Synthesis and characterization of cellulose/hydroxyapatite based dental restorative composites

The aim of this study was anin-situsynthesis of hydroxyapatite (HA) on cellulose fibers to be used as a new reinforcing agent for dental restorations. The microwave irradiation method was used for synthesis and the materials were characterized with analytical techniques. The prepared dental resin composites were mechanically tested by a universal testing machine and electrodynamic fatigue testing system. FTIR, XRD, SEM/EDS analysis confirmed the successful synthesis of HA on cellulose fibers. The Alamar blue biocompatibility assay showed more than 90% cell viability for the prepared cellulose/HA. The mechanical properties of resin composites improved with cellulose content from 30 wt.% to 50 wt.% in the polymer matrix. Substantially, increasing the cellulose/HA content from 40% to 50% improved the mechanical properties. The results suggested that HA could be successfully synthesized on cellulose fibers using microwave irradiation and contributed to improving the mechanical properties of dental resin composites

P A DEVELOPMENT OF SIZE-BIASED MUKHERJEE-ISLAM DISTRIBUTION

Abstract: In the present article, we derived a new Size-biased distribution from MukherjeeIslam distribution. Flexibility of the model is derived by its moments, moment generating function (mgf) and characteristic function. Other important properties like Fisher's information matrix and Shannon's entropy are also derived which gives the measure of uncertainty in the system. Maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and Baye's estimator of size-biased distribution are obtained and in the last, test of size biasedness is done

Metallothionein: Potential therapeutic target for osteosarcoma

The most aggressive and deadliest form of cancer for adolescence and young adults is osteosarcoma. Current treatment of osteosarcoma mainly consists of chemotherapy along with surgery has dramatically improved survival rate. However unfortunately, the survival-rate remained unchanged in its metastatic stages that might be due to chemoresistance against the treatment of osteosarcoma. Till date, in clinical applications, there is no precise diagnostic/prognostic marker of osteosarcoma. Metallothioneins are thiol rich intracellular proteins, which binds to several cytotoxic agents. Metallothionein isoforms participate actively in numerous physiological and patho-physiological processes like proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and the heavy metals detoxification. There are many evidences in literature which are suggestive of participation of these proteins in carcinogenesis and antitumor therapy. Furthermore, a number of studies also reveal the important role of metallothioneins in tumor cell defense mechanism against the radiotherapy by preventing apoptosis. Also in osteosarcoma patients in comparison to healthy controls, the higher level of metallothioneins levels further indicates their significant role. Moreover higher level of metallothionein-2A in chemotherapy resistance patients with osteosarcoma further becomes potential supportive evidence. According to the information available in the literature, one may accomplish that metallothioneins has a role in osteosarcoma progression and chemoresistance and may become a potential diagnostic marker as well as a reliable therapeutic target. However, further multicentric studies are needed in support. A better knowledge of the communication among metallothioneins in osteosarcoma as well as with chemotherapeutic agents is necessity and may exposed new perspectives in cancer treatment. Keywords: Osteosarcoma, Metallothionein, Biomarkers, Chemoresistanc

Heat transfer analysis of temperature dependent viscosity Johnson–Segalman fluid film flow on a vertical heated belt

Understanding the behaviour of temperature dependent viscosity thin film flows on a vertically upward moving heated belt is crucial for improving predictive models in various engineering applications, such as in coating and lubrication processes. This paper presents the heat transfer analysis of temperature-dependent viscosity fluid flow on a vertical upward moving heated belt. The formulated coupled system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is solved using the Adomian decomposition method. The study investigates the impact of flow controlling parameters: Stokes number St, Brinkmann number Br, variable viscosity parameter β, Weissenberg number We, effective viscosity ϕ and slip parameter e is observed on velocity, temperature, and stationary points. It is perceived that the temperature of the fluid decreases with the increase of St, Br, β, and ϕ, while it increases with the increase of We and e. Positions of stationary points relocate towards the heated belt surface by the increment of St, Br, β, and ϕ. On the other hand, their positions relocate away from the heated belt surface by the increment of We and e. The analysis also highlights the influence of heat generated by viscous dissipation and heat transported by thermal diffusion on the velocity, temperature, and stationary points. Moreover, the flow variables discussed for the temperature dependent viscosity Johnson–Segalman fluid are also discussed for the temperature dependent viscosity Newtonian fluid, and an analogy between both is provided

Role of alpha-crystallin, early-secreted antigenic target 6-kDa protein and culture filtrate protein 10 as novel diagnostic markers in osteoarticular tuberculosis

Osteoarticular tuberculosis constitutes about 3% of all tuberculosis cases. Early and accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis is a challenging problem especially in the case of osteoarticular tuberculosis owing to the lower number of bacilli. However, an accurate and timely diagnosis of the disease results in an improved efficacy of the given treatment. Besides the limitations of conventional methods, nowadays molecular diagnostic techniques have emerged as a major breakthrough for the early diagnosis of tuberculosis with high sensitivity and specificity. Alpha-crystallin is a dominantly expressed protein responsible for the long viability of the pathogen during the latent phase under certain stress conditions such as hypoxia and nitric oxide stress. Two other proteins—early secreted antigenic target-6 and culture filtrate protein-10—show high expression in the active infective phase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this article, we focus on the different proteins expressed dominantly in latent/active tuberculosis, and which may be further used as prognostic biomarkers for diagnosing tuberculosis, both in latent and active phases

On modeling the log-returns of Bitcoin and Ethereum prices against the USA Dollar

The study and investigation of the behavior of monetary phenomena is an interesting subject for actuaries and practitioners. In the recent age and development in the monetary and financial phenomena, cryptocurrency has gained much attention from actuaries. Over the past decade, several research studies have emerged on modeling and forecasting cryptocurrency exchange rates. This paper also contributes to the modeling of cryptocurrency exchange rates using a new version of the Logistic distribution, namely, a new cotangent-Logistic distribution. The mathematical properties and estimators of the new cotangent-logistic distribution's parameters are obtained. We illustrate the new cotangent-Logistic distribution using two financial data sets representing the log-returns of the Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. We compare the new cotangent-Logistic distribution with the baseline Logistic distribution and its modified version. Using the p-value and three other statistical tests, we show that the new cotangent-Logistic distribution repeatedly provides the optimal fit to cryptocurrency exchange rates