Experimental study on novel phase change composites for thermal energy storage

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this study, beeswax is studied as a phase change material (PCM) to store heat due to its high latent heat. The disadvantages of using beeswax were...     

S‐Nitrosoglutathione‐Based Nitric Oxide‐Releasing Nanofibers Exhibit Dual Antimicrobial and Antithrombotic Activity for Biomedical Applications

The novel use of nanofibers as a physical barrier between blood and medical devices has allowed for modifiable, innovative surface coatings on devices ordinarily plagued by thrombosis, delayed healing, and chronic infection. In this study, the nitric oxide (NO) donor S‐nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) is blended with the biodegradable polymers polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polylactic acid (PLA) for the fabrication of hemocompatible, antibacterial nanofibers tailored for blood‐contacting applications. Stress/strain behavior of different concentrations of PHB and PLA is recorded to optimize the mechanical properties of the nanofibers. Nanofibers incorporated with different concentrations of GSNO (10, 15, 20 wt%) are evaluated based on their NO‐releasing kinetics. PLA/PHB + 20 wt% GSNO nanofibers display the greatest NO release over 72 h (0.4–1.5 × 10^?10 mol mg^?1 min^?1). NO‐releasing fibers successfully reduce viable adhered bacterial counts by ≈80% after 24 h of exposure to Staphylococcus aureus. NO‐releasing nanofibers exposed to porcine plasma reduce platelet adhesion by 64.6% compared to control nanofibers. The nanofibers are found noncytotoxic (>95% viability) toward NIH/3T3 mouse fibroblasts, and 4′,6‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole and phalloidin staining shows that fibroblasts cultured on NO‐releasing fibers have improved cellular adhesion and functionality. Therefore, these novel NO‐releasing nanofibers provide a safe antimicrobial and hemocompatible coating for blood‐contacting medical devices.     

Silica-supported sodium carbonate: an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the synthesis of new thiazolopyrimidine derivatives

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Herein we describe a new convenient strategy for the synthesis of substituted thiazolopyrimidines. The present approach delivers the use of silica-supported...     

Approaches for Mitigating Microbial Biofilm-Related Drug Resistance: A Focus on Micro- and Nanotechnologies

Biofilms play an essential role in chronic and healthcare-associated infections and are more resistant to antimicrobials compared to their planktonic counterparts due to their (1) physiological state, (2) cell density, (3) quorum sensing abilities, (4) presence of extracellular matrix, (5) upregulation of drug efflux pumps, (6) point mutation and overexpression of resistance genes, and (7) presence of persister cells. The genes involved and their implications in antimicrobial resistance are well defined for bacterial biofilms but are understudied in fungal biofilms. Potential therapeutics for biofilm mitigation that have been reported include (1) antimicrobial photodynamic therapy, (2) antimicrobial lock therapy, (3) antimicrobial peptides, (4) electrical methods, and (5) antimicrobial coatings. These approaches exhibit promising characteristics for addressing the impending crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Recently, advances in the micro- and nanotechnology field have propelled the development of novel biomaterials and approaches to combat biofilms either independently, in combination or as antimicrobial delivery systems. In this review, we will summarize the general principles of clinically important microbial biofilm formation with a focus on fungal biofilms. We will delve into the details of some novel micro- and nanotechnology approaches that have been developed to combat biofilms and the possibility of utilizing them in a clinical setting.     

Approximation of functions of Lipschitz class and solution of Fokker-Planck equation by two-dimensional Legendre wavelet operational matrix

In this paper, Lipschitz class of two-variables is considered. This is the genralization of well-known Lipschitz class of functions. A new estimator of functions belonging to generalized Lipschitz class has been obtained. Also, the solutions for the Fokker-Planck equations have been obtained for two different cases by two-dimensional Legendre wavelet operational matrix method. The approximated solutions of the time-and space-Fokker Planck equation have been compared with the exact solutions and the solutions obtained by homotopy perturbation method. The proposed scheme is simple, effective and suitable for the solution of Fokker-Planck equation.

     

Towards CRISPR powered electrochemical sensing for smart diagnostics

Even though global health has been steadily improved, the global disease burden associated with communicable and non-communicable diseases extensively increased healthcare expenditure. The present COVID-19 pandemic scenario has again ascertained the importance of clinical diagnostics as a basis to make life-saving decisions. In this context, there is a need for developing next-generation integrated smart real-time responsive biosensors with high selectivity and sensitivity. The emergence of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas biosensing systems has shown remarkable potential for developing next-generation biosensors. CRISPR/Cas integrated electrochemical biosensors (E-CRISPR) stands out with excellent properties. In this opinionated review, we illustrate the rapidly evolving applications for E-CRISPR-integrated detection systems towards biosensing and the future scope associated with E-CRISPR based diagnostics.     

Reaction of OH radical and ozone with methyl salicylate – a DFT study

A theoretical study on the reaction mechanism of methyl salicylate (MeSA), a green leaf volatile organic compound with OH radical and ozone, has been carried out using density functional theory methods using B3LYP, M06‐2X and MPW1K functionals with 6‐311++G(d,p) basis set. The atmospheric degradation pathways of MeSA with OH radical are studied under two different pathways, viz. H‐atom abstraction and electrophilic addition of OH radical. The hydrogen abstraction from –OH group is found to be the dominant reaction channel with small barrier height. Likewise, the electrophilic addition of OH radicals at the para position of MeSA is found to be favourable rather than the ortho and meta positions because of the small barrier height. However, the reaction of MeSA with respect to the addition of O₃ is initiated only through the cycloaddition to the C?C bond, resulting in primary ozonide. The Arrhenius plot for most of the addition reaction shows positive temperature dependence, while for the abstraction reaction, it exhibits negative temperature dependence over the temperature range of 278–350 K. The calculated theoretical rate constants are in good agreement with available experimental data. Overall, the addition of both OH radical and ozone possesses ability to degrade MeSA, but slower when compared with the Cl radical. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamics Study on the Effect of ERCC1 Deleterious Polymorphisms in ERCC1-XPF Heterodimer

Excision repair cross complementation group 1 (ERCC1) is an important protein in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway, which is responsible for removing DNA adducts induced by platinum based compounds. The heterodimer ERCC1-XPF is one of two endonucleases required for NER. Genetic variations or polymorphisms in ERCC1 gene alter DNA repair capacity. Reduced DNA repair (NER) capacity may result in tumors and enhances cisplatin chemotherapy in cancer patients, which functions by causing DNA damage. Therefore, ERCC1 variants have the potential to be used as a strong candidate biomarker in cancer treatments. In this study we identified five variants V116M, R156Q, A199T, S267P, and R322C of ERCC1 gene as highly deleterious. Further structural and functional analysis has been conducted for ERCC1 protein in the presence of three variants V116M, R156Q, and A199T. Occurrence of theses variations adversely affected the regular interaction between ERCC1 and XPF protein. Analysis of 20 ns molecular dynamics simulation trajectories reveals that the predicted deleterious variants altered the ERCC1-XPF complex stability, flexibility, and surface area. Notably, the number of hydrogen bonds in ERCC1-XPF mutant complexes decreased in the molecular dynamic simulation periods. Overall, this study explores the link between the ERCC1 deleterious variants and cisplatin chemotherapy for various cancers with the help of molecular docking and molecular dynamic approaches.     

Approximation for Certain Stancu Type Summation Integral Operator

In the present paper,we consider Stancu type generalization of the summation integral type operators discussed in [15].We apply hypergeometric series for obtaining moments of these operators.We also discuss about asymptotic formula and error estimation in terms of modules of continuity.