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Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most hazardous metals to the environment and human health. Neurotoxicity is of the most serious hazards caused by Cd. Mirtazapine (MZP) is a central presynaptic α2 receptor antagonist used effectively in treating several neurological disorders. This study investigated the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of MZP against Cd-induced neurotoxicity. In this study, rats were randomly divided into five groups: control, MZP (30 mg/kg), Cd (6.5 mg/kg/day; i.p), Cd + MZP (15 mg/kg), and Cd + MZP (30 mg/kg). Histopathological examination, oxidative stress biomarkers, inflammatory cytokines, and the impact of Nrf2 and NF-κB/TLR4 signals were assessed in our study. Compared to Cd control rats, MZP attenuated histological abrasions in the cerebral cortex and CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus as well as the dentate gyrus. MZP attenuated oxidative injury by upregulating Nrf2. In addition, MZP suppressed the inflammatory response by decreasing TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 mediated by downregulating TLR4 and NF-κB. It is noteworthy that MZP's neuroprotective actions were dose-dependent. Collectively, MZP is a promising therapeutic strategy for attenuating Cd-induced neurotoxicity by regulating Nrf2, and NF-κB/TLR4 signals, pending further study in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twenty-first century, a key focus is the search for materials that hold promise for energy generation and storage. Solar energy, with its abundant availability and minimal impact on the environment, stands out as one of the most important renewable energy sources. Metal halide perovskites have emerged as a fascinating group of materials that offer significant advantages for various photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. The calculated "τ" values for AgBeX3 (X = F and Cl) metal halide perovskites are found to be 1.007 for AgBeF3 and 0.9 for AgBeCl3, indicating the stability of both materials in the cubic perovskite structure. The band structure and density of states reveal a strong correlation in the electronic properties, indicating that AgBeCl3 is an indirect large band gap semiconductor with a band gap of 3.25 eV from M–Γ. On the other hand, AgBeF3 is an insulator with an indirect band gap of 4.25 eV from X–Γ. Both the AgBeX3 (X = F and Cl) metal halide perovskite compounds were subjected to mechanical analysis, revealing their ductile nature, stability, resistance to scratching, and anisotropic properties. The comprehensive examination of the optical properties reveals that these metal halide perovskites exhibit exceptional characteristics, making them highly suitable for a diverse array of optoelectronic applications. Their unique optical and electronic properties position them as an excellent material family for various optoelectronic devices. Based on the findings from the research, we recognize the potential applications of these selected materials in energy generation and storage devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing research of advanced materials with tremendous compositional and structural degrees of variation, identifying and discovering new materials for a specific application is a challenging task. Here, we report for the first time the predicted structural, optoelectronic, and mechanical properties of germanium based AGeF3 (A = Ga and In) halides Perovskites using the density functional theory computational approach. The tolerance factor "τ" is computed for both the materials and is found to be 0.91 for InGeF3 and 0.89 for GaGeF3 which indicates the structural stability of these perovskites crystal structures. The optimized crystal structural parameters for both the compounds are found to be 4.476 Å for InGeF3 and 4.422 Å for GaGeF3 by performing the fit using Birch–Murnaghan for the unit cell energy verses unit cell volume. Using the optimized lattice constants all the basic physical properties are computed. From the results of electronic properties it is determined that both the compounds depict a semiconductor nature with having an indirect (R-M) band gap of 1.48 eV for InGeF3 and 0.98 eV for GaGeF3. To explore the potential of these selected compounds the optical properties within the energy range of 0 eV up to 40 eV incident photon are computed for the prospective optoelectronic applications. Moreover, the mechanical properties for both the materials are computed using the IRelast package and the values of cubic elastic parameters estimates that AGeF3 (A = Ga and In) halides Perovskites are mechanically stable, hard to scratch, ductile and anisotropic. We are fully confident on the precision and accuracy of our reported results and reveals that the applications of germanium based AGeF3 (A = Ga and In) halides Perovskites compounds can be deemed in photovoltaic and in modern semiconducting industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenolic acids (PAs) are one of the utmost prevalent classes of plant-derived bioactive chemicals. They have a specific taste and odor, and are found in numerous medicinal and food plants, such as Cynomorium coccineum L., Prunus domestica (L.), and Vitis vinifera L. Their biosynthesis, physical and chemical characteristics and structure–activity relationship are well understood. These phytochemicals and their derivatives exert several bioactivities including but not limited to anticancer, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory, immune-regulatory and anti-obesity properties. They are strong antioxidants because of hydroxyl groups which play pivotal role in their anticancer, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective potential. They may play significant role in improving human health owing to anticarcinogenic, anti-arthritis, antihypertensive, anti-stroke, and anti-atherosclerosis activities, as several PAs have demonstrated biological activities against these disease during in vitro and in vivo studies. These PAs exhibited anticancer action by promoting apoptosis, targeting angiogenesis, and reducing abnormal cell growth, while anti-inflammatory activity was attributed to reducing proinflammatory cytokines. Pas exhibited anti-atherosclerotic activity via inhibition of platelets. Moreover, they also reduced cardiovascular complications such as myocardial infarction and stroke by activating Paraoxonase 1. The present review focuses on the plant sources, structure activity relationship, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and cardioprotective actions of PAs that is attributed to modulation of oxidative stress and signal transduction pathways, along with highlighting their mechanism of actions in disease conditions. Further, preclinical and clinical studies must be carried out to evaluate the mechanism of action and drug targets of PAs to understand their therapeutic actions and disease therapy in humans, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, several properties of fluoroperovskites are computed and examined through the approximations of trans- and blaha-modified Becke-Johnson (TB-mBJ) and generalized gradient approximation of Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (GGA-PBE) integrated within density functional theory (DFT). The lattice parameters for cubic TlXF 3 (X = Be, Sr) ternary fluoroperovskite compounds at an optimized state are examined and their values are used to calculate the fundamental physical properties. TlXF 3 (X = Be and Sr) cubic fluoroperovskite compounds contain no inversion symmetry and are thus a non-centrosymmetric system. The phonon dispersion spectra confirm the thermodynamic stability of these compounds. The results of electronic properties clarify that both the compounds possess a 4.3 eV of indirect band gap from M-X for TlBeF 3 and a direct band gap of 6.03 eV from X-X for TlSrF 3 , which display that both compounds are insulators. Furthermore, the dielectric function is considered to explore optical properties like reflectivity, refractive index, absorption coefficient, etc., and the different types of transitions between the bands were investigated by using the imaginary part of the dielectric function. Mechanically, the compounds of interest are computed to be stable and possess high bulk modulus values, and the ratio of "G/B" is higher than "1", which indicates the strong and ductile nature of the compound. Based on our computations for the selected materials, we deem an efficient application of these compounds in an industrial application, which will provide a reference for future work., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)