Lipoic Acid Combined with Melatonin Mitigates Oxidative Stress and Promotes Root Formation and Growth in Salt-Stressed Canola Seedlings (Brassica napus L.)

Lipoic acid (LA) and melatonin (MT) are pleiotropic molecules participating in plant stress resistance by modulating cellular biochemical changes, ion homeostasis, and antioxidant enzyme activities. However, the combined role of these two molecules in counteracting the detrimental impacts of salinity stress is still unknown. In the present study, we determined the effects of exogenous LA (0.5 µM), MT (1 µM) and their combination (LA + MT) on growth performance and biomass accumulation, photosynthetic pigments, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities, and ions homeostatic in canola (Brassica napus L.) seedlings under salinity stress (0, 100 mM) for 40 days. The results indicate that exogenous application of LA + MT improved the phenotypic growth (by 25 to 45%), root thickness (by 68%), number of later lateral roots (by 52%), root viability (by 44%), and root length (by 50%) under salinity stress. Moreover, total soluble protein, chlorophyll pigments, the concentration of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase peroxidase (CAT), and ascorbic peroxidase (ASA) increased with the presence of salt concentration into the growth media and then decreased with the addition of LA + MT to saline solution. Leaf protein contents and the degradation of photosynthetic pigments were lower when LA + MT treatments were added into NaCl media. The proline and phenol contents decreased in the exogenous application of LA + MT treatments more than individual LA or MT treatments under the salinity stress. The incorporation of LA or MT or a combination of LA + MT to saline solution decreased salinity-induced malondialdehyde and electrolyte leakage. In conclusion, the alteration of metabolic pathways, redox modulation, and ions homeostasis in plant tissues by the combined LA and MT application are helpful towards the adaptation of Brassica napus L. seedlings in a saline environment. The results of this study provide, for the first time, conclusive evidence about the protective role of exogenous LA + MT in canola seedlings under salinity stress.     

Comparative study of MIRD,experimental and GEANT4 simulations for uniformly distributed I-131 in cylindrical and spherical thyroid models

Due to worldwide use of I-131 for the treatment of benign and malignant thyroid diseases, reliable dose estimation for various thyroid mass values is necessary. In this study computation of the radiation absorbed dose due to β- and γ-activity of I-131 to thyroid has been carried out using the GEANT4 code for water, ICRP and ICRU soft tissues simulating thyroid tissue. The results are validated by comparison with the MIRD calculations. The effect of size and shape of thyroid on absorbed dose has also been studied by varying the volume of thyroid in 10–150 cm³ range and by using spherical and cylindrical models for thyroid. Experimental measurements have also been performed using a group of 20 patients, who were treated for thyro-toxicosis with I-131. Dose equivalent was measured with a portable ionization chamber after the administration of 405–851 MBq of I-131. Comparison of peak energy and effective energy per transformation with the MIRD has been performed yielding only 0.5% relative differences between these two energies. For spherical model, the relative difference of peak and effective energies with the MIRD is 5.2% and 4.7% respectively and very similar for cylindrical models. Spherical model shows 0.45% increase as compared to that of cylindrical model. The use of water, ICRP or ICRU materials only implies negligible difference. Total energy deposition per decay of I-131 increases with volume for both models. The estimated results of spherical and cylindrical thyroid models show an excellent agreement with the corresponding the MIRD results. Simulated results for ambient dose equivalent rate show a good agreement with our experiment and corresponding errors remain less than 13% in the case of dose at 1 m, and are less than 8% for doses at the neck surface.     

Synthesis and Urease Inhibition Studies of Barbituric and Thiobarbituric Acid Derived Sulphonamides

Various novel barbituric and thiobarbituric acid derived sulphonamides were synthesized in excellent yield via three components single pot reaction; and these were screened for in vitro urease inhibition studies against jack bean urease. The compounds 1‐7 were found to exhibit a low to moderate activity whereas compounds 8‐14 showed a significant activity (88.3‐99.9% inhibition determined at 500 μM concentration). Structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by ¹H‐NMR, ¹³C‐NMR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis data.     

On iterative methods for the incompressible Stokes problem

In this paper, we discuss various techniques for solving the system of linear equations that arise from the discretization of the incompressible Stokes equations by the finite‐element method. The proposed solution methods, based on a suitable approximation of the Schur‐complement matrix, are shown to be very effective for a variety of problems. In this paper, we discuss three types of iterative methods. Two of these approaches use the pressure mass matrix as preconditioner (or an approximation) to the Schur complement, whereas the third uses an approximation based on the ideas of least‐squares commutators (LSC). We observe that the approximation based on the pressure mass matrix gives h‐independent convergence, for both constant and variable viscosity. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction Using TiO2-Based Photocatalysts and TiO2 Z-Scheme Heterojunction Composites: A Review

Photocatalytic CO₂ reduction is a most promising technique to capture CO₂ and reduce it to non-fossil fuel and other valuable compounds. Today, we are facing serious environmental issues due to the usage of excessive amounts of non-renewable energy resources. In this aspect, photocatalytic CO₂ reduction will provide us with energy-enriched compounds and help to keep our environment clean and healthy. For this purpose, various photocatalysts have been designed to obtain selective products and improve efficiency of the system. Semiconductor materials have received great attention and have showed good performances for CO₂ reduction. Titanium dioxide has been widely explored as a photocatalyst for CO₂ reduction among the semiconductors due to its suitable electronic/optical properties, availability at low cost, thermal stability, low toxicity, and high photoactivity. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, the artificial Z-scheme of photocatalyst is constructed to provide an easy method to enhance efficiency of CO₂ reduction. This review covers literature in this field, particularly the studies about the photocatalytic system, TiO₂ Z-scheme heterojunction composites, and use of transition metals for CO₂ photoreduction. Lastly, challenges and opportunities are described to open a new era in engineering and attain good performances with semiconductor materials for photocatalytic CO₂ reduction.     

Identification of α-Glucosidase Inhibitors from Scutellaria edelbergii: ESI-LC-MS and Computational Approach

The recent study investigated the in vitro anti-diabetic impact of the crude extract (MeOH) and subfractions ethyl acetate (EtOAc); chloroform; n-butanol; n-hexane; and aqueous fraction of S. edelbergii and processed the active EtOAc fraction for the identification of chemical constituents for the first time via ESI-LC-MS analysis through positive ionization mode (PIM) and negative ionization mode (NIM); the identified compounds were further validated through computational analysis via standard approaches. The crude extract and subfractions presented appreciable activity against the α-glucosidase inhibitory assay. However, the EtOAc fraction with IC₅₀ = 0.14 ± 0.06 µg/mL revealed the maximum potential among the fractions used, followed by the MeOH and n-hexane extract with IC₅₀ = 1.47 ± 0.14 and 2.18 ± 0.30 µg/mL, respectively. Moreover, the acarbose showed an IC₅₀ = 377.26 ± 1.20 µg/ mL whereas the least inhibition was observed for the chloroform fraction, with an IC₅₀ = 23.97 ± 0.14 µg/mL. Due to the significance of the EtOAc fraction, when profiled for its chemical constituents, it presented 16 compounds among which the flavonoid class was dominant, and offered eight compounds, of which six were identified in NIM, and two compounds in PIM. Moreover, five terpenoids were identified—three and two in NIM and PIM, respectively—as well as two alkaloids, both of which were detected in PIM. The EtOAc fraction also contained one phenol that was noticed in PIM. The detected flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and phenols are well-known for their diverse biomedical applications. The potent EtOAc fraction was submitted to computational analysis for further validation of α-glucosidase significance to profile the responsible compounds. The pharmacokinetic estimations and protein-ligand molecular docking results with the support of molecular dynamic simulation trajectories at 100 ns suggested that two bioactive compounds—dihydrocatalpol and leucosceptoside A—from the EtOAc fraction presented excellent drug-like properties and stable conformations; hence, these bioactive compounds could be potential inhibitors of alpha-glucosidase enzyme based on intermolecular interactions with significant residues, docking score, and binding free energy estimation. The stated findings reflect that S. edelbergii is a rich source of bioactive compounds offering potential cures for diabetes mellitus; in particular, dihydrocatalpol and leucosceptoside A could be excellent therapeutic options for the progress of novel drugs to overcome diabetes mellitus.     

Single step conversion of UO2 and U3U8 into uranyl sulphate solution

A direct and simple method for the conversion of UO₂ and U₃O₈ powder into uranyl sulphate solution is described, eliminating many tedious chemical steps. UO₂ and U₃O₈ are not soluble in concentrated or dilute sulphuric acid, as uranium in lower oxidation state does not react with sulphuric acid. However, nitric acid oxidizes uranium from lower valency to higher valency state, i.e., tetravalent to the hexavalent uranyl ion in solution. Sufficient amount of sulphuric acid present in the reaction mixture makes it possible for uranyl ions, formed by oxidation of nitric acid, to react with sulphuric acid forming uranyl sulphate.     

Integrating the use of linear and dynamic programming methods for dairy cow diet formulation

Despite many refinements that have been made to the basic Linear Programming model used to find economically optimal diets for dairy cows, the sequential nature of the physical and physiological changes that a cow goes through during lactation have not been incorporated into the modelling process satisfactorily. This paper demonstrates how it can be achieved by integrating the use of both Linear and Dynamic Programming methods to optimise the economic performance of a dairy cow over its entire lactation. Linear Programming generates solutions for each potential liveweight change occurring during each of eleven four week periods over the lactation, then the use of DP allows both the selection of the optimal sequence of liveweight changes during the lactation and the specification of rations associated with this optimal path.     

A Note on Diet Planning in the Third World by Linear and Goal Programming

This note sets out to counter the view that goal programming applied to diet planning offers little improvement over conventional linear programming techniques.