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COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced the dietary habits of humans, emphasizing the incorporation of natural ingredients to enhance immunity towards viral and bacterial infections. Curcumin (Cur), a widely used traditional medicine in various Asian countries and a natural coloring agent, has gained popularity, leading to surge in its usage specially in post COVID-19 era. This surge has led to increased scrutiny of the potential side effects of excessive Cur use, with recent reports suggesting it may result in inactivation of DNA and reduce adenosine triphosphate levels, leading to health risks. In this work, we synthesized highly fluorescent nitrogen-doped carbon dots with a photoluminescence quantum yield of 72.9 % for the sensitive and selective detection of Cur. The developed fluorescent probe exhibits excellent sensory response towards Cur within a concentration range of 0.081-51.45 µM, achieving an ultra-low detection limit of 15.91 nM. The sensor was successfully tested on real food samples like ginger powder, turmeric powder, and curry powder, demonstrating good recovery rates. To assess the practicality of the sensor system, we developed a 3D-printed smartphone-integrated device platform for curcumin detection through fluorescence image analysis. This developed platform exhibited promising results, achieving a limit of detection (LoD) of 132.28 nM across a curcumin concentration range of 0.13-54.00 µM. This device platform holds significant potential for the development of efficient sensors for real-time detection of Cur in food samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Strategic design and development of nanomaterials-based detection platforms specific to critical biomarkers like bilirubin holds immense promise for revolutionizing early disease detection. Bilirubin (BR) plays a pivotal role as a biomarker for liver function, making accurate and timely detection of BR crucial for diagnosing and monitoring of liver diseases. In this work, we synthesized blue light emitting graphene quantum dots (GQDs) via a single step pyrolysis method, which exhibited excellent photostability and biocompatibility. Under optimal conditions, the fluorescence of GQDs was significantly quenched with the successive addition of BR achieving an ultra-low detection limit (38.96 nM) over a concentration range of 0.18 μM-14.29 μM with high selectivity, and rapid response towards free BR. The sensing mechanism was identified as the inner filter effect after extensive investigations. Thereafter, the sensor system was directly applied to human serum and urine samples and was further compared with the conventional Jendrassik and Grof method, yielding satisfactory recoveries. To demonstrate the sensor system's potential for real world applications, we designed and fabricated a prototype point-of-care device (POC) through 3D printing, incorporating paper microfluidic devices and fluorescence image analysis-based android application through smartphone. The compact 3D-printed POC device achieved a detection limit of 114.66 nM for BR detection, proving to be a promising platform for affordable, efficient and rapid BR detection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Limited treatment options exist for COVID-19 infections; thus, attempts from complementary and alternative systems (CAM) of medicine are being explored as possible therapeutic options. Ayurcov is a formulation made of ingredients mentioned in Ayurveda. These constituents have proven antiviral, detoxifying, immune-modulating, and bio-enhancing properties. The present study was carried out to evaluate the therapeutic effect and safety of Ayurcov in patients with various severity states of COVID-19 infections., Methods: A randomized, single blinded, controlled trial was carried out in adults diagnosed with mild-to-moderate, and severe COVID-19 infections confirmed by real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rRTPCR) test. The interventional group received three doses of 'Ayurcov'. It is constituted of Haridra Churna (Curcuma longa), Go ark (Bos Indicus Distilled Urine), Sphatika (Alum), Sita (Rock Candy), Godugdham (Bos Indicus Milk) milk, Goghritam (Bos Indicus ghee) on Day 1, as an adjuvant to the standard of care, and the control group received only the standard of care. Key outcomes included: proportion of patients and time taken for symptom resolution, reduction in the rRT-PCR Ct values, safety, and functional status until 42 days after discharge., Results: Ninety patients with mild-to-moderate and 30 patients with severe COVID-19 disease were recruited. It was observed that significantly more proportions of patients receiving Ayurcov had symptom relief much earlier than control group. Additionally, the interventional group showed significantly lower rRT-PCR Ct values. However, a shorter time of resolution of symptoms was observed with the interventional group in the mild to moderate category but not with those having severe symptoms. Similarly, a significantly better functional status was observed with interventional group on days 7 and 28 after discharge. Ayurcov was not observed with higher risks of any adverse/serious adverse events., Conclusions: Ayurcov as adjuvant with standard of care was associated with significantly earlier resolution of COVID-19 related symptoms than standard of care alone., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

In the present study an efficient synthetic pathway has been developed for the library synthesis of diversely functionalized spiro indolinone-dihydroquinazolinones from easily available isatins and 2-aminobenzamides by acid catalyzed condensation at 70 °C in ethanol. The outcome of the ROS scavenging analysis over the synthesized spiro compounds displays significant variation in their respective antioxidant properties with the change of substituent at different positions. Noteworthy, the spiro compounds substituted with phenyl ring at nitrogen atom either in indolinone or dihydroquinazolinone moiety show a promising defensive capability towards OH (≈ 83% at 80 µM against control) and O 2 - (≈ 78% at 20 µM against epinephrine auto-oxidation). Almost every single spiro compound exhibits substantial reducing power, especially compounds containing dihydroquinazolinone moiety substituted with aromatic ring at amide nitrogen (N-3) exhibit remarkable reducing property. IC 50 and TEAC (Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity) values reveal that the spiro compound substituted with phenyl ring to indolic nitrogen (N-1) possesses significant antioxidant potency (IC 50  ≈ 22.67 µM) and substantial OH scavenging ability (TEAC ≈ 0.82) comparable to highly potent antioxidant Trolox., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This paper studies the spatiotemporal variation of the worldwide air transportation network (WATN) induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The variations are captured from four perspectives: passenger throughput, network connectivity, airport centrality, and international connections. Further, this work also considers both global and local connectivity-based metrics for the network analysis. Supported by real-world data, we show that the performance of the WATN has experienced a dynamic pattern of decline and recovery in 2020. Interestingly, the network metrics undergo tremendous variations in a very short period after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic, with the number of flights and connections dropping by more than 40% within only the first four weeks. Intuitively, the passenger throughput's changing rate is highly correlated to confirmed cases' growth rate during the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the air transport response to the pandemic condition is very diverse among different countries. The major airports in the WATN fluctuate gradually in different pandemic stages, which is further influenced by the domestic pandemic situation that restricts airport operations. Also, the restoration speed of local connectivity is faster than that of global connectivity because the recovery of international aviation is geographically dependent on different policies of travel restriction, conditional openings, and the number of COVID-19 cases. The analysis deepens our understanding to formulate bilateral policies for pandemic-induced ATN design and management., (© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

1-methyl-2(1H)-quinolinone (MeQone) forms the framework of several hundred quinolone alkaloid molecules, both natural and synthetic, which are being used in various biological applications. In this work, we present experimental and theoretical spectroscopic investigation on the MeQone in its ground and first electronic excited states. The vibronically resolved fluorescence excitation (FE) spectrum of MeQone is recorded within 700 cm -1 to the electronic origin under the supersonic jet-cooled condition. The dispersed fluorescence (DF) spectra for bands observed in the FE spectrum were also recorded. Bands observed in DF spectra were identified and assigned with the help of Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculated harmonic vibrational frequencies. Based on the assignments of bands in the ground electronic state and TD-DFT calculated frequencies for the first excited state, we have identified and successfully assigned the bands observed in FE spectrum. This study could be helpful to understand the photophysical properties of MeQone derivatives, the quinolone alkaloids., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Diminution of oxidative stress-mediated diseases is an essential pharmaceutical objective in modern biomedical research. The present work stresses upon the efficient and eco-friendly synthesis of an array of novel diversely functionalized pyrrole derivatives which are found to be antioxidants with reactive oxygen species (ROS) shielding competency against the deleterious consequence of oxidative stress. The results of the investigation displayed the effect of structural modification of the pyrrole derivatives on their respective antioxidant properties to various ROS. Noteworthy, the pyrrole moiety bearing 4-hydroxycoumarin or 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone as substituent showed outstanding defensive potency towards OH and O 2 - while, nitrogen atom linked with aliphatic side-chain in the pyrrole scaffold made a strong affirmative impression in DPPH scavenging assay. More interestingly, an influencing reducing power was observed in pyrrole derivatives carrying cyclohexane 1,3-dione as one of the substituents. To have a comprehensive acuteness into the antioxidant capacity of the synthesized pyrrole derivatives against Trolox as a standard antioxidant, a crucial approach was taken into account by calculating TEAC (Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity) in case of OH and DPPH scavenging activity., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Histone acetyltransferases form crucial links in transducing extrinsic signals to actual initiation of transcription. A multitude of stress signal integrations occur through the interaction of p300 with p53 phosphorylated at different residues of the transactivation domain. How such interactions activate different gene expression programs remains largely unknown. p300 contains at least five domains that are known to interact with p53, but their role in transcription regulation is not known. We measured the binding affinity of various phosphorylated transactivation domains towards several p53 binding domains of p300 by fluorescence anisotropy. The binding affinities of different phosphorylated transactivation domains of p53 towards different domains of p300 vary by several orders of magnitude, indicating that interactions of different post-translationally modified forms of p53 may occur through different domains of p300. Thus, different post-translationally modified p53 fragments may form transcription-initiating complexes of different configurations, leading to the activation of different promoters and pathways.