Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science

About: Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science is a education organization based out in Kolkata, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Excited state & Catalysis. The organization has 3867 authors who have published 10457 publications receiving 220098 citations.

Palladium nanoparticles in the catalysis of coupling reactions

Abstract: Palladium catalyzed coupling reactions have emerged as a versatile, convenient, selective and mild protocol that can usually be adapted in any synthetic scheme for important target molecules with various degrees of structural complexity. While anchored catalysts offer recycling advantages, palladium nanoparticles display an impressive ability to catalyse coupling reactions. Along with their successful applications in organic synthesis, controversy has also arisen concerning the exact nature – heterogeneous or homogeneous – of the reaction catalyzed by palladium nanoparticles.

Growth mechanism of nanocrystals in solution: ZnO, a case study.

Abstract: We investigate the mechanism of growth of nanocrystals from solution using the case of ZnO. Spanning a wide range of values of the parameters, such as the temperature and the reactant concentration that control the growth, our results establish a qualitative departure from the widely accepted diffusion controlled coarsening (Ostwald ripening) process quantified in terms of the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner theory. Further, we show that these experimental observations can be qualitatively and quantitatively understood within a growth mechanism that is intermediate between the two well-defined limits of diffusion control and kinetic control.

MicroRNome Analysis Unravels the Molecular Basis of SARS Infection in Bronchoalveolar Stem Cells

Abstract: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV, is an acute infectious disease with significant mortality. A typical clinical feature associated with SARS is pulmonary fibrosis and associated lung failure. In the aftermath of the SARS epidemic, although significant progress towards understanding the underlying molecular mechanism of the infection has been made, a large gap still remains in our knowledge regarding how SARS-CoV interacts with the host cell at the onset of infection. The rapidly changing viral genome adds another variable to this equation. We have focused on a novel concept of microRNA (miRNA)–mediated host–virus interactions in bronchoalveolar stem cells (BASCs) at the onset of infection by correlating the “BASC–microRNome” with their targets within BASCs and viral genome. This work encompasses miRNA array data analysis, target prediction, and miRNA–mRNA enrichment analysis and develops a complex interaction map among disease-related factors, miRNAs, and BASCs in SARS pathway, which will provide some clues for diagnostic markers to view an overall interplay leading to disease progression. Our observation reveals the BASCs (Sca-1+ CD34+ CD45- Pecam-), a subset of Oct-4+ ACE2+ epithelial colony cells at the broncho-alveolar duct junction, to be the prime target cells of SARS-CoV infection. Upregulated BASC miRNAs-17*, -574-5p, and -214 are co-opted by SARS-CoV to suppress its own replication and evade immune elimination until successful transmission takes place. Viral Nucleocapsid and Spike protein targets seem to co-opt downregulated miR-223 and miR-98 respectively within BASCs to control the various stages of BASC differentiation, activation of inflammatory chemokines, and downregulation of ACE2. All these effectively accounts for a successful viral transmission and replication within BASCs causing continued deterioration of lung tissues and apparent loss of capacity for lung repair. Overall, this investigation reveals another mode of exploitation of cellular miRNA machinery by virus to their own advantage.