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β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) were used to prepare insoluble polymers using epichlorohydrin as a cross-linking agent and the azo dye Direct Red 83:1 was used as target adsorbate. The preliminary study related to adsorbent dosage, pH, agitation or dye concentration allowed us to select the best conditions to carry out the rest of experiments. The kinetics was evaluated by Elovich, pseudo first order, pseudo second order, and intra-particle diffusion models. The results indicated that the pseudo second order model presented the best fit to the experimental data, indicating that chemisorption is controlling the process. The results were also evaluated by Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin isotherms. According to the determination coefficient (R2), Freunlich gave the best results, which indicates that the adsorption process is happening on heterogeneous surfaces. One interesting parameter obtained from Langmuir isotherm is qmax (maximum adsorption capacity). This value was six times higher when a β-CDs-EPI polymer was employed. The cross-linked polymers were fully characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Also, morphology and particle size distribution were both assessed. Under optimized conditions, the β-CDs-EPI polymer seems to be a useful device for removing Direct Red 83:1 (close 90%), from aqueous solutions and industrial effluents. Complementarily, non-adsorbed dye was photolyzed by a pulsed light driven advanced oxidation process. The proposed methodology is environmental and economically advantageous, considering the point of view of a sustainable recycling economy in the textile dyeing process.

Objective: A growing body of studies has demonstrated the inverse relationship between DHEA-sulfate (DHEA-S) and the pathological alterations associated with the metabolic syndrome. However, the mechanism by which DHEA-S treatment operates has not been elucidated completely. Adiponectin, an adipose-specific protein, is thought to have anti-diabetic and anti-atherosclerotic properties. Because fat depots differ in the impact of their relationship with the undesirable consequences of obesity, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of DHEA-S on adiponectin expression in both s.c. and visceral tissues in a morbidly obese population. Design and methods: We studied the in vitro expression of the adiponectin gene from paired biopsies of human visceral and s.c. adipose tissue, obtained from men and women (body mass indexZ48.68G 7.43 kg/m 2

Malathion is an organophosphorus insecticide commonly used in crops and indoor applications. Negative effects of malathion on human health and ecosystems are of growing concern. In this work, novel malathion haptens are synthesized to develop an ELISA screening method. The immunoassay is based on a conjugate-coated format and shows a limit of detection of 0.11 ng/mL, an IC50 of 1.58 ng/mL, a dynamic range between 0.23 and 10.94 ng/ mL, and a cross-reactivity of <2% with structurally related compounds. The developed ELISA has been used to quantify malathion in groundwater and surface water samples. The good recoveries achieved and the agreement with those given by the GC-MS reference method indicate the potential of the assay for environmental monitoring of malathion in natural waters without purification or preconcentration steps. The effect of dissolved organic matter (humic acids) on the ELISA was evaluated, resulting in the conclusion that the immunoassay can be successfully performed in surface water samples with a humic acid content up to 10 mg/L, without sample pretreatment. Samples with a high humic acid content can be analyzed through ELISA after solid-phase extraction, eluting with acetone or acetonitrile.

In recent years the development of chitosan (CH) based materials as useful adsorbent polymeric matrices is an expanding field in the area of adsorption science. Even though CH has been successfully used for dye removal from aqueous solutions due to its low cost, no considerations have been made about, for example, the effect of changing the pH of chitosan hydrogelor about the dehydrating effect of Ethanol (EtOH) treatment of chitosan film on the dyes removal from water. Consequently in our laboratory we carried out a study focusing the attention, mainly, on the potential use of CH films under different conditions, such as reducing the intrinsic pH, increasing the hydrophobic character by means of ethanol treatment and neutralization of CH films to improve their absorption power. Textile anionic dyes named Direct Red 83:1, Direct Yellow 86 and Direct V. Rizzi et al. 455Blue 78 have been studied with the aim of reducing the contact time of CH film in waste water improving the bleaching efficiency. Neutralized acid CH film and longtime dehydrated one result to be the better films in dye removal from water. Also the reduction of the CH solution acidity during the film preparation determines the decreasing of the contact time improving the results. The effect of initial dye concentration has been examined and the amount of dye adsorption in function of time t, qt (mg/cm 2 ), for each analyzed film has been evaluated comparing the long term effect with the decoloration rate. A linear form of pseudo-first-order Lagergren model has been used and described. The best condition for removing all examined dyes from various dye solutions appears to be the dehydration of a novel projected CH film obtained by means of the film immersion in EtOH for 4 days. Also CH films prepared by well-known literature procedure and neutralized with NaOH treatment appear having an excellent behavior, however the film treatment requires a large quantity of water and time.