The Impact of Eco-Farmed Vegetables in Curing Attention Spectral Disorders - A Reprot on the New Trend

The Impact of Eco-Farmed Vegetables in Curing Attention Spectral  Disorders - A Reprot on the New Tren

Evaluation study of hybrid fibre reinforced concrete using waste foundry sand and vermiculite

In this work, leftover foundry sand and vermiculite were used as partial replacements for fine and coarse aggregates in hybrid fibre reinforced concrete (HFRC). The study also concentrated on HFRC mix percentage optimization to achieve desired attributes. By creating multiple HFRC mixtures with varied ratios of used foundry sand and vermiculite. The mechanical characteristics of the HFRC were assessed. Tests on the HFRC’s permeability, water absorption, and chloride ion penetration were used to evaluate its durability. In comparison to ordinary concrete, the study shows that adding foundry sand and vermiculite to HFRC increased its mechanical and durability attributes. It was discovered that HFRC has stronger compressive, splitting tensile, and flexural strengths than regular concrete. In comparison to conventional concrete, HFRC also showed less water absorption, permeability, and chloride ion penetration. The research also determined the HFRC mix ratio that produced the maximum flexural strength, splitting tensile strength, and compressive strength. Vermiculite made up 10% of the mix’s coarse aggregate replacement, while discarded foundry sand made up 20% of the mix’s fine aggregate replacement. Sustainable development now requires that waste materials be used in building. This study uses waste foundry sand (WFS) and vermiculite to assess the mechanical properties

NEW CLASSIFICATION AND COLOUR CODE DEVELOPMENT FOR AN EFFICIENT MEDICAL WASTE SEGREGATION

Medical waste poses serious threat to the environmental health without comprehensive guidelines and efficient management as it contains highly toxic chemicals, pathogenic viruses and bacteria. Therefore, proper handling of medical waste with specialised treatment from its source to final disposal has been a primary concern among medical institute, public and private agencies. The existing medical waste classification in many countries does not contain clear and appropriate segregation, which has created confusion among the medical staff in handling medical waste.  It is pertinent to mention that, World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance recommends different countries to conduct assessments prior to any decision-making process and improve their own guidelines incorporated with recent technologies. Therefore, the objectives of this research are: 1) to develop a new classification of medical wastes by identifying the gaps in the current classes and 2) to suggest colour code for the medical waste segregation that is adopted from the WHO's colour code with few amendments as per the recent technological development. Due to the challenge in managing medical waste, there is an urgent need in developing and adopting comprehensive medical waste segregation classification to separate the medical waste at the source itself. The methodology of classification is aimed at applying a source separation practiced by the medical personnel on the spot and given them awareness on the segregation process. The proposed new classification of medical waste is based on Malaysia's Scheduled Waste Regulations together with European Waste Code. By extracting the best classification from these two regulations and by overcoming the lacuna in them, a new classification is developed for current use. The developed medical waste classification and its colour codes must provide a better segregation and achieve cost saving at waste disposal. The current methods of classification could be extended to research on application of such classification to other parts of the world

Phytochemistry and pharmacological activities of the genus Rhynchosia: a comprehensive review

Main conclusion: The genus Rhynchosia is a rich source of natural compounds especially flavonoids and prenylated isoflavonoids. Further experimental studies on Rhynchosia members may be result new and novel secondary metabolites with potent biological activities. Abstract: Traditionally, medicinal plants have played a significant role on human life since ancient days. At present, natural compounds are the major source for the modern drug discovery owing to their therapeutic selectivity, minutest of side effects, inexpensive source and serve as lead molecules for the discovery of new drugs. Rhynchosia species (Fabaceae) are extensively circulated throughout the tropical and subtropical areas around the world. A few plants of this genus were used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various ailments such as antibacterial, antidiabetic, abortifacients, healing of wounds, hepatoprotective, remedial of boils, rheumatic pains and skin infections. The present review compiles traditional uses, isolated chemical compounds and pharmacological activities of Rhynchosia species. So far, in total, seventy-seven compounds were isolated from the genus Rhynchosia, including flavonoids, isoflavonoids, flavan-3-ols, xanthones, biphenyls, simple polyphenols and sterols. It is interesting to note that the genus Rhynchosia is a rich source of C-glycosylflavonoids and prenylated isoflavonoids. Further, phytochemical and pharmacological studies on this genus are required since only few species have been investigated so far. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

In silico, in vitro antioxidant and density functional theory based structure activity relationship studies of plant polyphenolics as prominent natural antioxidants

In the present study, different extracts of stem bark of Shorea tumbuggaia and roots of Syzygium alternifolium were screened for total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and in vitro DPPH radical scavenging activity to isolate the natural antioxidants. The bioassay-guided fraction of stem bark of Shorea tumbuggaia yielded three compounds, piceatannol (ST-1), resveratrol-12-C-β-D-glucopyranoside (ST-2) and hopeaphenol (ST-3). Similarly, a systematic phytochemical examination of extracts of Syzygium alternifolium roots had resulted five compounds, 5,7,8,5′-tetramethoxy-3′,4′-methylenedioxyflavone (SA-1), 5-hydroxy-4′,7-dimethoxy-6,8-di-C-methylflavone (SA-2), quercetin 7-methylether (SA-3), kaempferol 7,4′-dimethylether 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (SA-4) and taxifolin 3-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (SA-5). Structures of the isolates were established using UV, IR, Mass, 1H and 13C NMR spectral studies. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, Molecular docking and Lipinski rule of five were conducted to explored the antioxidant activity of isolated compounds. SA-3 (37.52 µg/mL) and ST-1 (42.43 µg/mL) showed highest IC50 values compared to the Ascorbic acid (45.97 µg/mL) and have highest electron affinities (EA eV) along with smallest HOMO-LUMO energy gap. Molecular docking and binding affinity studies with NADPH and SPSB2 proteins, revealed the prominent antioxidant activity of SA-3 and ST-1 with molecular interaction besides promising solvation energies. Hence, the two compounds maybe useful for the treatment of oxidative damage related diseases. © 2020University Grants Commission, UGCThe Author AR is thankful to the Ural Federal University, Russia for providing laboratory facilities. The Author DG was grateful to the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for financial assistance under UGC-MRP programme

Assessment on facile Diels–Alder approach of α-pyrone and terpenoquinone for the expedient synthesis of various natural scaffolds

The development of highly facile synthetic procedures for the expedient synthesis of complex natural molecules is always in demand. As this aspect, the Diels–Alder reaction (DAR) has a versatile approach to the synthesis of complex natural compounds and highly regio-/stereoselcetive heterocyclic scaffolds. Additionally, α-pyrone and terpenoquinone are two versatile key intermediates that are prevalent in various bioactive natural compounds for instance, (±)-crinine, (±)-joubertinamine, (±)-pancratistatin, (−)-cyclozonarone, and 8-ephipuupehedione, etc. Hence, the current review summarizes the Diels–Alder reaction application of α-pyrone and terpenoquinone to the constructive synthesis of various natural products over the past two decades (2001–2021). Equally, it serves as a stencil for the invention and development of new synthetic strategies for high-complex molecular structured natural and heterocyclic molecules. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2022, The Author(s).Russian Science Foundation, RSF; Council on grants of the President of the Russian Federation: 21-13-00304, HШ-2700.2020.3This work was financially supported by the Grants Council of the President of the Russian Federation (# HШ-2700.2020.3) and Russian Scientific Foundation (Grant # 21-13-00304).Council on grants of the President of the Russian Federation, HШ-2700.2020.3, Zyryanov Grigory V., Российский Фонд Фундаментальных Исследований (РФФИ), Grant # 21-13-00304, Zyryanov Grigory V

Correlation between deep-level defects and functional properties of β-(SnxGa1-x)2O3 on Si photodetectors

Heterogeneous integration of β-(SnxGa1-x)2O3 (TGO) UV-C photodetectors on silicon substrates by molecular beam epitaxy is demonstrated. Multimodal electron microscopy and spectroscopy techniques reveal a direct correlation between structural, compositional and optical properties of the TGO and the functional properties of the photodetectors. Wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results accurately determine the Sn concentrations (x) in the region of 0.020, and room temperature cathodoluminescence (CL) hyperspectral imaging shows changes in CL emission intensity in the TGO compared with a Ga2O3 sample with no Sn. Alloying Ga2O3 with Sn is shown to quench the red emission and enhance the blue emission. The increase in blue emission corresponds to the rise in VGa-related deep acceptors responsible for the high gain observed in the TGO detectors. A Ga2O3 nucleation layer is shown to improve the TGO surface quality and give better device properties compared to TGO grown directly onto the Si substrate, including a higher specific detectivity on the order of 1012 Jones

Role of defects in ultra-high gain in fast planar tin gallium oxide UV-C photodetector by MBE

We report ultra-high responsivity of epitaxial (SnxGa1-x)2O3 (TGO) Schottky UV-C photodetectors and experimentally identified the source of gain as deep-level defects, supported by first principles calculations. Epitaxial TGO films were grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on (-201) oriented n-type β-Ga2O3 substrates. Fabricated vertical Schottky devices exhibited peak responsivities as high as 3.5×104 A/W at -5V applied bias under 250nm illumination with sharp cutoff shorter than 280nm and fast rise/fall time in milliseconds order. Hyperspectral imaging cathodoluminescence (CL) spectra were examined to find the mid-bandgap defects, the source of this high gain. Irrespective of different tin mole fractions, the TGO epilayer exhibited extra CL peaks at the green band (2.20 eV) not seen in β-Ga2O3 along with enhancement of the blue emission-band (2.64 eV) and suppression of the UV emission-band. Based on hybrid functional calculations of the optical emission expected for defects involving Sn in β-Ga2O3, VGa–Sn complexes are proposed as potential defect origins of the observed green and blue emission-bands. Such complexes behave as acceptors that can efficiently trap photogenerated holes and are predicted to be predominantly responsible for the ultra-high photoconductive gain in the Sn-alloyed Ga2O3 devices by means of thermionic emission and electron tunneling. Regenerating the VGa–Sn defect complexes by optimizing the growth techniques, we have demonstrated a planar Schottky UV-C photodetector of the highest peak responsivity

The Type I NADH Dehydrogenase of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Counters Phagosomal NOX2 Activity to Inhibit TNF-α-Mediated Host Cell Apoptosis

The capacity of infected cells to undergo apoptosis upon insult with a pathogen is an ancient innate immune defense mechanism. Consequently, the ability of persisting, intracellular pathogens such as the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) to inhibit infection-induced apoptosis of macrophages is important for virulence. The nuoG gene of Mtb, which encodes the NuoG subunit of the type I NADH dehydrogenase, NDH-1, is important in Mtb-mediated inhibition of host macrophage apoptosis, but the molecular mechanism of this host pathogen interaction remains elusive. Here we show that the apoptogenic phenotype of MtbΔnuoG was significantly reduced in human macrophages treated with caspase-3 and -8 inhibitors, TNF-α-neutralizing antibodies, and also after infection of murine TNF−/− macrophages. Interestingly, incubation of macrophages with inhibitors of reactive oxygen species (ROS) reduced not only the apoptosis induced by the nuoG mutant, but also its capacity to increase macrophage TNF-α secretion. The MtbΔnuoG phagosomes showed increased ROS levels compared to Mtb phagosomes in primary murine and human alveolar macrophages. The increase in MtbΔnuoG induced ROS and apoptosis was abolished in NOX-2 deficient (gp91−/−) macrophages. These results suggest that Mtb, via a NuoG-dependent mechanism, can neutralize NOX2-derived ROS in order to inhibit TNF-α-mediated host cell apoptosis. Consistently, an Mtb mutant deficient in secreted catalase induced increases in phagosomal ROS and host cell apoptosis, both of which were dependent upon macrophage NOX-2 activity. In conclusion, these results serendipitously reveal a novel connection between NOX2 activity, phagosomal ROS, and TNF-α signaling during infection-induced apoptosis in macrophages. Furthermore, our study reveals a novel function of NOX2 activity in innate immunity beyond the initial respiratory burst, which is the sensing of persistent intracellular pathogens and subsequent induction of host cell apoptosis as a second line of defense