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Integration of a grid with an under-developed remote hilly area faces various technical and geographical challenges. Thus, generation of power from renewable resources in off-grid conditions has become one of the most cost-effective and reliable solutions for such areas. The present research deals with the possible application of an integrated solar/hydro/biomass/battery-based system to generate power in autonomous mode for a remote hilly town of a northeastern Indian state. Four different cases of the integrated energy system (IES) were designed using the hybrid optimization model for electric renewable (HOMER Pro), examining the performance of each case. The best combination of the integrated system was chosen out of several cases depending upon the optimized solution that can meet the load demand of the proposed hilly town sustainably, reliably and continuously. The simulation results show that the integrated battery/biomass/hydro/solar-based system is the best optimized, cheapest and most suitable solution to generate renewable-based power for the specified location, having the lowest net present cost (NPC) of USD 644,183.70 with a levelized cost of energy (COE) of 0.1282 USD/kWh. Further, the result also indicates that the optimized configuration reduces the emission of CO2 gas in the environment compared to the battery/biomass/hydro system having the worst emission rate. A sensitivity study was also carried out with variation in load, hydro stream flow and solar irradiation, respectively that may largely affect the technical as well as economical aspect of an integrated energy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The recent trend in modern power sector is to maintain observability of the grid for its smooth operation under all circumstances. To ascertain this aforementioned criterion, grid operators employ state estimation algorithms with a priori measurement data to determine the current operating states of the grid. The prime ideology behind such algorithms is the presence of an over‐determined class of system with abundant measurement redundancy. With loss of real time measurement data, operators resort to state forecasting‐based solutions. This work focuses on the use of scalable deep learning and machine learning models for appropriate forecasting of operating states both for healthy and contingency scenarios. This work also incorporates a critical comparison between them based on RMSE, MSE, MAE and R‐squared index. To facilitate a better training and to prevent model underfitting, Gaussian copula based synthetic data are incorporated showcasing substantial enhancement in performance indices of the models [GRU (0.7958 → 0.0088), LSTM (1.1173 → 0.1020), SVM (1.7256 → 0.1654) and SNN (2.5381 → 0.1972)]. Such training strategies even under system unobservability with optimal hyper‐parameter tuning of the models can lead to proper forecasting of operating states of the system. A comparative analysis between the neural network models under varying noise scenarios also portrays the efficacy of the proposed GRU model. The proposed architecture can also be implemented for real time state forecasting scheme with computational time in the order of micro (μ) seconds (210.34 μs). Simulation results on IEEE 14 bus system validate these aforementioned propositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper proposes a novel approach to remove salt-and-pepper noise from a given noisy image. The proposed algorithm is based on statistical quantities such as mean and standard deviation. It determines the intensity to be placed on the impulse point by calculating the eligibility of the nearby points in a very simple way. This method works iteratively and removes all the impulse points restoring the edges and minute details. The proposed algorithm is very efficient and gives better results than various existing algorithms. The performance of the proposed method are compared with other existing methods with images of noise density as high as 99% and is found to perform better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Docetaxel (DTX) is found to be very effective against glioma cellin vitro. However,in vivopassage of DTX through BBB is extremely difficult due to the physicochemical and pharmacological characteristics of the drug. No existing formulation is successful in this aspect. Hence, in this study, effort was made to send DTX through blood–brain barrier (BBB) to brain to treat diseases such as solid tumor of brain (glioma) by developing DTX-loaded nanoliposomes. Primarily drug-excipients interaction was evaluated by FTIR spectroscopy. The DTX-loaded nanoliposomes (L-DTX) were prepared by lipid layer hydration technique and characterized physicochemically.In vitrocellular uptake in C6 glioma cells was investigated. FTIR data show that the selected drug and excipients were chemically compatible. The unilamellar vesicle size was less than 50 nm with smooth surface. Drug released slowly from L-DTXin vitroin a sustained manner. The pharmacokinetic data shows more extended action of DTX from L-DTX in experimental rats than the free-drug and Taxotere®. DTX from L-DTX enhanced 100% drug concentration in brain as compared with Taxotere® in 4 h. Thus, nanoliposomes as vehicle may be an encouraging strategy to treat glioma with DTX. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation aims to isolate an Actinomycetes strain producing a biosurfactant from the unexplored region of industrial and coal mine areas. Actinomycetes are selected for this study as their novel chemistry was not exhausted and they have tremendous potential to produce bioactive secondary metabolites. The biosurfactant was characterized and further needed to be utilized for pharmaceutical dosage form. Isolation, purification, screening, and characterization of the Actinomycetes A17 were done followed by its fermentation in optimized conditions. The cell-free supernatant was used for the extraction of the biosurfactant and precipitated by cold acetone. The dried precipitate was purified by TLC and the emulsification index, surface tension and CMC were determined. The isolated strain with preferred results was identified as Actinomycetes nocardiopsis A17 with high foam-forming properties. It gives lipase, amylase, gelatinase, and protease activity. The emulsification index was found to be 93 ± 0.8 with surface tension 66.67 dyne/cm at the lowest concentration and cmc 0.6 μg/ml. These biosurfactants were characterized by Fourier transform infra red (FT-IR) spectroscopy and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Therefore, it can be concluded that the biosurfactant produced by Actinomycetes nocardiopsis sp. strain A17 was found to have satisfactory results with high surface activity and emulsion-forming ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Nocardiopsis sp. stain B2 with an ability to produce stable α-amylase was isolated from marine sediments. The characterization of microorganism was done by biochemical tests and 16S rDNA sequencing. The α-amylase was purified by gel filtration chromatography by using sephadex G-75. The molecular mass of the amylase was found to be 45 kDa by SDS-PAGE and gel filtration chromatography. The isolated α-amylase was immobilized by ionotropic gelation technique using gellan gum (GG). These microspheres were spherical with average particle size of 375.62 ± 21.76 to 492.54 ± 32.18 μm. The entrapment efficiency of these α-amylase loaded GG microspheres was found 74.76 ± 1.32 to 87.64 ± 1.52%. Characterization of α-amylase–gellan gum microspheres was confirmed using FTIR and SEM analysis. The in vitro amylase release kinetic have been studied by various mathematical models that follow the Korsmeyer–Peppas model ( R 2 = 0.9804–0.9831) with anomalous (non-Fickian) diffusion release mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alangium lamarkii is one of the most popular medicinal plant in India, commonly known as Ankora. Traditionally the leaves of the plant has been used in inflammations, blood disorders, burning sensation, spermatorrhoea, gleet, acute fever and lumbago but its antimicrobial activity is yet to be reported.. The antimicrobial activity of crude methanolic extract of Alangium lamarkii leaves were tested by cup plate method against 08 human microbial pathogens. Crude methanolic extract of leaves showed zone of inhibition in S. aureas-ML152 while it was not active against other organism such as Shigella flexneri 4a24, Vibrio cholera 793, Bacillus subtilis US 564, Salmonella typhi DI-1, Candida albicans SSKM and Candida tropicalis ATCC750 while comparing with standard drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private-label brands are the brain child of retailers. These products are fully owned, controlled and sold exclusively by the retailers, and can be found across all the product categories. The private-label cola (carbonated soft drinks) is one such type of product that has been manufactured and sold by some big retailers of UK. These colas are priced very low compared to premium colas and do posses a huge resemblance to the premium ones. In recent years, these colas have been flooded across the respective retail stores, the sales volume has gone up, giving a tough competition to premium brands (Coca-Cola and Pepsi) in the carbonated soft drinks sector. In spite of the growing popularity of these colas, premium ones still do have a great brand image in market compared to their private-label counterparts. Earlier research studies have revealed that both attitudes and perceptions play an important role in building the image of a product. Moreover, they play a crucial role in customer buying behavior process. This paper tries to explore the general perceptions, and subsequently the buyer behavior about private-label colas in the UK retail market. The study, which is based on qualitative research methodology, focuses on a series of in-depth interviews of the store-managers of four big selected retailers of UK (having their own private-label colas), in order to meet the above mentioned research objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Gum odina and gelatin based scaffold mimics the structure and function of ECM. • The scaffolds were subjected to accelerated stability studies and observed. • The cell adhesion and proliferation property influences to enhance wound healing. • The scaffold facilitates superior healing potential compared to expensive wound dressing product. The main objective of this study was to assess the therapeutic activity of gum odina and gelatin based biomimetic scaffold which was previously established as an excellent wound dressing material. In the accelerated stability study, the changes in physicochemical properties were found to be negligible. The cytotoxicity studies were carried out in-vitro and the results showed that upto 90% of the cells remained viable in presence of the scaffold, confirming its biocompatibility. Moreover, results depicted the superior ability of the scaffold to promote cutaneous healing by increasing the rate of wound contraction (about 98%), granulation formation, collagen deposition and formation of an intact epidermis within 18 days. A satisfactory amount of hydroxyproline (240.2 ± 6.67 μg/100 mg tissue) in scaffold treated groups at 21 days ensured the significant deposition of collagen to re-epithelialization. Further it can be hypothesized that the controlled levels of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT) to diminish the oxidative stress in the wounded sites were due to the innate antioxidant properties of both blank and drug loaded scaffold. These results strongly indicated that the prepared scaffolds have strong potential for biomedical applications and it may serve as promising candidate for the next generation of wound treatment systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients undergoing gynecological procedures suffer from lasting side effects due to intraoperative nerve damage. Small, delicate nerves with complex and nonuniform branching patterns in the female pelvic neuroanatomy make nerve-sparing efforts during standard gynecological procedures such as hysterectomy, cystectomy, and colorectal cancer resection difficult, and thus many patients are left with incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Herein, a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent nerve-specific contrast agent, LGW08-35, that is spectrally compatible with clinical fluorescence guided surgery (FGS) systems is formulated and characterized for rapid implementation for nerve-sparing gynecologic surgeries. The toxicology, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of micelle formulated LGW08-35 are examined, enabling the determination of the optimal imaging doses and time points, blood and tissue uptake parameters, and maximum tolerated dose (MTD). Application of the formulated fluorophore to imaging of female rat and swine pelvic neuroanatomy validates the continued clinical translation and use for real-time identification of important nerves such as the femoral, sciatic, lumbar, iliac, and hypogastric nerves. Further development of LGW08-35 for clinical use will unlock a valuable tool for surgeons in direct visualization of important nerves and contribute to the ongoing characterization of the female pelvic neuroanatomy to eliminate the debilitating side effects of nerve damage during gynecological procedures., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Site-specific delivery of chemotherapeutics specifically to neoplastic hepatocytes without affecting normal hepatocytes should be a focus for potential therapeutic management of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aptamer TLS 9a with phosphorothioate backbone modifications (L5) has not been explored so far for preferential delivery of therapeutics in neoplastic hepatocytes to induce apoptosis. Thus, the objective of the present investigation was to compare the therapeutic potential of L5-functionalized drug nanocarrier (PTX-NPL5) with those of the other experimental drug nanocarriers functionalized by previously reported HCC cell-targeting aptamers and non-aptamer ligands, such as galactosamine and apotransferrin. A myriad of well-defined investigations such as cell cycle analysis, TUNEL (terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling) assay, and studies related to apoptosis, histopathology, and immunoblotting substantiated that PTX-NPL5 had the highest potency among the different ligand-attached experimental formulations in inducing selective apoptosis in neoplastic hepatocytes via a mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway. PTX-NPL5 did not produce any notable toxic effects in healthy hepatocytes, thus unveiling a new and a safer option in targeted therapy for HCC. Molecular modeling study identified two cell-surface biomarker proteins (tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 [TAG-72] and heat shock protein 70 [HSP70]) responsible for ligand-receptor interaction of L5 and preferential internalization of PTX-NPL5 via clathrin-mediated endocytosis in neoplastic hepatocytes. The potential of PTX-NPL5 has provided enough impetus for its rapid translation from the pre-clinical to clinical domain to establish itself as a targeted therapeutic to significantly prolong survival in HCC., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Nanomedicine is an emerging and rapidly growing field, possibly exploring for high expectation to healthcare. Nanoformulations have been designed to overcome challenges due to the development and fabrication of nanostructures. Unique size-dependent properties of nanoformulations make them superior and indispensable in many areas of human activity. Nano drug delivery systems are formulated and engineered to carry and deliver a number of substances in a targeted and controlled way. The vision of nanocarriers can be designed that will serve a dual purpose, allowing both treatment and diagnosis to be contained in an 'all-in-one' package. Nanoscale drugdelivery systems efficiently regulate the release, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, solubility, immunocompatibility, cellular uptake and biodistribution of chemical entities (drug). Their cellular uptake takes place by various mechanisms such as micropinocytosis, phagocytosis and receptor mediated endocytosis. These phenomena cause longer retention in blood circulation resulting in the release of the encapsulated materials in a sustained manner thus minimize the plasma fluctuations and toxic side effects. In this manner, the therapeutic index of conventional pharmaceuticals is efficiently increased. They can be used to deliver both micro and macro biomolecules such as peptides, proteins, plasmid DNA and synthetic oligodeoxynucleotides. In this present review, several recent developing and modifying nano-products for the detection, analysis, and treatment of diseases with their US and world patents along with various diagnostic kits have been discussed.

Lipid based vesicular drug delivery system, one of the emerging technologies designed for addressing the delivery challenges of conventional drug delivery methods, has widespread applications in chemotherapeutics, immunotherapeutics, recombinant DNA technology, membrane biology and also as a diagnostic tool in different biological field. The enclosed phospholipid bilayer spherical structure, typically known as liposome, is a versatile vesicular delivery system to carry hydrophilic/hydrophobic drug generally efficiently to the site of action leading to reduced non-specific toxicity and improved bioavailability of the therapeutic moiety. Efficacy of drug encapsulated in liposome depends mainly on the circulation amount of liposome and its residence time, in vivo drug release, drug accumulation in the target site and uptake of the formulation in the reticuloendothelial system. Liposomal formulation factors that dictate those actions are liposomal size (hydrodynamic diameter), surface charge, lipid composition and steric stabilization. Variation in liposomal size shows around 100 fold alterations in pharmacokinetic parameters and systemic activity while the other factors such as surface charge, lipid composition and steric stabilization bring only about 10 fold changes in those properties. The findings indicate the critical role of vesicular size in liposomal efficacy. In the present review the effect of size-variation of liposome on systemic activity of drug as well as its pharmacokinetic profile will be discussed to understand the rational designing of liposomal preparation to maximize therapeutic activity of a drug at desired magnitude and to provide a wide range of product applications such as immunological vaccines, chemotherapy, antimicrobial therapy etc.

Hepatic cancer stands as one of the frontier causes of cancer related mortality worldwide. Among the several risk factors already established, type 2 diabetes is now considered as one of the important risks in progression of liver cancer. Studies have shown that likelihood of occurrence of liver cancer is many folds higher in patients diagnosed with type II diabetes compared to patients without diabetes. Liver plays an important role in metabolism of glucose in our body, so may be type II diabetes as it is an important epiphenomenon of hepatic diseases such as liver cirrhosis, liver failure, fatty liver, chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Some reports suggested that extensive change in enzyme structures in molecular level in diabetic patients may lead to liver function damage and hence accelerate hepatic cancer. Other strong links between these two diseases are "non alcoholic fatty liver diseases" and "nonalcoholic steatohepatitis" which are metabolic disorders caused by type II diabetes and eventually develops hepatocellular carcinoma. However, it still remains unanswered whether prevention of diabetes would effectively lower the chances of developing liver cancer or eliminating diabetes from the population would effectively reduce the liver cancer incidence. In this review, we will primarily focus on the molecular link between type2 diabetes and hepatic cancer and investigate underlying mechanism to establish type II diabetes as predisposed cause of hepatic cancer.

Nanomaterials have made a significant impact on cancer therapeutics and an emergence of polymeric nanoparticle provides a unique platform for delivery of drug molecules of diverse nature. Nanoparticles can be targeted at the tumor cells due to enhanced permeability and retention effect. Moreover, nanoparticles can be grafted by various ligands on their surface to target the specific receptors overexpressed by cancer cells or angiogenic endothelial cells. These approaches ultimately result in longer circulation half-lives, improved drug pharmacokinetics, reduced side effects of therapeutically active substances and overcoming cancer chemo-resistance thereby enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment. This review article summarizes the recent efforts in cancer nanochemotherapeutics using polymeric nanoparticles with a special reference to their pharmacokinetic and biodistribution profiles, their role in reversing multidrug resistance in cancer and strategies of tumor targeting with them, along with the challenges in the field.