Thermal Transport Properties of Bi2O2Se-Ag2Se Hybrid Structures

The series of Bi2O2Se-Ag2Se composites were synthesized by two step solid state reaction followed by Spark plasma sintering. To optimize their thermal transport properties, different weight percent (wt. %) of silver i-e, 10%, 15% and 20%, was added. The room temperature X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high temperature XRD was used to investigate the crystalline phases,  whereas the morphological study was conducted through FESEM. The thermal transport properties were evaluated from 323 K to 773 K, to study the effect of silver addition on thermal conductivity of all the composite samples. The reduced thermal conductivity of the composite with decreasing Ag contents is might be attributed to increase of the Ag2Se and Bi2O3 nano-inclusions in Bi2O2Se multi-phase-system that increased the phonon scattering regions and reduced the overall thermal conductivity significantly, up to 54 % for BA15SO as compared to that of BA20CO at 473 K

TAT-peptide conjugated repurposing drug against SARS-CoV-2 main protease (3CLpro): potential therapeutic intervention to combat COVID-19

The Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that originated in Chinese city of Wuhan has caused around 906,092 deaths and 28,040,853 confirmed cases worldwide (WHO, 11 September, 2020). In a life-threatening situation, where there is no specific and licensed anti-COVID-19 vaccine or medicine available; the repurposed drug might act as a silver bullet. Currently, more than 211 vaccines, 80 antibodies, 31 antiviral drugs, 35 cell-based, 6 RNA-based and 131 other drugs are in clinical trials. It is therefore utter need of the hour to develop an effective drug that can be used for the treatment of COVID-19 before a vaccine can be developed. One of the best-characterized and attractive drug targets among coronaviruses is the main protease (3CL^{pro}). Therefore, the current study focuses on the molecular docking analysis of TAT-peptide^{47–57} (GRKKRRQRRRP)-conjugated repurposed drugs (i.e., lopinavir, ritonavir, favipiravir, and hydroxychloroquine) with SARS-CoV-2 main protease (3CL^{pro} to discover potential efficacy of TAT-peptide (TP) - conjugated repurposing drugs against SARS-CoV-2. The molecular docking results validated that TP-conjugated ritonavir, lopinavir, favipiravir, and hydroxychloroquine have superior and significantly enhanced interactions with the target SARS-CoV-2 main protease. In-silico approach employed in this study suggests that the combination of the drug with TP is an excelling alternative to develop a novel drug for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. The development of TP based delivery of repurposing drugs might be an excellent approach to enhance the efficacy of the existing drugs for the treatment of COVID-19. The predictions from the results obtained provide invaluable information that can be utilized for the choice of candidate drugs for in vitro, in vivo and clinical trials. The outcome from this work prove crucial for exploring and developing novel cost-effective and biocompatible TP conjugated anti-SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic agents in immediate future

A Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based detection of foot and mouth disease in District Faisalabad, Pakistan during the Year 2016

Foot and mouth disease is an economically devastating disease of livestock that mainly effect cloven-hoofed animals i.e. sheep, goat, cattle, pig, buffalo, deer etc. The aim of this study was to determine the serotypes circulating in the region during 2016. Sampling was done from different outbreaks initially on the basis of clinical signs and later reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was employed for the confirmation of FMDV genome. Out of total 72 samples, 65 were found positive which were then serotyped into type O (n=30), Asia1 (n=19) and A (n=5). Some samples (n=5) were found positive for more than one serotype that were subjected to reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay (RT-LAMP) for serotype determination

Antioxidant, antimicrobial properties and phenolics of different solvent extracts from bark, leaves and seeds of Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre

This study appraises the antioxidant and antimicrobial attributes of various solvent extracts (absolute methanol, aqueous methanol, absolute ethanol, aqueous ethanol, absolute acetone, aqueous acetone, and deionized water) from bark, leaves and seeds of Pongamia pinnata (L.) Pierre. Maximum extraction yield of antioxidant components from bark (16.31%), leaves (11.42%) and seeds (21.51%) of P. pinnata was obtained using aqueous methanol (20:80). Of the extracts tested, the bark extract, obtained with aqueous methanol, exhibited greater levels of total phenolics [6.94 g GAE/100 g dry weight (DW)], total flavonoids (3.44 g CE/100 g DW), inhibition of linoleic acid peroxidation (69.23%) and DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC(50) value, 3.21 μg/mL), followed by leaves and seeds extracts. Bark extract tested against a set of bacterial and fungal strains also revealed the strongest antimicrobial activity with the largest inhibition zone and lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). HPLC analysis of aqueous methanol extracts from bark, leaves and seeds indicated the presence of protocatechuic, ellagic, ferulic, gallic, gentisic, 4-hydroxybenzoic and 4-hydroxycinnamic acids in bark (1.50-6.70 mg/100 g DW); sorbic, ferulic, gallic, salicylic and p-coumaric acids in leaves (1.18-4.71 mg/100 g DW); vanillic, gallic and tannic acids in seeds (0.52-0.65 mg/100 g DW) as the main phenolic acids. The present investigation concludes that the tested parts of P. pinnata, in particular the bark, have strong potential for the isolation of antioxidant and antimicrobial agents for functional food and pharmaceutical uses

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Automation of Blood Cancer Risk Analysis Using Fuzzy Logic

The statistical estimation of the cancer research center shows that approximate 23 million new cases were recorded in 2010 in all over the world. Blood cancer is a deadly disease and have different categories. Symptom of every category is different, but some initial symptoms are same. Research and statistics show that in the majority of cases, people know about the disease when it became too late. Fuzzy is being used in plentiful field like engineering, data mining, medical, science and Computational computing. This research work proposes a method which can be able to assist the doctor in diagnosis of blood Cancer. Fuzzy introduce varies inference but famous fuzzy inference types are Mamdani and TSK. In this article Mamdani Inference System has been proposed to measure the Blood Cancer Detector (BCD). The proposed method Fuzzy Logic based Blood Cancer Detector (BCD) is taking 10 input parameters and 1 output variable. The input variables are BI (Blood Infection), Bleeding, Pains, SC (skin changes), AD (Abdominal Discomforts), VP (Vision problem), WL (weight loss), BP (Bladder problems), fatigue &amp; TP (throat problems), and output variable is BCD

Prevalence of Warble Fly Infestation in Buffalo in Chakwal, Punjab

Parasitism is the major problem affecting livestock in many parts of the world. Amongst these parasitic problems, the warble fly infestation (hypodermosis) is a notorious and common malady of cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat in Pakistan. The disease is endemic in cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats in semi-hilly and mountainous areas of Pakistan. Keeping in view the importance of buffaloes an epidemiological survey was conducted to find the prevalence of hypodermosis in district Chakwal, Punjab, Pakistan, during the year 2005- 2006. Buffaloes are mainly kept for milk purpose in the study area. Out of 2000 buffaloes examined clinically, for grub infestation in the study area 125 (6.25%) and 37 (5.20%) found to be positive for the warble fly infestation in slaughter house as well as in the field. A prevalence variation among the male and female animals was also observed during the study. The factors of climatic conditions that favor the fly activity and contribute in the onset of disease