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In general parlance, the present study is an attempt to understand the root causes behind student migration from rural parts of West Bengal and its overall impacts on society as well as on the state. The number of students migrate from rural parts of Bengal is increasing tremendously. The aim and objective and ultimate preferences of studying outside the state, is that, students always prefer to get the option in which they are interested in and in which they want their specialization, which they might not be getting in their native colleges and Universities. The degree which they obtain from that universities or colleges from that states is considered to be worth when it comes to searching a good job in any place. The other benefit of obtaining the degree is most of the universities or colleges allow the students to go abroad for completing their final semester. A chance to get educated at any foreign land might be a distant dream for any middle class students. Moreover, apart from these factors there are some key factors like quality education, potential placement, a good standard of living, and especially a very poor job opportunities and lower pay scales in the domestic areas are among the most important reasons for thinking of migration. There is no doubt that the overall economic development of the rural parts of Bengal largely depends on the people, especially on the young generations to a great extent. If the generation leaves or migrate to other states for searching of a better future, It should be considered as brain drain of intellectual resource.Therefore the study initially indicated that constant and comprehensive monitoring of the trend, and if possible a regular evaluation process has to be implemented in the educational institutions to observe the parameter of the trend. The trend cannot be eradicated permanently , until and unless State Government, Panchayet, Bank assistance (Easiest way to get Student’s loan for higher studies),and above all a State-Central placement cell run and governed by affiliated Universities are not established immediately.

The onset and spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have created an unprecedented universal crisis. Although vaccines have been developed against the parental SARS-CoV-2, outbreaks of the disease still occur through the appearance of different variants, suggesting a continuous need for improved and effective therapeutic strategies. Therefore, we developed a novel nanovesicle presenting Spike protein on the surface of the dendritic cell-derived extracellular vesicles (DEVs) for use as a potential vaccine platform against SARS-CoV-2. DEVs express peptide/MHC-I (pMHC-I) complexes, CCR-7, on their surface. The immunogenicity and efficacy of the Spike-activated DEVs were tested in mice and compared with free Spike protein. A 1/10 Spike equivalent dose of DEVs showed a superior potency in inducing anti-Spike IgG titers in blood of mice when compared to dendritic cells or free Spike protein treatment. Moreover, DEV-induced sera effectively reduced viral infection by 55-60% within 15 days of booster dose administration. Furthermore, a 1/10 Spike equivalent dose of DEV-treated mice was found to be equally effective in inducing CD19

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading global cause of virus-induced encephalitis. Its pathogenesis is driven by a combination of neuronal cell death and neuroinflammation. We hypothesized that pharmacological upregulation of autophagy could exert a neuroprotective antiviral effect, and tested a panel of forty-two FDA-approved drugs that were shown to induce autophagy. Four drugs were tested in the JE mouse model based on in vitro protective effects on neuronal cell death, inhibition of viral replication, and anti-inflammatory effects in microglial cells. The antipsychotic phenothiazines Methotrimeprazine (MTP) and Trifluoperazine (TFP) showed a significant survival benefit with reduced virus titers in the brain, prevention of blood-brain barrier (BBB) breach, and inhibition of neuroinflammation. Both drugs were potent mTOR-independent autophagy flux inducers. Mechanistically MTP inhibited SERCA channel functioning, thereby resulting in rise in cytosolic calcium levels, and induction of a unique adaptive ER stress response. In virus infected drug treated cells, there was a strong transcriptional downregulation of type I interferon and interferon-stimulated genes and upregulation of cholesterol metabolic pathway genes. The drugs exerted an autophagy-dependent antiviral effect at the level of JEV protein translation/replication complex formation in diverse cell types. Inhibition of inflammatory cytokine/chemokine release from mouse microglial cells was partly autophagy-dependent. Our study suggests that MTP exerts a combined antiviral and anti-inflammatory effect in JEV infection, and has therapeutic potential to be repurposed for JE treatment.

The lncRNA NEAT1 plays a vital role in mitochondrial function and antiviral response. We have previously identified NEAT1 as dysregulated lncRNAs and found an inverse correlation with interferon alpha-inducible protein 27 (IFI27) expression associated with developing dengue severity. However, the role of NEAT1 in dengue virus (DV) infection remains elusive. Here, we undertook a study to evaluate the functional consequences of NEAT1 and IFI27 modulation on antiviral response and viral replication in dengue infection. We observed that the knockdown of NEAT1 augmented IFI27 expression and antiviral response via the RIG-I pathway. Increased antiviral response leads to a decrease in dengue viral replication. Further study suggested that the knockdown of IFI27 augmented expression of the activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), a negative regulator of antiviral response, and increased dengue virus replication suggesting an important role played by IFI27 in mediating antiviral response. RNA sequencing study confirmed several mitochondrial genes significantly altered upon knockdown of NEAT1 in DV-infected cells. We further verified the effect of NEAT1 knockdown on mitochondrial functions. We observed a reduced level of phospho-DRP1(S616) expression along with elongated mitochondria in DV2-infected cells. Further, NEAT1 knockdown or ectopic expression of IFI27 increased mitochondrial ROS production and cell death via activation of caspase 3. Our study points to the crucial role of NEAT1 and IFI27 in mediating antiviral response and mitochondrial dysfunction in dengue infection.

The morphology at the catalytically active interfacial site of ZnO/Cu in the commercial ZnO/Cu/Al2O3 catalyst for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol is still an open question. In the present study, we employ ab initio density functional theory based methods to gain insight into the structure of the ZnO-Cu interface by investigating the morphology of supported ZnO nano-ribbons at the interface with the Cu(111) surface in the presence of hydrogen and water molecules. We find that the stabilities of free-standing ZnO nano-ribbons get enhanced when they are supported on the Cu(111) surface. These supported nano-ribbons are further stabilized by the adsorption of hydrogen atoms on the top of O atoms of the nano-ribbons. Interestingly, the hydrogenated nano-ribbons are found to be equally stable and they appear to be an array of independent chains of ZnOH motifs, suggesting that the hydrogenated nano-ribbons are structurally fluxional. The edge of these fluxional nano-ribbons is stabilized via a triangular reconstruction with a basic composition of Zn6O7H7 in the presence of water molecules. Such a triangular structure gets further stabilized when it is attached to a bulk-like part of the ZnO/Cu(111) system. Furthermore, we find that the triangular reconstruction is energetically favorable even at the methanol synthesis conditions. Therefore, we propose that, under methanol synthesis conditions, the motif Zn6O7H7 represents a stable form at the interface between the bulk-like part of ZnO and the Cu(111) surface in the ZnO/Cu/Al2O3 based commercial catalyst.

The analogy between gold and hydrogen is a subject of long-standing debate. In the present work, we examine the validity of the gold-hydrogen analogy in a series of small-sized H-doped gold clusters, Au

Small Extracellular vesicles (EV) are emerging as crucial intercellular messengers that contribute to the physiological processes. EVs contain numerous functional proteins and nucleic acids derived from their parent cells and have different roles depending on their origin. Functionally, EVs transfer these biological materials from the parent cell to the recipient and thus exhibits a novel therapeutic platform for delivering therapeutics molecules to the target tissue. In this regard, EVs derived from stem cells such as Mesenchymal Stem Cells and iPSCs have demonstrated a higher ability to benefit regenerative medicine. Even though these stem cells share some common properties, due to the differences in their origin (cell sources, the hierarchy of potency, etc) the EVs cargo profiling and functionality may vary.We used iTRAQ-based proteomic analysis to conduct a comprehensive and quantitative evaluation of EVs derived from iPSCs and various tissue-specific MSCs in this study. Additionally, the data was analyzed using a variety of bioinformatic tools, including ProteinPilot for peptide and protein identification and quantification; Funrich, GO, Reactome, and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) for pathway enrichment; the STRING database, and the inBio Discover tool for identifying known and predicted Protein-Protein networks.Bioinformatics analysis revealed 223 differentially expressed proteins in these EVs; however, Wharton's jelly MSC-EV contained more exclusive proteins with higher protein expression levels. Additionally, 113 proteins were abundant in MSC-EVs, while others were shared between MSC-EVs and iPSC-EVs. Further, based on an in-depth examination of the proteins, their associated pathways, and their interactions with other proteins, it was determined that these proteins are involved in bone regeneration (9.3%), wound healing (4.4%), immune regulation (8.9%), cardiac regeneration (6.6%), neuro regeneration (8.9%), and hepatic regeneration (3.5%).Overall, the results of our proteomic analysis indicate that EVs derived from MSCs have a more robust profile of proteins with higher expression levels than iPSCs. This is a significant finding, as it demonstrates the critical therapeutic role of EVs in a variety of diseases, as demonstrated by enrichment analysis, their versatility, and broad application potential.

Adsorption and activation of CO2 is a key step in any chemical reaction, which aims to convert it to other useful chemicals. Therefore, it is important to understand the factors that drive the activation process and also search for materials that promote the process. We employ the density functional theory to explore the possibility of using small-sized bimetallic Cu-Zr clusters, Cu4-nZrn, with n = 1-3 for the above-mentioned key step. Our results suggest that after adsorption, a CO2 molecule preferably resides on Zr atoms or at the bridge and triangular faces formed by Zr atoms in bimetallic Cu-Zr clusters accompanied with its high degree of activation. Importantly, maximum activation occurs when CO2 is adsorbed on the CuZr3 cluster. Interestingly, we find that the adsorption energy of CO2 can be tuned by varying the extent of the Zr atom in Cu-Zr clusters. We rationalize the high adsorption of CO2 with the increase in the number of Zr atoms using the d-band center model and the concept of chemical hardness. The strong chemisorption and high activation of CO2 are ascribed to charge migration between Cu-Zr clusters and the CO2 molecule. We find an additional band in the infrared vibrational spectra of CO2 chemisorbed on all of the clusters, which is absent in the case of free CO2. We also observe that the energy barriers for the direct dissociation of the CO2 molecule to CO and O decrease significantly on bimetallic Cu-Zr clusters as compared to that on pure Cu4. In particular, the barrier heights are considerably small for Cu3Zr and CuZr3 clusters. This study demonstrates that Cu3Zr and CuZr3 clusters may serve as good candidates for activation and dissociation of the CO2 molecule.

It is well known that a nuclear reactor generates various fission products including radioactive fission gases made of isotopes of Xe and Kr. The separation of Xe and Kr isotopes and their entrapme...

Metallocarbohedrenes or metcars belong to one of the classes of stable nanoclusters having a specific stoichiometry. In spite of the available theoretical and experimental studies, the structure of pristine Ti8C12 metcar is still uncertain. We study the geometric structure of a titanium metcar, Ti8C12, together with its electronic properties and chemical activity towards adsorption and activation of CO2 molecule by means of density functional theory. Our results suggest that the CO2 molecule is strongly adsorbed and undergoes a significantly high degree of activation onto the Ti8C12 metcar. The migration of charge from titanium metcar to CO2 molecule attributes the high degree of activation of this molecule. In the infrared vibrational spectra for CO2 molecule adsorbed onto Ti8C12, we find a new signal which is absent in the corresponding spectra for gaseous CO2. In addition to adsorption energy, we also estimate the energy barrier for the dissociation of CO2 molecule to CO and O fragments on a Ti8C12 cluster. As a whole, this work reveals the ground state geometry of Ti8C12 metcar and highlights the role of this metcar in CO2 adsorption and activation, which are the key steps in designing potential catalysts for CO2 capture and its conversion to industrially valuable chemicals.

We employ ab initio density functional theory based method to investigate the ability of a subnanometer bimetallic Au19Pt cluster to adsorb and activate a CO2 molecule in an aqueous electrochemical environment. We find that, in water, Au19Pt gets negatively charged at zero bias and selectively promotes the adsorption and activation of the CO2 molecule via electron transfer and through the hybridization of oxygen p-orbitals and partially filled platinum d-orbitals. Notably, Pt acts as a collector of negative charge and behaves as a CO2-activating single-atom catalyst embedded within a robust Au20-like framework, thus suggesting Au19Pt as a potential candidate for CO2 mitigation.

Emerging mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 genome pose a challenge for vaccine development and antiviral therapy. The antiviral efficacy of Azadirachta indica bark extract (NBE) was assessed against SARS-CoV-2 and m-CoV-RSA59 infection. Effects of in vivo intranasal or oral NBE administration on viral load, inflammatory response, and histopathological changes were assessed in m-CoV-RSA59-infection. NBE administered inhibits SARS-CoV-2 and m-CoV-RSA59 infection and replication in vitro, reducing Envelope and Nucleocapsid gene expression. NBE ameliorates neuroinflammation and hepatitis in vivo by restricting viral replication and spread. Isolated fractions of NBE enriched in Nimbin isomers shows potent inhibition of m-CoV-RSA59 infection in vitro. In silico studies revealed that NBE could target Spike and RdRp of m-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 with high affinity. NBE has a triterpenoids origin that may allow them to competitively target panoply of viral proteins to inhibit mouse and different strains of human coronavirus infections, suggesting its potential as an antiviral against pan-β-Coronaviruses.

Advances in proteomics have enabled a comprehensive understanding of host–pathogen interactions. Here we have characterized Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection-driven changes in the mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) proteome. Through tandem mass tagging (TMT)-based mass spectrometry, we describe changes in 7.85 % of the identified proteome due to JEV infection. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that proteins involved in innate immune sensing, interferon responses and inflammation were the major upregulated group, along with the immunoproteasome and poly ADP-ribosylation proteins. Functional validation of several upregulated anti-viral innate immune proteins, including an active cGAS–STING axis, was performed. Through siRNA depletion, we describe a crucial role of the DNA sensor cGAS in restricting JEV replication. Further, many interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) were observed to be induced in infected cells. We also observed activation of TLR2 and inhibition of TLR2 signalling using TLR1/2 inhibitor CU-CPT22-blocked production of inflammatory cytokines IL6 and TNF-α from virus-infected N9 microglial cells. The major proteins that were downregulated by infection were involved in cell adhesion (collagens), transport (solute carrier and ATP-binding cassette transporters), sterol and lipid biosynthesis. Several collagens were found to be transcriptionally downregulated in infected MEFs and mouse brain. Collectively, our data provide a bird’s-eye view into how fibroblast protein composition is rewired following JEV infection.

Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8), a myeloid lineage transcription factor, emerges as an essential regulator for microglial activation. However, the precise role of IRF8 during Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection in the brain remains elusive. Here, we report that JEV infection enhances IRF8 expression in the infected mouse brain. Comparative transcriptional profiling of whole-brain RNA analysis and validation by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) reveals an impaired interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and related gene expression in Irf8 knockout (Irf8−/−)-infected mice. Further, Ifnγ knockout (Ifnγ−/−) mice exhibit a reduced level of Irf8. Both Ifnγ−/− and Irf8−/− mice exhibit significantly reduced levels of activated (CD11b+ CD45hi, CD11b+ CD45lo, Cd68, and CD86) and infiltrating immune cells (Ly6C+, CD4, and CD8) in the infected brain compared to those of wild-type (WT) mice. However, a higher level of granulocyte cell (Ly6G+) infiltration is evident in Irf8−/− mice as well as the increased concentration of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1) levels in the brain. Interestingly, neither the Irf8−/− nor the Ifnγ−/− conferred protection against lethal JEV challenge to mice and exhibit augmentation in JEV replication in the brain. The gain of function of Irf8 by overexpressing functional IRF8 in an IRF8-deficient cell line attenuates viral replication and enhances IFN-γ production. Overall, we summarize that in the murine model of JEV encephalitis, IRF8 modulation affects JEV replication. We also show that lack of Irf8 affects immune cell abundance in circulation and the infected brain, leading to a reduction in IFN-γ level and increased viral load in the brain. IMPORTANCE Microglial cells, the resident macrophages in the brain, play a vital role in Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) pathogenesis. The deregulated activity of microglia can be lethal for the brain. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the regulators that drive microglia phenotype changes and induce inflammation in the brain. Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8) is a myeloid lineage transcription factor involved in microglial activation. However, the impact of IRF8 modulation on JEV replication remains elusive. Moreover, the pathways regulated by IRF8 to initiate and amplify pathological neuroinflammation are not well understood. Here, we demonstrated the effect of IRF8 modulation on JEV replication, microglial activation, and immune cells infiltration in the brain.

Neutrophils are versatile immune effector cells essential for mounting a first-line defense against invading pathogens. However, uncontrolled activation can lead to severe life-threatening complications. Neutrophils exist as a heterogeneous population, and their interaction with pathogens and other immune cells may shape the outcome of the host immune response. Diverse classes of viruses, including the recently identified novel SARS-CoV-2, have shown to alter the various aspects of neutrophil biology, offering possibilities for selective intervention. Here, we review heterogeneity within the neutrophil population, highlighting the functional consequences of circulating phenotypes and their critical involvement in exaggerating protective and pathological immune responses against the viruses. We discuss the recent findings of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in COVID-19 pathology and cover other viruses, where neutrophil biology and NETs are crucial for developing disease severity. In the end, we have also pointed out the areas where neutrophil-mediated responses can be finely tuned to outline opportunities for therapeutic manipulation in controlling inflammation against viral infection.

Artificial microRNA (amiRNA)-mediated inhibition of viral replication has recently gained importance as a strategy for antiviral therapy. In this study, we evaluated the benefit of using the amiRNA vector against Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). We designed three single amiRNA sequences against the consensus sequence of 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR) of JEV and tested their efficacy against cell culture-grown JEV Vellore strain (P20778) in neuronal cells. The binding ability of three amiRNAs on 3′UTR region was tested in vitro in HEK293T cells using a JEV 3′UTR tagged with luciferase reporter vector. Transient transfection of amiRNAs was nontoxic to cells as evident from the MTT assay and caused minimal induction in interferon-stimulated gene expression. Furthermore, our result suggested that transient expression of two amiRNAs (amiRNA #1 and amiRNA #2) significantly reduced intracellular viral RNA and nonstructural 1 (NS1) protein, as well as diminished infectious viral particle release up to 95% in the culture supernatant as evident from viral plaque reduction assay. Overall, our results indicated that RNA interference based on amiRNAs targeting viral conserved regions at 3′UTR was a useful approach for improvements of nucleic acid inhibitors against JEV.

Using first-principles calculations based on density functional theory, we have studied the X-ray absorption spectra (XAS) and X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) spectra of Co 2 PtGa and Mn 2 PtGa alloys. Using relativistic calculations, we have estimated and analyzed the contribution of the orbital and spin moments to the total magnetic moment for the transition metal atoms, Pt, Co and Mn. It has been observed that while the ratio of orbital and spin magnetic moments of Pt atom in Co 2 PtGa in cubic phase is substantial, this is an order of magnitude lower in Mn 2 PtGa. On the other hand, this difference reduces drastically in case of the martensite phase. This signifies the crucial role of the neighborhood in determining the magnetic properties of these materials. Further, the XAS and XMCD spectra at the L 2 , 3 edges of different constituent atoms in various materials have been analyzed. The results (peaks and shoulders present in these XAS and XMCD spectra) have been corroborated with the atom-projected unoccupied density of states of the respective materials.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection causes dengue fever in humans, which can lead to thrombocytopenia showing a marked reduction in platelet counts, and dengue hemorrhagic fever. The virus may cause thrombocytopenia either by destroying the platelets or by interfering with their generation via the process of megakaryopoiesis. MEG-01 is the human megakaryoblastic leukemia cell line that can be differentiated in vitro by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) treatment to produce platelet-like-particles (PLPs). We have studied DENV infection of MEG-01 cells to understand its effect on megakaryopoiesis and the generation of PLPs. We observed that DENV could infect only naive MEG-01 cells, and differentiated cells were refractory to virus infection/replication. However, DENV-infected MEG-01 cells, when induced for differentiation with PMA, supported an enhanced viral replication. Following the virus infection, the MEG-01 cells showed a marked reduction in the surface expression of platelet markers (CD41, CD42a, and CD61), a decreased polyploidy, and significantly reduced PLP counts. DENV infection caused an enhanced Notch signaling in MEG-01 cells where the virus envelope protein was shown to interact with TAL-1, a host protein important for megakaryopoiesis. These observations provide new insight into the role of DENV in modulating the megakaryopoiesis and platelet production process.

In this paper a systematic study is carried out to demonstrate the structural stability and magnetic novelty of adsorbing transition metal (TM) dimers (A-B) on graphyne (GY) surface, GY@A-B. Our research points out that the dimers are strongly adsorbed onto GY due to their large natural pores and the electron affinity of the sp-hybridized carbon atoms. Electronic properties of these dimer-graphyne composite systems are of particular importance as they behave as degenerate semiconductors with partial occupation of states at E F. Furthermore, their remarkable spin polarization (>80%) at Fermi energy (E F) can be of paramount importance in spintronics applications. Most of the GY@A-B structures exhibit large magnetic anisotropies as well as magnetic moments along the out-of-plane direction with respect to the GY surface. Particularly, GY@Co–Ir, GY@Ir–Ir and GY@Ir–Os structures possess positive magnetic anisotropic energies (MAE) of 121 meV, 81 meV and 137 meV, respectively, which are comparable to other well-known TM dimer doped systems. The emergence of high MAE can be understood using the second-order perturbation theory on the basis of the strong spin–orbit coupling (SOC) between the two TMs and the degeneracy of their d-orbitals near E F. A close correspondence between the simulated and the analytical results has been established through our work. Further, a simple estimation shows that, GY@A-B structures have the potential to store data up to 64 PB m−2. These intriguing electronic characteristics along with magnetism suggest GY@A-B to be a promising material for future magnetic storage devices.

Dengue virus (DENV) infection usually causes dengue fever (DF) with flu-like illness affecting infants, young children, and adults. The DF occasionally evolves into a potentially lethal complication called dengue severe (DS) leading to a rapid fall in platelet count along with plasma leakage, fluid accumulation, respiratory distress, and severe bleeding. The diverse clinical spectrum of dengue disease, as well as its significant similarity to other febrile viral illnesses, makes early identification more challenging in this high-risk group. microRNAs (miRNAs) are small (∼19 to 21 nucleotides [nt] in length), noncoding RNAs, extremely stable and easily detectable in the plasma; thus, they have potential as biomarkers for diagnosing and monitoring human diseases. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of miRNAs circulating in plasma of dengue virus-infected patients and identifies the miRNA signatures that have biomarker potential for dengue infection and disease progression., The circulating microRNA (miRNA) profile has been widely used for identifying potential biomarkers against viral infections. However, data on circulating microRNA expression patterns in dengue patients are scanty. Considering the impact of severity caused by dengue infection, circulating miRNA profiles in plasma of dengue patients may prove to be valuable for developing early prognostic markers for the disease severity. Here, we described an in-depth analytical study of small RNA sequencing data obtained from the plasma of 39 dengue patients. Integrating bioinformatics and in vitro studies, we identified differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) (log2 fold change ≥1.5, P

The first step in the conversion of CO2 to useful chemicals involves the adsorption of this molecule on a catalyst accompanied with its high degree of activation. In this paper, we explore the efficacy of small sized zirconium clusters, Zrn (n = 2-7), in the adsorption and activation of the CO2 molecule by using the density functional theory based ab initio method. The results of our calculations provide compelling evidence for the chemisorption and very high degree of activation of CO2 with the elongation of the C-O bond in the range of 1.27-1.42 Å compared to 1.16 Å for free CO2 and the deformation of the O-C-O bond angle from linear to 115-136°. This activation takes place through a charge migration from the Zrn cluster to the CO2 molecule resulting in the formation of CO2δ- species. To assess the catalytic potential of Zr-clusters for CO2 conversion, we also analyse the reaction pathways and the transition barrier heights for the dissociation of CO2 (CO2 → CO + O) on all the Zrn clusters. Our results for the dissociation of CO2 to CO and O fragments reveal that the transition barrier is small for all the Zrn clusters except for Zr2 and Zr4 and it attains a minimum value of 0.11 eV for an isomer of the Zr6 cluster. The present work clearly demonstrates that small-sized monometallic Zr-clusters are highly efficient in activating and dissociating a CO2 molecule adsorbed on these clusters.

The major challenges faced by candidate electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) include their low electronic and ionic conductivities. 2D van der Waals materials with good electronic conductivity and weak interlayer interaction have been intensively studied in the electrochemical processes involving ion migrations. In particular, molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe

ACE2 receptor has been the focus of scientific community as receptor of COVID 19 and is been explored for therapeutic targeting. Recently, another receptor for COVID 19 was reported, the Glucose Regulated Protein 78 (GRP78). GRP78, a heat shock protein is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response protein. In cancer and certain autoimmune diseases there are reports of upregulation of GRP78. In breast cancer, prostate cancer, melanomas and malignant gliomas GRP78 overexpresses. Chemoresistance has been linked to upregulated GRP78. So, cancer patients might be at increased risk of COVID 19 infection owing to receptor abundance. We propose that tumour associated endothelial cells having upregulated GRP78 might also participate in dissemination of the virus. GRP78 also gets upregulated in rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Thus, both cancer patients as well as autoimmune diseases (Rheumatoid arthritis and IBD) should be considered as high-risk groups for COVID 19.

Femtosecond Thermal Lens Spectroscopy (FTLS) has been developed to a level of sensitivity that can have molecule specific response due to convection as demonstrated experimentally and theoretically. Within this framework, we show here that it is possible to use this technique for sensitive detection of liquid versus gas phase. Experimental demonstration is made with a single beam FTLS experiment of traces of iodine in pentane mixture in liquid versus its vapor phase.

We report a mechanistic approach to study the effect of different tailor-made additives and conformers of resorcinol to elucidate the mechanism of unidirectional vapour growth of α-resorcinol crystals along the polar axis. Based on the kinetics of the growth process, we derived an expression for the rate of growth that eventually relates the kinetic and thermodynamic aspects of the adsorption of host and additive molecules on flat-faces of crystals. Ab initio periodic dispersion-corrected density functional theory using a hybrid exchange–correlation functional has been employed to obtain the adsorption energy landscape of the host molecule, different conformers of resorcinol and tailor-made auxiliaries to ascertain the role played by these auxiliaries towards understanding the growth anisotropy. Different step configurations along 2-D lattice vectors and molecular orientations have been examined before obtaining the adsorption energy of the host and tailor-made molecular auxiliaries. The results of our periodic density functional theory calculations show that the phenomenon of asymmetric growth of α-resorcinol occurs because of the conformational change which arises due to the surface stabilization of the slower growing face. The calculated vapour growth anisotropy of the faces at the opposite ends of the polar axis of α-resorcinol is in excellent agreement with the experimental observation. We find that the adsorption energies of the strongly bound additive moieties such as 2-methylresorcinol, 5-methylresorcinol, phloroglucinol and hydroquinone at the surface of the faster growing (0) face are higher than those of the slower growing (011) face. It is thus expected that vapour growth anisotropy decreased with an increase of the concentration of the aforementioned molecular auxiliaries. On the other hand, the admixture of β and γ-phase conformers of resorcinol and pyrogallol strongly interacts with the slower growing face and, therefore, addition of these auxiliaries would increase the growth anisotropy. The results show that the vapour growth asymmetry decreases with increasing saturation temperature of β and γ-phase conformers and pyrogallol deliberately added during crystallization. However, the admixture of 2-methylresorcinol, 5-methylresorcinol, phloroglucinol and hydroquinone would result in an increase of growth anisotropy with an increase of saturation temperature.

Adsorption and activation of CO 2 onto small-sized transition metal clusters is of practical importance for the conversion of this molecule to value-added products. We study the efficacy of small anionic vanadium carbide clusters, V n C 4 − with n = 1–6 towards the aforementioned key step by employing density functional theory based method. One of such clusters has been shown to perform very well in activating N 2 molecule as revealed in a recent experiment. The results of our calculations suggest that the binding of CO 2 molecule with the anionic vanadium carbide clusters becomes stronger with increase in number of vanadium atoms in the cluster. This adsorption energy trend can be properly rationalized by using the d-band center model. The strong adsorption of CO 2 molecule is also accompanied with its high degree of activation. The high activation of CO 2 is characterized by a significant amount of charge transfer from the anionic clusters to the molecule. We further find that the activation barrier heights for the dissociation of CO 2 to CO and O fragments are considerably small for V 4 C 4 − and V 5 C 4 − clusters. In particular, V 5 C 4 − cluster with an activation barrier of 0.83 eV may serve as a good candidate for activation and dissociation of a CO 2 molecule.

Summary The association of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) with dengue disease progression is currently unknown. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify lncRNAs in different categories of dengue patients and evaluate their association with dengue disease progression. Herein, we examined the expression profiles of lncRNAs and protein-coding genes between other febrile illness (OFI) and different grade of dengue patients through high-throughput RNA sequencing. We identified Nuclear Enriched Abundant Transcript 1 ( NEAT1 ) as one of the differentially expressed lncRNAs (adjusted P ≤ 0.05 and log-fold change ≥ 2) and subsequently validated the expression by qRT-PCR. The co-expression analysis further revealed that NEAT1 and the coding gene IFI27 were highly co-expressed and negatively correlated with dengue severity. Using regression analysis, we observed that NEAT1 expression was significantly dependent on disease progression (Coefficient = −0.27750, SE Coefficient = 0.07145, and t = −3.88).Further, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed that NEAT1 expression could discriminate DI from DS (sensitivity and specificity of 100% (95%CI: 85.69 – 97.22) and area under the curve (AUC) = 0.97). Overall, the results of this study offer the first experimental evidence demonstrating the correlation between lncRNAs and severe dengue phenotype. Monitoring NEAT1and IFI27 expression in PBMC may be useful in understanding dengue virus-induced disease progression.

Resonant photoemission spectroscopy has been used to investigate the character of Fe 3d states in FeAl alloy. Fe 3d states have two different character, first is of itinerant nature located very close to the Fermi level, and second, is of less itinerant (relatively localized character), located beyond ∼2 eV below the Fermi level. These distinct states are clearly distinguishable in the resonant photoemission data. Comparison between the results obtained from experiments and first principle based electronic structure calculations show that the origin of the itinerant character of the Fe 3d states is due to the ordered B2 structure, whereas the relatively less itinerant (localized) Fe 3d states are from the disorders present in the sample. The exchange splitting of the Fe 3s core level peak confirms the presence of local moment in this system. It is found that the itinerant electrons arise due to the hybridization between Fe 3d and Al 3s and 3p states. Presence of hybridization is observed as a shift in the Al 2p core-level spectra as well as in the X-ray near edge absorption spectra towards lower binding energy. Our photoemission results are thus explained by the co-existence of ordered and disordered phases in the system.

In accordance with the well established gold-hydrogen analogy, a hydrogen atom mimics the properties of a gold atom in gold clusters. In a recent study it has been demonstrated that the properties of a hydrogen atom doped small gold cluster (Au7H) are not in conformity with the aforementioned analogy. In this paper we study the properties of the Au7H cluster exhaustively to re-examine the validity of the gold-hydrogen analogy in the context of adsorption of CO and O2 molecules on pristine gold and hydrogen atom doped gold clusters. For this purpose we first determine the most stable structure of the Au7H cluster by using an ab initio density functional theory based method with generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and Meta-GGA exchange-correlation functionals. We carry out geometry optimization by considering various planar and three-dimensional isomers of the Au7H cluster as initial geometries. We find that the lowest energy structure of Au7H is a planar one with C2 v symmetry, and it is very close to the structure of the Au8 cluster with D4 h symmetry. Furthermore, to examine the validity of the gold-hydrogen analogy we carry out a detailed investigation of the adsorption of CO and O2 molecules on the most stable as well as various other low energy isomers of the Au7H cluster. We find that the adsorption energies and the extent of activation of CO and O2 molecules on the most stable planar isomer of Au7H are almost the same as those on the parent Au8 cluster with D4 h symmetry proving the validity of the gold-hydrogen analogy. On the other hand, for the high energy three-dimensional isomers of the Au7H cluster obtained from the pristine Au8 cluster with T d symmetry, we find a significant enhancement in adsorption energy as well as the extent of activation of CO and O2 molecules as compared to those for the corresponding pristine cluster. Therefore, the high reactivity of the 3D isomer of the Au7H cluster may be attributed to its existence in a state which is higher in energy than its most stable planar isomer.

Though a single ultrashort pulse has inconceivable thermal effect, highly repetitive femtosecond lasers often result in some heating effects. Instead of fretting over the thermal effect, we have used this to develop the time-resolved photothermal lens spectroscopy for molecular sensitivity.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) released from the activated microglia upon neurotropic virus infection may exacerbate the neuronal damage. Here, we identified let-7a and let-7b (let-7a/b) as one of the essential miRNAs over-expressed upon Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV) infection and released in the culture supernatant of the JEV-infected microglial cells through extracellular vesicles. The let-7a/b was previously reported to modulate inflammation in microglial cells through Toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) pathways; although their role in accelerating JEV pathogenesis remain unexplored. Therefore, we studied the role of let-7a/b in modulating microglia-mediated inflammation during JEV infection and investigated the effect of let-7a/b-containing exosomes on primary neurons. To this end, we examined let-7a/b and NOTCH signaling pathway in TLR7 knockdown (KD) mice. We observed that TLR7 KD or inhibition of let-7a/b suppressed the JEV-induced NOTCH activation possibly via NF-κB dependent manner and subsequently, attenuated JEV-induced TNFα production in microglial cells. Furthermore, exosomes secreted from let-7a/b over-expressed microglia when transferred to uninfected mice brain induced caspase activation. Exosomes secreted from virus-infected or let-7a/b over-expressed microglia when co-incubated with mouse neuronal (Neuro2a) cells or primary cortical neurons also facilitated caspase activation leading to neuronal death. Thus, our results provide evidence for the multifaceted role of let-7a/b miRNAs in JEV pathogenesis. Let-7a/b can interact with TLR7 and NOTCH signaling pathway and enhance TNFα release from microglia. On the other hand, the exosomes secreted by JEV-infected microglia can activate caspases in uninfected neuronal cells which possibly contribute to bystander neuronal death. Cover Image for this issue: doi: 10.1111/jnc.14506.

We test the validity of gold–hydrogen analogy in a hydrogen-atom-doped larger gold cluster, namely, Au20, which has attracted considerable interest in recent years because of its unique nature. For this purpose, we carry out density functional theory based calculations to determine the structures of various possible isomers of Au19H cluster by employing GGA and meta-GGA functionals. To obtain the optimized structures of Au19H cluster, several possible initial geometries have been explored. We find that the structure of Au19H cluster is very close to that of tetrahedral Au20 cluster, and the dopant H atom prefers to sit on one of the vertices of the tetrahedron. On the other hand, for the cases of Li, coinage metal (Cu and Ag), and Pt atom doping, the dopant atom has been shown to preferably sit on the surface site of the tetrahedral Au20 cluster. The structure and HOMO–LUMO gap of the Au19H cluster are found to be very close to that of the pure Au20 cluster. Moreover, we observe that the adsorption energi...

Changes in circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have been associated with different neurological diseases. Here, we presented results of a pilot study aimed at determining the feasibility of detecting miRNAs in the CSF of Japanese Encephalitis virus (JEV) infected individuals with acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). We demonstrated the circulating miRNA profile in CSF of acute encephalitis patients infected with JEV. Using a quantitative real-time PCR-based miRNA array, we examined the level of 87 miRNAs expressed in human exosomes isolated from CSF. Subsequently, correlation between cytokine level and miRNAs expression in CSF samples was examined. In this study, we identified and validated the upregulated expression of three miRNAs, miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, and miR-342-3p that were specifically circulated in CSF of acute encephalitis patients infected with JEV. CSF miR-21-5p, miR-150-5p, and miR-342-3p expressions were also elevated in infected mice brain. However, the expression pattern of these miRNAs differed in neuronal cells, microglial cells, and the exosome derived from JEV-infected cell culture supernatant. Interestingly, neuronal cells infected with vaccine strain (SA-14-14) did not lead to any upregulation of these three miRNAs. Further, miR-150-5p expression was found to be negatively correlated(r = -0.5279, p = 0.016) with TNFα level. Pathway analysis of putative target genes of these miRNAs indicated involvement of TGF-β, NGF, axon guidance, and MAPK signaling pathways in JEV/AES patients. This study for the first time represents the circulating miRNA in CSF of AES patients and identified the upregulated miRNAs in JEV-infected patients and offers the basis for future investigation.