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Abstract Background Hevein-like peptides are a family of cysteine-rich and chitin-binding peptides consisting of 29–45 amino acids. Their chitin-binding property is essential for plant defense against fungi. Based on the number of cysteine residues in their sequences, they are divided into three sub-families: 6C-, 8C- and 10C-hevein-like peptides. All three subfamilies contain a three-domain precursor comprising a signal peptide, a mature hevein-like peptide and a C-terminal domain comprising a hinge region with protein cargo in 8C- and 10C-hevein-like peptides. Results Here we report the isolation and characterization of two novel 8C-hevein-like peptides, designated morintides (mO1 and mO2), from the drumstick tree Moringa oleifera, a drought-resistant tree belonging to the Moringaceae family. Proteomic analysis revealed that morintides comprise 44 amino acid residues and are rich in cysteine, glycine and hydrophilic amino acid residues such as asparagine and glutamine. Morintides are resistant to thermal and enzymatic degradation, able to bind to chitin and inhibit the growth of phyto-pathogenic fungi. Transcriptomic analysis showed that they contain a three-domain precursor comprising an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal sequence, a mature peptide domain and a C-terminal domain. A striking feature distinguishing morintides from other 8C-hevein-like peptides is a short and protein-cargo-free C-terminal domain. Previously, a similar protein-cargo-free C-terminal domain has been observed only in ginkgotides, the 8C-hevein-like peptides from a gymnosperm Ginkgo biloba. Thus, morintides, with a cargo-free C-terminal domain, are a stand-alone class of 8C-hevein-like peptides from angiosperms. Conclusions Our results expand the existing library of hevein-like peptides and shed light on molecular diversity within the hevein-like peptide family. Our work also sheds light on the anti-fungal activity and stability of 8C-hevein-like peptides.

Bibliometric analysis is a standard method for evaluating the quality and quantity of published articles. AYUSH research portal (ARP) is meant for the dissemination of research findings in the domains of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa, and Homoeopathy and allied faculties. The study attempts to understand the trend of published Ayurveda clinical trial-based articles in terms of quality and quantity. Three perspectives of research output assessed in this study are productivity in the field of Ayurveda, evidence from articles, and its involvement with the body system where disease or malfunctions are induced. Based on the study, it is observed that the highest number of articles have been published under the musculoskeletal, endocrine/metabolic/nutritional categories, and skin. Further, it is observed that only 4.50% of articles are categorized under the evidence of Grade "A" (randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) as per the World Health Organization's traditional medicine research guidelines. Out of the top 20 journals which publish Ayurveda-based research works, only five journals are indexed in reputed indexing platforms viz., PubMed and Scopus. The findings indicate that, Ayurveda clinical trials have to be planned meticulously and carried out as per the RCT guidelines for producing quality evidence so that the abysmal percentage of grade-A category articles will increase in ARP. Further, the journals, which are not yet indexed in standard indexing platforms, must strive to secure a place in them to ensure access to appropriate peers and effective dissemination of findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hevein and hevein-like peptides are disulfide-constrained chitin-binding cysteine-rich peptides. They are divided into three subfamilies, 6C-, 8C-, and 10C-hevein-like peptides, based on the number of cysteine residues. In addition, hevein-like peptides can exist in two forms, short and long. The long C-terminal form found in hevein and 10C-hevein-like peptides contain a C-terminal protein cargo. In contrast, the short form without a protein cargo is found in all three subfamilies. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of two novel glutamine-rich and protein cargo-free 8C-hevein-like peptides, vaccatides vH1 and vH2, from Vaccaria hispanica of the Caryophyllaceae family. Proteomic analyses showed that the vaccatides are 40–41 amino acids in length and contain a chitin-binding domain. NMR determination revealed that vaccatide vH2 displays a highly compact structure with a N-terminal cystine knot and an addition C-terminal disulfide bond. Stability studies showed that this compact structure renders vaccatide vH2 resistant to thermal, chemical and proteolytic degradation. The chitin-binding vH2 was shown to inhibit the mycelium growth of four phyto-pathogenic fungal strains with IC50 values in the micromolar range. Our findings show that vaccatides represent a new family of 8C-hevein-like peptides, which are protein cargo-free and glutamine-rich, characteristics that differentiate them from the prototypic hevein and the 10C-hevein-like peptides. In summary, this study enriches the existing library of hevein-like peptides and provides insight into their molecular diversity in sequence, structure and biosynthesis. Additionally, their highly disulfide-constrained structure could be used as a scaffold for developing metabolically and orally active peptidyl therapeutics.

The Internet of Things ecosystem pertains to the web-enabled connected devices that operate built-in processors to record, send, and act on information from their surroundings via embedded communication hardware. IoT applications span from education, healthcare to self-driving cars. The high delay supplied through the connecting network to the data centers and huge data traffic can cause the system to become congested. Hence, the cloud is not suggested for the delay-sensitive applications and it is extremely difficult to provide educational applications, particularly in a mix of cloud and fog conditions. Fog computing was created to address this problem and improve time-sensitive applications by considering quality of service (QoS). The allocation of resources and scheduling of tasks are challenging issues for IoT applications in a fog environment. The resources are required for each educational application that includes several modules to run. In this paper, we used Weighted Greedy Knapsack (WGK) based algorithm for the resource allocation to the modules/components in the fog system. We have considered the smart parade application to provide certain services/resources and the proposed method was experimented in iFogSim. The proposed method shows a better energy consumption and execution cost than that of the concurrent, First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) and Delay-Priority algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fog computing domain plays a prominent role in supporting time-delicate applications, which are associated with smart Internet of Things (IoT) services, like smart healthcare and smart city. However, cloud computing is a capable standard for IoT in data processing owing to the high latency restriction of the cloud, and it is incapable of satisfying needs for time-sensitive applications. The resource provisioning and allocation process in fog-cloud structure considers dynamic alternations in user necessities, and also restricted access resources in fog devices are more challenging. The global adoption of IoT-driven applications has led to the rise of fog computing structure, which permits perfect connection for mobile edge and cloud resources. The effectual scheduling of application tasks in fog environments is a challenging task because of resource heterogeneity, stochastic behaviours, network hierarchy, controlled resource abilities, and mobility elements in IoT. The deadline is the most significant challenge in the fog computing structure due to the dynamic variations in user requirement parameters. In this paper, Mayfly Taylor Optimisation Algorithm (MTOA) is developed for dynamic scheduling in the fog-cloud computing model. The developed MTOA-based Deep Q-Network (DQN) showed better performance with energy consumption, service level agreement (SLA), and computation cost of 0.0162, 0.0114, and 0.0855, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different insecticides are recommended for field use in maize ecosystem against Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) and other sucking pests. Toxicity of four fold and two fold of the field recommended concentration were determined against the adults of a larval parasitoid, Habrobracon hebetor (Say). Emamectin benzoate 5 per cent SG, Spinetoram 11.7 per cent SC, Spinosad 45 per cent SC, Chlorantraniliprole 18.5 per cent SC, Imidacloprid 17.8 per cent SL were used. The higher dose of field recommended concentration (FRC) of spinetoram and spinosad gave 100 per cent mortality in the test insect after 48 hours of application, while at lower and recommended dose rates 100 per cent mortality was recorded after 72 hours of application. Meanwhile, insecticide treatments with emamectin benzoate, chlorantraniliprole and imidacloprid at different doses, were ranked harmless with less than 50 per cent mortality at all the interval of observation after their application. The FRC of all the above insecticides are also tested on H. hebetor. Except spinetoram and spinosad all the insecticides tested are safe to the test insect. Spinetoram and spinosad were harmful to Habrobracon hebetor (Say). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For every company it is crucial to know how the marketing channels performing towards the sales of a company. So, there is a need for a model to predict which channel is best performing and which is least performing. The multi-channel attribution helps to find which channels generate the more conversions and most value to the sales, they are very important to predict overall marketing ROI and helps to make key decisions based on analysis of the data. Multi-channel attribution is must for every business marketer to identify the growth. But most of them not able to understand how it works and cannot use it as it are difficult for them. The recent study shows that 59% of marketers didn't have knowledge of channel attribution and admitted that a lack of understanding is the key reason why they haven't implemented an attribution model. Multi-channel attribution helps to track and find the marketing touch points which make the user to convert which leads to conversion/sales. Channel Attribution follows predefined rules that assign the attribution value to every touch point which contributes to the sales of company. There are many benefits like that it tracks each touch point across the entire conversion path. But there are different models which give us different results and also, they give credit to only one channel which leads to overconfidence. Markov Model is a probabilistic model which will assign value based on channel contribution and calculate for all channels so that marketer will know better influencer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is one among the countries that are cautious about the safety of the food thus leading the country to mainly focus on the agricultural development programs in the current scenario. This paper is mainly based on exchanging goods and services in the field of vegetable marketing with healthy and freshly cultivated vegetables. The idea is completely implemented on online platform. Profit is gained by avoiding the intermediate agents and providing fresh vegetables at a reasonable price. Mainly to afford quality vegetables and management of vegetable transportation from farmer to warehouse and to the customer. Italsoimprovises the pattern of vegetable sales that enhances the modern lifestyle of the citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, dual-port dual-frequency tuneable MIMO planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) is presented for mobile handheld device applications. The proposed MIMO antenna consists of two symmetrical PIFAs with the centre-to-centre distance of 43.0 mm (0.1906λ0). The dual-band tunability is achieved by changing the capacitance (V1 and V2) of 4.15 pF (0 V)-0.72 pF (15 V). The impedance bandwidth of −6 dB is realised from 0.8 to 0.98 GHz for the lower band and 1.65 to 2.2 GHz for the higher band. The proposed antenna provides the independent frequency tunability without disturbing the frequency bands. It shows the good isolation for both the tuneable bands >20 dB without using any coupling element between the antenna structure. It has a peak realised gain of 3.44 dBi, good efficiency of > 75% and envelope correlation coefficient of 0.007. In addition, the proposed PIFA performance is analysed with total active reflection coefficient, channel capacity, diversity gain, multiplexing efficiency, mean effective gain and specific absorption ratio for the tuneable range of frequencies. The good agreement is obtained between simulation and experimental performances to validate the antenna parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A field experiment was carried out during kharif 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 at Zonal Agricultural Research Station, V. C. Farm, Mandya to study the performance of cowpea under organic production system in red sandy loam soil. The results revealed that application of 100% N equivalent compost + recommended FYM (10 t/ha) + beejamrutha (seed treatment) + jeevamrutha (500 liter/ha) recorded significantly higher grain yield during all the years of experimentation (2056, 1987, 2108 and 2365 kg/ha, respectively) and also in their pooled data (grain yield 2129 kg/ha). This increased yield was attributed to more availability of nitrogen (289.5 kg/ha), phosphorus (40.5 kg/ha) and potassium (182.3 kg/ha) in the soil compared to other treatments. The benefit: cost ratio was higher with application of 100% N equivalent compost + jeevamrutha + beejamrutha (2.81). Soil chemical properties, viz. soil pH, organic carbon content and electric conductivity, were not influenced significantly by application of organic manures. However, there was an improvement in the soil chemical properties (289.5, 40.5 and 182.3 N, P2O5 and K2O kg/ha, respectively) compared to initial soil data (229, 19.2 and 135 NPK kg/ha). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results revealed that the occurance of Chrysoperla population begin from 28 January with Chrysoperla population 0.018 per plant was recorded. The chrysoperla population reached to its peak recording 0.142 per plant during third week of February. Thereafter, a decrease in chrysoperla population during first week of March was recorded as low as 00.002 per plant. The correlation revealed that temperature and relative humidity had a positive correlation with Chrysoperla population at 0.05% level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approach in finger vein identification to improve the performance of the system. For the verification of a person, the finger vein patterns are used which is more secure than other biometrics. Gabor filter is used in the proposed method for extracting vein features. Internal vein features can be extracted using this method. Depending on the angle, the vein patterns are tilted the orientation estimation is done. By using multi SVM matching technique, each person finger vein pattern is identified and is matched with that particular person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hevein and hevein-like peptides are disulfide-constrained chitin-binding cysteine-rich peptides. They are divided into three subfamilies, 6C-, 8C-, and 10C-hevein-like peptides, based on the number of cysteine residues. In addition, hevein-like peptides can exist in two forms, short and long. The long C-terminal form found in hevein and 10C-hevein-like peptides contain a C-terminal protein cargo. In contrast, the short form without a protein cargo is found in all three subfamilies. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of two novel glutamine-rich and protein cargo-free 8C-hevein-like peptides, vaccatides vH1 and vH2, from Vaccaria hispanica of the Caryophyllaceae family. Proteomic analyses showed that the vaccatides are 40–41 amino acids in length and contain a chitin-binding domain. NMR determination revealed that vaccatide vH2 displays a highly compact structure with a N-terminal cystine knot and an addition C-terminal disulfide bond. Stability studies showed that this compact structure renders vaccatide vH2 resistant to thermal, chemical and proteolytic degradation. The chitin-binding vH2 was shown to inhibit the mycelium growth of four phyto-pathogenic fungal strains with IC50 values in the micromolar range. Our findings show that vaccatides represent a new family of 8C-hevein-like peptides, which are protein cargo-free and glutamine-rich, characteristics that differentiate them from the prototypic hevein and the 10C-hevein-like peptides. In summary, this study enriches the existing library of hevein-like peptides and provides insight into their molecular diversity in sequence, structure and biosynthesis. Additionally, their highly disulfide-constrained structure could be used as a scaffold for developing metabolically and orally active peptidyl therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hevein-like peptides are a family of cysteine-rich and chitin-binding peptides consisting of 29-45 amino acids. Their chitin-binding property is essential for plant defense against fungi. Based on the number of cysteine residues in their sequences, they are divided into three sub-families: 6C-, 8C- and 10C-hevein-like peptides. All three subfamilies contain a three-domain precursor comprising a signal peptide, a mature hevein-like peptide and a C-terminal domain comprising a hinge region with protein cargo in 8C- and 10C-hevein-like peptides. Results: Here we report the isolation and characterization of two novel 8C-hevein-like peptides, designated morintides (mO1 and mO2), from the drumstick tree Moringa oleifera, a drought-resistant tree belonging to the Moringaceae family. Proteomic analysis revealed that morintides comprise 44 amino acid residues and are rich in cysteine, glycine and hydrophilic amino acid residues such as asparagine and glutamine. Morintides are resistant to thermal and enzymatic degradation, able to bind to chitin and inhibit the growth of phyto-pathogenic fungi. Transcriptomic analysis showed that they contain a three-domain precursor comprising an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal sequence, a mature peptide domain and a C-terminal domain. A striking feature distinguishing morintides from other 8C-hevein-like peptides is a short and protein-cargo-free C-terminal domain. Previously, a similar protein-cargo-free C-terminal domain has been observed only in ginkgotides, the 8C-hevein-like peptides from a gymnosperm Ginkgo biloba. Thus, morintides, with a cargo-free C-terminal domain, are a stand-alone class of 8C-hevein-like peptides from angiosperms. Conclusions: Our results expand the existing library of hevein-like peptides and shed light on molecular diversity within the hevein-like peptide family. Our work also sheds light on the anti-fungal activity and stability of 8C-hevein-like peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crystalline zinc oxide nanoparticles are synthesized using salvo-thermal process and its nanofluids are prepared by the dispersion of nanoparticles in PVA solution. The prepared nanoparticles are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform-Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV--visible Techniques. The ultrasonic velocities are measured in the synthesized nanofluid at different temperatures and for different concentration of ZnO in PVA using ultrasonic interferometer. Also, the densities of the nanofluid are measured at different concentrations of ZnO in the PVA at room temperature. From the measured values of Ultrasonic velocity and density, acoustical parameters such as adiabatic compressibility, acoustic impedance, intermolecular free length, surface tension were calculated to understand the solute-solvent interaction in a polymer solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hevein-like peptides make up a family of cysteine-rich peptides (CRPs) and play a role in plants in their defense against insects and fungal pathogens. In this study, we report the isolation and characterization of six hevein-like peptides, aSG1-G3 and aSR1-R3, collectively named altides from green and red varieties of Alternanthera sessilis, a perennial herb belonging to the Amaranthaceae family. Proteomic analysis of altides revealed they contain six cysteines (6C), seven glycines, four prolines, and a conserved chitin-binding domain (SXYGY/SXFGY). Thus far, only four 6C-hevein-like peptides have been isolated and characterized; hence, our study expands the existing library of these peptides. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) study of altides showed its three disulfide bonds were arranged in a cystine knot motif. As a consequence of this disulfide arrangement, they are stable against thermal and enzymatic degradation. Gene cloning studies revealed altides contain a three-domain precursor with an endoplasmic reticulum signal peptide followed by a mature CRP domain and a short C-terminal tail. This indicates that the biosynthesis of altides is through the secretory pathway. ¹H NMR titration experiments showed that the 29-30-amino acid altides bind to chitin oligomers with dissociation constants in the micromolar range. Aromatic residues in the chitin-binding domain of altides were involved in the binding interaction. To the best of our knowledge, aSR1 is the smallest hevein-like peptide with a dissociation constant toward chitotriose comparable to those of hevein and other hevein-like peptides. Together, our study expands the existing library of 6C-hevein-like peptides and provides insights into their structure, biosynthesis, and interaction with chitin oligosaccharides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is the fourth largest oilseed producing country in the world. The present study was carried on based on the secondary data collected from varies websites and directorate of economics and statistics. The results reveled that the compound growth rate of area and production of groundnut in India shows a negative trend while the productivity was positive over the years. In pre bifurcated Andhra Pradesh the annual average production of groundnut during 2011-12 was 1231 thousand tons and the annual average yield per hectare was 873 kg/ha. The area and production of groundnut was high in Rayalaseema region compared to other regions of the state. The area, production and productivity of groundnut in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana was increase over the study year. The annual average production of groundnut crop during 2013-14 was 220 thousand tonnes and annual average yield per hectare during the same period was 1751 kg/ha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bibliometric analysis is a standard method for evaluating the quality and quantity of published articles. AYUSH research portal (ARP) is meant for the dissemination of research findings in the domains of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa, and Homoeopathy and allied faculties. The study attempts to understand the trend of published Ayurveda clinical trial-based articles in terms of quality and quantity. Three perspectives of research output assessed in this study are productivity in the field of Ayurveda, evidence from articles, and its involvement with the body system where disease or malfunctions are induced. Based on the study, it is observed that the highest number of articles have been published under the musculoskeletal, endocrine/metabolic/nutritional categories, and skin. Further, it is observed that only 4.50% of articles are categorized under the evidence of Grade "A" (randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) as per the World Health Organization's traditional medicine research guidelines. Out of the top 20 journals which publish Ayurveda-based research works, only five journals are indexed in reputed indexing platforms viz., PubMed and Scopus. The findings indicate that, Ayurveda clinical trials have to be planned meticulously and carried out as per the RCT guidelines for producing quality evidence so that the abysmal percentage of grade-A category articles will increase in ARP. Further, the journals, which are not yet indexed in standard indexing platforms, must strive to secure a place in them to ensure access to appropriate peers and effective dissemination of findings., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2023 AYU (An International Quarterly Journal of Research in Ayurveda).)

Helicobacter pylori ( H. pylori ) infection is a global public health concern. Due to its high adaptability in various adverse environments (temperature, pH, adhesion, phenotypic forms), targeting the bacterium is quite challenging. Moreover, due to its high persistence, decreased patience compliance and emerging antibiotic resistance, researchers have been forced to search for novel candidates with lesser or no side effects. Hence, in the current study, phytobioactives have been screened for its anti-biofilm attributes against H.pylori . Gastric biopsy samples have been screened using confirmatory techniques (microbiological, biochemical and molecular) for their virulent and non-virulent biomarkers. Physico-nutritive parameters were standardized. H. pylori biofilms were assessed using microtitre plate assay. Biofilms' biomass and exopolysaccharide have been evaluated using crystal violet and ruthenium red staining, respectively. Anti-biofilm screening was performed using potent aqueous phytochemicals namely Acorus calamus, Colocasia esculenta and Vitex trifolia . The results indicated the confluent growth of the H. pylori biofilms confirmed through genotyping and grew best at 37 °C for 72 h at a pH of 7.5 on polystyrene plates. Further, among the phytochemicals tested, Acorus calamus exhibited the highest H. pylori anti-biofilm activity via a dose-dependent pattern. The overall observations of the study will pave way for newer approaches to understand and combat bacterial pathogenesis and will contribute towards better health and hygiene., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standardsThe authors have no conflict of interest.

In the present study, we describe the facile synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and their nanostructures functionalized with 2-aminopyrimidine-4,6-diol (APD-AgNPs) for Hg 2+ ion detection. The promising colorimetric response of APD-AgNPs to detect Hg 2+ ions was visible with naked eyes and spectroscopic changes were examined by using a UV-Visible spectrophotometer. The aggregation of APD-AgNPs upon addition of Hg 2+ ions was due to the chelation effect of the functionalized nanostructures and results in a color change from pale brown to deep yellow color. The probing sensitivity was observed within five minutes with a detection limit of about 0.35 µM/L. The TEM images of APD-AgNPs showed polydispersed morphologies with hexagonal, heptagonal and spherical nanostructures with an average size between 10 to 40 nm. Furthermore, the sensing behavior of APD-AgNPs towards Hg 2+ ions detection was investigated using docking and interaction studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.