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Microplastic (MP) pollution is ubiquitous throughout the planet and has become a global concern. There are many reports of microplastic ingestion by seabirds and inland waterbirds. However, only handful of studies have investigated the microplastic ingestion in the terrestrial birds. We are the frst to report evidence of microplastics in the feces of Indian house crows Corvus splendens. Microplastics were detected in 92% of the fecal samples. Mean number of microplastics obtained for each feces was 2.64±1.47 particles. Only two diferent shapes of microplastic were observed in our study—fbers (99%) and fragments (1%). Average length for microplastics was 1727.16 µm, and width was 27.07 µm. About 97% of the plastic particles were below 5 mm. Black was the prominent color of microplastics followed by blue and gray. FTIR–ATR revealed that polyester fbers were prominent (21.21%), followed by polypropylene (16.67%), LDPE (15.15%), HDPE (9.09%), cellulose acetate (7.58%), and nylon (6.06%). SEM revealed the degraded surface of microplastics and EDX revealed that carbon/oxygen ratio was 69:22 confrming that the microplastic was a polymer. Understanding the fate of microplastics in the terrestrial ecosystem is crucial, hence further broader works should be carried out to understand microplastics in the terrestrial ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long-term survival outcomes of trimodal therapy (TMT; chemoradiation plus surgery) and bimodal therapy (BMT; chemoradiation) have seldom been analysed. In a selective-surgery paradigm, the benefit of TMT in patients with a complete clinical response is controversial. Factors associated with survival in patients with a clinical complete response to chemoradiation were evaluated. Methods: Patients with stage II-III oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with TMT or BMT from 2002 to 2017 were evaluated. The BMT group consisted of patients who were otherwise eligible for surgery but underwent chemoradiation alone followed by observation. This group included patients who later had salvage oesophagectomy. Survival was evaluated and compared between TMT and BMT groups. Elastic net regularization was performed to select co-variables for Cox multivariable survival analysis in patients with a clinical complete response. Results: Of 143 patients, 60 (41.9 per cent) underwent TMT and 83 (58.0 per cent) BMT. Patients who underwent TMT had longermedian overall survival than those who had BMT (77 versus 33months; P=0.019). For patients with a clinical complete response, TMT achieved longer median overall survival than BMT (123 versus 55months; P=0.04). BMT had a high locoregional recurrence rate (48 versus 6 per cent; P<0.001); 26 of 29 patients with locoregional recurrence in the BMT groupunderwent salvage resection. Coxmultivariable analysis demonstrated that upper-mid oesophageal tumour location (hazard ratio (HR) 2.04; P=0.024) and tumour length (HR 1.18; P=0.046) were associated with worse survival. Although TMT was not associated with survival, it was a predictor of reduced recurrence (HR 0.28; P=0.028). The maximumstandardized uptake value after chemoradiation also predicted recurrence (HR 1.33; P<0.001). Conclusion: In patients who achieve a clinical complete response, TMT reduces locoregional recurrence but may not prolong survival. The differences in survival outcomes may be due to patient selection; therefore, a selective-surgery strategy in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma is a reasonable approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) level in the water, sediment, and crabs were analyzed from Noyyal and Chinnar Rivers of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, India. Based on our results, Noyyal River is considered as polluted environment due to the discharge of contaminants by various anthropogenic activities, whereas, Chinnar River maintained as unpolluted one due to its tributary nature of Noyyal River located in Western Ghats hills. The results showed that the heavy metals in water and sediments were higher in Noyyal River. Also, the level of bioaccumulation of studied metals and biochemical constituents were higher in the crab Spiralothelphusa hydrodroma sampled from Noyyal River than Barytelphusa cunicularis collected from Chinnar River. The present findings revealed that the crab sampled from Noyyal River had elevated heavy metals which lead to a significant increase in biochemical constituents to overcome the stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Algae hydroid Thyroscyphus ramosus of the Indian subcontinent is the most easily recognizable fleshy colonial hydroid playing a vital role in benthic communities. Though this fauna is abundant, it has remained unexplored for the past nine decades in India. This study provides a detailed report of the morphology, ecology and geographical locations of T. ramosus. Morphological traits such as maximum height, gonophore, and theca twist directions were studied in detail. The molecular biological data confirms the identity of T. ramosus and its abundance in Palk Bay, India. Important molecular markers such as 18S, 16S rRNA sequences of T. ramosus were analyzed and compared with similar species in NCBI. Using 18S sequence data, it is proven that T. ramosus is a distinct and valid species, however, interestingly the 16S rRNA forms clades with other species of the same genera (T. fruticosus and T. bedoti) rather than the same species. Moreover the mtCOI forms a different clade with other genera. Furthermore, these data may enhance the advancement of identification in non-monophyletic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The present study focused on the bioaccumulation and translocation efficacy of heavy metals by Rhizophora mucronata from a tropical mangrove ecosystem. The results revealed that concentration of metals in sediments varied according to different seasons, ranging for Cd (0.07–0.85), Pb (0.43–17.49), Cu (2.88–14.87) and Zn (7.80–38.37) mg/kg. Likewise, in plant tissues metal concentration ranged 0.10–0.62 (Cd), 0.76–4.35 (Cu), 6.20–26.57 (Pb) and 1.75–61.67 (Zn) mg/kg. The elevated levels of heavy metal profiles were observed in the following pattern: Zn > Pb > Cu > Cd. Among the four metals tested Pb showed highest concentration in the mangrove associated sediment and plant tissues in all the seasons, followed by Zn, Cu and Cd. In addition, bioaccumulation and translocation of Pb from the sediment to the plant tissues were relatively higher than other elements and ranged between 1.08–1.36 (BAF) and 0.96–1.29 (TF). The utilization of metals present in the surrounding medium of R. mucronata in Muthupet mangrove depends on the nature of the metal and seasonal changes. Also, the presented concentration of metals in plant tissues were several folds higher than the WHO recommended levels for plant protection, but the concentrations recorded in the sediment samples were much lesser than the sediment quality guideline. Having better accumulation and translocation rate of Pb R. mucronata could be used as bio-indicator for monitoring Pb pollution in Muthupet mangrove ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was revealed that four Indian invasive seaweeds such as Acanthophora spicefera, Gracilaria salicornia, Kappaphycus alvarezii and Polysiphonia brodiei were recorded along the Tamil Nadu coast with 55 study sites from Palk Bay and Gulf of Mannar regions, Southeast coast of India. Maximum abundance of A. spicefera, G. salicornia, K. alvarezii and P. brodiei were recorded in Hare Island, Thondi coast, Thonithurai coast and Chinna muttam coast respectively. Highest species dominance (0.3) was recorded for G. salicornia during monsoon season and lowest dominance (0.05) was recorded for A. spicefera during post monsoon season. Species richness (D’) varied from 0.69-0.94 with minimum recorded was G. salicornia during monsoon season. Similarly, maximum species richness (D’) was recorded for A. spicefera during post monsoon season. Species diversity (H’) was ranged between 1.70 to 3.19 with the minimum was recorded for G.salicornia during monsoon season whereas maximum was recorded for P. brodiei during post monsoon season. The dendrogram results showed that three major clusters based on the abundance of species in the study sites. Further, the results revealed that Cluster 1 occupied by more species abundance at more stations and followed by Cluster 2 and Cluster 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A benzimidazolydine-based novel ligand L2 was prepared from 1,2-bis(benzimidazol-1-yl)ethane (L1) and synthesis of metallocycle complexes such as Ag(I)-N-Heterocyclic Carbene abbreviated as Ag-NHC and Cu(I)-N-Heterocyclic Carbene complex as Cu-NHC were synthesized and then estimated for antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Synthesis of Ag-NHC and Cu-NHC metallocycle complexes was described. The benzimidazolydine ligand precursor and its Ag-NHC and Cu-NHC were successfully characterized by FT-IR, FT-Raman, 1D and 2D NMR, HR-ESI mass spectra, and cyclic voltammetric studies. In the present work, antimicrobial study discloses that ligand (L1 and L2) do not show inhibitory activity against various pathogens; however, it was gradually increased, when they were coordinated to metals like Ag and Cu. Among the four compounds, the Ag-NHC strongly hampers the growth of fungal strains. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged between 46 and 750 μg mL−1. A distinctive cell growth reduction was observed in C. albicans when treated with minimum concentration of Ag-NHC complex. Ag-NHC exhibited the ability to prevent the growth of C. albicans by causing severe membrane damage and accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), which were revealed by fluorescence spectroscopic studies. The tested (L1, L2, Ag-NHC and Cu-NHC) compounds demonstrated significant activity with IC50 values range (0.20-30 μM) for DPPH, OH and NO antioxidant activity. Ascorbic acid was used as standard drug. The radical scavenging potencies of the compounds were explored by employing DPPH, OH and NO assays, in which Ag-NHC exhibited highest inhibitory effect on the radicals [IC50 = 57.3 μM (DPPH), 57.7 μM (OH), 52.3 μM (NO)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, morphological variations in 14 species of two families, Tetraodontidae and Diodontidae, were examined for individuals collected from five different centres in Tamil Nadu in the southeastern coast of India. Twenty-seven morphological measurements and four meristic characters were taken and used for multivariate analyses such as discriminant function analysis (DFA) & MANOVA. DFA revealed that the first two functions accounted for more than 75% variation between the species. Negative allometric values were observed on head length (HL), orbital length (OL), pupil diameter (PD), interorbital length (IOL), pectoral-fin length (PEL), caudal peduncle depth (CPD), dorsal to pectoral fin distance (DPFD), caudal peduncle length (CPL) and post-pectoral-fin length (POPFL) measurements. Also, MANOVA supported the DFA results. Additions, allometric relationships, and meristic variations were observed for most of these species. Moreover, this is the first attempt to describe a greater number of morphological features of the species belonging to the order Tetraodontiformes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concentrations of toxic metals viz. mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were evaluated in four species of fishes (Sardinella longiceps, Selaroides leptolepis, Epinephelus quoyanus and Lethrinus lentjan), one species of shrimp (Penaeus semisulcatus) and one species of crab (Portunus sanguinolentus) sampled from Thoothukudi, Keelakarai and Veerapandian pattinam of Gulf of Mannar, Southeast coast of India. Results revealed accumulation of these metals in the following order Hg > Cd > Pb. Hg concentration was found to be higher in Po. sanguinolentus followed by E. quoyanus, Pe. semisulcatus and L. lentjan however, the same was absent in Sa. longiceps and Se. leptolepis. Cd concentration was recorded in decreasing order in Po. sanguinolentus > Pe. semisulcatus > L. lentjen > E. quoyanus > Sa. longiceps > Se. leptolepis. Pb was detectable only in four species. Results of One-way ANOVA revealed significant variations (p < 0.05) in accumulation of Cd in Sa. longiceps, Se. leptolepis and Pe. semisulcatus and Hg in E. quoyanus, L. lentjan and Po. sanguinolentus. Variations noted in Pb were not statistically significant throughout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aims to determine the fatty acid profiling of commercially important fresh and boiled Scomberomorus commerson. Fatty acids in fresh and boiled fish were separated and quantitatively determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometer using standard methods. The findings revealed that the predominant fatty acids in fresh S. commerson were octadecanoic acid methyl ester, octanoic acid, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid and 3-cyclopentylpropionic acid representing respectively 45.91, 5.69, 6.75 and 8.65% of total fatty acids. Boiled S. commerson showed predominant changes in their fatty acid profiles. In the omega-3 and omega-6 families the dominant fatty acids were doconexent, 3-cyclopentylpropionic acid, octadeconoic acid methyl ester and Hexadecane representing respectively 3.87, 12.08, 44.26 and 3.11% of total fatty acids. After boiling, some fatty acids present in fresh fish are damaged and formed new fatty acids which belonged to ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Boiling increased the concentration of PUFAs from 73.25 to 80.37% of total fatty acids and also formed new fatty acids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microorganisms may have a direct action on the fate of organic/inorganic ions in the environment through biosorption, detoxification or bioaccumulation processes. In the present study, the marine actinobacterialNocardiopsissp. 13H strain, isolated from different nuclear power plant (NPP) sites, India, tested for long half-life radionuclide of strontium (Sr+) was studied.Nocardiopsissp. 13H could remove 93.6 ± 0.8% of Sr+from test solutions containing 10 mM SrCl2. The biosorption of Sr+was studied for optimum condition of pH, temperature and time interval of remediation. Further, Sr+adsorption was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). In addition, with the presence of Sr+, extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) were also found more and suggested interaction of EPS surface active assemblages being involved in radionuclide remediation. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) study confirmed thatNocardiopsissp. 13H cell surfaces are involved in Sr+adsorption with the presence of dominant functional groups such as carboxyl, hydroxyl and amide groups. The results conclude that marine actinobacterialNocardiopsissp. 13H could be useful for the treatment of long half-life radioisotope pollution as an eco-friendly biosorbent in marine environmental cleanup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop the human umbilical vein (HUV) as an acellular conduit-scaffold for use in small diameter blood vessel bypass surgeries it was subjected to a tissue processing methodology consisting of a single step cell extraction protocol followed by chemical crosslinking. The decellularised HUV (dHUV) was assessed for acellularity by hematoxylin and eosin staining, scanning electron microscopy and DNA content analysis, Van Geisons staining for collagen and biochemical quantification of the extracellular matrix components. The dHUVs were treated with ethyldimethylaminopropylcarbodiimide (EC), dimethylsuberimidate (DS) and glutaraldehyde (GA) either alone or in combination to stabilize the glycosaminoglycans and crosslink the proteins. Their shrinkage temperatures, biomechanical properties and resistances to in vitro enzyme degradation were determined and compared with native HUV (nHUV). The results indicated that decellularization with 0.25% sodium dodecyl sulphate was effective in accomplishing complete removal of cells from the HUV without affecting the ECM composition. Crosslinking with single or two chemical agents improved the biomechanical properties and in vitro resistances to proteolytic degradation of the acellular HUV. The dHUV crosslinked with two crosslinkers i.e., both EC and GA has potential to serve as a small diameter conduitscaffold for in situ or in vitro vascular tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study reports the chemical synthesis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using sodium borohydride as a reducing and capping agent. The various temperatures and time intervals were investigated for controlled formation of AuNPs. The characterization of AuNPs was studied using UV-vis spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscope (TEM), selected area diffraction (SAED), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrophotometer (Edx), dynamic light scattering (DLS), zeta potential, and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), and results indicated that AuNPs were spheroid in shape and cubic lattice and face centered in nature with 29 nm in size. AuNPs have potential antimicrobial activity against selected human clinical pathogens. IC concentration of AuNPs was determined as 20 μg/ml against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines using MTT assay. The morphological and apoptosis effects of AuNPs on NSCLC were investigated using acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB), 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein-diacetate (DCFH-DA), rhodamine 123, and 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining method, and results indicated that AuNPs have potential anticancer activity against NSCLC cell lines. The anticancer activity of AuNPs is that it has less toxicity against human HBL100 normal cells. These anticancer potentials of AuNPs were compared with the standard drug cisplatin. Moreover, after 24 h exposure, AuNPs arrest the cell cycle at G2/M phase in A549 cells. These findings suggested that AuNPs could act as a potential anticancer agent against lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biosorption of Cd(II) and Cu(II) ions from aqueous solutions on the biomass ofLysinibacillus fusiformisKMNTT-10 was investigated by batch method as functions of pH, contact time, biomass dose and initial metal concentrations. The experimental results showed the optimum pH for adsorption of Cd(II) and Cu(II) ions was 6.0, while the contact time was 2 h at room temperature (27 ± 2°C). The experimental data were successfully evaluated by isotherm and kinetic models. The maximum adsorption capacities (Qmax) for Cd(II) and Cu(II) ions obtained from the Langmuir equation were 53.19 and 46.29 mg g−1, respectively. The adsorption kinetics for tested metals followed the pseudo-second-order model than the pseudo-first-order model. Scanning electron microscopic analysis showed deformation and surface damage in the Cd(II) and Cu(II) adsorbed cells. Energy-dispersive X-ray scanning results confirmed the adsorption of Cd(II) and Cu(II) onto biomass. Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated that functional groups (amino, carboxyl, hydroxyl and carbonyl groups) on the cell surface were responsible for metal binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The melanin pigment produced fromStreptomycessp., MVCS6 was isolated and dihydroxyphenyalanine (DOPA) melanin compound was biochemically identified and spectroscopically characterised (ultraviolet and FT-IR). DOPA melanin showed a promising activity as an antibacterial natural product against 12 pathogenic bacteria from hospital isolations, particularly, againstPseudomonas aeruginosaRMMH7 (inhibition zone of 18 ± 0.02 at 30 μg/disc, and MIC of 10 ± 0.02 μg/mL) andVibrio parahaemolyticsRMMH12 (inhibition zone of 15 mm ± 0.03 at 30 μg/disc, and MIC of 14 ± 0.02 μg/mL). Moreover,in vitroevaluation of reducing power (Ascorbic Acid Equivalent (160 μg/mL)), DPPH radical-scavenging (89%), NO-scavenging (72%) and lipid peroxidation activities (89.6%) were determined. Cytotoxicity of DOPA melanin against cervical cancer cell line showed a dose–response activity, and IC50value was found to be 300 μg/mL. These results would open the way to proposeStreptomycessp. MVCS6 as a promising source of bioactive eumelanin with therapeutic potential in medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We prove a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of Lyapunov density for a system of coupled autonomous ordinary differential equations. In particular, we characterize the kinds of couplings that preserve almost everywhere uniform stability of the origin provided the isolated systems have an almost everywhere uniformly stable equilibrium point at the origin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]