Preparation and characterization of rare earth element nanoparticles for enhanced photocatalytic degradation.

The present work focuses on the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) on erbium ion (Er3+) doped TiO2 under visible light. Pure TiO2 nanoparticles and erbium (Er3+) doped TiO2 nanocomposite (Er3+/TiO2) NCs were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The synthesized (Er3+/TiO2) NCs were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), elementary dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), specific surface area (BET), zeta potential, and particle size. Different parameters were used to study their efficiency for the photoreactor (PR) and the synthesized catalyst. These parameters include pH of the feed solution, the rate of flow, the presence of an oxidizing agent (aeration pump), different ratios of nanoparticles, the amount of catalyst, and the concentrations of pollutants. An example of an organic contaminant was the dye methylene blue (MB). The result achieved using the synthesized nanoparticles (I) under ultraviolet light pure TiO2 was found to have degraded by 85%. For (Er3+/TiO2) NCs under visible light, dye removal increased with pH to a maximum of 77% degradation at pH 5. Furthermore, photocatalytic efficiency improves to 80% at 40 rpm (3 l/h) low motor speed. The degradation efficiency decreased to 70% when the MB concentration was increased from 5 to 30 mg/L. When oxygen content was increased using an air pump, and deterioration reached 85% under visible light, it improved performance.

Groundwater quality assessment using water quality index and multivariate statistical analysis case study: East Matrouh, Northwestern coast, Egypt.

Rapid urbanisation has had a significant negative influence on the water bodies that flow through and around urban areas. This study aims to evaluate the water quality and analyse the suitability for drinking and irrigation uses. This study envisaged assessing the water quality status of the groundwater using the pollution index of groundwater (PIG), ecological risk index (ERI) and multivariate statistical techniques, namely cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA), that were applied to differentiate the sources of water quality variation and determine the cause of pollution in the study area. Most groundwater is unsuitable for drinking and irrigation consumption, depending on analyses. PIG values indicated high pollution levels in the studied water body, rendering it unsuitable for any practical purpose. CA results showed the impact of surface water and treatment plant on groundwater. PCA was used to identify four important factors in the groundwater, including mineral and nutrient pollution, heavy metal pollution, organic pollution and faecal contamination. The deteriorating water quality of the groundwater was demonstrated to originate from vast sources of anthropogenic activities, especially municipal sewage discharge. Study wells had greater concentrations of Cl- and Na+ in their water because seawater flows into the aquifer system and mixes with the marine aquifer matrix. Thus, the current work reveals how to employ the PIG and multivariate statistical approaches to obtain more accessible and more meaningful information about the water quality of groundwater and to identify the sources of pollution.

Impact of CD40 gene polymorphisms on the risk of immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship between two common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CD40 gene (rs1883832 C/T and rs4810485 G/T) and the risk of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in the Egyptian population. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted retrospectively on 101 cases with ITP and 97 healthy subjects. Two SNPs of CD40 gene (rs1883832 C/T and rs4810485 G/T) were genotyped via Taqman allele discrimination real-time PCR. The frequencies of different genetic models of both SNPs were calculated and compared between ITP cases and controls. Linkage analysis was performed between the studied SNPs. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were assessed using multinomial logistic regression analysis to determine the association of CD40 gene SNPs genotypes, alleles, and haplotypes with the risk of ITP. The odds ratio was further adjusted to the confounders for risk stratification. RESULTS: CD40 (rs1883832) TT genotype carriers have a significantly higher risk of ITP when compared to CC genotype carriers (adjusted OR: 3.792, 95%CI: 1.252-11.49, P = 0.018). T allele also represents 1.711-fold increased risk of ITP which is more evident in males (P = 0.016). No significant difference was observed in the frequency of CD40 (rs4810485 G/T) genetic models between cases and controls. Linkage disequilibrium was found between the two SNPs and revealed four main haplotypes (C-G; C-T; T-G; T-T) with a significantly higher frequency of T-G haplotype in ITP cases than in healthy controls which confers an increased risk of ITP development (OR: 2.349, 95%CI: 1.271-4.339, P = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: CD40 gene SNP rs1883832 is associated with an increased risk of ITP development in the Egyptian population, while the SNP rs4810485 has no association. Moreover, T-G haplotype is a risk genetic model for ITP.