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Background Ulcerative colitis (UC) is the large intestine disease that results in chronic inflammation and ulcers in the colon. Rg3-enriched Korean red ginseng extract (Rg3-RGE) is known for its pharmacological activities. Persicaria tinctoria (PT) is also used in the treatment of various inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate the attenuating effects of Rg3-RGE with PT on oxazolone (OXA)-induced UC in mice. Methods A total of six groups of mice including control group, OXA (as model group, 1.5%) group, sulfasalazine (75 mg/kg) group, Rg3-RGE (20 mg/kg) group, PT (300 mg/kg) group, and Rg3-RGE (10 mg/kg) with PT (150 mg/kg) group. Data on the colon length, body weight, disease activity index (DAI), histological changes, nitric oxide (NO) assay, Real-time PCR of inflammatory factors, ELISA of inflammatory factors, Western blot, and flow cytometry analysis were obtained. Results Overall, the combination treatment of Rg3-RGE and PT significantly improved the colon length and body weight and decreased the DAI in mice compared with the treatment with OXA. Additionally, the histological injury was also reduced by the combination treatment. Moreover, the NO production level and inflammatory mediators and cytokines were significantly downregulated in the Rg3-RGE with the PT group compared with the model group. Also, NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) were suppressed in the combination treatment group compared with the OXA group. Furthermore, the number of immune cell subtypes of CD4+ T-helper cells, CD19+ B-cells, and CD4+ and CD25+ regulatory T-cells (Tregs) was improved in the Rg3-RGE with the PT group compared with the OXA group. Conclusion Overall, the mixture of Rg3-RGE and PT is an effective therapeutic treatment for UC.

In recent years, nanostructures and nanoarchitectures have attracted much attention in the development of biomedicine and nanomedicine. The plant-mediated synthesis of barium carbonate nanoparticles (BACN) has been performed using barium chloride and aqueous extract of natural sweetener (Stevia). In this study, the biosynthesis of BACN has been selected due to the useful medicinal potentials and suitable obtained biocompatibility of produced nanoparticles as well as its simplicity, lesser production steps, and cost-effectiveness. Barium carbonate nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscope. The toxicity of BACN on U87 brain cancer cells was evaluated based on MTT assay. According to the results, the prepared nanostructures can be employed for biomedical applications, especially cancer therapy.

In the present study, simultaneous effects of metallic nanoparticles and magnetohydrodynamic due to stagnation point flow of nanofluid along a wave circular cylinder is presented. The effect of induced magnetic field is incorporated to deal the boundary and thermal boundary layer domain. Mathematical modelling for momentum and energy equation is constructed that is based upon three different kinds of nanoparticles namely: copper (Cu), Titanium di oxide (TiO2), and alumina (Al2O3) within the working fluid water. Each mixture is analysed at the individual level and made comparison amongst all the mixture to examine the resistance and thermal conductivity of nanofluid within the boundary layer region. The solutions are exposed via boundary value problem using shooting method along with the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method. The characteristics of emerging parameters for the fluid flow and heat transfer are discussed through graphs and tables. The effects of ϕ (nanoparticle volume fraction) on heat transfer and shear stress at the wall are analysed in detail. It is finally concluded that by increasing the ratio of nanoparticles there is a significant increase in the temperature but slight decrease in the velocity profile.

Herein, we have presented a unique strategy for aqueous synthesis of semiconductor CuInS2 QDs which showed multiple fluorescence. These synthesized CuInS2 QDs were prepared in aqueous media with biocompatible glutathione (GSH), as capping ligand and stabilizer, while the fluorescence and crystallinity were controlled by varying the reaction time. The investigation of various other experimental parameters including precursor’s concentration, effect of pH, and stability of QDs has also been carried out. These QDs were characterized by XRD, TEM, and FT-IR. Meanwhile, optical properties of as synthesized QDs were also investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, the synthesized QDs were also less cytotoxic and maintained remarkable cell viability up to 100 μg/mL. When bioconjugated with Arginyl-glycyl-aspartic acid (RGD) moiety, the obtained CuInS2-RGD QDs have shown higher biocompatibility and good bioimaging performance. Keywords: Aqueous synthesis, CuInS2, Quantum dots, Fluorescence, Bioimaging

This study examines the possible existence and stability of the heat transfer solutions due to unsteady nanofluid flow over a curved surface. Alumina oxide (Al2O3) is considered as one of the important nanoparticles due to its potential use in various fields like purification of water, ceramics and insulation products. It is considered that the small quantity of nanoparticles is incorporated in the Ethylene Glycol to form the nanofluid. Mathematical form of the problem is obtained by using the fundamental laws of motion and heat transfer. These equations are modified for the presence of solid concentrations in an ordinary liquid. The complicated coupled unsteady system is transformed into non-dimensional form by the use of relevant transformations. The solution of nonlinear problem is produced by the use of numerical scheme, available in the form of BVP4C package in MATLAB. In the case of surface shrinking towards the surface, a reverse flow situation is also developed, and requires careful selection of solution by examining the stability of solution. Detailed stability analysis is carried, and critical values are determined for the possible existence of dual solutions. Moreover, various parameters variation is also analyzed by plotting graphs and tables. The numerical values are also calculated for the reduced Nusselt number and skin friction values caused due to variation in various flow parameters. Results have shown that for the curved shrinking surfaces, one should expect multiple solutions for a set of parameter values like mass suction, curvature, nanoparticles volume fraction and unsteadiness. The isotherms suggest linear decay of heat away from the surface.

Clinically available synthetic chemotherapeutics to treat the vector-borne protozoan infection, leishmaniasis, are associated with serious complications such as toxicity and emergence of resistance. Natural products from plants consist of interesting biomolecules that may interfere with DNA or membrane integrity of the parasite and can possibly minimise the associated side effects. In the present study, various fractions of Euphorbia wallichii (EW) root extracts including n-hexane (EWNX), ethyl acetate (EWEA), chloroform (EWCH) and aqueous (EWAQ), were evaluated for their antileishmanial potential against Leishmania tropica followed by investigation of the possible mechanism of action via reactive oxygen species (ROS) quantification, membrane permeability (via sytox green dye) and apoptotic assay (via AO/EB method) using fluorescent microscopy. Two of the fractions i.e. EWEA and EWAQ inhibited the growth of promastigotes (IC50 7.8 and 10.2 μg/mL, respectively) and amastigotes (IC50 9.9 and 13.3 μg/mL, respectively) forms almost at similar concentrations as found for the standard antileishmanial drugs, tartar emetic (TA) and Glucantime (IC50 9.4 and 21.5 μg/mL, respectively). Both the active fractions remained non-toxic towards human blood erythrocytes and were able to cause membrane permeability and apoptotic induction (using Triton X-100 as a positive control) leading to death of Leishmania parasites. However, both the fractions could not triger significant and persistent ROS generation, compared to hydrogen peroxide used as a positive control. Antilesihmanial activity of the two active fractions might be attributed to the presence of high quantity of tannins and saponins.

We theoretically investigate rotary photon drag in a Mach-Zehnder type Sagnac interferometer using a four level N-type atomic medium. Splitting of a single pulse of light into two pulses is observed at high strength of the control field both in absorption and dispersion spectra. Group index, relativistic velocities and rotary photon drag are examined as a function of probe field detuning Δp. Rotation angles of ±2, ±3, ±4 and ±6 micro radians are achieved for the two beams propagating in clockwise and counter clockwise direction by varying values of the probe field detuning as 0γ, 0.5γ and 1.5γ, respectively. The results obtained show potential applications in sensing technology, optical fibre communication technology as well as in perfect lens formation.

The super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were synthesized using an environmentally friendly method. The SPIONs with mainly carbohydrate coatings were simply synthesized using a natural, zero calorie sweetener (Stevia) extract (as both reducing and stabilizing agents). The resulting SPIONs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), vibrating-sample magnetometer (VSM) and Zeta potential test. The SPIONs (smaller than 25 nm) are very stable due to bio-molecular coating because having a zeta potential of −41.1 mV creates opposing forces between nanoparticles and prevents them from gathering. The biogenic SPIONs were able to counteract the effects of oxidative metabolites as studied with the antioxidant activity with an IC50 of 65 μg/ml. This feature shows the capability of these nanoparticles in designing potential biomedical applications.

The metal/metal oxide and halide nanocomposites are emerging and effective photo/electrocatalyst to replace very expensive materials. These are remarkably preferred for efficient hydrogen production in energy conversion and storage technologies. Regardless of recent progress, their activity and durability are still far from adequate, due to less visible light effectiveness, wide band gape and high overpotential and low current density. Herein we successfully coupled a novel visible light accessible photo/electrocatalyst, silver-silver bromide doped hollow mesoporous silica-titania (Ag-AgBr/HMST). The syntheses of these composites were carried out using a facile one-pot micro-emulsification method at controlled calcination temperature. The results of the physicochemical characterization indicates that the composite obtained at optimal calcination temperature (550 °C), has exceptional morphology, high surface area, and uniformly distributed particles. These features exhibits the illustrious visible light induced photo/electrocatalytic behavior for overall water splitting. The hollow silica-titania provides incredible quality conducting channel, to get better mass loading and boost the charge transportation. While well-built connection of Ag, AgBr with titania, provides well active sites that accomplish obvious photo/electrocatalytic performance with OER current density of 10 mAcm−2 at 280 mV and HER current density of 65 mAcm−2 at −173 mV. This is almost equal to RuO2 and Pt/C that are very expensive catalyst for water oxidation. Therefore, the present work establishes the first example of hollow mesoporous photo/electrocatalyst for OER and HER water splitting. The outstanding durability prop up the use of mesoporous material for renewable energy application.

Improvements in the ecological attributes of inland rivers have been projected to provide considerable non-market benefits, and the monetary value of these attributes has steadily increased over the past several decades. The present study addresses the comparison between welfare estimates for changes in the conservation of river basins and improvements in various attributes of these basins. Furthermore, by comparing the transfer error, this paper examines the feasibility of transferring benefits across populations and sites; this paper also determines the impacts of spatial heterogeneity on the welfare estimates. This study reveals that the estimated benefits are higher for the lower basin than for the middle and upper basins, and respondent preferences for relative improvements in environmental attributes vary across the basins. To consider spatial heterogeneity, a spatially explicit choice experiment was used to estimate the transfer errors. The results from the random parameter logit model (RPL) reveal that the inclusion of taste variation reduces the transfer errors that in turn make the benefit transfer applicable. The transfer errors are 15% when benefits are transferred between the upper and middle basins, while transfer errors are 16% when benefits are transferred from the upper basin to the lower basin. The results suggest that the non-market benefits of the river restoration policy are transferable between the upper and middle basins and from the upper basin to the lower basin. Our results have practical implications that can inform efforts to improve ecosystem services. The results are relevant to the policy specifically in terms of a cost-benefit assessment of the management strategy as well as understanding public support for the policy.

Progression in nano technology enormously influence on the synthesis of highly proficient photo materials and investigate their applications in diverse fields. A novel mesoporous heterostructure Ag-AgBr/HHST (hollow hierarchical silica-titania supported silver-silverbromide), synthesized by a facile one-pot micro emulsification method at controlled calcination temperature and investigated its photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methyl orange and aniline as ultra violet and visible light responsive material. Mesoporous Ag-AgBr/HHST was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV–vis. diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis. DRS), Nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis, photoelectron spectroscopic measurements (XPS) and photoluminescence spectral analysis (PL). The XRD, HRTEM and optical spectroscopic analysis justified the incredible effect of calcination temperature on the structure and morphology of nano composite. The results indicates, the photocatalyst synthesized at optimum calcinations temperature (550 °C) consist of small-hollow-spheres@big-hollow-spheres, leading the Ag and AgBr nano particles with an average particle size of 2–8 nm are homogeneously distributed on the surface of the hollow hierarchical silica-titania matrix, some particles are deeply embedded in HHST. Due to exceptional morphology, high surface area, small particles size and porous structure, the Ag-AgBr/HHST revealed elevated photocatalytic performance to degraded the 200 mL (200 ppm) of each methyl orange and aniline under simulated ultra violet as well as visible light irradiations in very short time intervals. Hollow hierarchical silica-titania offer high-quality conducting channel to pick up mass loading and enhance charge transfer. Whereas, strong connection of Ag and AgBr with silica-titania, feature highly active sites that causes synergetic effect capable for commendable photocatalytic performance compared with individual HHST, Ag-AgBr and (Degussa P25). While the photocatalyst obtained at 650 °C have some extant of phase conversion starting anatase to rutile phase of titania, and consist of big sized aggregated nano particles. The recycling runs experiments and reusability of the photocatalyst illustrate the venerable stability of the material that strengthens the synthesis of novel hollow hierarchical mesoporous compounds in this domains.

Plants mediated synthesis of noble metal nanoparticles is encountered as a clean, environment friendly, lucrative and benign loom. The current study consists of clean and green synthesis of Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Phytoconstituents from Longan (Euphorbia longana Lam.) fruit peel were used to reduce Ag+ into AgNPs. Different analytical techniques i.e. UV–vis Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), electron dispersive X-ray (EDX), High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to analyze the synthesized AgNPs. AgNPs have localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) peak at 445 nm which is confirmed by UV–vis spectroscopy. HRTEM showed that the prepared AgNPs are spheroid in shape and well dispersed while XRD results showed that the AgNPs are face centered cubic crystalline. EDX confirmed the elemental composition of AgNPs. The antiproliferative response of AgNPs was assayed by an exhaustive MTT assay. AgNPs showed potent anticancer activity (88%) against breast cancer cells MCF-7. Moreover, the green produced AgNPs effectively scavenged 91% of the stable and harmful 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical which confirms its' efficient antioxidant nature. AgNPs have profound photocatalytic degradation (99%) of methylene blue in a short period of time (7 min). The noteworthy biological and photocatalytic responses of the green and cleanly produced AgNPs are encountered to their well dispersion, petite volume and round shaped structure.

The characteristics of three-dimensional stagnation point flow of Hybrid nanofluid past a circular cylinder are explored. The fluid flow is entertained in the presence/absence of thermal slip effects. The flow model is controlled through the partial differential equations. Since these equations are highly non-linear in character. So for the order reduction a suitable set of transformation is used. The reduced system is solved by using shooting method. The obtained results are offered through graphs and tables. It is noticed that the heat transfer rate is high in Hybrid nanofluid as compared to nanofluid. The present work is validated by developing comprising with existing literature. Keywords: Hybrid nanofluid, Thermal slip, Circular cylinder, Shooting method

With increasing demand for the treatment of microbial resistance around the globe, it is necessary to develop metallic nanoparticles , ideally by the use of nontoxic medium i.e. plant constituents, that could arrest the microbial growth. For this reason, small and highly crystalline PdNPs were effectively synthesized by using Eryngium caeruleum leaf extract as both the reducing and capping agent. During the synthesis of PdNPs, the size and shape were made controlled by using different solvents i.e., ethanol, methanol and aqueous extract of Eryngium caeruleum. A series of physicochemical characterizations were applied to inquire the synthesis, crystal structure, particles size, and surface morphology of PdNPs. Furthermore, the PdNPs demonstrated excellent potential for the inactivation of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, where the methanol-PdNPs exhibited maximum growth inhibition zones against tested bacteria as compared to ethanol-PdNPs and aqueous-PdNPs. Besides, PdNPs showed better antioxidant activity to effectively scavenge 2, 2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). More importantly, the synthesized PdNPs are not only active for ROS generation but also show no hemolytic activity. We believe that this greener approach uncovered the useful and efficient applications of highly active PdNPs and their biocompatibility.

The birefringence phases shifts and divergence angle under diffraction through a dynamic chiral medium is controlled and modified with complex conductivity and tunneling effect. The maximum of positive and negative phase shift for the left circularly polarized (LCP) and right circularly polarized (RCP) beams is investigated to ± 20 microradian with forward current and tunneling frequencies through 3 micrometer length of the medium. The divergent angle between the LCP and RCP beams is measured to ± 0 . 20 microradian with complex conductivity and tunneling frequencies. The diffraction angle for the LCP and RCP beams are reported to ± 1 . 5 microradian. The diffracted beams of LCP and RCP additionally contributes with divergent angle. The divergence angle in the presence of diffraction is modified to θ d ( σ ) ± [ θ r R ( σ ) + θ r L ( σ ) ] . The significant change in divergent angle due to diffraction have useful applications in identification of crystalline materials.

The boundary layer flow for the Casson fluid generated by a stretching sheet with cross flows is studied. In this paper we analyzed three different cases of cross flow with streamwise flow. The cross flow in the first case, is generated due to uniform transverse free stream while the stretching surface is at rest. In second case the cross flow is caused by the motion of stretching surface with uniform transverse velocity and the cross flow in third case deals with the transverse shearing motion of the stretching surface. In all the case, possible one parameter solutions appear namely material parameter. The similarity solution for the present model is obtained from the Weidman solution by using some proper transformation. The velocity profiles and the wall shearing parameters for all type of flows are displayed in graphical form. It is depicted that Casson fluid material parameter β causes reduction in stream wise flow, uniform transverse plate motion and transverse shearing motion. Moreover, it is found that the magnitude of longitudinal wall shear stress parameter is greater than or equal to transverse wall shear stress for β.

We theoretically investigate the two-dimensional (2D) atomic localization via tunable surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in hybrid nanosystem that comprises an ensemble of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs) coupled to a coherent three-level λ -type atomic medium embedded as a dielectric host. Since the MNPs are shined with laser fields, the SPPs are generated at the interface between the MNPs and dielectric medium. The resonances of SPPs in the MNPs are calculated analytically by means of Maxwell’s equations under specific boundary conditions, whereas the dynamics of the atomic system are derived using the density matrix method. Owing to space-dependent light-matter interaction, the sharp localized peaks are observed in a single wavelength domain of 2D space with optimal probability. By optimizing the system parameters, ultrahigh-resolution and precision atomic localization can be achieved in a region smaller than λ / 30 × λ / 30 . The spatial resolution of atomic localization is efficiently improved compared to the previously studied cases. These results may have potential useful applications in the fields of quantum nanoplasmonics, nanomedicine, nanophotonics and nanotechnology.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), is the most common type of dementia primarily affecting the later years of life. Its prevalence is likely to increase in any aging population and will be a major burden on healthcare system by the mid of the century. Despite scientific and technological breakthroughs in the last 50 years, that have expanded our understanding of the disease on a system, cellular and molecular level, therapies that could stop or slow the progression of the disease are still unavailable. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has approved acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors (donepezil, galantamine, tacrine and rivastigmine) and glutamate receptor antagonist (memantine) for the treatment of AD. In this review we summarize the studies reporting phytocompounds and extracts from medicinal plants that show AChE inhibitory activities and could be of potential benefit in AD. Future research directions are suggested and recommendations made to expand the use of medicinal plants and their formulations to prevent, mitigate and treat AD.

Climate change may have detrimental effects on income from crop farming in Pakistan and according to the IPCC (2014), the impacts of climate change will be more vigorous in the coming years. Despite a few studies we still have limited knowledge on how climate change can impact the crop farming economy in Pakistan. Considering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan as the study area, we attempted to fill this gap by analyzing the economic impacts of climate change on the net income from crop farming. Data from the 635 farm households and also climatic variables data were collected from five agro-ecological zones (AEZ) of the KP. The Ricardian method was employed for analysis purposes. The results revealed that the increase of annual average temperature and decreases in rainfall is strongly associated with net revenue deficits. The effects of increasing precipitation are observed to be useful but an increase in temperature is forecasted to be harmful to the net revenue. The effect of increased temperature in the summer season on NR ranged between US$-29 to US$35, and the effect in the winter season ranged between US$-14 to US$28 per hectare. The effect of decreased annual precipitation on NR in the summer season and winter season ranged between US$ 0 to US$-24 and US$

A highly efficient, quick and environmentally benign protocol has been adopted to synthesize AuNPs using the plant extract of Sueda fruciotosa . UV–vis spectroscopy, XRD, HRTEM, SEM and FTIR were used to characterize the prepared AuNPs. Different concentrations of plant extract were used to optimize the size, morphology and distribution of AuNPs. AuNPs were of small size and spheroid in shape at lower concentration. AuNPs showed a surface plasmon resonance at 443 nm. According to HRTEM the average size of AuNPs was 6–8 nm. The AuNPs were appraised for their photo degradation activity on methylene blue (MB) as an experimental substrate. Photo-catalytic activity of AuNPs was found to be dependent on the concentration of catalyst, irradiation time, size and aggregation of AuNPs. Furthermore, AuNPs exhibited an excellent electro-catalytic activity. The sensitivity of modified AuNPs was also studied for phenolic Azo dyes (PAD) which showed its good degradation activity. These gold nanoparticles found to be significantly applicable in the field of electrochemistry, sensors, catalysis, nano-devices, treatment of waste water and conversion of toxic agents into less toxic compound.

In this study, different proposed theoretical models for the thermal conductivity of Carbon nanotubes are analyzed. Both SWCNT and MWCNT are discussed in three type of base fluids namely ethylene glycol, engine oil and water. By using the fundamental governing laws and their modifications for the presence of solid concentrations are used to mathematically model the differential equations. The complicated coupled system of differential equations are transformed into non-dimensional form via a suitable similarity transformation. Then numerical results have been obtained by using the midpoint method with Richardson extrapolation enhancement. The numerical results can be computed when the length “L” and diameter “d” of CNT's are 3 μ m ≤ L ≤ 70 μ m and 10 n m ≤ d ≤ 40 n m . It can be observed that when length and diameter of CNT's are 50 μ m × 25 n m , the calculated value of Yamada and Ota model is greater than that of Xue and H C (Hamilton and Crosser) model.