Detailed geodetic imaging of earthquake ruptures enhances our understanding of earthquake physics and associated ground shaking. The 25 April 2015 moment magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Gorkha, Nepal was ...the first large continental megathrust rupture to have occurred beneath a high-rate (5-hertz) Global Positioning System (GPS) network. We used GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data to model the earthquake rupture as a slip pulse ∼20 kilometers in width, ∼6 seconds in duration, and with a peak sliding velocity of 1.1 meters per second, which propagated toward the Kathmandu basin at ∼3.3 kilometers per second over ∼140 kilometers. The smooth slip onset, indicating a large (∼5-meter) slip-weakening distance, caused moderate ground shaking at high frequencies (>1 hertz; peak ground acceleration, ∼16% of Earth's gravity) and minimized damage to vernacular dwellings. Whole-basin resonance at a period of 4 to 5 seconds caused the collapse of tall structures, including cultural artifacts.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Red seaweed-derived biostimulants facilitate plant health and impart protection against abiotic stress conditions by their bioactive compounds and plant nutrients. The potency of red seaweed ...biostimulants (LBS6 and LBD1) on rice cv. IR-64 in response to fungicides induced stress was investigated in this study. Foliar application of LBS6 maintained the stomatal opening and leaf temperature under the fungicidal stress condition. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) such as hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radicals were significantly reduced in LBS6-treated stressed plants. After applying seaweed biostimulants, ROS production was stabilized by antioxidants viz., CAT, APX, SOD, POD, and GR. LBS-6 application increased the Ca
and K
levels in the stressed plants, which perhaps interacted with ROS and stomatal opening signalling systems, respectively. In the rice plants, fungicidal stress elevated the expression of stress-responsive transcriptional factors (E2F, HSFA2A, HSFB2B, HSFB4C, HSFC1A, and ZIP12). A decline in the transcript levels of stress-responsive genes was recorded in seaweed treated plants. For the first time, we present an integrative investigation of physicochemical and molecular components to describe the mechanism by which seaweed biostimulants in rice improve plant health under fungicidal stress conditions.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Crystalline rocks are the best-suited rock type for the nuclear waste repository. A deeper understanding of the thermomechanical stability of rocks plays a crucial role in the selection of suitable ...host rock for this purpose. To investigate the feasibility of different types of Jalore granitoid rocks (red, pink, golden, and white granites) in this application. The main objective of this study is devoted to damage characteristics when selecting the potential rock, while little work has been done in the field of rock mechanical behaviors in particular nuclear waste disposal. Where rock needs to stable after undergoing increases in the number of the thermal cycle in the treatment if a below damage threshold temperature is applied as in this study (i.e., 250 °C). The rock specimens were heated till 250 °C for 12 h, with constant heating rate 5 °C/min and constant cooling rate 0.364 °C/min, up to nine cycles. In this paper, the stress–strain curve under tension (Brazilian disc test) was plotted for Jalore granitoid rocks after different thermal cycle treatment. Using Lemaitre’s strain equivalent principle along with statistics and damage theory, a model for damage caused due to thermal cycles under indirect tension condition is established. We have also measured the microscopic observation (thin section), mineral characterization (XRD), and surface morphology (SEM) of different thermal cycles treated. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DT) have also been used to identify the changes in thermal and kinetic behaviors. It is found that the increase of the thermal cycle leads to an accumulation in strains and a reduction in the P-wave velocity and rock strength. We have found that the thermal damage incurred on the rock, in the form of mass loss and P-wave velocity decrease, due to thermal cracks and nonuniform expansion of grains along the grain boundary were developed on the surface. Increasing thermal cycles lead to a reduction in tensile strength and elastic modulus. Fracturing within the rock is more severe, as compared to three cycles, after being subjected to five thermal cycles. It is interesting to note that beyond five cycles of thermal treatment, the thermal damage and stability of the granitoid have remained mostly unchanged.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Many centuries ago, humans used to build their houses using wood, but due to natural hazards such as re, humans have now shifted to the concept of building their houses and monuments using rock ...materials such as concrete, sandstone, bricks, etc. Managing res or extinguishing them in time, the change in the physical properties of stone building materials at elevated temperature, and the variation in the strength and deformation of stone building materials with change in temperature remain debatable issues. Understanding the effect of re on stone building materials such as sandstones would be helpful to evaluate whether re-damaged monuments can be strengthened or should be demolished, or whether damaged parts should be replaced. For centuries, sandstone has been used not only in India but all over the world for several purposes.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The December 2011 release of a draft United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance concerning regulatory classification of pharmaceutical cocrystals of active pharmaceutical ingredients ...(APIs) addressed two matters of topical interest to the crystal engineering and pharmaceutical science communities: (1) a proposed definition of cocrystals; (2) a proposed classification of pharmaceutical cocrystals as dissociable “API-excipient” molecular complexes. The Indo–U.S. Bilateral Meeting sponsored by the Indo–U.S. Science and Technology Forum titled The Evolving Role of Solid State Chemistry in Pharmaceutical Science was held in Manesar near Delhi, India, from February 2–4, 2012. A session of the meeting was devoted to discussion of the FDA guidance draft. The debate generated strong consensus on the need to define cocrystals more broadly and to classify them like salts. It was also concluded that the diversity of API crystal forms makes it difficult to classify solid forms into three categories that are mutually exclusive. This perspective summarizes the discussion in the Indo–U.S. Bilateral Meeting and includes contributions from researchers who were not participants in the meeting.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
This paper studies the physical and mechanical behaviors of a thermally induced damaged marble. Specimens are heated from the temperature of 25–700 °C at the rate of 5 °C min
−1
and then cooled down ...at the rate 0.364 °C min
−1
for each testing. For this purpose, various thermophysical properties such as DTA/TGA, X-ray diffraction, primary-wave velocity, and scanning electron microscopy were investigated to assess the crystalline quality, internal core structure, and the microstructure characteristics, respectively. It has been found that, when the specimens are exposed to high temperatures, their color changes significantly and many microcracks are generated in the marble samples. With the increase in temperature, the nonlinearity in the initial deformation stage is enhanced and the stress–strain behavior under compression and tension changes from brittle to ductile. The results show that the changes in compressive and tensile strength can be divided into three temperature zones: 25–200 °C, 200–500 °C, and 500–700 °C. It has been observed that compressive and tensile strength decreases from 57.56 to 70.01% when temperature changes from 25 to 700 °C. It has also been observed that the thermal stress causes the most conspicuous effect and leads to the decomposition of dolomites intocalcium and magnesium oxides. The extensive experimental study of Makrana marble indicates that the elevated temperature condition causes severe thermal damage and forced the considerable change in the microstructure. The detailed analysis of the obtained results shows that the damage threshold temperature of Makrana marble samples is 500 °C.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The development and optimization of therapies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is currently hindered by a lack of methods for early non-invasive monitoring of treatment response. Annexin A2, an ...inflammation-associated protein whose presence and phosphorylation levels are upregulated in RA, represents a potential molecular target for tracking RA treatment response.
LS301, a near-infrared dye-peptide conjugate that selectively targets tyrosine 23-phosphorylated annexin A2 (pANXA2), was evaluated for its utility in monitoring disease progression, remission, and early response to drug treatment in mouse models of RA by fluorescence imaging. The intraarticular distribution and localization of LS301 relative to pANXA2 was determined by histological and immunohistochemical methods.
In mouse models of spontaneous and serum transfer-induced inflammatory arthritis, intravenously administered LS301 showed selective accumulation in regions of joint pathology including paws, ankles, and knees with positive correlation between fluorescent signal and disease severity by clinical scoring. Whole-body near-infrared imaging with LS301 allowed tracking of spontaneous disease remission and the therapeutic response after dexamethasone treatment. Histological analysis showed preferential accumulation of LS301 within the chondrocytes and articular cartilage in arthritic mice, and colocalization was observed between LS301 and pANXA2 in the joint tissue.
We demonstrate that fluorescence imaging with LS301 can be used to monitor the progression, remission, and early response to drug treatment in mouse models of RA. Given the ease of detecting LS301 with portable optical imaging devices, the agent may become a useful early treatment response reporter for arthritis diagnosis and drug evaluation.
Cancer is a disease that evolves continuously with unpredictable outcomes. Although conventional chemotherapy can display significant antitumor effects, the lack of specificity and poor ...bioavailability remain major concerns in cancer therapy. Moreover, with the advent of novel anti-cancer gene therapies, there is an urgent need for drug delivery vectors capable of bypassing cellular barriers and efficiently transferring therapeutic cargo to recipient cells. A number of drug delivery systems have been proposed to overcome these limitations, but their successful clinical translation has been hampered by the onset of unexpected side effects and associated toxicities. The application of extracellular vesicles (EVs), a class of naturally released, cell-derived particles, as drug delivery vectors presents a breakthrough in nanomedicine, taking into account their biocompatibility and natural role in intercellular communication. Combining the advantageous intrinsic properties of EVs with surface functionalization and the encapsulation of drugs allows for a new class of engineered EVs that serve as effective therapeutic carriers. Here, we describe the various successful approaches involving the application of engineered EVs as bio-derived drug delivery vectors in cancer therapy. The latest and most effective strategies of engineering EVs to improve drug loading, stealth properties and tumour targeting capabilities of EVs are debated. Finally, current obstacles and future perspectives of smart engineered EVs are discussed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This paper experimentally studies the evolution of absorption energy characteristics per unit thickness of Jhiri sandstone at variable temperatures (from 25 to 900 °C), each specimen being heated at ...the heating rate of 5 °C min
−1
. Each specimen was kept at its designated temperature which, once reached, is kept constant for 12 h and cools down at 0.364 °C min
−1
rate till achieving at room temperature. Laboratory tests including DTA/TGA, thin section, SEM/EDAX, P-wave velocity and Brazilian tensile strength were conducted in this study. Geochemical and thermal analyses were performed to investigate the changes in the physical and chemical properties of the sandstone after high thermal treatment. However, when the temperature exceeds up to 300 °C, it is found that intragranular cracking is highly temperature dependent. Damage thresholds temperature has been found to be 300 °C. The absorption energy caused by high temperature can be better understood by the mass loss rate than P-wave velocity loss rate and tensile strength loss rate. The result obtained in this paper will be useful for predicting the evolution of absorption energy characteristics of sandstone when exposed to the high-temperature environment.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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