In this study, the kinetic parameters of rice husk ash (RHA)/CaO/CeO(2) sorbent for SO(2) and NO sorptions were investigated in a laboratory-scale stainless steel fixed-bed reactor. Data experiments were obtained from our previous results and additional independent experiments were carried out at different conditions. The initial sorption rate constant (k(0)) and deactivation rate constant (k(d)) for SO(2)/NO sorptions were obtained from the nonlinear regression analysis of the experimental breakthrough data using deactivation kinetic model. Both the initial sorption rate constants and deactivation rate constants increased with increasing temperature, except at operating temperature of 170 °C. The activation energy and frequency factor for the SO(2) sorption were found to be 18.0 kJ/mol and 7.37 × 10(5)cm(3)/(g min), respectively. Whereas the activation energy and frequency factor for the NO sorption, were estimated to be 5.64 kJ/mol and 2.19 × 10(4)cm(3)/(g min), respectively. The deactivation kinetic model was found to give a very good agreement with the experimental data of the SO(2)/NO sorptions.
Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) of nitric oxide has been studied experimentally by injecting aqueous urea solution with and without additive in a pilot-scale diesel fired tunnel furnace at 3.4% excess oxygen level and with low ppm of baseline NO(x) ranging from 65 to 75 ppm within the investigated temperature range. The tests have been carried out using commercial grade urea as NO(x) reducing agent and commercial grade sodium carbonate as additive. The furnace simulated the small-scale combustion systems, where the operating temperatures are usually in the range of about 973 to 1323 K and NO(x) emission level remains below 100 ppm. With 5% plain urea solution, at Normalized Stoichiometric Ratio (NSR) of 4 as much as 54% reduction was achieved at 1128 K, whilst in the additive case the NO(x) reduction was improved to as much as 69% at 1093 K. Apart from this improvement, in the additive case, the effective temperature window as well as peak temperature of NO(x) reduction shifted towards lower temperatures. The result is quite significant, especially for this investigated level of baseline NO(x). The ammonia slip measurements showed that in both cases the slip was below 16 ppm at NSR of 4 and optimum temperature of NO(x) reduction. Finally, the investigations demonstrated that urea based SNCR is quite applicable to small-scale combustion applications and commercial grade sodium carbonate is a potential additive.
In this work, the application of response surface and neural network models in predicting and optimizing the preparation variables of RHA/CaO/CeO(2) sorbent towards SO(2)/NO sorption capacity was investigated. The sorbents were prepared according to central composite design (CCD) with four independent variables (i.e. hydration period, RHA/CaO ratio, CeO(2) loading and the use of RHA(raw) or pretreated RHA(600 degrees C) as the starting material). Among all the variables studied, the amount of CeO(2) loading had the largest effect. The response surface models developed from CCD was effective in providing a highly accurate prediction for SO(2) and NO sorption capacities within the range of the sorbent preparation variables studied. The prediction of CCD experiment was verified by neural network models which gave almost similar results to those determined by response surface models. The response surface models together with neural network models were then successfully used to locate and validate the optimum hydration process variables for maximizing the SO(2)/NO sorption capacities. Through this optimization process, it was found that maximum SO(2) and NO sorption capacities of 44.34 and 3.51 mg/g, respectively could be obtained by using RHA/CaO/CeO(2) sorbents prepared from RHA(raw) with hydration period of 12h, RHA/CaO ratio of 2.33 and CeO(2) loading of 8.95%.
A modular typed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) device is designed and tested for air and water remediation. The module is made of a number of DBD tubes that can be arranged in series or parallel. Each of the DBD tubes comprises inner electrode enclosed with dielectric barrier and arranged as such to provide a gap for the passage of gases. Non-thermal plasma generated in the gap effectively creates gaseous chemical reactions. Its efficacy in the remediation of gas stream containing high NOx, similar to diesel emission and wastewater containing latex, are presented. A six tubes DBD module has successfully removed more than 80% of nitric oxide from the gas stream. In another arrangement, oxygen was fed into a two tubes DBD to generate ozone for treatment of wastewater. Samples of wastewater were collected from a treatment pond of a rubber vulcanization pilot plant. The water pollution load was evaluated by the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD5) values. Preliminary results showed some improvement (about 13%) on the COD after treatment and at the same time had increased the BOD5 by 42%. This results in higher BOD5/COD ratio after ozonation which indicate better biodegradability of the wastewater.
The current research is focused on studying the biological efficacy of flexirubin, a pigment extracted from Chryseobacterium artocarpi CECT 8497.Different methods such as DPPH, H2O2, NO•, O2•-, •OH, lipid peroxidation inhibition by FTC and TBA, ferric reducing and ferrous chelating activity were carried out to evaluate the antioxidant activity of flexirubin. Molecular docking was also carried out, seeking the molecular interactions of flexirubin and a standard antioxidant compound with SOD enzyme to figure out the possible flexirubin activity mechanism. The new findings revealed that the highest level of flexirubin exhibited similar antioxidant activity as that of the standard compound according to the H2O2, •OH, O2•-, FTC and TBA methods. On the other hand, flexirubin at the highest level has shown lower antioxidant activity than the positive control according to the DPPH and NO• and even much lower when measured by the FRAP method. Molecular docking showed that the interaction of flexirubin was in the binding cavity of the SOD enzyme and did not affect its metal-binding site. These results revealed that flexirubin has antioxidant properties and can be a useful therapeutic compound in preventing or treating free radical-related diseases.
A unique phenomenon in solid tumors, the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect is now well known in the development of macromolecular anticancer therapy. However, cancers with low vascular permeability have posed a challenge for these EPR based therapeutic systems. An intrinsic vascular modulator, such as nitric oxide (NO), could augment the endogenous EPR effect. However, the most important aim has been to construct an effective NO delivery system for cancer. Since it is well known that human serum albumin is one of the most important endogenous NO transport proteins in human circulation, for more than a decade we have demonstrated that S-nitrosated human serum albumin dimer (SNO-HSA-Dimer) becomes an enhancer of the EPR effect. Here, we summarize the enhanced effect of SNO-HSA-Dimer on the anticancer effect of macromolecular anticancer drugs such as PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (Doxil®). In C26-bearing mice with highly permeable vasculature, SNO-HSA-Dimer is able to increase more 3-fold the tumor accumulation of these anticancer drugs, thereby tripling their anticancer effects. Interestingly, the tumor accumulation of Doxil® in B16-bearing mice, which are characterized by a low permeable vasculature, increased more than 6-fold in the presence of SNO-HSA-Dimer, and the improved accumulation of Doxil® led to both increased survival and decreased tumor volume. These results strongly suggest that the more cancer is refractory, the more the SNO-HSA-Dimer could enhance the EPR effect via an endogenous albumin transport (EAT) system. Accordingly, we conclude that the EAT system is promising as a drug delivery system (DDS) strategy for refractory cancer therapy.
Standardized extract of Phyllanthus amarus has previously been shown to have a strong inhibitory effect on phagocytic activity of human neutrophils. The current study was carried out to evaluate the effects of constituents of the extract of P. amarus on nitric oxide (NO) production as well as lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine release from phagocytes. Three compounds, ethyl 8-hydroxy-8-methyl-tridecanoate, 7β,19α dihydroxy-urs-12-ene, and 1,7,8-trihydroxy-2-naphtaldehyde, together with seven known compounds were isolated from the whole plant of P. amarus. The isolated compounds and reference standards, ie, gallic acid, ellagic acid, corilagin, and geraniin, which were quantitatively analyzed in the extracts, were evaluated for their effects on immune cells. Among the compounds tested, the lignans, especially phyltetralin and phyllanthin, showed strong inhibition on lymphocyte proliferation with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 1.07 μM and 1.82 μM, respectively. Ethyl 8-hydroxy-8-methyl-tridecanoate and 1,7,8-trihydroxy-2-naphtaldehyde exhibited strong inhibition on nitric oxide production with IC50 values of 0.91 μM and 1.07 μM, respectively. Of all the compounds, corilagin was the strongest inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor-α release with an IC50 value of 7.39 μM, whereas geraniin depicted the strongest inhibitory activity on interleukin-1β release with an IC50 value of 16.41 μM. The compounds constituting the extract of P. amarus were able to inhibit the innate immune response of phagocytes at different steps.
The synthesis of derivatives of 4-Methylumbelliferone (4-MUs), which are structurally interesting antioxidants, was performed in this study. The modification of 4-Methylumbelliferone (4-MU) by different reaction steps was performed to yield the target compounds, the 4-MUs. The 4-MUs were characterized by different spectroscopic techniques (Fourier transform infrared; FT-IR and Nuclear magnetic resonance; NMR) and micro-elemental analysis (CHNS). The in vitro antioxidant activity of the 4-MUs was evaluated in terms of their free radical scavenging activities against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), Nitric oxide radical scavenging activity assay, chelating activity and their (FRAP) ferric-reducing antioxidant power, which were compared with a standard antioxidant. Our results reveal that the 4-MUs exhibit excellent radical scavenging activities. The antioxidant mechanisms of the 4-MUs were also studied. Density Function Theory (DFT)-based quantum chemical studies were performed with the basis set at 3-21G. Molecular models of the synthesized compounds were studied to understand the antioxidant activity. The electron levels, namely HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) and LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital), for these synthesized antioxidants were also studied.
In this study, a chitosan co-polymer scaffold was prepared by mixing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), NO, carboxymethyl chitosan (NOCC) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) solutions to obtain desirable properties for chondrocyte cultivation. Electron beam (e-beam) radiation was used to physically cross-link these polymers at different doses (30 kGy and 50 kGy). The co-polymers were then lyophilized to form macroporous three-dimensional (3-D) matrix. Scaffold morphology, porosity, swelling properties, biocompatibility, expression of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and type II collagen following the seeding of primary chondrocytes were studied up to 28 days. The results demonstrate that irradiation of e-beam at 50 kGy increased scaffold porosity and pore sizes subsequently enhanced cell attachment and proliferation. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealed extensive interconnected microstructure of PVA-PEG-NOCC, demonstrated cellular activities on the scaffolds and their ability to maintain chondrocyte phenotype. In addition, the produced PVA-PEG-NOCC scaffolds showed superior swelling properties, and increased GAG and type II collagen secreted by the seeded chondrocytes. In conclusion, the results suggest that by adding NOCC and irradiation cross-linking at 50 kGy, the physical and biological properties of PVA-PEG blend can be further enhanced thereby making PVA-PEG-NOCC a potential scaffold for chondrocytes.
Claims of effective therapy against diabetes using plants including Peganum harmala L., Zygophyllum album, Anacyclus valentinus L., Ammodaucus leucotrichus, Lupinus albus, and Marrubium vulgare in Algerian empirical medicine prompted our interest in evaluating their antidiabetic activity by screening their free radical scavenging (DPPH), α-glucosidase, and nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activities as well as the total phenolic content (TPC). Extracts of the selected plants were prepared using different ratios of ethanol (0, 50, 80, and 100%). In this study, 100%, and 80% ethanol extracts of L. albus were found to be the most potent, in inhibiting α-glucosidase activity with IC50 values of 6.45 and 8.66 μg/mL, respectively. The 100% ethanol extract of A. leucotrichus exhibited the highest free radical scavenging activity with an IC50 value of 26.26 μg/mL. Moreover, the highest TPC of 612.84 μg GAE/mg extract was observed in M. vulgare, extracted with 80% ethanol. Metabolite profiling of the active extract was conducted using 1H-NMR metabolomics. Partial least square analysis (PLS) was used to assess the relationship between the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of L. albus and the metabolites identified in the extract. Based on the PLS model, isoflavonoids (lupinoisoflavone G, lupisoflavone, lupinoisolone C), amino acids (asparagine and thiamine), and several fatty acids (stearic acid and oleic acid) were identified as metabolites that contributed to the inhibition of α-glucosidase activity. The results of this study have clearly strengthened the traditional claim of the antihyperglycemic effects of L. albus.
The antioxidant activity of two synthesized coumarins namely, N-(4,7-dioxo-2- phenyl-1,3-oxazepin-3(2H,4H,7H)-yl)-2-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yloxy)acetamide 5 and N-(4-oxo-2-phenylthiazolidin-3-yl)-2-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yloxy)acetamide 6 were studied with the DPPH, hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide radical methods and compared with the known antioxidant ascorbic acid. Compounds 5 and 6 were synthesized in a good yield from the addition reaction of maleic anhydride or mercaptoacetic acid to compound 4, namely N'-benzylidene-2-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yloxy)acetohydrazide. Compound 4 was synthesized by the condensation of compound 3, namely 2-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yloxy) acetohydrazide, with benzaldehyde. Compound 3, however, was synthesized from the addition of hydrazine to compound 2, namely ethyl 2-(2-oxo-2H-chromen-4-yloxy)acetate, which was synthesized from the reaction of ethyl bromoacetate with 4-hydroxycoumarin 1. Structures for the synthesized coumarins 2-6 are proposed on the basis of spectroscopic evidence.
'Mato Peiyu' pomelo (Citrus grandis (L.) Osbeck 'Mato Peiyu') leaves from pruning are currently an agricultural waste. The aim of this study was to isolate essential oils from these leaves through steam distillation (SD) and solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) and to evaluate their applicability to skin care by analyzing their antimicrobial, antioxidant (diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl scavenging assay, β-carotene/linoleic acid assay, and nitric oxide scavenging assay), anti-inflammatory (5-lipoxygenase inhibition assay), and antityrosinase activities. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry results indicated that the main components of 'Mato Peiyu' leaf essential oils were citronellal and citronellol, with a total percentage of 50.71% and 59.82% for SD and SFME, respectively. The highest bioactivity among all assays was obtained for 5-lipoxygenase inhibition, with an IC50 value of 0.034% (v/v). The MIC90 of the antimicrobial activity of essential oils against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans ranged from 0.086% to 0.121% (v/v). Citronellal and citronellol were the main contributors, accounting for at least 54.58% of the essential oil's bioactivity. This paper is the first to report the compositions and bioactivities of 'Mato Peiyu' leaf essential oil, and the results imply that the pomelo leaf essential oil may be applied in skin care.