Given the importance of monocytes in pathogenesis of infectious and other inflammatory disorders, delineating functional and phenotypic characterization of monocyte subsets has emerged as a critical ...requirement. Although human monocytes have been subdivided into three different populations based on surface expression of CD14 and CD16, published reports suffer from contradictions with respect to subset phenotypes and function. This has been attributed to discrepancies in reliable gating strategies for flow cytometric characterization and purification protocols contributing to significant changes in receptor expression. By using a combination of multicolour flow cytometry and a high-dimensional automated clustering algorithm to confirm robustness of gating strategy and analysis of ex-vivo activation of whole blood with LPS we demonstrate the following: a. 'Classical' monocytes are phagocytic with no inflammatory attributes, b. 'Non-classical' subtype display 'inflammatory' characteristics on activation and display properties for antigen presentation and c. 'Intermediate' subtype that constitutes a very small percentage in circulation (under physiological conditions) appear to be transitional monocytes that display both phagocytic and inflammatory function. Analysis of blood from patients with Sepsis, a pathogen driven acute inflammatory disease and Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus (SLE), a chronic inflammatory disorder validated the broad conclusions drawn in the study.
Previous studies have not adequately captured the heterogeneous nature of the diabetes epidemic in India. The aim of the ongoing national Indian Council of Medical Research-INdia DIABetes study is to ...estimate the national prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes in India by estimating the prevalence by state.
We used a stratified multistage design to obtain a community-based sample of 57 117 individuals aged 20 years or older. The sample population represented 14 of India's 28 states (eight from the mainland and six from the northeast of the country) and one union territory. States were sampled in a phased manner: phase I included Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra, sampled between Nov 17, 2008, and April 16, 2010; phase II included Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Punjab, sampled between Sept 24, 2012, and July 26, 2013; and the northeastern phase included Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, and Meghalaya, with sampling done between Jan 5, 2012, and July 3, 2015. Capillary oral glucose tolerance tests were used to diagnose diabetes and prediabetes in accordance with WHO criteria. Our methods did not allow us to differentiate between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in different states was assessed in relation to socioeconomic status (SES) of individuals and the per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of each state. We used multiple logistic regression analysis to examine the association of various factors with the prevalence of diabetes and prediabetes.
The overall prevalence of diabetes in all 15 states of India was 7·3% (95% CI 7·0-7·5). The prevalence of diabetes varied from 4·3% in Bihar (95% CI 3·7-5·0) to 10·0% (8·7-11·2) in Punjab and was higher in urban areas (11·2%, 10·6-11·8) than in rural areas (5·2%, 4·9-5·4; p<0·0001) and higher in mainland states (8·3%, 7·9-8·7) than in the northeast (5·9%, 5·5-6·2; p<0·0001). Overall, 1862 (47·3%) of 3938 individuals identified as having diabetes had not been diagnosed previously. States with higher per-capita GDP seemed to have a higher prevalence of diabetes (eg, Chandigarh, which had the highest GDP of US$ 3433, had the highest prevalence of 13·6%, 12.8-15·2). In rural areas of all states, diabetes was more prevalent in individuals of higher SES. However, in urban areas of some of the more affluent states (Chandigarh, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu), diabetes prevalence was higher in people with lower SES. The overall prevalence of prediabetes in all 15 states was 10·3% (10·0-10·6). The prevalence of prediabetes varied from 6·0% (5·1-6·8) in Mizoram to 14·7% (13·6-15·9) in Tripura, and the prevalence of impaired fasting glucose was generally higher than the prevalence of impaired glucose tolerance. Age, male sex, obesity, hypertension, and family history of diabetes were independent risk factors for diabetes in both urban and rural areas.
There are large differences in diabetes prevalence between states in India. Our results show evidence of an epidemiological transition, with a higher prevalence of diabetes in low SES groups in the urban areas of the more economically developed states. The spread of diabetes to economically disadvantaged sections of society is a matter of great concern, warranting urgent preventive measures.
Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
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•This review manages the fundamental of MN4-macrocyclic complexes, ORR, OER and HER.•Activity descriptors of energy conversion processes with metal phthalocyanines.•Summary on the ...going reports on phthalocyanines based materials for energy applications.•The difficulties and future directions for the synthesis of phthalocyanine based materials.
Owing to the rapid decline of fossil fuels and related deleterious consequences throughout the globe, energy use is undergoing a significant and dramatic transition into electricity as major power source. The renewable, safe, and reliable alternative energy resources and storage systems are thus very much required for modern society. In this context, H2, O2 and CO2 involving electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems can be regarded as the sustainable way to meet the future energy demand. Nonetheless, the sluggish kinetics of these electrochemical reactions at electrode surface in their corresponding devices is one of the biggest challenges for the development of such technologies. Among various classes of electrocatalysts, MN4-type molecular electrocatalysts, particularly, metal phthalocyanines (MPcs) were found to be potential models to enhance the electrode kinetics of above mentioned electrochemical reactions. In this review article, first of all, the electronic and redox chemistry of phthalocyanine was discussed to understand the existed activity descriptors for H2, O2 and CO2 electrocatalysis. Then, we emphasized the potential candidature of MPcs as electrode materials in various energy conversion and storage devices along with their reaction mechanisms. Furthermore, several specific challenges related to activity and durability and future aspects with MPcs based materials are also discussed.
The global political economy is currently in the midst of a refugee crisis, one that is complex and that remains poorly researched and under-theorized within both economics and political science. ...There is little understanding of the many diverse situations that led to it, and refugees are all too often included in the category of forced migrants.
The Internet of Drones (IoD) provides a coordinated access to unmanned aerial vehicles that are referred as drones. The on-going miniaturization of sensors, actuators, and processors with ubiquitous ...wireless connectivity makes drones to be used in a wide range of applications ranging from military to civilian. Since most of the applications involved in the IoD are real-time based, the users are generally interested in accessing real-time information from drones belonging to a particular fly zone. This happens if we allow users to directly access real-time data from flying drones inside IoD environment and not from the server. This is a serious security breach which may deteriorate performance of any implemented solution in this IoD environment. To address this important issue in IoD, we propose a novel lightweight user authentication scheme in which a user in the IoD environment needs to access data directly from a drone provided that the user is authorized to access the data from that drone. The formal security verification using the broadly accepted automated validation of Internet security protocols and applications tool along with informal security analysis show that our scheme is secure against several known attacks. The performance comparison demonstrates that our scheme is efficient with respect to various parameters, and it provides better security as compared to those for the related existing schemes. Finally, the practical demonstration of our scheme is done using the widely accepted NS2 simulation.
Degradation of toxic pollutants via sodium borohydride induced chemical catalytic procedure by Cu-doped GCN catalyst.
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•Cu-doped and Ni-doped graphitic carbon nitride samples were ...synthesized.•The samples degraded a wide range of toxic pollutants by NaBH4-induced catalytic procedure.•Variations in various catalytic parameters were performed to identify the optimum catalytic condition.•Underlying reaction mechanisms were analysed to detect the most feasible reaction routes through rigorous first principles calculations.•The samples proved to be impressive catalyst materials for waste-water remediation.
Catalytic reduction of pollutants employing the concept of electron-relay effect between sodium borohydride (NaBH4) and pollutant compounds, both adsorbed on catalyst surface, is one of the most effective and facile techniques among other conventional procedures. In this work, potential catalysts were developed by incorporating Cu and Ni into two-dimensional conjugated network of g-C3N4 to modify its surface properties for subsequent application in rapid degradation of hazardous waste-water pollutants. Exhaustive experiments including variation of various parameters such as catalyst-dosage, NaBH4 concentration, pollutants concentration, and pH were performed to analyse the role of metal ad-atoms, determine the best catalyst, and propose the optimum catalytic degradation conditions for each harmful pollutant and their mixtures separately for practical implementations. The as-proposed superiority of the catalyst was validated through first-principles calculations. The experimental results established the materials to be highly efficient catalysts in terms of degradation time and various catalytic parameters in reduction of a vast range of pollutants. In-depth theoretical analysis was performed to understand the role played by Cu-atom incorporation towards dye degradation mechanisms. The most feasible reaction routes for selected pollutants were identified and represented at the atomic reaction level portraying the role of NaBH4 and aqueous electrolyte in the electron-relay process.
Because of inadequate hardness, low resistance to wear, and excess friction coefficient of titanium, and its alloys are limited in their applicability. Cladding, a type of surface modification ...process, is used to create layers on titanium and its alloys that have superior mechanical qualities, wear characteristics, oxidation resistance at high temperatures, and good biocompatibility. Material selection is critical for achieving the increased qualities mentioned above, in addition to various cladding techniques and associated process parameters. A review of the outcomes of various common wear-resistant cladding techniques applied to the titanium alloy surface is the subject of this study. The most important functional claddings in this domain are also presented and investigated in depth. The present issues and future initiatives are also discussed, with an emphasis on identifying knowledge and technological gaps as well as attempting to establish future research possibilities. On this foundation, it is suggested that in the coming years, resistant-to-wear cladding with significant improvements in toughness and hardness should progress on the path of smart manufacturing techniques, optimising and precisely customising microstructural configurations, and developing numerical simulation techniques of cladding.
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•Surface charge of biomass and cellulases impacts the absorption of enzymes.•Secondary structure stability in immobilized cellulases affects catalytic activity.•CRISPR/Cas-9 based ...technology for tailoring of cellulose genes is promising.•In silico based gene modulations in cellulase can predict enhanced activity.•Magnetic nanoparticle materials are favourable for cellulase recovery strategies.
The inherent resistance of lignocellulosic biomass makes it impervious for industrially important enzymes such as cellulases to hydrolyze cellulose. Further, the competitive absorption behavior of lignin and hemicellulose for cellulases, due to their electron-rich surfaces augments the inappropriate utilization of these enzymes. Hence, modification of the surface charge of the cellulases to reduce its non-specific binding to lignin and enhance its affinity for cellulose is an urgent necessity. Further, maintaining the stability of cellulases by the preservation of their secondary structures using immobilization techniques will also play an integral role in its industrial production. In silico approaches for increasing the catalytic activity of cellulase enzymes is also significant along with a range of substrate specificity. In addition, enhanced productivity of cellulases by tailoring the related genes through the process of genetic engineering and higher cellulase recovery after saccharification seems to be promising areas for efficient and large-scale enzyme production concepts.
Synopsis: MgCr-LDH nanosheets with formamide induced mild hydrothermal treatment could efficiently degraded methylene blue dye under visible light exposure.
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•MgCr-LDH nanosheets were ...formed by formamide used co-precipitation and hydrothermal.•MgCr-LDH nanosheets possess 90% degree of delamination.•MgCr-LDH nanosheets showed MB degradation of 90.6% at 2 h under sunlight exposure.•Organization of uni/multi-lamellar nanosheets in MgCr-LDHs trips the performances.•The –OH groups of LDHs with valence band holes deal the •OH radicals for activity.
In the present work, we report the preparatory strategy of MgCr-layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets with 90% degree of delamination by employing a formamide-assisted co-precipitation and mild hydrothermal route for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under solar light exposure. The as-synthesized MgCr-LDH nanosheets were characterized by assorted characterization techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), N2 adsorption–desorption measurement, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV–Visible diffused reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS). The XRD pattern of MgCr-LDH nanosheets quantified the strain (ε) and dislocation density (δ) of 1.371 lines−2 m−4 and 0.5723 lines m−2 related to the (110) plane with d-spacing value of 1.6169 Ȧ. With a minimum band gap of ∼2.63 eV, the as-synthesized MgCr-LDH nanosheets displayed 90.6% MB photodegradation under the experimental protocols such as catalyst dosage of 30 mg/L, initial MB concentrations of 20 ppm, pH of 7 and time duration of 2 h under solar light exposure. Further, the recyclability test of the photocatalyst signifies material stability up to four successive cycles with 90% retention of MB degradation under sunlight exposure. The superior catalytic performances of the MgCr-LDH nanosheets could be ascertained to the suppression of excitonic recombination and effective light harvestation properties, synergistically contributed by the porous structural aspects via association of uni/multi-lamellar nanosheets, surface defect sites and photoactive Cr3+ cations. Additionally, the surface –OH groups of LDH contributed towards the generation of •OH radicals for triggering the catalytic performances. This type of work advances the novel ideas for establishing highly potent photocatalysts via synergizing structural and surface properties, paving towards effective wastewater treatment.
Non-communicable disease (NCD) rates are rapidly increasing in India with wide regional variations. We aimed to quantify the prevalence of metabolic NCDs in India and analyse interstate and ...inter-regional variations.
The Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB) study, a cross-sectional population-based survey, assessed a representative sample of individuals aged 20 years and older drawn from urban and rural areas of 31 states, union territories, and the National Capital Territory of India. We conducted the survey in multiple phases with a stratified multistage sampling design, using three-level stratification based on geography, population size, and socioeconomic status of each state. Diabetes and prediabetes were diagnosed using the WHO criteria, hypertension using the Eighth Joint National Committee guidelines, obesity (generalised and abdominal) using the WHO Asia Pacific guidelines, and dyslipidaemia using the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines.
A total of 113 043 individuals (79 506 from rural areas and 33 537 from urban areas) participated in the ICMR-INDIAB study between Oct 18, 2008 and Dec 17, 2020. The overall weighted prevalence of diabetes was 11·4% (95% CI 10·2-12·5; 10 151 of 107 119 individuals), prediabetes 15·3% (13·9-16·6; 15 496 of 107 119 individuals), hypertension 35·5% (33·8-37·3; 35 172 of 111 439 individuals), generalised obesity 28·6% (26·9-30·3; 29 861 of 110 368 individuals), abdominal obesity 39·5% (37·7-41·4; 40 121 of 108 665 individuals), and dyslipidaemia 81·2% (77·9-84·5; 14 895 of 18 492 of 25 647). All metabolic NCDs except prediabetes were more frequent in urban than rural areas. In many states with a lower human development index, the ratio of diabetes to prediabetes was less than 1.
The prevalence of diabetes and other metabolic NCDs in India is considerably higher than previously estimated. While the diabetes epidemic is stabilising in the more developed states of the country, it is still increasing in most other states. Thus, there are serious implications for the nation, warranting urgent state-specific policies and interventions to arrest the rapidly rising epidemic of metabolic NCDs in India.
Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.
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