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Silica nanoparticles (SNPs) have shown great applicability potential in a number of fields like chemical, biomedical, biotechnology, agriculture, environmental remediation and even wastewater purification. With remarkably instinctive properties like mesoporous structure, high surface area, tunable pore size/diameter, biocompatibility, modifiability and polymeric hybridizability, the SNPs are growing in their applicable potential even further. These particles are shown to be non-toxic in nature, hence safe to be used in biomedical research. Moreover, the molecular mobilizability onto the internal and external surface of the particles makes them excellent carriers for biotic and non-biotic compounds. In this respect, the present study comprehensively reviews the most important and recent applications of SNPs in a number of fields along with synthetic approaches. Moreover, despite versatile contributions, the applicable potential of SNPs is still a tip of the iceberg waiting to be exploited more, hence, the last section of the review presents the future prospects containing only few of the many gaps/research extensions regarding SNPs that need to be addressed in future work.

Objective: The primary aim of this systematic review was to examine the relationship of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) exposure with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and elaborate the current knowledge and recent advances in the area of PAH and its effects on CVDs and discuss the growing epidemiological evidence linking PAH to CVDs on the health of human populations. In this systematic review, the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and their relationship with PAHs were discussed in detail.Methods: On 05th April 2021, a systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed/Medline and Web of Science search engines in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. The search was limited to articles that were written in English and dealt with human issues. All original peer-review publications were considered for inclusion. Comments, case reports, reviews, duplicated papers, and conference reports were excluded. Data was collected from included papers by two independent reviewers.Results: Conclusively, 20 research articles published between 2005 and 2021 were chosen for the final analysis. The systemic review included 20 studies with a variety of geographical studies. The most common research category among the nominated studies were time-series studies followed by retrospective cohort, cross-sectional, quasi-experimental, panel, and case-control studies. Most of the studies were conducted in the United States, whereas others were showed in various geographical countries around the world, such as Denmark, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, France, China, Norway, Korea, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, and Belgium. Eight studies assessed the association between PAH exposure and CVDs, four articles observed this relationship with blood pressure (BP), two observed association between atherosclerotic CVD and PAH, one congenital heart disease, cardiovascular events, and two with obesity. Furthermore, in some investigations, a favorable association between PAH exposure and hypertension as well as PAH exposure and obesity was found.Conclusion: In conclusion, this systematic review examined the relationship of PAH exposure with CVDs and CVD-related risk factors by searching several digital databases. After a comprehensive literature searches and summarizing findings from 20 articles, the authors concluded that a positive relationship was observed between PAH exposure and CVD risks.

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The widespread usage of nano-copper oxide particles (nano-CuO) in several industrial products and applications raises concerns about their release into water bodies. Thus, their elimination from drinking water is essential to reduce the risk to human health. This work investigated the removal of nano-CuO from pure water and montmorillonite clay (MC) suspensions using poly aluminum ferric chloride (PAFC) as well as cationic polyacrylamide (PAM) by the coagulation-flocculation-sedimentation (C/F/S) process. Moreover, the PAFC and PAFC/PAM flocculation performance for various nano-CuO particles concentrations, dosages, pH, settling times and stirring speeds were also investigated. The findings showed that the removal of nano-CuO and turbidity in MC suspension were higher as compared to pure water. Moreover, the combined effect of PAFC/PAM on the elimination of nano-CuO and turbidity was also substantially better than the individual use of PAFC or PAM. The efficient removal of CuO was observed in the solution containing higher mass concentration in the order (10 mg/L > 2.5 mg/L > 1 mg/L) with an increased coagulant dose. The improved removal performance of nano-CuO was observed in a pH range of 7–11 under various water matrices. The C/F/S conditions of nano-CuO were further optimized by the Box–Behnken statistical experiment design and response surface methodology. The PAFC/PAM dose resulted in the maximum removal of nano-CuO (10 mg/L) in both pure water (>97%) and MC suspension (>99%). The results of particle monitoring and Fourier transform infrared of composite flocs revealed that the main removal mechanism of nano-CuO may be the combined effect of neutralization, complexation as well as adsorption.