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Purpose: Lung cancer is the second most common type of cancer prevalent in men worldwide. The early diagnosis of lung cancer can reduce cancer-related deaths considerably and increase the survival rate for a few years. In recent years, computer-aided detection (CADe) and computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) systems emerged as promising techniques for radiologists for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. An efficient pre-processing technique and accurate segmentation of the lung parenchyma in medical images will reduce false positives, which in turn can considerably improve the specificity of classification of the lung nodules as benign or malignant. Methods: A novel framework for preprocessing lung images and segmentation of the region of interest is proposed in this study. The noise removal in low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) images is performed by discrete wavelet transform with adaptive thresholding (DWTWAT). The segmentation of the lung region is performed by genetic algorithm enhanced K-means clustering (GAK-means) and genetic algorithm enhanced Fuzzy c-means clustering (GAFCM) in LDCT images. The segmentation is followed by lung reconstruction to preserve the juxta-pleural and Pleural tail nodules attached to the lung boundary. Results: The proposed methods were individually evaluated with the commonly used metrics of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy. The novel noise removal technique of DWTWAT and segmentation with GAFCM has achieved a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 99.54%, 99.99%, and 99.54%, respectively. The noise removal technique of DWTWAT for preprocessing and segmentation with GAK-means has achieved sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 99.47%, 99.77%, and 99.26%. Conclusion: The proposed techniques of noise removal and segmentation is a novel combination that showed improved results compared to the existing state-of-the-art method.

Background: Poly ethylene glycol based dicationic acidic ionic liquid catalysts [PEG-DAIL, Cl] have been prepared by mono chloroacetic acid and used as a cost effective alternative to [PEG1000DAIL, HSO3], a sultone based catalyst. Biginelli reaction is found in a large family of biologically active molecules exhibiting a wide range of important pharmacological properties. Synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones has been already reported using wide variety of acid catalysts. Method: Three materials were prepared using different molecular weights of PEG. These catalysts are termed as (i) [PEG600-DAIL, Cl] (ii) [PEG1500-DAIL][Cl] and (iii) [PEG4000-DAIL, Cl]. The synthesized material [PEG-DAIL, Cl] were characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, ESI-MS, DSC and TGA techniques. The products were further confirmed by the GC-MS and NMR techniques. Results: Synthesized material is acidic in nature, which is proved by pH studies. These materials have good thermal stability and wide range of solubility in different solvents. These catalysts explored for test reaction as Biginelli reaction for the synthesis of 3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2(1H)-ones as a acid catalyst under mild reaction conditions. Conclusion: The present method provides yet another series of catalysts for the Biginelli reaction. On comparison of initial rate mmol.min-1 and acidity of the catalyst for the said reaction, [PEG1500-DAIL][Cl] shows better results as compared to other two. The catalyst system was found that reusable up to five cycles without much loss in activity. Separation and reuse of this catalyst is simple and economical.

Background: There are various conventional ways for the synthesis of aromatic ketones but suffer from disadvantages like the use of toxic reagents, stoichiometric reagents producing huge amount of byproducts, thus causing hazard to the environment, whereas homogeneous protocols or the noble metal which support catalytic processes are not economically viable. On this ground, an effort was made to develop new green catalytic protocol to overcome these environmental concerns. The catalytic activity of manganese dioxides prepared by different recipes was investigated for the oxidation of allylic and benzylic alcohols. Methods: MnO2 B sample was prepared by calcinations of manganese nitrate while sample ANMnO2 was prepared by the reduction of potassium permanganate using triethanolamine as a reductant. All the samples were well characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX and TEM techniques. All the prepared catalyst samples along with commercial MnO2 were tested for the oxidation of alcohols using TBHP as a clean oxidant, where % conversion and % selectivity were determined by Gas Chromatography. The products were further confirmed by the GC-MS and NMR techniques. Results: Of all the oxides, nano amorphous manganese dioxide exhibited significant catalytic activity and selectivity for the corresponding carbonyls. Change from bulk to nano structure enhanced the catalytic activity because of its higher surface area and change in Mn3+/ Mn4+ ratio. The nano amorphous MnO2 (ANMnO2)/TBHP in acetonitrile solvent catalytic system was found to be most efficient with substrate compatibility. In mechanistic investigations, it was observed that from the bulk to the nano structure, Mn3+ species content in an oxide increased which may play a crucial role in the activity. It was also confirmed by hydrogen peroxide decomposition studies. The catalyst ANMnO2 was found to be reusable for five consecutive cycles with no significant loss in catalytic activity. Conclusion: In conclusion, change in the catalyst's preparation recipe not only alters the particle size but also affects the ratio of Mn3+ to Mn4+ species on the surface as well as on the bulk and thereby catalytic activity. On comparison of initial rate m-2g of all the catalyst samples for the said reaction, there was no significant difference observed which clearly proved the role of Mn3+ in catalytic activity.

To collect data on public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy, we sent a short electronic survey to accredited and preaccredited pharmacy programs in 2015. We categorized public health collaborations as working or partnering with local and/or state public health departments, local and/or state public health organizations, academic schools or programs of public health, and other public health collaborations. Of 134 schools, 65 responded (49% response rate). Forty-six (71%) responding institutions indicated collaborations with local and/or state public health departments, 34 (52%) with schools or programs of public health, and 24 (37%) with local and/or state public health organizations. Common themes of collaborations included educational programs, community outreach, research, and teaching in areas such as tobacco control, emergency preparedness, chronic disease, drug abuse, immunizations, and medication therapy management. Interdisciplinary public health collaborations with schools of pharmacy provide additional resources for ensuring the health of communities and expose student pharmacists to opportunities to use their training and abilities to affect public health. Examples of these partnerships may stimulate additional ideas for possible collaborations between public health organizations and schools of pharmacy.

Background: Nickel-Boron amorphous alloys (catalysts) of var- ious Ni:B ratio were synthesized and well characterized using XRD, ICP- AES, EDAX and IR spectroscopic technique. Among all the catalysts, Ni:B alloy catalyst with ratio 1:1 was found to effective for catalytic transfer hy- drogenation reaction using hydrazine hydrate as a proton donor. The present work shows the effect of metalloid content and the presence of aniline over CTH of nitrobenzene. The present catalytic protocol was found effective for wide variety of substrates showing its efficacy. Methods: A typical catalytic transfer hydrogenation reaction of nitroaro- matics using hydrazine hydrate was carried out in 2 necked, 25 ml round bottom flask in methanol. The progress of the reaction was monitored by the gas chromatog- raphy and products were further confirmed by GC-MS analysis. Nickel-Boron amorphous alloys (catalysts) were well characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX and ICP-AES analysis. Results: Among various compositions of Ni:B alloy catalysts, 1:1 ratio was found optimum for the CTH of nitrobenzene. It was observed that with increase in amount of nickel, catalytic activity for CTH decreases. Effect of aniline on reaction was evaluated by concentration ver- sus time plot. Considerable induction period was observed in absence of aniline not in case of other bases like NaOH, KOH, Na2CO3, etc confirming role of aniline in CTH reaction. From the Arrhenius plot for the CTH of nitrobenzene, the Ea was found to be 23.636 KJ mol-1. The catalytic protocol was found robust and effective for various substituted nitroaromat.ics Conclusion: Among various compositions obtained from ICP-AES analysis, the Ni:B alloy i.e. Ni62.71 B37.29 found to be the most efficient catalyst for the CTH of nitroaromatics over the other compositions. The catalyst found robust without changing its surface morphology after the reaction confirmed by SEM. Compared to reported catalytic system; this catalytic system is highly active and even worked with very low catalyst loading of 1 wt%. Apart from it we observed induction period for the said reaction and found that the presence of aniline hastens the rate of reaction. The system was widely applicable for the variety of substituted nitroaromatics which makes the system more interesting.

Synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridines viaa four component one pot reaction starting from α,β-unsaturated aldehyde, β-keto ester, amine and alcohol, catalysed by SO42−/CexZr1−xO2is explored. The method has several advantages such as reusability of catalyst, avoidance of a multistep procedure and readily available starting materials. The protocol gives high to moderate yields for structurally diverse amines, β-keto esters and α,β-unsaturated aldehydes. SO42−/CexZr1−xO2(x= 0.02–0.15 mol%) catalysts were prepared and characterized by various analytical techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, TGA-DSC, SEM-EDAX and the total acidity.

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) helps to overcome water from excessive pollution. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) or biological oxygen demand (BOD) is the measure for the wastewater effluents. Up-flow anaerobic filter (UAF) is used for the removal and digestion of organic matter present in wastewater. In this work, the performance of the UAF with cheese-dairy wastewater was considered for modelling the ANN to predict the effluent COD level. The proposed method uses an effective dynamic score normalisation technique with Mahalanobis distance as a preprocessing step. The hybrid particle swarm optimisation (PSO) with spectral projected gradient (SPG2) algorithm selected the relevant features. Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) with Runge-Kutta learning method (RKLM) is used for the prediction of COD effluent. Experiments are conducted on real datasets obtained from cheese-whey wastewater to predict the COD effluent. The experimental results proved that the proposed method achieves better accuracy and execution time. The average accuracy obtained in the proposed method is 92.94.

A series of ALaNb2O7 (A=Cs, Rb, K) layered perovskites were synthesized by solid state method and characterized by XRD and acidity measurements. The catalytic activity of the synthesized perovskites was investigated for the aminolysis of epoxides and the acidity of these perovskites were correlated with their catalytic performance. Of the various perovskites studied, CsLaNb2O7 exhibited good catalytic activity and regioselectivity for the ring opening of epoxides. This is a first example of layered perovskite catalysed ring opening of epoxides that leads to good conversion of epoxides to β-amino alcohols under solvent-free conditions. The perovskite catalysts could be successfully reused with no significant loss in activity.

A simple and environmentally benign synthesis of 2-amino-4H-chromene is described using hydrotalcite as a solid base catalyst in aqueous medium. The catalysts were prepared by a co-precipitation method and well characterized by various techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, SEM and the basicity was found using the phenol adsorption method. The reusability of the catalyst, use of water as a green solvent and easy isolation of the product along with good yields make the present protocol sustainable and advantageous compared to conventional methods.

CeO2–ZrO2was explored as a bifunctional catalyst system for the synthesis of β-amino alcohols through epoxidation and subsequent aminolysis. Epoxidation of styrene to styrene oxide using t-butyl hydrogen peroxide (TBHP) as a green oxidant followed by subsequent aminolysis with diverse amines gave the corresponding β-amino alcohols. CeO2–ZrO2was found to be a reusable and highly selective catalyst for both the epoxidation and aminolysis reactions.

SUMMARY  Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a polygenic disorder with multiple genes located on different chromosomes contributing to its susceptibility. Analysis of the genetic factors is further complicated by the fact that numerous environmental factors interact with genes to produce the disorder. Only a minority of cases of T2D such as maturity-onset diabetes of the young are caused by single gene defects. As Asian Indians have an increased susceptibility to diabetes and have increased insulin resistance, they are a unique population for carrying out genetic studies. Asian Indians develop T2D at lower levels of BMI, one to two decades earlier and have stronger heritability factors compared with Europeans. All these factors point to the role of possible ethnic variations in genetic susceptibility. Recent genetic studies on Asian Indians indicate that certain genes appear to predispose Indians to diabetes while other genes, which afford protection against diabetes and insulin resistance to Caucasians, do not appear to protect Indians. In addition, there are several genes (e.g., TCF7L2), which are similar in Asian Indians and in Europeans, that contribute to susceptibility to T2D. Advances in genotyping techniques and the availability of large patient cohorts have made it possible to identify common genetic variants associated with T2D through genome-wide association studies. Recent studies have shown that common genetic variations contribute to T2D risk within populations but do not explain the difference between populations. In this context, the risk allele evaluation of T2D in Asian Indians could help provide better understanding of increased susceptibility to T2D within this ethnic group.

Kinetic properties of Na+, K+ATPase of membranes from rat and human erythrocytes were examined. The enzyme stability decreased with incubation time. The Vmaxof the human enzyme was about 4 times lower than the values of the rat enzyme. However the energies of activation were higher. Phase transition temperature for the rat and the human enzyme was 24 °C and 17 °C, respectively. The human erythrocyte membranes were characterized by lower total phospholipid and cholesterol contents and were relatively more fluid. The human membranes contained lower proportions of acidic phospholipids which correlated well with the lower Vmax of the enzyme; the proportion of lysophosphoglyceride and sphingomyelin was higher in the human membrane.

A cDNA clone coding for a protein-tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) was isolated from a rat spleen cDNA library. Nucleotide sequence of the clone showed an open reading frame coding for a polypeptide of 363 amino acids. Expression of this clone in E. coliin an expression vector showed PTPase activity. The non-catalytic region of this PTPase located at the carboxy terminus shows homology with the basic domains of transcription factors Fos and Jun. Northern blot analysis showed that a 1.7 kb transcript was present in many tissues and cells, the highest level being in macrophages. This PTPase is a rat homolog of human T-cell PTPase although it shows 3 large deletions in the carboxy terminal non-catalytic region.

A cDNA clone coding for a protein‐tyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) was isolated from a rat spleen cDNA library. Nucleotide sequence of the clone showed an open reading frame coding for a polypeptide of 363 amino acids. Expression of this clone in E. coliin an expression vector showed PTPase activity. The non‐catalytic region of this PTPase located at the carboxy terminus shows homology with the basic domains of transcription factors Fos and Jun. Northern blot analysis showed that a 1.7 kb transcript was present in many tissues and cells, the highest level being in macrophages. This PTPase is a rat homolog of human T‐cell PTPase although it shows 3 large deletions in the carboxy terminal non‐catalytic region.

A non-transmembrane protein-tyrosine phosphatase, PTP-S, has been shown to bind to DNA in vitro through its C-terminal noncatalytic domain. The cellular PTP-S gene product was identified as 42-44 kDa polypeptides in the rat fibroblast cell lines Rat2 and F111, by immunoblotting using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Indirect immunofluorescence-staining experiments showed that PTP-S was predominantly associated with the nuclear compartment in interphase cells, although some fluorescence was present in cytoplasm. This protein appeared to be uniformly distributed throughout the cell during mitosis. Subcellular fractionation followed by immunoblotting supports the immunofluorescence data showing that PTP-S was present in the nucleus as well as cytoplasm. PTP-S could be released from the isolated nuclei by moderate salt concentration (400 mM NaCl) or mild treatment with DNAase I, suggesting that at least part of this protein present in the nucleus was associated with chromatin. PTP-S extracted from nuclei of Rat2 cells binds to DNA, as determined by DNA affinity chromatography. The nuclear location of this phosphatase, and its association with chromatin, provide support to our previous suggestion that the DNA-binding property of this phosphatase may be physiologically relevant.

Four different forms of a non-receptor type protein-tyrosine phosphatase are generated by alternative splicing; two of these forms (PTP-S2 and PTP-S4) are major forms, which are expressed in rat as well as human cells. Here we report that PTP-S2 binds to nonspecific DNA in vitro and localizes in the nucleus upon transfection in HeLa cells. PTP-S4 does not bind to nonspecific DNA and shows perinuclear and cytoplasmic localization. Removal of the C-terminal 34 amino acids of PTP-S4 gives rise to a truncated protein, which binds to nonspecific DNA and localizes to the nucleus. PTP-S4, but not PTP-S2, interacts strongly with the isolated nuclear matrix. The two forms of this tyrosine phosphatase show different substrate specificity in vitro, a feature novel to splice variants of tyrosine phosphatases. Mitogenic stimulation induces mRNAs for PTP-S2 as well as for PTP-S4 in the G1 phase during liver regeneration. These results suggest that alternative splicing gives rise to two protein-tyrosine phosphatases with distinct substrate specificities and subcellular locations. The 34 amino acids at the C terminus of PTP-S4 play a critical role in determining substrate specificity, subcellular location, and interaction with nuclear matrix and DNA.

North East India is hot spots for several vector borne diseases such as malaria and Japanese Encephalitis. In spite of taking several well executed plans, the diseases continue to explode from time to time. Therefore, effective measures need to be planned to control mosquito breeding. We have synthesized C-dot@silver nanohybrids using fruits and vegetable wastes like orange peels, mango peels and Taro (Colocasia). The nanohybrids show its bio-larvicidal efficacy against mosquito vectors like Aedes albopictus, Anopheles stephensiand Culex quinquefasciatus.

The synthesis of N-tert-butylamides using SO42−/CexZr1−xO2catalysts under solvent-free conditions is reported. The methodology has several advantages such as reusability of the catalyst, solvent-free conditions, easy workup, and comparable yield of N-tert-butylamides. A variety of aliphatic, aromatic, and acid-sensitive substrates give high to moderate yields of the corresponding N-tert-butylamides. Surface acidities of the catalysts were correlated with the results obtained. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a modified Ritter reaction on SO42−/CexZr1−xO2using tert-butyl acetate as carbocationic source.

To assess third-year pharmacy students’ knowledge and application of renal pharmacotherapy using a renal replacement therapy (RRT) simulation.

Objective.To evaluate the impact of a comprehensive oncology simulation on pharmacy students’ knowledge and perceptions related to oncology pharmacy practice.

Catalytic transfer hydrogenation (CTH) of aromatic nitro and carbonyl compounds over novel Fe(III) substituted hexagonal mesoporous aluminophosphate (FeHMA) molecular sieve catalyst showed excellent regioselectivity/chemoselectivity as well as superior recycling capability. Furthermore, the reduction occurs without affecting other functional groups such as –CN, –CHO, –Cl, –CH3, –OCH3and –NH2.

The used catalyst can be recycled and reactivated for up to six consecutive cycles.

Nano‐MgO/ZrO2is prepared and used as catalyst for cross‐aldol condensation, Cbz‐protection of amines, reduction of aromatic nitro compounds and the synthesis of 1,5‐benzodiazepines.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.

ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 200 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a “Full Text” option. The original article is trackable via the “References” option.