VISIBLE LIGHT PHOTOCATALYTIC DEGRADATION OF AQUEOUS METHYLENE BLUE BY Ni/Ti LAYERED DOUBLE HYDROXIDE

Visible light responsive Ni/Ti layered double hydroxide (LDH) was synthesized by a single step hydrothermal route using commercially available Ni(NO3)2.6H2O, TiCl4 and urea which exhibited significant UV-visible absorption with a much narrower band gap (2.69 eV) that contributed significantly to the degradation of methylene blue under visible light. X-ray diffraction, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and N2 adsorption at 77 K were also carried out to investigate the structure and surface area of the sample. The photocatalytic degradation of aqueous methylene blue (MB) was observed due to the narrow band gap accompanied by comparatively high surface area. The photocatalytic activity improved in alkaline media particularly at pH 11 (catalyst dose 0.075 gL-1, 1 x 10-6 M MB). The catalytic activity was found to be higher than commercial catalysts like ZnO, ZnS, TiO2 and Degussa P25. Thus, this work demonstrated significantly photocatalytic properties of the Ni/Ti LDH in the field of environmental wastewater treatment

Unravelling depositional setting, age and provenance of the Simlipal volcano-sedimentary complex, Singhbhum craton: Evidence for Hadean crust and Mesoarchean marginal marine sedimentation

The Singhbhum craton of eastern India preserves an extensive record of basin formation spanning the Paleoarchean to Neoarchean. Although spatially extensive and well exposed, the absolute age, depositional environment, and regional correlations of many of the purportedly Archean basins of this craton remain poorly resolved. We present a detailed lithostratigraphic analysis of siliciclastic strata in the (lower) Simlipal volcano-sedimentary succession and report the first detrital zircon U-Pb ages from this succession. The studied section is dominated by fine- to medium-grained, quartz-rich sandstones, which preserve herringbone stratification, tidal bundles, soft sediment deformation structures along with ubiquitous trough cross-stratification. Petrographic study confirms these sandstones as quartz arenites and reveal their high textural and mineralogical maturity. These features are consistent with deposition of the lower siliciclastic succession of the Simlipal volcano-sedimentary complex within a tidally-influenced marginal marine setting. The new detrital zircon data support a ~3.08 Ga maximum depositional age for the succession and reveal a provenance with age peaks at ca. 3.55–3.45 Ga, 3.38–3.24 Ga, and 3.10–3.08 Ga. These ages likely correspond to local basement sources including the Older Metamorphic Tonalite Gneisses, the Singhbhum Granitoid Complex, and the Mayurbhanj Granite Suite. Two detrital zircons from our dataset have concordant ages of ~4.02 Ga and ~4.03 Ga. They represent the first Hadean detrital zircons recovered from any Archean strata in the Singhbhum craton, documenting the involvement of Hadean crust in the early development of the craton. The detrital zircons show prominent Pb-loss at ~1.2–1.0 Ga that exemplifies the tectonothermal imprint of a late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic orogeny (likely related to the assembly of Rodinia) on the Singhbhum craton. Our findings further support the interpretation that the lower siliciclastic strata in the Simlipal succession are the lateral facies equivalents of alluvial fan deposits at the base of the Dhanjori Formation, exposed to the north

Genetic Association and Gene-Gene Interaction Reveal Genetic Variations in ADH1B, GSTM1 and MnSOD Independently Confer Risk to Alcoholic Liver Diseases in India

<div><p>Genetic susceptibility is an important modifier of clinical outcome and natural history of progression in Alcoholic liver disease (ALD). While the significance of ethnicity in this evolution is very clear, subtle inter-individual genetic variant(s) might be important and thus we investigated those in an Indian population. Fourteen markers were genotyped within two alcohol metabolism genes [Alcohol dehydrogenase (<i>ADH</i>) gene clusters (<i>ADH1B</i> and <i>ADH1C</i>) and Aldehyde dehydrogenase (<i>ALDH2</i>)], one microsomal ethanol oxidizing enzyme cytochrome p450 (<i>CYP2E1</i>) and three oxidative stress response (OSR) genes (<i>MnSOD</i>, <i>GSTT1</i> and <i>GSTM1</i>) among 490 Bengali individuals (322 ALD and 168 control) from Eastern and North-Eastern India and validation was performed in a new cohort of 150 Bengali patients including 100 ALD and 50 advanced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Out of 14 genetic variants, carriage of 5 genotypes (rs2066701CC in <i>ADH1B</i>, rs1693425TT in <i>ADH1C</i>, rs4880TT in <i>MnSOD</i> and <i>GSTT1</i>/<i>GSTM1</i> null, p-value <0.05) were noted significantly higher among ALD patients while inter or intra group gene-gene interaction analysis revealed that addition of risk genotype of any OSR gene enhanced the possibility of ALD synergistically. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed independent association of rs2066701CC, rs4880TT and <i>GSTM1</i> null genotype with ALD while lower frequencies of those genotypes in advanced NASH patients further confirmed their causal relation to ALD. Thus these findings suggest that the three variants of <i>ADH1C</i>, <i>MnSOD</i> and <i>GSTM1</i> can be used to identify individuals who are at high risk to develop ALD and may be helpful in proper management of Indian alcoholics.</p></div

Determination of risk factors associated with disease stages.

<p>Risk genotypes were validated in steatohepatitis (with fibrosis/ compensated cirrhosis) and decompensated chronic liver disease (DCLD) stages.</p

Distribution pattern of prevalent genotypes in ALC and ALD.

<p>(A) Risk genotypes at polymorphic loci of <i>ADH1B</i>, <i>ADH1C</i>, <i>MnSOD</i>, <i>GSTT1</i> and <i>GSTM1</i> assocaited with ALD and (B) Combination of risk genotypes exhibit significant gene-gene interaction in ALD. p<0.05 was considered as significant.</p

Demographic, biochemical and clinical features of the study population.

<p>Demographic, biochemical and clinical features of the study population.</p

Multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the possible risk factors for development of Alcoholic liver diseases.

<p>Multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the possible risk factors for development of Alcoholic liver diseases.</p