Bystander effects induced by diffusing mediators after photodynamic stress.

The bystander effect, whereby cells that are not traversed by ionizing radiation exhibit various responses when in proximity to irradiated cells, is well documented in the field of radiation biology, Here we demonstrate that considerable bystander responses are also observed after photodynamic stress using the membrane-localizing dye deuteroporphyrin (DP). Using cells of a WTK1 human lymphoblastoid cell line in suspension and a transwell insert system that precludes contact between targeted and bystander cells, we have shown that the bystander signaling is mediated by diffusing species. The extranuclear localization of the photosensitizer used suggests that primary DNA damage is not the trigger for initiating these bystander responses, which include elevated oxidative stress, DNA damage (micronucleus formation), mutagenesis and decreased clonogenic survival. In addition, oxidative stress in the bystander population was reduced by the presence of the membrane antioxidant vitamin E in the targeted cells, suggesting that lipid peroxidation may play a key role in mediating these bystander effects. The fluence responses for these bystander effects are non-linear, with larger effects seen at lower fluences and toxicity to the target cell population. Hence, when considering outcomes of photodynamic action in cells and tissue, bystander effects may be significant, especially at sublethal fluences.

Adsorption Characteristics of Reactive Dyes in Columns of Activated Carbon

Abstract: Adsorption behaviour of reactive dyes in fixed-bed adsorber was evaluated in this work. The characteristics of mass transfer zone (MTZ), where adsorption in column occurs, were affected by carbon bed depth and influent dye concentration. The working lifetime (t(x)) of MTZ, the height of mass transfer zone (HMTZ), the rate of mass transfer zone (RMTZ), and the column capacity at exhaustion (q(column)) were estimated for the removal of remazol reactive yellow and remazol reactive black by carbon adsorber. The results showed that column capacity calculated at 90% of column exhaustion was lower than carbon capacity obtained from equilibrium studies. This indicated that the capacity of activated carbon was not fully utilized in the fixed-bed adsorber. The bed-depth service time model (BDST) was applied for analysis of reactive yellow adsorption in the column. The adsorption capacity of reactive yellow calculated at 50% breakthrough point (No) was found to be 0.1 kg kg(-1) and this value is equivalent to about 14% of the available carbon capacity. The results of this study indicated the applicability of fixed-bed adsorber for removing remazol reactive yellow from solution. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Adsorption of basic dyes from aqueous solution onto activated carbons

The aim of this research is to compare the adsorption capacity of different types of activated carbons produced by steam activation in small laboratory scale and large industrial scale processes. Equilibrium behaviour of the activated carbons was investigated by performing batch adsorption experiments using bottle-point method. Basic dyes (methylene blue (MB), basic red (BR) and basic yellow (BY)) were used as adsorbates and the maximum adsorptive capacity was determined. Adsorption isotherm models, Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson were used to simulate the equilibrium data at different experimental parameters (pH and adsorbent particle size). It was found that PAC2 (activated carbon produced from New Zealand coal using steam activation) has the highest adsorptive capacity towards MB dye (588 mg/g) followed by F400 (476 mg/g) and PAC 1 (380 mg/g). BR and BY showed higher adsorptive affinity towards PAC2 and F400 than MB. Under comparable conditions, adsorption capacity of basic dyes, MB, BR and BY onto PAC 1, PAC2 and F400 increased in the order: MB <BR <BY. Redlich-Peterson model was found to describe the experimental data over the entire range of concentration under investigation. All the systems show favourable adsorption of the basic dyes with 0 <R-L <I (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of solution pH, ionic strength, and temperature on adsorption behavior of reactive dyes on activated carbon

The adsorption behavior of C.I. Reactive Blue 2, C.I. Reactive Red 4, and C.I. Reactive Yellow 2 from aqueous solution onto activated carbon was investigated under various experimental conditions. The adsorption capacity of activated carbon for reactive dyes was found to be relatively high. At pH 7.0 and 298 K, the maximum adsorption capacity for C.I. Reactive Blue 2, C.I. Reactive Yellow 2 and C.I. Reactive Red 4 dyes was found to be 0.27, 0.24, and 0.11 mmol/g, respectively. The shape of the adsorption isotherms indicated an L2-type isotherm according to the Giles and Smith classification. The experimental adsorption data showed good correlation with the Langmuir and Ferundlich isotherm models. Further analysis indicated that the formation of a complete monolayer was not achieved, with the fraction of surface coverage found to be 0.45, 0.42, and 0.22 for C.I. Reactive Blue 2, C.I. Reactive Yellow 2 and C.I. Reactive Red 4 dyes, respectively. Experimental data indicated that the adsorption capacity of activated carbon for the dyes was higher in acidic rather than in basic solutions, and further indicated that the removal of dye increased with increase in the ionic strength of solution, this was attributed to aggregation of reactive dyes in solution. Thermodynamic studies indicated that the adsorption of reactive dyes onto activated carbon was an endothermic process. The adsorption enthalpy (?H) for C.I. Reactive Blue 2 and C.I. Reactive Yellow 2 dyes were calculated at 42.2 and 36.2 kJ/mol, respectively. The negative values of free energy (?G) determined for these systems indicated that adsorption of reactive dyes was spontaneous at the temperatures under investigation (298-328 K). © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Textile wastewater treatment using granular activated carbon adsorption in fixed beds

This work involved the treatment of industrial wastewater from a nylon carpet printing plant which currently receives no treatment and is discharged to sea. As nylon is particularly difficult to dye, acid dyes are required for successful coloration and cause major problems with the plant's effluent disposal in terms of color removal. Granular activated carbon Filtrasorb 400 was used to treat a ternary solution of acid dyes and the process plant effluent containing the dyes in a fixed-bed column system. Experimental data were correlated using the bed depth service time (BDST) model to previously published work by the authors for single dye adsorption. The results were expressed in terms of the BDST adsorption capacity, in milligrams of adsorbate per gram of adsorbent, and indicated that there was a 12-25% decrease iri adsorption capacity in the ternary system compared to the single component system; This reduction has been attributed to competitive adsorption occurring in the ternary component system. Dye adsorption from the process plant effluent showed an approximate 65% decrease in adsorption capacity compared to the ternary solution system. This has been attributed to interference caused by the other colorless textile effluent pollutants found in the process wastewater. A chemical oxygen demand analysis on these components indicated that the dyes accounted for only 14% of the total oxygen demand.

Solvent strength of ionic liquid/CO2 mixtures

Previously we have shown that organic solutes can be extracted from ionic liquids (ILs) with supercritical CO2 and that ILs can be induced to separate from organic and aqueous mixtures by applying gaseous CO2 pressure. Thus, we are interested in the solvent strength of IL/CO2 mixtures. Here we use 4-nitroaniline, N,N-diethyl-4-nitroaniline and Reichardt's dye 33 to determine the Kamlet-Taft parameters for four different imidazolium based ILs and their mixtures with CO2 at 25 and 40degreesC. The effect of temperature and carbon dioxide concentration on these parameters was determined. The polarizability parameter depends weakly on the CO2 concentration. However, the hydrogen bond donating ability and the hydrogen bond accepting ability are virtually independent Of CO2 pressure. The results indicate that the strong interactions between ILs and probe molecules are not influenced by CO2.

Modelling the comet assay

The single-cell gel electrophoresis technique or comet assay is widely regarded as a quick and reliable method of analysing DNA damage in individual cells. It has a proven track record from the fields of biomonitoring to nutritional studies. The assay operates by subjecting cells that are fixed in agarose to high salt and detergent lysis, thus removing all the cellular content except the DNA. By relaxing the DNA in an alkaline buffer, strands containing breaks are released from supercoiling. Upon electrophoresis, these strands are pulled out into the agarose, forming a tail which, when stained with a fluorescent dye, can be analysed by fluorescence microscopy. The intensity of this tail reflects the amount of DNA damage sustained. Despite being such an established and widely used assay, there are still many aspects of the comet assay which are not fully understood. The present review looks at how the comet assay is being used, and highlights some of its limitations. The protocol itself varies among laboratories, so results from similar studies may vary. Given such discrepancies, it would be attractive to break the assay into components to generate a mathematical model to investigate specific parameters.

Stratification and Monitoring of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Patients by Synovial Proteome Analysis

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) comprises a poorly understood group of chronic, childhood onset, autoimmune diseases with variable clinical outcomes. We investigated whether profiling of the synovial fluid (SF) proteome by a fluorescent dye based, two-dimensional gel (DIGE) approach could distinguish patients in whom inflammation extends to affect a large number of joints, early in the disease process. SF samples from 22 JIA patients were analyzed: 10 with oligoarticular arthritis, 5 extended oligoarticular and 7 polyarticular disease. SF samples were labeled with Cy dyes and separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. Multivariate analyses were used to isolate a panel of proteins which distinguish patient subgroups. Proteins were identified using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry with expression further verified by Western immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Hierarchical clustering based on the expression levels of a set of 40 proteins segregated the extended oligoarticular from the oligoarticular patients (p <0.05). Expression patterns of the isolated protein panel have also been observed over time, as disease spreads to multiple joints. The data indicates that synovial fluid proteome profiles could be used to stratify patients based on risk of disease extension. These protein profiles may also assist in monitoring therapeutic responses over time and help predict joint damage. © 2009 American Chemical Society.

Separation of acid-dyes mixture by bamboo derived active carbon

In the present study, the activated carbon is produced using phosphoric acid treatment of the waste bamboo scaffolding and activated at either 400 or 600 °C. The effect of acid to bamboo ratio (Xp) up to 2.4 has been studied. The BET surface area increased with increasing Xp and activating temperature. BET surface area up to 2500 m2/g carbon has been produced. In order to simulate effluent treatment from textile industry, the produced carbon was tested for its dye adsorption capacities. Two acid dyes with different molecular sizes were used, namely Acid Yellow 117 (AY117) and Acid Blue 25 (AB25). In a single component system, it was found that dye with smaller molecular size, AB25, was readily adsorbed onto the carbon while the larger size dye, AY117, showed little adsorption. As a result, it is possible to tailor-make the carbon for the adsorption of dye mixtures in industrial applications, especially textile dyeing, i.e. molecular sieve effect. A binary AY117–AB25 mixture was used to test the possibility of the molecular sieve effect. Furthermore, experimental results were fitted to equilibrium isotherm models, Langmuir, Freundlich and Sips for the single component system. For the binary component system, extended single-component equilibrium isotherm models were used to predict the experimental data.

Myocardial infarction in the C57BL/6J mouse - A quantifiable and highly reproducible experimental model

Introduction: The laboratory mouse is a powerful tool in cardiovascular research. In this report, we describe a method for a reproducible mouse myocardial infarction model that would allow subsequent comparative and quantitative studies on molecular and pathophysiological variables. Methods: (A) The distribution of the major coronary arteries including the septal artery in the left ventricle of the C57BL/6J mice (n=20) was mapped by perfusion of latex dye or fluorescent beads through the aorta. (B) The territory of myocardial infarction after the ligation of the most proximal aspect of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery was quantified. (C) The consistency in the histological changes parallel to the infarction at different time points was analyzed. Results: (A) The coronary artery tree of the mouse is different from human and, particularly, in regard to the blood supply of the septum. (B) Contrary to previous belief, the septal coronary artery in the mouse is variable in origin. (C) A constant ligation of the LAD immediately below the left auricular level ensures a statistically significant reproducible infarct size. (D) The ischemic changes can be monitored at a histological level in a way similar to what is described in the human. Conclusion: We illustrate a method for maximal reproducibility of experimental acute myocardial infarction in the mouse model, due to a consistent loss of perfusion in the lower half of the left ventricle. This will allow the study of molecular and physiological variables in a controlled and quantifiable experimental model environment. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Adsorption and photocatalysed destruction of cationic and anionic dyes on mesoporous titania films: Reactions at the air-solid interface

Cationic dyes, such as methylene blue (MB), Thionine (TH) and Basic Fuschin (BF), but not anionic dyes, such as Acid Orange 7 (AO7), Acid Blue 9 (AB9) and Acid Fuschin (AF), are readily adsorbed onto mesoporous titania films at high pH (pH 11), i.e. well above the pzc of titania (pH 6.5), due to electrostatic forces of attraction and repulsion, respectively. The same anionic dyes, but not the cationic dyes, are readily adsorbed on the same titania films at low pH (pH 3), i.e. well below titania's pzc. MB appears to adsorb on mesoporous titania films at pH 11 as the trimer (lambda(max) = 570 nm) but, upon drying, although the trimer still dominates, there is an absorption peak at 665 nm, especially notable at low [MB], which may be due to the monomer, but more likely MB J-aggregates. In contrast, the absorption spectrum of AO7 adsorbed onto the mesoporous titania film at low pH is very similar to the dye monomer. For both MB and AO7 the kinetics of adsorption are first order and yield high rate constants (3.71 and 1.481 g(-1) min(-1)), indicative of a strong adsorption process. Indeed, both MB and AO7 stained films retained much of their colour when left overnight in dye-free pH 11 and 3 solutions, respectively, indicating the strong nature of the adsorption. The kinetics of the photocatalytic bleaching of the MB-titania films at high pH are complex and not well-described by the Julson-Ollis kinetic model [A.J. Julson, D.F. Ollis, Appl. Catal. B. 65 (2006) 315]. Instead, there appears to be an initial fast but not simple demethylation step, followed by a zero-order bleaching and further demethylation steps. In contrast, the kinetics of photocatalytic bleaching of the AO7-titania film give a good fit to the Julson-Ollis kinetic model, yielding values for the various fitting parameters not too dissimilar to those reported for AO7 adsorbed on P25 titania powder. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of luminescent samples using subtracted shifted Raman spectroscopy

A novel method of obtaining high-quality Raman spectra of luminescent samples was tested using cyclohexane solutions which had been treated with a fluorescent dye. The method involves removing the fixed pattern irregularity found in the spectra taken with CCD detectors by subtracting spectra taken at several different, closely spaced spectrometer positions. It is conceptually similar to SERDS (shifted excitation Raman difference spectroscopy) but has the distinct experimental advantage that it does not require a tunable laser source. The subtracted spectra obtained as the raw data are converted into a more recognisable and conventional form by iterative fitting of appropriate double Lorentzian functions whose peak parameters are then used to 'reconstruct' a conventional representation of the spectrum. Importantly, it is shown that the degree of uncertainty in the resultant 'reconstructed' spectra can be gauged reliably by comparing reconstructed spectra obtained at two different spectrometer shifts (delta and 2 delta), The method was illustrated and validated using a solvent (cyclohexane) the spectrum of which is well known and which contains both regions with complex overlapping bands and regions with isolated bands, Possible sources of error are discussed and it is shown that, provided the degree of uncertainty in the data is correctly characterised, it is completely valid to draw conclusions about the spectra of the sample on the basis of the reconstructed data. The acronym SSRS (subtracted shifted Raman spectroscopy; pronounced scissors) is proposed for this method, to distinguish it from the SERDS technique.

Thin-film oxygen sensors using a luminescent polynuclear gold(I) complex

Robust thin-film oxygen sensors were fabricated by encapsulating a lipophilic, polynuclear gold(I) complex, bis{m-(bis(diphenylphosphino)octadecylamine-P,P')}dichlorodigold(I), in oxygen permeable polystyrene and ormosil matrices. Strong phosphorescence, which was quenched by gaseous and dissolved oxygen, was observed from both matrices. The polystyrene encapsulated dye exhibited downward-turning Stern-Volmer plots which were well fitted by a two-site model. The ormosil trapped complex showed linear Stern-Volmer plots for dissolved oxygen quenching but was downward turning for gaseous oxygen. No leaching was observed when the ormosil based sensors were immersed in flowing water over an 8 h period. Both films exhibited fully reversible response and recovery to changing oxygen concentration with rapid response times. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of glass substrate and deposition technique on the properties of sol gel TiO2 thin films

Na+ ions have a detrimental effect on the photocatalytic activity of thin sot gel films deposited on soda lime glass due to their diffusion into the film during the calcination process. Given that the content of sodium in glass substrate might be the crucial parameter in determining the activity of a photocatalyst, the aim of the present work was the comparison of the photoinduced properties of a thin TiO2 film prepared on three different glass substrates namely on quartz (Q) glass, borosilicate (BS) glass and soda lime (SL) glass which have different sodium content. The prepared layers were characterised by X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy. The diffusion of Na+ from the substrate into the layers was determined by Glow Discharge Atomic Emission Spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of the films were assessed using two model pollutant test systems (resazurin/resorufin ink and stearic acid film), which appeared to correlate reasonably well. It was observed that TiO2 layer on SL glass has a brookite crystalline structure while the TiO2 layer on BS and Q glass has an anatase crystalline structure. On the other hand, the photodegradation of the model dye on TiO2 films deposited on Q and BS glass is about an order higher than on SL glass. The low sodium content of BS glass makes it the most suitable substrate for the deposition of photoactive sol gel TiO2 films. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.