Surgical sutures capable of drug loading and sustained release are important in wound healing applications. In this work, a facile way to incorporate anti-inflammatory drug of ibuprofen in surgical sutures has been established. First, surgical sutures were deposited with multilayer films containing microgels of chemically cross-linked poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and dextran (named PAH-D) by layer-by-layer deposition of PAH-D and hyaloplasm acid (HA). Ibuprofen was then incorporated in the PAH-D/HA films to obtain ibuprofen-loaded sutures. Ibuprofen incorporated in the surgical sutures can be released in 0.9% normal saline in a sustainable way. The successful incorporation of ibuprofen in surgical sutures depends largely on PAH-D microgels, which can deposit directly on the hydrophobic surgical sutures without any surface modification and load ibuprofen based on electrostatic interaction between them. The present study provides a facile and generally applicable way to incorporate drugs in surgical sutures that is highly useful to accelerate the healing of cuts and wounds.
Heavy metal contamination attracted a wide spread attention due to their strong toxicity and persistence. The Ganxi River, located in Chenzhou City, Southern China, has been severely polluted by lead/zinc ore mining activities. This work investigated the heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils around the Ganxi River. The total concentrations of heavy metals were determined by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The potential risk associated with the heavy metals in soil was assessed by Nemerow comprehensive index and potential ecological risk index. In both methods, the study area was rated as very high risk. Multivariate statistical methods including Pearson's correlation analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and principal component analysis were employed to evaluate the relationships between heavy metals, as well as the correlation between heavy metals and pH, to identify the metal sources. Three distinct clusters have been observed by hierarchical cluster analysis. In principal component analysis, a total of two components were extracted to explain over 90% of the total variance, both of which were associated with anthropogenic sources.
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