Characterization of net-zero pozzolanic potential of thermally-derived metakaolin samples for sustainable carbon neutrality construction

Metakaolin (MK) is one of the most sustainable cementitious construction materials, which is derived through a direct heating procedure known as calcination. Calcination process takes place substantially lower temperatures than that required for Portland cement, making it a more environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional cement. This procedure causes the removal of hydroxyl water from the naturally occurring kaolin clay (Al2Si2O5(OH)4 with MK (Al2O3·2SiO2) as its product. Kaolin naturally exists in large amount within 5°29'N-5°35'N and 7°21'E-7°3'E geographical coordinates surrounding Umuoke, Obowo, Nigeria. Alumina and silica are the predominant compounds in MK, which provide it with the pozzolanic ability, known as the 3-chemical pozzolanic potential (3CPP), with high potential as a cementitious material in concrete production and soil stabilization. Over the years, researchers have suggested the best temperature at which MK is derived to have the highest pozzolanic ability. Prominent among these temperature suggestions were 800 °C (3CPP of 94.45%) and 750 °C (3CPP of 94.76%) for 2 h and 5 h' calcination periods, respectively. In this research paper, 11 different specimens of Kaolin clay obtained from Umuoke, Nigeria, were subjected to a calcination process at oven temperatures from 350 to 850 °C in an increment of 50 °C for 1 h each to derive 11 samples of MK. The MK samples and Kaolin were further subjected to X-ray fluorescence), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) tests to determine the microstructural behaviour and the pozzolanic properties via the 3CPP as to exploit the best MK with the highest cementing potential as a construction material. The results show that the MK heated at 550 °C and 800 °C produced the highest pozzolanic potentials of 96.26% and 96.28%, respectively. The enhancement in pozzolanic potential at optimum calcination temperature is attributed to an increase in the specific surface area upon calcination of kaolinite confirmed by BET results. The SEM and XRD results further supported the above result with the strengthened crystal structure of the MK at these preferred temperatures. Generally, 550 °C is more preferred due to the less heat energy needed for its formulation during 1 h of calcination, which outperforms the previous results, that suggested 750 °C and 800 °C in addition to longer hours of heat exposure.

Comparison of intranasal and intraperitoneal administration of Eugenia caryophyllata (clove) essential oil on spatial memory, anxiety-like behavior and locomotor activity in a pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus rat model

Background

Epilepsy induces behavioral effects and histological changes in the hippocampus. Eugenol, the main component of clove essential oil, has modulatory effects on seizure. We aimed to investigate the effect of intraperitoneal (IP) and intranasal (IN) clove essential oil on cognitive and histological changes during the chronic phase of temporal lope epilepsy.

Methods

Male Wistar rats were divided into eight groups of seven including control, pilocarpine (PLC), clove oil (IP and IN), sesame oil (IP and IN), phenobarbital (positive control) and saline. Rats were injected with 350 mg/kg PLC to induce status epilepticus (SE). We evaluated the effects of 14 days IP (0.1 ml/kg) and IN (0.02 ml/kg) administration of clove essential oil on locomotor/explorative activity, anxiety-like behavior, spatial recognition memory, and hyperexcitability, as well as hippocampal cell survival in PLC-treated rats.

Results

Our findings indicated that clove oil could effectively ameliorate PLC-induced behavioral deficits, and also alleviate neuronal death in the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) region of the hippocampus. Behavioral results as in the Y-maze, Open field and elevated plus maze featured significant differences between control and treated groups. Post-seizure behavioral battery (PBSS) results explicated that behavioral hyperexcitability were less in clove oil groups (both IN and IP) compared to PLC-treated rats. Moreover, results of this study demonstrated that IN administration of clove oil was more potent in alleviating behavioral impairment at a lower dosage than by IP route. The results of this study, also demonstrated that intranasal administration of clove oil could reduce duration of recurrent seizures.

Conclusion

In summary, clove oil treatment ameliorated histopathological and behavioral consequences of PLC-induced SE.

Fine-Humor Producing Materia Medica in Persian Medicine

According to Persian Medicine (PM), humors that can replace the consumed body compounds, while contributing to health maintenance, is called ‘fine humor’ (khelt-e saleh). However, a limited number of foods and beverages have been mentioned as the producers of fine humor. These substances are particularly important in maintaining health in vulnerable populations including pregnant women, lactating mothers, the elderly, infants and children. They also play an important role in certain treatment plans during illness and injury and after recovery. The present study was designed to investigate properties of fine-humor producing materia medica, as described by PM resources. Based on the search performed in PM textbooks, 63 substances were found to have this property. The most frequent Mizaj types were hot-wet (33.34%), hot-dry (19.05%), and cold-wet (17.47%). The highest organ tropism belonged to kidneys and bladder, brain, liver, sex organs, stomach and lungs respectively. Examining drug actions indicated obesogenous (53.97%), enhancing sperm production and sexual potency (42.86%), laxative (39.69%), and tonic (33.34%) actions to be the most prevalent effects of these substances in the body. By integrating these substances into diets, health promotion for children, the elderly, and mothers during nursing and pregnancy may be achieved. Additionally, patients can benefit from a fine-humor producing nutrition both for 1) prevention of chronic diseases and 2) during disease recovery, acute phases of illness, anemia, and metabolic illnesses. Further studies are recommended to analyze the components and nutritional value, and the use of PM capability in culinary medicine.

COVID-19: General Strategies for Herbal Therapies

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic started in early 2020 with the outbreak of a highly pathogenic human coronavirus. The world is facing a challenge and there is a pressing need for efficient drugs. Plants and natural compounds are a proven rich resource for new drug discovery. Considering the potential of natural products to manage the pandemic, this article was designed to provide an inclusive map of the stages and pathogenetic mechanisms for effective natural products on COVID-19. New drug discovery for the COVID-19 pandemic can encompass both prevention and disease management strategies. Preventive mechanisms that may be considered include boosting the immune response and hand hygiene in the preexposure phase; and blocking of virus binding and entry in the postexposure phase. Potential therapeutic target mechanisms include virus-directed therapies and host-directed therapies. Several medicinal plants and natural products, such as Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal and propolis for prevention; Tanacetum parthenium (L.) for treatment; and Ammoides verticillata (Desf.) Briq and Nigella sativa L. for both prevention and treatment have been found effective and are good targets for future research. The examples of phytochemical compounds that may be effective include aloin and terpenes as anti-septics; isothymol, dithymoquinone, and glycyrrhizin as inhibitors of virus binding and entry; glycyrrhizin, and berberine as replication suppressants; ginsenoside Rg1 and parthenolide as immunomodulators; and eriocitrin, rhoifolin, hesperidin, naringin, rutin, and veronicastroside as anti-complements. Recognizing different mechanisms of fighting against this virus can lead to a more systematic approach in finding natural products and medicinal plants for COVID-19 prevention and treatment.

Efficacy of Persian medicine herbal formulations (capsules and decoction) compared to standard care in patients with COVID-19, a multicenter open-labeled, randomized, controlled clinical trial

Persian medicine has recommended clinical experiences and proper herbal remedies for prevention and treatment of microbial infections and respiratory diseases. An open‐label, randomized, controlled, multicenter trial was conducted at five hospitals in Tehran and Isfahan provinces of Iran on 358 hospitalized adult patients. A total of 174 patients received standard care and 184 received herbal remedies (polyherbal decoction every 8 hr and two herbal capsules every 12 hr) plus standard care for 7 days. The primary clinical endpoint was the duration of hospital stay, and secondary outcomes were clinical improvement of symptoms based on self‐assessment questionnaire. Results demonstrated that these natural decoction and capsules treatment plus routine care significantly decreased duration of hospital dyspnea (3.291 day vs. 6.468 days), accelerated clinical improvement, and decreased symptoms such as dry cough, dyspnea, muscle pain, headache, fatigue, anorexia, chills, runny nose, sputum cough, and vertigo in the treatment group compared with standard‐care group. Significant effects of these polyherbal formulations on improving the symptoms of COVID‐19 could be incredibly promising for managing this pandemic with acceptable tolerability.

Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) fruit syrup for gastroesophageal reflux disease in children: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

This double-blind study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a syrup made from Myrtus communis L. fruit on children with gastroesophageal reflux disease. Children aged 1-7 years old, diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), were randomly allocated to either intervention group (omeprazole and "myrtle fruit syrup") or control group (omeprazole and placebo syrup). GERD symptom questionnaire for young children (GSQ-YC) was filled out for each patient at zeroth and eighth week, and also 4 weeks after cessation of intervention. No statistically significant difference between two groups in terms of GERD score was reported neither in 8th nor in 12th week assessments. During the 4 weeks of the drug-free period, patients in myrtle group did not experience a large shift in GERD score, while patients in placebo syrup group experienced an increase of as much as 19.4. However, this difference was not statistically significant, although it could be significant clinically. For achieving more conclusive results, more studies are needed. The symptom "refusal to eat" in the intervention group was less than in placebo group after 8 weeks (p = .018) and at the end of the study (p = .042). So myrtle fruit syrup may be considered for children with low appetite.

IrGO: Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology and knowledge base

Background

Iranian traditional medicine, also known as Persian Medicine, is a holistic school of medicine with a long prolific history. It describes numerous concepts and the relationships between them. However, no unified language system has been proposed for the concepts of this medicine up to the present time. Considering the extensive terminology in the numerous textbooks written by the scholars over centuries, comprehending the totality of concepts is obviously a very challenging task. To resolve this issue, overcome the obstacles, and code the concepts in a reusable manner, constructing an ontology of the concepts of Iranian traditional medicine seems a necessity.

Construction and content

Makhzan al-Advieh, an encyclopedia of materia medica compiled by Mohammad Hossein Aghili Khorasani, was selected as the resource to create an ontology of the concepts used to describe medicinal substances. The steps followed to accomplish this task included (1) compiling the list of classes via examination of textbooks, and text mining the resource followed by manual review to ensure comprehensiveness of extracted terms; (2) arranging the classes in a taxonomy; (3) determining object and data properties; (4) specifying annotation properties including ID, labels (English and Persian), alternative terms, and definitions (English and Persian); (5) ontology evaluation. The ontology was created using Protégé with adherence to the principles of ontology development provided by the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontology (OBO) foundry.

Utility and discussion

The ontology was finalized with inclusion of 3521 classes, 15 properties, and 20,903 axioms in the Iranian traditional medicine General Ontology (IrGO) database, freely available at http://ir-go.net/. An indented list and an interactive graph view using WebVOWL were used to visualize the ontology. All classes were linked to their instances in UNaProd database to create a knowledge base of ITM materia medica.

Conclusion

We constructed an ontology-based knowledge base of ITM concepts in the domain of materia medica to help offer a shared and common understanding of this concept, enable reuse of the knowledge, and make the assumptions explicit. This ontology will aid Persian medicine practitioners in clinical decision-making to select drugs. Extending IrGO will bridge the gap between traditional and conventional schools of medicine, helping guide future research in the process of drug discovery.

UNaProd: A Universal Natural Product Database for Materia Medica of Iranian Traditional Medicine

BACKGROUND

Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) is a holistic medical system that uses a wide range of medicinal substances to treat disease. Reorganization and standardization of the data on ITM concepts is a necessity for optimal use of this rich source. In an initial step towards this goal, we created a database of ITM materia medica. Main Body. Primarily based on Makhzan al-Advieh, which is the most recent encyclopedia of materia medica in ITM with the largest number of monographs, a database of natural medicinal substances was created using both text mining methods and manual editing. UNaProd, a Universal Natural Product database for materia medica of ITM, is currently host to 2696 monographs, from herbal to animal to mineral compounds in 16 diverse attributes such as origin and scientific name. Currently, systems biology, and more precisely systems medicine and pharmacology, can be an aid in providing rationalizations for many traditional medicines and elucidating a great deal of knowledge they can offer to guide future research in medicine.

CONCLUSIONS

A database of materia medica is a stepping stone in creating a systems pharmacology platform of ITM that encompasses the relationships between the drugs, their targets, and diseases. UNaProd is hyperlinked to IrGO and CMAUP databases for Mizaj and molecular features, respectively, and it is freely available at http://jafarilab.com/unaprod/.

A Review of the Gut-Uterine Axis in Persian Medicine Literature: Implications in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Persian medicine (PM) takes a holistic approach towards diagnosis and management of disease states, focusing on the connections between body systems and organs. Menstrual disorders are of utmost importance in women, as they may lead to dysfunctions in other body systems. Deeming a mutual relationship between the gastrointestinal and female reproductive systems, PM physicians believed in a gut-uterine axis to exist. Ehtebas-e Tams (ET), meaning menstrual retention, is not an exception, being accompanied by gastrointestinal morbidities including digestive disorders, nausea, heartburn, food craving and pica, reduced appetite, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea. Considering polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as an instance of ET, we searched studies to investigate these correlations. While a number of the mentioned ET symptoms were confirmed by contemporary studies, others had not been investigated widely and are yet to be elucidated. Conducting studies to clarify such correlations has implications in improved diagnosis and novel modes of treatment.

Adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics of hydrophobic natural organic matter (NOM) removal from aqueous solution by multi-wall carbon nanotubes

The objective of this research was to study the efficiency of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) for the adsorption of hydrophobic natural organic matter (NOM) from aqueous solution under different operational conditions of contact time, pH, initial concentration of NOM and temperature. MWCNTs were synthesized via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with average diameter of 10–50 nm. The results illustrated that both as-prepared and functionalized MWCNTs showed high adsorption capacity for the NOM studied. Functionalization of MWCNT affected the surface area and introduced oxygen-containing functional groups to the surface of MWCNT which depressed the adsorption of NOM onto MWCNTs-COOH. The obtained data were studied using Freundlich, Langmuir and BET isotherms; NOM adsorption data had the best conformity to the Freundlich isotherm. Kinetic studies were performed and the adsorption kinetics successfully followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy change (ΔG°), enthalpy change (ΔH°) and entropy change (ΔS°) were determined and evaluation of them showed that the adsorption process for NOM is general spontaneous, endothermic and thermodynamically favorable.