Corrosion behaviour of rapidly solidified lead-aluminium alloys for battery grids

Rapidly solidified (RS) Pb-Al alloy in H2SO4 solution at room temperature (30 degrees C) was found to, be more corrosion resistant to that of conventional Pb-Sb alloy. Polarization curves, for RS. and as cast Pb-4Al, Pb-5Sb alloys and Pb, indicated that the critical and passive current densities were lowest in Pb-Al alloys. Further, RS alloy showed more corrosion resistant behaviour than all other alloys and metal under investigation Oxygen evolution reaction potential was not affected by aluminium addition to the lead allo

Cassia auriculata: Aspects of Safety Pharmacology and Drug Interaction

Safety pharmacology studies help in identifying preclinical adverse drug reactions. We carried out routine safety pharmacology with focus on cardiovascular variables and pharmacokinetic herb-drug interaction studies on rats fed with standardized traditional hydro-alcoholic extract and technology-based supercritical extract of Cassia auriculata for 12 weeks. Our studies indicate that both these extracts are pharmacologically safe and did not show any significant adverse reactions at the tested doses. The traditional hydro-alcoholic extract did not show any significant effect on pharmacokinetics; however, the technology-based supercritical extract caused a significant reduction in absorption of metformin. Our results indicate the need to include pharmacokinetic herb-drug interaction studies as evidence for safety especially for technology-based extracts

Pathway-centric analysis of microbial metabolic potential and expression along nutrient and energy gradients in the western Atlantic Ocean

© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Cavaco, M. A., Bhatia, M. P., Hawley, A. K., Torres-Beltran, M., Johnson, W. M., Longnecker, K., Konwar, K., Kujawinski, E. B., & Hallam, S. J. Pathway-centric analysis of microbial metabolic potential and expression along nutrient and energy gradients in the western Atlantic Ocean. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9, (2022): 867310, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.867310.Microbial communities play integral roles in driving nutrient and energy transformations in the ocean, collectively contributing to fundamental biogeochemical cycles. Although it is well known that these communities are stratified within the water column, there remains limited knowledge of how metabolic pathways are distributed and expressed. Here, we investigate pathway distribution and expression patterns from surface (5 m) to deep dark ocean (4000 m) at three stations along a 2765 km transect in the western South Atlantic Ocean. This study is based on new data, consisting of 43 samples for 16S rRNA gene sequencing, 20 samples for metagenomics and 19 samples for metatranscriptomics. Consistent with previous observations, we observed vertical zonation of microbial community structure largely partitioned between light and dark ocean waters. The metabolic pathways inferred from genomic sequence information and gene expression stratified with depth. For example, expression of photosynthetic pathways increased in sunlit waters. Conversely, expression of pathways related to carbon conversion processes, particularly those involving recalcitrant and organic carbon degradation pathways (i.e., oxidation of formaldehyde) increased in dark ocean waters. We also observed correlations between indicator taxa for specific depths with the selective expression of metabolic pathways. For example, SAR202, prevalent in deep waters, was strongly correlated with expression of the methanol oxidation pathway. From a biogeographic perspective, microbial communities along the transect encoded similar metabolic potential with some latitudinal stratification in gene expression. For example, at a station influenced by input from the Amazon River, expression of pathways related to oxidative stress was increased. Finally, when pairing distinct correlations between specific particulate metabolites (e.g., DMSP, AMP and MTA) and both the taxonomic microbial community and metatranscriptomic pathways across depth and space, we were able to observe how changes in the marine metabolite pool may be influenced by microbial function and vice versa. Taken together, these results indicate that marine microbial communities encode a core repertoire of widely distributed metabolic pathways that are differentially regulated along nutrient and energy gradients. Such pathway distribution patterns are consistent with robustness in microbial food webs and indicate a high degree of functional redundancy.This work was funded by the NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (Grant no. OCE-1154320 to EK and KL) and a small (“Microbial controls on marine organic carbon cycling”) and large (“Marine microbial communities from the Southern Atlantic Ocean transect to study dissolved organic matter and carbon cycling”) community sequencing grants from the Joint Genome Institute (US Department of Energy, Walnut Creek, CA) to SH and MB. MB was supported by an NSERC post-doctoral fellowship and a CIFAR Global Scholars fellowship. MC was supported by a Campus Alberta Innovates Program (CAIP) chair to MB

A preliminary study on perioperative hemostatic effect of spray dried powder of <i>Chromolaena odorata</i> leaf extract

547-555Accidents or surgery often cause internal haemorrhage in liver and arteries which may lead to patient morbidity and mortality. The current hemostatic agents used for treatment like collagen, oxidized cellulose, and chitosan suffer from side effects which include infection, inflammation and even sepsis. In the present study, we studied the spray dried powder (SDP) of the aqueous extract of the leaves of Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M.King & H.Rob., commonly known as Siam weed or Common floss flower and also Christmas bush, for its hemostatic efficacy in two experimental models of surgery. Firstly, the SDP was screened through standard pharmacognostical parameters, and a part of the liver was lacerated in rats and femoral artery was transected in rabbits to assess the blood loss in pre-weighed gauze with and without treatment. In the liver laceration model, an effective blood loss reduction of 54.30 % was observed with oral administration of SDP 7 days prior to surgery. Similarly, application of SDP at the site of artery transection caused 70.36% reduction in blood loss as compared to the control rabbit artery. The results suggest that oral delivery and/or application of SDP of C. odorata by formulating it in a suitable drug delivery tool could minimize perioperative bleeding in hepatic and arterial tissue and improve recovery

A multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex

ABSTRACT We report the generation of a multimodal cell census and atlas of the mammalian primary motor cortex (MOp or M1) as the initial product of the BRAIN Initiative Cell Census Network (BICCN). This was achieved by coordinated large-scale analyses of single-cell transcriptomes, chromatin accessibility, DNA methylomes, spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomes, morphological and electrophysiological properties, and cellular resolution input-output mapping, integrated through cross-modal computational analysis. Together, our results advance the collective knowledge and understanding of brain cell type organization: First, our study reveals a unified molecular genetic landscape of cortical cell types that congruently integrates their transcriptome, open chromatin and DNA methylation maps. Second, cross-species analysis achieves a unified taxonomy of transcriptomic types and their hierarchical organization that are conserved from mouse to marmoset and human. Third, cross-modal analysis provides compelling evidence for the epigenomic, transcriptomic, and gene regulatory basis of neuronal phenotypes such as their physiological and anatomical properties, demonstrating the biological validity and genomic underpinning of neuron types and subtypes. Fourth, in situ single-cell transcriptomics provides a spatially-resolved cell type atlas of the motor cortex. Fifth, integrated transcriptomic, epigenomic and anatomical analyses reveal the correspondence between neural circuits and transcriptomic cell types. We further present an extensive genetic toolset for targeting and fate mapping glutamatergic projection neuron types toward linking their developmental trajectory to their circuit function. Together, our results establish a unified and mechanistic framework of neuronal cell type organization that integrates multi-layered molecular genetic and spatial information with multi-faceted phenotypic properties

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIMICROBIAL, AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF ROOT AND LEAF EXTRACTS OF LEUCAS ASPERA

Objective: The present study was designed to evaluate the phytochemical screening, antimicrobial, and antioxidant activities from the roots and leaves of Leucas aspera. Methods: The phytochemical screening and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis of root and leaf extracts were studied using standard methods. The disk diffusion method was performed to analyze the antimicrobial activity of aqueous extract, methanol extract and hexane extract of root and leaf against to selected bacterial and fungal strains. Antibiotics, streptomycin and nystatin were used as standards for bacteria and fungi, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated by 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and scavenging of H2O2 free radicals. Results: Preliminary phytochemical screening of extracts exhibited the presence of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, steroids flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, alkaloids, tannins, and phlobatannins. Leaf extracts exhibited effective antibacterial and antifungal activities compared with root extracts against all the tested bacteria and fungi. ME of the leaves exhibited highest antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (12.8±0.31 mm), followed by Bacillus subtilis (11.4±0.3 mm), Escherichia coli (9.8±0.21 mm), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7.3±0.29 mm). Leaf extracts of L. aspera showed effective scavenging activity compared with root extracts. ME of the leaves showed maximum scavenging activities of 38.39 and 36.85%, respectively, against DPPH and H2O2 free radicals with half maximal inhibitory concentration values of 136.17 and 142.42 μg/ml. Conclusion: Phytochemical analysis and FTIR spectrum revealed that different plant secondary metabolites particularly alkaloids, terpenoids, and flavonoids could be responsible for antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of L. aspera leaf extracts

Methionine-Enkephalin Induces Hyperglycemia Through Eyestalk Hormones in the Estuarine Crab Scylla serrata

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