ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY FROM HAEMOLYMPH OF FRESHWATER CRAB OF GENUS MAYDELLIATHELPHUSA AGAINST RESPIRATORY TRACT PATHOGENS

Objective: To study the antibacterial activity using haemolymph from a freshwater crab species of genus Maydelliathelphusa against respiratory tract pathogens.Methods: 3 ml of haemolymph was collected from the live animal with a fine sterile syringe and tested for antibacterial assay by the well diffusion method. Different quantities viz. 10μl, 20μl and 30μl of haemolymph were loaded in agar plates having bacterial strains and kept for incubation at 37 °C for 24 h to test the development of bacteria. Further, the efficacy of haemolymph against bacteria was compared with antibiotic erythromycin, used as positive control.Results: The results reported the strong inhibitory action of the haemolymph against the pathogens in the present study. The lowest zone of inhibition was observed against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) and the highest zone of inhibition was observed against Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae). Erythromycin, as a positive control and Di-Methyl Sulfoxide (DMSO), as a negative control were used to check the sensitivity of pathogens. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of the haemolymph for the studied bacteria was ranged between 6.25 mg/ml and 12.5 mg/ml. Maximum inhibition % (151.12) and minimum inhibition % (12.87) of haemolymph was calculated for S. pneumoniae and K. pneumoniae respectively during the study.Conclusion: Study concluded that the haemolymph has a good antibacterial activity as it suppresses the growth of the bacteria completely at very low concentrations.Keywords: Freshwater Crab, Haemolymph, Antibacterial activity, Respiratory tract pathogens

Universal Approach to Direct Spatiotemporal Dynamic in-situ Optical Visualization of On-Catalyst Water Splitting Electrochemical Processes

Electrochemical reactions are the unrivaled backbone of next generation energy storage, energy conversion and healthcare devices. However, the in-situ real-time visualization of electrochemical reactions, which can shed light on various critical unknown insights on the electrochemical processes, still remains the bottleneck for fully exploiting their intrinsic potential. In this work, for the first time, a universal approach to the direct spatiotemporal-dynamic in-situ optical visualization of pH based as well as specific byproduct based electrochemical reactions is performed. As a highly relevant and impactful example, the in-operando optical visualization of on-catalyst water splitting processes is performed under neutral water/seawater conditions. pH based visualization are performed using a water-soluble fluorescent pH probe HPTS (8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonicacid), known for its exceptional optical capability of detecting even the tiniest environment pH changes, thus allowing the unprecedented “spatiotemporal” real-time visualization at the cathode and anode. The successful experimental investigations embarked here, allowed us to reach several yet unveiled deeper insights into the spatiotemporal water splitting processes and their practical modulation for potentially improving the applicability and efficiency of water splitting devices. As a result, we were able to unprecedentedly reveal that at a critical cathode-to-anode distance, a continuous bulk-electrolyte “self-neutralization” phenomenon can be achieved during the water splitting process, leading to the practical realization of enhanced additive-free neutral water splitting. Furthermore, we experimentally unveiled that at increasing electrolyte flow rates, a swift and severe inhibition of the concomitantly forming acidic and basic ‘fronts’, developed at anode and cathode compartments is observed, thus acting as a continuous on-catalysts “buffering” mechanism that allows for a remarkably enhanced water splitting process. Furthermore, to demonstrate the universal applicability of this elegant strategy which is not limited to pH changes, the technique was extended to visualization of specific electrochemical process by the use of reaction product-specific fluorophore. For the purpose, N-(4-butanoic acid) dansylsulfonamide (BADS) fluorophore was successfully explored to in-situ visualize the formation of hypochlorite/ chlorine at the anode during electrolysis of sea water. Thus, a unique experimental tool that allow real-time spatiotemporal visualization and simultaneous mechanistic investigation of complex electrochemical processes in developed that can be universally extended to various fields of research

Universal Approach to Direct Spatiotemporal Dynamic In Situ Optical Visualization of On‐Catalyst Water Splitting Electrochemical Processes

Abstract Electrochemical reactions are the unrivaled backbone of next‐generation energy storage, energy conversion, and healthcare devices. However, the real‐time visualization of electrochemical reactions remains the bottleneck for fully exploiting their intrinsic potential. Herein, for the first time, a universal approach to direct spatiotemporal‐dynamic in situ optical visualization of pH‐based as well as specific byproduct‐based electrochemical reactions is performed. As a highly relevant and impactful example, in‐operando optical visualization of on‐catalyst water splitting processes is performed in neutral water/seawater. HPTS (8‐hydroxypyrene‐1,3,6‐trisulfonicacid), known for its exceptional optical capability of detecting even the tiniest pH changes allows the unprecedented “spatiotemporal” real‐time visualization at the electrodes. As a result, it is unprecedentedly revealed that at a critical cathode‐to‐anode distance, the bulk‐electrolyte “self‐neutralization” phenomenon can be achieved during the water splitting process, leading to the practical realization of enhanced additive‐free neutral water splitting. Furthermore, it is experimentally unveiled that at increasing electrolyte flow rates, a swift and severe inhibition of the concomitantly forming acidic and basic ‘fronts’, developed at anode and cathode compartments are observed, thus acting as a “buffering” mechanism. To demonstrate the universal applicability of this elegant strategy which is not limited to pH changes, the technique is extended to visualization of hypochlorite/ chlorine at the anode during electrolysis of sea water using N‐(4‐butanoic acid) dansylsulfonamide (BADS). Thus, a unique experimental tool that allows real‐time spatiotemporal visualization and simultaneous mechanistic investigation of complex electrochemical processes is developed that can be universally extended to various fields of research

Electronic Structure Engineering of Highly‐Scalable Earth‐Abundant Multi‐Synergized Electrocatalyst for Exceptional Overall Water Splitting in Neutral Medium

Abstract Efficient neutral water splitting may represent in future a sustainable solution to unconstrained energy requirements, but yet necessitates the development of innovative avenues for achieving the currently unmet required performances. Herein, a novel paradigm based on the combination of electronic structure engineering and surface morphology tuning of earth‐abundant 3D‐hierarchical binder‐free electrocatalysts is demonstrated, via a scalable single‐step thermal transformation of nickel substrates under sulfur environment. A temporal‐evolution of the resulting 3D‐nanostructured substrates is performed for the intentional enhancement of non‐abundant highly‐catalytic Ni3+ and pSn2− species on the catalyst surface, concomitantly accompanied with densification of the hierarchical catalyst morphology. Remarkably, the finely engineered NiSx catalyst synthesized via thermal‐evolution for 24 h (NiSx‐24 h) exhibits an exceptionally low cell voltage of 1.59 V (lower than Pt/C‐IrO2 catalytic couple) for neutral water splitting, which represents the lowest value ever reported. The enhanced performance of NiSx‐24 h is a multi‐synergized consequence of the simultaneous enrichment of oxygen and hydrogen evolution reaction catalyzing species, accompanied by an optimum electrocatalytic surface area and intrinsic high conductivity. Overall, this innovative work opens a route to engineering the active material's electronic structure/morphology, demonstrating novel Ni3+/pSn2−‐enriched NiSx catalysts which surpass state‐of‐the‐art materials for neutral water splitting

Indian Sign Language Recognition using Convolutional Neural Network

Communicating with the person having hearing disability is always a major challenge. The work presented in paper is an exertion(extension) towards examining the difficulties in classification of characters in Indian Sign Language(ISL). Sign language is not enough for communication of people with hearing ability or people with speech disability. The gestures made by the people with disability gets mixed or disordered for someone who has never learnt this language. Communication should be in both ways. In this paper, we introduce a Sign Language recognition using Indian Sign Language.The user must be able to capture images of hand gestures using a web camera in this analysis, and the system must predict and show the name of the captured image. The captured image undergoes series of processing steps which include various Computer vision techniques such as the conversion to gray-scale, dilation and mask operation. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is used to train our model and identify the pictures. Our model has achieved accuracy about 95

SnO₂ Nanoparticle-Reduced Graphene Oxide Hybrids for Highly Selective and Sensitive NO₂ Sensors Fabricated Using a Component Combinatorial Approach

The combinatorial design of sensors has been demonstrated as an effective strategy for rapidly screening sensing materials and optimizing functional parameters for high-performance sensors. In this work, we report the development of room-temperature NO2 sensors based on a SnO2–rGO composite following a componential combination approach. SnO2–rGO is synthesized via a single-step solvothermal technique, and the resulting product is separated into different layers using the Differential Centrifugation technique. Different components were used for fabricating individual chemiresistive devices and studied together by a combinatorial approach using a 2 × 2 sensor array. Among all the devices, the L1-based nanohybrid device exhibited a significant response of ∼3 to a low concentration of 80 ppm NO2 at room-temperature operation and fluctuating humidity (20–50% RH) at much faster speeds ∼5.6 s and recovered quickly in 14.1 s without heating. Also, the SnO2–rGO hybrid resulted in a highly selective, repetitive and reproducible response with an RSD of ∼0.9% for NO2 with a negligible response to interfering gases/VOCs at room temperature. The excellent NO2 sensing properties are due to enhanced gas interaction, fast charge transport, and electrostatic attraction upon forming the SnO2–rGO heterostructure facilitated by the Sn–C covalent bond

Evaluating efficiency and equity of prevention and control strategies for rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in India: an extended cost-effectiveness analysis

Background: There is a dearth of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of a combination of population-based primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention and control strategies for rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. The present analysis evaluated the cost-effectiveness and distributional effect of primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions and their combinations for the prevention and control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in India. Methods: A Markov model was constructed to estimate the lifetime costs and consequences among a hypothetical cohort of 5-year-old healthy children. Both health system costs and out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) were included. OOPE and health-related quality-of-life were assessed by interviewing 702 patients enrolled in a population-based rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease registry in India. Health consequences were measured in terms of life-years and quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) gained. Furthermore, an extended cost-effectiveness analysis was undertaken to assess the costs and outcomes across different wealth quartiles. All future costs and consequences were discounted at an annual rate of 3%. Findings: A combination of secondary and tertiary prevention strategies, which had an incremental cost of ₹23 051 (US$30) per QALY gained, was the most cost-effective strategy for the prevention and control of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in India. The number of rheumatic heart disease cases prevented among the population belonging to the poorest quartile (four cases per 1000) was four times higher than the richest quartile (one per 1000). Similarly, the reduction in OOPE after the intervention was higher among the poorest income group (29·8%) than among the richest income group (27·0%). Interpretation: The combined secondary and tertiary prevention and control strategy is the most cost-effective option for the management of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease in India, and the benefits of public spending are likely to be accrued much more by those in the lowest income groups. The quantification of non-health gains provides strong evidence for informing policy decisions by efficient resource allocation on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease prevention and control in India