Over the years, manganese dioxide (MnO2) and its different allotropes have gained significant research attention in the field of wastewater treatment because of their exciting physicochemical properties.

Industrial utilization of nuclear resources greatly depends on the effective treatment of nuclear waste.

The study reports enhanced Fe, Cu, and Zn contents in breast tissues, a probable risk factor of breast cancer in females. Forty-one formalin-fixed breast tissues were analyzed using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Twenty malignant, six adjacent to malignant and 15 benign tissues samples were investigated. The malignant tissues samples were of grade 11 and type invasive ductal carcinoma. The quantitative comparison between the elemental levels measured in the two types of specimen (benign and malignant) tissues (removed after surgery) suggests significant elevation of these metals (Fe, Cu, and Zn) in the malignant tissue. The specimens were collected just after mastectomy of women aged 19 to 59 years from the hospitals of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Most of the patients belong to urban areas of Pakistan. Findings of study depict that these elements have a promising role in the initiation and development of carcinoma as consistent pattern of elevation for Fe, Cu, and Zn was observed. The results showed the excessive accumulation of Fe (229 ± 121 mg/L) in malignant breast tissue samples of patients (p < 0.05) to that in benign tissues samples (49.1 ± 11.4 mg/L). Findings indicated that excess accumulation of iron in malignant tissues can be a risk factor of breast cancer. In order to validate our method of analysis, certified reference material muscle tissue lyophilized (IAEA) MA-M-2/TM was analyzed for metal studied. Determined concentrations were quite in good agreement with certified levels. Asymmetric concentration distribution for Fe, Cu, and Zn was observed in both malignant and benign tissue samples.

Cellulose nanofiber (CNF) is one of the emerging green candidates for the various domains due to its sustainability, abundance availability, and high surface area. However, its effectiveness in the environmental aspect of toxic heavy metal removal required improvement by tuning the interface between CNF and heavy metals, and by understanding removal mechanisms. Herein, we synthesized four types of surface-functionalized CNF from waste coffee-filters for enhanced uptake of As V and Cr VI in the different water matrices. Among them, Fe 3+ -cross-linked CNF-Fe 2 O 3 (FF) and mussel-inspired dopamine conjugated CNF (DP) demonstrated significant performance in water treatment for As V and Cr VI , respectively, than commercial activated carbon based adsorbents. Combined X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, and data fitting elucidated the complexation mode of As V and Cr VI to each CNF derivative which suggested that As V binds through a bidentate-binuclear complex and that Cr VI binds to catecholic OH as a trinuclear complex. Simultaneously, the transformation of harmful Cr VI into nontoxic Cr III was observed in DP which supports their potential practical applications. Taken together, our comprehensive data not only provide the material fabrication, interface behavior, and impact of water quality parameters in simulated and real contaminated waters but also explore the holistic understanding of the heavy metal removal mechanism and adsorbate−adsorbent interfacial interaction of these novel CNF derivatives.