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A substantial level of significance has been placed on renewable energy systems, especially photovoltaic (PV) systems, given the urgent global apprehensions regarding climate change and the need to cut carbon emissions. One of the main concerns in the field of PV is the ability to track power effectively over a range of factors. In the context of solar power extraction, this research paper performs a thorough comparative examination of ten controllers, including both conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllers and artificial intelligence (AI) controllers. Various factors, such as voltage, current, power, weather dependence, cost, complexity, response time, periodic tuning, stability, partial shading, and accuracy, are all intended to be evaluated by the study. It is aimed to provide insight into how well each controller performs in various circumstances by carefully examining these broad parameters. The main goal is to identify and recommend the best controller based on their performance. It is notified that, conventional techniques like INC, P&O, INC-PSO, P&O-PSO, achieved accuracies of 94.3, 97.6, 98.4, 99.6 respectively while AI based techniques Fuzzy-PSO, ANN, ANFIS, ANN-PSO, PSO, and FLC achieved accuracies of 98.6, 98, 98.6, 98.8, 98.2, 98 respectively. The results of this study add significantly to our knowledge of the applicability and effectiveness of both AI and traditional MPPT controllers, which will help the solar industry make well-informed choices when implementing solar energy systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal power flow is a complex and highly non-linear problem in which steady-state parameters are needed to find a network’s efficient and economical operation. In addition, the difficulty of the Optimal power flow problem becomes enlarged when new constraints are added, and it is also a challenging task for the power system operator to solve the constrained Optimal power flow problems efficiently. Therefore, this paper presents a constrained composite differential evolution optimization algorithm to search for the optimum solution to Optimal power flow problems. In the last few decades, numerous evolutionary algorithm implementations have emerged due to their superiority in solving Optimal power flow problems while considering various objectives such as cost, emission, power loss, etc. evolutionary algorithms effectively explore the solution space unconstrainedly, often employing the static penalty function approach to address the constraints and find solutions for constrained Optimal power flow problems. It is a drawback that combining evolutionary algorithms and the penalty function approach requires several penalty parameters to search the feasible space and discard the infeasible solutions. The proposed a constrained composite differential evolution algorithm combines two effective constraint handling techniques, such as feasibility rule and ɛ constraint methods, to search in the feasible space. The proposed approaches are recognized on IEEE 30, 57, and 118-bus standard test systems considering 16 study events of single and multi-objective optimization functions. Ultimately, simulation results are examined and compared with the many recently published techniques of Optimal power flow solutions owing to show the usefulness and performance of the proposed a constrained composite differential evolution algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential of solid waste as an energy source is clear, owing to its wide availability and renewable properties, which provide a critical answer for energy security. This can be especially effective in reducing the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Countries that rely heavily on coal should examine alternatives such as electricity from solid waste to provide a constant energy supply while also contributing to atmospheric restoration. In this regards, Low Emissions Analysis Platform (LEAP) is used for simulation the entire energy system in Pakistan and forecasted its capital cost and future CO2 emissions in relation to the use of renewable and fossil fuel resources under the different growth rates of solid waste projects like 20%, 30% and 40% for the study period 2023–2053. The results revealed that, 1402.97 TWh units of energy are generated to meet the total energy demand of 1193.93 TWh until 2053. The share of solid waste based electricity in total energy mix is increasing from a mere 0.81% in 2023 to around 9.44% by 2053 under the 20% growth rate, which then increase to 39.67% by 2053 under the 30% growth rate and further increases to 78.33% by 2053 under the 40% growth rate. It is suggested that 40% growth rate for solid waste based electricity projects is suitable for Pakistan until 2053 because under this condition, renewable sources contributes 95.2% and fossil fuels contributed 4.47% in the total energy mix of Pakistan. Hence, CO2 emissions are reduced from 148.26 million metric tons to 35.46 million metric tons until 2053 but capital cost is increased from 13.23 b$ in 2023 to 363.11 b$ by 2053. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chromium (Cr), due to its greater contamination in aquifers and distinct eco-toxic impacts, is of greater environmental concern. This study aimed to synthesize nanocomposites of almond shells biochar (BC) with zerovalent bismuth and/or copper (Bi0/BC, Cu0/BC, and Bi0–Cu0/BC) for the removal of Cr from aqueous solution. The synthesized nanocomposites were investigated using various characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, and EDX. The Cr removal potential by the nanocomposites was explored under different Cr concentrations (25–100 mg/L), adsorbent doses (0.5–2.0 g/L), solution pH (2–8), and contact time (10–160 min). The above-mentioned advanced techniques verified successful formation of Bi0/Cu0 and their composite with BC. The synthesized nanocomposites were highly effective in the removal of Cr. The Bi0–Cu0/BC nano-biocomposites showed higher Cr removal efficiency (92%) compared to Cu0/BC (85%), Bi0/BC (76%), and BC (67%). The prepared nanocomposites led to effective Cr removal at lower Cr concentrations (25 mg/L) and acidic pH (4.0). The Cr solubility changes with pH, resulting in different degrees of Cr removal by Bi0–Cu0/BC, with Cr(VI) being more soluble and easier to adsorb at low pH levels and Cr(III) being less soluble and more difficult to adsorb at high pH levels. The experimental Cr adsorption well fitted with the Freundlich adsorption isotherm model (R2 > 0.99) and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Among the prepared nanocomposites, the Bi0–Cu0/BC showed greater stability and reusability. It was established that the as-synthesized Bi0–Cu0/BC nano-biocomposite showed excellent adsorption potential for practical Cr removal from contaminated water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risk assessment of trace elements has received substantial attention for the achievement of UN Sustainable Developmental Goals (UN-SDGs). The present study aimed to evaluate health and ecological risks associated with trace element accumulation in Brassica oleracea under wastewater irrigations from three different areas. This study, for the first time, compared the pros and cons of mixed water crop irrigation (wastewater with fresh/groundwater). A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the buildup of eight trace elements (As, Cu, Cd, Mn, Fe, Pb, Ni and Zn) in soil and B. oleracea plants irrigated with wastewater alone and mixed with fresh/groundwater. Specific ecological [degree of contamination (Cd), potential ecological risk index (PERI), pollution load index (PLI), geo-accumulation index (Igeo)], phytoaccumulation [bioconcentration factor (BCF) and transfer factor (TF)] and health risk models [chronic daily intake (CDI), hazard quotient (HQ), cancer risk (CR)] were applied to assess the overall contamination of trace elements in the soil–plant–human system. Moreover, these indices were compared with the literature data. The concentration of Cd, Fe and Mn exceeded the threshold limits of 10, 500 and 200 mg kg−1, respectively, for agricultural soil. Overall, all the irrigation waters caused significant pollution load in soil indicating high ecological risk (Cd > 24, PERI > 380, Igeo > 5, PLI > 2). Not all the mixing treatments caused a reduction in trace element buildup in soil. The mixing of wastewater-1 with either groundwater or freshwater increased trace element levels in the soil as well as risk indices compared to wastewater alone. The BCF and TF values were > 1, respectively, for 66% and 7% treatments. Trace element concentration in plants and associated health risk were minimized in mixed wastewater treatments. There were 22% and 32% reduction in HQ and CR when wastewater was mixed with freshwater and 29% and 8% when mixed with groundwater. Despite total reduction, a great variation in % change in risk indices was observed with respect to the area of wastewater collection. Therefore, mixed water irrigation may be a good management strategy, but its recommendation depends on soil properties and composition of waters used for mixing. Moreover, it is recommended that the freshwater and wastewater of the particular area may be continuously monitored to avoid potential associated health hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel (Ni) is an essential element for plants; however, excessive uptake of Ni causes phytotoxicity in plants. The phytotoxic effects of Ni on the growth of quinoa and the underlaying mechanisms for Ni tolerance and phytoremediation are unknown. Hence, the present study investigated Ni tolerance and accumulation potential of two quinoa genotypes (Puno and Vikinga). Both genotypes were exposed to Ni (0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 μM) in half-strength Hoagland nutrient solution for three weeks. Results revealed that shoot and root lengths, biomass, stomatal conductance, and chlorophyll contents were decreased with the increase of Ni concentration. Excessive uptake of Ni resulted in the limited uptake of K by root and its translocation to shoot. Ni caused oxidative stress in plants by overproduction of H2O2 leading to lipid peroxidation of cell membranes. Genotype Puno showed greater tolerance to Ni than Vikinga based on tolerance index, lower bioconcentration factor, and translocation factor. Greater tolerance of Puno was mainly attributed to improved physiological responses and amelioration of oxidative stress by induction of antioxidant enzymes such as peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). It was revealed through multivariate analysis that Ni had strong negative correlations with growth and physiological attributes and positive associations with oxidative stress attributes. The study demonstrated genotypic variation in response to varying Ni concentrations and Puno performed better than Vikinga for phytostabilization of Ni-contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn/TiO2, Mn-Ce/TiO2, and Sb-modified Mn-Ce-Sbx/TiO2 catalysts were prepared by the impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by BET, XRD, XPS, SEM, NH3-TPD, FTIR, TG-DSC, H2-TPR, and the SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) activity, and investigated by SO2, and H2O resistance between 90 °C and 220 °C. Results showed that the molar ratio of Sb/Mn is 0.2, the catalytic activity of Mn-Ce-Sb0.2/TiO2 can reach 94% of NO conversion rate at 120 °C. Meanwhile, Mn-Ce-Sb0.2/TiO2 has the best SO2 and H2O resistance. Characterization results demonstrated that the modification of Sb can decrease the crystallinity of the Mn element, while Sb can inhibit the formation of sulfate and reduce the poisonous effect of SO2 on the catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most common complications of the gastric ulcer are hemorrhage, perforation, ulcer penetration into adjacent organs, and gastric outlet obstruction which can be fatal if untreated. The present study aimed to improve gastric ulcer complications by using naturally occurring compound curcumin (Cur) and its modified complex with Eudragit E-100 (SD-Cur-Eud2). Solubility of Cur was enhanced by using first-generation solid dispersion (SD) technique and confirmed by physicochemical analysis. Optimized SD-Cur-Eud2 was used for the compression of gastroretentive raft tablets (SD-Cur-Eud2-RT) by direct compression method, and all quality control tests, in vitro floating time, raft resilience, in vitro dissolution studies, and dissolution efficiency were also observed. Stability studies were performed to estimate shelf life by using Rgui software. All the confirmatory tests of SD-Cur-Eud2-RT were found within limits according to pharmacopeial standards. 60–70% release of Cur within 6 h in acidic medium (pH = 1.2), 40–65% permeation on rat gastric mucosa, and 68% ulcer inhibition in Indomethacin® (IND) induced gastric ulcer. Furthermore, cumulative amount of diffused (CADD), flux (Jss) and permeability coefficient (Kp) of Cur were six–tenfold increased with shelf life of 23 months. Fortunately, SD-Cur-Eud2-RT (50 mg/kg once daily) tablets exhibited better therapeutic effect on gastric ulcers in terms of ulcer index 2.5 ± 0.2 as compared to Omeprazole®. SD-Cur-Eud2-RT may be considered an alternative of already available proton-pump inhibitors for the treatment of gastric ulcers with minimum side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium (Li) is the lightest alkali metal and 27th most abundant element in the earth crust. In traces, the element has medicinal value for various disorders in humans, however, its higher concentrations may lead to treatment-resistant depression and altered thyroid functioning. Quinoa (Chenopodiumquinoa) has gained popularity owing to its halophytic nature and its potential use as an alternative to the traditional staple foods. However, quinoa response to Li-salt in terms of growth, Li accumulation potential and health risks associated with consumption of the quinoa seeds grown on Li-contaminated soils has not been explored yet. During this study, quinoa was exposed to various concentrations of Li (0, 2, 4, 8 and 16 mM) at germination as well as seedling stages. The results showed that seed germination was the highest (64% higher than control) at Li concentration of 8 mM. Similarly, at 8 mM doses of Li shoot length, shoot dry weight, root length, root dry weight and grain yield were increased by 130%, 300%, 244%, 858% and 185% than control. It was also revealed that Li increased the accumulation of calcium and sodium in quinoa shoots. Carotenoids contents were increased, but chlorophyll contents remained un-changed under Li application. The activities of antioxidants viz. Peroxide dismutase, catalase and super oxide dismutase were also increased with an increase in the levels of Li in the soil. Estimated daily intake and hazard quotient of Li in quinoa were less than the threshold level. It was concluded that Li concentration of 8 mM is useful for quinoa growth and it can be successfully grown on Li contaminated soils without causing any human health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide population growth and pollution have limited the availability of clean water. Therefore, it is imperative to develop rapid water purification techniques that can eliminate all primary water pollutants, such as organic compounds and synthetic dyes. Pollutant disposal using a photocatalytic technique is efficient and safe for the environment. In this context, the ZnO/MgFe2O4 heterostructure photocatalyst is produced via a sol–gel technique to degrade methylene blue (MB) as a benchmark dye. Synthesized samples are characterized by numerous analytical techniques, including X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, scanning tunneling electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, I-V characteristics curves, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Photocatalytic degradation efficiency is witnessed at 40.01%, 55.05%, and 71.02% for ZnO, MgFe2O4, and ZnO/MgFe2O4, respectively. Among all the samples, composite heterojunction demonstrates the highest photocatalytic degradation efficiency. The obtained results reveal that the presence of magnetic ferrite in heterojunction promotes the absorption of radiation, reduces electron–hole recombination, and improves charge transfer. High stability over multiple cycles and easy removal character are the added benefits of the tested heterojunction photocatalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs), high mobility, high-density, and random distribution of vehicles are crucial factors affecting the performance of a routing scheme. High mobility causes frequent changes in network topology, whereas high-density causes communication congestion due to channel contention. Moreover, routing decisions based on a relay vehicle may be less optimal if we do not consider the stability and predict the position of a relay vehicle in such dynamic environments. In addition, periodic beaconing may not be attractive because it creates channel contention and degrades the message's reliability. Owing to these factors, designing an efficient routing scheme for emergency messages is a challenging task, especially in the urban environment. In this paper, we propose a reliable relay selection scheme for Emergency Message Routing in Intermittently Connected Networks (EMR-ICN). EMR-ICN is used for both sparse and dense network environments to establish a stable routing path. We use vehicle-to-infrastructure and vehicle-to-vehicle communication models to support routing in dense and sparse networks. We adopt the position prediction and some mobility metrics for relay selection to ensure a stable routing path. By employing relative positions changes among moving vehicles with respect to a time interval, EMR-ICN predicts the relative positions of neighbor vehicles to exclude unstable neighbors from the list of candidate relay vehicles. Moreover, it selects a reliable relay among the candidate relay vehicles based on distance, movement direction, and speed variation. To minimize channel contention, we adjust the beacons interval according to the estimation of link duration between a vehicle and its neighbors. Simulation results show that EMR-ICN outperforms Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPSR) and Maxduration-Minangle-GPSR, in terms of message delivery ratio, latency, and the number of hop count. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency message (EM) dissemination is a significant process in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) and plays a vital role in road safety. Nonetheless, EMs' dissemination while avoiding broadcast storms poses a considerable challenge. Moreover, selecting optimal cooperative forwarders is also challenging because of unreliability, high end-to-end delay, and packet loss caused by localization errors. Besides, the conventional broadcast-based schemes usually choose forwarder vehicles based on distance, neglecting the influence of links' qualities. To that end, we propose multi-hop EM dissemination (MEMD) through optimal cooperative forwarder in grid-based fifth-generation (5G) VANET environment. To ensure reliable EMs' dissemination, we incorporate vehicle-to-everything communication instead of the conventional short-range vehicle-to-vehicle communication. The proposed scheme obtains vehicle positions by integrating GPS measurements with a map-matching technique to avoid vehicle localization errors. Instead of a single parameter, the proposed scheme selects an optimal cooperative forwarder by using our proposed fitness function, which considers different mobility and social parameters. The proposed scheme categorizes EMs' dissemination into single-hop and multi-hop broadcasting to avoid unnecessary rebroadcasting and communication congestion in the network. Simulation results demonstrate that for varying density, the proposed scheme achieves an average increase of 12%, 9%, and 8.9% in coverage, and 7.95%, 4%, and 3.4% in PDR, and an average reduction of 13.5%, 7.2%, and 12.7% in E2E delay, and 20.9%, 11.3%, and 4% in rebroadcast ratio, as compared to LCL, REMD, and EMDZoI, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: Compelling aspects of fiber- and textile-based flexible electrodes are reviewed in detail from the point of view of fabrication, properties, and devices performance. The advances of fibers and textile-based electrodes employed in flexible solar cells and flexible energy storage devices are discussed. The outlook and challenges in employing and developing textile-based flexible electrodes are highlighted. Flexible microelectronic devices have seen an increasing trend toward development of miniaturized, portable, and integrated devices as wearable electronics which have the requirement for being light weight, small in dimension, and suppleness. Traditional three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) electronics gadgets fail to effectively comply with these necessities owing to their stiffness and large weights. Investigations have come up with a new family of one-dimensional (1D) flexible and fiber-based electronic devices (FBEDs) comprising power storage, energy-scavenging, implantable sensing, and flexible displays gadgets. However, development and manufacturing are still a challenge owing to their small radius, flexibility, low weight, weave ability and integration in textile electronics. This paper will provide a detailed review on the importance of substrates in electronic devices, intrinsic property requirements, fabrication classification and applications in energy harvesting, energy storage and other flexible electronic devices. Fiber- and textile-based electronic devices for bulk/scalable fabrications, encapsulation, and testing are reviewed and presented future research ideas to enhance the commercialization of these fiber-based electronics devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants antioxidative system is the first line of defense against oxidative stress caused secondarily by toxic ions under salinity. Plants with pre-activated antioxidative system can better adapt to salinity and can result in higher growth and yield. The current experiment was conducted to assess the adaptation of two tomato genotypes (Riogrande and Green Gold) with pre-activated antioxidative enzymes against salt stress. Tomato seedlings were exposed to mild stress (Ni: 0, 15 and 30 mg L−1) for three weeks to activate the antioxidative enzymes. The seedlings with pre-activated antioxidative enzymes were then grown under severe stress in hydroponics (0, 75 and 150 mM NaCl) and soil (control, 7.5 and 15 dS m−1) to check the adaptation, growth and yield. The results showed that Ni toxicity significantly enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, APX and POX) in both the genotypes and reduced growth with higher values in genotype Riogrande than Green Gold. The seedlings with pre-activated antioxidant enzymes showed better growth, low Na+ and high K+ uptake and maintained higher antioxidative enzymes activity than non-treated seedlings after four weeks of salt stress treatment in hydroponics. Similarly, the results in soil salinity treatment of the Ni pretreated seedlings showed higher yield characteristics (fruit yield per plant, average fruit weight and fruit diameter) than non-treated seedlings. However, Ni pretreatment had nonsignificant effect on tomato fruit quality characteristics like fruit dry matter percentage, total soluble solids, fruit juice pH and titratable acidity. The genotype Riogrande showed better growth, yield and fruit quality than Green Gold due to higher activity of antioxidant enzymes and better ion homeostasis as a result of Ni pretreatment. The results suggest that pre-activation antioxidant enzymes by Ni treatment proved to be an effective strategy to attenuate salt stress for better growth and yield of tomato plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadmium (Cd) contamination and soil salinity are the main environmental issues reducing crop productivity. This study aimed to examine the combined effects of salinity (NaCl) and Cd on the physiological and biochemical attributes of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). For this purpose, 30-day-old plants of quinoa genotype "Puno" were transplanted in Hoagland's nutrient solution containing diverse concentrations of Cd: 0, 50, 100, 200 µM Cd, and salinity: 0, 150, and 300 mM NaCl. Results demonstrated that plant growth, stomatal conductance, and pigment contents were significantly lower at all Cd concentrations than the control plants. Quinoa plants exhibited improved growth and tolerance against Cd when grown at a lower level of salinity (150 mM NaCl) combined with Cd. In contrast, the elevated concentration of salinity (300 mM NaCl) combined with Cd reduced shoot and root growth of experimental plants more than 50%. Combined application of salinity and Cd increased Na (25-fold), while lessened the Cd (twofold) and K (1.5-fold) uptake. A blend of high concentrations of Na and Cd caused overproduction of H2O2 (eightfold higher than control) contents and triggered lipid peroxidation. The activities of antioxidant enzymes: ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were 13, 12, 7 and ninefold higher than control to mitigate the oxidative stress. Due to restricted root to shoot translocation, and greater tolerance potential against Cd, the quinoa genotype, Puno, is suitable for phytostabilization of Cd in saline soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-perovskites A3SnO (A = Ca, Sr, and Ba) are an important class of materials due to the emergence of Dirac cones and tiny mass gaps in their band structures originating from an intricate interplay of crystal symmetry, spin-orbit coupling, and band overlap. This provides an exciting playground for modulating their electronic properties in the two-dimensional (2D) limit. Herein, we employ first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations by combining dispersion-corrected SCAN + rVV10 and mBJ functionals for a comprehensive side-by-side comparison of the structural, thermodynamic, dynamical, mechanical, electronic, and thermoelectric properties of bulk and monolayer (one unit cell thick) A3SnO anti-perovskites. Our results show that 2D monolayers derived from bulk A3SnO anti-perovskites are structurally and energetically stable. Moreover, Rashba-type splitting in the electronic structure of Ca3SnO and Sr3SnO monolayers is observed owing to strong spin-orbit coupling and inversion asymmetry. On the other hand, monolayer Ba3SnO exhibits Dirac cone at the high-symmetry Γ point due to the domination of band overlap. Based on the predicted electronic transport properties, it is shown that inversion asymmetry plays an essential character such that the monolayers Ca3SnO and Sr3SnO outperform thermoelectric performance of their bulk counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pterostilbene is a stilbene flavonoid that occurs naturally in various plants as well as produced by genetic engineering. It exhibits anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-oxidant and neuroprotective activities. This research was aimed to determine the potential of pterostilbene against arthritis and peripheral neuropathy in Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis. Rat hind paw was injected with 0.1 ml CFA to induce arthritis. Standard control animals received oral methotrexate (3 mg/kg/week). Pterostilbene at 12.5, 25 and 50 mg/kg was given orally to different groups of arthritic rats from day 7–28 for 21 days. Pterostilbene significantly reduced paw diameter and retarded the decrease in body weight of arthritic rats. It profoundly (p < 0.05–0.0001) reduced lipid peroxidation and nitrites, while increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the liver tissue. Pterostilbene treatment significantly (p < 0.0001) reduced TNF-α and IL-6 levels. Pterostilbene markedly improved (p < 0.05–0.001) motor activity and showed analgesic effect in arthritic rats at 25 and 50 mg/kg as compared to disease control rats. Furthermore, it notably (p < 0.05–0.0001) increased SOD activity, nitrites, noradrenaline and serotonin levels in the sciatic nerve of arthritic rats. Treatment with pterostilbene also ameliorated the CFA-induced pannus formation, cartilage damage and synovial hyperplasia in the arthritic rat paws. It is determined from the current study that pterostilbene was effective in reducing CFA-induced arthritis in rats through amelioration of oxidative stress and inflammatory mediators. It was also effective to treat peripheral neuropathy through modulation of oxidative stress and neurotransmitters in sciatic nerves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity and water stress are serious environmental issues that reduced crop production worldwide. The current research was initiated (2012) in the wirehouse of the Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan to investigate the growth, stress tolerance, and physiological responses of guava to salinity and water shortage. Guava was grown for one year in pots containing soil with Eight treatments (control, 10 dS m−1, 20 dS m−1, 40 dS m−1, control + water stress (WS), 10 dS m−1 + WS, 20 dS m−1 + WS, 40 dS m−1 + WS) in a completely randomized design. The results indicated that plant growth, stress tolerance, and physiological parameters declined at higher salinity and water stress and could not survive at 40 dS m−1. The 20 dS m−1 + WS caused a > 70% decline in dry weights of shoot and root regarding control. Similarly, the highest decrease in stress tolerance was noticed in 20 dS m−1 + WS followed by the 20 dS m−1 treatment than control. Our findings validated that guava can be cultivated on soils having salinity ≤ 10 dS m−1 but it could not be cultivated on soils having salinity ≥ 20 dS m−1 with limited water supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Various nano-enabled agrochemicals are being extensively used for soil remediation and to boost crop production by increasing the nutrient efficiency of fertilizers. However, understanding of their potential risks on the manure–soil–plant continuum is limited. These nano-agrochemicals can be potentially toxic to soil microbes and their associated functions, such as nitrogen (N) mineralization and decomposition of organic materials. Moreover, the accumulation of nanoparticles (NPs) in edible crops may reduce food quality, and can cause serious threats to human health. Accordingly, here we investigated how zinc (ZONPs) and iron oxide (IONPs) nanoparticles affect the soil microbial communities, their efficiency of decomposition and N mineralization, radish yield, and plant N recovery after soil application of poultry manure (PM). Furthermore, we studied the associated health risks (DIM, HRI) via dietary intake of radish. Results: Soil application of ZONPs and IONPs significantly (P < 0.05) increased microbial biomass Zn/Fe indicating their microbial utilization. This decreased the colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria and fungi. For example, the application of PM with ZONPs and IONPs decreased the CFU of bacteria by 32% and 19%, respectively. In case of fungi, the CFU reductions were slightly different (ZONPs: 28% and IONPs: 23%). Consequently, the N mineralization significantly decreased by 62% and 29% due to ZONPs and IONPs, respectively. Which ultimately resulted in the reduction of radish dry matter yield by 22% and 12%. The respective reductions of the apparent N recovery (ANR) were 65% and 39%. Health risk assessment indicated that DIM and HRI values from both the NPs lie under safe limits. Conclusions: We conclude that both metal oxide nanoparticles (i.e., ZONPs and IONPs) can significantly affect the soil microbial community, their associated functions, and crop yield with the former being relatively more toxic. However, no evidence was found regarding the health risks to humans via dietary radish intake. These toxicological effects imply restricting the widespread production and use of NPs, and developing strategies for their safe disposal to avoid their contact with soil beneficial microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security is one of the biggest challenges concerning networks and communications. The problem becomes aggravated with the proliferation of wireless devices. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a promising solution and a volume of literature exists on the methodological studies of AI to resolve the security challenge. In this survey, we present a taxonomy of security threats and review distinct aspects and the potential of AI to resolve the challenge. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive survey to review the AI solutions for all possible security types and threats. We also present the lessons learned from the existing AI techniques and contributions of up-to-date literature, future directions of AI in security, open issues that need to be investigated further through AI, and discuss how AI can be more effectively used to overcome the upcoming advanced security threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we considered the strong field approximation of nonlinear electrodynamics black hole and constructed its rotating counterpart by applying the modified Newman–Janis algorithm. The corresponding metric function in the strong field limit of the static black hole is identified in order to study the radius of photon sphere. However, the metric function for the rotating counterpart in the strong field limit is considered in order to study the horizon radius w.r.t spin parameter. We considered the Hamilton–Jacobi method to derive the geodesic equations for photon and constructed an orthonormal tetrad for deriving the equations for celestial coordinates in the observer's sky. Shadows, distortions and energy emission rates are investigated and the results are compared for different values of nonlinear electrodynamics parameter, charge and spin. It is found that the presence of the nonlinear electrodynamics parameter affects the shape and size of the shadows and thus the distortion in the case of rotation. It is also found that the nonlinearity of electrodynamics diminishes the flatness in the shadow due to the effect of spin and other parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the present study was to improve the mucosal adherence of nasal formulations through the application of swellable, microporous drug containing crosslinked hydrogels. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) alone, poly acrylic acid/poly-vinyl-alcohol (PAA/PVA) hydrogels and poly acrylic acid/poly-vinyl-alcohol)/Halloysite nanotubes (PAA/PVA/HNTs) hydrogels were prepared by free-radical polymerization. N–N methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) and ammonium per-sulfate (APS) were used as cross-linker and initiator, respectively. Studies of Diffusion coefficient, swelling, porosity, loading and drug release at various pH medium, mucoadhesive strength and impact on Caco-2 cell viability were conducted. The drug, HNTs and hydrogels were evaluated by FTIR, SEM and XRD. An increase in gel fraction, porosity and drug loading capacity of PAA/PVA/HNTs was observed compare to PAA/PVA hydrogels, which may be due to increased available surface area. The drug loading capacity showed a direct relationship with the HNTs concentration of 25 to 75% in the PAA/PVA/HNTs hydrogels. The presence of carboxylic acid, hydroxyl, aluminum, silicate groups was observed in the FTIR spectrum. The SEM showed a uniform structure of the PAA/PVA hydrogels but became a encrusted like structure in the PAA/PVA/HNTs hydrogels. The PAH2 formulation showed a mucoadhesive strength more than 80% and the cell viability studies did not reveal a significant difference between the control and dispersion of HNTs and PAA/PVA, PAA/PVA/HNTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, main complication associated with duodenal ulcer is bleeding that was due to frequent use of NSAIDs, which was treated by ranitidine HCL (RNT). For the targeted release of RNT, pH-sensitive gelatin/acrylamide networks were synthesized by free radical polymerization, and the effect of different concentrations of initiator, monomer, polymer, and cross-linker on swelling was observed. Average molecular weight (Mc), volume fraction of the polymer V2, solvent interaction parameter, and cross-linked density were calculated. FTIR and SEM studies were performed for the interaction and morphological studies of networks. Dissolution efficiency (DE) and percentage release of RNT were analyzed in acidic media as well as in alkaline phosphate buffer pH 7.5. 80% swelling in phosphate buffer of pH 7.5 in 12 h showed inverse behavior with the concentration of cross-linker and direct relation with the gelatin. Akaike information criteria (AIC) were used for the selection of one best model. Formulation AAm1Ge1 at pH 7.5 has the best fitting curve with maximum regression coefficient 0.94 and minimum 66 AIC values. 80% RNT release with non-Fickian behavior and was observed in all prepared networks. Proposed networks formulations can be used for the treatment of NSAIDs induced duodenal ulcer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate uncertainty is a serious risk to agriculture sector impacting food security. Soybean crop is not exception to climate change. Crop growth simulation modelling approach has been established as a valuable tool to determine climate uncertainty on soybean yield. However, the crop growth model must be calibrated and evaluated for new regions before application for climate change assessment. Limited studies are available about evaluation of CSM-CROPGRO-Soybean model and its application for climate change impact on soybean in spring and autumn seasons under arid conditions. Field experiments were conducted in spring and autumn season in 2019 and 2020 at farmer field in Multan, Pakistan. During spring season experiments, cultivars Williams-82, NARC-1 and Ajmeri were placed in main plots in both seasons, while dates were 10th Jan, 20th Jan, 01st Feb, 10th Feb and 20th Feb during spring season while sowing dates were 01st Jul, 15th Jul, 01st Aug, 15th Aug and 30th Aug in autumn were allocated in sub plots. Results indicated that after calibration, performance of model was well due to acceptable ranged values of error and root mean square error (RMSE). In sensitivity analysis, model was responsive to CO2, temperature and rainfall. Climate change reduced more seed yield in autumn season as compared to spring season. Without adaptation strategies, seed yield will be reduced by 22.73% in spring and 35.91% in autumn season during mid-century at all GCMs at RCP 8.5. With adopting adaptation strategies of seven days earlier sowing of spring soybean and ten days delay sowing of autumn crop, along with growing climate resilient cultivars can minimize the negative impact of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perinatal depression exposes the child to antidepressants during vulnerable window of development, which can chronically impact the mental wellbeing of new born. Active pharmaceuticals are not tested for this long term neurobehavioral aspect of toxicity during drug development process. Keeping this in view, the current study was designed to study the effect of pre-weaning fluoxetine exposure on depression-like behavior of the offspring upon attaining adulthood using FST (Forced swim test). Additionally, the brain tryptophan, 5-HT (5-hydroxytryptamine) and its metabolite 5-HIAA (5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid) levels were quantified using Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), while expression of SERT (serotonin receptor), 5-HT1A receptor, TPH (tryptophan hydroxylase) genes were monitored using qPCR. Our data showed that pre-weaning fluoxetine (10, 50 or 100 mg/kg) exposure decreased depression-like behavior. The 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels showed declining trend. However, the 5-HT synthetic precursor i.e. tryptophan levels were found to be significantly elevated in both brain and plasma as compared to control rats. The gene expression study did not reveal any significant alterations as compared to control. In conclusion, the present study demonstrate that pre-weaning fluoxetine exposure decreased depression-like behavior upon adulthood via perturbing tryptophan metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil contamination with Cd and Pb is a worldwide problem which not only degrades the environment but also poses a serious threat for human and animal health. Phytoremediation of these contaminated soils using halophytic plants like quinoa presents an opportunity to clean the soils and use them for crop production. The current experiment was performed to evaluate the Cd and Pb tolerance potential of quinoa and subsequently its implications for human health. Three weeks old quinoa seedlings were exposed to Cd (30, 60 and 90 mg kg−1) and Pb (50, 100 and 150 mg kg−1) levels along with a control. The results revealed that plant height decreased at highest levels of soil Cd and Pb. Shoot, root and seed dry weight decreased with increasing levels of soil Cd and Pb. Tissue Cd and Pb concentrations increased with increasing levels of Cd and Pb in soil, the highest Cd was found in roots while the lowest in seeds. The highest Pb concentration was found in shoots at low Pb level, while in roots at high level of Pb. Increasing levels of Cd and Pb stimulated the activities of measured antioxidant enzymes and decreased membrane stability index. The health risk assessments of Cd and Pb revealed that hazard quotient was < 1 for both the metals. However, the results of total hazard quotient showed that value was < 1 for Pb and 1.19 for Cd showing potential carcinogenicity. This study demonstrates that quinoa has good phytoremediation potential for Cd and Pb however, the risk of Cd toxicity is challenging for human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Plant growth and grain yield of most of the crops are reduced on saline-sodic soils. Different organic and inorganic amendments have been used to increase plant growth and productivity on salt-affected soils. However, the role of cotton shell biochar (CSBC) for increasing salt tolerance of plants grown on saline-sodic soils has not been investigated yet. Therefore, the current study was intended to estimate the impact of cotton shell biochar (CSBC) addition @1 and 2% for ameliorating Na-induced phytotoxicity in quinoa grown on saline-sodic soil. Materials and methods: Quinoa plants were grown on saline-sodic soil with and without CSBC addition. Different physiological attributes were measured at vegetative stage. Plants were harvested at maturity when growth and grain yield were recorded. Results and discussion: Results revealed that plant biomass, grain yield, stomatal conductance, relative water contents, and chlorophyll contents of quinoa were declined by > 20%, 18%, 23%, 27%, and 16%, respectively under salt stress. Excessive uptake of Na decreased the uptake of K and K:Na, and caused the overproduction of H2O2 (62%) and lipid peroxidation (58%) in quinoa. The CSBC addition @2% was more effective than 1% in ameliorating the negative impacts of Na toxicity on plant growth and physiology. Amendment of saline-sodic soil with 2% CSBC increased plant growth, water contents, stomatal conductance, and chlorophyll contents by 60%, 36%, 41%, and 43%, respectively as compared to saline-sodic soil without CSBC. There was a slight increase in soil EC after the addition of CSBC. Additionally, 2% CSBC limited the uptake of Na and caused a 43%, 48%, and 75% increase in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) activities to ameliorate the oxidative stress. Conclusions: It was concluded through multivariate analysis that 2% CSBC was very promising in reducing Na toxicity and increasing plant biomass and grain yield of quinoa in saline-sodic soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soils salinization along with heavy metals contamination is among the serious environmental menaces. The present experiment was conducted to study the combined influence of salinity and nickel (Ni) on growth and physiological attributes of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). Thirty-day-old healthy and uniform seedlings of quinoa genotype A7 were exposed to different concentrations of Ni (0, 100, 200, 400 µM), NaCl (0, 150, 300 mM) and their combinations for three weeks. Results indicated that plant growth, pigments and stomatal conductance decreased with increasing Ni concentrations in nutrient solution. Combining lower level of salt (150 mM NaCl) with Ni resulted in improvement in growth and physiological attributes of quinoa. However, the combined application of higher level of salt (300 mM NaCl) with Ni was more detrimental for plant growth and caused more oxidative stress (H2O2 and TBARS) than the alone treatments. The oxidative stress was mitigated by 5.5-fold, 5-fold and 15-fold increase in the activities of SOD, CAT and APX, respectively. The concentration of Na was increased, while K and Ni decreased under the combined treatment of Ni and salinity. Multivariate analysis revealed that a moderate level of salinity had positive effects on growth and Ni phytoremediation potential of quinoa. The higher tolerance index, bioconcentration factor and lower translocation factor depicted that quinoa genotype A7 can be cultivated for phytostabilization of Ni under salinity stress. It was concluded that NaCl salinity level of 150 mM is promising for increasing growth of quinoa on Ni contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microwave plasma treatment of ferrite nanoparticles is a least reported method of improving the opto-physical, energy storage and magnetic properties. In this study, a sol–gel method, coupled with auto-ignition route, was adopted for the synthesis of Ni0.25Cu0.25Zn0.50 ferrite nanoparticles. Some of the samples were given low-pressure microwave plasma treatment and the corresponding opto-physical and magnetic properties were compared with the pristine NiCuZn ferrite samples. The pristine and plasma-treated samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope, photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. Phase analysis revealed a single-phase face centered (fcc) cubic spinel structure of the prepared ferrite samples. The microwave plasma treatment enhances the average crystallite size of the ferrite samples. Surface study reflects agglomeration of the particles in the pristine samples and high porosity in the plasma-treated samples. NiCuZn ferrite possessed photoluminescence characteristics and exhibited a red emission band in the range of 646–647 nm for both pristine and plasma-treated samples. The amplitude of photoluminescence peaks increased on plasma treatment of the ferrite samples, while the energy bandgap remained unchanged. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the presence of NO3, H–O–H, C–H, and C–O functional groups on the ferrite structure. The saturation magnetization (Ms) increased from 32.16 to 53.36 emu/g after plasma treatment of NiCuZn ferrite samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death that is essential for maintaining internal environmental stability. Disordered apoptosis can cause a variety of diseases; therefore, sensing apoptosis can provide help in study of mechanism of the relevant diseases and drug development. It is known that caspase-3 is a key enzyme involved in apoptosis and the expression of its activity is an indication of apoptosis. Here, we present a genetically encoded switch-on mNeonGreen2-based molecular biosensor. mNeonGreen2 is the brightest monomeric green fluorescent protein. The substrate of caspase-3, DEVD amino acid residues, is inserted in it, while cyclized by insertion of Nostoc punctiforme DnaE intein to abolish the fluorescence (inactive state). Caspase-3-catalyzed cleavage of DEVD linearizes mNeonGreen2 and rebuilds the natural barrel structure to restore the fluorescence (activated state). The characterization exhibited that the Caspase-3 biosensor has shortened response time, higher sensitivity, and prolonged functional shelf life in detection of caspase-3 amongst the existing counterparts. We also used the Caspase-3 biosensor to evaluate the effect of several drugs on the induction of apoptosis of HeLa and MCF-7 tumor cells and inhibition of Zika virus invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to design and evaluate controlled porosity osmotic pump (CPOP) tablets of enalapril maleate (ENP) being used for the treatment of hypertension. D-optimal response surface design was used, considering cellulose acetate and osmotic agents (lactose and fructose) as variables while physicochemical parameters of tablets were taken as responses. The asymmetric, leachable membrane of cellulose acetate on ENP tablets was applied and an increase in the thickness of core tablets from 5 ± 0.01 to 5.4 ± 0.17 mm was observed. The average weight of all CPOP formulations ranged from 376.7 ± 0.4 to 389.1 ± 0.3 mg and hardness was 6.2 ± 0.02 to 6.32 ± 0.06 Kg/cm2. The friability of all formulations was less than 1%. 89.53 ± 1.05% of ENP release was observed in phosphate buffer pH 6.8 after 12 h. Due to the smallest AIC (Akaike information criteria) and the greatest r2 values, zero-order release kinetics model with non-Fickian diffusion behavior was observed in all proposed formulations. f1 (difference factor) values were 1.28 ± 0.06 to 12.64 ± 0.41% and f2 (similarity factor) values were 59.75 ± 0.24 to 94.03 ± 1.36% in the same dissolution medium. pH-independent behavior was observed in pH-responsive study. Dissolution efficiency (DE) ranged from 51.49 ± 0.23 to 53.52 ± 0.52% and mean dissolution time (MDT) values ranged from 5.27 ± 0.05 to 5.59 ± 0.23 h. No interaction between the ingredients was found in FTIR analysis. The optimized formulation with improved drug release property was found stable in the accelerated stability study of six months. CPOP tablets of ENP can be considered as an effective substitute for immediate-release tablets to control hypertension in chronic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potentially hazardous element (PHE) contamination of aquifers is an issue of global concern, as this not only affects soil and plants but also exerts a negative impact on livestock. The current study assessed the extent of PHE (cadmium, copper, nickel, and lead) contamination of groundwater, soil, and forage crops in Shorkot, Punjab, Pakistan. Low concentrations of PHEs, particularly Cd and Cu, were found in drinking water which remained below detection limits. The concentrations of Ni and Pb in water samples were 0.1 and 0.06 mg L−1, respectively. Calculated risk indices showed that there was a high carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk to livestock (sheep and cow/buffalo) from the ingestion of Ni- and Pb-contaminated water. Soil irrigation with contaminated water resulted in PHE accumulation (Cd: 0.4 mg kg−1, Cu: 16.8 mg kg−1, Ni: 17.6 mg kg−1, Pb: 7.7 mg kg−1) in soil and transfer to forage crops. The potential impact of PHE contamination of the groundwater on fodder plants was estimated for animal health by calculating the average daily dose (ADD), the hazard quotient (HQ), and the cancer risk (CR). While none of the PHEs in forage plants showed any carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic risk to livestock, a high exposure risk occurred from contaminated water (HQ: 12.9, CR: 0.02). This study provides baseline data for future research on the risks of PHE accumulation in livestock and their food products. Moreover, future research is warranted to fully understand the transfer of PHEs from livestock products to humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinel ferrites are attaining huge importance in the modern era, due to their incredible properties, which means they are widely used in various fields. Therefore, in this paper a cost-effective and environmentally friendly preparation of Mg0.25Ni0.25Cu0.5−xCoxFe1.97La0.03O4 (x = 0.0, 0.125, 0.25, 0.375, and 0.5) ferrites via the sol–gel auto-combustion method were carried out. How the structural and functional properties varied with the Cu to Co ratio was studied. It was found that the crystallite size (D) was reduced from 47.2 to 27.6 nm as the Co2+ increased from x = 0.0 to 0.5. While the two major absorption bands including the higher frequency band (υ1) and lower frequency band (υ2) lie in the range of 573.80–538.65 cm−1 and 470.37–405.65 cm−1 belong to the spinel matrix. Five active Raman modes were found in the range of wave number 200–800 cm−1 corresponds to the sublattices of the spinel structure. The optical bandgap increased from 0.85 eV to 1.33 eV for x = 0.0 to x = 0.25 and then observed optical band gap was 1.15 eV and 1.46 eV for x = 0.375 to x = 0.5. The resistivity (ρ) was minimum for Co2+ concentration x = 0.25 at low temperature, while at high temperature the resistivity (ρ) was maximum for Co2+ doping x = 0.25. The temperature coefficient of resistance percentage (TCR %) was −2.66%/K at 513 K for x = 0.25, as shown in the graphical abstract. At lower frequencies, the impedance was observed maximum for Co2+ doping x = 0.125 and minimum for x = 0.375. These findings indicate that the as-prepared ferrites are a potential candidate for optoelectrical and bolometric devices. Highlights: Mg0.25Ni0.25Cu0.5−xCoxFe1.97La0.03O4 synthesis via the sol-gel auto-combustion method. The crystallite size was decreased with Co2+ doping. At high temperatures, the resistivity (ρ) was maximum for Co2+ doping x = 0.25. At lower frequency, the impedance was maximum for Co2+ doping x = 0.125. The temperature coefficient of resistance percentage (TCR%) was −2.66%/K at 513 K for x = 0.25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinity and lead (Pb) contamination of soil are important environmental issues. A hydroponics experiment was performed to unravel the effects of salinity on modulation of Pb tolerance and phytoremediation potential of quinoa. Four-week-old plants of quinoa genotype "Puno" were treated with different concentrations of NaCl (0, 150 and 300 mM), Pb (0, 250 and 500 μM) and their combinations. It was noticed that plant biomass, chlorophyll contents and stomatal conductance of quinoa were slightly affected at 150 mM NaCl or 250 μM Pb. However, the higher concentrations of NaCl (300 mM) and Pb (500 μM) caused significant decline in these attributes. The accumulation of Na in quinoa increased under the combined application of salt with highest level of Pb. The uptake of K was not affected at the lower levels of either salinity or Pb, but decreased significantly at their highest levels. The combination of salinity and Pb increased H2O2 contents and caused lipid peroxidation that was mitigated by the activation of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase). The activities of these enzymes increased by 4-, 3.75-, 5.4- and 2-fold, respectively, in the combined application of 500 μM Pb and 300 mM NaCl with respect to control. A multivariate analysis indicated that Pb tolerance potential of quinoa under combined application of NaCl and Pb was higher at 150 than 300 mM NaCl. The bioconcentration factor and translocation factor for Pb remained less than one either in the absence or presence of salinity. Lead accumulation and tolerance potential indicated that quinoa genotype "Puno" is suitable for phytostabilization of Pb under saline conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with substantial humanistic and socioeconomic burden on patients and their caregivers. COPD is expected to be 7th leading cause of disease burden till 2030. The objective of the current study was to assess the humanistic and socioeconomic burden of COPD patients and their caregivers in Malaysia. The burden includes the cost of management of COPD, QOL of COPD patients and their caregivers, work productivity and activity impairment of COPD patients and their caregivers due to COPD. One hundred and fifty COPD patients and their caregivers from the chest clinic of Penang Hospital were included in the study from August 2018 to August 2019. Caregiving cost was estimated using the replacement cost approach, while humanistic and social burden was assessed with the help of health status questionnaires. Overall, 64.66% and 7.1% of COPD patients reported to depend on informal caregivers and professional caregivers respectively. COPD patients reported dyspnoea score as 2.31 (1.31), EQ-5D-5L utility index 0.57 (0.23), CCI 2.3 (1.4), SGRQ-C 49.23 (18.61), productivity loss 31.87% and activity impairment 17.42%. Caregivers reported dyspnoea score as 0.72 (0.14), EQ-5D-5L utility index 0.57 (0.23), productivity loss 7.19% and social activity limitation as 21.63% due to taking care of COPD patients. In addition to the huge direct cost of management, COPD is also associated with substantial burden on society in terms of compromised quality of life, reduced efficiency at the workplace, activity impairment and caregiver burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade the prevalence of diabetes has escalated globally and it is estimated that the number of diabetic people will increase to 642 million by 2040. Although numerous classes of pharmaceutical drugs are available to treat Type ll diabetes, they manifest certain side effects. PTP1B has attracted significant interest as an important therapeutic agent and has been validated to target diabetes and obesity. Fungi, in general, produce secondary metabolites with some amazing chemical and structural diversity and are recognized to be a valuable source for therapeutic molecules. In this review, the focus is on describing the PTP1B effects and their potential as anti-diabetic agents for the various metabolites isolated from fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a distinct inoculum was investigated as an isolated variable within sequencing batch reactors via a comparison of the 4-fluoroaniline (4-FA) or 2,4-difluoroaniline (2,4-DFA) removal amounts. The inocula were derived from a treatment plant for treating pharmaceutical wastewater plus a small amount of municipal sewage (PMS), a treatment plant for treating fluoridated hydrocarbon wastewater (FHS), and a treatment plant for treating the comprehensive wastewater in an industrial park (CIS). There were slight differences among the degradation patterns of the 4-FA for the three inocula, whether during the enrichment period or the high concentration shock period. In contrast, it was observed that the degradation efficiency of 2,4-DFA initially varied with the inocula. The FHS-derived inoculum was determined to be optimal, exhibiting the earliest degradation reaction only after an acclimation of 7 days had the highest degradation rate constant of 0.519 h−1, and had the fastest recovery time of three weeks after high concentration shock. Additionally, compared with the PMS-derived inoculum, the CIS-derived inoculum exhibited an earlier degradation reaction within three weeks, and a higher microbial diversity, but a lower shock resistance and degradation rate constant of 0.257 h−1. High-throughput sequencing demonstrated that each final consortium was different in composition, and the microbial consortia developed well on the inoculum and substrate. In comparison of the similarity among the three 2,4-DFA enrichment cultures, the higher similarity (63.9–70.0%) among three final consortia enriching with 4-FA was observed. The results indicated that the inoculum played an important role in the degradation of FAs and the microbial bacterial communities of final consortia, and the effect extent might well depend on the fluorinated level of FAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize can be sown in spring and fall seasons in Pakistan under maize–maize cropping system. Due to seasonal variability in meteorological parameters, optimization of planting time for maize hybrids is vital to harvest improved productivity in maize-maize system. This study was designed to explore the effect of diverse sowing dates on phenology, growing degree days (GDDs), photo-thermal-units (PTUs) and helio-thermal-units (HTUs), and its impact on radiation-use-efficiency (RUE) and grain yield (GY) in different maize hybrids under maize-maize cropping system. Two-year experiments were conducted to optimize planting dates for hybrids during 2016 and 2017. In spring, three hybrids were sown on Jan 15, Feb 5, Feb 25, Mar 15 and Apr 05. During fall, three hybrids were planted on Jun 15, Jul 05, Jul 25, Aug 15 and Sept 05. Results showed that spring early (Jan 15), while fall late (Jul 25) sowing took more days to complete 50% tasseling, silking and maturity. However, maize sown on Feb 05 and Jul 25 accumulated more GDDs to attain 50% tasseling, silking and maturity. Maize sown on Feb 05 and Jul 25 had more leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), RUE and GY, which was linked with higher accrual of GDDs, PTUs and HTUs. Likewise, hybrids P-33M15 and P-30R50, during spring and fall observed higher values of all above cited traits. Moreover, positive-correlation was witnessed among days taken to complete different phenophases, LAI, CGR and 1000-grain weight, total biomass, GY and RUE. However, higher GY and RUE was obtained in spring than fall. In conclusion, maize sown on Feb 05 and Jul 25 using hybrids P-33M15 and P-30R50, during spring and fall crops, respectively produced more GY and higher RUE due to more accumulation of GDDs, PTUs and HTUs. Thus the spring season seemed more productive than fall season under maize-maize cropping system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arsenic (As) is a potentially toxic and carcinogenic metalloid. It has gained considerable attention owing to its high ecotoxic nature. High As contamination of groundwater in scattered areas is the current status of Pakistan. A number of assessments exist for the As contamination of the drinking water in District Vehari, Pakistan. However, there is scarcity of data about As contents in drinking water of health facilities and healthcare centers in District Vehari. The current study, therefore, was carried out to assess As concentration and associated health risk in the drinking water of three health facilities (district head quarter, rural health center and basic health unit) of District Vehari. In total, 75 drinking water samples were collected and examined for As contents in addition to physicochemical characteristics such as electrical conductivity, pH, total soluble salts, chloride, carbonates, bicarbonates, fluoride, nitrate, nitrite, calcium, magnesium and iron. Results indicated that the groundwater samples are not fully fit for drinking purposes with respect to several parameters, especially the alarming levels of As. It was found that 52% of drinking water samples of Vehari have As concentration greater than WHO permissible limit (10 µg/L) and 17% have As concentration greater than Pak-EPA permissible limit (50 µg/L). The risk assessment parameters (average daily dose, hazard quotient and carcinogenic risk) showed possible carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks associated with ingestion of As-contaminated drinking water in the healthcare facilities. Based on the results of the present study, it is anticipated that hospitals and health centers in Vehari are in need of safe drinking water. The implementation of national/international standards for drinking water in healthcare facilities is a necessary measure to improve the services and increase local access to safe drinking water. The same may be applied to other public offices and organizations such as educational institutes and district government offices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study is the first attempt to evaluate the potential of acid and base activated biochar derived from cotton stalks (CSB) for the removal of As from contaminated water. The CSB was treated with 0.5 M KOH (BCSB) and H3PO4 (ACSB) separately to change its surface properties. The CSB, ACSB and BSCB were characterized using BET, FTIR, and SEM analysis to check the effectiveness and insight of the main mechanisms involved in the removal of As. A series of batch experiments was performed using As-contaminated synthetic water and groundwater samples. The effects of initial concentration of As, contact time, dose of the biochars, solution pH, type of the biochar and coexisting ions on the removal of As were investigated. Results revealed that BCSB efficiently removed As (90–99.5%) from contaminated water as compared with ACSB (84–98%) and CSB (81–98%) due to improved surface properties when As concentration was varied from 0.1 to 4.0 mg/L. The experimental data were best fitted with Freundlich adsorption isotherm as compared with Langmuir, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich models. However, kinetic data were well explained with pseudo-second-order kinetic model rather than pseudo-first-order, intra-particle diffusion and Elovich models. The sorption energy indicated that physical adsorption was involved in the removal of As. The comparison of adsorption results with other biochars and their modified forms suggests that activation of CSB with base can be used effectively (4.48 mg/g) as a low-cost adsorbent for maximum removal of As from contaminated aqueous systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marigold (Calendula calypso) is a multipurpose ornamental plant, but its cadmium (Cd) tolerance and phytoremediation potential is unknown. The proposed study was carried out to unravel Cd partitioning, physiological and oxidative stress responses of C. calypso grown under Cd stress. Plants were grown for four months in pots having different soil Cd levels: 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 mg kg−1 soil. Plant growth, biomass, photosynthetic pigments, leaf water contents, stomatal conductance, and membrane stability index were not decreased at 25 mg kg−1 Cd. At higher levels of Cd stress, activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, APX, CAT, POD) increased to mitigate H2O2 and lipid peroxidation. Cadmium uptake in plants increased with increasing soil Cd levels, and roots accumulated a greater portion of Cd, followed by shoots and flowers, respectively. On the basis of Cd accumulation and its tolerance, it was determined that C. calypso can be successfully grown for phytostabilization of Cd contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize is sown during spring and autumn seasons in Pakistan; however, studies on inter-seasonal variability on maize productivity, agronomic and nitrogen use efficiencies (NUEs) are limited. Therefore optimization of nitrogen (N) rate and hybrids selection for each season is critical to harvest better yield in maize–maize cropping system. Two independent field experiments were conducted to optimize N rates for different hybrids to improve maize productivity and NUEs in spring and autumn seasons during 2016 and 2017. During spring season, three spring-hybrids (P-33M15, M-DK6525 and S-NK8441) and during autumn season, three autumn-hybrids (P-30R50, M-DK6714 and S-NK6621) were sown under five N levels i.e., 0, 80, 160, 240 and 320 kg ha−1. Maize yield and related traits, and NUEs were improved with each higher level of N application. Highest and lowest grain yield, agronomic and economic NUEs were recorded at 320 kg N ha−1 and without N application, respectively in both seasons. Likewise, highest grain yield and NUEs were observed by spring-hybrid P-33M15 and autumn-hybrid P-30R50, while lowest were obtained by spring hybrid S-NK8441 and autumn hybrid S-NK6621 during both years. Nonetheless, maximum net income and benefit: cost ratio was observed by spring-hybrid P-33M15 and autumn-hybrid P-30R50 at higher N level (320 kg ha−1) and maize cultivation without N was not profitable in both seasons. Maize cultivation with N application at 320 kg ha−1 seemed a viable option to get maximum productivity, economic returns and NUEs of maize–maize cropping system in irrigated arid environment of southern Punjab, Pakistan and might be for other areas having similar environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a clinical definition applied to neonates born with clinical features of malnutrition and in-utero growth retardation irrespective of their birth weight percentile. This study was aimed to determine the frequency of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in neonates with IUGR. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we followed 96 neonates with IUGR (≤28 days) and 38 neonates without IUGR born in the department of the neonatal intensive care unit children hospital complex Multan, Pakistan. We analyzed certain factors such as gender, gestational age (GA) (weeks), birth weight (BW in kg), weight percentile (WP) for GA, meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS), birth asphyxia (BA) and respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in IUGR and non-IUGR group. GA was measured by the Ballard scoring system. Echocardiography was performed for all patients by the pediatric cardiologist to measure pulmonary arterial (PA) pressure using Bernoulli's equation. Out of total 96 IUGR neonates, 33.3% (n = 32) suffered from PH, of which 65.3% (n = 18) were male and 43.7% (n = 14) were female. The percentages of IUGR neonates with BA, MAS and RDS were 34.4%, 18.8% and 22.9% respectively. The data were analyzed using the SPSS-16 software to test the statistical significance of the results. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. When the chi-square test was applied, it depicted that MAS was significantly associated with PH in IUGR neonates (p = 0.0001) compared to non-IUGR neonates. Our findings suggested an increased chance of PH in IUGR neonates and MAS may be a strong factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deploying ultra-dense small base stations (SBSs) in the coverage umbrella of a macro base station (MBS) requires proactive users offloading form MBS to SBSs to achieve maximum performance gain in heterogeneous cellular networks. However, it degrades the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the offloaded users due to strong interference received from MBS. To improve users' SINR, an efficient interference mitigation scheme is required to be used in conjunction with users offloading. Soft frequency reuse (SFR) is an attractive and spectrally efficient interference mitigation scheme that allocates available bandwidth among all cell users associated with k BS , where k ∈ (M , S) . To address the problem of interference, we use the SFR scheme together with power control factor (β) to transmit at different power levels for interior and edge regions of k BS , i.e., r k i and r k e , respectively. We further consider uniform and nonuniform SBS distribution in the premises of MBS and analyse the effect of the SFR scheme on the proposed model with the help of Stochastic geometry. Mathematical expressions for coverage probabilities are derived and validated through simulations. Numerical results show that the proposed model achieves better coverage probability due to reduced interference. Moreover, nonuniform SBS distribution together with the SFR scheme further improves the performance gain of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new a bisflavan-3-ol, boerhavianane (1), was isolated from Boerhavia elegans L. The structure of the flavanol dimer was elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis including 1H, 13C NMR, COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and ESI-MS. Boerhavianane (1) was evaluated for its anticancer activity and demonstrated a significant reduction in the viability of breast cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner with an IC50 value of 38.48 μg/mL. Moreover, boerhavianane (1) was also screened for DPPH antioxidant activity and acetyl cholinesterase, xanthine oxidase, urease, and α-glucosidase enzyme inhibition activities. Preliminary results showed that it exhibited significant inhibition (81.0 ± 2.0%) against urease enzyme, whereas for DPPH radical scavenging it showed moderate activity (75.0 ± 1.5%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose-based polymers have been successfully used in many areas of petroleum engineering especially in enhanced oil recovery drilling fluid, fracturing and cementing. This paper presents the application of cellulose-based polymer in oil well cementing. These polymers work as multifunctional additive in cement slurry that reduce the quantity of additives and lessen the operational cost of cementing operation. The viscosity of cellulose polymers such as hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) has been determined at various temperatures to evaluate the thermal degradation. Moreover, polymers are incorporated in cement slurry to evaluate the properties and affect in cement slurry at 90 °C. The API properties like rheology, free water separation, fluid loss and compressive strength of slurries with and without polymer have been determined at 90 °C. The experimental results showed that the viscosity of HPMC polymer was enhanced at 90 °C than other cellulose-based polymers. The comparative and experimental analyses showed that the implementation of cellulose-based polymers improves the API properties of cement slurry at 90 °C. The increased viscosity of these polymers showed high rheology that was adjusted by adding dispersant which optimizes the rheology of slurry. Further, improved API properties, i.e., zero free water separation, none sedimentation, less than 50 ml/30 min fluid loss and high compressive strength, were obtained through HEC, CMC and HPMC polymer. It is concluded that cellulose-based polymers are efficient and effective in cement slurry that work as multifunctional additive and improve API properties and cement durability. The cellulose-based polymers work as multifunctional additive that reduces the quantity of other additives in cement slurry and ultimately reduces the operational cost of cementing operation. The comparative analysis of this study opens the window for petroleum industry for proper selection of cellulose-based polymer in designing of cement slurry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microemulsions (MEs) are homogeneous, optically clear and thermodynamically stable systems intended to increase the bioavailbility, solubility, and entrapment of drugs. Anew system of oil-in-water MEs was formulated for the entrapment of chloramphenicol, consisting of isopropyl myristate/Tween 60/80 with short-chain alcohol and phosphate buffer (pH 7). The 1H NMR spectroscopy was used for investigation of the drug location in formulation. The drug is entrapped in a hydrophilic shell of ME, which consists of oxyethylene groups. It was revealed by 1H NMR study that the drug stability increases due to its screening from bulk water. The formulated MEs were evaluated for the phase composition, pH, refractive index, conductivity, surface tension, partition coefficient, and viscosity. These characteristics suggested that the optimized MEs were stable and optically clear and could be used as an efficient ocular drug carrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination with fluoroaromatics (FAs), particularly polyfluorinated aniline, is becoming a serious environmental problem worldwide. To shorten the start-up time, and increase the stability of treatment systems, this work focused on the effects of three seeding sources on treatment performances of 2,3,4-trifluoroaniline (2,3,4-TFA) during start-up and shock, as well as the acclimated strategy. After 246–323 days of acclimation in a stepwise feeding according to the inhibition degree, three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) successfully achieved efficient removal, i.e., 300.00 mg/L of 2,3,4-TFA, with over 95.00% of degradation efficiency and 60.00–80.00% of defluorination rates. The sludge obtained from the fluorizated hydrocarbon wastewater treatment plant(FHS) without prior exposure to fluoroaniline was determined to be optimal, based on the observed shortest start-up time of 246 days, the highest defluorination rate of 70.00–80.00%, the fastest recovery time of 7 days after shock, and the highest microbial diversity with nine dominant bacterial groups. Furthermore, compared with the sludge obtained from pharmaceutical wastewater containing part of municipal wastewater treatment plant(PMS), the seeding source used in treating the comprehensive wastewater in industrial park (CIS) exhibited earlier defluorination reaction, higher defluorination rate and microbial diversity, but lower shock resistance. High-throughput sequencing demonstrated that microbial diversity was dependent on the origin of the inoculum after acclimation. We identified two predominant phyla in PMS, namely, Deinococcus-Thermus (24.43%) and Bacteroidetes (18.44%), whereas these were Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi in FHS and CIS. During the shock of 400 mg/L 2,3,4-TFA, the predominant bacteria norank_f_Blastocatellaceae and norank_f_Methylobacteriaceae disappeared, and the defluorination reaction hardly occurred, indicating that the bacterial genera could contribute to the defluorination reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network traffic estimation under random mobility of network nodes is one of the key challenges for effective communication in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Under random movement of network nodes and uniform distribution of path durations among neighboring nodes, there must be a unified model to determine an adequate network traffic estimation strategy in MANETs. In this paper, a local link connectivity model that guarantees effective communication among the neighboring nodes inside a cluster is presented. Furthermore, a novel efficient traffic estimation (ETE) strategy is presented using a Markov chain process and Hello messaging through local link connectivity among neighboring nodes under uniform speed and random trajectories of mobile nodes. It has been observed that the ETE strategy is affected by the transmission rate of Hello messages, link probability at current time step of the Markov process, expected number of nodes inside a cluster, received signal strength, and probability of successful reception of the expected Hello messages at next time step of the Markov process. An expected increase in the critical transmission range of a network node as a result of possible overlapping with its neighboring nodes inside the cluster due to random mobility has also been investigated. Analytical and simulation results demonstrate efficacy of the proposed ETE strategy in terms of successful reachability of transmitted Hello messages, mean connection time, mean CH degree, queuing delay, and load balancing. In addition, the ETE strategy achieves better local link connectivity among neighboring nodes, lower Hello messages transmission latency, and better throughput in terms of successful reception of Hello messages by a neighboring node. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]