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Mesoporous MnO2/activated carbon (AC) nanocomposites are promising materials as anode material in lithium ion batteries which are being considered by researchers due to their low conductivity and considerable irreversible capacity loss. The porous structures of these nanocomposites can facilitate Li ion diffusion into the porous structure. In this paper, MnO2/AC nanocomposites were synthesized by the coating of a MnO2 layer on AC using the reduction reaction of KMnO4 with AC and citric acid. The AC in nanocomposites prepared from walnut shell powder, hydrazine hydrate, and NaCl were used as activating agents. The MnO2/AC nanocomposites were synthesized with mass ratios of 1:4, 1:1, 4:1, and 1:0 and the effect of the annealing process at the temperature of 300°C was investigated. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of MnO2/AC nanocomposites have shown the growth of the layered birnessite-type MnO2 nanoparticles on the AC. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images of the AC shows cracked surfaces with pieces of sizes from 20 nm to 100 nm and the pore size in the wide range of 20–200 nm. Based on EDS results, decreasing the AC content in MnO2/AC nanocomposites led to the decrease of the weight ratio of carbon before annealing, but increased the weight ratio of carbon after annealing. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results showed the existence of bands attributed to the lattice vibration of Mn−O and the strengthening of the related carbon bands in composites containing AC. The direct and indirect band gaps of MnO2/AC nanocomposites were determined by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. For the MnO2/AC nanocomposites with less or equal MnO2 content, the indirect energy gap of MnO2 (≈ 2.4 eV) increases with increasing the MnO2 /AC ratio before annealing, while this gap disappeared after annealing. The direct energy gap of MnO2 in the nanocomposites was always larger than 3.09 eV, due to the nanoscale size of the MnO2 nanoparticles. Comparisons of the direct gaps of 1:4, 1:1, and 4:1 composites before and after annealing imply that the direct gap decreases from 5.88 eV, 5.51 eV, and 6.41 eV before annealing to 5.52 eV, 5.44 eV, and 5.68 eV after annealing, respectively. Electrochemical measurements including voltage capacity and dQ/dV indicate that the MnO2/AC (1:4) nanocomposite anodes demonstrate more than 89% coulombic efficiency and a specific capacity of 1495 mAh/g in 20 mA/g in the first cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental temperature changes can alter cell membrane lipid composition but the mechanisms underlying this conserved mechanism are unclear. Here, the authors identify the megaprotein LPD-3 in C. elegans as critical for normal phospholipid distribution and cold resilience.

Background: This study aimed to assess the effect of supratarsal dexamethasone injectiontopical cromolyn combination versus topical cromolyn in patients with vernal Keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) referred to Matini hospital during 2012-2013. Materials and Methods: This analytical study included 168 eyes of 84 patients with moderate to severe VKC. Patients were randomly divided into two groups. Both eyes of each patient in group1were assigned to receive cromolyn drop (every 6 hours for 3 weeks) and both eyes of each patient in group 2 were assigned to receive a 0.5 ml injection per eye of dexamethasone sodium phosphate in supratarsal area in addition to topical cromolyn. All of the patients were followed-up for 3 weeks after the treatment and evaluated for the removal of itching, epiphora and redness. Results: Although the effect of the two treatment methods on subsiding of patient`s itching was not significantly different, the elimination of inflammation, redness and tearing in patients treated with cromolyn-dexametasone was significantly better than the other group (P<0.001).This study showed that the elimination of the signs and symptoms was more significant in patients with combination therapy compared to cromolyn (P<0.001). Moreover, 68.3% of the patients with combination therapy have eliminated itching and epiphora, and inflammation and redness were resolved in 88.1% of the patients, but in the cromolyn group, itching, redness and inflammation became worse or had no change in 50% of the patients. Conclusion: Combined supratarsal injection of dexamethasone and topical cromolyn is an appropriate treatment for the moderate and severe VKC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is notorious for its multidrug resistance and its involvement in hospital-acquired infections. In this study, 20 bacterial strains isolated from soil samples near the Hindan River in Ghaziabad, India, were investigated for their biochemical and morphological characteristics, with a focus on identifying strains with exceptional drug resistance and pyocyanin production., Methods: The isolated bacterial strains were subjected to biochemical and morphological analyses to characterize their properties, with a particular emphasis on exopolysaccharide production. Strain GZB16/CEES1, exhibiting remarkable drug resistance and pyocyanin production. Biochemical and molecular analyses, including sequencing of its 16S rRNA gene (accession number LN735036.1), plasmid-curing assays, and estimation of plasmid size, were conducted to elucidate its drug resistance mechanisms and further pyocynin based target the Candida albicans Strain GZB16/CEES1 demonstrated 100% resistance to various antibiotics used in the investigation, with plasmid-curing assays, suggesting plasmid-based resistance gene transmission. The plasmid in GZB16/CEES1 was estimated to be approximately 24 kb in size. The study focused on P. aeruginosa 's pyocyanin production, revealing its association with anticandidal activity. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the bacterial extract against Candida albicans was 50 μg/ml, with a slightly lower pyocyanin-based MIC of 38.5 μg/ml. Scanning electron microscopy illustrated direct interactions between P. aeruginosa strains and Candida albicans cells, leading to the destruction of the latter., Discussion: These findings underscore the potential of P. aeruginosa in understanding microbial interactions and developing strategies to combat fungal infections. The study highlights the importance of investigating bacterial-fungal interactions and the role of pyocyanin in antimicrobial activity. Further research in this area could lead to the development of novel therapeutic approaches for combating multidrug-resistant infections., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Oves, Khan, Al-Shaeri and Khan.)

Background: Today, clinical decision support systems based on artificial intelligence can significantly help physicians in the correct diagnosis and quick rapid treatment of endophthalmitis as the most important cause of blindness in emergency diseases. This study aimed to design, develop, and evaluate an intelligent decision support system for acute postoperative endophthalmitis., Methods: This study was conducted in 2020-2021 in three phases: analysis, design and development, and evaluation. The user needs and the features of the system were identified through interviews with end users. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The list of clinical signs of acute postoperative endophthalmitis was provided to ophthalmologists for prioritization. 4 algorithms support vector machine, decision tree classifier, k-nearest neighbors, and random forest were used in the design of the computing core of the system for disease diagnosis. The acute postoperative endophthalmitis diagnosis application was developed for using by physicians and patients. Based on the data of 60 acute postoperative endophthalmitis patients, 143 acute postoperative endophthalmitis records and 12 non-acute postoperative endophthalmitis records were identified. The learning process of the algorithm was performed on 70% of the data and 30% of the data was used for evaluation., Results: The most important features of the application for physicians were selecting clinical signs and symptoms, predicting diagnosis based on artificial intelligence, physician-patient communication, selecting the appropriate treatment, and easy access to scientific resources. The results of the usability evaluation showed that the application was good with a mean (± SD) score of 7.73 ± 0.53 out of 10., Conclusion: A decision support system with accuracy, precision, sensitivity and specificity, negative predictive values, F-measure and area under precision-recall curve 100% was created thanks to widespread participation, the use of clinical specialists' experiences and their awareness of patients' needs, as well as the availability of a comprehensive acute postoperative endophthalmitis clinical dataset., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The potential for trophic transfer of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) was assessed using the green algae Tetraselmis suecica and the blue mussel Mytilus edulis in a series of laboratory experiments. Swanee River Natural Organic Matter (SRNOM)-dispersed SWCNTs were introduced into growing algal cultures. Light microscopical observations, confirmed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy, showed that SWCNT agglomerates adhered to the external algal cell walls and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM) results suggested internalization. A direct effect of SWCNT exposure on the algae was a significant decrease in growth, expressed as chlorophyll a concentration and cell viability. Mussels, fed with algae in the presence of SWCNTs, led to significantly increased pseudofaeces production, indicating selective feeding. Nevertheless, histological sections of the mussel digestive gland following exposure showed evidence of SWCNT-containing algae. Furthermore, DNA damage and oxidative stress biomarker responses in the mussel haemocytes and gill tissue were significantly altered from baseline values and were consistent with previously observed responses to SWCNT exposure. In conclusion, the observed SWCNT-algal interaction demonstrated the potential for SWCNT entrance at the base of the food chain, which may facilitate their trophic transfer with potential consequences for human exposure and health.

Introduction: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common disease among elderly men. Its pharmacological treatment is still unsatisfactory. 6-Paradol (6-PD) is an active metabolite found in many members of the Zingiberaceae family. It was reported to possess anti-proliferative, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities. The present study aimed at exploring the potential of 6-PD to inhibit testosterone-induced BPH in rats as well as the probable underlying mechanism., Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into 6 groups and treated as follows: Group 1 (control group) received vehicles only, Group 2 testosterone only, Groups 3 and 4 received 6-PD (2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg; respectively) and testosterone, and Group 6 received finasteride and testosterone., Results: Daily treatment of animals with 6-PD at the two dose levels of 2.5 and 5 mg/kg significantly ameliorated a testosterone-induced rise in prostate index and weight. This was confirmed by histological examinations of prostatic tissues that indicated a reduction in the pathological changes as well as inhibition of the rise in glandular epithelial height in 6-PD treated rats. Immunohistochemical investigations showed that 6-PD prevented the up-regulation of cyclin D1 induced by testosterone injections. Further, 6-PD significantly modulated mRNA expression of both Bcl2 and Bax in prostate tissues of testosterone-treated rats in favor of anti-proliferation. It also showed antioxidant activities as evidenced by inhibition of accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and exhaustion of catalase (CAT) activity. In addition, 6-PD displayed significant anti-inflammatory activities as it prevented up-regulation of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Immunoblotting analysis revealed that 6-PD significantly inhibited testosterone-induced activation of AKT and mTOR in prostate tissues., Conclusions: 6-PD protects against testosterone-induced BPH in rats. This can be attributed, at least partly, to its antiproliferative, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties as well as its ability to inhibit activation of the AKT/mTOR axis.

A brain tumor (BT) is a condition in which there is growth or uncontrolled development of the brain cells, which usually goes unrecognized or is diagnosed at the later stages. Since the mechanism behind BT is not clear, and the various physiological conditions are difficult to diagnose, the success rate of BT is not very high. This is the central issue faced during drug development and clinical trials with almost all types of neurodegenerative disorders. In the first part of this review, we focus on the concept of brain tumors, their barriers, and the types of delivery possible to target the brain cells. Although various treatment methods are available, they all have side effects or toxic effects. Hence, in the second part, a correlation was made between the use of resveratrol, a potent antioxidant, and its advantages for brain diseases. The relationship between brain disease and the blood-brain barrier, multi-drug resistance, and the use of nanomedicine for treating brain disorders is also mentioned. In short, a hypothetical concept is given with a background investigation into the use of combination therapy with resveratrol as an active ingredient, the possible drug delivery, and its formulation-based approach.

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are exposed to several surface eye disorders ranged from minor complications like corneal dryness to more serious ones such as corneal perforation and blindness. This study is then to assess the incidence of the ocular complications and related factors., Materials and Methods: During a prospective cross sectional study in a general adult ICU, ocular complications of the patients were assessed by an ophthalmologist. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. A P -value of ≤0.05 was considered significant., Results: Out of 155 patients, 130 cases (260 eyes) were covered during the study period, 2016-2017. The most common complications among the patients included dry eye and corneal abrasion (25.8%) followed by conjunctivitis (25%). The mean time of occurrence for dryness and corneal abrasion was 4±2.93 days after admission to the ICU. Lower Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and longer hospital stay were significantly associated with ocular complications in the ICU (P<0.05)., Conclusion: Eye surface complications are commonplace in critically ill patients admitted in the ICU. Dry eye, corneal abrasion, and conjunctivitis have been revealed as the most prevalent complications in this study. Lower GCS and longer stay in the ICU predisposed the cases to these complications. Efficient eye care protocol and training the ICU staff are both recommended to reduce complication rates as such., Competing Interests: None., (IJBT Copyright © 2021.)

Background: Conjunctivitis is a very common ocular disease, which can be caused by a wide variety of microorganisms. This study was aimed to assess the bacterial etiology and antibiotic susceptibility of conjunctivitis patients' isolates from Central Iran., Materials and Methods: This study was performed in 180 patients referred to the Department of Ophthalmology in Kashan University with symptoms of conjunctivitis from July 2017 to December 2017. To detect of different bacteria, Gram staining, morphological characterization, pigment production, biochemical characteristics, coagulase test, optochin and PYR tests, oxidase test, and culture on specific media were used. Antibiotic susceptibility of the bacteria isolated was done using the Kirby-Bauer method. Methicillin resistance in staphylococci isolated from the patients was identified using polymerase chain reaction technique., Results: Of the 195 bacteria isolated, about 81.5% were Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus and the remaining 19.5% included other species. In the present study, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most resistant to ampicillin. In the case of S. epidermidis and S. aureus , the highest resistance was observed against erythromycin and the least resistance was against rifampicin and linezolid., Conclusion: In this study, S. aureus and S. epidermidis are the most common causes of conjunctivitis in all age groups, however, this condition decreases with age and is also influenced by other factors such as season and weather conditions. The results of this study can be helpful in planning more prudent treatment strategies for patients with conjunctivitis in Kashan., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 Advanced Biomedical Research.)

On-implant spike sorting methods employ static feature extraction/selection techniques to minimize the hardware cost. Here we propose a novel framework for real-time spike sorting based on dynamic selection of features. We select salient features that maximize the geometric-mean of between-class distances as well as the associated homogeneity index effectively to best discriminate spikes for classification. Wave-shape classification is performed based on a multi-label window discrimination approach. An external module calculates the salient features and discrimination windows through optimizing a replica of the on-implant operation, and then configures the on-implant spike sorter for real-time online operation. Hardware implementation of the on-implant online spike sorter for 512 channels of concurrent extra-cellular neural signals is reported, with an average classification accuracy of ~88%. Compared with other similar methods, our method shows reduction in classification error by a factor of ~2, and also reduction in the required memory space by a factor of ~5.

Eucalyptus globulus is an aromatic medicinal plant which known for its 1,8-cineole main pharmacological constituent exhibits as natural analgesic agent. Eucalyptus globulus-loaded micellar nanoparticle was developed via spontaneous emulsification technique and further evaluation for its analgesic efficacy study, in vivo analgesic activity assay in rats. The nanoemulsion system containing Eucalyptus-micelles was optimized at different surfactant types (Tween 40, 60 and 80) and concentrations (3.0, 6.0, 9.0, 12.0, 15.0, and 18.0 wt. %). These formulations were characterized by thermodynamically stability, viscosity, micelles particle size, pH, and morphology structure. The spontaneous emulsification technique offered a greener micelles formation in nanoemulsion system by slowly titrated of organic phase, containing Eucalyptus globulus (active compound), grape seed oil (carrier oil) and hydrophilic surfactant into aqueous phase, and continuously stirred for 30 min to form a homogeneity solution. The characterizations evaluation revealed an optimized formulation with Tween 40 surfactant type at 9.0 wt. % of surfactant concentration promoted the most thermodynamic stability, smaller micelles particle size (d = 17.13 ± 0.035 nm) formed with spherical shape morphological structure, and suitable in viscosity (≈2.3 cP) and pH value (6.57) for transdermal purpose. The in vivo analgesic activity assay of optimized emulsion showed that the transdermal administration of micellar nanoparticle of Eucalyptus globulus on fore and hind limb of rats, possessed the central and peripheral analgesic effects by prolonged the rats pain responses towards the heat stimulus after being put on top of hot plate (55 °C), with longest time responses, 40.75 s at 60 min after treatment administration. Thus, this study demonstrated that micellar nanoparticle of Eucalyptus globulus formed in nanoemulsion system could be promising as an efficient transdermal nanocarrier for the analgesic therapy alternative.

Large-scale synthesis and release of nanomaterials in environment is a growing concern for human health and ecosystem. Therefore, we have investigated the cytotoxic and genotoxic potential of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), zinc oxide bulk (ZnO-Bulk), and zinc ions (Zn 2+ ) in treated roots of Allium cepa, under hydroponic conditions. ZnO-NPs were characterized by UV-visible, XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy and TEM analyses. Bulbs of A. cepa exposed to ZnO-NPs (25.5 nm) for 12 h exhibited significant decrease (23 ± 8.7%) in % mitotic index and increase in chromosomal aberrations (18 ± 7.6%), in a dose-dependent manner. Transmission electron microcopy and FT-IR data suggested surface attachment, internalization and biomolecular intervention of ZnO-NPs in root cells, respectively. The levels of TBARS and antioxidant enzymes were found to be significantly greater in treated root cells vis-à-vis untreated control. Furthermore, dose-dependent increase in ROS production and alterations in ΔΨm were observed in treated roots. FT-IR analysis of root tissues demonstrated symmetric and asymmetric P=O stretching of >PO 2 - at 1240 cm -1 and stretching of C-O ribose at 1060 cm -1 , suggestive of nuclear damage. Overall, the results elucidated A. cepa, as a good model for assessment of cytotoxicity and oxidative DNA damage with ZnO-NPs and Zn 2+ in plants.

Purpose: Ocular trauma is the third leading cause of hospitalization in ophthalmology patients, imposing direct and indirect physical and psychological costs on society. This study aims to investigate the status of ocular trauma in hospitalized patients in the industrialized city of Kashan in 2011., Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive applied study was conducted in 2012 on patients hospitalized for ocular trauma. Data, including age, gender, occupation, education, timing of admission following accident, location of accident, type of injury, damaging instrument, and type of trauma, were collected using a questionnaire designed by a trained nurse, and analyzed using SPSS-16 software by means of means ± standard deviation, frequency, and percentage for descriptive data and t-test, one-way analysis of variance, Chi-square and Fisher exact test for analysis at significance level of p < 0.05., Results: In total, 82 patients were hospitalized due to ocular traumas. The majority of patients were male (65 patients, 79.3%). Their mean age was (25.4 ± 21.4) years, with an age range of 20-40 years (30 patients, 36.6%). Hyphema was the most common injury (26 patients, 25.5%), home was the most frequent incident location (32 patients, 39%), and knife or other cutting tools were mostly responsible for injuries (18 patients, 21.9%). Patients were hospitalized for 1e6 days, and the average length of stay in hospital was 2.63 days. Frequency distribution of injuries based on whether or not ruptures differed significantly among different age groups., Conclusion: The majority of ocular trauma occurred in young males. Knife was the principle culprit for eye injuries, followed by vehicles. To reduce such incidents, it is recommended that people be trained to avoid high-risk behaviors when using knives and to better heed driving rules and regulations.