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Background: It was hypothesized that vestibular stimulation causes beneficial effects in hypertensive patients as so as in diabetic individuals. Aims and Objectives: The present study was undertaken to observe the effectiveness of 8 weeks of vestibular exercises on stress, sleep, and cognitive parameters in hypertensive patients. Materials and Methods: A total of eighty male and female stage 1 hypertensive individuals were part of the study after obtaining voluntary, written informed consent. Vestibular exercises comprising three steps with a time period of 45 min per session were administered to the participants of the intervention group. Two sessions per week were administered as mentioned in the literature. Stress levels were assessed by the perceived stress scale. Sleep was assessed by the insomnia severity index. A spatial and verbal memory test was used to assess the spatial and verbal memory scores. Results: There was no significant difference in the demographical parameters of the control and intervention groups. There is no significant difference in stress, sleep scores, and spatial and verbal memory scores among the control and intervention groups. There was a significant decrease in the stress scores and insomnia scores, and a significant improvement in the spatial and verbal memory scores in the intervention group after the intervention when compared with the control group. Conclusion: The present study results suggest that vestibular exercises have a positive impact on reducing stress and improving sleep and cognition in hypertensive individuals. The study highlights the need for further detailed studies in this area to recommend the inclusion of vestibular exercises as adjunctive therapy in the management of hypertension.

The use of laser cutter machines to produce porous graphene films is an innovative method for a low-cost production of flexible electrodes for electronics and sensing applications. Here, laser-induced graphene (LIG) is used to produce the gate electrodes of EGFET sensors. LIG electrodes and LIG electrodes functionalized with ZnO and metalloporphyrin-coated ZnO are used as elements of the electronic tongue. The array is tested in a classical experiment aimed at identifying complex food matrices, such as fruit juices. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach and provide a solid basis for further array developments.

Abstract Recipients of solid organ transplantation (SOT) rely on life-long immunosuppression (IS), which is associated with significant side effects. Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) is a safe, existing cellular therapy used to treat transplant rejection by modulating the recipient’s own blood cells. We sought to induce donor-specific hypo-responsiveness of SOT recipients by infusing ECP-treated donor leukocytes prior to transplant. To this end, we utilized major histocompatibility complex mismatched rodent models of allogeneic cardiac, liver, and kidney transplantation to test this novel strategy. Leukocytes isolated from donor-matched spleens for ECP treatment (ECP-DL) were infused into transplant recipients seven days prior to SOT. Pre-transplant infusion of ECP-DL without additional IS was associated with prolonged graft survival in all models. This innovative approach promoted the production of tolerogenic dendritic cells and regulatory T-cells with subsequent inhibition of T-cell priming and differentiation, along with a significant reduction of donor-specific T-cells in the spleen and grafts of treated animals. This new application of donor-type ECP-treated leukocytes provides insight into the mechanisms behind ECP-induced immunoregulation and holds significant promise in the prevention of graft rejection and reduction in need of global immune suppressive therapy in patients following SOT.

For the fabrication of aqueous Li-ion hybrid supercapacitor, carbon coated LiCo 1/3 Ni 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 (or LiCo 1/3 Ni 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 @C composite) is synthesized by polymeric precursor method with subsequent thermal decomposition procedures for carbon coating. Graphene like porous carbon is obtained by chemical activation from the biomass of Agave Americana . The XRD analysis reveals that LiCo 1/3 Ni 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 is having a hexagonal layered structure and activated carbon exists in both amorphous and graphitic nature. The TEM image infers that LiCo 1/3 Ni 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 particles having the non-uniform shape with sub-micron size and the LiCo 1/3 Ni 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 particles are embedded into amorphous carbon cloud in the composite. The activated carbon shows the specific surface area of 1219 m 2 g −1 . Finally, the fabricated aqueous LiCo 1/3 Ni 1/3 Mn 1/3 O 2 @C‖AC hybrid supercapacitor delivers the specific capacitance of 56 F g −1 with good capacity retention even after 5000 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of Mn 1-x Cu x Fe 2 O 4 (x = 0, 0.15, 0.30, 0.45, 0.60 and 1) particles were prepared using chemical co-precipitation method with metal nitrates as precursor materials. Samples were synthesized under various annealing temperatures and 800 °C was found to be the optimal temperature for phase formation. Powder XRD analyses confirm the formation of spinel manganese ferrites along with the α-Fe 2 O 3 phase which got reduced with increase in copper concentration. Samples were characterized using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. UV-Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy was employed to calculate the band gap which varied between 1.51 eV and 1.83 eV. HR-SEM images reveal the spherical nature of the particles. Ferromagnetic nature of these materials was confirmed from vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements. Z-scan technique was employed to measure the non-linear optical properties. The non-linear refraction, non-linear absorption and non-linear susceptibility are found to be of the order of 10 −8 cm 2 /W, 10 −4 cm/W and 10 −6 esu respectively. The samples showed a defocusing effect which was utilized to explain the optical limiting behavior at the same wavelength using the continuous-wave laser beam. The results show that these materials have potential for exploitation towards device applications like optical limiting and switching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]