In view of the environmental problems generated by the large-scale production of fly ash, increasing attention is now being paid to the recycling of fly ash as a good source of nutrients. To reduce ...the cost of fly ash disposal and best utilization, it aimed to convert the fly ash into valuable vermicompost. Stated throughout the experiment, we opted for a soil sample and fly ash and pressed with different concentrations (control, 20%, 50%, 80% and 100%). Subsequently, all the mixtures were vermicomposted for 60 days by adding 100 Earthworms (Eisenia foetida) in each pile. The X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy measured the composition of the metal in fly ash as well as the nutritional content in the soil. This is followed by examining the morphological characteristics and cytogenetic study of Ricinus communis L. The present study indicated that E. foetida mitigates the toxicity of fly ash and is hence used as valuable vermicompost.
Cardiomyocytes (CMs) differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are increasingly being used for cardiovascular research, including disease modeling, and hold promise for clinical ...applications. Current cardiac differentiation protocols exhibit variable success across different PSC lines and are primarily based on the application of growth factors. However, extracellular matrix is also fundamentally involved in cardiac development from the earliest morphogenetic events, such as gastrulation.
We sought to develop a more effective protocol for cardiac differentiation of human PSCs by using extracellular matrix in combination with growth factors known to promote cardiogenesis.
PSCs were cultured as monolayers on Matrigel, an extracellular matrix preparation, and subsequently overlayed with Matrigel. The matrix sandwich promoted an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition as in gastrulation with the generation of N-cadherin-positive mesenchymal cells. Combining the matrix sandwich with sequential application of growth factors (Activin A, bone morphogenetic protein 4, and basic fibroblast growth factor) generated CMs with high purity (up to 98%) and yield (up to 11 CMs/input PSC) from multiple PSC lines. The resulting CMs progressively matured over 30 days in culture based on myofilament expression pattern and mitotic activity. Action potentials typical of embryonic nodal, atrial, and ventricular CMs were observed, and monolayers of electrically coupled CMs modeled cardiac tissue and basic arrhythmia mechanisms.
Dynamic extracellular matrix application promoted epithelial-mesenchymal transition of human PSCs and complemented growth factor signaling to enable robust cardiac differentiation.
We report, the effect of heat treatments slow cooling, rapid thermal cooling (quenching) and microwave-assisted heating, on structural, microstructural and J – E characteristics of CaCu3Ti4O12 ...polycrystalline ceramic. Rietveld refinement of X-ray data confirms the emergence of the mono-phasic cubic perovskite structure, diffraction line broadening and change in the relative intensity of diffraction peaks while scanning electron microscopy revealed completely different grain morphology. The observed modifications have been discussed in detail. The strong nonlinear J – E characteristics over the wide temperature range (300–823 K) indicated the existence of a Schottky-type electrostatic potential barrier at the grain boundaries. The parameters, nonlinear coefficient, threshold electric field, potential barrier height suggest suitability of the materials for low voltage varistor applications.
•Heating and cooling processes affect structural, microstructural properties of CCTO.•Schottky barrier at the grain boundaries leads to nonlinear J-E characteristics.•Electric parameters can be tailored by heat treatment employed.•The samples investigated found suitable for low voltage varistor applications.
The present study reports the higher yields of bacterial cellulose (BC) from Pseudomonas sp. BC6 isolated from the sugarcane rhizosphere. Various types of samples were screened for the isolation of ...potent BC producing bacteria. Initially six isolates showed the formation of a pellicle in Hestrin-Schramm Broth (HSB); however, one isolate identified as Pseudomonas sp. BC6 produced thick pellicles (more BC) under static conditions in the HSB and formed mucoid colonies on Hestrin-Schramm Agar (HSA). Following the staining with calcofluor, these colonies reflected intense fluorescence under UV light. The isolate yielded more BC in raw carbon (molasses) based HSB (9.3 gL−1) compared to pure carbon (glucose) source (6.9 gL−1). Cellulose membrane made of BC and conjugated with silver (Ag) nanoparticles showed the potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacterial pathogens. The ability of the isolate to produce BC from renewable sources offers the best, eco-friendly, and sustainable alternative to cellulose of plant origin.
CO oxidation on Ru(0001), Rh(111), Pd(111), Os(0001), Ir(111), Pt(111), and their corresponding metal oxides is studied using density functional theory. It is found that (i) the reactivity of metal ...oxide is generally higher than that of the corresponding metal, and (ii) on both metals and metal oxides, the higher the chemisorption energy is in the initial state, the larger the reaction barrier. The barriers are further analyzed by decomposing them into electronic and geometric effects, and the higher reactivity of metal oxides is attributed mainly to the surface geometric effect. Moreover, the electronic effect on both metals and metal oxides follows the same pattern: the shorter the OC−O bond distance in the TS, the higher the barrier.
On ADITYA-U tokamak, a spectroscopic diagnostic has been developed to measure the radial profile of visible continuum radiation for determining the plasma effective charge, Zeff, to study the ...impurity transport and MHD driven instabilities. It consists of the collimating lenses, optical fibers, a multi-channel wavelength selection system, and photo multiplier tubes. The optical system allowing continuum radiation measurements around 536 nm (the wavelength selection system) consists of set of lenses, optical fibers and an interference filter with diameter of 5 cm and bandwidth of 3 nm. The spatial profile of radiation with a spatial resolution of ∼ 3 cm has been recorded from eight lines of sight viewing the plasma using an UHV compatible rectangular view port placed on the bottom port of the ADITYA-U tokamak. The centrally peaked spatial profile of visible continuum radiation has been recorded from the ADITYA-U tokamak plasmas. The chord averaged Zeff values estimated from the brightness measured along the central chord fall within 2.5 to 4.1 for the electron densities of 1.0 - 2.2 × 1019 m−3.
Positron annihilation spectroscopic studies have been performed to investigate the defect structural evolution in polycrystalline CaCu3-xTi4-xFe2xO12 (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7) cubic perovskite ...samples. The positron lifetimes, relative intensities and Doppler-broadened annihilation lineshape parameters all indicate about the annulment of crystalline vacancies from the structure and attending porous ceramic structure at higher concentration of substitution. The compositional dependence of the intensity of the defect specific positron lifetime component clearly suggests that, in the initial stages of substitution, positron annihilates in vacancy-type defects. But, for higher concentrations of Fe3+, the materials are devoid of such defects and positron trapping takes place within the pores. The results of coincidence Doppler broadening spectroscopy measurements support such transformation in which the positron trapping sites are relocated to the ceramic pores leading to the modification of the material properties.
Approximately 20% of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 experienced long-term health effects, as defined PCC. However, it is unknown if there are any early biomarkers associated with PCC or whether ...early intervention treatments may decrease the risk of PCC. In a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial, this study demonstrates that among outpatients with SARS-CoV-2, increased IL-6 at time of infection is associated with increased odds of PCC. In addition, among individuals treated early, within 5 days of symptom onset, with COVID-19 convalescent plasma, there was a trend for decreased odds of PCC after adjusting for other demographic and clinical characteristics. Future treatment studies should be considered to evaluate the effect of early treatment and anti-IL-6 therapies on PCC development.
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