Nanoworld is an attractive sphere with the potential to explore novel nanomaterials with valuable applications in medicinal science. Herein, we report an efficient and ecofriendly approach for the ...synthesis of Nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs) via a solution combustion method using
leaf extract. As-prepared NiO NPs were characterized using various analytical tools such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). XRD analysis illustrates that synthesized NiO NPs are hexagonal structured crystallites with an average size of 5.46 nm and a hexagonal-shaped morphology with slight agglomeration. The morphology, size, and shape of the obtained material was further confirmed using SEM and TEM analysis. In addition, as-prepared NiO NPs have shown potential antidiabetic and anticancer properties. Our results suggest that the inhibition of α-amylase enzyme with IC 50 value 268.13 µg/mL may be one of the feasible ways through which the NiO NPs exert their hypoglycemic effect. Furthermore, cytotoxic activity performed using NiO NPs exhibited against human lung cancer cell line (A549) proved that the prepared NiO NPs have significant anticancer activity with 93.349 μg/mL at 50% inhibition concentration. The biological assay results revealed that NiO NPs exhibited significant cytotoxicity against human lung cancer cell line (A549) in a dose-dependent manner from 0-100 μg/mL, showing considerable cell viability. Further, the systematic approach deliberates the NiO NPs as a function of phenolic extracts of
with vast potential for many biological and biomedical applications.
Climate changes and the related rise in the frequency of excessive weather proceedings have a strong influence on the physical, chemical, and hydrological processes in soils. Recently the ...investigators confirmed that the use of biological treatments and resources to overcome abiotic stress is fruitful. Thus, pomegranate peel extract (PPE) because of its high efficacy and/or compost application could improve soil characteristics, soil organic matter and nutrient status. This effect may be referred back to the enhancement in the plant antioxidative defense system against stress conditions. This experiment was done to study the influence of spraying wheat plants with pomegranate peel extract (PPE) with and/or without soil compost added under salt stress on some growth parameters and physiological aspects. Wheat plants were grown in the presence or absence of compost in the soil and foliar sprayed with PPE (600 and 1200 mg L-1) under salt irrigation (3000 and 6000 mg L-1). Growth and yield traits were decreased with salinity stress. High levels of PPE (1200 mg L-1) induced the highest values of osmoprotectants (Total soluble sugars, total soluble protein, proline and free amino acids) in both unstressed or salinity-stressed plants presence or absence compost. Using compost in soil for cultivating wheat plants and PPE spraying treatments increased growth traits photosynthetic pigments and yield components. Moreover, these treatments increased the accumulation of minerals content (N, P, K and Ca) in plants. In general, the results of correlation coefficients showed a significant strong positive relationship among measured yield traits and other tested parameters. The correlation between 1000-grain Wt. and grain Wt./spike (r = 0.94**) was the highest. Meanwhile, a strong negative correlation coefficient between Na% and all yield parameters was recorded. Compost adding to soil and spraying pomegranate peel extract is a successful method for increasing wheat growth, yield and improving the nutritional value of the produced grains under salt stress.
Aim To analyze possible factors associated with the quality of life (QoL) of mothers of preterm infants with very low birth weight (VLBW) during the first 3 years after delivery. Methods The World ...Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL)-bref scores were compared and correlated with maternal and infant-related sociodemographic and clinical variables at maternal discharge (T0) and at 6 (T1), 12 (T2), 24 (T3), and 36 (T4) months after delivery. Multiple linear regression models were fitted to investigate the effect of these variables on the mothers' QoL. Results The WHOQOL-BREF physical domain scores were higher at T1 and T2 compared to T0 (p = 0.013). Maternal variables that contributed to maternal QoL scores (p < 0.05) were stable marital union (b = 13.60; T0), family income (b = -12.75; T3), Evangelical religion (b = 8.11; T4), and beck depression inventory (BDI) score (-1.42 ≤ b ≤ -0.36; T0, T1, T2, T3, and T4). Infants' variables that most affected maternal QoL (p < 0.05) were posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH) (-18.84 ≤ b ≤ -10.05; T1, T2, and T4), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) (b = -7.41; T2), female gender (b = 8.09; T2), and SNAPPE severity score (b = -0.23; T3). Conclusion Mothers of preterm infants with VLBW exhibited transient improvements in physical well-being during the first year after delivery. The presence of depressive symptoms in mothers and the diagnosis of PHH or BPD were negatively associated with QoL. Social, religious, and economic aspects were also important factors for the QoL of mothers of preterm infants with VLBW.
Cancer immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of cancer. However, increasing use of immune-based therapies, including the widely used class of agents known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, has ...exposed a discrete group of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Many of these are driven by the same immunologic mechanisms responsible for the drugs' therapeutic effects, namely blockade of inhibitory mechanisms that suppress the immune system and protect body tissues from an unconstrained acute or chronic immune response. Skin, gut, endocrine, lung and musculoskeletal irAEs are relatively common, whereas cardiovascular, hematologic, renal, neurologic and ophthalmologic irAEs occur much less frequently. The majority of irAEs are mild to moderate in severity; however, serious and occasionally life-threatening irAEs are reported in the literature, and treatment-related deaths occur in up to 2% of patients, varying by ICI. Immunotherapy-related irAEs typically have a delayed onset and prolonged duration compared to adverse events from chemotherapy, and effective management depends on early recognition and prompt intervention with immune suppression and/or immunomodulatory strategies. There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary guidance reflecting broad-based perspectives on how to recognize, report and manage organ-specific toxicities until evidence-based data are available to inform clinical decision-making. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) established a multidisciplinary Toxicity Management Working Group, which met for a full-day workshop to develop recommendations to standardize management of irAEs. Here we present their consensus recommendations on managing toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) have become an increasingly popular mode of communication and networking, with a wide range of applications in various fields. However, the increasing popularity ...of WLANs has also led to an increase in security threats, including denial of service (DoS) attacks. In this study, management-frames-based DoS attacks, in which the attacker floods the network with management frames, are particularly concerning as they can cause widespread disruptions in the network. Attacks known as denial of service (DoS) can target wireless LANs. None of the wireless security mechanisms in use today contemplate defence against them. At the MAC layer, there are multiple vulnerabilities that can be exploited to launch DoS attacks. This paper focuses on designing and developing an artificial neural network (NN) scheme for detecting management-frames-based DoS attacks. The proposed scheme aims to effectively detect fake de-authentication/disassociation frames and improve network performance by avoiding communication interruption caused by such attacks. The proposed NN scheme leverages machine learning techniques to analyse patterns and features in the management frames exchanged between wireless devices. By training the NN, the system can learn to accurately detect potential DoS attacks. This approach offers a more sophisticated and effective solution to the problem of DoS attacks in wireless LANs and has the potential to significantly enhance the security and reliability of these networks. According to the experimental results, the proposed technique exhibits higher effectiveness in detection compared to existing methods, as evidenced by a significantly increased true positive rate and a decreased false positive rate.
Activated carbon (AC) and ZnO@AC composite derived from wood sawdust were prepared to be utilized as adsorbents for methyl red (MR) and methyl orange (MO) anionic dyes from the aqueous solutions. The ...maximum adsorption capacity of the AC and ZnO@AC composite toward both dyes was achieved in the strong acidic medium (pH = 3), and under stirring for 60 min. The kinetic studies revealed that the adsorption of MR and MO dyes onto the AC and ZnO@AC composite fitted well with the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, the intraparticle diffusion and Elovich kinetic models confirmed the adsorption is controlled by external surfaces, and the adsorption is chemisorption process. The isotherm results indicated that the MR and MO dye adsorption occurred via monolayer adsorption, and the estimated maximum adsorption capacities of both dyes onto the ZnO@AC composite were higher than those achieved by AC. Thermodynamic analysis suggested that the adsorption is endothermic and spontaneous. The mechanism for MR, and MO dyes adsorption onto the AC and ZnO@AC composite is proposed to be controlled by electrostatic bonding, π-π interactions, and ion exchange, while H-bonding and n-π interactions were minor contributors. This study reveals the potential use of carbon-based adsorbents derived from wood sawdust for the removal of anionic dyes from wastewater.
ABSTRACT
We generated new 3D-potential energy surfaces (3D-PESs) for the cis-HONO–He and trans-HONO–He weakly bound complexes along the intermonomer coordinates. We used the explicitly correlated ...Coupled Clusters with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations (CCSD(T)-F12) approach for the electronic structure computations, where the atoms were described using the aug-cc-pVTZ basis set. Then, we derived analytical forms for each PES. These PESs exhibit different shapes and present strong anisotropies. After quantum close-coupling scattering calculations for the lower rotational levels (up to ${9}_{2,7}$), and the coupled-states approximation for higher levels (up to ${22}_{1,22}$) using these PESs, we derived the collisional excitation cross sections of cis-HONO and trans-HONO by He for total energies 0.1 ≤ E ≤ 900 cm−1 and the rate coefficients for kinetic temperatures T ≤ 100 K. Our work shows that the collision data of cis-HONO and trans-HONO are different mainly because of the different 3D-PESs since the rotational energy structures of both isomers are very similar. Also, computations show that the data of the non-detected cis-HONO are as large as those of the detected trans-HONO isomer. They confirm the large values for the detected transition 52,4 → 41,3 of trans-HONO. Therefore, our work strongly suggests revisiting radiative transfer calculations to determine accurately the population of the rotational levels of these isomers. Our work should help astrophysicists for the detectability of such nitrogen oxide molecules and for the possible formation mechanisms and isomerization pathways specificities.
Our department has a long-established comprehensive quality assurance (QA) planning clinic for patients undergoing radiation therapy (RT) for head and neck cancer. Our aim is to assess the impact of ...a real-time peer review QA process on the quantitative and qualitative radiation therapy plan changes in the era of intensity modulated RT (IMRT).
Prospective data for 85 patients undergoing head and neck IMRT who presented at a biweekly QA clinic after simulation and contouring were collected. A standard data collection form was used to document alterations made during this process. The original pre-QA clinical target volumes (CTVs) approved by the treating-attending physicians were saved before QA and compared with post-QA consensus CTVs. Qualitative assessment was done according to predefined criteria. Dice similarity coefficients (DSC) and other volume overlap metrics were calculated for each CTV level and were used for quantitative comparison. Changes are categorized as major, minor, and trivial according to the degree of overlap. Patterns of failure were analyzed and correlated to plan changes.
All 85 patients were examined by at least 1 head and neck subspecialist radiation oncologist who was not the treating-attending physician; 80 (94%) were examined by ≥3 faculty members. New clinical findings on physical examination were found in 12 patients (14%) leading to major plan changes. Quantitative DSC analysis revealed significantly better agreement in CTV1 (0.94 ± 0.10) contours than in CTV2 (0.82 ± 0.25) and CTV3 (0.86 ± 0.2) contours (P=.0002 and P=.03, respectively; matched-pair Wilcoxon test). The experience of the treating-attending radiation oncologist significantly affected DSC values when all CTV levels were considered (P=.012; matched-pair Wilcoxon text). After a median follow-up time of 38 months, only 10 patients (12%) had local recurrence, regional recurrence, or both, mostly in central high-dose areas.
Comprehensive peer review planning clinic is an essential component of IMRT QA that led to major changes in one-third of the study population. This process ensured safety related to target definition and led to favorable disease control profiles, with no identifiable recurrences attributable to geometric misses or delineation errors.
A possible survival strategy of plants under effects of salinity is to use some compounds that could help plants to alleviate salt stress effect. The effect of exogenously application of trehalose as ...seed soaking prior to irrigation with different salinity levels (0, 30 and 60mM NaCl) to rice (Oriza sativa L.) varieties (Giza 177 and Giza 178) was investigated. Salinity stress decreased photosynthetic pigments and total carbohydrate, concomitantly with increasing total soluble sugars content, trehalose and proline content for both rice varieties. The activities of SOD, CAT and POX were increased with increasing salinity level. Soaking rice seeds with 25mM of trehalose (Tre) could alleviate the harmful effects of salinity stress. Moreover, a higher solute concentration contributing to osmotic adjustment and the higher antioxidant enzymes activity were observed in shoots of salinity treated Giza 178 than those of Giza 177.
A modified marine predators optimizer (MMPO) is proposed for simultaneous distribution network reconfiguration (DNR) associated with the allocation of distributed generators (DGs). In the MMPO, the ...predator's strategies are merged to consider the possibilities for variation in the environmental and climatic circumstances. The suggested MMPO is contrasted with the standard marine predators optimizer (MPO) and genetic, harmony search, fireworks, firefly and improved sine-cosine optimizers. The proposed MMPO is validated on single and multiple objectives using 33- and 69-bus distribution systems at light, nominal and heavy loading levels. The results obtained by the proposed MMPO are compared with those obtained by the original MPO and other optimizers. The achieved simulation outputs reveal a great improvement over the standard MPO and demonstrate the superiority of the proposed MMPO for simultaneous DNR and DG allocation.