Nuclear energy offers a wide range of applications, which include power generation, X-ray imaging, and non-destructive tests, in many economic sectors. However, such applications come with the risk of harmful radiation, thereby requiring shielding to prevent harmful effects on the surrounding environment and users. Concrete has long been used as part of structures in nuclear power plants, X-ray imaging rooms, and radioactive storage. The direction of recent research is headed toward concrete's ability in attenuating harmful energy radiated from nuclear sources through various alterations to its composition. Radiation shielding concrete (RSC) is a composite-based concrete that was developed in the last few years with heavy natural aggregates such as magnetite or barites. RSC is deemed a superior alternative to many types of traditional normal concrete in terms of shielding against the harmful radiation, and being economical and moldable. Given the merits of RSCs, this article presents a comprehensive review on the subject, considering the classifications, alternative materials, design additives, and type of heavy aggregates used. This literature review also provides critical reviews on RSC performance in terms of radiation shielding characteristics, mechanical strength, and durability. In addition, this work extensively reviews the trends of development research toward a broad understanding of the application possibilities of RSC as an advanced concrete product for producing a robust and green concrete composite for the construction of radiation shielding facilities as a better solution for protection from sources of radiation. Furthermore, this critical review provides a view of the progress made on RSCs and proposes avenues for future research on this hotspot research topic.
A previous study has shown that synthetic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) derived from Anabas testudineus (ATMP1) could in-vitro inhibit the progression of breast cancer cell lines. In this study, we are interested in studying altered versions of previous synthetic AMPs to gain some insight into the peptides functions. The AMPs were altered and subjected to bioinformatics prediction using four databases (ADP3, CAMP-R3, AMPfun, and ANTICP) to select the highest anticancer activity. The bioinformatics in silico analysis led to the selection of two AMPs, which are ATMP5 (THPPTTTTTTTTTTTYTAAPATTT) and ATMP6 (THPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAPARTT). The in silico analysis predicted that ATMP5 and ATMP6 have anticancer activity and lead to cell death. The ATMP5 and ATMP6 were submitted to deep learning databases (ToxIBTL and ToxinPred2) to predict the toxicity of the peptides and to (AllerTOP & AllergenFP) check the allergenicity. The results of databases indicated that AMPs are non-toxic to normal human cells and allergic to human immunoglobulin. The bioinformatics findings led to select the highest active peptide ATMP5, which was synthesised and applied for in-vitro experiments using cytotoxicity assay MTT Assay, apoptosis detection using the Annexin V FTIC-A assay, and gene expression using Apoptosis PCR Array to evaluate the AMP's anticancer activity. The antimicrobial activity is approved by the disc diffusion method. The in-vitro experiments analysis showed that ATMP5 had the activity to inhibit the growth of the breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) after 48 h and managed to arrest the cell cycle of the MDA-MB-231, apoptosis induction, and overexpression of the p53 by interaction with the related apoptotic genes. This research opened up new opportunities for developing potential and selective anticancer agents relying on antimicrobial peptide properties.