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Proteins are essential building blocks in humans that have garnered huge attention from researchers worldwide due to their numerous therapeutic applications. To date, different computational tools have been developed to extract pre-existing information on these biological molecules, but most of these tools suffer from limitations such as non-user friendly interface, redundancy of data, etc. To overcome these limitations, a user-friendly interface, the Peptide Utility (PU) webserver (https://chain-searching.herokuapp.com/) has been developed for searching and analyzing homologous and identical protein/peptide sequences that can be searched from approximately 0.4 million sequences (structural and sequence information) in both online and offline modes. The PU web server can also be used to study different types of interactions in PDBSum, identifying the most dominating interface residues, the most prevalent interactions, and the interaction preferences of different residues. The webserver would also pave way for the design of novel therapeutic peptides and folds by identifying conserved residues in the three-dimensional structure space of proteins.

Developing an innovative protective structure with excellent energy absorption performance is a continuous research effort. The emerging additive manufacturing techniques allow fabricating structures with complex geometrical shapes which have the potential to yield unprecedented energy absorption properties.Accordingly, in this paper, the crush and energy absorption behaviour of new designs, namely Concave Tubes (CTs) featuring inwardly curved sidewalls, is assessed experimentally and compared to that of Standard tubes (STs) featuring straight sidewalls. Tubes with different geometrical configurations, including concave circular (CC), concave square (CS), standard circular (SC), and standard square (SS), are fabricated using the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process from AlSi10Mg aluminium powder and then crushed axially under quasi-static loading. It was found that the tubes have fractured and developed a splitting deformation mode, instead of progressive buckling, during the axial crushing resulting in relatively low energy absorption performance. The experimental results revealed superior energy absorption performance for the CTs over the STs. A Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) technique known as Complex Proportional Assessment (COPRAS) is used to identify the best design. The COPRAS results show that the CC design is the best energy absorbing tube outperforming all other configurations presented in this paper.

Quantum dots (QDs) are nanocrystals of semiconducting material possessing quantum mechanical characteristics with capability to get conjugated with drug moieties. The particle size of QDs varies from 2 to 10 nm and can radiate a wide range of colours depending upon their size. Their wide and diverse usage of QDs across the world is due to their adaptable properties like large quantum yield, photostability, and adjustable emission spectrum. QDs are nanomaterials with inherent electrical characteristics that can be used as drug carrier vehicle and as a diagnostic in the field of nanomedicine. Scientists from various fields are aggressively working for the development of single platform that can sense, can produce a microscopic image and even be used to deliver a therapeutic agent. QDs are the fluorescent nano dots with which the possibilities of the drug delivery to a targeted site and its biomedical imaging can be explored. This review is mainly focused on the different process of synthesis of QDs, their application especially in the areas of malignancies and as a theranostic tool. The attempt is to consolidate the data available for the use of QDs in the biomedical applications.

Helminths born diseases are related to pitiable management practices and improper control strategies. The medicinal plants contain various phytoconstituents that are liable for their anthelmintic activity. The aerial parts of the Chenopodium album were successively extracted with microwaves assisted extraction using petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, methanol, hydroalcoholic and aqueous solvents to get respective extracts (CAPE, CAEE, CAME, CAHE, and CAAE). All the extracts were analyzed for preliminary phytochemical screening for the identification of phytoconstituents. The anthelmintic activity was analyzed on Indian adult earthworms Eisenia foetida using piperazine citrate (PCT) as a standard drug. All the extracts (apart from CAAE) lead to paralysis and fatality of the earthworms. CAEE extract exhibits highly significant anthelmintic activity at a 10 mg/ml concentration by causing paralysis and fatality of earthworms and was more potent than PCT suspension. At a concentration of 10 mg/ml, paralysis and death time for CAEE was recorded as (10.08 ± 1.11) and (65.28 ± 2.09) respectively, while for standard piperazine citrate, it was recorded as (22.96 ± 1.12) and (65.09 ± 1.23). The CAEE exhibits two major compounds by LC-MS, i.e., NG and DG, that are mainly accountable for the Chenopodium album anthelmintic activity. The plant possesses GABA-mimetic action and thereby leads to flaccid, reversible paralysis of the body wall muscle.