Microplastics in water resources: Global pollution circle, possible technological solutions, legislations, and future horizon.

Beneath the surface of our ecosystems, microplastics (MPs) silently loom as a significant threat. These minuscule pollutants, invisible to the naked eye, wreak havoc on living organisms and disrupt the delicate balance of our environment. As we delve into a trove of data and reports, a troubling narrative unfolds: MPs pose a grave risk to both health and food chains with their diverse compositions and chemical characteristics.

Evaluating gloved hand performance based on the mechanical properties of the applied material.

The hands are the most complex organs of the body for performing various activities. Therefore, it is critical to protect them against dangers. Protective gloves can reduce or prevent injuries, but they can downgrade hand performance in various aspects, including tactile sensitivity, strength, grip force and hand dexterity.

Modeling CO solubility in water using gradient boosting and light gradient boosting machine.

The growing application of carbon dioxide (CO) in various environmental and energy fields, including carbon capture and storage (CCS) and several CO-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques, highlights the importance of studying the phase equilibria of this gas with water. Therefore, accurate prediction of CO solubility in water becomes an important thermodynamic property. This study focused on developing two powerful intelligent models, namely gradient boosting (GBoost) and light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) that predict CO solubility in water with high accuracy.

Smart Doped Polyaniline Coating for Wireless Anodic Protection of AISI 304 Stainless Steel in a Corrosive Medium Containing Sulfate and Chloride Ions: Electrochemical and DFT Evaluations.

Polyaniline (PANI) coatings have the capability of in situ anodic protection of stainless steels (SSs). However, these coatings have a high degradation rate in sulfuric acid. Also, the protection of SSs in a medium contaminated with chloride ions is an unsolved challenge.

The transition to synchronization of networked systems.

We study the synchronization properties of a generic networked dynamical system, and show that, under a suitable approximation, the transition to synchronization can be predicted with the only help of eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian matrix. The transition comes out to be made of a well defined sequence of events, each of which corresponds to a specific clustered state. The network's nodes involved in each of the clusters can be identified, and the value of the coupling strength at which the events are taking place can be approximately ascertained.

Nano-based drug delivery systems in hepatocellular carcinoma.

The high recurrence rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and poor prognosis after medical treatment reflects the necessity to improve the current chemotherapy protocols, particularly drug delivery methods. Development of targeted and efficient drug delivery systems (DDSs), in all active, passive and stimuli-responsive forms for selective delivery of therapeutic drugs to the tumour site has been extended to improve efficacy and reduce the severe side effects. Recent advances in nanotechnology offer promising breakthroughs in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of cancer cells.

Comparison of stress distribution in fully porous and dense-core porous scaffolds in dental implantation.

The aim of this study is to compare the stress distribution in porous scaffolds with different structures with similar geometric parameters to study a new approach in dental implantation. Three-dimensional finite element models of the fully porous and dense-core porous scaffolds with defined porosity parameters including space diameter and thickness with two porosity patterns were embedded in the jaw bone model with cortical and cancellous bone. The cylindrical shape was considered as the main shape of the scaffolds.

Application of boosted trees to the prognosis prediction of COVID-19.

Background And Aims: The precise prediction of COVID-19 prognosis remains a clinical challenge. In this regard, early identification of severe cases facilitates the triage and management of COVID-19 cases. The present paper aims to explore the prognosis of COVID-19 patients based on routine laboratory tests taken when patients are admitted.

Metal-Organic Frameworks for Cisplatin Delivery to Cancer Cells: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are utilized as nanocarriers to enhance the efficiency of chemotherapy drugs, including cisplatin, which exhibit limitations such as side effects and resistance mechanisms. To evaluate the role of MOFs, we employed a molecular dynamics simulation, which, unlike other experiments, is cost-effective, less dangerous, and provides accurate results. Furthermore, we conducted molecular docking simulations to understand the interaction between cisplatin and MOF, as well as their internal interactions and how they bind to each other.

Modeling and simulation of biodiesel synthesis in fixed bed and packed bed membrane reactors using heterogeneous catalyst: a comparative study.

In this study, modeling and simulation of biodiesel synthesis through transesterification of triglyceride (TG) over a heterogeneous catalyst in a packed bed membrane reactor (PBMR) was performed using a solid catalyst and compared with a fixed bed reactor (FBR). The kinetic data for the transesterification reaction of canola oil and methanol in the presence of solid tungstophosphoric acid catalyst was extracted from the published open literature. The effect of reaction temperature, feed flow rate, disproportionation of the reactants, and reactor length on the product performance was investigated.

Chitosan-coated nanoparticles in innovative cancer bio-medicine.

In the recent decade, nanoparticles (NPs) have had enormous implications in cancer biomedicine, including research, diagnosis, and therapy. However, their broad application still faces obstacles due to some practical limitations and requires further development. Recently, there has been more interest in the coated class of nanoparticles to address those challenges.

Development of an expert system for the classification of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a severe condition with an uncertain origin and a dismal prognosis. There is presently no precise diagnostic test for ME/CFS, and the diagnosis is determined primarily by the presence of certain symptoms. The current study presents an explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) integrated machine learning (ML) framework that identifies and classifies potential metabolic biomarkers of ME/CFS.

Clay-reinforced PVC composites and nanocomposites.

Clay-reinforced polyvinyl chloride (PVC) composites and nanocomposites are one of the newest and most important compounds studied and used in various applications, including the biomedical, automotive industry, water treatment, packaging, fire retarding, and construction. The most important clays used in the synthesis of these composites are Bentonite, Montmorillonite, Kaolinite, and Illite. The addition of these nanoclays to the PVC matrix improves mechanical properties, thermal stability, and yellowness index properties.

The prevalence of helmet use in motorcyclists around the world: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 5,006,476 participants.

Road traffic injuries present a significant public health burden, especially in developing countries. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized global evidence on motorcycle helmet use prevalence by including 299 records across 249 articles involving 5,006,476 participants from 1982 to 2022. The findings revealed a declining trend in helmet use prevalence over the past four decades, with an overall prevalence of 48.

Modeling of ionic liquids viscosity via advanced white-box machine learning.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are more widely used within the industry than ever before, and accurate models of their physicochemical characteristics are becoming increasingly important during the process optimization. It is especially challenging to simulate the viscosity of ILs since there is no widely agreed explanation of how viscosity is determined in liquids. In this research, genetic programming (GP) and group method of data handling (GMDH) models were used as white-box machine learning approaches to predict the viscosity of pure ILs.

Robust and stable superhydrophilic MIL-101 (Cr)-coated copper mesh for highly efficient oil/water emulsion separation.

In this study, dip coating method was investigated to prepare superhydrophilic MIL-101 (Cr)-coated copper mesh for highly efficient oil/water emulsion separation. To increase the surface area of synthesized MIL-101 (Cr), a purification procedure was developed to remove unreacted HBDC crystals present in the channel of the initial MIL-101 (Cr) sample synthesized. After that, a dispersing solution of MIL-101 (Cr) was needed to coat on the copper mesh.

Effect of loading direction and anatomical location on the ultimate tensile stress, fracture toughness, and failure patterns of knee meniscus.

Background: Rupture of the knee menisci is a common injury that can have implications for other conditions, such as osteoarthritis. The fracture toughness of soft tissue (J) is a mechanical property that characterizes its resistance to tear extension. To date, J of the meniscus has not been quantified.

Injectable Shear-Thinning Hydrogels with Sclerosing and Matrix Metalloproteinase Modulatory Properties for the Treatment of Vascular Malformations.

Sac embolization of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) remains clinically limited by endoleak recurrences. These recurrences are correlated with recanalization due to the presence of endothelial lining and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-mediated aneurysm progression. This study incorporated doxycycline (DOX), a well-known sclerosant and MMPs inhibitor, into a shear-thinning biomaterial (STB)-based vascular embolizing hydrogel.

Advancements in 3D-printable polysaccharides, proteins, and synthetic polymers for wound dressing and skin scaffolding - A review.

This review investigates the most recent advances in personalized 3D-printed wound dressings and skin scaffolding. Skin is the largest and most vulnerable organ in the human body. The human body has natural mechanisms to restore damaged skin through several overlapping stages.

Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerator for Promoting the Proliferation and Migration of Human Fibroblast Cells.

Chronic wound healing is often a prolonged process with the migration and proliferation of fibroblast cells playing crucial roles. Electrical stimulation (ES) has emerged as a promising physical therapy modality to promote these key events. In this study, we address this issue by employing a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) as an electrical stimulator for both drug release and the stimulation of fibroblast cells.

Transport and retention of functionalized graphene oxide nanoparticles in saturated/unsaturated porous media: Effects of flow velocity, ionic strength and initial particle concentration.

The widespread use of nanomaterials has raised the threat of nanoparticles (NPs) infection of soils and groundwater resources. This research aims to investigate three parameters including flow velocity, ionic strength (IS), and initial particle concentration effects on transport behavior and retention mechanism of functionalization form of graphene oxide with polyvinylpyrrolidone (GO-PVP). The transport of GO-PVP was investigated in a laboratory-scale study through saturated/unsaturated (Saturation Degree = 0.

Brain diffusion MRI biomarkers after oncology treatments.

In addition to providing a measurement of the tumor's size and dimensions, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides excellent noninvasive radiographic detection of tumor location. The MRI technique is an important modality that has been shown to be useful in the prognosis, diagnosis, treatment planning, and evaluation of response and recurrence in solid cancers. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is an imaging technique that quantifies water mobility.