Design of a Variable Depth Axially Corrugated Horn Antenna at X-Band for Low Cross-Polarization Applications

Wireless Personal Communications - This paper presents a study of a class of iris localization algorithms in the presence of blurring. The effect of blurring is a serious problem in most image...     

Energy-Aware WBAN for Health Monitoring Using Critical Data Routing (CDR)

Wireless Personal Communications - Wireless body area network (WBAN) is the subfield of Wireless Sensor Network, employs in the area of monitoring the health of the patient. WBAN is also known as...     

A Novel Approach in Treatment of Tuberculosis by Targeting Drugs to Infected Macrophages Using Biodegradable Nanoparticles

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis is now causing death of more than 10 million people. Because of the development of drug-resistant TB, drug delivery to the infected site through nanoparticle had been studied for long time. Nanoparticles indicate different sorts of association with the natural particles of the body. Nanoparticles can be used as controlled or specific drug delivery system. It can be through temporal controlled or can be distribution controlled. Glucose polymer-based nanoparticles might play an important role as drug delivery system in case of targeted drug delivery in the infected site of the body or in infected macrophages, as they are biodegradable so there should not be any side effects of these particles in the body and also they show very slow immune response. CD4, Beta 1, TGFb-1, IL-2, IL-13 SEC14L1, GUSB, BPI, and CCR7 are major biomarkers secreted after infection of this bacterium by the macrophages which can be used for targeted drug delivery in infected macrophages. As these markers can be used for delivery of drugs at destined position, they can be very beneficial in reducing toxicities of antituberculer drugs to the other uninfected sites and in operating only the infected macrophages.     

Dye Degradation and Sulfur Oxidation of Methyl Orange and Thiophenol via Newly Designed Nanocomposite GQDs/NiSe-NiO Photocatalyst Under Homemade LED Light

Photocatalytic processes triggered by graphene-based photocatalysts under solar light have sparked interest as a new sort of instrument for solar chemical synthesis. Herein we investigated self-assembled graphene quantum dots (GQDs)/NiSe-NiO composite photocatalyst for organic transformation as well as dye degradation. The synthesized GQDs/NiSe-NiO composite photocatalyst has an excellent suitable band gap, high molar extinction coefficient, low toxicity and chemical/thermal stability. The GQDs/NiSe-NiO composite photocatalyst emerges as a new standard for sulfur oxidation and dye degradation reactions under homemade LED light with high yield.     

Hydrogen bonding in different pyrimidine–methanol clusters probed by polarized Raman spectroscopy and DFT calculations

We report on the hydrogen bonding between pyrimidine (Pd) and methanol (M) as H‐donor in this study. Hydrogen bonds between pyrimidine and methanol molecules as well as those between different methanol molecules significantly influence the spectral features at high dilution. The ring‐breathing mode ν₁ of the reference system Pd was chosen as a marker band to probe the degree of hydrogen bonding. Polarized Raman spectra in the region 970–1020 cm⁻¹ for binary mixtures of (pyrimidine + methanol) at 28 different mole fractions were recorded. A Raman line shape analysis of the isotropic Raman line profiles at all concentrations revealed three distinct spectral components at mole fractions of Pd below 0.75. The three components are attributed to three distinct groups of species: ‘free Pd’ (pd), ‘Pd with low methanol content’ (pd1) and ‘Pd with high‐methanol content’ (pd2). The two latter species differ considerably in the pattern and the strengths of the hydrogen bonds. The results of density functional theory calculations on structures and vibrational spectra of neat Pd and eight Pd/M complexes with varying methanol content support our interpretations of the experimental results. A nice spectra–structure correlation for the different cluster subgroups was obtained, similar to earlier results obtained for Pd and water. Apart from N···H and O···H hydrogen bonds between pyrimidine and methanol, O···H hydrogen bonds formed among the methanol molecules in the cluster at high methanol content also play a crucial role in the interpretation of the experimental results. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structural and thermal studies of [PVA–LiAc] : TiO2 polymer nanocomposite system

Nanocomposite polymer electrolyte consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and lithium acetate with TiO₂ filler has been synthesised by combination of solution cast technique and sol–gel process. The composite electrolyte films were characterised by different experimental techniques. The average particle size of composite electrolytes lies between 25 and 30?nm. System is essentially ionic with maximum conductivity of polymer electrolyte 90[80PVA–20LiAc]:10TiO₂ (～4.5?×?10^?6?S?cm^?1) at room temperature.     

Potential Efficacy of β-Amyrin Targeting Mycobacterial Universal Stress Protein by In Vitro and In Silico Approach

The emergence of drug resistance and the limited number of approved antitubercular drugs prompted identification and development of new antitubercular compounds to cure Tuberculosis (TB). In this work, an attempt was made to identify potential natural compounds that target mycobacterial proteins. Three plant extracts (A. aspera, C. gigantea and C. procera) were investigated. The ethyl acetate fraction of the aerial part of A. aspera and the flower ash of C. gigantea were found to be effective against M. tuberculosis H₃₇Rv. Furthermore, the GC-MS analysis of the plant fractions confirmed the presence of active compounds in the extracts. The Mycobacterium target proteins, i.e., available PDB dataset proteins and proteins classified in virulence, detoxification, and adaptation, were investigated. A total of ten target proteins were shortlisted for further study, identified as follows: BpoC, RipA, MazF4, RipD, TB15.3, VapC15, VapC20, VapC21, TB31.7, and MazF9. Molecular docking studies showed that β-amyrin interacted with most of these proteins and its highest binding affinity was observed with Mycobacterium Rv1636 (TB15.3) protein. The stability of the protein-ligand complex was assessed by molecular dynamic simulation, which confirmed that β-amyrin most firmly interacted with Rv1636 protein. Rv1636 is a universal stress protein, which regulates Mycobacterium growth in different stress conditions and, thus, targeting Rv1636 makes M. tuberculosis vulnerable to host-derived stress conditions.     

Insights into Structural Modifications of Valproic Acid and Their Pharmacological Profile

Valproic acid (VPA) is a well-established anticonvulsant drug discovered serendipitously and marketed for the treatment of epilepsy, migraine, bipolar disorder and neuropathic pain. Apart from this, VPA has potential therapeutic applications in other central nervous system (CNS) disorders and in various cancer types. Since the discovery of its anticonvulsant activity, substantial efforts have been made to develop structural analogues and derivatives in an attempt to increase potency and decrease adverse side effects, the most significant being teratogenicity and hepatotoxicity. Most of these compounds have shown reduced toxicity with improved potency. The simple structure of VPA offers a great advantage to its modification. This review briefly discusses the pharmacology and molecular targets of VPA. The article then elaborates on the structural modifications in VPA including amide-derivatives, acid and cyclic analogues, urea derivatives and pro-drugs, and compares their pharmacological profile with that of the parent molecule. The current challenges for the clinical use of these derivatives are also discussed. The review is expected to provide necessary knowledgebase for the further development of VPA-derived compounds.