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Zinc oxide is one of the most widely studied semiconductor metal oxides, which predominantly crystallizes as hexagonal wurtzite and often cubic zinc-blende phases. Here we report the transformation of the highly stable wurtzite ZnO to a new triclinic phase NZO-2 by using metformin as a template during post-synthesis hydrothermal treatment. This crystalline phase of the material NZO-2 has been identified through the refinement of the powder XRD data. NZO-2 possesses porous rod like particle morphology consisting of the self-assembly of 3-7 nm size spherical nanoparticles and interparticle nanoscopic voids spaces. NZO-2 has been surface phosphorylated and the resulting material displayed good proton conductivity. Further, NZO-2 displayed ultra-low band gap of 1.74 eV, thereby responsible for red emission under high energy laser excitation and this may open new opportunities in optoelectronic application of ZnO.

Background: There has been a marked variance in the prevalence of Vitamin D deciency in India. Limited evidence is available regarding the correlation of Vitamin D with thyroid hormones in patients with Type II Diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Aims AND Objectives: To study the correlation of Vitamin D with thyroid hormones in patients with Type II Diabetes mellitus at tertiary health care in Tripura. Materials And Methods: Hundred patients with T2DM diagnosed as per American Diabetes Association (ADA) were studied in acrosssectional study which was conducted in the Department of Medicine at AGMC&GBP Hospital from January 2019 – June 2020. Blood tests were performed to estimate serum vitamin D level and thyroid prole and correlation was obtained with glycemic parameters. Results: T2DM was more prevalent in the age group of 60-70 years with mean age being 55.28 years. Majority had (52%) hypothyroidism, 38% had had vitamin D deciency and 13% had vitamin D insufciency. Majority of the Vitamin D decient patients TSH > 5 µIU/mL (31%). Linear regression analysis showed that inverse relationship between TSH and Vitamin D, HbA1c and Vitamin D. An equation of Vitamin D level estimation was derived as Vitamin D level = 28.48 – 0.81 * HbA1c level. Conclusion: Prevalence of vitamin d deciency is more prevalent among hypothyroid diabetics and the severity of the Vitamin D deciency correlated with hypothyroid status.

In females, reproductive success is dependent on the expression of a number of genes regulated at different levels, one of which is through epigenetic modulation. How a specific epigenetic modification regulates gene expression and their downstream effect on ovarian function are important for understanding the female reproductive process. The trimethylation of histone3 at lysine27 (H3K27me3) is associated with gene repression. JMJD3 (or KDM6b), a jumonji domain-containing histone demethylase specifically catalyzes the demethylation of H3K27me3, that positively influences gene expression. This study reports that the expression of JMJD3 specifically in the ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) is critical for maintaining normal female fertility. Conditional deletion of Jmjd3 in the GCs results in a decreased number of total healthy follicles, disrupted estrous cycle, and increased follicular atresia culminating in subfertility and premature ovarian failure. At the molecular level, the depletion of Jmjd3 and RNA-seq analysis reveal that JMJD3 is essential for mitochondrial function. JMJD3-mediated reduction of H3K27me3 induces the expression of Lif (Leukemia inhibitory factor) and Ctnnb1 (β-catenin), that in turn regulate the expression of key mitochondrial genes critical for the electron transport chain. Moreover, mitochondrial DNA content is also significantly decreased in Jmjd3 null GCs. Additionally, we have uncovered that the expression of Jmjd3 in GCs decreases with age, both in mice and in humans. Thus, in summary, our studies highlight the critical role of JMJD3 in nuclear-mitochondrial genome coordination that is essential for maintaining normal ovarian function and female fertility and underscore a potential role of JMJD3 in female reproductive aging.

Background: Stroke is defined as an abrupt onset of a neurologic deficit lasting for more than 24 hours that is attributable to a focal vascular cause. Hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia are often documented in stroke patients. Elevated CRP level is independently associated with the excessive risk of ischemic stroke. Aim and Objectives were to evaluate the glycemic status, lipid profile and c-reactive protein level in stroke patients admitted in a teaching institute of north-east India.Methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based study conducted in the department of medicine, Agartala Government Medical College and GBP hospital, within a period of January 2020 to June 2021. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 15 using appropriate statistical tests.Results: Among 200 patients of stroke, 50% was found to be pre-diabetic, 40% known diabetic and 10% newly diagnosed diabetic. 60% were hypertensives. Among them, 80% had ischaemic stroke and 20% hemorrhagic stroke. 70% of the patients had hypercholesterolemia, 60% had hypertriglyceridemia. 80% had raised serum LDL and 57% decreased serum HDL. Out of 200 patients, 60% was found to have raised serum CRP level. 55% of ischaemic stroke patients and 5% of hemorrhagic stroke patients had raised CRP level.Conclusions: Prediabetes and newly diagnosed diabetes are highly prevalent in patients with stroke or TIA. As the prevalence of prediabetes is growing rapidly, prediabetes might become one of the most important modifiable therapeutic targets in both primary and secondary prevention. Early detection of dyslipidemia and treatment with drugs along with dietary modifications and lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of stroke. Since, it was a cross-sectional study, these results need to be validated by further long-term prospective studies.

Here, we report a novel ammonia : ammonium salt solvent based pretreatment process that can rapidly dissolve crystalline cellulose into solution and eventually produce highly amorphous cellulose under near-ambient conditions. Pre-activating the cellulose I allomorph to its ammonia–cellulose swollen complex (or cellulose III allomorph) at ambient temperatures facilitated rapid dissolution of the pre-activated cellulose in the ammonia-salt solvent (i.e., ammonium thiocyanate salt dissolved in liquid ammonia) at ambient pressures. For the first time in reported literature, we used time-resolved in situ neutron scattering methods to characterize the cellulose polymorphs structural modification and understand the mechanism of crystalline cellulose dissolution into a ‘molecular’ solution in real-time using ammonia-salt solvents. We also used molecular dynamics simulations to provide insight into solvent interactions that non-covalently disrupted the cellulose hydrogen-bonding network and understand how such solvents are able to rapidly and fully dissolve pre-activated cellulose III. Importantly, the regenerated amorphous cellulose recovered after pretreatment was shown to require nearly ∼50-fold lesser cellulolytic enzyme usage compared to native crystalline cellulose I allomorph for achieving near-complete hydrolytic conversion into soluble sugars. Lastly, we provide proof-of-concept results to further showcase how such ammonia-salt solvents can pretreat and fractionate lignocellulosic biomass like corn stover under ambient processing conditions, while selectively co-extracting ∼80–85% of total lignin, to produce a highly digestible polysaccharide-enriched feedstock for biorefinery applications. Unlike conventional ammonia-based pretreatment processes (e.g., Ammonia Fiber Expansion or Extractive Ammonia pretreatments), the proposed ammonia-salt process can operate at near-ambient conditions to greatly reduce the pressure/temperature severity necessary for conducting effective ammonia-based pretreatments on lignocellulose.

Six simple kinetic models were used to perform comparative investigations of the kinetics of biogas production from thermo-chemically pre-treated rice husk which were heated at 155°C for 4 h prior ...

In this work, we explore the role of dislocation climb in annihilating the dislocation microstructure produced during a nanoindentation test. We produce creep conditions in Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of nanoindentation and show that half prismatic edge dislocation loops annihilate via pipe diffusion of vacancies from the free surface. Inspired by the MD simulations, we develop a model for the annihilation rate of these loops via pipe diffusion and compare it with the contribution of bulk diffusion. The model allows us discussing the temperatures at which we expect climb to prevail in experimental conditions and explain why climb is imperative during nanoindentation experiments.

The mechanical response of nanoparticles is different than that of thin-films during nanoindentation tests. Moreover, it was shown experimentally that smaller nanoparticles are softer for nanoindentation. This size effect was attributed to the proximity of the free lateral surfaces to the indenter, which leads to dislocation-free surface interactions. We present here a multiscale study to show that the size effect is controlled by the interaction of the plastic zone formed beneath the indent and the lateral free surfaces. The detailed dislocation mechanisms and their interactions with the free surfaces are investigated using molecular dynamics (MD) and discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) simulations. Au nanoparticles in the size range of 9–116 nm were indented with these two simulation techniques. The simulations show that shear dislocation loops are nucleated beneath the indent on all { 1 1 1 } slip planes. Dislocations interactions facilitate their escape from beneath the indent, either by forming v- and u-shaped dislocations or prismatic loops that glide towards the lower part of the nanoparticles, or through glissile interactions that promote lateral dislocation motion. The effect of size on these dislocation mechanisms is discussed.

Catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) of phenol was carried out in a fixed bed reactor over a noble metal (Ru) supported on silica MCM-41 material. The addition of small amounts of ceria as a promoter to the MCM-41 material enhanced both the activity and selectivity of Ru in this reaction, with significant conversions of about 99% obtained at 413 K and 18 bar oxygen pressure. The oxidation of phenol required moderate temperature and oxygen pressure, and the oxidizing capacity of the catalyst required adjustment. The activation energy of the oxidation reaction was found to be 33 kJ mol−1 at 413 K using the ceria promoted Ru/MCM-41 catalyst. The supports and catalysts were characterized using the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area, temperature programmed reduction (TPR), CO chemisorption, temperature programmed desorption (TPD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES).

Present work primarily deals with the exhaustive investigations of rapid de-lignification processes from source-sorted organic fractions that are recalcitrant in nature. Organic solid wastes (OSW) belongs to the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (MSW) and they act as enormous potential substrate for alternative source of energy in the form of bio-fuels. Nevertheless, these substrates are not easily biodegradable and the degree of biodegradability is solely dependent on the composition & characteristic of organic solid wastes in municipal solid wastes. The component responsible for recalcitrance of organic solid wastes is lignin that occurs in variable amounts in different plant residues. In order to remove the recalcitrance from organic fraction municipal solid wastes and to make it more easily degradable by microbial consortia, certain pretreatment techniques have been adopted and they are applied either individually or in combined way for enhancement of bio-methanation i.e anaerobic digestion (AD) process. The goal of pretreatment method is to make the cellulose in micro-fibrils available for hydrolysis and improve the rate of hydrolysis. This paper reviews pretreatment techniques including physical, physico-chemical, chemical, biological methods respectively. The various effects of pretreatment on organic solid wastes are discussed separately and pretreatment methods have been compared on the basis of cost, efficiency and suitability to substrate.

Purpose: To compare Endothelial cell(EC) loss following Phacoemulsification (PKE) in pupils of different sizes. Methods: A prospective double masked observational study in which a total of 150 eyes of 150 patients between 50 & 70 years of age with senile cataract of nuclear sclerosis grade II were enrolled. Patients were allocated into three groups of 50 eyes each in Group A (pupil size 7 mm). Pupillary size was measured by determining the height of slit on slit-lamp biomicroscope examination. PKE was done by the same expert surgeon using vertical chop technique and a foldable intraocular lens was implanted in the capsular bag. Corneal EC count and pachymetry were performed twice and average of 2 readings was taken for the purpose of this study. Measurements were taken preoperatively and postoperatively on day 1, day 7 and day 30. Results: The mean EC count loss on postoperative day 1 in Group A was 19.45%, Group B 14.89%, Group C 10.19% with statistical significant difference between Group A and Group B, as also Group A and Group C. The difference was not significant between Group B and Group C, though there was a fall in EC count in Group C as well. Increase in corneal thickness on postoperative day 1 in group A was 5.43%, Group B 3.55%, Group C 2.14% with statistical significant difference between Group A and Group B, as also Group A and Group C with no difference in Group B and Group C. Conclusion: PKE done in eyes with maximal pupillary dilatation of 5 mm at the end of one month.

We present a framework for the microscale modelling of higher-order deformation twinning. For this purpose, it is important to track the evolution of the lattice orientation as well as the deformation at each material point. The model is applied to a titanium single crystal with the \({\langle \bar 1 0 1 1 \rangle \{\bar 1 0 1 2\}}\) and \({\langle \bar 1 \bar 1 2 3 \rangle \{11\bar22\}}\) twinning modes.

Alumina-supported platinum catalysts were prepared for catalytic wet air oxidation of oxalic acid. Addition of ceria as a promoter to alumina supported catalyst enhanced the catalytic activity, and significant conversions of about 74% were obtained at 363 K and atmospheric pressure. The long-term deactivation resistance of the ceria promoted Pt/Al2O3 catalyst is higher than that of the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. A deactivation study of the catalysts was carried out using selective chemisorption, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns and total organic carbon (TOC) analysis. The deactivation observed with the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst was attributed to the over oxidation of the surface of platinum by molecular oxygen and coke deposition on the catalyst surface.

Hexagonal molecular sieve (HMS) and Zr-HMS materials were synthesized and employed as supports for preparation of hydrogenation catalyst. Supports and catalysts were characterized by using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), temperature-programmed desorption, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, and CO chemisorptions techniques. Results from SEM and EDX confirm the hexagonally ordered mesoporous structure and incorporation of Zr into the HMS support, respectively. The detailed kinetic study of hydrogenation of toluene over Pt(0.15wt%)–Pd(0.15wt%)/HMS and Pt(0.15wt%)–Pd(0.15wt%)/Zr-HMS was performed in a continuous-upflow stainless steel catalytic fixed bed reactor at varied weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), hydrogen partial pressure, and temperature. It was observed that toluene conversion was increased on increasing H2 partial pressure and decreased with increasing WHSV. The conversion i...

Malaria remains an important health problem in Bangladesh, with approximately 14 million people at risk. Antimalarial drug resistance is a major obstacle to the control of malaria in endemic countries. In 2012, Bangladesh reported an estimated 29 522 malaria episodes, of which 94% were reported as being caused by Plasmodium falciparum. In this study, we reviewed and summarized antimalarial drug resistance data from Bangladesh published until June 2013. We searched published sources for data referring to any type of P. falciparum drug resistance (in vivo, in vitro, or molecular) and found 169 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Of these, 143 articles were excluded because they did not meet our inclusion criteria. After detailed review of the remaining 26 articles, 14 were selected for evaluation. Published studies indicate that P. falciparum shows varying levels of resistance to chloroquine, mefloquine and sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Combination therapy of chloroquine and primaquine has proven ineffective and combinations of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine with either quinine or chloroquine have also shown poor efficacy. Recent studies indicate that artemisinin derivatives, such as artesunate, remain highly efficacious in treating P. falciparum malaria. Available data suggest that artemisinins, quinine, doxycyline, mefloquine-artesunate and azithromycin-artesunate combination therapy remain efficacious in the treatment of P. falciparum malaria in Bangladesh.

Catalytic wet air oxidation of oxalic acid using ceria-promoted Pt/Al2O3 catalyst was studied in a glass reactor operated at atmospheric pressure. The catalyst was prepared by the excess solution impregnation method and the catalyst characterization was performed using scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption, hydrogen chemisorption and thermogravimetric analysis techniques. The effect of initial concentration of oxalic acid, air flow rate, reaction temperature and ceria loading on oxidation of oxalic acid was investigated. The activation energy was found to be 42 kJ/mol and a rate equation was proposed for the oxidation of oxalic acid. Catalyst deactivation and regeneration were studied. It was noticed that the presence of ceria reduced the deactivation of the Pt/Al2O3 catalyst.

From both steady state and fluorescence lifetime measurements it reveals that due to photoexcitation of benzotriazole (BZ) part of the bichromophore, 9(1-H-benzotriazole-lylmethyl)-9H-carbazole (BHC), singlet–singlet energy transfer takes place to populate the lowest excited singlet of carbazole (CZ). CZ, thus being excited indirectly via energy transfer process, undergoes strong charge transfer (CT) reaction with the surrounding polar medium acetonitrile (ACN). On the other hand, very weak CT band was apparent when CZ part, within BHC, was directly excited. In less polar tetrahydrofuran (THF) and polar benzonitrile (BN) environment, lack of formation of CT band strongly suggests in favor of the electron-accepting behavior of ACN. Moreover, by measuring the emission spectra of BHC in microcrystals and of 30 bilayers mixed LB film at high mole fraction of BHC molecules, the possibility of excimer formation or aggregation has been ruled out. Thus, BHC, when dissolved in ACN, acts as a triad system of BZ–CZ–ACN where BZ acts as an antenna molecule and CZ as a reaction center. The possible role of the bichromophoric system BHC as an artificial photosynthetic or solar energy conversion device has been hinted.

Purpose: Previously, we have synthesized and characterized a novel Cu(II) complex, copper N-(2-hydroxy acetophenone) glycinate (CuNG). Herein, we have determined the efficacy of CuNG in overcoming multidrug-resistant cancer using drug-resistant murine and human cancer cell lines.Experimental Design: Action of CuNG following single i.m. administration (5 mg/kg body weight) was tested in vivo on doxorubicin-resistant Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC/Dox)–bearing mice and doxorubicin-resistant sarcoma 180–bearing mice. Tumor size, ascitic load, and survival rates were monitored at regular intervals. Apoptosis of cancer cells was determined by cell cycle analysis, confocal microscopy, Annexin V binding, and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay ex vivo. IFN-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α were assayed in the culture supernatants of in vivo and in vitro CuNG-treated splenic mononuclear cells from EAC/Dox-bearing mice and their apoptogenic effect was determined. Source of IFN-γ and changes in number of T regulatory marker-bearing cells in the tumor site following CuNG treatment were investigated by flow cytometry. Supernatants of in vitro CuNG-treated cultures of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from different drug-insensitive cancer patients were tested for presence of the apoptogenic cytokine IFN-γ and its involvement in induction of apoptosis of doxorubicin-resistant CEM/ADR5000 cells.Results: CuNG treatment could resolve drug-resistant cancers through induction of apoptogenic cytokines, such as IFN-γ and/or tumor necrosis factor-α, from splenic mononuclear cells or patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells and reduce the number of T regulatory marker-bearing cells while increase infiltration of IFN-γ-producing T cells in the ascetic tumor site.Conclusion: Our results show the potential usefulness of CuNG in immunotherapy of drug-resistant cancers irrespective of multidrug resistance phenotype.

India has, over the last decade, achieved a position of pre-eminence in many spheres of economic activity, most notably in information technology, business process outsourcing, and various other service industries and also increasingly in manufacturing. At the time when the country was liberalized in the early 90s, nobody thought that such a spectacular performance by the Indian industry would be possible only 15 years later. In fact, during several years immediately following the liberalization of the Indian economy, the common refrain of Indian industrialists to the Government of India was for a ‘level playing field.’ The speed with which the Indian industry has adjusted to these cataclysmic changes in the environment is beyond the wildest expectations of industry watchers and pundits. The Indian industry has, by and large, shown resilience in standing its own ground. Many Indian companies have gone on to take their rightful positions in the world arena. Some of them have even emerged as world leaders in their respective domains. The tide seems to have turned a full circle with many multinational companies (MNCs) with head offices overseas increasingly looking at setting up local operations in India to harness the value that the country delivers.