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The present study aims to elucidate the transport properties and wetting dynamics of water, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), and a deep eutectic solvent (DES: [Ch]Cl: urea) in graphene and carbon nanotube (CNT) using atomistic simulation strategies. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were employed to study the interactions between carbon nanomaterials (i.e., graphene and CNT) and solvents. From the MD simulations, NMP shows a stronger affinity with graphene surfaces (-1273.151 kcal/mol) and CNT (-235.687 kcal/mol) than water and DES. The stronger affinity between graphene and NMP was further confirmed by calculating the contact angle, where the NMP nanodroplets were spread over the graphene surface with zero contact angle. Whereas in the case of DES, the contact angle is 47.8, which is much lower than the water-graphene contact angle (ϕ= 93.8). The stronger interaction energies between DES and graphene give rise to a lower contact angle with graphene compared with water.

In a quest to reap the potential of the internet as an advertising media, marketers are increasing the share of online advertising in their promotion mix. But very less is known about factors impacting the consumers’ perception of online advertising. Psychological factors play an important role in developing the consumers perception, the present study extends the concept in the domain of online advertising.For this, the present study has developed a hypothesized model containing two layers. Layer one consists of a conceptual framework based on the literature review and second layer comprised of testing the relationships between consumers psychological motivations and their perception of online advertising.For the purpose, information, convenience, entertainment and social interaction are considered as psychological motivations of using the internet. The consumers’ perception of online advertising has been measured in terms of information value, entertainment value, trustworthiness, offensiveness and incentives. A purposive survey was conducted in Delhi NCR and the data was analysed using SEM in SAS Proc Calis (9). The findings suggest that psychological motivations of using the internet significantly impact the consumers’ perception of online advertising.

BackgroundThere are limited prospective data among overweight and obese individuals on the prevalence of advanced fibrosis, and cirrhosis using advanced MRI-based methods in the USA. The aim of this study was to fill that gap in knowledge by prospectively determining the MRI-based prevalence of steatotic liver disease (SLD) and its subcategories, advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis among overweight and obese individuals residing in the USA.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional analysis of prospectively enrolled overweight or obese adults aged 40–75 years from primary care and community-based settings in Southern California. Participants were classified as having SLD if MRI proton density fat fraction ≥5%, and subclassified as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), metabolic dysfunction and alcohol-associated liver disease (MetALD) and alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) consistently with the new nomenclature guidance per AASLD–EASL–ALEH. Advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis were defined as magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) ≥3.63 kPa and MRE ≥4.67 kPa, respectively.ResultsThe cohort included 539 participants with mean (±SD) age of 51.5 (±13.1) years and body mass index of 32.6 (±6.2) kg/m2, respectively. The prevalence of SLD, advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis was 75%, 10.8% and 4.5%, respectively. The prevalence of MASLD, MetALD and ALD was 67.3%, 4.8% and 2.6%, respectively. There was no difference in prevalence of advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis among subcategories.ConclusionsUsing advanced MRI methods among community-dwelling overweight and obese adults, the prevalence of cirrhosis was 4.5%. Most common SLD subcategory was MASLD with 67% of individuals, whereas MetALD and ALD were less common. Systematic screening for advanced fibrosis among overweight/obese adults may be considered.

Purpose: According to the oncologist, a single medication is insufficient to completely cure the disease; as a result, most patients undergo treatment from two or more types of therapy, sometimes in succession, in order to control the progression of their cancer. Methods: This comprehensive review explores the applications and challenges associated with multimodality treatment planning utilizing the Markov decision process (MDP) framework. The benefits of employing MDP in treatment planning include its ability to incorporate multiple treatment modalities, optimize treatment sequences, and account for uncertainties in patient response. However, several limitations exist, such as the complexity of modeling interactions between different treatment modalities, the need for accurate input data, and the computational burden associated with solving large-scale MDP problems. Results: This review highlights the importance of considering both the benefits and limitations of using MDP in multimodality treatment planning to enhance patient outcomes and optimize resource allocation in healthcare settings. Finally, by taking a case analysis into consideration, we analyze how altering the ultimate cost function affects the efficacy of MDP optimal plans. Conclusion: We summarize the findings of several studies that have employed MDP in treatment planning and discuss the benefits, limitations, and potential future directions of this approach. It also provides a comprehensive review of the benefits of MDP-based multimodality treatment planning, including improved treatment outcomes, reduced toxicities, personalized treatment decisions, and optimized sequencing and timing of treatment modalities.

The current paper investigates if financial inclusion schemes enhance women empowerment i.e., social, political and economic dimensions in urban slums of Patna. The data was collected from 275 females in urban ghettos who have opened their accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The survey was undertaken from January to July 2018 and the results were tested through factor analysis and ANOVA. The empirical examinations support the causal relationship between empowerment dimensions and levels of financial inclusion. In addition, the study evidences that low income and conservative family environment are one of the biggest problems to financial inclusion. Current study is one of the few initial attempts that contribute towards the long existing debate of women empowerment and studies the impact of recently launched financial inclusion schemes by Government of India.

Poverty is the major problem of the developing world. Hence, development of the agriculture sector is considered as a pertinent strategy for insuring food security and alleviation of poverty since it is the major source of income for the larger share of the population of developing countries. This article evaluates the poverty reduction effect of agricultural technology in Ethiopia. To achieve its objective primary data has been collected from 400 farm households in Awi zone, Ethiopia. The results were estimated by using propensity score matching technique. The estimated results revealed that adoption of fertiliser and improved seeds resulted in a positive and significant (at 1%) increment on households' per adult consumption expenditure ranging from Birr 1700-1818 but reduces poverty by 18.8%-20.0% based on different matching algorithms. Therefore, the government, financial institutions, and farmers' cooperatives should be coordinated to enhance farmers' adoption of agricultural technologies in order to reduce rural poverty.

The study explores the complicated relationship between consumers' CSR evaluations and their purchase behaviours through the mediating effects of consumer-company congruence (CCC), consumer trust (CT), loyalty (LT), and advocacy behaviour (AD). The data collected from the empirical survey was analysed by applying the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique through AMOS 20 version. The findings of the study suggest that CSR associations of retailers will have a significant impact on consumers' purchase-related judgments. Therefore, managers and marketers are recommended to devise an effective CSR strategy to maximise favourable consumer attributions.

The present contribution emphasizes the formation of oligomeric products in various depolymerization approaches of lignin, namely reductive catalytic fractionation, oxidative catalytic fractionation, and pyrolysis. Three possible routes to form such oligomers in these depolymerization processes are summarized and compared from various studies conducted on model compounds. Next, the main identification techniques for characterizing oligomeric products are highlighted. Particular focus is given to 2D-HSQC-NMR, GPC, Maldi-TOF-MS and FT-ICR-MS, which represent the state-of-art characterization of lignin. Special attention was paid to the transferability of these techniques for depolymerized oligomeric lignin. Finally, both the existing and expected potential lignin valorization routes are discussed for these oligomers, and technical hurdles and recommendations are provided in an attempt to catalyze the development of new discoveries and enabling technologies.Keywords: Lignin oligomer; Reductive and oxidative depolymerization; Biofuels; Characterization techniques; Lignin valorization.

Testing platforms that leverage automation, require minimal sample volume, and enable various tests to be performed simultaneously on a single sample have the potential to improve workflow and efficiency in veterinary diagnostic laboratories. We evaluated a barcoded magnetic bead (BMB) technology using established immunoassays for detection of feline leukemia virus (FeLV) p27 antigen and antibody against feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). Analytical sensitivity, limit of blank, and limit of detection were used to establish a functional sensitivity of 1.00 ng/mL of inactivated FeLV antigen and 35.7 ng/mL of anti-FIV monoclonal antibody. Common interferents, such as hemoglobin, lipid, and bilirubin, were not found to interfere with the performance of the assay. Intra- and inter-assay CVs were <13% for both assays using manufactured samples. Using a set of 116 feline samples, the diagnostic accuracy of our multiplex assay was 100% compared to reference assays. Performance in a convenience set of 1,000 feline samples submitted to a commercial diagnostic laboratory revealed a proportion of positive results of 1.3% for FeLV and 3.7% for FIV. BMB technology should enable rapid screening of samples for various markers in a single immunoassay well.

Proinflammatory hepatic macrophage activation plays a key role in the development of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This involves increased embryonic hepatic Kupffer cell (KC) death, facilitating the replacement of KCs with bone marrow–derived recruited hepatic macrophages (RHMs) that highly express proinflammatory genes. Moreover, phago/efferocytic activity of KCs is diminished in NASH, enhancing liver inflammation. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes in KCs are not known. Here, we show that hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF-2α) mediates NASH-associated decreased KC growth and efferocytosis by enhancing lysosomal stress. At the molecular level, HIF-2α stimulated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)– and extracellular signal–regulated kinase-dependent inhibitory transcription factor EB (TFEB) phosphorylation, leading to decreased lysosomal and phagocytic gene expression. With increased metabolic stress and phago/efferocytic burden in NASH, these changes were sufficient to increase lysosomal stress, causing decreased efferocytosis and lysosomal cell death. Of interest, HIF-2α–dependent TFEB regulation only occurred in KCs but not RHMs. Instead, in RHMs, HIF-2α promoted mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production and proinflammatory activation by increasing ANT2 expression and mitochondrial permeability transition. Consequently, myeloid lineage–specific or KC-specific HIF-2α depletion or the inhibition of mTOR-dependent TFEB inhibition using antisense oligonucleotide treatment protected against the development of NASH in mice. Moreover, treatment with an HIF-2α–specific inhibitor reduced inflammatory and fibrogenic gene expression in human liver spheroids cultured under a NASH-like condition. Together, our results suggest that macrophage subtype–specific effects of HIF-2α collectively contribute to the proinflammatory activation of liver macrophages, leading to the development of NASH.

The rationale of this article is to study and evaluate the stress faced by individuals, especially Indian working women within their families, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this study, the authors aim to highlight the impact of the pandemic on Indian women grappling with mental and emotional distress. For this study, primary research techniques have been used. A survey instrument was constructed and circulated among women working from home or employees of any firm. Based on the survey, focused group interviews were conducted with randomly selected females. The total responses for this study were 203. The study results were collated and a statistical analysis of multivariate regression was used to conclude the findings. From this study, three factors contributed to the overall stress levels faced by working women induced by the COVID-19 pandemic: depression, nervousness and anxiety. Many studies have examined healthcare workers and their stress levels during the global pandemic. However, there is little literature on Indian working women, especially those working in I.T. and manufacturing companies. This article aims to identify the factors that can lead to stress and burnout in Indian working women specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The internet, with the ever-rising online traffic, is undoubtedly the most popular media. Marketers quickly realised the potential of the internet as an advertising medium and started using e-advertising with full conviction. The present study is a maiden attempt to conceptually develop a reliable and valid framework to measure consumers' perception of opportunities offered and challenges posed by e-advertising. Opportunities and challenges of e-advertising have been identified through extensive literature survey. Once these were identified, exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify the underlying factor structure. A purposive survey among 318 internet users in the NCR region was conducted. The results revealed that price effectiveness, consumer empowerment, accessibility, interactivity, transparency and personalisation are the perceived opportunities while bounded technical knowledge, privacy, ineffective regulatory framework, underdeveloped internet infrastructure and others are the perceived challenges of e-advertising.

The tremendous speed of technological progress has accelerated the diffusion of digital technological innovation among students. The advances in technology have motivated students’ orientation towards digital entrepreneurship and their intention to become potential entrepreneurs. This study aims at examining digital entrepreneurship characteristics, their impact on the perceived business opportunity, and whether students’ personality traits moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial characteristics and perceived business opportunity. This paper also examines the situation in greater depth to check the influence of gender on digital entrepreneurial characteristics, personality traits, and perceived business opportunities. To quantify the effects of the structural model, this paper incorporates a quantitative research methodology that uses a PLS-SEM approach. This study revealed that digital entrepreneurship characteristics such as optimism and realism strongly influence business opportunities, whereas pessimism harms entrepreneurial business opportunities. Optimism, pessimism, realism, and students’ personality traits significantly differ across the gender categories, whereas perceived business opportunities do not differ significantly.

The current study aims to explore if effective corporate social responsibility leads to corporate sustainability in medium-sized manufacturing enterprises. Using the factors, an exploratory examination was performed to assess their suitability in Indian context and data was collected from 121 manufacturing companies using a structured questionnaire based on pretested scale and the proposed relationships were tested through partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results show overall model fit, and empirical examinations support causal relationships between effective corporate social responsibility and corporate sustainability (CS). The results indicated that effective CSR mediated the relationships between corporate sustainability and integration of CSR into corporate policy and priority of the board towards CSR. The results of this study are useful for medium-sized enterprises to establish a formal approach towards CSR and meet the needs of business and society in the twenty-first century.

Soft set theory introduced by Molodtsov (Comput Math Appl 37:19–31, 1999) is an effective tool for solving realistic problems related to engineering, social sciences, medical sciences, and business. In the environment of vagueness and comprehension, Maji et al. (J Fuzzy Math 9:677–692, 2001) defined a new model known as a fuzzy soft set by hybridizing a fuzzy set with soft set. Recently, information measures for fuzzy soft sets have gained attention from researchers. In the present paper, two fuzzy soft information measures are proposed with the verification of their validity. Their applications in data dimension reduction and pattern recognition are also studied in detail and illustrated with numerical examples.

AbstractIn decision making problems several techniques have been used by the researchers. They focused on the use of fuzzy matrices and fuzzy soft matrices in decision making problems. The use of fuzzy set, soft set and fuzzy soft set have been made in handling imprecise information. However,, matrices are also the important tools to handle such problems.In the present communication, we study the application of fuzzy soft matrix in data dimension reduction by geometric mean approach. Geometric mean method for interval valued fuzzy soft matrix is also described. An alternative method to study Sanchez’s approach for medical diagnosis through geometric mean of interval valued fuzzy soft matrix is proposed and studied.

Employability of youth in India has emerged as a major concern in recent years. Generally, it is as for uneducated or unskilled, but the situation is quite alarming even for educated youth as the skills provided by the institutions may not be at par with the industry’s requirement. With this background, the study discusses the outcome of the preliminary research into the employability skills that private engineering institutions try to instill during their graduate course and the employability skills that software/IT companies consider when they undertake fresh recruitment. This paper aims to find the gap between industry’s expectation and the availability which results in partial placements of engineering graduates and to ascertain the relationship between the employability skills and placement of engineering graduates. In particular, the set of employability skills considered for the study was derived from the literature review and pilot study. The data are derived from a survey carried out of 98 private engineering institutions in Delhi NCR and 20 IT/software companies, and the data were analysed using regression analysis and ANOVA. Both institutions and employers were found to focus on employability skills for the best returns. However, there is mismatch in consideration of the employability skills. There are certain skills on which companies lay more attention than the engineering institutions. The findings will be helpful for the engineering institutions and the regulatory bodies in revamping the curriculum.

ObjectivePatients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) with ≥stage 2 fibrosis are at increased risk for liver-related mortality and are candidates for pharmacological therapies for treatment of NAFLD. The aim of this prospective cohort study is to examine the diagnostic accuracy of MR elastography (MRE) combined with fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) in diagnosing ≥stage 2 fibrosis (candidates for pharmacological therapies).DesignThis is a cross-sectional analysis of a prospective cohort (University of California at San Diego (UCSD)-NAFLD) including 238 consecutive patients with contemporaneous MRE and biopsy-proven NAFLD. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-Clinical Research Network-Histologic Scoring System was used to assess histology. The radiologist and pathologist were blinded to clinical, pathological and imaging data, respectively. Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) were determined to examine the diagnostic accuracy of MRE and FIB-4 for diagnosis of ≥stage 2 fibrosis in NAFLD. We then validated these findings in an independent validation cohort derived from Yokohama City University in Japan (Japan-NAFLD Cohort; N=222 patients).ResultsIn the UCSD-NAFLD (training) Cohort, MRE demonstrated a clinically significant diagnostic accuracy for the detection of ≥stage 2 fibrosis with an area under the ROC curve (AUROC) of 0.93 (95% CI 0.90 to 0.97) vs FIB-4 with an AUROC of 0.78 (95% CI 0.71 to 0.85), which was both clinically and statistically significant (p<0.0001). We then combined MRE with FIB-4 (MRE ≥3.3 kPa and FIB-4 ≥1.6) to develop a clinical prediction rule to rule in ≥stage 2 fibrosis patients which had positive predictive value (PPV) of 97.1% (p<0.02) in the UCSD-NAFLD cohort (AUROC of 0.90 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.95)) which remained significant at PPV of 91.0% (p<0.003) in the Japan-NAFLD Cohort (AUROC of 0.84 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.89)).ConclusionMRE combined with FIB-4 (MEFIB) index may be used for non-invasive identification of candidates for (≥stage 2 fibrosis) pharmacological therapy among patients with NAFLD with a high PPV.

With the advent of technology and with growing occupancy of the people towards it, online shopping has become the need of the hour. With heavy discounts floating over the e-commerce websites, customers find that online shopping allows them to save both time and money. The e-commerce websites on the other hand seek to avail the early advantage of the frequently visited customers through the recommendation engines by using gamification techniques. This tends to make their products highly attractive with the least cost paid by them along with facilities of extra discounts given to debit/credit card holders. This article provides a coherent picture in the research that has taken place in the area of gamification by comprehensively reviewing 1073 research studies extracted from the SCOPUS database and mostly validates the findings on the effectiveness of gamification in the various fields. This article also peer reviews the various motivating factors that makes customers prefer gamified online shopping over market retailers. The review points out the effects of gamification in e commerce websites in gaining customer retention. The article would also suggest the future of research directions in the field of research of gamification and further research that can be explored in the field.

Earlier we have shown important roles of MYB in pancreatic tumor pathobiology. To better understand the role of MYB in the tumor microenvironment and identify MYB-associated secreted biomarker proteins, we conducted mass spectrometry analysis of the secretome from MYB-modulated and control pancreatic cancer cell lines. We also performed in silico analyses to determine MYB-associated biofunctions, gene networks, and altered biological pathways. Our data demonstrated significant modulation (p< 0.05) of 337 secreted proteins in MYB-silenced MiaPaCa cells, whereas 282 proteins were differentially present in MYB-overexpressing BxPC3 cells, compared to their respective control cells. Alteration of several phenotypes such as cellular movement, cell death and survival, inflammatory response, protein synthesis, etc. was associated with MYB-induced differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in secretomes. DEPs from MYB-silenced MiaPaCa PC cells were suggestive of the downregulation of genes primarily associated with glucose metabolism, PI3K/AKT signaling, and oxidative stress response, among others. DEPs from MYB-overexpressing BxPC3 cells suggested the enhanced release of proteins associated with glucose metabolism and cellular motility. We also observed that MYB positively regulated the expression of four proteins with potential biomarker properties, i.e., FLNB, ENO1, ITGB1, and INHBA. Mining of publicly available databases using Oncomine and UALCAN demonstrated that these genes are overexpressed in pancreatic tumors and associated with reduced patient survival. Altogether, these data provide novel avenues for future investigations on diverse biological functions of MYB, specifically in the tumor microenvironment, and could also be exploited for biomarker development.

Tigers have a very special place on the list of endangered species, especially in India, where Project Tiger has galvanized efforts to save them, as of December 13, 2003. Unfortunately some of that effort may have been wasted. Leading tiger conservationist K. Ullas Karanth sparked off a row recently when he accused the Indian government, the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility of backing an unscientific method of counting tigers. This article presents an interview of Karanth in this context. When asked about his attitude toward tigers, he replied, "My basic motive has always been to act. But it was not pure altruism like being fueled by seeing people dying on the street. I wanted to save forests and animals because I found them absolutely fascinating. It seems to me that scientists ask fundamental questions, which may not always have any immediate use, whereas the kind of questions I ask mostly do. So I don't ask why tigers have stripes instead of blotches, but not of much use. I am more interested in knowing how they eat, how far they go, what happens when humans impact on their habitat."

Interviews Bangalore, India-based researcher Upinder Bhalla, who has investigated the olfactory system. Exhibition to investigate the potential of smell to trigger memory and emotions; Use of the exhibition's feed back in research; Role of an olfactometer.

Presents an interview with cardiologist Devi Prasad Shetty in India. Influence of social worker Mother Teresa; Sources of funds; Views on the management of the World Health Organization.

Byline: Seema Singh When Anglo-Swedish drug giant AstraZeneca launched its anti-ulcer drug Losec in 1989 in Europe and the United States, it was an instant blockbuster. Before the company had [...]

Byline: Seema Singh For Gregory Bates a holiday on the sunny beaches of Goa ended abruptly--in the hospital. The 54-year-old British weight lifter checked into the Wockhardt Heart Hospital in [...]

This study analyses the impact of agricultural technology adoption on income inequality. Primary data has been collected from 400 sample households in Awi zone of Ethiopia through household survey during agricultural season of 2017/18. The collected data were analysed by using propensity score matching method. The estimated results revealed that adoption of agricultural technologies such as chemical fertiliser and improved seeds significantly increase total household income but worsen income distribution. After adoption of agricultural technologies, income inequality measured by Gini coefficient increased ranged from 0.047 to 0.087. Hence, the government and other concerned authorities should exert more efforts in order to enhance technology adoption status of the poor households by increasing their accessibility for extension and credit services.

Technology has come to the centre stage of the capitalist framework after the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Almost all schools of economic thought have realised the importance of technology in the production process. For the classical economists, technology is a tool to increase the output of the economy, ultimately leading to an increase in employment. However, Ricardo of the classical school differs in his approach from others. Despite being optimistic about the adoption of technology, he contends that labour will be worse off with the onset of technology. The issue of jobs remained the same for Marx and Keynes. For Marx, technology represents a duality which is both advantageous and disadvantageous for labour. For Keynes, it is a root for unemployment and a structural change in society and nature of work. Schumpeter, Veblen and other economists also address the issue of technology. Despite the focus, technology is not central to the theory of development or labour. However, with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there needs to be more emphasis on the role of technology. By refining the existing literature and using anecdotal and subjective evidence, an attempt is made to put forth a modified idea of technology.

Financial Inclusion is considered to be a critical indicator for development and well-being of the society around the globe. Providing inclusive financial services, that is, financial services affordable for all, has become a basic priority in many countries including India. G-20 Nations have emphasized on financial inclusion as a facilitator for achieving gender equality and other sustainable development goals. Women empowerment is a radical approach concerned with transforming power relations in favour of female gender and considered essential for global progress. Thus, an inclusive financial model is being adopted in developing nations to achieve fundamental to formative objectives. The current article investigates the dimensions of women empowerment, that is, social, political, and economic. It also undertakes a test to see if the dimensions change with financial inclusion. The authors draw upon literature to develop a structured questionnaire on women empowerment and financial inclusion through schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jivan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) on women living in urban slums in the industrial town of Ludhiana, Punjab. The data were collected from 737 females living in urban slums with PMJDY bank accounts. The result indicated that PMJDY scheme has been quite successful especially in case of women in slums and has a positive influence on social, political, and economic dimensions of women empowerment. The study contributes to existing literature by advancing the debate on women in urban slums and identifies the substantial need for the development of formal financial system to enhance the scale of financial inclusion.

Aspergillus fumigatusis the common cause of allergic broncho-pulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) and most of the allergens have been described from its secreted fraction. In the present investigation, germinating conidial cytosolic proteins of A. fumigatuswere extracted from a 16 h culture. The proteome from this fraction was developed, and immuno-blots were generated using pooled ABPA patients’ sera. Well separated Immunoglobulin-E (IgE) and Immunoglobulin-G (IgG) reactive spots were picked from corresponding 2DE gels and subjected to mass spectrometric analysis. As a result, 66 immuno-reactive proteins were identified from two geographically different strains (190/96 and DAYA) of A. fumigatus. Only 3 out of 66 proteins reacted with IgG, and the remaining 63 proteins were found to be IgE reactive. These 63 IgE-reactive cytosolic proteins from germinating conidia included 2 already known (Asp f12 and Asp f22) and 4 predicted allergens (Hsp88, Hsp70, malate dehydrogenase, and alcohol dehydrogenase) based on their homology with other known fungal allergens. In view of this, the panel of presently identified IgE-reactive novel proteins holds the potential of providing a basis for the wider diagnostic application in assay for allergic aspergillosis. We could demonstrate that recombinantly expressed proteins from this panel showed consistent reactivity with IgE of individual sera of ABPA patients. The recombinantly expressed proteins may also be useful in desensitization therapy of allergic disorders including ABPA.

This review presents the HER of 2D MXENE-based materials in acidic, neutral, and alkaline environments, investigating electron transfer enhancement, strain-induced mechanisms, external atom doping, thinning layers, active site formation, and synergistic composites, along with diverse energy conversion applications.

Industrial effluents containing synthetic dyes are responsible for significant non–aesthetic pollution and health-risk issues due to their release into the water bodies. Removal of these pollutants via biological, traditional physicochemical, and some advanced oxidation techniques is regularly scarce, expensive, or ineffective. Therefore, a more effective and economical approach to the degradation of dyes has received much attention over the last decade. Inside this framework, electrochemical oxidation treatment has found a place where it can be a leading technology in the near future, particularly for the removal of recalcitrant organic pollutants. In this review, the recent advancements in the mechanism of electrochemical oxidation (EO) of dye were explained. Most of the favorable electrochemical tools used for the dye effluent treatment were described with the following objectives: (1) to describe the fundamental facts of the EO process; (2) to deliberate the effect of operating parameters on the treatment performance; (3) to critically evaluate the benefits of various categories of the active and non–active anodes; (4) to determine the usability of various categories of the anode materials towards the dye degradation, kinetics controlled and process proficiency determination; (5) to determine the degradation mechanism of various dyes. Scale-up, techno-economic issues, and future research challenges were also discussed to encourage the practical applications of technology.

Nearly 400 million Indians, mostly those living in rural communities, lack access to grid power. For many of them, simply charging a cell phone requires a long trip to a [...]

ObjectiveNon-invasive and accurate diagnostic tests for the screening of disease severity in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remain a major unmet need. Therefore, we aimed to examine if a combination of serum metabolites can accurately predict the presence of advanced fibrosis.DesignThis is a cross-sectional analysis of a prospective derivationcohort including 156 well-characterised patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD and two validationcohorts, including (1) 142 patients assessed using MRI elastography (MRE) and(2) 59 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD with untargeted serum metabolome profiling.ResultsIn the derivationcohort, 23 participants (15%) had advanced fibrosis and 32 of 652 analysed metabolites were significantly associated with advanced fibrosis after false-discovery rate adjustment. Among the top 10 metabolites, 8 lipids (5alpha-androstan-3beta monosulfate, pregnanediol-3-glucuronide, androsterone sulfate, epiandrosterone sulfate, palmitoleate, dehydroisoandrosterone sulfate, 5alpha-androstan-3beta disulfate, glycocholate), one amino acid (taurine) and one carbohydrate (fucose) were identified. The combined area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the top 10 metabolite panel was higher than FIB--4 and NAFLD Fibrosis Score (NFS) for the detection of advanced fibrosis: 0.94 (95% CI 0.897 to 0.982) versus 0.78 (95% CI0.674 to 0.891), p=0.002 and versus 0.84 (95% CI 0.724 to 0.929), p=0.017, respectively. The AUROC of the top 10 metabolite panel remained excellent in the independent validation cohorts assessed by MRE or liver biopsy: c-statistic of 0.94 and 0.84, respectively.ConclusionA combination of 10 serum metabolites demonstrated excellent discriminatory ability for the detection of advanced fibrosis in an derivationand two independent validationcohorts with greater diagnostic accuracy than the FIB-4-index and NFS. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that a non-invasive blood-based diagnostic test can provide excellent performance characteristics for the detection of advanced fibrosis.

This study analyses factors affecting agricultural productivity in Ethiopia for the period of 1990–2016 by using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Both the bounds test and the error correction model confirmed the existence of co-integration (long-run relationship) between the variables included in the model. The results revealed that cereal productivity is positively influenced by use of fertiliser and real gross domestic product (GDP) both in the long run and in the short run. While size of arable land influences productivity positively in the long run, its short-run effect was found to be negative. Hence, the government and other concerned authorities should work to enhance farmers’ use of improved technologies, such as fertiliser, by ensuring its timely availability at an affordable price, encouraging farmers to participate on alternative sources of income such as off-farm activities and bringing additional area under cereal production to improve agricultural productivity.