Search

This scientific data article is related to the research work entitled “Optimization of bio-oil production from microwave co-pyrolysis of food waste and low-density polyethylene with response surface methodology” published in “Journal of Environmental Management” (10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113345). In this work, collection of Food Waste (FW) and Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) for 7 consecutive days and its characterization was done. Based on the characterization, the composition of simulated FW was fixed for different experimental runs. Valorization of feedstock (FW and LDPE) with increasing temperature with/without the presence of microwave susceptor was analyzed. Statistical significance of LDPE and microwave susceptor addition on bio-oil yield and Total Acid Number (TAN) was verified with single-factor ANOVA. The outcomes of the present dataset will be helpful for the researchers and engineers working in the field of bio-oil generation from microwave co-pyrolysis of mixed waste.

Background: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is defined as glucose intolerance of varying degree diagnosed first time during the pregnancy. Blood glucose values revert to the normal level soon after the delivery. But the women carry a lifetime risk of getting overt diabetes within 5 years. The management of GDM mainly comprises of medical nutrition therapy, exercise, weight management and Self-Monitoring of Blood Glucose (SMBG). Among all the management components, SMBG is the mostly neglected especially among pregnant women with GDM. Overall, the practise of SMBG in developing nation like India is not up to the mark. Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine the practice of SMBG amongst the pregnant women with GDM. The study was conducted in the antenatal OPD of Queen Mary’s Hospital KGMU, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Methodology: It was a quasiexperimental study on 188 pregnant women with GDM managed on life style intervention. Statistical analysis: Descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages were used to analyse the sociodemographic factors. ANOVA was applied to compare the mean score between the two groups. Result: The overall adherence to the SMBG practice was found to be very low among the study participants. No significant difference was observed between the two groups. Conclusion: Patient empowerment and imparting proper information regarding SMBG may be helpful in managing the GDM with better maternal and foetal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is specified by microalbuminuria, glomerular lesions, and renal fibrosis leading to end-stage renal disease. The pathophysiology of DN is multifactorial as a result of gene–environment interaction. Clinical studies suggested that gene mutations affect various pathways involved in DN, including extracellular matrix (ECM). During chronic hyperglycemia, collagen type-4-mediated ECM overproduction occurs, leading to renal fibrosis and DN development. In this study, COL4A1 gene variant rs605143 (G/A) was analyzed in diabetes and DN patients from the study population. We genotyped 386 study subjects, comprising 120 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, 120 DN, and 146 healthy controls. All study subjects were analyzed for biochemical assays by commercially available kits and genotypic analysis by polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism and confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Statistical analyses were done using SPSS and GraphPad. Anthroclinicopathological parameters showed a significant association between T2DM and DN. Genotype AA of COL4A1 gene variant rs605143 (G/A) showed a significant association with T2DM and DN compared with controls with 5.87- and 8.01-folds risk, respectively. Mutant allele A also significantly associated with T2DM and DN independently compared with healthy controls with 2.29- and 2.81-time risk in the study population. This study's findings suggested that COL4A1 gene variant rs605143 (G/A) can be used as predictive biomarkers for T2DM and DN independently. However, this gene variant needs to be analyzed in a large sample to explore the shared genetic association between T2DM and DN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meiosis is a specialized cell division that halves the number of chromosomes in two consecutive rounds of chromosome segregation. In angiosperm plants is meiosis followed by mitotic divisions to form rudimentary haploid gametophytes. In Arabidopsis, termination of meiosis and transition to gametophytic development are governed by TDM1 and SMG7 that mediate inhibition of translation. Mutants deficient in this mechanism do not form tetrads but instead undergo multiple cycles of aberrant nuclear divisions that are likely caused by the failure to downregulate cyclin dependent kinases during meiotic exit. A suppressor screen to identify genes that contribute to meiotic exit uncovered a mutation in cyclin‐dependent kinase D;3 (CDKD;3) that alleviates meiotic defects in smg7 deficient plants. The CDKD;3 deficiency prevents aberrant meiotic divisions observed in smg7 mutants or delays their onset after initiation of cytokinesis, which permits formation of functional microspores. Although CDKD;3 acts as an activator of cyclin‐dependent kinase A;1 (CDKA;1), the main cyclin dependent kinase that regulates meiosis, cdkd;3 mutation appears to promote meiotic exit independently of CDKA;1. Furthermore, analysis of CDKD;3 interactome revealed enrichment for proteins implicated in cytokinesis, suggesting a more complex function of CDKD;3 in cell cycle regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Newcastle disease (ND) is an economically important viral disease of birds caused by Avian Paramyxovirus type 1. In the present study, mortality of 56.50 to 74.50% due to ND in four desi chickens farms located in Durg district of Chhattisgarh was noticed which were not vaccinated against NDV, The gross and histopathological lesions were suggestive of viscerotropic velogenic form of ND. Tissue samples of trachea and lung collected from 18 desi birds belonging to four desi flocks were confirmed as ND by RT-PCR amplification of 535 bp of fusion protein gene of NDV. In the present study, velogenic viscerotropic NDV was confirmed in all four desi flocks by gross and microscopic examination and RT-PCR assay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advancement in deep learning techniques has helped researchers acquire and process multimodal data signals from different healthcare domains. Now, the focus has shifted towards providing end-to-end solutions, i.e., processing these data and developing models that can be directly implemented on edge devices. To achieve this, the researchers try to solve two problems: (I) reduce the complex feature dependencies and (II) reduce the complexity of the deep learning model without compromising accuracy. In this paper, we focus on the later part of reducing the complexity of the model by using the knowledge distillation framework. We have introduced knowledge distillation on the Vision Transformer model to study the MIT-BIH Arrhythmia Database. A tenfold crossvalidation technique was used to validate the model, and we obtained a 99.7% F1 score and 99.3% accuracy. The model was further tested on the Xilinx Alveo U50 FPGA accelerator, and it is found fit for any low-powered wearable device implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labeling speech signals is a critical activity that cannot be overlooked in any of the early phases of designing a system based on speech technology. For this, an efficient particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based clustering algorithm is proposed to classify the speech classes, i.e., voiced, unvoiced, and silence. A sample of 10 signal waves is selected, and their audio features are extracted. The audio signals are then partitioned into frames, and each frame is classified by using the proposed PSO-based clustering algorithm. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using various performance metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity that are examined. Extensive experiments reveal that the proposed algorithm outperforms the competitive algorithms. The average accuracy of the proposed algorithm is 97%, sensitivity is 98%, and specificity is 96%, which depicts that the proposed approach is efficient in detecting and classifying the speech classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine, including teledermatology. Monitoring skin lesions using teledermatology may become increasingly important for several skin diseases, including low‐risk skin cancers. The purpose of this study was to describe the key factors that could serve as barriers or facilitators to skin disease monitoring using mobile health technology (mHealth) in older adults. Methods: Older adult dermatology patients 65 years or older and their caregivers who have seen a dermatologist in the last 18 months were interviewed and surveyed between December 2019 and July 2020. The purpose of these interviews was to better understand attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that could serve as barriers and facilitators to the use of mHealth and active surveillance to monitor low‐risk skin cancers. Results: A total of 33 interviews leading to 6022 unique excerpts yielded 8 factors, or themes, that could serve as barriers, facilitators or both to mHealth and active surveillance. We propose an integrated conceptual framework that highlights the interaction of these themes at both the patient and provider level, including care environment, support systems and personal values. Discussion and conclusions: These preliminary findings reveal factors influencing patient acceptance of active surveillance in dermatology, such as changes to the patient‐provider interaction and alignment with personal values. These factors were also found to influence adoption of mHealth interventions. Given such overlap, it is essential to address barriers and facilitators from both domains when designing a new dermatology active surveillance approach with novel mHealth technology. Patient or public contribution: The patients included in this study were participants during the data collection process. Members of the Stanford Healthcare and Denver Tech Dermatology health‐care teams aided in the recruitment phase of the data collection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the efficacy of microwave photo-oxidation (MWPO) process with two oxidants i.e. persulphate (PS) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for degradation of Congo red (CR). The result indicated a CR degradation efficiency of 98% and 96.8% with PS and H2O2, respectively, in 30 min of reaction with corresponding PS dosage of 50 mg/L and H2O2 dosage of 180 mg/L. The COD removal efficiency with the two oxidants were 97.7% and 94.9%, respectively. Higher dosages of oxidant and CR reduced the efficiency of the process in both the cases due to self-quenching. Effect of pH and initial CR concentration on CR removal efficiency also has been studied. Degradation of CR followed pseudo-first-order kinetics with a removal rate constant of 0.12/min and 0.09/min, respectively, with PS and H2O2. The main mechanism of CR degradation was cleavage of the benzene–benzene bond, cleavage of benzene–N bond and hydroxylation. Economic analysis of the MWPO process indicated an energy consumption of 18.3 kWh/g of CR removal and 18.4 kWh/g of COD removal. The process was effective in the rapid degradation and mineralization of high concentration of CR within 30 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, recycling of spent tubular lights comprising about 40 % rare earth (Y, La, Ce, Eu, Tb) elements are explored. In this study, two different processing routes comprising leaching followed by microwave treatment, and vice versa are investigated. Leaching of Eu-Y values followed by microwave treatment of leach residue with sodium hydroxide was found promising for rare earth extraction. Different routes comprising one step, two-step, and acid baking in the microwave were compared based on the recovery of rare earth values. Two-step process consisting of acid leaching followed by NaOH microwave treatment of leach residue was found best concerning overall extraction and separation of Y-Eu and La-Ce-Tb oxides. The material balance shows that 50 g mixed oxide of Y, Eu, and ∼8 g of La, Ce, Eu, Tb, Y mixed oxide with purity over 97 % can be recovered from 100 units of discarded tubular lights. Finally, it is concluded that microwave processing can be employed for the recovery of rare earth values from abundantly available discarded tubular lights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphor samples collected after crushing and sieving of discarded fluorescent lamps comprise approximately 31 % rare earth elements in the form of Y1.90Eu0.10O3, Al11Ce0.67MgO19Tb0.33, and Al10.09Ba0.96Mg0.91O17: Eu2+ phase. Direct leaching and mechanical activation assisted leaching are incapable of recovering Ce, Tb values from the Al11Ce0.67MgO19Tb0.33 phase. Heat treatment with NaOH was found successful for dissociation of Ce, Tb phase via substitution of rare-earth ion by Na+ ion to form rare earth oxide and water-soluble NaAlO2. Y, Eu, Ce, and Tb values were recovered from heattreated mass in a two-step leaching process followed by recovery from the leach solution by oxalic acid precipitation. Over 95 % extraction rate was attained after heat treatment at 400 °C with 150 wt-% NaOH for 1 h. It was found that Y, Eu containing phase does not take part in the heat treatment process whereas the Ce, Tb phase undergoes a solid-state chemical reaction with NaOH via product layer diffusion model with 41.5 kJ/mol activation energy. Approximately 15 g mixed oxide (purity >95 %) of Y (79 %), Eu (7 %), Ce (5 %), and Tb (4 %) could be recovered from 100 units of discarded FLs. Microwave treatment of phosphor and NaOH (50 wt-%) yielded approximately 42 % Y, 100 % Eu, 65 % Ce, and 70 % Tb recovery in just 5 min. Approximately 9 g of REO and 5 g of cerium enriched leach residue were recovered from the microwave route within 5 min and depicted high microwave potential application in the recovery of Ce and Tb values from waste phosphor sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the fate and transport of two significant anions through soil to explore their potential as groundwater contaminants. The retention properties of chloride and sulfate in soils having several significantly different characteristics (soil‐1 and soil‐2) were determined using adsorption test and adsorption‐diffusion column experiments. The maximum adsorption capacity of chloride was 3.7 and 1.16 mg/g, respectively, in soil‐1 and soil‐2, with organic matter (OM) content of 3.92% and 4.69%, respectively. The sulfate adsorption obtained was 24.09% and 13.83%, respectively, in the two soils. The anions exhibited monolayer adsorption in the soils with replacement of hydroxyl ions from soils as the major mechanism of adsorption. On the other hand, the adsorption capacities obtained from the adsorption‐diffusion column experiment were about 100 times lower compared to that of the column tests of both of the soils. The maximum adsorption capacity of chloride was 0.03 mg/g and 0.01 mg/g, respectively, in soil‐1 and soil‐2, whereas that of sulfate was 0.04 mg/g and 0.03 mg/g. The empirical relation for depth of penetration (d) from a known spillage onto the soil surface was determined as a function of sorption capacity (S) and initial anion concentration (C) as d = 0.0073e(−57S)C and d = 0.0038e(−35S)C for chloride and sulfate, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, the Indian society has been witnessing rapid transformation in the environmental, social, and economic arenas of life under the impact of globalization. A major consequence of this has been the emergence of newer leisure opportunities for the younger people. Leisure activities should be novel and should provide arousing experience. A suitable balance among individuals’ daily activities, self-maintenance, work, leisure time activities, rest and sleep is important for remaining in good mental health. Adolescence is an important milestone in terms of personal development. It is during this critical period that later attitude towards life are formed. Leisure pursuits have an important role in adolescent’s personal development. Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted in one school of urban and one school of rural Lucknow. A pre-defined semi-structured mixed questionnaire was used as a study tool to collect data. Teachers were requested to help students who could not understand a particular question. A total of 200 students from 2 schools participated and responded to the questionnaire. The data was entered in Excel spreadsheet and results were evaluated using SPSS 19.0 version. Conclusions: The present study provides a picture of emerging scenario of leisure time activities in different segments of adolescents.In view of relevance of leisure time use to health, we need to acknowledge that leisure time is developmentally a valuable activity, and therefore it should be utilized to acquire and enhance competencies and wellness and not for burdening with health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has a vast coastline of 7460 km and prolific presence of foraminifers which are significant paleoclimatic proxies. However, no research has been carried out to extract genomic DNA from foraminifer and sequencing it for DNA barcoding. To initiate molecular study on benthic foraminifers from the Gulf of Kachchh, India, we tested out various kits based protocols and extract the foraminiferal DNA from Ammonia sp. Though most of the earlier methods yielded moderate amount of mean genomic DNA yield (0.87-9.07 ng/µL) they failed to amplify the DNA. Possibly, this is the first attempt in India wherein standardization of foraminiferal DNA extraction and PCR amplification is performed. This standardized protocol (modified protocol) yielded the highest quantity of mean genomic DNA yield (28.41 ng/µL) and its PCR amplification was also successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SMG7 proteins are evolutionary conserved across eukaryotes and primarily known for their function in nonsense mediated RNA decay (NMD). In contrast to other NMD factors, SMG7 proteins underwent independent expansions during evolution indicating their propensity to adopt novel functions. Here we characterized SMG7 and SMG7-like (SMG7L) paralogs in Arabidopsis thaliana. SMG7 retained its role in NMD and additionally appears to have acquired another function in meiosis. We inactivated SMG7 by CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis and showed that, in contrast to our previous report, SMG7 is not an essential gene in Arabidopsis. Furthermore, our data indicate that the N-terminal phosphoserine-binding domain is required for both NMD and meiosis. Phenotypic analysis of SMG7 and SMG7L double mutants did not indicate any functional redundancy between the two genes, suggesting neofunctionalization of SMG7L. Finally, protein sequence comparison together with a phenotyping of T-DNA insertion mutants identified several conserved regions specific for SMG7 that may underlie its role in NMD and meiosis. This information provides a framework for deciphering the non-canonical functions of SMG7-family proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In India, presently 72.9 million people are living with diabetes, which is expected to reach 134.3 million by the year 2045. The glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) test is the most widely accepted laboratory test for evaluating long term glycemic control. Patient's understanding of HbA1c can lead to better glycemic control. Aims and Objectives: (1) To determine the awareness and level of understanding of HbA1c among type 2 DM patients. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Type 2 DM patients undergoing routine follow up in a private clinic. A predesigned questionnaire was administered to the patients, which assessed their awareness and understanding of HbA1c. Result: A total of 128 participants were recruited. 68% of the participants were male and 32% were females. 93 participants had attained primary education, remaining 35 participants had attained education above primary level. Thirty five (27.3%) were aware of the term HbA1c. Conclusion: The current study indicates inadequate knowledge of HbA1C among diabetic patients. This lack of knowledge and awareness may lead to increased susceptibility to the development of diabetic complications, and potentially higher healthcare costs among these patients. It is our recommendation that policy makers focus on strategies that address HbA1C test accessibility to everyone and everywhere, so as to effectively monitor and combat DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Root‐knot nematodes (RKNs, Meloidogyne incognita) are economically important endoparasites with a wide host range. We used a comprehensive transcriptomic approach to investigate the expression of both tomato and RKN genes in tomato roots at five infection time intervals from susceptible plants and two infection time intervals from resistant plants, grown under soil conditions. Differentially expressed genes during susceptible (1827, tomato; 462, RKN) and resistance (25, tomato; 160, RKN) interactions were identified. In susceptible responses, tomato genes involved in cell wall structure, development, primary and secondary metabolite, and defence signalling pathways, together with RKN genes involved in host parasitism, development and defence, are discussed. In resistance responses, tomato genes involved in secondary metabolite and hormone‐mediated defence responses, together with RKN genes involved in starvation stress‐induced apoptosis, are discussed. In addition, 40 novel differentially expressed RKN genes encoding secretory proteins were identified. Our findings provide novel insights into the temporal regulation of genes involved in various biological processes from tomato and RKN simultaneously during susceptible and resistance responses, and reveal the involvement of a complex network of biosynthetic pathways during disease development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circulating microRNAs that are associated with specific diseases have garnered much attention for use in diagnostic assays. However, detection of disease-associated miRNA can be affected by several factors such as release of contaminating cellular miRNA during sample collection, variations due to amplification of transcript for detection, or controls used for normalization for accurate quantitation. We analyzed circulating miRNA in serum and plasma samples obtained concurrently from 28 patients, using a Nanostring quantitative assay platform. Total RNA concentration ranged from 32–125 μg/ml from serum and 30–220 μg/ml from plasma. Of 798 miRNAs, 371 miRNAs were not detected in either serum or plasma samples. 427 were detected in either serum or plasma but not both, whereas 151 miRNA were detected in both serum and plasma samples. The diversity of miRNA detected was greater in plasma than in serum samples. In serum samples, the number of detected miRNA ranged from 3 to 82 with a median of 17, whereas in plasma samples, the number of miRNA detected ranged from 25 to 221 with a median of 91. Several miRNA such as miR451a, miR 16-5p, miR-223-3p, and mir25-3p were highly abundant and differentially expressed between serum and plasma. The detection of endogenous and exogenous control miRNAs varied in serum and plasma, with higher levels observed in plasma. Gene expression stability identified candidate invariant microRNA that were highly stable across all samples, and could be used for normalization. In conclusion, there are significant differences in both the number of miRNA detected and the amount of miRNA detected between serum and plasma. Normalization using miRNA with constant expression is essential to minimize the impact of technical variations. Given the challenges involved, ideal candidates for blood based biomarkers would be those that are indifferent to type of body fluid, are detectable and can be reliably quantitated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs, Meloidogyne spp.) are the most damaging plant parasites causing severe losses to crop production. The present study reports genome-wide identification and characterization of both tomato and RKN miRNAs simultaneously from RKN-infected susceptible tomato roots using high-throughput sequencing technique. RNAseq data from 11 small RNA libraries derived from 5 disease development stages identified 281 novel miRNAs of tomato in addition to 52 conserved and 4 variants of conserved miRNAs. Additionally, the same set of RNAseq data identified 38 conserved and 290 novel RKN miRNAs. Both tomato and RKN miRNAs showed differential expression at 5 stages of disease development based on digital expression profiles. In tomato, further validation through qRT-PCR confirmed that majority of miRNAs were significantly upregulated during susceptible response whereas downregulated during resistance response. The predicted targets of 8 conserved and 1 novel miRNAs were validated through 5’RLM-RACE. A negative correlation between expression profiles of a few conserved miRNAs (miR156, miR159, miR164 and miR396) and their targets (SBP, GAMYB-like, NAC and GRF1 transcription factor) was confirmed. A novel Sly_miRNA996 also showed a negative correlation with its target MYB-like transcription factor. These results indicate that the conserved and novel tomato miRNAs are involved in regulating developmental changes in host root during RKN infection. In RKN, the targets of conserved miRNAs were also predicted and a few of their predicted target genes are known to be involved in nematode parasitism. Further, the potential roles of both tomato and RKN miRNAs have been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mouthwashes are important means used in chemical control of dental plaque. There is strong evidence suggestive of better effectiveness, when fluoride is added to chlorhexidine mouthwash. Aim: To assess the anti-plaque efficacy of Chlorhexidine combined with Fluoride mouthwash and to measure its impact on plaque accumulation and on plaque pH. Materials and Methods: Initially 100 subjects were screened. A double blind, parallel randomized clinical trial was conducted on 30 subjects after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Other independent variables were matched before randomly allocating them in three groups: Group A-Chlorhexidine as positive control, Group B-Chlorhexidine + Fluoride as test group and Group C- Distilled water as negative control. Oral prophylaxis of participants was done before onset of the study. Plaque pH was assessed before and immediately after rinsing at 0, 5 and 10 minutes interval and after 7 days with digital pH electrode (pHepR pH meter, Hanna Instruments R10285) and accumulation of plaque was recorded by Turesky et al., modification of Quigley Hein Plaque Index (1970). ANOVA test was used for statistical analysis. results: Although there was a statistically significant reduction in mean plaque scores from baseline to seven days in both Groups A and B, Group B showed better anti-plaque efficacy. Almost equal drop in plaque pH was seen for both the groups at 5 and 10 minutes. conclusion: Better anti-plaque efficacy was observed in Group B (Chlorhexidine and Fluoride combination) with minimum variation of plaque pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the effect of prior hardening and tempering treatment on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and high-stress abrasive wear response of 0.33% carbon dual-phase (DP) steel. For this purpose, two different DP steels were produced by subjecting the as-received steel to hardening (DP-H) and hardening + tempering (DP-HT) treatments prior to the intercritical (I/C) annealing treatment. These steels along with the as-received steel were subsequently characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) metallography. Furthermore, tensile properties were evaluated along with microhardness measurements. The fracture surfaces of the failed tensile specimens were studied under SEM. Prior hardening and tempering treatment resulted in the formation of a nearly spherical martensite (aspect ratio = 1.2 ± 0.13) phase along with fine iron carbides in DP-HT steel. These fine iron carbides and spherical martensite act as the void nucleation sites in DP-HT steel. Therefore, DP-HT steel exhibits good ductility along with reasonable strength. On contrary, DP-H steel exhibits the presence of a fine elongated martensite (aspect ratio = 6.1 ± 3) phase, which causes poor ductility. Furthermore, abrasion tests were carried out at varying sliding distances at three different applied loads. Dual-phase treatment results in improved overall wear response. Moreover, tempering of prior hardened steel leads to improvement in wear resistance in DP-HT steel under all conditions studied in comparison with DP-H steel. This is attributed to higher strain hardening and greater resistance to particle scooping in DP-HT steel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present study is aimed at understanding the effect of different prior heat treatments on the microstructure and mechanical properties of 0.33% carbon dual-phase (DP) steel. For this purpose, different dual-phase steels were produced by subjecting the as-received steel to 'hardening' (DP-H), 'hardening + tempering' (DP-HT), and 'austempering' (DP-AT) treatments prior to the intercritical annealing treatment. The study reveals that the prior hardening treatment in DP-H steel results in significant refinement of ferrite grains and formation of fine elongated martensite plates having an aspect ratio = 6.1 ± 3. These fine elongated martensites are responsible for poor ductility in DP-H steel. Although DP steel without any prior treatment (DP-AR) and DP-AT steel exhibit high strength and hardness, their ductility is limited by the presence of very hard martensite islands which act as the failure initiation sites in these steels. On the other hand, prior 'hardening + tempering' treatment in DP-HT steel results in the formation of nearly spherical-shaped martensite (aspect ratio = 1.24 ± 0.13) along with coarse martensite laths. In addition, the presence of fine carbides is also found along the lath boundaries. These fine spherical martensites and fine carbides provide higher strain hardening to DP-HT steel. Accordingly, DP-HT steel exhibits adequate ductility as well as strength. Therefore, prior 'hardening + tempering' treatment was found to the best prior treatment in the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Investigation of phosphor samples with three processing routes for REE extraction. • Mechanical activation caused partial dissociation of the LAP phase. • TEM revealed the formation of polycrystalline sites for improved RE recovery. • Acid baking route better for CFL phosphor with 91% REE extraction and 98% purity. • Tube light phosphor was better for Tb extraction compared to CFL phosphor. This study investigates two phosphor samples with three processing routes to extract rare earth elements (REE). Acid leaching in 2 M HCl, 80 °C, 1 h yielded higher REE extraction in the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) feed (82% Eu), with varying rare earth (RE) purity (77–97%) compared to fluorescent tubelight (TL) feed (69% Eu, 98–95% purity). Mechanical activation (MA) of 30 and 60 min caused partial dissociation of the LAP (LaPO 4 :Ce3+Tb3+) phase and yielded 34% Ce, 36% Tb, and 40% La. Transmission electron microscopy results revealed the formation of polycrystalline sites, which improved RE recovery. Alkali baking showed better REE extraction for both phosphors. 86.5% Y, 69% Eu was selectively extracted in feed acid leaching, and 100% La, 60% Tb, 20.6% Eu after alkali baking with 97% purity and CeO 2 in the leach residue. The acid baking route was preferred for CFL phosphor with 91% REE (43 % Tb) extraction and 98% purity. TL phosphor was better for Tb extraction. The alkali baking of TL feed and acid baking of CFL feed yields 37.7% and ∼30% rare earth oxides, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel processing route of microwave-assisted acid baking followed by water leaching of waste phosphor retrieved from end-of-life fluorescent lamps is investigated. The waste phosphor consists of a mixture of monochromatic phosphor phases (Y 2 O 3 :Eu3+, BaMgAl 10 O 17 :Eu2+, CeMgAl 11 O 19 :Tb3+, LaPO 4 :Ce3+Tb3+), and the baking parameters like microwave power, baking duration, and acid dose were optimized using randomized block statistical design of experiments. The thermodynamic considerations of the sulfation process are evaluated by the thermogravimetric analysis of the phosphor-acid mixture. The estimated thermal decomposition activation energies for the predicted sulfation reactions are 652.9, 375.9, and 409.5 kJ/mol at 0.7, 0.85, and 1 mL/g acid dosage, respectively, in the temperature range of 231–308 °C. It was found that the microwave baking at 800 W for 3 min at 1 mL/g acid ratio yielded 82.5% overall rare-earth dissolution, including 93.6% terbium, 39.6% lanthanum, and ~100% europium and yttrium dissolution. Cerium dissolution was negligible in the investigated experimental conditions. The dissociation of the LaPO 4 :Ce3+Tb3+ phase governs the overall rare earth dissolution during the baking process. The XRD analysis of the products suggests that the lanthanum and cerium values interact with phosphoric acid at the phosphor surface to form polyphosphates (LaPO 4 , CePO 4), deteriorates the dissolution efficiency. The partially reacted Ce (III) values were oxidized to a stable Ce (IV) state, which leads to its accumulation in the leach residue. The mass balance at optimal conditions indicates that 184 g phosphor of 100 tubular lights units yielded 73 g of 98% pure Y-Eu-Tb oxides. The specific energy expenditure for the present lab-scale study was calculated at 8 kWh/kg of phosphor. The cost estimations indicate that the process is economically viable with a total value generation of 14.47 US$/kg with 89% contribution of terbium and cost of processing is 0.69 US$/Kg phosphor. [Display omitted] • Investigation of novel microwave acid baking for RE recovery. • Thermodynamic calculation of activation energies for phosphor decomposition. • Microwave acid baking of 3 min leads to formation of water-soluble RE sulphates. • Optimal conditions for maximum Tb dissolution are 800 W, 3 min, and 1 mL/g H 2 SO 4. • Tb dissolution is strongly affected by microwave power and acid dosage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xenobiotic mediated renal toxicity is one of the major health concerns to the organisms, including humans. New chemicals with nephrotoxic potential are continuously being added to the list of existing nephrotoxicants. To predict the nephrotoxicity of these new chemicals, reliable and cost-effective alternative animal models are required. It is a prerequisite for the identification and assessment of these compounds as potential nephrotoxicants to prevent renal toxicity in the exposed population. Drosophila melanogaster , a genetically tractable invertebrate animal model, has a renal system functionally analogous to humans. The Malpighian tubules (MTs) of D. melanogaster are similar to the tubular part of nephron of the human kidney. Besides, it recapitulates the renal toxicity hallmark with mammals when exposed to known nephrotoxicants. In this study, first instar larvae of D. melanogaster (Oregon R) were exposed to different concentrations of two well-known nephrotoxicants, cadmium (Cd) and mercury (Hg). Akin to higher organisms, Cd and Hg exposure to D. melanogaster produce similar phenotypes. MTs of exposed D. melanogaster larvae exhibited increased oxidative stress, activated cellular antioxidant defense mechanism, GSH depletion, increased cleaved caspase-3 expression, increased DEVDase activity and increased cell death. The functional status of MTs was assessed by fluid secretion rate (FSR), efflux activity of transporter protein, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), ATP level and expression of junctional protein (Dlg). All the phenotypes observed in MTs of D. melanogaster larvae recapitulate the phenotypes observed in higher organisms. Increased uric acid level, the hallmark of renal dysfunction, was also observed in exposed larvae. Taken together, the study suggests that MTs of D. melanogaster may be used as a functional model to evaluate xenobiotic mediated nephrotoxicity. Image 1 • Cd and Hg exposure to Drosophila larvae exhibits renal dysfunction. • Cd and Hg exposure to Drosophila larvae exhibits oxidative stress in MTs. • Cd and Hg exposure results in increase in apoptosis and cell death in the MTs. • Cd and Hg exposure results in reduced FSR and efflux activity. • Cd and Hg exposure altered junctional protein, Dlg in MTs and increased uric acid level in exposed larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous feeding of high dietary sugar is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its secondary complications. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major secondary complication that leads to glomerular and renal tubular dysfunction. The present study is aimed to investigate the effects of chronic exposure of high sugar diet (HSD) on renal tubules. Malpighian tubules (MTs), a renal organ of Drosophila, were used as a model in the study. Feeding of HSD develops T2D condition in Drosophila. The MTs showed structural abnormalities in 20 days of HSD fed flies. Impaired insulin signaling, oxidative stress, enhanced levels of AGE-RAGE and induction of apoptosis were observed in the MTs of these flies. Further, altered expression of transporters, enhanced uric acid level and reduced fluid secretion rate confirmed the impaired function of MTs in these flies. RNA-seq and RT-PCR analyses in the MTs of HSD fed-and control-flies revealed the altered expression of candidate genes that regulate several important pathways including extracellular matrix (ECM), advanced glycation end products-receptor for advanced glycation end products (AGE-RAGE), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), galactose, starch and sucrose metabolism that are well known mediators of renal tubular dysfunction in DN patients. Disruption of insulin signaling in the MTs also causes renal tubular dysfunction similar to HSD fed flies. Overall, the study suggests that phenotypes observed in the MTs of HSD fed flies recapitulate several hallmarks of renal tubular dysfunction in DN patients. Therefore, we conclude that MTs of HSD fed flies may be used for deciphering the underlying mechanisms of T2D mediated renal tubular dysfunction. Image 1 • High sucrose diet (HSD) causes type 2 diabetes mediated Malpighian tubules (MTs) dysfunction in Drosophila. • HSD causes oxidative stress, apoptosis and advance glycation end products (AGE) accumulation in MTs. • HSD causes increased uric acid level, reduced expression of transporters and fluid secretion rate. • HSD causes perturbations in ECM, AGE-RAGE and TGF-β pathways in MTs. • HSD causes increased expression of Viking and Collagen 4 A1 that led to fibrosis in MTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]