With increasing environmental and ecological concerns due to the use of petroleum-based chemicals and products, the synthesis of fine chemicals and functional materials from natural resources is of ...great public value. Nanocellulose may prove to be one of the most promising green materials of modern times due to its intrinsic properties, renewability, and abundance. In this review, we present nanocellulose-based materials from sourcing, synthesis, and surface modification of nanocellulose, to materials formation and applications. Nanocellulose can be sourced from biomass, plants, or bacteria, relying on fairly simple, scalable, and efficient isolation techniques. Mechanical, chemical, and enzymatic treatments, or a combination of these, can be used to extract nanocellulose from natural sources. The properties of nanocellulose are dependent on the source, the isolation technique, and potential subsequent surface transformations. Nanocellulose surface modification techniques are typically used to introduce either charged or hydrophobic moieties, and include amidation, esterification, etherification, silylation, polymerization, urethanization, sulfonation, and phosphorylation. Nanocellulose has excellent strength, high Young’s modulus, biocompatibility, and tunable self-assembly, thixotropic, and photonic properties, which are essential for the applications of this material. Nanocellulose participates in the fabrication of a large range of nanomaterials and nanocomposites, including those based on polymers, metals, metal oxides, and carbon. In particular, nanocellulose complements organic-based materials, where it imparts its mechanical properties to the composite. Nanocellulose is a promising material whenever material strength, flexibility, and/or specific nanostructuration are required. Applications include functional paper, optoelectronics, and antibacterial coatings, packaging, mechanically reinforced polymer composites, tissue scaffolds, drug delivery, biosensors, energy storage, catalysis, environmental remediation, and electrochemically controlled separation. Phosphorylated nanocellulose is a particularly interesting material, spanning a surprising set of applications in various dimensions including bone scaffolds, adsorbents, and flame retardants and as a support for the heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts.
•Short account on role of chrysin in multistep carcinogenesis process.•Chemopreventive and therapeutic studies of chrysin in cell lines and animal models.•Succinct description of mechanistic ...perspectives of chrysin.•A colossal narration of effect of chrysin on signalling pathways and molecular targets.•Brief note on pharmacokinetics of chrysin.
Chrysin, a naturally occurring flavone, abundantly found in numerous plant extracts including propolis and in honey is one of the most widely used herbal medicine in Asian countries. Nowadays, chrysin has become the foremost candidate exhibiting health benefits, owing to its multiple bioactivities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, anti-diabetic, anti-estrogenic, antibacterial and antitumor activities. Anticancer activity is most promising among the multiple pharmacological effects displayed by chrysin. In vitro and in vivo models have shown that chrysin inhibits cancer growth through induction of apoptosis, alteration of cell cycle and inhibition of angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis without causing any toxicity and undesirable side effects to normal cells. Chrysin displays these effects through selective modulation of multiple cell signaling pathways which are linked to inflammation, survival, growth, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells. This broad spectrum of antitumor activity in conjunction with low toxicity underscores the translational value of chrysin in cancer therapy. The present review highlights the chemopreventive and therapeutic effects, molecular targets and antineoplastic mechanisms that contribute to the observed anticancer activity of chrysin.
The occurrence of extreme precipitation events during Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall (ISMR) has increased significantly in recent decades. Natural spatio-temporal variability of extreme precipitation ...events in India has been linked to various climatic variables like El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Equatorial Indian Ocean Oscillation (EQUINOO), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). In this study, extreme precipitation indices are used to characterize the ISMR extremes and possible individual and coupled association with climatic variables identified using wavelet analysis. Region-based analysis revealed that ENSO, EQUINOO, PDO, and AMO influence extreme precipitation events on spatio-temporal scales. Variability of the duration of extreme precipitation events strongly depends on the ENSO at interannual scale compared to the other climate variables whereas, total precipitation greater than 95th percentile and maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation values were significantly coherent on inter-decadal scale with ENSO, EQUINOO, and PDO. It is also found that the climate variables together cause variability in ISMR extremes, particularly AMO-ENSO-EQUINOO and AMO-ENSO-PDO combinations explain the variability better than any other combination. An increase in the number of climate variables did not improve the coherence, since these climatic variables are correlated with each other. Further, the decomposition of wavelets at different scales shows that more than half of the grid points considered were significant at interdecadal and multidecadal scales even though they are designated with different time scales. This indicates that the non-stationary behavior of the ISMR extremes is directly linked to the climatic variables at higher scales.
Intense UV absorbers are developed in fluorite‐type rare‐earth cerate solid solutions: RE2O3 + 2CeO2 = RE2Ce2O7 (RE = La, Gd, and Y) by the conventional ceramic route. X‐ray diffraction analysis ...corroborates the formation of fluorite structure with lattice expansion from Y to La compound. Further, Raman analysis elucidates that the defect oxygen vacancies increased in concentration from Y‐ to Gd‐substituted ones. The defect concentration of Ce3+ is dependent on the rare earth used and it is more for Y than the other two. The UV–vis spectra exhibit strong absorption in the UVA and UVB wavelength regions (210–400 nm) due to an increased polarizability of oxygen ions bound to cerium in the order of La > Gd > Y. The absorption edge is sharp, and the absorbance of La compound is 2.5 times higher than that of the existing titania UV absorber and is also far higher than that of the pure CeO2. Additionally, methylene blue photodegradation and photoluminescence studies show negligible photocatalytic activity for these compositions. Thus, the rare‐earth cerates can be considered possible sun screen formulations that can be blended with other organic products to provide effective, safe, and desirable UV protection without surface coatings to shield the photocatalysis.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global health challenge, necessitating innovative approaches for effective treatment. Conventional TB therapy encounters several limitations, including ...extended treatment duration, drug resistance, patient noncompliance, poor bioavailability, and suboptimal targeting. Advanced drug delivery strategies have emerged as a promising approach to address these challenges. They have the potential to enhance therapeutic outcomes and improve TB patient compliance by providing benefits such as multiple drug encapsulation, sustained release, targeted delivery, reduced dosing frequency, and minimal side effects. This review examines the current landscape of drug delivery strategies for effective TB management, specifically highlighting lipid nanoparticles, polymer nanoparticles, inorganic nanoparticles, emulsion-based systems, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and hydrogels as promising approaches. Furthermore, emerging therapeutic strategies like targeted therapy, long-acting therapeutics, extrapulmonary therapy, phototherapy, and immunotherapy are emphasized. The review also discusses the future trajectory and challenges of developing drug delivery systems for TB. In conclusion, nanomedicine has made substantial progress in addressing the challenges posed by conventional TB drugs. Moreover, by harnessing the unique targeting abilities, extended duration of action, and specificity of advanced therapeutics, innovative solutions are offered that have the potential to revolutionize TB therapy, thereby enhancing treatment outcomes and patient compliance.
Resource-efficient production of value-added products from lignocellulosic waste is an important requisite for sustainable development. Since constituent separation of lignocellulosic waste is ...challenging due to the energetically robust structure of the cellulose-hemicellulose-lignin network, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is used for rapid, non-invasive analysis of cellulose and lignin for lignocellulose farm waste procured from about 30 different crops post-harvest. FTIR mode peak heights show linear concentration dependence over a narrow range, and yield 44 ± 5% cellulose and 9.95 ± 2% lignin content in one variety of rice straw, with high standard deviation for inter-species yield. Due to compositional heterogeneity and multivariate nature, FTIR data is analyzed with machine learning models. Species-wide pattern classification for cellulose and lignin in the lignocellulose data is first conducted with linear discriminant analysis, decision tree, and random forest algorithms. For the present data, the best classification accuracy is obtained with random forest algorithm with an accuracy score of 0.75, with least mismatches between the predicted and true values. Convolutional neural network modeling with Bayesian regularization training algorithm using FTIR absorption peak parameters resulted in a good representation of the lignocellulose data with root mean square error ~ 0.11. The structural changes produced in cellulose due to different pre-treatments is analyzed with peak heights of FTIR modes and correlated with efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis to form glucose. Lignocellulose pre-treatment with deep eutectic solvent improves cellulose accessibility to enzymes, with 38% glucose yield enhancement in comparison to acid and alkali pre-treatments.
Babesiosis and ehrlichiosis are highly morbid vector-borne diseases causing fatal conditions among dogs of the tropics and the pertinent association of the environmental determinants on their ...epidemiology remains unexplored. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of biometeorological factors like climate and air quality parameters on the molecular incidence of babesiosis and ehrlichiosis in clinically anemic dogs. The dogs having clinical signs suggestive of hemoparasitism were randomly screened from July 2022 to June 2023 for the molecular incidence of
Babesia gibsoni
,
Ehrlichia canis
, and
B. canis
organisms. The weather parameters maximum and minimum temperatures, mean daily temperature, daily variation in temperature, average relative humidity, Temperature Humidity Index-THI and bright sunshine hours and air quality parameters Air Quality Index-AQI, Particulate Matter 2.5 μm-PM
2.5
(minimum, maximum, average, daily variation), and Particulate Matter 10 μm-PM
10
(minimum, maximum, average, daily variation) of the sampling days were recorded and statistically evaluated for identifying any correlation with the molecular incidence of each organism. The results depict an evident correlation between the studied parameters and the molecular incidence of these hemoparasites in dogs. Out of 448 samples screened, the high prevalence of hemoparasitism (28.35%), including
B. gibsoni
(40.89%),
E. canis
(15.17%) and
B. canis
(16.67%) infections, was observed among the dogs of the study region during the study period. Also, the variability in the distribution pattern of each organism with respect to the biometeorological parameter points towards the future possibility of developing a disease surveillance-cum-forecast system, based on the host-vector-environment-pathogen epidemiological interplay dynamics.
A silver-catalysed oxidative sp 2 C–H alkylation of N -heteroarenes with ketone-derived 2,3-dihydroquinazolinones at room temperature is developed. The combination of a metal catalyst and ...perdisulfate oxidant promotes the rarely explored thermal activation of pre-aromatic 2,3-dihydroquinazolinone to generate an alkyl radical, supported by mechanistic studies. In addition to the broad scope, good functionality tolerance, late stage functionalization of APIs, and synthesis of a novel Papaverine analogue, the utilization of an N -heteroarene C–H bond and ketone as a non-trivial alkyl radical source represents the salient feature of this method.
•Depression is a chronic, multi-factorial psychiatric disorder.•Repeated CORT administration develops depression-like behavior in mice.•Resveratrol ameliorates CORT-induced depression-like ...behavior.•Resveratrol acts via upregulation of BDNF levels and by regulation of HPA axis.
A mouse model of depression has been recently developed by exogenous corticosterone (CORT) administration, which has shown to mimic HPA-axis induced depression-like state in animals. The present study aimed to examine the antidepressant-like effect and the possible mechanisms of resveratrol, a naturally occurring polyphenol of phytoalexin family, on depressive-like behavior induced by repeated corticosterone injections in mice. Mice were injected subcutaneously (s.c.) with 40mg/kg corticosterone (CORT) chronically for 21days. Resveratrol and fluoxetine were administered 30min prior to the CORT injection. After 21-days treatment with respective drugs, behavioral and biochemical parameters were estimated. Since brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been implicated in antidepressant activity of many drugs, we also evaluated the effect of resveratrol on BDNF in the hippocampus. Three weeks of CORT injections in mice resulted in depressive-like behavior, as indicated by the significant decrease in sucrose consumption and increase in immobility time in the forced swim test and tail suspension test. Further, there was a significant increase in serum corticosterone level and a significant decrease in hippocampus BDNF level in CORT-treated mice. Treatment of mice with resveratrol significantly ameliorated all the behavioral and biochemical changes induced by corticosterone. These results suggest that resveratrol produces an antidepressant-like effect in CORT-induced depression in mice, which is possibly mediated by rectifying the stress-based hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction paradigm and upregulation of hippocampal BDNF levels.
The letter illustrates the emerging potential of flavonoids as dietary supplement to ameliorate cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and refers to the recent article on ‘‘Anti-apoptotic and ...anti-inflammatory effects of naringin on cisplatin-induced renal injury in the rat’’ by Chtourou et al. They demonstrated that supplementation of naringin, a flavanone glycoside, found in grape and citrus fruit species, can attenuate cisplatin-induced renal dysfunction via restoration of redox balance and suppression of inflammation, NF-κB activation and apoptosis. The chemotherapeutic efficacy of cisplatin has always compelled the researchers to find solution to ameliorate its side effects. In recent years, numerous candidates have been evaluated for their protective potential against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and flavonoids have come up with promising results. The future prospects might be promising with a proper refinement and collective integration of the preclinical and clinical research in the field of flavonoid supplementation to cisplatin therapy.
•Cisplatin is a widely used and highly effective chemotherapeutic agent.•Nephrotoxicity is a major concern in patients receiving cisplatin therapy.•Flavonoids exhibit significant protection against cisplatin-induced renal damage.•A well-defined elaborate research on flavonoids might offer a successful strategy.
PDF
