Present work investigates the application of electro-catalytic oxidation (EO) technique using dimensionally stable anode, titanium coated with ruthenium dioxide (Ti/RuO2), for abatement of ...amoxicillin trihydrate (AMT), a much commonly prescribed antibiotic detected in water and wastewater. AMT removal efficiency (%ARE) and TOC (Total organic carbon) removal efficiency (%TRE) were measured by varying process parameters such as initial pH, current density (i), initial AMT concentration (C0) and supporting electrolyte (NaCl) concentration (S0). Mineralization current efficiency (%MCE) and specific energy consumption (SEC) values were evaluated and compared for different values of i and S0. Furthermore, decay kinetics of AMT was studied by varying i and C0. Moreover, AMT degradation and mineralization mechanism was explored in detail. Additionally, a possible pathway of AMT degradation/mineralization was proposed by identifying the intermediates formed during EO reactions using UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. Besides, economic feasibility of EO treatment method was analysed by calculating the operating cost. The optimum current density and initial pH were found to be 5.88 mA cm−2 and 7.0, at which, 60% ARE and 48% TRE were achieved in 60 and 240 min of electrolysis, respectively. Mineralization current efficiency was observed decreasing from 11.77% to 7.67% with increasing i value.
Spices are an affluentpool of polyphenolcompounds that possessgigantic medicinal peculiarities such as remedying microbial infections, oxidative stress, inflammation, diabetes, cancers, ...neurodegenerative disorders, cardiac disorders, etc. On that account, thepresent review illustrates the therapeutic potential, mechanism of action, and different procedures for conscious extraction of polyphenols. The various ethnopharmacological properties; reasons for their diverse pharmacological actions and the mechanism of action of spices-derived phenolics have also been discussed. The findings of this review may be utilized by the food and pharmaceutical industries for developing suitable alternatives to synthetic antioxidants and can be developed into effective food supplements. Further in-depth scientific studies are needed to find out their actual and exact relevance as natural health boosters. Moreover, clinical and toxicological studies are also required for harnessing the full therapeutic potential of polyphenols derived from dietary spices.
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•Spices are the treasure house of polyphenols and other useful bioactive compounds.•Clove, oregano, thyme and rosemary contains highest amount of phenolic compounds.•They provide protection from microbial infection and oxidative stress related disorders.•Polyphenols obtained from spices improve the functioning of beneficial gut microbiota.
Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases (5Tase) are the important enzymes of the phosphatidylinositol (PI) signaling pathway and have been found to play important roles in plant growth, development, ...and stress responses. Most of the Arabidopsis genes encoding Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases have been characterised. However, promoters of genes encoding Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases of plants have not been characterized so far. Here, we report the characterization of
Arabidopsis thaliana
SALK mutant lines having T-DNA insertion in the upstream intergenic region of the Inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatases8 (
At5Tas8
) gene. The location of T-DNA insertion in the SALK line was confirmed by PCR, and plant homozygous and hemizygous for the T-DNA insertion were identified. The homozygous plants were observed for the morphological difference as well as for the root phenotype. However, no significant morphological differences were observed in the mutant and wild-type plants. The expression analysis using qRT-PCR revealed a similar level of
At5Tase8
transcript in the mutant and wild-type plants suggesting T-DNA insertion lies beyond the
At5Tase 8
promoter.
In silico
analysis of the 3000 bp sequence upstream of the translation start site covering the T-DNA insertion site has revealed the presence of potential
cis
-regulatory elements for heat, light, drought, salt, sugar, and hormone. Besides, most predicted
cis
-elements were located downstream of the T-DNA insertion site, further supporting that the promoter of
At5Tase8
lies within the 2738 bp sequence upstream of the translation start site. Further study is required to delineate the
At5Tase8
promoter using promoter-reporter fusion in the transgenic Arabidopsis.
The architectural design of polycyclic/multisubstituted pentafulvenes has demonstrated great potential for the development of electrochromic materials and biologically active motifs. Unfortunately, ...the enantioselective construction of such distinctive cores with all carbon quaternary chiral centers has remained untouched to date. Herein, we disclose an enantioselective homologating annulation of cyclopent-4-ene-dione with 3-cyano-4-methylcoumarins through L-tert-leucine derived thiourea catalysis, affording a wide range of enantioenriched polycyclic multisubstituted embedded aminopentafulvenes with excellent stereocontrol (up to 99:1 er) and chemical yields up to 87%. A detailed photophysical and cytotoxicity analysis of racemic and chiral homologated adducts unveils the exceptional behavior of chiral adducts over their racemic analogs, highlighting the importance of stereoselectivity of the developed scaffolds. A cellular uptake experiment in a mammalian fibroblast cell line confirmed the potential of developed polycyclic aminopentafulvene cores as a highly promising labeling dye that can be utilized for bioimaging without any adverse effects.
Immune activating cytokines Interferon (IFN)-γ and Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α are known to activate macrophages for killing of Leishmania parasite. IFN-γ provides therapeutic potential while TNF-α ...has been recognized to mediate protection in visceral model of infection. In the present study we investigated whether combination of IFN-γ and TNF-α has better therapeutic strength than individually using one of these cytokines in Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) patients. We performed combined blockade of IFN-γ and TNF-α in VL splenic biopsies and demonstrated it's impact on number of viable amastigotes and cytokine production. Additionally, selective depletion of splenic cell subsets was performed to establish the cellular sources of IFN-γ and TNF-α. Treatment of splenic aspirate cells with combination of anti-IFN-γ and anti-TNF-α monoclonal antibodies for 72 hours enabled no direct additive impact of these cytokines on parasite replication and IL-10 secretion, but IL-4 production was induced. Further assessment of splenic biopsies put forward CD4+ T cells as a source of IFN-γ whereas CD14+ cells contribute towards TNF-α production. Overall our results suggest, the interplay of pro-inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ derived from CD4+T lymphocytes and TNF-α from CD14+ cells has no direct additive impact on parasite replication but induces IL-4 production. Our data does not support direct targeting of IFN-γ and TNF-α for combination therapy but targeting these cytokines as an adjuvant in patients with exaggerated tissue inflammatory responses can have favourable patient outcome.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this work we study the impact of new physics, stimulated by flavor anomalies, on neutrino oscillations through dense dark matter halo. Inspired by a model where a Majorana dark matter fermion and ...two new scalar fields contribute to b→sμ+μ− transition at the one loop level, we study the impact of neutrino-dark matter interaction on the oscillation patterns of ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos passing through this muonphilic halo located near the center of Milky Way. We find that due to this interaction, the flavor ratios of neutrinos reaching earth would be different from that of vacuum oscillations. We also consider a Z′ model driven by Lμ−Lτ symmetry and containing a vector-like fermion as a dark matter candidate. It was previously shown that for such a model, the three flavors of neutrinos decouple from each other. This will render a flavor ratio similar to that of vacuum oscillations. Therefore, the interaction of neutrinos with dense dark matter halo can serve as an important tool to discriminate between flavor models with a dark connection.
Bacterial drug resistance has emerged as a serious global threat mandating the development of novel methodologies that allow facile modulation of antimicrobial action in a controlled fashion. ...Conjugating antibiotics to nanoparticles helps to meet this goal by increasing the drug's overall avidity, bioavailability and easier internalisation into mammalian cells, targeting bacteria that otherwise escape antibacterial action by host cell-localisation. We used polymyxin B sulfate (PMB) and sushi peptide as model drugs against Gram-negative bacteria and established their enhanced antimicrobial activity on Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells after conjugation to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The efficacy of the bioconjugates was also tested on Salmonella typhi (S. typhi) bacteria infected into cervical cancer cells (HeLa) and further improved through specific targeting via folate receptors. Our results demonstrate significantly lower inhibitory concentration values for sushi-NP assemblies as compared to free drug, especially at optimal drug loading levels. No major cytotoxicity was observed in mammalian cells alone.
A divergence in the supply and consumption of oxygen in brain tissue initiates complex cycle of biochemical and molecular events resulting in neuronal death. To overcome such adverse situation, the ...tissue has to adopt some cellular mechanisms such as induction of various transcription factors, such as hypoxia inducible factor (HIF). It is a transcriptional regulator of oxygen homeostasis and key factor to generate the adaptive responses through upregulation of various target genes involved in the erythropoiesis, angiogenesis as well as glucose metabolism and transport. On the other hand, some studies do suggest that HIF also plays a detrimental role in ischemic reperfusion injury by inducing the pro apoptotic molecules, cytokines such as Nix, BNip3, and IL-20 which cause mitochondrial dysfunction leading to cell death. Hence, modulation of HIF-1 activity seems to provide an innovative therapeutic target to reduce the cellular damage, which arises from ischemic injury. Apart from traditional oxygen dependent HIF regulation, the focus has now shifted toward oxygen independent regulation in cell specific manner through reactive oxygen species involving hypoxia-associated factor, and heat shock protein 90, etc. Therefore, future development of such small molecule regulators for HIF-1 stability and signaling may prove useful to therapeutically target for enhancing recovery and repair in I/R injury.
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•Heparin functionalized PCL/gelatin co-spun nanofibrous dressings were synthesized.•Fabricated dressings showed improved mechanical and degradation properties.•Fabricated dressings ...showed exogenous and endogenous GFs sequestration ability.•In-vivo, synergistic effect of exogenous and endogenous GFs promoted tissue regeneration.
Growth factors (GFs) are signaling molecules that are principle mediators in tissue regeneration. Biomaterial scaffolds employed as wound dressings are often hampered by their limitations to deliver GFs exogenously due to their instability and low half-life. The key to overcome this challenge lies in the better organization and use of endogenous pro-regenerative GFs released at regenerative site, with an aim to minimize the sole dependency on exogenous factors. Considering such challenges, this research utilizes the exogenous and endogenous GFs sequestering capability of heparin functionalized PCL/gelatin co-spun nanofabrics to mediate synergistically driven tissue regeneration by utilizing combined therapeutic effect of exogenous and endogenous GFs, and thereby minimizing the sole dependency on exogenous GFs for tissue regeneration. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was chosen as GF for exogenous loading whereas vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) was chosen as a representative example to demonstrate the endogenous pro-regenerative GF sequestration capability of fabricated nanofabrics. From our results, the fabricated nanofabrics showed loading efficiency of 80% for exogenous bFGF and can sequester 15-fold more amount of endogenous VEGF compared to non-heparin functionalized nanofibrous dressings. When applied as wound dressings, heparin functionalized nanofibers showed better therapeutic capability compared to control groups that were treated using patches without heparin functionalization, indicating endogenously driven tissue regeneration. This was indicated by significant higher number of newly formed skin appendages, lesser scarring and lower inflammatory levels in newly formed granulation. Additionally, further improvements in therapeutic effect was observed when exogenous bFGF was employed indicating effectiveness of synergistically mediated tissue regeneration.
Water pollution is increasing due to urbanization and industrialization. Waste water pollution raised concern because of its influence on plants and humans. Water hyacinth (
Eichhornia crassipes
) is ...used for the removal of pollutants because of its phytoremediation efficiency. In this study, water hyacinth (
Eichhornia crassipes
) has been tested for simultaneous elimination of phenol and cyanide from mono and binary component aqueous solution in batch systems. The plant was grown at six concentrations of phenol and cyanide in the ratio of (10:1), i.e. 100:10, 200:20, 300:30, 500:50, 700:70 and 1000:100 mg/L in aqueous solution. The effect of process parameters such as initial concentration of phenol and cyanide and pH was evaluated. The plant was found capable of eliminating up to 96.42% of phenol (300 mg/L) and 92.66% of cyanide (30 mg/L) during the 13 days cultivation time at pH 8. The calculated
K
m
of the root length elongation for phenol was 5.20 mm and the
V
max
was 12.52 μg phenol/g root/h. However, the calculated
K
m
of the root length elongation for cyanide was 0.39 mm and the
V
max
was 14.99 μg cyanide/ g root/h. In the
Eichhornia crassipes
plant, the biochemical parameters such as chlorophyll, protein and sugar content have been indicated a decreasing trend due to uptake of phenol and cyanide throughout cultivation. Toxicity to 100–1000 mg/L of phenol and 10–100 mg/L of cyanide was measured by measuring the relative transpiration over 13 days. At 100 mg/L of phenol and 10 mg/L of cyanide, only a small reduction in transpiration but no morphological changes were noticed. Both pollutants are absorbed through the root of the
Eichhornia crassipes
plant by plasmalemma and become accumulated into the root cells and stem of a plant. Thus, this study will be beneficial for the decontamination of highly polluted waste water.
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