Explore the vast range of titles available.

In the present study, statistically optimized production of thermotolerant Aspergillus fumigatus phytase was carried out in batch fermentation (1-L). An enhancement in phytase production was noted up to 3.3-folds as compared to unoptimized and using One Variable at a Time strategy. Phytase was purified up to 26-folds with a single band of ~ 62 kDa. The optimum activity of purified phytase was recorded at pH 5.5 and 65 °C. The kinetic parameters, Km and Vmax, were observed to be, 0.75 mM, and 345 µmol/min/mg-protein,respectively. The activity was constrained by silver and mercuric ions and slightly increased by calcium ions. The phytase showed high dephytinization up to 78.7% of wheat flour (10 g) at a small reaction volume (30 mL). On up-scaling to 3-L reaction, a slight decrease in dephytinization to 72.5% was recorded. This is the first report where hyperactive purified phytase from thermotolerant A. fumigatus has been demonstrated to degrade wheat flour-based phytic acid up to a 3-L scale at the bioreactor level. This finding can be explored at a commercial scale for multi-dimensional future biotechnological applications.

In this study, Rhodococcus pyridinivorans cells containing hyperactive acyltransferase was immobilized on various macromolecules based-polymeric matrices and used to improve acetohydroxamic acid production. The calcium-alginate-based matrix retained the maximum residual activity up to 97.8% as compared to free cells (576 U/mg of dry cell weight). After immobilization, cells exhibited a significant improvement in their tolerance towards pH, temperature, and metal ions as potent enzyme inhibitors. Immobilized cells showed 25.5-fold higher thermal stability at 60 °C to control (free cells). Compared to free cells, immobilized cells exhibited a high bioconversion of acetamide and hydroxylamine-HCl to acetohydroxamic acid up to 96% molar conversion. Repeated bench-scale production at 3-L culture, immobilized cells showed 9.5-fold higher residual conversion as compared to control (100%), after five cycles of reuses. The product characterization achieved high purity (97%) of acetohydroxamic acid. This finding showed high feasibility to achieve efficient conversion that can be scaled up to the industrial level for biotechnological application.

Butyramide is a commodity chemical having wide range of applications from material science to biological sciences including synthesis of therapeutic drugs, hydroxamic acids, and electrorheological fluids. The nitrile hydratase protein of Bacillus sp. APB-6 was explored to develop an efficient biocatalytic process for the biotransformation of butyronitrile to butyramide using free and immobilized cells. The reaction conditions for nitrile hydratase activity were not affected after immobilization of the free cells and the optimum pH and temperature for both free and immobilized cells were 8.0 and 55 °C, respectively. In a 1–l batch reaction, complete conversion of 3000 mM butyronitrile to butyramide was achieved using free and immobilized cells. Immobilization of the cells further enhanced their operational stability and reusability in repetitive cycles of butyramide production. This bioconversion resulted in the formation of butyramide at a rate of 522.0 g h−1 g−1 dcw.

(Ti, Al)N/MoN and CrN/MoN multilayered films were synthesized on Si (100) surface by multi-cathodic arc ion plating system with various bilayer periods. The elemental composition and depth profiling of the films were investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) using 2.42 and 1.52 MeV Li 2+ ion beams and different incident angles (0°, 15°, 37°, and 53°). The microstructures of (Ti, Al)N/MoN multilayered films were evaluated by X-ray diffraction. The multilayer periods and thickness of the multilayered films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and then compared with RBS results.

Cellular angiofibroma (CAF) is benign mesenchymal tumour primarily affecting vulvovaginal region in women. Often they are asymptomatic with small size, but rarely these tumours may grow significantly necessitating differentiation from aggressive malignant growth. This is a case report of primigravida mother who was in her early 30s, who present to our setting in near-term gestation with approximately 10 cm pedunculated mass arising from labia minora. Following a caesarean section and surgical excision, histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of CAF. This case highlights the importance of recognising this entity in pregnant patients to ensure appropriate surgical management and a favourable prognosis. CONCLUSION: This is a rare case recorded involving the labia minora in a pregnant patient, which has grown to such an extent making patient symptomatic making her to walk with difficulty.

This study aims to develop a standard operational protocol (SOP) for central line catheter care for nurses. A preliminary draft of protocol based on extensive review of the literature was developed. The current practices of the nurses regarding central line catheter care were observed. Focus group discussions (FGD) were conducted with the nurses to identify the problems encountered by them during care of central line. Four rounds of Delphi were conducted to validate the protocol. The protocol was found to be feasible in terms of understanding, clarity and easy implementation after conducting a pilot study. An observation checklist was developed from the final draft of the protocol. The nurses were taught regarding the central line catheter care as per the protocol. 30 nurses were observed during central line catheter care by the researcher. After implementation of the protocol, feedback of the nurses was taken by conducting FGDs. Content validity index of each item in the protocol was acceptable. The overall Cronbach's alpha value of the checklist was 0.75. It was concluded that the checklist is reliable and each item has a contribution in the checklist. This protocol addresses interventions to enable staff to provide proper care of the central line catheter to prevent CLABSI.

Chemokine genes have been proposed as good candidate genes for conferring susceptibility to Bladder cancer (BC). We examined the combined effect of multiple alleles of pro inflammatory chemokine genes for determining the risk of BC. We tested association of three gene polymorphisms of CCL2I/D (rs3917887), CCL2A2518G (rs1024611) and CCR2V64I (rs1799864) with BC risk in North Indian population. Genotypes were assessed in hospital-based case–control study comprising of 200 BC patients and 200 healthy controls. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood and genotyping done using PCR–RFLP method. In CCL2I/D polymorphism, the heterozygous genotype (I/D) showed high risk of BC p  < 0.001 OR = 2.56 and combination of ID + DD showed significant high risk for BC ( p  = 0.001 OR = 2.12). Haplotype analysis of CCL2I/D , CCL2A2518G gene polymorphisms demonstrated that combination of D–A was associated with 1.5-fold increased risk of BC. Variant genotype (DD) of CCL2I/D gene was associated with high risk of recurrence ( p  < 0.001 HR = 15.18) in superficial BC patients receiving BCG treatment thus showing least survival (log rank = 0.019). Our study suggested CCL2I/D polymorphism to be associated with higher BC risk and no contribution of CCR2V64I and CCL2A2518G genes. However, study with large sample size and diverse ethnicity is required to validate our observations.

Chemokine are small, inducible pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in many biological processes, such as migration of leukocytes, atherosclerosis, angiogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis. Chemokine are also known to influence tumor cell’s activity. Specifically, tumor cells express chemokine receptors in a non random manner suggesting a role of chemokine in metastatic destination of tumor cells. The present study was conducted to determine distribution of (Chemokine receptor 2) CCR2 V64I , Chemokine ligand 2 CCL2 I/D , and CCL2 2518 A > G gene polymorphisms in North Indian population and compare with different populations globally. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based analysis was conducted in 200 normal healthy individuals of similar ethnicity. Allelic frequencies in wild type (GG) of CCR2 V64I G > A were 63 % G; CCL2 I/D 42 % II ; CCL2 2518 A > G 40.5 % A. The minor variant allele frequency in our population was as follows: 19.5 % for CCR2 V64I , 35.5 % for CCL2 I/D , 35.3 % for CCL2 2518 A > G . We further compared frequency distribution for these genes with various published studies in different ethnicity. Our results suggested that frequency in chemokine genes exhibit distinctive pattern in India that could be attributed to ethnicity variation. This could assist in high-risk screening of human exposed to environmental carcinogens and cancer predisposition in different ethnic groups. Thus, they signify an impact of ethnicity and provide a basis for future epidemiological and clinical studies.

Global energy demand is always on the rise with the rapid advancement in technology. The development of any country is directly link to self‐sufficiency in meeting its energy requirements. There are various energy sources available and among them fossil fuels and natural gas are popular as sources of combustion. Due to their now diminishing reserves worldwide and the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during their combustion, there is a quest for alternative cleaner and more sustainable sources. Hydrogen is considered as a clean energy source as it provides only water on combustion. However, it is a secondary resource and generation of it from other sources needs to be environmentally‐friendly and sustainable. Electrochemical hydrogen generation from water splitting and its use in fuel cells for energy generation are considered to be one of the effective renewable and clean routes. In hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen is directly oxidized while oxygen is reduced at the counter electrode to produce a theoretical potential of 1.23 V. Hydrocarbons (C n H m , C n H m O x ) can also be used directly or indirectly as fuels, wherein they undergo an electro‐oxidation reaction to release the hydrogen. The fuel cells possess the major advantage of high efficiency, twice that of combustion engines, with a reported theoretical efficiency of 83% for H 2 –O 2 and 95% for C 3 H 8 –O 2 fuel cells, respectively. Further, hydrocarbon fuel cells have other advantages such as high temperature operation, with maximum current and energy density with lower potential drop during operation. Other factors such as polarization curve, energy efficiency, and degradation mechanism of both hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuel cells are covered in this chapter. The present challenges toward fruitful application of fuel cells are discussed.