The neuropeptide neuromedin U promotes autoantibody-mediated arthritis

Introduction: Neuromedin U (NMU) is a neuropeptide with pro-inflammatory activity. The primary goal of this study was to determine if NMU promotes autoantibody-induced arthritis. Additional studies addressed the cellular source of NMU and sought to define the NMU receptor responsible for its pro-inflammatory effects. Methods: Serum containing arthritogenic autoantibodies from K/BxN mice was used to induce arthritis in mice genetically lacking NMU. Parallel experiments examined whether NMU deficiency impacted the early mast-cell-dependent vascular leak response induced by these autoantibodies. Bone-marrow chimeric mice were generated to determine whether pro-inflammatory NMU is derived from hematopoietic cells or stromal cells. Mice lacking the known NMU receptors singly and in combination were used to determine susceptibility to serum-transferred arthritis and in vitro cellular responses to NMU. Results: NMU-deficient mice developed less severe arthritis than control mice. Vascular leak was not affected by NMU deficiency. NMU expression by bone-marrow-derived cells mediated the pro-arthritogenic effect. Deficiency of all of the known NMU receptors, however, had no impact on arthritis severity and did not affect the ability of NMU to stimulate intracellular calcium flux. Conclusions: NMU-deficient mice are protected from developing autoantibody-induced inflammatory arthritis. NMU derived from hematopoietic cells, not neurons, promotes the development of autoantibody-induced inflammatory arthritis. This effect is mediated by a receptor other than the currently known NMU receptors

MICROWAVE-ASSISTED SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZNO NANOPARTICLES

A spinel ZnO nanocatalyst was successfully synthesized via a direct microwave heating method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic spinel gahnite structure (ZnAl₂O₄) with a calculated lattice parameter of 8.335 Å, indicating high phase purity. The average crystallite size, estimated using the Debye-Scherrer equation, was approximately 26.53 nm. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy revealed characteristic metal–oxygen stretching vibrations, corroborating the spinel structure. High-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) images displayed well-defined, nano-sized grains with uniform morphology, suggesting effective control over particle formation. These findings demonstrate that microwave-assisted synthesis is a viable and efficient approach for producing high-purity spinel ZnO nanocatalysts with desirable structural and morphological properties

DESIGN OF SUPER GATE THROUGH THE USE OF TRANSISTOR NETWORK METHOD

Transistor structure development represents a compelling way of bettering VLSI circuits. In VLSI microcomputer devices, the sign shelves spread, prestige disintegration and area of circuits are strongly associated with transaction of radios. This recommended construction described an efficient graph-based approach to make optimized computers (divert) structures. The scheduled construction about paper will be prepared to implemented and also search the product current, gain heat, area accepting Dsch31 and individual wind

FABRICATION AND ANALYSIS OF NICKEL OXIDE NANOPARTICLES FOR ADVANCED APPLICATIONS

Nickel oxide (NiO) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using a novel microwave irradiation technique, employing glycine as a fuel. The synthesized NiO nanopowders underwent comprehensive characterization through powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), and room-temperature vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). XRD analysis confirmed the formation of a single-phase cubic NiO structure. HR-SEM images revealed nanoparticle-like morphology, corroborating the nanoscale nature of the synthesized material. Magnetic measurements via VSM exhibited a weak ferromagnetic behavior, with a saturation magnetization value of 20.93 emu/g, indicating the presence of ferromagnetic interactions at room temperature

Proactive Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System

In recent times indoor air quality has attracted the attention of policy makers and researchers similar to that of external air pollution. The indoor environments are confined and closed compared to external environments providing less opportunity for the pollutants to dilute. Our everyday devices emit various solids and gases into the environment during their operation. These emissions contain many substances that are harmful to human health, when exposed to them for a prolonged period of time. Here we propose an air quality monitoring system that allows us to monitor and check live air quality in particular areas through IOT. The System uses air sensors to sense presence of harmful gases/compounds in the air and constantly transmit this data to microcontroller PIC16F877A. The sensors interact with microcontroller which processes this data and transmits it over internet. The gas levels can be viewed through a webpage from anywhere in the world. This allows authorities to monitor air pollution in different areas and take action against it

SPINEL SRFE₂O₄ NANOPARTICLES: SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND APPLICATION POTENTIAL

Spinel SrFe₂O₄ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using a simple and cost-effective microwave heating method. The prepared samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). The XRD, EDX, and FT-IR analyses confirmed the formation of a pure single-phase spinel structure with no secondary phase impurities. SEM images revealed that the nanoparticles exhibit a predominantly spherical morphology. Magnetic measurements performed using VSM indicated superparamagnetic behavior, with a saturation magnetization (Ms) value of 0.153 emu/g for the SrFe₂O₄ nanoparticles

QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF AIRBORNE MICROBIAL LOAD IN CLINICAL AND ADJACENT ENVIRONMENTS

Airborne microbial contamination in hospital environments poses a significant risk to infection control, especially in operating rooms. This study evaluates airborne microbial loads in six different hospital and adjacent locations through passive sampling using nutrient agar plates. Samples were exposed to air for 10 minutes and incubated for 48 hours to quantify colony-forming units (cfus). The highest microbial counts were observed near the bike stand outside the lab, while the immunology lab recorded the lowest counts. The findings underscore the importance of air quality monitoring and control strategies in healthcare settings

NANOTECHNOLOGY: EMERGING PROSPECTS, APPLICATIONS, AND INNOVATIONS

Nanotechnology operates at the scale of one-half the diameter of DNA to 1/20 the size of a red blood cell, offering unique physicochemical properties such as increased surface area to volume ratio and enhanced reactivity. These characteristics make nanoparticles particularly useful in diverse domains, especially biomedical applications including targeted drug delivery, diagnostics, and imaging. This review highlights the synthesis, characterization, and biomedical implications of metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles, emphasizing recent trends and eco-friendly synthesis routes like green synthesis. The multifaceted nature of nanotechnology continues to open novel frontiers in science, medicine, and environmental applications

Gene-SGAN: a method for discovering disease subtypes with imaging and genetic signatures via multi-view weakly-supervised deep clustering

Disease heterogeneity has been a critical challenge for precision diagnosis and treatment, especially in neurologic and neuropsychiatric diseases. Many diseases can display multiple distinct brain phenotypes across individuals, potentially reflecting disease subtypes that can be captured using MRI and machine learning methods. However, biological interpretability and treatment relevance are limited if the derived subtypes are not associated with genetic drivers or susceptibility factors. Herein, we describe Gene-SGAN - a multi-view, weakly-supervised deep clustering method - which dissects disease heterogeneity by jointly considering phenotypic and genetic data, thereby conferring genetic correlations to the disease subtypes and associated endophenotypic signatures. We first validate the generalizability, interpretability, and robustness of Gene-SGAN in semi-synthetic experiments. We then demonstrate its application to real multi-site datasets from 28,858 individuals, deriving subtypes of Alzheimer's disease and brain endophenotypes associated with hypertension, from MRI and SNP data. Derived brain phenotypes displayed significant differences in neuroanatomical patterns, genetic determinants, biological and clinical biomarkers, indicating potentially distinct underlying neuropathologic processes, genetic drivers, and susceptibility factors. Overall, Gene-SGAN is broadly applicable to disease subtyping and endophenotype discovery, and is herein tested on disease-related, genetically-driven neuroimaging phenotypes

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”: Motivation towards closure and effort investment in the performance of cognitive tasks

Previous studies have demonstrated that the need for closure (NFC), which refers to an individual's aversion toward uncertainty and the desire to quickly reduce it, leads to reluctance to invest effort in judgments and decision making. However, we argue that NFC may lead to either an increase or a decrease in effort depending on the availability of easy vs. difficult means to achieve closure and perceived importance of the task goal. We found that when closure could be achieved via both less and more demanding means, NFC was associated with decreased effort unless the task was perceived as important (Study 1). However, when attaining closure was possible via demanding means only, NFC was associated with increased effort, regardless of the task importance (Study 2). Moreover, NFC was related to choosing a more instrumental strategy for the goal of closure, even if this strategy required effort (Study 3). The results are discussed in the light of cognitive energetics theory