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The genomic analysis of industrially important bacteria can help in understanding their capability to withstand extreme environments and shed light on their metabolic capabilities. The whole genome of a previously reported broad temperature active lipase-producing Pseudomonas sp. HS6, isolated from snow-covered soil of the Sikkim Himalayan Region, was analyzed to understand the capability of the bacterium to withstand cold temperatures and study its lipolytic nature. Pseudomonas sp. HS6 was found to be psychrotolerant with an optimal growth temperature ranging between 25 and 30 °C, with the ability to grow at 5 °C. The genome harbours various cold-adaptation genes, such as cold-shock proteins, fatty acid alteration, and cold stress-tolerance genes, supporting the psychrotolerant nature of the organism. The comparative analysis of Pseudomonas sp. HS6 genome showed the presence of amino acid substitutions in genes that favor efficient functioning and flexibility at cold temperatures. Genome mining revealed the presence of four triacylglycerol lipases, among which the putative lipase 3 was highly similar to the broad temperature-active lipase purified and characterized in our previous study. In silico studies of putative lipase 3 revealed broad substrate specificity with partial and no inhibition of the enzyme activity in the presence of PMSF and orlistat. The presence of genes associated with cold adaptations and true lipases with activity at broad temperature and substrate specificity in the genome of Pseudomonas sp. HS6 makes this bacterium a suitable candidate for industrial applications.

Potato stands first as a non-cereal food crop for global consumption purposes. During the year 2019–20, dry rot disease symptoms were observed on potato tubers of the cultivar ‘Kufri Pukhraj’ kept in a cold store in the Moga district of Punjab State of India. Initial symptoms were observed as wrinkled and shriveled tubers with necrotic lesions on the tuber skin. The cottony white mycelial growth was also evident on some cracked tubers. During the incubation of these tubers at 25 °C for 7 days, the symptoms were more prominent with intensive whitish mycelial growth throughout the tuber. The pure culture of isolated fungus showed sparsely white colonies, which turned violet after 2 weeks. The oval or club-shaped microconidia were abundantly present on monophialides and multiphialides. The slender or straight macroconidia having 3–5 septa were also observed. The long and short chains of microconidia were observed in the fresh colonies. The molecular identification based on translation elongation factor 1 α (TEF1 α) and internal transcribed spacer region primers revealed the fungus identity as Fusarium proliferatum. The pathogenicity test was also performed to prove the Koch postulates on the initially identified host cultivar. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of dry rot disease caused by Fusarium proliferatum in India.

This paper provides insight into the seismic behavior of a full-scale precast reinforced concrete wall under in-plane cyclic loading combined with out-of-plane loading replicated by sand backfill to simulate the actual condition of basement walls. The tested wall exhibited flexural cracks, owing to the high aspect ratio and considerable out-of-plane movement due to lateral pressure from the backfill. The wall performed satisfactorily by exhibiting competent seismic parameters and deformation characteristics governed by its ductile response in the nonlinear phase during the test with smaller residual drift. Numerical analysis was conducted to validate experimental findings, which complied with each other. The numerical model was used to conduct parametric studies to study the effect of backfill density and aspect ratio on seismic response of the proposed precast wall system. The in-plane capacity of walls reduced, while deformation characteristics were unaffected by the increase in backfill density. An increase in aspect ratio leads to a reduction in in-plane capacity and an increase in drift. Curves between the ratio of in-plane yield capacity and design shear load of walls are proposed for the backfill density, which may be adopted to determine the in-plane yield capacity of the basement walls based on their design shear.

Baicalein-loaded cinnamon essential oil nanoemulsion (BaiCN) was formulated to enhance the solubility and oral bioavailability of the drug, and its potential combined anticancer efficacy with cinnamon oil was evaluated against the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. The formulation was optimized using full factorial design, and the optimized formulation was characterized for its size distribution, morphology, FTIR analysis, release, and storage stability at 4 °C. The cytotoxicity of developed formulation was assessed via MTT assay on MDA-MB-231 cell line. The average droplet size was found to be 139.05 ± 0.05 nm with a polydispersity index (PDI) value of 0.154 ± 0.029. The zeta potential of BaiCN was −14.35 ± 0.21 mV. Upon storage up to 6 months at 4 °C, there was no change in physical appearance or phase separation. However, a little increase in droplet size and PDI was observed. BaiCN exhibited good in vitro anticancer results against MDA-MB-231. There was about 19-fold and 23-fold enhancements in anticancer activity of BaiCN compared to that of free baicalein after 12 h and 24 h of treatment, respectively. Moreover, the cinnamon oil nanoemulsion without baicalein also showed good cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 cells and provided a collaborative effect to baicalein. In conclusion, cinnamon oil nanoemulsion is a promising drug carrier for encapsulating baicalein and enhancing their anticancer effect.

There is a curious case in Alveolar macrophages (AM), the frontline defence recruits that contain the spread of all intruding bacteria. In response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), AM either contain the spread or are modulated by M.tb to create a region for their replication. The M.tb containing granulomas so formed are organised structures with confined boundaries. The limited availability of drugs inside AM aid drug tolerance and poor therapeutic outcomes in diseases like tuberculosis. The present work proves the glycotargeting efficiency of levofloxacin (LVF) to AM. The optimised formulation developed displayed good safety with 2% hemolysis and a viability of 61.14% on J774A.1 cells. The physicochemical characterisations such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) proved that carubinose linkage was accomplished and LVF is entrapped inside carubinose-linked hybrid formulation (CHF) and hybrid formulation (HF) in amorphous form. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed a core-shell structure of HF. The particle size of 471.5 nm estimated through dynamic light scattering (DLS) is enough to achieve active and passive targeting to AM. The nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) data revealed that the diluted samples were free from aggregates. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) data exhibited excellent uptake via CHF (15 times) and HF(3 times) with reference to plain fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC). The pharmacokinetic studies revealed that CHF and HF release the entrapped moiety LVF in a controlled manner over 72 h. The stability studies indicated that the modified formulation remains stable over 6 months at 5 ± 3℃. Hence, hybrid systems can be efficiently modified via carubinose to target AM via the parenteral route.

We evaluated the anti-leishmanial efficacy of different saturated medium-chain fatty acids (FAs, C8–C18) where FA containing C8 chain, caprylic acid (CA), was found to be most potent against Leishmania donovani, the causative agent for visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Different analogs of CA with C8 linear chain, but not higher, along with a carboxyl/ester group showed a similar anti-leishmanial effect. Ergosterol depletion was the major cause of CA-mediated cell death. Molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation studies indicated the enzyme mevalonate kinase (MevK) of the ergosterol biosynthesis pathway as a possible target of CA. Enzyme assays with purified recombinant MevK and CA/CA analogs confirmed the target with a competitive inhibition pattern. Using biochemical and biophysical studies; strong binding interaction between MevK and CA/CA analogs was established. Further, using parasites with overexpressed MevK and proteomics studies of CA-treated parasites the direct role of MevK as the target was validated. We established the mechanism of the antileishmanial effect of CA, a natural product, against VL where toxicity and drug resistance with current chemotherapeutics demand an alternative. This is the first report on the identification of an enzymatic target with kinetic parameters and mechanistic insights against any organism for a natural medium-chain FA.

In the present study, genetic diversity analysis of twenty-five tossa jute genotypes consisting of 8 exotic (OEX, Exploration through NBPGR, New Delhi), 7 exotic (OIJ, Exploration through IJO, Dhaka) and 10 Indigenous types (OIN) was carried out at Central Seed Research Station for JAF(CSRSJAF), Budbud, West Bengal during Kharif, 2019. They were evaluated based on eight seed yield and their attributing traits to study the diversity array among the genotypes and grouped into five clusters through Mahalanobis’ D2 analysis. Cluster I was found largest with 19 genotypes and cluster II, III, IV, V, VI and VII comprising of only one genotype. Among the traits studied, seed yield contributed the maximum to the diversity (43.33 %) followed by plant height (24.67 %). The germplasm line OIJ 93 recorded the highest seed yield of 20.30 g per plant, while it recorded plant height 194 cm, base diameter 7.5 mm, number of primary branches per plant 2.20, number of pods per plant 18.30, pod length 6.30 cm, pod diameter 19.70 mm and number of seeds per pod 156.90. Cluster VII with an overall score of 21 across the 8 characters secured the first rank followed by clusters II, VI, III, V, IV and I. Cluster I has the highest intra-cluster distance (7.30), indicating that crosses involving genotypes within the same cluster may lead to good cross-combinations. It is hoped that genotypes will be selected from the clusters (clusters III and VII) that exhibit high inter-cluster distances for further crop improvement programs.

In recent years, cloud computing provides a spectacular platform for numerous users with persistent and alternative varying requirements. In the cloud environment, security and service availability are the two most significant factors during the data encryption process. For providing optimal service availability, it is necessary to establish a load balancing technique that is capable of balancing the request from diverse nodes present in the cloud. This paper aims in establishing a dynamic load balancing technique using the APMG approach. Here in this paper, we integrated adaptive neuro-fuzzy interference system-polynomial neural network as well as memory-based grey wolf optimization algorithm for optimal load balancing. The memory-based grey wolf optimization algorithm is employed to enhance the precision of ANFIS-PNN and to maximize the locations of the membership functions respectively. Also, two significant factors namely the turnaround time and CPU utilization involved in optimal load balancing scheme are evaluated. Finally, the performance evaluation of the proposed MG-ANFIS based dynamic load balancing approach is compared with various other load balancing approaches to determine the system performances.

AIM: To study the effectiveness of anterior and middle superior alveolar nerve block (AMSA) for anesthesia of unilateral maxillary teeth, i.e., from central incisor to second premolar of the same side by using conventional syringe and needle. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Two hundred patients who needed extraction of any tooth/teeth in the region of central incisor to second premolar of the same side were randomly chosen for the study. RESULT: Successful anesthesia was found in 71.5% of cases. However, the highest success rate was seen with first premolar (82.2%) and minimum with lateral incisor (67.5%), and induction time ranged from 6 to 12 min and duration for 30–45 min. CONCLUSION: Using conventional syringe and needle, AMSA can be administered to achieve adequate soft tissue anesthesia of maxillary central incisors, canine and premolars of that side and pulpal anesthesia to a good extent (more so with first premolar), without affecting the muscles of facial expressions and lip numbness, reducing the requirement of multiple injections for the same.

Small molecules targeting the cereblon-containing E3 ubiquitin ligase including thalidomide, lenalidomide, and pomalidomide modulate turnover of downstream client proteins and demonstrate pre-clinical and clinical anti-myeloma activity. Different drugs that engage with cereblon hold the potential of unique phenotypic effects, and we therefore studied the novel protein homeostatic modulator (PHM™) BTX306 with a unique thiophene-fused scaffold bearing a substituted phenylurea and glutarimide. This agent much more potently reduced human-derived myeloma cell line viability, with median inhibitory concentrations in the single nanomolar range versus micromolar values for lenalidomide or pomalidomide, and more potently activated caspases 3/8/9. While lenalidomide and pomalidomide induced greater degradation of Ikaros and Aiolos in myeloma cells, BTX306 more potently reduced levels of GSPT1, eRF1, CK1α, MCL-1, and c-MYC. Suppression of cereblon or overexpression of Aiolos or Ikaros induced relative resistance to BTX306, and this agent did not impact viability of murine hematopoietic cells in an in vivo model, demonstrating its specificity for human cereblon. Interestingly, BTX306 did show some reduced activity in lenalidomide-resistant cell line models but nonetheless retained its nanomolar potency in vitro, overcame bortezomib resistance, and was equipotent against otherwise isogenic cell line models with either wild-type or knockout TP53. Finally, BTX306 demonstrated strong activity against primary CD138-positive plasma cells, showed enhanced anti-proliferative activity in combination with bortezomib and dexamethasone, and was effective in an in vivo systemic model of multiple myeloma. Taken together, the data support further translational studies of BTX306 and its derivatives to the clinic for patients with relapsed and/or refractory myeloma. KEY MESSAGES: BTX306 has a unique thiophene-fused scaffold bearing phenylurea and glutarimide. BTX306 is more potent against myeloma cells than lenalidomide or pomalidomide. BTX306 overcomes myeloma cell resistance to lenalidomide or bortezomib in vitro. BTX306 is active against primary myeloma cells, and shows efficacy in vivo.

A solution-processed low-voltage metal-oxide thin-film transistor (TFT) is fabricated by using ferroelectric perovskite structure barium zirconate (PBZ) as gate dielectric. This PBZ thin film is deposited on heavily doped Si substrate (p++-Si) by low-cost sol-gel process followed by annealing at 830 °C. The thin film is characterized by XRD, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) that reveals fully oxidized PBZ thin film is highly crystalline in nature with high optical transparency in visible region that exhibited a lower roughness of 4.6 nm. Solution-processed indium zinc oxide (IZO) has been used as a channel semiconductor for bottom-gate top-contact TFT. The fabricated device require

The present review gives an insight into the salinity stress tolerance responses and mechanisms of underground vegetable crops. Phytoprotectants, agronomic practices, biofertilizers, and modern biotechnological approaches are crucial for salinity stress management. Underground vegetables are the source of healthy carbohydrates, resistant starch, antioxidants, vitamins, mineral, and nutrients which benefit human health. Soil salinity is a serious threat to agriculture that severely affects the growth, development, and productivity of underground vegetable crops. Salt stress induces several morphological, anatomical, physiological, and biochemical changes in crop plants which include reduction in plant height, leaf area, and biomass. Also, salinity stress impedes the growth of the underground organs, which ultimately reduces crop yield. Moreover, salt stress is detrimental to photosynthesis, membrane integrity, nutrient balance, and leaf water content. Salt tolerance mechanisms involve a complex interplay of several genes, transcription factors, and proteins that are involved in the salinity tolerance mechanism in underground crops. Besides, a coordinated interaction between several phytoprotectants, phytohormones, antioxidants, and microbes is needed. So far, a comprehensive review of salinity tolerance responses and mechanisms in underground vegetables is not available. This review aims to provide a comprehensive view of salt stress effects on underground vegetable crops at different levels of biological organization and discuss the underlying salt tolerance mechanisms. Also, the role of multi-omics in dissecting gene and protein regulatory networks involved in salt tolerance mechanisms is highlighted, which can potentially help in breeding salt-tolerant underground vegetable crops.

INTRODUCTION: The chin is a reflection of the entire face and, along with the nose, is one of the major determinants of facial profile balance. When it is appropriate in size, shape and position, the chin can enhance the normal harmony and symmetry of the face, even camouflaging less than ideal jaw relationships. Failure to perform a needed genioplasty can jeopardise the end product of many hours of otherwise successful major orthognathic or cosmetic surgery. Genioplasty procedure has been used for many years and has been modified in various ways, despite its original description by Trauner and Obwegeser. AIM: To overcome the disadvantages of older techniques such as step deformity, less bone contact and more chances of relapse. METHOD: Type 1—Esthetic genioplasty: A curvilinear horizontal osteotomy can be performed at lower border as posteriorly as possible. After the osteotomy, the detached segment can be moved as per the requirement. Type 2—Functional genioplasty: A horizontal subapical cut was made through full thickness of the mandible involving the labial and lingual cortex, then vertical cuts were made bicortically and two oblique cuts were made at the end of vertical cuts monocortically. CONCLUSION: This modification has various advantages such as more bone contact, no step deformity, less chance of relapse and also most effective treatment for sleep apnoea patients.

The performance study of various sensing parameters such as sensitivity, detection accuracy and quality parameter of liquid core Bragg fibre waveguide biosensor based on defect mode has been theoretically studied and compared with experimental findings of a similar structure without defect mode. The electromagnetic wave propagation in the present structure has been modelled using the transfer matrix method and Henkel formalism in cylindrical coordinates. The present multilayer structure can provide a band gap between 617 and 929 nm wavelength range at angle of incidence $$\theta = 70^{\circ }$$ . Due to the presence of a defect layer, a defect mode at 690 nm wavelength is observed in this band-gap region. This defect mode can be treated as a sensing signal in the present study. It is observed that the obtained sensitivity ( $$S\approx 334$$ nm/RIU) through the defect mode is almost the same as the experimental findings ( $$S\approx 330$$ nm/RIU) of a similar structure without the defect layer. But the obtained maximum detection accuracy (68.6) and quality parameter (160.4/RIU) of the present structure with defect layer is much larger than the values in a similar structure without defect layer (6.9 and 15/RIU). The present structure having a liquid-filled core, is therefore, favoured and useful in promising biosensing applications.