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The green synthesis of Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) has shown numerous advantages over conventional physical and chemical synthesis methods as these methods non-ecofriendly and uses toxic chemicals and complicated equipments. In present study, Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were created using simple, sustainable, eco-friendly and green chemistry protocol. The roots of novel medicinal plant Sageretia thea was used as a bio-template for the preparation of IONPs. Further, the synthesis of IONPs was confirmed using different analytical tools like UV-Vis, FT-IR, XRD, EDX, and SEM. The average sizes of (NPs) were found to be 16.04 nm. Further, asynthesized IONPs were evaluated for several biological potentials including antibacterial, antifungal Anti-radical potentials (DPPH) and cytotoxicity assays. Antibacterial potencies were investigated using bacterial strains (in the concentration range of 1000-31.25 µg/mL) revealing significant antibacterial potentials. ABA and SAU was reported to be least susceptible while KPN was observed to be most susceptible strain in bactericidal studies. Further, different fungal strains were used to investigate the antifungal potentials of IONPs (in the concentration range of 1000-31.25 µg/mL) and revealed strong antifungal potencies against different pathogenic strains. Furthermore, MRA, FA and ANI were most susceptible and ABA was least susceptible in fungicidal examination. Significant cytotoxicity potential was examined using brine shrimps cytotoxicity assay, thus revealing the cytotoxic potential of asynthesized IONPs. The IC 50 for S. thea based IONPs was recorded as 33.85 µg/mL. Strong anti-radical potentials (DPPH) assay was performed to evaluate the ROS scavenging potential of S.T@IONPs. The highest scavenging potential was noted as 78.06%, TRP as 81.92% and TAC as 84% on maximum concentration of 200 µg/mL. In summary, our experimental results concluded, that asynthesized IONPs have strong antibacterial, antifungal, DPPH scavenging and cytotoxic potentials and can be used in different biological applications. In nutshell, our as-prepared nanoparticles have shown potential bioactivities and we recommend, different other in vitro and in vivo biological and bioactivities to further analyze the biological potentials., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval and consent to participate This study does not include human or animal subjects. Statement on guidelines All experimental studies and experimental materials involved in this research are in full compliance with relevant institutional, national and international guidelines and legislation posing a conflict or bias., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Current guidelines recommend office blood pressures (BP) be taken in a seated position when screening for hypertension (HTN). Seated BP is known to have limited accuracy in detecting high BP, while the utility of standing BP in diagnosing HTN is unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the incremental value of standing BP in diagnosing HTN. Seated, standing, and 24-h ambulatory BPs (ABPM) were obtained in adults without known cardiovascular disease, HTN, or BP medication use. Presence of HTN was defined by the 2017 ACC/AHA and the 2023 ESH HTN guidelines based on ABPM. Area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUROC) was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of seated and standing BP. Sensitivity and specificity of standing BP was determined using cut-offs derived from Youden's Index, while sensitivity and specificity of seated BP was determined using the cut-off of 130/80 mmHg and by 140/90 mmHg. Among 125 participants (mean age 49 ± 17 years; 62% female; 24% Black), 33.6% of them had HTN. Sensitivity and specificity of seated systolic BP (SBP) was 43% and 92%, respectively. Cut-offs selected by Youden's index for standing SBP/diastolic BP (DBP) were 124/81 mmHg according to the 2017 ACC/AHA HTN guidelines, and 123.5/83.5 mmHg according to the 2023 ESH HTN guidelines. Sensitivity and specificity of standing SBP was 71% and 67%, respectively. The AUROC of standing SBP (0.81 [0.71-0.92]) was significantly higher than seated SBP (0.70 [0.49-0.91]), when HTN was defined as average 24-h SBP ≥ 125 mmHg. Moreover, the addition of standing to seated SBP (0.80 [0.68-0.92]) improved HTN detection when compared to seated SBP. These patterns were consistent for both the 2017 ACC/AHA and the 2023 ESH definitions for HTN. In summary, standing BP, alone or in combination with seated BP, outperformed seated BP alone in diagnosing HTN in adults., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Bridges are among the most vulnerable structures to earthquake damage. Most bridges are seismically inadequate due to outdated bridge design codes and poor construction methods in developing countries. Although expensive, experimental studies are useful in evaluating bridge piers. As an alternative, numerical tools are used to evaluate bridge piers, and many numerical techniques can be applied in this context. This study employs Abaqus/Explicit, a finite element program, to model bridge piers nonlinearly and validate the proposed computational method using experimental data. In the finite element program, a single bridge pier having a circular geometry that is being subjected to a monotonic lateral load is simulated. In order to depict damages, Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP), a damage model based on plasticity, is adopted. Concrete crushing and tensile cracking are the primary failure mechanisms as per CDP. The CDP parameters are determined by employing modified Kent and Park model for concrete compressive behavior and an exponential relation for tension stiffening. The performance of the bridge pier is investigated using an existing evaluation criterion. The influence of the stress-strain relation, the compressive strength of concrete, and geometric configuration are taken into consideration during the parametric analysis. It has been observed that the stress-strain relation, concrete strength, and configuration all have a significant impact on the column response., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Geological settings of the Karakoram Highway (KKH) increase the risk of natural disasters, threatening its regular operations. Predicting landslides along the KKH is challenging due to limitations in techniques, a challenging environment, and data availability issues. This study uses machine learning (ML) models and a landslide inventory to evaluate the relationship between landslide events and their causative factors. For this, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Random Forest (RF), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Naive Bayes (NB), and K Nearest Neighbor (KNN) models were used. A total of 303 landslide points were used to create an inventory, with 70% for training and 30% for testing. Susceptibility mapping used Fourteen landslide causative factors. The area under the curve (AUC) of a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) is employed to compare the accuracy of the models. The deformation of generated models in susceptible regions was evaluated using SBAS-InSAR (Small-Baseline subset-Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) technique. The sensitive regions of the models showed elevated line-of-sight (LOS) deformation velocity. The XGBoost technique produces a superior Landslide Susceptibility map (LSM) for the region with the integration of SBAS-InSAR findings. This improved LSM offers predictive modeling for disaster mitigation and gives a theoretical direction for the regular management of KKH., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The intensified quest for efficient materials drives us to study the alkali (Na)-based niobate (NaNbO 3 ) and tantalate (NaTaO 3 ) perovskites while exploiting the first-principles approach based on density functional theory, coded within WIEN2K. While using the Birch Murnaghan fit, we find these materials to be stable structurally. Similarly, the ab-initio molecular dynamics simulations (AIMD) at room temperature reveals that the compounds exhibit no structural distortion and are stable at room temperature. By using the recommended modified Becke-Johnson potential, we determine the electronic characteristics of the present materials providing insight into their nature: they are revealed to be indirect semiconductors with the calculated bandgaps of 2.5 and 3.8 eV for NaNbO 3 and NaTaO 3 , respectively. We also determine the total and partial density of states for both materials and the results obtained for the bandgap energies of these materials are consistent with those determined by the band structure. We find that both compounds exhibit transparency to the striking photon at low energy and demonstrate absorption and optical conduction in the UV region. The elastic study shows that these compounds are mechanically stable, whereas NaNbO 3 exhibits stronger ability to withstand compressive as well as shear stresses and resists change in shape while NaTaO 3 demonstrates weaker ability to resist change in volume. We also find that none of the compound is perfectly isotropic and NaNbO 3 and NaTaO 3 are ductile and brittle in nature, respectively. By studying the optical properties of these materials, we infer that they are promising candidates for applications in optoelectronic devices. We believe that this report will invoke the experimental studies for further investigation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

It is well known that repeated projective measurements can either slow down (the Zeno effect) or speed up (the anti-Zeno effect) quantum evolution. Until now, studies of these effects for a two-level system interacting with its environment have focused on repeatedly preparing the excited state via projective measurements. In this paper, we consider the repeated preparation of an arbitrary state of a two-level system that is interacting strongly with an environment of harmonic oscillators. To handle the strong interaction, we perform a polaron transformation and then use a perturbative approach to calculate the decay rates for the system. Upon calculating the decay rates, we discover that there is a transition in their qualitative behaviors as the state being repeatedly prepared continuously moves away from the excited state and toward a uniform superposition of the ground and excited states. Our results should be useful for the quantum control of a two-level system interacting with its environment., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is an oncogenic herpesvirus implicated in the pathogenesis of several malignant and non-malignant conditions. However, a number of fundamental aspects about the biology of EBV and the mechanism(s) by which this virus induces pathology remain unknown. One major obstacle has been the lack of a suitable animal model for EBV infection. In this study, using our recently established rabbit model of EBV infection, we examined the early events following primary EBV infection. We show that, both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed animals were readily susceptible to EBV infection. However, immunosuppressed animals showed marked splenomegaly and widespread infection. Following EBV infection, the virus primarily targeted naïve IgM + , CD20 + , CD21 + and CD79a + B cells. Infected cells expressed varying sets of viral latent/lytic gene products. Notably, co-expression of latent and lytic proteins in the same cell was not observed. Infected cells in type 0/1 latency (EBERs + ), were small and proliferating (Ki67 + ). By contrast, cells in type 2/3 latency (LMP1 + ), were large, non-proliferating (Ki-67 - ) and p53 + . Although infected B-cells were widely present in splenic follicles, they did not express germinal center marker, BCL-6. Taken together, this study shows for the first time, some of the early events following primary EBV infection., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Plantago ovata (Plantaginaceae) is an economically and medicinally important species, however, least is known about its genomics and evolution. Here, we report the first complete plastome genome of P. ovata and comparison with previously published genomes of related species from Plantaginaceae. The results revealed that P. ovata plastome size was 162,116 bp and that it had typical quadripartite structure containing a large single copy region of 82,084 bp and small single copy region of 5,272 bp. The genome has a markedly higher inverted repeat (IR) size of 37.4 kb, suggesting large-scale inversion of 13.8 kb within the expanded IR regions. In addition, the P. ovata plastome contains 149 different genes, including 43 tRNA, 8 rRNA, and 98 protein-coding genes. The analysis revealed 139 microsatellites, of which 71 were in the non-coding regions. Approximately 32 forward, 34 tandem, and 17 palindromic repeats were detected. The complete genome sequences, 72 shared genes, matK gene, and rbcL gene from related species generated the same phylogenetic signals, and phylogenetic analysis revealed that P. ovata formed a single clade with P. maritima and P. media. The divergence time estimation as employed in BEAST revealed that P. ovata diverged from P. maritima and P. media about 11.0 million years ago (Mya; 95% highest posterior density, 10.06-12.25 Mya). In conclusion, P. ovata had significant variation in the IR region, suggesting a more stable P. ovata plastome genome than that of other Plantaginaceae species.

Epstein-Barr virus-encoded RNAs (EBER1 and EBER2) are two highly abundant, non-protein coding RNAs consistently expressed in all EBV infected cells, but their function remains poorly understood. Conventional in situ hybridization studies have indicated that these RNAs are present exclusively in the nucleus. We have recently demonstrated that EBERs can be excreted from infected cells via exosomes. However, the details of the steps involved in their excretion remain unknown. In this study, we aimed to directly track the journey of EBERs from the nucleus to the excretory exosomes of EBV immortalized B-lymphocytes. Using a combination of molecular and novel immuno-gold labelled electron microscopy (EM) based techniques, we demonstrate the presence of EBERs, not only in the nucleus, but also in the cytoplasm of EBV infected B cell lines. EBERs were also seen in exosomes shed from infected cells along with the EBER binding protein La. Our results show, for the first time, that at least a proportion of EBERs are transported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where they appear to be loaded into multi-vesicular bodies for eventual excretion via exosomes.

Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) is a 21 kDa protein enriched in caveolae, and has been implicated in oncogenic cell transformation, tumorigenesis, and metastasis. We explored roles for Cav-1 in pancreatic cancer (PC) prognostication, tumor progression, resistance to therapy, and whether targeted downregulation could lead to therapeutic sensitization. Cav-1 expression was assessed in cell lines, mouse models, and patient samples, and knocked down in order to compare changes in proliferation, invasion, migration, response to chemotherapy and radiation, and tumor growth. We found Cav-1 is overexpressed in human PC cell lines, mouse models, and human pancreatic tumors, and is associated with worse tumor grade and clinical outcomes. In PC cell lines, disruption/depletion of caveolae/Cav-1 reduces proliferation, colony formation, and invasion. Radiation and chemotherapy up-regulate Cav-1 expression, while Cav-1 depletion induces both chemosensitization and radiosensitization through altered apoptotic and DNA repair signaling. In vivo, Cav-1 depletion significantly attenuates tumor initiation and growth. Finally, Cav-1 depletion leads to altered JAK/STAT, JNK, and Src signaling in PC cells. Together, higher Cav-1 expression is correlated with worse outcomes, is essential for tumor growth and invasion (both in vitro and in vivo), is responsible for promoting resistance to therapies, and may serve as a prognostic/predictive biomarker and target in PC.