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High cultivation cost and low lipid yield are framed as a major bottleneck for the production of microalgae biodiesel. Hence, we first and foremost highlight a trophic mode transition, coupled with a combinatorial effect of organic carbon, nitrogen and light (C/N/L) on an isolated microalga Chlorococcum sp. SVF in a one pot tri-phasic intermittent feeding system by developing a lab scale Raceway tank (40L). Hitherto, waste molasses syrup without hydrolysis is unexplored in algal bioenergy arena. The direct utilisation capability of sucrose, served by waste unhydrolysed molasses syrup (WUMS), effectively modulates the intrinsic biochemical and physiological characteristics towards microalgae biomass and lipid assimilation. Response surface methodology—central composite design (RSM-CCD) tool has been employed to observe the cumulative impact of light irradiation and nutrient sources (carbon and nitrogen) on cellular stoichiometric analysis. Experimental results exhibit a potentially achievable biomass (18.88 g L−1) and lipid accumulation (80.34%) under the light intensity of 75.5 µmol m−2 s−1 with stepwise light attenuation strategy. Characterisation of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) reveals the dominance of oleic acid (32.72%) and palmitic acid methyl esters (32.49%) in mixotrophic condition, which are considered as the upmost indicators of quality biodiesel. The biofuel properties were obtained in acquiescence with American and European standard. These findings are therefore a way forward towards the effective growth of Chlorococcum sp. SVF in sucrose rich inexpensive industrial waste stream that positively influences the lipid yield for large scale sustainable biodiesel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India, with 1.32 billion people is the second most populous country in the world with considerably high levels of population density. Previous research shows global temperatures continue to increase causing in increased heat stress and Heat waves affecting the communities and causing extensive damage to crops and agro-rural economy. In this context, SWAT data of the NCEP over the 36-year from 1979 to 2014 are used to access the long term variability of heat stress and heat wave. Over this period, more than 150 days a year, the Eastern coastal region of India have significantly higher no of peak heat stress days (> 120 degrees Fahrenheit) as compared to 100 days in another part of the country leaving the hill states of India where Heat Stress are below 20 days. This may be due to westerly wind from Bay of Bengal drawing heat and moisture to the landmass. The heat stress has increased most in the north-eastern region, more the 4 degrees Fahrenheit, as compared to rest of the country from 1979 to 2014 which can be a result of increased humidity and solar insolation. The country has witnessed an average of 4 to 6 heat wave days a year over the region but few states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab and Haryana have witnessed more than 8 days a year where relative humidity has gone up due to increased precipitation causing increased heated days. The analysis shows that a high percentage of land mass are venerable to the increased heat stress, although more detailed studies considering the spatial and temporal distribution of the population are needed to be done for the future scenarios. This work can be used as a guideline for the next steps in detailed studies on mitigation plan and decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study addresses a comparative evaluation of airborne AVIRIS-NG and spaceborne PRISMA hyperspectral datasets for mapping hydrothermally altered minerals in Jahazpur town (25°25′23.37″N; 75°06′23.17″E) of Bhilwara district in southeastern Rajasthan. This area is located in Aravalli Craton which host notable base metal mineralization namely Rampura-Agucha, Pur-Banera and Rajpura-Dariba. The hyperspectral datasets were classified using spectral angle mapper which identified talc, soapstone, and kaolinite clay minerals in the study area. The samples were collected from the identified areas. Their spectral signature was compared with AVIRIS-NG, PRISMA, and USGS mineral spectral library and showed greater similarity in spectral absorption features. Conventional geological techniques such as thin section studies and XRD diffraction pattern analysis were carried out to validate the presence of minerals in the study area. Comparative analysis shows AVIRIS-NG and PRISMA sensor capability to identify altered/weathered minerals. The PRISMA dataset did not identify small surface exposure of talc deposit at the Padampura location due to its low spatial resolution (30 m) and SNR values. In contrast, AVIRIS-NG imagery successfully maps this exposure in the classified mineral map. The types of alteration in the area show formation of talc mineral from dolomite and argillic alteration resulting in kaolinite and montmorillonite formation. Therefore, airborne AVIRIS-NG proves its efficiency in mapping of relatively small surface exposure of altered minerals compared with the spaceborne PRISMA hyperspectral dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexaploid bread wheat, being highly recalcitrant, has been difficult to regenerate in vitro which limits the use of transgenesis and genome editing for its agronomic improvement and functional genomics. We have studied the comparative in vitro regeneration in six most important wheat varieties, namely, HD-2967, PBW-343, WH-1105, PBW-550, DBW-17, and WL-711, using immature vs mature scutellum. The regeneration response of varieties PBW-550, DBW-17, and HD-2967 has not yet been reported. The mature and immature scutella cultured on MS medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) (2 mg l−1) or dicamba (6 mgl−1), respectively, and maltose (30 gl−1) under dark conditions developed calli which subsequently on transfer to modified MS medium with double concentration of NH4NO3, zeatin (5.0 mgl−1), dicamba (0.1 mgl−1), AgNO3 (2.0 mgl−1), CuSO4 (2.5 mgl−1), and sucrose (30 gl−1) under light conditions regenerated into shoots. Immature scutellum showed 100% callus induction irrespective of varieties and regenerated a maximum of 15 shoots per callus in 90% cultures, whereas mature scutellum showed a maximum 80% callus induction, producing maximum 5 shoots only in 67% cultures. Thus, immature scutellum has been more responsive comparative to mature scutellum for inducing callus and shoot regeneration. Among all the six varieties, HD-2967 was the most regenerative, which can be explored further for improving wheat via genetic transformation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) is rich in health-promoting phenolic acids, primarily in the chlorogenic acid. For the production of chlorogenic acid in the eggplant hydroxycinnamoyl CoA-quinate transferase (SmHQT), is a central enzyme that catalyzes the reaction to the chlorogenic acid production. Objective: The function of SmHQT is not well determined in the eggplant fruit, and the fruit agroinfiltration procedure is not standardized for eggplant. Materials and Methods: Here, the overexpression of SmHQT in the eggplant fruit's flesh was studied using the agroinfiltration technique. In our gene construct, we also co-expressed the P19 protein for overexpression, and the results were validated with real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results: Due to the overexpression of the SmHQT gene, higher chlorogenic content was exhibited by the eggplant fruits, which was further validated by HPLC. The chlorogenic acid content after following the agroinfiltration procedure was more two times in the agroinfiltrated fruit. To identify the optimal target for increasing chlorogenic pathway flux post-SmHQT activity, expression patterns were analyzed with qRT-PCR, and the results showed the changes in the expression level of the other chlorogenic acid pathway genes. Furthermore, the cis regulating elements and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analyses supported the HPLC results. Conclusion: Overall, here, insights into the eggplant chlorogenic content increment at the molecular level and the opportunities for the improvement of chlorogenic content as nutrition in crops are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) caused by Leishmania donovani remains of public health concern in rural India. Those at risk of VL are also at risk of other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) including soil transmitted helminths. Intestinal helminths are potent regulators of host immune responses sometimes mediated through cross-talk with gut microbiota. We evaluate a meta-taxonomic approach to determine the composition of prokaryotic and eukaryotic gut microflora using amplicon-based sequencing of 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) and 18S rRNA gene regions. The most abundant bacterial taxa identified in faecal samples from Bihar State India were Prevotella (37.1%), Faecalibacterium (11.3%), Escherichia-Shigella (9.1%), Alloprevotella (4.5%), Bacteroides (4.1%), Ruminococcaceae UCG-002 (1.6%), and Bifidobacterium (1.5%). Eukaryotic taxa identified (excluding plant genera) included Blastocystis (57.9%; Order: Stramenopiles), Dientamoeba (12.1%; Family: Tritrichomonadea), Pentatrichomonas (10.1%; Family: Trichomonodea), Entamoeba (3.5%; Family: Entamoebida), Ascaridida (0.8%; Family: Chromodorea; concordant with Ascaris by microscopy), Rhabditida (0.8%; Family: Chromodorea; concordant with Strongyloides), and Cyclophyllidea (0.2%; Order: Eucestoda; concordant with Hymenolepis). Overall alpha (Shannon’s, Faith’s and Pielou’s indices) and beta (Bray-Curtis dissimilarity statistic; weighted UniFrac distances) diversity of taxa did not differ significantly by age, sex, geographic subdistrict, or VL case (N = 23) versus endemic control (EC; N = 23) status. However, taxon-specific associations occurred: (i) Ruminococcaceae UCG- 014 and Gastranaerophilales_uncultured bacterium were enriched in EC compared to VL cases; (ii) Pentatrichomonas was more abundant in VL cases than in EC, whereas the reverse occurred for Entamoeba. Across the cohort, high Escherichia-Shigella was associated with reduced bacterial diversity, while high Blastocystis was associated with high bacterial diversity and low Escherichia-Shigella. Individuals with high Blastocystis had low Bacteroidaceae and high Clostridiales vadin BB60 whereas the reverse held true for low Blastocystis. This scoping study provides useful baseline data upon which to develop a broader analysis of pathogenic enteric microflora and their influence on gut microbial health and NTDs generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algae have been explored for renewable energy, nutraceuticals, and value‐added products. However, low lipid yield is a significant impediment to its commercial viability. Genetic engineering can improve the fatty acid profile of algae without compromising its growth. This study introduced the diacylglycerol acyltransferase (BnDGAT) gene from Brassica napus into Chlorella sorokiniana‐I, a fast‐growing and thermotolerant natural strain isolated from wastewater, which increased its intracellular lipid accumulation. Hygromycin‐resistant cells were selected, and enhanced green florescence protein fluorescence was used to distinguish pure transgenic cell lines from mixed cultures. Compared to the wild type, BnDGAT expression in transgenic C. sorokiniana‐I caused a threefold increase in non‐polar lipid and a twofold increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Nile red staining reaffirmed the presence of higher intracellular lipid bodies in transgenic cells. There was a substantial alteration in the fatty acid profile of transgenic alga expressing BnDGAT. The non‐essential omega 9 (C18: 1) fatty acid decreased (5%–7% from 18%), while alpha‐linolenic acid, an essential omega 3 fatty acid (C18: 3), was increased (23%–24% from 11%). This study substantiates a valuable strategy for enhancing essential omega‐3 fatty acids and neutral lipids to improve its nutritional value for animal feed. The increased lipid productivity should reduce the cost of producing fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). Improved FAME quality should address the clouding issues in cold regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] To overcome the antibiotic resistance challenge, we synthesized a novel class of conjugates based on ciprofloxacin and avibactam, covalently linked by diverse amino acids. In vitro studies of these conjugates have shown improved antibacterial efficacy of avibactam when used alone against some ESKAPE pathogens, i.e. , S. aureus, E. coli , and A. baumannii. Further, ceftazidime was screened in combination with all conjugates and found to be less synergistically effective than avibactam-ceftazidime co-dosing against K. pneumoniae and E. coli bacterial strains. Subsequently, the top-ranked active conjugates were investigated against the commercially available β -lactamase-II (Penicillinase from Bacillus cereus) through in vitro studies. These studies elucidated two conjugates i.e , 9 (IC 50 = 1.69±0.35 nM) and 24b (IC 50 = 57.37±5.39 nM), which have higher inhibition profile than avibactam (IC 50 = 141.08±12.20 nM). These outcomes allude to avibactam integration with ciprofloxacin is a novel and fruitful approach to discovering clinically valuable next-generation non- β -lactam- β -lactamase inhibitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disposal of waste from industrial sources is becoming a serious problem throughout the world. To produce one liter (L) of ethanol, about 15-L Ethanol Spent Water (ESW) is discharged from the ethanol industry adversely impacting aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This study investigated the bioremediation of ESW in two stages, first filtration through biochar (byproduct after HTL processing of algal biomass) followed by bioremediation using algae. In the first step up to 99.4% toxic melanoidin pigment and suspended pollutants from ESW were removed. The colorless ESW was then tested for the growth of marine Parachlorella kessleri-I (PK-I), and freshwater Chlorella vulgaris (CV) and Chlorella sorokiniana-I (CS-I). Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis was conducted before and after bioremediation of ESW using algae. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) 28,900 mg L−1 was reduced to 55–118 mg L−1, biological oxygen demand (BOD) 7200 mg L−1 was reduced to 28–55 mg L−1, total organic carbon (98.7%), phenol (64%), sugar (99.5%), nutrients and toxic metal concentrations were also reduced significantly after 12 days of algae-cultivation in ESW. The highest biomass (115.4 mg L−1 day−1) and lipid (9.1 mg L−1 day−1) productivity were observed in PK-1 using biochar-filtered ESW. The biodiesel properties and cetane number 48.1–63.9 in FAME studied by GC–MS were observed as per the international standard of fuels. The ESW cultivated algal biomass contained a significant amount of lipids, proteins, and carbohydrates compared to the control medium grown biomass. Thus algae-derived biochar has the potential to effectively remediate the hazardous ESW thereby facilitating the efficient growth of different algal species to generate the feedstock for biofuel applications. Bioremediation of raw Ethanol Spent Wash (ESW). About 15-L wastewater generates to produce 1-L ethanol from Ethanol Distillery. The filtration of ESW through algae-based biochar facilitated the growth of marine and freshwater algae as a bioresources for various applications while remediation of wastewater as a circular bioeconomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algal biorefinery is rising as a prominent solution to economically fulfill the escalating global requirement for nutrition, feed, fuel, and medicines. In recent years, scientific productiveness associated with microalgae-based studies has elaborated in multiplied aspects, while translation to the commercial level continues to be missing. The present microalgal biorefinery has a challenge in long-term viability due to escalated market price of algal-mediated biofuels and bioproducts. Advancements are required in a few aspects like improvement in algae processing, energy investment, and cost analysis of microalgae biorefinery. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the modern work by understanding the knowledge gaps and hotspots driving business scale up. The microalgae biorefinery integrated with energy-based products, bioactive and green compounds, focusing on a circular bioeconomy, is urgently needed. A detailed investigation of techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) is important to increase the market value of algal products. This review discusses the valorization of algal biomass for the value-added application that holds a sustainable approach and cost-competitive algal biorefinery. The current industries, policies, technology transfer trends, challenges, and future economic outlook are discussed. This study is an overview through scientometric investigation attempt to describe the research development contributing to this rising field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, proportional derivative control has been explored further to devise dynamic velocity error-based controller for trajectory tracking of space robotic manipulator. The dynamic velocity error is defined using the difference between current velocity and dynamic desired velocity, which is calculated based on the current position and successive desired position. The dynamic velocity error-based controller consists only of the derivative term, unlike conventional proportional derivative control which consists of both proportional as well as derivative terms. Although proposed dynamic velocity error-based controller is simple and robust, the modified versions of direct and indirect adaptive controllers are also presented utilizing dynamic velocity error to handle external disturbances and internal uncertainties in non linear dynamics. Lyapunov theory is employed to prove the stability of the closed-loop system. The main advantage of the dynamic velocity error based controller is that it is as simple as a proportional derivative controller and as robust as adaptive controllers. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed control designs is validated using numerical simulations, and a comparative study of various control designs has also been provided to substantiate the claims further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The soil microbiome contributes to nutrient acquisition and plant adaptation to numerous biotic and abiotic stresses. Numerous studies have been conducted over the past decade showing that plants take up nutrients better when associated with fungi and additional beneficial bacteria that promote plant growth, but the mechanisms by which the plant host benefits from this tripartite association are not yet fully understood. In this article, we report on a synergistic interaction between rice (Oryza sativa), Piriformospora indica (an endophytic fungus colonizing the rice roots), and Azotobacter chroococcum strain W5, a free-living nitrogen-fixing bacterium. On the basis of mRNA expression analysis and enzymatic activity, we found that co-inoculation of plant roots with the fungus and the rhizobacterium leads to enhanced plant growth and improved nutrient uptake compared to inoculation with either of the two microbes individually. Proteome analysis of O. sativa further revealed that proteins involved in nitrogen and phosphorus metabolism are upregulated and improve nitrogen and phosphate uptake. Our results also show that A. chroococcum supports colonization of rice roots by P. indica, and consequentially, the plants are more resistant to biotic stress upon co-colonization. Our research provides detailed insights into the mechanisms by which microbial partners synergistically promote each other in the interaction while being associated with the host plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformation efficiency and regeneration of Parthenium argentatum Gray (guayule) from leaf discs is problematical due to genotype-specific regeneration efficiency, browning and tissue culture growth response after Agrobacterium infection of leaf explants. To address this issue, we have developed a callus transformation system using lustrous green nodular callus, termed highly regenerating callus (HRC), which is immensely prolific at shoot regeneration. Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 harboring the binary vector pCAMBIA2300 was used to transform the HRC. Primary transformation events and transgenic plants recovered were identified by PCR. Transgene integration and translation of nptII into transgenic plants was confirmed with Southern and western blot analysis. The plant transformation frequency from callus tissues was about 48%. This alternative method is fast and free of undesirable browning and it should facilitate a rapid improvement of guayule germplasm via genetic engineering, which has been slow compared to some other industrial crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In waste-to-energy plants, there is every likelihood of variations in the quantity and characteristics of the feed. Although intermediate storage tanks are used, but many times these are of inadequate capacity to dampen the variations. In such situations an anaerobic digester treating waste slurry operates under dynamic conditions. In this work a special type of dynamic Artificial Neural Network model, called Nonlinear Autoregressive Exogenous model, is used to model the dynamics of anaerobic digesters by using about one year data collected on the operating digesters. The developed model consists of two hidden layers each having 10 neurons, and uses 18 days delay. There are five neurons in input layer and one neuron in output layer for a day. Model predictions of biogas production rate are close to plant performance within ±8% deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high frequency secondary somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration have been achieved in Calliandra tweedii (Benth.) through internodal segments excised from 5-year-old shrub on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium enriched with different concentrations of 2-isopentenyl adenine (2iP). Somatic embryos were differentiated directly from cut ends, epidermal crevices as well as indirectly through callus. Such primary embryos when subcultured on MS medium augmented with 2-isopentenyl adenine (2iP), N 6 benzyladenine (BA), 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D), α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) in different concentrations (0.1, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 5, 10, and 20 μM) individually, redifferentiated numerous secondary somatic embryos of different stages, i.e. , globular, heart-shaped, torpedo and cotyledonary types within 6 weeks of culture. The somatic embryos originated either from radicular or plumular parts or from all over the surfaces. Of the aforesaid growth regulators, 1 μM 2iP proved to be the best for recurrent production of an average of 19.44 ± 0.52 cotyledonary somatic embryos per culture within 6 weeks. The embryogenic clumps (100 mg per culture tube) comprising the pre cotyledonary stages were transferred to different concentrations (1, 2.5, 5, 7, 10, 20, and 50 μM) of abscisic acid (ABA) for their maturation and preventing precocious germination. ABA at 5 μM proved optimum for developing an average of 15.87 ± 0.31 normal cotyledonary embryos per embryogenic clumps within 4 weeks. These bipolar mature embryos after transfer to half-strength MS medium germinated into plantlets. The genetic uniformity of the emblings was established employing 14 inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker where 96.1% of the bands generated were monomorphic and similar with those of stock plant with only 2% variation among the plantlets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compares the utility of multifrequency SAR and Optical multispectral data for land-cover classification of Mumbai city and its nearby regions with a special focus on water body mapping. The L-band ALOS-2 PALSAR-2, X-band TerraSAR-X, C-band RISAT-1, and Sentinel-2 datasets have been used in this work. This work is done as a retrospective study for the dual-frequency L and S-band NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. The ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data has been pre-processed before the implementation of machine learning algorithms for image segmentation. Multi-looking is performed on ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data to generate square pixels of size 5.78 m and then target decomposition is applied to generate a false-color composite RGB image. While in the case of TerraSAR-X and RISAT-1 datasets, no multi-looking was performed and direct target decomposition was applied to generate false-color composite RGB images. Similarly, for the optical dataset that has a resolution of 10 m, a true color composite, and a false color composite RGB image are generated. For the comparative study between ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and Sentinel-2 dataset, the RGB images are divided into smaller chunks of size 500*500 pixels each to create a training and testing dataset. Ten image patches were taken from the large dataset, out of which eight patches were used to train the machine learning models Random Forest (RF), K Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM), and two patches were kept for testing and validation purpose. For training the machine learning models, feature vectors are generated using the Gabor filter, Scharr filter, Gaussian filter, and Median filter. For patch 1, the mIOU for true-color composite based Optical image varies from 0.2323 to 0.2866 with the RF classifier performing the best and the mIOU for false-color composite based Optical image varies from 0.4130 to 0.4941 with the RF classifier performing the best while for ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data, the mIOU varies from 0.4033 to 0.4663 with the RF classifier outperforming the KNN and the SVM classifiers. For patch 2, the mIOU for true-color composite based Optical data varies from 0.3451 to 0.4517 with KNN performing the best and the mIOU for false-color composite based Optical image varies from 0.5156 to 0.5832 with the RF classifier performing the best while for ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data, the mIOU varies from 0.4600 to 0.5178 with the RF classifier outperforming the KNN and the SVM classifiers. The gap between the performance of ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data and Sentinel-2 optical data is observed when the IOU of water class is compared, with IOU w for the true-color composite based optical image at a maximum of 0.2525 and for false-color composite based optical image at a maximum of 0.7366 while for ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data a maximum IOU w of 0.7948 is achieved. The better performance of SAR data as compared to true-color composite based optical image data is due to the misclassification of ground and water classes into urban and forest in the case of the true-color composite based optical dataset which can be attributed to the high similarity between water and forest classes in the case of true-color composite based optical data whereas both these classes are easily separable in case of SAR data. This issue is however resolved by using the false color composite based optical image dataset for the classification task which performs slightly better than ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data in the overall classification task. However, the SAR data works best in water body detection as notable from the high IOU for water class in the case of SAR data. In addition to the comparative analysis between Sentinel-2 optical and ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 data, land-cover classification has been performed on X-band TerraSAR-X and C-band RISAT-1 data on a single patch and it has been found that the RF classifier performs the best, recording the mIOU 0.5815 for X-band TerraSAR-X data, mIOU of 0.4031 for the C-band RISAT-1 data, and mIOU of 0.6153 for the L-band ALOS-2 data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphiregulin (AREG), which acts as one of the ligands for epidermal receptor growth factor receptor (EGFR), plays a crucial role in tissue repair, inflammation, and immunity. AREG is synthesized as membrane‐anchored pre‐protein, and is excreted after proteolytic cleavage, and serves as an autocrine or paracrine factor. After engagement with the EGFR, AREG triggers a cascade of signaling events required for many cellular physiological processes including metabolism, cell cycle, and proliferation. Under different inflammatory and pathogenic conditions, AREG is expressed by various activated immune cells that orchestrate both tolerance and host resistance mechanisms. Several factors including xenobiotics, cytokines, and inflammatory lipids have been shown to trigger AREG gene expression and release. In this review, we discuss the structure, function, and regulation of AREG, its role in tissue repair, inflammation, and homeostasis as well as the potential of AREG as a biomarker and therapeutic target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract-In this paper,we present a methodology to develop efficient and deadlock-free routing algorithms for Network-on-Chip (NoC) platforms that are specialized for an application or a set of concurrent applications. The proposed methodology,called the Application- Specific Routing Algorithm (APSRA),exploits the application-specific information regarding pairs of cores that communicate and other pairs that never communicate in the NoC platform to maximize communication adaptivity and performance. The methodology also exploits the known information regarding concurrency/nonconcurrency of communication transactions among cores for the same purpose. The methodology does not require virtual channels to guarantee deadlock freedom. We demonstrate,through analysis of adaptivity and simulation-based evaluation of latency and throughput,that algorithms produced by the proposed methodology give significantly higher performance as compared to other deadlock-free algorithms for both homogeneous and heterogeneous 2D mesh topology NoC systems. Since the APSRA methodology is topology agnostic,the most appropriate general implementation of the routing function within the router is using a table. A table-based implementation of the router is costlier as compared to an algorithm-based implementation. We also propose a technique to compress the routing table in a mesh topology NoC to very small sizes with very little negative effect on routing adaptivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The simplicity of regular mesh topology Network on Chip (NoC) architecture leads to reductions in design time and manufacturing cost. A weakness of the regular shaped architecture is its inability to efficiently support cores of different sizes. A proposed way in literature to deal with this is to utilize the region concept, which helps to accommodate cores larger than the tile size in mesh topology NoC architectures. Region concept offers many new opportunities for NoC design, as well as provides new design issues and challenges. One of the most important among these is the design of an efficient deadlock free routing algorithm. Available adaptive routing algorithms developed for regular mesh topology cannot ensure freedom from deadlocks. In this paper, we list and discuss many new design issues which need to be handled for designing NoC systems incorporating cores larger than the tile size. We also present and compare two deadlock free routing algorithms for mesh topology NoC with regions. The idea of the first algorithm is borrowed from the area of fault tolerant networks, where a network topology is rendered irregular due to faults in routers or links, and is adapted for the new context. We compare this with an algorithm designed using a methodology for design of application specific routing algorithms for communication networks. The application specific routing algorithm tries to maximize adaptivity by using static and dynamic communication requirements of the application. Our study shows that the application specific routing algorithm not only provides much higher adaptivity, but also superior performance as compared to the other algorithm in all traffic cases. But this higher performance for the second algorithm comes at a higher area cost for implementing network routers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Production planning of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is plagued by two interrelated problems, namely 1) part-type selection and 2) operation allocation on machines. The combination of these problems is termed a machine loading problem, which is treated as a strongly NP-hard problem. In this paper, the machine loading problem has been modeled by taking into account objective functions and several constraints related to the flexibility of machines, availability of machining time, tool slots, etc. Minimization of system unbalance (SU), maximization of system throughput (TH), and the combination of SU and TH are the three objectives of this paper, whereas two main constraints to be satisfied are related to time and tool slots available on machines. Solutions for such problems even for a moderate number of part types and machines are marked by excessive computational complexities and thus entail the application of some random search optimization techniques to resolve the same. In this paper, a new algorithm termed as constraints-based fast simulated annealing (SA) is proposed to address a well-known machine loading problem available in the literature. The proposed algorithm enjoys the merits of simple SA and simple genetic algorithm and is designed to be free from some of their drawbacks. The enticing feature of the algorithm is that it provides more opportunity to escape from the local minimum. The application of the algorithm is tested on standard data sets, and superiority of the same is witnessed. Intensive experimentations were carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, and the efficacy of the same is authenticated by efficiently testing the performance of algorithm over well-known functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The chloroplast genetic engineering offers a number of unique advantages including high level of transgene expression, multi-gene expression in single transformation event and transgene containment due to maternal inheritance. Hyper-expression of vaccine antigens or therapeutic proteins in transgenic chloroplasts (leaves) or chromoplasts (fruits/roots) facilitates efficient oral delivery. Ability of chloroplasts to correctly fold human blood proteins with proper disulfide bridges (human serum albumin or interferons) or presence of chaperones in chloroplasts to facilitate assembly of complex multi-subunit proteins or their prokaryotic nature to express native bacterial genes (up to 46.1% total leaf protein) are attractive features for therapeutic protein production. Purification of therapeutic proteins has been achieved using novel purification strategies that do not require expensive column chromatography. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Urban area mapping is an important application of remote sensing which aims at both estimation and change in land cover under the urban area. A major challenge being faced while analyzing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) based remote sensing data is that there is a lot of similarity between highly vegetated urban areas and oriented urban targets with that of actual vegetation. This similarity between some urban areas and vegetation leads to misclassification of the urban area into forest cover. The present work is a precursor study for the dual-frequency L and S-band NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission and aims at minimizing the misclassification of such highly vegetated and oriented urban targets into vegetation class with the help of deep learning. In this study, three machine learning algorithms Random Forest (RF), K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) have been implemented along with a deep learning model DeepLabv3+ for semantic segmentation of Polarimetric SAR (PolSAR) data. It is a general perception that a large dataset is required for the successful implementation of any deep learning model but in the field of SAR based remote sensing, a major issue is the unavailability of a large benchmark labeled dataset for the implementation of deep learning algorithms from scratch. In current work, it has been shown that a pre-trained deep learning model DeepLabv3+ outperforms the machine learning algorithms for land use and land cover (LULC) classification task even with a small dataset using transfer learning. The highest pixel accuracy of 87.78% and overall pixel accuracy of 85.65% have been achieved with DeepLabv3+ and Random Forest performs best among the machine learning algorithms with overall pixel accuracy of 77.91% while SVM and KNN trail with an overall accuracy of 77.01% and 76.47% respectively. The highest precision of 0.9228 is recorded for the urban class for semantic segmentation task with DeepLabv3+ while machine learning algorithms SVM and RF gave comparable results with a precision of 0.8977 and 0.8958 respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The edible and wild cultivars of Dioscorea dumetorum (Kunth) Pax. (Family: Dioscoreaceae) are commonly used as close substitutes in herbal markets due to their edibility and medicinal importance. Comparative study of the cultivars was done using chemical analysis of their methanol tuber extracts and by utilizing the DNA barcode regions, ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase subunits (rbc L) and the non-coding intergenic spacer gene (trn H- psb A) for nucleotide sequences comparison of cultivars. Of the 54 compounds identified from the methanol extract of the edible and wild cultivars using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), 12 are similar, while 42 are remarkably different. In particular n -hexadecanoic (palmitic) acid had a higher percentage area in the edible cultivar (31.16%) compared to the wild cultivar (0.26%). The cultivars were successfully amplified using the universal primers gene rbc L and trn H- psb A. Their nucleotide sequences showed a slight variation when aligned with CodonCode Aligner V.9.0.1. They were identified by the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) through comparison with Genbank data, which shows close similarities with submitted data. The use of molecular barcoding in identifying the cultivars of Dioscorea dumetorum as well as the chemical composition of their tubers may form an important marker in the compilation of future herbal pharmacopoeia for its proper identification. Image 1 • DNA barcode was useful in identifying cultivars of Dioscorea dumetorum. • GC-MS constituents of D. dumtorum were mainly lipids and terpenoids. • n -hexadecanoic acid provides useful chemical marker in cultivars of D. dumetorum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Moon has a large potential for space exploration and mining valuable resources. In particular, 3He provides rich sources of non-radioactive fusion fuel to fulfill cislunar and Earth's energy demands, if found economically feasible. The present study focuses on developing advanced techniques to prospect 3He resources on the Moon from multi-sensor remote sensing perspectives. It characterizes optical changes in regolith materials due to space weathering as a new retention parameter and introduces a novel machine learning inversion model for retrieving the physical properties of the regolith. Our analysis suggests that the reddening of the soil predominantly governs the retention, along with attenuated mafic band depths. Moreover, semi-variograms show that the spatial variability of 3He is aligned with the episodic weathering events at different timescales. We also observed that pyroclastic regoliths with high dielectric constant and increased surface scattering mechanisms exhibited a 3He abundant region. For ejecta cover, the retention was weakly associated with the dielectric contrast and a circular polarization ratio (CPR), mainly because of the 3He-deficient nature of the regolith. Furthermore, cross-variograms revealed inherent cyclicity attributed to the sequential process of weathering effects. Our study provides new insights into the physical nature and near-surface alterations of lunar regoliths that influence the spatial distribution and retention of solar wind implanted 3He. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The genus Colura (Dumort.) Dumort. is morpho-taxonomically investigated in India and eight species have been recognized mainly distributed in three different bryo-geographical regions of the country. Colura corynophora (Nees, Lindenb. & Gottsche) Trevis. is reported here for the first time from India, C. leratii (Steph.) Steph. is added to the East Himalayan bryogeographical territory, C. acroloba (Prantl) Jovet-Ast, C. ari (Steph.) Steph. and C. conica (Sande Lac.) K.I. Goebel are new additions to Mizoram, while C. tenuicornis (A. Evans) Steph. is a new report to the state of Meghalaya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Tobacco-smoking is one of the most important risk factor for preterm delivery, pregnancy loss, low birth weight, and fetal growth restriction. It is estimated that approximately 30% of growth-restricted neonates could be independently associated with maternal smoking.Methods: In this study, gene expression profile, GSE11798, was chosen from GEO database with an aim to perceive change in gene expression signature in new born due to maternal smoking. Enrichment analysis was performed to annotate differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through gene ontology and pathway analysis using DAVID. Protein-protein interactions and module detection of these DEGs were carried out using cytoscape v3.6.0. Thirty umbilical cord tissue samples from 15 smokers and 15 non-smokers pregnant women were included in this analysis.Results: Twenty-six differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between two groups were selected using GEO2R tool. The DEGs were observed to be participating in biological processes/pathways related to growth releasing hormone, angiogenesis, embryonic skeletal, and cardiac development. Fibroblast growth factor receptor-1 (FGFR1) was identified to be the hub node with 348 interacting partners, which regulates transcription, cell growth, differentiation, and apoptosis. The up-regulation of FGFR1 in umbilical cord tissue may lead to reproductive and developmental complications such as encephalocraniocutaneous lipomatosis, osteoglophonic dysplasia, and Pfeiffer syndrome in new-borns.Conclusion: The findings manifests the possibility of overcoming these adverse health effects in new born through FGFR1 modulating treatments during pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The present study aimed at analysing the probable effects of full mouth oral rehabilitation on bite forces at their maximum extent in young paediatric patients with primary as well as mixed dentitions. Methodology: The present study is one of a kind and explores the maximum bite forces in young children. A statistically significant number of children (n = 30) with a mean age of 6.54 years. About 44.75% were boys and 55.25% were girls. The maximum voluntary bite force was assessed for each participant immediately before treatment and 1 month (3–5 weeks) following completion of the needful dental treatment. The difference in bite force magnitude before and after dental treatment was analysed statistically. In addition, the correlations of key variables including, age, height, weight, BMI, gender and caries severity or dental status with maximum bite force were statistically analysed. Results: The mean maximum bite force for the total sample (n = 30) prior to treatment was found to be 167.83 N (SD = 65.20). The mean bite force in the male subgroup was 175.39 N (SD = 64.69) while for the females the mean bite force was equal to 166.29 N (SD = 68.93). Following comprehensive dental treatment, the recorded mean maximum bite force for the children (n = 30) who attended the post-treatment review appointment was 182.60 N (SD = 68.58). Conclusion: The essential factors such as the extent of dental caries, their severity, presence of clinical signs and symptoms has a negative impact on maximum bite force. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Non-orthodontics specialist should have the responsibility of taking care of the smiles of the patients. This also has the implications on the oral health of the patient. The present study was done to determine awareness, perception, and practice regarding orthodontic practice and principles among non-orthodontic specialists. Materials and Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive questionnaire study conducted among non-orthodontic specialists working in private clinics. The survey was conducted in among 212 non-orthodontic specialists. In the present study a close ended interview schedule was prepared to perception and practice of Dental specialists. After entry of data in Microsoft excel 2007. SPSS version 19.0 is used to analyze the data. Results: Dental specialists have moderate awareness, positive perception and poor practice regarding Orthodontic practice and principles. Awareness regarding, Orthodontic was significantly (P = 0.02*) associated with practice while Perception was significantly associated (P = 0.00*) with Awareness. Age group was significantly (P = 0.01**) associated with awareness of study participants. Specialty and year of practice of dental professional was significantly (P = 0.05*), (P = 0.00***) associated with perception regarding Orthodontic practice and principles. Number of Orthodontic patients treating per months was significantly associated (P = 0.00***) with Practice of study participants of Orthodontic practice and principles. Conclusion: From above it has been concluded that dental specialists has moderate awareness, positive perception and poor practice regarding Orthodontic practice and principles. Age group, type of Specialty, Year of practice and number of Orthodontic cases treated per month significantly associated with awareness, perception, and practice of dental professionals regarding Orthodontic practice and principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Artemisinin, an antimalarial compound suggested by the WHO to treat drug-resistant malaria, was obtained from Artemisia annua L. plants. However, due to the low level of artemisinin in the plant causes limitation to its commercialization, so to increase the concentration of artemisinin, two transgenic lines were developed by us, overexpressing the key genes of artemisinin biosynthetic pathway, namely, 3 S-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR), amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS) (Trans. 1) and HMGR, ADS, and CYP71AV1 (cytochrome P450 monooxygenase) (Trans. 2). Objectives: Our main aim for this study was to select the suitable reference gene for the normalization of reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Reverse transcription RT-qPCR) data in different tissues at various developmental stages in A. annua L. plants. Materials and Methods: Six candidate reference genes, namely; β-actin (ACT), elongation factor 1-alpha (EF1α), TAP-42 interacting protein (TAP42), SAND family protein, β-tubulin, and protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) for their expression stability in the root, stem, leaf, and flower of A. annua L. plants at vegetative, preflowering, and flowering stages were analyzed using geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper, the Excel-based research tools. Results: The genes ACT/PP2A, PP2A/TAP42, and EF1α/PP2A were appropriate as reference genes in the leaf tissues at vegetative, preflowering, and flowering stages, respectively. In addition, EF1α/PP2A genes at vegetative and flowering stage, while EF1α/TAP42 gene at preflowering stage was found suitable reference genes for normalization of expression data in the stem. In the root samples, ACT/EF1α, EF1α/PP2A, and ACT/TAP42 sets were found to be reliable reference genes at vegetative, preflowering, and flowering stages, respectively, whereas, PP2A/TAP42 gene set was found suitable for flower tissues at flowering stage. Conclusion: These results will be helpful in the normalization of expression data in RT-qPCR to find the reliable outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unfolded protein response (UPR) of the endoplasmic reticulum (UPRER) helps maintain proteostasis in the cell. The ability to mount an effective UPRER to external stress (iUPRER) decreases with age and is linked to the pathophysiology of multiple agerelated disorders. Here, we show that a transient pharmacological ER stress, imposed early in development on Caenorhabditis elegans, enhances proteostasis, prevents iUPRER decline with age, and increases adult life span. Importantly, dietary restriction (DR), that has a conserved positive effect on life span, employs this mechanism of ER hormesis for longevity assurance. We found that only the IRE-1-XBP-1 branch of UPRER is required for the longevity effects, resulting in increased ER-associated degradation (ERAD) gene expression and degradation of ER resident proteins during DR. Further, both ER hormesis and DR protect against polyglutamine aggregation in an IRE-1-dependent manner. We show that the DR-specific FOXA transcription factor PHA-4 transcriptionally regulates the genes required for ER homeostasis and is required for ER preconditioning-induced life span extension. Finally, we show that ER hormesis improves proteostasis and viability in a mammalian cellular model of neurodegenerative disease. Together, our study identifies a mechanism by which DR offers its benefits and opens the possibility of using ER-targeted pharmacological interventions to mimic the prolongevity effects of DR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of melt ponds on landfast first-year and multiyear sea ice is detected using dual co-polarized Ku-band spaceborne scatterometer data. Twenty-nine locations in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago are used to develop and test the methodology. The daily ScatSat-1 sigma-nought backscatter composite product with a spatial resolution of 2.216 km is used. Vertical (VV) and horizontal (HH) polarizations of these data are used to derive the co-polarized ratio (VV/HH). An increase in VV/HH is associated with an increase in melt pond fraction on the sea ice. This occurs because there is a larger increase in resonant Bragg scattering for VV than for HH when melt pond surfaces exhibit wind-generated capillary waves. VV backscatter magnitude is evaluated in time series using a peak-finding methodology to initiate detection of melt ponds with VV/HH. The peak-finding is based on geophysical controls on backscatter from snow-covered sea ice during the melt season. Daily time-series data from ScatSat-1 are used in conjunction with ERA-5 reanalysis data (2-m air temperature and wind) and a semi-empirical snowmelt model. Air temperature data are used to identify snow melt onset and to force the snowmelt model. Wind data are used to evaluate if the wind speed is sufficient for capillary wave formation. The NSCAT-4DS geophysical model function is used to model Ku-band backscatter from water, which is then used in a sea ice mixture model to simulate the VV/HH magnitude for a range of pond fractions and wind speeds. The potential for detecting pond onset is evaluated in relation to the noise inherent in the ScatSat-1 VV/HH sea ice measurements, which is found to be approximately 0.16 dB. When the melt pond fraction is sufficiently large to cause VV/HH to exceed the noise, pond onset is detected. Cloud-free Sentinel-2 optical satellite imagery is used for validation; specifically, the near-infrared albedo. We find an overall mean bias of −0.5 days, and an absolute deviation of 1.4 days, when comparing our method to a near-infrared method for detecting pond onset. The mean biases (absolute deviations) for first-year and multiyear sea ice are −0.3 (1.5) and −0.8 (1.2) days, respectively. Results show that the temporal resolution, spatial resolution, and efficacy of this method can provide robust sea ice melt pond onset timing for landfast sea ice regions of the Arctic. • Dual co-polarized Ku-band backscatter can detect the onset of melt ponds on sea ice. • Increases in co-polarized ratio are associated with increases in melt pond fraction. • Dual co-polarized Ku-band pond detection approximates near infrared capabilities. • Ku-band pond onset detection has a mean bias to NIR detection of half a day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tomato is well-known for its anti-oxidative and anti-cancer properties, and with a wide range of health benefits is an important cash crop for human well-being. However, environmental stresses (especially abiotic) are having a deleterious effect on plant growth and productivity, including tomato. In this review, authors describe how salinity stress imposes risk consequences on growth and developmental processes of tomato through toxicity by ethylene (ET) and cyanide (HCN), and ionic, oxidative, and osmotic stresses. Recent research has clarified how salinity stress induced-ACS and - β-CAS expressions stimulate the accumulation of ET and HCN, wherein the action of salicylic acid (SA),compatible solutes (CSs), polyamines (PAs) and ET inhibitors (ETIs) regulate ET and HCN metabolism. Here we emphasize how ET, SA and PA cooperates with mitochondrial alternating oxidase (AOX), salt overly sensitive (SOS) pathways and the antioxidants (ANTOX) system to better understand the salinity stress resistance mechanism. The current literature evaluated in this paper provides an overview of salinity stress resistance mechanism involving synchronized routes of ET metabolism by SA and PAs, connecting regulated network of central physiological processes governing through the action of AOX, β-CAS, SOS and ANTOX pathways, which might be crucial for the development of tomato. • Tomato is an important crop for anti-oxidative and anti-cancer properties. • Salinity stress is a serious environmental risk in tomato production. • Salinity induced ethylene and cyanide toxicity and ROS leads to oxidative damage. • Salicylic acid/polyamines decline risk reduction from excess ethylene and cyanide. • AOX, β-CAS, SOS and ANTOX signalling and mechanism of salinity stress tolerance. • Innovation in molecular studies improves understating of salinity stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) are considered as a pro inflammatory and interleukin-10 (IL-10) anti inflammatory have been shown to predict the risk of incident of coronary artery disease (CAD). The polymorphism at promoter of TNF-α and IL-10 has been shown to increase transcriptional activity of the gene and play a important role in patho physiology of CAD. Aim of present study is to examine the impact of the TNF-α and IL-10 variant allele on various markers of the CAD and to study its relation with circulating TNF-α and IL-10 levels. Methods The −308 G/A & −238 G/A of TNF-α and −1082 G/A & −819 C/T of IL-10 gene polymorphism has been studied in 301 diagnosed CAD subjects (Age 51.50 ± 9.28; BMI 25.30 ± 3.58) and 305 healthy controls (Age 51.57 ± 9.50; BMI 24.06 ± 7.26). These polymorphism of TNF-α and IL-10 were detected by real time PCR by using Taqman SNP genotyping assay. Furthermore serum TNF-alpha and IL-10 levels were also measured by ELISA. Results Allelic and genotypic frequencies did not deviate from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in the controls ( p  > 0.05). On allele contrast, significant association with susceptibility to CAD was detected with polymorphisms in TNF-α -308 G/A, that variant genotype GA + AA (dominant model) (p = 0.030: OR = 1.61: 95% CI = 1.06–2.44) and variant allele (A) (p = 0.006: OR = 1.71: 95% CI = 1.17–2.51) of TNF-α 308 G/A gene was significant highly observed in the cases as compared to control group. Furthermore, variant genotype CT + TT (dominant model) (p = 0.004: OR = 1.62: 95% CI = 1.17–2.24) and variant allele (T) (p < 0.001: OR = 1.49: 95% CI = 1.17–1.89) of IL-10 −819 C/T gene was significant highly observed in the cases as compared to control group. Conclusion Our results suggest that the TNF-α G-308A polymorphism independently associated with DBP, cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, TNF-α and IL-10 levels which may be leads to the development of coronary artery disease of North Indians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A theoretical model is developed to investigate the fracture behavior for an elliptical inhomogeneity embedded in an elastic-plastic matrix. It contains an arbitrarily oriented crack under a uniform stress field at infinity. In the model, the generalized Irwin approach is applied for plastic zone correction for crack-tip yielding. The distributed dislocation technique is utilized to formulate the present problem. The effective stress intensity factors, the plastic zone size and the crack tip opening displacement are evaluated by solving the formulated singular integral equations. The solution takes into account the plastic zone size at the crack tips and thus could provide accurate stress intensity factors and crack tip opening displacements for the assessment of crack growth. In the numerical examples, the case under a y -direction uniaxial tension is considered. The effects of the ellipse's aspect ratio, the shear moduli ratio and the normalized crack-inhomogeneity distance are investigated. The results show that the shapes of the inhomogeneity and the material combinations have significant influences. Crack propagation may be hindered if the inhomogeneity is close to circular or a hole and the crack inclination angle is close to 90°. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal wastewater (WW), if not properly remediated, poses a threat to the environment and human health by carrying significant loads of nutrients and pathogens. These contaminants pollute rivers, lakes, and natural reservoirs where they cause eutrophication and pathogen-mediated diseases. However, the high nutrient content of WW makes it an ideal environment for remediation with microalgae that require high nutrient concentrations for growth and are not susceptible to toxins and pathogens. Given that an appropriate algal strain is used for remediation, the incurred biomass can be refined for the production of biofuel. Four microalgal species (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Chlorellasp.,Parachlorella kessleri-I, andNannochloropsis gaditana)were screened for efficient phycoremediation of municipal WW and potential use for biodiesel production. Among the four strains tested,P. kessleri-I showed the highest growth rate and biomass production in 100% WW. It efficiently removed all major nutrients with a removal rate of up to 98% for phosphate after 10 days of growth in 100% municipal WW collected from Delhi. The growth ofP. kessleri-I in WW resulted in a 50% increase of biomass and a 115% increase of lipid yield in comparison to growth in control media. The Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), and fuel properties of lipids isolated from cells grown in WW complied with international standards. The present study provides evidence that the green algaP. kessleri-I effectively remediates municipal WW and can be used to produce biodiesel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Engineering a natural diploid S. cerevisiae for increased FAEE production. • Rational allocation of metabolic fluxes towards expanding FAEE precursor pools. • Process optimization in shake flask increased the titer to ∼40-folds. • Scale-up production in fed-batch bioreactor yielded a final 5.0 g/L FAEE titer. Developing microbial chassis for synthesizing value-added compounds is the most eco-friendly approach to minimize the impacts of overusing fossil fuels and other harsh chemicals. Recent research has focussed on harnessing microbial fatty acid metabolism to generate oleochemicals for use in industries as diverse as fuel production, cosmetics, lubricants and more. Considering the economic viability of generating "green biocatalysts", we reconfigured the fatty acid biosynthesis pathway in an environmentally robust strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae MTCC4796 to produce fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) with high yield and titer. We applied the push–pull-block strategy wherein a heterologous wax ester synthase (WS2) was initially integrated to establish a FAEE biosynthetic pathway (pull) with additional rewiring including overexpression of PDH-bypass pathway genes for increasing the supply of precursor fatty acyl-CoA (push) and single allele disruption of non-essential genes from competing pathways (block) to maximize the metabolic flux towards FAEE overproduction. Our final engineered strain NGYT carrying 11 genetic modifications produced 26 mg/L and 1 g/L of FAEE before and after glucose optimization respectively. This titer was further scaled-up to reach 5 g/L in fed-batch bioreactors, which, to our knowledge, is the highest reported FAEE titer achieved from Saccharomyces cerevisiae with glucose as carbon source. Additionally, the FAEE's produced by NGYT strain showed a higher percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids, which are ideally suitable for biodiesel applications. Given the global emphasis on the development of cleaner fuels, the findings from this study expedite our progress towards industrial scale-FAEE production as a substitute to conventional diesel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interfaces between precipitations and the matrix of a welded material and the triple junctions of its grain boundaries (GBs) are two favorable sites for crack initiation. We have developed a theoretical model to describe the initiation and growth of microcracks near a precipitation located at the GB and near one of the triple junctions. Under loading, the stiff precipitation is modeled as a local stress concentrator. GB sliding occurs via the movement of GB dislocations which are accumulated at the triple junction. As such, the GB triple junction acts as an obstacle for GB sliding. The stress fields produced by the interaction between precipitation and GB sliding under uniaxial quasi-static tensile loading are derived using the Muskhelishvili method. By utilizing the energy criterion of crack growth, the initiation and growth of microcracks at the site of the precipitation and at the triple junction are investigated. The obtained results indicate that cracking at the sites of stiff precipitations is the main factor contributing to the cleavage fracture of the coarse-grained zones, which are common for welded materials such as HSLA steel weldments which contain local brittle zones. The majority of microcracks initiates at the boundaries of precipitations and propagates into them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artemisinin is highly effective against drug-resistant malarial parasites, which affects nearly half of the global population and kills >500 000 people each year. The primary cost of artemisinin is the very expensive process used to extract and purify the drug from Artemisia annua . Elimination of this apparently unnecessary step will make this potent antimalarial drug affordable to the global population living in endemic regions. Here we reported the oral delivery of a non-protein drug artemisinin biosynthesized (∼0.8 mg/g dry weight) at clinically meaningful levels in tobacco by engineering two metabolic pathways targeted to three different cellular compartments (chloroplast, nucleus, and mitochondria). The doubly transgenic lines showed a three-fold enhancement of isopentenyl pyrophosphate, and targeting AACPR, DBR2, and CYP71AV1 to chloroplasts resulted in higher expression and an efficient photo-oxidation of dihydroartemisinic acid to artemisinin. Partially purified extracts from the leaves of transgenic tobacco plants inhibited in vitro growth progression of Plasmodium falciparum -infected red blood cells. Oral feeding of whole intact plant cells bioencapsulating the artemisinin reduced the parasitemia levels in challenged mice in comparison with commercial drug. Such novel synergistic approaches should facilitate low-cost production and delivery of artemisinin and other drugs through metabolic engineering of edible plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We aimed to longitudinally analyse changes in the levels of serum fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) and associated minerals in patients undergoing renal transplantation. Methods: Sixty-three patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who underwent living donor transplantation were recruited. Serum FGF23, iPTH, uric acid, inorganic phosphorous (iP), blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine were measured pre-transplant and at 1 (M1), 3 (M3) and 12 months (M12) post-transplantation. Results: FGF23 levels were decreased at M1, M3 and M12 by 93.81, 96.74 and 97.53%, respectively. iPTH levels were decreased by 67.95, 74.95 and 84.9%, respectively. The prevalence of hyperparathyroidism at M1, M3 and M12 post-transplantation was 63.5, 42.9 and 11.1%, respectively. FGF23 and iP levels remained above the normal range in 23 (36.5%) and 17 (27%) patients at M1, 10 (15.9%) and 5 (8%) at M3 and in none at M12 post-transplantation, respectively. A multivariate regression model revealed that, pre-transplant, iP was positively associated with iPTH (P = 0.016) but not with FGF 23; however, post-transplant, iP level was negatively associated with FGF23 (P < 0.001) but not with iPTH. Conclusions: Post-transplant FGF23 levels settle faster than those of iPTH. However, 11% of patients continued to have hyperparathyroidism even after 12 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The island of Borneo is enveloped by tropical rainforests and hostile terrain characterized by high denudation rates. Owing to such conditions, studies pertaining to neotectonics and consequent geomorphic expressions with regard to surface processes and landscape evolution are inadequately constrained. Here we demonstrate the first systematic tectono-geomorphic evaluation of north Borneo through quantitative and qualitative morphotectonic analysis at sub-catchment scale, for two large drainage basins located in Sarawak: the Rajang and Baram basins. The extraction of morphometric parameters utilizing digital elevation models arranged within a GIS environment focuses on hypsometric curve analysis, distribution of hypsometric integrals through spatial autocorrelation statistics, relative uplift values, the asymmetry factor and the normalized channel steepness index. Hypsometric analysis suggests a young topography adjusting to changes in tectonic boundary conditions. Autocorrelation statistics show clusters of high values of hypsometric integrals as prominent hotspots that are associated with less eroded, young topography situated in the fold and thrust belts of the Interior Highlands of Borneo. High channel steepness and gradients (> 200 m 0.9 ) are observed in zones corresponding to the hotspots. Relative uplift values reveal the presence of tectonically uplifted blocks together with relatively subsided or lesser uplifted zones along known faults. Sub-catchments of both basins display asymmetry indicating tectonic tilting. Stream longitudinal profiles demonstrate the presence of anomalies in the form of knickzones without apparent lithological controls along their channel reaches. Surfaces represented by cold spots of low HI values and low channel gradients observed in the high elevation headwaters of both basins are linked to isolated erosional planation surfaces that could be remnants of piracy processes. The implication of our results is that Borneo experiences active folding of the Rajang Group fold–thrust belt to present and these events reactivated old major faults and minor related dislocations. From geomorphic analysis associated with sedimentary record, we posit that the terrain could have undergone high uplift rates since 5 Ma or multi-phased uplift with periodic intermittent pulses of high and low uplift rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Type I diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is caused by autoimmune destruction of β-cells of pancreas. Two forms of T1DM are known called as 1A (autoimmune) and 1B (idiopathic). Aim: Aim was to study the prevalence of Anti-TTG IgA, Anti- TPO, GADA, ZnT8 and IA-2 autoantibodies and HLA DR and DQ genes and its diagnostic value in T1DM. Materials and Methods: Thirty four T1DM patients, 59 type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and 28 healthy controls were included in study. Antibodies levels were estimated by ELISA and HLA typing was performed by SSP-PCR method. Result: The prevalence of various autoantibodies in T1DM were Anti-TTG 14.7%, Anti-TPO 17.65%, GADA 38.23%, ZnT8 11.76% and IA-2 5.88%. Only GADA and ZnT8 were significantly positive in T1DM. GADA (66.67%) and ZnT8 (33.33%) positivity was more in patients below 15 years age while levels of other antibodies were higher after 15 years age. All autoantibodies were detected in higher frequency in T1DM than in T2DM and controls. HLA DR and DQ typing showed highly significant increase in DRB1*0301 (61.76%, p=0.00) and DQB1*0201 (64.71%, p=0.00) in T1DM. Subjects with HLA DRB1*0301 and DQB1*0201 had 80-100% positive prevalence of GADA, ZnT8, IA-2, Anti-TTG and Anti-TPO autoantibodies. Conclusion: Combination of GADA antibody with DRB1 and DQB1 estimation improved diagnosis of T1A than insulin antigen specific antibodies alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the recent landscape development of Borneo through geomorphic analysis of two large drainage basins (Rajang and Baram basins). The extraction of morphometric parameters utilizing digital terrain data in a GIS environment, focusing on hydrography (stream length–gradient index, ratio of valley floor width to valley height, and transverse topographic symmetry factor) and topography (local relief and relief anomaly), was carried out in order to elucidate processes governing drainage and landscape evolution. Anomalously high and low values of stream length–gradient indices of main tributary streams associated with faults and multiple knick-points along the channel profiles are linked to deformation events. The development of deeply incised V-shaped valleys show enhanced incision capability of streams in response to steepening of hillslope gradients following tectonic inputs. Deflection of streams and probable dynamic reorganization of the drainage system through stream capture processes as feedbacks to tectonic uplift and orographic effect are observed. Local relief and relief anomaly maps highlight the presence of preserved elevation-accordant relict portions of landscapes characterized by low amplitude relief, nested between ridgelines in regions of complex folding. Our results reveal dynamic geomorphic adjustment of the landscape due to perturbations in tectonic and climatic boundary conditions. The implication is that the landscape of north Borneo experienced a tectonic phase of rapid uplift after 5 Ma and undergoes active folding of the Rajang Group thrust belts in the present-day. Active shortening combined with high rates of denudation in Sarawak, demonstrates transience emphasized by the drainage system attempting to adjust to tectonic and climatic forcing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanisms to mitigate climate change in tropical countries such as India require information on forest structural components i.e., biomass and carbon for conservation steps to be implemented successfully. The present study focuses on investigating the potential use of a one time, QuadPOL ALOS PALSAR L-band 25 m data to estimate above-ground biomass (AGB) using a water cloud model (WCM) in a wildlife sanctuary in India. A significant correlation was obtained between the SAR-derived backscatter coefficient ( σ °) and the field measured AGB, with the maximum coefficient of determination for cross-polarized (HV) σ ° for Shorea robusta , and the weakest correlation was observed with co-polarized (HH) σ ° for Tectona grandis forests. The biomass of S. robusta and that of T. grandis were estimated on the basis of field-measured data at 444.7 ± 170.4 Mg/ha and 451 ± 179.4 Mg/ha respectively. The mean biomass values estimated using the WCM varied between 562 and 660 Mg/ha for S. robusta ; between 590 and 710 Mg/ha for T. grandis using various polarized data. Our results highlighted the efficacy of one time, fully polarized PALSAR data for biomass and carbon estimate in a dense forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain protein-2 (NOD2) activation in skeletal muscle cells has been associated with insulin resistance, but the underlying mechanisms are not yet clear. Here we demonstrate the implication of oxidative stress in the development of mitochondrial dysfunction and insulin resistance in response to NOD2 activation in skeletal muscle cells. Treatment with the selective NOD2 ligand muramyl dipeptide (MDP) increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in L6 myotubes. MDP-induced ROS production was associated with increased levels of protein carbonyls and reduction in citrate synthase activity, cellular ATP level, and mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as altered expression of genes involved in mitochondrial function and metabolism. Antioxidant treatment attenuated MDP-induced ROS production and restored mitochondrial functions. In addition, the presence of antioxidant prevented NOD2-mediated activation of MAPK kinases and the inflammatory response. This was associated with reduced serine phosphorylation of insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1) and improved insulin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of IRS-1 and downstream activation of Akt phosphorylation. These data indicate that oxidative stress plays a role in NOD2 activation-induced inflammatory response and that MDP-induced oxidative stress correlates with impairment of mitochondrial functions and induction of insulin resistance in skeletal muscle cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a series of Cu/MgO catalysts with different copper metal loading were prepared by the precipitation-deposition method. Their catalytic behaviour was investigated for glycerol hydrogenolysis to 1,2-propanediol (1,2-PDO). The physico-chemical properties of the catalysts were characterized by various techniques such as BET surface area, X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction (TPR), NH-temperature programmed desorption (NH-TPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods. The characterization results showed that the copper metal was well-dispersed over MgO support and a new phase Cu-MgO was also identified from XRD results after calcination. The 25Cu/MgO (Cu:25 wt%) catalyst exhibited the highest glycerol conversion of 88.7% and 1,2-PDO selectivity of 91.7% at 210C, 4.5 MPa of hydrogen pressure after 12 h. The high glycerol conversion was mainly due to the Cu dispersion on MgO support and high acidic strength. Further, the effects of temperature, hydrogen pressure, catalyst loading and glycerol concentration were studied over 25Cu/MgO catalyst for optimization of reaction parameters. Kinetic study over highly active 25Cu/MgO catalyst showed that the reaction followed the pseudo second order rate with respect to glycerol and the apparent activation energy was found to be 28.7 ± 0.8 kcal/mol. [Figure not available: see fulltext.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]