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Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have emerged as promising tools for crafting polymeric materials across diverse domains. This study delves into the impact of a series of DESs on the phase behavior of poly( N -isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) in aqueous environments, presenting compelling insights into their performance. Specifically, we explore the conformational phase behavior of PNIPAM in the presence of four distinct lactic acid (LA)-based DESs: LA-betaine (LA-BET), LA-proline (LA-PRO), LA-choline chloride (LA-CC), and LA-urea (LA-U). By maintaining a consistent hydrogen-bond donor (HBD) while varying the hydrogen-bond acceptor (HBA), we unravel how different DES compositions modulate the phase transition behavior of PNIPAM. Our findings underscore the profound influence of DESs comprising LA as the HBD and diverse HBAs-BET, PRO, CC, and U on the thermoresponsive behavior of PNIPAM. Employing spectroscopic techniques such as ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, steady-state fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS), ζ-potential, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we elucidate the preferential interactions between the HBA groups within DESs and the hydration layer of PNIPAM. Notably, temperature-dependent DLS analyses reveal a discernible decrease in the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PNIPAM with increasing DES concentration, ultimately disrupting the hydrogen-bond interactions and resulting in early hydrophobic collapse of the polymer, which can be clearly seen in the TEM micrographs. Furthermore, the formation of polymer composites within the mixed system leads to notable alterations in the physiochemical properties of PNIPAM, as evidenced by shifts in its LCST value in the presence of DESs. This perturbation disrupts hydrogen-bond interactions, inducing hydrophobic collapse of the polymers, a phenomenon vividly captured in TEM micrographs. In essence, our study sheds new light on the pivotal role of varying HBA groups within DESs in modulating the conformational transitions of PNIPAM. These insights not only enrich our fundamental understanding but also hold immense promise for the development of smart polymeric systems with multifaceted applications spanning bioimaging, biomedical science, polymer science, and beyond.

An eco-friendly facile synthesis of a series of twenty 1-(4/6-substitutedbenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-(phenyl/substitutedphenyl)indeno[1,2-c]pyrazol-4(1H)-ones 7a-t was achieved by the reaction of 2-(benzoyl/substitutedbenzoyl)-(1H)-indene-1,3(2H)-dione 3a-t and 2-hydrazinyl-4/6-substitutedbenzo[d]thiazole 6a-t in presence of freshly dried ethanol and glacial acetic acid under reflux conditions in good yields. The newly synthesized derivatives were well characterized using different physical and spectral techniques (FTIR, 1 H NMR & 13 C NMR, and HRMS). All the compounds were subjected to assess their in vitro α-amylase and glucose diffusion inhibitory activity. Amongst them, the compounds 7i and 7l showed better α-amylase inhibitory activity demonstrating IC 50 values of 92.99±1.94 µg/mL and 95.41±3.92 µg/mL, respectively in comparison to the standard drug acarbose (IC 50 value of 103.60±2.15 µg/mL). The derivatives 7d and 7k exhibited good glucose diffusion inhibition with values of 2.25±1.16 µg/mL and 2.63±1.45 µg/mL, respectively with standard reference acarbose (2.76±0.55 µg/mL). The observed α-amylase inhibitory activity findings were corroborated through molecular docking investigations, particularly for the highly active compounds 7i (binding energy -8.0 kcal/mol) and 7l (binding energy -8.2 kcal/mol) respectively, in comparison to acarbose with a value of binding energy -6.9 kcal/mol for α-amylase., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Air pollution is known to be one of the major risk factors for premature morbidity and mortality globally, which are preventable. Therefore, the public is informed about air pollution through the Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI represents integrated data of selected pollutants and produces a combined overall index for specific locations and time. The AQI algorithm generates a range of numbers and categories of colors that indicate likely health risks from air pollutants and the public's actions to minimize the risks. However, it lacks emerging evidence on chemical toxicity or composition. Hence, policymakers may also consider addinga toxicity matrix of fine particles to refine the algorithm, such as oxidative potential. Further, the risk is commonly communicated in numbers and not in color as dictated by the AQI. The AQI values and categories vary significantly between countries for the same pollution concentration, leading to confusion. Hence, we recommend developing a universal AQI (UAQI) with a consistent relationship between colors, concentrations, and toxicity to communicate air pollution risks to the public. Further, communication media should be encouraged to use universal color-coding rather than AQI values, i.e., numbers. Therefore, a global policy framework for regulatory authorities and policymakers is needed to communicate air pollution risk information consistently and to minimize public health exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

With a lack of targeted therapy and significantly high metastasis, heterogeneity, and relapse rates, Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) offers substantial treatment challenges and demands more chemotherapeutic interventions. In the present study, indole-endowed thiadiazole derivatives have been synthesized and screened for antiproliferative potency against the triple-negative breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell line. Compound 4 h, possessing chlorophenyl moiety, displays the best anticancer potency (IC 50 : 0.43 μM) in the cell viability assay. The title compounds demonstrate substantial docking competency against the EGFR receptor (PDB ID: 3POZ), validating their in-vitro ant proliferative action. With a high docking score (-9.9 to -8.7 kcal/mol), the indole hybrids display significant binding propensity comparable to the co-crystallized ligand TAK-285 and occupy a similar strategic position in the active domain of the designated receptor. The quantum and electronic properties of the integrated templates are evaluated through DFT, and optimal values of the deduced global reactivity indices, such as energy gap, electronegativity, ionization potential, chemical potential, electrophilicity, etc., suggest their apt biochemical reactivity. The indole hybrids show near-appropriate pharmacokinetic efficacy and bioavailability in the in-silico studies, indicating their candidacy for potential drug usage. Promising in-vitro anticancer action and binding interfaces project indole conjugates as potential leads in addressing the TNBC dilemma., (© 2024 Wiley‐VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland.)

The average global temperature is rising due to anthropogenic emissions. Hence, a systematic approach was used to examine the projected impacts of rising global temperatures on heatwaves in India and provide insights into mitigation and adaptation strategies. With over 24,000 deaths attributed to heatwaves from 1992 to 2015, there is an urgent need to understand India's vulnerabilities and prepare adaptive strategies under various emission scenarios.This situation is predicted to worsen as heatwaves become more frequent, intense, and long-lasting. Severe heatwaves can exacerbate chronic health conditions, vector-borne diseases, air pollution, droughts and other socio-economic pressures causing higher mortality and morbidity. Heatwaves with severe consequences have increased and are expected to become more frequent in Indian climatic and geographical conditions. As per the future projection studies, the temperature could rise ±1.2 ° C to ±3.5 ° C and will start reducing by the end of 2050. The study also provides data from the research that employs climatic models and statistical approaches for a more precise characterization of heat extremes and improved projections. Also, the study appraises the past, present and future heatwave trend projections. Most of these studies compute future projections using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) models and Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP). Limited systematic reports have been found using CMIP6, whereas the best-suited and widely used method was the RCP8.5. The study findings will aid in identifying the zones most susceptible to heatwave risk and provide actionable projections for policymakers to examine the existing evidence for developing proper planning and policy formulation, considering the future climate and temperature projections., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Domestic goats are distributed worldwide, with approximately 35% of the one billion world goat population occurring in Africa. Ethiopia has 52.5 million goats, ~99.9% of which are considered indigenous landraces deriving from animals introduced to the Horn of Africa in the distant past by nomadic herders. They have continued to be managed by smallholder farmers and semi-mobile pastoralists throughout the region. We report here 57 goat genomes from 12 Ethiopian goat populations sampled from different agro-climates. The data were generated through sequencing DNA samples on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 platform at a mean depth of 9.71x and 150 bp pair-end reads. In total, ~2 terabytes of raw data were generated, and 99.8% of the clean reads mapped successfully against the goat reference genome assembly at a coverage of 99.6%. About 24.76 million SNPs were generated. These SNPs can be used to study the population structure and genome dynamics of goats at the country, regional, and global levels to shed light on the species' evolutionary trajectory., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Aim: Developing potent medicinal alternates for tuberculosis (TB) is highly desirable due to the advent of drug-resistant lethal TB strains. Methods & results: Novel indole-isoniazid integrates have been synthesized with promising antimycobacterial action against the H37Rv strain, and the nitro analogs 4e and 4j show the highest efficacy with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 1.25 μg/ml. The molecular docking studies against InhA support the experimental findings. Indole conjugates display remarkable radical quenching efficiency, and compounds 4e and 4j demonstrate maximum IC 50 values of 50.19 and 52.45 μg/ml, respectively. Pharmacokinetic analysis anticipated appreciable druggability for the title compounds. Conclusion: The notable bioaction of the indole-isoniazid templates projects them as potential lead in developing anti-TB medications with synergetic antioxidant action.

Aim: The objective of the present investigation was to design and synthesize new heterocyclic hybrids comprising benzothiazole and indenopyrazolone pharmacophoric units in a single molecular framework targeting α-amylase and α-glucosidase enzymatic inhibition. Materials & methods: 20 new benzothiazole-appended indenopyrazoles, 3a-t , were synthesized in good yields under environment-friendly conditions via cycloaddition reaction, and assessed for antidiabetic activity against α-amylase and α-glucosidase, using acarbose as the standard reference. Results: Among all the hydroxypyrazolones, 3p and 3r showed the best inhibition against α-amylase and α-glucosidase, which finds support from molecular docking and dynamic studies. Conclusion: Compounds 3p and 3r have been identified as promising antidiabetic agents against α-amylase and α-glucosidase and could be considered valuable leads for further optimization of antidiabetic agents.

Importance: We have identified a novel phage-encoded inhibitor of the major cytoskeletal protein in bacterial division, FtsZ. The inhibition is shown to confer T5 bacteriophage with a growth advantage in dividing hosts. Our studies demonstrate a strategy in bacteriophages to maximize their progeny number by inhibiting escape of one of the daughter cells of an infected bacterium. They further emphasize that FtsZ is a natural target for bacterial growth inhibition., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

The development of quantum simulators, artificial platforms where the predictions of many-body theories of correlated quantum materials can be tested in a controllable and tunable way, is one of the main challenges of condensed matter physics. Here we introduce artificial lattices made of lead halide perovskite nanocubes as a new platform to simulate and investigate the physics of correlated quantum materials. We demonstrate that optical injection of quantum confined excitons in this system realizes the two main features that ubiquitously pervade the phase diagram of many quantum materials: collective phenomena, in which long-range orders emerge from incoherent fluctuations, and the excitonic Mott transition, which has one-to-one correspondence with the insulator-to-metal transition described by the repulsive Hubbard model in a magnetic field. Our results demonstrate that time-resolved experiments provide a quantum simulator that is able to span a parameter range relevant for a broad class of phenomena, such as superconductivity and charge-density waves.

Rotavirus A (RVA) is a common cause of diarrhea in newborn pigs, leading to significant economic losses. RVA is considered a major public health concern due to genetic evolution, high prevalence, and pathogenicity in humans and animals. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize RVA in swine farms in Chile. A total of 154 samples (86 oral fluids and 68 fecal samples) were collected, from 22 swine farms. 58 (38%) samples belonging to 14 farms were found positive for RVA by real-time RT-PCR. The samples with low Ct values (21) and the two isolates were selected for whole genome sequencing. Nearly complete genomes were assembled from both isolates and partial genomes were assembled from five clinical samples. BLAST analysis confirmed that these sequences are related to human and swine-origin RVA. The genomic constellation was G5/G3-P[7]-I5-R1-C1-M1-A8-N1-T1-E1-H1. Phylogenetic analysis showed that VP4, VP1, VP2, NSP2, NSP3, NSP4, and NSP5 sequences were grouped in monophyletic clusters, suggesting a single introduction. The phylogenies for VP7, VP6, VP3, and NSP1 indicated two different origins of the Chilean sequences. The phylogenetic trees showed that most of the Chilean RVA sequences are closely related to human and swine-origin RVA detected across the world. The results highlight the potential zoonotic nature of RVA circulating in Chilean swine farms. Therefore, it is important to continue RVA whole genome sequencing globally to fully understand its complex epidemiology and early detection and characterization of zoonotic strains., 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 © 2023 Neira, Melgarejo, Urzúa-Encina, Berrios, Valdes, Mor, Brito-Rodriguez and Ramirez-Toloza.)

Worldwide, harmful emissions from coal power plants cause many illnesses contribute to premature deaths burden. Despite its high impact on human health and being a major source of toxic pollutants, coal has been considered a component of global energy for decades. Hence, this work was envisaged to understand the rising environmental and multiple health issues from coal power plants. Studies on the adverse impacts of coal power plants on the environment, including soil, surface water, groundwater and air, were critically evaluated. The health risk from exposure to different pollutants and toxic metals released from the power plant was also demonstrated. The study also highlighted the government initiatives and policies regarding coal power operation and generation. Lastly, the study focused on guiding coal power plant owners and policymakers in identifying the essential cues for the risk assessment and management. The current study found an association between environmental and human health risks due to power generation, which needs intervention from the scientific and medical fields to jointly address public concerns. It is also suggested that future research should concentrate on exposure assessment techniques by integrating source-identification and geographic information systems to assess the health effects of different contaminants from power plants and to mitigate their adverse impact., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

For the last few decades, air pollution in developing country like India is increasing, and it is a matter of huge concern due to its associated human health impacts. In this region, the burgeoning population, escalating urbanization and industrialization, has been cited as the major reason for such a high air pollution. The present study was carried out for health risk assessment of aerosol particles (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ) and its associated heavy metals of an agriculture farm site at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) considered to be green urban area in Delhi, India. The concentrations of both PM 10 and PM 2.5 varied significantly from 136 to 177 µg/m 3 and 56 to 162 µg/m 3 , respectively at the site. In the present case, the highest PM 10 and PM 2.5 levels were reported in January, followed by December. The levels of ambient PM 10 and PM 2.5 are influenced by wind prevailing meteorology. These levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5 are more than the permissible limits of WHO guidelines of 15 and 5 µg/m 3 , respectively, thereby leading to high aerosol loadings specifically in winters. The PM concentration of the atmosphere was found to be negatively correlated with temperature during the sampling period. The concentrations of surface ozone O 3 and NO x in the present study were observed to be high in February and March, respectively. The increasing air pollution in the city of Delhi poses a great risk to the human health, as the particulate matter loaded with heavy metals can enter humans via different pathways, viz., ingestion, inhalation, and absorption through skin. The mean hazard index for metals (Zn, Pb, Cd, As, Cr, and Ni) was observed within the acceptable limit (HI < 1), thereby indicating negligible non-carcinogenic effects to residing population. The carcinogenic risk assessment was conducted for Cd, Pb, and As only, as the concentrations for other metals were found to be quite low. The carcinogenic risk values were also within the limits of USEPA standards, indicating no carcinogenic risks to the health of children and adults residing near the site. This information about the PM pollution at the agricultural site and health risk assessment will serve as a baseline data in assessment of human health impacts due to air pollution at the local scale and can be used for development of mitigation strategies for tackling air pollution., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Exposure to particulate matter less than 2.5 µm in diameter (PM 2.5 ) is a cause of concern in cities and major emission regions of northern India. An intensive field campaign involving the states of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi national capital region (NCR) was conducted in 2022 using 29 Compact and Useful PM 2.5 Instrument with Gas sensors (CUPI-Gs). Continuous observations show that the PM 2.5 in the region increased gradually from < 60 µg m -3 in 6-10 October to up to 500 µg m -3 on 5-9 November, which subsequently decreased to about 100 µg m -3 in 20-30 November. Two distinct plumes of PM 2.5 over 500 µg m -3 are tracked from crop residue burning in Punjab to Delhi NCR on 2-3 November and 10-11 November with delays of 1 and 3 days, respectively. Experimental campaign demonstrates the advantages of source region observations to link agricultural waste burning and air pollution at local to regional scales., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

The stabilization of proteins has been a major challenge for their practical utilization in industrial applications. Proteins can easily lose their native conformation in the presence of denaturants, which unfolds the protein structure. Since the introduction of deep eutectic solvents (DESs), there are numerous studies in which DESs act as promising co-solvents that are biocompatible with biomolecules. DESs have emerged as sustainable biocatalytic media and an alternative to conventional organic solvents and ionic liquids (ILs). However, the superiority of DESs over the deleterious influence of denaturants on proteins is often neglected. To address this, we present the counteracting ability of biocompatible DESs, namely, choline chloride-glycerol (DES-1) and choline chloride-urea (DES-2), against the structural changes induced in β-lactoglobulin (Blg) by carboxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CA-MWCNTs). The work is substantiated with various spectroscopic and thermal studies. The spectroscopic results revealed that the fluorescence emission intensity enhances for the protein in DESs. Contrary to this, the emission intensity extremely quenches in the presence of CA-MWCNTs. However, in the mixture of DESs and CA-MWCNTs, there was a slight increase in the fluorescence intensity. Circular dichroism spectral studies reflect the reappearance of the native band that was lost in the presence of CA-MWCNTs, which is a good indicator of the counteraction ability of DESs. Further, thermal fluorescence studies showed that the protein exhibited extremely great thermal stability in both DESs as well as in the mixture of DES-CA-MWCNTs compared to the protein in buffer. This study is also supported by dynamic light scattering and zeta potential measurements; the results reveal that DESs were successfully able to maintain the protein structure. The addition of CA-MWCNTs results in complex formation with the protein, which is indicated by the increased hydrodynamic size of the protein. The presence of DESs in the mixture of CA-MWCNTs and DESs was quite successful in eliminating the negative impact of CA-MWCNTs on protein structural alteration. DES-1 proved to be superior to DES-2 over counteraction against CA-MWCNTs and maintained the native conformation of the protein. Overall, both DESs act as recoiling media for both native and unfolded (denatured by CA-MWCNTs) Blg structures. Both the DESs can be described as potential co-solvents for Blg with increased structural and thermal stability of the protein. To the best of our knowledge, this study for the first time has demonstrated the role of choline-based DESs in the mixture with CA-MWCNTs in the structural transition of Blg. The DESs in the mixture successfully enhance the stability of the protein by reducing the perturbation caused by CA-MWCNTs and then amplifying the advantages of the DESs present in the mixture. Overall, these results might find implications for understanding the role of DES-CA-MWCNT mixtures in protein folding/unfolding and pave a new direction for the development of eco-friendly protein-protective solvents.

Competing Interests: This work is linked with a CEEP project funded by MoEF&CC, India. However, this work is developed and planned independently. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Various formulations consisting of biomaterials zirconium imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), choline acetate ([Ch][Ac]), and arginine hydrochloride (argHCl) are optimized to study the stability of antibody, Immunoglobulin G (IgG). We have performed several instrumentations including UV-visible spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), circular dichroism (far UV CD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) in the presence of all the formulations to investigate the conformational and colloidal stability of the antibodies. Alongside, the packing efficiency of all the formulations was also explored by storing IgG at 4 °C for 3 months. We have tried to investigate the interactions between biomaterials and antibodies with the motive of designing aggregation-resistant formulations. The overall stability of IgG was improved in the presence of [Ch][Ac]; however, ZIF-8 and argHCl cause relatively more aggregation, although the structure was retained in all the formulations. The key aspect of this study is that the presence of [Ch][Ac] increases ZIF-8@IgG's thermal stability and resistance to IgG-argHCl aggregation. All over, for the first time, with different experimental approaches, the impact of each biomaterial individually and in combination is explored to study their effect on the stability of antibodies. Thus, better efficient formulations can be designed for the storage/packaging of IgG-based drugs which ultimately will have more applicability in pharmaceuticals.

Benzo[5,6][1,4]thiazino[3,4-a]isoindol-11-ones 5a-t and benzo[b]indeno[1,2-e][1,4]thiazin-11(10aH)-ones 6a-e were synthesized conveniently via cyclocondensation of 2-bromo-2-(2/3-substitutedphenyl)-1H-indene-1,3(2H)-diones and 2-aminobenzenethiols in freshly dried ethanol with 70-85% yields. The synthesized derivatives were well characterized by employing different spectral techniques (FTIR, 1 H & 13 C NMR and HRMS) and X-ray crystallographic analysis. Further, all the reported compounds were tested for their antibacterial and antifungal activities using Ciprofloxacin and Fluconazole as standard drugs, respectively. The results of antimicrobial evaluation revealed that compounds 5o and 5t displayed remarkable inhibitory activity against B. subtilis, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and A. niger with MIC values in the range of 0.0141-0.0283 µmol/mL, whereas 5j was found active against E. coli and C. albicans with MIC values of 0.0286 µmol/mL and 0.0143 µmol/mL, respectively. Additionally, among all the benzo[b]indeno[1,2-e][1,4]thiazin-11(10aH)-ones, 6c exhibited excellent inhibition against all the tested bacterial and fungal strains with MIC values ranging from 0.0143 to 0.1145 µmol/mL. Structure activity relationships were also established for all the tested benzo[5,6][1,4]thiazino[3,4-a]isoindol-11-ones 5a-t., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Background: Leadership in academic conferences is an important factor for academic advancement. Underrepresentation of women in academic surgical conferences has been demonstrated in other subspecialties, but it has not been well-studied in pediatric surgery., Methods: This retrospective descriptive study analyzes conference participation at 2 national pediatric surgery annual conference programs from 2003 to 2022. Moderator, speakers, and research presenter sex was collected. The primary outcome was the proportion of female participants in each of these roles. Mann-Kendall trend test was conducted to assess for significance., Results: Across 29 meetings, a total of 523 sessions were examined. Overall, female participation in all roles increased from 2003 to 2022. There were statistically positive trends of female participation in leadership roles as moderator (p = 0.003) and speaker (p = 0.01), with moderator role demonstrating the largest proportional female increase over time - with a 7-fold increase from 7.1% in 2003 to 50.0% in 2022. There was also a significant increasing trend in female participation as research presenters (p < 0.01) from 25.4% to 46.4%., Conclusion: Gender representation in pediatric surgery conferences has improved over the last two decades. Women now represent approximately half of all participatory roles, and efforts to continue providing equal opportunities for women at pediatric surgery academic conferences should continue., Level of Evidence: N/A., Type of Study: Retrospective Descriptive., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The seasonal quality of groundwater and its appropriateness for drinking and irrigation were assessed using a multiple indexing approach in this study. Physicochemical and ionic parameters were examined in groundwater samples near the industrial zone of Rupnagar, Punjab. To assess groundwater quality, water quality index (WQI) and pollution index were used. The Durov's, piper, wilcox and stiff diagrams were plotted to understand the hydro-chemistry. Similarly, the irrigation indices, i.e., salinity hazard, sodium adsorption ratio, soluble sodium percentage (Na%), magnesium adsorption ratio, residual sodium carbonate, permeability index and Kelley's ratio were applied to ascertain the water quality for agricultural purposes. As a result, total hardness, calcium (Ca 2+ ), magnesium (Mg 2+ ) and fluoride (F - ) were found above the standard permissible limits. WQI analysis showed 12% samples of pre-monsoon (PRE-M) and 28% samples of post-monsoon (POS-M) were of poor quality, which may pose health risks. Hydrochemistry revealed the predominance of Ca 2+ , Na + , Mg 2+ and HCO 3 - ions in the groundwater attributed to natural and anthropogenic sources. Piper diagram revealed Ca 2+ -Mg 2+ -Cl - , Na + -Cl - , Ca 2+ -Na + - HCO 3 - , Ca 2+ - HCO 3 - and Ca 2+ -Cl, Ca 2+ -HCO 3 - water types exist in the study area. USSL diagram showed that the samples from both seasons come under the low salinity hazard. In addition, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity showed a strong positive association, indicating the saline nature of groundwater. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering classified groundwater into three groups (I, II and III), revealing that groundwater quality varies due to natural and anthropogenic effects. Based on the findings, the groundwater was found marginally suitable for drinking and irrigation purposes. It is therefore recommended that the groundwater is examined on a regular basis in order to maintain its quality., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Surface modification of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) by stimuli-responsive polymers is a benign method to prepare smart colloidal composites which tune the characteristic properties of individual systems. The temperature-dependent transition of diblock copolymer poly( N -isopropylacrylamide)-block-poly( N -vinylcaprolactam) (PNIPMA-b-PVCL) synthesized using reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization was studied by incorporating anisotropic gold NPs (AGPs) such as spheres (AuNSs), rods (AuNRs), cubes (AuNCs), and rhombic dodecahedrals (AuRDs). Shape-dependent physiochemical properties of nanostructures alter the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the chemical inhomogeneous diblock copolymer. Heterogeneous nucleation of AuNPs was facilitated by seed-mediated synthesis for incorporating uniformity. In the mixed system, the presence of PNIPAM-b-PVCL modifies the surface of AGPs through physisorption which is supported by transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy showing the NPs embedding in the polymeric matrix. Furthermore, steady state fluorescence spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were performed to examine the phase transition behavior of PNIPAM-b-PVCL in AGPs. The formation of a smart polymer nanocomposite alters the physiochemical properties of the diblock copolymer as demonstrated from the variation of LCST in the dynamic light scattering measurement. Henceforth, functionalizing the surfaces of AGPs with a thermoresponsive diblock copolymer provides combinatorial benefits in the properties of smart polymeric colloidal systems with potential applications in bioimaging and drug delivery.

Brucella suis is an emerging, zoonotic disease predominantly affecting dogs and humans that engage in feral pig hunting in Australia and other countries. Although B. suis infection in dogs shares some clinical similarities to the host-adapted species (B. canis), B. suis remains an incompletely understood pathogen in dogs with limited published data on its pathogenesis and clinical features. This case series describes the presentations, diagnosis, and clinical management of B. suis infection in three dogs: (1) a bitch with dystocia, abortion and mastitis; (2) an entire male dog with septic arthritis and presumptive osteomyelitis; and (3) a castrated male dog with lymphadenitis. Unique features of these cases are reported including the first documented detection of B. suis from milk and isolation from lymph nodes of canine patients, as well as the follow-up of pups born to a B. suis-infected bitch. Consistent with previous reports, all three dogs showed a favourable clinical response to combination antibiotic therapy with rifampicin and doxycycline. Individually tailored drug regimens were required based on the clinical presentation and other factors, including owner expectations and compliance with therapy as well as a zoonotic risk assessment (generally considered low, except around time of whelping). The authors include their recommendations for the clinical management of dogs that are at-risk or seropositive for B. suis with or without clinical signs or laboratory-confirmed infection., (© 2023 The Authors. Australian Veterinary Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Veterinary Association.)

Near real-time monitoring of major air pollutants, i.e., particulate matter (PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1 ), trace gases (O 3 , CO, NO, NO 2 , NO x , NH 3 , CO 2 , SO 2 ) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs: benzene, ethylbenzene, m-, p-xylene, o-xylene and toluene) along with climatological parameters was done in eight-cities field campaigns during the rabi (wheat) crop residue burning period in the northwest of Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region. The phase-wise monitoring was done at eight locations representing rural, semi-urban and urban backgrounds. During the whole campaign, the semi-urban site (Sirsa) observed the highest average concentration of PM 10 (226 ± 111 μg m -3 ) and PM 2.5 (91 ± 67 μg m -3 ). The urban site (Chandigarh) reported the minimum concentrations of all the three size fractions of particulate matter with PM 10 as 89 ± 54 μg m -3 , PM 2.5 as 42 ± 22 μg m -3 and PM 1 as 20 ± 13 μg m -3 where the monitoring was done in the early phase of the campaign. The highest VOC concentration was recorded at the semi-urban (Sirsa) site, whereas the lowest was at a rural location (Fatehgarh Sahib). NH 3 concentration was observed highest in rural sites (31.7 ± 29.8 ppbv), which can be due to the application of fertilizers in agricultural activities. Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) based fire and thermal anomalies, along with HYSPLIT back trajectory analysis, show that major air masses over monitoring sites (22 %-70 %) were from the rabi crop residue burning regions. The characteristic ratios and Principal component analysis (PCA) results show that diverse sources, i.e., emissions from crop residue burning, solid biomass fuels, vehicles and industries, majorly degrade the regional air quality. This multi-city study observed that semi-urban regions have the most compromised air quality during the rabi crop residue burning and need attention to address the air quality issues in the IGP region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

With a remarkable increase in industrialization among fast-developing countries, air pollution is rising at an alarming rate and has become a public health concern. The study aims to examine the effect of air pollution on patient's hospital visits for respiratory diseases, particularly Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI). Outpatient hospital visits, air pollution and meteorological parameters were collected from March 2018 to October 2021. Eight machine learning algorithms (Random Forest model, K-Nearest Neighbors regression model, Linear regression model, LASSO regression model, Decision Tree Regressor, Support Vector Regression, X.G. Boost and Deep Neural Network with 5-layers) were applied for the analysis of daily air pollutants and outpatient visits for ARI. The evaluation was done by using 5-cross-fold confirmations. The data was randomly divided into test and training data sets at a scale of 1:2, respectively. Results show that among the studied eight machine learning models, the Random Forest model has given the best performance with R 2 = 0.606, 0.608 without lag and 1-day lag respectively on ARI patients and R 2 = 0.872, 0.871 without lag and 1-day lag respectively on total patients. All eight models did not perform well with the lag effect on the ARI patient dataset but performed better on the total patient dataset. Thus, the study did not find any significant association between ARI patients and ambient air pollution due to the intermittent availability of data during the COVID-19 period. This study gives insight into developing machine learning programs for risk prediction that can be used to predict analytics for several other diseases apart from ARI, such as heart disease and other respiratory diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pollen allergy is considered one of the important critical thrust areas, as 20-30% of the world population suffers from allergic rhinitis. The increase in global surface temperature directly affects pollen physiological (e.g., pollen production) and morphological parameters and indirectly affects the distribution pattern, the allergenic potential of pollen, and plant species. Therefore, periodic sampling and pollen studies of a region have become necessary to assess the status of change in species and its morphological characteristics of different taxa. The current study is conducted to identify the airborne pollen based on studying their unique and distinctive morphological characters to serve as a reference pollen guide for future research. The airborne pollens were trapped using the Burkard volumetric sampler at three different locations in Chandigarh from 2018 to 2020 and analyzed under Leica DM5500B-Automated Upright Microscope System. The study investigated various pollen features such as shape, size, aperture type, and exine/surface pattern for taxonomic classification of plant groups. The majority of LM-analyzed pollen grains were prolate-spheroidal or oblate, whereas the aperture types were 3-zonocolporate, 3-colpate, and 3-zonocolporate. Exine patterns were predominantly psilate, reticulate, and straite and were easily discernible. Nonetheless, the vast majority of airborne pollen belonging to both arboreal and non-arboreal was quite small and fall into small pollen size classes, i.e., 10-24 μm. The exine pattern was readily apparent and were predominantly psilate, reticulate, and straight. The current study improved the knowledge on airborne pollen biodiversity, which will help to understand the regional distribution, long-range transport, and construct the current status of morphological features of species/taxa., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Meat handlers play a critical role in food safety by preventing contamination of food for human consumption. A cross-sectional survey was undertaken with 391 meat handlers working in abattoirs and retail meat stores in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, to investigate their food safety knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). Data were collected in interviews using a semistructured questionnaire adapted from previous research. An overall score for each topic area was calculated based on the responses to individual questions. Logistic regression was used to assess the independent associations between sociodemographic characteristics and good knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Almost all meat handlers were males (97.2%), and more than half (51.9%) had primary-level education. Most (72.4%) meat handlers had a good knowledge level with a median score of 16 out of 21 (interquartile range [IQR] = 6). Similarly, most (94.6%) meat handlers had a positive attitude toward food safety with a median score 18 out of 20 (IQR = 1). However, most (83.7%) meat handlers had poor food safety practices with median score of 11 out of 20 (IQR = 3). In multivariable models, good knowledge was significantly (P < 0.05) associated with male gender and older age; positive attitudes were associated with lower educational attainment and good knowledge; and good practices were associated with working in an abattoir and having received training on food safety. Regular hands-on training and enforcement of general and personal hygiene is recommended.

Coal-powered thermal plants are the primary source of energy production around the globe. More than half (56.89%) of the Indian power plants use coal for power production. Coal burning in power plants results in coal combustion residuals, which contain coal fly ash (CFA) that is recognized as principle by-product. CFA is difficult to characterize due to its broad compositional variation. Hence, the present article summarizes the various physical, chemical, mineralogical, and petrological characterizations of CFA to its use in different applications. Indian coal thermal power plants are found to release two types of CFA: F (fine) and C (coarse). CFA particles are identified as unburned carbon particles with a large fraction of silica oxides, alumina oxides, and iron oxides with a small fraction of calcium oxide (CaO). Morphologically, CFA particles are spherical, with large carbon molecules and a smooth texture surface. In terms of mineralogy; quartz, mullite, magnetite, and hematite are the dominant mineral phases of CFA and tend to be non-plastic, with permeability levels ranging from 8 × 10 -6 to 1.87 × 10 -4 cms -1 . Petrographically, CFA is enriched in inertinite and liptinites as well as collotelinite, collodetrinite, and vitrodetrinite particles. Moreover, CFA is found to be composed of various organic and inorganic particles. By virtue of multiple characterizations, it has been utilized in several applications for decades, which is still quite limited. Therefore, current study aim to provide helpful insights into the potential use of CFA-derived products in different ways to increase sustainability., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Airborne pollen are considered a major trigger of respiratory diseases that causes morbidity and subsequently affects a person's quality of life (QOL). Outdoor workers, such as gardeners, florists, etc., are at greater risk of allergies due to continuous exposure to the high concentration of allergens. The current study aims to assess the associated health risks among gardeners due to occupational exposure to airborne pollen. A semi-structured questionnaire-based survey was conducted among gardeners (496) in Chandigarh, covering their socio-demographic status, occupational and environmental history, and respiratory and other health-related problems. Out of 496 respondents from 26 gardens in the city, 72.58% fall under the category of plantsman (mali), followed by 15.72% of grass cutters and 3.02% of headmali/supervisor. The majority of gardeners were males (95.76%) and a maximum number of respondents were in the age group of 29-38 years (27.41%). Among all, 4.2%, 3.6%, and 3.2% of respondents perceived the problem of shortness of breath and breathing problems. At the same time, 3.2% of respondents perceived that their breathing is never wholly satisfactory and surprisingly, all of them are plantsman (mali). Moreover, 18.9% of the respondents covered their faces with a cloth and only 0.5% of the respondents wore both spectacles and covered their faces with a cloth. Out of all respondents, 6.5% reported irritation in the eyes without wearing any personal protective device. The results show that a large proportion of gardeners are illiterate and unaware of occupational hazards and pollen allergies in their workplaces. Moreover, the regulatory authorities conduct no formal health awareness and training/education sessions to minimize the exposure and associate risk. The findings of the study will aid in a better understanding of the working conditions and health status of occupational gardeners, as well as the development of appropriate methods to improve their working conditions., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The main aim of this study was to deliver green tea catechins with enhanced bioavailability using niosomal system. Catechins-loaded niosomes were prepared using food grade surfactant, Tween 60 and membrane stabilizers namely, lauryl alcohol, cetyl alcohol and cholesterol by thin film hydration technique. Catechins-loaded niosomes exhibited a hydrodynamic diameter of 58.48 nm with a narrow size distribution (PDI = 0.13) and zeta potential of - 31.75 mV, suggestive for homogeneity and good stability. Niosomes entrapped about 85.82% of catechin and showed sustained release under simulated GI conditions. Morphology of niosomal vesicles were carried out using scanning electron microscopy-energy X-ray dispersion spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and High-performance liquid chromatography analysis confirmed successful encapsulation of catechins. Antioxidant activity of catechins was retained in the niosomal form. Fortification of milk with catechins loaded niosomes showed no significant changes on sensory, physicochemical properties and exhibited higher antioxidant property., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2022.)

Ghee production form one of the largest segments of the milk consumption and utilization pattern in India. Recently, cow ghee has become more popular and fetching premium over buffalo ghee as there are innumerable health benefits credit to cow ghee since they contain an important array of nutrients and therapeutic principles. Therefore, the present investigation was conducted to differentiate and characterize cow ghee from buffalo ghee using physico-chemical parameters viz. BR reading, RM value, Polenske value, Kirschner value and different color values. Pure cow and buffalo ghee samples were prepared using creamery butter method. Pure ghee samples (cow and buffalo) and cow ghee samples admixed with buffalo ghee @ 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% were analyzed for above mentioned physico-chemical parameters and different color parameters. The results revealed that BR reading, RM value, Polenske value and Kirschner value of pure cow ghee ranged from 41.87-43.62, 27.5-31.13, 1.30-1.90 and 20.74-24.14 and in buffalo ghee these values ranged from 40.01-43.23, 31.91-39.99, 1.10-1.50 and 26.84-33.96, respectively. The color values i.e. lightness ( L ), redness( a ), yellowness ( b ), yellowness index ( Y ) and whiteness index ( W ) of pure cow ghee ranged from 70.17-81.56, - 14.04 to - 28.96, 59.68-79.31, 74.25-88.92 and 16.07-28.85 and of buffalo ghee ranged from 71.89-83.71, - 1.07 to - 11.92, 1.39-9.61, 5.21-22.46 and 68.74-84.61. BR reading, RM value, Polenske value and L , a , b and Y of cow ghee adulterated with buffalo ghee up to 20% falls within the range of different pure cow ghee samples but whiteness index ( W ) and Kirschner value of admixed cow ghee (23.91 and 34.86) were having significantly higher values than the pure cow ghee (21.07 and 25.45, respectively). Kirschner Value and whiteness index ( W ) can be used to distinguish cow ghee from buffalo ghee., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors have declared no conflict of interest for this article., (© Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2022.)

Air pollution has emerged as a leading global health risk in recent decades, where its health impacts are primarily focused on urban areas. In India, semi-urban and rural areas are also emerging as air pollution hotspots. As these regions are out of focus, the current study monitored air pollution (PM 2.5 ) at a rural district of Punjab in North India and attempted to study the associated health impacts. Hospital data of outpatient department (OPD), inpatient department (IPD) and all-cause mortality was correlated with change in PM 2.5 concentrations. PM 2.5 concentrations showed seasonal variations having relatively higher concentrations during post-monsoon and winter seasons. This rise in air pollution (annual average 92 µg/m 3 ) was found to be mainly due to crop residue burning, including local meteorology. In comparison, hospital data shows that hospital visits and admissions were higher during monsoon. This shows that hospital admissions could not be directly linked to air pollution in rural areas as other factors such as short days during winters and self-medication, socio-economic factors and dependency on local unauthorised traditional healers may influence. The application of the AirQ + model for short-term health effects reveals that out of 2582 total deaths, preventable deaths ranging from 246 (WHO guidelines value - 10 µg/m 3 ) to 159 (Indian NAAQS - 40 µg/m 3 ) could be ascribed to air pollution exposure and specifically PM 2.5 . However, these deaths are avoidable by developing strategies to minimise air pollution in rural areas. Hence, a comprehensive approach is needed to plan air pollution reduction strategies, including urban, semi-urban and rural areas., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Pollen allergy is considered a major public health problem that causes morbidity and subsequently affects a patient's quality of life. Pollen due to their large size cannot enter the thoracic regions of the respiratory tract but can affect the nasopharyngeal mucous membrane. At the same time, the submicronic-pollen particles can act as respirable particles reaching deeper into the upper airways leading to exacerbation of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other allergic reactions. Based on the existing literature, expanding evidence shows that climate change and air pollutants could affect the pollen number, morphology, season, allergen content, and distribution pattern. Hence, this will influence the prevalence and occurrence of allergies linked to pollen exposure. Being a part of biogenic pollutants, pollen allergens are not expected to diminish in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is imperative that steps need to be strengthened to improve and optimize preventive/adaptive strategies. This paper aims to review the major causes of widespread allergy, identify the major gaps, and suggest key preventive/adaptive measures to address the onset and exacerbation of pollen-related allergic diseases with a major focus on lower and middle-income countries. The study also discusses how-to implement the prevention and control measures at the individual, health care communities and organizations, Local Governments, National/International Governments levels to decrease the risk of illnesses associated with pollen allergy., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Pollen, climatic variables and air pollutants coexist in nature with the potential to interact with one another and play a crucial role in increasing allergic diseases. The current study evaluates the influence of meteorological parameters and air pollutants on the airborne pollen in an urban city, Chandigarh, situated in the Indo-Gangetic Plains. Airborne pollen monitoring was done following Spanish Aerobiological Network guidelines and dynamics of daily total pollen and six most abundant taxa were studied from June 2018 to June 2020. Among meteorological parameters, temperature and wind were the most correlated and influential parameters to airborne pollen concentration. Annual Pollen Integral (APIn) of Cannabis sativa (r = 0.52), Parthenium hysterophorus (r = 0.27), Poaceae (r = 0.32) and total pollen concentration (r = 0.30) showed a statistically significant positive correlation with temperature. In contrast, precipitation and relative humidity negatively correlated with APIn of total pollen concentration, Eucalyptus sp. and Poaceae except for Parthenium hysterophorus and Celtis occidentalis. Similar results were found with Seasonal Pollen Integral (SPIn) of total pollen concentration, six major taxa and meteorological variables. Spearman correlation performed for NOx showed a significant positive correlation among APIn and SPIn of Celtis occidentalis and insignificant among APIn and SPIn of Eucalyptus sp. and Morus alba. In contrast, except for Eucalyptus sp., PM 10 and PM 2.5 were negatively correlated among APIn and SPIn of total pollen concentration and other major taxa. Spearman's correlation of APIn and SPIn for each pollen taxon, meteorological parameters and air pollutants suggests that each taxon has a different pattern in response to all parameters. The study findings suggest that pollen response must be examined at the taxon level, not the assemblage level, having long time-series data. This will help to compute future scenarios of changing environmental factors and comprehend the relationships and trends among meteorology, air pollutants and aerobiology., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Coal thermal power plants are the dominant factor in producing various hazardous elements in surrounding surface soil, resulting in a significant human health hazard. In the current study, the seasonal (pre- and post-monsoon) concentration of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in surface soil around coal power production unit was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The possible health risks throughout multiple exposure routes, i.e., ingestion, dermal, and inhalation were estimated for adult and children. Furthermore, geo-accumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), pollution factor (CF), ecological risk index, and pollution load index (PLI) were applied to interpret the environmental pollution in the study area. The geospatial distribution pattern was computed to understand the trace and hazardous element distribution in the surface soil. As a result, the concentration of Fe (mg/kg) in pre-monsoon (15,620) and post-monsoon (27,180), Ni (mg/kg) in pre-monsoon (19.8), and post-monsoon (81.7) was found above the standard limits of soil prescribed by the WHO and FAO. Enrichment factor was observed between 0.95-6948 (pre-monsoon) and 0.53-116.09 (post-monsoon). The ecological risk index was found moderate to considerable for As and Cd metals during both seasons. In addition, the average PLI value was observed high for both seasons indicating the contamination of the study area with heavy metals. Moreover, Igeo values for Fe, Mg, and As were found relatively high. Conversely, health risks to the human population were found within the USEPA acceptable limits., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder affecting over five million people globally and has no established cure. Current AD-related treatments only alleviate cognitive and behavioral symptoms and do not address disease onset or progression, underlining the unmet need to create an effective, innovative AD therapeutic. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a new class of nanotherapeutics. These secreted, lipid-bound cellular signaling carriers show promise for potential clinical applications for neurodegenerative diseases like AD. Additionally, analyzing contents and characteristics of patient-derived EVs may address the unmet need for earlier AD diagnostic techniques, informing physicians of altered genetic expression or cellular communications specific to healthy and diseased physiological states. There are numerous recent advances in regenerative medicine using EVs and include bioengineering perspectives to modify EVs, target glial cells in neurodegenerative diseases like AD, and potentially use EVs to diagnose and treat AD earlier. This article is categorized under: Neurological Diseases > Biomedical Engineering Neurological Diseases > Molecular and Cellular Physiology Neurological Diseases > Stem Cells and Development., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Overt left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and congestive heart failure are known entities in Takayasu arteritis (TA). Subclinical LV dysfunction may develop in these patients despite normal LV ejection fraction (LVEF). Moreover, effect of treatment of aortic or renal artery narrowing in such patients is unknown., Methods: This study included 15 angiographically confirmed TA patients undergoing aortic and/or renal intervention. A comprehensive clinical, biochemical and echocardiographic (2-dimensional, speckle tracking and tissue doppler imaging) evaluation were done at baseline, 72 h, and six months post intervention., Results: Six patients (40%) had reduced LVEF (<50%) at baseline while rest 9 (60%) patients had reduced global longitudinal strain (GLS) but normal EF. Diastolic filling pattern was abnormal in all the patients. In patients with baseline reduced EF, mean EF improved from 24.62 ± 12.14% to 45.6 ± 9.45% (p = 0.001), E/e' ratio decreased from 15.15 ± 3.19 to 10.8 ± 2.56 (p = 0.005) and median NT pro BNP decreased from 1673 pg/ml (970-2401 pg/ml) to 80 pg/ml (40-354 pg/ml) (p = 0.001) at 6 months after interventional procedure. In patients with baseline normal EF, median NT pro BNP decreased from 512 pg/ml (80-898.5 pg/ml) to 34 pg/ml (29-70.8 pg/ml) (p < 0.01), mean GLS improved from -8.80 ± 0.77% to -16.3 ± 0.78% (p < 0.001) and mean E/e' decreased from 12.93 ± 2.63 to 7.8 ± 2.73 (p = 0.005) at 6 months follow up., Conclusion: LV dysfunction is common in patients with TA and obstructive lesions in aorta or renal arteries. GLS can be used to assess subclinical systolic dysfunction in these patients. Timely intervention can improve LV dysfunction and can even reverse the subclinical changes., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors have no conflict of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier, a division of RELX India, Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: More research is needed in the field of Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Treatments (ICBTs) for specific phobia in order to understand which characteristics are important in online exposure scenarios. The aim of the present work was to conduct a feasibility pilot study to explore participants' opinions, preferences, and acceptability ratings of two types of images (still images vs 360° navigable images) in an ICBT for Flying Phobia (FP). A secondary aim was to test the potential effectiveness of the two active treatment arms compared to a waiting list control group. An exploratory aim was to compare the role of navigable images vs. still images in the level of sense of presence and reality judgment and explore their possible mediation in treatment effectiveness., Methods: Participants were randomly allocated to three conditions: NO-FEAR Airlines with still images ( n  = 26), NO-FEAR Airlines with still and navigable images (n = 26), and a waiting list group (n = 26). Primary outcome measures were participants' opinions, preferences, satisfaction, and acceptance regarding the images used in the exposure scenarios. Secondary outcome measures included FP symptomatology outcomes and measures of sense of presence and reality judgment., Results: Participants in the study preferred navigable images over still images before and after treatment (over 84%), and they considered them more effective and logical for the treatment of their problem. However, adherence in the experimental conditions was low (42.3% dropout rate), and more participants withdrew from the group that included navigable images compared to the group that only included still images (14 vs. 8), with no statistical differences in attrition between the two conditions. NO-FEAR Airlines proved to be effective in reducing FP symptomatology compared to the control group, with large between-group effect sizes on all FP measures (ranging from 0.76 to 2.79). No significant mediation effect was found for sense of presence or reality judgment in treatment effectiveness., Discussion: The results of the current study suggest that participants prefer more immersive images in exposure scenarios, providing data that can help to design useful exposure scenarios to treat specific phobias in the future. They also provide evidence supporting the effectiveness of an ICBT for FP., Trial Registration: Registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03900559) on April 9, 2019. Retrospectively registered., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating degenerative disease characterized by an immunological attack on the myelin sheath leading to demyelination and axon degeneration. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) and secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) have become attractive targets as therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as MS due to their potent immunomodulatory and regenerative properties. The placenta is a unique source of MSCs (PMSCs), demonstrates "fetomaternal" tolerance during pregnancy, and serves as a novel source of MSCs for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. PMSCs and PMSC-EVs have been shown to promote remyelination in animal models of MS, however, the molecular mechanisms by which modulation of autoimmunity and promotion of myelination occurs have not been well elucidated. The current review will address the molecular mechanisms by which PMSC-EVs can promote remyelination in MS., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The study examines the variation in organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM 2.5 concentration at an urban location of Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) to understand the impact of seasonality and regional crop residue burning activities. Seasonal cluster analysis of backward air masses and concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis was performed to identify seasonal transport pathways and potential source regions of carbonaceous aerosols. The mean PM 2.5 level during the study period was 57 ± 41.6 μgm -3 (5.0-187.3 μgm -3 ), whereas OC and EC concentration ranges from 2.8 μgm -3 to 28.2 μgm -3 and 1.3 μgm -3 to 15.5 μgm -3 with a mean value of 8.4 ± 5.5 μgm -3 and 5.1 ± 3.3 μgm -3 respectively. The highest mean PM 2.5 concentration was found during the winter season (111.3 ± 25.5 μgm -3 ), which rises 3.6 times compared to the monsoon season. OC and EC also follow a similar trend having the highest levels in winter. Total carbonaceous aerosols contribute ∼38% of PM 2.5 composition. The positive linear trend between OC and EC identified the key sources. HYSPLIT cluster analysis of backward air mass trajectories revealed that during the post-monsoon, winters, pre-monsoon, and monsoon, 71%, 81%, 60%, and 43% of air masses originate within the 500 km radius of IGP. CWT analysis and abundance of OC in post-monsoon and winters season establish a linkage between regional solid-biomass fuel use and crop residue burning activities, including meteorology. Moreover, the low annual average OC/EC ratio (1.75) indicates the overall influence of vehicular emissions. The current dataset of carbonaceous aerosols collated with other Indian studies could be used to validate the global aerosol models on a regional scale and aid in evidence-based air pollution reduction strategies., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

There is a growing need for public health and veterinary laboratories to perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) for monitoring antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and protecting the safety of people and animals. With the availability of smaller and more affordable sequencing platforms coupled with well-defined bioinformatic protocols, the technological capability to incorporate this technique for real-time surveillance and genomic epidemiology has greatly expanded. There is a need, however, to ensure that data are of high quality. The goal of this study was to assess the utility of a small benchtop sequencing platform using a multi-laboratory verification approach. Thirteen laboratories were provided the same equipment, reagents, protocols and bacterial reference strains. The Illumina DNA Prep and Nextera XT library preparation kits were compared, and 2×150 bp iSeq i100 chemistry was used for sequencing. Analyses comparing the sequences produced from this study with closed genomes from the provided strains were performed using open-source programs. A detailed, step-by-step protocol is publicly available via protocols.io (https://www.protocols.io/view/iseq-bacterial-wgs-protocol-bij8kcrw). The throughput for this method is approximately 4-6 bacterial isolates per sequencing run (20-26 Mb total load). The Illumina DNA Prep library preparation kit produced high-quality assemblies and nearly complete AMR gene annotations. The Prep method produced more consistent coverage compared to XT, and when coverage benchmarks were met, nearly all AMR, virulence and subtyping gene targets were correctly identified. Because it reduces the technical and financial barriers to generating WGS data, the iSeq platform is a viable option for small laboratories interested in genomic surveillance of microbial pathogens.

Canine astrovirus (CAstV) and canine bocavirus (CBoV) are involved in cases of mild, and sometimes severe, gastroenteritis in dogs. Fecal samples from two dead dogs with gastroenteritis were received at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory to determine the cause of death. Small round viruses of 20-35 nm diameter were observed by negative contrast electron microscopy. The samples were subjected to Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Both samples were strongly positive for CAstV; all viral reads were related to CAstV. In addition, sample number 1 had a few reads of CBoV. Two complete sequences of CAstV were identified (6625 and 6627 nt in length) with 95% nt identity. RT-PCR and PCR were used to confirm CAstV and CBoV infections in successive samples of canine gastroenteritis. Sanger sequencing was done on nucleic acids from positive samples. Of a total of ten samples, CAstV and CBoV infections were confirmed in six and eight animals, respectively. Four animals had mixed infection with both viruses. All sequences of ORF1b gene of CAstVs showed closest clusters in phylogenetic tree with 96-100% nucleotide and amino acids identity. On the other hand, identity between VP2 gene of different CBoV strains in this study ranged from 93%- 100%. All strains were located close to each other except the divergent MT078234 strain, which was arranged in a separate branch and was closer to reference strain JN648103/USA/2010. This study highlights the importance of electron microscopy and next generation sequencing for early detection and characterization of viruses associated with dog gastroenteritis., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

The COVID-19 lockdown resulted in improved air quality in many cities across the world. With the objective of what could be the new learning from the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns for better air quality and human health, a critical synthesis of the available evidence concerning air pollution reduction, the population at risk and natural versus anthropogenic emissions was conducted. Can the new societal norms adopted during pandemics, such as the use of face cover, awareness regarding respiratory hand hygiene, and physical distancing, help in reducing disease burden in the future? The use of masks will be more socially acceptable during the high air pollution episodes in lower and middle-income countries, which could help to reduce air pollution exposure. Although post-pandemic, some air pollution reduction strategies may be affected, such as car-pooling and the use of mass transit systems for commuting to avoid exposure to airborne infections like coronavirus. However, promoting non-motorized modes of transportation such as cycling and walking within cities as currently being enabled in Europe and other countries could overshadow such losses. This demand focus on increasing walkability in a town for all ages and populations, including for a differently-abled community. The study highlighted that for better health and sustainability there. is also a need to promote other measures such as work-from-home, technological infrastructure, the extension of smart cities, and the use of information technology., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The search for new anticancer agents is considered a dynamic field of medicinal chemistry. In recent years, the synthesis of compounds with anticancer potential has increased and a large number of structurally varied compounds displaying potent anticancer activities have been published. Pyrazole is an important biologically active scaffold that possesses nearly all types of biological activities. The aim of this review is to collate literature work reported by researchers to provide an overview on in vivo and in vitro anticancer activities of pyrazole based derivatives among the diverse biological activities displayed by them and also to present recent efforts made on this heterocyclic moiety regarding anticancer activities. This review has been driven by the increasing number of publications on this issue, which have been reported in the literature since the end of the 20 th century (from 1995-to date)., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

In India, Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP) is becoming the hotspot of air pollution due to increasing anthropogenic activities such as rapid industrial growth, infrastructure development, transportation activities, and seasonal practice of crop residue burning. In the current study, seasonal variation in ambient air quality for 14 parameters, i.e., particulate matter (PM), trace gases, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), along with meteorological parameters, was studied in 21 districts of the Haryana state for year 2019, situated in IGP. To analyze spatial variation of pollutants, ambient air quality data of 23 continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations were divided into three zones based on ecology and cropping pattern. All the zones showed annual mean PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentrations much higher than national ambient air quality standards. Annual mean PM 10 concentration (±standard deviation) in Zones-1, 2, and 3 was 156±86, 174±93, and 143±74 μg m -3 , whereas for PM 2.5 was 71±44, 85±54, and 78±47 μg m -3 . The results showed a considerable seasonal variation in the concentration of all pollutants. Most of the pollutants peak in the post-monsoon season, followed by winters in which crop residue burning predominates in many parts of the Haryana. PM 10 concentrations increased by 65-112% and PM 2.5 concentrations increased by 131-147% in the post-monsoon season compared to monsoons. The post-monsoon season showed the highest concentration of PM 10 , NO, and toluene (Zone-1); and PM 2.5 , NH 3 , CO, and benzene (Zone-2); whereas in winters, SO 2 (Zone-1); ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene, and xylene (Zone-2); and NO 2 and NOx (Zone-3) showed the maximum pollution levels. The O 3 concentration was highest in the pre-monsoon season (Zone-1). The satellite-based fire counts and PCA results show a significant influence of crop residue burning in the post-monsoon season and solid biomass burning in winters on Haryana's air quality. The study could help to understand seasonal variation in ambient air quality and the influence of factors such as crop residue burning in the IGP region, which could help to formulate season-specific control measures to improve regional air quality., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The seasonal burning of crop residue significantly affects the environment, leading to poor air quality over Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) in India. Hence, there have been significant efforts to minimize crop residue burning through policy, innovations, and awareness measures. However, an abrupt increase in paddy residue burning was observed over IGP during 2020. Hence, the study explores the factors leading to this sharp rise. The business as usual trends analysis revealed that paddy crop residue burning activities increased significantly (60%) in 2020 compared to the previous year. The massive increase in crop residue burning consequently seems to be linked with the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the farmer's income, including the poor compliance by the regulatory authorities. The study also highlights the issues and prospects for sustainable crop residue management and explores the solutions to minimize crop residue burning. There are few crops in India that have guaranteed minimum sale price and are also subsidized. These provisions encourage farmers to grow those particular crops, resulting in the generation of large amounts of crop residue from these specific crops. There have been several efforts by the Indian government, including based on recent court intervention. Still, there is no respite from burning activities and the occurrence of Delhi winter smog every year. Hence, the study emphasizes a need to adopt integrated approaches having in situ eco-friendly solutions, which enhances the farmer's income and focuses on employability, capacity building, awareness generation, and in situ economically viable solutions., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Porcine Circovirus 2 (PCV2) can cause multiple clinical conditions known as porcine circovirus-associated diseases (PCVAD). Before the wide availability of PCV2 vaccines, PCVAD resulted in significant losses to the global swine industry. PCV2's rapid evolutionary dynamics are comparable to single-stranded RNA viruses. Thus, shifts in the dominance and distribution of different genotypes may frequently occur, resulting in the emergence and spread of varying PCV2 genotypes and recombinant strains in swine. This study aims at identifying the PCV2 genotypes currently circulating in Chile. Seven hundred thirty-eight samples were obtained from 21 swine farms between 2020 and 2021. The samples were tested using PCR for species detection and genotyping. Sequencing and phylogenetic analyses were conducted in selected samples. PCV2 was detected in 26.9% of the PCR reactions and 67% of the sampled farms. The genotypes were determined in nine farms, PCV2a in one farm, PCV2b in four, and PCV2d in five, with PCV2b and PCV2d co-circulating in one farm. The phylogenetic analysis of twelve ORF2 sequences obtained (PCV2a = 5; PCV2b = 4; PCV2d = 3) showed a PCV2a Chilean strains monophyletic cluster; closely related to Chilean viruses collected in 2012 and 2013. Of the three different PCV2b sequenced viruses, two viruses were close to the root of the PCV2b group, whereas the remaining one grouped with a South Korean virus. PCV2d sequences were closely related to Asian viruses. A previously reported PCV2a/PCV2d recombinant strain was not detected in this study. Our results suggest the emergence and potential shift to PCV2d genotype in Chilean farms., 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 © 2021 Ariyama, Agüero, Valdés, Berrios, Bucarey, Mor, Brito and Neira.)

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore old persons' experiences of positive solitude (PS) and the gaps between their experience and professional caregivers' perceptions of older adults' experiences of PS. Moreover, we attempt to understand the basic mechanism that may explain these gaps., Design: A qualitative method was used., Participants: Fourty-one older adults (aged 65-103 years) and 2 groups of professionals: 16 occupational therapists with a specialization in gerontology and 41 gerontology graduate students from other occupations., Measurement: Four open-ended questions about PS were asked. The older adults described their views on PS and experiences during solitude. The two caregiver groups, who are familiar with older adults, answered the questions twice, referring once to themselves and once to older adults in general., Results: A. Gaps exist between old peoples' and caregivers' perceptions and experience of PS. B. The caregivers believe that older adults cannot easily enjoy PS. C. Caregivers believe that there are certain preconditions for older adults' experience of PS. D. Differences in attitude toward older adults between the caregiver groups were found., Conclusions: Although old people occasionally prefer PS, culture and age bias may prevent caregivers from accepting older adults' need for PS. Practical implications include the need to raise awareness of age bias among caregiving staff, in particular regarding their acceptance of older adults' PS experiences. This may improve the staff's willingness to enable older adults to experience PS without interruption.

This global study, which has been coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmospheric Watch (WMO/GAW) programme, aims to understand the behaviour of key air pollutant species during the COVID-19 pandemic period of exceptionally low emissions across the globe. We investigated the effects of the differences in both emissions and regional and local meteorology in 2020 compared with the period 2015-2019. By adopting a globally consistent approach, this comprehensive observational analysis focuses on changes in air quality in and around cities across the globe for the following air pollutants PM 2.5 , PM 10 , PMC (coarse fraction of PM), NO 2 , SO 2 , NOx, CO, O 3 and the total gaseous oxidant (OX = NO 2  + O 3 ) during the pre-lockdown, partial lockdown, full lockdown and two relaxation periods spanning from January to September 2020. The analysis is based on in situ ground-based air quality observations at over 540 traffic, background and rural stations, from 63 cities and covering 25 countries over seven geographical regions of the world. Anomalies in the air pollutant concentrations (increases or decreases during 2020 periods compared to equivalent 2015-2019 periods) were calculated and the possible effects of meteorological conditions were analysed by computing anomalies from ERA5 reanalyses and local observations for these periods. We observed a positive correlation between the reductions in NO 2 and NOx concentrations and peoples' mobility for most cities. A correlation between PMC and mobility changes was also seen for some Asian and South American cities. A clear signal was not observed for other pollutants, suggesting that sources besides vehicular emissions also substantially contributed to the change in air quality. As a global and regional overview of the changes in ambient concentrations of key air quality species, we observed decreases of up to about 70% in mean NO 2 and between 30% and 40% in mean PM 2.5 concentrations over 2020 full lockdown compared to the same period in 2015-2019. However, PM 2.5 exhibited complex signals, even within the same region, with increases in some Spanish cities, attributed mainly to the long-range transport of African dust and/or biomass burning (corroborated with the analysis of NO 2 /CO ratio). Some Chinese cities showed similar increases in PM 2.5 during the lockdown periods, but in this case, it was likely due to secondary PM formation. Changes in O 3 concentrations were highly heterogeneous, with no overall change or small increases (as in the case of Europe), and positive anomalies of 25% and 30% in East Asia and South America, respectively, with Colombia showing the largest positive anomaly of ~70%. The SO 2 anomalies were negative for 2020 compared to 2015-2019 (between ~25 to 60%) for all regions. For CO, negative anomalies were observed for all regions with the largest decrease for South America of up to ~40%. The NO 2 /CO ratio indicated that specific sites (such as those in Spanish cities) were affected by biomass burning plumes, which outweighed the NO 2 decrease due to the general reduction in mobility (ratio of ~60%). Analysis of the total oxidant (OX = NO 2  + O 3 ) showed that primary NO 2 emissions at urban locations were greater than the O 3 production, whereas at background sites, OX was mostly driven by the regional contributions rather than local NO 2 and O 3 concentrations. The present study clearly highlights the importance of meteorology and episodic contributions (e.g., from dust, domestic, agricultural biomass burning and crop fertilizing) when analysing air quality in and around cities even during large emissions reductions. There is still the need to better understand how the chemical responses of secondary pollutants to emission change under complex meteorological conditions, along with climate change and socio-economic drivers may affect future air quality. The implications for regional and global policies are also significant, as our study clearly indicates that PM 2.5 concentrations would not likely meet the World Health Organization guidelines in many parts of the world, despite the drastic reductions in mobility. Consequently, revisions of air quality regulation (e.g., the Gothenburg Protocol) with more ambitious targets that are specific to the different regions of the world may well be required., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

This paper attempts to develop a better understanding of the positive solitude (PS) phenomenon and its meaning among age groups, as well as formulate a unanimous definition for PS. A qualitative study ( N = 124) was conducted. Participants were gerontology professionals and laypeople. Interviews were conducted and content was analyzed in order to understand the essence of PS, themes, and subthemes. Two major categories were found: the essence and the components of the PS experience. Seven PS content categories and three meta-themes were raised: (1) PS is a matter of choice; (2) PS is satisfying and enjoyable; and (3) PS is meaningful. Differences in PS categories between younger and older adults were found. The meta-themes served as the foundation of a new definition. PS has different attributes in old age. A unified definition of PS may help distinguishing between PS and other forms of being alone. Recognizing and facilitating the PS experience among older adults might be beneficial and contribute to their quality of life.