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Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been reported to hold promise to accelerate the wound-healing process in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) due to the multilineage differentiation potential. Hence, this study intended to explore the wound healing role of MSC-derived exosomes containing long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) H19 in DFU. lncRNA H19 was predicated to bind to microRNA-152-3p (miR-152-3p), which targeted phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) deleted on chromosome ten. Fibroblasts in DFU samples exhibited highly expressed miR-152-3p and poorly expressed lncRNA H19 and PTEN, along with an activated phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt1) signaling pathway. The fibroblasts were cocultured with lncRNA H19-transfected MSCs and MSC-derived exosomes to assess the effect of the lncRNA H19/miR-152-3p/PTEN axis on the biological activities and inflammation in fibroblasts. Mouse models of DFU were developed by streptozotocin, which was injected with MSC-derived exosomes overexpressing lncRNA H19. lncRNA H19 in MSCs was transferred through exosomes to fibroblasts, the mechanism of which improved wound healing in DFU, corresponded to promoted fibroblast proliferation and migration, as well as suppressed apoptosis and inflammation. Wound healing in mice with DFU was facilitated following the injection of MSC-derived exosomes overexpressing lncRNA H19. Taken together, MSC-derived exosomal lncRNA H19 prevented the apoptosis and inflammation of fibroblasts by impairing miR-152-3p-mediated PTEN inhibition, leading to the stimulated wound-healing process in DFU.

In this study, a 3D porous Ag+ decorated PCN-222 @ graphene oxide-chitosan foam adsorbent (APGC foam), which is grounded upon the growth of Ag+ decorated zirconium-metalloporphyrin metal–organic framework (PCN-222) on an EDTA-silane modified graphene oxide-chitosan foam substrate (EGC foam) for recovering U(VI) ions out of the seawater, was designed and synthesized with the in-situ growth and solvothermal method. The successfully synthesized APGC foam with excellent antibacterial property not only overcame the difficulty of powder adsorbents in practical application, but also reduced the negative impact of bacteria on the adsorption performance of porous material. The APGC foam showed excellent adsorption capacity (348.8 mg/g), selectivity and reusability of U(VI) adsorption at nearly seawater pH, and this also exhibited excellent adsorption performances in the seawater. The influence factors in the adsorption process were investigated by static and dynamic adsorption in different conditions. Moreover, the U(VI) adsorption mechanism of APGC foam was determined as the comprehensive effect of coordination, electrostatic interaction and intraparticle diffusion. All results indicated that APGC foam was an encouraging adsorbent to recover U(VI) out of the seawater.

In this study, a mesoporous PCN-222/GO-COOH adsorbent, based on the growth of a mesoporous zirconium-metalloporphyrin metal-organic framework (PCN-222) on the carboxylated graphene oxide (GO-COOH) to recover U(VI) from wastewater, was designed and prepared through solvothermal method and ultrasonication assisted stir technique. The U(VI) adsorption performance of the PCN-222/GO-COOH adsorbent was evaluated. The results indicated that the mesoporous PCN-222/GO-COOH adsorbent could effectively recover U(VI) and show an excellent adsorption capacity (426 mg/g), which was superior to those of GO-COOH and PCN-222 probably because the complexation and synergistic effect between GO-COOH and PCN-222 were facilitated by the ultrasonication assisted stir technique. And the PCN-222/GO-COOH adsorbent showed excellent reusability and selectivity for U(VI) adsorption, which also had outstanding adsorption performances in the complex wastewater. Furthermore, the chemical and monolayer adsorption dominated the U(VI) adsorption behavior of PCN-222/GO-COOH adsorbent. The excellent adsorption capacity, selectivity and reusability for U(VI) rendered PCN-222/GO-COOH composites as a promising adsorbent for recovering U(VI) from wastewater.

This work presents a new green perspective for the synthesis of hematite nanoparticles (HNP) via annealing the plain inorganic ferric sulfate (FS) precursor at (700–900) °C under a caked bed of the treated egg shell wastes as desulfurizer. Morphological and microstructural analyses depict the pristine phase of α-Fe2O3 crystal for the annealed samples along with exhibiting a reduced particles' size of 21 nm for FS annealed at 700 °C compared to the larger sizes of ≈29 and 50 nm for FS annealed at 800 °C and 900 °C, respectively. Moreover, FS annealed at 700 °C exhibited a unique hierarchal structure with various pores system on multi-scales, larger surface area with roughness, lower luminescence, and better uniformity over FS 800 and 900 nanoproducts. FS 700 showed a superior degradation efficiency ≈100% at 10 min with a rate constant of 11.06 × 10−2 min−1 for the pollutant Congo Red dye at room temperature in complete darkness, obeying pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics. Also, FS 700 could catalyze the production rate of biogas yields from the biodegradation of green algae (Enteromorpha) over other products. The photocatalytic study of terephthalic acid hydroxylation revealed that the induced fluorescence intensity is highest for FS 700 and is time dependent, following zero-order reaction kinetics. Accordingly, this contribution can furnish a striking piece of evidence for adopting the present methodology as a novel approach not only for the synthesis of HNP with superior features in good yields for industrial scales but also as a green alternative to the widely-used conventional organic precursors, reducing the greenhouse gases and recycling the environmental egg wastes.

This work explores the promotion effects of employing our proposed mechanical ultrasonic-activated precipitation (MUP) technique on the different features (textural, morphological, thermal, optical, and photo/catalytic) during the synthesis of hematite nanoparticles compared to the conventional chemical precipitation pathway (CPP). X-ray diffraction data revealed the higher amorphicity, microstrains, and lattice defects for the pristine MUP products over CPP. Also, it confirmed the inverse interdependence between the lattice microstrains and the crystallite size. Microstructural and morphological analyses showed a decrease in the average particles' sizes by a factor of 20%, 28% and 39% upon applying MUP at precursor concentrations of 0.05M, 0.15M, and 0.45M, respectively. Moreover, it exhibited higher values of surface area with roughness, mesoporosity and better uniformity over CPP products. A detailed thermal study figured the interdependence correlation between the particle's crystallinity, employed pathway, and the precursor concentration, showing higher crystallinity for CPP within a shorter temperature range over the poorly crystallized MUP products. Besides, it depicted that the proper calcination temperature is

The present study reports a new approach to improve the adsorption and catalytic properties of hematite nanoparticles (HNPs) synthesized via the chemical precipitation technique as one of the most applicable and preferable synthesis methods. This could be performed through controlling the particles' crystallinity where a facile ultrasonic pathway (UP) modification was introduced as a hybrid replacement for the conventionally-used magnetic stirring pathway (MP) using different precursor concentrations. The X-ray diffraction and Raman spectra define the pristine phase of α-Fe2O3 crystal with lower crystallinity and higher degrees of structural disorder for UP products. UP also shows smaller nanosized particles with lower bundles of aggregations and lumps formation in addition to lesser values of polydispersity index compared to the MP products. The catalytic performance supported by the reaction kinetics for the degradation of hazardous Rose Bengal and Congo Red dyes in light and dark, respectively, were examined. It revealed superior efficiencies for all of the UP products within a short span against the conventional MP and previous studies. Moreover, it was confirmed that UP products could catalyze the biodegradation reactions of green algae (Enteromorpha) and induced higher rates of biogas production. In addition to this, decreasing the precursor concentrations was found to be another key factor reducing the produced particles' crystallinity, size, and lumps formation as well as affecting the morphology development. Thus, the synergetic effects of applying the UP at low precursor concentrations could show a practical pathway for the synthesis of low-crystalline HNPs with enhanced properties for green applications over the conventional MP products. Hence, the obtained findings are of vital importance to show the improved catalytic efficiency of HNPs by shedding new light on controlling the crystallinity and developing the surface features in the conventional precipitation process via the proposed modification.