Effect of biochar on cadmium bioavailability and uptake in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in a soil with aged contamination

Abbas, T.,Rizwan, M.,Ali, S.,Zia-ur-Rehman, M.,Farooq Qayyum, M.,Abbas, F.,Hannan, F.,Rinklebe, J.,Sik Ok, Y. Academic Press 2017 Ecotoxicology and environmental safety Vol.140 No.-

<P>Cadmium (Cd) is a well-known and widespread toxic heavy metal while the effects of biochar (BC) on Cd bioavailability and toxicity in wheat, especially in soils with aged contamination are largely unknown. In the present study, the effect of rice straw BC on Cd immobilization in soil and uptake by wheat in an agricultural contaminated-soil was investigated. Different levels of rice straw BC (0%, 1.5%, 3.0% and 5% w/w) were incorporated into the soil and incubated for two weeks. After this, wheat plants were grown in the amended soil until maturity. The results show that the BC treatments increased the soil and soil solution pH and silicon contents in the plant tissues and in the soil solution while decreased the bioavailable Cd in soil. The BC application increased the plant-height, spike-length, shoot and root dry mass and grain yield in a dose additive manner when compared with control treatment. As compared to control, BC application increased the photosynthetic pigments and gas exchange parameters in leaves. Biochar treatments decreased the oxidative stress while increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes in shoots compared to the control. The BC treatments decreased the Cd and Ni while increased Zn and Mn concentrations in shoots, roots, and grains of wheat compared to the control. As compared to the control, Cd concentration in wheat grains decreased by 26%, 42%, and 57% after the application of 1.5%, 3.0%, and 5.0% BC respectively. Overall, the application of rice straw BC might be effective in immobilization of metal in the soil and reducing its uptake and translocation to grains.</P>

Corrosion Behavior Optimization by Nanocoating Layer for Low Carbon Steel in Acid and Salt Media

( Ahmed S. Abbas ),( Bahaa Sami Mahdi ),( Haider H. Abbas ),( F. F. Sayyid ),( A. M. Mustafa ),( Iman Adnan Annon ),( Yasir Muhi Abdulsahib ),( A. M. Resen ),( M. M. Hanoon ),( Nareen Hafidh Obaeed ) 한국부식방식학회 2023 Corrosion Science and Technology Vol.22 No.1

In this paper, a SiC nano electroless nickel plating layer with excellent corrosion resistance was fabricated using the Taguchi method. The electroless plated low carbon steel was subjected to tests to examine the influence of corrosive media, microhardness, and corrosion rate on the corrosion resistance of this alloy. Three different corrosive media (HCl, Na₂SO₄, and NaCl) at various temperatures (80, 90, and 100 ℃) were used, and at three different times (40, 80, and 120 min.) with a speed of stirring equal to 500 rpm. The results of microhardness were found from 134.276 HV to 278.578 HV at various conditions, while the corrosion rate results were obtained from 0.89643 mpy to 7.12571 mpy at different circumstances. Corrosion, and mechanical characteristics were explained using Taguchi design. Taguchi technique was used to account for all possible combinations of elements in order to conduct a complete study. Models that link the response and procedure parameters were developed using the results of these tests, and the analysis of variance was utilized to validate these models (ANOVA). For maximum efficiency, a function called “desirability” was applied to all responses at once.

Evaluation of Anti-Toxoplasma IgG, IgM, and IgA in Mothers with Spontaneous Abortion in Zanjan, Northwest Iran

Abbas Amin,S. Mazloomzadeh,A. Haniloo,F. Mohammadian,Asghar Fazaeli 대한기생충학열대의학회 2012 The Korean Journal of Parasitology Vol.50 No.4

Toxoplasma gondii is one of the major agents of infectious abortions and due to its worldwide distribution can threat healthy pregnant women who had no previous exposure to this parasite. The present study was designed to investigate the contribution of T. gondii to spontaneous abortions in Zanjan, Northwest of Iran, using ELISA method. Blood Samples were collected from 264 mothers referred to the provincial hospitals of Zanjan due to spontaneous abortion. The sera were isolated and subjected to evaluate the anti-Toxoplasma IgG, IgM and IgA antibodies. The results showed IgG positive (IgG+) in 99 cases (37.5%). A total of 68 women (25.8%) showed seroconversion with IgM or IgA or both IgM and IgA. They included: IgM+ in 21 (8.0%), IgA+ in 23 (8.7%) and both IgM+ and IgA+ in 24 (9.1%) subjects. In 23 cases, positive titers of IgM and IgG were accompanied. In general, the analysis of anti-Toxoplasma antibody patterns, showed that about 17% of the spontaneous abortions were associated with serological patterns of acute infection. According to these findings, a considerable proportion of spontaneous abortions can be attributed to T. gondii in the study area.

Efficiency calibration and coincidence summing correction for a NaI(Tl) spherical detector

Noureddine, Salam F.,Abbas, Mahmoud I.,Badawi, Mohamed S. Korean Nuclear Society 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.10

Spherical NaI(Tl) detectors are used in gamma-ray spectrometry, where the gamma emissions come from the nuclei with energies in the range from a few keV up to 10 MeV. A spherical detector is aimed to give a good response to photons, which depends on their direction of travel concerning the detector center. Some distortions in the response of a gamma-ray detector with a different geometry can occur because of the non-uniform position of the source from the detector surface. The present work describes the calibration of a NaI(Tl) spherical detector using both an experimental technique and a numerical simulation method (NSM). The NSM is based on an efficiency transfer method (ETM, calculating the effective solid angle, the total efficiency, and the full-energy peak efficiency). Besides, there is a high probability for a source-to-detector distance less than 15 cm to have pulse coincidence summing (CS), which may occur when two successive photons of different energies from the same source are detected within a very short response time. Therefore, γ-γ ray CS factors are calculated numerically for a ¹⁵²Eu radioactive cylindrical source. The CS factors obtained are applied to correct the measured efficiency values for the radioactive volumetric source at different energies. The results show a good agreement between the NSM and the experimental values (after correction with the CS factors).

Analysis on Monopole Antenna for Moisture Determination in Oil Palm Fruit Using Finite Difference Method

Cheng, E.M.,Abbas, Z.,Rahim @ Samsuddin, H.A.,Lee, K.Y.,You, K.Y.,Hassan, J.,Zainuddin, H.,Khor, S.F. The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers 2016 Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology Vol.11 No.6

Finite difference analysis were applied to study the principle operation of monopole antenna for moisture determination in oil palm fruit at 2 GHz. The electromagnetic field interact with oil palm fruit on the interface between the antenna and oil palm fruit and cause a reflection. The reflection measurement is based on mismatch impedance or dielectric properties between two media. Reflection coefficient is used to quantify the level of reflection. The monopole antenna was made of RG405/U semi-rigid coaxial cable with an inner and outer diameter of 0.45 mm and 1.50 mm, respectively with 2.23 mm length of protruding conductor over 5.66 cm length of monopole antenna. This monopole antenna for moisture detection was compared with induced EMF method in terms of reflection coefficient at 2 GHz. The results show that the complex reflection coefficient measured using monopole antenna provides significant results to predict moisture content in oil palm fruit.

Synthesis, molecular docking studies of coumarinyl-pyrazolinyl substituted thiazoles as non-competitive inhibitors of mushroom tyrosinase

Saeed, A.,Mahesar, P.A.,Channar, P.A.,Abbas, Q.,Larik, F.A.,Hassan, M.,Raza, H.,Seo, S.Y. Academic Press 2017 Bioorganic chemistry Vol.74 No.-

A series of coumarinyl-pyrazolinyl substituted thiazoles derivatives were synthesized and their inhibitory effects on the DPPH and mushroom tyrosinase were evaluated. The results showed that all of the synthesized compounds exhibited significant mushroom tyrosinase inhibitory activities. In particular, 3-(5-(4-(benzyloxy)-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-(4-(4-bromophenyl)thiazol-2-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-2H-chromen-2-one (7j) exhibited the most potent tyrosinase inhibitory activity with IC<SUB>50</SUB> value 0.00458+/-0.00022μM compared with the IC<SUB>50</SUB> value of kojic acid is 16.84+/-0.052μM. The inhibition mechanism analyzed by Lineweaver-Burk plots revealed that the type of inhibition of compound 7j on tyrosinase was noncompetitive. The docking study against tyrosinase enzyme was also performed to determine the binding affinity of the compounds. The compound 7a showed the highest binding affinity (-10.20kcal/mol) with active binding site of tyrosinase. The initial structure activity relationships (SARs) analysis suggested that further development of such compounds might be of interest. The statistics of our results endorses that compound 7j may serve asa structural template for the design and development of novel tyrosinase inhibitors.

Priority-Aware Interests Similarity Protocol (PAISP) for Proximity Based Mobile Social Network

Kluwer Academic Publishers 2017 WIRELESS PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS Vol. No.

Response of Triple Negative Breast Cancer to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy: Correlation between Ki-67 Expression and Pathological Response

Elnemr, Gamal M,El-Rashidy, Ahmed H,Osman, Ahmed H,Issa, Lotfi F,Abbas, Osama A,Al-Zahrani, Abdullah S,El-Seman, Sheriff M,Mohammed, Amrallah A,Hassan, Abdelghani A Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.2

Triple-negative breast cancers constitute about 15% of all cases, but despite their higher response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the tumors are very aggressive and associated with a poor prognosis as well as a higher risk of early recurrence. This study was retrospectively performed on 101 patients with stage II and III invasive breast cancer who received 6-8 cycles of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Out of the total, 23 were in the triple negative breast cancer subgroup. Nuclear Ki-67 expression in both the large cohort group (n=101) and triple negative breast cancer subgroup (n=23) and its relation to the pathological response were evaluated. The purpose of the study was to identify the predictive value of nuclear protein Ki-67 expression among patients with invasive breast cancers, involving the triple negative breast cancer subgroup, treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in correlation to the rate of pathological complete response. The proliferation marker Ki-67 expression was highest in the triple negative breast cancer subgroup. No appreciable difference in the rate of Ki-67 expression in triple negative breast cancer subgroup using either a cutoff of 14% or 35%. Triple negative breast cancer subgroup showed lower rates of pathological complete response. Achievement of pathological complete response was significantly correlated with smaller tumor size and higher Ki-67 expression. The majority of triple negative breast cancer cases achieved pathological partial response. The study concluded that Ki-67 is a useful tool to predict chemosensitivity in the setting of neoadjuvant chemotherapy for invasive breast cancer but not for the triple negative breast cancer subgroup.

Superiority of micro/nano tungsten carbide reinforced poly-methyl methacrylate composites in shielding gamma radiation

El-Khatib Ahmed M.,Alabsy Mahmoud T.,El-Khatib Alaa Y.,Dib Mirvat F.,Abbas Mahmoud I. 한국원자력학회 2024 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.56 No.10

This research aimed to develop lead-free polymer composites based on poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) and embedded with tungsten carbide (WC) micro and nanoparticles for use in radiation protection applications. PMMA was filled with 20 %, 40 %, and 60 % by weight of WC micro- and nanoparticles. The shielding features of the proposed polymer mixtures were evaluated at different radioactive sources of different energies using the HPGe detector. The results revealed that the investigated composites containing micro and nano-structured WC particles showed superior radiation shielding at 81 keV due to the K-edge of the W element occurring at 69.5 keV. The findings also demonstrated that composites loaded with WC nanoparticles were more effective in shielding gamma radiation than those loaded with WC microparticles, even at the same filler wt.%. Furthermore, the sample containing 60 % by weight of nano-WC, coded as P-60nWC, had superior shielding performance than other polymer-based composites reported in the literature. Thus, the proposed nano-WC/PMMA composites can be effectively employed in radiation facilities as alternative environmentally and lead-free radiation shielding materials to protect people and the environment from the harmful risks of gamma radiation.

Use of Maize (Zea mays L.) for phytomanagement of Cd-contaminated soils: a critical review

Rizwan, M.,Ali, S.,Qayyum, M. F.,Ok, Y. S.,Zia-ur-Rehman, M.,Abbas, Z.,Hannan, F. Springer Science + Business Media 2017 Environmental geochemistry and health Vol.39 No.2

<P>Maize (Zea mays L.) has been widely adopted for phytomanagement of cadmium (Cd)-contaminated soils due to its high biomass production and Cd accumulation capacity. This paper reviewed the toxic effects of Cd and its management by maize plants. Maize could tolerate a certain level of Cd in soil while higher Cd stress can decrease seed germination, mineral nutrition, photosynthesis and growth/yields. Toxicity response of maize to Cd varies with cultivar/varieties, growth medium and stress duration/extent. Exogenous application of organic and inorganic amendments has been used for enhancing Cd tolerance of maize. The selection of Cd-tolerant maize cultivar, crop rotation, soil type, and exogenous application of microbes is a representative agronomic practice to enhance Cd tolerance in maize. Proper selection of cultivar and agronomic practices combined with amendments might be successful for the remediation of Cd-contaminated soils with maize. However, there might be the risk of food chain contamination by maize grains obtained from the Cd-contaminated soils. Thus, maize cultivation could be an option for the management of low- and medium-grade Cd-contaminated soils if grain yield is required. On the other hand, maize can be grown on Cd-polluted soils only if biomass is required for energy production purposes. Long-term field trials are required, including risks and benefit analysis for various management strategies aiming Cd phytomanagement with maize.</P>