Energetics and GHG Emission Mitigation Potential Estimation of Solar Water Heating System in India

The aim of this study is focused on “energetics” or energy analysis and evaluation of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential of solar water heating system (SWHS) having 100 litre per day (lpd) capacity in 28 states of India. Different types of collectors are used in solar water heating system, which may affect on the feasibility of the system. So to analyze this factor, the present approach focused on three types of glazed flat plate collectors. In addition to this, the feasibility of the system also does depend upon the end user applications. So to incorporate more feasible analysis, three different scenarios were considered. For the analysis of environmental impact of the system, GHG emission mitigation potential has also been evaluated by assuming the replacement of the system with frequently used fuels, viz., natural gas, coal, diesel, etc. This was done for both seasonal and annual use of this renewable energy thermal device. The result of this study shows that energy payback period (EPBP) and energy yield ratio (EYR) values for selected locations are in the adoption level. In case of coal, the GHG-emission reduction was found to have a maximum value of 22.4 tCO2 for the state of Rajasthan and a minimum value of 13.4 tCO2, for Jammu & Kashmir, for 20 years of useful lifetime of the system

Anti-bacterial activity of inorganic nanomaterials and their antimicrobial peptide conjugates against resistant and non-resistant pathogens

This review details the antimicrobial applications of inorganic nanomaterials of mostly metallic form, and the augmentation of activity by surface conjugation of peptide ligands. The review is subdivided into three main sections, of which the first describes the antimicrobial activity of inorganic nanomaterials against gram-positive, gram-negative and multidrug-resistant bacterial strains. The second section highlights the range of antimicrobial peptides and the drug resistance strategies employed by bacterial species to counter lethality. The final part discusses the role of antimicrobial peptide-decorated inorganic nanomaterials in the fight against bacterial strains that show resistance. General strategies for the preparation of antimicrobial peptides and their conjugation to nanomaterials are discussed, emphasizing the use of elemental and metallic oxide nanomaterials. Importantly, the permeation of antimicrobial peptides through the bacterial membrane is shown to aid the delivery of nanomaterials into bacterial cells. By judicious use of targeting ligands, the nanomaterial becomes able to differentiate between bacterial and mammalian cells and, thus, reduce side effects. Moreover, peptide conjugation to the surface of a nanomaterial will alter surface chemistry in ways that lead to reduction in toxicity and improvements in biocompatibility

Can fruit wines be considered as functional food?—An overview

314-322We are in midst of antioxidant superfood revolution. Nutritional studies on examining the foods for their protective and disease preventing potential have established that apart from grapes, fruits like cranberry, sweet cherry, blue berry are equal or sometimes better sources of flavonoids and phenolics. These facts have given a new dimension to the non-grape wines or fruit wines. A lot of efforts have been directed towards potential use of these fruits for production of wines which are rich in phenolics and flavonoids. This paper presents an overview on the phenolic and flavonoid contents of the non-grape wines or fruit wines and their antioxidant potency. It has also been tried to answer the question, whether fruit wines can also be considered as functional food

Efficacy of intrathecal midazolam versus fentanyl for endoscopic urology surgery

Background: This prospective randomized double-blind study was designed to compare the analgesic efficacy and safety of intrathecal midazolam versus fentanyl as an adjunct to bupivacaine for endoscopic urology surgery.Methods: Sixty adult ASA grade I–II patients undergoing transurethral resection of prostate or bladder tumor under spinal block. Postoperative analgesia was provided with intravenous diclofenac. The onset and duration of sensory and motor blockade, postoperative pain and the time to 1st rescue analgesia was noted. Patients were observed for hypotension, bradycardia, sedation, respiratory depression, pruritus, and postoperative nausea-vomiting.Results: The onset times and the duration of motor blockade were comparable among groups while the time to sensory block regression was longer in group BM and group BF as compared to group B (p<0.001). The duration of postoperative analgesia was significantly prolonged in group BM and group BF as compared with group B (p<0.001) while there was no difference between group BM and BF. The incidence of pruritus and vomiting was more in group BF.Conclusions: Addition of midazolam to intrathecal bupivacaine provides prolonged postoperative analgesia similar to intrathecal fentanyl and appears safe in patients undergoing endoscopic urology surgery

Inverse docking based screening and identification of protein targets for cassiarin alkaloids against plasmodium falciparum

Various reports have shown Cassiarin alkaloids, selective in vitro activities against various strains of Plasmodium falciparum with low cytotoxicity, which indicates their possible candidature as antimalarial drug. However, poor recognition of their protein targets and molecular binding behaviour, certainly limits their exploration as antimalarial drug candidature. To address this, we utilises inverse screening, based on three different docking methodologies in order to find their most putative protein targets. In our study, we screened 1047 protein structures from protein data bank, which belongs to 147 different proteins. Our investigation identified 16 protein targets for Cassiarins. In few cases of identified protein targets, the binding site was poorly studied, which encouraged us to perform comparative sequence and structural studies with their homologous proteins, like as in case of Kelch motif associated protein, Armadillo repeats only protein and Methionine aminopeptidase 1b. In our study, we also found Tryptophanyl-tRNA synthetase and 1-Deoxy-D-Xylose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase proteins are the most common targets for Cassiarins. Keywords: Plasmodium falciparum, Inverse docking, Cassiarin alkaloids, Proteomic

Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate-Supported Nanocomposite as Drug Carrier System for Controlled Delivery of Ondansetron

Sodium dodecyl sulphate-supported iron silicophosphate (SDS/FeSP) nanocomposite was successfully fabricated by the co-precipitation method. The SDS/FeSP nanocomposite was investigated as a drug carrier for ondansetron. The cumulative drug release of ondansetron was observed at various pH values for different time intervals, i.e., from 20 min to 48 h. A ranking of the drug release was observed at different pHs; pH 2.2 > saline (pH 5.5) > pH 7.4 > pH 9.4 > distilled water. Maximum release of encapsulated drug was found to be about 45.38% at pH 2.2. The cell viability tests of SDS/FeSP nanocomposite concluded that SDS/FeSP nanocomposite was non-cytotoxic in nature