Neutrophil NETosis is an important element of host defense as it catapults chromatin out of the cell to trap bacteria, which then are killed, e.g., by the chromatin’s histone component. Also, during ...sterile inflammation TNF-alpha and other mediators trigger NETosis, which elicits cytotoxic effects on host cells. The same mechanism should apply to other forms of regulated necrosis including pyroptosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, and cyclophilin D-mediated regulated necrosis. Beyond these toxic effects, extracellular histones also trigger thrombus formation and innate immunity by activating Toll-like receptors and the NLRP3 inflammasome. Thereby, extracellular histones contribute to the microvascular complications of sepsis, major trauma, small vessel vasculitis as well as acute liver, kidney, brain, and lung injury. Finally, histones prevent the degradation of extracellular DNA, which promotes autoimmunization, anti-nuclear antibody formation, and autoimmunity in susceptible individuals. Here, we review the current evidence on the pathogenic role of extracellular histones in disease and discuss how to target extracellular histones to improve disease outcomes.
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•The In2S3 thin films were deposited at various thicknesses using co-evaporation.•The stoichiometry of the films was confirmed by XPS and EDS analysis.•The MSM photodetector was ...fabricated using In2S3 films.•Photo sensitivity, responsivity and detectivity of photodetectors were reported.
In recent years, the photodetectors gained much attention due to their wide range of applications in industry, military, space and biological fields. In this work, the metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector was fabricated using In2S3 thin films with Al interdigitated electrodes. The In2S3 thin films were prepared by co-evaporation technique with various thicknesses in the range 130–700 nm at a constant substrate temperature of 350 °C. The structural, morphological, compositional, optical and electrical properties of In2S3 thin films were studied as a function of thickness. The energy band gap of films is found to be in the range 2.53–2.71 eV. I–V characteristics and photo response of photodetectors were recorded under UV and visible light illumination. The parameters of a photodetector such as photo sensitivity, responsivity and detectivity were calculated. The observed photo responsivity increases with increase of film thickness. The photo response of all photodetectors confirmed the stable and reproducible characteristics such as photo sensitivity, responsivity and detectivity.
Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, awareness, and practices of dental students regarding biomedical waste (BMW)management.Methods: A self-administered structured ...questionnaire consisting of 16 questions on knowledge, awareness, and practices about BMW managementwas distributed among 100 students randomly belonging to 3rd year, final year and intern students of Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha University,Chennai. The data extracted were tabulated, statistically analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and results obtained. The data were analyzed using ANOVAtest (all the results are calculated at 1% level of significance) and Post-hoc test.Results: Overall, 67% respondents were aware of the existing BMW management policy systems in India. 62% of students were aware about thecorrect color coding management system for hospital waste management that prevails in India. 86% of students knew about the dental wastecategories of materials used in dentistry. There was a statistically significant difference of knowledge levels among the 3rd year, final year students andthe interns. 100% practice discarding sharps in the puncture-proof containers. Only 27% of the respondents discarded the extracted tooth in a properway. Only 51% of them have attended previous training programs on dental waste management. There was also a statistically significant difference ofBMW disposal practices among the three groups.Conclusion: The majority of dental students in our study have good level of knowledge and awareness regarding BMW management in dental clinics.However, their practice toward BMW disposal was poor. Hence, the knowledge acquired must be put into practice. Intern students have the highestlevel of knowledge and practices toward dental waste disposal when compared to final year and 3rd year students. Hence, these findings imply thatproper training, continuing education programs, and short-term courses about BMW management, and infection control procedures are requiredto motivate the dental students and dental auxiliaries. The importance of training regarding BMW management must be emphasized as the lack ofproper and complete knowledge about BMW management impacts practices of appropriate waste disposal.
Botulinum toxin (BTX) is a lethal neurotoxin produced by Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium called Clostridium botulinum. It is the first toxin used fortherapeutic purposes since 1989. BTX treatment ...is relatively safe and efficacious, less invasive, conservative, and the effects are faster and reversible.The purpose of this article is to review the literature regarding the applications of BTX in the treatment of various orofacial disorders, their mechanismof action, contraindications, and complications. From the recently published literature, it is clear that the role of BTX as a therapeutic agent for severalconditions is expanding. With the training of BTX-A injection techniques and adequate knowledge about treatment protocols, general dentists cansafely administer BTX injections. The ability to use Botox as an adjuvant and primary mode of the treatment for various maxillofacial disorders offersexciting treatment options for dentists and patients in the future.
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•Cu2O and CuO thin films are deposited by reactive RF magnetron sputtering.•The films are deposited at different O2 partial pressures ranging from 5% to 50%.•The photocatalytic ...activity of sputtered thin films have been carried out.•Different organic dyes and antibiotic compound are used as pollutants.•Photo-degradation of ciprofloxacin by Cu2O and CuO are reported for the first time.
Nanostructured copper oxide thin films were deposited on soda lime glass substrates by reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering using pure Cu target. The effect of oxygen (O2) partial pressure (5–50%) on physical properties of deposited films were investigated. The XRD analysis indicates the cubic structure of Cu2O changes to monoclinic CuO as a function of increasing O2 pressure. The Raman spectroscopy results further confirmed the phase variations of Cu based oxide films. Morphological analysis showed that the deposited films are highly uniform with nano gravels and agglomerated nano flake like structures for Cu2O and CuO thin films respectively. The surface roughness of the films decreases from 2.05 to 1.07 nm by increasing O2 pressure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the binding energy variation in the oxidation state of the films. The optical band gap of deposited Cu2O is 2.12 eV, while that of CuO varies in the range of 1.79–1.82 eV. Hall effect measurement revealed that all the films exhibit p-type conductivity. The photocatalytic activity studies of as-deposited films have been carried out with different organic pollutants such as methylene blue, methyl orange and ciprofloxacin under solar irradiation. The Cu2O thin films exhibited higher degradation efficiency than CuO films under identical conditions. The mechanism of photocatalytic activity of copper oxide thin films is explained.
Cloud-fog computing is a wide range of service environments created to provide quick, flexible services to customers, and the phenomenal growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) has produced an immense ...amount of data on a daily basis. To complete tasks and meet service-level agreement (SLA) commitments, the provider assigns appropriate resources and employs scheduling techniques to efficiently manage the execution of received IoT tasks in fog or cloud systems. The effectiveness of cloud services is directly impacted by some other important criteria, such as energy usage and cost, which are not taken into account by many of the existing methodologies. To resolve the aforementioned problems, an effective scheduling algorithm is required to schedule the heterogeneous workload and enhance the quality of service (QoS). Therefore, a nature-inspired multi-objective task scheduling algorithm called the electric earthworm optimization algorithm (EEOA) is proposed in this paper for IoT requests in a cloud-fog framework. This method was created using the combination of the earthworm optimization algorithm (EOA) and the electric fish optimization algorithm (EFO) to improve EFO's potential to be exploited while looking for the best solution to the problem at hand. Concerning execution time, cost, makespan, and energy consumption, the suggested scheduling technique's performance was assessed using significant instances of real-world workloads such as CEA-CURIE and HPC2N. Based on simulation results, our proposed approach improves efficiency by 89%, energy consumption by 94%, and total cost by 87% over existing algorithms for the scenarios considered using different benchmarks. Detailed simulations demonstrate that the suggested approach provides a superior scheduling scheme with better results than the existing scheduling techniques.
The research gap in this problem lies in the limited understanding of how corrosion parameters, such as reinforcement composition, exposure time, and concentration of the corrosive agent, affect the ...fracture toughness of AA6061-SiC composites. Investigating these factors can provide valuable insights into the corrosion behaviour of AA6061-SiC composites and help optimise their mechanical properties for specific applications in harsh environments. The study aimed to optimise the parameters and find the best combination of composition, normality, and exposure time that improves fracture toughness. The study's results showed that normality (37%), and exposure time (47%) significantly affected the material's fracture toughness. Fracture toughness tests showed Case 1 had higher fracture toughness (18.35 MPa√m) due to lower normality and shorter exposure time, indicating a less aggressive corrosive environment.
In contrast, Case 3 had lower fracture toughness (14.86 MPa√m) due to higher normality and longer exposure time, suggesting increased corrosion severity. In particular, increasing the exposure time and concentration of the corrosive agent decreased the fracture toughness. The composite was exposed to a 3.5% NaCl solution, which caused severe damage and formed a protective oxide layer. However, pitting corrosion occurs and causes decreasing in fracture toughness.
•Study explores impact of corrosion factors on fracture toughness of AA6061-SiC.•The fracture toughness of the composites is determined using the compact tension test.•Study found normality and exposure time affect the fracture toughness of composite.•Corrosion weakens bonds, stressing integrity's vital role in composite protection.•Loose products aid corrosive ion diffusion, causing cracks, reducing toughness.
Kidney organoids have potential uses in disease modelling, drug screening and regenerative medicine. However, novel cost-effective techniques are needed to enable scaled-up production of kidney cell ...types
We describe here a modified suspension culture method for the generation of kidney micro-organoids from human pluripotent stem cells. Optimisation of differentiation conditions allowed the formation of micro-organoids, each containing six to ten nephrons that were surrounded by endothelial and stromal populations. Single cell transcriptional profiling confirmed the presence and transcriptional equivalence of all anticipated renal cell types consistent with a previous organoid culture method. This suspension culture micro-organoid methodology resulted in a three- to fourfold increase in final cell yield compared with static culture, thereby representing an economical approach to the production of kidney cells for various biological applications.
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•Thioridazine (TDZ) induces ROS generation leading to ER stress mediated apoptosis.•ROS inhibitor NAC and overexpression of Bcl-2 inhibit TDZ induced apoptosis.•Autophagy acts as a ...survival factor in TDZ mediated apoptosis.•TDZ effectively induces Bax-Bak independent apoptosis by ROS generation.
A dopamine receptor antagonist, Thioridazine (TDZ) is known for its cytotoxic activity against various cancers and its role in combinational chemotherapy is being actively investigated. Several molecular targets of TDZ have been studied to delineate its anticancer activities, with contrasting findings in different cancer types. Moreover, the underlying mechanism of cell death from TDZ treatment is not well defined. In the current study, we studied TDZ mediated cell death mechanism employing cervical cancer cells. TDZ treatment induced nuclear condensation, mitochondrial membrane potential loss, mitochondrial cytochrome c release, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3 substantiating mitochondrial pathways of apoptosis in cells. TDZ induced ROS generation and up-regulation of ER stress linked proteins, such as CHOP, BiP etc. ER stress and apoptosis caused by TDZ were prevented by ROS inhibitor N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) and protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide. In TDZ mediated cytocidal cellular process, autophagy acted as a cell survival factor as the inhibition of autophagy by 3-Methyladenine resulted in increased cell death. TDZ induced apoptosis was associated with decreased Bcl-2 expression and the overexpression of Bcl-2 resulted in inhibition of apoptosis. Studies in Bax-Bak knock-out cell model indicated that TDZ trigger both the Bax-Bak dependent and independent apoptosis through ROS. In the presence of Bax and Bak, cells are more sensitised to death than in the absence of these proteins. Both Bax-Bak dependent and independent apoptosis were significantly inhibited by ROS inhibitor NAC. Conclusively, TDZ induced Bax-Bak dependent and independent apoptosis by enhancing ROS production followed by ER stress.
Cu2SnS3 (CTS) is a p-type direct band gap ternary compound semiconductor. Its constituent elements are non-toxic, abundant in earth crust and low cost. We report the deposition of Cu2SnS3 thin films ...on soda-lime glass substrate by co-evaporation technique at different substrate temperatures. The effect of substrate temperature on the growth of CTS thin films has been investigated. X-ray diffraction study confirms the formation of tetragonal phase of Cu2SnS3. The Raman analysis confirms the ternary/binary phases of the CTS thin films. The surface morphology of the film is examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) has been used for analyzing the film composition. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows that Cu, Sn and S are in the oxidation states of +1, +4 and −2 respectively. The optical band gap of CTS thin films is 1.23eV and the absorption coefficient is the order of 105cm−1. Hall measurements confirm the p-type nature of the as-prepared CTS films. The carrier concentration, resistivity and mobility are 2.81×1021cm−3, 1.31×10−3Ωcm and 1.70cm2V−1S−1 respectively.
•Co-evaporation technique was used to prepare CTS thin films on glass substrates.•XRD and Raman spectroscopy studies confirm the phase of CTS thin films.•EDX and XPS studies confirm the stoichiometric composition of the CTS thin films.•Hall measurement studies showed that films are p-type and highly conducting.•From optical studies CTS thin films are suitable for photovoltaic applications.
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