Experimental and statistical analysis of As(III) adsorption from contaminated water using activated red mud doped calcium-alginate beads.

Arsenic present in water bodies causes devastating effects on aquatic organisms and indirectly poses a hazardous threat to human existence. There is an urgent need to develop potential and convincing technologies to troubleshoot this problem. In the present study, an adsorbent has been prepared using the waste red mud from hazardous aluminium industry and doping it with calcium-alginate beads (ARMCB) for the effective removal of As(III) from wastewater. The concentration of As(III) was reduced from 0.101 mg/L to 0.008 mg/L after adsorption which effectively met the economic and environmental conditions imposed by WHO (>0.01 mg/L). Further, the statistical Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is adopted to analyze the combined effects of four operational parameters namely: pH, sorbent dosage, contact time and initial concentration on the adsorption of As(III) from the synthetic contaminated water samples. A high correlation coefficient (R2) value of 0.9672 projected by ANOVA confirmed the satisfactory regression of the developed model. The maximum adsorption capacity is found to be 1.807 mg/g at optimum operating conditions. The surface characterization of the adsorbent before and after adsorption by SEM, EDX, XRD, and FTIR confirms the potentiality of the adsorbent towards As(III) ions. Thermodynamic, adsorption isotherms and kinetic analysis respectively projected the endothermic Langmuir model adsorption of As(III) and the pseudo-second-order rate kinetics of the sorption mechanism. The current study aids the implementation of the developed robust technique for the successful removal of As(III) from industrial and domestic polluted water samples.

Novel pH-sensitive interpenetrated network polyspheres of polyacrylamide-g-locust bean gum and sodium alginate for intestinal targeting of ketoprofen: In vitro and in vivo evaluation.

In this report, novel pH-sensitive interpenetrated network (IPN) polyspheres were developed utilizing polyacrylamide-g-locust bean gum (PAAm-g-LBG) in combination with sodium alginate (SA) to achieve intestinal targeted delivery of ketoprofen. PAAm-g-LBG was synthesized under microwave irradiation wherein ceric ammonium nitrate was used as reaction initiator and then conversion of PAAm-g-LBG as pH-sensitive copolymer was carried out by alkaline hydrolysis. The PAAm-g-LBG copolymer was characterized through 1H-NMR, FTIR and elemental analysis. The IPN polyspheres exhibited pH-depended swelling or de-swelling with the alteration of surrounding pH. The in-vitro release of drug from IPN polyspheres was found to be higher (≈ 90%) in phosphate buffer of pH 7.4 in comparison with that in pH 1.2 buffer (10.6%). The in-vivo pharmacokinetic, anti-inflammatory screening and stomach histopathology studies performed on Wistar rats revealed pH sensitivity of IPN polyspheres where ketoprofen was successfully targeted to small intestine resulting in reduced side effects of ketoprofen like ulcer formation, erosion of gastric mucosa and hemorrhages.

Removal of lead and fluoride from contaminated water using exhausted coffee grounds based bio-sorbent.

Water pollution by industrial and anthropogenic actives has become a serious threat to the environment. World Health Organization (WHO) has identified that lead and fluoride amid the environmental pollutants are most poisonous water contaminants with devastating impact on the human race. The present work proposes a study on economical bio-adsorbent based technique using exhausted coffee grounds in the removal of lead and fluoride contaminants from water. The exhausted coffee grounds gathered from industrial wastes have been acid-activated and examined for their adsorption capacity. The surface morphology and elemental characterization of pre-and-post adsorption operations by FESEM, EDX and FTIR spectral analysis confirmed the potential of the exhausted coffee ground as successful bio-sorbent. However, thermodynamic analysis confirmed the adsorption to be spontaneous physisorption with Langmuir mode of homogenous monolayer deposition. The kinetics of adsorption is well defined by pseudo second order model for both lead and fluoride. A significant quantity of lead and fluoride is removed from the synthetic contaminated water by the proposed bio-sorbent with the respective sorption capabilities of 61.6 mg/g and 9.05 mg/g. However, the developed bio-sorbent is also recyclable and is capable of removing the lead and fluoride from the domestic and industrial waste-water sources with an overall removal efficiency of about 90%.

Removal of Lead from Water Using Calcium Alginate Beads Doped with Hydrazine Sulphate-Activated Red Mud as Adsorbent.

Calcium alginate beads doped with hydrazine sulphate-treated red mud are investigated as adsorbent for extracting lead ions from water using batch methods of extraction. Different extraction conditions are optimised for maximum lead extraction. Substantial amount of lead is removed, and the adsorption ability is found to be 138.6 mg/g. Surface characterization using FTIR, EDX, and FESEM confirms that lead is "onto" the surface of the adsorbent. Thermodynamic parameters, adsorption isotherms, and kinetics of adsorption are analysed. Adsorption is "physisorption" in nature and spontaneous. The adsorbent developed can be regenerated using 0.1 M HCl. Thus regenerated adsorbent can be used as the adsorbent for further removal of lead at least 10 times, and this enables the complete removal of lead from water by repetitive use of the regenerated adsorbent. The beads facilitate the easy filtration. The methodology developed is successfully applied for removing lead from industrial waste waters.

Novel pH-sensitive IPNs of polyacrylamide-g-gum ghatti and sodium alginate for gastro-protective drug delivery.

This article reports the development of pH-sensitive interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) microbeads using polyacrylamide-grafted-gum ghatti (PAAm-g-GG) and sodium alginate (SA) for gastro-protective controlled delivery of ketoprofen. We have synthesized PAAm-grafted-GG copolymer under microwave irradiation using cerric ammonium nitrate as reaction initiator; further, the PAAm-g-GG was converted to pH-sensitive copolymer through alkaline hydrolysis. Sophisticated instrumentation techniques were used to characterize PAAm-g-GG. The IPN microbeads of PAAm-g-GG and SA, pre-loaded with ketoprofen were prepared by dual crosslinking using Ca(2+) ions and glutaraldehyde (GA). The IPN microbeads demonstrated excellent pH-sensitive behavior as noted in the pulsatile swelling test and scanning electron microscopy. IPN microbeads also showed larger amount of drug release in buffer solution of pH 7.4 as compared to drug release in solution of pH 1.2. The in vivo pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic and stomach histopathology studies conducted on wistar rats confirmed the pH-sensitive controlled release of ketoprofen; IPN microbeads retarded the drug release in stomach resulting in reduced adverse effects of ketoprofen.

pH-responsive interpenetrating network hydrogel beads of poly(acrylamide)-g-carrageenan and sodium alginate for intestinal targeted drug delivery: synthesis, in vitro and in vivo evaluation.

In the present work, we synthesized pH-responsive interpenetrating network (IPN) hydrogel beads of polyacrylamide grafted κ-carrageenan (PAAm-g-CG) and sodium alginate (SA) for targeting ketoprofen to the intestine. The PAAm-g-CG was synthesized by free radical polymerization followed by alkaline hydrolysis under nitrogen gas. The PAAm-g-CG was characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The drug-loaded IPN hydrogel beads were prepared by simple ionotropic gelation/covalent crosslinking method. The amorphous nature of drug in the beads was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction studies. The spherical shape of the beads was confirmed by scanning electron microscopic analysis. The beads exhibited ample pH-responsive behavior in the pulsatile swelling study. The ketoprofen release was significantly increased when pH of the medium was changed from acidic to alkaline. The beads showed maximum of 10% drug release in acidic medium of pH 1.2, and about 90% drug release was recorded in alkaline medium of pH 7.4. Stomach histopathology of albino rats indicated that the prepared beads were able to retard the drug release in stomach leading to the reduced ulceration, hemorrhage and erosion of gastric mucosa.

Hepatoprotective effect of Trichosanthes cucumerina Var cucumerina L. on carbon tetrachloride induced liver damage in rats.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Different parts of the plant Trichosanthes cucumerina Var cucumerina L. (cucurbitaceae) are used to treat liver disorders, traditionally. It is one among the constituents in various Ayurvedic formulations used for the treatment of liver disorders and other diseases. AIMS OF STUDY: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the protective effect of Trichosanthes cucumerina against experimentally induced liver injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The methanolic extract of whole plant of Trichosanthes cucumerina (TCME) was evaluated for the hepatoprotective activity against carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Various biochemical parameters like alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartate amino transferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total bilirubin (TB), total protein (TP) and albumin (ALB) levels were estimated in serum as well as the glutathione (GSH) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in the liver were determined. Histopathological changes in the liver of different groups were also studied. RESULTS: The pre-treatment of TCME at dose levels of 250 and 500 mg/kg b.w.p.o. had controlled the raise of AST, ALT, ALP, TB and MDA levels and the effects were comparable with standard drug (silymarin 100 mg/kg b.w.p.o.). The GSH, TP and ALB levels were significantly increased in the animals received pre-treatment of the extract. The animals received pre-treatment of the extract shown decreased necrotic zones and hepatocellular degeneration when compared to the liver exposed to CCl(4) intoxication alone. Thus the histopathalogical studies also supported the protective effect of the extract. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the hepatoprotective activity of Trichosanthes cucumerina and thus scientifically supports the usage of this plant in various Ayurvedic preparations and traditional medicine for treatment of liver disorders.