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In the present study, a series of aryl-substituted thioqunoline conjugated to thiosemicarbazide were rationally designed and synthesized. The formation of target compounds was confirmed by spectral characterization techniques such as IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, ESI–MS, and elemental analysis. Among the synthesized derivatives, compound 10g bearing para-chlorophenyl moiety was proved to be the most potent tyrosinase inhibitor with an IC50 value of 25.75 ± 0.19 µM. Compound 10g as the most potent derivative exhibited a noncompetitive inhibition pattern against tyrosinase in the kinetic study. Furthermore, the in silico cavity detection, as well as the molecular docking assessments, were performed to follow the behavior of 10g within the proposed binding site. Besides, the toxicity of 10g and its potency to reduce the melanin content on A375 cell lines were also measured. Consequently, aryl-substituted thioqunolines conjugated to thiosemicarbazide might be a promising candidate in the cosmetics, medicine, and food industry as tyrosinase inhibitors.

Socioeconomic status is an overlooked risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Low family income is a measure of socioeconomic status and may portend greater CVD risk. Therefore, we assessed the association of family income with cardiovascular risk factor and disease burden in American adults. This retrospective analysis included data from participants aged ≥ 20 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) cycles between 2005 and 2018. Family income to poverty ratio (PIR) was calculated by dividing family (or individual) income by poverty guidelines specific to the survey year and used as a measure of socioeconomic status. The association of PIR with the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and CVD as well as cardiac mortality and all-cause mortality was examined. We included 35,932 unweighted participants corresponding to 207,073,472 weighted, nationally representative participants. Participants with lower PIR were often female and more likely to belong to race/ethnic minorities (non-Hispanic Black, Mexican American, other Hispanic). In addition, they were less likely to be married/living with a partner, to attain college graduation or higher, or to have health insurance. In adjusted analyses, the prevalence odds of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease (CAD), congestive heart failure (CHF), and stroke largely decreased in a step-wise manner from highest (≥ 5) to lowest PIR (

Three-dimensional shape recovery from the set of 2D images has many applications in computer vision and related fields. Passive techniques of 3D shape recovery utilize a single view point and one of these techniques is Shape from Focus or SFF. In SFF systems, a stack of images is taken with a single camera by manipulating its focus settings. During the image acquisition, the inter-frame distance or the sampling step size is predetermined and assumed constant. However, in a practical situation, this step size cannot remain constant due to mechanical vibrations of the translational stage, causing jitter. This jitter produces Jitter noise in the resulting focus curves. Jitter noise is invisible in every image, because all images in the stack are exposed to the same error in focus; thus, limiting the use of traditional noise removal techniques. This manuscript formulates a model of Jitter noise based on Quadratic function and the Taylor series. The proposed method, then, solves the jittering problem for SFF systems through recursive least squares (RLS) filtering. Different noise levels were considered during experiments performed on both real as well as simulated objects. A new metric measure is also proposed, referred to as depth distortion (DD), which calculates the number of pixels contributing to the RMSE in percentage. The proposed measure is used along with the RMSE and correlation, to compute and test the reconstructed shape quality. The results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

Yogurt quality mainly depends on nutritional properties, microbial diversity and purity of starter culture. This study aimed to assess the nutritional composition and microbiome diversity in yogurt. Microbial diversity was analyzed by 16S and 18S rRNA based high-throughput sequencing. Significantly (Ppermanova=0.001) and fungal (Ppermanova=0.013) diversity between sweet and sour yogurt was recorded. We detected 76 bacterial and 70 fungal genera across these samples which were mostly represented by Firmicutes (>92%) and Ascomycota (98%) phyla, respectively. Among the detected genera, 36.84% bacterial and 22.86% fungal genera were found in both yogurt types. Our results suggest that Streptococcus (50.82%), Lactobacillus (39.92%), Enterobacter (4.85%), Lactococcus (2.84%) and Aeromonas (0.65%) are the most abundant bacterial genera, while Kluyveromyces (65.75%), Trichosporon (8.21%), Clavispora (7.19%), Candida (6.71%), Iodophanus (2.22%), Apiotrichum (1.94%), and Issatchenkia (1.35%) are the most abundant fungal genera in yogurt metagenomes. This is the first study on nutritional properties and microbiome diversity of Bangladeshi yogurt that would be a benchmark for safe production of quality yogurt by commercial manufacturers.

Janus colloidal surfactants with opposing wettabilities are receiving attention for their practical application in industry. Combining the advantages of molecular surfactants and particle-stabilized Pickering emulsions, Janus colloidal surfactants generate remarkably stable emulsions. Here we report a straightforward and cost-efficient strategy to develop Janus nanoplate surfactants (JNPS) from an aluminosilicate nanoclay, halloysite, by stepwise surface modification, including an innovative selective surface modification step. Such colloidal surfactants are found to be able to stabilize Pickering emulsions of different oil/water systems. The microstructural characterization of solidified polystyrene emulsions indicates that the emulsion interface is evenly covered by JNPS. The phase behaviors of water/oil emulsion generated by these novel platelet surfactants were also investigated. Furthermore, we demonstrate the application of JNPS for enhanced oil recovery with a microfluidic flooding test, showing a dramatic increase of oil recovery ratio. This research provides important insights for the design and synthesis of two-dimensional Janus colloidal surfactants, which could be utilized in biomedical, food and mining industries, especially for circumstances where high salinity and high temperature are involved.

With the ever-reducing sizes of electronic devices, the problem of electromigration (EM) has become relevant and requires attention. However, only the EM behavior of Sn–Ag solders within the solder joint structure has been focused on thus far. Therefore, in this study, a thin metallic film composed of Sn–3.5Ag (wt.%) was subjected to a current density of 7.77 × 104 A/cm2 at a temperature of 15 °C to test the ability of existing EM models to predict the nucleation and evolution of voids generated by the resulting atomic migration. A computer simulation was then used to compute the coupled current distribution, thermal distribution, and atomic migration problems. It relied on an original random walk (RW) method, not previously applied to this problem, that is particularly well suited for modelling domains that undergo changes owing to the formation of voids. A comparison of the experimental results and computer simulations proves that the RW method can be applied successfully to this class of problems, but it also shows that imperfections in the film can lead to deviations from predicted patterns.

Synchronization plays a significant role in information transfer and decision-making by neurons and brain neural networks. The development of control strategies for synchronizing a network of chaotic neurons with time delays, different direction-dependent coupling (unidirectional and bidirectional), and noise, particularly under external disturbances, is an essential and very challenging task. Researchers have extensively studied the synchronization mechanism of two coupled time-delayed neurons with bidirectional coupling and without incorporating the effect of noise, but not for time-delayed neural networks. To overcome these limitations, this study investigates the synchronization problem in a network of coupled FitzHugh–Nagumo (FHN) neurons by incorporating time delays, different direction-dependent coupling (unidirectional and bidirectional), noise, and ionic and external disturbances in the mathematical models. More specifically, this study investigates the synchronization of time-delayed unidirectional and bidirectional ring-structured FHN neuronal systems with and without external noise. Different gap junctions and delay parameters are used to incorporate time-delay dynamics in both neuronal networks. We also investigate the influence of the time delays between connected neurons on synchronization conditions. Further, to ensure the synchronization of the time-delayed FHN neuronal networks, different adaptive control laws are proposed for both unidirectional and bidirectional neuronal networks. In addition, necessary and sufficient conditions to achieve synchronization are provided by employing the Lyapunov stability theory. The results of numerical simulations conducted for different-sized multiple networks of time-delayed FHN neurons verify the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive control schemes.

Gallium nitride (GaN) is a promising wide-bandgap semiconductor, and new characterization tools are needed to study its local crystallinity, carrier dynamics, and doping effects. Terahertz (THz) emission spectroscopy (TES) is an emerging experimental technique that can probe the ultrafast carrier dynamics in optically excited semiconductors. In this work, the carrier dynamics and THz emission mechanisms of GaN were examined in unintentionally doped n-type, Si-doped n-type, and Mg-doped p-type GaN films. The photocarriers excited near the surface travel from the excited-area in an ultrafast manner and generate THz radiation in accordance with the time derivative of the surge drift current. The polarity of the THz amplitude can be used to determine the majority carrier type in GaN films through a non-contact and non-destructive method. Unique THz emission excited by photon energies less than the bandgap was also observed in the p-type GaN film.

Brucella is alpha-2 Proteobacteria mainly responsible for multi-factorial bacterial zoonotic disease brucellosis with low concentration (10–100 CFU) required to establish the infection. In this study, we developed sandwich ELISA with detection range of 102 to 108 cells mL−1 and limit of detection at 103 cells mL−1 by employing polyclonal rabbit IgG (capture antibody, 10 µg mL−1) and mice IgG (detection antibody, 50 µg mL−1) antibody for its detection. Surface Plasmon Resonance evaluated the interaction of detection antibody with whole cell spiked serum samples at LOD of 102 cells mL−1 along with non co-operative interaction of protein albumin. Further, kinetic evaluation study using detection antibody against cell envelope antigen was performed whereby, Equilibrium Dissociation Constant (KD) and Maximum Binding Capacity (Bmax) were found to be 16.48 pM and 81.67 m° for Brucella abortus S99 and 0.42 pM and 54.50 m° for Brucella melitensis 16 M, respectively. During interference study, sandwich ELISA assay cross-reacted with either of the polyclonal antibody of above Brucella species. Upon validation, no cross-reactivity observed with bacteria-closely related to Brucella. In conclusion, developed semi-quantitative sandwich immunoassay is sensitively rapid in whole cell detection of Brucella and will be useful in development of detection assays from environmental and clinical matrices.

The insulin receptor (IR) and insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1-R) play key roles in growth, regulation of nutrient metabolism and carbohydrate homeostasis. Insulin-like molecules in prokaryotes and other early life have been reported. However, an account of metabolic effects of insulin, transcriptomic evidence of expression of glucose transporting channels (GLUT) and homology modelling of IR and IGF1-R like proteins in unicellular life-forms have yet to be established. Acanthamoeba spp. has existed for about 2 billion years and is one of the earliest mitochondriate unicellular eukaryotic cells on Earth. Despite Acanthamoeba spp. being grown in a medium called peptone-yeast-glucose (PYG) for over 50 years, the mechanism and regulation of glucose uptake by IR or IGF1-R molecules in this microbe has not yet been reported. Several methods were utilized to validate the effects of insulin on trophozoites of A. castellanii, including: growth assays with insulin, estimation of glucose and potassium (K+) entry into the cell, and histology showing anabolic effects on proteins. Bioinformatic computational tools and homology modeling demonstrated the involvement of IR like proteins, GLUT, and adapter proteins in mediating the IR cascade. Growth assays showed proliferative effects in a dose range of 2.98–5.97 µmol/mL of insulin. After insulin exposure, A. castellanii trophozoites displayed enhanced Periodic acid-Sciff (PAS) staining. Amino acid sequence similarities and homology modelling revealed ACA1_163470 in Acanthamoeba spp. to be a homolog of human-IR. Acanthamoeba protein ACA1_336150 shares similarities with IGF1-R. Additionally, some proteins like ACA1_060920 have attributes of GLUT like channels on homology modelling and show similarity with human GLUT. Knowledge of IR and insulin effects in Acanthamoeba spp. contributes to its biology and advances current understanding behind the evolution of IR and IGF1-R signalling cascade.

The interplay between porosity and electromigration can be used to manipulate atoms resulting in mass fabrication of nanoscale structures. Electromigration usually results in the accumulation of atoms accompanied by protrusions at the anode and atomic depletion causing voids at the cathode. Here we show that in porous media the pattern of atomic deposition and depletion is altered such that atomic accumulation occurs over the whole surface and not just at the anode. The effect is explained by the interaction between atomic drift due to electric current and local temperature gradients resulting from intense Joule heating at constrictions between grains. Utilizing this effect, a porous silver substrate is used to mass produce free-standing silver nanorods with very high aspect ratios of more than 200 using current densities of the order of 10(8) A/m(2). This simple method results in reproducible formation of shaped nanorods, with independent control over their density and length. Consequently, complex patterns of high quality single crystal nanorods can be formed in-situ with significant advantages over competing methods of nanorod formation for plasmonics, energy storage and sensing applications.

We designed a two-step Pickering emulsification procedure to create nano-encapsulated phase changing materials (NEPCMs) using a method whose simplicity and low energy consumption suggest promise for scale-up and mass production. Surface-modified amphiphilic zirconium phosphate (ZrP) platelets were fabricated as the Pickering emulsifiers, nonadecane was chosen as the core phase change material (PCM) and polystyrene, the shell material. The resultant capsules were submicron in size with remarkable uniformity in size distribution, which has rarely been reported. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) characterization showed that the capsulation efficiency of NEPCMs and they were found to be thermal stable, as characterized by the DSC data for the sample after 200 thermal cycles. NEPCMs exhibit superior mechanical stability and mobility when compared with the well-developed micro-encapsulated phase change materials (MEPCMs). NEPCMs find useful applications in thermal management, including micro-channel coolants; solar energy storage media; building temperature regulators; and thermal transfer fabrics.