Synergistic cellulose-based nanocomposite packaging and cold plasma decontamination for extended saffron preservation.

Sterilization of saffron packaging and maintaining the quality of saffron content are the main priorities in saffron preservation. Common modalities do not offer lasting saffron preservation and it is urgent to develop novel packaging approaches from renewable resources and prevent packaging waste. Here, simultaneous decontamination and quality maintenance of saffron is demonstrated, for the first time, through the synergistic application of nano-clay-loaded carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposites (CNCs) and cold plasmas (CP). Compared to the separate uses of CP and CMC/PVA/nano clay, our results confirm the synergies between CP and CMC/PVA/nano clay cause complete inactivation of Escherichia coli bacteria, while not significantly affecting the concentrations of the essential saffron components (safranal, crocin, and picrocrocin). Overall, the CP-treated CMC/PVA/nano clay fosters saffron preservation, through contamination removal and quality maintenance of the food product. The synergistic application of CP and CMC/PVA/nano clay thus represents a promising strategy for packaging, sterilization, and preservation of high-value food products.

Arc and pulsed spark discharge inactivation of pathogenic P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, M. canis, T. mentagrophytes, and C. albicans microorganisms.

There is a strong and ever-escalating need for sterilization tools that are effective against a broad range of pathogenic microorganisms. To address this issue, this study evaluates the inactivation potential of arc and pulsed spark plasma discharges on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Microsporum canis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and Candida albicans microorganisms. Our results show that the electrical discharge plasma systems are effective in the inactivation of pathogenic microorganisms. The inactivation of the considered strains was greatly affected by the type of microorganisms. Higher viability losses of the pathogenic strains were observed in bacterial strains than in the fungal strains. Moreover, in the case of fungal strains, the population of C. albicans was decreased the most, followed by Trichophyton mentagrophyte, while the population of Microsporum canis was decreased the least. Besides, the arc discharge system was compared with the pulsed spark discharge system. It can be obtained from the results that the pulsed spark discharge treatment successfully enhanced the reduction of the pathogenic cells more than the arc discharge treatment. The higher efficiency of the pulsed spark discharge is due to the generation of discharge streamers on the water surface. The SEM analyses showed that electrical discharge plasmas produced serious damage to pathogenic eukaryotic and prokaryotic microorganisms. Also, the plasma-induced changes in pH values and temperature values were measured. The pulsed spark discharge-treated samples have more significant changes in pH value while arc discharge-treated samples have larger temperature changes.

The Impacts of Prepared Plasma-Activated Medium (PAM) Combined with Doxorubicin on the Viability of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells: A New Cancer Treatment Strategy.

Background: For many years, the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (DOX) has been used to treat various cancers; however, DOX initiates several critical adverse effects. Many studies have reported that non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma can provide novel, but challenging, treatment strategies for cancer patients. To date, tissues and cells have been treated with plasma-activated medium (PAM) as a practical therapy. Consequently, due to the harmful adverse effects of DOX, we were motivated to elucidate the impact of PAM in the presence of DOX on MCF-7 cell proliferation. Methods: MTT assay, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) assay, and flow cytometry analysis were utilized in this research. Results: The results demonstrated that 0.45 µM DOX combined with 3-min PAM significantly induced apoptosis (p< 0.01) through intracellular ROS generation in MCF-7 when compared with 0.45 µM DOX alone or 3-min PAM alone. In contrast, after treatment with 0.45 µM DOX plus 4-min PAM, cell necrosis was increased. Hence, DOX combined with 4-min PAM has cytotoxic effects with different mechanisms than 4-min PAM alone, in which the number of apoptotic cells increases. Conclusion: Although further investigations are crucial, low doses of DOX plus 3-min PAM could be a promising strategy for cancer therapy. The findings from this research may offer advantageous and innovative clinical strategies for cancer therapy using PAM.

Tendon repair by plasma jet treatment.

OBJECTIVE: In recent years many researchers applied cold plasma for wound healing. The cold plasma is irradiated on the surface of wound. In this paper the effect of irradiation of cold plasma on the skin for healing of injured tissue which is located inside body, such as tendon, is evaluated. METHODS: The male, white New Zealand, (20-week-old) were selected. Aloxan injection induced for diabetes induction and a week later the blood glucose level was measured. The standard tendon injury was created. The rabbits was divided in 3 groups. Control group, Plasma treated group at 5 kv, plasma treated group at 10 kv. Cold plasma was applied to the rabbits for 21 days. RESULTS: After 21 days the tendon tissue were considered histologically. The results show that inflammatory cells were significantly lower in the tendon treated with cold plasma at 10 kv than the others, which confirms that cold plasma treatment reduce the inflammation phase. Cold plasma treatment led to increase neovascularation and collagen production. CONCLUSION: The results of this study confirm that the cold plasma treatment of skin has positive effect on healing of tissue inside body.

Cold atmospheric plasma as an effective method to treat diabetic foot ulcers: A randomized clinical trial.

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) was shown to decrease bacterial load in chronic wounds. It was also presented as a novel approach to healing wounds in both in vitro and in vivo experiments. We aimed to examine the first randomized clinical trial for the use of CAP in diabetic foot ulcers. Patients (n = 44) were randomly double-blinded, and assigned to receive standard care (SC, n = 22) without or with CAP, to be applied three times a week for three consecutive weeks (SC + CAP, n = 22), using block randomization with mixing block sizes of four. The trial was conducted at the Diabetes Research Center in Tehran, Iran. CAP was generated from ionized helium gas in ambient air, and driven by a high voltage (10 kV) and high frequency (6 kHz) power supply. Primary outcomes were wound size, number of cases reaching wound size of <0.5, and a bacterial load after over three weeks of treatment. CAP treatment effectively reduced the fraction of wound size (p = 0.02). After three weeks, the wounds to reach fraction wound size of ≤0.5 was significantly greater in the SC + CAP group (77.3%) compared to the SC group (36.4%) (p = 0.006). The mean fraction of bacterial load counted in each session 'after CAP exposure' was significantly less than 'before exposure' measures. CAP can be an efficient method to accelerate wound healing in diabetic foot ulcers, with immediate antiseptic effects that do not seem to last long.

Microstructure, micromorphology, and fractal geometry of hard dental tissues: Evaluation of atomic force microscopy images.

Determining surface topography of different tissues of the molar tooth with novel analytical methods has opened new horizons in dental surface measurements which characterize tooth surface quality in dentistry. Studying surface topological measurements and comparing surface morphology of hard tissue of the molar tooth are the ultimate goals of the present study. Ten molar teeth have been chosen for investigating their surface characteristics through image processing techniques. The power spectral density (PSD) and fast Fourier transform algorithms of every molar tooth containing enamel, dentin, and cementum have determined that the characterization of surface profiles is possible. As can be seen, PSD along with fractal dimensions leads to good results for teeth surface topography. Moreover, PSD angular plot assures appropriate description of surface.

The relation between structural, rugometric and fractal characteristics of hard dental tissues at micro and nano levels.

Human tooth exhibits a structure of a mixture of inorganic hydroxyapatite nanocrystals and organic phases. The aim of this study is to investigate different tissues of human canine teeth surface along with the micro structure parameters of each tissue. X-ray diffraction (XRD) is used to study the amorphous or crystalline nature of each tissue with different mineral compositions and crystalline structures where the highest crystalline quality is related to enamel. The surfaces are also examined by energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Moreover, crystalline quality factor is carried out to estimate the crystallinity of the tissues. Also, based on the basic Scherrer equation, the Williamson-Hall equation is applied to extend the formula for the XRD. Enamel and cementum tissues of a typical human tooth, which look similar, are composed of a large variety of wide lines with different widths through Raman spectra analysis. In addition, the applied scanning electron microscopy extracts similar morphology for all tissues with round granular structures which are denser in the cementum. Atomic force microscopy is finally used for investigation of micro-morphologies of the different tissues and the results are compared with the fractal analysis which ends to the bifractal and anisotropic nature of enamel and cementum along with monofractal and isotropic nature of dentin.

Cell damaging by irradiating non-thermal plasma to the water: Mathematical modeling of chemical processes.

Recently non-thermal plasma (NTP) is applied for many therapeutic applications. By NTP irradiating to the tissues or cell-lines, the water molecules (H2O) would be also activated leading to generate hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). By irradiating plasma to bio-solution, its main output including vacuum UV to UV causes the photolysis of H2O leading to generate hydroxyl (OH) molecules in couple forms with ability to convert to H2O2. Additionally, other plasma's output the oxygen atoms could also penetrate under the liquid's surface and react with H2O to generate H2O2. In NTP applications for killing unwanted-cells of microorganisms (e.g. sterilization) or cancerous tissues, the H2O2 molecule is the main reactive species for cell death via inducing DNA damage in mammalian cells. In this paper we proposed a mathematical model for NTP application describing the formation of hydroxyls in the bio solution and other subsequent reactions leading to DNA damage in vitro. The instant concentrations of the OH and H2O2, the main species for DNA oxidation were obtained and investigated in this simulation. In order to validate the model, the cellular response to NTP stimulation was compared with some experimental findings from viewpoint of DNA damage to show the significant consistency.

Effect of cold plasma on crocin esters and volatile compounds of saffron.

The effect of cold plasma on crocin esters and volatile oils of saffron was studied for the first time. After the treatments, (Ar, Ar/5% O2 and Ar/10% O2 at 8 and 12kV of voltage), a decrease in crocin esters and saffranal and an increase in isophorone and 4-ketoisophorone was observed. After 4min, the saffron samples treated with Ar/20% O2 had blackened and the treatment was discontinued. The results show that increasing the input voltage and increasing the amount of added oxygen to Argon gas increased the changes in the safranal and crocin esters. There was no trans-2G, cis-4GG or cis-3Gg compounds observed after the Ar/10% O2 cold plasma treatment at 12kV.

Evaluation of treatment and disinfection of water using cold atmospheric plasma.

In this paper, the disinfection of water is investigated using plasma spark treatment and the results are compared with conventional techniques. Inactivation of the Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli bacteria is considered in the treatment process of water by the plasma spark. For this purpose, many physical and chemical parameters of water are measured and the obtained results demonstrate a reduction of 8-log in colony forming units of E. coli and E. faecalis at 15 minutes and 12 minutes, respectively. The results of this research show that no ozone is produced during the plasma spark treatment. Moreover, inactivation of a large number of bacteria without any change of pH shows that pH is not the cause of the bacterial inactivation. It is concluded that the main causes of the inactivation of bacteria in the treated water are H2O2 molecules and the electrical fields generated by plasma.

Investigation on the effects of the atmospheric pressure plasma on wound healing in diabetic rats.

It is estimated that 15 percent of individuals with diabetes mellitus suffer from diabetic ulcers worldwide. The aim of this study is to present a non-thermal atmospheric plasma treatment as a novel therapy for diabetic wounds. The plasma consists of ionized helium gas that is produced by a high-voltage (8 kV) and high-frequency (6 kHz) power supply. Diabetes was induced in rats via an intravascular injection of streptozotocin. The plasma was then introduced to artificial xerograph wounds in the rats for 10 minutes. Immunohistochemistry assays was performed to determine the level of transforming growth factor (TGF-ß1) cytokine. The results showed a low healing rate in the diabetic wounds compared with the wound-healing rate in non-diabetic animals (P < 0.05). Moreover, the results noted that plasma enhanced the wound-healing rate in the non-diabetic rats (P < 0.05), and significant wound contraction occurred after the plasma treatment compared with untreated diabetic wounds (P < 0.05). Histological analyses revealed the formation of an epidermis layer, neovascularization and cell proliferation. The plasma treatment also resulted in the release of TGF-ß1 cytokine from cells in the tissue medium. The findings of this study demonstrate the effect of plasma treatment for wound healing in diabetic rats.

Modification of tokamak edge plasma turbulence and transport by biasing and resonant helical magnetic field.

In this paper, both Resonant Helical magnetic Field (RHF) and limiter biasing have been applied to the tokamak. We have investigated their effects on the turbulence and transport of the particles at the edge of the plasma. The biased limiter voltage has been fixed at 200 V and RHF has L = 2 and L = 3. Also, the effects of the time order of the application of RHF and biasing to the tokamak have been explored. The experiment has been performed under three conditions. At first, the biasing and RHF were applied at t = 15 ms and at t = 20 ms. In the next step, RHF and biasing were applied at t = 15 ms and t = 20 ms, respectively. Finally, both of them were turned on at t = 15 ms until the end of the shot. For this purpose, the ion saturation current (I(sat)) and the floating potential (V(f)) have been measured by the Langmuir probe at r/a = 0.9. Moreover, the power spectra of I(sat) and floating potential gradient (∇V(f)), the coherency, the phase between them, and the particle diffusion coefficient have been calculated. The density fluctuations of the particles have been measured by the Rake probe and they have been analyzed with the Probability Distribution Function (PDF) technique. Also the particle diffusion coefficient has been determined by the Fick's law. The results show that, when RHF and biasing were applied at the same time to the plasma (during flatness region of plasma current), the radial particle density gradient, the radial particle flux, and the particle diffusion coefficient decrease about 50%, 60%, and 55%, respectively, compared to the other conditions. For more precision, the average values of the particle flux and the particle density gradient were calculated in the work. When the time is less than 15 ms, the average values of the particle flux and the particle density gradient are identical under all conditions, but in the other time interval they change. They reduce with the simultaneous application of biasing and RHF. The same results obtain from the histogram of the particle flux and the gradient of the particle density and the particle diffusion coefficient. Consequently, the simultaneous application of biasing and RHF is more effective for the plasma confinement.

Deposition of DLC Film on Stainless Steel Substrates Coated by Nickel Using PECVD Method.

Research on diamond-like carbon (DLC) films has been devoted to find both optimized conditions and characteristics of the deposited films on various substrates. In the present work, we investigate the quality of the DLC films grown on stainless steel substrates using different thickness of the nickel nanoparticle layers on the surface. Nickel nanoparticles were sputtered on the stainless steel substrates at 200 °C by a DC-sputtering system to make a good adherence between DLC coating and steel substrates. Atomic Force Microscopy was used to characterize the surface roughness and distribution function of the nickel nanoparticles on the substrate surface. Diamond like carbon films were deposited on stainless steel substrates coated by nickel using pure acetylene and C2H2/H2 with 15% flow ratio by DC-Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) systems. Microstructural analysis by Raman spectroscopy showed a low intensity ratio ID/IG for DLC films by increasing the Ni layer thickness on the stainless steel substrates. Fourier Transforms Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) evidenced the peaks attributed to C-H bending and stretching vibration modes in the range of 1300-1700 cm-1 and 2700-3100 cm-1, respectively, in good agreement with the Raman spectroscopy and confirmed the DLC growth in all samples.

1-Benzyl-2-(4-chloro-phen-yl)-4,5-di-phenyl-1H-imidazole.

The mol-ecular conformation of the title compound, C(28)H(21)ClN(2), is stabilized by an intra-molecular C-H⋯N hydrogen bond. It has many pharmacological properties, such as being an inhibitor of P38 MAP Kinase, and can play an important role in biochemical processes.