Moving towards RER has become imperative to achieve sustainable development goals (SDG). Renewable energy resources (RER) are characterized by uncertainty whereas, most of them are unpredictable and ...variable according to climatic conditions. This paper focuses on RER-based electrical power plants as a base to achieve two different goals, SDG7 (obtaining reasonably priced clean energy) and SDG13 (reducing climate change). These goals in turn would support other environmental, social, and economic SDG. This study is constructed based on two pillars which are technological developments and life cycle assessment (LCA) for wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal power plants. To support the study and achieve the main point, many essential topics are presented in brief such as fossil fuels’ environmental impact, economic sustainability linkage to RER, the current contribution of RER in energy consumption worldwide and barriers and environmental effects of RER under consideration. As a result, solar and wind energy lead the RER electricity market with major contributions of 27.7% and 26.92%, respectively, biomass and geothermal are still of negligible contributions at 4.68% and 0.5%, respectively, offshore HAWT dominated other WT techniques, silicon-based PV cells dominated other solar PV technologies with 27% efficiency, combustion thermochemical energy conversion process dominated other biomass energy systems techniques, due to many concerns geothermal energy system is not preferable. Many emerging technologies need to receive more public attention, intensive research, financial support, and governmental facilities including effective policies and data availability.
In this study, an electrochemical aptamer based sensor (aptasensor) was proposed for specific recognition of histamine (HIS). The electrochemical aptasensor based on fabrication of glassy carbon ...electrode (GCE) with molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) and DNA aptamers on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and carboxylated carbon nanotubes (cCNTs) (MIP-apta/AuNPs/cCNTs/GCE). The aptasensor exhibits high selectivity towards HIS detection as it has two recognition elements which are MIP cavities and aptamer interaction. Upon exposure of MIP-apt/AuNPs/cCNTs/GCE to HIS, the current of redox probe was decreased that depends on the template (HIS) concentration. The effects of aptamer concentration, incubation time, pH and AuNPs electro-deposition time were optimized. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were used to analyze HIS in complicated matrices. Favorable performance of MIP-apt/AuNPs/cCNTs/GCE was achieved with linearity ranges of 0.46–35 nmol L−1 and 0.35–35 nmol L−1 with limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) of 0.15 nmol L−1 and 0.11 nmol L−1 using DPV and EIS, respectively. The fabricated aptasensor displayed high selectivity, desirable reproducibility and stability. The MIP-apt/AuNPs/cCNTs/GCE was used to detect HIS in human plasma and canned tuna samples with good recoveries % and RSDs %.
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•Dual recognition of histamine (HIS) was developed for the first time.•The MIP based aptasensor shows high selectivity, good reproducibility and excellent stability towards HIS detection.•Both DPV and EIS techniques were used to analyze HIS with LODs of 0.15 nmol L-1 and 0.11 nmol L-1, respectively.•The MIP based aptasensor was used to detect HIS in real samples such as human blood plasma and canned tuna fish.
The current work aims to study the nephroprotective potential of naringin (NG), a flavanone derived from citrus fruits, in methotrexate (MTX)-induced renal toxicity. Thirty male rats were divided ...into five groups; control group (IP saline), MTX group (IP single dose, 20 mg/kg), and three groups co-treated with MTX and naringin (IP daily dose; 20, 40, and 80 mg/kg, respectively). Kidney tissues were used to investigate renal function, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and caspase-3 activity. Biochemical cytokine analysis was performed in addition to ultrastructural examinations of kidney tissue. When compared to the MTX-treated rats, MTX+NG significantly reduced the levels of urea, creatinine, MDA, NO, TNFα, IL-6, and caspase-3 activity. A significant increase in the levels of the antioxidant enzymes and GSH were also noted. Additionally, naringin ameliorated the apparent ultrastructural changes observed in the glomeruli and renal tubules of MTX-intoxicated rats. Noticeable structural improvements of glomerular lesions, proximal, and distal convoluted tubular epithelium were observed in MTX+NG treated animals, including podocytes with regular foot processes, perfectly organized filtration barrier, no signs of GBM thickening, organized brush border, and normal architecture of microvilli. Naringin (80 mg/kg) had the maximum amelioration effect. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the ultrastructural manifestations of naringin and/or MTX on the kidney of rats. Taken all, naringin has a potent therapeutic effect and can be used in adjuvant therapy to prevent MTX-induced nephrotoxicity. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism underlying the nephroprotective capacity of naringin needs further investigation.
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•Naringin induced a marked decrease of renal injury markers in MTX-treated rats.•Naringin protected against redox imbalance of renal tissue in MTX-treated rats.•Naringin restored serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in a dose-dependent manner.•Naringin attenuated apoptotic changes and caspase-3 activity in MTX-treated rats.•Naringin preserved renal pathology alterations in the MTX-treated rats.
A novel molecularly imprinted ratiometric-based sensor was designed for highly selective and ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of glutathione (GSH). The sensor consists of porous carbon ...co-doped with nitrogen and sulfur formed on the surface of graphite electrode (N, S@PC/GE). Silver nanoparticles (Ag) were grown on the surface of N, S@PC/GE to improve the conductivity/surface area of the sensor and represent an internal reference signal for ratiometric response. The monomer (pyrrole-4-carboxylic acid, Py-COOH) was electro-polymerized on the surface of Ag/N, S@PC/GE in the presence of Cu (II) to form Cu-MIP@Ag/N, S@PC/GE. Addition of GSH decreased the signal of Ag at 0.18 V (oxidation of Ag) due to coordination complexation, while the signal response at 0.83 V (oxidation of Ag-GSH complex) was increased. Under optimum conditions, the ratio response (IGSH/IAg) was increased with increasing the concentration of GSH in the range of 0.01–500 nM with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.003 nM. The electrochemical sensor exhibits many advantages including low LOD, high selectivity, good reproducibility, and satisfactory stability. The sensor was successfully applied to determine GSH in dietary supplements and human serum samples with recoveries % ranged from 97.4 to 101.8% and relative standard deviation % (RSD %) did not exceed 3.8%. This research paper introduces new information for the construction of molecular imprinted ratiometric-based electrochemical sensors for highly selective and sensitive detection of (bio) molecules.
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•A novel hybrid was proposed for ratiometric electrochemical sensing of GSH.•The sensor consists of nitrogen and sulfur porous carbon formed on the surface of graphite electrode.•Addition of AgNP improves conductivity and surface area; in addition, it acts as internal reference.•Advantages of the sensor are low LOD values, reproducibility, satisfactory stability, and selectivity.•It was applied to detect GSH in dietary supplements and human serum samples.
The use of various kinds of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for examining brain tissue has increased significantly in recent years, and manual investigation of each of the resulting ...images can be a time-consuming task. This paper presents an automatic brain-tumor diagnosis system that uses a CNN for detection, classification, and segmentation of glioblastomas; the latter stage seeks to segment tumors inside glioma MRI images. The structure of the developed multi-unit system consists of two stages. The first stage is responsible for tumor detection and classification by categorizing brain MRI images into normal, high-grade glioma (glioblastoma), and low-grade glioma. The uniqueness of the proposed network lies in its use of different levels of features, including local and global paths. The second stage is responsible for tumor segmentation, and skip connections and residual units are used during this step. Using 1800 images extracted from the BraTS 2017 dataset, the detection and classification stage was found to achieve a maximum accuracy of 99%. The segmentation stage was then evaluated using the Dice score, specificity, and sensitivity. The results showed that the suggested deep-learning-based system ranks highest among a variety of different strategies reported in the literature.
Novel and sensitive electrochemical sensor was fabricated for the assay of anti-HCV ledipasvir (LEDV) in different matrices. The designed sensor was based on 3D spinel ferromagnetic NiFe2O4 ...nanospheres and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) supported by morpholinium acid sulphate (MHS), as an ionic liquid (RGO/NSNiFe2O4/MHS). This sensor design was assigned to synergistically tailor the unique properties of nanostructured ferrites, RGO, and ionic liquid to maximize the sensor response. Electrode modification prevented aggregation of NiFe2O4, increasing electroactive surface area and allowed remarkable electro-catalytic oxidation of LEDV with an enhanced oxidation response. Differential pulse voltammetry was used for detection LEDV in complex matrices whereas; cyclic voltammetry and other techniques were employed to characterize the developed sensor properties. All experimental factors regarding sensor fabrication and chemical sensing properties were carefully studied and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the designated sensor displayed a wide linear range (0.4–350 ng mL-1) with LOD of 0.133 ng mL-1. Additionally, the proposed sensor demonstrated good selectivity, stability and reproducibility, enabling the quantitative detection of LEDV in Harvoni® tablets, human plasma and in a pharmacokinetic study. Our findings suggest that the developed sensor is a potential prototype material for fabrication of high-performance electrochemical sensors.
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•The RGO/NS NiFe2O4/MHS hybrid was synthesized via a facile wet chemical route for the first time.•An enhanced electro-catalytic property of the hybrid has been demonstrated.•The constructed sensor displays super performances for the ledipasvir detection for the first time.•Advantages include excellent practicability with remarkable reliability.•The developed sensor was used for monitoring ledipasvir during its pharmacokinetic study in human plasma.
A gold nanoparticle–modified copper-based metal organic framework (Au NPs@Cu-BDC) was fabricated for the electrochemical determination of cysteine (Cys-SH). The nanocomposites were characterized ...using different techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), powder X-ray spectroscopy (PXRD), thermogravimetry (TGA), nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Formation of a new anodic peak of Cu(II)-Cys complex at + 0.43 V was used to detect Cys-SH. Cyclic and square wave voltammetric studies proved that the Au NPs enhanced the conductivity of Cu-BDC. The proposed electrode exhibited a linear range of 0.0015–10.5 μM and low detection limit of 0.0004 μM with a good sensitivity of 0.78 ± 0.01 μA μM. The as-fabricated electrode was successfully used for the estimation of Cys-SH in real samples (human plasma, urine, and saliva) with recovery % of 99–100% and RSD % of 2.7–3.6%, respectively.
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A nanohybrid prepared from green source (nanocellulose, NC) and nitrogen, sulfur co-doped graphene quantum dots (N, S@GQDs) was prepared for the electrochemical detection of olanzapine (OLZ), ...atypical antipsychotic primarily used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Polar groups on the surface of NC and N, S@GQDs provide more anchoring sites for adsorption of OLZ onto the electrode surface. In addition, it provides high conductivity, good mechanical strength, large surface area, and excellent electrical conductivity. The nanocomposite was characterized morphologically and electrochemically by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscope (TEM), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave adsorptive stripping voltammetry (SWAdSV). Under the optimized conditions, the modified electrode has a good response in the range of 1.5–90.0 × 10−8 M with LOD of 0.5 × 10−8 M. The proposed electrode offers high sensitivity, selectivity, and reliability towards OLZ detection. The SWAdSV was used to determine OLZ in pharmaceutical tablets, human plasma and urine with good recoveries % and reasonable RSD% values.
•New combination of nanocellulose (NC) and nitrogen and sulfur co-doped graphene quantum dots (N, S @GQDs) was proposed.•The nanohybrid (NC/N, S@GQDs) was drop-casted on the surface of GCE for voltammetric oxidation of OLZ.•This fabricated sensor has low detection limit, dynamic range, good reproducibility, stability and sensitivity.•Successful determination of OLZ in pharmaceutical dosage, human blood plasma and urine
To investigate two new stiffness parameters and their relationships with the dynamic corneal response (DCR) parameters and compare normal and keratoconic eyes.
Stiffness parameters are defined as ...Resultant Pressure at inward applanation (A1) divided by corneal displacement. Stiffness parameter A1 uses displacement between the undeformed cornea and A1 and stiffness parameter highest concavity (HC) uses displacement from A1 to maximum deflection during HC. The spatial and temporal profiles of the Corvis ST (Oculus Optikgeräte, Wetzlar, Germany) air puff were characterized using hot wire anemometry. An adjusted air pressure impinging on the cornea at A1 (adjAP1) and an algorithm to biomechanically correct intraocular pressure based on finite element modelling (bIOP) were used for Resultant Pressure calculation (adjAP1 - bIOP). Linear regression analyses between DCR parameters and stiffness parameters were performed on a retrospective dataset of 180 keratoconic eyes and 482 normal eyes. DCR parameters from a subset of 158 eyes of 158 patients in each group were matched for bIOP and compared using t tests. A P value of less than .05 was considered statistically significant.
All DCR parameters evaluated showed significant differences between normal and keratoconic eyes, except peak distance. Keratoconic eyes had lower stiffness parameter values, thinner pachymetry, shorter applanation lengths, greater absolute values of applanation velocities, earlier A1 times and later second applanation times, greater HC deformation amplitudes and HC deflection amplitudes, and lower HC radius of concave curvature (greater concave curvature). Most DCR parameters showed a significant relationship with both stiffness parameters in both groups.
Keratoconic eyes demonstrated less resistance to deformation than normal eyes with similar IOP. The stiffness parameters may be useful in future biomechanical studies as potential biomarkers. J Refract Surg. 2017;33(4):266-273..
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•A ratiometric fluorescent probe was designed for detecting ciprofloxacin (CIPRO).•The mechanism was based on La3+-enhanced fluorescence of GSH@AuNCs.•The probe displayed outstanding ...detection stability due to ratiometric response.•The probe also possessed the features of fast response and excellent sensitivity.•The probe was successfully applied to the determination of CIP in human urine and milk samples.
In this research work, ultrasensitive and reliable ratiometric sensor was designed for assay of ciprofloxacin (CIPRO). The platform consists of thiolate-protected gold nanoclusters (GSH@AuNCs) with high fluorescence quantum yield and long-term stability. In the existence of lanthanum (La3+) ion, the GSH@AuNCs emission was sharply raised owing to the formation of La3+/GSH@AuNCs system accompanied with aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE). Addition of CIPRO, a good La3+ ion coordinator, decreased the fluorescence emission of La3+/GSH@AuNCs system at 610 nm significantly as a result of disaggregation caused by the removal of La3+ ion from GSH@AuNCs surface. Furthermore, the blue emission of La3+-CIPRO coordination complex appears at 440 nm. Under optimized conditions, the fluorescence ratios (F440/F610) were linearly increased with increasing the CIPRO amount within the range of 0.003–200 µM with a limit of detection equal to 0.2 nM (S/N = 3). The as-fabricated La3+/GSH@AuNCs system possesses outstanding reliability and sensitivity for the detection of CIPRO. The system was effectively used to assay CIPRO in human urine and milk specimens with recoveries % of 97.6–102.3 % and 96.7–105.7 % for urine and milk samples, respectively and RSD % did not exceed 2.5 %, suggesting the accuracy of the method.
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