The key intention of this study is to effectively utilize the Madhuca longifolia oil (ML) in a diesel engine. Dual fuel mode is one of the most promising research concepts in diesel engine arena that ...intends to improve the performance and reduce the smoke emission. In this work, hydrogen was injected into intake manifold as primary fuel whereas the ML was injected directly into the cylinder as pilot fuel in the setup that had a single cylinder constant speed diesel engine. The performance of the engine was increased from 25% with neat ML operation to 28.5% with hydrogen-based dual fuel mode. However, the hydrogen combustion resulted in knocking, thus it had a direct impact on BTE as well. Water Injection (WI) method was used to extend the knock limit and to increase the hydrogen energy share. The researcher observed 18% and 76% improvements in BTE and smoke emission from 5% of water using mass fraction along with hydrogen. The hydrogen energy share was increased from 6% to 8.5% with 5% WI. A distinctive attempt i.e., addition of ALPG was attempted on behalf of offsetting the knock and increasing the hydrogen energy share. ALPG was inducted along with hydrogen in the range of 1, 1.5 and 2 l/m. Interestingly, 24% improvement in BTE was noted when 1.5 l/m of ALPG was inducted. In addition to this, 83% smoke emission was reduced remarkably. Overall performance of the engine was improved by extending the knock limit, WI and ALPG induction along with hydrogen.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Incipient groundwater salinization has been identified in many arid and semi-arid regions where groundwater is increasingly used for irrigation, but the dominant processes at stake in such context ...are yet uncertain. Groundwater solutes originates from various sources such as atmospheric inputs, rock dissolution and fertilizer residues, and their concentration is controlled by hydrological processes, in particular evapotranspiration. Here, we propose a deconvolution method to identify the sources and processes governing the groundwater Chloride concentration in agricultural catchments, using the relative variations of Sodium and Chloride and using a neighbouring pristine catchment as a reference for the release rate of Na by weathering. We applied the deconvolution method to the case of the Kabini Critical Zone Observatory, South India, where groundwater was sampled in 188 farm tubewells in the semi-arid catchment of Berambadi and in 5 piezometers in the pristine catchment of Mule Hole. In Berambadi, groundwater composition displayed a large spatial variability with Cl contents spanning 3 orders of magnitude. The results showed that the concentration factor due to evapotranspiration was on average about 3 times more than in the natural system, with higher values in the valley bottoms with deep Vertisols. Linked with this process, large concentration of Chloride originating from rain was found only in these areas. At the catchment scale, about 60 percent of the Chloride found in groundwater originates from fertilizer inputs. These results show that Potassium fertilization as KCl is an important source of groundwater salinization in semi-arid context, and stress that identifying dominant drivers is crucial for designing efficient mitigation policies.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose Doxorubicin, a potent anticancer drug associated with cardiotoxicity and low oral bioavailability, was loaded into nanoparticles with a view to improve its performance. Methods Doxorubicin ...loaded PLGA nanoparticles were prepared by a double emulsion method. The pH dependent stability of nanoparticles in simulated fluids was evaluated. DSC and XRD studies were carried out in order to ascertain the nature of doxorubicin in formulations in conjunction with accelerated stability studies. The in vitro release was investigated in phosphate buffer. The pharmacokinetic and toxicity studies were conducted in rats. Results Nanoparticles had an average size of 185 nm, with 49% entrapment at 10% w/w of polymer. The particles displayed good pH dependent stability in the pH range 1.1-7.4. DSC and XRD studies revealed the amorphous nature of doxorubicin in nanoparticles and the accelerated stability studies revealed the integrity of formulations. Initial biphasic release (20%) followed by a sustained release (80%) for 24 days was observed under in vitro conditions. The doxorubicin loaded nanoparticles demonstrated superior performance in vivo as evident by enhanced bioavailability and lower toxicity. Conclusions Together, the data indicates the potential of doxorubicin loaded nanoparticles for oral chemotherapy. Further, these formulations could be explored for new indications like leishmaniasis.
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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
We study the effect of nearest neighboring grains on the propensity for {1012} twin growth in Mg and Zr. Twin lamellae lying within one grain flanked by two neighboring grains with several ...orientations are considered. The fields of resolved shear stress on the twin system are calculated in the multicrystal using a three-dimensional full-field crystal plasticity Fast Fourier Transform approach. The calculations were carried out for Mg and Zr using slip threshold stresses corresponding to 300 K and 76 K, respectively, where twin activity is important. We show that the neighboring grain constraint tends to oppose further growth and that the critical applied stress needed to overcome this resistance depends on neighboring grain orientation, more strongly in Zr than in Mg. We also present results for a pair of adjacent and parallel twins at various spacings. It is found that their paired interaction increases the resistive forces for twin growth above that for an isolated twin. The critical spacing above which this enhanced resistance is removed is smaller for Zr than Mg. Our analysis reveals that these two disparate responses of Zr and Mg are both a consequence of the fact that Zr is elastically and plastically more anisotropic than Mg. Additional calculations carried out on Ti support this conclusion. These findings can help explain why, for the same grain size, more twins per grain form in Zr than in Mg, twins in Zr tend to be thinner than those in Mg, and the relationship between the thickness of the twin and its Schmid factor in Zr is not as strong as in Mg.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Gram-negative bacteria expressing class A β-lactamases pose a serious health threat due to their ability to inactivate all β-lactam antibiotics. The acyl–enzyme intermediate is a central milestone in ...the hydrolysis reaction catalyzed by these enzymes. However, the protonation states of the catalytic residues in this complex have never been fully analyzed experimentally due to inherent difficulties. To help unravel the ambiguity surrounding class A β-lactamase catalysis, we have used ultrahigh-resolution X-ray crystallography and the recently approved β-lactamase inhibitor avibactam to trap the acyl–enzyme complex of class A β-lactamase CTX-M-14 at varying pHs. A 0.83-Å-resolution CTX-M-14 complex structure at pH 7.9 revealed a neutral state for both Lys73 and Glu166. Furthermore, the avibactam hydroxylamine-O-sulfonate group conformation varied according to pH, and this conformational switch appeared to correspond to a change in the Lys73 protonation state at low pH. In conjunction with computational analyses, our structures suggest that Lys73 has a perturbed acid dissociation constant (pKₐ) compared with acyl–enzyme complexes with β-lactams, hindering its function to deprotonate Glu166 and the initiation of the deacylation reaction. Further NMR analysis demonstrated Lys73 pKₐ to be ∼5.2 to 5.6. Together with previous ultrahigh-resolution crystal structures, these findings enable us to follow the proton transfer process of the entire acylation reaction and reveal the critical role of Lys73. They also shed light on the stability and reversibility of the avibactam carbamoyl acyl–enzyme complex, highlighting the effect of substrate functional groups in influencing the protonation states of catalytic residues and subsequently the progression of the reaction.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Materials with a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) crystal structure such as Mg, Ti and Zr are being used in the transportation, aerospace and nuclear industry, respectively. Material strength and ...formability are critical qualities for shaping these materials into parts and a pervasive deformation mechanism that significantly affects their formability is deformation twinning. The interaction between grain boundaries and twins has an important influence on the deformation behaviour and fracture of hcp metals. Here, statistical analysis of large data sets reveals that whether twins transmit across grain boundaries depends not only on crystallography but also strongly on the anisotropy in crystallographic slip. We show that increases in crystal plastic anisotropy enhance the probability of twin transmission by comparing the relative ease of twin transmission in hcp materials such as Mg, Zr and Ti.
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•Synthesis and characterised two chiral selenated ligands and their Pd(II) complexes.•The single crystal structures of both palladium complexes were determined.•Crystals contain ...secondary bonding interactions CH⋯Cl/O/Se, OH⋯O/Cl, NH⋯Cl, Se⋯O.•These compounds showed interaction with CT-DNA by strong ‘intercalation’ mode.•The compounds exhibited anticoagulant activity.
Two new selenated ligands: (S)-BnSeCH2CH(Bn)N = CH-C6H3-3-OCH3-2-OH ((S)-L1H) and (S)-BnSeCH2CH(Bn)NH-CH2-C6H3-3-OCH3-2-OH ((S)-L2H) incorporating ortho-vanillin moiety and their respective palladium(II) complexes (S)-1 and (S)-2 were synthesized in a high-yielding procedures. All compounds were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques such as 1H, 13C{1H} NMR, FT-IR, and UV–Visible. Further, the elemental and single crystal X-ray diffraction analyses of complexes showed that the deprotonated ligands ((S)-L1 and (S)-L2) coordinated to central palladium as tridentate (Se,N,O−) chelates of composition PdCl(L1-2). In crystalline state the molecules of complexes were found to held by a moderate to strong intermolecular hydrogen bonds like CH⋯Cl and CH⋯O in both and OH⋯O, OH⋯Cl, NH⋯Cl in (S)-2∙H2O. In addition, there exists rare CH⋯Se and Se⋯O types of secondary bonding interactions between the molecules of (S)-1 and (S)-2∙H2O respectively. The interactions of ligands and complexes with CT-DNA have been studied by absorption, fluorescence and viscosity measurements. These determinants showed efficient binding interaction with DNA through ‘intercalation’ mode. The reduced Schiff base showed a higher binding capacity than the parent Schiff base. Further, the DNA binding affinity of complexes is higher than the corresponding ligands. The anticoagulant and non-haemolytic activities have also been investigated for these compounds. The human blood clotting time found to be enhanced from 150 to 200 sec in both PPP and PRP cases on coordination of ligands to palladium.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Aims: Appendicitis, in spite of all the diagnostic advances, achieving an accurate and timely diagnosis of this common condition in children remains a challenge. Plasma fibrinogen (FB) is an acute ...inflammatory mediator and has been proposed and evaluated as an adjunct laboratory marker for improving diagnostic accuracy. The study evaluates the plasma values of Se FB along with other serum markers in pediatric appendicitis patients, to determine their diagnostic accuracy.
Methods: Prospective observational study on 120 patients between the age group of 5 and 12 years. All eligible enrolled cases underwent total leukocyte count (TLC), plasma FB, C reactive protein (CRP), neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), absolute neutrophil count (ANC), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate on admission along with pediatric appendicitis score. Final confirmation of diagnosis and allotment of cohort was made by intra operative findings and histopathological confirmation. Two groups were defined: (1) Histopathologically confirmed acute appendicitis-Cases (2) Nonspecific abdominal pain-Controls. Laboratory results were statistically analyzed between the case and the control groups for diagnostic accuracy.
Results: Study reflected strong statistical significance in terms of leukocyte count, ANC, NLR, CRP, and FB levels. However, plasma FB (value above 4.02 g/L) had the highest diagnostic accuracy rate of 82.50% compared to other laboratory values (TLC-70.83%, CRP-70.00%).
Conclusion: Plasma FB has emerged as an accurate diagnostic tool and its diagnostic accuracy is superior to all other laboratory parameter studied (TLC, CRP, NLR, and ANC). Plasma FB values above 4.02 g/L is an independent predictor of appendicitis and can help in reducing negative laparotomy in pediatric age group.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
ProTherm and ProNIT are two thermodynamic databases that contain experimentally determined thermodynamic parameters of protein stability and protein–nucleic acid interactions, respectively. The ...current versions of both the databases have considerably increased the total number of entries and enhanced search interface with added new fields, improved search, display and sorting options. As on September 2005, ProTherm release 5.0 contains 17 113 entries from 771 proteins, retrieved from 1497 scientific articles (∼20% increase in data from the previous version). ProNIT release 2.0 contains 4900 entries from 273 research articles, representing 158 proteins. Both databases can be queried using WWW interfaces. Both quick search and advanced search are provided on this web page to facilitate easy retrieval and display of the data from these databases. ProTherm is freely available online at http://gibk26.bse.kyutech.ac.jp/jouhou/Protherm/protherm.html and ProNIT at http://gibk26.bse.kyutech.ac.jp/jouhou/pronit/pronit.html.
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