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Due to the push for carbon neutrality in various human activities, the development of methods for producing electricity without relying on chemical reaction processes or heat sources has become highly significant. Also, the challenge lies in achieving microwatt‐scale outputs due to the inherent conductivity of the materials and diverting electric currents. To address this challenge, our research has concentrated on utilizing nonconductive mediums for water‐based low‐cost microfibrous ceramic wools in conjunction with a NaCl aqueous solution for power generation. The main source of electricity originates from the directed movement of water molecules and surface ions through densely packed microfibrous ceramic wools due to the effect of dynamic electric double layer. This occurrence bears resemblance to the natural water transpiration in plants, thereby presenting a fresh and straightforward approach for producing electricity in an ecofriendly manner. The generator module demonstrated in this study, measuring 12 × 6 cm2, exhibited a noteworthy open‐circuit voltage of 0.35 V, coupled with a short‐circuit current of 0.51 mA. Such low‐cost ceramic wools are suitable for ubiquitous, permanent energy sources and hold potential for use as self‐powered sensors and systems, eliminating the requirement for external energy sources such as sunlight or heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fasting before elective anesthesia care is a standardized practice worldwide. The aim is to decrease the risk of aspiration leading to pulmonary complications such as aspiration pneumonitis during anesthesia care. There are different guidelines for elective preoperative fasting in children. However, there is insufficient literature measuring gastric emptying time after breast milk or formula milk feeding in infants. Objective: This study used gastric ultrasound to determine the gastric emptying time for breast milk and formula milk in children below 6 months of age. We also compared the calculated gastric volumes among breast‐fed and formula milk‐fed based on Schmitz's and Spencer's formula. Materials and methods: This prospective observational study was conducted at a tertiary care center in India between November (2017–2019). A total of 52 infants less than 6 months of age were recruited. The study population was divided into two groups (breast‐fed and formula milk‐fed) of 26 patients each. Ultrasound was used to measure the antral cross‐sectional area of the stomach and to calculate the gastric volume using the two classical formulas (Schmitz and Spencer's). Gastric emptying was reported when the bull's eye appearance of the gastric antrum was seen or when the antral cross‐sectional area was less than 3.07 cm2. Results: The number of breast‐fed children whose antral cross‐sectional was greater than 3.07 cm2 (cut‐off value for aspiration risk) beyond 1 h was 14/26 (53.84%) while none (0) children went beyond 3 h. The number of formula‐fed children whose antral cross‐sectional was greater than 3.07 cm2 beyond 1 h was 17/26 (65.38%) while one child (3.84%) went beyond 3 h. Using Schmitz's formula, mean (SD) gastric emptying times were 0.35 ± 0.68 h (95% CI 0.35 ± 0.185, range 0.165–0.535) for breast‐fed patients and 0.35 ± 0.69 h (95% CI 0.35 ± 0.188, range 0.162–0.538) for formula‐fed patients, and were thus neither clinically nor statistically different (p =.73) Using Spencer's formula, the mean gastric emptying times were 0.12 ± 0.33 h (95% CI 0.12 ± 0.09, range 0.03–0.21) for breast‐fed patients and 0.04 ± 0.20 h (95% CI 0.04 ± 0.05, range −0.01 to 0.09) for formula‐fed patients, and were also neither clinically nor statistically different p =.13. Conclusion: In our series, the gastric emptying times in breast‐fed and formula‐fed infants less than 6 months old were similar. Our results support the fasting guidelines of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care 2022, that is, 3 h for breastfeeding and 4 h for formula milk feeding. In addition, this shows that the Schmitz's and Spencer's formulae used to calculate the gastric volume based on ultrasound measurement of the antral cross‐sectional area are not comparable in infants less than 6 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this study was to comprehensively explore the biochemical profile of the novel halotolerant microalgae strain, biogas laboratory scenedesmus (BGLRS), previously isolated from waterlogged regions in the southwest zone of Punjab, India. To achieve this, three distinct drying methods viz. freeze‐drying, oven‐drying, and shade‐drying were employed and biochemical composition and antioxidant analyses on the microalgal biomass were conducted. Utilizing advanced analytical techniques, including high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), inductively coupled plasma‐atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP‐AES), and gas chromatography‐mass spectroscopy (GC‐MS) on freeze‐dried biomass, its carbohydrate profile, micronutrient composition, and presence of bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic and nutraceutical significance were sought to unravel. Among the drying methods evaluated, freeze‐drying exhibited the most promising experimental results, prompting its selection for further investigation. Notably, ICP‐AES unveiled elevated concentrations of essential elements such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus in BGLRS, with negligible traces of heavy metals, underscoring its safety for human consumption. GC‐MS analysis further divulged the existence of numerous biologically active compounds, indicating potential applications in medical and nutraceutical fields. Through molecular identification using sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, a close taxonomic resemblance between BGLRS and Scenedesmus sp. MKB was established, solidifying its unique position within the microalgal taxonomy. The deposition of ITS sequences into the NCBI GenBank, obtaining accession number MN796425, attests to the rigor and transparency of this research. Overall, these findings strongly suggest that microalgae BGLRS possesses high‐quality biochemical attributes of significant therapeutic and nutraceutical importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemithioindigos were designed as topoisomerase inhibitors, synthesized, and evaluated for their anticancer properties against lung (A549) and breast (MDA‐MB‐468 and MCF7) cancer cell lines. Among all the synthetics, three compounds exerted potential anticancer effects on A549 (lung) and MCF7 (breast) cancer cell lines at low micromolar concentrations. The results revealed that two of these compounds blocked the cancer cells at the G1/S phase, while the third compound showed moderate G2/M inhibition, leading to necrotic cell death. Finally, the topoisomerase inhibition assays revealed their potent Topo I/II inhibitory actions as one of the primary anticancer mechanisms. Molecular docking studies further corroborated these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laryngeal atresia is a rare congenital anomaly that is usually diagnosed by antenatal ultrasound, however, if undiagnosed presents with desaturation after birth. A term neonate presented with airway obstruction after birth with multiple failed attempts at intubation and was rescued by proseal laryngeal mask airway (LMA). An esophagoscopy using an Ambuscope utilizing a modified connector assembly revealed an opening on the anterior wall of the esophagus with no esophageal atresia, leading to a diagnosis of H‐type tracheo‐esophageal fistula (TEF) with laryngeal atresia. The ability to ventilate the neonate via LMA with an absent glottic opening raised the possibility of TEF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Metaheuristic techniques have gained the attention of many researchers in the last few years. These techniques are used to solve real‐world optimization problems as well as for feature selection. This work proposes a lévy flight and disrupt operator‐based elephant herding optimization algorithm (LDEHO). In the proposed algorithm, opposition based‐learning is utilized to commence with better initial positions. Lévy flight and matriarch mean are introduced to update the positions of clan individuals. In addition, the disruption phenomenon is introduced to generate new individuals for replacing the worst clan individuals. Further, an elitism scheme is introduced to preserve the best search agents in consecutive iterations. The performance of the proposed LDEHO algorithm is validated on 97 benchmark functions. A comparative analysis of the proposed LDEHO algorithm with fourteen state‐of‐the‐art algorithms has been made. Results show the high potential of the LDEHO algorithm in solving the benchmark functions. Further, Friedman's mean rank test and multiple comparison tests are applied to demonstrate the statistically significant difference between the algorithms. Moreover, a binary version of the proposed LDEHO algorithm is introduced for feature selection to classify the medical datasets. The performance of the binary LDEHO is validated on 15 medical datasets and compared with six state‐of‐the‐art algorithms. Results show the supremacy of the binary LDEHO for feature selection to classify the medical data. Friedman's test proves that the proposed binary LDEHO algorithm is statistically different and better than other algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Vitamin D deficiency is a global concern for vegetarians as most of the vitamin D‐enriched foods are of animal origin. Pleurotus florida is an excellent source of ergosterol, which gets converted into vitamin D2 under UV exposure. The objective of this study was to optimise UV‐B intensity (1.00–2.50 W/cm2) and exposure time (20–120 min) for maximum ergosterol conversion to vitamin D2. The optimisation studies indicated that exposure with intensity (2.00 W/cm2) for 60 min showed maximum vitamin D formation. The analysis of different nutritional parameters revealed no significant impact on total soluble proteins while a significant increase in total phenolic and total flavonoid contents was observed. On the contrary, a significant reduction was observed in riboflavin content of P. florida. Overall, P. florida exposure to UV‐B is a sustainable approach to enhance the vitamin D content for the development of fortified mushroom products or dietary supplements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the world health organization report, brain cancer has the highest death rate. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting brain tumours is adopted these days due to several advantages over other detection techniques. This paper presents a novel methodology to classify MR images based on texture and deep features, z‐score normalization, and, Comprehensive learning elephant herding optimization (CLEHO) based feature optimization and classification. Deep features of brain MR images have been extracted through DenseNet121 convolutional neural network and texture features have been extracted by using the Gabor 2D filter, Haralick texture feature, edge continuity texture feature, first order statistical texture feature, local binary pattern feature, difference theoretic texture feature, and spectral texture feature techniques. Normalization has been done using three normalization techniques that is, z score, mean median absolute deviation (MMAD), and Tanh‐based after aggregating the features extracted from the previous step. z‐score normalization has been suggested for feature normalization after comparing the results attained from the three techniques. Lastly, binary CLEHO has been proposed for selecting an optimal feature set and also optimizing the 'k' value of the k‐NN classifier. The outcome of this proposed work is compared with other state‐of‐the‐art methods for a publicly available magnetic resonance image Fighshare dataset of 3064 slices from 233 patients. The proposed work has a brain tumour average classification accuracy of 98.97%, which is better than the other state‐of‐the‐art methods. The proposed work can be used to assist the radiologist in the screening of multi‐class brain tumours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fourteen genetically diverse inbred lines comprising of four genic male sterile lines and 10 often pollinated lines as testers were crossed following 'line × tester' mating design to generate 40 F1s. These F1s, parents and check 'CH‐27' were evaluated in α‐lattice square design, replicated thrice during summer seasons of 2020 and 2021. The male sterile line DPChMS 9‐2 was good general combiner for marketable fruit yield and eight other component traits while testers namely, DPCh 10, PBC 535, VVG, Him Palam Mirch‐2 and DPCh 40 showed significant GCA for majority of yield related traits. The hybrids DPChMS 9‐2 × HPM‐2, DPChMS 9‐2 × DPCh 40, DPChMS 9‐2 × DPCh 101, DPChMS 9‐2× VVG and DPChMS 26‐1× HPM‐1 were the most desirable based on specific combining ability (SCA) and economic heterosis for fruit yield and other important traits. Heterosis was positively correlated with SCA indicating prediction of potential hybrids can be made based on both these parameters simultaneously. Present study provides an opportunity to exploit top hybrids for stability and commercial cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long coronavirus disease (COVID) is emerging as a common clinical entity in the current era. Autonomic dysfunction is one of the frequently reported post‐COVID complications. We hypothesize a bi‐directional relationship between the autonomic function and the COVID course. This postulation has been inadequately addressed in the literature. A retrospective cohort (pre and post‐comparison) study was conducted on 30 young adults whose pre‐COVID autonomic function test results were available. They were divided into case and control groups based on whether they tested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction positive for COVID‐19. Autonomic function tests were performed in both the case and control groups. COVID infection in healthy young adults shifts the sympatho–vagal balance from the pre‐disease state. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome was present in 35% of the COVID‐affected group. COVID course parameters were found to be associated with parasympathetic reactivity and the baroreflex function. Baseline autonomic function (parasympathetic reactivity represented by Δ heart rate changes during deep breathing and 30:15 ratio during lying‐to‐standing test) was also associated with the COVID course, the post‐COVID symptoms and the post‐COVID autonomic function profile. Additionally, multiple regression analysis found that the baseline parasympathetic reactivity was a very important determinant of the clinical course of COVID, the post‐COVID symptoms and the post‐COVID autonomic profile. Sympatho–vagal balance shifts to parasympathetic withdrawal with sympathetic predominance due to COVID infection in healthy young adults. There is a bi‐directional relationship between the autonomic function and the COVID course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Galectins are β‐galactoside‐binding proteins. Galectin‐4 has shown an effect on cancer progression/metastasis, especially in cancers of the digestive system. This can be attributed to altered glycosylation pattern of cell membrane molecules, which is a characteristic attribute of oncogenesis. The aim of this paper is to systematically review galectin‐4 in different cancers and its role in disease progression. Methods: The study was designed on the basis of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct were used to search relevant literature with keywords "galectin‐4 AND cancer", "galectin‐4", "LGALS4", and "LGALS4 AND cancer". Inclusion criteria for study selection were availability of full‐text articles, articles in English language and articles relevant to current topic, that is, galectin‐4 and cancer. Exclusion criteria were studies that investigated other disease conditions, interventions unrelated to cancer or galectin‐4 and bias outcome. Results: A total of 73 articles were retrieved after removing duplication from databases, out of which 40 studies were included in the review that followed the inclusion criteria, including low to moderate bias. These included 23 studies in digestive system, 5 in reproductive system, 4 in respiratory system, and 2 in brain and urothelial cancers. Conclusions: A differential expression of galectin‐4 was observed in different cancer stages/ and types. Furthermore, galectin‐4 was found to modulate disease progression. A meta‐analysis and comprehensive mechanistic studies, pertaining to different aspects of galectin‐4 biology, could give statistically driven correlations, elucidating multifaceted role of galectin‐4 in cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional metagenomics is an attractive culture‐independent approach for functional screening of diverse microbiomes to identify known and novel genes. Since functional screening can involve sifting through tens of thousands of metagenomic library clones, an easy high‐throughput screening approach is desirable. Here, we demonstrate a proof‐of‐concept application of a low‐cost, high‐throughput droplet based microfluidic assay to the selection of antibiotic resistance genes from a soil metagenomic library. Metagenomic library members encapsulated in nanoliter volume water‐in‐oil droplets were printed on glass slides robotically, and cell growth in individual drops in the presence of ampicillin was imaged and quantified to identify ampicillin‐resistant clones. From the hits, true positives were confirmed by sequencing and functional validation. The ease of liquid handling, ease of set‐up, low cost, and robust workflow makes the droplet‐based nano‐culture platform a promising candidate for screening and selection assays for functional metagenomic libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bald Eagle Search optimization (BES) is introduced recently, which mimics the bald eagles' hunting and food searching behaviour. The capability of a BES algorithm is enhanced in this paper by avoiding local optima stagnation and premature convergence problems. The BES algorithm is modified to enhance the performance of the algorithm and the modified algorithm is called the Self Adaptive Bald Eagle Search (SABES) algorithm. Dynamic‐opposite Learning (DOL) method is invoked in the initialization phase to increase the population diversity and convergence speed. To find better global solutions, the exploitation capability of the SBES algorithm is enhanced by considering the dynamic‐opposite solutions. In addition, the algorithmic parameter values of the BES algorithm have been determined using the linear and non‐linear time‐varying adaption strategy to create a balance between the search abilities which promotes the overall performance of the algorithm. The performance of the SABES algorithm is validated by comparing the results of 50 benchmark functions and CEC2017 functions with different erstwhile algorithms. The proposed algorithm achieves the best results in 80% of the benchmark functions, whereas the BES only gets the best results in 56% of functions. For the CEC2017, the SABES algorithm achieves optimal results for 20 functions which are highest in comparison to state‐of‐the‐art algorithms. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm are checked using the 15 CEC2020 competition real‐world single‐objective constrained optimization problems. The SABES achieves a 100% success rate and 100% feasibility rate in comparison to other well‐regarded algorithms. The statistical significance of the algorithm has been proved using Friedman's mean rank and Wilcoxon sign rank test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An assessment of a multiphysics multimodel ensemble (MPMME) strategy is provided to simulate the critical aspects of the Indian summer monsoon and its intraseasonal variability. Using various physics combinations of Climate Forecast System (CFS) and its atmospheric component Global Forecast System (GFS), a 15‐year hindcast for May–October is generated. Three different convective parametrizations, simplified Arakawa–Shubert (sas), revised deep‐convection sas (nsas), and revised sas with modified shallow‐convection (nsas_sc) are coupled with two microphysics schemes Zhao and Carr (zc) and Ferrier. Spatiotemporal characteristics of predicted Indian summer monsoon climatology and 20–70‐day periodic intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) are evaluated using observations. MPMME members reproduce the overall characteristics of the seasonal mean, but they have significant biases over different regions. Pattern correlations reveal that CFS_nsaszc performs best among MPMME in simulating the observed characteristics of rainfall ISOs and providing significant ISO forecast up to pentad 3 lead. A diagnostic based on the vorticity budget equation during strong convective events (SCEs) associated with ISOs is used to understand better the mechanism of northward‐propagating ISOs and the responsible factors that develop a vorticity tendency to the north of convection maxima. The tilting term in the vorticity equation shows northward propagation and leads precipitation maxima by about a week over the Bay of Bengal. Vertical shear of mean zonal winds and meridional gradients of vertical winds are found to be essential in developing vorticity tendency. SCEs are better represented in CFS than in GFS. Notably, along with CFS_nsaszc, two CFS_sas members capture the occurrence of SCEs reasonably well. However, errors in vertical shear of mean zonal winds are remarkably high after pentad 2 lead in CFS_sas and GFS, explaining their relative weakness in simulating ISOs during June–September. This study demonstrates that the MPMME strategy could utilize individual physical schemes' strengths to provide better subseasonal forecasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Band gap and photoluminescence (PL) properties were investigated for flame‐synthesized carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) of four different particle size distributions. The particles were collected by varying the flow rates of fuel and oxidizer in a controllable co‐flow diffusion flame. The results indicated the possibility of both direct and indirect band gaps in the synthesized CNPs. The band gaps were found to increase with a decrease in the particle size, thereby exhibiting the quantum confinement effect. The PL properties observed with the pure powdered sample showed strong emission in the green region. However, for samples dispersed in isopropyl alcohol, the emission wavelength shifts towards the blue region, showing strong solvent dependence. The particle size of CNPs, however, only affects the emission peak intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large area 2D nanomaterials are susceptible to the formation of surface corrugations during synthesis, transfer, and handling of samples and their physicochemical properties are extraordinarily affected by the formation of surface corrugations. Even though several strategies have been devised by researchers for smoothing the 2D flakes, the issue is far from resolved. Here, the straightening of black phosphorus (BP) flakes using electron beam irradiation that enables the removal of ripples, disclination, and line defects from lattice are reported. The crystallinity and buckling of the flake are controlled by varying the electron fluence rate and irradiation time in a high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy set‐up. Experimental results show that the optimal electron beam exposure (20 to 30 min of exposure at fluence rate = 1.02 × 1029 m−2 s−1) de‐stresses/relaxes the lattice and the maximum ordering of lattice planes is achieved; beyond which, the stress in lattice rises again and lattice planes start buckling. Thus, straightening the 2D flakes using an electron beam ensures the removal of surface corrugations with nanoscale precision and allows for real‐time monitoring of the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Oilseed cake flour (OCF) can be incorporated into baked foods to improve nutritional properties and solve problems related to the food sustainability. In this study, wheat flour muffins were prepared by incorporating flaxseed (FCF), sesame (SCF), mustard (MCF), nigella (NCF) and groundnut (GCF) cake flour at 10%, 20% and 30% levels. The batters prepared by incorporating different OCF were evaluated for viscoelasticity (G′, G″ and tan δ) and the changes in proximate composition, texture, antioxidant activity, sensory properties and shelf life of muffins were studied. The OCF incorporation had increased the batter viscoelasticity (increased G' and G"), hardness, springiness and gumminess while decreased the cohesiveness of muffins. The ash, fat, protein, phenolic content and radical scavenging activity increased, while moisture content, colour values (crust and crumb), bake loss, specific volume and height of muffins decreased with OCF incorporation. The 30%NCF‐incorporated muffins had longer shelf life and lower sensory scores for colour, taste, odour, texture and overall acceptability. The 10%FCF‐ and 10%SCF‐incorporated muffins had better texture, nutritional profile and shelf life while wheat‐alone muffins had comparable hardness, cohesiveness, specific volume and sensory properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food industries are looking for potential preservation methods for fruits and vegetables. The combination of osmosis and drying has proved the efficient method to improve the food quality. Osmotic dehydration is a mass transfer process in which water molecules from the food move to an osmo‐active solution and the solutes from the solution migrate into the food. Advanced osmotic dehydration techniques such as electric field pulse treatment, ultrasonic and microwave‐assisted dehydration, pulsed vacuum, and osmodehydrofreezing can improve the nutritional quality (bioactive) and sensory properties (color, texture, aroma, flavor) of fresh and cut‐fruits without changing their reliability. Emerging osmotic dehydration technologies can preserve the structure of fruit tissue by forming microscopic channels and increasing effective water diffusivity. However, it is important to analyze the effect of advanced osmotic dehydration techniques on the quality of food products to understand the industrial scalability of these techniques. The present paper discusses the impact of recent osmotic dehydration techniques on bioactive, antioxidant capacity, color, and sensory profile of food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning algorithms are widely applied to biomedical data to classify the samples of patients and healthy persons. The high‐dimensional biomedical datasets contain a large number of features to represent a sample. However, such datasets may have redundant, noisy and irrelevant features, influencing machine learning algorithms' classification performance and increasing computation overhead. Therefore, data normalization and feature selection techniques are introduced to reduce the impact of noisy features and accurately identify the patterns in features to improve the predictive accuracy of diagnosis. This work proposes an efficient feature selection and parameter optimization method to classify high‐dimensional biomedical datasets. In the proposed method, a binary version of the improved elephant herding optimization (IEHO) algorithm is introduced to select features and optimize the C and γ parameters of the support vector machine classifier. Further, four variants of the proposed method are presented based on data normalization techniques: Z‐score normalization (ZN), Pareto‐scaling (PS), tan h‐based normalization (TN), and variant of tan h‐based normalization (VTN). The proposed variants reduce the dominance of noisy features and explore the feature space to obtain the optimal feature set that maximizes the classification accuracy and minimizes the time complexity. The performance of the proposed variants is evaluated on 15 high‐dimensional biomedical datasets. Friedman's mean rank test is applied to check the statistical difference between proposed variants. Results show that the proposed Z‐score normalization‐IEHO (ZN‐IEHO) variant performed significantly better than the other proposed variants for classification accuracy, false‐positive rate and f‐score metrics. Moreover, the performance of the proposed ZN‐IEHO variant is compared with 18 state‐of‐the‐art feature selection methods. The experimental results expressed the effectiveness of the proposed ZN‐IEHO variant in finding the best combination of features and parameters to classify the biomedical datasets accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the last two decades, Cadogan cyclization reaction is considered as one of the best routes for the preparation of various azaheterocycles comprising carbazoles, indoles, coumarins, carbolines, pyrazoloquinoxalines, S,N‐heterotetracenes from the nitro‐based substrates by using a variety of tetravalent phosphorus‐based reagents. To date the majority of Cadogan reactions are found to be intramolecular reactions, however, interestingly, a case of intermolecular Cadogan reaction is also reported, resulting in the widening of the reaction scope for futuristic perspectives. We report the Cadogan cyclization reactions for the synthesis of azaheterocycles from 2018 to present according to multiple classes of chemical frameworks including its scope (FDA approved drugs), along with the possibilities and mechanistic developments for unexpected products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diverse library of fused tetracyclic and pentacyclic imidazo[4,5‐b]pyridine scaffolds was synthesized using an unconventional strategy, involving Groebke–Blackburn–Bienaymé (GBB) multicomponent reaction coupled with Pictet–Spengler (PS) cyclization. The reaction strategy involves the use of 2‐aminoazine, aldehyde, and 1,1,3,3‐tetramethyl butyl isocyanide in the GBB reaction followed by the dealkylation to generate a free amine, which on PS cyclization with another aldehyde generated a fused polycyclic heterocycle. A small set of 15 diverse polycyclic heterocycles were synthesized and their structures were confirmed by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass spectrometric analyses. In addition, a single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction of one of the library members established the three‐dimensional structure of the polycyclic skeleton. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a hybrid algorithm has been proposed for the identification of phishing and legitimate websites. The dataset may have an imbalanced class distribution and may consist of irrelevant features. Therefore, in the data preprocessing, the adaptive synthetic sampling approach has been used to handle the imbalanced data. Irrelevant or redundant features are removed from the balanced data using the proposed binary version of Rao algorithms. The S‐shaped and V‐shaped transfer functions are applied for mapping continuous search space to discrete search space. Also, the results of these S‐shaped and V‐shaped transfer functions are analyzed for proposed algorithms. The performance is improved by optimizing the value of the k parameter in the kNN classifier. The dataset used in this article has been taken from the UCI machine‐learning repository. The performance of the proposed approach has been evaluated using the polygon area metric. The obtained classification accuracy is 97.044%. A comparison of the proposed hybrid algorithm with the other state‐of‐the‐art techniques is also made for validation. Moreover, the proposed approach has been compared with seven metaheuristic feature selection algorithms and six filter methods for performance analysis. Additionally, we have applied the proposed approach to URLs that are registered on the PhishTank website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wnt signaling plays an essential role in the initiation and progression of various types of cancer. Besides, the Wnt pathway components have been established as reliable biomarkers and potential targets for cancer therapy. Wnt signaling is categorized into canonical and noncanonical pathways. The canonical pathway is involved in cell survival, proliferation, differentiation and migration, while the noncanonical pathway regulates cell polarity and migration. Apart from its biological role in development and homeostasis, the Wnt pathway has been implicated in several pathological disorders, including cancer. As a result, inhibiting this pathway has been a focus of cancer research with multiple targetable candidates in development. In this review, our focus will be to summarize information about ongoing and completed clinical trials targeting various Wnt pathway components, along with describing current and emerging Wnt targeted therapies. In addition, we will discuss potential opportunities and associated challenges of inhibiting Wnt signaling for cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A one‐pot methodology is developed for the direct conversion of N‐formylamine, 2‐amino pyridine, and aldehyde into 2,3‐substituted imidazo[1,2‐a]pyridine heterocycles using I2‐PPh3‐Et3N reagent system under microwave irradiation. During the reaction, I2‐PPh3‐Et3N converts N‐formylamine into isocyanide, which in the presence of in‐situ generated hydrogen iodide (HI) undergoes Groebke‐Balckburn‐Bienaymé (GBB) multicomponent reaction with aldehyde and 2‐aminopyridine. The in‐situ generated HI eliminates the need for an external catalyst for the GBB reaction. The developed process incorporates the use of readily accessible and cheap reagents and also avoid a separate step for the synthesis of isocyanides having disagreeable odor. Fourteen different GBB based heterocycles have been synthesized to demonstrate the feasibility of the optimized protocol. The preparation of N‐formylamines utilized in the synthesis is also elaborated and the overall process was optimized to be suitable for a typical undergraduate organic laboratory experiment. One of the final products was characterized using FT‐IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, DEPT, COSY, HSQC, HRMS, and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. Overall, the experiment will be useful in the organic chemistry curriculum to teach about multicomponent reactions, the importance of isocyanides in organic synthesis, formylation of amines, application of microwave irradiation in organic synthesis, and structural elucidation of small organic molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Proximate, minerals, amino acids (AAs), phenolic composition, antioxidant and functional properties of flaxseed (FSC), sesame (SSC), mustard (MSC), nigella (NSC) and groundnut (GSC) seedcakes were studied. SSC exhibited higher ash and fat contents while GSC and FSC had more protein and mineral contents (P, Mg, Mn and Cu), respectively. The total flavonoids, phenolics and antioxidant activity were higher in NSC (18.60 mg QE g−1), MSC (5.12 mg GAE g−1) and FSC (12.28 µmol TE g−1), respectively. NSC exhibited the highest oil absorption capacity (2.10 g g−1) and emulsifying activity index (89.52 m2 g−1). Twenty‐one AAs including citrulline and ɣ‐aminobutyric acid were detected in oilseed cakes (OSC). MSC had more essential AAs (methionine, isoleucine, tryptophan, threonine and lysine) while GSC had more total hydrophobic, acidic and basic AAs. Syringic acid and rutin were identified as major phenolic compounds in GSC and MSC, respectively. The total free phenolic acids were more in GSC while FSC had high total bound phenolic acids and flavonoids. OSC can be utilised in food products as a supplement to improve nutritional properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a simple and cost‐effective approach has been reported, wherein cotton fabric containing hydroxyl groups was utilized as a support material for the immobilization of Pd(0) nanoparticles. Cotton fabric was first modified with SiO2 to enhance the thermal stability followed by functionalization with ethylene diamine to chelate Pd nanoparticles. Sodium borohydride was used for the reduction of palladium ions to nano‐sized palladium. The developed cotton fabric based catalyst was successfully applied to Suzuki cross‐coupling reaction between bromoarenes and arylboronic acids in the presence of potassium carbonate as base and selective hydrogenation of C=C double bond in α,β‐unsaturated carbonyl compounds as well as reduction of nitroarenes using molecular hydrogen as a green reductant. The structural investigation of the catalyst was done using FTIR, TGA, XRD, FEG‐SEM, ICP‐AES and XPS. The catalyst could be removed easily using lab tweezers and reused up to five reaction cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, the corrosion inhibition activity of three Schiff bases benzylidene-pyridine-2-yl-amine (BPA), (4-methylbenzylidene)-pyridine- 2-ylamine (4CH3-BPA), and (4-chloro-benzylidene)-pyridine-2-yl-amine (4Cl- BPA) was investigated using density functional theory (DFT) to study the relationship between electronic parameters and the corrosion inhibition activity. The global energy parameters such as EHOMO, ELUMO, ΔEgap, and Dipole moment (μ), electron involved between inhibitor and the metal atom (ΔN), and total energy of the inhibitor (T.E.) parameters were examined. A good correlation is observed between experimental and theoretical calculations. A new Schiff base with OH functional group (OH-BPA) is designed, and all theoretical calculations were performed to study its potential to act as an anticorrosive material. The effect of the presence of OH functional group at different positions on corrosion inhibition activity is also investigated. The best corrosion inhibition activity is achieved by Schiff base with OH functional group at para position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yellow Saddle Goatfish Algorithm (YSGA) is an optimization model inspired by the hunting behavior of yellow saddle goatfish which emulates their collaborative behaviors with chaser fish and blocker fish. To improve the global convergence, chaotic maps have been combined with YSGA in this paper. Chaotic is a nonlinear deterministic system that displays complex, noisy‐like, and unpredictable behavior. Due to its non‐repetitive nature, an overall search can be carried out at a higher speed. The proposed algorithm is based on the excellence of the chaotic searching using a multi‐chaotic approach and the YSGA optimization, which has been applied to 68 benchmark functions. The results of the proposed Multi‐Chaotic Yellow Saddle Goatfish algorithm are compared with YSGA and also with nine other states of art meta‐heuristic algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithm improves the performance of the YSGA algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

5‐(2‐Nitrophenyl)‐1‐aryl‐1H‐pyrazoles are designed as topoisomerase (Topo) inhibitors, synthesised and assessed for their anticancer properties against breast (MDA‐MB‐231 and MCF7), lung (A549), and colorectal (HCT116) cancer cell lines. All the compounds induced significant cytotoxicity at low micromolar concentration. The compound 5e exerted potential anticancer effects on breast cancer cell lines at a low micromolar level (IC50<2 μM), and showed negligible toxicity towards normal cells. Compound 5 e reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) level in breast cancer cells, altered mitochondrial membrane potential and induced the cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase. This was accompanied by downregulation of oncogenic p‐Akt and upregulation of p‐PTEN along with modulation of apoptotic markers suggesting multiple mechanisms to reduce cancer cell viability. Finally, the topoisomerase inhibition assay revealed the inhibitory activity of 5 e against Topo I and Topo II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rao algorithms are recently proposed optimization algorithms used to solve optimization problems. These algorithms are based on the best and the worst solutions, which are computed during the optimization process. However, these algorithms apply to continuous problems only. In this article, the binary versions of Rao algorithms are proposed, which can be used for solving feature selection problems. These are applied to four publicly available Parkinson's disease datasets. Besides providing an optimal set of features, the k parameter of the k‐nearest neighbour classifier is also optimized by the proposed approach. The performance of these algorithms has been measured taking an average of 30 independent runs using a 10‐fold cross‐validation procedure. Also, a comparison of the performance has been made with the other state of the art methods. Significance analysis of these algorithms has been made with the Friedman rank test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of metals in aqueous solution is advantageous in the field of food, nutrition and drug chemistry. Hence, a new sensor was designed for the selective and sensitive detection of Cu2+ ions in the aqueous media. Herein, Schiff base L=(E)‐N′‐((1H‐indol‐2‐yl)methylene)isonicotinohydrazide acts as a sensor which consist of isaniazid and indole moiety connected with azomethine linkage. Single crystal X ray analysis along with other spectroscopic methods was used to confirm the structure of the synthesized ligand. Theoretical calculations were performed which gave satisfactory correlation with experimental results. A naked eye color change from colorless to yellow was observed upon addition of Cu(II) ions in synthesized Schiff base sensor. UV‐Visible absorption spectroscopy was used for the further sensing experiments and a red shift of 63 nm was observed only in the case of Copper ions in a pH range of 6–8, this confirms the selective nature of Schiff base sensor towards the Cu2+ ions. Negligible interference of other metal ions in the sensing of copper ions was confirmed by interference study.Calculated limit of detection for copper detection in aqueous media was 0.05 μM. To check the practical applications of the studied Schiff base as a chemosensor, test strips test was also performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new, simple, and reversible Schiff base, (E)‐N′‐((1H‐pyrrol‐2‐yl) methylene) isonicotinohydrazide (L), has been designed, synthesized, and characterized for its optical and elemental properties. The synthesized sensor, L is then successfully investigated for selective and sensitive detection of Cu+2 ions by the colorimetric and spectroscopic method in an aqueous organic solvent. The sensor L showed high selectivity toward Cu+2 ions over other possible interfering ions (Na+, K+, Ca+2, Mg+2,Co+2, Ni+2, Zn+2, Cd+2, Pb+2, Cr+3, Ag+, Al+3 and Mn+2) and in a wide pH range. The detection limit reaches up to 17.6 μM, which is lower than the WHO recommended guidelines for drinking water, while the limit of quantification was found to be 58 μM. The binding mode of complexation between Cu+2 and L was found to be 1 : 1 using Job's plot. For practical usage, the designed sensor (L) is transferred onto paper strips and demonstrated for real sample analysis through naked eye color change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flawless subseasonal prediction of tropical cyclogenesis and evolution over the narrow basin of North Indian Ocean (NIO) demands accurate rendition of the crucial parameters that influence the development of cyclonic storms. While many genesis potential indices are used for climatological monitoring and prediction of cyclogenesis globally, their skill in subseasonal prediction of individual storm development, especially near coastlines are limited. Thus, an improved genesis potential parameter (IGPP) is introduced in this study which can capture both cyclogenesis and daily evolution of cyclonic systems over NIO. The IGPP is a revised version of Kotal‐Genesis Potential Parameter (KGPP) implemented by India Meteorological Department (IMD) for short‐range operational cyclogenesis prediction over NIO. Daily averaged ERA‐5 and ERA‐Interim data sets are used for analysis and comparison of selected cyclonic storms over NIO for the period 1989–2018. Results reveal that false alarms and overestimation of values present in KGPP are remarkably reduced by using IGPP for all the analyzed storms. Moreover, IGPP outperforms KGPP in distinguishing between developing and nondeveloping storms by accurately representing the storm genesis, evolution, rapid intensification and intensity variations. Thus IGPP can be implemented operationally for improving the real‐time prediction of cyclogenesis and storm evolution over NIO. Plain Language Summary: Accurate representation of weather parameters that are crucial for the formation and development of tropical cyclones over a small basin like North Indian Ocean (NIO) is critical for biweekly storm predictions. Most studies utilize different cyclogenesis parameters in genesis potential indices to capture annual/interannual frequency of cyclone formations around the globe. While these parameters are successful in studying the average storm genesis and frequencies at longer time scales, forecasts in real‐time over a land‐locked and narrow basin such as NIO often fail to capture rapid storm development. This study introduces an improved parameter for capturing the genesis and daily evolution of individual storms thus modifying the presently used parameter by India Meteorological Department thus making it more suitable for NIO. Comparison of old and improved parameters using daily averaged reanalysis data sets reveal that new parameter is better than the older one with accurate representation of storm evolution and noticeable reduction in false storm signals present in the old parameter for all the storm cases analyzed here. Key Points: An improved genesis potential parameter (IGPP) for capturing genesis and daily evolution of cyclones over North Indian Ocean is introducedIGPP outperforms the genesis potential parameter (KGPP) implemented by India Meteorological Department (IMD) for real‐time predictionResults reveal that IGPP successfully capture both cyclogenesis and storm evolution by notably reducing false alarms present in KGPP [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts dynamical downscaling to improve north Indian ocean (NIO) tropical cyclone prediction from a global multimodel ensemble prediction system using weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. A total of 16 ensembles are used in the WRF simulations, these ensembles are bias‐corrected prior to downscaling for model climatological errors. The ensemble mean constructed from the output of all downscaled ensembles is analyzed for added value to global predictions. This mean is also compared against observation as well as high‐resolution (12 km) deterministic forecast from global forecast system (GFS). Two devastating NIO tropical cyclone cases of year 2017 which were not reliably predicted by global systems have been selected for this study. The results show that downscaled predictions well simulate the intensity and spatial distribution of the rainfall and relative vorticity associated with these cyclonic storms. The wind and temperature vertical profiles during cyclone mature stage are also captured more accurately than raw prediction and high‐resolution global deterministic forecast. The study affirms the adequacy of dynamical downscaling in predicting the cyclonic storms over global real‐time weather forecasting system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the performance of communication system inside the densely packed small cells or femtocells with maximum ratio combining (MRC) diversity is studied. The line of sight (LOS) and the diffused power components inside the femtocells are modeled in the form of Beaulieu‐Xie fading channel and the performance metrics have been derived. The closed‐form expressions for outage probability (Pout), amount of fading (AF), and average symbol error probability (ASEP) for coherent and non‐coherent modulation schemes are derived for the said channel. Furthermore, the channel capacity analysis over different transmission policies is performed, and the corresponding results are plotted. The effect of diversity and the other fading parameters on the performance measures are demonstrated. Analytical results are supplemented with Monte‐Carlo simulations for validating the accuracy of the proposed formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Constipation associated with opioid therapy for chronic pain may negatively impact colonoscopy success. This retrospective, observational study using administrative data and electronic medical records evaluated the impact of opioid use on colonoscopy outcomes. Methods and Results: Procedural codes were used to identify patients who had a screening colonoscopy at two Henry Ford Health System centers (January 2015–December 2016). All patients had completed a standard uniform bowel preparation protocol. Medication orders and filled prescriptions were used to identify patients with a history of opioid use during the 28 days preprocedure (exposed) and a matched random sample of presumptive opioid nonusers (unexposed). Electronic medical records were reviewed for colonoscopy procedure data and outcomes. The exposed and unexposed groups included 964 and 1054 patients, respectively. Inadequate bowel preparation was significantly more common in the exposed versus unexposed group (18.5% vs 12.7%; P < 0.001). In the exposed and unexposed groups, 97.1 and 98.0% of colonoscopy procedures were completed, respectively (P = nonsignificant). Total procedure time was slightly increased for the exposed versus unexposed group (23.8 vs 22.5 min; P = 0.039). Polyp identification and cancer diagnosis were similar between groups. Prolonged sedation occurred in three patients in the exposed group and none in the unexposed group. Procedural complications were rare, but the incidence was significantly greater in the exposed versus unexposed group (1.3% vs 0.2%; P < 0.01). Conclusions: Opioid exposure was associated with significant reductions in the quality of preprocedure bowel preparation and an increased risk of complications in patients undergoing colonoscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a compact ultrathin metamaterial absorber with three resonances in S‐band, X‐band, and Ku‐band. The geometry of the proposed absorber consists of a square ring, a splitted square ring, and a plus shaped resonating structure. The plus shaped structure is enclosed within a split ring resonator and it is further enclosed by an outer square ring. The proposed absorber is fabricated on a low cost FR4 substrate of thickness 1 mm that is, 0.011 λlowest (where, λ is the lowest resonating frequency). The size of unit cell is 10 × 10 mm2. It exhibits 99.6%, 99.1%, and 99.1% absorption at 3.4, 9.6, and 13 GHz, respectively. Moreover, the physical insight of the design is explained by surface current distribution and equivalent circuit analysis. Stability of the proposed design is validated with different incident (for transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) modes) angles and different polarization angles. Finally, a prototype of the absorber is fabricated and validated experimentally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotics such as norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin are used to treat numerous bacterial infections. The present research work involves the molecular prediction, synthesis, characterization and in vitro antimicrobial activities of molecular hybrids of norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin. First set of compounds involve the substitutions of various amines at third position of ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin. On the other hand, second set of molecular hybrids include the substitution of different amines at seventh position along with linker (─COCH2─). These synthesized compounds were identified by TLC technique and well characterized by various spectroscopic techniques such as IR, NMR, and ESI‐MS. Molecular prediction of these newly synthesized compounds have been carried out using the SwissADME, ADMETLab software. Their cytotoxicity parameters have also been studied using Osiris software. It was observed that almost all these molecular hybrids suitable for their drug likeness properties. Further, these newly synthesized compounds were subjected to study their antimicrobial activities in vitro. The third substituted as well as most of seventh substituted molecular hybrids have shown 10‐folds increase in their antibacterial activity as compared to the standard drug ciprofloxacin. Some of these compounds have also shown their potency when subjected to study their cytotoxicity test against Escherichia coli AB 1157, proficient to prepare damage in DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An environmentally benign approach in aqueous medium by means of Lewis acid catalyst affords a wide spectrum of pyrazoline derivatives in satisfactory yields. [3+2] cycloaddition reactions of substituted azomethine‐N‐imines to maleimide in aqueous medium at relatively high concentrations of Lewis acid catalyst have emerged as an environment friendly alternative to conventional solvents. Promising catalytic activity has been revealed by Lewis acid like Cu (NO3)2 in aqueous medium. The obvious features of this synthetic protocol were short reaction time, high efficiency, less hazardous synthesis by benign solvent, catalysis, modest workup, and a clean reaction methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymmetric unit of O,O′‐dimethyl [(2,3,4,5,6‐pentafluorophenyl)hydrazinyl]phosphonate, C8H8F5N2O3P, is composed of two symmetry‐independent molecules with significant differences in the orientations of the C6F5 and OMe groups. In the crystal structure, a one‐dimensional assembly is mediated from classical N—H...O hydrogen bonds, which includes R22(8), D(2) and some higher‐order graph‐set motifs. By also considering weak C—H...O=P and C—H...O—C intermolecular interactions, a two‐dimensional network extends along the ab plane. The strengths of the hydrogen bonds were evaluated using quantum chemical calculations with the GAUSSIAN09 software package at the B3LYP/6‐311G(d,p) level of theory. The LP(O) to σ*(NH) and σ*(CH) charge‐transfer interactions were examined according to second‐order perturbation theory in natural bond orbital (NBO) methodology. The hydrogen‐bonded clusters of molecules, including N—H...O and C—H...O interactions, were constructed as input files for the calculations and the strengths of the hydrogen bonds are as follows: N—H...O [R22(8)] > N—H...O [D(2)] > C—H...O. The decomposed fingerprint plots show that the contribution portions of the F...H/H...F contacts in both molecules are the largest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis caused by overdose of steroids is one of the major concerns for the orthopedic surgeons. Current therapeutic strategies offer limited success due to their inability to regenerate damaged bone at osteoporosis site. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a material having bone regeneration ability and also, ability to cure osteoporosis simultaneously. In this work, nanosized and microsized hydroxyl apatite (HAp) particles doped with europium (Eu) were prepared for diagnostic and therapeutic applications in biomedical engineering. Particles were characterized by X‐ray diffraction to confirm the formation of HAp phase and transmission electron microscopy technique has been used to explore the size of microparticle and nanoparticle. In vitro release of antibiotic drug and degradation behavior in two different pHs of phosphate buffered saline was checked. Controlled drug release behavior and conversion of degraded ions into HAp is estimated by Higuchi's and 3D diffusion model, respectively. Osteoporosis was induced in 36 female Wistar rats by administering dexamethasone once a week for four consecutive weeks. Rats were treated with different doses of nano‐HAp (25, 50, and 100 μg/kg intravenous single dose) and single dose of microsized HAp (100 μg/kg). After treatment, authors have evaluated sensitive biochemical markers of bone in serum. Continuous improvement in ultimate stiffness and Young's modulus of femur shaft of rats was observed with the increase in the dose of nano‐HAp from 25 to 100 μg/kg. Results strongly suggest that europium‐doped nano‐HAp is more effective for treating severe osteoporosis in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objectives: A cluster‐randomized trial of home‐based care using primary‐care resources for people with epilepsy has been set up to optimize epilepsy care in resource‐limited communities in low‐ and middle‐income countries. The primary aim is to determine whether treatment adherence to antiepileptic drugs is better with home‐based care or with routine clinic‐based care. The secondary aims are to compare the effects of the two care pathways on seizure control and quality of life. Methods: The home‐based intervention comprises epilepsy medication provision, adherence reinforcement, and epilepsy self‐management and stigma management guidance provided by an auxiliary nurse‐midwife equivalent. The experimental group will be compared to a routine clinic‐based care group using a cluster‐randomized design in which the unit of analysis is a cluster of 10 people with epilepsy residing in an area cared for by a single accredited government grass‐roots health care worker. The primary outcome is treatment adherence as measured by monthly tablet counts supplemented by two self‐completed questionnaires. The secondary outcomes include monthly seizure frequency, time to first seizure (in days) after enrollment, proportion of patients experiencing seizure freedom for the duration of the study, and quality of life measured by the "Personal Impact of Epilepsy Scale," all assessed by an independent study nurse. Results: The screening phase and neurologic evaluations and randomizations have been recently completed and follow‐up is underway. Significance: The results of the trial are likely to have substantial bearing on the development of governmental policies and strategies to provide coverage and care for patients with epilepsy in resource‐limited countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keratinases hydrolyze structural protein called keratin into constituent peptides. The present study reports excellent washing efficiency and dehairing properties of thermostable and halotolerant keratinase from Bacillus aerius NSMk2. Alkaline keratinase with molecular mass of 9 kDa displayed remarkable thermostability. K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mn2+, β‐mercaptoethanol, sodium sulfite, dithiothreitol, ethanol, isopropanol, Tween‐20, and Tween‐80 stimulated keratinase activity, while Hg2+ and Ba2+ were found to be inhibitory. The enzyme efficiently hydrolyzed a variety of complex protein substrates and exhibited high catalytic efficiency toward keratin‐rich substrates and least toward collagen. Keratinase showed exceptional stability to salinity and was found to be compatible with most of the commercial detergents. Efficient removal of chocolate, blood, and egg albumin stains from clothes and tolerance to elevated temperature and salinity potentiated the suitability of keratinase from B. aerius NSMk2 as laundary additive. Keratinase could efficiently dehair goat skin after 15 hr of incubation without damaging the grain structure and collagen layers that assures its use as a promising contender for leather industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]