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Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in hemodialysis patients is mainly associated with insufficient precautionary measures. Compared with the general population, the prevalence of HCV infection is high among hemodialysis patients. HCV infection in these patients is typically associated with increased morbidity and mortality; however, the early detection of HCV may retard disease progression and reduce morbidity and mortality. In this study, we sought to estimate the seroprevalence of HCV infection among patients undergoing hemodialysis in a tertiary care hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India. This was a prospective, observational, cross-sectional study that included 82 hemodialysis patients. Blood samples were collected from each patient, and the serum was separated for detection of the presence of HCV antibodies, HCV core antigen, and HCV RNA using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, enzyme immunoassay, and polymerase chain reaction, respectively. Relevant socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory information was also obtained. Among samples collected from the 82 patients, seven were found to be positive for HCV antibodies, whereas nine and eleven samples were found to be positive for HCV core antigen and HCV RNA, respectively. Long durations of renal failure and hemodialysis were identified as being positively associated with HCV infection in these hemodialysis patients, and a statistically significant reduction in hemoglobin levels and an increase in creatinine levels were detected among the HCV-positive patients. The overall seroprevalence of HCV infection in hemodialysis patients was found to be 13.4%. Given that high rate false-negative reactions were detected using ELISA and EIA, screening of HCV RNA during the early stages of HCV infection can contribute to preventing its nosocomial spread in these patients. Moreover, it is imperative that stringent universal precautionary measures are implemented in all health care settings and hemodialysis units to minimize the risk of HCV transmission.

Construction industry is one of the major sectors contributing to the economic development of any country. Also, it acts as a major source of pollution towards the environment, and the impact of this is very severe. To overcome this, the concept of sustainability in the construction sector has emerged. In this regard, vital importance is given to the concept of sustainability along with various rating tools to measure green building performance. In the Indian context, existing assessment tools provide major importance to environmental impact rather than economic and social impacts. To address this issue, a Building Performance Score (BPS) model is developed based on the triple bottom priorities of sustainability which consists of environmental, economical, and social concepts. This model includes various indicators that play a major role in the sustainability assessment at various stages in life cycle of building. Different weights were ascertained for these indicators by experts and were further evaluated by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to understand the importance of these indicators. Furthermore, the importance of BPS model is validated considering three certified green buildings. Additional indicators that form the major source of sustainability that are neglected in the existing assessment tools are also considered in the case studies. The BPS model developed is utilized in different case scenarios to evaluate the performance of buildings and the suggested BPS model is validated through the present study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract   Oldenlandia umbellata L., commonly known as “Indian madder”, is an ancient Indian herb valued as a source of red color dye and various medicinal products. In this study, successful protocols have been developed for induction of somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis in O. umbellata. Emerging young leaves, shoot apices, and stems were used as explants, grown on Murashige and Skoog (MS) media supplemented with various auxins, including indole acetic acid, indole butyric acid, napthaleneacetic acid (NAA), and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, each at levels ranging between 0.1 and 0.5 mg/l, cytokinins, including benzyladenine (BA) and kinetin, each at concentration ranging between 0.5 and 5 mg/l, with and without coconut milk (CM) at levels of 0.5–5%. For callus induction, NAA at 2.5 mg/l was optimal; while, for rapid embryogenic callus induction, 0.2 mg/l NAA, 0.5 mg/l BA, and 0.1% CM induced the highest frequency (95.86%). Shoots developed upon transfer of embryogenic calli to MS medium containing 1.5 mg/l BA, 0.3 mg/l NAA and 1% CM. For root induction, 0.3 mg/l NAA and 1.0% CM promoted highest and earliest rooting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Scaling up of cell cultures of Rubia cordifolia for anthraquinones production. • High-yielding callus cultures irradiated at 8 gy were scaled up in a 7-l stirrer bioreactor. • First report on the production of alizarin and purpurin in a bioreactor. The aim of this study was to obtain high-yielding cell cultures of Rubia cordifolia by applying gamma irradiation and subsequently scaling up for anthraquinone production in a bioreactor. Calli cultured on MS medium was irradiated at variable doses between 2 Gy and 30 Gy. The callus cultures that were irradiated at 8 Gy accumulated a maximum alizarin level of 26.86 mg g-1 DW and a purpurin level of 44.85 mg g-1 DW during the M 1 T 4 (fourth sub-cultures after gamma irradiation treatment) subculture, which was 6-fold and 11-fold higher than those of the nonirradiated callus cultures, respectively. Suspension cultures that originated from high-yielding callus cultures irradiated at 8 Gy were scaled up in an 8-L stirred bioreactor equipped with different impellers. The callus cultures in a bioreactor using a helical ribbon for homogenous mixing synthesized 63.58 % more anthraquinones than those in the bioreactor equipped with a Rushton disc turbine. This is the first report on the production of alizarin and purpurin in a bioreactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western Himalayas offer diverse environments for investigating the diversity and distribution of microbial communities and their response to both the abiotic and biotic factors across the entire altitudinal gradient. Such investigations contribute significantly to our understanding of the complex ecological processes that shape microbial diversity. The proposed study focuses on the investigation of the bacterial and fungal communities in the forest and alpine grasslands of the Western Himalayan region, as well as their relationship with the physicochemical parameters of soil. A total of 185 isolates were obtained using the culture-based technique belonging to Bacillus (37%), Micrococcus (16%), and Staphylococcus (7%). Targeted metagenomics revealed the abundance of bacterial phyla Pseudomonadota (23%) followed by Acidobacteriota (20.2%), Chloroflexota (15%), and Bacillota (11.3%). At the genera level, CandidatusUdaeobacter (6%), Subgroup_2 (5.5%) of phylum Acidobacteriota, and uncultured Ktedonobacterales HSB_OF53-F07 (5.2%) of Choloroflexota phylum were found to be preponderant. Mycobiome predominantly comprised of phyla Ascomycota (54.1%), Basidiomycota (24%), and Mortierellomycota (19.1%) with Archaeorhizomyces (19.1%), Mortierella (19.1%), and Russula (5.4%) being the most abundant genera. Spearman's correlation revealed that the bacterial community was most influenced by total nitrogen in the soil followed by soil organic carbon as compared to other soil physicochemical factors. The study establishes a fundamental relationship between microbial communities and the physicochemical properties of soil. Furthermore, the study provides valuable insights into the complex interplay between biotic and abiotic factors that influence the microbial community composition of this unique region across various elevations., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Purpose of Review: This article provides the explanatory manuscript regarding the SARS-Corona virus 2. Sub-titled as the history of single-stranded RNA, internal characters of COVID-19, resource, the life cycle of COVID-19, reservoir of the disease, secondary infections of COVID-19 and nano herbal remedy., Recent Findings: The skin is not the main target of the SARS-corona virus 2 infections but somehow directly or indirectly, it causes exacerbating eruptions on the skin. Recent research shows that curcumin-mediated synthesized AgNPs show its potential character in the entry of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), blocks interaction with the viral surface, and damages the viral protein. In modern days, molecular docking studies fabricated copper iodide flower extract (CuI-FE) which shows tough inhibitory action against COVID-19. Many articles show green synthesis-mediated nanoparticles like silver, gold, zinc, copper, iron, titanium dioxide, selenium, and cadmium which possess high anti-viricidal activity., Summary: The anti-oxidant, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-hive rich plant-mediated nanoparticle synthesis might be an alternative betterment, cost-effective, and eco-friendly medication for the skin disease caused by SARS-corona virus 2 (the viral clinical signs are itchy, hives, rashes, papules, psoriasis, and inflammation) and (non-viral clinical signs-pressure urticaria, contact dermatitis, and acne) that occurred as the result of COVID-19., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no conflict of interest. Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent. This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Antagonism of plant pathogenic fungi by endophytic fungi is a well-known phenomenon. In plate assays, the antagonism could be due to mycoparasitism, competition for space or antibiosis, involving a chemical diffusate, or a volatile organic compound (VOC). In this study, we demonstrate that besides mycoparasitism, VOCs play a major role in antagonism of pathogenic fungi by four endophytic fungi belonging to the genus Trichoderma. Using a double-plate assay, we show that all the four endophytic Trichoderma species significantly inhibited mycelial growth of three of the four pathogens, (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum-TSS, Sclerotium rolfsii-CSR and Fusarium oxysporum-CFO), while that of Macrophomina phaseolina-CMP was not affected. GC-MS analysis of the pure cultures of one of the endophytic fungi studied, namely, Trichoderma longibrachiatum strain 2 (Acc. No. MK751758) and the pathogens, F. oxysporum-CFO and M. phaseolina-CMP revealed the presence of several VOCs including hydrocarbons, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters, acids, ethers and different classes of terpenes. In mixed double plates, where the endophyte was grown along with either of the two plant pathogens, F. oxysporum-CFO or M. phaseolina-CMP, there was an induction of a number of new VOCs that were not detected in the pure cultures of either the endophyte or the pathogens. Several of these new VOCs are reported to possess antifungal and cytotoxic activity. We discuss these results and highlight the importance of such interactions in endophyte-pathogen interactions., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.)

Landfill gases are produced due to biodegradation of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (MSW) when water comes into contact with buried wastes under prevailing anaerobic conditions. To minimize the percolation of water in landfills, the conventional approaches such as clay capping is still practised in India. As landfill gas extraction system is an expensive technique,'Phytocapping' to mitigate landfill gases and to minimize percolation of water into the landfill can be one of the attractive alternatives. The present study aimed to determine efficiency of a laboratory-scale phytocap in terms of methane emissions, heavy metals' remediation and plant-soil interactions in Indian climatic conditions using six native plants in five planters (30 cm × 30 cm × 25 cm) with 5 kg of MSW. Overall methane oxidation due to vegetation was observed throughout the vegetated planters when compared to non-vegetated planters. Root zone methane concentrations were also monitored for the plant species, with the highest reduction occurring in root zones of Agave sisalana and Bambusa sulfurea and highest trace elements' remediation potential was observed in Brassica juncea and Helianthus annus plants. 96-98% of CH 4 oxidation and 85-89% of heavy metals remediation was achieved through the study.

Ultrasound images(US) of carotid artery aid in the detection and diagnosis of Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD). Traditional methods for analysis of US images employ hand crafted features to classify images, which need expert knowledge for careful design and lack robustness to variations, leading to low sensitivity in clinical applications. Intima Media Thickness (IMT) and elasticity are the predominant markers used for carotid artery (CA) atherosclerotic plaque detection. This paper proposes to address the problem by building Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for segmentation of intima media complex (ie) Region of Interest (RoI). A dataset consisting of 450 subjects is used to train and validate the proposed CNN. Segmentation is done in the far wall region of the artery from the longitudinal B-mode images enabling atleast 24 RoIs and RoNIs (Region of Non Interest) for each image. The result of 10-fold cross validation shows accuracy of 99.54%. Mean deviation of IMT from manual tracings is found to be 0.06645mm.

Background: Oldenlandia umbellata L. (Indian madder) is an antique Ayurvedic Indian herb and a source of various anthraquinone derivatives. The red dye from its roots has been used in diverse applications since ancient times., Objectives: To establish reliable and effective protocols for in vitro flowering of O. umbellata., Materials and Methods: For in vitro flowering, organogenic calli were subcultured onto Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with various concentrations of Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) (0.15-1.0 mg/l) and Benzyladenine(BA) (0.5-1.5 mg/l) with and without 0.4% of coconut milk (CM)., Results: The highest number of in vitro flowers (22.8%) and best response (92.73%) was achieved on MS medium supplemented with 0.7 mg/l NAA + 1.5 mg/l BA with 0.4% CM. It was found that MS medium devoid of BA promoted best root development (47.3 per calli) as well as response (100%). It was also observed that when embryogenic calli grown in depletion of required nutrition transferred to fresh media induced more flowering. In vivo and in vitro floral comparative analysis revealed that in vitro flower induction was required for short time duration (20.67 days) than in vivo flower., Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on in vitro flowering and this study will help to overcome problems associated with flower development and seed production. As a result, this study may be a potent conservation tool to restore innate population size in its natural habitat., (Copyright © 2017 Transdisciplinary University, Bangalore and World Ayurveda Foundation. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The combination of the fields of software engineering, gadgets, and science has stood out among the most revolutionary future innovations. Health issues have been the focus of various engaging and explanatory studies. One such health-related dilemma is diabetes. Diabetes at its serious stage results in impaired vision. Increase in the glucose level is a critical parameter that could result in hyperglycaemia, hypoglycaemia, massive heart attack, strokes, and aneurysms. Monitoring the glucose level in blood is one of the control measures for diabetes in the affected population. A glucose monitoring framework interminably measures and screens the glucose level in blood. A novel framework for measuring the glucose level is proposed in this study. This study employs nanopellets that evaluate the glucose level. When the glucose level increases or decreases, it is continuously recorded and displayed using a microcontroller (mixed signal processor (MSP) 430). The data are then sent to the physician through global system for mobile communication. The typical blood glucose level of human being ranges from 70 to 110 mg/dl. When the insulin level builds up to certain point, hyperglycaemia occurs. When decreases, hypoglycaemia occurs. Hyperglycaemia leads to cataracts, oedema, hypertension, polyuria, and polydipsia. Hypoglycaemia causes perplexity, energy, insensateness, coma, and death.

Natural toxins from plant sources with wide ranges of biological activities reflect the upswing of drug design in the pharmaceutical industry. Rubia cordifolia L. is one of the most important red dye yielding plants. Most of the former researches have focused on the bioactive compounds from the roots of R. cordifolia, while no attention was paid towards the fruits. For the first time, here we report the presence of dibutyl phthalate in the fruits of R. cordifolia. Structural characterization was carried out using Ultraviolet-Visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometer (GC-MS), Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Acute toxicity of the crude ethanolic extracts of the R. cordifolia fruits was examined in Swiss albino mice. No mortality was observed in all treated mice with 100, 500, 1000 mg/kg body weight of crude extract of R. cordifolia fruit and it indicates that the LD50 value is higher than 1000 mg/kg body weight. This study exhibited a significant change in the body weight. Alanine transaminase (ALT), total protein, triglycerides, glucose, and also the histopathological analysis of liver for all treated mice showed difference from the control group. The dibutyl phthalate was further evaluated for the toxicity study through in silico analysis. Together, the results highlighted that the toxic potential of R. cordifolia fruits extracts and also the toxicity profile of the fruit should be essential for the future studies dealing with the long term effect in animals. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 31: 1059-1067, 2016., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Phycoremediation ability of microalgae namely Oscillatoria acuminate and Phormidium irrigum were validated against the heavy metals from tannery effluent of Ranipet industrial area. The microalgae species were cultured in media containing tannery effluent in two different volumes and the parameters like specific growth rate, protein content and antioxidant enzyme activities were estimated. FTIR spectroscopy was carried out to know the sorption sites interaction. The antioxidant enzymes namely superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione (GSH) contents were increased in microalgae species indicating the free radical scavenging mechanism under heavy metal stress. SOD activity was 0.502 and 0.378 units/gram fresh weight, CAT activity was 1.36 and 0.256 units/gram fresh weight, GSH activity was 1.286 and 1.232 units/gram fresh weight respectively in the effluent treated microalgae species. Bio sorption efficiency for Oscillatoria acuminate and Phormidium irrigum was 90% and 80% respectively. FTIR analysis revealed the interaction of microalgae species with chemical groups present in the tannery effluent. From the results, the microalgae Oscillatoria acuminate possess high antioxidant activity and bio sorption efficiency when compared to Phormidium irrigum and hence considered useful in treating heavy metals contaminated effluents.

Background: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an immunosuppressive disease. Over the past decades, it has plagued human health due to the grave consequences in its harness., Objective: For this reason, anti-HIV agents are imperative, and the search for the same from natural resources would assure the safety., Materials and Methods: In this investigation we have performed molecular docking, molecular property prediction, drug-likeness score, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation to develop a novel anti-HIV drug. We have screened 12 alkaloids from a medicinal plant Toddalia asiatica for its probabilistic binding with the active site of the HIV-1-reverse transcriptase (HIV-1-RT) domain (the major contributor to the onset of the disease)., Results: The docking results were evaluated based on free energies of binding (ΔG), and the results suggested toddanol, toddanone, and toddalenone to be potent inhibitors of HIV-1-RT. In addition, the alkaloids were subjected to molecular property prediction analysis. Toddanol and toddanone with more rotatable bonds were found to have a drug-likeness score of 0.23 and 0.11, respectively. These scores were comparable with the standard anti-HIV drug zidovudine with a model score 0.28. Finally, two characteristic protein-ligand complexes were exposed to MD simulation to determine the stability of the predicted conformations., Conclusion: The toddanol-RT complex showed higher stability and stronger H-bonds than toddanone-RT complex. Based on these observations, we firmly believe that the alkaloid toddanol could aid in efficient HIV-1 drug discovery., Summary: In the present study, the molecular docking and MD simulations are performed to explore the possible binding mode of HIV 1 RT with 12 alkaloids of T. asiatica. Molecular docking by AutoDock4 revealed three alkaloids toddanol, toddanone, and toddalenone with highest binding affinity towards HIV 1 RT. The drug likeness model score revealed a positive score for toddanol and toddanone which is comparable to the drug likeness score of the standard anti HIV drug zidovudine. Results from simulation analysis revealed that toddanol RT complex is more stable than toddanone RT complex inferring toddanol as a potential anti HIV drug molecule. Abbreviations used: HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus, HIV 1 RT: HIV 1 reverse transcriptase, RNase H: Ribonuclease H, MD: Molecular dynamics, PDB: Protein databank, RMSD: Root mean square deviation, RMSF: Root mean square fluctuation.

The present study was carried out with the tannery effluent contaminated with heavy metals collected from Ambur industrial area to determine the phycoremediation potential of Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis. Two different concentrations (50 and 100 %) of heavy metals containing tannery effluent treated with A. platensis were analysed for growth, absorption spectra, biochemical properties and antioxidant enzyme activity levels. The effluent treatments revealed dose-dependent decrease in the levels of A. platensis growth (65.37 % for 50 % effluent and 49.32 % for 100 % effluent), chlorophyll content (97.43 % for 50 % effluent and 71.05 % for 100 % effluent) and total protein content (82.63 % for 50 % effluent and 62.10 % for 100 % effluent) that leads to the reduction of total solids, total dissolved solids and total suspended solids. A. platensis with lower effluent concentration was effective than at higher concentration. Treatment with the effluent also resulted in increased activity levels of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (14.58 units/g fresh weight for 50 % and 24.57 units/g fresh weight for 100 %) and catalase (0.963 units/g fresh weight for 50 % and 1.263 units/g fresh weight for 100 %). Furthermore, heavy metal content was determined using atomic absorption spectrometry. These results indicated that A. platensis has the ability to combat heavy metal stress by the induction of antioxidant enzymes demonstrating its potential usefulness in phycoremediation of tannery effluent.

The Eastern Ghats of India is well known for its wealth of natural vegetation and Shervaroy is a major hill range of the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu. Ethnomedicinal studies in the Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu or the Shervaroy Hills have been carried out by various researchers. However, there is not much information available on ethnoveterinary medicine in the Eastern Ghats of India. The aim of this study was to examine the potential use of folk plants as alternative medicine for cattle to cure various diseases in the Shervaroy Hills of the Eastern Ghats. Based on interactions with traditional medicine practitioners, it has been observed that a total of 21 medicinal plants belonging to 16 families are used to cure various diseases such as mastitis, enteritis, arthritis, stomatitis, salivation from the mouth, wounding, and conjunctivitis in animals. It has been observed that the traditional knowledge of ethnoveterinary medicine is now confined only among the surviving older people and a few practitioners in the tribal communities of the Shervaroy Hills. Unfortunately, no serious attempts have been made to document and preserve this immense treasure of traditional knowledge.

Unlabelled: In the present study, free radical scavenging, cytotoxic, and hemolytic activities of the polyphenolic compound ethyl gallate isolated from ethanol extract of Acacia nilotica Wild. Ex. Del. leaves were determined. The free radical-scavenging activities of the ethyl gallate were demonstrated in several in vitro assays in order to evaluate the possible antioxidant mechanism. The results revealed ethyl gallate as hydrogen donor, metal chelator, and free radical scavenger. Ethyl gallate was effective in scavenging 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and the IC₅₀ value was lower than all the positive controls used in this study. Deoxyribose degradation assay revealed that ethyl gallate had more iron-chelating ability than the direct hydroxyl radical-scavenging ability. The results of the cytotoxic study revealed that the compound was moderately active and IC₅₀ value was found to be >100 μg/mL for Vero cell lines and 72 μg/mL for Hela cell lines. The compound possessed no hemolytic activity against rat and human erythrocytes revealing its cytotoxic mechanism and nontoxicity. The results from this work will provide an important information for the food and pharmacological industries with respect to the use of the compound as an antioxidant and a health-related drug., Practical Application: Antioxidant from plant sources is safe to use, as compared to synthetic products. It also can be used as a supplement to alleviate most of the diseases because of its free radical-scavenging activity., (© 2011 Institute of Food Technologists®)

Dietary intake of phytochemicals having antioxidant activity is associated with a lower risk of mortality from many diseases. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the free radical scavenging, cytotoxic and hemolytic activities of leaves of Acacia nilotica by using various methods. The results of the present study revealed that ethanol extract was the most effective and IC(50) value was found to be 53.6 μg mL(-1) for Vero cell lines and 28.9 μg mL(-1) for Hela cell lines in cytotoxicity assays. The zone of color retention was 14.2 mm in β-carotene bleaching assay, which was as significant as positive control, butylated hydroxy toluene. None of the tested extracts possessed any hemolytic activity against rat and human erythrocytes revealing their cytotoxic mechanism and non-toxicity. Thus, only the ethanol extract could be considered as a potential source of anticancer and antioxidant compounds. Further phytochemical studies will be performed for specification of the biologically active principles.

Oldenlandia umbellata L., commonly known as 'chay root', belongs to the family Rubiaceae and is one of the unexplored dye-yielding plants. The roots from this plant are the sources of red dye. Extraction protocol and dye characterisation have not been completely studied so far in this plant. Hence, in this article we have used UV spectrophotometry, thin layer chromatography, GC-MS, high-performance liquid chromatography and NMR to identify the five major colouring compounds, including 1,2,3-trimethoxyanthraquinone, 1,3-dimethoxy-2-hydroxyanthraquinone, 1,2-dimethoxyanthraquinone, 1-methoxy-2-hydroxyanthraquinone and 1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone. It showed application feasibility as a new pH indicator.