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Neurada procumbens Linn. possesses a wide range of phytochemical and bioactive entities such as flavonoids and polyphenols that decrease the oxidative stress and enhance synaptic plasticity, resulting in accelerated healing processes. Almost all parts of the plant have been used in the traditional system of medicine for various disorders including its use as an anticonvulsant, sexual tonic, and anti-rheumatic agent. This study is designed to evaluate the anxiolytic and antidepressant activities of the methanolic crude extract of N. procumbens (Np.Cr) based on its use in traditional medicine and presence of the phytochemical constituents. Aqueous methanolic extract of Np.Cr was prepared under reduced pressure using rotary evaporator, and different chemical constituents were identified by phytochemical screening. Light/dark exploration, elevated plus maze (EPM), and hole board tests were used to assess the anxiolytic activity, while forced swim and tail suspension tests were used to assess the antidepressant potential of the crude extract. Treatment groups treated individually with 3 different doses; i.e., 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of Np.Cr, showed a dose-dependent increase in time spent in light compartment and in open arms as well as increased number of head poking by the experimental animals. Np.Cr showed significant antidepressant potential ( P < .05) as evident from marked decrease in behavioral despair. Findings of the present study assure that N. procumbens possess significant anxiolytic and antidepressant potential with the demands of further investigations to identify the active compound(s) responsible for these pharmacological effects.

The primary objective of this study is to assess the thermal and solute CNT-based MHD characteristics of nanofluid flow over a vertically moving and rotating disk under the impact of various physical effects such as viscous dissipation, source, sink and thermal radiation. Both the Buongiorno and Xue models are used to study the heat transfer features of nanofluids. Engine oil is considered as the base fluid and nanoparticles of carbon nanotubes are added to the liquid. Moreover, the Brownian motion and thermophoresis mechanisms of nanoparticles are discussed with the help of the Buongiorno model. Similarity transformations are employed to reduce the PDEs into non-linear ODEs. Numerical solutions are acquired for flow and energy transfer by using a MATLAB scheme, namely bvp4c, and the outcomes are examined in graphical and tabular form. The higher value of the magnetic parameter reduces the radial and azimuthal velocity but enhances the temperature field. Moreover, the temperature fields decline by increasing both the Prandtl number and the radiation parameter. By enhancing Brownian motion, the concentration distribution decreases while it is enhanced by increasing the thermophoresis parameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian dung beetle (Catharsius molossus L.; Coleoptera: Scarabeidae) has been shown to positively affect soil bacterial diversity and the agronomic features of crop plants. In this study, we used bioinformatic tools to investigate the differences in bacterial functional phenotypes and ecological functions between control soil, cow dung-amended soil (CD), and cow dung-amended soil composted by dung beetles (DB). The soil bacterial metagenomes were sequenced and analyzed with the bioinformatic packages BugBase, PICRUSt2, Tax4Fun, and FAPROTAX to evaluate the effects of dung beetle-mediated composting on bacterial functions such as human and plant pathogenicity, trophic strategies, and soil nutrient transformation. BugBase proved useful for the determination of differences in major functional phenotypes, whereas FAPROTAX was effective at identifying differences in bacterial ecological functions between the treatments. Both tools suggested a relative decrease in human pathogens in the DB soil. This was corroborated by the pairwise comparison of abundances in bacterial species, which showed a significant reduction in the abundance of the broad-host-range pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the DB soil. In addition, FAPROTAX suggested a decrease in plant pathogens and an increase in chitinolytic bacteria, meaning that the DB treatment might be beneficial to the plant-growth-promoting bacteria involved in biological control. Finally, FAPROTAX revealed an array of ecological functions related to trophic strategies and macro- and micronutrient metabolism. According to these results, the activity of C. molossus beetles enhanced methanotrophy, ammonification, nitrification, sulfate reduction, and manganese oxidation, whereas iron respiration was decreased in the DB-treated soil. Our results represent a collection of general insights into the effects of C. molossus beetles on soil bacterial functions, which also reflect on the nutrient composition of dung beetle-composted soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand for energy calls for efficient utilization of natural energy resources in developing useful work. Thermodynamic irreversibility deals with the disorderliness in any system. This work investigates the energy optimization of a cylinder experiencing stretching and rotation immersed with aluminum alloys (AA7072-AA7075) in engine oil-based nanofluid. The Maxwell nanofluid model is employed to check the thermophysical properties of nanofluids. Heat transfer occurred at the cylinder's surface by considering the constant and prescribed temperature. Forced convection is due to a stretchable rotating boundary, while natural convection is owing to a thermal gradient in the system. The dimensionless ordinary differential equations are obtained by using the appropriate ansatz and solved numerically through the bvp4c technique. A comparison profile of constant wall temperature and prescribed surface temperature shows that entropy generation and Bejan number are reduced for the former and increased for the latter, while thermal transport exhibits an opposite behavior. The axial and azimuthal wall stress parameters diminished due to an increment in Reynolds number. The heat transport rate is comparatively higher for AA7075/Engine oil than AA7072/Engine oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]