Biocompatible nano-materials synthesis,characterisations and their applications

The major setback in the biological application of nanomaterials is their bio-compatibility. The quests of nano sized materials with such property have always been a challenge. In this report, synthesis and characterizations of such nanomaterials have been discussed. Also, green synthesis of gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) by using a simple, faster, low-cost and eco-friendly technique have been carried out following the reported method. The biological application of the synthesised nanomaterials is still underway. We foresee to establish their applications in several biomedical applications, such as vehicle for targeted and controlled drug delivery, gene therapy, MRI contrast agents et

Development of Magneto-Organogel and Study of Gold Nanoparticles Growth

The current research project work basically deals with two areas- iron oxide nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles. Synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles was carried out using co-precipitation method and then oleylamine functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by thermal decomposition method. Oleylamine capping not only prevented the aggregation of nanoparticles but also made the nanoparticles soluble in organic mediums such as hexane; chloroform etc. in order to make the nanoparticles suitable for organogel formation. We have reported two types of magneto-organogels; one based on oleic acid while the other based on soybean oil and their characterization was carried out using XRD, FESEM, FTIR and microscopic analysis. The release kinetics studies and preliminary impedance analysis projects the magneto-organogels as potential agents for controlled drug delivery systems. Study on the growth of gold nanoparticles was carried out separately using hydroquinone; green tea and chromium chloride respectively. We have reported the synthesis of gold nanoparticles of different shapes and sizes which was confirmed by different characterization techniques such as UV-visible, XRD, FESEM, DLS and Zeta potential analysi

HybridGuard: A Principal-based Permission and Fine-Grained Policy Enforcement Framework for Web-based Mobile Applications

Web-based or hybrid mobile applications (apps) are widely used and supported by various modern hybrid app development frameworks. In this architecture, any JavaScript code, local or remote, can access available APIs, including JavaScript bridges provided by the hybrid framework, to access device resources. This JavaScript inclusion capability is dangerous, since there is no mechanism to determine the origin of the code to control access, and any JavaScript code running in the mobile app can access the device resources through the exposed APIs. Previous solutions are either limited to a particular platform (e.g., Android) or a specific hybrid framework (e.g., Cordova) or only protect the device resources and disregard the sensitive elements in the web environment. Moreover, most of the solutions require the modification of the base platform. In this paper, we present HybridGuard, a novel policy enforcement framework that can enforce principal-based, stateful policies, on multiple origins without modifying the hybrid frameworks or mobile platforms. In HybridGuard, hybrid app developers can specify principal-based permissions, and define fine-grained, and stateful policies that can mitigate a significant class of attacks caused by potentially malicious JavaScript code included from third-party domains, including ads running inside the app. HybridGuard also provides a mechanism and policy patterns for app developers to specify fine-grained policies for multiple principals. HybridGuard is implemented in JavaScript, therefore, it can be easily adapted for other hybrid frameworks or mobile platforms without modification of these frameworks or platforms. We present attack scenarios and report experimental results to demonstrate how HybridGuard can thwart attacks against hybrid mobile apps

Economic evaluation of nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventions to increase maternal and child dietary diversity and nutritional status in rural Odisha, India

BACKGROUND: Economic evaluations of nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions are scarce, limiting assessment of their potential affordability and scalability. OBJECTIVE: We conducted cost-consequence analyses of three participatory video-based interventions of fortnightly women's group meetings using: 1) NSA videos; 2) NSA and nutrition-specific videos; or 3) NSA videos with a nutrition-specific Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) cycle. METHODS: Interventions were tested in a 32-month, four-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial, UPAVAN, in Keonjhar district, Odisha, India. Impacts were evaluated in children aged 0-23 months and their mothers. We estimated program costs using data collected prospectively from expenditure records of implementing and technical partners, and societal costs using expenditure assessment of households with a child aged 0-23 months and key informant interviews. Costs were adjusted for inflation, discounted, and converted to 2019 US${\$}$. RESULTS: Total program costs of each intervention ranged from US${\$}$272,121 to US${\$}$386,907. Program costs per pregnant woman or mother of a child aged 0-23 months were US${\$}$62 for NSA videos, US${\$}$84 for NSA and nutrition-specific videos, and US${\$}$78 for NSA videos with PLA (societal costs: US${\$}$125, US${\$}$143, and US${\$}$122 respectively). Substantial shares of total costs constituted developing and delivering the videos and PLA (52-69%) and quality assurance (25-41%). Relative to control, children's minimum dietary diversity was higher in the intervention incorporating nutrition-specific videos (adjusted relative risk [95% CI] 1.19 [1.03, 1.37]) and PLA (1.27 [1.11, 1.46]). Relative to control, mothers' minimum dietary diversity was higher in NSA video (1.21 [1.01, 1.45]), and NSA with PLA (1.30 [1.10, 1.53]) interventions. CONCLUSION: NSA videos with PLA can increase both maternal and child dietary diversity and has the lowest cost per unit increase in diet diversity. Building on investments made in developing UPAVAN, cost-efficiency at scale could be increased with less intensive monitoring, reduced start-up costs, and integration within existing government programs.Trial registration: ISRCTN65922679

Effect of nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions with participatory videos and women's group meetings on maternal and child nutritional outcomes in rural Odisha, India (UPAVAN trial): a four-arm, observer-blind, cluster-randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Almost a quarter of the world's undernourished people live in India. We tested the effects of three nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions on maternal and child nutrition in India. METHODS: We did a parallel, four-arm, observer-blind, cluster-randomised trial in Keonjhar district, Odisha, India. A cluster was one or more villages with a combined minimum population of 800 residents. The clusters were allocated 1:1:1:1 to a control group or an intervention group of fortnightly women's groups meetings and household visits over 32 months using: NSA videos (AGRI group); NSA and nutrition-specific videos (AGRI-NUT group); or NSA videos and a nutrition-specific participatory learning and action (PLA) cycle meetings and videos (AGRI-NUT+PLA group). Primary outcomes were the proportion of children aged 6-23 months consuming at least four of seven food groups the previous day and mean maternal body-mass index (BMI). Secondary outcomes were proportion of mothers consuming at least five of ten food groups and child wasting (proportion of children with weight-for-height Z score SD <-2). Outcomes were assessed in children and mothers through cross-sectional surveys at baseline and at endline, 36 months later. Analyses were by intention to treat. Participants and intervention facilitators were not blinded to allocation; the research team were. This trial is registered at ISRCTN, ISRCTN65922679. FINDINGS: 148 of 162 clusters assessed for eligibility were enrolled and randomly allocated to trial groups (37 clusters per group). Baseline surveys took place from Nov 24, 2016, to Jan 24, 2017; clusters were randomised from December, 2016, to January, 2017; and interventions were implemented from March 20, 2017, to Oct 31, 2019, and endline surveys done from Nov 19, 2019, to Jan 12, 2020, in an average of 32 households per cluster. All clusters were included in the analyses. There was an increase in the proportion of children consuming at least four of seven food groups in the AGRI-NUT (adjusted relative risk [RR] 1·19, 95% CI 1·03 to 1·37, p=0·02) and AGRI-NUT+PLA (1·27, 1·11 to 1·46, p=0·001) groups, but not AGRI (1·06, 0·91 to 1·23, p=0·44), compared with the control group. We found no effects on mean maternal BMI (adjusted mean differences vs control, AGRI -0·05, -0·34 to 0·24; AGRI-NUT 0·04, -0·26 to 0·33; AGRI-NUT+PLA -0·03, -0·3 to 0·23). An increase in the proportion of mothers consuming at least five of ten food groups was seen in the AGRI (adjusted RR 1·21, 1·01 to 1·45) and AGRI-NUT+PLA (1·30, 1·10 to 1·53) groups compared with the control group, but not in AGRI-NUT (1·16, 0·98 to 1·38). We found no effects on child wasting (adjusted RR vs control, AGRI 0·95, 0·73 to 1·24; AGRI-NUT 0·96, 0·72 to 1·29; AGRI-NUT+PLA 0·96, 0·73 to 1·26). INTERPRETATION: Women's groups using combinations of NSA videos, nutrition-specific videos, and PLA cycle meetings improved maternal and child diet quality in rural Odisha, India. These components have been implemented separately in several low-income settings; effects could be increased by scaling up together. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK AID from the UK Government, and US Agency for International Development

Legal Protection of Trade Secrets: Towards a Codified Regim

397-408Trade secrets protection has acquired increased significance in the present scenario especially in view of the opening up of the world market and enhanced competition worldwide. Moreover, the fact that trade secret protection is increasingly being preferred over patent protection as a method for protecting undisclosed information has added to its significance. This paper sketches the broad outline of the trade secret protection law that exists in India and highlights its inadequacy especially in view of the legal regime existing in other countries such as the US. The paper also focuses on the ambiguity of the common law remedy that is available for infringement of trade secrets which is manifested in the inconsistent line of principles laid down by the courts. It also deals with India’s obligation under TRIPS to legislate on the question of ‘undisclosed information’. The article attempts to underline the need to enforce a codified regime by analysing the law as it exists in various other countries

Phenothiazines and phenoxazines: as electron transfer mediators for ferritin iron release

Intracellular ferritin stores iron as ferrihydrite and releases it for various cellular metabolic activities. The reductive approach, one of the possible mechanisms of iron mobilization from ferritin nanocages, requires electron transfer (ET) from reducing agent(s) to the protein encapsulated iron. In vitro, the rate of ET from the physiological reducing agent, NADH, to mineralized ferritin is very slow resulting in a smaller amount of iron release. Therefore, medically relevant phenothiazine (TH/MB/MG/TDB) and phenoxazine (BCB/CRV/NB) dyes were used as ET mediators to facilitate the electron relay and to evaluate their iron releasing ability from ferritin. These dyes have earlier been exploited as ET mediators during electrocatalysis and in the treatment of methemoglobinemia. With the exception of MG, the midpoint potentials (E-1/2) and NADH oxidizing abilities of these dyes dictated by their structure and the reaction conditions along with the dye-ferritin interaction govern the kinetics of reductive iron mobilization. A greater amount of iron release was observed in the case of TH, BCB and CRV. In comparison to neutral pH, acidic pH altered E-1/2 and protein conformation leading to enhanced iron mobilization, whereas dissolved O-2 and the photosensitizing effect of dyes were found to have a negligible impact. In analogy to in vitro, the acidic environment of the lysosome may bring about similar changes in the reducing agents/dye mediators/ferritin to facilitate the iron release process in vivo. Following Marcus theory, our current observations suggest that the dyes with E-1/2 values well separated from those of the reducing agents and ferritin's mineral core can be exploited to facilitate iron release during iron overload conditions

Gene expression profiling of spontaneously occurring canine mammary tumours: Insight into gene networks and pathways linked to cancer pathogenesis.

Spontaneously occurring canine mammary tumours (CMTs) are the most common neoplasms of unspayed female dogs leading to thrice higher mortality rates than human breast cancer. These are also attractive models for human breast cancer studies owing to clinical and molecular similarities. Thus, they are important candidates for biomarker studies and understanding cancer pathobiology. The study was designed to explore underlying molecular networks and pathways in CMTs for deciphering new prognostic factors and therapeutic targets. To gain an insight into various pathways and networks associated with the development and pathogenesis of CMTs, comparative cDNA microarray expression profiling was performed using CMT tissues and healthy mammary gland tissues. Upon analysis, 1700 and 1287 differentially expressed genes (DEGs, P ≤ 0.05) were identified in malignant and benign tissues, respectively. DEGs identified from microarray analysis were further annotated using the Ingenuity Systems Pathway Analysis (IPA) tool for detection of deregulated canonical pathways, upstream regulators, and networks associated with malignant, as well as, benign disease. Top scoring key networks in benign and malignant mammary tumours were having central nodes of VEGF and BUB1B, respectively. Cyclins & cell cycle regulation and TREM1 signalling were amongst the top activated canonical pathways in CMTs. Other cancer related significant pathways like apoptosis signalling, dendritic cell maturation, DNA recombination and repair, Wnt/β-catenin signalling, etc. were also found to be altered. Furthermore, seven proteins (ANXA2, APOCII, CDK6, GATC, GDI2, GNAQ and MYH9) highly up-regulated in malignant tissues were identified by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) and MALDI-TOF PMF studies which were in concordance with microarray data. Thus, the study has uncovered ample number of candidate genes associated with CMTs which need to be further validated as therapeutic targets and prognostic markers