The long-term trend of air pollutants was studied in Chandigarh, located in Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. The SPM, PM10, NOx, and SO2 depict site-specific variation having different anthropogenic ...activities. The results indicate that PM10 levels in Chandigarh remain higher than the prescribed annual ambient air quality standards (60 μg m−3) of India. Seasonal Kendall test indicates a declining trend of PM10 for the year 2003 to 2018 at an industrial and commercial site (1996–2016). There is a significant increase in NOx levels at all locations except at commercial sites. The results of the linear regression model and Theil–Sen slope show that SPM is declining at all locations, but results are not statistically significant. Interestingly, PM10 levels at the industrial site display a significant declining trend (1.3% year−1). Similarly, NOx levels are increasing at all sites but having a statistically significant trend at a rural location (8.9% year−1) and residential site (15.2% year−1). Air pollutants show strong seasonal variability having a higher concentration in post-monsoon and winter season, which found to be linked with regional anthropogenic activities such as crop residue burning and use of solid biomass fuel for cooking and other purposes. Lowest PM10 levels were observed during the monsoon and having a decline of 47.4–66.4% as compared to winter levels. Site-specific variations in air pollutants were found to be associated with air quality improvement policies such as shifting of an interstate bus terminal, ban on diesel autos, including strict implementation of air quality norms on industries. As the relative contribution of various pollution sources is still unknown, the seasonal pattern of pollutants will help in knowing the background concentration of pollutants and could help to formulate evidence-based policies to mitigate air pollution under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP).
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•The study examines the air quality trend in Chandigarh for the last 25 years.•PM10 concentration during monsoon declined 47.4–66.4% as compared to winter.•Air quality deteriorates during December due to crop-residue burning and meteorology.•Industrial and commercial sites show a statistically declining trend of PM10.•An increasing trend of NOx shows linkage with higher vehicular density.
Hyperglycemia induced reactive oxygen species oxidize macromolecules including cellular proteins leading to their accumulation in Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) lumen which in turn activates unfolded ...protein response (UPR) sensors including, PERK (Protein Kinase RNA-Like ER Kinase). Activated PERK induces ER associated degradation of misfolded proteins to lower the ER stress. In the present study, we hypothesized that ER stress leads to the degradation of glucose transporter proteins resulting in complex glucose metabolism. In vivo studies were carried out in the experimental model of hyperglycemia using streptozotocin/nicotinamide induced diabetic male Wistar rats. High glucose (30 mM) treated HepG2 cells were used to perform the mechanistic study at different time points. PERK gene knockdown (siRNA transfection) and inhibition by ISRIB (Integrated Stress Response Inhibitor, a potent inhibitor of PERK signaling) confirmed the involvement of PERK axis in regulating the expression and translocation of hepatic glucose transporters. Co-immunoprecipitation and dual immunostaining studies further demonstrated increased degradation of GLUT proteins under high glucose conditions. Moreover, Morin (3,5,7,2′,4′ pentahydroxyflavone) treatment prevented PERK-eIF2α-ATF4 mediated degradation of glucose transporters and enhanced glucose uptake in both, HepG2 cells and diabetic rats. Targeting aberrant regulation of the expression and translocation of facilitative glucose transporter proteins (GLUT proteins) may provide novel therapeutic strategies for the better management of diabetes.
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Abstract
Efficient certification and quantification of high dimensional entanglement of composite systems are challenging both theoretically as well as experimentally. Here, we demonstrate how to ...measure the linear entropy, negativity and the Schmidt number of bipartite systems from the visibility of Mach–Zehnder interferometer using single copies of the quantum state. Our result shows that for any two qubit pure bipartite state, the interference visibility is a direct measure of entanglement. We also propose how to measure the mutual predictability experimentally from the intensity patterns of the interferometric set-up without having to resort to local measurements of mutually unbiased bases. Furthermore, we show that the entanglement witness operator can be measured in a interference setup and the phase shift is sensitive to the separable or entangled nature of the state. Our proposal bring out the power of Interferometric set-up in entanglement detection of pure and several mixed states which paves the way towards design of entanglement meter.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common and debilitating chronic degenerative disease of the joints. Currently, cell-based therapy is being explored to address the repair of damaged articular cartilage in ...the knee joint.
The in vitro differentiation potential of adult human bone marrow-derived, cultured, pooled, allogeneic mesenchymal stromal cells (Stempeucel®) was determined by differentiating the cells toward the chondrogenic lineage and quantifying sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG). The mono-iodoacetate (MIA)-induced preclinical model of OA has been used to demonstrate pain reduction and cartilage formation. In the clinical study, 60 OA patients were randomized to receive different doses of cells (25, 50, 75, or 150 million cells) or placebo. Stempeucel® was administered by intra-articular (IA) injection into the knee joint, followed by 2 ml hyaluronic acid (20 mg). Subjective evaluations-visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, intermittent and constant osteoarthritis pain (ICOAP), and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC-OA) index-were performed at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months of follow-up. Magnetic resonance imaging of the knee was performed at baseline, and at 6 and 12 months follow-up for cartilage evaluation.
Stempeucel® differentiated into the chondrogenic lineage in vitro with downregulation of Sox9 and upregulation of Col2A genes. Furthermore, Stempeucel® differentiated into chondrocytes and synthesized a significant amount of sGAG (30 ± 1.8 μg/μg GAG/DNA). In the preclinical model of OA, Stempeucel® reduced pain significantly and also repaired damaged articular cartilage in rats. In the clinical study, IA administration of Stempeucel® was safe, and a trend towards improvement was seen in the 25-million-cell dose group in all subjective parameters (VAS, ICOAP, andWOMAC-OA scores), although this was not statistically significant when compared to placebo. Adverse events were predominant in the higher dose groups (50, 75, and 150 million cells). Knee pain and swelling were the most common adverse events. The whole-organ magnetic resonance imaging score of the knee did not reveal any difference from baseline and the placebo group.
Intra-articular administration of Stempeucel® is safe. A twenty-five-million-cell dose may be the most effective among the doses tested for pain reduction. Clinical studies with a larger patient population are required to demonstrate a robust therapeutic efficacy of Stempeucel® in OA.
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01453738 . Registered 13 October 2011.
Can mandated adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) improve firm value? Most CSR adoption is purely voluntary. However, governments regularly encourage CSR adoption with soft regulations ...that vary from simply endorsing and symbolically supporting CSR to requiring the adoption of specific practices. Governments have resisted fully mandating CSR because there is some concern universally that mandated CSR may reduce firm value. There is, however, no empirical clarity as to whether mandated CSR impedes or improves firm value. We address this uncertainty by analyzing the effects of the mandated adoption of CSR that the government of India legislated in 2014. Drawing on a sample of 1,526 publicly traded firms and deploying a combinative analytical framework comprising an event study, regression discontinuity design, and a difference-in-differences technique, we conclude that India’s CSR mandate did, in fact, increase value for all firms bound by the mandate. This value-enhancing effect was greater for foreign firms relative to domestic firms. Our results refute previous research showing that India’s CSR mandate diminished firm value.
Extensional mixing elements (EMEs) were previously developed for twin‐screw extruders (TSEs) to incorporate extensional flows through stationary single‐plane or double‐plane hyperbolic ...convergence–divergence channels. In Part 1 of this work, the EME concept is extended to single‐screw extruders (SSEs), which are known for their good pumping characteristics but limited dispersive mixing capability, to enhance the latter. Flow simulations are performed to optimize the EME design for SSE. Experimental validations are performed on immiscible polymer blends (varying viscosity ratio) and nanocomposites. Morphological results show tremendous improvement in mixing capability of SSE when equipped with EME without significant throughput and pressure drop penalties. Rheological and crystallinity studies are observed to be in line with the morphological analysis. Morphological and mechanical results are benchmarked with TSE operations in Part 2 of this work.
The present study is focused on the biogenic synthesis of AgNPs (B-AgNPs) using fruit extract of Phyllanthus emblica L. and its effect (0, 5, 10, 25, 50 mg/L concentrations) on early seedling growth ...of two wheat varieties (HD-2967 and DBW-17). The prepared silver nanoparticles were characterized with several techniques such as UV–Vis spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction as well as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The capping of AgNPs by phytochemicals was confirmed by Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. B-AgNPs, chemically synthesized AgNPs, chemically synthesized AgNPs+10% fruit extract and AgNO3 salt were compared for phytotoxicity, based on growth parameters, ROS production, cytotoxicity assay and silver accumulation in two wheat varieties (HD-2967 and DBW-17). These effects were more pronounced in the variety HD-2967 over DBW-17 variety at 10 mg/L B-AgNPs exposure. Root cells viability of treated radicles was studied using Evans blue dye assay which suggest that 10 mg/L B-AgNPs was effective in promoting early seedling growth by decreasing ROS toxicity. Lower accumulation of Ag resulting in higher root cell viability than those of chemically synthesized AgNPs treated seedlings. The findings of the present study clearly indicate that phytochemicals capped AgNPs act as a growth promoter at lower concentrations by delivering a potent antioxidant during early seedling growth as compared to chemically synthesized AgNPs treated wheat seedlings.
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•AgNPs were successfully biosynthesized using Phyllanthus emblica L. fruit extract.•B-AgNPs are non toxic as compared to C-AgNPs and AgNO3 salt for wheat varieties.•10 mg/L concentration of B-AgNPs stimulates seedling growth of wheat seedlings.•Phytochemicals capped B-AgNPs may be promising materials for agriculture.
Population-based studies identified an association between a prior pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and cardiac hypertrophy and dysfunction later in life. It is however ...unclear whether GDM initiates this phenotype and what are the underlying mechanisms. We addressed these questions by using female rats that express human amylin (HIP rats) as a GDM model and their wild-type (WT) littermates as the normal pregnancy model. Pregnant and two months postpartum HIP females had increased left-ventricular mass and wall thickness compared to non-pregnant HIP females, which indicates the presence of concentric hypertrophy. These parameters were unchanged in WT females during both pregnancy and postpartum periods. Hypertrophic Ca
-dependent calcineurin/NFAT signaling was stimulated two months after giving birth in HIP females but not in the WT. In contrast, the CaMKII/HDAC hypertrophy pathway was active immediately after giving birth and returned to the baseline by two months postpartum in both WT and HIP females. Myocytes from two months postpartum HIP females exhibited slower Ca
transient relaxation and higher diastolic Ca
levels, which may explain calcineurin activation. No such effects occurred in the WT. These results suggest that a GDM-complicated pregnancy accelerates the development of pathological cardiac remodeling likely through activation of calcineurin/NFAT signaling.
Drought is a major concern for sustainable yield under changing environment. Soybean, an economically important oil and protein crop, is prone to drought resulting in yield instability. Salicylic ...acid (SA), a multifaceted growth hormone, modulates a series of parallel processes to confer drought tolerance thereby relieving yield limitations. The present study was performed in soybean plants treated with SA (0.5 mM) through seed pretreatment under drought regimes: severe stress (50% RWC) and moderate stress (75% RWC), and rehydration. Differential leaf proteome profiling with morphological, physiological and antioxidative metabolism studies were performed at two developmental stages (vegetative and flowering). This explained the tolerance attribution to soybean throughout the development attaining yield stability. Abundance of proteins involved in photosynthesis and ATP synthesis generated energy driving metabolic processes towards plant growth, development and stress acclimation. Carbon (C) metabolism proteins involved in growth, osmoregulation and C partition relieved drought-induced C impairment under SA. Defensive mechanisms against redox imbalance and protein misfolding and degradation under stress were enhanced as depicted by the abundance of proteins involved in redox balance and protein synthesis, assembly and degradation at vegetative stage. Redox signaling in chloroplast and its interplay with SA signaling triggered different defense responses as shown through thioredoxin protein abundance. Amino acid metabolism proteins abundance resulted in increased osmoprotectants accumulation like proline at initial stage which contributed later towards N (nitrogen) remobilization to developing sink. At later stage, abundance of these proteins maintained redox homeostasis and N remobilization for improved sink strength. The redox homeostasis was supported by the increased antioxidative metabolism in SA treated plants. The downregulation of proteins at flowering also contributed towards N remobilization. Yield potential was improved by SA under drought through acclimation with enhanced N and C remobilization to sink as demonstrated by increased yield parameters like seed number and weight per plant, thousand seed weight and harvest index. The potential of SA in conferring drought tolerance to plants to maintain sustainable yield possess future research interests.
•SA improved physiological performance of drought stressed soybean driving different metabolic processes involved in plant growth, vigor and stress acclimation.•SA effectively maintained osmoregulation, redox and protein homeostasis through improved carbon, amino acid and protein metabolism.•SA maintained sink strength through amino acid metabolism and proteases improving nitrogen use efficiency and stabilizing yield under drought stress.
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