This study analyses the role of green growth in promoting a sustainable environment. In literature, the empirical and theoretical examination on the role of green growth in carbon dioxide (CO2) ...emissions is missing, especially in combination with other factors, i.e., human capital index, environment-related taxes and development of environment-related technologies. This study investigates the role of environmentally adjusted multifactor productivity growth (i.e. green growth) on CO2 emissions for G7 countries from 1991 to 2017. The study utilizes second generation panel data method(s), i.e. Cross-Sectionally Augmented Auto-regressive Distributive lag (CS-ARDL) model. The outcomes of theoretical and empirical findings indicate that both linear and non-linear term for green growth reduces CO2 emissions. Also, environmental tax, human capital and renewable energy use are found to decrease CO2 emissions. The impact of GDP growth both in short-run and long-run is environment depletion. However, our result supports the theoretical notion that green growth sustains environment quality. We obtained consistent results from panel causality test. Our results may further strengthen the belief of policymakers in developed countries on the promotion of green growth.
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•We analyzed the effect of green growth and environmental tax on CO2 emissions.•We applied advanced panel data techniques.•Linear and non-linear term of green growth reduce CO2 emissions.•Environmental tax, renewable energy and human capital improve the environment.
Antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) specifies effective antibiotic dosage and formulates a profile of empirical therapy for the proper management of an individual patient's health against deadly ...infections. Therefore, rapid diagnostic plays a pivotal role in the treatment of bacterial infection. In this article, the authors review the socio-economic burden and emergence of antibiotic resistance. An overview of the phenotypic, genotypic, and emerging techniques for AST has been provided and discussed, highlighting the advantages and limitations of each. The historical perspective on conventional methods that have paved the way for modern AST like disk diffusion, Epsilometer test (Etest), and microdilution, is presented. Several emerging methods, such as microfluidic-based optical and electrochemical AST have been critically evaluated. Finally, the challenges related with AST and its outlook in the future are presented.
The current study reported the asymmetry effect of environmental regulations in the presence of controlled variables such as research and development spending, urban population growth, energy ...consumption, and financial development on carbon emissions in case of China for the period of 1991-2015. Econometric techniques such as ADF and PP is used to check the stationarity of the data while asymmetry or non-linear ARDL is used to check the asymmetry. The results suggest symmetric or linear relationship between environmental regulations and carbon emissions. Linear ARDL is applied to check long-run and short-run relationship amongst the variables. The results verified that there exists negative and statistically significant relationship exists both in short and long-run between environmental regulation and carbon emissions. Similarly, research and development and financial development also improve carbon emissions. However, urban population growth and energy consumption increase carbon emissions. The study further suggests that sustainable, green urbanization, green credit concept to promote sustainable financial development, innovation in technology through research and development and current environmental regulation should be strengthening to achieve China 2030 target of reducing carbon emissions.
The current study looks at the causes of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) emissions by considering the implications of financial development in the presence of economic growth and use of energy in the case of ...China over the period 1980-2014. This study first uses the nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (NARDL) model to capture the asymmetry that arises from positive or negative components of financial development following use of the ARDL technique. The findings confirm a symmetrical relationship of both positive and negative effects of financial development on carbon emissions in the model, which allows the use of the ARDL approach. Results of the ARDL bound test confirm a long-term and positive relationship among CO
2
emissions, financial development, economic growth and energy use. Further, the error correction model (ECM) confirms a short-run relationship among CO
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emissions, financial development, economic growth and energy use. Moreover, a dynamic multiplier graph indicates that the positive component of financial development has more influence on carbon emissions in the long run as compared to negative financial development shocks. The findings suggest that there is no asymmetry between CO
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emissions and financial development, lending support to the symmetric impact of both positive and negative components of financial development.
Amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) is a key predictor for preclinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular diseases. In this work, we propose a gold nanoparticle (AuNPs)-Aβ-nickel (Ni)-horseradish ...peroxidase (HRP) based colorimetric assay for the detection of Aβ1-40. The consecutive binding of Aβ1-40 to AuNPs and metal ions is designed and examined for Aβ-specific aggregation of AuNPs and the generation of quantitative colorimetric signals. The affinity of Aβ1-40 towards various metal ions was studied first, and two metal ions, Cu and Ni, were specifically tested with Metal Ion-Binding Site Prediction (MIB) and High-resolution Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (HR-ESI-MS). Subsequently, the binding of Aβ1-40 and AuNPs was examined, and the binding between Aβ-AuNPs and Ni-HRP was finally analyzed by UV–Vis and nano-zetasizer. Based on the characterized dual binding of Aβ1-40, a colorimetric sandwich assay was developed and the analytical performance of the developed assay has been evaluated with standard solutions and human serum samples. Good linearity within a range from 0 nM to 10 nM was found. The detection limits of 0.22 nM in the standard sample and 0.23 nM in the human serum sample have been demonstrated. The newly developed colorimetric sandwich assay is a short, simple, antibody-free assay and achieves high sensitivity with only 100 μL Aβ1-40 samples. The assay has immense potential for the detection of Aβ1-40 in biological or biomedical diagnosis.
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•A novel Gold nanoparticle-peptide-Ni-HRP sandwich assay was designed for sensitive colorimetric detection of β-Amyloid.•Metal binding affinity analysis was performed by Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry and Metal Ion-Binding Site Prediction and Docking Server.•Successfully validated the assay in standard and human serum samples with the LOD of 0.22 nM/L and 0.23 nM/L, respectively.
The emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a global threat to human health. An accurate antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) before initiating the treatment is paramount in the ...treatment and bacterial resistance control. However, the current AST methods either are complex, use chemical and biological labels, lack multiplexing, are expensive, or are too slow to be used for routine screening. The primary objective of the current study is to develop an automated electrochemical microfluidic chip (EMC) for simple and rapid AST. The microfluidic channels and gold microelectrodes were designed for the automation of antibiotic mixing and distribution in multiple test chambers and for electrical signal measurements. The designed chip was tested for AST with E. coli samples, and the results were compared with conventional broth microdilution. The presented EMC provided rapid bacterial count and AST in 170 and 150 min, respectively, while the conventional broth microdilution evaluates in 450 and 240 min, respectively. The rapid AST capability of the EMC was further demonstrated with the artificial urine samples, and the results were obtained in 270 min, which was 90 min faster than the broth microdilution method. Additionally, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was evaluated on the EMC and compared with the results from an AlamarBlue assay. The experimental results indicate the sensitivity of the chip, minimum loss of antibiotics, and eventually, reduction in the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Cumulatively, we have developed an automated, label-free, economical, rapid, robust, and user-friendly EMC for the evaluation of AST in urine samples.
Bacteria are often found in polymicrobial communities. Some of them are beneficial while others might be harmful or even lethal. The use of non-specific antimicrobial is widespread as there is a lack ...of specific antimicrobials. Contact with the gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacterium is not only spreading the diseases but also initiating the massive loss in health-cost. Therefore, developing novel materials with antibacterial and antibiofilm is of great interest. In the present study, the metal–organic framework, NH2-MIL-125 has been synthesized, and primarily investigated for the antibacterial and antibiofilm activity. The synthesized NH2-MIL-125 is well characterized by PXRD, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm and SEM. The results demonstrate the formation of uniformly crystalline, smooth-surfaced, square plate-shaped nanostructure. Further, the antimicrobial efficiency of NH2-MIL-125 was evaluated by microdilution followed by AlamarBlue and colony counting methods for S. aureus and Escherichia coli (E. coli, gram-negative). NH2-MIL-125 has shown specific antibacterial against S. aureus, whereas no activity was observed against E. coli. Similarly, the antibiofilm activity of NH2-MIL-125 evaluated by crystal violet staining has shown activity against S. aureus only. Moreover, NH2-MIL-125 has shown no cytotoxicity on HepG2 cells. Altogether, these results suggest that NH2-MIL-125 is a promising MOF for the design of antibacterial and antibiofilm agent against S. aureus.
Climatic change induced heat stress causes a formidable challenge for maintaining optimum productivity in goats. The SOD1 gene (superoxide dismutase 1) is one of the genes that regulates the heat ...tolerance capacity. This study aimed to in silico characterize this gene. Sequence based phylogenetic tree analysis showed the caprine SOD1 gene has close evolutional relationship with that of sheep. STRING database reveals its interaction with SOD2 (Superoxide dismutase Mn, mitochondrial), ATOX1 (Copper transport protein), RAC1 (Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1), GPX2 (Glutathione peroxidase 2), GPX4 (Glutathione peroxidase 4), GPX5, GPX6, CAT (Catalase). The KEGG pathway maps gave interaction with eNOS, iNOS, VEGF and MAPK in which gene transcription modulates response to heat stress. The three dimensional protein structure was predicted using Modeller, Phyre 2, and Swiss Model. Structure validation was done observing the Ramachandran Plot and Hydrophobicity Plot in Discovery Studio considering amino acid residues in favoured region.
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•The genetic deletion of the DAPK1 as well as pharmacological inhibition of DAPK1 showed reduced brain infarct volume and neurological deficit.•DAPK1 inhibition (DI) reduces ...post-stroke neuronal death by inhibiting BAX/BCL2 and LC3/Beclin1 mediated apoptosis and autophagy, respectively.•Histological analysis displayed a reduction in nuclear condensation, neuronal dissociation, and degraded cytoplasm in the DI group.•The DI treatment showed enhanced dendrite spine density and neurite outgrowth, upregulated neural proliferation marker proteins like brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and reduced structural abnormalities of the cortical pyramidal neurons.•DAPK1 drives cell death, its activation exacerbates functional recovery after cerebral ischemia and shows that oxazolone-based DI could be an excellent candidate for stroke and ischemic injury intervention.
The role of death-associated protein kinase1 (DAPK1) in post-stroke functional recovery is controversial, as is its mechanism of action and any neural remodeling effect after ischemia. To assess the debatable role of DAPK1, we established the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) model in DAPK1 knockout mice and Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. We identified that the genetic deletion of the DAPK1 as well as pharmacological inhibition of DAPK1 showed reduced brain infarct volume and neurological deficit. We report that DAPK1 inhibition (DI) reduces post-stroke neuronal death by inhibiting BAX/BCL2 and LC3/Beclin1 mediated apoptosis and autophagy, respectively. Histological analysis displayed a reduction in nuclear condensation, neuronal dissociation, and degraded cytoplasm in the DI group. The DI treatment showed enhanced dendrite spine density and neurite outgrowth, upregulated neural proliferation marker proteins like brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and reduced structural abnormalities of the cortical pyramidal neurons. This research shows that DAPK1 drives cell death, its activation exacerbates functional recovery after cerebral ischemia and shows that oxazolone-based DI could be an excellent candidate for stroke and ischemic injury intervention.
This research investigates the heterogeneous dynamic impacts of rural-urban migration and industrial agglomeration on the environmental degradation across regional development levels of Chinese ...provinces. An aggregated data set of 31 provinces, along with three provincial-scale panels, are used from 2005 through 2018. The long-run parameter estimates are obtained employing dynamic common correlated effects mean group technique (DCCEMGT), while the heterogeneous Granger non-causality Dumitrescu-Hurlin test is employed for causal directions. The core results are as follows. Firstly, a unidirectional positive linkage is revealed from industrial agglomeration and rural-urban migration to energy utilization. These linkages showed heterogeneity across the development levels—the most substantial impacts are discovered in highly developed regions (eastern provinces), while the least substantial are found in low developed regions (western provinces). Secondly, the combined impacts of linear and non-linear parameters of both industrial agglomeration and rural-urban migration confirmed environmental Kuznets curves (EKCs) in models with the tertiary sector. However, in the model with the secondary sector, only EKC based on rural-urban migration is verified. Finally, rural-urban migration mitigated the environmental degradation more substantially in the model with tertiary sector-based industrial agglomeration. It suggests that rural to urban migration contributes less to the environmental emissions through the economy's service sector.
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