Dietary Antioxidant Curcumin Mitigates CuO Nanoparticle-Induced Cytotoxicity through the Oxidative Stress Pathway in Human Placental Cells

The placenta is an important organ that maintains a healthy pregnancy by transporting nutrients to the fetus and removing waste from the fetus. It also acts as a barrier to protect the fetus from hazardous materials. Recent studies have indicated that nanoparticles (NPs) can cross the placental barrier and pose a health risk to the developing fetus. The high production and widespread application of copper oxide (CuO) NPs may lead to higher exposure to humans, raising concerns of health hazards, especially in vulnerable life stages, e.g., pregnancy. Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Due to its strong antioxidant activity, dietary curcumin can act as a therapeutic agent for adverse pregnancy. There is limited knowledge on the hazardous effects of CuO NPs during pregnancy and their mitigation by curcumin. This study aimed to investigate the preventive effect of curcumin against CuO NP-induced toxicity in human placental (BeWo) cells. CuO NPs were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal process and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence techniques. We observed that curcumin did not induce toxicity in BeWo cells (1–100 µg/mL for 24 h), whereas CuO NPs decreased the cell viability dose-dependently (5–200 µg/mL for 24 h). Interestingly, CuO NP-induced cytotoxicity was effectively mitigated by curcumin co-exposure. The apoptosis data also exhibited that CuO NPs modulate the expression of several genes (p53, bax, bcl-2, casp3, and casp9), the activity of enzymes (caspase-3 and -9), and mitochondrial membrane potential loss, which was successfully reverted by co-treatment with curcumin. The mechanistic study suggested that CuO-induced reactive oxygen species generation, lipid peroxidation, and higher levels of hydrogen peroxide were significantly alleviated by curcumin co-exposure. Moreover, glutathione depletion and the lower activity of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase) were effectively mitigated by curcumin. We believe this is the first report exhibiting that CuO-induced toxicity in BeWo cells can be effectively alleviated by curcumin. The pharmacological potential of dietary curcumin in NP-induced toxicity during pregnancy warrants further investigation.     

A Machine Learning Model for the Prognosis of Pulseless Electrical Activity during Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

Pulseless electrical activity (PEA) is characterized by the disassociation of the mechanical and electrical activity of the heart and appears as the initial rhythm in 20–30% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases. Predicting whether a patient in PEA will convert to return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is important because different therapeutic strategies are needed depending on the type of PEA. The aim of this study was to develop a machine learning model to differentiate PEA with unfavorable (unPEA) and favorable (faPEA) evolution to ROSC. An OHCA dataset of 1921 5s PEA signal segments from defibrillator files was used, 703 faPEA segments from 107 patients with ROSC and 1218 unPEA segments from 153 patients with no ROSC. The solution consisted of a signal-processing stage of the ECG and the thoracic impedance (TI) and the extraction of the TI circulation component (ICC), which is associated with ventricular wall movement. Then, a set of 17 features was obtained from the ECG and ICC signals, and a random forest classifier was used to differentiate faPEA from unPEA. All models were trained and tested using patientwise and stratified 10-fold cross-validation partitions. The best model showed a median (interquartile range) area under the curve (AUC) of 85.7(9.8)% and a balance accuracy of 78.8(9.8)%, improving the previously available solutions at more than four points in the AUC and three points in balanced accuracy. It was demonstrated that the evolution of PEA can be predicted using the ECG and TI signals, opening the possibility of targeted PEA treatment in OHCA.     

Studies on widely tunable ultra-short laser pulses using energy transfer distributed feedback dye laser

This paper presents both theoretical and experimental study of the characteristics of Nd: YAG laser pumped energy transfer distributed feedback dye laser (ETDFDL). Using theoretical model proposed, the behavior of ETDFDL such as the characteristics of donor DFDL, the acceptor DFDL, the dependence of their pulse width and output power on donor-acceptor concentrations and pump power are studied for dye mixture Rhodamine 6G and Cresyl Violet in detail. Experimentally using prism-dye cell configuration, the ETDFDL output is obtained and the output energy of DFDL is measured at the emission peaks of donor and acceptor dyes for different pump powers and donor-acceptor concentrations. In addition, the DFDL linewidth measurement has been carried out at the lasing wavelengths of the donor and acceptor dyes using Fabry-Perot etalon and the tunability of DFDL is measured to be in the wavelength range of 545-.     

Distribution of some natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in Sudanese harbour sediments

The distribution of some natural and anthropogenic radionuclides (²²⁶Ra,²²⁸Ra,²¹⁰Po,⁴⁰K,¹³⁷Cs) in surface marine sediments from the harbours at Port Sudan and Sawakin on the Sudanese coast of the Red Sea has been investigated using α-spectrometry and direct high-resolution γ-spectrometry. The prime ams were to assess the levels of radioactivity and the influence of factors such as dredging and the organic matter content of the sediments on the distribution pattern of the radionuclides. The results have been evaluated and the leves indicate the absence of any possible enhancement by anthropogenic influx from the hinterland. The spatial distribution pattern is more heterogeneous in Sawakin harbour where some parts have recently been dredged and the sludge is removed to maintain the required depth. The data also show an insignificant relationship between the activity concentrations of all the radionuclides and the content of organic matter in the sediments.     

Resonance Energy Transfer Studies from Derivatives of Thiophene Substituted 1,3,4-Oxadiazoles to Coumarin-334 Dye in Liquid and Dye-Doped Polymer Media

In the present work, we have carried out energy transfer studies using newly synthesised derivatives of thiophene substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles namely, 2-(-4-(thiophene-3-yl)phenyl)-5-(5-(thiophene-3-yl)thiophene-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole [TTO], 2-(-4-(benzo[b]thiophene-2-yl)phenyl)-5-(5-(benzo[b]thiophene-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiozole [TBO] and 2-(4-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)phenyl)-5-(5-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)thiophen-2-yl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole [TMO] as donors and laser dye coumarin-334 as acceptor in ethanol and dye-doped polymer (poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)) media following steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence methods. Bimolecular quenching constant (k _q), translation diffusion rate parameter (k _d), diffusion length (D _l), critical transfer distance (R ₀), donor- acceptor distance (r) and energy transfer efficiency (E _T) are calculated. It is observed that, critical transfer distance is more than the diffusion length for all the pairs. Further, bimolecular quenching constant is also more than the translation diffusion rate parameter. Hence, our experimental findings suggest that overall energy transfer is due to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between donor and acceptor in both the media and for all the pairs. In addition, considerable increase in fluorescence intensity and energy transfer efficiency is observed in dye-doped polymer matrix systems as compared to liquid media. This suggests that, these donor-acceptor pairs doped in PMMA matrix may be used for applications such as energy transfer dye lasers (ETDL) to improve the efficiency and photostability, to enhance tunability and for plastic scintillation detectors.     

Synthetic functionalized terpolymeric resin for the removal of hazardous metal ions: synthesis,characterization and batch separation analysis

An effectual functionalized synthetic resin involving anthranilic acid/4‐nitroaniline/formaldehyde was synthesized for the detoxification of hazardous metal ions. The resin was characterized by Fourier transform infrared, ¹H, and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and its morphology was established through scanning electron microscope and X‐ray diffraction. The resin was analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis to assess the thermal stability, in which the resin could be used in high temperature aqueous solutions for the elimination of harmful metal ions. The ion‐exchange property of the resin was evaluated by batch technique for specific metal ions viz. Fe³⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Pb²⁺. The study was extended to three variations such as effect of metal ion uptake in the presence of various electrolytes in different concentrations, effect of pH, and effect of contact time. The outcome proved that the resin can be used as a strong cation‐exchanger to remove various metal ions from the solutions. The resin could be regenerated and reused with quantitative recovery of metal ions for few cycles. On comparison with the earlier reported resins, the synthesized resin has found excellent capability of metal ion recovery. The resin possesses an utmost ion‐exchange capacity, which is in good harmony with isotherm models and kinetics. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高速1550nm垂直腔面发射激光器研究进展

垂直腔面发射激光器(VCSEL)具有生产成本低、调制速率高等优点,在光通信领域占有重要地位。随着数据需求量的飞速增长,在长距离信息传输中,具有低损耗的1 550 nm波长的VCSEL引起了研究人员的兴趣。本文首先介绍了1 550 nm VCSEL的结构,然后讨论了其带宽限制因素以及相应的改进方法,接着从NRZ(不归零)调制和PAM4(四电平脉冲幅度)调制两方面对近年来高速1 550 nm VCSEL的研究进展进行了综述,最后展望了高速1 550 nm VCSEL在未来光通信领域的发展和应用。     

Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics in Turbulent Flow Through a Tube

An experimental investigation has been carried out for turbulent flow through a tube with perforated strip inserts. Strips were of mild steels with circular holes of different diameters. Flow varies, with ranging Reynolds numbers from 15,000 to 47,000. Air velocity, tube wall temperatures, and pressure drops were measured for a plain and strip-inserted tube. The heat transfer coefficient and friction factor were found to be 2.80 times and 1.8 times, respectively, that of the plain tube. The heat transfer performance was evaluated and found to be 2.3 times that of the plain tube based on constant blower power.     

Novel polyaniline-supported molybdenum-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones

[reaction: see text] Oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones has been studied in high yields using molecular oxygen and a catalytic amount of 1 in toluene under stirring (ca. 100 degrees C). The reactions of primary alcohols are faster compared to secondary alcohols and the catalyst 1 can be recycled without loss of activity.