Reentrant magnetism at the borderline between long range antiferromagnetic order and spin glass behavior in the B site disordered perovskite system Ca2 xSrxFeRuO6

We report on the coexistence of magnetic order and disorder in the atomically disordered double perovskites Ca2FeRuO6 and CaSrFeRuO6. Powder x ray and neutron diffraction were used to investigate the crystal structure and magnetic ordering of these oxides. Both compounds are described by the orthorhombic space group Pbnm down to 3 K, where the B site is found to be statistically occupied by Fe3 and Ru5 ions. The compound Ca2FeRuO6 shows a G type antiferromagnetic ordering at TN 220 K, where the moments are aligned parallel to the c axis. The exchange of Ca by Sr suppresses long range ordering in this system with the consequence that CaSrFeRuO6 shows a diffuse scattering pattern, indicating only the presence of a short range order of the magnetic moments. Mössbauer measurements additionally reveal the coexistence of a long range ordered and paramagnetic phase in Ca2FeRuO6, and spin glass behavior in CaSrFeRuO6. The random occupancy of iron and ruthenium atoms at the B site gives rise to locally varying competing magnetic exchange interactions, which favors the emergence of reentrant magnetism with a spin glass like transition at Tf 87 K for Ca2FeRuO6 and a spin glass transition at 65 K for CaSrFeRuO6, as evidenced by frequency dependent ac susceptibility measurements. Our results are an interesting example for crossing the borderline between antiferromagnetism and spin glass behavior in a 3d 4d hybrid perovskite system by modifying the structural distortion associated to the tolerance factor of the perovskite structure rather than changing the concentration of magnetic ion

Molecular Characterization of Group A Rotavirus from Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) at Human-Wildlife Interfaces in Bangladesh

Group A rotavirus (RVA) is an important cause of diarrhea in people, especially children, and animals globally. Due to the segmented nature of the RVA genome, animal RVA strains have the potential to adapt to the human host through re‐assortment with other co‐infecting human viruses. Macaques share food and habitat with people, resulting in close interaction between these two species. This study aimed to detect and characterize RVA in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in Bangladesh. Fecal samples (N = 454) were collected from apparently healthy rhesus macaques from nine different sites in Bangladesh between February and March 2013. The samples were tested by one‐step, real‐time, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Four percent of samples (N = 20; 95% CI 2.7%–6.7%) were positive for RVA. RVA positive samples were further characterized by nucleotide sequence analysis of two structural protein gene fragments, VP4 (P genotype), and VP7 (G genotype). G3, G10, P[3] and P[15] genotypes were identified and were associated as G3P[3], G3P[15] and G10P[15]. The phylogenetic relationship between macaque RVA strains from this study and previously reported human strains indicates possible transmission between humans and macaques in Bangladesh. To our knowledge this is the first report of detection and characterization of rotaviruses in rhesus macaques in Bangladesh. These data will not only aid in identifying viral sharing between macaques, human and other animals, but will also improve the development of mitigation measures for the prevention of future rotavirus outbreaks

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Prebiotics—Clinical relevance

Prebiotics are dietary substances that mostly consist of non-starch polysaccharides and oligosaccharides that nurture a selected group of microorganisms residing in the human intestine. These components are poorly hydrolyzed by our digestive enzymes. Prebiotics preferentially favour the growth of probiotic organisms like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium that are helpful in gut health maintenance, colitis prevention, cancer inhibition, immunopotentiation, cholesterol removal, reduction of cardiovascular disease, prevention of obesity and constipation. The natural sources of prebiotics are certain fruits and vegetables like asparagus, banana, chicory, garlic, onion, wheat and tomato. Considering increasing market demand of prebiotics, commercial production of them is standardized from wastes of food industries as well as from other sources. Due to their therapeutic support and history of safe use, fructo-oligosaccharides and galacto-oligosaccharides are now widely used for pharmaceutical formulations, combined with probiotics

New potent blood sugar lowering agent

Hypoglycaemic activity has not so far been reported in any 4-quinazolone derivatives. We have found that 2-piperazino-3H,4-quinazolone monoacetate (I; 68/157) is an effective blood sugar lowering agent (patent pending). This compound was synthesized by heating 2-ethylthio-3H,4-quinazolone with N-benzylpiperazine followed by debenzylation with H2 over Pd/C in glacial acetic acid