Display omitted
•EMD is used to study the phonon thermal conductivity (PTC), melting characteristics, and tensile strength of both SLGeNR and BiLGeNR.•BiLGeNR exhibits significantly lower PTC than ...SLGeNR.•PTC of SLGeNR displays an inverse relation with temperature, biaxial compressive strain, and monovacancy defects.•PTC of SLGeNR has been seen to increase gradually with increasing biaxial tensile strain, length and width of the nanoribbon.•BiLGeNR demonstrates high tensile strength and melting temperature compared to SLGeNR.
Two-dimensional germanene has provided a cornucopia of new functionalities in the field of nanotechnology owing to its remarkable electronic and thermoelectric attributes. The robust spin–orbit coupling and high carrier mobility give rise to many salient features including non-trivial topological properties, quantum spin-Hall state near room temperature, and topological superconductivity, rendering it an excellent contender for valleytronics, spintronics, and quantum computation. As such, an in-depth characterization of thermal and mechanical properties of germanene is crucial for its practical implication and efficient operation, which remains elusive. Here, we employed equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations utilizing Stillinger Weber potential to reveal the mechanical strength, melting temperature, and phonon thermal conductivity (PTC) of single-layer germanene nanoribbon (SLGeNR) and bilayer germanene nanoribbon (BiLGeNR). Effects of temperature, biaxial tensile and compressive strain, monovacancy defects, length and width of the nanoribbon on the PTC have been rigorously investigated. It has been found that PTC of SLGeNR could be substantially reduced by BiLGeNR. Our simulation results suggest that PTC of SLGeNR demonstrates an inverse relation with temperature, biaxial compressive strain, and monovacancy defects while biaxial tensile strain, length and width of the nanoribbon increases the PTC of SLGeNR significantly. To understand the PTC more profoundly, phonon density of state (PDOS) profiles have been studied. The BiLGeNR demonstrates more tensile strength as well as melting temperature compared to SLGeNR. This study offers a comprehensive guideline for engineering the TC as well as discloses important mechanical and melting characteristics of the SLGeNR and BiLGeNR for a wide range of applications in flexible nano-electronics and thermoelectric nanodevices.
Over the past few decades, gene therapy has gained immense importance in medical research as a promising treatment strategy for diseases such as cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, and many genetic ...disorders. When a gene needs to be delivered to a target cell inside the human body, it has to pass a large number of barriers through the extracellular and intracellular environment. This is why the delivery of naked genes and nucleic acids is highly unfavorable, and gene delivery requires suitable vectors that can carry the gene cargo to the target site and protect it from biological degradation. To date, medical research has come up with two types of gene delivery vectors, which are viral and nonviral vectors. The ability of viruses to protect transgenes from biological degradation and their capability to efficiently cross cellular barriers have allowed gene therapy research to develop new approaches utilizing viruses and their different genomes as vectors for gene delivery. Although viral vectors are very efficient, science has also come up with numerous nonviral systems based on cationic lipids, cationic polymers, and inorganic particles that provide sustainable gene expression without triggering unwanted inflammatory and immune reactions, and that are considered nontoxic. In this review, we discuss in detail the latest data available on all viral and nonviral vectors used in gene delivery. The mechanisms of viral and nonviral vector-based gene delivery are presented, and the advantages and disadvantages of all types of vectors are also given.
Temperature-induced, rapid changes in the viscosity and reproducible 3-D structure formation makes thermos-sensitive hydrogels an ideal delivery system to act as a cell scaffold or a drug reservoir. ...Moreover, the hydrogels’ minimum invasiveness, high biocompatibility, and facile elimination from the body have gathered a lot of attention from researchers. This review article attempts to present a complete picture of the exhaustive arena, including the synthesis, mechanism, and biomedical applications of thermosensitive hydrogels. A special section on intellectual property and marketed products tries to shed some light on the commercial potential of thermosensitive hydrogels.
Autophagy is a vacuolar, lysosomal degradation pathway for injured and damaged protein molecules and organelles in eukaryotic cells, which is controlled by nutrients and stress responses. ...Dysregulation of cellular autophagy may lead to various diseases such as neurodegenerative disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and malignancies. Recently, natural compounds have come to attention for being able to modulate the autophagy pathway in cancer prevention, although the prospective role of autophagy in cancer treatment is very complex and not yet clearly elucidated. Numerous synthetic chemicals have been identified that modulate autophagy and are favorable candidates for cancer treatment, but they have adverse side effects. Therefore, different phytochemicals, which include natural compounds and their derivatives, have attracted significant attention for use as autophagy modulators in cancer treatment with minimal side effects. In the current review, we discuss the promising role of natural compounds in modulating the autophagy pathway to control and prevent cancer, and provide possible therapeutic options.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder of the brain characterized by shortfall in the social portfolio of an individual and abbreviated interactive and communication aspects ...rendering stereotypical behavior and pitfalls in a child’s memory, thinking, and learning capabilities. The incidence of ASD has accelerated since the past decade, portraying environment as one of the primary assets, comprising of metallic components aiming to curb the neurodevelopmental pathways in an individual. Many regulations like Clean Air Act and critical steps taken by countries all over the globe, like Sweden and the USA, have rendered the necessity to study the effects of environmental metallic components on ASD progression. The review focuses on the primary metallic components present in the environment (aluminum, lead, mercury, and arsenic), responsible for accelerating ASD symptoms by a set of general mechanisms like oxidative stress reduction, glycolysis suppression, microglial activation, and metalloprotein disruption, resulting in apoptotic signaling, neurotoxic effects, and neuroinflammatory responses. The effect of these metals can be retarded by certain protective strategies like chelation, dietary correction, certain agents (curcumin, mangiferin, selenium), and detoxification enhancement, which can necessarily halt the neurodegenerative effects.
Graphical abstract
Water contamination is one of the most urgent concerns confronting the world today. Heavy metal poisoning of aquatic systems has piqued the interest of various researchers due to the high toxicity ...and carcinogenic consequences it has on living organisms. Due to their exceptional attributes such as strong reactivity, huge surface area, and outstanding mechanical properties, nanomaterials are being produced and employed in water treatment. In this review, recent advances in the use of nanomaterials in nanoadsorptive membrane systems for wastewater treatment and heavy metal removal are extensively discussed. These materials include carbon-based nanostructures, metal nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles, nanocomposites, and layered double hydroxide-based compounds. Furthermore, the relevant properties of the nanostructures and the implications on their performance for water treatment and contamination removal are highlighted. The hydrophilicity, pore size, skin thickness, porosity, and surface roughness of these nanostructures can help the water permeability of the nanoadsorptive membrane. Other properties such as surface charge modification and mechanical strength can improve the metal adsorption effectiveness of nanoadsorptive membranes during wastewater treatment. Various nanocomposite membrane fabrication techniques are also reviewed. This study is important because it gives important information on the roles of nanomaterials and nanostructures in heavy metal removal and wastewater treatment.
Postharvest loss of mango often occurs due to the short harvesting period. An experiment was conducted to determine the impact of paclobutrazol (PBZ) and flower bud pruning (FBP) on regulating ...flowering, fruiting time and fruit quality of ‘Amrapali’ mango. Different doses of PBZ at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 g per meter canopy diameter and water application along with FBP or without FBP were used, as well as water application without FBP (control). The application of PBZ caused earlier flowering by 22 days and harvesting was also done earlier by 18 days compared to the control. Plants subjected to FBP with PBZ reflowered 36 days later and harvesting was delayed by 16 days compared to the control. Moreover, the combination of PBZ 1.5 g with FBP showed significantly higher flowering percentages, number of panicles, total flowers, total fruits and weight of fruit compared to the control. In addition, the application of PBZ 1.5 g with FBP increased the total soluble solids, reducing sugar, non-reducing sugar, total sugar and β-carotene, while it decreased the vitamin C content. The present findings imply that applying PBZ 1.5 g with FBP to mango can extend the flowering and fruiting time, while the fruit quality was also influenced positively.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) are the common cancer treatments. In addition to these limitations, the development of adverse effects ...from chemotherapy and RT reduces the quality of life for cancer patients. Cellular radiosensitivity, or the ability to resist and overcome cell damage caused by ionizing radiation (IR), is directly related to cancer cells' response to RT. Therefore, radiobiological research is emphasizing chemical compounds 'radiosensitization of cancer cells so that they are more reactive in the IR spectrum. Recent years researchers have seen an increase in interest in natural products that have antitumor effects with minimal side effects. Natural products, on the other hand, are easy to recover and therefore less expensive. There have been several scientific studies done based on these compounds that have tested their ability in vitro and in vivo to induce tumor radiosensitization. The role of natural products in RT, as well as their usefulness and potential applications, is the goal of this current review.
The current understanding of the sulphate attack mechanism on ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete within the construction sector is not yet well understood. The primary objective of this study is ...to focus on and discuss how to minimize the sulphate attack on concrete. The main purpose of this research is to better understand and improve the mechanical, durability, and microstructural characteristics of concrete under saline and non-saline/normal environments. This investigation involved the use of artificial seawater in the concrete mixing process and ensuring saline conditions for the concrete specimens in the laboratory. In addition, an approach for assessing the influence of using sulphate-resisting cement (SRC) in concrete to differentiate the performance from OPC concrete is also investigated. Silica fume (SF) is used as a partial cementitious material in SRC concrete by 10% and 20%. The concrete performances were examined by several rheological, mechanical, durability, and microstructural tests and compared the corresponding performances with the SRC-artificial seawater (SRCASW) and OPC-freshwater (OPCFW) concrete. Test results show that the strength of concrete decreased linearly from the OPCFW to SRCASW. Among SRC-artificial seawater concrete mixes, the mix with 10% SF shows the best strength outcomes i.e., 28.84, 36.22, and 37.54 MPa at 7, 28, and 56 days respectively, which is an average of 12.5% higher than the mix with 20% SF. A concrete mix of SRC with 10% SF displays the highest durable behavior, achieving chloride penetration and electrical resistivity at a very low range (936 columbus and 290.7 Ω-m, respectively). In addition, microstructural images of the SRC concrete mixes indicate no visible crack due to sulphate inclusion. An analytical approach has provided a conservative estimate with the experimental results and standard code of practice for predicting mechanical properties. Finally, this study revealed that SRC incorporation in concrete increased the long-term serviceability of the structures against salinity.
•Artificial sea water used to mix SRC and OPC concrete to ensure saline effect.•Durability performances of concrete improved with SRC and SF at presence of salinity.•Reduction of sulphate attack dut to sillica fume and SRC were visible in SEM pictures.
Studies from past years have observed various enzymes that are artificial, which are issued to mimic naturally occurring enzymes based on their function and structure. The nanozymes possess ...nanomaterials that resemble natural enzymes and are considered an innovative class. This innovative class has achieved a brilliant response from various developments and researchers owing to this unique property. In this regard, numerous nanomaterials are inspected as natural enzyme mimics for multiple types of applications, such as imaging, water treatment, therapeutics, and sensing. Nanozymes have nanomaterial properties occurring with an inheritance that provides a single substitute and multiple platforms. Nanozymes can be controlled remotely via stimuli including heat, light, magnetic field, and ultrasound. Collectively, these all can be used to increase the therapeutic as well as diagnostic efficacies. These nanozymes have major biomedical applications including cancer therapy and diagnosis, medical diagnostics, and bio sensing. We summarized and emphasized the latest progress of nanozymes, including their biomedical mechanisms and applications involving synergistic and remote control nanozymes. Finally, we cover the challenges and limitations of further improving therapeutic applications and provide a future direction for using engineered nanozymes with enhanced biomedical and diagnostic applications.
PDF
