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The present research aims to design the new dyes with a D-p-A structure to apply Dye-sensitized solar cells. The D-p-A dyes constitute S1 to S9, using 9-vinyl-9H-carbazole (D) as a donor (D); different thiophene derivatives are p-spacers and cynoacrylic acid is an acceptor. For the electronic and optical properties calculation of the studied dyes, use DFT/B3LYP/6-311G++ levelof theory by using Gaussian 09W software. Using optimized geometrical structures to calculate the UV absorption spectra, utilize the TD-DFT method in the gas and acetonitrile solvent. The HOMO and LUMO energy gap (Eg) values of S5 and S9 dyes show a narrow band gap with 1.8 eV and 1.7 eV, respectively. So all studied dyes have LUMO values higher than the TiO2 conduction band and HOMO values lower than the electrolyte redox potential. The UV absorption spectral data shows S5 and S9 have maximum absorption at 759 nm and 803 nm, respectively. So all the studied dyes are suitable for DSSC application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diabetes, is known to have a bilateral relationship with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Precise mechanism of diabetes onset in COVID-19 patients remains unclear. Aim: To analyse the incidence of new onset diabetes (NODM) among COVID-19 patients, as well as the effect of body mass index (BMI), family history, and steroid use on the incidence of the disease. Methods: Adult, not known diabetic patients, tested positive with Rapid Antigen Test or RT-PCR admitted to a tertiary care hospital and research institute were included in the present prospective observational study. The patients who developed NODM and NOPD (New Onset Pre-diabetes) during the three months follow-up and the risk factors associated were assessed. Patients with HbA1c >6.4% were diagnosed with NODM. An HbA1c of 5.7% to 6.4% was used to characterize NOPD. Results: Out of 273 previously not known diabetic COVID-19 infected individuals, a total of 100 were studied for three months after consent. Mean age of the patients 48.31 ± 19.07 years with male predominance (67%). Among these, 58% were non-diabetics and 42% were pre-diabetics. 6 (10.3%) of the 58 non-diabetics developed NOPD, and 8 (13.8%) developed NODM. 6 (14.2%) of the 42 pre-diabetics became non-diabetic, and 16.6% (7) developed NODM. Family history of DM (P < 0.001), severity at admission (P < 0.006), diabetic ketoacidosis (P < 0.0275), and persistent symptoms were associated significantly with NODM. Those with NODM had significantly greater BMI, O2 duration, steroid duration, FBS, and PPBS (P < 0.001 for all). Nearly 67% of the patients who developed NOPD had shortness of breath as the common symptom at time of admission (P = 0.0165). Conclusion: The incidence of NODM was strongly influenced by positive family history of DM, higher BMI, steroid dosage, and its duration. Hence, patients with COVID-19 need to be under surveillance for blood glucose screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glasses of the composition 25 CaO – 10 (M 2 O 3) – 14 P 2 O 5 – 50 B 2 O 3 : 1 Er 2 O 3 (where M = Bi/Sb/Y) are prepared. The prepared samples are characterized by XRD, thermoluminescence (TL), UV and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. TL reports suggest that the sample of 10 mol% Y 2 O 3 concentration ( E Y ) exhibiting good shape symmetry factor ( u = 0.484 ) and low AEs ( E τ = 1.189 , E δ = 1.218 and E ω = 1.210 ) under γ -irradiation might be a good TL asset. The optical absorptions of present glasses are studied well through the Judd–Ofelt theory. The evaluations such as Judd–Ofelt parameters are additionally projected. They are found to be the best ( Ω 2 = 1.62 × 10 - 21 cm 2 , Ω 4 = 1.56 × 10 - 21 cm 2 and Ω 6 = 0.59 × 10 - 21 cm 2 ) for the sample of 10 mol% Y 2 O 3 concentration ( E Y ), which may be a good optical asset to develop a novel class of laser resources. The radiative evolutions corresponding to the emissive transition 4 S 3 / 2 → 4 I 15 / 2 are assessed by PL technique. The evaluations are found to be the best ( A t = 7089 s - 1 , τ rad = 140 μ s and β = 96.1 % ) for the sample of 10 mol% Y 2 O 3 concentration ( E Y ), which may be a useful luminescent resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is essential to identify the fault location in multi terminal transmission systems with respect to end terminals of the transmission lines, to provide basic information to design protective components in power system network. In this paper post fault currents are carried out at different terminals of IEEE-9 Bus system using MATLAB simulation tool. These currents have been processed through Morphological Wavelet (MW) filters to discriminate the different faults at various inception angles and fault resistances. Opening, closing, Morphological Closing and Opening Average RMS Value (COAVR) are selected as filters for morphological operations. The COAVR outputs are applied as inputs for Deep Neural Network (DNN) to identify the faulty line, type of fault and exact fault location with respect to one end of the transmission line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, virion core protein P4a gene was PCR amplified from sheep pox virus (SPPV) Jaipur isolate and Roumanian Fanar (RF) vaccine strain adapted and propagated in lamb testis/vero cells. Gene specific primers were designed for amplification of P4a gene. Amplified P4a gene fragment was sequence characterized and 808 bp sequence was compared across SPPV, GTPV and LSDV isolates available in GenBank database which revealed extensive sequence conservation of 97% to 100% within pox virus groups. Sheep pox virus Jaipur isolate was found closely placed with Roumaninan Fanar (RF) and TU isolates. Further, phylogenetic analysis of P4a gene sequence indicated three distinct clusters of Capripox viruses with GTPV interestingly placed closely to LSDV group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of anti-leptospiral antibodies in swine reared in an organized farm located in the outskirts of Chennai city. Out of 63 samples collected, 57 ( 90.47 per cent) samples were found positive by Microscopic agglutination test with the prevalence of Australis (74.60 per cent), followed by Hardjo (30.16 per cent), Pomona (25.40 per cent), Autumnalis (23.81 per cent), Pyrogenes (17.46 per cent), Hebdomadis (6.35 per cent), Icterohaemorrhagiae (4.76 per cent), Canicola (3.17 per cent), Grippotyphosa (3.17 per cent), Javanica (3.17 per cent) and Tarassovi (3.17 per cent). The presence of antibodies indicated the circulation of leptospires among pigs. Hence this study alerts for the implementation of adequate sanitary measures on the farm to prevent the transmission of the infection to human in contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of a study on the use of specific primers to analyze the cloning, expression, and phylogenetics of interferon-γ genes (IFN) in chickens. The authors utilized real time polymerase chain reaction to confirm orientation using T7 promoter primer and gene specific forward primers and restriction digestion analysis to confirm cloning using KpnI and ApaI restriction enzymes. The study revealed the ability of IFN gene to express IFN-γ in vitro cell culture.

Aim: This study was undertaken to assess the differential expression levels of toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2, 3 and 7 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from Tharparkar and Crossbred cattle belonging to different regions of India. Materials and Methods: PBMCs were isolated from blood samples of Tharparkar cattle from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) farm (n=30); Suratgarh farm (n=61); Jaipur farm (n=8) and cross breed cattle from Jaipur (n=47). RNAwas isolated from PBMCs and cDNA was synthesized using random hexamers. The expression profiles of TLR 2, 3 and 7 were estimated by real-time PCR and normalized to the expression of β-actin. Results: PBMCs of Tharparkar cattle from Suratgarh, exhibited a significantly higher (p<0.05) constitutive expression levels of TLR2, TLR3 and TLR7 genes as compared to Tharparkar cattle from IVRI or Jaipur as well as the crossbred cattle from Jaipur. PBMCs of crossbred cattle from Jaipur showed higher expression profiles of all the TLRs than Tharparkar cattle from Jaipur and IVRI. Conclusion: Our study indicates, expression levels of TLR2, TLR3 and TLR7 are significantly higher for Tharparkar cattle from Suratgarh than the cattle from Jaipur and IVRI and crossbred cattle from Jaipur. However, crossbred cattle from Jaipur showed higher basal expression levels of all the three TLRs than Tharparkar cattle from Jaipur and IVRI. Results also indicate that PBMCs of Tharparkar cattle show a regional variation in the expression pattern of TLRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We have studied the effect of chemical pressure on the magnetic properties of a series of Pr0.7Ca0.3−x Sr x MnO3 (x =0.0–0.3) (PCSMO) compounds. The parent compound Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (PCMO) is a well known charge-ordered compound. The selective substitution of Sr for Ca in PCMO leads to increase in electron count as a 4s metal (Ca) is being replaced by a 5s (Sr) alkali metal, resulting in melting of CO-state (in PCSMO) and increase in magnetic transition temperature (T o) from 85K (for x =0.0) to 260K (for x =0.3). The lattice distortion factors, such as A-site variance (σ 2) and tolerance factor (T f) vary linearly with T o. The magnetocaloric effect (MCE shown as, ΔS) calculated from isothermal magnetization measurement exhibits maximum (at T = T o) for x =0.2 for a field change from 0 to 50kOe. The variation of ΔS(x) mimic the variation of ΔS(σ 2), indicating the strong influence of Mn–O–Mn bond angle on the MCE. We discuss these results in terms of modification of magnetic properties in PCSMO through chemical pressure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Newcastle Disease (ND) is one of the major causes of economic loss in the poultry industry. Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV) is a single-stranded, negative-sense enveloped RNA virus (Fam. Paramyxoviridae; Order Mononegavirales). In the present study three monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were produced by polyethyleneglycol (PEG)-mediated fusion of lymphocytes sensitized to NDV Bareilly strain and myeloma cells. NDV possesses ability to agglutinate erythrocytes of avian species. All the three MAbs designated as 2H7, 3E9 and 3G6 caused hemagglutination inhibition of NDV by specifically binding to NDV. The reactivity for all the 3 MAbs on indirect ELISA was found to be significantly higher than the antibody and antigen controls. On flowcytometry of HeLa cells infected with NDV using the MAbs as primary antibodies, there was a significant difference in the percentage of cells showing positive fluorescence compared to the mock control. One of the MAbs (3E9) was found to react with hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) protein on western blot.

Viral gene oncotherapy, targeted killing of cancer cells by viral genes, is an emerging non-infectious therapeutic cancer treatment modality. Chemo and radiotherapy in cancer treatment is limited due to their genotoxic side effects on healthy cells and need of functional p53, which is mutated in most of the cancers. VP3 (apoptin) of chicken infectious anaemia (CIA) and NS1 (Non structural protein 1) of Canine Parvovirus-2 (CPV-2) have been proven to have oncolytic potential in our laboratory. To evaluate oncolytic potential of VP3 and NS1 together these genes needed to be cloned in a bicistronic vector. In this study, both these genes were cloned and characterized for expression of their gene products and its apoptotic potential. The expression of VP3 and NS1 was studied by confocal microscopy and flowcytometry. Expression of VP3 and NS1 in pVIVO.VP3.NS1 transfected HeLa cells in comparison to mock transfected cells indicated that the double gene construct expresses both the products. This was further confirmed by flowcytometry where there was increase in cells expressing VP3 and NS1 in pVIVO.VP3.NS1 transfected group in comparison with the mock control group. The apoptotic inducing potential of this characterized pVIVO.VP3.NS1 was evaluated in human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa) by DNA fragmentation assay, TUNEL assay and Hoechst staning. This double construct was observed to induce apoptosis in HeLa cells.

Development and study of dog mammary tumour xenograft in immunosuppressed Swiss Albino Mice adds a new dimension in cancer research as dog tumors have many similarities with human tumors regarding progression, histopathology, molecular mechanism, immune response and therapy. Failure of the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancer cells leads to cancer progression and the fight between immune cells and cancer cells has a great role in understanding the mechanism of cancer progression and elimination. Rejection and acceptance of tumour xenograft depends on efficiency of CD4+, CD8+ and NK cell populations. In the present investigation, dog mammary tumor xenograft in cyclosporine-A and gamma-irradiated, immunosuppressed Swiss Albino mice was developed and the immune cell status of graft accepted and rejected mice was assessed. It was observed that all the major immune cells (CD4+, CD8+ and NK cells) play an equal role in tumour rejection.

Viral gene oncotherapy is emerging as a biotherapeutic cancer treatment modality based on targeted killing of cancer cells by viral genes. Newcastle disease virus (NDV) has the property to cause selective oncolysis of tumor cells sparing normal cells. NDV has a single stranded negative sense RNA genome, which is 15,186 nucleotide long and consists of six genes, which codes for eight proteins. NDV like other paramyxoviruses has the ability to generate multiple proteins from the P gene. P protein is encoded by an unedited transcript of the P gene, whereas the V and W protein are the results of RNA editing event in which one and two G residues are inserted at a conserved editing site within the P gene mRNA resulting in V and W transcripts, respectively. Although NDV is known to cause oncolysis by triggering apoptosis, the role of different viral proteins in selective oncolysis is still unclear. P gene edited products are known for its anti-apoptotic property in homologous host. In the present study, NDV P gene and its RNA edited products were amplified, cloned, sequenced and in vitro expression was done in HeLa cells. Further constructs were assayed for their apoptosis inducing ability in HeLa cells. Preliminary study suggested that P, V and W proteins are not apoptotic to HeLa cells.

The canine Parvovirus 2, non-structural 1 (NS1) is a novel candidate tumor suppressor gene. To confirm the expression of the NS1 in HeLa cells after transfection there was a need to raise antiserum against CPV2- NS1. Therefore, this study was carried out to express and purify the recombinant NS1 (rNS1), and characterize the polyclonal serum. CPV2-NS1, complete coding sequence (CDS) was amplified, cloned in pET32a+ and expressed in BL21 (DE3) (pLysS). SDS-PAGE analysis revealed that the expression of the recombinant protein was maximum when induced with 1.5 mM IPTG. The 6 x His tagged fusion protein was purified on Ni-NTA resin under denaturing conditions and confirmed by western blot using CPV2 specific antiserum. The rabbits were immunized with the purified rNS1 to raise anti-NS1 polyclonal antiserum. The polyclonal serum was tested for specificity and used for confirming the expression of NS1 in HeLa transfected with pcDNA.cpv2.ns1 by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT), flow cytometry and western blot. The polyclonal antiserum against NS1 could be very useful to establish functional in vitro assays to explore role of NS1 in cancer therapeutics.

Parvoviruses are small, 260-A-diameter, icosahedral, non-enveloped, single-stranded DNA viruses with a genome of approximately 5 kb. Non structural protein, (NS-1) is especially relevant, being both essential for virus replication and the main factor responsible for virus pathogenicity and cytotoxicity. This protein has also been reported to possess the property of killing of transformed cells. The present study was carried out to clone, characterize and express the NS-1 gene of canine parvovirus. NS-1 complete CDS 2020bp was amplified, cloned into eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA 3.1(+), sequenced and characterized by in vitro expression analysis. Functional activity of recombinant construct, pcDNA.cpv.NS-1, was evaluated by RT-PCR and flow cytometry for the expression of NS-1 specific mRNA and NS-1 protein, respectively, in transfected HeLa cells. This recombinant plasmid may serve as an important tool to evaluate the apoptotic potential of NS-1 protein of canine parvovirus in cultured HeLa cells.