Search

Our use of language conveys referential meanings and attitudes. The idea that women are unimportant to critical life issues that males handle first is the basis for "woman's language". Women's marginalization and helplessness are mirrored in all the views they are required to talk about, and they are speaking. Speaking in a way that is not proper for women, avoiding expressing strong emotions, favouring expressions of uncertainty, and elaborating on ways to explain ideas that are judged "trivial" to the "real" world Speech about women implies an object whose sexual nature necessitates euphemism, and whose social positions are derived and dependent about males. Thus, women’s identity is linguistically obscured; language works against treating women as important individuals with unique viewpoints. In this paper, the aspects of gender cover both the cultural and social strengths of a woman in this society. In general, the language deals with the adaptability of women in terms of gender, activities, and thoughts in their respective societies. By these ideologies, the paper highlights how to overcome equality in language and women.

Violence remains one of modern society’s most pressing global public health issues. As a result, the current study’s objective is to examine the text, The Gypsy Goddess, in the concept of Structural Violence, which is one of the most lethal forms of violence, from a broader perspective in terms of political, economic, gender and health aspects. The methodology of the study incorporates a documentary text, The Gypsy Goddess by Meena Kandasamy, which aids with the illustrations of actual records and a survey of the victims of the Kilvenmani massacre, which happened in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, in which poor agricultural peasants were burned alive by wealthy landlords. The study’s major findings offer a comprehensive look at the physical and psychological causes and consequences of underlying Structural Violence processes worldwide with reference to the select text. According to the text, the study’s findings suggest that structural violence contributing factors are multifaceted and systemic. Besides, it reveals that people’s collective efforts, combined with modified legal interventions, can help combat Structural Violence by creating awareness and providing impoverished communities with adequate services and resources.

The fairyfly species Schizophragma mitai Triapitsyn is reported for the first time from the Oriental region. Since the extension of range from the Palaearctic region to the Oriental region, the species is redescribed based on the Indian material. A detailed note on S. indica Rehmat & Anis is provided with an observed variation. The illustrations and updated distribution map of both species are also included.

Nowadays agriculture and processes are getting more intelligent mechanisms to improve the yield and reduce manual work. Smart agriculture provides numerous modern ideologies to farmers. But still, farmers face one important issue crop disease. Many researchers provide plenty of ways to recover and tackle the situation to come out of this problem. Therefore, they proceed with image processing to identify diseases from rice plant images. Farmers mainly face problems to take proper images for classification. Because of various reasons like various environmental factors, farmers ignorance, field size, capturing angle, device limitations, etc. are affecting the quality of the disease detection system, and these factors degrade overall performance. For this problem, introducing the Intelligent multi-dimensional tiling (IMDT) technique with an advanced convolution neural network with cognitive object detection (CNN-COD). IMDT technique developed with an intelligent expert system that adjusts input image size, capturing angles and other factors automatically. This advanced tiling technique supports to do the cropping and fluttering of input images for resizing. And CNN-COD model was used to calculate rice leaf width size and rescaled at the time of image segmentation with the Residual network (ResNet) model. Created dynamic tiled images are uniformly and scaled dimensional objects. These input values are used to train the CNN-COD rice plant disease, prediction model. Our proposed models were appraised on more than 4960 images which contain 8 various types of rice crop diseases. The experimental result portrayed out the CNN-COD model receives significant improvement in objection detection and image classification for the rice plant disease detection system. Mean average precision (MAP) values compared the CNN-COD model with the YOLOv4 model it got improved by 3.7% with the tiled input dataset.

In this invistigation, we assessed the composition of the essential oil from the leaves of Artabortrys hexapetalus (L.f.) Bhandari, in vitro antioxidant and anticancer activities. The hydrodistilled essential oil from A. hexapetalus leaves cultivated in the southern Western Ghats was evaluated by GC/MS for its chemical composition. 34 compounds were present, according to the results of GC/MS analysis. The predominant constituents include Caryophyllene (17.2%), Copaene (12.9%), α-Bisabolene (8.3%), Biocyclogermacrene (6.3%), α-Cadinol (6.2%), β-Myrcene (5.7%), δ- 3-Carene (5.3%), and γ-Muurolene (4.9 %). The minor constituents are Gurjunene (3.5%), Longipinane (3.5%), Patchoulene (3.1%), Trans cadinal (2.8%), Ledol (1.4%), α-Phellandrene (1.3%), and Patchouli alcohol (1.3%). The DPPH and ABTS assays were used to measure the antioxidant activity of the A. hexapetalus essential oil, with ascorbic acid as a reference. The essential oil demonstrated antioxidant activity by having IC50 values of 104 and 122 µl/mL, respectively. Further the essential oil has tested its in vitro anticancer potential using the MTT assay on the HeLa cancer cell line and showed significant anticancer activity with an IC50 value of 36.7 µg/mL.

In the Asian continent rice cultivation process provide staple food for livelihood. A current research work in the agriculture area involves recognizing and classifying plants diseases based on live images. Farmer can traditionally do the cultivation process, hence here the identification of the disease was by manual (visual appearance) or send the sample data set to the nearest laboratory. In our proposed method we will provide accurate and early detection of various diseases in Oryza sativa (rice) plants, that can help the farmers in applying suitable treatment on the rice plants and improve productivity. We are using optimized deep learning models such as the ResNet-152, CoAtNet for classification and identify the diseases. We have captured healthy and unhealthy images from Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, India. The total amount of captured images was 3071 from our farmer's field with proper sunlight. It was highly efficient and detects the diseases or recognizes the diseases from the captured image with different categories (Bacterial Leaf Blight, Leaf Blast, Brown Spot, and Tungro / Leaf smut). The experimental results show according to the proposed method CoAtNet, was achieved for overall achieved accuracy of 96.56%.

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the efficacy of proprioception and balance exercise along with conventional exercise in patients with neck pain. Methodology: This was an experimental study design 60 samples were selected based on the inclusion criteria, Group A received balance and Proprioception exercise and Group B conventional exercise. Pre and posttest measurement were taken and compared by using outcome measures of VAS, Four-Square Step Test and Modified Clinical Tests of Sensory Interaction in Balance. Results: On comparing the mean value of Group A and Group B, shows significant difference between group A and group B. Group A Balance and proprioception exercise seems to be more effective than Group B conventional exercises.

Objective We hypothesize that visualizing inner-ear systematically in both cochlear view (oblique coronal plane) and in mid-modiolar section (axial plane) and following three sequential steps simplifies, identification of inner-ear malformation types. Methods Pre-operative computer-tomography (CT) scans of temporal bones of 112 ears with various inner ear malformation (IEM) types were taken for analysis. Images were analyzed using DICOM viewers, 3D slicer, and OTOPLAN®. The inner-ear was captured in the oblique-coronal plane for the measurement of length and width of cochlear basal turn which is also called as A-, and B-values respectively (Step 1). In the same plane, the angular-turns of lateral-wall (LW) of cochlear basal turn were measured (Step 2). As Step 3, the mid-modiolar section of inner ear was captured in the axial plane by following the A-value and perpendicular to cochlear view. From the mid-modiolar section, the outer-contour of inner ear was captured manually by following contrasting gray area between fluid filled and bony promontory and was compared to known resembling objects to identify IEM types (Step 3). Results Following reference values have emerged from our analysis: A-, and B-values (Step 1) on average are >8 mm and >5.5 mm respectively, in normal cochleae (NA), enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome (EVAS), incomplete partition (IP) type-I and -II, whereas it is

Despite decades of scientific effort, diabetes continues to represent an incredibly complex and difficult disease to treat. This is due in large part to the multifactorial nature of disease onset and progression and the multiple organ systems affected. An increasing body of scientific evidence indicates that a key mediator of diabetes progression is NRF2, a critical transcription factor that regulates redox, protein, and metabolic homeostasis. Importantly, while experimental studies have confirmed the critical nature of proper NRF2 function in preventing the onset of diabetic outcomes, we have only just begun to scratch the surface of understanding the mechanisms by which NRF2 modulates diabetes progression, particularly across different causative contexts. One reason for this is the contradictory nature of the current literature, which can often be accredited to model discrepancies, as well as whether NRF2 is activated in an acute or chronic manner. Furthermore, despite therapeutic promise, there are no current NRF2 activators in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with diabetes. In this review, we briefly introduce the transcriptional programs regulated by NRF2 as well as how NRF2 itself is regulated. We also review the current literature regarding NRF2 modulation of diabetic phenotypes across the different diabetes subtypes, including a brief discussion of contradictory results, as well as what is needed to progress the NRF2 diabetes field forward.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting millions each year. Most PD cases (∼90%) are sporadic, resulting from the age-dependent accumulation of pathogenic effects. One key pathological hallmark of PD progression is the accumulation of alpha-synuclein (α-syn), which has been shown to negatively affect neuronal function and viability. Here, using 3- and 6-month-old Nrf2+/+ and Nrf2-/- mice overexpressing human α-syn (PD model), we show that loss of NRF2 increases markers of ferroptosis across PD-relevant brain regions. Increased ferroptosis was associated with an age- and genotype-dependent increase in α-syn pathology and behavioral deficits. Finally, we demonstrate that α-syn overexpression sensitizes neuronal cells and ex vivo brain slices to ferroptosis induction, which may be due to α-syn suppression of NRF2 at the protein level. Altogether, these results indicate that NRF2 is a critical anti-ferroptotic mediator of neuronal survival, and that the vicious cycle of α-syn overexpression and NRF2 suppression, leading to enhanced neuronal ferroptotic cell death, could represent a targetable and currently untapped means of preventing PD onset and progression.

Lambda cyhalothrin and pretilachlor is widely used to control agricultural pest but also affect non target organisms like earthworms. The present laboratory study was conducted to determine the effect of Lambda cyhalothrin and Pretilachlor on biomass and histology of testis of Lampito mauritii. Lower and higher sub-lethal concentrations of Lambda cyhalothrin (T1 and T2) and Pretilachlor (T3 and T4) was mixed with soil substrate. Biomass was observed once in 10 days up to 90 days. 10 non clitellate L.mauritii was introduced into each treatment. Soil substrate without lambda cyhalothrin and pretilachlor served as control. The present study was revealed that lambda cyhalothrin and pretilachlor was highly affected the growth of L. mauritii. For histopathology study, four adult L. mauritii were introduced in to C, T1, T2, T3 and T4. After 5th, 15th and 30th day, testis was dissected out. The results reported that histology of testis was highly damaged on 5th and 15th day of experiment than 30th day.

Community Question Answering (CQA) services are technical discussion forums websites on social media that serve as a platform for users to interact mainly via question and answer. However, users of this platform have posed dissatisfaction over the slow response and the preference for user domains due to the overwhelming information in CQA websites. Numerous past studies focusing on expert recommendation are solely based on the information available from websites where they rarely account for the preference of users’ domain knowledge. This condition prompts the need to identify experts for the questions posted on community-based websites. Thus, this study attempts to identify ranking experts’ derived from the tag relationship among users in the CQA websites to construct user profiles where their interests are realized in the form of tags. Experts are considered users who post high-quality answers and are often recommended by the system based on their previous posts and associated tags. These associations further describe tags that often co-occur in posts and the significant domains of user interest. The current study further explores this relationship by adopting the “Tag Relationship Expert Recommendation (TRER)” method where Questions Answer (QA) Space is utilized as a dataset to identify users with similar interests and subsequently rank experts based on the tag-tag relationship for user’s question. The results show that the TRER method outperforms existing baseline methods by effectively improving the performance of relevant domain experts in CQA, thereby facilitating the expert recommendation process in answering questions posted by technical and academic professionals.

Objectives Hydrotherapy is a commonly used treatment modality to manage various conditions including diabetes in the Naturopathy system of medicine. The objective of the current scoping review is to find the effectiveness of hydrotherapy on plasma blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes. Content Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework was adopted for this scoping review. The studies which used hydrotherapy intervention for the management of diabetes or the effect of hydrotherapy on plasma glucose levels were considered eligible. PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and Google scholar were searched for English- language published articles till December 20, 2022. The following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and keyword search terms were used (“diabetes” OR “type 2 diabetes” OR “diabetes mellitus” OR “plasma glucose level”) AND (“hydrotherapy” OR “water therapy” OR “balneotherapy”). Two investigators independently assessed the studies for inclusion. Review articles, abstracts, and articles including the aquatic exercises as interventions were excluded. Summary In total, six studies met the inclusion criteria. Out of six, two studies used hot therapies, two studies cold therapy, and the remaining two used both hot and cold as interventions. The study results showed that hydrotherapy can be used as an effective intervention tool for blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. Outlook Integrating hydrotherapy treatments alongside conventional management can reduce blood glucose levels and thus reduce diabetes-related complications.

The transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) is often highly expressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Through its target genes, NRF2 enhances cancer progression and chemo/radioresistance, leading to a poorer prognosis in patients with high NRF2 expression. In this study, we identified CHM-like Rab escort protein (CHML; encoding Rep2) as an NRF2 target gene with an antioxidant response element (ARE) in its promoter region (-1622 to -1612). Analysis of patient data curated by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Oncomine databases revealed that CHML mRNA expression was elevated in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) patient tumor tissues and correlated with decreased patient survival. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of normal versus lung cancer patient tissues revealed that Rep2 protein levels were higher in lung tumors compared with normal tissue, which also correlated with increased levels of NRF2. Importantly, siRNA-mediated knockdown of CHML/Rep2 in A549 NSCLC cells decreased their ability to proliferate. Mechanistically, Rep2 mediates mTOR function, as loss of Rep2 inhibited, whereas overexpression enhanced, mTOR translocation and activation at the lysosome. Our findings identify a novel NRF2-Rep2-dependent regulation of mTOR function.

The excellent gas sensing ability of carbon dot–ceramic nanoparticle composites is depicted in the above figure in which formaldehyde and isopropanol vapors are sensed by a graphene quantum dot–TiO2 nanocomposite.

A visible-light-mediated direct α-oxygenation of N,N-dibenzylanilines to imides in the presence of [Acr+-Mes]BF4 as a metal-free photocatalyst and O2 as a green oxidant.

Herein, we report a substituent-controlled synthesis of 1,2-diketones and internal alkynes from terminal alkynes and arylboronic acids via α-stilbene radicals obtained from heteroleptic Cu(i) complexes under visible-light irradiation.

Enhancing the intracellular labile iron pool (LIP) represents a powerful, yet untapped strategy for driving ferroptotic death of cancer cells. Here, we show that NRF2 maintains iron homeostasis by controlling HERC2 (E3 ubiquitin ligase for NCOA4 and FBXL5) and VAMP8 (mediates autophagosome-lysosome fusion). NFE2L2/NRF2 knockout cells have low HERC2 expression, leading to a simultaneous increase in ferritin and NCOA4 and recruitment of apoferritin into the autophagosome. NFE2L2/NRF2 knockout cells also have low VAMP8 expression, which leads to ferritinophagy blockage. Therefore, deletion of NFE2L2/NRF2 results in apoferritin accumulation in the autophagosome, an elevated LIP, and enhanced sensitivity to ferroptosis. Concordantly, NRF2 levels correlate with HERC2 and VAMP8 in human ovarian cancer tissues, as well as ferroptosis resistance in a panel of ovarian cancer cell lines. Last, the feasibility of inhibiting NRF2 to increase the LIP and kill cancer cells via ferroptosis was demonstrated in preclinical models, signifying the impact of NRF2 inhibition in cancer treatment.

AHMED, ISHTIAQ, KAZMI, SARFRAZUL ISLAM, RAMESHKUMAR, ANANDHAN (2023): ISHTIAQ AHMED, SARFRAZUL ISLAM KAZMI & ANANDHAN RAMESHKUMAR (2022) New record of Orgalonia van Achterberg and description of a new species of Orgilus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Orgilinae) from India Zootaxa, 5195 (5): 437-448. Zootaxa 5228 (5): 600-600, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5228.5.6, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5228.5.6

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an infectious viral pathogen that causing serious respiratory infection in adults and neonates. The only approved therapies for RSV are the monoclonal antibodies palivizumab and its derivative motavizumab. Both treatments are expensive and require a hospital setting for administration. A vaccine represents a safe, effective and cheaper alternative for preventing RSV infection. In silico prediction methods have proven to be valuable in speeding up the process of vaccine design. In this study, reverse vaccinology methods were used to predict the cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) epitopes from the entire proteome of RSV strain A. From amongst 3402 predicted binders to 12 high frequency alleles from the Immune Epitope Database (IEDB), 567 had positive processing scores while 327 epitopes were predicted to be immunogenic. A thorough examination of the 327 epitopes for possible antigenicity, allergenicity and toxicity resulted in 95 epitopes with desirable properties. A BLASTp analysis revealed 94 unique and non-homologous epitopes that were subjected to molecular docking across the 12 high frequency alleles. The final dataset of 70 epitopes contained 13 experimentally proven and 57 unique epitopes from a total of 11 RSV proteins. From our findings on selected T-cell-specific RSV antigen epitopes, notably the four epitopes confirmed to exhibit stable binding by molecular dynamics. The prediction pipeline used in this study represents an effective way to screen the immunogenic epitopes from other pathogens. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Objectives Enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA) is a common finding associated with inner ear malformations (IEM). However, uniform radiologic definitions for EVA are missing and various 2D-measurement methods to define EVA have been reported. This study evaluates VA volume in different types of IEM and compares 3D-reconstructed VA volume to 2D-measurements. Methods A total of 98 high-resolution CT (HRCT) data sets from temporal bones were analyzed (56 with IEM; [cochlear hypoplasia (CH; n = 18), incomplete partition type I (IPI; n = 12) and type II (IPII; n = 11) and EVA (n = 15)]; 42 controls). VA diameter was measured in axial images. VA volume was analyzed by software-based, semi-automatic segmentation and 3D-reconstruction. Differences in VA volume between the groups and associations between VA volume and VA diameter were assessed. Inter-rater-reliability (IRR) was assessed using the intra-class-correlation-coefficient (ICC). Results Larger VA volumes were found in IEM compared to controls. Significant differences in VA volume between patients with EVA and controls (p p r = 0.78, VA operculum: r = 0.91), in CH (VA midpoint: r = 0.59, VA operculum: r = 0.61), in EVA (VA midpoint: r = 0.55, VA operculum: r = 0.66) and in controls (VA midpoint: r = 0.36, VA operculum: r = 0.42). The highest IRR was found for VA volume (ICC = 0.90). Conclusions The VA diameter may be an insufficient estimate of VA volume, since (1) measurement of VA diameter does not reliably correlate with VA volume and (2) VA diameter shows a lower IRR than VA volume. 3D-reconstruction and VA volumetry may add information in diagnosing EVA in cases with or without additional IEM.

The primary focus of this doctoral thesis is to determine optimal electrode insertion parameters for a cochlear implant (CI) procedure. Basic cochlear parameters that include the diameter and the width of the cochlear basal turn, also called as the A-, and B-values are highly relevant in estimating the cochlear length from the base to the apex. Using the same cochlear parameters, estimating the volume of the scala tympani (ST) is one of the main findings of this thesis. Identifying the inner ear anatomy from the pre-operative image of the temporal bone of the CI patients allows a safe insertion of electrode matching the inner ear anatomy. 3D segmentation of the complete inner ear is one way of understanding the anatomy of the inner ear. The basic cochlear parameters (A-, B-values) that are captured in the oblique coronal plane or also called as the cochlear view did not differentiate inner ear anatomical types. This forced us to look at the angular depth of the outer wall that can be captured in the cochlear view if this can differentiate inner ear anatomical types. We found the outer wall of the cochlea extending 540 for the normal anatomy (NA) and enlarged vestibular aqueduct syndrome (EVAS) cases, 450 for the incomplete partition type II (IP type II) and for some cochlear hypoplasia (CH) cases, 360 for IP type I, type III and for some CH cases. In the cochlear view, cutting through the A-value measurement to get the axial view helped us to capture the outer contour of the mid-modiolar section of the inner ear. For the NA and EVAS cases, the outer contour resembled Aladdin’s lamp, IP II cases resembled side view of a Pomeranian dog face, IP I cases resembled Sphinx and the pyramid behind, IP type III resembled an auger screw tip. The outer contour of the CH cases did not resemble any known objects. The classic common cavity (CC) and vestibular cavities (VC) with cochlear aplasia were differentiated in the axial view by drawing a straight line along the posterior edge of the internal auditory canal. The line dissecting the cavity corresponds to classic CC and the cavity that falls completely under the line corresponds to VC.

Generally, solar dryer cabinets are made up of sheet metals that are heavy, costly, tend to rust over time, and possess the high heat rate to the outer atmosphere. In order to overcome these drawbacks, this research urges to develop a natural fiber reinforced polymer-based cabinet dryer, specially designed and fabricated for the purpose of solar drying. Nylon is used as the matrix material and Prosopis juliflora in particulate form is used as the natural fiber reinforcement. The dryer cabinet was designed at industrial scale to dry 5 kg of ginger at a single setting. This work also studies the efficiency of the polymer composite cabinet integrated with a flat plate solar collector system that is coated with copper and black chrome attached to corrugated fins in between the absorber plate and storage medium. The FRP chamber was compartmented in its interior with aluminium perforated sheets and experimentation was performed to determine the efficiency of the composite cabinet based on reduction of heat loss from the system. The performance of the coating, storage medium materials, and overall storage efficiency were also studied. The FRP cabinet resulted in a moisture level less than 8.5% within 4–7 days. Exergy studies showed 75% efficiency and energy studies gave 25.5 kJ/kg peak readings of drying efficiency for a period ranging between 11 and 12 hours. This was a 75% increment in energy efficiency. Thermal degradation of the FRP material was found to be stable up to 300°C. The overall weight of the constructed polymer cabinet was 25% lesser than the conventional systems.

Objective: Vaginal births are associated with a certain degree of trauma to the genital tract, with significant short-term and long-term morbidity. Awareness of morbidity following perineal trauma has led to application of different interventions during the late first stage and second stage of labour to prevent severe perineal trauma. This includes techniques such as perineal massage, warm and cold compresses, and perineal management techniques. Objective of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the effect of perineal massage during the late first stage and second stage of labour on the rate of episiotomy and risk of perineal trauma. Materials and methods: Electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Science Direct) were searched from inception until August 2021. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which compares perineal massage during labor (i.e., intervention group) with a control group in women with singleton gestation and cephalic presentation at ≥36 weeks. The primary outcome was severe perineal trauma and the rate of episiotomy. Meta-analysis was performed using the random-effects model of DerSimonian and Laird to produce summary treatment effects in terms of relative risk (RR) with 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Ten trials including 4,088 women were analyzed. Women with perineal massage during labor had a significantly lower incidence of severe perineal trauma (RR: 0.52, 95% CI 0.29- 0.94) compared to the control group. The incidence of episiotomy was lower in the perineal massage group (RR: 0.71, 95% CI 0.52-0.98 p < 0.01) but was statistically insignificant (P>0.05). Conclusion: The finding of meta-analysis showed that perineal massage during labor could be effective in reducing the risk of severe perineal trauma, such as third- and fourth-degree spontaneous lacerations during labor.

A recent study illustrated that a fluorescence polarization assay can be used to identify substrate-competitive Hsp70 inhibitors that can be isoform-selective. Herein, we use that assay in a moderate-throughput screen and report the discovery of a druglike amino-acid-based inhibitor with reasonable specificity for the endoplasmic reticular Hsp70, Grp78. Using traditional medicinal chemistry approaches, the potency and selectivity were further optimized through structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies in parallel assays for six of the human Hsp70 isoforms. The top compounds were all tested against a panel of cancer cell lines and disappointingly showed little effect. The top-performing compound

Bronze metal matrix composites (MMCs) are futuristic materials that may find applications in automobile, aviation, and marine industries, specifically for propellers in submarines, bearings, and bushings for defence purposes. The present investigation studied the effect of Si3N4 (5, 10, 15 wt%) ceramic particles on the physical, metallurgical, and tribological behaviour of Cu-10Sn/Si3N4 MMCs. Cast rods of three composites and a base alloy were fabricated using the liquid metallurgy route. The microstructural characterisation for the cast samples was conducted using FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope), EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), XRD (X-ray diffraction), and TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope), which revealed that the Cu-10Sn alloy reinforced with 5 wt% of Si3N4 had homogeneous distribution and perfect bonding of the Si3N4 with the bronze MMC. The dry sliding wear test was performed by varying parameters such as the applied load (10, 20, 30 N) and sliding velocity (1, 2, 3 m/s). The specific wear rate (SWR) increased against an increased load. However, the SWR and coefficient of friction decreased and then increased against an increasing sliding velocity due to tribolayer formation. The primary wear mechanism observed at low and high loads was severe delamination. In contrast, the wear mechanism was adhesion wear at high and low velocities. Amongst the researched samples, Cu-10Sn/5 wt% Si3N4 composites revealed the least SWR at a load of 10 N and sliding velocity of 2 m/s and hence can be recommended for manufacturing bearings and bushings in the automobile and defence industry.

Aim: This study aimed to study the synergistic anti-glioma efficacies of Temozolomide, Metformin, and Epigallocatechin Gallate in U87MG and C6 glioma cells. Background: Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant and invasive tumor of the central nervous system. The current standard treatment comprises surgical resection, followed by adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy employing temozolomide (TMZ). Yet the survival rates for GBM patients are very low. Hence there is a need for new treatment regimes. Objective: This study aimed to unravel the synergistic anti-tumor potential of a biguanide drug, Metformin (MET) and a polyphenol, Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to enhance the anti-GBM efficacy of the standard drug. Methods: The anti-proliferative effect of TMZ, MET, and EGCG, individually and in combination was elucidated in U87MG (human) and C6 (rat) glioma cells using MTT assay, and combination index was used to determine synergism. Cytotoxicity of the drugs was carried out in HEK293T noncancerous cells. Apoptotic morphological changes in the cells were observed by AO/EtBr staining. Furthermore, the effects of drugs on antioxidant and apoptotic genes (SOD, CAT, Nrf-2, Caspase- 9, and Bcl-2) were evaluated using qRT-PCR, and the protein levels of Nrf-2 and Caspase-9 were evaluated using ELISA. Results: The triple-drug combination (TMZ+ MET+ EGCG) synergistically inhibited the proliferation of U87MG and C6 glioma cells in a dose-dependent manner and promoted the apoptosis of glioma cells. The triple-drug combination significantly up-regulated the expression of antioxidant and apoptotic genes and induced oxidative stress, suggesting a shift in equilibrium towards apoptosis. Conclusion: MET and EGCG in combination with TMZ synergistically promoted oxidative stressinduced apoptosis in glioma cells. Hence, the combination of TMZ, MET, and EGCG may be therapeutically exploited for improving the clinical outcomes of patients with GBM.

The genus Brachygaster Leach (Hymenoptera: Evaniidae) is reported from India for the first time and two new species, B. rarum sp. nov. and B. kawadai sp. nov., are described from Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The new species are compared with oriental species viz., B. tschekylli Madl and B. conjugens Enderlein.

A visible-light-driven photoredox-catalyzed nonaqueous oxidative C-N cleavage of N,N-dibenzylanilines to 2° amides is reported. Further, we have applied this protocol on 2-(dibenzylamino)benzamide to afford quinazolinones with (NH4)2S2O8 as an additive. Mechanistic studies imply that the reaction might undergo in situ generation of α-amino radical to imine by C-N bond cleavage followed by the addition of superoxide ion to form amides.

In this work, we report the sol–gel spin-coated novel thin film Aurivillius Phase Layered Bismuth titanate (Bi4Ti3O12, BTO) thin film coated on FTO glass substrate annealed at 700 °C was prepared and its detection of mercury ion. The structural orientation, surface morphology, chemical composition, vibrational, and optical properties of the prepared thin film were characterized using XRD, SEM, XPS, Raman, UV–Vis, and PL, respectively. From the XRD analysis, the crystal growth is well preferred in (117) plane corresponding to the orthorhombic structure of BTO. SEM images of the prepared thin film exhibited an anisotropic plate-like grained structure. Photoluminescence spectra showed a good optical emission peak at 545 nm. In Raman spectra, the observed phonon modes are well correlated to the orthorhombic phase of BTO thin films. XPS confirmed the oxidation states of Bi4Ti3O12 thin film. The electrocatalytic activity of the prepared BTO thin film electrode concerns mercury detection using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) technique. CV analysis disclosed that the prepared thin film electrode is very active in the electrochemical performance of heavy metal (Hg) detection. LSV result reveals that the prepared thin film exhibits enhanced sensitivity and lower detection limit of electrochemical Hg detection. From the electro-oxidation studies, the BTO thin film electrode acts as a favorable candidate for the application of heavy metal detection.

A high-auxin medium, usually used for callus induction, was not effective for Indian short-day onion cv. Bhima super. In this study, we found that the onion seedling radicle was a better explant than shoot tip for embryogenic callus induction, and induction efficiency up to 85.33% along with high embryogenic calli weight was obtained in routinely used medium containing 1.0 mg/L 2,4-D, but specifically supplemented with 0.5 mg/L kinetin. MS medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/L kinetin and 0.125 mg/L ABA showed 73.15% shoot regeneration efficiency from the calli induced from seedling radicle. Geneticin and hygromycin B at 50 mg/L showed optimal selection pressure for 8-week-old onion calli. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of 8-week-old friable embryogenic calli induced from seedling radicle resulted in phenotypically normal transgenic plants with 1% transformation efficiency. In this study, regeneration and transformation protocols were developed for a widely used Indian short-day onion cultivar, which is instrumental for the development of stable transgenics in this crop. The regeneration protocol is standardized for Indian short-day onion cultivar and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of onion is established, following in vitro co-cultivation of calli induced from seedling radicle explant.

Glioblastoma (GBM) tumors are enriched in immune-suppressive myeloid cells and are refractory to immune checkpoint therapy (ICT). Targeting epigenetic pathways to reprogram the functional phenotype of immune-suppressive myeloid cells to overcome resistance to ICT remains unexplored. Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses of human GBM tumors demonstrated high expression of an epigenetic enzyme - histone 3 lysine 27 demethylase (KDM6B) in intra- tumoral immune-suppressive myeloid cell subsets. Importantly, myeloid-cell specificKdm6bdeletion enhanced pro-inflammatory pathways and improved survival in GBM tumor-bearing mice. Mechanistic studies elucidated that the absence ofKdm6benhances antigen-presentation, interferon response and phagocytosis in myeloid cells by inhibiting mediators of immune suppression includingMafb, Socs3andSirpa. Further, pharmacological inhibition of KDM6B mirrored the functional phenotype ofKdm6bdeleted myeloid cells and enhanced anti-PD1 efficacy. Thus, this study identified KDM6B as an epigenetic regulator of the functional phenotype of myeloid cell subsets and a potential therapeutic target to improve response to ICT.

Caloric excess and sedentary lifestyles have led to an epidemic of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying high fat diet (HFD)-induced NAFLD, and to explore NRF2 activation as a strategy to alleviate NAFLD.Herein, we demonstrated that high fat diet (HFD) induced lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis, both of which could be alleviated by NRF2 upregulation. Mechanistically, HFD suppressed autophagosome biogenesis through AMPK- and AKT-mediated mTOR activation and decreased ATG7, resulting in KEAP1 stabilization and decreased NRF2 levels in mouse liver. Furthermore, ATG7 is required for HFD-induced NRF2 downregulation, as ATG7 deletion in Cre-inducible ATG7 knockout mice decreased NRF2 levels and enhanced ferroptosis, which was not further exacerbated by HFD. This finding was recapitulated in mouse hepatocytes, which showed a similar phenotype upon treatment with saturated fatty acids (SFAs) but not monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). Finally, NRF2 activation blocked fatty acid (FA)-mediated NRF2 downregulation, lipid peroxidation, and ferroptosis. Importantly, the HFD-induced alterations were also observed in human fatty liver tissue samples.HFD-mediated autophagy inhibition, NRF2 suppression, and ferroptosis promotion are important molecular mechanisms of obesity-driven metabolic diseases. NRF2 activation counteracts HFD-mediated NRF2 suppression and ferroptotic cell death. In addition, SFA vs. MUFA regulation of NRF2 may underlie their harmful vs. beneficial effects. Our study reveals NRF2 as a key player in the development and progression of fatty liver disease and that NRF2 activation could serve as a potential therapeutic strategy.