Weeds and ornamental plants serve as a reservoir for geminiviruses and contribute to their dissemination, genome recombination and/or satellite capture. Ornamental sunflower (Helianthus spp.) plants ...exhibiting mild leaf curl symptoms were subjected to begomovirus and DNA-satellites isolation. The full-length genome of the isolated begomovirus clone (Od1-A) showed 96.8% nucleotide (nt) sequence identity with mesta yellow vein mosaic virus (MeYVMV; accession no. FR772081) whereas, alphasatellite (Od1-a) and betasatellite (Od1-b) clones showed their highest nt sequence identities at 97.4% and 98.2% with ageratum enation alphasatellite (AEA; accession no. FR772085) and papaya leaf curl betasatellite (PaLCuB; accession. no. LN878112), respectively. The evolutionary relationships, average evolutionary divergence and the recombination events were also inferred. The MeYVMV exhibited 9.5% average evolutionary divergence and its CP and Rep had 9.3% and 12.2%, concomitantly; the alphasatellite and the betasatellite had 8.3% and 5.2%, respectively. The nt substitution rates (site-1 year−1) were found to be 6.983 × 10-04 and 5.702 × 10-05 in the CP and Rep of MeYVMV, respectively. The dN/dS ratio and the Tajima D value of MeYVMV CP demonstrated its possible role in host switching. The absolute quantification of the begomovirus demonstrated that mild symptoms might have a correlation with low virus titer. This is the first identification of MeYVMV and associated DNA-satellites from ornamental sunflower in Pakistan. The role of sequence divergence, recombination and importance of MeYVMV along with DNA-satellites in extending its host range is discussed.
Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are a new type of nano-carbons that are currently favored over semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) because of their solubility, low toxicity, eco-friendliness, and cheap and ...facile synthesis giving desired optical characteristics. Moreover, their physiochemical properties can be controlled by their synthetic route. CQDs can emit fluorescence in the range from the UV to the near-infrared (NIR) region, making them suitable for biomedical applications. Fluorescence in these nano-carbon atoms can be tuned by varying the excitation wavelength. As of now, CQDs have been used in various applications such as in bioimaging, biosensing, electrochemical biosensing, drug delivery, gene delivery, photodynamic therapy in the treatment of cancers, pharmaceutical formulations, and treating inflammation. This article highlights the current progress and advancement of CQDs with focus on their synthetic routes, chemical and optical properties, and biomedical applications along with new perceptions in this interesting and promising field.
One major concern about foreign direct investment (FDI) is the potential negative environmental impact due to increased CO2 emissions. However, there is a possibility that FDI mitigates CO2 emissions ...through green innovation and creates a cleaner environment. In the existing literature, there is no significant empirical evidence on the linkage among FDI, green innovation and CO2 emissions in the context of BRICS countries. Hence, this study aims to analyze the impact of FDI and green innovation on the environmental quality of BRICS economies for 1990–2014. The study employed Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators for empirical data analysis. The study’s findings depict that foreign direct investment, energy use, and economic growth have a significant and positive impact on the CO2 emissions of BRICS economies. Moreover, green innovation has a significant inverse impact on CO2 emissions. The results show bidirectional causalities between CO2 emissions and green innovation, trade openness and CO2 emissions, energy use and CO2 emissions, and urbanization and CO2 emissions. Additionally, the findings reveal a one-way causality from CO2 emissions to GDP and CO2 emissions to urbanization. This study offers essential policy recommendations for the environmental sustainability of BRICS countries through green innovation.
The relationship between energy, environment, and economic growth has been received a lot of attention recently among scientific studies, but environmental sustainability remains a global issue. ...Renewable energy development, green technological innovations, and regulatory policy mechanisms can all help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support environmental sustainability. The purpose of this study was to look at the influence of renewable energy development, market regulation, and environment-related innovation on CO
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emissions in the BRICS countries from 1990 to 2020. For empirical analysis, it uses second-generation panel unit root test and updated linear and nonlinear cointegration techniques. To this end, this study employs symmetric and asymmetric approach to linear and nonlinear relationship among study variables. The findings indicate that there is long-run symmetric and asymmetric relationship between renewable energy development, market regulation, environment-related innovation, and CO
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emissions. The market regulation plays significant mediating role in relation between renewable energy development, environment-related innovation, and CO
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emissions. Our findings suggest that BRICS countries need to more focus on the environment-related innovation and renewable energy development. They should design market-based environmental regulation policies, emphasize on environmental taxes, expand renewable energy development, and environment-related innovations. Such strategies are key to limiting CO
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emissions and gain environmental sustainable.
Drug delivery systems (DDSs) are a promising avenue for targeted drug delivery over a given time frame. Different techniques have been devised for drug encapsulation in a delivery system which can ...carry it to the target site and release it as a function of time. The biochemical properties of encapsulation systems are tailored according to the required release profile for the target tissue. Electrospun fibers have been greatly investigated recently for the development of DDSs. Different applications for specific fiber types have been fabricated and tested in order to determine their clinical significance. This review critically analyzes the potential applications of electrospun fibers in drug delivery system (DDS).
Drug-eluting stents (DES) are the best choice of the current era to open the occluded arteries. Its success depends upon the concentration of the drug and overall release kinetics, which in turn is ...subjected to the polymeric drug carrier and mechanism of drug release at the target area. Each generation of DES possess different characteristics based on different aspects i.e., polymer type, coating layer thickness, and drug concentration have been discussed. This review paper discusses all the polymers utilized in DES systems and their release profiles when combined with multiple drugs for the treatment of coronary heart disease.
The idea behind the spillover effect of FDI on economic growth is based on the idea that multinational companies can bring technological innovation and rich knowledge to host countries. Therefore, ...FDI plays a vital role in technological innovations. This study aims to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the technological innovation of BRICS countries from 2000 to 2020. This study uses the latest econometric techniques, such as the cross-sectional dependence (CD) test, second-generation unit root tests, panel cointegration tests and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test. For long-run run estimation, this study uses the augmented mean group (AMG) panel estimator and the common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) estimator for empirical analysis. The findings of the study show that foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness, economic growth, and research & development expenditure positively impact technological innovation in BRICS countries. Also, the model's long-term causality and lagged error correction term (ECT) are significantly negative. Suggested policy measures will be helpful for BRICS economies in boosting technology innovation through FDI.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Wounds are of a variety of types and each category has its own distinctive healing requirements. This realization has spurred the development of a myriad of wound dressings, each with specific ...characteristics. It is unrealistic to expect a singular dressing to embrace all characteristics that would fulfill generic needs for wound healing. However, each dressing may approach the ideal requirements by deviating from the ‘one size fits all approach’, if it conforms strictly to the specifications of the wound and the patient. Indeed, a functional wound dressing should achieve healing of the wound with minimal time and cost expenditures. This article offers an insight into several different types of polymeric materials clinically used in wound dressings and the events taking place at cellular level, which aid the process of healing, while the biomaterial dressing interacts with the body tissue. Hence, the significance of using synthetic polymer films, foam dressings, hydrocolloids, alginate dressings, and hydrogels has been reviewed, and the properties of these materials that conform to wound-healing requirements have been explored. A special section on bioactive dressings and bioengineered skin substitutes that play an active part in healing process has been re-examined in this work.
Introduction of Bare Metal Stents (BMS) was itself a revolutionary step in the history of the medical industry; however, Drug Eluting Stents (DES) maintained its superiority over BMS in every aspect ...from restenosis rate to late lumen loss. The reason behind the magnanimous position of the DES in the stent market is the degree of improvement with which it evolves. New and better stents come into the market every year, surpassing their predecessors by many folds.
This review paper discusses the journey of DES with supporting clinical trials in detail. In the first generation, there were stainless-steel stents with thicker coatings. Although they had superior results compared to BMS, there was still room for improvement. Afterward came the second-generation stents, which had superior metal platforms with thinner struts and thin coatings. The drugs were also changed from Paclitaxel and Sirolimus to Zotrolimus and Everolimus. These stents performed best; however, there was an issue of permanent coating, which remained intact over the stent surface after complete drug elution and started to cause issues in longer-term studies. Hence, an improved version of DES was introduced to these permanent coatings called the third generation of drug eluting stents, which initially utilized biodegradable polymer and ultimately moved towards polymer free drug coatings. This generation has introduced a unique amalgam of technologies to achieve its polymer free coatings; however, researchers have numerous prospects of growth in this field. This review paper highlights the major coups of stent technology evolution from BMS to DES, from thick polymeric coatings to thin coatings and from durable polymers to polymer free DES.
In conclusion, though the medical industry promptly accepted BMS as the best treatment option for cardiovascular diseases; however, DES has provided even better results than BMS. In DES, the first and second generation has ruled the technology for many years and are still on the shelves. Still, the issues aroused due to durable polymer shifted the attention towards biodegradable drug eluting stents, the third generation growing rapidly. But the scientific community has not restricted themselves and is investigating bioresorbable stents that completely eliminate the polymer intervention in drug eluting stent technology.
Renewable energy markets have recently emerged in countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Despite having abundant renewable energy resources, these countries contribute only a ...small share of global renewable energy investment. This study examines the nexus between governance, renewable energy investment, and trade openness for a sample of 51 BRI countries from 1996 to 2017. Specifically, the gravity model of trade is used to develop an instrumental variable for trade openness. The empirical findings reveal that political stability, the rule of law, regulatory quality, and corruption control are statistically significant factors that influence renewable energy investments in BRI countries. Moreover, this relationship seems to depend on the degree of trade openness. Our results are robust to various econometric specifications.
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