This study focused on determining the phytotoxic mechanism of CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs): destroying chloroplasts and vascular bundles and altering absorption of nutrients on conventional and Bt-transgenic cottons. Experiments were designed with three concentrations of CeO2 NPs including: 0, 100 and 500 mg·L−1, and each treatment was three replications. Results indicate that absorbed CeO2 nanoparticles significantly reduced the Zn, Mg, Fe, and P levels in xylem sap compared with the control group and decreased indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations in the roots of conventional cotton. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed that CeO2 NPs were absorbed into the roots and subsequently transported to the stems and leaves of both conventional and Bt-transgenic cotton plants via xylem sap. In addition, the majority of aggregated CeO2 NPs were attached to the external surface of chloroplasts, which were swollen and ruptured, especially in Bt-transgenic cotton. The vascular bundles were destroyed by CeO2 nanoparticles, and more damage was observed in transgenic cotton than conventional cotton.

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Nanoparticles (NPs) are an increasingly common contaminant in agro-environments, and their potential effect on genetically modified (GM) crops has been largely unexplored. GM crop exposure to NPs is likely to increase as both technologies develop. To better understand the implications of nanoparticles on GM plants in agriculture, we performed a glasshouse study to quantify the uptake of Fe2O3 NPs on transgenic and non-transgenic rice plants. We measured nutrient concentrations, biomass, enzyme activity, and the concentration of two phytohormones, abscisic acid (ABA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and malondialdehyde (MDA). Root phytohormone inhibition was positively correlated with Fe2O3 NP concentrations, indicating that Fe2O3 had a significant influence on the production of these hormones. The activities of antioxidant enzymes were significantly higher as a factor of low Fe2O3 NP treatment concentration and significantly lower at high NP concentrations, but only among transgenic plants. There was also a positive correlation between the treatment concentration of Fe2O3 and iron accumulation, and the magnitude of this effect was greatest among non-transgenic plants. The differences in root phytohormone production and antioxidant enzyme activity between transgenic and non-transgenic rice plants in vivo suggests that GM crops may react to NP exposure differently than conventional crops. It is the first study of NPs that may have an impact on GM crops, and a realistic significance for food security and food safety.

As the demands for nanotechnology and nanoparticle (NP) applications in agriculture increase, the ecological risk has drawn more attention because of the unpredictable results of interactions between NPs and transgenic crops. In this study, we investigated the effects of various concentrations of Fe2O3 NPs on Bt-transgenic cotton in comparison with conventional cotton for 10 days. Each treatment was conducted in triplicate, and each experiment was repeated three times. Results demonstrated that Fe2O3 NPs inhibited the plant height and root length of Bt-transgenic cotton and promoted root hairs and biomass of non-transgenic cotton. Nutrients such as Na and K in Bt-transgenic cotton roots increased, while Zn contents decreased with Fe2O3 NPs. Most hormones in the roots of Bt-transgenic cotton increased at low Fe2O3 NP exposure (100 mg⋅L-1) but decreased at high concentrations of Fe2O3 NPs (1000 mg⋅L-1). Fe2O3 NPs increased the Bt-toxin in leaves and roots of Bt-transgenic cotton. Fe2O3 NPs were absorbed into roots, then transported to the shoots of both Bt-transgenic and non-transgenic cottons. The bioaccumulation of Fe2O3 NPs in plants might be a potential risk for agricultural crops and affect the environment and human health.

Forward osmotic (FO) membrane is a new process for producing fresh water from salt water. The study of draw solute is essential in the development and application of FO technology; draw solution should be good at drawing water and easy at recovery. In this paper, three complex draw solutes such as ammonium iron (II) sulfate, ammonium iron (III) sulfate and ammonium iron (III) citrate with different concentrations were studied. The physical properties such as pH, conductivity and total dissolved solids (TDS) have simultaneously been investigated. The pH of most ammonium complexes was decreased whereas TDS increased with increasing of draw solution concentrations. We found that high water flux of these iron complexes was reported in the range of 8.88-11.24 LMH which was higher than the ammonium bicarbonate draw solution. In addition, more than 90% iron complexes draw solutions were recovered by NF-90 membrane, which plays an important role in the FO process to produce fresh water. This study provides direct evidence for the ability of permeate water from feed solution to draw solution, which shows the potential applications of iron complexes in FO process to produce fresh water from sea-, brackish or river water.

Moringa oleifera (MO) grows throughout most of the tropics and has several industrial and medicinal uses. Besides the various uses of the plant parts such as its leaves, seed kernels, roots, or stem barks, the twigs (MT) of this plant are usually regarded as excessive parts. Although there have been few studies conducted to determine the value of this plant part, in fact, its potential uses—especially the pharmaceutical effects—of this biomaterial remains an up-to-date topic for scientists to discover due to the lack of interest so far. This study aims to identify the optimized fractions of different solvents for the extraction of antioxidants, for xanthine oxidase inhibition agents, and for anti-microbial activities. The two most active fractions obtained by column chromatography were the Hexane-Ethyl Acetate elution at a 9:1 (E1) and 8:2 (E2) ratio, respectively. With regard to antioxidant activity, E1 and E2 displayed relatively high DPPH radical scavenging capacity (IC50 = 87.7 and 99.0 µg/mL), which was only four times weaker than the control BHT (IC50 = 21.4 µg/mL). The highest inhibition activity against xanthine oxidase was also observed clearly in E1 and E2, which showed relatively low IC50 (54.7 and 42.0 µg/mL, respectively). These levels were inconsiderably higher than that of the positive control (IC50 = 20.8 µg/mL), proving that E1 and E2 exerted relatively strong antioxidant activity in terms of XOD inhibition. Regarding the antimicrobial test, E2 showed the highest inhibition activities against E. coli, K. pneumoiae, L. monocytogenes, B. subtilis, and P. mirabilis. The result indicates that (1) E1 and E2 were the strongest fractions for constraining free radical agents and several bacteria, and thus, (2) Moringa oleifera twigs are also a potential source for the prevention of gout-related symptoms.

Background: Hand hygiene (VST) is the simplest, most effective and most importantmeasure that contributes to reducing hospital-acquired infections, ensuring the safetyof health workers and improving the quality of patient care.Objectives: Describe the knowledge and practice of hand hygiene of medical staff atthe National Eye Hospital and analyze some related factors.Methods: Cross-sectional survey, quantitative research.Results: This study collected information from 323 health workers (NVYT),National Eye Hospital through questionnaires and observation using checklists. Theresearch results show that the knowledge and practice of hand hygiene in the controlof hospital-acquired infections of health workers is quite good.Conclusion: The rate of health workers with knowledge of hand hygiene reached74.9%. The rate of health workers with practices of hand hygiene reached over 85%.There are 4 factors related to knowledge of hand hygiene including: age, workingposition, working time and professional qualifications. Three factors related topractices of hand hygiene including: Gender, working position and time of trainingon infection control (p<0.05).

Alkaloids are among the most important and best-known secondary metabolites as sources of new drugs from medicinal plants and marine organisms. A phytochemical investigation of whole Crinum asiaticum var. sinicum plants resulted in the isolation of seven alkaloids (1–7), including one new compound (1). Their structures were elucidated using NMR and HR-ESI-MS. The absolute configuration of 1 was established by ECD. A molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation was carried out for the isolated compounds to screen for acetylcholine (AChE) inhibitory activity. The target compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on AChE activity in vitro. The results suggest that these C. asiaticum alkaloids possess the ability to treat Alzheimer’s disease.