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Heliyon Mar 2024Hemp ( L.) is known to tolerate high concentrations of soil contaminants which however can limit its biomass yield. On the other hand, organic-based amendments such as...
Hemp ( L.) is known to tolerate high concentrations of soil contaminants which however can limit its biomass yield. On the other hand, organic-based amendments such as biochar can immobilize soil contaminants and assist hemp growth in soils contaminated by potentially toxic elements (PTEs), allowing for environmental recovery and income generation, e.g. due to green energy production from plant biomass. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the suitability of a softwood-derived biochar to enhance hemp growth and promote the assisted phytoremediation of a PTE-contaminated soil (i.e., Sb 2175 mg kg; Zn 3149 mg kg; Pb 403 mg kg; and Cd 12 mg kg). Adding 3% (w/w) biochar to soil favoured the reduction of soluble and exchangeable PTEs, decreased soil dehydrogenase activity (by ∼2.08-fold), and increased alkaline phosphomonoesterase and urease activities, basal respiration and soil microbial carbon (by ∼1.18-, 1.22-, 1.22-, and 1.66-fold, respectively). Biochar increased the abundance of selected soil culturable microorganisms, while amplicon sequencing analysis showed a positive biochar impact on α-diversity and the induction of structural changes on soil bacterial community structure. Biochar did not affect root growth of hemp but significantly increased its aboveground biomass by ∼1.67-fold for shoots, and by ∼2-fold for both seed number and weight. Biochar increased the PTEs phytostabilisation potential of hemp with respect to Cd, Pb and Zn, and also stimulated hemp phytoextracting capacity with respect to Sb. Overall, the results showed that biochar can boost hemp yield and its phytoremediation effectiveness in soils contaminated by PTEs providing valuable biomass that can generate profit in economic, environmental and sustainability terms.
PubMed: 38509955
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28050 -
Heliyon Mar 2024Nanomaterials have drawn significant attention for their biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. In the present study, manganese tetra oxide (MnO) nanoparticles were...
Nanomaterials have drawn significant attention for their biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. In the present study, manganese tetra oxide (MnO) nanoparticles were prepared greenly, and their physicochemical properties were studied. acetone extract was used as a safely novel precursor for reducing and stabilizing nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The cytotoxicity of MnO (hausmannite) nanostructures was evaluated against murine macrophage cell line J774-A1 and U87 glioblastoma cancer cells for approximately 72 h. Spherical MnO nanoparticles with tetragonal spinel structures demonstrated minimal toxicity against normal body cells with CC around 876.38 μg mL. Moreover, MnO nanoparticles as well as the combination of antimoniate meglumine and MnO nanoparticles exhibited maximum mortality in . The synthesized nanominerals displayed a significant inhibitory effect against glioblastoma cancer cells at 100 μg mL. The selective cytotoxicity of MnO nanoparticles indicates that these biogenic agents can be employed simultaneously for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in medical applications.
PubMed: 38509884
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27695 -
Advanced Science (Weinheim,... Jun 2024The unique 1D crystal structure of Antimony Triselenide (SbSe) offers notable potential for use in flexible, lightweight devices due to its excellent bending...
The unique 1D crystal structure of Antimony Triselenide (SbSe) offers notable potential for use in flexible, lightweight devices due to its excellent bending characteristics. However, fabricating high-efficiency flexible SbSe solar cells is challenging, primarily due to the suboptimal contact interface between the embedded SbSe layer and the molybdenum back-contact, compounded by complex intrinsic defects. This study introduces a novel Molybdenum Trioxide (MoO) interlayer to address the back contact interface issues in flexible SbSe devices. Further investigations indicate that incorporating a MoO interlayer not only enhances the crystalline quality but also promotes a favorable [hk1] growth orientation in the SbSe absorber layer. It also reduces the barrier height at the back contact interface and effectively passivates harmful defects. As a result, the flexible SbSe solar cell, featuring a Mo-foil/Mo/MoO/SbSe/CdS/ITO/Ag substrate structure, demonstrates exceptional flexibility and durability, enduring large bending radii and multiple bending cycles while achieving an impressive efficiency of 8.23%. This research offers a straightforward approach to enhancing the performance of flexible SbSe devices, thereby expanding their application scope in the field of photovoltaics.
PubMed: 38509636
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202310193 -
Journal of Hazardous Materials May 2024Bioaccessibility and relative bioavailability of As, Cd, Pb and Sb was investigated in 30 legacy gold mining wastes (calcine sands, grey battery sands, tailings) from...
Bioaccessibility and relative bioavailability of As, Cd, Pb and Sb was investigated in 30 legacy gold mining wastes (calcine sands, grey battery sands, tailings) from Victorian goldfields (Australia). Pseudo-total As concentration in 29 samples was 1.45-148-fold higher than the residential soil guidance value (100 mg/kg) while Cd and Pb concentrations in calcine sands were up to 2.4-fold and 30.1-fold higher than the corresponding guidance value (Cd: 20 mg/kg and Pb: 300 mg/kg). Five calcine sands exhibited elevated Sb (31.9-5983 mg/kg), although an Australian soil guidance value is currently unavailable. Arsenic bioaccessibility (n = 30) and relative bioavailability (RBA; n = 8) ranged from 6.10-77.6% and 10.3-52.9% respectively. Samples containing > 50% arsenopyrite/scorodite showed low As bioaccessibility (<20.0%) and RBA (<15.0%). Co-contaminant RBA was assessed in 4 calcine sands; Pb RBA ranged from 73.7-119% with high Pb RBA associated with organic and mineral sorbed Pb and, lower Pb RBA observed in samples containing plumbojarosite. In contrast, Cd RBA ranged from 55.0-67.0%, while Sb RBA was < 5%. This study highlights the importance of using multiple lines of evidence during exposure assessment and provides valuable baseline data for co-contaminants associated with legacy gold mining activities.
Topics: Arsenic; Cadmium; Antimony; Lead; Gold; Sand; Biological Availability; Soil Pollutants; Australia; Soil; Mining
PubMed: 38493633
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133948 -
The Lancet Regional Health. Southeast... Mar 2024Occurrences of relapse after 6-months post-treatment has been reported in recent Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) efficacy studies. A meta-analysis was carried out to...
BACKGROUND
Occurrences of relapse after 6-months post-treatment has been reported in recent Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) efficacy studies. A meta-analysis was carried out to quantify the proportion of relapses observed at and beyond 6-months using the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) systematic review (SR) database.
METHODS
Studies in the IDDO SR database (1983-2021; 160 studies) were eligible for inclusion if follow-up was at least 6-months, relapse was clearly reported, and patients with HIV coinfections were excluded. Meta-analysis of single proportion was undertaken and the estimates were reported with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
FINDINGS
Overall, 131 studies enrolling 27,687 patients were included; 1193 patients relapsed. In the Indian sub-continent (ISC), relapse estimates at 6-months was 4.5% [95% CI: 2.6%-7.5%; = 66.2%] following single dose liposomal amphotericin B (L-AmB) and 1.5% [95% CI: 0.7%-3.3%; = 0%] for L-AmB in a combination therapy. In East Africa (EA), corresponding estimates were 3.8% [95% CI: 1.3%-10.9%; = 75.8%] following pentavalent antimony (PA), and 13.0% [95% CI: 4.3%-33.6%; = 0%] for PA + paromomycin. From 21 studies with follow-up longer than 6-months, 0.6% [95% CI: 0.2%-1.8%; = 0%] of patients relapsed after 6-months and estimated 27.6% [95% CI: 11.2%-53.4%; = 12%] of relapses would have been missed by a 6-month follow-up.
INTERPRETATION
The estimated relapse proportion ranged from 0.5% to 4.5% in ISC and 3.8%-13.0% in EA with the currently recommended drugs. Over one-quarter of relapses would be missed with 6-months follow-up suggesting a longer follow-up may be warranted.
FUNDING
Wellcome Trust (ref: 208378/Z/17/Z).
PubMed: 38482151
DOI: 10.1016/j.lansea.2023.100317 -
Plants (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2024Currently, there is an increasing presence of heavy metals and metalloids in soils and water due to anthropogenic activities. However, the biggest problem caused by this...
Enzymes Involved in Antioxidant and Detoxification Processes Present Changes in the Expression Levels of Their Coding Genes under the Stress Caused by the Presence of Antimony in Tomato.
Currently, there is an increasing presence of heavy metals and metalloids in soils and water due to anthropogenic activities. However, the biggest problem caused by this increase is the difficulty in recycling these elements and their high permanence in soils. There are plants with great capacity to assimilate these elements or make them less accessible to other organisms. We analyzed the behavior of L., a crop with great agronomic interest, under the stress caused by antimony (Sb). We evaluated the antioxidant response throughout different exposure times to the metalloid. Our results showed that the enzymes involved in the AsA-GSH cycle show changes in their expression level under the stress caused by Sb but could not find a relationship between the () expression data and nitric oxide (NO) content in tomato roots exposed to Sb. We hypothesize that a better understanding of how these enzymes work could be key to develop more tolerant varieties to this kind of abiotic stress and could explain a greater or lesser phytoremediation capacity. Moreover, we deepened our knowledge about Glutathione S-transferase (GST) and Glutathione Reductase (GR) due to their involvement in the elimination of the xenobiotic component.
PubMed: 38475456
DOI: 10.3390/plants13050609 -
Materials (Basel, Switzerland) Mar 2024As a common coal-based solid waste, fly ash is widely used in material filling. However, due to the high resistivity of fly ash itself, the antistatic performance of the...
As a common coal-based solid waste, fly ash is widely used in material filling. However, due to the high resistivity of fly ash itself, the antistatic performance of the filling material is poor. Therefore, antistatic composite powder was prepared by coating nano-sized antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) on the surface of fly ash, and its preparation mechanism was discussed. The composite powders were characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD and FTIR. The results show that the interaction between SiO and SnO appears at the wave number of 727.12 cm, and the obvious SnO crystal phase appears on the surface of fly ash. The volume resistivity of calcined fly ash is 1.72 × 10 Ω·cm, and the volume resistivity of ATO fly ash is reduced to 6 × 10 Ω·cm. By analyzing the limiting oxygen index, melt index, tensile strength, elongation at break, cross-section morphology and surface electrical resistivity of EVA, it was found that the addition of antistatic powder to EVA can improve its antistatic performance without deteriorating the mechanical properties of EVA.
PubMed: 38473654
DOI: 10.3390/ma17051183 -
Journal of the American Chemical Society Mar 2024Our growing interest in the design of pnictogen-based strategies for anion transport has prompted an investigation into the properties of three simple...
Our growing interest in the design of pnictogen-based strategies for anion transport has prompted an investigation into the properties of three simple triarylcatecholatostiboranes (-) of the general formula (-CClO)SbAr with Ar = Ph (), -tolyl (), and -xylyl () for the complexation and transport of hydroxide across phospholipid bilayers. A modified hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (HPTS) assay carried out in artificial liposomes shows that and are potent hydroxide transporters while is inactive. These results indicate that the steric hindrance imposed by the three -xylyl groups prevents access by the hydroxide anion to the antimony center. Supporting this interpretation, and quickly react with TBAOH·30 HO ([TBA] = [BuN]) to form the corresponding hydroxoantimonate salts [BuN][-OH] and [BuN][-OH], whereas resists hydroxide coordination and remains unperturbed. Moreover, the hydroxide transport activities of and are correlated to the +V oxidation state of the antimony atom as the parent trivalent stibines show no hydroxide transport activity.
PubMed: 38466939
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c00202 -
ACS Omega Mar 2024The development of polymer materials with excellent flame retardancy has been paid increasing attention for their valuable applications in saving energy in modern...
The development of polymer materials with excellent flame retardancy has been paid increasing attention for their valuable applications in saving energy in modern architecture. Herein, conjugated microporous polymers hollow nanospheres (CMPs-HNS) were prepared by Sonogashira-Hagihara cross-coupling reaction with 1,3,5-triacetylenebenzene, 3-amino-2,6-dibromopyridine, and 2,4,6-tribromoaniline as building blocks using SiO nanoparticles as hard templates. To enhance the flame-retardant performance of the CMPs-HNS, antimony pentoxide solution (SbO) and bisphenol A-bis (diphenyl phosphate) (BDP) were coated onto the as-prepared CMP-HNS (CMPs-HNS-BSb) by a simple immersion method. The peak heat release (pHRR) from microscale combustion colorimeter (MCC) of CMPs-HNS-BSb was 76.5 and 73.05 W g, respectively. By introducing CMPs-HNS-BSb into the epoxy resin (EP) matrix, the CMP2-HNS-BSb/EP (0.5) composites show that the pHRR values were 809.3 and 645.2 kW m, reduced by 21% as measured by conical calorimetry (CC), and total heat release (THR) reduced by 29.7%, going from 101 to 70.8 MJ/m when compared to the pure sample. Besides, total smoke production (TSP) reduced about 23.7%. The hollow structure can enhance the thermal insulation performance. As measured, the thermal conductivity of CMP1-HNS-BSb and CMP2-HNS-BSb is 0.044 and 0.048 W m K. Based on the advantages of simple manufacture, superior thermal insulation, and flame retardancy, our CMPs-HNS-BSb/EP composites may find useful applications in various aspects such as building energy saving in future development.
PubMed: 38463341
DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c08597 -
PloS One 2024The aim of this research was to assess the validity and reliability of a newly developed scoring tool, designed for monitoring youth soccer players during match-play...
The aim of this research was to assess the validity and reliability of a newly developed scoring tool, designed for monitoring youth soccer players during match-play performance to support coaches/scouts with the talent identification process. The method used to design the Hull Soccer Behavioural Scoring Tool comprised of a five-stage process of (i) conducting an initial literature review to establish content validity (ii) gaining content validity through a cross sectional online survey (iii) establishing face validity via expert coach feedback (iv) conducting inter-rater reliability tests and (v) intra-rater reliability tests. In stage two, twenty-two soccer academy practitioners completed an online survey, which revealed that player behaviours such as resilience, competitiveness, and decision making were all valued as the most important behavioural characteristics by practitioners (90.9%), whilst X-factor was valued as least important by a significant amount (27.2%). Stages three to five of the testing procedure included a sample of four academy coaches not involved in the preceding stage. Twenty male collegiate soccer players (under-16 to under-18) involved in the study took part in four versus four small-sided games (SSG) in a 'round-robin' tournament across three weeks which accumulated 14 SSG's, 100-140 minutes of playing time and 70-98 individual player grades. Two of the four academy coaches watched the SSG's and used the Hull Soccer Behavioural Scoring Tool to assess live evidence of desirable player behaviours, which was subsequently followed by retrospective video analysis for intra-rater reliability testing. The remaining two academy coaches watched the same SSG retrospective video footage to test for inter-rater reliability. Reliability results revealed an acceptable level of agreement with scores between 81.25%-89.9% for inter-rater whilst intra-rater provided scores between 80.35%-99.4%. Preliminary evidence here suggests that the Hull Soccer Behavioural Scoring Tool is both a valid and reliable method to assess desirable player behaviours during talent identification processes. Thus, youth soccer practitioners and researchers should seek to test and further validate the tool in order to confirm its utility as a means of measuring behavioural characteristics of youth soccer players.
Topics: Adolescent; Male; Humans; Athletic Performance; Soccer; Reproducibility of Results; Cross-Sectional Studies; Retrospective Studies; Antimony Sodium Gluconate
PubMed: 38457396
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295953