Diabetes mellitus is a life-threatening metabolic disease. At the moment, there is no effective treatment available to combat it. In this study, we aimed to develop berberine-loaded bilosomes ...(BER-BLS) to boost the oral bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of berberine, a natural antidiabetic medication. The BER-BLS was fabricated using a thin-film hydration strategy and optimized using a central composite design (face-centered). The average vesicle size, entrapment efficiency, and surface charge of the optimized BER-BLS preparation were 196.5 nm, 89.7%, (−) 36.4 mV, respectively. In addition, it exhibited higher stability and better-sustained release of berberine than the berberine solution (BER-SOL). BER-BLS and BER-SOL were administered to streptozocin-induced diabetic rats. The optimized BER-BLS formulation had a significant hypoglycemic impact, with a maximum blood glucose decrease of 41%, whereas BER-SOL only reduced blood glucose by 19%. Furthermore, the pharmacological effect of oral BER-BLS and BER-SOL corresponded to 99.3% and 31.7%, respectively, when compared to subcutaneous insulin (1 IU). A pharmacokinetic analysis found a 6.4-fold rise in the relative bioavailability of berberine in BER-BLS when compared to BER-SOL at a dosage of 100 mg/kg body weight. Histopathological investigation revealed that BER-BLS is suitable for oral administration. Our data demonstrate that BLS is a potential nanocarrier for berberine administration, enhancing its oral bioavailability and antidiabetic activity.
The high demand for plastic and polymeric materials which keeps rising every year makes them important industries, for which sustainability is a crucial aspect to be taken into account. Therefore, it ...becomes a requirement to makes it a clean and eco-friendly industry. Cellulose creates an excellent opportunity to minimize the effect of non-degradable materials by using it as a filler for either a synthesis matrix or a natural starch matrix. It is the primary substance in the walls of plant cells, helping plants to remain stiff and upright, and can be found in plant sources, agriculture waste, animals, and bacterial pellicle. In this review, we discussed the recent research development and studies in the field of biocomposites that focused on the techniques of extracting micro- and nanocellulose, treatment and modification of cellulose, classification, and applications of cellulose. In addition, this review paper looked inward on how the reinforcement of micro- and nanocellulose can yield a material with improved performance. This article featured the performances, limitations, and possible areas of improvement to fit into the broader range of engineering applications.
Seasonally high nighttime temperatures (HNTs) along the United States Gulf Coast and in regions of similar climate, occurring during the critical stages of development, reduce rice (
Oryza sativa L.) ...yield and quality. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of HNT and preventive exogenous effectors (α-tocopherol, glycine betaine and salicylic acid) on growth, development, physiology and yield of rice plants. Plants were subjected to ambient nighttime temperature (ANT) (27
°C) or HNT (32
°C) through use of continuously controlled infrared heaters, starting from 2000
h until 0600
h. The HNT did not affect leaf photosynthetic rates; however, profound effects on chlorophyll content, leaf nitrogen content, percent pollen germination and spikelet fertility were observed. In addition, HNT hastened plant development rates, as indicated by the panicle emergence date. Plants grown under HNT showed a 90% decrease in yield compared to plants grown under ANT. Dry matter partitioning to the grains of cv. Cocodrie decreased under HNT mainly due to effects on pollen germination and spikelet fertility, but not photosynthesis. Our findings indicate that exogenous application of salicylic acid reduced the negative effects of HNT by 16%.
All the modern gadgets and space conditioning in buildings consume lots of energy. Energy consumption can be optimized using Composite Insulation External Walls (CIEW) built from mortar plaster and ...structural and insulation layers. This study aimed to improve the overall performance of CIEW by optimizing the structural and insulation layer thickness. The objective was to minimize the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) and maximize the Life Cycle Savings (LCS) of CIEW. The nonlinear Least Squares Estimation (LSE) optimization technique for optimizing LCC and LCS of CIEW was used in the study. The study considered three insulation materials—Extruded Polystyrene (XPS), Rock Wool (RW), and Glass Wool (GW)—across three heat sources, including Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB), Grate-Fired Boiler (GFB), and Air-Source Heat Pump (ASHP). The Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) methodology suggested by Huang using a traditional optimization technique was used as a basis for mathematical formulations and result comparison. The payback period of CIEW with optimal structural and insulation layer thickness was computed. The findings revealed that applying the LSE method enabled greater economic efficiency than the LCCA method, with an up to 9.12% increase in LCS value and an up to 7.41% decrease in LCC value. The research also revealed significant correlations between insulation and structural layer thicknesses and economic parameters.
•Intergenerational income persistence in rural India is lower than analogous evidence.•Between-groups coefficient captures the rate of income convergence between groups.•Pace of income convergence ...between SC/ST and other groups is very slow.
For developing countries, it is difficult to find income mobility studies that rely on datasets linking parents with their children. Most of the available evidence for developing countries, instead, relies on co-resident households and two-sample instrumental variables approach, and findings in the mobility literature suggest that these approaches could introduce bias in the IGE estimates. The current study rectifies this important omission for rural India, and develops strategies that will be useful for similar research in other developing countries. Using a panel dataset spanning 1994–2012, I find that the intergenerational income persistence for rural India is lower than analogous evidence from other developing countries (IGE: 0.30 se:0.03). However, the between-groups coefficient of 0.74, which is corroborated by repeated cross-sections from the National Sample Survey, indicates that India is progressing towards cross-caste equality, but at a disappointingly slow rate.
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Fluoroquinolones are considered one of the widely utilized antibiotics, specifically, with the recent development of newer generations such as moxifloxacin, delafloxacin and ...finafloxacin which possess a wider spectrum of activity and improved bioavailability. However, alarming increase in bacterial resistance reports worldwide incites medicinal chemists to employ guided-biologically-oriented-synthesis-strategies toward the modulation of quinolones derivatives activity. At present, quinolone scaffold diverse biological activities prompted the fortuitous discovery of novel antimicrobial and anticancer derivatives. Herein, the opponent arguments (2013–2015) regarding the structure activity relationships of fluoroquinolones’ antibacterial, anticancer, antifungal activities are inscribed.
Biocomposite materials are essential for environmental protection, as they have the ability of substituting synthetic plastic with natural materials. This work investigated how different plasticizers ...(Glycerol (G), Fructose (F), Sorbitol (S), and Urea (U)) affect the morphological, mechanical, thermal, and physical characteristics of films made of wheat starch at various concentrations (0%, 15%, 25%, and 35%). Plasticizers were added to improve the flexibility and homogeneity of the wheat starch-based bioplastic. Control film exhibited high tensile strength (38.7 MPa) with low elongation (1.9%). However, films plasticized with 35% sorbitol showed the highest elongation, which was 60.7% at break. At 35% of all plasticizers, fructose showed the highest tensile strength, with 7.6 MPa. The addition of different plasticizers shows improvement in water resistance; films plasticized with glycerol had the lowest water absorption at 35% fructose (187.4%) and also showed coherent surfaces. Glycerol, sorbitol, and urea films showed a higher mass loss compared to fructose films. Fructose showed the highest performance after the analysis of the results, with low water absorption, water content, and mass loss and with high mechanical performance at 35% of fructose. SEM images show that the addition of fructose and glycerol improves the surface homogenate, while sorbitol and urea have a less compact structure with large pores.
A new class of acoustic-wave resonator-based bandpass filters (BPFs) with continuously tunable fractional bandwidth (FBW) are presented. They are based on cascaded multi-resonant stages of ...hybridly-integrated surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonators with lumped element (LE) components. Each stage comprises one SAW resonator and one or more LE resonators that contribute to the overall transfer function to one pole and two transmission zeros (TZs). As such highly-selective quasi-elliptic transfer functions with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">{N} </tex-math></inline-formula> poles, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">2{N} </tex-math></inline-formula> TZs and enhanced FBW can be created for two series and N-2 parallel stages. It is shown that by reconfiguring the resonant frequency of the LE resonators, continuously-tunable FBWs can be obtained. The operating principles of the multi-stage concept are demonstrated through design examples of multi-stage prototypes. The concept has been validated at 916.6 MHz through a four-pole/eight-TZ BPF with tunable BW between 0.63-1.32 MHz (i.e., FBW <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">=\,\,0.57- 1.32k_{t}^{2} </tex-math></inline-formula>), minimum in-band insertion loss (IL) 3.9-2.3 dB <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">(Q_{eff}\,\,= </tex-math></inline-formula> 7700-6000) and out-of-band isolation > 27 dB.
In the current study, unexplored type IV halogen⋯halogen interaction was thoroughly elucidated, for the first time, and compared to the well-established types I−III interactions by means of the ...second-order Møller−Plesset (MP2) method. For this aim, the halobenzene⋯halobenzene homodimers (where halogen = Cl, Br, and I) were designed into four different types, parodying the considered interactions. From the energetic perspective, the preference of scouted homodimers was ascribed to type II interactions (i.e., highest binding energy), whereas the lowest binding energies were discerned in type III interactions. Generally, binding energies of the studied interactions were observed to decline with the decrease in the σ-hole size in the order, C6H5I⋯IC6H5 > C6H5Br⋯BrC6H5 > C6H5Cl⋯ClC6H5 homodimers and the reverse was noticed in the case of type IV interactions. Such peculiar observations were relevant to the ample contributions of negative-belt⋯negative-belt interactions within the C6H5Cl⋯ClC6H5 homodimer. Further, type IV torsional trans → cis interconversion of C6H5X⋯XC6H5 homodimers was investigated to quantify the π⋯π contributions into the total binding energies. Evidently, the energetic features illustrated the amelioration of the considered homodimers (i.e., more negative binding energy) along the prolonged scope of torsional trans → cis interconversion. In turn, these findings outlined the efficiency of the cis configuration over the trans analog. Generally, symmetry-adapted perturbation theory-based energy decomposition analysis (SAPT-EDA) demonstrated the predominance of all the scouted homodimers by the dispersion forces. The obtained results would be beneficial for the omnipresent studies relevant to the applications of halogen bonds in the fields of materials science and crystal engineering.
Development of novel derivatives to rein in and fight bacteria have never been more demanding, as microbial resistance strains are alarmingly increasing. A multitude of new fluoroquinolones ...derivatives with an improved spectrum of activity and/or enhanced pharmacokinetics parameters have been widely explored. Reporting novel antimicrobial agents entails comparing their potential activity to their parent drugs; hence, parent fluoroquinolones have been used in research as positive controls. Given that these fluoroquinolones possess variable activities according to their generation, it is necessary to include parent compounds and market available antibiotics of the same class when investigating antimicrobial activity. Herein, we provide a detailed guide on the in vitro biological activity of fluoroquinolones based on experimental results published in the last years. This work permits researchers to compare and analyze potential fluoroquinolones as positive control agents and to evaluate changes occurring in their activities. More importantly, the selection of fluoroquinolones as positive controls by medicinal chemists when investigating novel FQs analogs must be correlated to the laboratory pathogen inquest for reliable results.
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