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A wide-range, specific, and precise liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) technique for quantifying fluoxetine (FLX) in human plasma was developed using the RapidTrace® automated solid-phase extraction (SPE) method; the analyte and internal standard (IS) were extricated on Oasis MCX SPE cartridges. Acetonitrile and 5 mM ammonium formate buffer (90:10 v/v) were used as mobile phase to achieve chromatographic separation on the reverse phase (C18 column). The analyte and IS were ionized using +ve electrospray ionization approach which was further traced by multiple-reaction monitoring on a tandem mass spectrometer. To quantify the FLX and FLX-d5, the parent-to-daughter ion transition of m/z of 310.0/44.1 and 315.0/44.0 was used, respectively. The method demonstrated a linear active limit of 0.20–30 ng/ml with recoveries ranging from 63.04% to 79.39% for quality control samples and 61.25% for IS samples. The concentrations over the calibration range demonstrated acceptable precision and accuracy. Due to the high inconsistency of the FLX concentration data, the minimum threshold of the assay was kept at 0.20 ng/ml. The flow rate was maintained at 500 μL/min, and the time for sample analysis for each injection was 3.5 min. The method was found to be specific, sensitive, and faster with minimum utilization of organic solvents and was utilized further for metabolic and pharmacokinetic studies.

Study Design Retrospective observational study. Purpose To share our experience of multimodal intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) used in Sakra World Hospital, Bengaluru in various spine surgeries. Overview of Literature The development of new onset postoperative neurological deficits can be completely avoided. In order to avoid these, IONM has become a standard of care in recent times for early detection and manipulation of the surgical procedure to prevent postoperative neurological deficits. Methods This retrospective study was performed on 408 patients who had undergone spine surgeries with IONM during April 2014 to March 2020 at a single center. The operative report, anesthesia record, and IONM were reviewed. All the patients were reassessed for postoperative neurological deficits in the postoperative period and followed up based on the intraoperative findings and neurological deficits for 4 weeks. Signal changes in IONM were reviewed, and the obtained results were further categorized into true positive, true negative, false positive, or false negative. If changes were observed during the IONM, the patients were managed as per the algorithm. Results Of the 408 patients being monitored continuously during the intraoperative period, 38 showed changes in recordings, 28 developed postoperative neurological deficits, and one developed neurological deficit without any change in the IONM. Nine patients had transient neurological deficits, and the other 20 had permanent neurological deficits. Overall, the multimodal IONM used in our study had a sensitivity of 96.6%, specificity of 97.4%, a positive predictive value of 73.7%, and a negative predictive value of 99.7%. Conclusions Use of decision algorithm and multimodal neuromonitoring consisting of motor evoked potentials, somatosensory evoked potentials, and electromyography complement each other in the detection of neurological injury during the course the surgery, improve intraoperative care, and prevent further damage and morbidity in patients.

Background and objectives: Transthoracic esophagectomy is usually associated with significant perioperative bleeding and blood loss. The present study investigated the role of prophylactic tranexamic acid on intra- and postoperative blood loss and the need for blood transfusion in transthoracic esophagectomy (Ivor Lewis esophagectomy). Materials and Methods: Patients who underwent laparotomy and right thoracotomy with intrathoracic anastomosis for esophageal malignancy were enrolled in the study. The enrolled cases were divided into two groups namely Group A and B. Informed consents were obtained from all the enrolled patients. Group A patients received a standard dose of 1 gram of intravenous tranexamic acid one hour before the beginning of surgery while Group B patients did not receive any tranexamic acid before or after the surgery. Peroperative blood loss was estimated and noted. Post-operative blood loss was assessed from the surgical drains. Results: A total of 55 cases were included in the study. Group A and B had 27 and 28 cases respectively. The mean age of the Group A and Group B patients was 60.1 ± 6.2 and 60 ± 6.9 years respectively. Out of 27 cases in Group A, 7 (25%) patients had a postoperative haemorrhage (blood loss) up to 300 ml and among the remaining 20, only 2 (7%) patients required blood transfusion as hematocrit fell below 20%. Compared to Group A, patients in Group B who did not receive preoperative tranexamic acid, 21(75%) patients had postoperative haemorrhage up to 300 ml (Group A vs. Group B: p=0.0002). Regarding intraoperative blood loss no significant (p >0.05) difference was observed among the cases in two groups. Conclusion: The study revealed that administration of prophylactic tranexamic acid resulted into fewer postoperative blood loss in transthoracic esophagectomy. IMC J Med Sci 2022; 16(1): 003. DOI: https://doi.org/10.55010/imcjms.16.003 *Correspondence: Farooq Ahmad Ganie, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar -190011, J & K, India. E-mail: farooq.ganie@yamil.com

Although, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZRTs) as an anti-cancer agent have been the subject of numerous studies, none of the reports has investigated the impact of the reaction entry time of ion-carriers on the preparation of ZRTs. Therefore, we synthesized variants of ZRTs by extending the entry time of NaOH (that acts as a carrier of hydroxyl ions) in the reaction mixture. The anti-proliferative action, morphological changes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and nuclear apoptosis of ZRTs on human A431 skin carcinoma cells were observed. The samples revealed crystallinity and purity by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of ZRT-1 (5 min ion carrier entry) and ZRT-2 (10 min ion carrier entry) revealed microtubule like morphology. On prolonging the entry time for ion carrier (NaOH) introduction in the reaction mixture, a relative ascent in the aspect ratio was seen. The typical ZnO band with a slight shift in the absorption maxima was evident with UV-visible spectroscopy. Both ZRT-1 and ZRT-2 exhibited non-toxic behavior as evident by RBC lysis assay. Additionally, ZRT-2 showed better anti-cancer potential against A431 cells as seen by MTT assay, ROS generation and chromatin condensation analyses. At 25 μM of ZRT-2, 5.56% cells were viable in MTT test, ROS production was enhanced to 166.71%, while 33.0% of apoptotic cells were observed. The IC50 for ZRT-2 was slightly lower (6 μM) than that for ZRT-1 (8 μM) against A431 cells. In conclusion, this paper presents a modest, economical procedure to generate ZRT nano-structures exhibiting strong cytotoxicity against the A431 cell line, indicating that ZRTs may have application in combating cancer.

Biosurfactants are widely used in many industrial settings ranging from cosmetic to petroleum industries. Among various biosurfactants available in the market, rhamnolipid is a well-known bacterial biosurfactant produced by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. However, despite its wide applications, no detailed and systematic study is available on the rheological characterization of this biosurfactant solution, which is an essential property to investigate for many practical applications. Therefore, this study aims to present a thorough and complete investigation of this biosurfactant's shear and extensional rheological behaviours. While steady shear and small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) measurements were conducted to investigate the shear rheological behaviour, the dripping-onto-substrate (DoS) extensional rheometry technique was used to understand its extensional rheological behaviour. A chemically derived surfactant (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)) was also used in our analysis to show and discuss the qualitative and quantitative differences in their rheological behaviours. Along with the detailed rheological study, some studies on the physicochemical properties, such as surface tension, contact angle, particle size analysis, thermal stability, etc., were also conducted to make an overall comparison between the two surfactants. Both surfactants show strong shear-thinning and extensional hardening behaviors in shear and extensional rheological flows, respectively. However, the zero-shear rate viscosity and extensional viscosity are found to be larger for rhamnolipid surfactant solutions than for CTAB. The corresponding shear and extensional relaxation times also follow the same trend. Furthermore, the surface tension is found to be less, and the contact angle is found to be more for rhamnolipid biosurfactant than that for CTAB. Rhamnolipid shows more excellent thermal stability, particularly at high temperatures than CTAB. Therefore, the results and discussion presented in this study will help to choose the present rhamnolipid biosurfactant for any particular application, particularly where the knowledge of the rheological responses of a surfactant solution is essential.

Visible light-driven photocatalysts have attracted considerable attention as these photocatalysts can effectively utilize visible light and are cost-effective. This study reports the synthesis of silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) and 1, 3, and 5% La, Zr co-doped Ag3PO4 via precipitation method. The synthesized materials were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). No impurities were observed in all the synthesized materials as shown by the XRD analysis. FTIR measurements of the synthesized materials displayed the presence of several functional groups in the synthesized materials. The band gap energy of Ag3PO4 decreases as more La and Zr were incorporated into the Ag3PO4 lattice. The SEM images of Ag3PO4 displayed tetrapod-shaped particles whereas La, Zr co-doped Ag3PO4 showed irregular particles. The photocatalytic activities of the synthesized materials were determined through photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes as well as photoreduction of Cr(VI). Results showed that 1% La, Zr co-doped Ag3PO4 exhibited superior photocatalytic properties in both photocatalytic processes when compared to Ag3PO4.

This study is centered on the practicality of used cooking oil-based biodiesel (UCOB) as the dielectric for electrical discharge machining (EDM). To establish the usefulness of used cooking oil-based biodiesel as a dielectric for EDM, the essential properties of UCOB were determined and compared with ST EDM oil. Used cooking oil is an important source that can be employed for biodiesel production. Biodiesel was extracted by the process of transesterification. EDM performance was evaluated by applying a “one factor at a time” approach while machining Inconel-625 using EDM oil and bio-dielectric fluids. For both dielectric fluids, the material removal rate was observed to increase with discharge current. The lowest value of TWR was observed at 50 µs while the highest value was observed at 1000 µs. Thus, the performance trend for both fluids was similar. However, the performance of UCOB was slightly better than that of EDM oil. This variation is due to the difference in chemical composition of both dielectric fluids. The highest material removal rate 20.333 mm3/min was observed for UCOB operation at a discharge current of 12.48 A and the lowest material removal rate (0.123 mm3/min) was obtained with a discharge current of 1.56 A for EDM oil. It has been established that UCOB can be suitably utilized as dielectric fluid to increase the sustainability of the EDM process.

Introduction: Breast conservation surgery (BCS) has gained acceptance among the surgeons for the management of young patients with early breast cancer. Aim: To study the outcomes of breast conservation surgery in early breast cancer patients at a tertiary care centre in Marathwada region of Maharashtra, India. Materials and Methods: This prospective interventional study included 40 patients in the age group of 20-65 years with stage I or stage II breast cancer was carried out in Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad, India. Once staging work-up was done, all patients were evaluated for suitability of BCS. Surgical treatment consisted of wide local excision and axillary dissection with gross tumour surgical margin of 2 cm. Surgical morbidity like prolonged seroma formation, surgical site infection, haematoma, lymphoedema was assessed postoperatively. Pathological assessment included primary tumour size, histological type, margin status. Radiotherapy was given to all patients. Chemotherapy was used where indicated with the appropriate regimen. All patients were followed-up at three months, six months and 12 months. Cosmetic outcome was assessed by Harris 4-point Likert Scale. Descriptive statistics was used and results were expressed in terms of frequency and percentages. Results: In the present study, 28 (70%) patients had no postoperative wound complications. About 4 (10%) had surgical site infection, and 8 (20%) had prolonged seroma formation. Out of 40 patients, 37 (92.5%) patients postoperatively had all the margins free from the disease on histopathology, 2 (5%) had single margin positive which required revision surgery, and 1 (2.5%) had all the margins positive; hence Modified Radical Mastectomy (MRM) was performed. The cosmetic outcome was good to excellent in 34 (85%) cases. Conclusion: The present study results concluded that breast conserving surgery had a good cosmetic outcome and most patients had disease free margins.

Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) is a molecular chaperone playing a significant role in the folding of client proteins. This cellular protein is linked to the progression of several cancer types, including breast cancer, lung cancer, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Several oncogenic kinases are Hsp90 clients and their activity depends on this molecular chaperone. This makes HSP90 a prominent therapeutic target for cancer treatment. Studies have confirmed the inhibition of HSP90 as a striking therapeutic treatment for cancer management. In this study, we have utilized machine learning and different in silico approaches to screen the KCB database to identify the potential HSP90 inhibitors. Further evaluation of these inhibitors on various cancer cell lines showed favorable inhibitory activity. These inhibitors could serve as a basis for future development of effective HSP90 inhibitors.

The current study investigates the impact of economic growth, carbon emission, temperature, and environmental technology on public health in GCC countries. Panel data from 1990 to 2020 is used, and the panel unit root test is used to check the stationarity of the data. After cointegration analysis, the ARDL estimation technique checks the long-run and short-run association between variables. The results have proved that economic growth enhances exposure to PM2.5 and mortality but helps in increasing life expectancy. Likewise, carbon emission also enhances exposure to PM2.5 and mortality but improves life expectancy. As far as temperature is concerned, although it increases the exposure to PM2.5, it also increases life expectancy. It is also found that environmental technology enhances exposure to PM2.5. For policy implication, the study reports that investment in research and development and modifications the energy mix are key measures to enhance the public health in GCC countries.

This study explores the potential of the Deep Learning (DL) approach to develop a model for basin-scale drought assessment using information from a set of primary hydrometeorological precursors, namely air temperature, surface pressure, wind speed, relative humidity, evaporation, soil moisture and geopotential height. The novelty of the study lies in extracting the information from the hydrometeorological precursors through the efficacy of the DL algorithm, based on a one-dimensional convolutional neural network. Drought-prone regions, from where our study basins are selected, often suffer from the vagaries of rainfall that leads to drought-like situations. It is established that the proposed DL-based model is able to capture the underlying complex relationship between rainfall and the set of aforementioned hydrometeorological variables and, subsequently, shows its promise for the basin-scale meteorological drought assessment as revealed through different performance metrics and skill scores. The accuracy of simulating the correct drought category, among the seven categories, is also high (>70%). Moreover, in general, the skill of any climate model is much higher for the primary meteorological variables as compared with other secondary or tertiary variables/phenomena, like droughts. Thus, the novelty of the proposed DL-based model also lies in the improved assessment of ensuing basin-scale meteorological droughts using the projected meteorological precursors and may lead to new research directions. HIGHLIGHTS This study explores the potential of Deep Learning (DL) approach to capture the hidden complex hydrometeorological association.; A DL-based model is developed for basin-scale drought assessment using the hidden complex relationship from a set of primary hydrometeorological precursors.; DL may be effective to use simulated primary hydrometeorological variables from climate models to assess more complex phenomena.;

Abstract Cunninghamella spp. are fungi that are routinely used to model the metabolism of drugs. In this paper we demonstrate that they can be employed to generate mammalian-equivalent metabolites of the pyrethroid pesticides transfluthrin and β-cyfluthrin, both of which are fluorinated. The pesticides were incubated with grown cultures of Cunninghamella elegans, C. blakesleeana and C. echinulata and the biotransformation monitored using fluorine-19 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Transfluthrin was initially absorbed in the biomass, but after 72 h a new fluorometabolite appeared in the supernatant; although all three species yielded this compound, it was most prominent in C. blakesleeana. In contrast β-cyfluthrin mostly remained in the fungal biomasss and only minor biotransformation was observed. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis of culture supernatant extracts revealed the identity of the fluorinated metabolite of transfluthrin to be tetrafluorobenzyl alcohol, which arose from the cytochrome P450-catalysed cleavage of the ester bond in the pesticide. The other product of this hydrolysis, dichlorovinyl-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane carboxylic acid, was also detected by GC–MS and was a product of β-cyfluthrin metabolism too. Upon incubation with rat liver microsomes the same products were detected, demonstrating that the fungi can be used as models of mammalian metabolism of fluorinated pesticides.

In this study, AgNbO3, 1%, 5%, and 10% La, Zr-codoped AgNbO3 photocatalyst were synthesized by the solid state method. The synthesized AgNbO3 was codoped with La and Zr to enhance its effectiveness in photocatalytic dye degradation. The as-synthesized materials were also characterized via XRD and SEM analysis to determine their structural and morphological properties. The vibrational bands of the photocatalysts observed in FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of NbO6 octahedra which can be found in AgNbO3. Furthermore, all the photocatalysts showed high crystallinity and are single-phase materials with an orthorhombic crystal structure. It was observed that the particle size decreased with the increasing concentration of La and Zr codopants. The calculated lattice parameters showed that codoping AgNbO3 with 10% La and Zr had caused its unit cell volume to expand. The UV–Vis absorption spectra showed a slight band gap widening and a decrease in surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) effect with increasing La, Zr-codoping. The photocatalytic RhB and MB degradation results of undoped AgNbO3 and La, Zr-codoped AgNbO3 were compared and they showed that there are improvements in the photocatalytic performance. The highest degradation (98.1%) of RhB was achieved by 5% La, Zr-codoped AgNbO3 while the highest MB degradation (48.3%) was achieved by 1% La, Zr-codoped AgNbO3. Last but not least, La, Zr-codoped AgNbO3 is a promising material for water remediation application as it showed enhanced performance for photocatalytic dye degradation under visible light irradiation.

Anthracnose, caused by the fungus Colletotrichum lindemuthianum, is one of the devastating disease affecting common bean production and productivity worldwide. Several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for anthracnose resistance have been identified. In order to make use of these QTLs in common bean breeding programs, a detailed meta-QTL (MQTL) analysis has been conducted. For the MQTL analysis, 92 QTLs related to anthracnose disease reported in 18 different earlier studies involving 16 mapping populations were compiled and projected on to the consensus map. This meta-analysis led to the identification of 11 MQTLs (each involving QTLs from at least two different studies) on 06 bean chromosomes and 10 QTL hotspots each involving multiple QTLs from an individual study on 07 chromosomes. The confidence interval (CI) of the identified MQTLs was found 3.51 times lower than the CI of initial QTLs. Marker-trait associations (MTAs) reported in published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were used to validate nine of the 11 identified MQTLs, with MQTL4.1 overlapping with as many as 40 MTAs. Functional annotation of the 11 MQTL regions revealed 1,251 genes including several R genes (such as those encoding for NBS-LRR domain-containing proteins, protein kinases, etc.) and other defense related genes. The MQTLs, QTL hotspots and the potential candidate genes identified during the present study will prove useful in common bean marker-assisted breeding programs and in basic studies involving fine mapping and cloning of genomic regions associated with anthracnose resistance in common beans.

Biodiesel is a chemically modified eco-friendly fuel mainly used as a fuel in compression ignition engines. It is prepared from vegetable oil or animal fat. It is gaining worldwide popularity because it is a renewable, non-toxic, biodegradable, and non-flammable fuel. This paper gives an insight into various aspects of biodiesel. Literature review of biodiesel production, its performance in diesel engine, and the electrical discharge machining process are discussed along with other applications. An innovative biodiesel production plant of 20 L capacity has been designed and developed successfully. The conversion reaction was carried out for 20 L of used cooking oil and 4 L of methanol. The biodiesel production yield of 95.8% was observed for a 1:6 M ratio of methanol and used cooking oil using 200 gm of KOH catalyst at 60 °C for 1 h. In the second phase of the work, a framework for using biodiesel as a dielectric fluid during spark machining is presented. Using biodiesel during the spark machining process can reduce pollution and also enhances the sustainability of the process.

Sol-gel-assisted synthesis of silver niobate, 1%, 5%, and 10% Zr, La-dual doped silver niobates were carried out. Analysis done using XRD showed that increasing Zr and La dual doping caused the synthesized materials to adopt an AgNbO3-like structure. This is also supported by FT-IR results. FESEM revealed that the silver niobate has a prism-like morphology while Zr, La-dual doped samples are irregular in shape. EDX mapping of the 10% Zr, La dual silver niobate confirmed the presence of Nb, Ag, Zr, and La metals. When compared with the silver niobate, the band gap energy of Zr, La-dual doped silver niobates are narrower, as shown by UV-Vis DRS measurements. It was revealed that dual doping of silver niobates with Zr and La has significantly improved the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) dyes. The 1% Zr, La-dual doped silver niobate showed the best photocatalytic results in terms of degrading MB while 10% Zr, La-dual doped silver niobate achieved the best performance when degrading RhB.

Background: Most COVID-19 studies conclude old age and coexisting illnesses as mortality determinants owing to different populations or methodologies, or omitting factors affecting outcomes. Methods: We analyzed COVID-19 patients’ data (N = 391) of Dubai Hospital between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Results: Only 19 patients (4.8%) were UAE nationals, while 372 (95.2%) were expatriates. Median age was 48 (interquartile range, 40–56) years; 22% were

Background and objectives: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a recent modality of treatment of the affected varicose vein. In the present study, the outcome of great saphenous varicose vein disease treated byradiofrequency ablation technique was analyzed. Methods: Patients with varicosities of the lower limb affecting mainly the great saphenous vein were (GSV) included. The procedures were carried out under spinal anesthesia. The target varicose vein was accessed by Seldinger technique and the RFA catheter advanced 2 to 3 cm below sapheno-femoral junction under ultrasonography (USG) guidance. A tumescent anesthetic infiltration was given in a solution of normal saline and sodium bicarbonate before the vein being ablated. Results: The success rate of RFA was 97.5 % (39 out of 40). One patient showed episodic recanalisation of vein at one year duplex colour scan. Though the complications related to procedure were negligible, one patient developed endovenous heat induced thrombosis (EHIT) and non-fatal pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) which was managed adequately. Conclusion: Endovenous RFA is a useful treatment modality for varicose vein disease primarily due to great saphenous insufficiency with marked symptomatic improvement and least recurrence. Although the complications are minimal, EHIT is a potential and serious complication of heat ablation. IMC J Med Sci 2021; 15(1): 006 *Correspondence: Farooq Ahmad Gganie, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Sheri-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. Email ID: farooq.ganie@ymail.com

AbstractIntroduction Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most predominant cause of dementia, has evolved tremendously with an escalating frequency, mainly affecting the elderly population. An effective means of delaying, preventing, or treating AD is yet to be achieved. The failure rate of dementia drug trials has been relatively higher than in other disease-related clinical trials. Hence, multi-targeted therapeutic approaches are gaining attention in pharmacological developments.Aims As an extension of our earlier reports, we have performed docking and molecular dynamic (MD) simulation studies for the same 13 potential ligands against beta-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE-1) and γ-secretase as a therapeutic target for AD. The In-silico screening of these ligands as potential inhibitors of BACE-1 and γ-secretase was performed using AutoDock enabled PyRx v-0.8. The protein-ligand interactions were analyzed in Discovery Studio 2020 (BIOVIA). The stability of the most promising ligand against BACE-1 and γ-secretase was evaluated by MD simulation using Desmond-2018 (Schrodinger, LLC, NY, USA).Results The computational screening revealed that the docking energy values for each of the ligands against both the target enzymes were in the range of −7.0 to −10.1 kcal/mol. Among the 13 ligands, 8 (55E, 6Z2, 6Z5, BRW, F1B, GVP, IQ6, and X37) showed binding energies of ≤−8 kcal/mol against BACE-1 and γ-secretase. For the selected enzyme targets, BACE-1 and γ-secretase, 6Z5 displayed the lowest binding energy of −10.1 and −9.8 kcal/mol, respectively. The MD simulation study confirmed the stability of BACE-6Z5 and γ-secretase-6Z5 complexes and highlighted the formation of a stable complex between 6Z5 and target enzymes.Conclusion The virtual screening, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulation studies revealed the potential of these multi-enzyme targeted ligands. Among the studied ligands, 6Z5 seems to have the best binding potential and forms a stable complex with BACE-1 and γ-secretase. We recommend the synthesis of 6Z5 for future in-vitro and in-vivo studies.

Photocatalysis can be used in water remediation, by which, toxic pollutants are removed from the water and converted into harmless products. In this study, silver niobate and 1% to 10% La-doped silver niobates were synthesized by the sol-gel method. FESEM studies showed that the morphology of the photocatalysts changed from prism-like to small cube-like particles with increasing La-doping. Also, the EDX mapping confirms the presence of Ag, Nb, and La within the silver niobate and La-doped silver niobates. XRD analysis verified the presence of AgNbO3 and AgNb3O8 in the samples. Furthermore, results from the Tauc plots showed that La-doping resulted in a slight decrease in band gap energy as compared to the silver niobate. The photocatalytic properties of the silver niobate and La-doped silver niobates were investigated for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and Rhodamine B dyes. It was shown from the experiment that La-doping can improve the photocatalytic performance of the silver niobate.

T helper 17 (Th17) cells protect against fungal and bacterial infections and are implicated in autoimmunity. Several long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNA) are induced during Th17 differentiation, however, their contribution to Th17 differentiation is poorly understood. We aimed to characterize the function of the lincRNA Myocardial Infarction Associated Transcript (MIAT) during early human Th17 cell differentiation. We found MIAT to be upregulated early after induction of human Th17 cell differentiation along with an increase in the chromatin accessibility at the gene locus. STAT3, a key regulator of Th17 differentiation, directly bound to the MIAT promoter and induced its expression during the early stages of Th17 cell differentiation. MIAT resides in the nucleus and regulates the expression of several key Th17 genes, including IL17A, IL17F, CCR6 and CXCL13, possibly by altering the chromatin accessibility of key loci, including IL17A locus. Further, MIAT regulates the expression of protein kinase C alpha (PKCα), an upstream regulator of IL17A. A reanalysis of published single-cell RNA-seq data showed that MIAT was expressed in T cells from the synovium of RA patients. Our results demonstrate that MIAT contributes to human Th17 differentiation by upregulating several genes implicated in Th17 differentiation. High MIAT expression in T cells of RA patient synovia suggests a possible role of MIAT in Th17 mediated autoimmune pathologies.

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) play significant roles in numerous physiological, and are considered an attractive drug target for cancer, neurodegenerative, and inflammatory diseases. In the present study, we have aimed to investigate the binding affinity and inhibitory potential of selonsertib toward CDK6. Using the drug repurposing approach, we performed molecular docking of selonsertib with CDK6 and observed a significant binding affinity. To ascertain, we further performed essential dynamics analysis and free energy calculation, which suggested the formation of a stable selonsertib-CDK6 complex. The in-silico findings were further experimentally validated. The recombinant CDK6 was expressed, purified, and treated with selonsertib. The binding affinity of selonsertib to CDK6 was estimated by fluorescence binding studies and enzyme inhibition assay. The results indicated an appreciable binding of selonsertib against CDK6, which subsequently inhibits its activity with a commendable IC50 value (9.8 μM). We concluded that targeting CDK6 by selonsertib can be an efficient therapeutic approach to cancer and other CDK6-related diseases. These observations provide a promising opportunity to utilize selonsertib to address CDK6-related human pathologies.