The aptitude of a cell to adhere, migrate, and differentiate on a compact substrate or scaffold is important in the field of tissue engineering and biomaterials. It is well known that cell behavior can be controlled and guided through the change in micro- and nano-scale topographic features. In this work, we intend to demonstrate that special topographic features that control wettability may also have an important role in the biological performance of biodegradable substrates. Poly(L-lactic acid) surfaces with superhydrophobic characteristics were produced, based on the so-called Lotus effect, exhibiting dual micro- and nano-scale roughness. The water contact angle could be higher than 150 degrees and a value of that order could be kept even upon immersion in a simulated body fluid solution for more than 20 days. Such water repellent surfaces were found to prevent adhesion and proliferation of bone marrow derived cells previously isolated from the femurs of 6-week-old male Wistar rats, when compared with smoother surfaces prepared by simple solvent casting. Such results demonstrate that these superhydrophobic surfaces may be used to control cell behavior onto biodegradable substrates.

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The presence of pharmaceutical compounds in water has adverse environmental and health impacts. The main objective of the current research are to investigate the removal efficiency of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) from aqueous solution by using magnetic manganese ferrite nanoparticles synthesized on powdered activated carbon (PAC). Magnetic activated carbon composites (MACC) were prepared by using chemical co‐precipitation at different temperature values ranging from 298 to 423 K. The obtained samples were characterized by contemporary characterization instrumental methods of analysis, and their SMX removal capabilities were evaluated. Results revealed that the procedure successfully created magnetic nanoparticles on PAC at temperatures of 298–423 K, and the anchored MnFe2O4/MnO2 manifested more crystalline forms at 423 K. As a result, MACC prepared at 423 K showed the highest magnetic and sorption capacities among three obtained samples. The SMX maximal adsorption capacity of MACC(423K) was 159 mg/g at pH 7, and the SMX adsorption remained stable at pH 3–7. The effect of common ions and humic acids on SMX adsorption indicates a high selectivity of MACC(423K) for SMX. Furthermore, MACC(423K) achieved much higher regeneration efficiency by H2O2 than that of virgin PAC, due to the presence of MnFe2O4/MnO2.

Inspired by mussels, dopamine (DOPA) was used as a green reducing agent for graphene oxide (GO) to prepare a superior flame retardant and high thermal conductive flexible film.

This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of selenium-enriched probiotics (SP) on growth performance, antioxidant status, immune function, and selenoprotein gene expression of piglets under natural high ambient temperature in summer. Forty-eight crossbred weanling piglets randomly allocated to four groups were fed for 42 days ad libitum a basal diet without (Con, 0.16 mg Se/kg) and with supplementation of probiotics (P, 0.16 mg Se/kg), sodium selenite (SS, 0.46 mg Se/kg), and SP (0.46 mg Se/kg). From each group, three piglets were randomly selected for blood collection on days 0, 14, 28, and 42 and tissue collection on day 42. The SP improved growth performance of piglets. Both SS and SP increased blood glutathione peroxidase activity and tissue thioredoxin reductase 1 mRNA expression, with SP being higher than SS. All P, SS, and SP supplementation increased the superoxide dismutase activity (40.1, 53.0, and 64.5%), glutathione content (84.6, 104, and 165%), TCR-induced T lymphocyte proliferation (20.8, 26.4, and 50.0%), and IL-2 concentration (24.9, 27.2, and 46.2%) and decreased malondialdehyde content (25.1, 26.3, and 49.3%), respectively. The greatest effects of SP supplementation suggest that SP may serve as a better feed additive than P or SS for piglets under high-temperature environments.

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