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Bioresource Technology Dec 2023Magnetic biochar (MBC) is a novel bio-carbon material with both desired properties as adsorbent and magnetic characteristics. This review provides an up-to-date summary... (Review)
Review
Magnetic biochar (MBC) is a novel bio-carbon material with both desired properties as adsorbent and magnetic characteristics. This review provides an up-to-date summary and discussion on the latest development of MBC, which covers the progress on its synthesis, application, and techno-economic analysis. The review indicates that the direct hydrothermal synthesis has been catching more research attention to produce MBC due to its mild reaction conditions. Instead of the Fe-loaded MBC, there is a trend of using Mn for the magnetization. For the MBC application, how to improve its adsorption performance for water decontamination, ideally to match that of the biochar (BC) or activated carbon, is important. In addition, more studies on the environmental impacts of MBC and life-cycle assessment decoding the process optimization options are necessary. This review will provide valuable references for the development of MBC and MBC-based materials for wastewater treatment.
Topics: Charcoal; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Adsorption; Water Purification; Magnetic Phenomena
PubMed: 37758029
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129786 -
Drug Metabolism and Disposition: the... Aug 2023Acetaminophen (APAP) is an analgesic and antipyretic drug used worldwide, which is safe at therapeutic doses. However, an overdose can induce liver injury and even liver...
Acetaminophen (APAP) is an analgesic and antipyretic drug used worldwide, which is safe at therapeutic doses. However, an overdose can induce liver injury and even liver failure. Mechanistic studies in mice beginning with the seminal papers published by B.B. Brodie's group in the 1970s have resulted in important insight into the pathophysiology. Although the metabolic activation of APAP with generation of a reactive metabolite, glutathione depletion and protein adduct formation are critical initiating events, more recently the mitochondria came into focus as important target and decision point of cell death. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the induction of mitochondrial superoxide and peroxynitrite formation and its propagation through a mitogen activated protein kinase cascade, the mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening caused by iron-catalyzed protein nitration and the mitochondria-dependent nuclear DNA fragmentation. In addition, the role of adaptive mechanisms that can modulate the pathophysiology including autophagy, mitophagy, Nrf2 activation and mitochondrial biogenesis, are discussed. Importantly, it is outlined how the mechanisms elucidated in mice translate to human hepatocytes and APAP overdose patients, and how this mechanistic insight explains the mechanism of action of the clinically approved antidote -acetylcysteine and led to the recent discovery of a novel compound, fomepizole, which is currently under clinical development. Acetaminophen (APAP)-induced liver injury is the most frequent cause of acute liver failure in western countries. Extensive mechanistic research over the last several decades revealed a central role of mitochondria in the pathophysiology of APAP hepatotoxicity. This review article provides a comprehensive discussion of a) mitochondrial protein adducts and oxidative/nitrosative stress, b) mitochondria-regulated nuclear DNA fragmentation, c) adaptive mechanisms to APAP-induced cellular stress, d) translation of cell death mechanisms to overdose patients, and e) mechanism-based antidotes against APAP-induced liver injury.
PubMed: 37567742
DOI: 10.1124/dmd.123.001279 -
The Science of the Total Environment Nov 2023Effect of commonly used heavy metal immobilizing agents on risks of soil heavy metals has not been well investigated. In this work, a contaminated acidic soil (total...
Effect of commonly used heavy metal immobilizing agents on risks of soil heavy metals has not been well investigated. In this work, a contaminated acidic soil (total Cd = 8.05, total Pb = 261 mg kg) was amended with soluble phosphate (P: 160 mg kg) and bentonite (3 g kg) and incubated for 360 d. The soil was then added to mouse feed at 1:9 soil: feed ratio (weight) and fed to mouse for 10 days, after which the liver, kidney and bone Pb and Cd concentrations were measured. The amended soils were extracted with SBRC and PBET to assay bioaccessibility, and extracted with DTPA to assess the environmental availability. The amendments did not affect the DTPA-Pb/Cd significantly (p > 0.05), while the Cd bioaccessibility in the gastric phase of the SBRC assay was reduced from 90.0 to 20.4 % for the bentonite amended treatment (p < 0.05). Kidney Pb and Cd concentrations of the mice fed with feed containing phosphate spiked soil was 80.2 and 66.0 % lower than the control mice fed with unamended soil (CK), respectively. Significant linear correlations were found between DTPA-extractable concentration and kidney concentrations for Pb/Cd. The effect of amendment on Pb/Cd bioavailability differed between the results calculated with different endpoints. The phosphate amendment resulted in 82.7 and 34.3 % lower Pb RBA compared with the unamended soil calculated with kidney and kidney+liver+bone Pb concentrations, respectively, and 68.8 and 49.7 % lower Cd RBA than the control with kidney and kidney+liver concentrations, respectively. However, no significant effect was observed with both amendments when the RBA was calculated with liver or bone Pb/Cd concentrations, or on Pb RBA with kidney, liver or bone metal concentrations. Results indicate the complex effect of amendments on organ, tissue and overall health risk of soil Pb/Cd to animal/human.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Mice; Cadmium; Bentonite; Lead; Phosphates; Biological Availability; Soil; Pentetic Acid
PubMed: 37598968
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166370 -
Environmental Research Oct 2023Globally several nations generates a large amount of biomass waste. Thus, this review focuses on the potential for converting plant biomass into nutritionally enriched... (Review)
Review
Globally several nations generates a large amount of biomass waste. Thus, this review focuses on the potential for converting plant biomass into nutritionally enriched useful biochar with promising properties. The use of biochar on farmland acts as both a soil fertility enhancer, improving both the physical as well as chemical characteristics of soil. The biochar availability in soil can retain minerals and water as well as considerably enhanced the soil fertility by their optimistic characteristics. Thus, this review also discuss about how biochar enhances the quality of agriculture soil and polluted soil. Since, the biochar derived from the plant residues might contain most valuable nutritional properties, which can enhance the physicochemical properties of soil and that can support the growth of plant along with the increased biomolecule content. Since, the healthy plantation can support the production of nutritionally enriched crop yield. Agriculture biochar amalgamated soil significantly improved soil beneficial microbial diversity. Beneficial microbial activity increased soil fertility and balanced the soil's physicochemical properties significantly. Such balanced soil physicochemical properties significantly enhanced plantation growth, as well as disease resistance and higher yield potential than any other fertiliser supplements for soil fertility and plant growth.
Topics: Soil; Biomass; Agriculture; Charcoal; Plants
PubMed: 37423358
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116596 -
Journal of Biochemical and Molecular... Dec 2023Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose can cause severe liver injury and acute liver failure. The only clinically approved antidote, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), is highly effective...
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose can cause severe liver injury and acute liver failure. The only clinically approved antidote, N-acetylcysteine (NAC), is highly effective but has a narrow therapeutic window. In the last 2 decades, activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), which regulates acute phase proteins and antioxidant defense genes, has emerged as a putative new therapeutic target against APAP hepatotoxicity. However, virtually all studies that propose Nrf2 activation as mechanism of protection used prolonged pretreatment, which is not a clinically feasible approach to treat a drug overdose. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess if therapeutic activation of Nrf2 is a viable approach to treat liver injury after APAP overdose. We used the water-soluble Nrf2 activator sulforaphane (SFN; 5 mg/kg) in a murine model of APAP hepatotoxicity (300 mg/kg). Our results indicate that short-term treatment (≤3 h) with SFN alone did not activate Nrf2 or its target genes. However, posttreatment with SFN after APAP partially protected at 6 h likely due to more rapid activation of the Nrf2-target gene heme oxygenase-1. A direct comparison of SFN with NAC given at 1 h after APAP showed a superior protection with NAC, which was maintained at 24 h unlike with SFN. Thus, Nrf2 activators have inherent problems like the need to create a cellular stress to activate Nrf2 and delayed adaptive responses which may hamper sustained protection against APAP hepatotoxicity. Thus, compared to the more direct acting antidote NAC, Nrf2 activators are less suitable for this indication.
Topics: Mice; Animals; Acetaminophen; NF-E2-Related Factor 2; Antidotes; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Liver; Acetylcysteine; Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury
PubMed: 37598316
DOI: 10.1002/jbt.23505 -
ELife Oct 2023Selfish genetic elements can promote their transmission at the expense of individual survival, creating conflict between the element and the rest of the genome....
Selfish genetic elements can promote their transmission at the expense of individual survival, creating conflict between the element and the rest of the genome. Recently, a large number of toxin-antidote (TA) post-segregation distorters have been identified in non-obligate outcrossing nematodes. Their origin and the evolutionary forces that keep them at intermediate population frequencies are poorly understood. Here, we study a TA element in called . Two major haplotypes of this locus, with and without the selfish element, segregate in . We evaluate the fitness consequences of the element outside of its role in gene drive in non-outcrossing animals and demonstrate that loss of the toxin decreased fitness of hermaphrodites and resulted in reductions in fecundity and body size. These findings suggest a biological role for beyond toxin lethality. This work demonstrates that a TA element can provide a fitness benefit to its hosts either during their initial evolution or by being co-opted by the animals following their selfish spread. These findings guide our understanding on how TA elements can remain in a population where gene drive is minimized, helping resolve the mystery of prevalent TA elements in selfing animals.
Topics: Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Antidotes; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid; Fertility; Gene Frequency; Toxins, Biological; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
PubMed: 37874324
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.81640 -
Brain and Nerve = Shinkei Kenkyu No... Dec 2023And Then There Were None and Sparkling Cyanide, two of Agatha Christie's famous novels describe potassium cyanide-induced deaths. Cyanide, a tasteless, odorless,...
And Then There Were None and Sparkling Cyanide, two of Agatha Christie's famous novels describe potassium cyanide-induced deaths. Cyanide, a tasteless, odorless, strongly alkaline poison is a powerful gastrointestinal irritant, following oral ingestion. It reacts with hydrochloric acid in the gastric juice to produce hydrogen cyanide gas, which is absorbed and inhibits the mitochondrial electron transfer system and consequently suppresses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Therefore, the central nervous system, which consumes a large amount of ATP, is first affected and symptoms of poisoning manifest as dizziness, disorientation, coma, and convulsions. The orally lethal dose is approximately 300 mg.
Topics: Humans; Cyanides; Antidotes; Seizures; Adenosine Triphosphate
PubMed: 38097219
DOI: 10.11477/mf.1416202529 -
Bioorganic Chemistry Jul 2024Thrombosis leads to elevated mortality rates and substantial medical expenses worldwide. Human factor IXa (HFIXa) protease is pivotal in tissue factor (TF)-mediated...
Thrombosis leads to elevated mortality rates and substantial medical expenses worldwide. Human factor IXa (HFIXa) protease is pivotal in tissue factor (TF)-mediated thrombin generation, and represents a promising target for anticoagulant therapy. We herein isolated novel DNA aptamers that specifically bind to HFIXa through systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) method. We identified two distinct aptamers, seq 5 and seq 11, which demonstrated high binding affinity to HFIXa (K = 74.07 ± 2.53 nM, and 4.93 ± 0.15 nM, respectively). Computer software was used for conformational simulation and kinetic analysis of DNA aptamers and HFIXa binding. These aptamers dose-dependently prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) in plasma. We further rationally optimized the aptamers by truncation and site-directed mutation, and generated the truncated forms (Seq 5-1t, Seq 11-1t) and truncated-mutated forms (Seq 5-2tm, Seq 11-2tm). They also showed good anticoagulant effects. The rationally and structurally designed antidotes (seq 5-2b and seq 11-2b) were competitively bound to the DNA aptamers and effectively reversed the anticoagulant effect. This strategy provides DNA aptamer drug-antidote pair with effective anticoagulation and rapid reversal, developing advanced therapies by safe, regulatable aptamer drug-antidote pair.
Topics: Aptamers, Nucleotide; Humans; Factor IXa; Antidotes; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Anticoagulants; Structure-Activity Relationship; Molecular Structure; SELEX Aptamer Technique
PubMed: 38776649
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2024.107463 -
Water Research Dec 2023Four kinds of iron-based materials, i.e., iron-modified attapulgite, calcite, bentonite and dolomite (abbreviated as Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL, respectively) were...
Immobilization of phosphorus in water-sediment system by iron-modified attapulgite, calcite, bentonite and dolomite under feed input condition: Efficiency, mechanism, application mode effect and response of microbial communities and iron mobilization.
Four kinds of iron-based materials, i.e., iron-modified attapulgite, calcite, bentonite and dolomite (abbreviated as Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL, respectively) were prepared and used to immobilize the phosphorus in the system of overlying water (O-water) and sediment under the feed input condition, and their immobilization efficiencies and mechanisms were investigated. The influence of application mode on the immobilization of phosphorus in the water-sediment system by Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL was researched. The effects of Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL on the concentration of labile iron in the water-sediment system and the microbial communities in sediment were also studied. The results showed that the Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL addition all can effectively immobilize the soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), dissolved total phosphorus (DTP) and diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT)-labile phosphorus in O-water under the feed input condition, and also had the ability to inactivate the DGT-labile phosphorus in the top sediment. Although the change in the application mode from the one-time addition to the multiple addition reduced the inactivation efficiencies of SRP and DTP in O-water in the early period of application, it increased the immobilization efficiencies in the later period of application. Although Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL had a certain releasing risk of iron into the pore water, they had negligible risk of iron release into O-water. The addition of Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT or Fe-DOL reshaped the sediment bacterial community structure and can affect the microorganism-driven phosphorus cycle in the sediment. Results of this work suggest that Fe-ATP, Fe-CA, Fe-BT and Fe-DOL are promising phosphorus-inactivation materials to immobilize the phosphorus in the water-sediment system under the feed input condition.
Topics: Water; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Bentonite; Phosphorus; Iron; Geologic Sediments; Calcium Carbonate; Microbiota; Adenosine Triphosphate; Lakes
PubMed: 37897994
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120777 -
Heliyon Nov 2023Aluminum phosphide (AlP), known as "rice tablet," is widely used as an effective pesticide. However, AlP poisoning is a common cause of mortality in many countries, such...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Aluminum phosphide (AlP), known as "rice tablet," is widely used as an effective pesticide. However, AlP poisoning is a common cause of mortality in many countries, such as Iran. Unfortunately, there is no specific antidote for AlP toxicity to date. AlP releases phosphine gas when it is exposed to moisture or acid. Phosphine is a potent mitochondrial toxin that could significantly inhibit cellular energy metabolism. AlP poisoning is an emergency condition that needs instant and effective intervention. Dihydroxyacetone (DHA) is a simple saccharide used for several pharmacological as well as cosmetic purposes. Previously, we found that DHA could significantly prevent mitochondrial impairment induced by toxic agents such as cyanide and phosphine in various and experimental models.
METHODS
Hospitalized patients (n = 111) were evaluated for eligibility criteria. Among these patients, n = 35 cases were excluded due to incomplete data (n = 11) and suspicion of poisoning with poisons other than AlP (n = 24). Meanwhile, n = 76 cases with confirmed AlP poisoning were included in the study. AlP-poisoned patients who did not receive DHA (n = 18) were used as the control group.Patients (n = 58) received at least one dose of DHA (500 ml of 5 % DHA solution w/v, i.v.) as an adjuvant therapy in addition to the routine treatment of AlP poisoning. Arterial blood gas (ABG), blood pH, bicarbonate levels, and other vital signs and biochemical measurements were monitored. Moreover, the mortality rate and hospitalization time were evaluated in DHA-treated and AlP-poisoned patients without DHA administration. Several biomarkers were assessed before (upon hospitalization) and after DHA treatment. The routine tests for AlP-poisoned patients in this study were the measurement of electrolytes (K and Na), WBC, RBC, hemoglobin, INR, carbonate (HCO), blood pH, PaCO, and PaO and SGPT, SGOT, BUN, Cr.
RESULTS
Upon patients' admission, significant decreases in blood pH (acidosis), blood PaO, and HCO levels were the hallmarks of AlP poisoning. It was found that DHA significantly alleviated biomarkers of AlP poisoning and tremendously enhanced patients' survival rate (65.52 % in DHA-treated 33.34 % in the control group) compared to patients treated based on hospital routine AlP poisoning protocols (no DHA). No significant adverse effects were evident in DHA-treated patients in the current study.
INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that parenteral DHA is a novel and effective antidote against AlP poisoning to be used as an adjuvant in addition to routine supportive treatment.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
IR.SUMS.REC.1394.102.
PubMed: 38053886
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22165