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Imperfect treatment of effluents from the industries contain moderate amounts of metallic cations will carry other issues to human health and environment. When toxic substances enter into water bodies, they get dissolved in water or get deposited on the bed. This results in the deterioration of water thereby affecting the aquatic ecosystems. In the area of environmental remediation, nanosized materials offer potential for efficient removal of pollutants and biological contaminants. In this present work, heavy metal ions (Pb 2+ and Cd 2+ ) sorption capacity of HA-alginate/gelatin nanocomposite has been investigated as a function of adsorbent dosage, adsorbate concentrations and contact time. The sorption kinetics exhibited the best fit to the pseudo-second order equation and the equilibrium followed Langmuir isotherm model. The equilibrium removal capacity of HA/Alg composite from Langmuir isotherm model was evaluated to be 550 and 361 mg/g for Pb 2+ and Cd 2+ . The removal capacity of HA/Alg/Gel composite was evaluated to be 616 and 388 mg/g for Pb 2+ and Cd 2+ . In the case of binary metal ion system, removal capacity of the adsorbent for a particular metal ion was hindered by the presence of another ion in the medium. The results of this study will be useful for further development of ceramic/polymer composites for environmental applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventing implants associated infections is crucial in orthopedics. Local delivery of antibiotics through implants is a promising strategy to solve this issue. In this study, alginate is tailored to control its swelling, entrapment and release of ciprofloxacin (antibiotic) through the formation of interpenetrating polymer network and composite matrices using gelatin and hydroxyapatite. Developed matrices were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The individual tailoring approaches exerted significant influence on the swelling behavior of alginate matrix consequently enhanced the drug entrapment and extended the release period. However, the alginate matrix tailored with the combined approaches resulted in a superior matrix, which had a better control over the burst release of ciprofloxacin. Drug release prolonged from 5 h to 240 h for composite matrix as compared with alginate matrix showing that alginate combined with gelatin and hydroxyapatite sustained the release for longer periods. This matrix revealed excellent biocompatibility with osteoblast like MG-63 cell lines and showed good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Alginate/Hydroxyapatite nanocomposite is a biocompatible and biodegradable multifunctional material suitable for potential biomedical applications such as drug delivery, tissue engineering etc. The in situ method of alginate/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite fabrication usually results in amorphous calcium phosphate. In this study an attempt is made to improve the crystallinity of the hydroxyapatite in the in situ formed nanocomposite. Alginate/Hydroxyapatite nanocomposite beads were fabricated by an in situ method in the presence and absence of gelatin. The composite beads were characterized by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, XRD and scanning electron microscopy. Gelatin was found to influence the crystallinity of apatite formed and also microstructure of the resulting composite. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]