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Blancho F, Lapointe M, Quevedo AC, Kannan K, Tufenkji N. Demonstrating scale-up of a novel water treatment process using super-bridging agents. Water Res 2024; 254:121301. [PMID: 38417265 DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.121301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/01/2024]
Abstract
Fiber-based materials have emerged as a promising option to increase the efficiency of water treatment plants while reducing their environmental impacts, notably by reducing the use of unsustainable chemicals and the size of the settling tank. Cellulose fiber-based super-bridging agents are sustainable, reusable, and versatile materials that considerably improve floc separation in conventional settling tanks or via alternative screening separation methods. In this study, the effectiveness of fiber-based materials for wastewater treatment was evaluated at lab-scale (0.25 L) and at pilot-scale (20 L) for two separation methods, namely settling and screening. For the fiber-based method, the performance of floc separation during settling was slightly affected by an 80x upscaling factor. A small decrease in turbidity removal from 93 and 86 % was observed for the jar and pilot tests, respectively. By contrast, the turbidity removal of the conventional treatment, i.e., no fibers with a settling separation, was largely affected by the upscaling with turbidity removals of 84 and 49 % for jar and pilot tests, respectively. Therefore, results are suggesting that fiber-based super-bridging agents could be implemented in full-scale water treatment plants. Moreover, the tested fibers increase the robustness of treatment by providing better floc removal than conventional treatment under several challenging conditions such as low settling time and screening with coarse screen mesh size. Furthermore, at both lab-scale and pilot-scale, the use of fiber-based materials reduced the demand for coagulant and flocculant, potentially lowering the operational costs of water treatment plants and reducing the accumulation of metal-based coagulants and synthetic polymers in sludge. Acute toxicity tests using the model organism Daphnia magna show that the cellulose fibers introduce insignificant toxicity at the optimized fiber concentration. Although dedicated mechanistic studies are required at various scales to understand in detail the influence of fibers on water treatment (coagulation/flocculation time, floc formation, floc size distribution velocity gradient, etc.), the efficacy and scalability of the fiber-based approach, along with its minimal environmental impact, position it as a viable and sustainable option for existing and future wastewater treatment plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Blancho
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
| | - Mathieu Lapointe
- Department of Construction Engineering, École de technologie supérieure - University of Québec, Québec H3C 1K3, Canada.
| | - Ana C Quevedo
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
| | - Krishnaveni Kannan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada
| | - Nathalie Tufenkji
- Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Quebec H3A 0C5, Canada.
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Soliman MG, Trinh DN, Ravagli C, Meleady P, Henry M, Movia D, Doumett S, Cappiello L, Prina-Mello A, Baldi G, Monopoli MP. Development of a fast and simple method for the isolation of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles protein corona from protein-rich matrices. J Colloid Interface Sci 2024; 659:503-519. [PMID: 38184993 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.11.177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Revised: 11/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
The adsorption of proteins onto the surface of nanoparticle (NP) leads to the formation of the so-called "protein corona" as consisting both loosely and tightly bound proteins. It is well established that the biological identity of NPs that may be acquired after exposure to a biological matrix is mostly provided by the components of the hard corona as the pristine surface is generally less accessible for binding. For that reason, the isolation and the characterisation of the NP-corona complexes and identification of the associated biomolecules can help in understanding its biological behaviour. Established methods for the isolation of the NP-HC complexes are time-demanding and can lead to different results based on the isolation method applied. Herein, we have developed a fast and simple method using ferromagnetic beads isolated from commercial MACS column and used for the isolation of superparamagnetic NP following exposure to different types of biological milieu. We first demonstrated the ability to easily isolate superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs (IONPs) from different concentrations of human blood plasma, and also tested the method on the corona isolation using more complex biological matrices, such as culture medium containing pulmonary mucus where the ordinary corona methods cannot be applied. Our developed method showed less than 20% difference in plasma corona composition when compared with centrifugation. It also showed effective isolation of NP-HC complexes from mucus-containing culture media upon comparing with centrifugation and MACS columns, which failed to wash out the unbound proteins. Our study was supported with a full characterisation profile including dynamic light scattering, nanoparticle tracking analysis, analytical disk centrifuge, and zeta potentials. The biomolecules/ proteins composing the HC were separated by vertical gel electrophoresis and subsequently analysed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. In addition to our achievements in comparing different isolation methods to separate IONPs with corona from human plasma, this is the first study that provides a complete characterisation profile of particle protein corona after exposure in vitro to pulmonary mucus-containing culture media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahmoud G Soliman
- Chemistry Department, RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), 123 St Stephen Green, Dublin 2, Ireland; Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
| | - Duong N Trinh
- Chemistry Department, RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), 123 St Stephen Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Costanza Ravagli
- Research Center Colorobbia, Cericol, Colorobbia Consulting, Via Pietramarina 123, 50053, Vinci, Florence, Italy
| | - Paula Meleady
- National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland
| | - Michael Henry
- National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland
| | - Dania Movia
- Laboratory for Biological Characterisation of Advanced Materials (LBCAM), Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland; Applied Radiation Therapy Trinity (ARTT), Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland
| | - Saer Doumett
- Research Center Colorobbia, Cericol, Colorobbia Consulting, Via Pietramarina 123, 50053, Vinci, Florence, Italy
| | - Laura Cappiello
- Research Center Colorobbia, Cericol, Colorobbia Consulting, Via Pietramarina 123, 50053, Vinci, Florence, Italy
| | - Adriele Prina-Mello
- Laboratory for Biological Characterisation of Advanced Materials (LBCAM), Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland; Nanomedicine and Molecular Imaging Group, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI), School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 8, Ireland
| | - Giovanni Baldi
- Research Center Colorobbia, Cericol, Colorobbia Consulting, Via Pietramarina 123, 50053, Vinci, Florence, Italy
| | - Marco P Monopoli
- Chemistry Department, RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland), 123 St Stephen Green, Dublin 2, Ireland.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shingo Saito
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, 255 Shimo-Okubo, Sakura-ku, Saitama, 338-8570, Japan.
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Abd El-Aziz TM, Soares AG, Stockand JD. Advances in venomics: Modern separation techniques and mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci 2020; 1160:122352. [PMID: 32971366 PMCID: PMC8174749 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2020.122352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Revised: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Snake venoms are complex chemical mixtures of biologically active proteins and non-protein components. Toxins have a wide range of targets and effects to include ion channels and membrane receptors, and platelet aggregation and platelet plug formation. Toxins target these effectors and effects at high affinity and selectivity. From a pharmacological perspective, snake venom compounds are a valuable resource for drug discovery and development. However, a major challenge to drug discovery using snake venoms is isolating and analyzing the bioactive proteins and peptides in these complex mixtures. Getting molecular information from complex mixtures such as snake venoms requires proteomic analyses, generally combined with transcriptomic analyses of venom glands. The present review summarizes current knowledge and highlights important recent advances in venomics with special emphasis on contemporary separation techniques and bioinformatics that have begun to elaborate the complexity of snake venoms. Several analytical techniques such as two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, RP-HPLC, size exclusion chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, MALDI-TOF-MS, and LC-ESI-QTOF-MS have been employed in this regard. The improvement of separation approaches such as multidimensional-HPLC, 2D-electrophoresis coupled to soft-ionization (MALDI and ESI) mass spectrometry has been critical to obtain an accurate picture of the startling complexity of venoms. In the case of bioinformatics, a variety of software tools such as PEAKS also has been used successfully. Such information gleaned from venomics is important to both predicting and resolving the biological activity of the active components of venoms, which in turn is key for the development of new drugs based on these venom components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tarek Mohamed Abd El-Aziz
- Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA; Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Minia University, El-Minia 61519, Egypt.
| | - Antonio G Soares
- Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA
| | - James D Stockand
- Department of Cellular and Integrative Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900, USA
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Cheng Q, Zuo X, Zhong F, Gao L, Xiao S. Runoff variation characteristics, association with large-scale circulation and dominant causes in the Heihe River Basin, Northwest China. Sci Total Environ 2019; 688:361-379. [PMID: 31233917 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Revised: 05/07/2019] [Accepted: 05/26/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The water resources in arid and semi-arid regions are critical to providing reliable sources of water for food production and ecosystem functioning. In this study, continuous wavelet transform and wavelet coherence were used to analyse the runoff periodicity and relationship with climate indices, respectively. Additionally, the double mass curve (DMCD), the slope changing ratio of cumulative quantity (SCRCQ) and the Choudhury-Yang equation (Budyko-CY) methods for different potential evapotranspiration data (E0(E0-20 cm, E0-PM, E0-H)) were used to separate the impacts of climate changes and anthropogenic activities on runoff variations. The results demonstrated that the flow regimes in high and low flow seasons were not obvious shifts, and that after implementation of the Ecological Water Diversion Project (EWDP), ecosystems were gradually restored in the downstream portion of the Heihe River Basin (DHRB). Periodicities of 1-7 years and 1-5.8 years were detected in Yingluoxia and Zhengyixia, respectively. Additionally, on a 1-148.2 month timescale, the monthly runoff with AO, NAO, PDO, and AMO had significant resonance periodicity and a 1-48 month Spearman's lag correlation. On the annual and high-flow, climate changes dominant determinant to an increase of runoff for the DMCD and Budyko-CY in period 2, SCRCQ and Budyko-CY in period 3 for different E0 in the upstream (UHRB). In the midstream (MHRB) region, anthropogenic activities played a dominant role in deducing the runoff by the SCRCQ and Budyko-CY methods for different E0 values in period 3. During the low-flow season, the impact of human activities in the UHRB and climate changes in the MHRB was significant for period 2 and 3. Therefore, the impacts of climate change and human activities on runoff changes caused by the introduction of different E0 on different timescales should be fully considered in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qingping Cheng
- Urat Desert-Grassland Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Northwest Institute of Eco-Environmental and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xiaoan Zuo
- Urat Desert-Grassland Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China; Northwest Institute of Eco-Environmental and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
| | - Fanglei Zhong
- School of Economics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
| | - Lu Gao
- Institute of Geography, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Provincial Engineering Research Center for Monitoring and Assessing Terrestrial Disasters, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China; State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Mountain Ecology (Funded by Ministry of Science and Technology and Fujian Province), Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China
| | - Shengchun Xiao
- Northwest Institute of Eco-Environmental and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Znaleziona J, Ginterová P, Petr J, Ondra P, Válka I, Ševčík J, Chrastina J, Maier V. Determination and identification of synthetic cannabinoids and their metabolites in different matrices by modern analytical techniques - a review. Anal Chim Acta 2015; 874:11-25. [PMID: 25910441 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2014.12.055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2014] [Revised: 12/16/2014] [Accepted: 12/31/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Synthetic cannabinoids have gained popularity due to their easy accessibility and psychoactive effects. Furthermore, they cannot be detected in urine by routine drug monitoring. The wide range of active ingredients in analyzed matrices hinders the development of a standard analytical method for their determination. Moreover, their possible side effects are not well known which increases the danger. This review is focused on the sample preparation and the determination of synthetic cannabinoids in different matrices (serum, urine, herbal blends, oral fluid, hair) published since 2004. The review includes separation and identification techniques, such as thin layer chromatography, gas and liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis, mostly coupled with mass spectrometry. The review also includes results by spectral methods like infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance or direct-injection mass spectrometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanna Znaleziona
- Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17. Listopadu 12, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Pavlína Ginterová
- Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17. Listopadu 12, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Petr
- Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17. Listopadu 12, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Peter Ondra
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Medical Law Faculty Hospital, Hněvotínská 3, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Ivo Válka
- Department of Forensic Medicine and Medical Law Faculty Hospital, Hněvotínská 3, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Juraj Ševčík
- Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17. Listopadu 12, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Chrastina
- Institute of Special Education Studies, Faculty of Education, Palacký University, Žižkovo náměsti 5, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic
| | - Vítězslav Maier
- Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, 17. Listopadu 12, Olomouc CZ-77146, Czech Republic.
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