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Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is the most revered botanical in Ayurvedic medicine. It has been traditionally used to reduce stress and enhance overall well being in humans. This study aimed to investigate the adaptogenic effects of an Ashwagandha root extract in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). In this 4-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 24 dogs experiencing stress and anxiety received either placebo or 15 mg/kg bodyweight of Ashwagandha root extract once daily. Outcome measures included urine cortisol to creatine ratio (UCCr), Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire (CBARQ), Canine Brief Pain Inventory scale (CBPI), and Body condition score (BCS). Based on the data collected from all the dogs, Ashwagandha root extract supplementation was associated with significant improvements in stress-related signs. In comparison with the placebo, Ashwagandha intake was associated with a statistically significant reduction in urine cortisol to creatine ratio (P = 0.0005). Results from CBARQ revealed that Ashwagandha intake was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the fear and anxiety domain (P = 0.03), compared to placebo. There was also a statistically significant reduction in the CBPI pain severity (P < 0.0001) and pain interference (P < 0.0001) domains, compared to the placebo group. Ashwagandha intake was well tolerated in all the dogs with no reported adverse events. In conclusion, the intake of Ashwagandha root extract for 4 weeks was associated with significant reductions in UCCr, and signs of fear and anxiety and pain interference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sinapic acid (SA), a widely prevalent hydroxycinnamic acid, possess numerous biological activities owing to its antioxidant property. The present study was aimed to prepare colon targeted polysaccharidic/polymeric ester prodrug of SA (a microbially triggered system) using Leucaena leucocephala galactomannan (LLG) as a polysaccharidic carrier. The polymeric conjugates of SA-LLG were found to exhibit an increase in % yield and DS with increase in amount of SA and volume of thionyl chloride. The degree of depolymerization of SA-LLG prodrug batches were evaluated using optimized concentration of galactomannase. The SA-LLG prodrug was characterized employing UV and FTIR spectroscopy, 1H NMR and XRD. In vitro release study of the optimized prodrug batch (SL10) suggested stable nature of SA-LLG conjugate under acidic (pH 1.2) and alkaline conditions (pH 6.8). The treatment of prodrug with galactomannase (15 mg/mL) followed by esterase (10 U/mL) enzyme released approximately 81% of SA after 24 h. The cell viability results revealed that free SA and SA-LLG were found to have similar antiproliferative potential against human colon cancer cell lines (HCT-116 cells). Our investigation revealed that polysaccharidic prodrug, SA-LLG, has the potential for colon targeting of SA and thus can be employed for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBDs). • SA-LLG remained stable in stomach (pH 1.2) and small intestine (pH 6.8). • SA release was 81% after 24 h in the presence of galactomannase and esterase enzymes. • Enzymatically triggered release of SA revealed colon targeting potential of SA-LLG. • No change in cytotoxicity of SA was observed even after its conjugation with LLG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of the presented study is to understand the effect of the structure of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) on its piezoelectric behavior. Various nanostructures, including 0D, 1D, and 2D of ZnO, were synthesized by using the hydrothermal method, and these nanostructures were utilized for the fabrication of piezoelectric nanogenerators (PENG). These ZnO nanostructures were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy, X-ray Diffraction Spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, and Photoluminescence Spectroscopy. Piezoelectric current, voltage, and power of the nanogenerator fabricated from all three nanostructures were measured. The maximum power output of 2.4μW/m2 was observed in the case of a 2D structure-based PENG. Simulation models were also designed to mimic the synthesized nanostructures, and their voltage response for the stress applied is compared with their corresponding experimental results. These results show that PENG output can be varied by altering the ZnO structure, which has enormous potential in the battery-less portable electronics and biosensors industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim of present study was to estimate quantitative changes in nutraceutical properties of cookies. Refined wheat flour and raw/roasted flaxseed flour blends (100:00, 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30) were prepared and subjected for baking to prepare cookies. Effect of addition of raw/roasted flaxseed flour at different proportions on nutritional, physicochemical (weight, diameter, thickness and spread ratio) and phytochemical (total phenolic content and total flavonoids content) properties were studied. Antioxidant capacity was measured by using TEAC assay. Colour and texture measurement was undertaken with the help of HunterLab colorimeter and Texture Analyzer (TA-XT2) respectively. Refined wheat flour was found to have 4.26% protein and 0.04% fiber which were further increased to about 9.25% and 2.37% respectively after addition of raw flaxseed flour in 70:30 proportions. Baking process at higher temperature resulted in decrease in TPC and TFC while increase in antioxidant capacity. Hardness, resilience, chewiness and springiness of cookies decreased and cohesiveness, gumminess and fracturability increased with increasing amount of flaxseed flour in cookies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic leading to decreased quality of life, higher medical expenses and significant morbidity. Enhancing energy expenditure and substrate utilization in adipose tissues through dietary constituents and polypharmacological approaches is gaining importance for the prevention and therapeutics of obesity. An important factor in this regard is Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channel modulation and resultant activation of "brite" phenotype. Various dietary TRP channel agonists like capsaicin (TRPV1), cinnamaldehyde (TRPA1), and menthol (TRPM8) have shown anti-obesity effects, individually and in combination. We aimed to determine the therapeutic potential of such combination of sub-effective doses of these agents against diet-induced obesity, and explore the involved cellular processes. The combination of sub-effective doses of capsaicin, cinnamaldehyde and menthol induced "brite" phenotype in differentiating 3T3-L1 cells and subcutaneous white adipose tissue of HFD-fed obese mice. The intervention prevented adipose tissue hypertrophy and weight gain, enhanced the thermogenic potential, mitochondrial biogenesis and overall activation of brown adipose tissue. These changes observed in vitro as well as in vivo, were linked to increased phosphorylation of kinases, AMPK and ERK. In the liver, the combination treatment enhanced insulin sensitivity, improved gluconeogenic potential and lipolysis, prevented fatty acid accumulation and enhanced glucose utilization. We report on the discovery of therapeutic potential of TRP-based dietary triagonist combination against HFD-induced abnormalities in metabolic tissues. Our findings indicate that a common central mechanism may affect multiple peripheral tissues. This study opens up avenues of development of therapeutic functional foods for obesity. In 3T3L1 cells the triagonist combination reduced lipid accumulation and adipocyte differentiation from preadipocytes. This also promotes effective glucose utilization along with enhanced thermogenic activities mediated through intracellular calcium uptake leading to phosphorylation on AMPK and enhanced UCP-1 expression. This possibly could be due to increased mitochondrial biogenesis and its activities. In in-vivo settings as a therapeutic approach in HFD-induced mice it promotes browning of white adipose tissue and enhanced the activity of brown adipose tissue by factors modulating the lipid metabolism such as PPAR-γ, PGC1α, PRDM16, SIRT-1 which mechanistically upregulated upon increased phosphorylation of ERK and AMPK in mitochondria. The mitochondrial thermogenic capacity by increased UCP-1 protein expression by CB treatment also affects the overall energy expenditure capacity. In liver this promotes the glucose utilization and effective handling of glucose by enhanced gluconeogenesis and lipolysis for ectopic fat deposition. This also promotes the insulin sensitivity by modifying the disease progression factors. [Display omitted] • Dietary components based polypharmacological approaches gaining interest to counter obesity and associated complications. • Transient Receptor potential (TRP) channels agonists and their combinations from food origin could provide novel intervention strategies against obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficiency and reliability of radio over free space optical communication may be significantly degraded by different weather conditions, thus leading to decrease and increase of signal to noise ratio (SNR) and bit error rate (BER) of the recovered signal respectively. Therefore, real time optical performance estimation is of utmost importance to enable the awareness of channel conditions and for achieving high quality of service. In this work, a terrestrial radio over free space optics (RoFSO) system has been investigated by employing 32-QAM and 64-QAM OFDM modulation schemes under rain, haze and clear weather conditions. Performance of the system is further estimated by employing artificial neural networks (ANN), k-nearest neighbours (KNN) and decision tree (DT) machine learning (ML) techniques with root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R2) as performance metrices. Atmospheric attenuation and different internal system parameters act as input features with BER and SNR of the received signal as the modelling targets. The best performing model has been found to be by applying an ANN approach with lower RMSE values for SNR and BER as 1.87 and 1.26 respectively. The value of R2 predicted by the model are 0.97139 and 0.97802 for SNR and BER data sets respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citation metrics are becoming pervasive in the quantitative evaluation of scholars, journals, and institutions. Hiring, promotion, and funding decisions increasingly rely on a variety of impact metrics that cannot disentangle quality from quantity of scientific output, and are biased by factors such as discipline and academic age. Biases affecting the evaluation of single papers are compounded when one aggregates citation-based metrics across an entire publication record. It is not trivial to compare the quality of two scholars that during their careers have published at different rates, in different disciplines, and in different periods of time. Here we evaluate a method based on the generation of a statistical baseline specifically tailored on the academic profile of each researcher. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach in decoupling the roles of quantity and quality of publications to explain how a certain level of impact is achieved. The method can be extended to simultaneously suppress any source of bias. As an illustration, we use it to capture the quality of the work of Nobel laureates irrespective of number of publications, academic age, and discipline, even when traditional metrics indicate low impact in absolute terms. The procedure is flexible enough to allow for the evaluation of, and fair comparison among, arbitrary collections of papers – scholar publication records, journals, and institutions; in fact, it extends a similar technique that was previously applied to the ranking of research units and countries in specific disciplines ( Crespo, Ortuño-Ortí, & Ruiz-Castillo, 2012 ). We further apply the methodology to almost a million scholars and over six thousand journals to measure the impact that cannot be explained by the volume of publications alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citrus fruits are important health promoting fruits rich in a number of bioactive components mainly flavonoids, limonoids, coumarins, volatile oils and carotenoids. Citrus bioactives have been found to scavenge reactive oxygen species, rejuvenate body's own antioxidant enzymes, inhibit various signalling pathways, act on extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways, suppress inflammatory mediators and arrest the cell cycle. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide after cardiovascular diseases and colon cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. Studies have suggested a positive relation between diet rich in natural phytochemicals and reduced risk of colon cancer. The present review highlights the chemopreventive action of various citrus phytochemicals in colon cancer. The studies suggest that citrus bioactives either alone or in combination with current therapeutic agents can be developed as potential drug candidates for colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We present a method to quantify the disciplinary bias of any scholarly impact metric. [•] We use the method to evaluate a number of established scholarly impact metrics. [•] We introduce a simple universal metric that allows to compare the impact of scholars across scientific disciplines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We analyze the advent and development of eight scientific fields from their inception to maturity and map the evolution of their networks of collaboration over time, measured in terms of co-authorship of scientific papers. We show that as a field develops it undergoes a topological transition in its collaboration structure between a small disconnected graph to a much larger network where a giant connected component of collaboration appears. As a result, the number of edges and nodes in the largest component undergoes a transition between a small fraction of the total to a majority of all occurrences. These results relate to many qualitative observations of the evolution of technology and discussions of the “structure of scientific revolutions”. We analyze this qualitative change in network topology in terms of several quantitative graph theoretical measures, such as density, diameter, and relative size of the network''s largest component. To analyze examples of scientific discovery we built databases of scientific publications based on keyword and citation searches, for eight fields, spanning experimental and theoretical science, across areas as diverse as physics, biomedical sciences, and materials science. Each of the databases was vetted by field experts and is the result of a bibliometric search constructed to maximize coverage, while minimizing the occurrence of spurious records. In this way we built databases of publications and authors for superstring theory, cosmic strings and other topological defects, cosmological inflation, carbon nanotubes, quantum computing and computation, prions and scrapie, and H5N1 influenza. We also built a database for a classical example of “pathological” science, namely cold fusion. All these fields also vary in size and in their temporal patterns of development, with some showing explosive growth from an original identifiable discovery (e.g. carbon nanotubes) while others are characterized by a slow process of development (e.g. quantum computers and computation). We show that regardless of the detailed nature of their developmental paths, the process of scientific discovery and the rearrangement of the collaboration structure of emergent fields is characterized by a number of universal features, suggesting that the process of discovery and initial formation of a scientific field, characterized by the moments of discovery, invention and subsequent transition into “normal science” may be understood in general terms, as a process of cognitive and social unification out of many initially separate efforts. Pathological fields, seemingly, never undergo this transition, despite hundreds of publications and the involvement of many authors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study reports the fabrication of egg shell membrane and ZnO composite based triboelectric nanogenerator for enhanced output energy harvesting. With rapid economic growth, demand for energy is increasing, and continuous efforts are required in this direction, especially to harvest energy from natural sources. Triboelectric nanogenerators have attracted much attention to harvest electric energy from mechanical energy available in the environment. Efforts are required to fabricate and test new materials for triboelectric nanogenerators to enhance efficiency and to reduce cost. The performance of these generators can be altered by surface modification of two contact layers. In this study, biocompatible and waste food by-product egg shell membrane surface is modified by fabricating its composite with ZnO nanorods. Tribocharging behavior of egg membrane, ZnO nanorods, and egg membrane/ZnO composite is compared, and results show that these fabricated nanogenerators are able to lighten up green LEDs without any external energy storage device. A capacitor is also charged, and a digital watch is turned ON with these nanogenerators. Characterization of synthesized materials is done by various techniques scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis of the egg membrane and its composite is also reported. • Synthesis of Egg shell membrane-ZnO composite by hydrothermal method. • Fabrication and analysis of composite material based triboelectric nanogenerators. • Sythesized composite material shows highly positive tribocharging characteristics. • New bio-compatible material is added in the triboelectric series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Breast carcinoma is one of the commonest malignancies in women, however metastatic involvement of the breast is extremely rare. The lymphomas and other neoplasms of hematological origin are the most common extra-mammary malignancies that may metastasize to the breast. Medullary carcinoma of the thyroid rarely metastasizes to the breast. It is important to accurately differentiate a metastatic lesion from a primary malignancy in the breast to avoid unnecessary surgical procedures and to implement an appropriate systemic therapy. We report the mammographic, ultrasonographic and color Doppler findings of an unusual case of medullary thyroid carcinoma metastatic to the breast with clinico-pathological correlation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Transparent, clear solutions such as hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, sodium hypochlorite, formaldehyde, and local anaesthetics are widely used in dentistry, so the tissues are liable to accidental injury. Formalin, a 37%-40% solution of formaldehyde, is extensively used in 10% solution as a tissue preservative, but it has toxic effects on systems such as the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, skin, and mucosa. However, we know of few reports of cases of inadvertent injection of alcohol and formalin directly into the human body. In this case report we describe the early and delayed clinical effects of accidental intraoral injection of formalin, the subsequent symptoms and management, and some prudent points that should be learnt to avoid such incidents in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Mechanochemical synthesis of K 2 SbF 5 by the successive grinding reactions of antimony (III) acetate with ammonium fluoride and potassium fluoride has been carried out. Powder X-ray diffraction pattern of K 2 SbF 5 was refined successfully in orthorhombic space group (Cmcm) with a = 6.3214 (29) Å, b = 13.9380 (60) Å and c = 6.5817 (28) Å. Finger print vibrations of SbF 5 2− units in the sample have also been confirmed from FT-IR and Raman spectra. 5 mol% of Eu, Tb and Er doped K 2 SbF 5 have been synthesized by the same method and their optical properties have been analyzed. The Judd-Ofelt (J-O) parameter (Ω J) analyses of Eu doped samples have been carried out. On irradiating Er3+ doped sample with 980 nm laser, a bright green emission visible to the naked eye was evident. The decay times of these emissions have been estimated. Following a similar procedure, Rb 2 SbF 5 has been synthesized for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gut barrier – including tight junction proteins (TJPs) and mucus layers, is the first line of defense against physical, chemical or pathogenic incursions. This barrier is compromised in various health disorders. Capsaicin, a dietary agonist of Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) channel, is reported to alleviate the complications of obesity. While it is well known to improve energy expenditure and metabolism, and prevent dysbiosis, the more local effects on the host gut – particularly the gut barrier and mucus system remain elusive. To investigate the effect of capsaicin on the gut barrier and mucus production and to understand the involvement of mucus, bacteria, and TRPV1 in these phenomena, we employed a diet-induced obesity model in C57BL/6 mice, and capsaicin (2 mg/kg/day p.o.) or mucin (1 g/kg/day p.o.) as interventions, for 12 weeks. Parameters like weight gain, glucose homeostasis, TJPs expression, mucus staining, intestinal permeability etc were studied. 16 S rDNA sequencing and in vitro Ca2+ measurement experiments were performed to explore the role of microbiota in the beneficial effects. Mucin feeding reflected several anti-obesity effects produced by capsaicin, suggesting that mucus modulation might play a crucial role in capsaicin-induced anti-obesity effects. 16 S rDNA sequencing and in vitro Ca2+ measurement experiments pointed to TRPV1 modulation by bacteria besides capsaicin. Capsaicin, bacteria and the host mucus system seem to act in a cyclic cascade involving TRPV1, which can be activated by capsaicin and various bacteria. These findings provide new insight into the role of TRPV1 in maintaining a healthy gut environment. [Display omitted] • Exogenous mucin feeding produced anti-obesity effects similar to capsaicin in mice. • Mucin and capsaicin improved TJP expression, intestinal permeability and gut microbial diversity. • Capsaicin modulated bacterial diversity in vitro, independently of the host. • Probiotic bacteria and butyrate activated TRPV1 in transfected HEK cells. Anti-obesity action of capsaicin is not exclusive to TRPV1 agonism. • Capsaicin's action as colonic mucus secretagogue plays a crucial part in its anti-obesity benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Infrared Image Correlation for Detection of Delaminations in GFRP sample. • Comparison on defect detection capabilities of FMTWI and DFMTWI techniques. • Comparison among the depth resolvability of time and frequency domain based analysis schemes. InfraRed Thermography (IRT) is one of the widely used Non-destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E) method for characterization of fiber reinforced polymers. Among verity of testing methodologies and associated post processing schemes recently proposed pulse compression favorable thermal wave imaging methodologies gain importance due to their merits. This present paper highlights a highly depth resolved Frequency Modulated Thermal Wave Imaging (FMTWI) and its digitized version named as Digitized Frequency Modulated Thermal Wave Imaging (DFMTWI) for identification of subsurface Teflon patches introduced as defects to simulate the delaminations at various layers of GFRP test specimen of various sizes and depths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study the prevalence, clinical course and outcomes of olfactory and taste dysfunction in COVID-19 positive adolescents. This prospective study was carried out from May to August 2020. The adolescents, aged 10–19 years, who were detected COVID-19 positive by RT-PCR with mild to moderate disease were included in the study. The following epidemiological and clinical outcomes were studied: age, sex, general symptoms, olfactory and taste dysfunction. Out of 141 patients included in the study, there were 83 males (58.9%) and 58 females (41.1%). The age varied from 10 to 19 years with an average of 15.2 years. Forty patients (28.4%) had olfactory or taste dysfunction. Out of these 40 patients, 28 patients (19.8%) had both olfactory and taste dysfunction. Of the 34 patients (24.1%) who complained of olfactory dysfunction, 16 patients complained of hyposmia and 18 patients complained of anosmia. Dysgeusia was reported by 34 patients (24.1%). The duration of OTD varied from 2 to 15 days with an average of 5.7 days. Loss of smell and taste are common symptoms in COVID-19 positive adolescents. It recovers spontaneously within a few weeks, along with the resolution of other symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]