The benefits of exercise are irrefutable. Individuals engaging in regular exercise have a favourable cardiovascular risk profile for coronary artery disease and reduce their risk of myocardial ...infarction by 50%. Exercise promotes longevity of life, reduces the risk of some malignancies, retards the onset of dementia, and is as considered an antidepressant. Most of these benefits are attributable to moderate exercise, whereas athletes perform way beyond the recommended levels of physical activity and constantly push back the frontiers of human endurance. The cardiovascular adaptation for generating a large and sustained increase in cardiac output during prolonged exercise includes a 10-20% increase in cardiac dimensions. In rare instances, these physiological increases in cardiac size overlap with morphologically mild expressions of the primary cardiomyopathies and resolving the diagnostic dilemma can be challenging. Intense exercise may infrequently trigger arrhythmogenic sudden cardiac death in an athlete harbouring asymptomatic cardiac disease. In parallel with the extraordinary athletic milieu of physical performances previously considered unachievable, there is emerging data indicating that long-standing vigorous exercise may be associated with adverse electrical and structural remodelling in otherwise normal hearts. Finally, in the current era of celebrity athletes and lucrative sport contracts, several athletes have succumbed to using performance enhancing agents for success which are detrimental to cardiac health. This article discusses the issues abovementioned, which can be broadly classified as the good, bad, and ugly aspects of sports cardiology.
The main aim of present study was to prepare chitosan, chitosan-saponin and Cu-chitosan nanoparticles to evaluate their in vitro antifungal activities. Various nanoparticles were prepared using ionic ...gelation method by interaction of chitosan, sodium tripolyphosphate, saponin and Cu ions. Their particle size, polydispersity index, zeta potential and structures were confirmed by DLS, FTIR, TEM and SEM. The antifungal properties of nanoparticles against phytopathogenic fungi namely Alternaria alternata, Macrophomina phaseolina and Rhizoctonia solani were investigated at various concentrations ranging from 0.001 to 0.1%. Among the various formulations of nanoparticles, Cu-chitosan nanoparticles were found most effective at 0.1% concentration and showed 89.5, 63.0 and 60.1% growth inhibition of A. alternata, M. phaseolina and R. solani, respectively in in vitro model. At the same concentration, Cu-chitosan nanoparticles also showed maximum of 87.4% inhibition rate of spore germination of A. alternata. Chitosan nanoparticles showed the maximum growth inhibitory effects (87.6%) on in vitro mycelial growth of M. phaseolina at 0.1% concentration. From our study it is evident that chitosan based nanoparticles particularly chitosan and Cu-chitosan nanoparticles have tremendous potential for further field screening towards crop protection.
There has been considerable interest in the development of novel compounds with anticonvulsant, antioxidant, hormone antagonist, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiplatelet, antimalarial, ...antimicrobial, antimycobacterial, antitumoral, vasodilator, antiviral and anti-trypanosomal activities. Hydrazones possessing an azometine -NHN=CH- proton constitute an important class of compounds for new drug development. Therefore, many researchers have synthesized these compounds as target structures and evaluated their biological activities. These observations have been guiding for the development of new hydrazide derivatives that possess varied biological activities.
The relationship between cellular redox imbalances leading to oxidative stress and metal toxicity in plants has been studied intensely over the past decades. This interdependency was often considered ...to reflect a rather indirect metal effect of cellular disregulation and progressive secondary damage development. By contrast, recent experiments revealed a clear relationship between metal stress and redox homeostasis and antioxidant capacity. Analysis of plants expressing targeted modifications of components of the antioxidant system, the comparison of closely related plant species with different degrees of toxic metal sensitivity and effector studies with, for instance, salicylic acid have established a link between the degree of plant tolerance to metals and the level of antioxidants.
Natural organic matter (NOM) in water samples from a drinking water treatment train was characterized using fluorescence excitation emission matrices (F-EEMs) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). ...A seven component PARAFAC model was developed and validated using 147 F-EEMs of water samples from two full-scale water treatment plants. It was found that the fluorescent components have spectral features similar to those previously extracted from F-EEMs of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from diverse aquatic environments. Five of these components are humic-like with a terrestrial, anthropogenic or marine origin, while two are protein-like with fluorescence spectra similar to those of tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like fluorophores. A correlation analysis was carried out for samples of one treatment plant between the maximum fluorescence intensities (Fmax) of the seven PARAFAC components and NOM fractions (humics, building blocks, neutrals, biopolymers and low molecular weight acids) of the same sample obtained using liquid chromatography with organic carbon detection (LC-OCD). There were significant correlations (p < 0.01) between sample DOC concentration, UVA254, and Fmax for the seven PARAFAC components and DOC concentrations of the LC-OCD fractions. Three of the humic-like components showed slightly better predictions of DOC and humic fraction concentrations than UVA254. Tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like components correlated positively with the biopolymer fraction. These results demonstrate that fluorescent components extracted from F-EEMs using PARAFAC could be related to previously defined NOM fractions and that they could provide an alternative tool for evaluating the removal of NOM fractions of interest during water treatment.
Cu–chitosan nanoparticles were synthesized and evaluated for their growth promotory and antifungal efficacy in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill). Physico-chemical characterization of the developed ...Cu–chitosan nanoparticles was carried out by DLS, FTIR, TEM, SEM-EDS and AAS. The study highlighted the stability and porous nature of Cu–chitosan nanoparticles. Laboratory synthesized nanoparticles showed substantial growth promotory effect on tomato seed germination, seedling length, fresh and dry weight at 0.08, 0.10 and 0.12% level. At 0.12% concentration these nanoparticles caused 70.5 and 73.5% inhibition of mycelia growth and 61.5 and 83.0% inhibition of spore germination in Alternaria solani and Fusarium oxysporum, respectively, in an in vitro model. In pot experiments, 0.12% concentration of Cu–chitosan nanoparticles was found most effective in percentage efficacy of disease control (PEDC) in tomato plants with the values of 87.7% in early blight and 61.1% in Fusarium wilt. The overall results confirm the significant growth promotory as well as antifungal capabilities of Cu–chitosan nanoparticles. Our model demonstrated the synthesis of Cu–chitosan nanoparticles and open up the possibility to use against fungal disease at field level. Further, developed porous nanomaterials could be exploited for delivery of agrochemicals.
During the last era in India, the use of chemical fertilizer has increased tremendously. The excessive use of these chemicals leads to the degradation of soil quality, health, as well as nutritional ...status. These are also causing a degradation of human health. This experiment was conducted during Mrig Bahar (July to December) during two consecutive years (2019-2020)in a randomized block design with three replications in which six-year-old 42 pomegranate plants were tested with 14 treatments of different organic manures. Findings showed that in the various treatments, the organic combination T13-Jeevamrut 16.08 L plant-1 + Vermicompost 24.79 kg plant-1 had a significant effect on the nutritional status (available nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium) and microbial population (fungi, bacterial, and actinomycetes count). In addition, T13-Jeevamrut 16.08 L plant-1 + Vermicompost 24.79 kg plant-1 found a significant effect on fruit yield characteristics like fruit plant-1 (122.00), fruit yield (17.38 kg plant-1), fruit weight (192.50 g) and fruit quality characteristics such as fruit juice percent (52.92%), and total sugar (11.92%).
Aim: This article aimed to present the salient features of the in-house developed Java program for the determination of inflection point and dosimetric parameters of flattening filter-free (FFF) ...photon beam. Reference levels for the dosimetric parameters of the FFF photon beams were also presented. Materials and Methods: Beam profiles of 6 MV FFF and 10 MV FFF photon beams for a collimator setting of 20 cm × 20 cm measured at 10 cm depth in an isocentric setup acquired from various institutions were analyzed using an in-house developed Java program and manual method. The values of reference dose value (RDV), field size, penumbra, and degree of un-flatness (defined as the lateral separation between 90% X90%, 75% X75%, and 60% X60% dose points on the profile) were calculated and compared. The reference values of field size, penumbra, and degree of un-flatness were also determined for Varian and Elekta medical electron linear accelerators (LINACs). Results: The maximum differences for RDV determined using the Java method and manual method are 2.4% and 2.7% for 6 and 10 MV FFF photon beams, respectively. The maximum difference between the values of field size, penumbra, and degree of un-flatness determined using Java and manual methods is within 1.3 mm. The reference values of field size and penumbra for Varian LINACs are 19.94 ± 0.10 cm and 0.83 ± 0.08 cm (6 MV FFF) and 19.95 ± 0.10 cm and 0.83 ± 0.08 cm (10 MV FFF). Similarly, the reference values of field size and penumbra for Elekta LINACs are 20.02 ± 0.09 cm and 0.94 ± 0.12 cm (6 MV FFF) and 20.03 ± 0.11 cm and 0.97 ± 0.16 cm (10 MV FFF). Conclusions: A software program was developed in Java for analyzing the beam profiles of FFF photon beams. The results of Java-derived values of dosimetric parameters of FFF photon beams were found in good agreement with the values determined using the manual method. The reference values of these parameters were also derived and quoted using a large cohort of the data.
Borophene, the lightest among all Xenes, possesses extreme electronic mobility along with high carrier density and high Young's modulus. To accomplish device‐quality borophene, novel approaches of ...realization of monolayers need to be urgently explored. In this work, micromechanical exfoliation is discovered to result in mono‐ and few‐layered borophene of device quality. Borophene sheets are successfully fabricated down to monolayer thickness. Distinct crystallographic phases of borophene viz. XRD study reveals crystallographic phase transition from rhombohedral to several other eigen phases of borophene. The role of the destination substrates is held crucial in determining the final phase of the transferred sheet. The exfoliation energy is calculated by density functional theory. Molecular dynamics simulations are used to simulate the exfoliation process. Heterolayers of borophene, with black phosphorene (BP) or with molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) atomic sheets, are found to result in photoexcited coupling quantum states. Gold‐coated borophene bestows promising anchoring capability for surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Successful demonstration of the electronic behavior of micromechanically exfoliated borophene and excitonic behavior of borophene‐based heterolayers will guide future generation devices not only in electronics and excitonics, but also in thermal management, electronic packaging, hydrogen storage, hybrid energy storage, and clean energy solutions.
Micromechanical exfoliation of borophene and transfer to arbitrary substrates are experimentally demonstrated, with molecular dynamics simulation providing further validation. While high‐resolution electron imaging provides an atomistic glimpse of the crystallographic phases of borophene, Raman and XPS spectral data establish its chemical phase purity. When heterolayered with gold, borophene exhibits SERS‐based molecular sensing. Borophene‐based heterolayered excitonic devices are thus demonstrated.
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