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•Paper mill sludge (PMS) was two way valorized through bacterial biotransformation.•PMS could be utilized for the improved production of prodigiosin biopigment.•Delignification of PMS ...was achieved concurrent to prodigiosin production.•Residual sludge was used to prepare cellulose nanocrystals with desired properties.•Both prodigiosin and cellulose nanocrystals were found to be non-toxic.
Paper mill sludge (PMS), a lignocellulosic waste from paper industry, is an ecological burden of environmental concern. Present study explored PMS as substrate for prodigiosin production in solid state fermentation (SSF) and concurrent source of cellulose for Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) preparation, using Serratia marcescens NITDPER1. Batch studies revealed maximum pigment production 47 ± 3.2 mg/L after 60 h and ligninolytic potentials via kraft lignin degradation (59 % after 72 h), lignin-mimicking dye decolourization and lignin monomer utilization. In SSF, highest yield was 30.05 ± 1.7 mg/g (24 h) with growth-associated (α = 20.84) and non-growth associated (β = 0.63) parameters determined through Luedeking-Piret model. Lambda max (535 nm), Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC) (Rf = 0.9), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) (RT = 2.865), Fourier-transform infrared spectra (FT-IR) and Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) confirmed it as prodigiosin that exhibited antioxidant potential (IC50 = 47 ± 3.5 μg/mL). After SSF, the delignified (54 %) residual PMS was utilized for preparing CNCs, that displayed particle size 130.8 nm, zeta potential -13.4 mv, polydispersity index 0.404, stability upto 490 °C and revealed desirable properties in Field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), FT-IR and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Phytotoxicity studies confirmed both prodigiosin and CNCs as non-toxic. This study unveiled biorefinery perspectives for paper industries through production of two commercially important commodities from waste using eco-friendly approach.
Viral diseases are causing mayhem throughout the world. One of the zoonotic viruses that have emerged as a potent threat to community health in the past few decades is Nipah virus. Nipah viral ...sickness is a zoonotic disease whose main carrier is bat. This disease is caused by Nipah virus (NiV). It belongs to the henipavirous group and of the family paramyxoviridae. Predominantly
Pteropus
spp. is the carrier of this virus. It was first reported from the Kampung Sungai Nipah town of Malaysia in 1998. Human-to-human transmission can also occur. Several repeated outbreaks were reported from South and Southeast Asia in the recent past. In humans, the disease is responsible for rapid development of acute illness, which can result in severe respiratory illness and serious encephalitis. Therefore, this calls for an urgent need for health authorities to conduct clinical trials to establish possible treatment regimens to prevent any further outbreaks.
Brinjal or eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is known as a vegetable of diet because it contains high moisture and low calorific value. It is also a good source of antioxidants and phytonutrients. ...Brinjal is widely grown in the South and South-East Asian countries and is the second most important vegetable in India. It belongs to the Solanaceae family. Shoot and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) pest of brinjal is the most widespread one and it has the ability to affect any of the developmental stages of brinjal. Plants and their insect herbivores have had a long and intimate evolutionary association that has resulted in many complex interactions mediated by specialized plant metabolites like phenolics, alkaloids, terpenoids, cyanogenic glycosides etc. Frequent and excessive use of insecticides has become a common practice now which only increases the probability of resistance development and resurgence of pest. Hence to develop an effective approach to combat this pest understanding of its feeding mechanism and chemistry of its interaction with the fruit is necessary. The importance of the secondary metabolites in the field of chemical biology and in pest management is discussed in this study.
A generic modular synthetic strategy for the fabrication of a series of binary‐ternary group II‐VI and group I‐III‐VI coupled semiconductor nano‐heterostructures is reported. Using Ag2Se nanocrystals ...first as a catalyst and then as sacrificial seeds, four dual semiconductor heterostructures were designed with similar shapes: CdSe‐AgInSe2, CdSe‐AgGaSe2, ZnSe‐AgInSe2, and ZnSe‐AgGaSe2. Among these, dispersive type‐II heterostructures are further explored for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water and these are observed to be superior catalysts than the binary or ternary semi‐conductors. Details of the chemistry of this modular synthesis have been studied and the photophysical processes involved in catalysis are investigated.
Semiconducting tadpoles: A generic modular synthetic strategy for fabricating a series of group II‐VI and I‐III‐VI coupled binary–ternary dual semiconductory heterostructures is reported. Among these, dispersive type‐II semiconductors were explored as photocatalysts for the evolution of hydrogen from water.
A facile one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of hollow ball-like ZnS nanostructures is reported using cysteamine, an ecofriendly sulfur source. Following similar protocol, a heterostructure of RGO-ZnS ...nanocomposite have been synthesized. The as-synthesized samples are structurally and optically characterized using different techniques. The photocatalytic activity of RGO-ZnS has been found to be ∼9% higher than that of ball-like ZnS nanostructures at a dose of 0.4 g/L. This result is attributed to the improved charge transport by hindering charge recombination of photoinduced excitons. One of the significant findings of this work is that the model anionic dye degraded better under alkaline condition with ZnS whereas the trend is reversed for RGO-ZnS composite. The removal efficiency of both the systems is allied with structural, morphological, and optical properties to understand the underlying mechanism of synthesis as well as photocatalysis process.
Diabetes accelerates cancer cell proliferation and metastasis, particularly for cancers of the pancreas, liver, breast, colon, and skin. While pathways linking the 2 disease conditions have been ...explored extensively, there is a lack of information on whether there could be cytoarchitectural changes induced by glucose which predispose cancer cells to aggressive phenotypes. It was thus hypothesized that exposure to diabetes/high glucose alters the biomechanical and biophysical properties of cancer cells more than the normal cells, which aids in advancing the cancer. For this study, atomic force microscopy indentation was used through microscale probing of multiple human breast cancer cells (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231), and human normal mammary epithelial cells (MCF-10A), under different levels of glycemic stress. These were used to study both benign and malignant breast tissue behaviors. Benign cells (MCF-10A) recorded higher Young’s modulus values than malignant cells (MCF-7 and MDA-231) under normoglycemic conditions, which agrees with the current literature. Moreover, exposure to high glucose (for 48 hours) decreased Young’s modulus in both benign and malignant cells, to the effect that the cancer cells showed a complete loss in elasticity with high glucose. This provides a possible insight into a link between glycemic stress and cytoskeletal strength. This work suggests that reducing glycemic stress in cancer patients and those at risk can prove beneficial in restoring normal cytoskeletal structure.
Bioremediation is a technique to enhance natural biological processes to rectify polluted groundwater, soil, and even entire habitats. Bioremediation techniques use biological agents to act upon ...hazardous, toxic materials and subsequently convert them into less toxic substances. Microbes are organisms ubiquitously present in the biosphere. These microorganisms are the main agents that remediate toxic and polluted environmental conditions. Highly polluted areas can be rectified using proper bioremediation procedures and interventions. In this review we have studied the different bioremediation techniques which can be utilized to correct the harmful effects of environmental pollution. In this study we have also emphasized on the benefits of adopting bioremediation as an efficient alternative technique in comparison to the traditional physical and chemical methods to restore the healthy environmental conditions.
Viburnum erubescens Wall., Rhododendron arboretum Sm., Eurya japonica Thumb., Symplocos lucida (Thunb.) Siebold ＆ Zucc, and Symplocos pyrifolia Wall. ex G. Don are extensively used by the native and ...ethnic populations of the South-Eastern Himalayan region for several dermatological conditions, yet their phytochemical composition remained largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the therapeutically relevant volatile phytochemical compositions and study the molecular interactions against intracellular cytoregulatory transcription factors. Leaves of the five plants were subjected to Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GCMS) post silylation derivation. The results were further analyzed using multivariate statistical methods such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). A total of 115 compounds were identified in the five plants. Multivariate analysis revealed optimum metabolomic correlation between S. pyrifolia and S. lucida (0.876), whereas lowest correlation was found between E. japonica and V. erubescens (-0.242). Arbutin, β-amyrin, betulin, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol demonstrated highest interaction with the molecular targets. Collectively, the present study revealed the bioactive volatile phytochemicals responsible the therapeutic uses against diverse skin conditions.
Our present study focuses on the identification of predictive biomarkers in serum for the early diagnosis of endometriosis in a minimally invasive manner using (1)H-NMR based metabonomics. PLS-DA ...modeling of bins obtained from CPMG spectra of serum samples discriminated endometriosis patients from controls with sensitivity and specificity levels of about 80% and 90%, respectively. Compared with those from controls, serum samples from endometriosis patients showed increased levels of lactate, 3-hydroxybutyrate, alanine, leucine, valine, threonine, lysine, glycerophosphatidylcholine, succinic acid and 2-hydroxybutyrate as well as decreased levels of lipids, glucose, isoleucine and arginine. Our work offers valuable information for non-invasive diagnosis of endometriosis and may be of potential benefit to understand pathogenesis of the disease.
•Silver nanoparticles were synthesized by using underutilized Elaegnus pyriformis fruit juice and were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, SEM, FESEM, EDX, XRD and FTIR techniques.•Green ...synthesized nanoparticles were found to be potent H2O2 quencher.•Nanoparticles have immense antimicrobial properties against both gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.•In silico molecular docking, analysis exhibited such an amazing result where AgNPs inactivates anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-XL during binding and thus facilitates apoptosis, inactivates cancerous activity.•Those cells have DNA damage and other cell abnormalities they are easily destroyed through apoptotic pathway bypassing the carcinogenic progression while those already behave as cancer cell they are destroyed by the nanoparticle activity.
Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary science in the fields of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Nanoparticles have a large surface area to volume ratio and high surface energy. Due to this characteristic feature; it opens up new scope for its various applications. In this study, we have reported the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) from silver nitrate (AgNO3) using the underutilized fruit of Elaeagnus pyriformis fruit juice in an optimized reaction. During synthesis, solution color changes from yellow to brownish due to reduction of Ag⁺ into Ag⁰ (AgNP) by phytocompounds (fatty acid and its derivatives) of E. pyriformis fruit juice. To know the presence and involvement of bioactive compounds as a reducing and capping agent the AgNPs were extensively characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, SEM (Scanning electron microscopy), FESEM (Field emission scanning electron microscopy), EDX (Energy-dispersive X-ray), XRD (X-ray diffraction analysis)and FTIR (Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy). Furthermore, the antioxidant efficacy of AgNP was determined and significant antimicrobial activity was recorded against human pathogenic micro organisms. To know the efficacy as a potent anticancerous agent, in-silico molecular docking analysis was done using anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-XL and preliminary results indicate that AgNPs may have the potency to combat cancer by manipulating apoptosis.
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