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A new chlorobenzylidene imine ligand, (E)-1-((5-chloro-2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino) naphthalen-2-ol (HL), and its [Zn(L)(NO3)(H2O)3], [La(L)(NO3)2(H2O)2], [VO(L)(OC2H5)(H2O)2], [Cu(L)(NO3)(H2O)3], and [Cr(L)(NO3)2(H2O)2], complexes were synthesized and characterized. The characterization involved elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV/Vis, NMR, mass spectra, molar conductance, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The obtained data confirmed the octahedral geometrical structures of all metal complexes, while the [VO(L)(OC2H5)(H2O)2] complex exhibited a distorted square pyramidal structure. The complexes were found to be thermally stable based on their kinetic parameters determined using the Coats–Redfern method. The DFT/B3LYP technique was employed to calculate the optimized structures, energy gaps, and other important theoretical descriptors of the complexes. In vitro antibacterial assays were conducted to evaluate the complexes' potential against pathogenic bacteria and fungi, comparing them to the free ligand. The compounds exhibited excellent fungicidal activity against Candida albicans ATCC: 10231 (C. albicans) and Aspergillus negar ATCC: 16404 (A. negar), with inhibition zones of HL, [Zn(L)(NO3)(H2O)3], and [La(L)(NO3)2(H2O)2] three times higher than that of the Nystatin antibiotic. The DNA binding affinity of the metal complexes and their ligand was investigated using UV-visible, viscosity, and gel electrophoresis methods, suggesting an intercalative binding mode. The absorption studies yielded Kb values ranging from 4.40 × 105 to 7.30 × 105 M−1, indicating high binding strength to DNA comparable to ethidium bromide (value 107 M−1). Additionally, the antioxidant activity of all complexes was measured and compared to vitamin C. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of the ligand and its metal complexes was evaluated, revealing that [Cu(L)(NO3)(H2O)3] exhibited the most effective activity compared to ibuprofen. Molecular docking studies were conducted to explore the binding nature and affinity of the synthesized compounds with the receptor of Candida albicans oxidoreductase/oxidoreductase INHIBITOR (PDB ID: 5V5Z). Overall, the combined findings of this work demonstrate the potential of these new compounds as efficient fungicidal and anti-inflammatory agents. Furthermore, the photocatalytic effect of the Cu(II) Schiff base complex/GO was examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passivating contact technologies are essential for fabricating high‐efficiency crystalline silicon (c‐Si) solar cells, and their application and incorporation into manufacturing lines has ranked as a hot topic of research. Generally, ideal passivating contacts should combine excellent electrical contact, outstanding surface passivation, and high optical transparency. However, addressing all these criteria concurrently is challenging since it is unlikely for any single material to exhibit both efficient carrier transport and surface‐defect passivation while demonstrating negligible parasitic absorption. In this work, several earth‐abundant, wide‐bandgap materials are combined to engineer high‐quality transparent electron‐selective passivating contact structures capable of overcoming these obstacles. A highly transparent AlyTiOx/ZnO/TiO2 stack with a total thickness of 3 nm, prepared by atomic layer deposition, is shown to provide a close‐to‐ideal passivating contact to Si surfaces by enabling dual functions of remarkable silicon surface passivation (with an effective minority carrier lifetime of 12.3 ms, an implied open‐circuit voltage of 730 mV, and a surface recombination current density prefactor of 2.6 fA cm−2), combined with efficient carrier transport with a very low contact resistivity of 3.4 mΩ cm2. These results demonstrate that low‐cost silicon interface‐engineering strategiesbased on transition metal oxides can push c‐Si solar cell performance to its theoretical limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It was estimated that about 1.3 billion people were diagnosed to be hypertensive in 2015. All countries consistently show this high prevalence. Ischemic heart disease stands as the most common cause of systolic blood pressure-related deaths per year. Left ventricular hypertrophy determined by echocardiography can predict cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The question of whether the LV geometric pattern has an additional prognostic value is still not clearly answered. Currently, coronary computed tomography is widely used in clinical practice with a great capability of simultaneous evaluation of the LV mass and the coronary arterial tree. Our study aims to examine the relationship between LV mass and geometry and coronary artery disease using an ECG-gated 320-detector- row CT scanner. Results: Two hundred ninety-eight hypertensive Egyptian individuals were enrolled in our study, the mean age was 57.5 ± 10.5, and males comprised 76.5% of the study population. The mean LV mass and LV mass index were 193 ± 60 gm and 95.2 ± 27.5 g/m2 respectively. One-fifth of the patient had CAD luminal stenosis ≥ 50%. Normal LV geometric pattern was observed in about 37% of the study population. About one-third of the patients showed concentric remodeling. Patients with increased LV mass index represented one-third of the study population with a greater percentage of the concentric hypertrophy pattern than the eccentric hypertrophy pattern. Patients with high CAD-RADS showed statistically significant higher LV mass, LV mass index, and septal wall thickness. Patients with high CAD-RADS showed a greater percentage of concentric and eccentric hypertrophy. The LV geometric pattern was the only independent predictor of the high CAD-RADS. The LV geometric patterns associated with high RADS ordered from the highest to the lowest, were concentric LVH, Eccentric LV, and concentric remodeling. Conclusions: LV geometric pattern is the only independent predictor of high CAD-RADS after adjustment for LV mass index and septal wall thickness. Among abnormal LV geometric patterns, concentric hypertrophy stands as the most important predictor of high CAD-RADS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing concern about the environmental consequences of anthropogenic CO2 emissions significantly stimulated the research of low-cost, efficient, and recyclable solid adsorbents for CO2 capture. In this work, a series of MgO-supported mesoporous carbon nitride adsorbents with different MgO contents (xMgO/MCN) was prepared using a facile process. The obtained materials were tested for CO2 capture from 10 vol% CO2 mixture gas with N2 using a fixed bed adsorber at atmospheric pressure. At 25 ºC, the bare MCN support and unsupported MgO samples demonstrated CO2 capture capacities of 0.99, and 0.74 mmol g−1, respectively, which were lower than those of the xMgO/MCN composites.The incorporation of MgO into the MCN improved the CO2 uptake, and the 20MgO/MCN exhibited the highest CO2 capture capacity of 1.15 mmol g−1 at 25 °C. The improved performance of the 20MgO/MCN nanohybrid can be possibly assigned to the presence of high content of highly dispersed MgO NPs along with its improved textural properties in terms of high specific surface area (215 m2g−1), large pore volume (0.22 cm3g−1), and abundant mesoporous structure. The efffects of temperature and CO2 flow rate were also investigated on the CO2 capture performance of 20MgO/MCN. Temperature was found to have a negative influence on the CO2 capture capacity of the 20MgO/MCN, which decreased from 1.15 to 0.65 mmol g−1with temperature rise from 25 C to 150º C, due to the endothermicity of the process. Similarly, the capture capacity decreased from 1.15 to 0.54 mmol g−1 with the increase of the flow rate from 50 to 200 ml minute−1 respectively. Importantly, 20MgO/MCN showed excellent reusability with consistent CO2 capture capacity over five sequential sorption–desorption cycles, suggesting its suitability for the practical capture of CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vermicompost (VC) is the solid excreta of earthworms, produced through the metabolism of organic matter under aerobic conditions. Thus, vermicompost is a product of the biodegradation, non-thermophilic process of organic materials through interactions between microorganisms and earthworms. This odorless, light organic product of the vermicomposting process is casts, or castings that is rich in humus, large amounts of macro- and micro-elements. These properties will largely influence the penetration of plant roots, potential rooting volume, nutrient movement and uptake, water availability, and soil aeration. Soil texture is also a key factor in affecting moisture content of the soil and its chemical properties, such as its cation exchange capacity or the capability of the soil to hold positively charged ions. Therefore, the application of vermicompost to sandy soils is very beneficial, as they help increase the soil organic matter composition, which in turn aids in improving soil aeration, sustaining good soil aggregation, protecting against soil erosion, and increasing nutrient availability. Moreover, vermicompost contains various plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and boron that improve the nutrient content of different plant components such as roots, leaves, and fruits. There have been many studies on the application of various organic fertilizers to plants for alleviating the negative effects of salinity. This paper will cover the contribution of vermicompost as a biological fertilizer and its effects on soluble sugar and proline content, membrane stability, biochemical, physiological, and molecular factors to mitigate the negative effects of salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vermicompost is the solid excreta of earthworms, produced through the metabolism of organic matter under aerobic conditions. Thus, vermicompost is a product of bio-degradation, non-thermophilic process, of organic materials through interactions between microorganisms and earthworms. This odorless, light organic product of the vermicomposting process is rich in humus, large amounts of macro and microelements, large and active microbial biodiversity. Vermicompost improves soil health, enhances crop production, and improves soil physical properties such as texture, structure and tilth that determine the agronomical potential of a land. Soil physical properties largely influence penetration of plant roots, potential rooting volume, nutrient mobility and uptake, water availability, and aeration. Soil texture is also a key factor in affecting soil moisture contentand its chemical properties, such as cation exchange capacity. Therefore, application of vermicompost to sandy soils is very beneficial, as it helps increase the soil organic matter composition, which in turn aids in improving soil aeration, sustaining good soil aggregation, protecting against soil erosion, and increasing nutrient availability. Moreover, vermicompost also contains various plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and boron that improve the nutrient content of plants. There have been many studies on the application of various organic fertilizers to plants for alleviating the negative effects of salinity. Vermicompost has been shown to promote plant growth and salinity tolerance. Therefore, this review article will cover the contribution of vermicompost as a biological fertilizer and its effects on the growth, nutrient contents of the salt-stressed plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection of methylation patterns in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can offer a novel approach for cancer diagnostics given the unique signature for each tumor type. We developed a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based assay targeting 32 CpG sites to detect colorectal cancer-specific ctDNA. NGS was performed on bisulfite-converted libraries and status dichotomization was done using median methylation ratios at all targets. We included plasma samples from patients with metastatic colorectal (n  = 20) and non-colorectal cancers (n  = 8); and healthy volunteers (n  = 4). Median methylation ratio was higher in colorectal cancer compared with non-colorectal cancers (P  = .001) and normal donors (P  = .005). The assay detected ctDNA in 85% of patients with colorectal cancer at a specificity of 92%. Notably, we were able to detect methylated ctDNA in 75% of patients in whom ctDNA was not detected by other methods. Detection of methylated ctDNA was associated with shorter median progression-free survival compared to non-detection (8 weeks versus 54 weeks; P  = .027). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]