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Showing papers by "Bharathiar University published in 2013"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Most of the herbal products tested were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution, contamination and use of fillers, which suggests that the herbal industry should embrace DNA barcoding for authenticating herbal products through testing of raw materials used in manufacturing products.
Abstract: Background: Herbal products available to consumers in the marketplace may be contaminated or substituted with alternative plant species and fillers that are not listed on the labels According to the World Health Organization, the adulteration of herbal products is a threat to consumer safety Our research aimed to investigate herbal product integrity and authenticity with the goal of protecting consumers from health risks associated with product substitution and contamination Methods: We used DNA barcoding to conduct a blind test of the authenticity for (i) 44 herbal products representing 12 companies and 30 different species of herbs, and (ii) 50 leaf samples collected from 42 herbal species Our laboratory also assembled the first standard reference material (SRM) herbal barcode library from 100 herbal species of known provenance that were used to identify the unknown herbal products and leaf samples Results: We recovered DNA barcodes from most herbal products (91%) and all leaf samples (100%), with 95% species resolution using a tiered approach (rbcL + ITS2) Most (59%) of the products tested contained DNA barcodes from plant species not listed on the labels Although we were able to authenticate almost half (48%) of the products, one-third of these also contained contaminants and or fillers not listed on the label Product substitution occurred in 30/44 of the products tested and only 2/12 companies had products without any substitution, contamination or fillers Some of the contaminants we found pose serious health risks to consumers Conclusions: Most of the herbal products tested were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution, contamination and use of fillers These activities dilute the effectiveness of otherwise useful remedies, lowering the perceived value of all related products because of a lack of consumer confidence in them We suggest that the herbal industry should embrace DNA barcoding for authenticating herbal products through testing of raw materials used in manufacturing products The use of an SRM DNA herbal barcode library for testing bulk materials could provide a method for ‘best practices’ in the manufacturing of herbal products This would provide consumers with safe, high quality herbal products Background Globalization of trade is expanding natural product commodity markets that sustain life and promote good health, yet the challenging financial climate is squeezing profit margins and exacerbating the propensity for contamination, fraudulent market substitution and the use of unlabeled fillers This comes at a time when consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the authenticity of the products they purchase North America is a major provider of goods such as herbal products, a commodity that has come under scrutiny recently in the media due to product substitution [1-3] The International Trade in herbal products is a major force in the global economy and the demand is increasing in both developing and developed nations There are currently more than 1,000 companies producing medicinal plant products with annual revenues in excess of US$60 billion Notably, medicinal herbs now constitute the most rapidly growing segment of the North American alternative medicine market [4,5], with over 29,000 herbal substances [6,7] generating billions of dollars in trade These statistics are indicative of the rapid growth

427 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the activated carbons (ACs) were characterized by XRD, Raman, FT-IR and surface area, pore size and pore volume analysis.
Abstract: Halogen (iodide, I−) added aqueous electrolyte facilitates the capacitive behaviour of biomass derived activated carbon based electric double layer capacitors. To produce economically viable electrodes in large scale for supercapacitors (SCs), the activated carbons (ACs) prepared from Eichhornia crassipes (common water hyacinth) by ZnCl2 activation. The prepared ACs were characterized by XRD, Raman, FT-IR and surface area, pore size and pore volume analysis. The electrochemical properties of the SCs were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cycling stability. The 3I−/I3−, 2I−/ I2, 2I3−/3I2 and I2/IO3− pairs produce redox peaks in CV and a large Faradaic plateau in charge–discharge curves. Similarly, I− ions improves the good ionic conductivity (lower charge transfer resistance) at the electrode/electrolyte interface which was identified through EIS studies. The calculated specific capacitance and energy density was 472 F g−1 and 9.5 W h kg−1 in aqueous solution of 1 M H2SO4. Interestingly, nearly two-fold improved specific capacitance and energy density of 912 F g−1 and 19.04 W h kg−1 were achieved when 0.08 M KI was added in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte with excellent cycle stability over 4000 cycles. Subsequently, this improved specific capacitance and energy density was compared with 0.08 M KBr added to 1 M H2SO4 (572 F g−1, 11.6 W h kg−1) and 0.08 M KI added to 1 M Na2SO4 (604 F g−1, 12.3 W h kg−1) as electrolytes.

337 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed an alternative approach to enhance the performance of supercapacitors via redox reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface, by introducing redox additives or mediators in the electrolytes.
Abstract: Currently, supercapacitors (SCs) are a promising field in the area of energy storage devices. In the last few decades, different types of carbon based materials with suitable surface modifications, metal oxides, metal hydroxides, conducting polymers and their various composites have been used as electrodes to improve the energy performance of SCs. In addition, different technologies like asymmetric and hybrid systems have also been introduced. Interestingly, another alternative approach has been proposed recently by a few research groups, wherein electrolytes (liquid and polymer) can enhance the performance of the SCs via redox reactions at the electrode–electrolyte interface, by introducing redox additives or mediators in the electrolytes. The main advantage of this new technique is its simple and safe preparation method, along with cost effectiveness compared to the preparation of some active electrode materials. Hence it is believed that identification of suitable redox additives or species in electrolytes will be a hotspot in the field of SCs in the coming years.

293 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study proposes a novel, previously unexploited method for the biological syntheses of polymorphic gold nanoparticles with potent biological applications and reveals the stability of the synthesized nanoparticles.

287 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The possible role of STAT3 signaling cascade and its interacting partners in the initiation of HCC is discussed and the role of various STAT3 regulated genes in HCC progression, inflammation, survival, invasion and angiogenesis is analyzed.

256 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The potential of multiple antioxidant activity of samples can be further evidenced by inhibition of reactive oxygen mediated erythrocyte cell lysis and metal ion chelating activity.
Abstract: In the present study, antioxidant activities of the phenolic extracts from H. isora fruits and C. pentandra seeds were investigated by employing established in vitro systems, which included reducing power, OH●, DPPH●, ABTS●+, linoleic acid emulsion, metal chelation and antihemolytic activity. The extracts of C. pentandra contained relatively higher levels of total phenolics and flavonoids than those of H. isora. All the extracts showed dose dependent reducing power activity and moreover, they were well correlated with the total phenolic substances. A similar dose dependant trend has also been observed for hydroxyl radical scavenging activity and DPPH● radical scavenging activity. Further, addition of 250 μg of extracts to the reaction mixture produced 41.3–54.6% peroxidation inhibiting activity during 60 h of incubation. The potential of multiple antioxidant activity of samples can be further evidenced by inhibition of reactive oxygen mediated erythrocyte cell lysis and metal ion chelating activity.

206 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, shape evolution of nanostructured LaFeO3 with fascinating morphologies like cubes, rods and spheres was successfully synthesized by a facile and environmentally friendly hydrothermal process.
Abstract: Shape evolution of nanostructured LaFeO3 with fascinating morphologies like cubes, rods and spheres was successfully synthesized by a facile and environmentally friendly hydrothermal process. Tuning the morphologies was achieved using different surfactants. The prepared samples were systematically characterized using X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy for structural, morphological and chemical composition analysis by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The optical properties of prepared samples were studied employing UV-Vis diffusion reflectance analysis. Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurement reveals a large surface area for all the prepared nanostructures. Most importantly, the visible-light photocatalytic activities of the three LaFeO3 nanostructures were evaluated by photocatalytic decolorization of Rhodamine B in aqueous solution. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of LaFeO3 nanospheres compared to other nanostructures and commercial Degussa P25 TiO2 can be ascribed to high specific surface area, pore size distribution and the smaller particle size. The underlying growth mechanism responsible for the formation of LaFeO3 nanostructures is also discussed. The results from this study illustrate the morphology-dependent photocatalytic performance of LaFeO3.

193 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Nickel molybdate (α-NiMoO4) nanoparticles were prepared by a solution combustion synthesis (SCS) technique and, for the first time, were studied as a potential electrode material for supercapacitors as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Nickel molybdate (α-NiMoO4) nanoparticles were prepared by a solution combustion synthesis (SCS) technique and, for the first time, were studied as a potential electrode material for supercapacitors. High specific capacitance (1517 F g−1) and energy density (52.7 W h Kg−1) were delivered by nano-α-NiMoO4 at a current density of 1.2 A g−1, due to the pseudocapacitive nature of the material.

184 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is strongly believed that the combination of tamarind fruit shell derived activated carbon and Na2MoO4/PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte is more attractive in the near future for high performance SSEDLCs.
Abstract: The activated carbon was derived from tamarind fruit shell and utilized as electrodes in a solid state electrochemical double layer capacitor (SSEDLC). The fabricated SSEDLC with PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)/H2SO4 gel electrolyte delivered high specific capacitance and energy density of 412 F g-1 and 9.166 W h kg-1, respectively, at 1.56 A g-1. Subsequently, Na2MoO4 (sodium molybdate) added PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte was also prepared and applied for SSEDLC, to improve the performance. Surprisingly, 57.2% of specific capacitance (648 F g-1) and of energy density (14.4 Wh kg-1) was increased while introducing Na2MoO4 as the redox mediator in PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte. This improved performance is owed to the redox reaction between Mo(VI)/Mo(V) and Mo(VI)/Mo(IV) redox couples in Na2MoO4/PVA/H2SO4 gel electrolyte. Similarly, the fabricated device shows the excellent capacitance retention of 93% for over 3000 cycles. The present work suggests that the Na2MoO4 added PVA/H2SO4 gel is a potential electrolyte to improv...

158 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the complexes 1 and 2 possessed superior cytotoxicity than that of well-known commercial anticancer drug cisplatin to the tumor cells but are less toxic to the normal cell line and have emerged as potential candidates for further studies.
Abstract: A new set of penta-coordinated copper(II) hydrazone complexes containing solvated methanol were synthesized by reacting the hydrazone ligands, 2-acetylpyridine benzoyl hydrazone (HL1) and 2-acetylpyridine thiophene-2-carboxylic acid hydrazone (HL2), with [CuCl2(DMSO)2] and characterized by different spectral methods. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies of the complexes revealed that both of them, [CuCl(L1)(MeOH)] (1) and [CuCl(L2)(MeOH)] (2), have square pyramidal geometry around the cupric ion, in which the hydrazone is coordinated through NNO atoms along with a molecule of methanol in the apical position. Interaction of the ligands HL1 and HL2 along with the corresponding copper complexes 1 and 2 with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) has been estimated by absorption and emission titration methods which revealed that the compounds interacted with CT-DNA through intercalation. Binding of the compounds, i.e., free ligands and complexes (1) and (2) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) protein investigated using UV-visible, fluorescence and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopic methods indicated that there occurred strong binding of copper complexes to BSA over the ligands. Further, the cytotoxicity of the compounds examined in vitro on a panel of cancerous cell lines such as a human cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), a pancreatic cancer cell line (PANC-1), an Ehrlich ascites cancer cell line (EAC) and Dalton's lymphoma ascitic cancer cells (DLA) and a normal mouse embryonic fibroblasts cell line (NIH3) demonstrated that the complexes 1 and 2 possessed superior cytotoxicity than that of well-known commercial anticancer drug cisplatin to the tumor cells but are less toxic to the normal cell line and have emerged as potential candidates for further studies.

152 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The collaborative efforts of ethnobotanists, anthropologists, pharmacists, and physicians could be a workable strategy to evaluate and validate the usage of traditional medicinal plants with the modern scientific methods and innovative techniques.
Abstract: Despite recent scientific advancement and globalization, the system of traditional medicine and complementary/alternative medicine is considered as a primary health care modality in the resource-co...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The reports indicating the chronic harmful effects of F in teeth, bones, heart, liver, kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, lungs, brain, blood, hormones and biochemical parameters of experimental animals and in in vitro studies have been reviewed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is shown that chaotic synchronization of the networks is heavily dependent on the designed impulsive controllers and these conditions are expressed in terms of LMI and can be easily checked by MATLAB LMI toolbox.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In human breast cancer MCF-7 cells, it was demonstrated that Tamoxifen-loaded CH nanoparticles increase intracellular concentration of TamoxIFen and enhance its anticancer efficiency by inducing apoptosis in a caspase-dependent manner, indicating that drug loaded nanoparticles could act as an efficient DDS importing Tamox ifen into target cancer cells.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, Nanosized Bi2WO6 particles were successfully synthesized by sonochemical method with an objective to develop an inexpensive and eco-friendly electrode material for supercapacitors.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an electric double layer capacitors (EDLC) was fabricated using biomass derived porous activated carbon as electrode material and VOSO4 was used as redox additive to improve the overall performance of EDLC.
Abstract: Electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs) were fabricated using biomass derived porous activated carbon as electrode material with 1 M H2SO4 and VOSO4 added 1 M H2SO4 as electrolytes. Here, VOSO4 was used as redox additive to improve the overall performance of EDLC. As expected, the VOSO4 electrolyte showed ∼43% of improved specific capacitance of 630.6 F g−1 at 1 mA cm−2 compared to pristine 1 M H2SO4 (440.6 F g−1) due to the contribution of VO2+/VO2+ redox reaction at the electrode–electrolyte interface. Possible redox reaction mechanism of VO2+/VO2+ pair is also briefly illustrated. The good cycling performance of 97.57% capacitance retention was observed even after 4000 cycles. For comparison, the polymer gel electrolyte (PVA/VOSO4/H2SO4) was also prepared and then the performance of the fabricated EDLCs was studied. Overall, these findings could open up a simple and cost effective way to improve the performance of EDLCs significantly.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the PANI-GO/GCE showed excellent catalytic activity towards electrochemical oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA), Dopamine (DA), and Uric acid (UA).
Abstract: Polyaniline/graphene oxide (PANI-GO) fibrous nanocomposites have been prepared and the electrochemical catalytic activity towards the electro-oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA), Dopamine (DA) and Uric acid (UA) has been investigated. The nanocomposites were synthesized via an in situ chemical polymerization method. The morphology, composition, thermal and electrochemical properties of the resulting nanocomposites were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, thermo gravimetric analysis and cyclic voltammetry. The catalytic behavior of PANI-GO nanocomposite modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) towards AA, DA and UA has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The PANI-GO/GCE showed excellent catalytic activity towards electrochemical oxidation of AA, DA and UA compared to the bare GCE. The electrochemical oxidation signal of AA, DA and UA are well separated into three distinct peaks with peak potential separation of 343 mV, 145 mV and 488 mV between AA-DA, DA-UA and AA-UA respectively in CV studies and the corresponding peak potential separation in DPV mode are 320 mV, 230 mV and 550 mV. Under the optimized DPV experimental conditions, the peak current of AA, DA and UA give linear response over the range of 25–200 μM (R2 = 0.9955), 2–18 μM (R2 = 0.9932) and 2–18 μM (R2 = 0.9902) with detection limit of 20 μM, 0.5 μM and 0.2 μM at S/N = 3, respectively. The attractive features of PANI-GO provide potential applications in the simultaneous detection of AA, DA and UA. The excellent electrocatalytic behavior of PANI-GO may lead to new applications in electrochemical analysis.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work has investigated whether emodin mediates its effect through interference with the STAT3 activation pathway in HCC and found that it does not depend on the carrier or removal substance.
Abstract: Article on emodin inhibiting growth and inducing apoptosis in an orthotopic hepatocellular carcinoma model by blocking activation of STAT3.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results indicate that the three grapevine-derived CCD-encoding genes have been functional with unique substrate cleavage capacities and are under various levels of control that include gene expression, substrate specificity and compartmentalisation that act individually and/or co-ordinately to maintain carotenoid and volatile apocarotenoids levels in plants.
Abstract: In plants, carotenoids serve as the precursors to C13-norisoprenoids, a group of apocarotenoid compounds with diverse biological functions. Enzymatic cleavage of carotenoids catalysed by members of the carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase (CCD) family has been shown to produce a number of industrially important volatile flavour and aroma apocarotenoids including β-ionone, geranylacetone, pseudoionone, α-ionone and 3-hydroxy-β-ionone in a range of plant species. Apocarotenoids contribute to the floral and fruity attributes of many wine cultivars and are thereby, at least partly, responsible for the “varietal character”. Despite their importance in grapes and wine; carotenoid cleavage activity has only been described for VvCCD1 and the mechanism(s) and regulation of carotenoid catabolism remains largely unknown. Three grapevine-derived CCD-encoding genes have been isolated and shown to be functional with unique substrate cleavage capacities. Our results demonstrate that the VvCCD4a and VvCCD4b catalyse the cleavage of both linear and cyclic carotenoid substrates. The expression of VvCCD1, VvCCD4a and VvCCD4b was detected in leaf, flower and throughout berry development. VvCCD1 expression was constitutive, whereas VvCCD4a expression was predominant in leaves and VvCCD4b in berries. A transgenic population with a 12-fold range of VvCCD1 expression exhibited a lack of correlation between VvCCD1 expression and carotenoid substrates and/or apocarotenoid products in leaves, providing proof that the in planta function(s) of VvCCD1 in photosynthetically active tissue is distinct from the in vitro activities demonstrated. The isolation and functional characterisation of VvCCD4a and VvCCD4b identify two additional CCDs that are functional in grapevine. Taken together, our results indicate that the three CCDs are under various levels of control that include gene expression (spatial and temporal), substrate specificity and compartmentalisation that act individually and/or co-ordinately to maintain carotenoid and volatile apocarotenoid levels in plants. Altering the expression of VvCCD1 in a transgenic grapevine population illustrated the divergence between the in vitro enzyme activity and the in planta activity of this enzyme, thereby contributing to the efforts to understand how enzymatic degradation of carotenoids involved in photosynthesis occurs. The identification and functional characterisation of VvCCD4a and VvCCD4b suggest that these enzymes are primarily responsible for catalysing the cleavage of plastidial carotenoids.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results could suggest that the use of plant N. oleander to synthesize silver nanoparticles is a rapid, environmentally safer, and greener approach for mosquito control and lead to a new possibility in vector-control strategy.
Abstract: Green nanoparticle synthesis has been achieved using environmentally acceptable plant extract and ecofriendly reducing and capping agents The present study was carried out to establish the larvicidal activity of synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using leaf extract of Nerium oleander (Apocynaceae) against the first to fourth instar larvae and pupae of malaria vector, Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae) Nanoparticles are being used in many commercial applications It was found that aqueous silver ions can be reduced by the aqueous extract of the plant parts to generate extremely stable silver nanoparticles in water The results were recorded from UV–Vis spectrum, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy analysis The production of the AgNPs synthesized using leaf extract of N oleander was evaluated through a UV–Vis spectrophotometer in a wavelength range of 200 to 700 nm This revealed a peak at 440 nm in N oleander leaf extracts, indicating the production of AgNPs The FTIR spectra of AgNPs exhibited prominent peaks at 50912 cm−1 (C–H bend alkenes), 1,07705 cm−1 (C–O stretch alcohols), 1,60063 cm−1 (N–H bend amines), 2,73649 and 2,47904 cm−1 (O–H stretch carboxylic acids), and 3,41531 cm−1 (N–H stretching due to amines group) An SEM micrograph showed 20–35-nm-size aggregates of spherical- and cubic-shaped nanoparticles EDX showed the complete chemical composition of the synthesized nanoparticles of silver Larvicidal activity of aqueous leaf extract of N oleander and synthesized AgNPs was carried out against Anopheles stephensi, and the results showed that the highest larval mortality was found in the synthesized AgNPs against the first to fourth instar larvae and pupae of Anopheles stephensi with the following values: LC50 of instar larvae 2060, 2490, 2822, and 3399 ppm; LC90 of instar larvae 4162, 5033, 5778, and 6841 ppm; and LC50 and LC90 of pupae 3955 and 7910 ppm, respectively The aqueous leaf extract exhibited larval toxicity against the first to fourth instar larvae and pupae of Anopheles stephensi with the following values: LC50 of instar larvae 23290, 27371, 31894, and 36996 ppm; LC90 of instar larvae 45595, 56310, 63986, and 73030 ppm; and LC50 and LC90 of pupae 42601 and 80513 ppm, respectively The chi-square value was significant at p < 005 level The possible larvicidal activity may be due to penetration of nanoparticles through a membrane The results could suggest that the use of plant N oleander to synthesize silver nanoparticles is a rapid, environmentally safer, and greener approach for mosquito control This could lead us to a new possibility in vector-control strategy

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of weight ratio of transition metal on the electrochemical capacitive performance of the nanocomposites was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge discharge methods.
Abstract: Nano-sized β-NiMoO4–CoMoO4·xH2O composites were synthesized by a solution combustion synthesis (SCS) technique. The effect of weight ratio of transition metal on the electrochemical capacitive performance of the nanocomposites was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge methods. The NiMoO4–CoMoO4·xH2O nanocomposite with weight ratio of 3:1 (Ni:Co) exhibits enhanced capacitive behaviour relative to other composites and delivered a maximum specific capacitance of 1472 Fg−1 at a current density of 5 mAcm−2. The enhancement in specific capacitance is due to the small particle size, uniform size distribution, high surface area and high weight fraction of Ni. The synergistic effect of nickel and cobalt improves the electrochemical behaviour relative to pure nickel and cobalt molybdates. A full cell was fabricated using the β-NiMoO4–CoMoO4·xH2O nanocomposite (3:1) and activated carbon (AC) as a positive and negative electrode, respectively. The cell delivered high capacitance (80 Fg−1) and energy density (28 Wh kg−1) and good cycling stability up to 1000 cycles.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: CPC exhibited antioxidant and antiproliferative activity against human cancer cells through apoptosis; nuclear apoptosis induction was accompanied by G0/G1 phase arrest and DNA fragmentation, and CPC is a natural pigment with potential as an anticancer agent.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, single-crystalline novel LaFeO3 dendritic nanostructures are synthesized by a well-controlled, surfactant-assisted facile hydrothermal process.
Abstract: Single-crystalline novel LaFeO3 dendritic nanostructures are synthesized by a well-controlled, surfactant-assisted facile hydrothermal process. The morphology of the material is investigated by high-resolution transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The crystal nature and chemical composition of LaFeO3 dendritic nanostructures are revealed from the X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Structural characterizations imply the preferential growth along the [121] direction by oriented attachment of LaFeO3 nanoparticles in the diffusion limit, leading to the formation of LaFeO3 dendrites. The microscopic studies confirm the formation of dendrites with a length of 3–4 μm, a branch diameter of 80 nm, and a length of 1–1.5 μm. The possible growth mechanism of the dendritic morphology is discussed from the aspect of diffusion and oriented attachment based on experimental results. Further, the electrochemical measurements performed on LaFeO3 dendritic nanostructures dep...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The discovery is reported that PCE, when reacted with silver nitrate ions, yields a high percentage of thin, flat, single-crystalline nanohexagonal and nanotriangular silver nanoparticles, which had significant antibacterial action on both Gram classes of bacteria associated with agriculture.
Abstract: The medicinal and physicochemical properties of nanoscale materials are strong functions of the particle size and the materials used in their synthesis. The nanoparticle shape also contributes significantly to their medicinal properties. Several shapes ranging from oval, spherical, rods, to teardrop structures may be obtained by chemical methods. Triangular and hexagonal nanoparticles have been synthesized by using a pine cone extract (PCE). Here, we report the discovery that PCE, when reacted with silver nitrate ions, yields a high percentage of thin, flat, single-crystalline nanohexagonal and nanotriangular silver nanoparticles. The nanohexagonal and nanotriangular nanoparticles appear to grow by a process involving rapid reduction with assembly at room temperature at a high pH. The nanoparticles were characterized by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, SEM-EDS, TEM, FTIR, and X-ray diffraction analyses. The anisotropy of the nanoparticle shape results in large near-infrared absorption by the particles. Highly anisotropic particles are applicable in various fields, including agriculture and medicine. The obtained silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) had significant antibacterial action on both Gram classes of bacteria associated with agriculture. Because the Ag NPs are encapsulated with functional group-rich PCE, they can be easily integrated in various applications.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the PANI-NiFe2O4 composites (NP1, NP2 and NP3) exhibited enhanced capacitive performance due to the increase in conducting network of PANI.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the existence of solutions of nonlinear fractional pantograph equations was studied in strongly anomalous media and the results were obtained using fractional calculus and fixed point theorems.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Though, development of resistance is an evolutionary phenomenon, it can be tackled judiciously by implementing appropriate and comprehensive resistance monitoring and management strategies within the framework of integrated vector management.
Abstract: Context: Arthropod-borne diseases are remaining as a major public health issue in the resource-constrained settings. Mosquitoes are closely associated with mankind since time immemorial and play an important role in the transmission of many dreadful diseases like malaria, filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue and yellow fever. Over the decades, vector control is an important element to minimize the vector-borne disease burden worldwide and in fact, it heavily relies upon synthetic insecticides as a mainstay. However the overuse and misuse of insecticides have led to the emergence of resistance, which undermines the potentiality of vector control. Evidence Acquisition: In order to pursue effective research pertained to this issue, a detailed search on Scopus, Medline, Google Scholar and academic premier databases has been conducted between the time periods of 1955 and 2012. Results: Over the past six decades, insecticides are serving as one of the important arsenals in the fight against vector-borne diseases to save hundreds of millions of lives. Consequently, in the last decade we have attained a remarkable success to combat with many diseases particularly malaria due to the combined effect of indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). Currently, malaria mortality rates have drastically fallen by more than 25% globally, 33% in sub-Saharan Africa and over a million lives have been saved attributable to massive scale-up of LLINs and IRS. Since, both LLINs and IRS are cost-effective and robust form of interventions; they are serving as a central pillar in the National Malaria Control Programmes (NMCPs) of malaria endemic countries. Nevertheless, LLINs are easy-to-deliver, most economical and practical even in the resource-poor settings, where implementation of IRS is not feasible. The heavy reliance, recurrent and inappropriate insecticide applications are key sources for resistance which is a potential threat to the global public health. Therefore, it has to be addressed immediately to sustain the recent success of vector control, unless otherwise it would become uncertain. Conclusions: Though, development of resistance is an evolutionary phenomenon, it can be tackled judiciously by implementing appropriate and comprehensive resistance monitoring and management strategies within the framework of integrated vector management. This scrutiny recommends the following measures; (i) identification of effective novel tools for monitoring and evaluation, (ii) searching for alternative interventions to minimize the further resistance evolution as well as to preserve the efficiency of existing insecticides, (iii) exploration of next generation vector control tools in terms of nets and new classes of non-pyrethroid insecticide formulation with new mode of action, (iv) building partnership by bringing together the people actively engaged in the vector control, like public health experts, policy-makers, researchers, medical entomologists and insecticide manufacturers, could ideally pave the way to collectively address the current debacle in the near future.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and stochastic analysis approach, delay-probability-distribution-dependent sufficient conditions are derived to achieve the globally asymptotically mean square stable of the considered BAM neural networks.

Journal ArticleDOI
17 Jan 2013-Database
TL;DR: An effort to bring together text mining tool developers and database biocurators to test the utility and usability of tools and indicates that some of the systems were able to improve efficiency of curation by speeding up the curation task significantly and improve annotation accuracy when compared with the performance on the manually curated set.
Abstract: In many databases, biocuration primarily involves literature curation, which usually involves retrieving relevant articles, extracting information that will translate into annotations and identifying new incoming literature. As the volume of biological literature increases, the use of text mining to assist in biocuration becomes increasingly relevant. A number of groups have developed tools for text mining from a computer science/linguistics perspective, and there are many initiatives to curate some aspect of biology from the literature. Some biocuration efforts already make use of a text mining tool, but there have not been many broad-based systematic efforts to study which aspects of a text mining tool contribute to its usefulness for a curation task. Here, we report on an effort to bring together text mining tool developers and database biocurators to test the utility and usability of tools. Six text mining systems presenting diverse biocuration tasks participated in a formal evaluation, and appropriate biocurators were recruited for testing. The performance results from this evaluation indicate that some of the systems were able to improve efficiency of curation by speeding up the curation task significantly (∼1.7- to 2.5-fold) over manual curation. In addition, some of the systems were able to improve annotation accuracy when compared with the performance on the manually curated set. In terms of inter-annotator agreement, the factors that contributed to significant differences for some of the systems included the expertise of the biocurator on the given curation task, the inherent difficulty of the curation and attention to annotation guidelines. After the task, annotators were asked to complete a survey to help identify strengths and weaknesses of the various systems. The analysis of this survey highlights how important task completion is to the biocurators’ overall experience of a system, regardless of the system’s high score on design, learnability and usability. In addition, strategies to refine the annotation guidelines and systems documentation, to adapt the tools to the needs and query types the end user might have and to evaluate performance in terms of efficiency, user interface, result export and traditional evaluation metrics have been analyzed during this task. This analysis will help to plan for a more intense study in BioCreative IV.