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Pleomorphic xanthoastrocytomas (PXAs) are rare tumors accounting for less than 1% of astrocytomas. They commonly occur in young patients and have relatively favorable prognosis. However, they are well known to have heterogenous morphology and biological behavior with the potential to recur and disseminate throughout the central nervous system, especially their anaplastic counterparts. Recent advances in the molecular characterization have discovered BRAFp.V600E mutations in conjunction with CDKN2A/B deletions and TERTp mutations to be the most frequent alterations in PXAs. These tumors can present a diagnostic challenge as they share overlapping histopathological, genomic as well as methylation profile with various other tumor types, particularly epithelioid glioblastomas (eGBs). This review provides the spectrum of evolution of PXAs from their genesis to recent molecular insights and attempts to review pathogenesis and relationship to other tumors that they mimic especially eGB. It is postulated based on evidence from literature that PXA and eGB are possibly related and not distinct entities, being two ends of a continuous spectrum of malignant progression (grade 2-grade 4) with anaplastic PXA (grade 3) lying in between. Future WHO classifications will have to possibly redefine these tumors using more confirmatory data from larger studies.

Out of five wild Malus species in the world, Malus baccata (L.) Borkh (MB) is reported from the extremely cold areas of north western Himalayas. These are widely used as a rootstock or source of resistance against various biotic and abiotic stresses due to its ecological adaptability and cold hardiness. The study of genetic diversity is an important aspect to be covered for proper utilization of the wild apple germplasm for breeding purpose. The 29 Malus baccata accessions were used to divulge their genetic diversity using morpho-molecular markers. Based on morphological characters, Mahalanobis D2statistics resolved all accessions in four clusters. A set of 85 SSR were used to study molecular diversity among the accessions. The AMOVA stated genetic diversity between populations of genotypes was lower (7%) compared to that observed within and among the individuals of the populations (93%). The effective allele number (2.63) was found to be lower than mean allele number (3.7), with mean heterozygosity as 0.51. The gene diversity varied between 0.10 for Hi02d05 to 0.79 for CH-Vf1.The expected heterozygosity was greater than observed heterozygosity for total analysed loci of SSR. The average PIC value was found as 0.50. The accessions were segregated into two distinct classes using heirarchical clustering method. Further, population structure also differentiated the 29 accessions into two populations, with sub-population I accounts for 18 accessions and sub-population II consisted of only 9 accessions. MB-5 and MB-20 accessions fall in the admixture group. The differentiated populations were validated and reconfirmed by the PCoA analysis. . The morphological features and molecular markers revealed significant level of genetic diversity along with population differentiation among the maintained accessions.

We analysed over 400 million reads obtained from Illumina sequencing of six pairs of libraries representing two each of stage I, II, and III gastric tumors and corresponding normal tissues to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and transcription factors (TFs). In total, 2207 DEGs including 972 upregulated genes and 1235 downregulated genes were detected. Of these, several stage-specific signature genes were identified. The protein-protein interaction networks involving DEGs and TFs were constructed. The KEGG pathway analysis of SNP harbouring genes revealed their involvement in different cancer related pathways like apoptosis, mTOR pathway, and MAPK signaling pathway. The SNP analysis showed implication of host genes in GO categories like immune system process, regulation of signaling, response to stress, and transport. A biased chromosomal distribution of DEGs and SNP harbouring genes was observed. Our study would provide further insights into the complex regulatory mechanisms operating during gastric tumorigenesis.

Summary Background Aging is associated with physical impairment and functional disability, mainly assessed in terms of activities of daily living (ADL). Assessment using this tool is one of the best ways to evaluate the health status of the elderly. Earlier studies have considered different variables such as those linked to functional disabilities, but psychiatric morbidity has been very little explored in the existing literature. Aims and objectives To estimate the prevalence of functional disability in terms of restriction in the activities of daily living (ADL) and the factors associated with it among elderly subjects attending a geriatric psychiatry clinic. Materials and methods Hospital-based cross sectional study. One hundred and fifty patients over sixty years old attending a geriatric psychiatry clinic in a tertiary care specialty hospital in eastern India were enrolled in the study after their informed consent, using a purposive sampling method. After clinical diagnosis, the activities of daily living were assessed using Barthel's 10-item index, and patients were graded accordingly. The data was analyzed on SPSS version 25.0. Results On the basis of Barthel's 10-item Index score, 72% of the subjects exhibited dependency, among whom 4% were totally dependent. Patients aged over 66 years and those with dementia, psychosis or other psychiatric diseases exhibited significantly higher levels of impairment. Impairments were mostly in the self-care domain. Conclusion The high prevalence of functional disability among elderly subjects with psychiatric morbidity in this study suggests the need for a comprehensive geriatric assessment for these patients, in particular for autonomy, to improve their functional status and promote speedy recovery.

In the present work development of a suitable nontoxic corrosion inhibitor to control corrosion of bronze in simulated acid rain has been investigated using thin layer activation (TLA) technique. Poly vinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) has been identified as an inhibitor and the inhibition action of PVP has been evaluated at different experimental conditions. The result of the study proved that PVP showed good inhibitive characteristics to control corrosion of bronze in the test solution. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the corrosion inhibition process have been determined. The adsorption of inhibitor on bronze surface obeyed Langmiur adsorption isotherm.

Male breast cancer (MBC) comprises1% of all cancers and continues to rise. Because of rarity, there is paucity in the literature; therefore, management of MBC is generalized from female breast cancer (FBC).Data from 152 VA Medical Centers were used to analyze the database of Veteran patient with breast cancer diagnosed between 1998 and 2016 using biostatistical software (SAS 9.3). Our primary objective is to compare patient's demographics, breast cancer characteristics, and outcomes for male and female Veterans.In total, 8864 patients' records were reviewed;1528 MBC were compared with 7336 FBC with a mean follow up time of 5.5 years (SD 4.17). The mean age at diagnosis was 68.6 years and 57.3 years for MBC and FBC, respectively (P.0001). Higher numbers of MBC patients (95%) were50 years of age compared to FBC patients (72%). More MBC patients (16.8 vs. 9.1% and 9 vs. 4%) presented with higher disease stage (III and IV, respectively). Estrogen receptor-positive tumors were more common in MBC (59 versus 52%). Hormonal treatment was received by 27% of MBC versus 19% FBC; chemotherapy 21.3% versus 41.5% and radiation 23.5% versus 60.9%. Forty-two percent MBC and 20% FBC Veterans died during study. Male patients had higher death rate 1.285 (95% CI: 1.150, 1.434, P.0001) compared to females after adjusting data for age, race, stage, and grade.To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest comparison series of MBC and FBC to date in the Veterans population. The higher mortality rate in MBC patients may be due to late presentation, higher stage at the time of diagnosis and/or tumor biology. Veteran's exposures to hazardous materials during their military deployments as an additional factor for worse prognosis need further investigation.

Buffalo is an important farm animal species in South and South-east Asian countries. Cryopreservation allows long-term storage of somatic cells, which can be made available to research communities. This study aimed to 1) establish and cryopreserve somatic cells from elite buffaloes, and 2) share stored somatic cells and their associated data with researchers. To achieve these targets, somatic cells were established successfully from tail-skin biopsies of 17 buffaloes. The informative data such as buffalo details (breed, date of birth, sex, and age at the time of tissue biopsy collection, and production traits), the number of cryovials stored, and freezing dates were recorded in an electronic file and a printed inventory record. The established somatic cells were flat, spindle-shaped morphology, and expressed vimentin (a fibroblast-like cell type marker) and the negative expression of cytokeratin-18 (an epithelial cell type marker). Altogether, we cryopreserved 970 cryovials (0.1 million cells per vial) from two buffalo breeds, namely Murrah and Nili-Ravi (at least 45 cryovials per animal), for cryobanking. Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) experiments demonstrated the utility of cryopreserved cells to produce cloned buffaloes. Importantly, these cryopreserved somatic cells are made available to scientific communities. This study encourages the cryopreservation of somatic cells of elite farm animals for their utilization in cell-based research.

Inconel 625 is a Nickel- chromium based super alloy defines by excellent mechanical properties, good oxidation and high resistance to corrosion which helps the material to withstand in various severe environments. This work reports about the variation in the mass of Inconel-625 super alloy. Inconel-625 is highly used in equipments and machinery of extreme conditions. Although it is expected that nickel and chromium richness will give this alloy an inherited surface strength, but to delineate the exact proceedings on the surface of it at elevated temperatures. Besides annealing from 550 °C to 650 °C and then to room temperature, the samples were quenched in various mediums like Ice-water, H2SO4 (1 N), KOH(1 N). The effects of various mediums have been studied using XRD (X-Ray diffraction) and SEM (Scanning electron microscope) analysis.

In the Indo-Gangetic plains of South Asia, the triple challenges of diminishing farm profitability, deteriorating natural resources and energy deficits threaten conventional agricultural sustainability. This threat is intensified by the open field burning of crop residues that not only squander an indirect renewable source of energy but also impair the soil and environment quality. The crop residues can be used as organic manure by retaining the residues as mulch in the field. After a long term (5-yrs) study, it was concluded that crop residues biomass contributed maximum (∼79%) in total input energy (1,68,556 MJ ha−1) in conservation agriculture (CA) based systems, however fertilizer application (non-renewable energy source) contributed maximum (∼50%) to the total energy (40,636 MJ ha−1) in conventional tillage (CT) based maize-wheat cropping system.CA based maize systems recorded higher input energy and energy intensiveness by 23 and 57% respectively, and recorded almost 44% lower energy use efficiency and energy productivity compared to CT based maize systems. On 5 years average basis, Zero tillage based maize-wheat-mungbean with nutrient expert cropping system(ZT/MWMb + NE) utilized 351% more input energy, which resulted in25%higher output energy and 363% higher EI compared to CT/MW (40,636 MJ ha−1, 4,20,197 MJ ha−1, 39.60 MJ USD−1).

A quantitative structure activity relationship study was performed on a series of uracil based hydroxamide Inhibitors of maize deacetylases HD2 and histone deacetylase (Mouse HDAC1) activity for establishing quantitative relationship between biological activity and their physicochemical properties. The two dimensional and k-nearest neighbor studies were performed using partial least square methodology coupled with genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) was applied to derive models. The 2D model developed gave good correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.8498, and r2 for external test set (pred_r2) 0.7932 was developed by GA-PLS with the descriptors such as Hydrogen count, SsssCHcount, and SdsCHE-index. k-nearest neighbor method was applied for the generation of steric and electrostatic descriptors based on aligned structures. 3D QSAR studies produced reasonably good predictive models with high cross-validated q2 value of 0.679 and pred_r2 = 0.733 values using the model GA kNN-MFA method. The best pharmacophore shows that the four features used were one AroC feature (Aromatic), one AlaC (aliphatic) and two HAc (Hydrogen bond acceptor) features. The average RMSD of the pharmacophore alignment of each two molecules is 0.0754 Å. The QSAR result gives relationship between structural Uracil-based hydroxamic acids derivatives and their activities which should be useful to design newer histone deacetylase inhibitors. Keywords: Uracil, Histone deacetylase, Maize deacetylases (HD2), 2D-QSAR, Molecular field analysis, Partial least squares

Maximizing opportunities for climate resilient agriculture is vital for global food security, and ecological sustainability. To explore the improvement potential of mitigation and adaptation strategies in stabilizing wheat production and increasing farm income in sodicity-prone Ghaghar Basin of Haryana, India, participatory research trials on land reclamation (gypsum/pressmud) and crop management (varieties, nutrient management and weed control) practices were undertaken during 2016-2020. Results indicated that combining gypsum and pressmud together accelerated the reclamation process (soil pH: -3.3% and ESP: -22.1%) and improved plant adaptability (RWC: 10%; MI: -15%; Pn: 40%; gS: 36%; NaK_S: -38% and NaK_R: -42%), which in turn increased wheat yield by 20% compared to unamended control. With increasing sodicity stress, salt tolerant wheat variety KRL 210 exhibited better morpho-physiological adaptation, lesser yield reduction (0.8-1.1 t ha

Large-scale multi-ethnic cohorts offer unprecedented opportunities to elucidate the genetic factors influencing complex traits related to health and disease among minority populations. At the same time, the genetic diversity in these cohorts presents new challenges for analysis and interpretation. We consider the utility of race and/or ethnicity categories in genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of multi-ethnic cohorts. We demonstrate that race/ethnicity information enhances the ability to understand population-specific genetic architecture. To address the practical issue that self-identified racial/ethnic information may be incomplete, we propose a machine learning algorithm that produces a surrogate variable, termed HARE. We use height as a model trait to demonstrate the utility of HARE and ethnicity-specific GWASs.

Assessment of soil hydraulic response to conservation agriculture (CA) practices may assist in better management decisions in agriculturally sensitive and environmentally fragile agroecosystems. Although, the potential of management induced temporal changes of soil hydraulic properties (SHPs) has been studied particularly in relation to tillage, few studies have evaluated combined effects of tillage, crop residue retention and cropping sequence, which are essential components of CA, on near-saturated SHPs under field conditions. The objective of this study was thus to evaluate the long-term effect after eight years of CA practices and short-term effect of crops on near-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, k(h), and water transmission properties under irrigated intensive cereal-based cropping systems in a semiarid climate (NW Indo-Gangetic Plains, India). There were four treatments: (1) conventionally tilled rice-wheat cropping system, (2) reduced till CA-based rice-wheat-mungbean system, (3) no-till CA-based rice-wheat-mungbean system and (4) no-till CA-based maize-wheat-mungbean system. Steady state infiltration rates were obtained at four pressure heads by hood infiltrometer consecutively over two cropping seasons, i.e., during harvest season of rice/maize (October 2017) and maximum crop growth stage of wheat (February 2018). Data were analysed in terms of k(h), flow weighted mean pore radius (r0), hydraulically active porosity (e) and threshold pore radius (rbp), a new pore measure indicative of macropore stability derived by substituting soil’s bubble pressure in the capillary equation. Our results showed that no till-based CA enhanced k(h) as compared with conventional cultivation practice. Although the interaction effect of treatments with crop seasons were statistically non-significant (p

Nitrate (NO3−) and bicarbonate (HCO3−) are harmful for the water quality and can potentially create negative impacts to aquatic organisms, crops and humans. This study deals with the removal of NO3− and HCO3− from contaminated wastewater using Fe-exchanged nano-bentonite and Fe3O4 nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, surface area measurement and particle size analysis revealed that the adsorbents fall under the nano-scale size range with high specific surface area, and Fe was successfully exchanged in the nano-bentonite clay. The kinetics of adsorption was well defined by pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models for both NO3− and HCO3−. The Fe-exchanged nano-bentonite was a better performing adsorbent of the oxyanions than Fe3O4 nanoparticles. According to the Sips isothermal model, the Fe-exchanged nano-bentonite exhibited the highest NO3− and HCO3− adsorption potential of 64.76 mg g-1 and 9.73 meq g-1, respectively, while the respective values for Fe3O4 nanoparticles were 49.90 mg g-1 and 3.07 meq g-1. Thus, inexpensiveness and easy preparation process of Fe-exchanged nano-bentonite make it attractive for NO3− and HCO3− removal from contaminated wastewater with significant environmental and economic benefits.

We evaluated microsatellite instability (MSI) in selected mismatch repair (MMR) and tumor suppressor (TS) genes with a view to exploring genetic changes associated with the occurrence of gastric cancer (GC). Moreover, expression of MSI positive genes was measured to get insights into molecular events operating in the tumor microenvironment. We anticipated discovering new molecular targets with potential as molecular biomarkers of gastric cancer. Of the 13 genes screened, we observed 15% to 52.5% MSI at eight microsatellite loci located in 3' UTR and coding regions of six genes (TGFBR2, PDCD4, MLH3, DLC1, MSH6, and MSH3). The union probability of different combinations of unstable microsatellite loci unveiled a set of four MSI markers from TGFBR2, PDCD4, MLH3, and MSH3 genes that allows detection of up to 85% incidences of GC. Significant downregulation of MLH3, PDCD4, TGFBR2, and DLC1 genes was observed in tumor tissues. Protein structure analyses of two unexplored targets, MSH3 (TG4) and MSH6 (A7), with MSI in the coding region, exhibited the loss of essential domains in the encoded aberrant protein hampering its function in the MMR machinery. The molecular markers thus identified could potentially be used as MSI biomarkers for the diagnosis of gastric tumorigenesis after further validation.

Highlights • Enrichment in soil organic carbon was observed under ZT diversified cropping system. • Conservation agriculture improved aggregate indices. • ZT and crop diversification improved particulate and aggregate associated carbon. • Conservation agriculture showed higher system productivity., Intensive tillage based management practices are threatening soil quality and systems sustainability in the rice-wheat belt of Northwest India. Furthermore, it is accentuated with puddling of soil, which disrupts soil aggregates. Conservation agriculture (CA) practices involving zero tillage, crop residue management and suitable crop rotation can serve as better alternative to conventional agriculture for maintaining soil quality. Soil organic carbon is an important determinant of soil quality, playing critical role in food production, mitigation and adaptation to climate change as well as performs many ecosystem functions. To understand the turnover of soil carbon in different forms (Total organic carbon-TOC; aggregate associated carbon-AAC; particulate organic carbon- POC), soil aggregation and crop productivity with different management practices, one conventional agriculture based scenario and three CA based crop management scenarios namely conventional rice-wheat system (Sc1), partial CA based rice-wheat-mungbean system (Sc2), full CA-based rice-wheat-mungbean system (Sc3) and maize-wheat-mungbean system (Sc4) were evaluated. TOC was increased by 71%, 68% and 25% after 4 years of the experiment and 75%, 80% and 38% after 6 years of the experiment in Sc4, Sc3 and Sc2, respectively, over Sc1 at 0–15 cm soil depth. After 4 years of the experiment, 38.5% and 5.0% and after 6 years 50.8% and 24.4% improvement in total water stable aggregates at 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil depth, respectively was observed in CA-based scenarios over Sc1. Higher aggregate indices were associated with Sc3 at 0–15 cm soil depth than others. Among the size classes of aggregates, highest aggregate associated C (8.94 g kg−1) was retained in the 1-0.5 mm size class under CA-based scenarios. After 6 years, higher POC was associated with Sc4 (116%). CA-based rice/maize system (Sc3 and Sc4) showed higher productivity than Sc1. Therefore, CA could be a potential management practice in rice-wheat cropping system of Northwest India to improve the soil carbon pools through maintaining soil aggregation and productivity.

Rising levels of air-borne suspended particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) in the Asian mega cities is a serious cause of concern. A severe SMOG (smoke+fog) episode with air-visibility of about 5 km or shorter and average PM2.5 concentration of 793 μg m−3 occurred in Delhi and the National Capital Territory (NCT) just after the Diwali-festival and spanned between 30 October (Oct.) and 07 November (Nov.) 2016. Using daily variations in chemical and isotopic signatures of PM2.5 in tandem with meteorological parameters, we deduce here primary contributing factors responsible for development of Delhi-SMOG-2016 event and dominant transformation pathways of carbon, sulphur, and nitrogen compounds. Our multi-tracer analyses revealed there could be three major factors contributing to the SMOG event: (i) transport of carbonaceous material from North-Western India (mainly Punjab-Haryana) due to open-field agricultural-waste burning that rose from 26 Oct. through 11 Nov. 2016, (ii) weaker northerly winds, shallower boundary layer, cooler air temperatures, and enhanced humidity enforcing ‘atypical’ air-stagnation, and (iii) direct emissions from fire-cracker bursting on 30 Oct. 2016 (Diwali night). Investigating timing of agricultural waste burning in northwester states of Delhi, there appears to be a delay in the timing of agricultural-waste burning in the Punjab area since 2010; that could possibly causing a gradual increase in severity of SMOG events in the recent years.

Commonly, induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are generated by viral transduction of four core reprogramming genes, but recent evidences suggest that slightly different combination of transcription factors improve the efficiency and quality of generated iPS cells. However, vectors like retro- and lentiviral may cause insertional mutagenesis due to its integrating ability. Hence, alternate methods with safety concerns are needed to be investigated. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to reprogram buffalo fibroblasts using non-viral piggyBac (PB) transposon mediated transfer of six transcription factors. To generate buffalo iPS cells, fibroblasts were isolated from buffalo fetus at passage 2. The cells were co-electroporated with a PB transposon having CAGGS promoter driven cassette of Oct4, Sox2, Klf4, cMyc, Nanog, and Lin28 transcription factors separated by self-cleaving 2A peptide and a helper plasmid pCMV-PB transposase. After 12–14 days post electroporation, fibroblast cells morphology was observed to change to round structures which formed loose aggregates of cells on day 18. Putative iPS cell colonies were propagated in feeder free system and characterized through expression of pluripotency markers such as alkaline phosphatase, SSEA-1, SSEA-4, SSEA-5, TRA-1-81, Oct4, Nanog and Sox2 and endogenous genes supported the stemness property of the generated cells. These cells differentiated in vitro to form embryoid bodies and were found to express three germ layers markers. In conclusion, generation of buffalo iPS cells using transposon system provides insights into viral-free iPS technology which will facilitate genetic modification of the buffalo genome and help in the production of transgenic animals using genetically modified iPS cells.

The neutron capture cross sections of 232Th and 238U at the average neutron energies of 5.08 ± 0.17, 8.96 ± 0.77, 12.47 ± 0.83, and 16.63 ± 0.95 MeV have been measured by using the activation technique and off-line γ-ray spectroscopy. The 232Th and 238U were irradiated with neutrons produced from the 7Li(p, n) reaction using the proton energies of 7, 11, 15 and 18.8 MeV from the 14UD BARC-TIFR Pelletron facility in Mumbai, India. Detailed covariance analysis was also performed to evaluate the uncertainties in the measured cross-sections. The excitation function of the 232Th(n, γ) and 238U(n, γ) reactions were calculated using the theoretical model code TALYS-1.9. The experimental and theoretical results from the present work were compared with the ENDF/B-VII-1 and JENDL-4.0 nuclear data libraries and were found to be in good agreement.

This work examines the ER lubricant behavior on the performance of conical hybrid journal bearing. The influence of micro-texture with different shapes used on the bearing surface is studied. FEM is used to solve the modified Reynolds equation using GMRES method. A parametric study is carried out to optimize the dimple attributes on the basis of radial load. The numerical results show that a textured surface and ER lubricant enhances the values of load carrying capacity ( W ¯ R and W ¯ A ) and fluid film stiffness coefficients ( S ¯ i j ) for conical journal bearing. Further, it has been observed that the use of ER lubricant enhances the value of minimum fluid film thickness ( h ¯ m i n ), thereby reducing the chances of metal to metal contact.

Background: Radiation emergencies are rare but can have minor confined effects to catastrophic consequences across the large geographical territories. Geographical disparities in the preparedness for radiation emergencies can negatively impact public-safety and delay protective actions. We examined such disparities using the global and regional radiation preparedness data from the revised annual International Health Regulations (IHR) datasets. Methods: We used IHR State Party Annual Reporting (SPAR) tool and its associated health indicators developed to mitigate public health-risk from radiation emergencies. Using the most recent (2019) SPAR database developed for radiation emergencies, along with 12 other cross-sector indicators, we examined the disparities among World Health Organization (WHO) state and region-wide capacity scores for operational preparedness. Findings: Based on the analysis of the 2019 annual reporting datasets from 171 countries, radiation emergency was one of the top 3 global challenges with an average global preparedness capacity of 55%. Radiation emergency preparedness capacity scores showed highest dispersion score amongst all 13 capacities suggesting higher disparities for preparedness across the globe. Only 38% of the countries had advanced functional capacity with ≥80% operational readiness, with 28% countries having low to very-low operational readiness. No geographical regions had ≥80% operational readiness for radiation emergencies, with 4/6 geographical regions showing limited capacity or effectiveness. Interpretation: We found major global disparities for the operational preparedness against radiation emergencies. Collaborative approaches involving the public health officials and policymakers at the regional and state levels are needed to develop additional guidance to adapt emergency preparedness plans for radiation incidents. Funding Information: This research was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1TR001412 to the University at Buffalo and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and by Roswell Park and National Cancer Institute under award number P30CA016056. UCS is supported by KO8HL131987 and RO1HL152090 Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). SP received support from NIH/NHLBI (Award Numbers R21HL154028 and RO1HL150266). Declaration of Interests: None.

Background: HIV is a chronic viral infection documented worldwide. It infects and destroys helper T cells (CD4) leading to a number of immunological deficiencies. The main objective of this study was to examine the Rheumatoid factor (Rf) to recognize rheumatoid arthritis prevalence rates of these patients. Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out on 150 HIV-positive individuals visiting the ART center of Western Regional Hospital. The patients were counseled and samples were taken. Samples were processed by Mispa i2 and analyzed by SPSS. Rf was measured for all participants. Findings: Out of 150 participants, 35 (23.3%) were Rf Positive for rheumatoid arthritis. In multivariable analysis, these levels were found higher in 20-40 years age group, in females, in married, in illiterate and unknown about their transmission of HIV. The prevalence of Rheumatoid arthritis was found to be 23.3%. Similarly, the association of sex and other variables significant value was found in education, mode of transmission, and age category as 0.004, 0.00,1 and 0.001 respectively. Interpretation: The result of our research suggests the need for regular screening of Rheumatoid factor (Rf) of the patients to detect the so that it can aid to reduce mortality and pain full life of HIV infected individuals due to rheumatoid arthritis. Funding: This research was funded by the Faculty of Health Sciences, Pokhara University, Nepal as the Faculty Research Grant (2074-075). Declaration of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval: Ethical permission was obtained from Institutional Review Committee, Pokhara University (Ref no. 110/074/75).

Previous lubrication studies concerning the non-recessed hole-entry hybrid spherical journal bearings are mainly carried out without the consideration of surface roughness effects. However, surface topography plays an important role on the tribological performance. In this paper, the combined influence of surface roughness effects and behavior of piezo-viscous shear thinning lubricant has been investigated. The effect of different roughness patterns i.e., longitudinal, isotropic and transverse surface patterns and behavior of piezo-viscous shear thinning lubricant on bearing performance have been comprehensively studied based on an average flow model. The results show that longitudinal roughness surface pattern improves the bearing stability. The developed numerical model may be helpful for the design of hybrid non-recessed spherical journal bearings.

Conventional rice-wheat cropping system (RWCS) in western Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is carbon and energy intensive. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate energy budgeting, carbon footprints (CF) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from RWCS under long-term tillage and residue management practices. Experiment consisted six treatment combination of tillage [conventional tillage (CT), reduced tillage (RT) and zero tillage (ZT)] and residue [with residue (+R) and without residue (–R)] namely (i) CT-R (conventional farmers’ practice), (ii) CT + R, (iii) RT-R, (iv) RT + R, (v) ZT-R and (vi) ZT + R. Energy consumption ranged from 51.87 GJ ha−1 (ZT-R) to 64.91 GJ ha−1 (CT + R) and irrigation water was major energy intensive input (41–44%) followed by chemical fertilizer (32–40%). Compared to CT-R, energy use efficiency (EUE) increased by 8.7–22.4%, CF lowered by 77.9–34.3%, and GHG emission lowered by 12.8–16.3% in different treatments. Residue addition enhanced the soil carbon accumulation in ZT + R (1213 kg C ha−1 yr−1) and RT + R (987 kg C ha−1 yr−1). Overall, switching from CT–R to ZT + R lowered energy consumption (19%), GHG emission (16%) and CF (78%), making it best-bet option for climate change mitigation and global warming related environmental protection in western IGP and similar agro–ecologies.

The fabrication of core–shell structured SiO2@LaOF:Eu3+, Li+ nanophosphors and its surface functionalization with oleic acid (OA) by an ultrasonication route are reported. The X-ray diffraction profiles were well indexed to the tetragonal phase of LaOF. The energy band gap of the prepared samples was found in the range ∼4.32–4.21 eV. The morphological studies evidenced the spherical core–shell structure of the prepared nanophosphors. The photoluminescence emission spectra were found to consist of characteristic emission peaks at ∼591 nm (5D0 → 7F1), 610 nm (5D0 → 7F2), 651 nm (5D0 → 7F3) and 707 nm (5D0 → 7F4). The enhancement of about 3 times (3-fold) of the photoluminescence emission in the surface functionalized samples is ascribed as due to the efficient ligand energy transfer. The powder dusting technique was adopted to visualize the latent fingerprints using nanophosphor on several porous and non-porous surfaces under sunlight and ultraviolet (254 nm) light excitation. The developed fingerprints display the high sensitivity, selectivity and contrast by enabling up to two levels of friction ridge details. The above-mentioned results revealed that the surface functionalized core–shell structured nanophosphor can be successfully engaged in the area of solid state display and forensic science applications.

The four-year continuous measurements of CO, NOx, NH3, SO2, and O3 were carried at a high altitude site (32.12°N, 76.56°E at 1347 m AMSL) of the Indian Western Himalayan area to study the mixing ratios of these gases for understanding the changing trends of these trace gases over the region. Each of these trace gases showed significant daily and monthly variabilities. The highest variability was recorded in the monthly mean values of O3 as it varied from 10 to 63 ppb during the study period. All the trace gases except CO showed maximum variability in the pre-monsoon seasons due to the strong advection and vertical circulation of air masses at the site. The seasonal mean maxima of CO were recorded during the monsoon season, while the mean maxima of NH3 were recorded during the post-monsoon seasons. The meteorological parameters have been found to influence the mixing ratios of trace gases. The least variability in the mean seasonal mixing ratios of SO2 during the study period indicated the constant point source of SO2 near the site. The trajectories analysis revealed that the area receives maximum air masses from the southeast to the west directions where a number of the coal-based thermal power plants, industries, cement plants, and agricultural fields are also located. The influence of valley-to-mountain circulations was also observed at the site, resulting in the transport of pollutant-rich air masses from local and distant sources to the site. A comparison of the mixing ratios of different trace gases obtained in the present study is also made with the values reported for other high altitude stations in the world.

Conventional ways of fabricating C/C composites are unable to achieve wetting in the core of the carbon fiber tow by molten pitch because a single tow has thousands of fibers. Pitch stabilization after infiltration into the carbon fiber preform results in local oozing of the pitch and a non-uniform microstructure due to non-uniform pitch stabilization in the preform. The objective of this research was to devise a method by which complete wetting of fibers in the tow with mesophase pitch is attained by mixing stabilized pitch and chopped and scattered carbon fibers, followed by hot-pressing and carbonization. The influence of process parameters on the carbon yield of the stabilized mesophase pitch is evaluated. The carbon yield divided by processing time and the carbon yield multiplied by the ratio of the apparent density to real density of the C/C composites are used to optimize process parameters. Results show that complete wetting of fibers with mesophase pitch is attained by this method. The carbon yield of the stabilized mesophase pitch decreases with heating rate and the mass ratio of stabilized pitch to carbon fibers, and increases with hot-pressing pressure. At high pressures and high mass ratios, local oozing of the stabilized pitch occurs. The optimum C/C composite was prepared under a hot-pressing pressure of 15 MPa, a heating rate of 0.2 °C/min and a mass ratio of stabilized pitch to carbon fibers of 1:1.

The present work deals with a comparative study concerning the combined influence of ER fluid lubrication and surface texturing on the performance of two-lobe/circular non-recessed hybrid journal bearings compensated with various types of flow control devices respectively. In order to describe the behavior of electro-rheological lubricant, Continuous Bingham model has been used. Further, the solution of modified Reynolds equation has been obtained with the help of FEM approach. The comparative study revealed that the ER fluid lubricated CFV compensated two-lobe (δ = 1.1) non-recessed journal bearings gives superior performance vis-a-vis other compensating elements like capillary, orifice and slot-entry. Besides this, it has been noticed that the textured non-recessed journal bearings (two-lobe/circular) improves the bearing performance significantly for capillary, orifice and slot-entry restrictor except CFV restrictor. The numerically simulated results presented in this paper may help in proper selection of restrictor, lubricant and bearing configuration so as to get the desired performance.

We demonstrate the fabrication of a facile and efficient biosensing platform for electrochemical detection of human cardiac biomarker Troponin I (cTnI) using Tungsten trioxide-reduced graphene oxide (WO3-RGO) nanocomposite as a matrix. The in-situ hydrothermal method was employed for the synthesis of the WO3-RGO nanocomposite. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) were employed to investigate structural and morphological behavior. The WO3-RGO nanocomposite was further functionalized with 3-aminopropyl tri-ethoxy saline (APTES) for the activation of amino groups (‒NH2) that can covalently bind to the antibodies of cTnI. This immunosensor was further studied using contact angle measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and electrochemical techniques. The synergistic behavior between RGO and WO3 nanorods has allowed the immunosensor to exhibit enhanced heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant (Ko = 2.4 × 10−4 cms-1) resulting in improved biosensor efficiency. The immuno-sensor exhibit good sensitivity as 58.24 μA/cm2 per decade in an extended linear detection range 0.01–250 ng/mL with the stability up to 30 days. Besides this, the fabricated immuno-sensor exhibits good reproducibility and excellent selectivity towards the detection of the cTnI biomarker. Furthermore, the validation of immunosensor with cardiac patient samples demonstrates the clinical application of this nano-biosensing platform for the detection of other biomarkers too.

A promising approach to decrease deformation load and improve ductility during forming of Inconel-718 (IN718) is through the use of solution treated blanks. In the present work, IN718 sheets were separately solution treated to different temperatures in the domain of 970 – 1070 ° C at an interval of 50 ° C to dissolve the strengthening precipitates ( γ ′ and γ ′ ′ ), and subsequently, were oil quenched to retain the microstructure. Due to significant difference in average grain size, the solution treated samples of 970 ° C (HT970) and 1070 ° C (HT1070) were selected for tensile characterization, deep drawing analysis, and micro-texture evolution. The tensile test response showed approximately 30% improvement in ductility and 27% reduction in load in case of HT1070 material with respect to that of HT970 material. The deep drawing process window was evaluated using flat bottom and hemispherical dome punch geometries, and it was found that the limiting draw ratio (LDR) improved marginally by 4.5% in case of HT1070 material. This improvement was due to the dominating presence of cube component in initial texture of HT1070 material. The high presence of cube and goss components in initial texture and the large difference in Taylor factor of individual grains at critical regions of deep drawn cups led to higher unsatisfactory surface roughness in the case of HT1070 material. Hence, it is suggested that the deep drawn components of HT970 material has better part performance in terms of surface roughness. Further, an attempt was made to correlate the fractographs with the fracture and formability behavior of sheet metal.

Monotonous rice-wheat cropping system with conventional management practices have resulted in declining soil quality and biota in addition to low input factor productivity and farmer’s profitability in western Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP) of India. Conservation agriculture (CA) based sustainable intensification (SI) is required to improve the soil quality while improving the productivity and profitability. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of CA based management practices such as zero tillage (ZT), direct seeding of rice (DSR), crop diversification, residue recycling and legume integration for SI in comparison to conventional management on soil quality and biota in cereal (rice and maize) based cropping systems. Fourteen treatments were included in which four treatments (T1–T4) with rice–wheat and two treatments (T11–T12) with maize-wheat system were based on conventional management, while six treatments (T5–T10) with rice–wheat and two (T13–T14) with maize-wheat were based on CA management practices. Conservation agriculture based SI of maize-wheat-mungbean (T14) recorded lower soil bulk density (1.33 Mg m−3). Soil organic carbon (OC) was increased by 83% and 72% with CA based rice-wheat-mungbean (T10) and maize-wheat-mungbean (T14) system, respectively and it was at par with T9 and T12 compared to farmer’s practice (T1) (4.6 g kg−1). Mean microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) were 213% and 293% higher with T14 over T1 (646 and 201 µg g−1 dry soil), respectively. However, T10 recorded 117% and 171% higher MBC and MBN, respectively compared to T1. Dehydrogenase activity (DHA) and alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) were improved by 210% and 49% under T14; 140% and 42% under T10 compared to T1 (180 µg TPF g−1 soil 24 h−1 and 144 µg p-nitrophenol g−1h−1), respectively. Mean number of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were increased by 28%, 68%, 98% respectively, under T14 relative to T1, and at par with T12 and T10. Most abundant micro-arthropod group belonged to Collembola followed by Acari and Protura, irrespective of treatments. Higher soil quality index (SQI) was observed in T10 (0.82), followed by T14 and T6 treatment (0.76). Sustainable intensification of rice and maize based systems (T10 and T14) recorded 39% higher system yield compared to T1 (11.12 Mg ha−1). CA-based sustainable intensification of rice/maize systems improved soil quality and biota, hence resulted higher system yield in alluvial soils of IGP. Conservation agriculture based SI of maize-wheat-mungbean system was found to be the best alternative option than rice–wheat system to achieve sustainable productivity while improving the soil quality index (35%) and conservation of natural resources.

Acidic crude oil transportation and processing in petroleum refining and petrochemical operations cause corrosion in the pipelines and associated components. Corrosion monitoring is invariably required to test and prove operational reliability. Thin Layer Activation (TLA) technique is a nuclear technique used for measurement of corrosion and erosion of materials. The technique involves irradiation of material with high energy ion beam from an accelerator and measurement of loss of radioactivity after the material is subjected to corrosive environment. In the present study, TLA technique has been used to monitor corrosion of carbon steel (CS) in crude oil environment at high temperature. Different CS coupons were irradiated with a 13 MeV proton beam to produce Cobalt-56 radioisotope on the surface of the coupons. The corrosion studies were carried out by subjecting the irradiated coupons to a corrosive environment, i.e, uninhibited straight run gas oil (SRGO) containing known amount of naphthenic acid (NA) at high temperature. The effects of different parameters, such as, concentration of NA, temperature and fluid velocity (rpm) on corrosion behaviour of CS were studied.