Viruses are responsible for a variety of human pathogenesis. Owing to the enhancement of the world population, global travel, and rapid urbanization, and infectious outbreaks, a critical threat has ...been generated to public health, as preventive vaccines and antiviral therapy are not available. Herbal medicines and refined natural products have resources for the development of novel antiviral drugs. These natural agents have shed light on preventive vaccine development and antiviral therapies. This review intends to discuss the antiviral activities of plant extracts and some isolated plant natural products based on mainly preclinical (in vitro and in vivo) studies. Twenty medicinal herbs were selected for the discussion, and those are commonly recognized antiviral medicinal plants in Ayurveda (Zingiber officinale, Caesalpinia bonducella, Allium sativum, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Ferula assafoetida, Gymnema sylvestre, Gossypium herbaceum, Phyllanthus niruri, Trachyspermum ammi, Withania somnifera, Andrographis paniculata, Centella asiatica, Curcuma longa, Woodfordia fruticose, Phyllanthus emblica, Terminalia chebula, Tamarindus indica, Terminalia arjuna, Azadirachta indica, and Ficus religiosa). However, many viruses remain without successful immunization and only a few antiviral drugs have been approved for clinical use. Hence, the development of novel antiviral drugs is much significant and natural products are excellent sources for such drug developments. In this review, we summarize the antiviral actions of selected plant extracts and some isolated natural products of the medicinal herbs.
Microplastics (MPs) in different marine compartments are a global concern. This study investigated the abundance, distribution, and characteristics of microplastics from ten coral reef ecosystems in ...Sri Lanka, a non-quantified threat for some context. Microplastics were isolated and quantified in terms of abundance, shape, size, color, and polymer type with average abundances 546.7 ± 170.3 items kg−1, 9.8 ± 7.6 items m−3, and 46.3 ± 29.7 items kg−1 in corals, water, and sediments respectively. The most dominant microplastic type was blue, LDPE fibres. Acropora exhibited the highest amount. The significant differences in average microplastic abundances among corals suggest that they are capable of enriching microplastics depending on species-specific characteristics. Similar microplastic characteristics in corals and reef environment indicate that corals may have enriched microplastics from surface water and surface sediments. Microplastics being ubiquitous in selected reefs highlights the importance of coral reefs as a long-term microplastic sink in the ocean, contributing to the missing plastic phenomena.
•MP are ubiquitous in corals, surface water and surface sediments in coral reef ecosystems of Sri Lanka.•Corals possibly enrich MPs from the reef environment.•MP enriching capacity of corals may depend on species-specific characteristics.•Corals of genus Acropora pretended to accumulate the highest abundance of MPs.
We synthesised a polyaniline/mica (Mica-PANI) nanocomposite using naturally occurring muscovite mica by a top-down approach. The developed coating materials were characterised using a different ...technique to investigate their chemical and structural properties using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, the electrochemical properties of the coating materials were investigated by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). SEM images elucidate the composite's average particle diameter of the prepared nano-mica, approximately 80 nm. The existence of relevant functional groups and bonding in the prepared Mica-PANI composite material was confirmed by means of XPS and FTIR techniques. Moreover, the synthesised composite with 5% w/w shows high anticorrosion protection,
i.e.
84 μm per year, compared to competing materials, including commercial paint and individual raw materials (0.35 mm per year). The anti-corrosive effect occurs mainly due to two opposing effects: the formation of an Fe(OH)
3
passive layer on the steel surface by oxidation of surface iron atoms by the PANI and the barrier effect of mica NPs through inhibition of corrosive agents. Therefore, the eco-inspired composite could be an ideal cost-effective coating material to prevent the corrosion of mild steel surfaces.
We synthesised a polyaniline/mica (Mica-PANI) nanocomposite using naturally occurring muscovite mica by a top-down approach as an anticorrosive coating.
Leishmaniasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases. Studies show that the poor knowledge about epidemiological aspects of leishmaniasis within communities causes the collapse of existing disease ...control programs. Therefore, the present study focuses on a detailed survey of the existing awareness among the threatened population in the Medawachchiya Public Health Inspector's (PHI) Area in the Anuradhapura District, Sri Lanka, aiming to assist the health staff to organize community-based vector control programs effectively in the future. Assessment of the awareness of residents of two hundred and seventy households (n equivalent 270) from 10 Grama Niladhari Divisions (GNDs) was carried out by using a structured questionnaire. Among 143 females and 134 males, only 75.1% had knowledge about the disease, 5.8% (n equivalent 16) of the participants knew only about the vector, and 28.9% (n equivalent 80) knew about control methods. The study showed a considerable lack of awareness about the disease among the studied population. The study found that age and education levels had significant impacts on knowledge, attitudes, and practices. However, factors like gender, marital status, occupation, income, and expenses did not show significant correlations. The present study suggests huge scope for greater achievements in community-related vector control methods by implementing a continuous educational program.
In this paper, we describe the International Pulsar Timing Array second data release, which includes recent pulsar timing data obtained by three regional consortia: the European Pulsar Timing Array, ...the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves, and the
Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. We analyse and where possible combine high-precision timing data for 65 millisecond pulsars which are regularly observed by these groups. A basic noise analysis, including the processes which are both correlated and uncorrelated in time, provides noise models and timing ephemerides for the pulsars. We find that the timing precisions of pulsars are generally improved compared to the previous data release, mainly due to the addition of new data in the combination. The main purpose of this work is to create the most up-to-date IPTA data release. These data are publicly available for searches for low-frequency gravitational waves and other pulsar science.
The COVID-19 has brought significant transformation to organizations throughout the world in expediting the sudden transition to digital business operations for business continuity. Thus, businesses ...need to examine the expectations of Human Resource (HR) professionals to adapt to the unexpected changes aroused by the novel COVID-19 pandemic. The study aimed to compare HR professionals’ expectations from the workplace in Sri Lanka and foreign countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers utilized the qualitative research method and applied the thematic analysis in order to analyze the gathered data from 28 semi-structured interviews. According to the findings, HR professionals in Sri Lanka anticipate returning to work at office premises, and if this work transition continues in the future, they expect more incentives and strategies for work-life balance. In contrast, HR professionals in foreign countries anticipate a hybrid work culture with employee wellbeing sessions. Accordingly, the study implies that organizations should facilitate the expected requirements to continue work in the current and future crises. The HR policymakers will be able to carry out more precise planning activities in the future when developing policies related to managing HR functions in crises.
Phylogeographic relationships among global collections of the mosquito Aedes aegypti were evaluated using the mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase 1 (CO1) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 4 (ND4) genes ...including new sequences from Sri Lanka. Phylogeographic analysis estimated that Ae. aegypti arose as a species ~614 thousand years ago (kya) in the late Pleistocene. At 545 kya an "early" East African clade arose that continued to differentiate in East Africa, and eventually gave rise to three lineages one of which is distributed throughout all tropical and subtropical regions, a second that contains Southeast Asian/Sri Lankan mosquitoes and a third that contains mostly New World mosquitoes. West African collections were not represented in this early clade. The late clade continued to differentiate throughout Africa and gave rise to a lineage that spread globally. The most recent branches of the late clade are represented by South-East Asia and India/Pakistan collections. Analysis of migration rates suggests abundant gene flow between India/Pakistan and the rest of the world with the exception of Africa.
We have constructed a new time-scale, TT(IPTA16), based on observations of radio pulsars presented in the first data release from the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA). We used two analysis ...techniques with independent estimates of the noise models for the pulsar observations and different algorithms for obtaining the pulsar time-scale. The two analyses agree within the estimated uncertainties and both agree with TT(BIPM17), a post-corrected time-scale produced by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). We show that both methods could detect significant errors in TT(BIPM17) if they were present. We estimate the stability of the atomic clocks from which TT(BIPM17) is derived using observations of four rubidium fountain clocks at the US Naval Observatory. Comparing the power spectrum of TT(IPTA16) with that of these fountain clocks suggests that pulsar-based time-scales are unlikely to contribute to the stability of the best time-scales over the next decade, but they will remain a valuable independent check on atomic time-scales. We also find that the stability of the pulsar-based time-scale is likely to be limited by our knowledge of solar-system dynamics, and that errors in TT(BIPM17) will not be a limiting factor for the primary goal of the IPTA, which is to search for the signatures of nano-Hertz gravitational waves.
The complement system serves conventional role in the innate defense against common invading pathogens. Complement factor D (CfD) is vital to alternative complement pathway activation in cleaving ...complement factor B. This catalytic reaction forms the alternative C3 convertase that is crucial for complement-mediated pathogenesis. In this study, rock bream (Oplegnathus fasciatus) CfD (OfCfD) was characterized and OfCfD mRNA expression was investigated. OfCfD encodes 277 amino acids (aa) for a 30-kDa polypeptide. A domain analysis of the deduced OfCfD aa sequence showed a single serine protease trypsin superfamily domain, a serine active region, three active sites, and three substrate-binding sites. Pairwise sequence comparisons indicated that OfCfD has the highest identity (84.5%) with Oreochromis niloticus CfD. The phylogenetic tree revealed a common ancestral origin of CfD members, with fish CfD distinct from other vertebrate orthologs. The structural arrangement of the OfCfD gene (2451 bp) contained five exons interrupted by four introns. A spatial transcriptional analysis indicated that OfCfD transcripts constitutively expressed in all of the examined rock bream tissues, and that they were highest in the spleen and liver. In addition, OfCfD transcripts were immunologically upregulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (12 h p.i.), Streptococcus iniae (12 h p.i.), rock bream iridovirus (RBIV) (6–12 h p.i.), and poly I:C (6 h p.i.) in spleen tissue. OfCfD is a trypsin protease and its recombinant protein showed strong protease activity similar to that of trypsin, indicating its catalytic function in the alternative pathway. Together, our findings suggest that OfCfD might be involved in immune responses in rock bream.
•CfD homolog was identified from rock bream (OfCfD).•OfCfD gDNA sequence was consisted with five exons.•rOfCfD protein was revealed protease activity similar to trypsin protein.•Higher levels of OfCfD transcripts were detected in spleen, liver and kidney.•mRNA expression of OfCfD was modulated by bacterial and viral infection.
We report new results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Two towers, each consisting of six detectors, were operated for 74.5 live days, giving ...spectrum-weighted exposures of 34 (12) kg d for the Ge (Si) targets after cuts, averaged over recoil energies 10-100 keV for a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) mass of 60 GeV/c2. A blind analysis was conducted, incorporating improved techniques for rejecting surface events. No WIMP signal exceeding expected backgrounds was observed. When combined with our previous results from Soudan, the 90% C.L. upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section is 1.6 x 10(-43) cm2 from Ge and 3 x 10(-42) cm2 from Si, for a WIMP mass of 60 GeV/c2. The combined limit from Ge (Si) is a factor of 2.5 (10) lower than our previous results and constrains predictions of supersymmetric models.
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