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Rice is one of the principal staple foods, essential for safeguarding the global food and nutritional security, but due to different natural and anthropogenic sources, it also acts as one of the biggest reservoirs of potentially toxic metal(loids) like As, Hg, Se, Pb and Cd. This review summarizes mobilization, translocation and speciation mechanism of these metal(loids) in soil-plant continuum as well as available cost-effective remediation measures and future research needs to eliminate the long-term risk to human health. High concentrations of these elements not only cause toxicity problems in plants, but also in animals that consume them and gradual deposition of these elements leads to the risk of bioaccumulation. The extensive occurrence of contaminated rice grains globally poses substantial public health risk and merits immediate action. People living in hotspots of contamination are exposed to higher health risks, however, rice import/export among different countries make the problem of global concern. Accumulation of As, Hg, Se, Pb and Cd in rice grains can be reduced by reducing their bioavailability, and controlling their uptake by rice plants. The contaminated soils can be reclaimed by phytoremediation, bioremediation, chemical amendments and mechanical measures; however these methods are either too expensive and/or too slow. Integration of innovative agronomic practices like crop establishment methods and improved irrigation and nutrient management practices are important steps to help mitigate the accumulation in soil as well as plant parts. Adoption of transgenic techniques for development of rice cultivars with low accumulation in edible plant parts could be a realistic option that would permit rice cultivation in soils with high bioavailability of these metal(loid)s., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

On March 11, 2020, the novel Corona virus disease (COVID-19), was described as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO). Globally, the COVID-19 has not only affected the public health socially but also has rigorously affected economically. Substantial declines in income, increase in unemployment, and distractions in the transportation, amenities, and industrial sectors are amongst the major concerns of the pandemic disease extenuation. Furthermore, the governments of most of the countries underestimated the menaces of COVID-19 spread and were typically responsive for the calamities in their respective countries. As outbreak of this pandemic is not likely to wane in the nearby future, preventive actions are prerequisite to prevent infection spread, save people lives and also to save the economic affluence. In this review, based on the present knowledge and available literature, we have demonstrated the various aspects of pre-and post-COVID-19 effects over the social and economic phases worldwide. Moreover, the evidence based data have been summarized regarding threats, social influences, scientific upgrades, moral dynamics, stress and adapting in the pre- and post- COVID-19 situations., Competing Interests: The authors show no conflict of interest., (© 2020 The Authors.)

Background: The scope of nanotechnology has been extended to almost every sphere of our daily life. As a result of this, nanocarriers like Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are gaining considerable attention for their use in various therapeutic and diagnostic applications., Objective: The objective of the current article is to review various important features of CNTs that make them as efficient carriers for anticancer drug delivery in cancer therapeutics., Methods: In this review article, different works of literature are reported on various prospective applications of CNTs in the targeting of multiple kinds of cancerous cells of different organs via; the loading of various anticancer agents., Results: Actually, CNTs are the 3rd allotropic type of the carbon-fullerenes that are a part of the cylindrical tubular architecture. CNTs possess some excellent physicochemical characteristics and unique structural features that provide an effective platform to deliver anticancer drugs to target specific sites for achieving a high level of therapeutic effectiveness even in cancer therapeutics. For better results, CNTs are functionalized and modified with different classes of therapeutically bioactive molecules via; the formation of stable covalent bonding or by the use of supramolecular assemblies based on the noncovalent interaction(s). In recent years, the applications of CNTs for the delivery of various kinds of anticancer drugs and targeting of tumor sites have been reported by various research groups., Conclusion: CNTs represent an emerging nanocarrier material for the delivery and targeting of numerous anticancer drugs in cancer therapeutics., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), particularly the Glomerales group, play a paramount role in plant nutrient uptake, and abiotic and biotic stress management in rice, but recent evidence revealed that elevated CO 2 concentration considerably reduces the Glomerales group in soil. In view of this, the present study was initiated to understand the interaction effect of native Glomerales species application in rice plants (cv. Naveen) under elevated CO 2 concentrations (400 ± 10, 550 ± 20, and 700 ± 20 ppm) in open-top chambers. Three different modes of application of the AMF inoculum were evaluated, of which, combined application of AMF at the seedling production and transplanting stages showed increased AMF colonization, which significantly improved grain yield by 25.08% and also increased uptake of phosphorus by 18.2% and nitrogen by 49.5%, as observed at 700-ppm CO 2 concentration. Organic acids secretion in rice root increased in AMF-inoculated plants exposed to 700-ppm CO 2 concentration. To understand the overall effect of CO 2 elevation on AMF interaction with the rice plant, principal component and partial least square regression analysis were performed, which found both positive and negative responses under elevated CO 2 concentration., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Low-potency corticosteroid betamethasone valerate and vitamin-A tazarotene are used in combination for effective treatment of psoriasis. There is no robust high-performance liquid chromatography analytical technique available for simultaneous estimation of betamethasone valerate and tazarotene in conventional and nanocarriers based formulations. A simple, accurate, robust isocratic high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed for simultaneous estimation of betamethasone valerate and tazarotene in topical pharmaceutical formulations. The developed method was validated as per the regulatory guidelines. The validated method was linear over the concentration range of 150-6000 ng/mL (r 2  > 0.999) at 239 nm wavelength. Limits of detection and quantification of two analytes were 50 and 150 ng/mL, respectively. The %relative standard deviation for intraday and interday precision was less than 2%. The method was also evaluated in the presence of forced degradation conditions. The developed method was successfully applied for in vitro and ex vivo drug release studies of in-house designed nanoformulations., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The growing diversity of topological classes leads to ambiguity between classes that share similar boundary phenomenology. This is the status of bulk bismuth. Recent studies have classified it as either a strong or a higher-order topological insulator, both of which host helical modes on their boundaries. We resolve the topological classification of bismuth by spectroscopically mapping the response of its boundary modes to a screw-dislocation. We find that the one-dimensional mode, on step-edges, extends over a wide energy range and does not open a gap near the screw-dislocations. This signifies that this mode binds to the screw-dislocation, as expected for a material with nonzero weak indices. We argue that the small energy gap, at the time reversal invariant momentum L , positions bismuth within the critical region of a topological phase transition between a higher-order topological insulator and a strong topological insulator with nonzero weak indices., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).)

The diversity of cellulolytic bacteria from the rice-pulse system can be sourced for identification of efficient cellulose decomposing microbial strains. In the present study, the abundance, structural diversity, and cellulolytic potential of the culturable bacterial community were studied in 5-year old rice-pulse system under different resource conservation technologies. Higher cellulose (68% more) and xylanase (35% more) activities were observed under zero tilled soil. The populations of cellulolytic bacteria were significantly higher (44%) in zero tillage (ZT) treatment than those of conventional practice. Results revealed that the cellulolytic bacterial diversity was found to be significantly higher under ZT practice, but the present population may not be sufficient for effective recycling of organic wastes in this system. Out of 290 bacterial isolates, 20 isolates had significantly higher cellulolytic activities, of which the top three superior isolates were received from ZT practice. The cellulolytic bacterial diversity based on 16S rDNA sequencing data revealed that the Firmicutes was the most dominant phyla and the Bacillus spp. were the common genus, the observation also showed that there were 17 different haplotypes were recorded among 20 isolates of cellulolytic bacteria. The present findings indicated that long-term ZT in the rice-pulse system could be a unique source for efficient cellulose decomposing bacteria and further the efficient bacterial strains isolated from this system can be used as efficient bioinoculants for in situ as well as ex-situ decomposition of rice straw particularly in conservation agriculture., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

A field experiment was conducted at Indian Council of Agricultural Research-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, India in the dry seasons of 2015 and 2016 to assess the water vapor flux (FH 2 O) and its relationship with other climatic variables. The FH 2 O and climatic variables were measured by an eddy covariance system and a micrometeorological observatory. Daily mean FH 2 O during the dry seasons of 2015 and 2016 were 0.009-0.092 g m -2 s -1 and 0.014-0.101 g m -2 s -1 , respectively. Seasonal average FH 2 O was 14.6% higher in 2016 than that in 2015. Diurnal variation for FH 2 O showed a bell-shaped curve with its peak at 13:30-14:00 Indian Standard Time (IST) in both the years. Carbon dioxide flux was found higher with rise in FH 2 O. This relationship was stronger at higher vapor pressure deficit (VPD) (20 ≤ VPD ≤ 40 and VPD > 40 hPa). The FH 2 O showed significant positive correlation with latent heat flux, net radiation flux, photosynthatically active radiation, air, water and soil temperatures, shortwave down and upwell radiations, maximum and minimum temperatures, evaporation, and relative humidity in both the years. Principal component analysis showed that FH 2 O was very close to latent heat flux in both the years (Pearson correlation coefficient close to 1). The two-dimensional observation map of the principal component F1 and F2 showed the observations taken during the vegetative stage and panicle initiation stage, and flowering stage and maturity stage were closer to each other. It can be concluded that the most important climatic variables controlling the FH 2 O were latent heat of vaporization, net radiation, air temperature, soil temperatures, and water temperature.

A transient three dimensional (3D) theoretical axisymmetric model is developed for heat exchange across the human respiratory tract during inspiration phase and applied to study the changes in the airway temperature and velocity profile for varying ventilation rates and inhalation temperatures. A multi-compartment approach is used to study the same to avoid the airway scaling problem from micro to nano scale. This analysis also includes the role of water evaporation in mucus and non perfused tissue layers and the role of capillary bed in thermal variations during respiration. The results of heat transfer in airway and mucus layer depend on the local morphological parameters. The results are compared with the case of hypothetical regular geometry to show the significance of local morphology. The location where the inhaled air gets saturated with the body core temperature is computed to estimate the saturation distance of air. The complete analysis is made for two breathing cycles with different inhalation to exhalation ratios. The results indicate that decreasing the ventilation rate and increasing the respiration cycle can avoid the deep penetration of heat into the tract and consequently tissue thermal injury can be avoided. We have also explained numerically the role of mucus layer in avoiding tissue injury in intra-thoracic airways. We have also observed a significant difference in results for high ventilation rates between the cases of actual (cast replica) and regular airway geometry. The numerical results are in good adjustment with existing experimental data and thus validate our approach., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present research work describes a novel method for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using purple heart plant leaves extract, which is recognized as frequently found in households as an ornamental plant. The aqueous methanolic extract of purple heart plant leaves was prepared and employed in the synthesis of stable silver nanoparticles via biological reduction method. The purple heart plant leaves extract-mediated synthesized silver nanoparticles were systematically optimized using Box-Behnken design considering the effect of various independent variables (factors) like concentration of AgNO 3 , temperature and volume of purple heart plant leaves extract solution on the responses like particle size and polydispersity index of synthesized silver nanoparticles were optimized. Mathematical modelling was performed using quadratic polynomial model and response surface analysis was done to understand the factor-response relationship. The synthesized silver nanoparticles at optimum condition were found to be of spherical in shape under TEM with particle size of 98 nm and polydispersity index of 0.15. Optimized silver nanoparticles were further characterized through UV-VIS spectrophotometry, FTIR spectroscopy and TEM imaging studies. Also, the silver nanoparticles were evaluated for antibacterial activity on E. coli and S. aureus. In a nutshell, the studies construed successful synthesis of silver nanoparticles along with thorough understanding of the associated factors influencing their quality characteristics and significantly improved antibacterial activity as beneficial effect., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Oxidative stress generates reactive oxygen species which causes cell damage of living organisms and are normally detoxified by antioxidants. Indirect reports signify the damages caused by reactive oxygen species and neutralized by antioxidant, but the direct evidence to confirm this hypothesis is still unclear. To validate our hypothesis, an attempt was made in a diazotrophic bacterium (Azotobacter chroococcum Avi2) as a biological system, and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and ascorbic acid were used as oxidative stress and antioxidant supplement, respectively. Additionally, rice plant-growth attributes by Avi2 was also assessed under H 2 O 2 and ascorbic acid. Results indicated that higher concentration of H 2 O 2 (2.5 mM-4.5 mM) showed the complete mortality of Avi2, whereas one ppm ascorbic acid neutralized the effect of H 2 O 2 . Turbidity, colony forming unit, DNA quantity, nifH gene abundance, indole acetic acid and ammonia productions were significantly (p < 0.5) increased by 11.93%, 17.29%, 19.80%, 74.77%, 71.89%, and 42.53%, respectively in Avi2-treated with 1.5 mM H 2 O 2 plus ascorbic acid compared to 1.5 mM H 2 O 2 alone. Superoxide dismutase was significantly (p < 0.5) increased by 60.85%, whereas catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities were significantly (p < 0.05) decreased by 64.28% and 68.88% in Avi2-treated with 1.5 mM H 2 O 2 plus ascorbic acid compared to 1.5 mM H 2 O 2 alone. Germination percentage of three rice cultivars (FR13a, Naveen and Sahbhagi dhan) were significantly (p < 0.5) increased by 20%, 13.33%, and 4%, respectively in Avi2-treated with 0.6 mM H 2 O 2 plus ascorbic acid compared with uninoculated control. Overall, this study indicated that ascorbic acid formulation neutralizes the H 2 O 2 -oxidative stress and enhances the survivability and plant growth-promoting efficacy of A. chroococcum Avi2 and therefore, it may be used as an effective formulation of bio-inoculants in rice under oxidative stress., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

This review covers the current and emerging analytical methods used in laboratory, field, landscape and regional contexts for measuring soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration in agricultural soil. Soil depth plays an important role in estimating SOC sequestration. Selecting appropriate sampling design, depth of soil, use of proper analytical methods and base line selection are prerequisites for estimating accurately the soil carbon stocks. Traditional methods of wet digestion and dry combustion (DC) are extensively used for routine laboratory analysis; the latter is considered to be the "gold standard" and superior to the former for routine laboratory analysis. Recent spectroscopic techniques can measure SOC stocks in laboratory and in-situ even up to a deeper depth. Aerial spectroscopy using multispectral and/or hyperspectral sensors located on aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or satellite platforms can measure surface soil organic carbon. Although these techniques' current precision is low, the next generation hyperspectral sensor with improved signal noise ratio will further improve the accuracy of prediction. At the ecosystem level, carbon balance can be estimated directly using the eddy-covariance approach and indirectly by employing agricultural life cycle analysis (LCA). These methods have tremendous potential for estimating SOC. Irrespective of old or new approaches, depending on the resources and research needed, they occupy a unique place in soil carbon and climate research. This paper highlights the overview, potential limitations of various scale-dependent techniques for measuring SOC sequestration in agricultural soil., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The construction of functionalizable branched DNA (bDNA) relies on the designing of oligonucleotides and exploitation of their complementary chemistries. The stability of these structures largely depends on the hybridization specificity of the contributing oligonucleotides. However, most of the bDNA structures are not found suitable for in vivo application due to poor yield owing to uncharacterized hybridization efficiency and instability in biological fluids. In this report, our group has explored a mechanistic way for studying the hybridization pathway of genomic sequence derived oligonucleotides that are self-assembled to fabricate robust bDNA structures. The effect of change in nucleotide sequences on bDNA stability was studied by taking oligonucleotides derived from primers of different genes. Additionally, the stability of the bDNA in solutions with different pH, salts, and DNaseI which mimics physiological environment was reported. It was found that genomic sequence derived oligonucleotides self-assembled in a cooperative manner to yield the designed bDNAs, which are stable in physiological environment.

Main Conclusion: Illumina-Miseq ® -based cyanobiont diversity and biomass were analyzed in six Azolla spp. Results revealed that 93-98% of total operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belong to Nostacaceae followed by Cylindrospermopsis with about 1-6% OTUs. The taxonomy of Azolla-cyanobiont is a long-term debate within the scientific community. Morphological and biochemical-based reports indicated the presence of Anabaena, Nostoc and/or Trichormus azollae as abundant Azolla-cyanobionts, however, molecular data did not support the abundance of Anabaena and/or Nostoc. To understand furthermore, the cyanobiont diversity in six species of Azolla (A. microphylla, A. mexicana, A. filiculoides, A. caroliniana, A. pinnata and A. rubra) was analyzed based on 16S rRNA Illumina-MiSeq sequencing. Additionally, biomass and nutrient profiling of Azolla spp. were analyzed and correlated with cyanobiont diversity. Illumina-MiSeq data revealed that 99.6-99.9% of total operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonged to Nostocophycideae (class), Nostocales (order) and Nostacaceae (family). At genus level, the unassigned affiliation (93.4-97.9%) under Nostacaceae family was abundant followed by Cylindrospermopsis OTUs (1.1-6.0%). Interestingly, A. pinnata harboured maximum Cylindrospermopsis OTUs and also recorded higher biomass (40.67 g m -2  day -1 ), whereas crude protein (25.9%) and antioxidants (76.9%) were recorded to be higher in A. microphylla. Biplot analysis revealed that A. pinnata and its cyanobiont abundance were positively correlated with neutral and acid detergent fibers. Overall, the present findings deepened the understanding about cyanobiont in Azolla and its relations with Azolla nutrient profiling.

Malaria, one of the most severe global diseases, infects nearly 300 million people causing death of about a million population annually. Herein we have reported design, synthesis and biological evaluation of potent antimalarial compounds that target melatonin hormone as a potential pathway for the inhibition of the parasite proliferation. The molecular design is based on melatonin and indole based synthetic and natural antimalarial agents. The library of compounds was accessed via an iodine catalyzed one pot organocatalytic ring opening of 1-aryltetrahydro-β-carbolines followed by in situ imination of the resulting C 2 -aroyl intermediates. Inhibition of parasite growth progression (3D7 and chloroquine resistant RKL9 strain) in the presence of the tested compounds indicated that few of the compounds substantially inhibited the parasite survival and the most potent compound 2j blocked the parasite growth at the trophozoite stage. Compound 2j also disrupted the melatonin induced synchronization of the parasite culture in vitro. The active compounds were screened against melatonin receptor MT1 to demonstrate substantial binding., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Laser assisted aerodynamic separation not only suffers from lengthy homogenization time of the feed gas mixture but also dilution of the enriched stream when the duration of the pulsed gas jet stream far exceeds that of the emission of the pulsed laser. We report here practical techniques to overcome the former and alleviate the latter by imposing forced circulation of the feed gas prior to affecting aerodynamic separation and the rim gas during the separation process, respectively. The forced circulation of the feed gas comprising the process gas and the buffer gas resulted in drastic reduction in the time required for their thorough mixing. The recirculation of the rim gas, on the other hand, back to the pulsed nozzle through the feed vessel allowed its increased interaction with the laser beam, thereby reducing the dilution of enrichment to a certain extent.

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is one of the most important environmental factors that determine the productivity and grain quality of the crops. Continuous rainy days or cloudy weather throughout crop growth especially at critical stages often resulted in great loss of grain quality and yield in rice. Low light stress has rigorously constrained the rice production in various rice-growing regions, especially in Southeast Asia. Method and time of planting are the major management factors contributing to the higher yield potential of rice by influencing light harvesting and use efficiency. Present study was executed consecutively for 5 years (kharif seasons of 2012-2016) to determine whether planting time improves the radiation absorption and use efficiency in different duration rice cultivars. We evaluated the difference in plant growth and development leading to yield formation under different planting time which related to radiation incidence and interception. The results of the study revealed that PAR interception depends on morphological characters of cultivars and also with agronomic management such as transplanting time and method. Long duration cultivar intercepted more PAR but interception decreased due to late planting (3rd week of July), whereas short duration cultivars (Naveen) when planted earlier (1st week of June) could not effectively utilize intercepted PAR constraining the biomass accumulation and yield formation. Effect of planting density and crop architecture on PAR absorption was apparent among establishment methods as light interception at crop canopy was highest in the system of rice intensification and lowest in that of wet direct seeding. In general, Pooja as a long duration cultivar intercepted more PAR per day but when compared on same date of planting, the comparative absorption of radiation was 30.6% higher in Naveen. The lower yields in the wet season are attributed mostly to reduction in grain number per panicle or per unit land area, which is a consequence of high spikelet sterility. Grain yield of rice planted in July third week was reduced by 3.8, 12.3, and 6.9% over June first and third week and July first week, respectively, mainly due to spikelet sterility (26%) and lower grains per panicle (18%). Our results indicated that agronomic management like optimum time of sowing, cultivar duration, and establishment methods should be followed for yield improvement in tropical lowlands where light intensity is limiting due to prevailing weather situations.

Objectives: To develop and test the usability and feasibility of a customizable mobile application (app) designed to help educate patients about their oral anticancer medications (OAMs) and regimens., Setting: Outpatient cancer center and oncology pharmacy for urban, Midwestern academic health system., Practice Description: Clinically-supervised educational intervention to support patients learning about OAMs., Practice Innovation: With input from patient partners, our interdisciplinary team designed the first known tablet-based educational app that can interface with a patient's electronic medical record. The app is based on learning style and adherence theories and is customizable for individually prescribed OAMs. The app can accommodate multiple learning styles through text at 6th-grade reading level, pictures, animations, and audio voiceovers. Functionalities include interactive educational modules on 11 OAMs and case-based patient stories on common barriers to OAM adherence., Evaluation: Early phase testing provided the opportunity to observe the user interface with the app and app functionality. Data were summarized descriptively from observations and comments of patient subjects., Results: Thirty patient subjects provided input-19 in phase 1 usability testing and 11 in phase 2 feasibility testing. Comments provided by patient subjects during usability testing were largely positive. Responses included self-identification with patient stories, usefulness of drug information, preferences for text messages, and app limitations (e.g., perceived generational digital divide in technology use and potential patient inability to receive text messages). Using their feedback, modifications were made to the prototype app. Responses in feasibility testing demonstrated the app's usefulness across a wide range of ages. Highest opinion ratings on app usefulness were stated by patients who were newer to OAM therapy., Conclusion: User feedback suggests the potential benefit of the app as a tool to help patients with cancer, particularly after the first months for those starting new OAM regimens. Processes and lessons learned are transferable to other settings., (Copyright © 2019 American Pharmacists Association®. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Rice is the foremost staple food in the world, safeguarding the global food and nutritional security. Rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and water deficits are threatening global rice productivity and sustainability. Under real field conditions these climatic factors often interact with each other resulting in impacts that are remarkably different compared to individual factor exposure. Rice soils exposed to drought and elevated CO 2 (eCO 2 ) alters the biomass, diversity and activity of soil microorganisms affecting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission dynamics. In this review we have discussed the impacts of eCO 2 and water deficit on agronomic, biochemical and physiological responses of rice and GHGs emissions from rice soils. Drought usually results in oxidative stress due to stomatal closure, dry weight reduction, formation of reactive oxygen species, decrease in relative water content and increase in electrolyte leakage at almost all growth and developmental phases of rice. Elevated atmospheric CO 2 concentration reduces the negative effects of drought by improving plant water relations, reducing stomatal opening, decreasing transpiration, increasing canopy photosynthesis, shortening crop growth period and increasing the antioxidant metabolite activities in rice. Increased scientific understanding of the effects of drought and eCO 2 on rice agronomy, physiology and GHG emission dynamics of rice soil is essential for devising adaptation options. Integration of novel agronomic practices viz., crop establishment methods and alternate cropping systems with improved water and nutrient management are important steps to help rice farmers cope with drought and eCO 2 . The review summarizes future research needs for ensuring sustained global food security under future warmer, drier and high CO 2 conditions., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Land use and land cover (LULC) change have considerable influence on ecosystem services. Assessing change in ecosystem services due to LULC change at different spatial and temporal scales will help to identify suitable management practices for sustaining ecosystem productivity and maintaining the ecological balance. The objective of this study was to investigate variations in ecosystem services in response to LULC change over 27 years in four agro-climatic zones (ACZ) of eastern India using satellite imagery for the year 1989, 1996, 2005, 2011 (Landsat TM) and 2016 (Landsat 8 OLI). The satellite images were classified into six LULC classes, agriculture land, forest, waterbody, wasteland, built-up, and mining area. During the study period (1989 to 2016), forest cover reduced by 5.2%, 13.7%, and 3.6% in Sambalpur, Keonjhar, and Kandhamal districts of Odisha, respectively. In Balasore, agricultural land reduced by 17.2% due to its conversion to built-up land. The value of ecosystem services per unit area followed the order of waterbodies > agricultural land > forests. A different set of indicators, e.g., by explicitly including diversity, could change the rank between these land uses, so the temporal trends within a land use are more important than the absolute values. Total ecosystem services increased by US$ 1296.4 × 10 5 (50.74%), US$ 1100.7 × 10 5 (98.52%), US$ 1867 × 10 5 (61.64%), and US$ 1242.6 × 10 5 (46.13%) for Sambalpur, Balasore, Kandhamal, and Keonjhar, respectively.

Cu2Te is a superionic conductor that belongs to the Phonon Liquid Electron Crystal class of thermoelectric (TE) materials. Despite the simple chemical formula, the crystal structures and phases in the Cu2Te system have not been understood properly. In this work, we study the structural and TE properties of Cu2Te (CT2), Cu1.6Te (CT1.6) and Cu1.25Te (CT1.25). The samples were synthesized via a solid-state reaction method. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the samples have different crystal structures depending upon the Cu : Te stoichiometry. The elemental compositional analysis showed that all the samples are copper deficient. This is due to the precipitation of metallic copper on the surface of the ingot arising from the thermal dissociation of Cu2Te. The transport properties were measured in the temperature range 300 K-600 K. The electrical conductivity (σ) decreases with an increase in temperature indicating a metal-like behaviour for all the samples. The positive Seebeck coefficients (S) for all the samples indicates that majority charge carriers are holes. The sample CT2 has a higher S (29.5 μV K-1 at 573 K) and a lower σ (2513 S cm-1 at 573 K) due to a lower carrier (hole) concentration compared to the other two samples. With the increase in Cu deficiency, the hole concentration increases, and this leads to higher electronic thermal conductivity in the samples CT1.6 and CT1.25. The maximum thermoelectric figure of merit of 0.03 at 524 K is achieved for the sample CT2 owing to its higher power factor (0.24 mW m-1 K-2) and lower thermal conductivity (3.8 W m-1 K-1). The present study bridges the gap between the theoretical predictions and experimental observations involving the various possible structures in this system. Furthermore, we have shown that the Cu vacancies are detrimental to the thermoelectric performance of Cu2Te.

Background: Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is a biocompatible bioceramic compound by nature and widely utilized in a broad range of biomedical applications, especially in drug delivery, tissue engineering, orthopedics, dentistry, etc. To intensify its usage, HAp is being reinforced with different biopolymer(s). In these bioceramicbiopolymeric systems, HAp crystallites have been well inviolate with the alginate molecules. The objective of this review article is to present a comprehensive discussion of different recently researched drug-releasing potential by HAp-alginate based matrices., Methods: During past few years, HAp particles (both synthesized and naturally derived) have been reinforced within different alginate-based systems to load a variety of drug candidates. Most of the reported drug-releasing HAp-alginate based matrices were prepared by the methodology of ionic-gelation of sodium alginate followed by air-drying/spray drying process., Results: HAp-alginate systems have already been proved as useful for loading a variety of drugs and also resulting sustained drug delivery with minimizing the drawbacks of pure alginate matrices (such as burst drug-releasing and low mechanical property in the alkaline pH)., Conclusion: HAp-alginate composites loaded with different kinds of drugs have already been reported to exhibit sustained releasing of loaded drugs over a longer period., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The present study reports an unequivocal and improved protocol for efficient screening of salt tolerance at flowering stage in rice, which can aid phenotyping of population for subsequent identification of QTLs associated with salinity stress, particularly at reproductive stage. To validate the new method, the selection criteria, level and time of imposition of stress; plant growth medium were standardized using three rice genotypes. The setup was established with a piezometer placed in a perforated pot for continuous monitoring of soil EC and pH throughout the period of study. Further, fertilizer enriched soil was partially substituted by gravels for stabilization and maintaining the uniformity of soil EC in pots without hindering its buffering capacity. The protocol including modified medium (Soil:Stone, 4:1) at 8 dS m -1 salinity level was validated using seven different genotypes possessing differential salt sensitivity. Based on the important selection traits such as high stability index for plant yield, harvest index and number of grains/panicle and also high K + concentration and low Na + - K + ratio in flag leaf at grain filling stage were validated and employed in the evaluation of a mapping population in the modified screening medium. The method was found significantly efficient for easy maintenance of desired level of soil salinity and identification of genotypes tolerant to salinity at reproductive stage., Competing Interests: Compliance with ethical standardsAll authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

In view of preparing efficient electrocatalysts for energy conversion applications, we have developed an eco-friendly, cost effective, single step method for the scalable synthesis of VS2 and its reduced graphene oxide composite VS4/rGO. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic performances of the catalysts have been studied toward the hydrogen evolution reaction in an acid medium (0.1 M H2SO4). Presumably, the large exposed electrochemical active surface area (27.7 cm2) and hexagonal crystal lattice of VS2 result in its dominating catalytic performance over that of the linear VS4/rGO composite. Also, a VS2 modified electrode was demonstrated to have better stability (with a negligible change in the overpotential even after 10 h and 43 h of continuous electrolysis) with a notably low Tafel slope (36 mV dec-1, close to that of commercial Pt/C) and onset potential (15 mV vs. RHE) with robust durability for long term application. A preliminary study on the photoelectrochemical activities of VS2 showed a significant decrease in the charge transfer resistance upon illumination of light on the electrode surface.

In the current work, the usefulness of extracted cashew tree gum (CG) as pharmaceutical excipient in dental pastes containing aceclofenac (AC) for the pain management in the periodontitis treatment was investigated. CG was extracted from crude exudate of cashew tree (Anacardium occidentale, family: Anacardiaceae) (yield 19.22%). Physicochemical characteristics like colour, odour, taste, solubility, pH and viscosity of extracted CG were estimated; the phytochemical identification tests indicated the presence of carbohydrates and mucilage within it. It was also characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and 1 H NMR analyses. Using the extracted CG (as natural mucoadhesive polymer) with calcium carbonate (abrasive agent), glycerin (humectant and cosolvent), methyl paraben (preservative), sodium lauryl sulfate (surfactant) and camphor (flavoring agent), 1% w/w AC dental pastes was formulated via conventional trituration. The drug contents, viscosities and pHs, tube extrudabilities and tube spreadabilities of these dental pastes were observed within permissible ranges. The dental pastes demonstrated sustained AC releasing over 6 h, in vitro and also revealed good adhesion to the oral mucosal membrane. These 1% w/w AC dental pastes can be used in the effectual management of dental inflammation and pain through local delivery of AC over a prolonged in the periodontitis treatment., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The present research deals with the usefulness of isolated linseed polysaccharide (LP) as polymeric-blends with an anionic polymer, sodium alginate to prepare ionotropically cross-linking gelled mucoadhesive beads for controlled drug release. From the mature and ripe linseeds (Linum usitatisimum; family Linaceae), LP was isolated and its colour, odour, taste, solubility in water, pH and viscosity were studied. Isolated LP was also characterized by FTIR spectroscopy and 1 H NMR analyses. LP‑calcium alginate beads loaded with diclofenac sodium were formulated via ionotropically crosslinking gelation method using calcium chloride as ionotropic crosslinker. These ionotropically crosslinked beads showed diclofenac sodium encapsulation efficiencies in these newly prepared beads were 60.78 ± 2.47 to 93.16 ± 4.08% and average bead-sizes of 1.17 ± 0.10 to 1.33 ± 0.12 mm. All LP‑calcium alginate beads loaded with diclofenac sodium demonstrated a sustained drug releasing profile over 8 h with a zero-order model of drug releasing (controlled drug releasing pattern). The LP‑calcium alginate beads loaded with diclofenac sodium displayed a pH responsive swelling and excellent biomucoadhesivity prospective with the intestinal mucosal tissue in both the acidic and alkaline pH (pH 1.2 and 7.4, respectively). These beads were also characterized by SEM and FTIR spectroscopy., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

It is reported that high temperatures (HT) would cause a marked decrease in world rice production. In tropical regions, high temperatures are a constraint to rice production and the most damaging effect is on spikelet sterility. Boron (B) plays a very important role in the cell wall formation, sugar translocation, and reproduction of the rice crop and could play an important role in alleviating high temperature stress. A pot culture experiment was conducted to study the effect of B application on high temperature tolerance of rice cultivars in B-deficient soil. The treatments comprised of four boron application treatments viz. control (B0), soil application of 1 kg B ha -1 (B1), soil application of 2 kg B ha -1 (B2), and foliar spray of 0.2% B (Bfs); three rice cultivars viz. Annapurna (HT stress tolerant), Naveen, and Shatabdi (both HT stress susceptible); and three temperature regimes viz. ambient (AT), HT at vegetative stage (HTV), and HT at reproductive stage (HTR). The results revealed that high temperature stress during vegetative or flowering stage reduced grain yield of rice cultivars mainly because of low pollen viability and spikelet fertility. The effects of high temperature on the spikelet fertility and grain filling varied among cultivars and the growth stages of plant when exposed to the high temperature stress. Under high temperature stress, the tolerant cultivar displays higher cell membrane stability, less accumulation of osmolytes, more antioxidant enzyme activities, and higher pollen viability and spikelet fertility than the susceptible cultivars. In the present work, soil application of boron was effective in reducing the negative effects of high temperature both at vegetative and reproductive stages. Application of B results into higher grain yield under both ambient and high temperature condition over control for all the three cultivars; however, more increase was observed for the susceptible cultivar over the tolerant one. The results suggest that the exogenous application of boron had a substantial effect on cell membrane stability, sugar mobilization, pollen viability, and spikelet fertility, hence the yield. The cultivars due to their variation in the tolerance level for high temperature stress behaved differently, and at high temperature stress, more response of the application of boron was seen in susceptible cultivars.

In this research, the performance of naturally abundant lignocellulosic by-product, Abelmoschus esculentus, and its processed seed powder referred as AESP, as a potential biosorbent for the removal of acridine orange (AO) from the aqueous environment was examined. The AESP biosorbent was characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and pH ZPC analyses. The average size of the biosorbent according to particle size distribution analysis was found to be ∼132 μm. The batch adsorption experiments were conducted by altering the parameters such as contact time, solution pH, biosorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, stirring speed and temperature. Sorption of cationic AO dye onto AESP was found to be rapid, and the equilibrium condition reached within 30 min. The isotherms (Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson and Sips), kinetic models (pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, Elovich, intra-particle diffusion, Bangham and modified-Freundlich models) and thermodynamic parameters were also evaluated. High values of determination coefficients (R 2 ) and minimal values of non-linear error functions (i.e. HYBRD, RMSE, MPSD, ARE, APE and χ 2 ) indicated that experimental data were best fitted with Sips isotherm and pseudo-second order kinetic model. Accordingly, the maximum loading capacity of AESP was found to be 259.4, 284.3 and 346.5 mg/g for the temperatures of 15, 30 and 45 °C, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the adsorption of AO onto the AESP surface was an endothermic and spontaneous process. Besides these, the central composite experimental design (CCD) superimposed with response surface methodology (RSM) modeling was also employed to investigate the effect of four significant parameters (solution pH, contact time, initial AO concentration and AESP dosage) and their interaction-term effects on the adsorption capacity of AESP and to formulate the mathematical model for the experimental data using multi-variate statistical analysis. Maximum dye uptake capacity under the optimum conditions of variables (pH 8.96, contact time 32.06 min, initial dye concentration 867.71 mg/L and AESP dosage 1.89 g/L) was 312.1 mg/g at temperature 30 °C, and it was found to be very close to the experimentally determined values (313.4 ± 0.057 mg/g). The promising reusability potential of AESP using 0.1 M HCl, implied that, the lignocellulosic biosorbent AESP might be helpful for the appropriate designing of the environmental-friendly purification systems., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Lowland tropical rice-rice system has a unique micrometrological characteristic that affects both energy component and net ecosystem energy. Periodic and seasonal variations of methane (CH 4 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), and energy exchange from irrigated lowland rice-rice ecosystem were studied using open-path eddy covariance (EC) system during the dry (DS) and wet (WS) seasons in 2015. Concurrently, the manual chamber method was employed in nitrous oxide (N 2 O) measurement efflux. Cumulative net ecosystem carbon exchange (NEE) was observed highest (- 232.55 g C m -2 ) during the WS and lowest (- 14.81 g C m -2 ) during wet fallow (WF). Similarly, the cumulative net ecosystem methane exchange (NEME) was found highest (13,456.5 mg CH 4 m -2 ) during the WS and lowest (2014.3 mg CH 4 m -2 ) during the WF. Surface energy fluxes, i.e., sensible (Hs) and latent heat (LE) fluxes, showed a similar trend. With the advancement of time, the ratio of ecosystem respiration (Re) and gross primary production (GPP) increased. The cumulative global warming potential (GWP) for the two cropping seasons including two fallows was 13,224.1 kg CO 2 equivalent ha -1 . The GWP and NEME showed a similar trend as soil enzymes and labile carbon pools in both seasons (except GWP at the harvesting stage in the wet season). The mean NEE exhibited a more negative value with decrease in labile pools from panicle initiation to harvesting stage in the WS. Soil labile C and soil enzymes can be used as an indicator of NEE, NEME, and GWP in lowland rice ecology. Graphical abstract Schematic presentation of GHG emission and energy exchange in lowland rice.

Bioremediation of Cr (VI), Fe, and other heavy metals (HMs) through plant-microbes interaction is one of the efficient strategies due to its high efficiency, low cost, and ecofriendly nature. The aim of the study was to isolate, characterize, and assess the potential of rhizospheric bacteria to enhance growth and metal accumulation by the chromium hyperaccumulator Vetiveria zizanoides. The bacterial strain isolated from mine tailings was identified to be Bacillus cereus (T1B3) strain exhibited plant growth-promoting traits including, 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase, indole acetic acid, and siderophores production, nitrogen fixation, and P solubilization. Removal capacity (mg L -1 ) of T1B3 strain was 82% for Cr +6 (100), 92% for Fe (100), 67% for Mn(50), 36% for Zn (50), 31% for Cd (30), 25% for Cu (30), and 43% for Ni (50) during the active growth cycle in HM-amended, extract medium. Results indicate that inoculating the native V. zizanioides with T1B3 strain improves its phytoremediation efficiency of HMs. The mineralogical characteristics of chromite ore tailings and soil were also confirmed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier Transform Infrared, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis.

Purpose: To overcome the poor dimensional stability of irreversible hydrocolloids, alternative materials were introduced. The dimensional changes of these alternatives after delayed pouring are not well studied and documented in the literature. The purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare the surface detail reproduction and dimensional stability of two irreversible hydrocolloid alternatives with an extended-pour irreversible hydrocolloid at different time intervals., Materials and Methods: All testing were performed according to the ANSI/ADA specification number 18 for surface detail reproduction and specification number 19 for dimensional change. The test materials used in this study were newer irreversible hydrocolloid alternatives such as AlgiNot FS, Algin-X Ultra FS, and Kromopan 100 which is an extended pour irreversible hydrocolloid as control. The surface detail reproduction was evaluated using stereomicroscope. The dimensional change after storage period of 1 h, 24 h, and 120 h was assessed and compared between the test materials and control. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and post hoc Bonferroni test., Results: Statistically significant results ( P < 0.001) were seen when mean scores of the tested materials were compared with respect to reproduction of 22 μm line from the metal block. Kromopan 100 showed statistically significant differences between different time intervals ( P < 0.001) and exhibited more dimensional change. Algin-X Ultra FS proved to be more accurate and dimensionally stable., Conclusions: Newer irreversible hydrocolloid alternative impression materials were more accurate in surface detail reproduction and exhibited minimal dimensional change after storage period of 1 h, 24 h, and 120 h than extended-pour irreversible hydrocolloid impression material., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

miRNAs, a group of small non-coding RNA molecules, regulate the expression of many genes involved in various cellular processes. Acute evidence suggests that one miRNA can regulate many genes as its targets, while one gene can be targeted by many miRNAs that co-operatively regulate the gene. Thus, targeting a single miRNA is not sufficient enough to rescue the disease phenotype but it is also essential to target multiple miRNAs simultaneously. This inspired us to design a novel DNA nanostructure that can concurrently downregulate multiple oncomiRNAs. Here we designed a programmable antimiR branched DNA (antimiR-bDNA) nanostructure having antimiRNAs for selective binding to oncomiRNAs miRNA-27a, 96 and 182 which collectively downregulate FOXO1a expression. The antimiR-bDNAs show enhanced stability compared to naked antimiRNAs in serum and are able to knockdown these miRNAs with up to ∼50% greater repression as compared to antimiRNAs. This synergistic miRNA repression leads to the restoration of FOXO1a protein levels which in turn inhibit G1-S traversion in cancer cells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study harnessing the ability of bDNA structures to silence multiple miRNAs simultaneously.

Herein, for the first time, we applied the metal-metal-bond-energy factor to the evolution of a porous Se-Te alloy. The porous Se-Te material has been prepared from the constituents' elemental states, through only a heating-cooling process in silicone oil without the use of any reagent, surfactant, or capping agent. Surprisingly, the reaction occurred at a much lower temperature (240 °C) than the mp (450 °C) of Te 0 . The reaction's nucleation and growth by means of varied bond energy have been clarified for the first time. A difference in the bond energies of a hetero metal-metal bond (Se-Te) and a homo metal-metal bond (Se-Se) directs nucleation and growth toward the fabrication of a porous structure, even from the constituents' elemental states, in which low-angle-grain-boundary (LAGB) and high-angle-grain-boundary (HAGB) movements play governing roles. Proper band-gap alignment of Se and Te makes the alloy composite applicable to water-splitting reactions under Xe-arc-lamp illumination. PEC efficiency of Se-Te was found to be higher than those reported for Se and other composite materials.

An efficient, cost-effective, and earth-abundant catalyst that could drive the production of hydrogen from water without or with little external energy is the ultimate goal toward hydrogen economy. Herein, nanoplates of tungsten oxide and its hydrates (WO 3 ·H 2 O) as promising electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) are reported. The square-shaped and stacked WO 3 ·H 2 O nanoplates are synthesized at room temperature under air in ethanol only, making it as a promising green synthesis strategy. The repeated electrochemical cyclic voltammetry cycles modified the surface of WO 3 ·H 2 O nanoplates to WO 3 as confirmed by X-ray photoelectron and Auger spectroscopy, which leads to an improved HER activity. Hydrogen evolution is further achieved from distilled water (pH 5.67) producing 1 mA cm -2 at an overpotential of 15 mV versus the reversible hydrogen electrode. Moreover, WO 3 ·H 2 O and WO 3 nanoplates demonstrate excellent durability in acidic and neutral media, which is highly desirable for practical application. Improved hydrogen evolution by WO 3 (200) when compared to that by Pt(111) is further substantiated by the density functional theory calculations., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest.

The present work explores, for the first time, the adsorptive removal of methylene blue (MB) dye from aqueous solution using different parts of abundantly available agricultural product, Abelmoschus esculentus (lady's finger), and the processed seed powder (designated as LFSP) was found as the best. The aforesaid biosorbent was characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and pH ZPC analyses. The biosorption performance was evaluated using batch studies at 303 K, at varying operating conditions such as solution pH, biosorbent dosage, initial dye concentration and contact time. The pseudo-second order kinetic model was followed during the adsorption, and it was also found that intra-particle diffusion played a prominent role in the rate-controlling step. Langmuir and Temkin isotherms were followed the best, as was evident from the lower % non-linear error values and higher degree of determination coefficients. Thermodynamic investigations revealed that the biosorption processes were spontaneous and endothermic. Using the response surface methodology (RSM), a central composite design was developed, and subsequently applied as an input for the artificial neural network (ANN) approach in order to further analyze the interactive term effects between the significant process parameters, on the maximum biosorption capacity for MB dye removal by LFSP. The non-linear error functions and linear regression coefficients on the RSM model showed its dominance behaviour over ANN model for both data fitting and estimation capabilities. Using the statistical optimization, the maximum uptake capacity was found to be 205.656 mg/g. Experiments were conducted to regenerate the adsorbent and to recover the adsorbed dye using the eluent 0.5 M HCl. Cost analysis showed that, LFSP was 7 times cheaper than commercially available activated carbons., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically stable, vortex-like objects surrounded by chiral boundaries that separate a region of reversed magnetization from the surrounding magnetized material. They are closely related to nanoscopic chiral magnetic domain walls, which could be used as memory and logic elements for conventional and neuromorphic computing applications that go beyond Moore's law. Of particular interest is 'racetrack memory', which is composed of vertical magnetic nanowires, each accommodating of the order of 100 domain walls, and that shows promise as a solid state, non-volatile memory with exceptional capacity and performance. Its performance is derived from the very high speeds (up to one kilometre per second) at which chiral domain walls can be moved with nanosecond current pulses in synthetic antiferromagnet racetracks. Because skyrmions are essentially composed of a pair of chiral domain walls closed in on themselves, but are, in principle, more stable to perturbations than the component domain walls themselves, they are attractive for use in spintronic applications, notably racetrack memory. Stabilization of skyrmions has generally been achieved in systems with broken inversion symmetry, in which the asymmetric Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction modifies the uniform magnetic state to a swirling state. Depending on the crystal symmetry, two distinct types of skyrmions have been observed experimentally, namely, Bloch and Néel skyrmions. Here we present the experimental manifestation of another type of skyrmion-the magnetic antiskyrmion-in acentric tetragonal Heusler compounds with D 2d crystal symmetry. Antiskyrmions are characterized by boundary walls that have alternating Bloch and Néel type as one traces around the boundary. A spiral magnetic ground-state, which propagates in the tetragonal basal plane, is transformed into an antiskyrmion lattice state under magnetic fields applied along the tetragonal axis over a wide range of temperatures. Direct imaging by Lorentz transmission electron microscopy shows field-stabilized antiskyrmion lattices and isolated antiskyrmions from 100 kelvin to well beyond room temperature, and zero-field metastable antiskyrmions at low temperatures. These results enlarge the family of magnetic skyrmions and pave the way to the engineering of complex bespoke designed skyrmionic structures.

Introduction: Urethritis is an important sexually transmitted infection in the present day. Causative agents are many for urethritis, ranging from bacteria, virus, to protozoa., Aim: The aim was to study the various etiological agents and clinical presentation of men with urethritis., Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at a tertiary care center in Bengaluru. After taking written informed consent, 100 men with symptoms of urethritis were enrolled in the study. Their demographic details, presenting symptoms, and examination findings were documented using a questionnaire and a pro forma. Results were tabulated and analyzed using mean., Results: Nearly 68% had urethral discharge with dysuria as the presenting symptom. Nearly 27% had only dysuria without discharge as the main complaint. Almost 15% had coexistent genital ulcer disease. Human immunodeficiency virus infection was present in 10% in the population studied. The most prevalent organism isolated was Neisseria gonorrhoeae (45%). Chlamydia trachomatis was isolated in 13%. Trichomonas vaginalis was isolated in two patients., Conclusion: Our study highlights the high prevalence of gonorrhea in India when nongonococcal urethritis is the forerunner in the Western world. In addition, T. vaginalis as a cause of urethritis has to be considered in our setup., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

We report enhanced catalytic activity of CuO nanopetals synthesized by microwave-assisted wet chemical synthesis. The catalytic reaction of CuO nanopetals and H 2 O 2 was studied with the application of external light source and also under dark conditions for the degradation of the hazardous dye methylene blue. The CuO nanopetals showed significant catalytic activity for the fast degradation of methylene blue and rhodamine B (RhB) under dark conditions, without the application of an external light source. This increased catalytic activity was attributed to the co-operative role of H 2 O 2 and the large specific surface area (≈40 m 2 ·g -1 ) of the nanopetals. We propose a detail mechanism for this fast degradation. A separate study of the effect of different H 2 O 2 concentrations for the degradation of methylene blue under dark conditions is also illustrated.

Biochemical pathways of methanogenesis and methanotrophy coupled with carbon (C)-nitrogen (N) metabolism were studied in long term (13years) manured systems in lowland rice paddy through metagenomics approach. Manured systems included in this study were, control (exclusion of application of any manure), farm yard manure (FYM, @5Mgha -1 yr -1 ) and green manuring (GM with Sesbania aculeata). Metagenomic sequence data revealed the dominance of C decomposing bacterial communities' like Proteobacteria, Planctomycetes, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, in manure amended soils as compared to control. Diversities for assimilatory and dissimilatory N-fixing microorganisms at phylum level were found higher under GM as compared to rest. Two genera responsible for methanogenesis, viz. Methanolobus and Methanotorris were absent in manured systems as compared to control. The acetoclastic and serine pathway was found as the predominant pathway for methanogenesis and methanotrophy, respectively, in tropical lowland rice paddy. Abundance reads of enzymes were in the range of 254-445 in the acetoclastic methanogenesis pathway. On the other hand, these were varied from 165 to 216 in serine pathway of methanotrophy. Lowland paddy soil exhibited higher functional and structural diversities in manured systems as compared to unamended control in respect to labile C pools and CH 4 production. Methane (CH 4 ) emission was 31% higher in FYM system than GM. However, nitrous oxide (N 2 O) emission was found 25% higher in GM as compared to FYM. As a whole, bacterial diversities were higher under FYM system in tropical lowland rice paddy as compared to GM and unamended systems., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although new targeted therapies, such as ibrutinib and idelalisib, have made a large impact on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients, the disease is often fatal because patients are initially resistant to these targeted therapies, or because they eventually develop resistance. New drugs and treatments are necessary for these patients. One attractive approach is to inhibit multiple parallel pathways that drive the growth of these hematologic tumors, possibly prolonging the duration of the response and reducing resistance. Early clinical trials have tested this approach by dosing two drugs in combination in NHL patients. We discovered a single molecule, MDVN1003 (1-(5-amino-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-2-yl)-3-(8-fluoro-3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[b][1,4]oxazin-6-yl)-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4-amine), that inhibits Bruton's tyrosine kinase and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase δ , two proteins regulated by the B cell receptor that drive the growth of many NHLs. In this report, we show that this dual inhibitor prevents the activation of B cells and inhibits the phosphorylation of protein kinase B and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, two downstream mediators that are important for this process. Additionally, MDVN1003 induces cell death in a B cell lymphoma cell line but not in an irrelevant erythroblast cell line. Importantly, we found that this orally bioavailable dual inhibitor reduced tumor growth in a B cell lymphoma xenograft model more effectively than either ibrutinib or idelalisib. Taken together, these results suggest that dual inhibition of these two key pathways by a single molecule could be a viable approach for treatment of NHL patients., (Copyright © 2017 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.)

Rice-rice system and rice fallows are no longer productive in Southeast Asia. Crop and varietal diversification of the rice based cropping systems may improve the productivity and profitability of the systems. Diversification is also a viable option to mitigate the risk of climate change. In Eastern India, farmers cultivate rice during rainy season (June-September) and land leftovers fallow after rice harvest in the post-rainy season (November-May) due to lack of sufficient rainfall or irrigation amenities. However, in lowland areas, sufficient residual soil moistures are available in rice fallow in the post-rainy season (November-March), which can be utilized for raising second crops in the region. Implementation of suitable crop/varietal diversification is thus very much vital to achieve this objective. To assess the yield performance of rice varieties under timely and late sown conditions and to evaluate the performance of dry season crops following them, three different duration rice cultivars were transplanted in July and August. In dry season several non-rice crops were sown in rice fallow to constitute a cropping system. The results revealed that tiller occurrence, biomass accumulation, dry matter remobilization, crop growth rate, and ultimately yield were significantly decreased under late transplanting. On an average, around 30% yield reduction obtained under late sowing may be due to low temperature stress and high rainfall at reproductive stages of the crop. Dry season crops following short duration rice cultivars performed better in terms of grain yield. In the dry season, toria was profitable when sown earlier and if sowing was delayed greengram was suitable. Highest system productivity and profitability under timely sown rice may be due to higher dry matter remobilization from source to sink. A significant correlation was observed between biomass production and grain yield. We infer that late transplanting decrease the tiller occurrence and assimilate remobilization efficiency, which may be responsible for the reduced grain yield.

DNA based self-assembled nanostructures and DNA origami has proven useful for organizing nanomaterials with firm precision. However, for advanced applications like nanoelectronics and photonics, large-scale organization of self-assembled branched DNA (bDNA) into periodic lattices is desired. In this communication for the first time we report a facile method of self-assembly of Y-shaped bDNA nanostructures on the cationic surface of Aluminum (Al) foil to prepare periodic two dimensional (2D) bDNA lattice. Particularly those Y-shaped bDNA structures having smaller overhangs and unable to self-assemble in solution, they are easily assembled on the surface of Al foil in the absence of ligase. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis shows homogenous distribution of two-dimensional bDNA lattices across the Al foil. When the assembled bDNA structures were recovered from the Al foil and electrophoresed in nPAGE only higher order polymeric bDNA structures were observed without a trace of monomeric structures which confirms the stability and high yield of the bDNA lattices. Therefore, this enzyme-free economic and efficient strategy for developing bDNA lattices can be utilized in assembling various nanomaterials for functional molecular components towards development of DNA based self-assembled nanodevices., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Psychosocial dysfunctions in the various psychosocial areas in chronic schizophrenic patients predict the long-term course, outcome, and quality of life of these patients, which always varies with years of treatment., Objective: To know the influence and compare the level of psychosocial dysfunctions and severity of disability burden in chronic schizophrenic patients who are in remission with duration of 5 and 20 years., Materials and Methods: The sample was collected from the OPD of Mental Health Institute (COE), S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha, India. This study is a cross-sectional study. A total of 120 remitted schizophrenic patients (60 patients of each group with duration of 5 and 20 years), who fulfilled Nancy Andreasen criteria for Remission were selected for the study. Regional language of dysfunction analysis questionnaire (DAQ) was used to assess the level of psychosocial dysfunctions in personal, familial, social, vocational, and cognitive areas of each patient., Results: Qualitative data were analyzed using Chi-square and quantitative data were analyzed using t -test and correlation as a test of significance. Statistically significant differences ( P < 0.05) were found in all five domains of DAQ between two groups. Statistically significant difference ( P < 0.05) was found between the two groups with respect to severity of the disability., Conclusion: This study confirms that there are definite and substantial psychosocial dysfunctions in personal, familial, social, vocational, and cognitive spheres with the advancement of the duration of illness in chronic schizophrenic patients., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

DNA adopts different conformation not only because of novel base pairs but also while interacting with inorganic or organic compounds. Self-assembled branched DNA (bDNA) structures or DNA origami that change conformation in response to environmental cues hold great promises in sensing and actuation at the nanoscale. Recently, the B-Z transition in DNA is being explored to design various nanomechanical devices. In this communication we have demonstrated that Cerium chloride binds to the phosphate backbone of self-assembled bDNA structure and induce B-to-Z transition at physiological concentration. The mechanism of controlled conversion from right-handed to left-handed has been assayed by various dye binding studies using CD and fluorescence spectroscopy. Three different bDNA structures have been identified to display B-Z transition. This approach provides a rapid and reversible means to change bDNA conformation, which can be used for dynamic and progressive control at the nanoscale., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: In recent years, gastroretentive, hydrodynamically balanced system (HBS) for stomach-specific floating sustained drug release has gained a lot of importance in improving absorption of drugs especially those absorbed from stomach and small intestine., Objective: The objective of the current investigation is to evaluate chitosan-hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) based on polymeric matrices as a carrier for single-unit capsules based on HBS for stomach- specific floating sustained drug release using moxifloxacin HCl (MX) as a model drug., Method: Various HBS capsules of MX were prepared by physical blending of MX with chitosan (low or medium molecular mass) or HPMC (K4M or K15M) or chitosan-HPMC combinations in varying proportions followed by encapsulation into size 0 capsules made of hard gelatin. The in vitro buoyancy and drug release in 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2) were evaluated., Results: HBS capsules based on chitosan (low and medium molecular weight and their combination) as polymer matrix failed to float on 0.1 N HCl (pH 1.2). Whereas, formulations containing HPMC (K4M or K15M) or their mixture with chitosan, remained buoyant and released MX over 9 h in the acidic dissolution medium following zero-order kinetics., Conclusion: HPMC (K4M, K15M, blend of K4M and K15M) or their mixture with low/medium molecular mass chitosan may constitute excellent carrier systems for the stomach-specific sustained delivery of MX over a longer period., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

While enzalutamide and abiraterone are approved for treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), approximately 20-40% of patients have no response to these agents. It has been stipulated that the lack of response and the development of secondary resistance to these drugs may be due to the presence of AR splice variants. HDAC6 has a role in regulating the androgen receptor (AR) by modulating heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) acetylation, which controls the nuclear localization and activation of the AR in androgen-dependent and independent scenarios. With dual-acting AR-HDAC6 inhibitors it should be possible to target patients who don't respond to enzalutamide. Herein, we describe the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of dual-acting compounds which target AR and are also specific towards HDAC6. Our efforts led to compound 10 which was found to have potent dual activity (HDAC6 IC 50 =0.0356μM and AR binding IC 50 =<0.03μM). Compound 10 was further evaluated for antagonist and other cell-based activities, in vitro stability and pharmacokinetics., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The aberrant activation of B-cells has been implicated in several types of cancers and hematological disorders. BTK and PI3Kδ are kinases responsible for B-cell signal transduction, and inhibitors of these enzymes have demonstrated clinical benefit in certain types of lymphoma. Simultaneous inhibition of these pathways could result in more robust responses or overcome resistance as observed in single agent use. We report a series of novel compounds that have low nanomolar potency against both BTK and PI3Kδ as well as acceptable PK properties that could be useful in the development of treatments against B-cell related diseases.

Fully compensated ferrimagnets with tetragonal crystal structure have the potential for large spin-polarization and strong out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy; hence, they are ideal candidates for high-density-memory applications. Tetragonal Heusler thin films with compensated magnetic state are realized by substitution of Pt in Mn 3-x Pt x Ga. Furthermore, the bilayer formed from compensated/uncompensated Mn-Pt-Ga layers is utilized to accomplish exchange bias up to room temperature., (© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Controlled conversion of right-handed B-DNA to left-handed Z-DNA is one of the greatest conformational transitions in biology. Recently, the B-Z transition has been explored from nanotechnological points of view and used as the driving machinery of many nanomechanical devices. Using a combination of CD spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and PAGE, we demonstrate that low concentration of lanthanum chloride can mediate B-to-Z transition in self-assembled Y-shaped branched DNA (bDNA) structure. The transition is sensitive to the sequence and structure of the bDNA. Thermal melting and competitive dye binding experiments suggest that La(3+) ions are loaded to the major and minor grooves of DNA and stabilize the Z-conformation. Our studies also show that EDTA and EtBr play an active role in reversing the transition from Z-to-B DNA.

It is well established that the anomalous Hall effect displayed by a ferromagnet scales with its magnetization. Therefore, an antiferromagnet that has no net magnetization should exhibit no anomalous Hall effect. We show that the noncolinear triangular antiferromagnet Mn3Ge exhibits a large anomalous Hall effect comparable to that of ferromagnetic metals; the magnitude of the anomalous conductivity is ~500 (ohm·cm)(-1) at 2 K and ~50 (ohm·cm)(-1) at room temperature. The angular dependence of the anomalous Hall effect measurements confirms that the small residual in-plane magnetic moment has no role in the observed effect except to control the chirality of the spin triangular structure. Our theoretical calculations demonstrate that the large anomalous Hall effect in Mn3Ge originates from a nonvanishing Berry curvature that arises from the chiral spin structure, and that also results in a large spin Hall effect of 1100 (ħ/e) (ohm·cm)(-1), comparable to that of platinum. The present results pave the way toward the realization of room temperature antiferromagnetic spintronics and spin Hall effect-based data storage devices.