Summary
Phosphate (Pi) deficiency in soil system is a limiting factor for rice growth and yield. Majority of the soil phosphorus (P) is organic in nature, not readily available for root uptake. Low ...Pi‐inducible purple acid phosphatases (PAPs) are hypothesized to enhance the availability of Pi in soil and cellular system. However, information on molecular and physiological roles of rice PAPs is very limited. Here, we demonstrate the role of a novel rice PAP, OsPAP21b in improving plant utilization of organic‐P. OsPAP21b was found to be under the transcriptional control of OsPHR2 and strictly regulated by plant Pi status at both transcript and protein levels. Biochemically, OsPAP21b showed hydrolysis of several organophosphates at acidic pH and possessed sufficient thermostability befitting for high‐temperature rice ecosystems with acidic soils. Interestingly, OsPAP21b was revealed to be a secretory PAP and encodes a distinguishable major APase (acid phosphatase) isoform under low Pi in roots. Further, OsPAP21b‐overexpressing transgenics showed increased biomass, APase activity and P content in both hydroponics supplemented with organic‐P sources and soil containing organic manure as sole P source. Additionally, overexpression lines depicted increased root length, biomass and lateral roots under low Pi while RNAi lines showed reduced root length and biomass as compared to WT. In the light of these evidences, present study strongly proposes OsPAP21b as a useful candidate for improving Pi acquisition and utilization in rice.
•Bulk synthesis of Cu-Al layered double hydroxide electrocatalyst by urea hydrolysis.•Fabrication of disposable sensor electrodes and electrocatalyst by screen-printing.•Complete fabrication of the ...glucose sensor prototype for the direct testing of blood samples.•Testing of the glucose sensor prototype with blood and spiked blood samples.
A scalable method for the fabrication of a nonenzymatic disposable blood glucose sensor was made possible by preparing large quantities of catalytic materials and using screen-printing technology. The copper-aluminium double hydroxide microspheres were synthesized by urea hydrolysis method using sulfate salts of aluminium and copper at 100 °C for 24 h. Morphological studies revealed the presence of novel coral-like copper-aluminium microspheres. The prepared compound was used for the fabrication of an electrochemical glucose sensor by screen-printing. The sensor tested in 0.15 M NaOH medium showed a sensitivity of 1111.15 ± 7.96 µA mM-1 cm-2, linear response up to 27 mM glucose concentrations and a limit of detection of 17.60 ± 0.13 µM (S/N = 3). In the presence of exogenous and endogenous interfering species, the fabricated sensor was found to be selective towards glucose. A laboratory prototype of the sensor strip was fabricated using a cellulose membrane, hydrophilic membrane, and customized adhesive layers. The prototype was calibrated and tested with whole blood samples and obtained results are highly correlative with the commercial glucose sensor strips. The sensitivity of the prototype was found to be 0.3057 ± 0.02 µA mM−1 cm−2 with a linear range upto 24.44 mM (440 mg dL−1) and a calculated LOD of 0.9873 ± 0.06 mM (17.77 ± 1.11 mg dL−1). The ease of fabrication method and the reliability of the results with real blood samples show the potential of the nonenzymatic blood glucose sensor prototype for industrial fabrication.
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Background: Patients on maintenance haemodialysis (MHD) often complain of fatigue and tiredness following haemodialysis sessions leading to poor compliance with the dialysis schedule. There is ...limited Indian data on dialysis recovery time (DRT). The present study was designed to assess the factors affecting DRT in our haemodialysis population. Methods: We recorded self-reported patient recovery times of 120 patients who satisfied the inclusion criteria, over three consecutive dialysis sessions by asking the question, 'How long does it take to recover from a dialysis session'? Data recorded included patient factors like age, sex, co-morbidities, Charlson comorbidity index score (CCI), dialysis vintage, duration of kidney disease, interdialytic weight gain (IDWG), treatment factors like ultrafiltration rate (UFR), SpKt/V, blood pump speed, dialysate sodium, session length, pre and post HD blood pressure and laboratory parameters. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was assessed with the KDQOL-SF v. 1.3 questionnaire. Results from the SF-36 score were summarised into the physical composite score (PCS), mental composite score (MCS) and kidney disease composite score (KDCS). Results: The mean age of the study population was 50.6 ± 12.6 years. Among the 120 patients, 77 (64.2%) were males. Thirty-nine patients (32.5%) were diabetic and 95 (79.1%) patients were hypertensive. The mean dialysis vintage of the study population was 26.1 ± 18.6 months, 41 (34.2%) patients reported DRT <2 h; 48 (40%) reported DRT between 2-6 h and 31 (25.8%) reported DRT >6 h. On multivariate regression analysis, higher IDWG, CCI score and UFR were associated with prolonged DRT. Reported DRT also inversely correlated with PCS (r = - 0.66), MCS (r = - 0.65) and KDCS (r = - 0.59) scores which was statistically significant. Conclusion: The present study showed that higher CCI scores, IDWG and UFR were associated with prolonged DRT in Indian haemodialysis patients and patients with longer recovery time had poor HRQoL. Interventions to reduce DRT need to be assessed in further trials in Indian MHD patients.
Ambient fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) is one leading cause of disease burden, but no study has quantified the association between daily PM2.5 exposure and life expectancy. We aimed to ...assess the potential benefits in life expectancy by attaining the daily PM2.5 standards in 72 cities of China during 2013-2016.
We applied a two-stage approach for the analysis. At the first stage, we used a generalized additive model (GAM) with a Gaussian link to examine the city-specific short-term association between daily PM2.5 and years of life lost (YLL); at the second stage, a random-effects meta-analysis was used to generate the regional and national estimations. We further estimated the potential gains in life expectancy (PGLE) by assuming that ambient PM2.5 has met the Chinese National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS, 75 μg/m3) or the ambient air quality guideline (AQG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) (25 μg/m3). We also calculated the attributable fraction (AF), which denoted the proportion of YLL attributable to a higher-than-standards daily mean PM2.5 concentration. During the period from January 18, 2013 to December 31, 2016, we recorded 1,226,849 nonaccidental deaths in the study area. We observed significant associations between daily PM2.5 and YLL: each 10 μg/m3 increase in three-day-averaged (lag02) PM2.5 concentrations corresponded to an increment of 0.43 years of life lost (95% CI: 0.29-0.57). We estimated that 168,065.18 (95% CI: 114,144.91-221,985.45) and 68,684.95 (95% CI: 46,648.79-90,721.11) years of life lost can be avoided by achieving WHO's AQG and Chinese NAAQS in the study area, which corresponded to 0.14 (95% CI: 0.09-0.18) and 0.06 (95% CI: 0.04-0.07) years of gain in life expectancy for each death in these cities. We observed differential regional estimates across the 7 regions, with the highest gains in the Northwest region (0.28 years of gain 95% CI: 0.06-0.49) and the lowest in the North region (0.08 95% CI: 0.02-0.15). Furthermore, using WHO's AQG and Chinese NAAQS as the references, we estimated that 1.00% (95% CI: 0.68%-1.32%) and 0.41% (95% CI: 0.28%-0.54%) of YLL could be attributable to the PM2.5 exposure at the national level. Findings from this study were mainly limited by the unavailability of data on individual PM2.5 exposure.
This study indicates that significantly longer life expectancy could be achieved by a reduction in the ambient PM2.5 concentrations. It also highlights the need to formulate a stricter ambient PM2.5 standard at both national and regional levels of China to protect the population's health.
Abstract Proper level of pressure or compression generated by medical stocking or hosiery is the key element for successful treatment or management of chronic venous disorders such as oedema, leg ...ulcers, etc. However achieving the recommended compression level and, more importantly, sustaining it using stockings has been a major challenge to the health practitioners supervising the treatment. This work aims to investigate and design a smart compression stocking using shape-memory polymer that allows externally controlling the pressure level in the wrapped position on the leg. Based on thermodynamical rubber theories, we first derived several criteria that have to be satisfied simultaneously in order to achieve the controlled pressure adjustment using external heat stimuli. We then presented a case where such a stocking is developed using a blend yarn consists of selected shape-memory polyurethane and nylon filaments. Extensive experimental work has also been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and explore the influencing factors involved.
Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/portland cement(PC) composites have been fabricated to evaluate their electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding effectiveness (SE). The results show that they ...can be used for the shielding of EMI in the microwave range. The incorporation of 15wt.% MWCNTs in the PC matrix produces a SE more than 27dB in X-band (8.2–12.4GHz), and this SE is found to be dominated by absorption. Furthermore, the structural analysis, surface morphology and surface interaction of MWCNTs with PC matrix have been explored using XRD, SEM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique.
Graphene and its exotic forms have been widely recognized as exceptional materials for gas‐sensing applications because of their extraordinary electrical conductivity and large surface area to volume ...ratios. Herein, chemically reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and zinc oxide–reduced graphene oxide (ZrGO) nanocomposite powders have been successfully synthesized through a simple hydrolysis method followed by annealing in ambient N2 gas. The reduction of graphene oxide by hydrazine hydrate and the decoration of the graphene surface by ZnO nanoparticles have occurred during the synthesis process. The prepared samples were characterized by various microscopic techniques to explore the surface morphology and uniformity. Spectroscopic techniques were used to investigate the quality of the as‐synthesized powder samples as well as the extent of graphitization of the samples. Coil sensors with two Pt terminals and a heating element have been designed to extensively monitor the effect of temperature on the electrical and gas‐sensing properties of the rGO and ZrGO nanocomposite samples. The ZrGO nanocomposites possess better electrical and NO2 gas sensing properties than the pristine rGO. The ZrGO nanocomposite sensor exhibits a high response (ca. 32 %) for 50 ppm NO2 at relatively low temperature (50 °C). Our results suggest that the ZrGO nanocomposite material could be used to fabricate a new generation of low‐power portable NO2 sensors.
A facile route for the synthesis of zinc oxide–reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites has been achieved for NO2 gas sensing applications.
In this work, the dynamics of a food chain model with disease in the predator and the Allee effect in the prey have been investigated. The model also incorporates a Holling type-III functional ...response, accounting for both disease transmission and predation. The existence of equilibria and their stability in the model have also been investigated. The primary objective of this research is to examine the effects of the Allee parameter. Hopf bifurcations are explored about the interior and disease-free equilibrium point, where the Allee is taken as a bifurcation point. In numerical simulation, phase portraits have been used to look into the existence of equilibrium points and their stability. The bifurcation diagrams that have been drawn clearly demonstrate the presence of significant local bifurcations, including Hopf, transcritical, and saddle-node bifurcations. Through the phase portrait, limit cycle, and time series, the stability and oscillatory behaviour of the equilibrium point of the model are investigated. The numerical simulation has been done using MATLAB and Matcont.
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