Water bodies are being contaminated daily due to industrial, agricultural and domestic effluents. In the last decades, harmful organic micropollutants (OMPs) have been detected in surface and groundwater at low concentrations due to the discharge of untreated effluent in natural water bodies. As a consequence, aquatic life and public health are endangered. Unfortunately, traditional water treatment methods are ineffective in the degradation of most OMPs. In recent years, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) techniques have received extensive attention for the mineralization of OMPs in water in order to avoid serious environmental problems. Cold atmospheric plasma discharge-based AOPs have been proven a promising technology for the degradation of non-biodegradable organic substances like OMPs. This paper reviews a wide range of cold atmospheric plasma sources with their reactor configurations used for the degradation of OMPs (such as organic dyes, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides) in wastewater. The role of plasma and treatment parameters (e.g. input power, voltage, working gas, treatment time, OMPs concentrations, etc.) on the oxidation of various OMPs are discussed. Furthermore, the degradation kinetics, intermediates compounds formed by plasma, and the synergetic effect of plasma in combination with a catalyst are also reported in this review. Graphic

Here we investigate the influences of non-thermal atmospheric plasma on human mesenchymal stem cells isolated from periodontal ligament (hPDL-MSCs). A specially redesigned plasma needle was used as the source of low-temperature plasma and its effects on different hPDL-MSC functions were investigated. Cell cultures were obtained from extracted normal impacted third molars and characterized for their phenotype and multi-potential differentiation. The hPDL-MSCs possessed all the typical MSC properties, including clonogenic ability, high proliferation rate, specific phenotype and multilineage differentiation. The data regarding the interaction of plasma with hPDL-MSCs demonstrated that plasma treatment inhibited the migration of hPDL-MSCs and induced some detachment, while not affecting their viability. Additionally, plasma significantly attenuated hPDL-MSCs' proliferation, but promoted their osteogenic differentiation. The results of this study indicated that a non-thermal plasma offers specific activity with non-destructive properties that can be advantageous for future dental applications.