The management of keratinous wastes generated from different industries is becoming a major concern across the world. In each year, more than a billion tons of keratin waste is released into the environment. Despite some trials that have been performed and utilize this waste into valuable products, still a huge amount of keratin waste from different sources is a less explored biomaterial for making valuable products. This indicates that the huge amount of keratin waste is neither disposed properly nor converted into usable products rather thrown away to the environment that causes environmental pollution. Due to the introduction of this waste associated with different pathogenic organisms into soil and water bodies, human beings and other small and large animals are affected by different diseases. Therefore, there is a need for modern and ecofriendly approaches to dispose and convert this waste into usable products. Hence, the objective of this review is to give a concise overview regarding the degradation of keratin waste by biological approaches using keratinase producing microorganisms. The review also focuses on the practical use of keratinases and the economical importance of bioconverted products of keratinous wastes for different applications. Various researches have been studied about the source, disposal mechanisms, techniques of hydrolysis, potential use, and physical and chemical properties of keratin wastes. However, there is negligible information with regard to the use of keratin wastes as media supplements for the growth of keratinolytic microorganisms and silver retrieval from photographic and used X-ray films. Hence, this review differs from other similar reviews in the literature in that it discusses these neglected concerns.
In the last decades, cell-based approaches for bone tissue engineering (BTE) have relied on using models that cannot replicate the complexity of the bone microenvironment. There is an ongoing amount of research on scaffold development responding to the need for feasible materials that can mimic the bone extracellular matrix (ECM) and aid bone tissue regeneration (BTR). In this work, a porous cellulose acetate (CA) fiber mat was developed using the electrospinning technique and the mats were chemically modified to bioactivate their surface and promote osteoconduction and osteoinduction. The mats were characterized using FTIR and SEM/EDS to validate the chemical modifications and assess their structural integrity. By coupling adhesive peptides KRSR, RGD, and growth factor BMP-2, the fiber mats were bioactivated, and their induced biological responses were evaluated by employing immunocytochemical (ICC) techniques to study the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation of premature osteoblast cells (hFOB 1.19). The biological assessment revealed that at short culturing periods of 48 hours and 7 days, the presence of the peptides was significant for proliferation and adhesion, whereas at longer culture times of 14 days, it had no significant effect on differentiation and maturation of the osteogenic progenitor cells. Based on the obtained results, it is thus concluded that the CA porous fiber mats provide a promising surface morphology that is both biocompatible and can be rendered bioactive upon the addition of osteogenic peptides to favor osteoconduction leading to new tissue formation.
Objective: This study aims to assess the impact of re-establishing apical patency on the quantity of debris extruded through the apex after three supplementary retreatment files (TruNatomy (TRN), WaveOne Gold (WOG), and XP endo Finisher R (XPFR)).
Materials and methods: Eighty single-rooted mandibular premolars were prepared with ProTaper Universal rotary systems (PTU) up to F3 and obturated. The samples were divided into two main groups according to the presence or absence of the apical patency (n = 40), GI with apical patency and GII without apical patency. Based on the file system, which was adopted to eliminate the previous filling, each group had four subgroups (n = 10). In GI PTUR and GII PTUR, ProTaper Universal retreatment files (PTUR) were utilized only to remove the most primary filling material (control groups). In the other groups (PTUR) used, it was first followed by supplementary files. The quantity of debris extruded by different retreatment file systems was determined and compared to the corresponding control group with or without apical patency. Data were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA with a post hoc Tukey's multiple comparison test at a 5% significance level.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference among the control and experimental groups. XPFR had the least quantity of extruded debris. Apical patency did not affect the debris extrusion.
Conclusion: All tested files led to a significant apical debris extrusion regardless of apical patency.
The rise in antimicrobial resistance is a cause of serious concern since the ages. Therefore, a dire need to explore new antimicrobial entities that can combat against the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance is realized. Studies have shown that the activity of the strongest antibiotics has reduced drastically against many microbes such as microfungi and bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative). A ray of hope, however, was witnessed in early 1940s with the development of new drug discovery and use of metal complexes as antibiotics. Many new metal-based drugs were developed from the metal complexes which are potentially active against a number of ailments such as cancer, malaria, and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, this review is an attempt to describe the present scenario and future development of metal complexes as antibiotics against wide array of microbes.