Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) conducted in European ancestry (EA) have identified hundreds of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with general cognitive function ...and/or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The association between these SNPs and cognitive function has not been fully evaluated in populations with complex genetic substructure such as South Asians. This study investigated whether SNPs identified in EA GWAS, either individually or as polygenic risk scores (PRSs), were associated with general cognitive function and 5 broad cognitive domains in 932 South Asians from the Diagnostic Assessment of Dementia for the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI-DAD). We found that SNPs identified from AD GWAS were more strongly associated with cognitive function in LASI-DAD than those from a GWAS of general cognitive function. PRSs for general cognitive function and AD explained up to 1.1% of the variability in LASI-DAD cognitive domain scores. Our study represents an important stepping stone toward better characterization of the genetic architecture of cognitive aging in the Indian/South Asian population and highlights the need for further research that may lead to the identification of new variants unique to this population.
Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets dispersed a supramolecular hydrogel network (GOSHGel) has been achieved. The microstructures of GO dispersed hydrogels are investigated. Our previously reported a ...benign supramolecular hydrogel (SHGel) was used and mixed with exfoliated monolayers of GO to offer GOSHGel through several interplaying non-covalent type supramolecular interactions. The GOSHGel was employed as the stabilizing agent for the direct sun-ray mediated photo-chemically synthesized ‘Green’ silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs). In vitro and in vivo toxicity assessments approve the bio-relevant nature of the GOSHGel capped Ag-NPs. The Ag-NPs were potentially antimicrobial against bacteria, including gram −ve bacterium (Escherichia coli) and gram +ve bacterium (Bacillus subtilis), and fungal pathogen, Pichia guilliermondii. Remarkably, these GOSHGel capped Ag-NPs also showed tremendous anticancer activity tested against human breast cancer cell. Both, GOSHGel and Ag-NPs embedded GOSHGel, were useful as the cell supportive scaffolds. This cell attachment was selective for non-malignant cell i.e. macrophages. Confocal microscopic study revealed the luminescent nature of GOSHGel capped Ag-NPs.
The graphene oxide nanosheets dispersed supramolecular hydrogel that acts as the stabilizing scaffold for the synthesis of bioactive ‘Green’ silver nanoparticles under direct exposure of Sun-light. The GO nanosheets dispersed supramolecular hydrogel capped silver nanoparticles are extremely effective for inducing lethality in pathogenic bacteria and fungus. Display omitted
•Graphene Oxide nanosheets dispersed supramolecular hydrogels are synthesized.•Microstructural and rheological patterns of different hydrogels are characterized.•The sun-ray mediated hydrogel capped ‘Green’ silver nanoparticles are synthesized.•Bio-activities of Ag-NPs against bacteria, fungus and cancer cell are investigated.•Cell attachment and intracellular imaging by hydrogel and Ag-NPs are explored.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the progressive brain disorder which degenerates brain cells connection and causes memory loss. Although AD is irreversible, it is not impossible to arrest or slow down ...the progression of the disease. However, this would only be possible if the disease is diagnosed at an early stage, and early diagnosis requires clear understanding of the pathogenesis at molecular level. Overactivity of GSK-3β and p53 accounts for tau hyperphosphorylation and the formation of amyloid-β plaques.
Here, we explored GSK-3β and p53 as blood-based biomarkers for early detection of AD.
The levels of GSK-3β, p53, and their phosphorylated states were measured using surface plasmon resonance and verified using western blot in serum from AD, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and geriatric-control (GC) subjects. The neurotoxic SH-SY5Y cell line was treated with antioxidant Emblica Officinalis (EO) for rescue effect.
GSK-3β, p53, and their phosphorylated states were significantly over expressed (p > 0.001) in AD and MCI compared to GC and can differentiate AD and MCI from GC. The expression level of GSK-3β and p53 proteins were found to be downregulated in a dose-dependent manner after the treatment with EO in amyloid-b-induced neurotoxic cells.
These proteins can serve as potential blood markers for the diagnosis of AD and EO can suppress their level. This work has translational value and clinical utility in the future.
In recent years, non-magnetic elements-doped oxide materials have been projected as one of the promising materials for application in optoelectronics and spintronics. The primary goal of this ...research is to look into the influence of Ag on the structural, optical, and dielectric properties of ZnO compounds. The solid-state route method was used to prepare the Ag:ZnO compounds with 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 at.% of Ag. The analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern data reveals that the prepared compounds have been formed as composite-like compounds. The SEM microstructural study reveals the nano-sized grains in the range of 200–300 nm. The elemental color mapping using energy dispersive spectroscopy confirms that no undesirable external impurities were introduced into the final synthesized samples, and all elements are uniformly distributed in the prepared samples. The optical property, investigated through a UV–Vis spectrophotometer, indicates that the band gap has narrowed down upon the increase of Ag content. The transmittance value is found to increase drastically from 5% (for ZnO) to 55% (for 9% Ag:ZnO) compound. The frequency-dependent behavior of dielectric constant, dielectric loss, modulus spectroscopy, and ac conductivity of undoped as well as Ag:ZnO composite-like compounds has been analyzed and well explained with the help of the Maxwell-Weigner model. A further investigation was carried out using impedance spectroscopy to determine the charge transport mechanism that occurs within the grain and grain boundary regions.
The Na-doped TiO2 compounds, i.e Ti1−xNaxO20≤x≤0.12 were synthesized via the solid-state synthesis method. The formation of single rutile phase with tetragonal structure was identified through the ...structural study by recording the XRD patterns. The analyses of the XRD patterns further indicate that Na+ ions are likely being substituted at the interstitial site of Ti4+ ions. The microstructural study using SEM revealed the homogeneous morphology of all compounds, with the particle size in the range of 1–2 μm. The room temperature magnetization versus field measurement reveals a ferromagnetic behavior for all Na-doped compounds with coercivity values ranging from 100 to 930 Oe. The saturation magnetization was observed to be maximum for Ti0.97Na0.03O2 compound but thereafter it decreases. According to optical property measurements, the bandgap reduces from 2.94 to 2.71 eV as the concentration of Na doping increases. The maximum transmittance value 91% was noted for Ti0.97Na0.03O2 compound. The Hall effect measurements indicate that the carrier concentration of all Na-doped TiO2 ranged from 1.077×1015 to 7.579×1015/cm3, and it grew monotonically with the increase of Na-doping concentration. The value of the ac conductivity and dielectric constant were observed to enhance with increasing Na-doping concentration; indicating that transport occurs via hopping of the charge carrier. Further, the dielectric properties observation reveals lossless nature in the produced sample, which suggests that this material could be employed in high-frequency optoelectronic devices.
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•Room temperature d0 Ferromagnetism has been observed in Na-doped rutile TiO2 compounds.•Hysteresis loops with a maximum saturation magnetization of 0.038 µB per Na-ion was observed for 3% Na-doped compound.•Optical band-gap narrowing and carrier concentration enhancement was observed with the increase of Na doping concentration.•Very high optical transmittance value i.e., 83% (for TiO2) to 91% (for 3% Na-doped TiO2) was observed.•Zero dielectric loss was observed for all Na-doped compounds.•The dielectric constant and ac conductivity were found to increase with Na-doping.•These materials can be used for potential application for spintronics and optoelectronics devices.
We recently reported long‐term organ allograft survival without ongoing immunosuppression in four of five patients receiving combined kidney and bone marrow transplantation from haploidentical donors ...following nonmyeloablative conditioning. In vitro assays up to 18 months revealed donor‐specific unresponsiveness. We now demonstrate that T cell recovery is gradual and is characterized by memory‐type cell predominance and an increased proportion of CD4+CD25+CD127−FOXP3+ Treg during the lymphopenic period. Complete donor‐specific unresponsiveness in proliferative and cytotoxic assays, and in limiting dilution analyses of IL‐2‐producing and cytotoxic cells, developed and persisted for the 3‐year follow‐up in all patients, and extended to donor renal tubular epithelial cells. Assays in two of four patients were consistent with a role for a suppressive tolerance mechanism at 6 months to 1 year, but later (≥18 months) studies on all four patients provided no evidence for a suppressive mechanism. Our studies demonstrate, for the first time, long‐term, systemic donor‐specific unresponsiveness in patients with HLA‐mismatched allograft tolerance. While regulatory cells may play an early role, long‐term tolerance appears to be maintained by a deletion or anergy mechanism.
Patients rendered tolerant to renal allografts by combined kidney and bone marrow transplantation demonstrate long‐term, specific and complete T cell unresponsiveness to their donors by mechanisms that may include clonal deletion.
The optimal local truncation error method (OLTEM) with unfitted Cartesian meshes was recently developed for PDEs with homogeneous materials on regular and irregular domains as well as for the scalar ...time-dependent wave and heat equations for heterogeneous materials with irregular interfaces. Here, OLTEM is extended to a system of time-independent elastic PDEs for heterogeneous materials with irregular interfaces and unfitted Cartesian meshes. We show the development of OLTEM for the 2D elasticity equations using compact 9-point stencils that are similar to those for linear quadrilateral finite elements. The interface conditions on the interfaces where the jumps in material properties occur are added to the expression for the local truncation error and do not change the width of the stencils. There are no unknowns on interfaces between different materials; the structure of the global discrete equations is the same for homogeneous and heterogeneous materials. The calculation of the unknown stencil coefficients is based on the minimization of the local truncation error of the stencil equations and yields the optimal second order of accuracy for OLTEM with 9-point stencils on unfitted Cartesian meshes. Numerical experiments for elastic heterogeneous materials with irregular interfaces show that at the same number of degrees of freedom: a) OLTEM with unfitted Cartesian meshes is more accurate than linear finite elements with similar stencils and conformed meshes; b) up to engineering accuracy of
OLTEM with unfitted Cartesian meshes is even more computationally efficient than quadratic and cubic finite elements with much wider stencils and conformed meshes. The proposed technique yields accurate numerical results for heterogeneous materials with big contrasts in the material properties of different components. Due to the computational efficiency and trivial unfitted Cartesian meshes that are independent of irregular geometry, the proposed technique does not require remeshing for the shape change of irregular geometry and it will be effective for many design and optimization problems.
Abstract
Photocatalytic surfaces have the potentiality to respond to many of nowadays societal concerns such as clean H
2
generation, CO
2
conversion, organic pollutant removal or virus inactivation. ...Despite its numerous superior properties, the wide development of TiO
2
photocatalytic surfaces suffers from important drawbacks. Hence, the high temperature usually required (> 450 °C) for the synthesis of anatase TiO
2
is still a challenge to outreach. In this article, we report the development and optimisation of an ECWR-PECVD process enabling the deposition of anatase TiO
2
thin films at low substrate temperature. Scanning of experimental parameters such as RF power and deposition time was achieved in order to maximise photocatalytic activity. The careful selection of the deposition parameters (RF power, deposition time and plasma gas composition) enabled the synthesis of coatings exhibiting photocatalytic activity comparable to industrial references such as P25 Degussa and Pilkington Activ at a substrate temperature below 200 °C. In addition, to further decrease the substrate temperature, the interest of pulsing the plasma RF source was investigated. Using a duty cycle of 50%, it is thus possible to synthesise photocatalytic anatase TiO
2
thin films at a substrate temperature below 115 °C with a deposition rate around 10 nm/min.
Recently, we have developed the optimal local truncation error method (OLTEM) for PDEs with homogeneous materials on regular and irregular domains and Cartesian meshes as well as OLTEM with simple ...9-point stencils for the 2-D scalar time-dependent wave and heat equations for heterogeneous materials with irregular interfaces. Here, OLTEM is extended to a much more general case of a system of elastic PDEs for heterogeneous materials with smooth irregular interfaces and unfitted Cartesian meshes. We also use larger 25-point stencils that are similar to those for quadratic quadrilateral finite elements. The interface conditions on the interfaces where the jumps in material properties occur are added to the expression for the local truncation error and do not change the width of the stencils. There are no unknowns on interfaces between different materials; the structure of the global discrete equations is the same for homogeneous and heterogeneous materials. The calculation of the unknown stencil coefficients is based on the minimization of the local truncation error of the stencil equations and yields the optimal 10-th order of accuracy for OLTEM with the 25-point stencils on unfitted Cartesian meshes. This corresponds to the increase in accuracy by seven orders for OLTEM compared to conventional quadratic finite elements with similar stencils. A new post-processing procedure for the stress calculations has been developed. Similar to basic computations, it includes OLTEM with the 25-point compact stencils and provides a very high accuracy of the stresses. Numerical experiments for elastic heterogeneous materials with circular and elliptical interfaces show that at the same number of degrees of freedom, OLTEM with unfitted meshes is more accurate than high order (up to the fifth order—the maximum order implemented in the COMSOL software) finite elements with a much greater stencil width and conformed meshes. Moreover, OLTEM with the 25-point stencils provides very accurate results for nearly incompressible materials (e.g., with Poisson ratio 0.4995).
Little is known about how patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and their family caregivers (FC) perceive their prognosis. We examined prognostic understanding in patients ...undergoing HCT and their FC and its relationship with quality of life (QOL) and mood. We conducted a longitudinal study of patients (and FC) hospitalized for HCT. We used a questionnaire to measure participants' prognostic understanding and asked the oncologists to estimate patients' prognosis prior to HCT. We assessed QOL and mood weekly and evaluated the relationship between prognostic understanding, and QOL and mood using multivariable linear mixed models. We enrolled 90 patients undergoing (autologous (n=30), myeloablative (n=30) or reduced intensity allogeneic (n=30)) HCT. About 88.9% of patients and 87.1% of FC reported it is 'extremely' or 'very' important to know about prognosis. However, 77.6% of patients and 71.7% of FC reported a discordance and more optimistic prognostic perception compared to the oncologist (P<0.0001). Patients with a concordant prognostic understanding with their oncologists reported worse QOL (β=-9.4, P=0.01) and greater depression at baseline (β=1.7, P=0.02) and over time ((β=1.2, P<0.0001). Therefore, Interventions are needed to improve prognostic understanding, while providing patients with adequate psychological support.
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