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The paper describes the issues associated with waste generated during steel production and processing, in particular the dust from electric arc furnaces (EAF). An effective solution for the disposal of such waste is its involvement in processing to obtain valuable products. This paper studies the physical and chemical properties of EAF dust produced during the smelting of metallized pellets and captured by the dust and gas cleaning system of the steel-smelting shop at the Oskol Electrometallurgical Combine, Belgorod Region. The results obtained in the study of the chemical and disperse compositions of dust, the microstructure of the surface made it possible to propose the use of dust as a raw material for coagulant production. The conditions of acid-thermal treatment of dust are determined, contributing to the partial dissolution of iron (II), (III), and aluminium compounds, which ensure the coagulation processes during wastewater treatment. Model solutions show high efficiency (> 95 %) of water treatment from heavy metal ions by modified EAF dust.

A Petridish and hydroponic culture experiments were conducted at Crop Physiology Laboratory, Department of Crop Botany and Agriculture Chemistry Laboratory, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from August to October 2011 to investigate the effect of aluminium on morphological characters and growth of wheat seedlings. The experiment comprised of two levels of aluminium concentrations viz., 0 µM (control) and 100 µM and five varieties viz; Kanchan, Shatabdi, Sourav, Bijoy (BARI-23) and Sufi (BARI-22). The experiment was laid out in two factors completely randomized design with three replications. Applications of 100 µM aluminium had a profound influence on hypocotyls and epicotyls length, germination percentages, and root-shoot length, fresh and dry mass production in wheat. Results indicated that germination percentage, hypocotyls and epicotyls length, root and shoot length, leaf length, leaf sheath length, plant height, fresh and dry mass plant were greater in control than aluminium stress conditions. It revealed that wheat seedlings are susceptible to aluminium stress. However, among the varieties, the reduction of dry mass under aluminium stress was minimum in Shatabdi followed by Kanchan showed that Shatabdi was more tolerant to aluminium stress than the other varieties namely Sourav, Bijoy (BARI-23) and Sufi (BARI-22). Sufi and Sourav were more susceptible to aluminium stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminium (Al) is clearly neurotoxic and considerable evidence exists that Al may play a role in the aetiology or pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Nevertheless, the link between AD pathology and Al is still open to debate. Therefore, we investigated here the interaction of aluminium ions with two Aβ peptide fragments and their analogues. First, we synthesised by the Fmoc/tBu solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) strategy using an automated peptide synthesiser two new peptides starting from the Aβ(1–16) native peptide fragment. For this purpose, the three histidine residues (H6, H13, and H14) of the Aβ(1–16) peptide were replaced by three alanine and three serine residues to form the modified peptides Aβ(1–16)A36,13,14 and Aβ(1–16)S36,13,14 (primary structures: H-1DAEFRADSGYEVAAQK16-NH2 and H-1DAEFRSDSGYEVSSQK16-NH2). In addition, the Aβ(9–16) peptide fragment (H-9GYEVHHQK16-NH2) and its glycine analogues, namely Aβ(9–16)G110, (H-9GGEVHHQK16-NH2), Aβ(9–16)G213,14 (H-9GYEVGGQK16-NH2), and Aβ(9–16)G310,13,14 (H-9GGEVGGQK16-NH2), were manually synthesised in order to study Al binding to more specific amino acid residues. Both the peptides and the corresponding complexes with aluminium were comparatively investigated by mass spectrometry (MS), circular dichroism spectroscopy (CD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Al–peptide molecular ions and Al-fragment ions were unambiguously identified in the MS and MS/MS spectra. AFM images showed dramatic changes in the film morphology of peptides upon Al binding. Our findings from the investigation of N-terminal 1-16 and even 9-16 normal and modified sequences of Aβ peptides suggest that they have the capability to be involved in aluminium ion binding associated with AD.

Chondroitin sulphate is a sulphated glycosaminoglycan biopolymer composed over 100 individual sugars. Chondroitin sulphate nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with catechin were prepared by an ionic gelation method using AlCl3 and optimised for polymer and cross‐linking agent concentration, curing time and stirring speed. Zeta potential, particle size, loading efficiency, and release efficiency over 24 h (RE24 %) were evaluated. The surface morphology of NPs was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and their thermal behaviour by differential scanning calorimetric. Antioxidant effect of NPs was determined by chelating activity of iron ions. The cell viability of mesenchymal stem cells was determined by 3‐[4, 5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl]‐2, 5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay and the calcification of osteoblasts was studied by Alizarin red staining. The optimised NPs showed particle size of 176 nm, zeta potential of −20.8 mV, loading efficiency of 93.3% and RE24 % of 80.6%. The chatechin loaded chondroitin sulphate NPs showed 70‐fold more antioxidant activity, 3‐fold proliferation effect and higher calcium precipitation in osteoblasts than free catechin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work was targeted on the study of egg white foam forming, including the influence of pH, aluminium ions, xanthan, maltodextrin, and phosphates on the whipping and stability of egg white foams. The whipping was studied with non pasteurised and pasteurised egg white using the blender with planet motion. Both types of egg white formed good foam in the acid area (pH below 4.5) and at neutral pH. Aluminium ions had a positive effect on the foam volume and stability, especially with the non pasteurised egg white. The addition of maltodextrin or saccharose decreased the foam volume but increased the foam stability. The addition of natrium pyrophosphate or natrium hexametaphosphate had a positive effect on the volume, density, and stability of foam. Foams with hexametaphosphate were applied into confectionary products.