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A novel strategy for wastewater recycling by removing Chromium [Cr(III)] from water, utilizing the treated water for agricultural purposes and the saturated adsorbent used as the catalyst for p-nitrophenol reduction was successfully incorporated for sustainable environmental application. Removal of Cr(III) by adsorption on Cymbopogon flexuosus waste material entrapped within sodium alginate beads was investigated. Sorption behavior of Cr(III) on to the biosorbent phase showed to follow pseudo first order kinetic model. The thermodynamic variables such as ∆G (−2.59 kJ mol−1), ∆H (4.57 kJ mol−1) & ∆S (0.024 J mol−1 K−1) was evaluated and the corresponding values ensure on favoring endothermic nature of adsorption. Isotherm studies strongly supports on Freundlich model (R2 = 0.99) rather than Langmuir isotherm model (R2 = 0.93), Temkin (R2 = 0.89) and Dubinin-Radushkevich (R2 = 0.77) confirming on multilayer chemisorption behaviour with immobilized Cymbopogon flexuosus having the maximum loading capacity of 121.64 mg.g−1. The sorption of Cr(III) by immobilized Cymbopogon flexuosus was quantitative (99.9%) at the optimum condition: Cr(III) concentration:50 ppm, pH:4.5, agitation speed:150 rpm, temp.:298 K. The above sorption mechanism was well supported by the intraparticle diffusion model. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was also introduced to investigate for optimization of process parameters during removal of Cr(III) from aqueous solution. The adsorbent material saturated with Cr(III) ascertained first order kinetics with kapp value of 2.5 × 10−1 min−1 for catalytic reduction of toxic p-nitrophenol to p-aminophenol. The phytotoxicity study of treated water on Zea mays plant has been analyzed and a considerable result obtained with regards to the usage of Cr(III) contaminated-water in plant growth. The change in the crystal structure, surface morphology and surface functional groups of the adsorbent before and after the process was analyzed and well ascertained by XRD, SEM and FTIR analysis. This investigation suggests the possible application of this low-cost material in fine chemical manufacturing.

The present study deals with facile synthesis of magnetite/coir pith supported sodium alginate beads from naturally available waste materials which was further employed for removal of malachite green dye from synthetic aqueous solution underaparametric optimized condition of the adsorption process. Several operating parameters such as stirring speed (50–250 rpm), adsorbent weight (0.5–7 g/L), pH (2–9), temperature (35–55 °C), and initial malachite green dye concentration (50–250 mg/L) were used to study the adsorption in a batch operation. The central composite design approach of response surface methodology in design-expert software revealed maximum removal efficiency of malachite green at pH of 7; initial malachite green dye concentration of 150 mg/L; adsorbent weight of 3g and temperature of 35 °C which showed adsorption efficiency (>98%). Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) suggested the equation to be significant for the process with a greater impact of adsorbent weight and malachite green concentration rather than the other three contributing parameters. Extensive kinetic, isotherm, thermodynamic, and eco-toxicological studies were performed to understand the behavior and sustainability of the developed materials. Final observation assured the reusability of the processed beads and hence showed gigantic potential for implementation on industrial-scale evaluation for the treatment of wastewater.

Studies in our laboratory have shown that horses can be divided into two distinct groups based on whether they possess a subpopulation of CD3 + T lymphocytes susceptible to in vitro infection by equine arteritis virus (EAV) or not. It has been also demonstrated that stallions with the CD3 + T lymphocyte susceptibility phenotype to in vitro EAV infection are at higher risk of becoming persistently infected carriers compared to those that lack this phenotype. Furthermore, experimental EAV infection of horses with either the in vitro CD3 + T lymphocyte susceptibility or resistance phenotype showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of proinflammatory and immunomodulatory cytokine mRNA expression. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) demonstrated that these phenotypes are associated with the CXCL16 gene located in equine chromosome 11 (ECA11). We demonstrated that the membrane bound form of the protein encoded by EqCXCL16 gene function as a primary receptor molecule for EAV. Moreover, the secretory form of the CXCL16 protein is the ligand for the chemokine receptor CXCR6 that is predicted to be expressed on CD4 + and CD8 + T cells, NKT cells, and NK cells. Thus, equine CXCL16 and CXCR6 may be two major cellular proteins associated with the EAV carrier state in stallions. Finally, analysis of multiple tissues from EAV carrier stallions unequivocally confirmed the ampullae of the vas deferens as the primary site of EAV persistence with dual immunohistochemistry studies showing that EAV is localized in fibrocytes and mononuclear cells (T and B lymphocytes) but not in the glandular epithelium.

Equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infects equine endothelial cells (EECs) lining the small blood vessels in the central nervous system. However, the effect of type I IFN on EHV-1 replication in the EECs is not well studied. Thus, the primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of type-I IFN on the replication of the neuropathogenic T953 strain of EHV-1 in vitro in EECs. The initial data showed that the EHV-1 was partly resistant to the biological effect of exogenously supplied recombinant equine IFN-α. Subsequent investigation into the mechanism of resistance showed that EHV-1 infection of EECs interfered with the STAT-1 phosphorylation through which type-I IFN exerts its antiviral effect. Immunofluorescence staining showed interference with the translocation of STAT-1 molecules from cytoplasm to nucleus confirming the virus mediated suppression of STAT-1 activation. Downstream of the JAK-STAT signaling, EHV-1 infection inhibited expression of cellular antiviral proteins including IFN-stimulated gene 56 (ISG56) and viperin. Taken together these findings suggest that the neuropathogenic T953 strain of EHV-1 evades the host innate immune response by inhibiting IFN and this may provide some insight into the pathogenesis of EHV-1 infection.

In this paper, we have considered the closed FRW universe filled with two interacting fluids; dark matter and holographic dark energy components. Under certain conditions, this dark energy model is characterised by a big rip type future singularity and therefore a finite life time of the universe (Cruz et al., 2008). As the universe passes through a significant time when the matter and the dark energy densities are roughly comparable between the matter and the dark energy dominated era. So, we calculated the fraction of total life time of the universe when the universe passes through the coincidental stage for this future singularity by considering 1 r o r = ρ M ρ DE r o , where r 0 is any fixed ratio. It has been found that the time for the future singularity t s is very large when the value of the constant c is much closed to zero and the fraction is smaller for smaller values of r 0 . Comparison of the results with the observational data and its importance has also been discussed.

Lignin–HTPB copolyurethanes have been synthesized from hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and varied quantities of lignin and toluene diisocyanate. IR spectroscopy and estimation of isocyanate groups have established the formation of HTPB polyurethane and lignin–HTPB copolyurethane. The crosslink density, sol fraction, diffusion coefficient, mechanical properties and X-ray crystallinity of lignin–HTPB copolyurethane have been measured and compared with those of HTPB polyurethane. Tensile strength improvement of lignin–HTPB copolyurethane was observed up to 3-wt.% lignin incorporation. High hydroxyl value of lignin has been found responsible for the decrease in tensile strength with the increase in lignin content of lignin–HTPB copolyurethane.

The thermal stability of lignin-hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) copolyurethane and HTPB polyurethane has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and isothermal aging in air at various temperatures. All the results show better thermal stability of lignin–HTPB copolyurethane than that of HTPB polyurethane. The structural changes in the polyurethanes during isothermal heating have also been studied by IR spectroscopy.