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The study aimed to improve the treatment of impetigo with naturally occurring quercetin and its copper–quercetin (Cu–Q) complex by preparing sustained-release (SR) nanoparticles of polycaprolactone (PCL). The solvent evaporation method was used for the copper–quercetin (Cu–Q) complex formation, and their PCL nanoparticles (PCL-NPs, Q-PCL-NPs, and Cu-Q-PCL-NPs) were prepared by the high-pressure homogenization method. Synthesis of nanoparticles was confirmed by their physicochemical and antibacterial properties of quercetin against Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteria. The percentage loading efficiency of quercetin and release in 100 mM of phosphate buffer pH 7.4 and 5.5 at 37 °C was found to be more than 90% after 24 h with the zero-order release pattern. Minimum inhibitory concentration of nanoparticles was found to increase threefold in the case of Cu-Q-PCL-NPs may be due to the synergistic antibacterial behavior. Scanning electron microscopy showed spherical nanoparticles, and surface roughness was confirmed by atomic force microscopy analysis. Fortunately, no sign of irritation on rat skin even at 3%, was seen. In vitro antioxidant assay by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl reduction was found to be ≤80 ± 0.02% which confirmed their scavenging activity. Interestingly, for the ex vivo study, the tape-stripping model was applied against Staphylococcus aureuscontaining rats and showed the formation of the epidermal layer within 4–5 days. Confirmation of antibacterial activity of pure quercetin, from Cu–Q complex, and their SR release from Q-PCL-NPs and Cu-Q-PCL-NPs was considered an effective tool for the treatment of skin diseases and can be used as an alternative of already resistant ciprofloxacin in impetigo.

Heavy metal ions (HMI) are believed to have primarily originated from both natural and anthropogenic agents. Due to their known accumulation and toxicity in environmental and biological media, it has risen to prominence as one of major problems of the world. Heavy metal (HM) pollution has worsened in recent years due to increased industrialization and resource exploitation. HMI pose a major risk to the well-being of humans as they accumulate in the body and are difficult to be biodegraded. Significant measures must be taken to diminish the dangers caused by metal pollution in the environment. Increasing efforts to detect HMI particularly via the use of electrochemical sensors provide a novel and viable approach to the adverse effects of toxic exposure of HM. If HMI exceed the admissible limit in aqua ecosystems, both flora and fauna are affected. These ions may prove fatal or may disrupt the metabolic process. The oxidative stress associated with metal ions is coupled with assortment of illnesses and damage. Keeping in view the toxic consequences of metals pollution and the importance of clear water for existence, researchers are prompted to implement all possible feasible steps to preserve water quality. As such, several methods have been devised for identifying metal ions and flushing them out from water supplies. Here, we have reviewed the techniques utilized for identification and removal of HMI from waste water systems.

The present study aimed to design and evaluate controlled porosity osmotic pump (CPOP) tablets of enalapril maleate (ENP) being used for the treatment of hypertension. D-optimal response surface design was used, considering cellulose acetate and osmotic agents (lactose and fructose) as variables while physicochemical parameters of tablets were taken as responses. The asymmetric, leachable membrane of cellulose acetate on ENP tablets was applied and an increase in the thickness of core tablets from 5 ± 0.01 to 5.4 ± 0.17 mm was observed. The average weight of all CPOP formulations ranged from 376.7 ± 0.4 to 389.1 ± 0.3 mg and hardness was 6.2 ± 0.02 to 6.32 ± 0.06 Kg/cm2. The friability of all formulations was less than 1%. 89.53 ± 1.05% of ENP release was observed in phosphate buffer pH 6.8 after 12 h. Due to the smallest AIC (Akaike information criteria) and the greatest r2values, zero-order release kinetics model with non-Fickian diffusion behavior was observed in all proposed formulations. f1(difference factor) values were 1.28 ± 0.06 to 12.64 ± 0.41% and f2(similarity factor) values were 59.75 ± 0.24 to 94.03 ± 1.36% in the same dissolution medium. pH-independent behavior was observed in pH-responsive study. Dissolution efficiency (DE) ranged from 51.49 ± 0.23 to 53.52 ± 0.52% and mean dissolution time (MDT) values ranged from 5.27 ± 0.05 to 5.59 ± 0.23 h. No interaction between the ingredients was found in FTIR analysis. The optimized formulation with improved drug release property was found stable in the accelerated stability study of six months. CPOP tablets of ENP can be considered as an effective substitute for immediate-release tablets to control hypertension in chronic conditions.

Background and Purpose: Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is a dynamic environmental toxin released from chemical factories and its concentration in the atmosphere is accelerating at an alarming proportion. The potential presence of CCl4 in the human body causes liver injury via free radical stimulated inflammatory responses. Objectives: In this study, protective effects of hydromethanolic seeds extract of Prunus persica (PPHM) were evaluated for free radical scavenging potential in CCl4 mediated acute liver toxicity in the murine model. Experimental Approach: Followed by acute oral toxicity analysis, liver cells of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were treated with CCl4 and subsequently, the chemoprophylactic effect of extract (400 mg/Kg dose) was evaluated using in vivo studies including, silymarin as the positive control. Biochemical parameters, staining (hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) and Masson’s Trichome) and quantitative gene expression analysis via real-time PCR were used to evaluate hepatic damage control. Results: The results illustrated that PPHM extract exhibit strong anti-oxidant activity, comparable to the positive control, gallic acid. Research study results also demonstrated that the extract treatment at 400 mg/Kg concentration is highly effective in protecting liver damage due to CCl4 exposure. Mechanistic investigations indicated that the therapeutic action of PPHM was correlated with the increase in Nrf2, NQO-1 and decrease in collagen III mRNA genes expression compared to CCl4 treated group. Conclusions and Implications: Accordingly, our research study indicated that PPHM alleviated CCl4-mediated oxidative stress through Nrf2/NQO-1 pathway, thereby protecting liver damage against environmental toxins. Our findings provide supportive evidence to suggest PPHM as a novel nontoxic hepatoprotective agent.

In the recent past, nanoparticles (NPs) have gained the attention of researchers in diverse fields, including chemistry, physics, agriculture, environmental engineering, biological sciences, and material sciences. It has applications in the catalytic process, food chemistry, electronic devices, agroindustry, industrial products, environmental engineering, cancer therapeutics, wastewater treatment, and surface coating. The data for plant-based synthesis and applications of silver (AgO), gold (AuO), and zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs are scattered and need to be gathered. Therefore, this review is designed to assemble the recent advancement in the plant-based synthesis of AgO, AuO, and ZnO-NPs, and the toxicity results of these NPs have been discussed in detail. So herein, we streamlined the data of plant-based synthesis, application, and toxic effects of AgO, AuO, and ZnO-NPs.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has recently gained importance in many fields. The use of IoT in different fields leads to an increase in a wide variety of network attacks. Many researchers have used artificial intelligence (AI) based approaches like machine learning and deep learning techniques to detect such attacks. Traditionally these AI techniques train an intelligent model at a cloud data center using the IoT network data gathered by different IoT devices. The sharing of IoT data with the cloud data center may affect the privacy of the user’s sensitive data. The federated learning techniques can be used to generate an effective attack detection AI model that preserve the privacy of IoT users, but these mechanisms have higher computational complexities and require large number of federation rounds. So, to detect such attacks without compromising the privacy of IoT users, we propose a lightweight mini-batch federated learning mechanism, which is computationally efficient and requires minimum number of federation rounds to detect malicious attacks in an IoT network. The performance of the proposed mechanism was tested on benchmark IoT network datasets and the results show that the proposed mechanism achieves an overall attack detection accuracy of 98.85% with a false alarm rate of 0.09% and requires minimal computational resources.

Bisphosphonates cause irritation of the esophagus and stomach after oral administration. This study was planned to overcome the problems associated with bisphosphonates through the formation of rafts in the stomach and enhance the availability of the drug at the absorption site. A novel pectin raft was developed through the utilization of citrus pectin. The percentage of pectin and profile of neutralization of the raft were investigated. Ibandronate, the polymers and the developed formulation were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The release of ibandronate was investigated in 0.1 N hydrochloric acid (HCl), 0.5 N hydrochloric acid, 1.0 N hydrochloric acid and simulated gastric fluid (SGF), and a cell viability study was performed using Caco-2 cells. The RFF5 formulation contained 94.58% pectin, and the duration of neutralization was 45.41 min. The FTIR and XRD showed the chemical stability and uniform distribution of ibandronate in the raft. The TGA and DSC indicated the thermal stability of the formulation. RFF5 showed 99.95% release of ibandronate at 5 min in SGF. RFF5 showed up to 90.47% cell viability when Caco-2 cells were treated with or without the drug (ibandronate). The developed raft can effectively stop the irritation of the stomach and esophagus caused by ibandronate and improve the availability of the drug at the absorption site.

The raft is an emerging drug delivery system that not only provides rapid relief from reflux disorders, but also sustains drug release. The objective of this work was to develop and characterize raft-forming bilayer tablets in which pantoprazole sodium sesquihydrate (PSS) was targeted at sustained release and domperidone maleate (DM) was used to obtain an immediate-release effect and perform pharmacokinetic studies. Tablets were prepared using the wet granulation method. Rafts were characterized in terms of strength, weight, volume, resilience, acid-neutralizing capacity, floating lag time and total floating time. Dissolution studies were performed using simulated gastric fluid with pH 1·2. Compatibility were performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Percentage release of the optimized R7 formulation was 94% for PSS and 98% for DM. First-order release kinetics were followed and a non-Fickian diffusion was observed; the value of nwas greater than 0·7 in the Korsmeyer–Peppas model. FTIR and DSC studies showed chemical and thermal stability between the drug and polymers. Cmaxvalues of the test and reference formulations of PSS were 46·080 ± 0·567, 46·350 ± 0·507 and DM were 14·090 ± 1·678 and 10·560 ± 1·098 μg/ml, respectively.

Tartary buckwheat, known for its rich source of health beneficial secondary metabolites, is cultivated in many areas of the world. Among different environmental factors, photoperiod strongly influence its growth, flowering time, and ultimately the yield. In this context, epigenetics could contribute significantly in the regulation of plant response against changing environment. Therefore, with the aim to study the involvement of DNA methylation in photoperiod mediated plant response, genome-wide DNA methylation analysis was performed in two accessions (A1 and A2) of Tartary buckwheat using three photoperiodic treatments, i.e., 10-hr light/day (T1), 12-hr light/day (T2), and 14-hr light/day (T3). Flowering time and plant fresh weight data revealed that accessions A1 and A2 prefer T1 and T2 treatments, respectively. Total DNA methylation ratio increased with the increase in photoperiod in accession A1 but decreased under same conditions in accession A2. Full methylation increased significantly while intensive decrease in hemimethylation was noted from T2 to T3 in A1, whereas full methylation strongly increased and hemimethylation strongly decreased from T1 to T2 in A2. Overall, the DNA methylation events appeared more frequently than demethylation events. This study reports for the first time an accession-/ genotype specific pattern of shift in the DNA methylation under different photoperiodic treatments that will pave the way toward identification of specific genes involved in the regulation of plant response against photoperiodic stress.

Dramatic changes in climatic conditions that supplement the biotic and abiotic stresses pose severe threat to the sustainable rice production and have made it a difficult task for rice molecular breeders to enhance production and productivity under these stress factors. The main focus of rice molecular breeders is to understand the fundamentals of molecular pathways involved in complex agronomic traits to increase the yield. The availability of complete rice genome sequence and recent improvements in rice genomics research has made it possible to detect and map accurately a large number of genes by using linkage to DNA markers. Linkage mapping is an effective approach to identify the genetic markers which are co-segregating with target traits within the family. The ideas of genetic diversity, quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, and marker-assisted selection (MAS) are evolving into more efficient concepts of linkage disequilibrium (LD) also called association mapping and genomic selection (GS), respectively. The use of cost-effective DNA markers derived from the fine mapped position of the genes for important agronomic traits will provide opportunities for breeders to develop high-yielding, stress-resistant, and better quality rice cultivars. Here we focus on the progress of molecular marker technologies, their application in genetic mapping and evolution of association mapping techniques in rice.

A small scale Pashtu speakers' database with multiple accents and dialects has been developed to use in Pashtu Speaker Identification Systems (SIS) and accents and dialect identification systems. Pashtu is a major spoken language of Pakistan and Afghanistan. At present, it has become very prominent worldwide due to its regional importance. The regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan where Pashtu is spoken are mostly occupied by the extremists who use Pashtu for their communication. In order to design Pashtu voice-based systems for security and other applications, a database has been designed in which the voice data is collected from 32 native Pashtu speakers of different regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Finally, using a subset of the data, Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-based SIS has been designed. The designed system achieved overall 87.5% identification accuracy and outperformed the recently proposed i-vector and GMM-based accent identification systems by showing 3.8% and 12.0% relative improvement respectively.

The thermodynamic behavior of l-serine and l-threonine in water and in an ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, containing water is examined using experimental data from acoustic, volumetric, and viscometric studies at T= (293.15 to 313.15) K and an experimental pressure of 101.3 kPa. The limiting apparent molar volume, V0ϕ, and limiting apparent molar isentropic compressibility, K0ϕ,s, are calculated from apparent molar parameters (volume, Vϕ, and isentropic compressibility, Kϕ,s), respectively. The empirical parameters, Svand Sk, are also computed. The experimental and computed data are utilized to evaluate the transfer properties (ΔtrV0ϕand ΔtrK0ϕ,s) of the chosen amino acids from water to the aqueous solutions of ionic liquid. The transfer property for these amino acids is positive at all concentrations of ionic liquids and all temperatures. This has been explained based on the cosphere overlap model. The viscosity Bcoefficients are evaluated from viscosity using the Jones–Dole equation. In ternary solutions (l-serine/l-threonine + water + ionic liquid), the thermodynamic properties are utilized to understand the mixing effects in aqueous solutions and to gather essential information about proximities and intermolecular interactions. The density functional theory is also used to validate the experimental results. The absorption spectra of amino acids in water as well as ionic liquids containing water are recorded to affirm the interactions prevailing in the system.

Ethanol administration triggers an inflammatory response that leads to a complex series of immune responses including the release of an excessive amount of inflammatory mediators particularly tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and nuclear factor-kB (NF-KB) which produce a large amount of reactive oxygen species. The inflammatory-induced cytotoxicity is increased when the PI3-kinase/Akt pathway is inhibited. Some studies have also shown that ethanol suppresses the PI3-kinase signaling pathway induced by receptor activation. Friedelin and Glutinol belong to pentacyclic triterpenoid class and are known for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The present study was aimed to elucidate the effects of these phytoconstituents on one of the key ethanol-induced neuronal damage pathways. The pups having (5–7g average body weight) were used and randomly divided into groups. The control and ethanol treated pups were administered 0.9% normal saline while treated pups received glutinol and friedelin (30mg/kg subcutaneously) respectively. After four hours all the experimental animals were sacrificed and their brains were collected carefully for protein expression analysis of p-Akt, TNF-α, NF-KB, caspase-3 and PARP-1 employing immunoblotting technique. Hemolytic, DNA protection, chelating power and β-carotene assays results revealed that freidelin and glutinol are safe for parenteral administration. Glutinol administration with ethanol significantly abridged the ethanol induced over expression of TNF-α, caspase-3 and PARP-1 in pup’s brain. Similarly, freidelin attenuated the neurodegeneration by inhibiting the ethanol induced p-JNK and NF-kB expression in pups’ brain. This protection may be attributed to the revival of p-Akt signaling for cell survival. It is concluded that the present study demonstrates the neuro-protective effects of friedelin and glutinol via modulating the capase-3 and PARP-1 expression and modulating the neuronal apoptotic pathways.

•L-phenylalanine and L-arginine as solute and aqueous solutions of ionic liquid as solvent are chosen in this study.•Various thermodynamic properties are evaluated for different concentrations and with increase of temperature.•The results are discussed in terms of solute (amino acid) - solvent (water + ionic liquid) interactions.•The interactions are correlated with UV-Visible results.

The objective of the present work was to synthesize interpenetrating networks (IPNs) of acrylic acid/polyvinyl alcohol (AA/PVA) by free radical polymerization using N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (MBAAm) and glutaraldehyde as cross-linkers. The IPNs were evaluated for swelling, diffusion coefficient and network parameters by using Flory–Huggins theory, i.e., the average molecular weight between cross-links (Mc), polymer volume fraction in swollen state (V2,s), number of repeating units between cross-links (Mr) and cross-linking density (N). It was found that the degree of swelling of AA/PVA interpenetrating network increases greatly within the pH range 5–7 depending on composition. The gel fraction and porosity increased by increasing the concentration of AA or PVA, while by increasing the degree of cross-linking, porosity decreased and gel fraction increased. Selected samples were loaded with chlorpheniramine maleate as a model drug. Drug release was studied in USP, hydrochloric acid buffer solution of pH 1.2 and phosphate buffer solutions of pH 5.5 and 7.5. Drug release data were fitted into various kinetics models, e.g., zero-order, first-order, Higuchi and Peppas models. The results of the kinetics investigation showed that the drug release from IPNs followed non-Fickian diffusion. Fourier transform infrared spectra confirmed the formation of cross-linked IPNs as there was a shifting to lower frequency of 1,713–1,718 cm−1with reduced intensity, while scanning electron microscopy revealed uniform distribution of drug in IPNs.

In this paper, we study secure energy efficiency (SEE) for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in a distributed antenna system (DAS) based IoT network. We consider a system in which both the legitimate user (Bob) and the eavesdropper (Eve) rely on the energy harvested from the received radio signal. Firstly, with perfect channel state information (CSI), we formulate the maximization of SEE as a constrained optimization problem. In this problem, we aim to highlight the advantage of SWIPT in exploiting the Eve’s energy harvesting requirement. This is achieved by defining a charge constraint in the SEE optimization problem which ensures that the Eve is deprived of its only energy source. Next, considering the fact that perfect CSI is hard to achieve in practice, we characterize the system performance in terms of the outage probability (OP) of SEE. For the given SWIPT-in-DAS setup, we derive the closed form expression for the OP of SEE and with the help of numerical results, we study the effect of transmit power levels, number of distributed antenna (DA) ports and the PS ratio of devices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to define the OP of SEE for SWIPT-in-DAS.

Rabeprazole is degraded in the stomach below 2.5 pH and the raft forming system keeps the stomach pH above 3.5. Above pH 3.5, rabeprazole is not degraded in the stomach. The present study aimed to maintain the stomach pH above 3.5 for an appropriate period of time and improve the bioavailability of rabeprazole. The rabeprazole, polymers and raft, were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA and DSC. The RR5 formulation showed a release of 99.93% rabeprazole at 20 min in simulated gastric fluid (SGF). FTIR analysis showed the compatibility of drug and excipients. The DSC thermogram indicated the endothermic peak of rabeprazole at 179 °C. The RR5 formulation and Repit® 20 mg capsule was selected as the test and reference formulations respectively for pharmacokinetic study. Healthy albino rats were divided into two groups (reference and test) each having 6 rats and blood samples were collected for 24 h. The Cmaxand tmaxfor the reference and test formulations were 465 ± 0.237 ng/mL and 4 ± 1.398 h and 495 ± 0.097 ng/mL and 2 ± 0.025 h, respectively. AUC0-tof the reference and test formulations was 3316.75 ± 3.418 ng/mL.h and 4910.25 ± 3.467 ng/mL.h, respectively. Our study proves the potential effectiveness of rafts for the fast oral delivery of rabeprazole.