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This review summarizes recent developments (from 2006 to 2022) in numerous important and efficient carbo- and heterocycle generations using gold-catalyzed cascade protocols. Herein, methodologies involve selectivity, cost-effectiveness, and ease of product formation being controlled by the ligand as well as the counter anion, catalyst, substrate, and reaction conditions. Gold-catalyzed cascade reactions covered different strategies through the compilation of various approaches such as cyclization, hydroarylation, intermolecular and intramolecular cascade reactions, etc. This entitled reaction is also useful for the synthesis of spiro, fused, bridged carbo- and heterocycles.

Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are toxic N-glycosidases that depurinate eukaryotic and prokaryotic rRNAs and thus interrupt protein synthesis during translation. In the present study, a protein of around 32 kDa, supposedly a RIP isolated from Trichosanthes dioica, was assessed for its potential to induce apoptosis in HeLa cells. Cell viability assay was done to measure cell proliferation and survivability. It was observed that cells viability decreased with the increase of decrease in dilution, i.e. when the sample was an undiluted one, the viability decreased drastically and almost came to less than 10%. To further check whether the isolated RIP could induce apoptosis, HeLa cells were treated with the test RIP. Immunoblotting was carried out using PARP poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP-1), a 113 kDa nuclear enzyme, which is considered a hallmark of cells undergoing apoptosis. HeLa cells were further analyzed for loss of mitochondrial membrane potential with JC-1 dye, which is an early event during apoptosis. Increased PARP breakdown in the RIP treated cells indicates that cells undergoing apoptosis and progressive loss of red J-aggregate fluorescence indicate that the isolated RIP from Trichosanthes dioica induces apoptosis in HeLa cells. The ability of apoptosis induction is comparable to another known RIP from Momordica charantia, which was used as a positive control. Promising results from the present study warrants the isolated RIP to be further explored for anticancer activities.

Background Recently there has been an increased preference for intranasal delivery of drugs due to highly vascular nasal mucosa, bypassing first pass metabolism and the blood brain barrier (BBB) lead in quick drug absorption to the systemic circulation and direct access to brain from olfactory region. For pediatric patients this route offers significant benefits over injections or oral routes, like increased compliance, easy administration, and minimal side effects. Objective Assessment of prescription pattern of drugs and safety profile of drugs used by intranasal route in paediatric age group. Method Our study was a prospective observational study paediatric age group of patients conducted in the departments of Pharmacology, Paediatrics and Otorhinolaryngology of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Burdwan. Data were collected in CRF and frequency distribution of collected data done. Microsoft Excel 2010 was used for analysis. Result Common age group was infants. Males were more in number. Most common indication was epistaxis. Intranasal drugs per prescription were 1.05. Most commonly prescribed intranasal drug was nasal saline. Nasal decongestant was the most common prescribed medication. Nasal drops were the most common dose formulation. Conclusion Intranasal drug prescribing in our study was mainly aimed for treating local problems, very few being for systemic action. Some prescribing indicators like prescribing by generic name and prescribing from national essential drug lists were acceptable with scope for improvement. Average number of drugs per prescription and antibiotic use was high. Adverse events after intranasal drug use were primarily local and nose related.

The first discovery of commercial hydrocarbon in India was in 1889 in a structural trap at Digboi in Assam. Ever since the discovery, geologists have mapped and modeled the subsurface structure of this 50 km long anticlinal fold-thrust belt. However, never before, the existence of a hanging wall syncline north of Jaipur anticline, near the Kusijan oil and gas field, was considered. In this paper, we have proposed a structural model for the regional fold-thrust structures that successfully explains the existence of this syncline adjacent to the Naga thrust. Trishear Fault Propagation folding followed by a complex breakthrough pattern of the thrust at later stages is proposed as most suitable model to explain the outcrop pattern and sub-surface data. We have prepared two northwest-southeast trending balanced structural cross sections using this kinematic model. Total shortening percentages across the southern and northern cross sections are estimated to be 44 and 30 respectively. A complementary play with locations of prospective boreholes is suggested. Based on the dip data in the hanging wall structures of Naga thrust, we predict medium- to small-scale concealed imbricate structures in the sub-thrust. These zones of local thrust imbrications may prove to be prospective leads for concealed petroleum traps.

Structural members exhibit hysteretic behavior under cyclic loading. Among the hysteresis models available in the literature, the differential model proposed by Bouc-Wen is most widely used, owing to its robustness. This model involves many parameters that define the shape of the hysteresis loops. Estimating these unknown parameters is an identification problem that can be tackled by optimization algorithms by using prediction error as the objective function. Stochastic methods like simulated annealing and genetic algorithms can help find global minima but at a high computational cost. Here, the homotopy technique is employed to identify the unknown parameters. The efficiency of this technique in identifying the parameters of the Bouc–Wen model is demonstrated with examples. The present approach is then compared with global optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization techniques. Numerical results confirm that the homotopy method is superior in terms of computational effort and convergence efficiency.

In the present work, the change in the direction of the polarization vector of an incoming light ray is extensively calculated for a rotating observer. The change in the direction of the polarization vector calculated here is only due to the effect of the non-inertial rotating frame, considering that the light source is at a distance and it is emitting plane-polarized light. The metric tensors for a rotating observer have been collected from existing literature. Accordingly, the electric displacement and magnetic induction values as applicable for a rotating observer have been calculated. These values are used to calculate the change in the orientation of the electric vector of an incoming plane-polarized light ray. Earth has been taken as an example of a rotating frame and the calculated amount of change in the direction of the polarization vector has been found to be dependent on the azimuthal and polar coordinates of the rotating frame. The present work also discusses the redshift as observed by a rotating observer and the value of the redshift has been calculated for an observer sitting on a rotating earth.

We present the first Bayesian method for tomographic decomposition of the plane-of-sky orientation of the magnetic field with the use of stellar polarimetry and distance. This standalone tomographic inversion method presents an important step forward in reconstructing the magnetized interstellar medium (ISM) in three dimensions within dusty regions. We develop a model in which the polarization signal from the magnetized and dusty ISM is described by thin layers at various distances, a working assumption which should be satisfied in small-angular circular apertures. Our modeling makes it possible to infer the mean polarization (amplitude and orientation) induced by individual dusty clouds and to account for the turbulence-induced scatter in a generic way. We present a likelihood function that explicitly accounts for uncertainties in polarization and parallax. We develop a framework for reconstructing the magnetized ISM through the maximization of the log-likelihood using a nested sampling method. We test our Bayesian inversion method on mock data, representative of the high Galactic latitude sky, taking into account realistic uncertainties from Gaia and as expected for the optical polarization survey PASIPHAE according to the currently planned observing strategy. We demonstrate that our method is effective at recovering the cloud properties as soon as the polarization induced by a cloud to its background stars is higher than ~0.1% for the adopted survey exposure time and level of systematic uncertainty. The larger the induced polarization is, the better the method’s performance, and the lower the number of required stars. Our method makes it possible to recover not only the mean polarization properties but also to characterize the intrinsic scatter, thus creating new ways to characterize ISM turbulence and the magnetic field strength. Finally, we apply our method to an existing data set of starlight polarization with known line-of-sight decomposition, demonstrating agreement with previous results and an improved quantification of uncertainties in cloud properties.

Realistic nuclear level densities (NLDs) obtained within the spectral distribution method (SDM) are employed to study nuclear processes of astrophysical interest. The merit of SDM lies in the fact that the NLDs corresponding to many body shell model Hamiltonian consisting of residual interaction can be obtained for the full configurational space without recourse to the exact diagnolization of huge matrices. We calculate NLDs and s-wave neutron resonance spacings which agree reasonably well with the available experimental data. By employing these NLDs, we compute reaction cross-sections and astrophysical reaction rates for radiative neutron capture in few Fe-group nuclei, and compare them with experimental data as well as with those obtained with NLDs from phenomenological and microscopic mean-field models. The results obtained for the NLDs from SDM are able to explain the experimental data quite well. These results are of particular importance since the configuration mixing through the residual interaction naturally accounts for the collective excitations. In the mean-field models, the collective effects are included through the vibrational and rotational enhancement factors and their NLDs are further normalized at low energies with neutron resonance data., Accepted in Physical Review C (2022)

Landslide inventory contains basic information about landslides such as location, classification, morphometry, volume, run-out distance, activity, date of occurrence, damages caused etc. In most landslide inventory maps only spatio-temporal distribution of slope failures is shown. A complete portrayal of landslide inventory, both in number of landslides mapped and associated attributes such as morphometry, classification etc. is a must as it has bearing on the estimation of landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk. Despite of its enormous importance, landslide inventory is rarely found to be complete. This can be attributed to limited availability of requisite data and the inherent uncertainties in landslide inventory mapping from different sources and importantly the insufficient field inputs. In the present work in the Mandakini valley of Uttarakhand Himalayas attempts have been made to prepare a substantially complete landslide inventory, both in terms of number of landslides and attributes, using multifarious data sources substantiated with thorough field checks. Supplementary historical data sources along with the conventional data sources have been used to prepare the inventory. The approach followed includes pre-field mapping of landslides from different Earth Observation (EO) data followed by interpretation of archival records and detailed field surveys. The data available for the period 1962 to 2013 were used to build up the inventory database in GIS. A total of 644 landslides have been mapped and attributed using conventional EO data and also the different supplementary data sources for an area covering 400 sq. km. An inventory of 151 landslides prepared from EO data have been confirmed and updated during the field study. Finally, the detailed landslide inventory prepared during the course of this study was analysed to understand the behaviour of landslides and role of triggering factors in susceptibility mapping and the geo-environmental conditions governing the magnitude of the event.

Wireless capsule endoscopy is the most innovative technology to perceive the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract in recent times. It can diagnose inner diseases like bleeding, ulcer, tumor, Crohn's disease, and polyps in a discretion way. It creates immense pressure and onus for clinicians to perceive a huge number of image frames, which is time-consuming and makes human oversight errors. Therefore a computer-automated system has been introduced for bleeding detection. A unique fuzzy logic technique is proposed to extract the specified bleeding and non-bleeding information from the image data. A particular quadratic support vector machine (QSVM) classifier is employed to classify the obtained statistical features from the bleeding and non-bleeding images incorporating principal component analysis (PCA). After extensive experiments on clinical data, 98% sensitivity, 98.4% accuracy, 98% specificity, 93% precision, 95.4% F1-score, and 99% negative predicted value have been achieved, which outperforms some of the states of art methods in this regard. It is optimistic that the proposed methodology would significantly contribute to bleeding detection techniques and diminish the additional onus of the physicians.

Green Pea galaxies are low-redshift starburst dwarf galaxies, with properties similar to those of the high-redshift galaxies that reionized the Universe. We report the first mapping of the spatial distribution of atomic hydrogen (HI) in and around a Green Pea, GP J0213+0056 at z=0.0399, using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). Like many Green Peas, GP J0213+0056 shows strong HI 21 cm emission in single-dish spectroscopy, strong Ly-alpha emission, and a high [OIII]$\lambda$5007/[OIII]$\lambda$3727 luminosity ratio, O32 $\approx$ 8.8, consistent with a high leakage of Lyman-continuum radiation. Our GMRT HI 21 cm images show that the HI 21 cm emission in the field of GP J0213+0056 arises from an extended broken-ring structure around the Green Pea, with the strongest emission coming from a region between GP J0213+0056 and a companion galaxy lying $\approx$ 4.7 kpc away, and little HI 21cm emission coming from the Green Pea itself. We find that the merger between GP J0213+0056 and its companion is likely to have triggered the starburst, and led to a disturbed HI spatial and velocity distribution, which in turn allowed Ly-alpha (and, possibly, Lyman-continuum) emission to escape the Green Pea. Our results suggest that such mergers, and the resulting holes in the HI distribution, are a natural way to explain the tension between the requirements of cold gas to fuel the starburst and the observed leakage of Ly-alpha and Lyman-continuum emission in Green Pea galaxies and their high-redshift counterparts., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in ApJL

We present the results of high-quality XMM-NEWTON observations of a ULX in the galaxy NGC 4190. The detection of spectral cutoff in NGC 4190 ULX1 spectra rules out the interpretation of the ULX to be in a standard low/hard canonical accretion state. We report that the high quality EPIC spectra can be better described by broad thermal component, such as a slim disk. In addition we found long term spectral and flux variability in the source using several XMM-NEWTON and Swift data. A clear anti-correlation between flux and power-law photon index is found which further confirms the unusual spectral state evolution of the ULX. Spectral properties of the ULX suggest that the source is in a broadened disk state with luminosities ($\approx (3-10) \times 10^{39}$ ergs s$^{-1}$) falling in the ultraluminous regime. The positive Luminosity-temperature relation further suggests that the multi color disk model follows the $L \propto T^4$ relation which is expected for a black body disk emission from a constant area and the slim disk model seems to favour $L \propto T^2$ relation consistent with an advection dominated disk emission . From the broadened disk like spectral feature at such luminosity, we estimated the upper limit of the mass of the central compact object from the inner disk radius and found that the ULX hosts a stellar mass black hole., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in MNRAS

BackgroundThis study aims to analyze the dynamics of the published articles and preprints of Covid-19 related literature from different scientific databases and sharing platforms.MethodsThe PubMed, Elsevier, and Research Gate (RG) databases were under consideration in this study over a specific time. Analyses were carried out on the number of publications as (a) function of time (day), (b) journals and (c) authors. Doubling time of the number of publications was analyzed for PubMed “all articles” and Elsevier published articles. Analyzed databases were (1A) PubMed “all articles” (01/12/2019-12/06/2020) (1B) PubMed Review articles (01/12/2019-2/5/2020) and (1C) PubMed Clinical Trials (01/01/2020-30/06/2020) (2) Elsevier all publications (01/12/2019-25/05/2020) (3) RG (Article, Pre Print, Technical Report) (15/04/2020–30/4/2020).FindingsTotal publications in the observation period for PubMed, Elsevier, and RG were 23000, 5898 and 5393 respectively. The average number of publications/day for PubMed, Elsevier and RG were 70.0 ±128.6, 77.6±125.3 and 255.6±205.8 respectively. PubMed shows an avalanche in the number of publication around May 10, number of publications jumped from 6.0±8.4/day to 282.5±110.3/day. The average doubling time for PubMed, Elsevier, and RG was 10.3±4 days, 20.6 days, and 2.3±2.0 days respectively. In PubMed average articles/journal was 5.2±10.3 and top 20 authors representing 935 articles are of Chinese descent. The average number of publications per author for PubMed, Elsevier, and RG was 1.2±1.4, 1.3±0.9, and 1.1±0.4 respectively. Subgroup analysis, PubMed review articles mean and median review time for each article were and 13.9 days respectively; and reducing at a rate of-0.21 days (count)/day.InterpretationAlthough the disease has been known for around 6 months, the number of publications related to the Covid-19 until now is huge and growing very fast with time. It is essential to rationalize the publications scientifically by the researchers, authors, reviewers, and publishing houses.FundingNone

Background Vedolizumab (VDZ) and ustekinumab (UST) are treatments for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease (CD). The payer addressable burden (PAB) is the total allowed cost of care of a national health plan based on an actuarial analysis of all members total cost burden, for a given disease, regardless of any other underlying conditions. We used an actuarial retrospective claims analysis of direct and indirect costs associated with payer allowed resource utilizations to understand the US payer cost burden of the biologic-treated CD population. Methods Mean annual allowed cost per member with CD in the commercial health plan population was examined from a health plan actuarial and financial perspective. Data were obtained from medical and prescription claims of commercial and Medicare health plan members from Optum’s proprietary de-identified Normative Health Information database. Administrative claims data for all commercial members with pharmacy and medical coverage were used to determine medical utilization and medication unit cost patterns for CD treatment for 2017–2019. PAB analysis includes resource utilizations and associated costs among CD patients (pts) whose last biologic agent received in a year was UST subcutaneous (SC) or VDZ intravenous (IV). Costs captured were the total paid by plan and pts for medical or pharmacy claims. ICD-10 diagnosis codes were used to identify prescriptions to be included based on CD diagnosis. Members with diagnostic codes for concomitant ulcerative colitis (UC) were included only if they had more claims for CD than UC. Allowed claims costs, the sum of all medical and pharmacy costs, were categorized as CD-specific PAB and all-cause PAB. Cost per member per month was estimated by dividing total costs by total member enrolled months. Results In this retrospective claims analysis, more members with CD were treated with VDZ IV than UST SC in 2017 and 2018. Total and CD-related costs were lower with VDZ IV than with UST SC in overall members with CD and biologic-naïve members with CD (Figure 1). Both CD-related and all-cause PAB were markedly lower for VDZ IV than UST SC (Figure 2). Conclusion PAB can help payers identify opportunities for cost-saving. For patients with CD, the payer cost burden was lower with VDZ IV than with UST SC. This analysis provides a cross-sectional view of financial burden for US payers in managing members with CD. The analysis did not include longitudinal follow-up of pts for cost difference or adjustment of confounders in biologic-treated pts. The results capture the real-world burden of all forms of clinical practice and resource utilization in treating pts with CD enrolled in a commercial national plan.

The variation of total nuclear level densities (NLDs) and level density parameters with proton number $(Z)$ are studied around the $\beta$-stable isotope, $Z_{0}$, for a given mass number. We perform our analysis for a mass range $A=40$ to 180 using the NLDs from popularly used databases obtained with the single-particle energies from two different microsopic mass-models. These NLDs which include microscopic structural effects such as collective enhancement, pairing and shell corrections, do not exhibit inverted parabolic trend with a strong peak at $Z_{0}$ as predicted earlier. We also compute the NLDs using the single-particle energies from macroscopic-microscopic mass-model. Once the collective and pairing effects are ignored, the inverted parabolic trends of NLDs and the corresponding level density parameters become somewhat visible. Nevertheless, the factor that governs the $(Z-Z_{0})$ dependence of the level density parameter, leading to the inverted parabolic trend, is found to be smaller by an order of magnitude. We further find that the $(Z-Z_{0})$ dependence of NLDs is quite sensitive to the shell effects., Comment: Accepted in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics

Purpose/objective(s) Historically south Asia had the second highest gender disparity in the world which reflected in professional attributes, like medical practice as well. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the growth pattern and leadership position of woman radiation oncologists (WRO) in South Asia; and, if applicable, forecast the time required to achieve gender neutrality in these countries. Materials/methods Out of the eight countries - viz., Afghanistan, Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh (BD), India (IN), Nepal (NP), Pakistan (PK) and Sri Lanka (SL) constituting South Asia, only the last five countries have radiation oncology (RO) facilities. To calculate the growth pattern of oncologists, registration data from national associations in IN, BD, NP and SL were analyzed. PK has none and hence we used data from published literature. Growth rate of WRO and male radiation oncologists (MRO) were calculated based on time function of registration of ROs of different sexes. Based upon calculated growth rate, numbers of WROs and MROs are forecasted for next 10 years. Number of WROs in leadership position was derived from multiple sources. Results The total number of oncologists in the region was 4074 with 91.8% of it belonging to IN. Ratio of WRO to MRO was 1: 2 (1370 WROs and 2704 MROs). Incremental annual growth in the number of WROs was the highest in India (12.7/yr) and the least in Nepal (0.4/yr) with no data available for Pakistan. With the current growth rate, Indian radiation oncologist community will achieve a gender neutrality by 2027. For other countries, gender neutrality is unlikely in foreseeable future with present growth rate of WRO and MRO and their existing numbers at present. Leadership position: Presently WROs lead ≈ 64 of the 430 centers (≈15%) in IN, while the corresponding figures are BD = 1, NP = 0, SL = 1, and PK = 0. Conclusion In all the South Asian countries, patriarchal values and social norms keep gender inequalities alive. Gender equality is a human right which is a must for sustained growth in a peaceful society. With the gender equality index ≈50%, south Asia is the 2nd highest gender disparity region in the world marginally above East-North Africa. With the present growth rates of WROs and MROs, India will achieve the gender equality within a decade; however, rest of the countries may not achieve so in the near future. Presently the % of WRO in IN is better than the developed nation like United States where population of WRO is 26%. Analysis of RO registration with national body reveals radiation oncology is a preferred choice of super specialization for woman clinicians, with an encouraging growth observed in the last 5 yrs compared to previous decades, especially in BD, SL and IN.

The discovery of new drug molecules, which belongs to BCS class II and class IV, are suffering from poor aqueous solubility related issues. Pharmaceutical scientists are seeking various approaches such as polymorphism, cocrystals, salt formation, etc. to overcome these issues. Among the various methods, modifications of drugs into pharmaceutically useful cocrystals using coformers have been emerged in recent years. This improves the physicochemical properties such as solubility, dissolution, stability, and bioavailability. In addition to this, precipitation inhibitor (PPI) such as hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) can provide a ‘parachute’ effect in biological medium, which further improves the bioavailability of the drug by preventing its precipitation upon the dissociation of cocrystals. Selection of coformers, from the Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) list by FDA, can be done by predicting the cocrystal formation using the Hansen solubility parameter (HSP).