Solar-driven hybrid photo-Fenton degradation of persistent antibiotic ciprofloxacin by zinc ferrite-titania heterostructures: degradation pathway, intermediates, and toxicity analysis.

Present work puts forward an efficient strategy to degrade one of the persistent antibiotic contaminants, ciprofloxacin (CIP). Hybrid advanced oxidation process (HAOP) is tailored with a synergy effect between photocatalysis and photo-Fenton catalysis on zinc ferrite-titania heterostructured composite (ZFO-TiO2). The ZFO-TiO2 heterostructured composite enables heterogenous surfaces for enhanced charge separation where HAOP is implemented for CIP degradation with the aid of class AAA solar simulator. The results reveal an enhanced degradation rate of CIP (kobs = 0.255 min-1), noticeably higher than the conventional TiO2-based photocatalysis. The HAOP system strongly enhances the reaction rates showing five times higher performance as compared to TiO2-based photocatalysis. The substitution reactions for degradation of CIP into its intermediates were analyzed by LC-MS/MS, and the plausible degradation pathways have been graphically modeled identifying 3-phenyl-1-propanol and phenol molecules as less toxic end products. Toxicity of the photodegraded samples reveal 18.1 ± 1.24% inhibition of V. fischeri at the end of 60-min treatment indicating reduced toxicity of CIP contaminated samples. Antimicrobial inhibition studies on E. coli also corroborate an effective CIP removal (~ 100%) in less than 90 min. The study puts forward a novel ZFO-TiO2 composite HAOP system for efficient and rapid mineralization of an antibiotic pollutant, extendable towards wide range of pharmaceutical drug degradation studies.

Post-COVID-19 fatigue as a major health problem: a cross-sectional study from Missouri, USA.

BACKGROUND: Fatigue following acute viral illnesses is a major issue that complicates the clinical course of several epidemic and non-epidemic viral infections. There is a noticeably higher trend of patients with symptoms that persist after initial recovery from acute COVID-19. This study seeks to obtain more data about the prevalence of post-COVID-19 fatigue and the factors associated with higher fatigue frequency among patients who had COVID-19. METHODS: A single center cross-sectional study was performed between May 2021 and January 2022 at University Health, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. The Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS) was utilized to measure post-COVID-19 fatigue. Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to describe clinical and sociodemographic features of patients. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), the chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test were used to examine the statistical association between the FAS score and other clinical and sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-seven patients who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and diagnosed at University Health were enrolled in our study. Overall, 72% of patients (n = 113) were female. The mean ± standard deviation of the FAS score was 21.2 ± 9.0. The prevalence of post-COVID-19 fatigue among our studied sample was 43.3%. The findings of this study suggest that female patients have a significantly higher fatigue score compared with male patients (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Post-COVID-19 fatigue is a major issue following the initial acute illness with COVID-19, with a prevalence of 43.3%. We recommend implementing standardized measures to screen for post-COVID-19 fatigue, especially among female patients.

Synergy of photocatalysis and fuel cells: A chronological review on efficient designs, potential materials and emerging applications.

The rising demand of energy and lack of clean water are two major concerns of modern world. Renewable energy sources are the only way out in order to provide energy in a sustainable manner for the ever-increasing demands of the society. A renewable energy source which can also provide clean water will be of immense interest and that is where Photocatalytic Fuel Cells (PFCs) exactly fit in. PFCs hold the ability to produce electric power with simultaneous photocatalytic degradation of pollutants on exposure to light. Different strategies, including conventional Photoelectrochemical cell design, have been technically upgraded to exploit the advantage of PFCs and to widen their applicability. Parallel to the research on design, researchers have put an immense effort into developing materials/composites for electrodes and their unique properties. The efficient strategies and potential materials have opened up a new horizon of applications for PFCs. Recent research reports reveal this persistently broadening arena which includes hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide generation, carbon dioxide and heavy metal reduction and even sensor applications. The review reported here consolidates all the aspects of various design strategies, materials and applications of PFCs. The review provides an overall understanding of PFC systems, which possess the potential to be a marvellous renewable source of energy with a handful of simultaneous applications. The review is a read to the scientific community and early researchers interested in working on PFC systems.