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Abstract Background Dengue virus infection has recently taken endemic proportion in India implicating all the four known dengue serotypes. There was a major dengue outbreak in northern India including Delhi in October- December, 2003 and again in 2004. We have carried out a detailed investigation of the 2004 outbreak by Serosurveillance, RT-PCR, nested PCR, virus isolation and genotyping. We also report the molecular epidemiological investigation of these outbreaks. Results The serological investigation of 162 suspected serum samples using an in-house dengue dipstick ELISA revealed 11%-IgM, 51%-IgG and 38%-both IgM and IgG antibody positivity. The RT-PCR analysis revealed presence of dengue RNA in 17 samples. Further subtyping and genotyping by nested PCR and nucleotide sequencing of C-prM gene junction revealed the association of subtype III of dengue virus type 3 in the outbreak. Conclusion The sudden shifting and dominance of the dengue virus serotype-3 (subtype III) replacing the earlier circulating serotype-2 (subtype IV) is a point of major concern and may be attributed to increased incidence of DHF and DSS in India.

Ion conducting gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) are being intensively studied for their potential applications in various electrochemical devices. The poly(vinyl alcohol)-based GPE films containing ammonium acetate (NH4CH3COO) salt have been studied for various concentrations of salt. The gel electrolyte films (GPEs) have been prepared using solution casting technique. Structural characterization carried out using X-ray diffraction reveals an increase in the amorphous nature of the samples on increasing salt concentration up to 70 wt%. The complexation of polymer and salt has been studied by Fourier-transform infrared analysis. Ionic conductivity of the GPEs has been found to increase with salt concentration and reaches an optimum for an intermediate concentration. The room temperature conductivity isotherm exhibits a maximum in conductivity of 2.64 × 10−4 Scm−1 for 65 wt% salt concentration. The temperature dependence of ionic conductivity exhibits a combination of Arrhenius and Vogel–Tamman–Fulcher behavior. Ion transport in the electrolyte system has been explored using dielectric response of the material and the observed variation in conductivity is suitably correlated to the change in charge carrier concentration and mobility of charge carriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work focuses on dust detection, and estimation of vegetation in coal mining sites using the vegetation indices (VIs) differences model and PRISMA hyperspectral imagery. The results were validated by ground survey spectral and foliar dust data. The findings indicate that the highest Separability (S), Coefficient of discrimination (R 2 ), and lowest Probability (P) values were found for the narrow-banded Narrow-banded Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Transformed Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (TSAVI), and Tasselled Cap Transformation Greenness (TC-greenness) indices. These indices have been utilized for the Vegetation Combination (VC) index analysis. Compared to other VC indices, this VC index revealed the highest difference (29.77%), which led us to employ this index for the detection of healthy and dust-affected areas. The foliar dust model was developed for the estimation and mapping of dust impact on vegetation using the VIs differences models (VIs diff models), laboratory dust amounts, and leaf spectral regression analysis. Based on the highest R 2 (0.90), the narrow-banded TC-greenness differenced VI was chosen as the best VI, and the coefficient (L) value (-7.75gm/m 2 ) was used for estimating the amount of foliar dust in coal mining sites. Compared to other indices-based difference dust models, the narrow-banded TC-greenness difference image had the highest R 2 (0.71) and lowest RMSE (4.95 gm/m 2 ). According to the findings, the areas with the highest dust include those with mining haul roads, transportation, rail lines, dump areas, tailing ponds, backfilling, and coal stockyard sides. This study also showed a significant inverse relationship (R 2  = 0.84) among vegetation dust classes, leaf canopy spectrum, and distance from mines. This study provides a new way for estimating dust on vegetation based on advanced hyperspectral remote sensing (PRISMA) and field spectral analysis techniques that may be helpful for vegetation dust monitoring and environmental management in mining sites., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Although methane poses environmental concerns, it is employed in hydrogen production processes such as steam-methane reforming (SMR), which has an issue of by-products released. Initiatives are being pursued to address CO and CO 2 emissions using carbon capture methods, with the goal of minimizing environmental harm while improving pure hydrogen generation from syngas. In this study, porous coordination network (PCN-250) has been studied for its selective adsorption property towards CO, CO 2 and H 2 O as syngas mixture to obtain pure hydrogen. For this purpose, the trimetallic cluster node Fe 2 M (where Fe 2 represents the 3+ oxidation state and M is Cr(II), Mn(II), Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), and Zn(II)) has been considered. Fe(III) in combination with metal atoms like Cr(II), Co(II), or Ni(II) has been found to exhibit enhanced adsorption properties towards CO, CO 2 and H 2 O. The molecule with the strongest interaction was found to be H 2 O over Fe(III) 2 Zn(II) cluster and weakest interaction was found between H 2 and Fe(III) 2 Ni(II). Charge transfer, natural bond orbital (NBO) and spin density analyses reveal the electronic structural properties of this combination, leading to enhanced adsorption of CO and CO 2 ., (© 2024 The Authors. ChemPlusChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Dysoxyllum binectariferum is an important medicinal plant known for various biological activities like anti-inflammatory, CNS depressants, contraceptive, analgesic, immunomodulatory, antimalarial, antifeedant, leishmanicidal and antiviral. It is a rich source of rohitukine, a basic skeleton of flavopiridol. Phytochemical investigation of chloroform extracts of Dysoxyllum binectariferum leaves, lead to the isolation of beddomeilactone ( 1 ) and two new cycloartane type triterpenoids beddomeilactol ( 2 ) and binectarilactone-A (3 ) with modified A ring. Compounds were assessed for their in-vitro α- glucosidase inhibitory activity. Compound 1 was found to be most potent, showing IC 50 of 17.99 ± 0.26 µg/ml which is comparable to the positive control acarbose.

Globally, treelines form a transition zone between tree-dominated forest downslope and treeless alpine vegetation upslope. Treelines represent the highest boundary of "tree" life form in high-elevation mountains and at high latitudes. Recently, treelines have been shifting upslope in response to climate warming, so it has become important to understand global tree diversity and treeline distributions. However, to the best of our knowledge, no global database on tree flora of treelines exists, which limits our capacity to undertake macroecological analyses. Here, for the first time, we present a global data set on the trees of the treeline ecotone, supported by an online ToTE database. We synthesized the database from 1202 studies published over the last 60 years (1962 to 2022) following the Preferred Reporting Items in Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol. We classified the tree species in the database into three categories: treeline tree (TL) species, near to treeline (NTL) tree species, and tree species with an upper montane range limit (TUMR). The ToTE Version-1 presents a total of 208 tree taxa, including 189 species, five subspecies, and 14 varieties, belonging to 54 genera and 26 families distributed across 34 mountain regions worldwide that either grow exactly at the treeline or have a range limit below the treeline. Of the total taxa, 155, 14, and 39 belong to TL, NTL, and TUMR, respectively. Genera such as Abies, Picea, Pinus, Larix, and Juniperus are more represented in the treeline tree category. On the other hand, Acer, Prunus, Populus, and Quercus have more representatives in the near to treeline category, whereas Erica, Nothofagus, and Polylepis contribute more tree species with an upper montane range limit. Furthermore, families such as Rosaceae and Pinaceae include trees that occur both at the treeline and with an upper montane range limit, whereas Sapindaceae includes trees that occur exclusively near to treeline. Our database also includes information on the global distribution patterns of treeline tree species richness across mountains and biomes. The mountains with the highest number of tree species are the Andes (39) followed by the Himalaya (37). Close to 67% of tree species show restricted distributions in different mountains, with the highest endemism in the Andes and the Himalaya. In terms of tree species distribution, Pinus sylvestris was widespread, with a distribution across nine mountain regions, followed by Picea glauca and Fagus sylvatica, both distributed across five mountain regions. In terms of species' distribution across biomes, the temperate biome harbors the highest treeline tree species richness (152 species), which may reflect the fact that the majority of studies are available from the temperate regions of the world. The remaining 56 species are distributed within five other biomes, with the least in dry tropical and subarctic (four species each). Furthermore, currently 40 treeline tree species fall under different International Union for Conservation of Nature threat categories. We anticipate that our database will help advance research on macroecological, biogeographic, evolutionary, climate-change, and conservation aspects of the treeline on a global scale. The data are released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 international license. Please cite this data paper when the data are reused., (© 2024 The Ecological Society of America.)

Parthenium hysterophorus plant has a diverse chemical profile and immense bioactive potential. It exhibits excellent pharmacological properties such as anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-malarial, microbicidal, and anti-trypanosomal. The present study aims to evaluate the anti-leishmanial potential and toxicological safety of anhydroparthenin isolated from P. hysterophorus. Anydroparthenin was extracted from the leaves of P. hysterophorus and characterized through detailed analysis of 1 H, 13 C NMR, and HRMS. Dye-based in vitro and ex vivo assays confirmed that anhydroparthenin significantly inhibited both promastigote and amastigote forms of the Leishmania donovani parasites. Both the cytotoxicity experiment and hemolytic assay revealed its non-toxic nature and safety index in the range of 10 to 15. Further, various mechanistic assays suggested that anhydroparthenin led to the generation of oxidative stress, intracellular ATP depletion, alterations in morphology and mitochondrial membrane potential, formation of intracellular lipid bodies, and acidic vesicles, ultimately leading to parasite death. As a dual targeting approach, computational studies and sterol quantification assays confirmed that anhydroparthenin inhibits the Sterol C-24 methyl transferase and Sterol 14-α demethylase proteins involved in the ergosterol biosynthesis in Leishmania parasites. These results suggest that anhydroparthenin could be a promising anti-leishmanial molecule and can be developed as a novel therapeutic stratagem against leishmaniasis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Interpretation of a fossil pollen data for the vegetation and climate reconstruction of any region needs a modern pollen-vegetation analogue for its calibration. We analyzed the surface sediments and moss polsters for the pollen and microcharcoal records to understand the modern pollen-vegetation relationship and human activities in the Baspa Valley, Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. Presently, valley is occupied by the arboreal and non-arboreal vegetation of temperate to subalpine habitats and land use activities. The recovered pollen assemblages showed variability in the dispersal behavior of pollen of taxa growing along the valley transect and also captured the signals of human activities over land use. The overall dominance of arboreal pollen in the recovered pollen assemblage corresponds with the dominant growth of conifers and broadleaf tree taxa and represents the valley vegetation at a regional scale. However, the profuse pollen production of a few arboreal taxa and long distance pollen transport from one vegetation zone to other by the strong upthermic valley winds could bias the pollen representation of in-situ vegetation. The high pollen frequency of non-arboreal taxa in the open meadows represents the near vicinity to their plant source. Human activities like fire burning and cultivation by the local population are evident by the recovery of microcharcoal particles and pollen of plants belonging to Cerealia Poaceae, Asteraceae, Amaranthaceae, Polygonaceae, Rosaceae, Juglandaceae, etc. The dataset taken as modern pollen-vegetation analogue is useful to assess past changes in the vegetation and land cover in relation to climate and human factors for future sustenance., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Cardiovascular disorders (CVD) are the primary cause of death worldwide. Multiple factors have been accepted to cause cardiovascular diseases; among them, smoking, physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, age, and family history are flag-bearers. Individuals at risk of developing CVD are suggested to make drastic habitual changes as the primary intervention to prevent CVD; however, over time, the disease is bound to worsen. This is when secondary interventions come into play, including antihypertensive, anti-lipidemic, anti-anginal, and inotropic drugs. These drugs usually undergo surgical intervention in patients with a much higher risk of heart failure. These therapeutic agents increase the survival rate, decrease the severity of symptoms and the discomfort that comes with them, and increase the overall quality of life. However, most individuals succumb to this disease. None of these treatments address the molecular mechanism of the disease and hence are unable to halt the pathological worsening of the disease. Gene therapy offers a more efficient, potent, and important novel approach to counter the disease, as it has the potential to permanently eradicate the disease from the patients and even in the upcoming generations. However, this therapy is associated with significant risks and ethical considerations that pose noteworthy resistance. In this review, we discuss various methods of gene therapy for cardiovascular disorders and address the ethical conundrum surrounding it., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Drug distribution to the eye is still tricky because of the eye's intricate structure. Systemic delivery, as opposed to more traditional methods like eye drops and ointments, is more effective but higher doses can be harmful., Objective: The use of solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNPs) as a method of drug delivery has been the subject of research since the 1990s. Since SLNPs are derived from naturally occurring lipids, they pose no health risks to the user. To raise the eye's absorption of hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs, SLNs can promote corneal absorption and improve the ocular bioavailability of SLNPs., Methods: To address problems related to ocular drug delivery, many forms of nano formulation were developed. Some of the methods developed are, emulsification and ultra-sonication, high-speed stirring and ultra-sonication, thin layer hydration, adapted melt-emulsification, and ultrasonication techniques, hot o/w micro-emulsion techniques, etc. Results: Nanostructured lipid carriers are described in this review in terms of their ocular penetration mechanism, structural characteristic, manufacturing process, characterization, and advantages over other nanocarriers., Conclusion: Recent developments in ocular formulations with nanostructured bases, such as surfacemodified attempts have been made to increase ocular bioavailability in both the anterior and posterior chambers by incorporating cationic chemicals into a wide variety of polymeric systems., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

The rational design of noble metal-free electrocatalysts holds great promise for cost-effective green hydrogen generation through water electrolysis. In this context, here, the development of a superhydrophilic bifunctional electrocatalyst that facilitates both oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in alkaline conditions is demonstrated. This is achieved through the in situ growth of hierarchical NiMoO 4 @CoMoO 4 ·xH 2 O nanostructure on nickel foam (NF) via a two-step hydrothermal synthesis method. NiMoO 4 @CoMoO 4 ·xH 2 O/NF facilitates OER and HER at the overpotentials of 180 and 220 mV, respectively, at the current density of 10 mA cm -2 . The NiMoO 4 @CoMoO 4 ·xH 2 O/NF ǁ NiMoO 4 @CoMoO 4 ·xH 2 O/NF cell can be operated at a potential of 1.60 V compared to 1.63 V displayed by the system based on the Pt/C@NFǁRuO 2 @NF standard electrode pair configuration at 10 mA cm -2 for overall water splitting. The density functional theory calculations for the OER process elucidate that the lowest ΔG of NiMoO 4 @CoMoO 4 compared to both Ni and NiMoO 4 is due to the presence of Co in the OER catalytic site and its synergistic interaction with NiMoO 4 . The preparative strategy and mechanistic understanding make the windows open for the large-scale production of the robust and less expensive electrode material for the overall water electrolysis., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Objective: To study the demographics, clinical profile, management, outcome and 1-y follow-up of children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C)., Methods: This was a retrospective observational study of 54 Children satisfying the WHO MIS-C criteria admitted during the study period., Results: Fifty-four children were included in the study, median age was 5.5 (IQR 8.75), 68.5% were males. PICU admissions were 77%. Most involved organ was gastrointestinal (92%), followed by cardiovascular 85%, central nervous system (CNS) 74%, respiratory 72%, mucocutaneous 59%, and renal 31%, and hypotension was the presenting symptom in 43%. Coronary artery dilatation was seen in 1 (1.8%) child. All patients presented with more than three organs involvement. Raised procalcitonin was seen in 100%, raised BNP in 31.5%, low ejection fraction in 83.3%, and abnormal radiograph in 59%. All children were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and negative for cultures. Methylprednisolone or intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) was used in 77%, mechanical ventilation in 18.5%, and inotropic support in 77%. Aspirin was used in 48% and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in 54%. The median stay in hospital was 7 d (IQR 2). There was 1 mortality (1.8%). On 7-d follow-up, 98% children had a normal echocardiography; on 6 mo and 1-y follow-up, all children had normal echocardiography., Conclusion: MIS-C is an important complication of COVID-19 infection. Cardiac involvement resolves completely. Coronary artery involvement is not common., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Dr. K C Chaudhuri Foundation.)

Natural products possess unique and broader intricacies in the chemical space and have been essential for drug discovery. The crucial factor for drug discovery success is not the size of the library but rather its structural diversity. Although reports on the number of new structurally diverse natural products (NPs) have declined recently, researchers follow the next logical step: synthesizing natural product hybrids and their analogues using the most potent tool, diversity-oriented synthesis (DOS). Here, we use weed Parthenium hysterophorus as a source of parthenin for synthesis of novel dispiro-pyrrolizidino/thiopyrrolizidino-oxindolo/indanedione natural product hybrids of parthenin via chemo-, regio-, and stereoselective azomethine ylide cycloaddition. All synthesized compounds were characterized through a detailed analysis of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) NMR and HRMS data, and the stereochemistries of the compounds were confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. All compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against four cell lines (HCT-116, A549, Mia-Paca-2, and MCF-7), and compound 6 inhibited the HCT-116 cells with an IC 50 of 5.0 ± 0.08 μM., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

We present measurements of the cross section and double-helicity asymmetry A&#95;{LL} of direct-photon production in p[over →]+p[over →] collisions at sqrt[s]=510  GeV. The measurements have been performed at midrapidity (|η|<0.25) with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. At relativistic energies, direct photons are dominantly produced from the initial quark-gluon hard scattering and do not interact via the strong force at leading order. Therefore, at sqrt[s]=510  GeV, where leading-order-effects dominate, these measurements provide clean and direct access to the gluon helicity in the polarized proton in the gluon-momentum-fraction range 0.02

Excessive exposure to sun can harm the skin, causing sunburn, photo-aging, and even skin cancer. Different benzylidene derivatives (A02-A18 and A19-A34) of 18β-Glycyrrhetinic acid (A01) were designed and synthesized in an effort to discover photo-protective compounds against UV-B -induced skin aging. The synthesized derivatives were subjected to cellular viability test using MTT assay in primary Human Dermal Fibroblasts (HDFs). The results indicate A01, A05, A15, A22, A23, A25, A26, A28, A29, A32, A33, and A34 significantly enhanced cell viability of HDFs. Compound A33 at 10 and 25 μM showed a significant photo-protective effect against UV-B (10 mJ/cm 2 ) -induced damage in HDFs. A33 at 25 μM significantly restored the UV-B -induced damage via its potent anti-oxidant, anti-apoptotic effects and ability to prevent collagen degradation. These findings pave the way for further development of A33 as a photo-protective skin agent., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Flowering exhibits a significant relationship with environmental stimuli and changes. Effect of photoperiodism and vernalization have been well studied in flowering phenology; however, the effect of soil temperature on flowering is less explored which is one of the major factors of vegetation growth in alpine ecosystem. This study thus focuses on the effects of soil and air temperature on flowering response of Rhododendron arboreum Sm., a Himalayan tree species, which is also an indicator of spring initiation in high altitude regions. To monitor the flowering pattern, we employed automated phenocam, which was set up at 3356 masl in Tungnath (Indian Alpine region of Uttarakhand) for time-lapse photography of timberline ecotone. Soil and air temperature were recorded continuously at the timberline ecotone. Three years (2017 to 2020) of datasets were used for the present study. The phenocam observations displayed an interesting event in the year 2019-2020 with complete absence of flowering in R. arboreum population at Tungnath timberline ecotone. From the soil temperature data, an increase in winter (Dec-Jan, during which floral buds form) soil temperature, by > 1 °C, and no accumulation of freezing degree-days were found for the year 2019-2020. Air temperature however did not display any relationship with the failure of flowering, ruling out aerial chilling or frost injury of floral buds. From the results, a possible relationship between soil temperature and flowering can be suggested pointing towards necessary root apex vernalization stimulus in shallow rooted Rhododendrons. However, the dependency of flowering in Rhododendrons on winter soil temperature further requires continuous monitoring and more observations to make concrete inferences., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The Manipuri language is the official language of the Indian state of Manipur. The language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. A benchmark Meitei/Meetei script printed document images dataset is presented in this article. The dataset contains raw 824 pages of printed documents and binarized images, text files, and XML files for each raw image. It also includes 51,460 isolated character samples, composed of 27 consonants, 7 half-consonants, 8 vowels, and 10 numerical. This dataset could be used for optical character recognition (OCR) research and in the different research areas of natural language processing (NLP)., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Introduction: Human Galectin-3 is a 32- to 35-kDa size lectin, mainly comprises a C-terminal carbohydrate recognition binding domain (CRD) and N-terminal domain. It acts as a powerful pro-inflammatory signalling factor, which plays an important role in the activation, chemotaxis, and cytokine release of inflammatory cells. Galectin-3 has also been studied in relation to development of insulin resistance. The levels of galectin-3 have been observed to be associated with both diabetes prevalence and incidence, independent of traditional diabetes risk factors. It is also associated with development of microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus like retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy., Methods: Tertiary care hospital-based cross-sectional prospective study. 150 patients selected by simple random sampling and were divided into 3 groups., Group A - Patients of Type 2 Diabetes mellitus without microvascular complications ( n =50), Group B - patients of Type 2 diabetes mellitus with microvascular complications ( n =50) and Group C - Healthy control ( n =50)., Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics was performed by calculating mean and standard deviation for the continuous variables. chi-square goodness-to-fit test, Student T test (unpaired) and Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multivariate analysis were used to compare means. The p-value was taken significant when less than 0.05 ( P <0.05) and a confidence interval of 95%., Results: In group A, B and C majority of patients were between 56-60 years with 34%, 40% and 36% cases, respectively. The mean BMI shows that the Patients with complications had significantly higher BMI than those without complications and controls had significantly lower BMI than patients having diabetes. The data shows statistical significance with deranged biochemical profile in patients with DM with complications as compared to patients without complications and control group. In both groups A and B patients with HbA1c between 9.1-12 had mean serum galectin level (20.2 in group A, 25.9 in group B) significantly higher than patients with HbA1c between 6.5-9 (18.5 in group A and 20.4 in group B). patients with deranged lipid profile had significantly higher serum galectin level in all 3 groups, with cases from group B having higher values than group A. While controls had the lowest value of serum galectin ( P value<0.001). There was a highly significant correlation between high serum galectin levels and the incidence of both non-progressive and progressive retinopathy ( P value=0.0001). The mean galectin of patients with neuropathy was 28.3 ± 3.1 ng/ml, which was significantly higher than patients from group B without neuropathy (24.5 ± 2.6 ng/ml). The mean serum galectin level of patients with macroalbuminuria was 30.1± 1.3 ng/ml which was significantly higher than those with microalbuminuria having mean galectin level of 22.8 ±4.8 ng/ml. There was a highly significant correlation between high serum galectin levels and the incidence of both micro and macroalbuminuria ( P value=0.0001)., Conclusion: This study concludes that elevated serum Galectin-3 levels are associated with diabetes-related chronic inflammatory processing pathway, and closely relates to the severity of diabetes in T2DM both with and without complications. Therefore, Galectin-3 may be helpful in the diagnosis and prognosis of microvascular and macrovascular complications in T2DM patients., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.)

This paper focuses on vegetation health conditions (VHC) assessment and mapping using high resolution airborne hyperspectral AVIRIS-NG imagery and validated with field spectroscopy-based vegetation spectral data. It also quantified the effect of mining on vegetation health for geo-environmental impact assessment at a fine level scale. In this study, we have developed and modified vegetation indices (VIs) based model for VHC assessment and mapping in coal mining sites. We have used thirty narrow banded VIs based on the statistical measurement for suitable VIs identification. The highest Pearson's r, R 2 , lowest RMSE, and P values indices have been used for VIs combined pixels analysis. The highest different (Healthy vs. unhealthy) vegetation combination index (VCI) has been selected for VHC assessment and mapping. We have also compared VIs model-based VHC results to ENVI (software) forest health tool and Spectral-based SAM classification results. The 1st VCI result showed the highest difference (72.07%) from other VCI. The AUC values of the ROC curve have shown a better fit for the VIs model (0.79) than Spectral classification (0.74), and ENVI FHT (0.68) based on VHC results. The VHC results showed that unhealthy vegetation classes are located at low distances from mine sites, and healthy vegetation classes are situated at high distances. It is also seen that there is a highly significant positive relationship (R 2 =0.70) between VHC classes and distance from mines. These results will provide a guideline for geo-environmental impact assessment in coal mining sites., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Globally, the treelines at higher elevations in mountains are reported to be advancing up-slope in response to recent climate warming. However, little is known about the treeline advancement in the Himalaya due to paucity of baseline vegetation data with which to compare, thus making their assessment and monitoring challenging. To fill this knowledge gap, the present study documented floristic and functional diversity of two treeline ecotone sites in Kashmir Himalaya. At each site, we conducted field sampling by laying five 20-m 2 plots, with one at the highest limit (T0 plot), two plots below and two above the treeline and two nested subplots of 5-m 2 for shrubs and five 1-m 2 for herbs in each plot. We recorded 97 plant species belonging to 33 families from the two sites. We observed a considerable difference in species composition and distribution along the treeline ecotone. Majority of the species reported were perennial herbs. We observed a significant association of growth forms with the particular plots along the treeline ecotone. At both the sites, we recorded highest species richness at the T0 plot which was correlated well with the functional traits, thus indicating convergence of floristic and functional diversity at this transition zone. Interestingly, the T0 plot at both the sites showed maximum overlap of species with the plots above and below the treeline. In an era of climate warming, our study provides crucial baseline data that will facilitate assessment and monitoring of the Himalayan treelines., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Aim: Type-2 DM patients are susceptible for various types of infections. Long standing Type2 DM patients have strong predilection for tuberculosis as seen in various studies. Here, we aimed to study susceptibility of tuberculosis as compared to other non tuberculous pneumonia in type-2 DM on the basis of CD markers., Material and Methods: A case control study on 150 subjects was conducted in S.P. Medical College and Associated Group of P.B.M. Hospitals, Bikaner. Subjects were divided into 3 groups each of 50 type-2 diabetic patients having tuberculous pneumonia, of 50 type-2 diabetic patients having non tuberculous pneumonia and 50 patients of type 2 diabetes as a control group attending Medical Outdoor and those Admitted in Hospital IPD Wards. All participants were subjected to detailed clinical examination and relevant investigations. Flow cytometry was used for CD4 and CD8 count., Results: Diabetic patients with tuberculous pneumonia have significantly (p-value &lt;0.05) elevated numbers of CD4 and CD8 cell count in comparison of both controls and nontuberculous pneumonia. Diabetic patients with non tuberculous pneumonia have significantly (p-value &lt;0.05) lower CD4 and CD8 cell count in comparison of diabetic controls and diabetic patients with tuberculous pneumonia., Conclusion: DM is associated with an alteration in the immune response to tuberculosis, leading to a induction of CD4 and CD8 mediated cellular responses and likely contributing to increased immune pathology in M. tuberculosis infection. Our study also provides an impetus to perform longitudinal studies examining the role of immunological biomarkers in the development of tuberculosis in diabetic patients., (© Journal of the Association of Physicians of India 2011.)

Dynamical simulations of molecules and materials have been the route to understand the rearrangement of atoms within them at different temperatures. Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamical simulations have further helped to comprehend the reaction dynamics at various finite temperatures. We take a case study of Si 6 B and Si 5 B clusters and demonstrate that their finite-temperature behavior is rather mapped to the potential energy surface. The study further brings forth the fact that an accurate description of the dynamics is rather coupled with the accuracy of the method in defining the potential energy surface. A more precise potential energy surface generated through the coupled cluster method is finally used to identify the most accurate description of the potential energy surface and the interconnected finite-temperature behavior., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Background: The revascularization of small vessels using drug-eluting stents remains challenging. The use of the drug-coated balloon is an attractive therapeutic strategy in de novo lesions in small coronary vessels, particularly in the diabetic group. This study aimed to assess the outcomes of DCB-only angioplasty in small vessel disease., Methods: A total of 1198 patients with small vessel disease treated with DCB-only strategy were followed. Patients were divided into the diabetic and nondiabetic groups. Clinical and angiographical follow-up were organized at 12 months. The primary endpoints were target lesion failure and secondary major adverse cardiac events., Results: There was a significantly higher rate of target lesion failure among diabetic patients compared to nondiabetic [17 (3.9%) vs. 11 (1.4%), P =0.006], taken separately, the rate of target lesion revascularization significantly differed between groups with a higher rate observed in the diabetic group [9 (2%) vs. 4 (0.5%), P =0.014]. Diabetes mellitus remained an independent predictor for TLF (HR: 2.712, CI: 1.254-5.864, P =0.011) and target lesion revascularization (HR: 3.698, CI: 1.112-12.298, P =0.033) after adjustment. However, no significant differences were observed between groups regarding the target vessel myocardial infarction (0.6% vs. 0.1%, P =0.110) and MACE [19 (4.4%) vs. 21 (2.7%), P =0.120]., Conclusion: Drug-coated balloon-only treatment achieved lower incidence rates of TLF and MACE. Diabetes is an independent predictor for target lesion failure and target lesion revascularization at one year following DCB treatment in small coronary vessels. We observed no significant differences between groups regarding MACE in one year., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known conflicts of financial interest or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this study., (Copyright © 2021 Botey Katamu Benjamin et al.)

Studying spin-momentum correlations in hadronic collisions offers a glimpse into a three-dimensional picture of proton structure. The transverse single-spin asymmetry for midrapidity isolated direct photons in p^{↑}+p collisions at sqrt[s]=200  GeV is measured with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Because direct photons in particular are produced from the hard scattering and do not interact via the strong force, this measurement is a clean probe of initial-state spin-momentum correlations inside the proton and is in particular sensitive to gluon interference effects within the proton. This is the first time direct photons have been used as a probe of spin-momentum correlations at RHIC. The uncertainties on the results are a 50-fold improvement with respect to those of the one prior measurement for the same observable, from the Fermilab E704 experiment. These results constrain gluon spin-momentum correlations in transversely polarized protons.

This work mainly focused on deforestation susceptibility (DS) assessment and its prediction based on statistical models (FR, LR & AHP) in the Saranda forest, India. Also, efforts had been made to quantify the effect of mining on deforestation. We had considered twenty-five (twenty present and five predicted) causative variables of deforestation, including climate, natural or geomorphological, forestry, topographical, environmental, and anthropogenic. The predicted variables have been generated from different simulation models. Also, very high-resolution, Google Earth imagery have been used in time series analysis for deforestation from 1987 to 2020 data and generated dependent variable. On deforestation analysis, it was observed that a total of 4197.84 ha forest areas were lost in the study region due to illegal mining, agricultural and tribal people allied activities. The DS results have shown that of total existing forest area, 11.22% area were under very high, 16.08% under high, 16.18% under moderate, 24.25% under low, and 32.27% falls very low categories. According to the DS assessment and predicted results, the very high susceptibility classes were found at and close to mines, agricultural, roads and settlement's surrounding sites. The sensitivity analysis results also shown that some causative variables (maximum temperature (2.95%), minimum temperature (0.51%), rainfall (2.69%), LST (4.56%), hot spot (7.36%), aspect (1.14%), NDVI (2.64%), forest density (3.78%), lithology (3.26%), geomorphology (3.00%), distance from agricultural (19.40%), soil type (2.05%), solar radiation (5.97%), LULC (3.26%), drought (3.16%), altitude (2.85%), slope (5.97%), distance from mines (18.05%), roads (2.17%), and settlements (5.18%)) were more sensitive to deforestation. Most of the sensitive parameters showed a positive correlation with DS. The AUC values of the ROC curve had shown a better fit for AHP (0.72) than (0.69) FR and LR (0.68) models for present DS results. The correlation results had shown a good inverse relationship between DS and distance from mines and foliar dust concentration. This work will espouse the future work in the effective planning and management of the mining-affected forest region and predicted deforestation susceptibility would be helpful for forest ecosystem study and policymaking., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We report a mode-locking operation using a nonlinear multimode interference (MMI)-based saturable absorber in an ytterbium-doped fiber laser under an all-normal dispersion configuration. The MMI is observed in a step-index single mode-multimode-single mode (SMS) fiber structure. The intensity and wavelength-dependent transmission of the SMS structure has been studied numerically to understand the Kerr-induced saturable absorber properties of MMI in a step-index fiber. Numerical investigations show that presence of a narrow-band wavelength-tunable spectral filter is necessary for a nonlinear MMI-based saturable absorber to be effective for mode locking. A single-pulse mode-locking operation in the laser is realized at a very low pump power of ${\sim}{56.3}\;{\rm mW}$ at which the laser generates 180 ps duration pulses at ${\sim}{9}\;{\rm MHz}$ repetition rate with measured signal-to-noise ratio of ${\sim}{50}\;{\rm dB}$. This all-fiber integrated laser operates in multi-pulse and noise-like rectangular pulse regimes at increased pump power.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) comprise a group of disorders ranging from peripheral artery, coronary artery, cardiac valve, cardiac muscle, and congenital heart diseases to arrhythmias and ultimately, heart failure. For all the advances in therapeutics, CVDs are still the leading cause of mortality the world over, hence the significance of a thorough understanding of CVDs at the molecular level. Disparities in the expressions of genes and microRNAs (miRNAs) play a crucial role in the determination of the fate of cellular pathways, which ultimately affect an organism's physiology. Indeed, miRNAs serve as the regulators of gene expressions in that they perform key functions both in several important cellular pathways and in the regulation of the onset of various diseases such as CVDs. Many miRNAs are expressed in embryonic, postnatal, and adult hearts; their aberrant expression or genetic deletion is associated with abnormal cardiac cell differentiation, disruption in heart development, and cardiac dysfunction. A substantial body of evidence implicates miRNAs in CVD development and suggests them as diagnostic biomarkers and intriguing therapeutic tools. The present review provides an overview of the history, biogenesis, and processing of miRNAs, as well as their function in the development, remodeling, and diseases of the heart., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori, apart from its well-known economic importance, has also emerged as an insect model to study host-pathogen interactions. The major concern for silkworm cultivation and the sericulture industry is the attack by various types of pathogens mainly including viruses, fungi, bacteria and protozoa. Successful infection requires specific arsenals to counter the host immune response. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are one of the potential arsenals which are encoded by viruses and effectively used during host-pathogen interactions. MiRNAs are short noncoding 19-25 nucleotides long endogenous RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate the expression of protein-coding genes in a sequence-specific manner. Most of the higher eukaryotes encode miRNAs and utilize them in the regulation of important cellular pathways. In silkworm, promising functions of miRNAs have been characterized in development, metamorphosis, immunity, and host-pathogen interactions. The viral miRNA-mediated fine-tuning of the viral, as well as cellular genes, is beneficial for making a cellular environment favorable for the virus proliferation. Baculovirus and cypovirus, which infect silkworm have been shown to encode miRNAs and their functions are implicated in controlling the expression of both viral and host genes. In the present review, the author discusses the diverse functions of viral-encoded miRNAs in evasion of the host immune responses and reshaping of the silkworm cellular environment for replication. Besides, a basic overview of miRNA biogenesis and mechanism of action is also provided. Our increasing understanding of the role of viral miRNAs in silkworm-virus interactions would not only assist us to get insights into the intricate pathways but also provide tools to deal with dreaded pathogens., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a novel class of gene expression regulators and are found to be involved in regulating a wide range of biological processes such as development, cell cycle, metabolism, apoptosis, immunity, host-pathogen interactions etc. Generally miRNAs negatively regulate the gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by binding to the complementary target mRNA sequences. These tiny molecules are abundantly found in higher eukaryotes and viruses. Most of the DNA viruses of animals and insects encode miRNAs including baculoviruses. Baculoviruses are the insect-specific viruses that cause severe infection and mortality mainly in insect larvae of the order Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera. These enveloped viruses have multiple applications in biotechnology and biological pest control methods. For a better understanding of baculoviruses, it is necessary to elucidate the molecular basis of insect-baculovirus interactions. Recent advancement in the technologies for studying the gene expression has accelerated the discovery of new players in the insect-baculovirus interactions. MiRNAs are the emerging and fate-determining players of host-viral interactions. The long history of host and virus co-evolution suggests that the virus keeps on evolving its arsenals to succeed in infection whereas the host continues investing in antiviral defense mechanisms. In this review, I aim to highlight the recent information and understanding of the baculovirus-encoding miRNAs and their functions in regulating viral as well as host genes. Additionally, insect-derived miRNAs response to baculovirus infection is also discussed. A detailed critical view about the regulatory roles of miRNAs in insect-baculovirus interactions will help us to understand molecular networks amid these interactions and develop a sustainable antiviral strategy., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The tree species and its diversity are two critical components to be monitored for sustainable management of forest as well as biodiversity conservation. In the present study, we have classified the tree species and estimated its diversity based on hyperspectral remote sensing data at a fine scale level in the Saranda forest. This area is situated near the mining fields and has a dense forest cover around it. The forest surrounding the study area is exhibiting high-stress condition as evidenced by the dying and dry plant material, consequently affecting tree species and its diversity. The preprocessing of 242 Hyperion (hyperspectral) spectral wavebands resulted in 145 corrected spectral wavebands. The 21 spectral wavebands were selected through discrimination analysis (Walk's Lambda test) for tree species analysis. The SVM (support vector machine), SAM (spectral angle mapper), and MD (minimum distance) algorithms were applied for tree species classification based on ground spectral data obtained from the spectroradiometer. We have identified six local tree species in the study area at the spatial level. The result shows that Sal and Teak tree species are located in the upper and lower hilly sides of two mines (Meghahatuburu and Kiriburu). We have also used hyperspectral narrow banded vegetation indices (VIs) for species diversity estimation based on the field-measured Shannon diversity index. The statistical result shows that NDVI705 (red edge normalized difference vegetation index) is having the best R 2 (0.76) and lowest RMSE (0.04) for species diversity estimation. That is why we have used NDVI705 for species diversity estimation. The result shows that higher species diversity values are located in the upper and lower hilly sides of two mines. The linear regression between Hyperion and field measured Shannon index shows the R 2 (0.72) and RMSE (0.15). This study will aid in effective geoenvironmental planning and management of forest in the hilltop mining areas.