymer, to remediate radioactive contaminated soil by separating Cs-contaminated clay from the soil. The influences of the solution pH, PEI-to-MNPs mass ratio, and the PEI-MNPs dose on the magnetic separation performance were systematically examined. The highest SE% of illite from solution through electrostatic attraction was approximately 100% at a mass ratio of 0.

Desorption of cesium from hydrobiotite by hydrogen peroxide with divalent cations.

In this study, hydrogen peroxide (HO) was used to enhance the cation-exchange treatment for Cs desorption from clay minerals. Among various investigated clay minerals, hydrobiotite (HBT), which has interstratified layers of vermiculite and biotite, exhibited the highest Cs sorption capacity and the most favorable HO activation because of its high Fe content. In X-ray diffraction analysis, HBT treated with HO and 0.

Retraction: Engineering of extracellular vesicles as drug delivery vehicles.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.21037/sci.2017.

Engineering of extracellular vesicles as drug delivery vehicles.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted membrane-enclosed nano-sized particles (40-1,000 nm) that deliver biological information between cells. The molecular composition of these subcellular particles includes growth factor receptors, ligands adhesion proteins, mRNA, miRNAs, lncRNA and lipids that are derived from donor cells. A number of studies demonstrated that stem cell-derived EVs are the key mediator of tissue repair and regeneration in multiple animal disease models.

C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 regulates lps-induced inflammation and ER stress to enhance proliferation of bovine endometrial epithelial cells.

Chemokines play an important role in regulating the complex immune system at the maternal-fetal interface during pregnancy. Among various chemokines, CC motif chemokine ligand 2 (CCL2) plays a role in the recruitment of immune regulatory cells to implantation sites within the endometrium. In cattle, CCL2 is abundantly expressed in the uterine endometrium.

Chrysin attenuates progression of ovarian cancer cells by regulating signaling cascades and mitochondrial dysfunction.

Chrysin is mainly found in passion flowers, honey, and propolis acts as a potential therapeutic and preventive agent to inhibit proliferation and invasion of various human cancer cells. Although chrysin has anti-carcinogenic effects in several cancers, little is known about its functional roles in ovarian cancer which shows poor prognosis and chemoresistance to traditional therapeutic agents. In the present study, we investigated functional roles of chrysin in progression of ovarian cancer cells using ES2 and OV90 (clear cell and serous carcinoma, respectively) cell lines.

An 8-Week Randomized, Double-Blind Trial Comparing Efficacy, Safety, and Tolerability of 3 Vilazodone Dose-Initiation Strategies Following Switch From SSRIs and SNRIs in Major Depressive Disorder.

Introduction: Vilazodone, a selective and potent 5-HT1A partial agonist and 5-HT reuptake inhibitor, has been approved for treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adults. The primary objective of the study was to compare the efficacy and tolerability of switching to 3 different doses of vilazodone from an equivalent dose range of generic selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) in adult subjects with MDD.

Method: This was an 8-week, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, 3-arm trial to compare vilazodone 10 mg/d, 20 mg/d, and 40 mg/d as starting doses.

MicroRNA-761 inhibits Angiotensin II-induced vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration by targeting mammalian target of rapamycin.

Aberrant vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and migration are a major pathological phenomenon in vascular disease characterized by intimal thickening. The important role of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling in VSMC proliferation has been previously reported. Consequently, down-regulation of mTOR pathway may be an effective way of controlling excessive VSMC proliferation.

MicroRNAs as mediators of cardiovascular disease: Targets to be manipulated.

Cardiovascular disease has been the leading cause of death worldwide for the last few decades. Even with the rapid progression of the biomedical field, conquering/managing cardiovascular disease is not an easy task because it is multifactorial disease. One of the key players of the development and progression of numerous diseases is microRNA (miRNA).

Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger targeting miR-132 prevents apoptosis of cardiomyocytes under hypoxic condition by suppressing Ca(2+) overload.

During ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury of the heart, Ca(2+) overload occurs, leading to cardiomyocyte dysfunction and eventual cell death by apoptosis. Since preventing Ca(2+) overload during IR injury has been reported to protect cardiomyocytes, interrupting Ca(2+) signaling cascades leading to Ca(2+) overload may exert protective effect on cardiomyocytes under hypoxic condition. One of the key regulators of the intracellular Ca(2+) level during IR injury is Na(+)-Ca(2+) exchanger 1 (NCX1), whose down-regulation during IR injury conferred protection of heart.

Microfluidic acoustophoretic force based low-concentration oil separation and detection from the environment.

Detecting and quantifying extremely low concentrations of oil from the environment have broad applications in oil spill monitoring in ocean and coastal areas as well as in oil leakage monitoring on land. Currently available methods for low-concentration oil detection are bulky or costly with limited sensitivities. Thus they are difficult to be used as portable and field-deployable detectors in the case of oil spills or for monitoring the long-term effects of dispersed oil on marine and coastal ecosystems.

Development of a real-time microchip PCR system for portable plant disease diagnosis.

Rapid and accurate detection of plant pathogens in the field is crucial to prevent the proliferation of infected crops. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process is the most reliable and accepted method for plant pathogen diagnosis, however current conventional PCR machines are not portable and require additional post-processing steps to detect the amplified DNA (amplicon) of pathogens. Real-time PCR can directly quantify the amplicon during the DNA amplification without the need for post processing, thus more suitable for field operations, however still takes time and require large instruments that are costly and not portable.

Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy in FePt Patterned Media Employing a CrV Seed Layer.

A thin FePt film was deposited onto a CrV seed layer at 400°C and showed a high coercivity (~3,400 Oe) and high magnetization (900-1,000 emu/cm(3)) characteristic of L 10 phase. However, the magnetic properties of patterned media fabricated from the film stack were degraded due to the Ar-ion bombardment. We employed a deposition-last process, in which FePt film deposited at room temperature underwent lift-off and post-annealing processes, to avoid the exposure of FePt to Ar plasma.

Two-year outcomes of the sirolimus-eluting stent according to unprotected left main lesion.

Background: The data of long-term outcomes of sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) according to lesion location of unprotected left main coronary artery (LMCA) is scarce.

Hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term outcomes after implantation of the SES in LMCA.

Methods: A total of 84 patients (51 males) who had undergone SES implantation for the treatment of native LMCA stenosis were enrolled.

Genotoxicity and ecotoxicity assays using the freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna and the larva of the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius to screen the ecological risks of nanoparticle exposure.

Genotoxic and ecotoxic assessments of widely used nanoparticles, cerium dioxide (CeO(2)), silicon dioxide (SiO(2)) and titanium dioxide (TiO(2)), were conducted on two aquatic sentinel species, the freshwater crustacean Daphnia magna and the larva of the aquatic midge Chironomus riparius. CeO(2) may have genotoxic effects on D. magna and C.