Search results for "Minerals"
showing 10 items of 247 documents
Clay-based drug-delivery systems: what does the future hold?
2017
Clays for drug delivery have been used from ancient time due to the large availability of clay minerals and their unprecedented properties. The empirical use of nanoclays from the past is converted in a stimulating scientific task aimed at building up nanoarchitectonic vehicles for drug delivery in a targeted and stimuli-responsive fashion. Here the historical aspects are discussed; next the modern examples of applications of different clay-based materials are discussed. A special focus is given to halloysite clay nanotubes, which are an emerging and very promising nanomaterial for drug-delivery purposes due to its special morphology and unique chemical properties. Advantages and limitatio…
Determination of the mineral composition of foods by infrared spectroscopy: a review of a green alternative.
2014
The determination of mineral composition of foods involves, in most cases, the use of long and tedious sample preparation, which consumes acids and reagents and sometimes requires the use of expensive instrumentation. This is the main reason for the search for direct analytical procedures, based on the use of infrared sample spectra and chemometrics, to model the signals in order to determine the presence of essential and trace toxic elements in foods. The state-of-the-art of the research in this field has been established in the present review article from the critical evaluation of articles available in the literature. Chemometric methods employed and their validation, together with a dis…
Nutritional Profiling and the Value of Processing By-Products from Gilthead Sea Bream (
2019
Fish processing industries generate a large volume of discards. In order to fulfil with the principles of a sustainable circular economy, it is necessary to maintain aquaculture by-products in the food chain through the production of high-value biomolecules that can be used as novel ingredients. In this study, we try to give value to the gilthead sea bream by-products, evaluating the composition and the nutritional value of the muscle and six discards commonly obtained from the fish processing industry (fishbone, gills, guts, heads, liver, and skin), which represent ≈ 61% of the whole fish. Significant differences were detected among muscle and by-products for fatty acid and amino acid prof…
Silicic acid competes for dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) immobilization by the iron hydroxide plaque mineral goethite.
2015
Abstract A surface complexation modeling approach was used to extend the knowledge about processes that affect the availability of dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in the soil rhizosphere in presence of a strong sorbent, e.g., Fe plaques on rice roots. Published spectroscopic and molecular modeling information suggest for the organoarsenical agent to form bidentate-binuclear inner-sphere surface complexes with Fe hydroxides similar to the inorganic As oxyanions. However, since also the ubiquitous silicic acid oxyanion form the same bidentate binuclear surface complexes, our hypothesis was that it may have an effect on the adsorption of DMA by Fe hydroxides in soil. Our experimental batch equilibr…
Enzyme-accelerated and structure-guided crystallization of calcium carbonate: Role of the carbonic anhydrase in the homologous system
2014
Abstract The calcareous spicules from sponges, e.g. from Sycon raphanus, are composed of almost pure calcium carbonate. In order to elucidate the formation of those structural skeletal elements, the function of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA), isolated from this species, during the in vitro calcium carbonate-based spicule formation, was investigated. It is shown that the recombinant sponge CA substantially accelerates calcium carbonate formation in the in vitro diffusion assay. A stoichiometric calculation revealed that the turnover rate of the sponge CA during the calcification process amounts to 25 CO2 s−1 × molecule CA−1. During this enzymatically driven process, initially pat-like pa…
Effect of Hydrogen and Carbamide Peroxide in Bleaching, Enamel Morphology, and Mineral Composition: In vitro Study
2017
ABSTRACT Aim The aim of the study was to evaluate the bleaching effect, morphological changes, and variations in calcium (Ca) and phosphate (P) in the enamel with hydrogen peroxide (HP) and carbamide peroxide (CP) after the use of different application regimens. Materials and methods Four groups of five teeth were randomly assigned, according to the treatment protocol: HP 37.5% applied for 30 or 60 minutes (HP30, HP60), CP 16% applied for 14 or 28 hours (CP14, CP28). Changes in dental color were evaluated, according to the following formula: ΔE = [(La−Lb)2+(aa−ab)2 + (ba−bb)2]½. Enamel morphology and Ca and P compositions were evaluated by confocal laser scanning microscope and environmenta…
Formation of refractory metal nuggets and their link to the history of CAIs
2015
Abstract Ca, Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) often contain numerous refractory metal nuggets (RMNs), consisting of elements like Os, Ir, Mo, Pt and Ru. The nuggets are usually thought to have formed by equilibrium condensation from a gas of solar composition, simultaneously with or prior to oxide and silicate minerals. However, the exact mechanisms responsible for their extremely variable compositions, small sizes and associations with CAI minerals remain puzzling. Expanding on previous work on chemically separated RMNs, we have studied a large number of RMNs within their host CAIs from three different meteorite types, i.e., the highly primitive chondrite Acfer 094 (C2-ungrouped), Allende (CV3 ox…
Analysis of manganese deposits from the Alps
2011
Deposits with unusually high Mn contents sampled at Monte Mangart in the Julian Alps include organic-rich marlstone and black shale with interbedded manganoan and siliceous limestone, which were deposited during the early Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. Mn enrichment during that period has been related to global sea-level change coincident with increasing subsidence rate. The formation of Fe-Mn nodules, marking a hardground at the base of the Monte Mangart section, seems to be triggered by release of Mn from remote hydrothermal vents into a region of relatively elevated submarine topography where oxidizing conditions prevailed. However, very high Mn contents in carbonate phases above the har…
Sm-Nd dating of Fig Tree clay minerals of the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa.
1994
Sm-Nd isotopic data from carbonate-derived clay minerals of the 3.22-3.25 Ga Fig Tree Group, Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa, form a linear array corresponding to an age of 3102 +/- 64 Ma, making these minerals the oldest dated clays on Earth. The obtained age is 120-160 m.y. younger than the depositional age determined by zircon geochronology. Nd model ages for the clays range from approximately 3.39 to 3.44 Ga and almost cover the age variation of the Barberton greenstone belt rocks, consistent with independent evidence that the clay minerals are derived from material of the belt. The combined isotopic and mineralogical data provide evidence for a cryptic thermal overprint in the …
Actinide Sorption Studies Using the Isotopes237Np and239Np
2008
The sorption of Np(V) on γ-Al2O3 and the reference clay mineral kaolinite was studied in batch experiments in the presence and absence of ambient CO2 with 0.1 M NaClO4 as background electrolyte. The short-lived isotope 239Np (t1/2 = 2.36 d) was used instead of 237Np (t1/2 = 2.14 × 106 a) to study the sorption behaviour of Np(V) at environmentally-relevant concentrations, i.e., 7 pM Np. In addition, 239Np served as tracer to measure sorption isotherms over six orders of magnitude in neptunium concentration. γ-Al2O3 served as a reference for clay minerals like kaolinite to investigate the interaction of Np(V) with aluminol groups, which are crucial binding sites of clays.