Search

Due to the increase in carbon dioxide emission, there is a need for achieving efficient ways to reduce CO2 harmful effects. There are several strategies to mitigate atmospheric CO2 concentration. The catalytic cycloaddition of carbon dioxide with epoxides to provide cyclic carbonates employing metal-organic frameworks is a promising method for this purpose. Herein the application of two porous porphyrinic MOFs (Co-PMOF and Cu-PMOF) as catalysts in CO2 conversion was investigated. These MOFs demonstrated good crystallinity and porosity, providing them with two promising platforms to study CO2 conversion reactions. These heterogeneous porphyrin-based MOFs are catalytically efficient towards the chemical conversion of CO2 under moderate conditions because these MOF matrices contain a high density of active Lewis acidic and basic sites for activating CO2 and epoxide compounds. These MOFs exhibited high catalytic efficiency for the chemical fixation of CO2 at ambient temperature and solvent-free conditions. The reactions formed the proportionate cyclic carbonates in good yields. These products are valuable compounds in a variety of chemical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Retraction Note: Functionalized graphene oxide nanosheets with folic acid and silk fibroin as a novel nanobiocomposite for biomedical applications" published in Scientific Reports has been retracted due to concerns about the data presented. The Editors found issues with overlapping image panels and duplicated well images, leading to a lack of confidence in the reliability of the results. Despite disagreement from one author, the retraction was made as the Authors could not provide necessary raw data and documentation. [Extracted from the article]

Magnetic nanoparticles were creatively selected as stable, inexpensive, biodegradable, facile recoverable, and functionalizable supports for a variety of synthetic and natural polymers. Herein, for the first time, aromatic polyamide was synthesized on the magnetic core of zinc iron oxide (ZnFe2O4). Terephthaloyl chloride and derivations of phenylenediamine were employed as monomers in this polymerization process. The toxicity of the synthesized hybrid at the highest concentration (1000 μg/ml) is 13.65% and on the other hand, the cell viability percentage is 86.35%. So, the prepared hybrid is biocompatible and non-toxic to Hu02 cells. Also, it has antibacterial ability against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Because the results show that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the synthesized polymer for bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 is in the range of 500–1000 µg/ml. Moreover, the hemolytic effect of ZnFe2O4 based hybrid was below 9% at the concentration of 1000 μg/ml. Therefore, it is compatible with red blood cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dysmenorrhea constitutes one of the most frequent disorders in women of a fertile age. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of acupressure at Sanyinjiao (SP6) point and DiJi (SP8) point on pain severity of primary dysmenorrhea and the associated systemic symptoms. Materials and methods: In this crossover clinical trial, 50 females aged 18-30 years old who met the study criteria and were under the care of Sarpolezahab Health Center were selected. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of two groups and evaluated during three menstrual cycles. We evaluated pain severity using the McGill pain scale and associated systemic symptoms using a verbal multidimensional scoring system. Data acquired from 42 cases were analyzed using SPSS software, with a P value of < 0.05 considered significant. Results: The findings of our study indicate that the severity of dysmenorrhea pain diminishes significantly for up to 2 hours following treatment with acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the severity of associated systemic symptoms reduced significantly after acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points, except for nausea and vomiting. Comparison of the severity of systemic symptoms with acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points revealed no significant difference except for severity of fatigue, which was reduced significantly further with SP6 point compared to SP8 point (P = 0.004). Conclusion: Acupressure at the SP6 and SP8 points can reduce pain severity of dysmenorrhea for up to 2 hours after application, and these points may be used to alleviate the severity of systemic symptoms accompanying dysmenorrhea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]