It Is High Time Physicians Thought of Natural Products for Alleviating NAFLD. Is There Sufficient Evidence to Use Them?

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common form of liver disease all over the world due to the obesity pandemic; currently, therapeutic options for NAFLD are scarce, except for diet recommendations and physical activity. NAFLD is characterized by excessive accumulation of fat deposits (>5%) in the liver with subsequent inflammation and fibrosis. Studies in the literature show that insulin resistance (IR) may be considered as the key mechanism in the onset and progression of NAFLD. Recently, using natural products as an alternative approach in the treatment of NAFLD has drawn growing attention among physicians. In this review, the authors present the most recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and lines of evidence from animal models about the efficacy of nutraceutics in alleviating NAFLD. Among the most studied substances in the literature, the following molecules were chosen because of their presence in the literature of both clinical and preclinical studies: spirulina, oleuropein, garlic, berberine, resveratrol, curcumin, ginseng, glycyrrhizin, coffee, cocoa powder, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, and bromelain.     

Effects of Sc Addition and Direct Aging Treatment on Microstructure and Hardness of AlSi10Mg Alloy

Cu-mold centrifugal cast processing is employed as a rapid solidification method for producing samples with and without Sc. The Al–Si–Mg and Al–Si–Mg–Sc alloy samples are exposed to direct aging treatments varying temperature and time to verify the microstructural changes. Both rapidly solidified samples and as-aged samples are characterized by a number of methods, including optical microscopy, SEM–EDS, transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM)–EDS, TEM–HAADF, X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and Vickers hardness. At first, the results point to a strong precipitate-related hardening effect formed as a result of the Sc addition to the alloy. All samples containing Sc show a higher hardness value when compared to their respective treated samples without Sc. Second, when comparing the Al–10Si–Mg–0.4Sc alloy samples among themselves after being treated at different conditions, high temperatures, and excessive treatment times are recognized as detrimental to the hardness. This is due to the growth of larger Sc-bearing precipitates of approximately 1 μm in size under such conditions, having lower efficiency in pinning dislocations during loading. The best aging condition is 255 °C for 60 min, which produces a very fine dispersion of Mg and Sc intermetallics (200 nm in size) with a peak hardness of 110 HV.     

Electronic and Excitonic Properties of MSi2Z4 Monolayers

MA₂Z₄ monolayers form a new class of hexagonal non-centrosymmetric materials hosting extraordinary spin-valley physics. While only two compounds (MoSi₂N₄ and WSi₂N₄) are recently synthesized, theory predicts interesting (opto)electronic properties of a whole new family of such two-dimensional (2D) materials. Here, the chemical trends of band gaps and spin-orbit splittings of bands in selected MSi₂Z₄ (M = Mo, W; Z = N, P, As, Sb) compounds are studied from first-principles. Effective Bethe–Salpeter-equation-based calculations reveal high exciton binding energies. Evolution of excitonic energies under external magnetic field is predicted by providing their effective g-factors and diamagnetic coefficients, which can be directly compared to experimental values. In particular, large positive g-factors are predicted for excitons involving higher conduction bands. In view of these predictions, MSi₂Z₄ monolayers yield a new platform to study excitons and are attractive for optoelectronic devices, also in the form of heterostructures. In addition, a spin-orbit induced bands inversion is observed in the heaviest studied compound, WSi₂Sb₄, a hallmark of its topological nature.     

A Note on the Influence of the Mine Tailings Released in the Córrego do Feijão Mine Disaster on the Water Bodies of Brumadinho,Minas Gerais,Brazil

Mine Water and the Environment - The rupture of the Córrego do Feijão iron mine Tailings Dam I killed at least 260 people and had major environmental and social impacts. We analyzed the...