Showing papers by "Aligarh Muslim University published in 2018"

A review on biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles and their biocidal properties.

Abstract: Use of silver and silver salts is as old as human civilization but the fabrication of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) has only recently been recognized. They have been specifically used in agriculture and medicine as antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidants. It has been demonstrated that Ag NPs arrest the growth and multiplication of many bacteria such as Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Citrobacter koseri, Salmonella typhii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and fungus Candida albicans by binding Ag/Ag+ with the biomolecules present in the microbial cells. It has been suggested that Ag NPs produce reactive oxygen species and free radicals which cause apoptosis leading to cell death preventing their replication. Since Ag NPs are smaller than the microorganisms, they diffuse into cell and rupture the cell wall which has been shown from SEM and TEM images of the suspension containing nanoparticles and pathogens. It has also been shown that smaller nanoparticles are more toxic than the bigger ones. Ag NPs are also used in packaging to prevent damage of food products by pathogens. The toxicity of Ag NPs is dependent on the size, concentration, pH of the medium and exposure time to pathogens.

Properties of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles and Their Activity Against Microbes

Abstract: Zinc oxide is an essential ingredient of many enzymes, sun screens, and ointments for pain and itch relief. Its microcrystals are very efficient light absorbers in the UVA and UVB region of spectra due to wide bandgap. Impact of zinc oxide on biological functions depends on its morphology, particle size, exposure time, concentration, pH, and biocompatibility. They are more effective against microorganisms such as Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, Staphylococcus aureus, Sarcina lutea, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas vulgaris, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger. Mechanism of action has been ascribed to the activation of zinc oxide nanoparticles by light, which penetrate the bacterial cell wall via diffusion. It has been confirmed from SEM and TEM images of the bacterial cells that zinc oxide nanoparticles disintegrate the cell membrane and accumulate in the cytoplasm where they interact with biomolecules causing cell apoptosis leading to cell death.

A Comprehensive Review of Wireless Charging Technologies for Electric Vehicles

Abstract: The profitable commercialization and fast adoption of electrified transportation require fast, economical, and reliable charging infrastructure. This paper provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art review of all the wireless charging technologies for electric vehicle (EVs), characteristics and standards available in the open literature, as well as sustainable implications and potential safety measures. A comparative overview of conductive charging and wireless charging is followed by a detailed description of static wireless charging, dynamic wireless charging (DWC), and quasi-DWC. Roadblocks, such as coil design of power pads, frequency, power level limitations, misalignment, and potential solutions, are outlined. The standards are then tabulated to deliver a coherent view of the current status, followed by an explanation of the crux of these standards. Necessity and progress in the standardization of wireless charging systems are then deliberated. Vehicle-to-grid application of wireless charging is reviewed followed by an overview of economic analysis, social implications, the effect on sustainability, and safety aspects to evaluate the commercial feasibility of wireless charging. This paper will be highly beneficial to research entities, industry professionals, and investment representatives as a ready reference of the wireless charging system of EVs, with information on important characteristics and standards.

Necroptosis: a regulated inflammatory mode of cell death.

Abstract: Programmed cell death has a vital role in embryonic development and tissue homeostasis. Necroptosis is an alternative mode of regulated cell death mimicking features of apoptosis and necrosis. Necroptosis requires protein RIPK3 (previously well recognized as regulator of inflammation, cell survival, and disease) and its substrate MLKL, the crucial players of this pathway. Necroptosis is induced by toll-like receptor, death receptor, interferon, and some other mediators. Shreds of evidence based on a mouse model reveals that deregulation of necroptosis has been found to be associated with pathological conditions like cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and inflammatory diseases. In this timeline article, we are discussing the molecular mechanisms of necroptosis and its relevance to diseases.

Therapeutic potentials of superoxide dismutase.

Abstract: Superoxide dismutases (SODs) constitute a very important antioxidant defense against oxidative stress in the body. The enzyme acts as a good therapeutic agent against reactive oxygen species-mediated diseases. The present review describes the therapeutic effects of SOD in various physiological and pathological conditions such as cancer, inflammatory diseases, cystic fibrosis, ischemia, aging, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases, and diabetes. However, the enzyme has certain limitations in clinical applications. Therefore, SOD conjugates and mimetics have been developed to increase its therapeutic efficiency. Here, an overview is provided of some in vivo therapeutic effects observed with SOD.

Recent developments in shelf-life extension of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables by application of different edible coatings: A review

Abstract: Intake of fruits and vegetables has been linked with various health benefits. Fruits and vegetables can be consumed either fresh or processed. Production and consumption of minimally processed foods is gaining popularity. Fresh-cut fruits and vegetables are being welcomed by the consumers due to the desire for new and natural products coupled with change in life style of the consumers. However, challenge for fresh-cut industry is to maintain fresh like characteristics of fresh-cut produce for a prolonged storage time. Fresh-cut produce has a much larger cut surface and consequently much shorter shelf-life. Loss of quality parameters such as color, firmness, juiciness, flavor and excessive moisture loss results in limited shelf-life and increased chances of rejection of the produce by the consumers. Developments in packaging technology and edible coatings for foods have shown promising results in extending the shelf-life of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. Therefore, this article reviews the scope of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables and shelf-life extension by means of coating. Application of innovative packaging techniques and novel food coatings would make it possible to meet the ever growing consumer demands and to approach the distant markets with comparatively high quality fresh produce.

Zinc oxide nanoparticle-mediated changes in photosynthetic efficiency and antioxidant system of tomato plants

Abstract: The present study was carried out to assess the role of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) in tomato plants on growth, photosynthetic efficiency, and antioxidant system. At 20-d stage of growth, roots of tomato plants were dipped into 0, 2, 4, 8, or 16 mg(ZnO-NPs) L–1 for 15, 30, and 45 min and then seedlings were transplanted in their respective cups and allowed to grow under natural environmental conditions. At 45-d stage of growth, the ZnO-NPs treatments significantly increased growth, photosynthetic efficiency together with activities of carbonic anhydrase and antioxidant systems in a concentration- and duration-dependent manner. Moreover, the treatment by 8 mg(ZnO-NPs) L–1 for 30 min proved to be the most effective and resulted in maximum activities of antioxidant enzymes, proline accumulation and the photosynthetic rate. We concluded that presence of ZnO-NPs improved the antioxidant systems and speeded up proline accumulation that could provide stability to plants and improved photosynthetic efficiency.

Financial burden of diabetic foot ulcers to world: a progressive topic to discuss always:

Abstract: Diabetic foot complications are the most common occurring problems throughout the globe, resulting in devastating economic crises for the patients, families and society. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) have a neuropathic origin with a progressive prevalence rate in developing countries compared with developed countries among diabetes mellitus patients. Diabetic patients that are of greatest risk of ulcers may easily be diagnosed with foot examination. Economic burden may be carefully examined. The budget costing must include both the clinical and social impact of the patients.

Toxicity evaluation of textile effluents and role of native soil bacterium in biodegradation of a textile dye.

Abstract: Water pollution caused by the discharge of hazardous textile effluents is a serious environmental problem worldwide. In order to assess the pollution level of the textile effluents, various physico-chemical parameters were analyzed in the textile wastewater and agricultural soil irrigated with the wastewater (contaminated soil) using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis that demonstrated the presence of several toxic heavy metals (Ni, Cu, Cr, Pb, Cd, and Zn) and a large number of organic compounds. Further, in order to get a comprehensive idea about the toxicity exerted by the textile effluent, mung bean seed germination test was performed that indicated the reduction in percent seed germination and radicle-plumule growth. The culturable microbial populations were also enumerated and found to be significantly lower in the wastewater and contaminated soil than the ground water irrigated soil, thus indicating the biotic homogenization of indigenous microflora. Therefore, the study was aimed to develop a cost effective and ecofriendly method of textile waste treatment using native soil bacterium, identified as Arthrobacter soli BS5 by 16S rDNA sequencing that showed remarkable ability to degrade a textile dye reactive black 5 with maximum degradation of 98% at 37 °C and pH in the range of 5–9 after 120 h of incubation.

Comparative photocatalytic activity of sol–gel derived rare earth metal (La, Nd, Sm and Dy)-doped ZnO photocatalysts for degradation of dyes

Abstract: Rare earth metal doping into semiconductor oxides is considered to be an effective approach to enhance photocatalytic activity due to its ability to retard the electron–hole pair recombination upon excitation. Herein, we report the synthesis of different rare earth metal (La, Nd, Sm and Dy)-doped ZnO nanoparticles using a facile sol–gel route followed by evaluation of their photocatalytic activity by studying the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB) under UV-light irradiation. Different standard analytical techniques were employed to investigate the microscopic structure and physiochemical properties of the prepared samples. The formation of the hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO was established by XRD and TEM analyses. In addition, the incorporation of rare earth metal into ZnO is confirmed by the shift of XRD planes towards lower theta values. All metal doped ZnO showed improved photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of MB, of which, Nd-doped ZnO showed the best activity with 98% degradation efficiency. In addition, mineralization of the dye was also observed, indicating 68% TOC removal in 180 min with Nd-doped ZnO nanoparticles. The influence of different operational parameters on the photodegradation of MB was also investigated and discussed in detail. Additionally, a possible photocatalytic mechanism for degradation of MB over Nd-doped ZnO nanoparticles has been proposed and involvement of hydroxyl radicals as reactive species is elucidated by radical trapping experiments.

A Comprehensive Review on Solar Powered Electric Vehicle Charging System

Abstract: Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming increasingly popular in many countries of the world. EVs are proving more energy efficient and environmental friendly than ICEVs. But the lack of charging stati...

Fungi-assisted silver nanoparticle synthesis and their applications.

Abstract: Nanotechnology is a rapidly developing field because of its wide range of applications in science, nanoscience and biotechnology. Nanobiotechnology deals with nanomaterials synthesised or modified using biotechnology. Fungi are used to synthesise metal nanoparticles and they have vast applications in wound healing, pathogen detection and control, food preservation, textiles, fabrics, etc. The present review describes the different types of fungi used for the biosyntheses of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), along with their characterisation and possible biological applications. AgNPs synthesised by other physical and chemical methods are expensive and have toxic substances adsorbed onto them. Therefore, green, simple and effective approaches have been chosen for the biosynthesis of AgNPs, which are very important because of their lower toxicity and environmentally friendly behaviour. AgNPs synthesised using fungi have high monodispersity, specific composition and a narrow size range. In this regard, among the different biological methods used for metal nanoparticle synthesis, fungi are considered to be a superior biogenic method owing to their diversity and better size control. To further understand the biosynthesis of AgNPs using various fungi and evaluate their potential applications, this review discusses the antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antidermatophytic, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hepatoprotective, cytotoxic, hypotensive, and immunomodulatory activities of these AgNPs. The synthesis of AgNPs using fungi is a clean, green, inexpensive, eco-friendly, reliable, and safe method that can be used for a range of applications in real life for the benefit of human beings.

Phytochemicals as modulators of M1-M2 macrophages in inflammation

Abstract: // Uzma Saqib 1 , Sutripta Sarkar 2 , Kyoungho Suk 3 , Owais Mohammad 4 , Mirza S. Baig 5 and Rajkumar Savai 6, 7 1 Discipline of Chemistry, School of Basic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore, MP, India 2 PostGraduate Department of Food & Nutrition, BRSN College (affiliated to WBSU), Kolkata, WB, India 3 Department of Pharmacology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Joong-gu Daegu, South Korea 4 Interdisciplinary Biotechnology Unit, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Aligarh, UP, India 5 Discipline of Biosciences and Biomedical Engineering (BSBE), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indore, MP, India 6 Department of Internal Medicine, Universities of Giessen and Marburg Lung Center (UGMLC), member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Justus Liebig University, Giessen 35392, Germany 7 Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Department of Lung Development and Remodeling, Member of the DZL, Bad Nauheim, Germany Correspondence to: Mirza S. Baig, email: msb@iiti.ac.in Rajkumar Savai email: rajkumar.savai@mpi-bn.mpg.de Keywords: Anti-inflammatory cytokines; inflammation; M1–M2 macrophages; natural compounds; pro-inflammatory cytokines Received: December 21, 2017 Accepted: February 25, 2018 Published: April 03, 2018 ABSTRACT Macrophages are critical mediators of the innate immune response against foreign pathogens, including bacteria, physical stress, and injury. Therefore, these cells play a key role in the “inflammatory pathway” which in turn can lead to an array of diseases and disorders such as autoimmune neuropathies and myocarditis, inflammatory bowel disease, atherosclerosis, sepsis, arthritis, diabetes, and angiogenesis. Recently, more studies have focused on the macrophages inflammatory diseases since the discovery of the two subtypes of macrophages, which are differentiated on the basis of their phenotype and distinct gene expression pattern. Of these, M1 macrophages are pro-inflammatory and responsible for inflammatory signaling, while M2 are anti-inflammatory macrophages that participate in the resolution of the inflammatory process, M2 macrophages produce anti-inflammatory cytokines, thereby contributing to tissue healing. Many studies have shown the role of these two subtypes in the inflammatory pathway, and their emergence appears to decide the fate of inflammatory signaling and disease progression. As a next step in directing the pro-inflammatory response toward the anti-inflammatory type after an insult by a foreign pathogen (e. g., bacterial lipopolysaccharide), investigators have identified many natural compounds that have the potential to modulate M1 to M2 macrophages. In this review, we provide a focused discussion of advances in the identification of natural therapeutic molecules with anti-inflammatory properties that modulate the phenotype of macrophages from M1 to M2.

Exploring the Reusability of Synthetically Contaminated Wastewater Containing Crystal Violet Dye using Tectona grandis Sawdust as a Very Low-Cost Adsorbent

Abstract: Present investigation explores the possible reusability of synthetically contaminated wastewater containing crystal violet (CV) organic dye using Tectona grandis sawdust (TGSD) waste as a very low-cost adsorbent. The adsorbent was characterized by proximate, SEM/EDX, FTIR, and XRD analyses. Batch adsorption studies were carried under changing conditions of contact time, the initial concentration of CV, pH, TGSD dose, TGSD particle size, and temperature. The experimental data were tested using Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models, and the data were best followed by Langmuir one. The kinetic results were examined in the light of different models and pseudo-second-order was obtained to be best obeyed. The values of ΔH° (28.642 kJ/mol), ΔG° (-10.776 to -7.080 kJ/mol) and ΔS° (121.8 J/K/mol) in the temperature range of 293–323 K suggested the overall process to be spontaneous, endothermic and associated with an increase in randomness. On the basis of experimental results and their analyses, it has been established that TGSD is one of the most effective adsorbents among those obtained from the domestic, agricultural and industrial wastes. Thus this adsorbent can be effectively utilized to make the impure wastewater reusable.

Energy dependence and fluctuations of anisotropic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 and 2.76 TeV

Abstract: Measurements of anisotropic flow coefficients with two- and multi-particle cumulants for inclusive charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $ \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 $ and 2.76 TeV are reported in the pseudorapidity range |η| < 0.8 and transverse momentum 0.2 < p$_{T}$ < 50 GeV/c. The full data sample collected by the ALICE detector in 2015 (2010), corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 12.7 (2.0) μb$^{−1}$ in the centrality range 0-80%, is analysed. Flow coefficients up to the sixth flow harmonic (v$_{6}$) are reported and a detailed comparison among results at the two energies is carried out. The p$_{T}$ dependence of anisotropic flow coefficients and its evolution with respect to centrality and harmonic number n are investigated. An approximate power-law scaling of the form v$_{n}$(p$_{T}$) ∼ p$_{T}^{n}^{/3}$ is observed for all flow harmonics at low p$_{T}$ (0.2 < p$_{T}$ < 3 GeV/c). At the same time, the ratios v$_{n}$/v$_{m}^{n}^{/ }^{m}$ are observed to be essentially independent of p$_{T}$ for most centralities up to about p$_{T}$ = 10 GeV/c. Analysing the differences among higher-order cumulants of elliptic flow (v$_{2}$), which have different sensitivities to flow fluctuations, a measurement of the standardised skewness of the event-by-event v$_{2}$ distribution P(v$_{2}$) is reported and constraints on its higher moments are provided. The Elliptic Power distribution is used to parametrise P(v$_{2}$), extracting its parameters from fits to cumulants. The measurements are compared to different model predictions in order to discriminate among initial-state models and to constrain the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity to entropy-density ratio.

Microwave-assisted MgO NP catalyzed one-pot multicomponent synthesis of polysubstituted steroidal pyridines

Abstract: The present study reports a highly efficient and green synthetic route for the synthesis of steroidal pyridines. The synthetic methodology involves a microwave-assisted one-pot multicomponent reaction using MgO NPs as a heterogeneous, mild and reusable catalyst. The synthesized MgO NPs were characterized by FTIR, TGA/DTA and XRD analyses. The remarkable features of this protocol include simple operational procedure, shorter reaction profiles, mild reaction conditions, minimal chemical waste and economic viability. The recyclability of the catalyst and high yield of products make the proposed method a sustainable alternative.