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Green nanotechnology has gained attraction in recent years due to the growing awareness of the environmental and health risks associated with traditional methods of nanomaterial synthesis. In the present study, nanocomposite (NCs) of silver and Iron were prepared using Zanthoxylum Armatum seeds aqueous extract which acts as a reducing, stabilizing, and capping agent. The synthesized NCs were characterized using UV/Vis Spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and EDX. The UV/Vis spectroscopy analysis of the NCs revealed the presence of a surface plasmonic resonance band occurring at 420 nm. Examination of the NCs through SEM demonstrated that they exhibited a nearly spherical morphology, with an average particle diameter measuring 54.8 nm. The crystalline nature of these NCs was verified through X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the calculation of crystallite size using the Scherrer-Debye equation yielded a value of 12.6 nm. The adsorption ability of newly synthesized nanocomposites was investigated against Acid Black 234 Dye. The results showed that a 0.5 g of NCs dose at pH 4 removed 99.3% of 10 mg/L of Acid Black 234 Dye within 60 min. Based on the findings of this research, it can be inferred that the that Ag-Fe NCs synthesized from Zanthoxylum Armatum seeds aqueous extract hold significant potential for addressing environmental pollution caused by Acid Black 234 Dye. The NCs were used as adsorbent for the removal of Acid Black 234 dye from the wastewater sample and showed 98% removal of dye from the commercial sample within 60 min. In this context, the research highlights that the environmentally friendly synthesis of Ag-Fe nanocrystals (Ag-Fe NCs) using Zanthoxylum Armatum as a mediator offers an efficient and cost-effective solution for mitigating environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a Black feminist standpoint, this reflexive article uniquely draws on empirical data and recollections from two research studies to consider experiences of researching Pakistani communities from the assumed position of an insider. In doing so the article provides a first-hand account of insider-outsider experiences in the field from the perspective of a qualitative researcher (who is a woman of minority ethnic background). Examples from the data reveal how factors such as a deep understanding of social and religious practices constitute types of insider knowledge necessary for gathering culturally relevant and fine-grained information. The methodological and ethical advantages and dilemmas of conducting research positioned as an insider include, knowledge of place and cultural identification as aiding access to and research with communities seldom heard in research, but also how commonalities–gender, race– can fuel participant reluctance and hostility. The articles main contribution, however, is to expose the shifting nature of the insider-outsider position whereby in some instances the assumed insider can become an outsider. This has methodological and ethical implications such as profound emotional impacts on the researcher and potentially destabilising effects on research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a large primarily qualitative research project on how people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities experience and access health services, this methodological article focuses on the role of the community gatekeeper – a role that has significance for research teams globally when attempting to involve those facing multiple forms of exclusion. Drawing on standpoint feminist principles and using a reflexive approach, researcher positionality, situated knowledges, and the power dynamics between researchers, participants, and community gatekeepers are reflected upon. Addressing a gap in the literature by providing real-life examples of the power and influence of gatekeepers at all stages of the research process, the findings reveal: the extent to which gatekeepers of research with BAME participants are facilitative or obstructive during the research process; how they affect processes such as the recruitment of participants, access to community venues, the conduct of the research interview, and the dissemination of findings; and finally, the implications for future research with so called “hard-to-reach” groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voting rights are fundamental human rights, but for women, getting them has been a difficult and protracted process. Even though women have recently made tremendous progress towards gender equality, they still encounter several challenges when trying to exercise their right to vote. In Pakistan, women got their right to vote since county's inception but their electoral participation remains quite meagre in all the general elections held in past. In the general elections of 2018 the total women turnout in Pakistan was 46.89% and the turnout of women in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was 32.96%. A country richly endowed with human capital along with a low women electoral participation is a phenomenon that raises many social-cultural, economic, educational, and political related questions. Based on such facts the dependent variable chosen in the present study is Women's Electoral Participation in the general elections of 2018. Its value is taken as one of the women has used her right to cast vote, zero otherwise. District Kohat is the universe of this study where women's turnout was 37.22%. A study is conducted to dig out the socio-cultural, economic, educational and Political barriers in the way of women voting rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19 spread to more than 200 countries with 109 M infected patients and 2.41 M deaths (6.98% mortality rate). Currently, there is no approved drug or vaccine available to treat COVID-19 patients, though some combinations of already used broad-spectrum Western medicines, such as antibiotics, antivirals, and interferons are exploited against SARS-CoV-2. Among the Western medicines used, Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, Chloroquine Phosphate, Remdesivir, and Umifenovir (Arbidol) were the most effective antivirals against SARS-CoV-2 at high or frequent dose. These drugs limited the viral infection by inhibiting attachment of virus to ACE2 receptor of human cell or by interfering and terminating the viral genome replication, but also induced severe adverse effects on the patients. Due to high and frequent dose of antivirals, patients reported with Hepatic, renal, and cardiac complications along with vomiting, diarrhea, muscle cramps, skin complications, anemia, abdominal pain, bleeding from nose, nausea, swelling of legs and ankles, hearing, and mental complications. Different vaccines are in trail phases might take long time to be available for COVID-19 patients, so an alternate therapy is required with no or minimal adverse effects. Chinese health workers significantly recovered the COVID19 patients (92.4% recovery rate) by using their Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The current review article contains details about the adverse effects of certain Western medicines, like antivirals on the COVID-19 patients and the efficacy of therapeutic herbal Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for clinical recovery of COVID-19 patients in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a kind of flavivirus emerged in French Polynesia and Brazil, and has led to a worldwide public health concern since 2016. ZIKV infection causes various neurological conditions, which are associated with fetus brain development or peripheral and central nervous systems (PNS/CNS) functional problems. To date, no vaccine or any specific antiviral therapy against ZIKV infection are available. It urgently needs efforts to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms of ZIKV-induced neural pathogenesis. ZIKV favorably infects neural and glial cells specifically astrocytes, consequently dysregulating gene expression and pathways with impairment of process neural cells. In this study, we applied a model for ZIKV replication in mouse primary astrocytes (MPAs) and profiled temporal alterations in the host transcriptomes upon ZIKV infection. Among the RNA-sequencing data of 27,812 genes, we examined 710 genes were significantly differentially expressed by ZIKV, which lead to dysregulation of numerous functions including neurons development and migration, glial cells differentiation, myelinations, astrocytes projection, neurogenesis, and brain development, along with multiple pathways including Hippo signaling pathway, tight junction, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, and focal adhesion. Furthermore, we confirmed the dysregulation of the selected genes in MPAs and human astroglioma U251 cells. We found that PTBP1, LIF, GHR, and PTBP3 were upregulated while EDNRB and MBP were downregulated upon ZIKV infection. The current study highlights the ZIKV-mediated potential genes associated with neurodevelopment or related diseases. Author summary: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection causes serious neurological disorders of central and peripheral nervous system, and fetal brain development disorders including microcephaly. There are still uncovered explorations for the underlying molecular mechanism of ZIKV-infected pathogenesis. This study reveals a series of dysregulation of neuropathic genes mRNA and protein expression in mouse and human astrocytes upon ZIKV infection. As an ideal ZIKV infection model in mouse primary astrocytes (MPAs), RNA-seq was performed to profile transcriptome alteration by ZIKV infection. Bioinformatics analysis demonstrated the significant alterations of the 710 genes that were linked to glial cell differentiation and projection, neurogenesis and migration of neurons, myelination, as well as synaptic control. Among the top selected differentially expressed genes, such as PTBP1, LIF, GHR, PTBP3, EDNRB, and MBP, the mRNA and protein expressions were confirmed to identify the dysregulation of the transcriptome in MPAs upon ZIKV infection. Furthermore, ZIKV infection altered the mRNA and protein expression of these astrocytic genes involved in neurodevelopment in U251 cells following the analysis of the transcriptome. In conclusion, the alteration of astrocytic gene functions or associated-pathways suggest a novel clue of a mechanism involved in the ZIKV-induced neurodevelopment disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from an empirical study involving in-depth interviews with five qualitative researchers, a conceptual lens based on power dynamics and imbalances is applied to explore the researcher: participant encounter, within particular settings and conditions. The research relationship rests on the assumption that the researcher occupies a more powerful position than the participant and the knowledgeable and powerful researcher questions the participant whose position is automatically assumed to shift to that of vulnerable participant. However, this paper seeks to show the flip side, whereby research encounters unfold in such a way that the researcher becomes the 'vulnerable'. Although acknowledging the privilege and power of the researcher's position, this article reveals that power is multifaceted and manifests itself in complex ways: as a researcher, fear of being on unfamiliar territory; researcher anxiety about the unpredictability of participants; and researcher feelings of powerlessness to help; and so on – all impacts which are underexplored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many older adults try to avoid age discrimination by hiding visible signs of aging. But using cosmetic procedures to conceal one's age also incurs negative evaluations. This paradox prompted us to ask whether people can detect age concealment and, if so, whether they would either negatively evaluate concealers due to age-concealment stigmas or positively evaluate concealers because they look better. Across four studies with targets who underwent age-concealment procedures, we found that people could detect age concealment. Although people negatively evaluated concealers when thinking about them abstractly, they favored concealers over nonconcealers if they saw photos of them. Moreover, seeing photos of concealers improved subsequent evaluations of new concealers. The visual benefits of age-stigma concealment may therefore attenuate its stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mushrooms well known for their delicacy and flavor are highly perishable due their high moisture content. In this study the changes in proximate and mineral components of oyster mushroom in response to 6 drying methods, viz., sun, solar, oven, microwave, freeze and osmotic drying were studied. The moisture and ash content of dried oyster mushrooms ranged from 8.84 to 5.16% and 8.12 to 9.37%, respectively. The highest crude protein of 23.74% was recorded for freeze dried oyster mushroom while as highest crude fiber content of 25.38% was found in microwave dried samples. On comparing the mineral content of dried oyster mushroom, freeze dried oyster mushroom recorded highest iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium content of 5.10, 16.12 and 2309.01 mg/100 g, respectively while least iron, magnesium and potassium content of 3.80, 15.06 and 1394.38 mg/100 g, respectively was observed in sun dried oyster mushroom. The study concluded better retention of proximate components in freeze dried oyster mushroom while as sun drying resulted in greater loss of nutrients. The best dried oyster mushroom can be used in formulation of functional foods conferring health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is a highly transmittable and pathogenic viral infection caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in Wuhan, China and spread around the world. Genomic analysis revealed that SARS-CoV-2 is phylogenetically related to severe acute respiratory syndrome-like (SARS-like) bat viruses, therefore bats could be the possible primary reservoir. The intermediate source of origin and transfer to humans is not known, however, the rapid human to human transfer has been confirmed widely. There is no clinically approved antiviral drug or vaccine available to be used against COVID-19. However, few broad-spectrum antiviral drugs have been evaluated against COVID-19 in clinical trials, resulted in clinical recovery. In the current review, we summarize and comparatively analyze the emergence and pathogenicity of COVID-19 infection and previous human coronaviruses severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). We also discuss the approaches for developing effective vaccines and therapeutic combinations to cope with this viral outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a neurotropic virus, human Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection causes hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD) and may develop severe neurological disorders in infants. Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) acts as an innate immune receptor and is also a death receptor in the central nervous system (CNS). However, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of TLR7-mediated brain pathogenesis upon EV71 infection remain largely elusive. Here we reveal a novel mechanism by which EV71 infects astrocytes in the brain and induces neural pathogenesis via TLR7 and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in C57BL/6 mice and in human astroglioma U251 cells. Upon EV71 infection, wild-type (WT) mice displayed more significant body weight loss, higher clinical scores, and lower survival rates as compared with TLR7-/- mice. In the cerebral cortex of EV71-infected mice, neurofilament integrity was disrupted, and inflammatory cell infiltration and neurodegeneration were induced in WT mice, whereas these were largely absent in TLR7-/- mice. Similarly, IL-6 production, Caspase-3 cleavage, and cell apoptosis were significantly higher in EV71-infected WT mice as compared with TLR7-/- mice. Moreover, EV71 preferentially infected and induced IL-6 in astrocytes of mice brain. In U251 cells, EV71-induced IL-6 production and cell apoptosis were suppressed by shRNA-mediated knockdown of TLR7 (shTLR7). Moreover, in the cerebral cortex of EV71-infected mice, the blockade of IL-6 with anti-IL-6 antibody (IL-6-Ab) restored the body weight loss, attenuated clinical scores, improved survival rates, reduced the disruption of neurofilament integrity, decreased cell apoptotic induction, and lowered levels of Caspase-3 cleavage. Similarly, in EV71-infected U251 cells, IL-6-Ab blocked EV71-induced IL-6 production and cell apoptosis in response to viral infection. Collectively, it's exhibited TLR7 upregulation, IL-6 induction and astrocytic cell apoptosis in EV71-infected human brain. Taken together, we propose that EV71 infects astrocytes of the cerebral cortex in mice and human and triggers TLR7 signaling and IL-6 release, subsequently inducing neural pathogenesis in the brain. Author summary: Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection causes aseptic meningitis, poliomyelitis-like paralysis and fatal encephalitis in infants. Besides an immune receptor, toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) serves as a death receptor in central nervous system (CNS). However, the role of TLR7 in EV71-induced neural pathogenesis remains ambiguous. This study reveals a distinct mechanism by which EV71 induces neurodegeneration via TLR7 and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Upon EV71 infection, TLR7-/- mice displayed less body weight loss, lower clinical score, and higher survival rate as compared with wild-type (WT) mice. Meanwhile, a severer histopathologic neurofilaments disruption, neurodegeneration and cell apoptosis were observed in brain of EV71-infected WT mice. IL-6 release, cell apoptosis, and Caspase-3 cleavage were attenuated by shRNA targeting TLR7 (shTLR7) in EV71-infected U251 cells. Moreover, anti-IL-6 antibody (IL-6-Ab) suppressed EV71-induced body weight loss, clinical score increase, and survival rate decrease as well as neurofilaments disruption and neurodegeneration in mice, and it also attenuated EV71-induced cell apoptosis and Caspase-3 cleavage in U251 cells. It's retrospectively observed that TLR7 upregulation, IL-6 induction and astrocytic cell apoptosis in EV71-infected human brain. Therefore, TLR7 is required for neural pathogenesis by IL-6 induction upon EV71 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the author's experiences and reflections of researching vulnerable people for a housing research project, this article explores the ethical dilemmas, and the health and safety challenges, of conducting in-depth, qualitative interviews with 'vulnerable' research participants in their own homes. Vulnerability, in a housing research context, takes account of: living in poverty; insecure housing/employment situations; poor health and/or mental ill health; alcohol and /or drug dependency, etc. Diary notes are used to illustrate the challenging situations that can unfold when working alone in the field in disadvantaged areas, with vulnerable people, which can present physical and emotional risk. Concern with risk and the potential impact on individuals is two-fold: that on the participant; and that on the researcher. Through reflexivity and revisiting of experiences in the field, this paper explains the difficulties and negotiations, and it provides some suggestions for better research practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Citrus plants belonging to the family Rutaceae which include fruits such as orange, mandarin, lime, lemon, sour orange and grapefruitappear as a well known promising source of multiple beneficial nutrients for human beings. Processing of citrus by-products potentially represents a rich source of phenolic compounds and dietary fibre, owing to the large amount of peel produced. These citrus fruit residues, which are generally discarded as waste in the environment, can act as potential nutraceutical resources. Due to their low cost and easy availability such wastes are capable of offering significant low-cost nutritional dietary supplements. The utilization of these bioactive rich citrus residues can provide an efficient, inexpensive, and environment friendly platform for the production of novel nutraceuticals or for the improvement of older ones. This review systematically summarized the potential components present in citrus peel, which generally discarded as waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical redox reactions of the oxytocin and fish scale protein which are mainly collagen were exploited for the preparation of a rechargeable protein battery named as fish scale battery. This battery was found to depend upon the concentration of oxidizing and reducing agents, voltage of the charger and the time for charging. Some of these parameters were optimized using a single cell of this battery and some others were optimized by using five cell battery. The five cell protein battery gives a maximum and stable voltage of 8500 millivolt. The way of charging and theoretical aspects of the battery is also discussed in this communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Researchers have conducted much work to examine the influence of advertising, branding, product appearance, and store layout on consumer judgments in retail contexts. Very limited research, in comparison, has assessed the impact of nonverbal employee cues on retail communication. The present work therefore examined the influence of nonverbal, dominance-related communicator cues on perceivers' judgments of information delivered by the communicator. Specifically, this research assessed the impact of communicator clothing color (Studies 1a-1c) and facial width-to-height ratio (Study 2) on perceived information accuracy. Perceivers judged the information presented by the communicator to be more accurate when the communicator (a) was wearing red rather than white or blue, or (b) possessed a high versus low facial width-to-height ratio. Thus, although explicit information in the retail environment undoubtedly affects consumers' judgments, they may also be influenced by more subtle cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although individuals must act today to achieve many long-term, collective future goals, they often consider such goals to be temporally remote concerns that do not require immediate action. In two studies, the authors examined whether individuals are more motivated to pursue long-term collective future goals when they subjectively experience them as temporally proximal, holding constant objective date projections. The authors found that experimentally inducing participants to view distant future climate change consequences as temporally proximal enhanced proenvironmental motivation (Study 1) and behavior during the week following the study (Study 2) because the subjective temporal proximity made them construe climate change goals more concretely (Study 2). Thus, although the temporally distant nature of remote future goals may generally undermine motivation, making these goals feel temporally close can motivate individuals to pursue them in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite recognizing the need for social change in areas such as social equality and environmental protection, individuals often avoid supporting such change. Researchers have previously attempted to understand this resistance to social change by examining individuals' perceptions of social issues and social change. We instead examined the possibility that individuals resist social change because they have negative stereotypes of activists, the agents of social change. Participants had negative stereotypes of activists (feminists and environmentalists), regardless of the domain of activism, viewing them as eccentric and militant. Furthermore, these stereotypes reduced participants' willingness to affiliate with 'typical' activists and, ultimately, to adopt the behaviours that these activists promoted. These results indicate that stereotypes and person perception processes more generally play a key role in creating resistance to social change. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the under-researched phenomenon of local giving initiatives. It does this against a national context where we find levels of giving slow to change over time, variation in levels of giving between places, and the development of a policy agenda which has given insufficient attention to the role places may play. We develop the concept of local cause affinity to understand local giving practices. Through this we reflect on the need to base our understanding of giving on institutional, social and cultural factors alongside economic factors which are considered more in policy-making. It is in this realm that we debate local giving in light of Adam Smith's two apparently contradictory works (The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations). As such we ask whether giving is a rational act or an act of love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new protocol for the spectrophotometric determination of chloramben using online diazotization has been investigated. The diazotization reaction and coupling reaction were carried out online in flow assembly by injecting chloramben in a nitrite stream followed by coupling with β-naphthol. The resulting azo dye was measured at 475 nm. The calibration plot is linear in the concentration range investigated, with a molar absorptivity of 2.64 × 104 L mol-1 cm-1 and sample throughput of 90 h-1. The proposed method is simple, rapid, and sensitive. The LOD and LOQ were calculated and were found to be 0.01 and 0.04 µg mL-1, respectively, with an RSD value of 8.3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new decade of the 21 st century (2020) started with the emergence of a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2 that caused an epidemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China. It is the third highly pathogenic and transmissible coronavirus after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) emerged in humans. The source of origin, transmission to humans, and mechanisms associated with the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 are not yet clear, however, its resemblance to SARS-CoV and several other bat coronaviruses was recently confirmed through genome sequencing-related studies. The development of therapeutic strategies is necessary in order to prevent further epidemics and cure infections. In this review, we summarize current information about the emergence, origin, diversity, and epidemiology of three pathogenic coronaviruses with a specific focus on the current outbreak in Wuhan, China. Furthermore, we discuss the clinical features and potential therapeutic options that may be effective against SARS-CoV-2., (Copyright © 2020 American Society for Microbiology.)

Background: General practice recruitment is in difficulty in the UK as many experienced GPs retire or reduce their commitment. The numbers of junior doctors choosing to specialise in the discipline is also falling, leading to primary care workforce issues particularly in 'hard to serve' areas., Aim: To evaluate an academic service collaboration on GP recruitment between a primary care organisation (PCO), Enfield CCG, and a university, University College London (UCL)., Design & Setting: Evaluation of an academic service collaboration in the Enfield CCG area of north east London., Method: An action research method utilising qualitative methodology was used to evaluate a local service intervention, undertaken by the participants themselves. The qualitative data were analysed by one researcher but themes were agreed by the whole team. Enfield CCG, an NHS PCO, funded a collaboration with UCL to employ five GPs as clinical teaching fellows to work in Enfield, to increase patients' access, to provide input to CCG development projects, and to provide undergraduate medical student teaching in practice., Results: Five teaching fellows were employed for ≤2 years and provided 18 266 extra appointments, engaged with development projects, and delivered local undergraduate teaching. The themes identified by stakeholders were the challenges of these organisations working together, recruiting GPs to an underserved area, and perceptions of the model's value for money., Conclusion: The evaluation showed that the collaboration of an NHS PCO and a higher education institution can work, and the prestige of being associated with a universty and clinical variety ensured GP recruitment in an area that had previously struggled. However, the project's costs were high, which affected perceptions of its value., Competing Interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist.