Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are material with exclusive features that can be applied in different fields including industrial and medicine. It has been determined that the accumulation of MWCNTs in the organs is along with genotoxic and cytotoxic injuries. Previous studies have shown mitochondrial dysfunction in MWCNTs exposure with cell lines, but their exact mechanisms with isolated mitochondria have remained unclear. The present study evaluated toxicity induced by MWCNTs in isolated rat heart mitochondria and protective effect of naringin. Our results showed that MWCNTs toxicity caused the prevention of heart mitochondrial complex II activity. Treatment of isolated heart mitochondria with MWCNTs led to an increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) collapse, and mitochondrial malondialdehyde (MDA) and a decrease in mitochondrial glutathione (GSH) level and mitochondrial catalase (CAT) activity. Pretreatment of isolated heart mitochondria with naringin decreased mitochondrial oxidative damage through decreasing lipid peroxidation, returned mitochondrial complex II changes, decreasing MMP collapse and ROS production, and restoration of GSH level and CAT activity. Our findings indicated that MWCNTs had toxic effects on isolated heart mitochondria by inducing oxidative stress and possibly apoptosis pathway. The protection effects of naringin may be accompanied by mitochondrial conservation by its antioxidant property or due to its free radical scavenging. Our findings indicated that naringin had a possible role in preventing the mitochondria complaints in the heart.

The present study was aimed to estimating the effect of Saussurea lappa (costus) root extract on thorium accumulation in different brain regions (cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and hypothalamus) of adult male albino rats and also to evaluate the antioxidant effect and thyroid gland modulation activity of costus following thorium toxicity. Adult male rats were randomly allocated into four groups; control group receiving saline (0.9% NaCl), thorium group receiving an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of thorium nitrate (Th; 6.3 mg/kg bwt), costus group receiving an oral administration of costus extract at 200 mg/kg bwt and costus + thorium group receiving costus 1 h before thorium injection. Thorium injection in rats for 28 days resulted in the accumulation of Th maximally in the cerebellum followed by the cerebral cortex and then in the hypothalamus. The accumulation of Th was associated with significant disturbance in sodium and potassium ions. A significant decrease in monoamines was also observed in different brain regions. Furthermore, the results indicated that Th-induced oxidative stress evidenced by increased lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide and decrease the glutathione content. Additionally, Th caused a significant increase in thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) levels in the serum of rats. However, the pre-administration of costus alleviated all of those disturbances. Our results revealed that costus extract exerted its protective effect mainly through potentiating the antioxidant defense system.

A theoretical approach was followed to optimize the design of a cylindrical photobioreactor for wastewater treatment based on algal culture. In particular, the problem of uneven light distribution that impairs algal growth was minimized by optimizing the area of uniform illumination distribution for a bioreactor design that can be enlarged without affecting its performance. The theoretical analysis was based on modeled simulations to determine the best configuration and illumination mode. The Monte Carlo method was used to simulate the illumination distribution inside the bioreactor, and the relationships between the width of the area with uniform illumination and related parameters were explored. Based on these theoretical considerations and predictions, an actual experimental photobioreactor was built containing a working area (where culture of Chlorella pyrenoidosa was enabled) and a catchment area for effluent. The performance of this bioreactor was tested with synthetic wastewater as a substrate. The light distribution was found to be relatively uniform inside the bioreactor, supporting excellent algal growth and resulting in maximum removal rates of 84.41% for total nitrogen, 99.73% for total phosphorus, 85.03% for NH₄⁺-N, and 75.94% for chemical oxygen demand (COD) over a period of 32 days of operation. The presented approach provides new insights for improving the efficiency and scalability of photobioreactors and promotes their development for wastewater treatment and resource utilization.

The Johor Strait has experienced rapid development of various human activities and served as the main marine aquaculture area for the two countries that bordered the strait. Several fish kill incidents in 2014 and 2015 have been confirmed, attributed to the algal blooms of ichthyotoxic dinoflagellates; however, the cause of fish kill events after 2016 was not clarified and the causative organisms remained unknown. To clarify the potential cause of fish kills along the Johor Strait, a 1-year field investigation was conducted with monthly sampling between May 2018 and April 2019. Monthly vertical profiles of physical water parameters (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen levels) were measured in situ at different depths (subsurface, 1 m, 5 m, and 8 m) depending on the ambient depth of the water column at the sampling stations. The spatial-temporal variability of macronutrients and chlorophyll a content was analyzed. Our results showed that high chlorophyll a concentration (up to 48.8 μg/L) and high biomass blooms of Skeletonema, Chaetoceros, Rhizosolenia, and Thalassiosira were observed seasonally at the inner part of the strait. A hypoxic to anoxic dead zone, with the dissolved oxygen levels ranging from 0.19 to 1.7 mg/L, was identified in the inner Johor Strait, covering an estimated area of 10.3 km². The occurrence of high biomass diatom blooms and formation of the hypoxic-anoxic zone along the inner part Johor Strait were likely the culprits of some fish kill incidents after 2016.

Quantum dots (QDs) have caused large challenges in clinical tests and biomedical applications due to their potential toxicity from nanosize effects and heavy metal components. In this study, the physiological responses of Phanerochaete chrysosporium (P. chrysosporium) to CdSe/ZnS QDs with either an inorganic sulfide NaHS or an organic sulfide cysteine as antidote have been investigated. Scanning electron microscope analysis showed that the hyphal structure and morphology of P. chrysosporium have obviously changed after exposure to 100 nM of COOH CdSe/ZnS 505, NH₂ CdSe/ZnS 505, NH₂ CdSe/ZnS 565, or NH₂ CdSe/ZnS 625. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated that the existence of hydroxyl, amino, and carboxyl groups on cell surface could possibly conduct the stabilization of QDs in an aqueous medium. However, after NaHS or cysteine treatment, the cell viability of P. chrysosporium exposed to CdSe/ZnS QDs increased as compared to control group, since NaHS and cysteine have assisted P. chrysosporium to alleviate oxidative damage by regulating lipid peroxidation and superoxide production. Meanwhile, NaHS and cysteine have also stimulated P. chrysosporium to produce more antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and catalase), which played significant roles in the defense system. In addition, NaHS and cysteine were used by P. chrysosporium as sulfide sources to promote the glutathione biosynthesis to relieve CdSe/ZnS QDs-induced oxidative stress. This work revealed that sulfide sources (NaHS and cysteine) exerted a strong positive effect in P. chrysosporium against the toxicity induced by CdSe/ZnS QDs.

A prior prediction of voltage required for the nonthermal plasma (NTP)-based diesel exhaust treatment toward removal of nitrogen oxides, i.e., NOX (sum of NO and NO₂) would help the researchers to plan for the resources required for the treatment. In this present study, experimental data set of 4032 number of input-output pairs have been collected by taking flow rate (Fr), temperature (T), discharge gap (Dg), initial NOX concentration (NOXᵢ), and NOX removal efficiency (ηᵣ) as the 5 inputs and the voltage required for the treatment (Vᵣₜ) as the output. Then, an attempt has been made to predict Vᵣₜ for achieving particular ηᵣ, while other input parameters have fixed values, using multivariable linear and quadratic polynomial regression techniques. The performances of these two predictive models have been assessed during training and testing. The root mean square error (RMSE) between experimental and predicted values of Vᵣₜ with both the models has been compared, where quadratic polynomial regression-based model has been found to be performing well with an RMSE of 0.85 kV for a test data of 1210 sets. This study shows that the voltage required for the treatment, to achieve a particular amount of NOX removal from the exhaust, can be predicted with very good accuracy so that the necessary arrangements for the treatment can be made by the researchers.

Hepatoprotection is a goal for the harmful effect of several hepatotoxic agents. The present study has been executed to assess the useful impacts of Tribulus terrestris (TT) and silymarin (SLM) against carbon tetrachloride (CCL₄)-induced hepatotoxicity. Forty-two male rats were partitioned into six groups: group I: received 0.3% CMC-Na in distilled water, group II: TT (500 mg/kg BW, orally), group III: SLM (200 mg/kg, orally) for 14 consecutive days (on days 11 and 12 intraperitoneal corn oil), group IV: CCL₄, group V: TT (500 mg/kg BW) plus CCL₄, and group VI: SLM (200 mg/kg orally) plus CCL₄. The CCL₄ was administered (2.0 ml/kg BW) intraperitoneal on days 11 and 12. Sera were collected for assessment of hepatic injury markers and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Additionally, liver tissue oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, histopathological examination, and immunohistochemical analysis (Bax and bcl-2) were done. CCL₄ injection induced significant reductions in hepatic antioxidants while increased hepatic lipid peroxidation as well as serum hepatic injury biomarkers and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The histopathological examination showed necrotic and degenerative changes in the hepatic tissue, while immunohistochemical analysis revealed marked hepatic expression of activated Bax, and bcl-2, following CCL₄ injection. TT pretreatment significantly improved all examined parameters and restored the hepatic architecture. The current study illustrated that TT effectively alleviates hepatic oxidative damage, apoptosis, and inflammation, induced by acute CCL₄ intoxication. In this manner, TT has promising cytoprotective powers against hepatotoxicity induced by CCL₄.

In the last few decades, consciousness of fossil fuel resources and increased environmental concerns have given the need for emergence of alternative fuel. Biodiesel is one of the potential renewable energies produced from edible and non-edible biomass which could be a potential alternative for petrol-derived diesel. In this work, initially the process of biodiesel production from waste cooking oil using potassium hydroxide as catalyst and the process parameters were studied in laboratory. The maximum biodiesel yield of 97% was attained at 75 °C with 1 wt% catalyst concentration and oil-methanol molar ratio of 1:06 at 350 rpm and 90 min. Also, these process conditions were used for biodiesel production in the pilot plant and obtained 97% yield. Overall, mass balance for the pilot plant was studied to analyze the product yield loss. The fatty acid methyl ester formation in the plant was confirmed by characterization with FTIR and ¹H NMR. Further, the quality of biodiesel produced was compared for its physiochemical properties with the ASTM standards.

Some researches have shown the associations between air pollution and hospital-based emergency department visits, while the evidence about the acute effects of air pollution on emergency ambulance dispatches for the whole population is rarely available, especially on an hourly time scale. This paper aimed to investigate the effects of hourly concentrations of ambient air pollution on hourly number of ambulance emergency call-outs (AECOs) in Shenzhen, China. AECO data were collected from Shenzhen Emergency Center from January 2013 to December 2016. A time-stratified case-crossover design with conditional Poisson regression was performed to fit the relationship between hourly air pollution and AECOs. The distributed lag model was applied to determine lag structure of the effects of air pollutants. There were a total of 502,862 AECOs during the study period. The significant detrimental effects of SO₂, PM₂.₅, and PM₁₀ appeared immediately with a following harvesting effect after 5 h and the effects lasted for about 96 h. The cumulative effect estimates of four pollutants over 0–96 h were 13.99% (95% CI 7.52–20.85%), 2.07% (95% CI 0.72–3.43%), 1.20% (95% CI 0.54–1.87%), and 2.46% (95% CI 1.63–3.29%), respectively. We did not observe significant effects of O₃. This population-based study quantifies the adverse effects of air pollution on ambulance dispatches and provides evidence of the lag structure of the effects on an hourly time scale.

Balancing economic growth, resource conservation, and atmospheric environmental protection has topped the agenda of academics and policy makers. The article takes the panel data of 37 Chinese industrial sectors from 2003 to 2016 as the research object to explore the impact of atmospheric environmental regulation on industrial total factor productivity and the possible path of capital intensity. Furthermore, to analyze the possible industry heterogeneity of the above results, the article classifies the industrial sectors into heavy polluting industries and light polluting industries, based on their air pollution emission intensity. The key discoveries of this study are as follows: (1) Generally, the regulation of atmospheric environment has a significant inhibitory effect on industrial total factor productivity. However, if measured by industry group, atmospheric environmental regulation has a significant inhibitory effect on industrial total factor productivity in the light polluted industry group, while in the heavy polluted industry group, the impact is less significant. (2) Across all the industries and especially the light polluted industry group, the capital intensity is a partial intermediate variable of the influence of atmospheric environmental regulation on industrial total factor productivity, but the mediating effect is not significant in the heavy polluted industry group. Finally, policy suggestions are given from the following three aspects: promoting accurate industrial governance, selecting environmental regulation methods and improving supporting policies, which provide practical and feasible solutions for improving the current atmospheric environment governance and promoting the improvement of industrial total factor productivity.