A study was carried out to investigate the fractionation of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn in shrimp aquaculture sludge from Selangor, Malaysia, using original (unmodified) and modified four-steps BCR (European Community Bureau of Reference, now known as the Standards Measurements and Testing Program) sequential extraction scheme. Step 2 of the unmodified BCR procedure (subsequently called Method A) involves treatment with 0.1 M hydroxylammonium chloride at pH 2, whereas 0.5 M hydroxylammonium chloride at pH 1.5 was used in the modified BCR procedure (subsequently called Method B). Metal analyses were carried out by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. A pseudo-total aqua-regia digest of BCR CRM 701 has also been undertaken for quality assurance purposes. The recovery of Method A for all metals studied ranges from 96.14% to 105.26%, while the recovery for Method B ranges from 95.94% to 122.40%. Our results reveal that Method A underestimated the proportion of metals bound to the easily reducible fraction except for copper. Therefore, the potential mobility of these elements is higher than others. Thus, to use this sludge as a fertilizer we have to first find a remediation for reduction of heavy metal contamination.

In recent years, essential oils have received a growing interest because of the positive health effects of their novel characteristics such as antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities. For the extraction of plant-derived essential oils, there is the need of advanced analytical techniques and innovative methodologies. An exhaustive study of hydrodistillation, supercritical fluid extraction, ultrasound- and microwave-assisted extraction, solid-phase microextraction, pressurized liquid extraction, pressurized hot water extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, liquid-phase microextraction, matrix solid-phase dispersion, and gas chromatography (one- and two-dimensional) hyphenated with mass spectrometry for the extraction through various plant species and analysis of essential oils has been provided in this review. Essential oils are composed of mainly terpenes and terpenoids with low-molecular-weight aromatic and aliphatic constituents that are particularly important for public health.

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Concentration of V, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, and Pb in muscle, liver, and gill tissues of red tilapia (Oreochromis spp) sampled from three different aquaculture sites which include earthen pond, ex-tin mining pool, and concrete tank in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, were determined using microwave-assisted digestion-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Accumulation patterns relating organs and elements, as well as origins and elements, were evaluated using multivariate statistics. With the aid of principal component analysis, it is possible to visualize the distribution pattern of metals in different organs as well as clustering tendencies of tilapia samples according to the production sites. In general, levels of V, Co, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, and Cd in liver were higher than those in muscles and gills, whereas Mn and Pb were higher in gills while As in muscles. Results from principal component analysis revealed that there are similar pattern of metal distribution among organs regardless of the production sites. It is also suggested that Cu, As, and Pb are the best describers in characterizing the studied organs, where liver tissues are associated with high Cu, gills with high Pb, and muscles with high As. On the other hand, V, Co, and Pb are observed to be key discriminants for sample origins.

Degree of unsaturation in fatty acid molecules plays an important role in the formation of vesicles. Vesicle formation from C18 fatty acids with different amount of double bonds such as oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid with the incorporation of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (DPPE-PEG2000) have been examined by TEM. Critical vesicular concentrations (CVC) of the vesicle suspension are determined by turbidity and surface tension methods. The CVC of fatty acids increases when the amount of unsaturation in the alkyl chain increases. On the other hand, stability of vesicle suspension has been examined by using particle size and zeta potential at 30 o C. There was a dramatic decrease in particle size measurement from mono-unsaturation to tri-unsaturation which could be due to the effect of fluidity in the membrane bilayer caused by different degree of unsaturation. The values of zeta potential for vesicles that were formed without the incorporation of DPPE-PEG2000 were in the range of -70 mV to -100 mV. It has been observed that the incorporation of DPPE-PEG2000 to the vesicle reduces the magnitude of zeta potential. However, this phenomenon does not obviously seen in fatty acid vesicles formed by linoleate-linoleic acid and linolenate-linolenic acid. We therefore conclude that the addition of DPPE-PEG2000 does not effectively improve the stability of the linoleate-linoleic acid and linolenatelinolenic acid vesicle at pH 9.0 after the evaluation of their particle size and zeta potential over a period of 30 days. Although the vesicles formed were not stable for more than 10 days, they have displayed the potential in encapsulating the active ingredients such as vitamin E and calcein. The results show that the loading efficiencies of vitamin E are of encouraging value.

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