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Plant pathogens cause a serious menace to food production. The diseases caused by pathogens are estimated to cause a yield loss of about 14.1 %, whereas, in India, up to 26 %. Several plant pathogens like Pythium, Phytophthora, Rhizoctonia, Sclerotinia, Fusarium, and Verticillium can cause 50–75 % yield losses in cereals, cotton, and horticultural crops (fruits, vegetables, and flowers) 10–100 % in pulses, 30–60 % loses in oilseed crops and 40–50 % in plantation crops. Biochar as soil amendment is emerging as an effective environment friendly substitute for fungicides to counter plant pathogens. It has also been reported to induce resistance in plants to combat plant pathogens by activating the two important defense pathways such as salicylic acid, jasmonate/ethylene defense, and triggering the plant's antioxidant enzymatic activities. Biochar promotes soil health and consequently improves the plant health, resulting in reduced incidence of disease. This novel amendment also helps in the priming of expression of genes against foliar fungal pathogen infection. This review paper will summarize the effect of biochar incorporation in the plant disease management as well as on their growth parameters.

Cost-effective storage remains one of the greatest challenges facing the adoption of renewable energy generation. Herein we present a cost-effective aqueous rechargeable battery based on MoS2. Increased discharge capacities are achieved by liquid-phase exfoliation, resulting in a 105% increase in capacity and prolonged lithiation plateau. Contributing evidence is provided by High Resolution TEM investigation of the expanded van der Waals gap between adjacent MoS2 layers and particle active surface area. Exfoliated MoS2 and a MoS2/graphite composite cathode is also investigated, resulting in an increase of reversible lithiation levels over 3x that of the base exfoliated material. The preservation of discharge capacities and voltages indicates the composite is highly effective in improving reversible lithiation. Further examination of the cost-effectiveness of the composite reveals vastly superior storage-to-cost ratios relative to other ARB cathodes.

Superior electrochemical performance, structural stability, facile integration, and versatility are desirable features of electrochemical energy storage devices. The increasing need for high‐power, high‐energy devices has prompted the investigation of manufacturing technologies that can produce structured battery and supercapacitor electrodes with optimized charge transport. While conventional electrode production techniques are becoming increasingly obsolete and incompatible with technological developments such as wearables and flexible electronics, additive manufacturing (AM) has emerged as one of several state‐of‐the‐art tools to produce 3D‐structured electrodes with morphology control, high yield, and scalability. Herein, a comprehensive review of the major AM technologies and most recent literature about designing and manufacturing electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors is presented. A thorough discussion of research opportunities and challenges in this promising field is also presented to introduce the potential and importance of AM to current developments involving electrode materials.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials have elicited considerable interest in the past decade due to a diverse array of novel properties ranging from high surface to mass ratios, a wide range of band gaps (insulating boron nitride (BN) to semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides), high mechanical strength and chemical stability. Given the superior chemo-thermo-mechanical properties, 2D materials may provide transformative solution to a familiar yet persistent problem of significant socio-economic burden: the corrosion of stainless steel (SS). With this broader perspective, we investigate corrosion resistance properties of SS-coated with 2D nanomaterials; molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), BN, bulk graphite in 3.5 wt% aqueous NaCl solution. The nanosheets were prepared by a novel liquid phase exfoliation technique and the coatings were made by a paint brush to achieve uniformity. Open circuit potential (OCP) and potentiodynamic plots indicate the best corrosion resistance is provided by the MoS2 coatings. Superior performance of the coating is attributed to low electronic conductivity, large flake size and uniform coverage of SS substrate, which probably impeded the corrosive ions from the solution from diffusing through the coating.

Abstract Intensive research effort is currently focused on the development of efficient, reliable, and environmentally safe electrochemical energy storage systems due to the ever-increasing global energy storage demand. Li ion battery systems have been used as the primary energy storage device over the last three decades. However, low abundance and uneven distribution of lithium and cobalt in the earth crust and the associated cost of these materials, have resulted in a concerted effort to develop beyond lithium electrochemical storage systems. In the case of non-Li ion rechargeable systems, the development of electrode materials is a significant challenge, considering the larger ionic size of the metal-ions and slower kinetics. Two-dimensional (2D) materials, such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides, MXenes and phosphorene, have garnered significant attention recently due to their multi-faceted advantageous properties: large surface areas, high electrical and thermal conductivity, mechanical strength, etc. Consequently, the study of 2D materials as negative electrodes is of notable importance as emerging non-Li battery systems continue to generate increasing attention. Among these interesting materials, graphene has already been extensively studied and reviewed, hence this report focuses on 2D materials beyond graphene for emerging non-Li systems. We provide a comparative analysis of 2D material chemistry, structure, and performance parameters as anode materials in rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors.

Hemorrhage is one of the greatest threats to life on the battlefield, accounting for 50% of total deaths. Nearly 86% of combat deaths occur within the first 30 min after wounding. While external wound injuries can be treated mostly using visual inspection, abdominal or internal hemorrhages are more challenging to treat with regular hemostatic dressings because of deep wounds and points of injury that cannot be located properly. The need to treat trauma wounds from limbs, abdomen, liver, stomach, colon, spleen, arterial, venous, and/or parenchymal hemorrhage accompanied by severe bleeding requires an immediate solution that the first responders can apply to reduce rapid exsanguinations from external wounds, including in military operations. This necessitates the development of a unique, easy-to-use, FDA-approved hemostatic treatment that can deliver the agent in less than 30 s and stop bleeding within the first 1 to 2 min at the point of injury without application of manual pressure on the wounded area.

Growing concerns regarding the safety, flammability and hazards posed by Li-ion systems have led to research on alternative rechargeable metal-ion electrochemical storage technologies. Among the most notable of these are Na-ion supercapacitors and batteries, motivated, in part, by the similar electrochemistry of Li and Na ions. However, sodium ion batteries (SIBs) come with their own set of issues, especially the large size of the Na+ ion, its relatively sluggish kinetics and low energy densities. This makes the development of novel materials and appropriate electrode architecture of absolute significance. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have attracted a lot of attention in this regard due to their relative ease of exfoliation, diverse morphologies and architectures with superior electronic properties. Here, we study the electrochemical performance of Mo-based two-dimensional (2D) layered TMDs (e.g. MoS2, MoSe2 and MoTe2), exfoliated in a superacid, for battery and supercapacitor applications. The exfoliated TMD flakes were interfaced with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to be used as composite electrodes. Electron microscopy, elemental mapping and Raman spectra were used to analyse the exfoliated material and confirm the formation of 2D TMD/rGO layer morphology. For supercapacitor applications in aqueous electrolyte, the sulfide-based TMD (MoS2) exhibited the best performance, providing an areal capacitance of 60.25 mF cm−2. For SIB applications, TMD electrodes exhibited significantly higher charge capacities than the neat rGO electrode. The initial desodiation capacities for the composite electrodes are 468.84 mAh g−1 (1687.82 C g−1), 399.10 mAh g−1 (1436.76 C g−1) and 387.36 mAh g−1 (1394.49 C g−1) for MoS2, MoSe2 and MoTe2, respectively. Also, the MoS2 and MoSe2 composite electrodes provided a coulombic efficiency of near 100 % after a few initial cycles.

Restriction factors are important components of intrinsic cellular defense mechanisms against viral pathogens. TRIM5α is a restriction factor that intercepts the incoming capsid cores of retroviruses such as HIV and provides an effective species-specific barrier to retroviral infection. The TRIM5α SPRY domain directly binds the capsid with only very weak, millimolar-level affinity, and productive capsid recognition therefore requires both TRIM5α dimerization and assembly of the dimers into a multivalent hexagonal lattice to promote avid binding. Here, we explore the important unresolved question of whether the SPRY domains are flexibly linked to the TRIM lattice or more precisely positioned to maximize avidity. Biochemical and biophysical experiments indicate that the linker segment connecting the SPRY domain to the coiled-coil domain adopts an α-helical fold, and that this helical portion mediates interactions between the two domains. Targeted mutations were generated to disrupt the putative packing interface without affecting dimerization or higher-order assembly, and we identified mutant proteins that were nevertheless deficient in capsid binding in vitro and restriction activity in cells. Our studies therefore support a model wherein substantial avidity gains during assembly-mediated capsid recognition by TRIM5α come in part from tailored spacing of tethered recognition domains.

Using a cell culture model where virus is bound to the extracellular matrix (ECM) prior to cell surface binding, we determined that human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16) utilizes ECM resident laminin (LN) 332 as an attachment receptor for infectious entry. In presence of LN332, soluble heparin can function as ligand activator rather than competitive inhibitor of HPV16 infection. We also show that the ability to use LN332 binding as a productive attachment step for infectious entry is not conserved amongst HPV types. In the alpha genus, species 9 members (HPV16) attach to ECM via LN332, while members of species 7 (HPV18) are completely inhibited by heparin pre-incubation due to an inability to use LN332. Since HPV species 7 and 9 are preferentially associated with adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix, respectively, our data provide first evidence that pre-entry events may contribute to the anatomical-site preference of HPV species.

Background: Acne vulgaris of the face is a common dermatological disease with a significant impact on the quality of life, psychosocial development as well as self-esteem of the patients. Nano emulsion gel formulations are said to have various advantages over the conventional formulations. Aim: The present study was conducted to assess the comparative efficacy and safety of a nano-emulsion gel formulation of clindamycin with its conventional formulation in the treatment of acne vulgaris of the face. Materials and Methods: This prospective, active controlled, multicentric, phase IV clinical trial evaluated the treatment of patients with acne vulgaris of the face by a nano emulsion gel formulation or conventional gel formulation of clindamycin (as phosphate) 1% locally applied twice daily for 12 weeks as per random allocation. Acne lesion counts (inflammatory, non-inflammatory and total) and severity grading were carried out on the monthly scheduled visits along with tolerability assessments. Results: A total of 200 patients (97 males) were included for Intention to Treat analysis in the trial with 100 patients in each group. Reductions in total (69.3 vs. 51.9%; p

The cellular entry of viruses represents a critical area of study, not only for viral tropism, but also because viral entry dictates the nature of the immune response elicited upon infection. Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC), caused by viruses within human adenovirus species D (HAdV-D), is a severe, ocular surface infection associated with corneal inflammation. Clathrin-mediated endocytosis has previously been shown to play a critical role in entry of other HAdV species into many host cell types. However, HAdV-D endocytosis into corneal cells has not been extensively studied. Herein, we show an essential role for cholesterol rich, lipid raft microdomains and caveolin-1, in the entry of HAdV-D37 into primary human corneal fibroblasts. Cholesterol depletion using methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) profoundly reduced viral infection. When replenished with soluble cholesterol, the effect of MβCD was reversed, allowing productive viral infection. HAdV-D37 DNA was identified in caveolin-1 rich endosomal fractions after infection. Src kinase activity was also increased in caveolin-1 rich endosomal fractions after infection, and Src phosphorylation and CXCL1 induction were both decreased in caveolin-1-/- mice corneas compared to wild type mice. siRNA knock down of caveolin-1 in corneal cells reduced chemokine induction upon viral infection, and caveolin-1-/- mouse corneas showed reduced cellular entry of HAdV-D37. As a control, HAdV-C2, a non-corneal pathogen, appeared to utilize the caveolar pathway for entry into A549 cells, but failed to infect corneal cells entirely, indicating virus and cell specific tropism. Immuno-electron microscopy confirmed the presence of caveolin-1 in HAdV-D37-containing vesicles during the earliest stages of viral entry. Collectively, these experiments indicate for the first time that HAdV-D37 uses a lipid raft mediated caveolin-1 associated pathway for entry into corneal cells, and connects the processes of viral entry with downstream proinflammatory cell signaling.

SV40 is a small, non enveloped DNA virus with an icosahedral capsid of 45 nm. The outer shell is composed of pentamers of the major capsid protein, VP1, linked via their flexible carboxy-terminal arms. Its morphogenesis occurs by assembly of capsomers around the viral minichromosome. However the steps leading to the formation of mature virus are poorly understood. Intermediates of the assembly reaction could not be isolated from cells infected with wt SV40. Here we have used recombinant VP1 produced in insect cells for in vitro assembly studies around supercoiled heterologous plasmid DNA carrying a reporter gene. This strategy yields infective nanoparticles, affording a simple quantitative transduction assay. We show that VP1 assembles under physiological conditions into uniform nanoparticles of the same shape, size and CsCl density as the wild type virus. The stoichiometry is one DNA molecule per capsid. VP1 deleted in the C-arm, which is unable to assemble but can bind DNA, was inactive indicating genuine assembly rather than non-specific DNA-binding. The reaction requires host enzymatic activities, consistent with the participation of chaperones, as recently shown. Our results demonstrate dramatic cooperativity of VP1, with a Hill coefficient of approximately 6. These findings suggest that assembly may be a concerted reaction. We propose that concerted assembly is facilitated by simultaneous binding of multiple capsomers to a single DNA molecule, as we have recently reported, thus increasing their local concentration. Emerging principles of SV40 assembly may help understanding assembly of other complex systems. In addition, the SV40-based nanoparticles described here are potential gene therapy vectors that combine efficient gene delivery with safety and flexibility.