Infection with the severe acute respiratory coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been shown to cause multi-organ involvement including cardiopulmonary serosal layers infection and inflammation. As ...a result, pericarditis and pericardial effusion may occur with or without COVID-19 related respiratory signs. Due to limitations in sensitivity and specificity of current COVID-19 diagnostic studies, cases that trigger high clinical intuition, even with negative serologic and polymerase chain reaction testing results, may necessitate further diagnostic workup to discover the underlying etiology.
Here we present a rare case of pericardial effusion in the setting of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection manifesting with the chief complaint of chest pain.
While undergoing diagnostic workup, the patients first 2 sets of COVID 19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were negative while a latter RT-PCR test, as well as serology, were positive, leading to the diagnosis of COVID-19 reinfection or subacute presentation of viral infection with pericardial effusion. Echocardiogram depicted large circumferential pericardial effusion with mildly thickened pericardium.
The patient underwent pericardial window placement followed by ibuprofen administration and discharged from the hospital.
During the follow-up visit patient had no symptoms and echocardiogram demonstrated complete resolution of the effusion.
Due to the possible establishment of pericardial effusions and consecutively tamponade even without any COVID-19 related clinical presentation, it is crucial for clinicians to trust their intuition, conduct the appropriate diagnostic tests, find the underlying diagnosis and prevent the devastating consequences.
Nanotechnology has opened a new horizon of research in various fields including applied physics, chemistry, electronics, optics, robotics, biotechnology and medicine. In the biomedical field, ...nanomaterials have shown remarkable potential as theranostic agents. Materials which are considered inert are often used in nanomedicine owning to their nontoxic profile. At nanoscale, these inert materials have shown unique properties that differ from bulk and dissolved counterparts. In the case of metals, this unique behavior not only imparts paramount advantages but also confers toxicity due to their unwanted interaction with different cellular processes. In the literature, the toxicity of nanoparticles made from inert materials has been investigated and many of these have revealed toxic potential under specific conditions. The surge to understand underlying mechanism of toxicity has increased and different means have been employed to overcome toxicity problems associated with these agents. In this review, we have focused nanoparticles of three inert metallic materials i.e. gold, silver and iron as these are regarded as biologically inert in the bulk and dissolved form. These materials have gained wider research interest and studies indicating the toxicity of these materials are also emerging. Oxidative stress, physical binding and interference with intracellular signaling are the major role player in nanotoxicity and their predominance is highly dependent upon size, surface coating and administered dose of nanoparticles. Current strategies to overcome toxicity have also been reviewed in the light of recent literature. The authors also suggested that uniform testing standards and well-designed studies are needed to evaluate nanotoxicity of these materials that are otherwise considered as inert. This article is open to POST-PUBLICATION REVIEW. Registered readers (see "For Readers") may comment by clicking on ABSTRACT on the issue's contents page.
“Triterpenoids” can be considered natural products derived from the cyclization of squalene, yielding 3-deoxytriterpenes (hydrocarbons) or 3-hydroxytriterpenes. Triterpenoids are metabolites of these ...two classes of triterpenes, produced by the functionalization of their carbon skeleton. They can be categorized into different groups based on their structural formula/design. Triterpenoids are an important group of compounds that are widely used in the fields of pharmacology, food, and industrial biotechnology. However, inadequate synthetic methods and insufficient knowledge of the biosynthesis of triterpenoids, such as their structure, enzymatic activity, and the methods used to produce pure and active triterpenoids, are key problems that limit the production of these active metabolites. Here, we summarize the derivatives, pharmaceutical properties, and biosynthetic pathways of triterpenoids and review the enzymes involved in their biosynthetic pathway. Furthermore, we concluded the screening methods, identified the genes involved in the pathways, and highlighted the appropriate strategies used to enhance their biosynthetic production to facilitate the commercial process of triterpenoids through the synthetic biology method.
The study aimed to determine the effect of two aphid species;
Lipaphis erysimi
(Kaltenbach) and
Aphis gossypii
Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on life table and demographic parameters of
Hippodamia ...convergens
Gu`erin-M´eneville (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). The developmental period of all life stages of
H. convergens
was shorter when fed on
L. erysimi
. Net reproductive rate (
R
o
) was higher (159.85 offspring/individual) on
L. erysimi
, while it was 87.85 offspring/individual on
A. gossypii
. Mean generation time (T) was shorter (30.49 d) on
L. erysimi
than on
A. gossypii
(45.1 days). Values of the intrinsic rate of increase (r) and finite rate of increase (λ) were calculated as 0.166 days
−1
and 1.181 days
−1
, respectively, on
L. erysimi
that were higher than on
A. gossypii
(0.099 days
−1
and 1.104 days
−1
, respectively). Similarly, the survival rate was also higher when the predator was fed on
L. erysimi
. Overall, the findings suggest using
L. erysimi
as a better source of prey than
A. gossypii
for rearing
H. convergens.
Drought stress (DS) is a considerable limiting factor that reduces growth and crop productivity. Melatonin (MT) is one of the emerging plant hormones involved in improving drought tolerance in ...plants. Therefore, the current study was comprised of various MT levels i.e., control, 100, 200, and 300 μM factorially combined with four sorghum genotypes: YSS-1, YSS-15, Johr, and PARC-S-4. The DS was imposed at the initiation of booting (Zadoks growth scale) by withholding irrigation for 1 week. Taller plants (74.7 cm), with more leaves per plant (LLP: 12), flag leaf area (FLA: 153.7 cm2), root and shoot ratio (0.16), biomass yield (89.1 g), Brix value (9.7%) and soluble solids (SS: 13.3) were recorded with the application of 300 μM MT. In the case of cultivars YSS-1 performed with maximum plant height (74.7 cm), LPP (11), FLA (143.9 cm2), root and shoot ratio (0.14), biomass yield (87.2 g), Brix value (10.3%) and SS (11.5). The activities of antioxidants (CAT, POD, and SOD) were also significantly increased after the imposition of DS, nonetheless, the application of MT further enhanced the activities of these antioxidants to confer drought tolerance. Therefore, these findings suggested that foliar spray of MT (300 μM) could alleviate the negative impacts of DS and improve the growth, biomass yield, and nutritional quality of sorghum.
•Melatonin (Mel) could improve drought tolerance in plants.•Mel improved plant height, LLP, FLA, SS, root/shoot ratio, biomass yield, brix value.•Endogenous antioxidants activity was increased by drought stress, and further by Mel.•Foliar spray of Mel (300 μM) alleviates drought stress negative impacts.•Foliar spray of Mel improves sorghum growth, biomass yield and quality.
Huge harvest and post-harvest losses in conventional processes and methods demands precise applications of agricultural inputs. Computer vision based robotic picking is one of such systems that ...reduces time consumption, labor requirement; and enhances fruits picking and grading efficiency. In this study, an all-in-one prototype robotic picking cum grading system is developed that integrates robotic picking and fruit quality recognition based grading processes. Therein, computer vision algorithms are used for fruit detection followed by picking and placing through controlled robotic arm. For fruit detection, the steps includes color scheme conversion, masking of normal/fresh skin, masking of defects, and morpological dilation operations; and opencv library is used for implementation in Python Language on Anaconda Spyder Integrated Development Environment (IDE). The detection information is then communicated to robotic arm through microcontroller. The fabricated arm is of 4 Degrees of Freedom (4-DOF) and therein, four servo motors aid the robotic arm. The time taken by proposed computer vision algotihms scheme is as follows: 0.0035136 s, 0.0081954 s, 0.0005433 s, and 0.0002408 s for color scheme conversion, segmentation, morphological operations, and bitwise operations respectively; and total time for complete scheme is 0.0125 s. Overall, the developed system took average time of 15 s for one grading cycle in case of poor quality fruits. For this case, no action is carried out and the fruit passes the conveyor directly to storage bin. However, the time required for good quality fruits is high i.e. 21 s as the robotic arm picks and places the fruits for this case.
In this paper, the effect of aluminum oxide, Al2O3, nanoparticles’ inclusion into Epocast 50-Al/946 epoxy adhesive at different temperatures, subjected to quasi-static tensile loading, is numerically ...investigated. The single-lap adhesive joint with two different types of material adherends (composite fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and aluminum (Al) 5083 adherends) and adhesive Epocast 50-A1/hardener 946 were modeled in ABAQUS/CAE. A numerical methodology was proposed to analyze the effect on peel stress and shear stress by adding Al2O3 nanoparticles into the neat adhesive at 25 °C, 50 °C, and 75 °C temperatures at four different locations of the adhesive regions: the interface of the adhesive and aluminum adherend (location A), the middle plane of the adhesive region (location B), the middle longer edge (along the length of the adhesive, location C), and the middle shorter edge (along the width of the adhesive, location D). The results showed that adding nanoparticles into the neat adhesive improves joint strength at room and elevated temperatures. High peel and shear stresses were recorded near both edges of the locations (A, B, C, and D). For location A, adding nanofillers into the adhesive resulted in the reduction in peak peel stress by 1.3% for 25 °C; however, it increased by 2.7% and 10.7% for 50 °C and 75 °C temperatures, respectively. Furthermore, the peak shear stress observed a considerable reduction of 19.6% for 25 °C, but it increased by 7.7% and 8.7% for 50 °C and 75 °C temperatures, respectively, for location A. The same trend was also observed for other locations (i.e., B, C, and D). This signified that adding aluminum oxide nanoparticles in the adhesive resulted in increased stiffness at higher temperatures and increased ductility of the joint, as compared to the joint with neat adhesives at room temperature. Moreover, it was observed that locations A and B were more vulnerable to damage initiation, as the peak of stresses lay near the edges, indicating that the crack initiation would take place close to the edges and propagate towards the center, leading to ultimate failure.
This paper proposes a multi-scale analysis technique based on the micromechanics of failure (MMF) to predict and investigate the damage progression and ultimate strength at failure of laminated ...composites. A lamina’s representative volume element (RVE) is developed to predict and calculate constituent stresses. Damages that occurred in the constituents are calculated using separate failure criteria for both fiber and matrix. Subsequently, the volume-based damage homogenization technique is utilized to prevent the localization of damage throughout the total matrix zone. The proposed multiscale analysis procedure is then used to investigate the notched and unnotched behavior of three multi-directional composite layups, 30, 60, 90, −60, 302S, 0, 45, 90, −452S, and 60, 0, −603S, subjected to static tension and compression loading. The specimen is fabricated from unidirectionally reinforced composite (IM7/977-3). The prediction of ultimate strength at failure and equivalent stiffness are then benchmarked against the experimental test data. The comparative analysis with various failure models is also carried out to validate the proposed model. MMF demonstrated the capability to correctly predict the ultimate strength at failure for a range of multidirectional composites laminates under tensile and compressive load. The numerically predicted findings revealed a good agreement with the experimental test data. Out of the three investigated composite layups, the simulated results for the quasi-isotropic 0, 45, 90, −452S layup agreed extremely well with the experimental results with all the percentage errors within 10% of the measured failure loads.
Landfills and open dumping sites around the world are adding to the global warming issue. This is because of the existence of the main greenhouse gases in landfill gas (LFG); namely, methane (CH4) ...and carbon dioxide (CO2). The current study was focused on the determination of air emissions from the Muhammad wala dump site. This site was constructed in 1992 and expected to have lifespan of 28 years. Utilizing LandGEM software, the landfill emissions were estimated with taking into consideration the 60% content of methane, the methane generation rate constant of 0.02125 year−1, and methane generation potential capacity constant of 23.25 m3/Mg. The outcomes of this study indicated that the maximum volume of emitted gas is at the next year after the site closure (2021). It was estimated that total volume of LFG, methane, carbon dioxide, and non-methane organic compounds were 2.257 × 10+08, 1.354 × 10+08, 9.026 × 10+07, and 5.416 × 10+05 m3/year, respectively.
Dry tubers of
Pinellia ternata
(Thunb.) Breit are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Commonly known as “banxia” in China, the tubers contain valuable compounds, including alkaloids and ...polysaccharides that are widely used in pharmaceuticals. The quantity and quality of these important compounds are affected by whether
P. ternata
is grown as a sole crop or as an intercrop, and
P. ternata
cultivation has become challenging in recent years. By intercropping
P. ternata
, its maximum yield, as well as large numbers of chemical components, can be realized. Here, a large data set derived from next-generation sequencing was used to compare changes in the bacterial communities in rhizosphere soils of
P. ternata
and maize grown as sole crops and as intercrops. The overall microbial population in the rhizosphere of intercropped
P. ternata
was significantly larger than that of sole-cropped
P. ternata
, whereas the numbers of distinct microbial genera, ranging from 552 to 559 among treatments, were not significantly different between the two rhizospheres. The relative abundances of the genera differed. Specifically, the numbers of
Acidobacteria
and
Anaerolineaceae
species were significantly greater, and those of
Bacillus
were significantly lower, in the intercropped
P. ternata
rhizosphere than in the sole-cropped rhizosphere.
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