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Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems interact with the mucus layer covering the mucosal epithelial surface, and mucin molecules and increase the residence time of the dosage form at the site of absorption. The drugs which have local action or those which have maximum absorption in gastrointestinal tract (GIT) require increased duration of stay in GIT. Thus, mucoadhesive dosage forms are advantageous in increasing the drug plasma concentrations and also therapeutic activity. In this regard, this review covers the areas of mechanisms and theories of mucoadhesion, factors influencing the mucoadhesive devices and also various mucoadhesive dosage forms.

Fluorides are emitted in both gaseous and particle forms in the industrial sector. However, studies usually only report total fluoride content. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the particulate, gaseous fluoride and correlate it with the respirable dust particles in Single Super Phosphate (SSP), Granular Single Super Phosphate (GSSP), and administration divisions of the industry. Respirable dust particles, particulate fluoride, and hydrogen fluoride in the work environment were collected on a filter cassette containing an MCE filter paper (0.8 micron 37-mm) and Na2CO3 impregnated backup pad, respectively, using a personal sampler. The fluoride samples were analyzed using Ion Selective Electrode (ISE) and expressed as milligrams per meter cube (mg.m-3). The respirable dust, particulate, and gaseous fluoride content were found to have statistically significant differences (p<0.001) between the divisions (SSP, GSSP, and administration) in the static monitoring, whereas, in the case of personal monitoring, no significant differences were observed. Average airborne respirable, particulate, and gaseous fluoride levels in static monitoring were 1.37, 1.03, 0.20 mg.m-3, 0.018, 0.008, 0.001 mg.m-3, and 0.808, 0.403, 0.026 ppm in SSP, GSSP and administration respectively, whereas in personal monitoring the average respirable, particulate and gaseous fluoride concentrations were 1.18, 0.85, 0.30 mg.m-3, 0.0013, 0.007, 0.002 mg.m-3 and 0.356, 0.258, 0.011 ppm in SSP, GSSP and administration respectively. The present study observed that the levels of fluoride decreased with an increase in distance from SSP, followed by GSSP and administration. It indicates that the fluoride exposure was inversely proportional to the distance of the source. This study outcome will help to design a policy and intervention to mitigate fluoride exposure among workers.

Stability indicating analytical RP-HPLC (Reverse Phase- High performance Liquid Chromatography) method was developed for the analysis of the drug in the presence of its degradation products and subsequent validation of Pemetrexed that was conducted in API and pharmaceutical dosage form. Pemetrexed was subjected to different stress conditions as per International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines, stress conditions applied were including the effect of acid, base, oxidative, hydrolysis, thermal and photolytic degradation conditions. Chromatographic separation of API (Active Pharmaceutical ingredient) was achieved on Water’s HPLC instrument and ODS C 18 , 250x4.6 mm, 5µm particle size column with gradient elution of 0.1% ortho phosphoric acid buffer: Acetonitrile 80:20 ratio was taken as the eluent (mobile phase). The buffer pH was maintained at 3, the flow rate was 1.0 ml/min and wavelength were detected at 225 nm. The Retention time (RT) of Pemetrexed was Found at 2.9 minutes, column temperature was kept ambient and the runtime was 6 min. System suitability parameters like theoretical plates, tailing factor, and Asymmetry values were showed at 3391, 1.41, and 1.101 respectively. The percentage drug purity was found to be 99.99%. Validation of the method was proved that linear relationship over the range of 25-150 µg/mL, with linear regression curve (correlation coefficient) r 2 value was noticed at 0.999 and LOD (limit of detection), LOQ (limit of quantification) values was established at 0.33µg/mL, 0.99µg/mL respectively. Recovery studies carried out at the concentrations of 50%, 100% and 150% with percentage recovery values of 100.06, 99.8 and 99.87 respectively. The precision of intraday was 0.64% and inter-day was 0.95%. Robustness of flow rate and mobile phase was changed even though the method was Robust. Forced degradation studies were also conducted to check the stability and suitability of this method to resolve the degradation products. Method validation was proved to be accurate, precise, linear, repeatable and robust. Thus, the accepted method can be proceeded for the estimation of Pemetrexed in pharmaceutical dosage form in a daily basis, due to their simplicity, suitability, accuracy, robustness and reproducibility.

The present study was aimed to investigate the antiepileptic activity of ethanolic extract of whole plant of LM against pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) induced seizures in mice. The extract was first examined by acute oral toxicity studies and then evaluated for antiepileptic activity against PTZ induced seizures. Diazepam was used as the standard drug. Antiepileptic activity was evaluated by observing various seizure activities such as onset of seizure, duration of seizure and intensity of seizure. Motor coordination effect was studied using rotarod. Depression was studied using the forced swim test. Oxidative stress was measured by estimating Malondialdehyde content in the brain at the end of experiments. No abnormalities or toxic effects were observed in the animals during acute oral toxicity studies. The extract treated groups showed late on set of seizures, decreased duration and intensity of seizure when compared with vehicle treated group. The extract was determined to protect the animals from loss of motor coordination and depression.

Mushrooms are well-known functional foods due to the presence of a huge quantity of nutraceutical components. These are well recognized for their nutritional importance such as high protein, low fat, and low energy contents. These are rich in minerals such as iron, phosphorus, as well as in vitamins like riboflavin, thiamine, ergosterol, niacin, and ascorbic acid. They also contain bioactive constituents like secondary metabolites (terpenoids, acids, alkaloids, sesquiterpenes, polyphenolic compounds, lactones, sterols, nucleotide analogues, vitamins, and metal chelating agents) and polysaccharides chiefly β-glucans and glycoproteins. Due to the occurrence of biologically active substances, mushrooms can serve as hepatoprotective, immune-potentiating, anti-cancer, anti-viral, and hypocholesterolemic agents. They have great potential to prevent cardiovascular diseases due to their low fat and high fiber contents, as well as being foremost sources of natural antioxidants useful in reducing oxidative damages. However, mushrooms remained underutilized, despite their wide nutritional and bioactive potential. Novel green techniques are being explored for the extraction of bioactive components from edible mushrooms. The current review is intended to deliberate the nutraceutical potential of mushrooms, therapeutic properties, bioactive compounds, health benefits, and processing aspects of edible mushrooms for maintenance, and promotion of a healthy lifestyle.

IntroductionUniversal coverage of vaccines alone cannot be relied upon to protect at-risk populations in lower- and middle-income countries against the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and newer variants. Live vaccines, including Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG), are being studied for their effectiveness in reducing the incidence and severity of COVID-19 infection.MethodsIn this multi-centre quadruple-blind, parallel assignment randomised control trial, 495 high-risk group adults (aged 18–60 years) were randomised into BCG and placebo arms and followed up for 9 months from the date of vaccination. The primary outcome was the difference in the incidence of COVID-19 infection at the end of 9 months. Secondary outcomes included the difference in the incidence of severe COVID-19 infections, hospitalisation rates, intensive care unit stay, oxygen requirement and mortality at the end of 9 months. The primary analysis was done on an intention-to-treat basis, while safety analysis was done per protocol.ResultsThere was no significant difference in the incidence rates of cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CB-NAAT) positive COVID-19 infection [odds ratio (OR) 1.08, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54–2.14] in the two groups, but the BCG arm showed a statistically significant decrease in clinically diagnosed (symptomatic) probable COVID-19 infections (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.20–0.72). Compared with the BCG arm, significantly more patients developed severe COVID-19 pneumonia (CB-NAAT positive) and required hospitalisation and oxygen in the placebo arm (six versus none; p = 0.03). One patient belonging to the placebo arm required intensive care unit (ICU) stay and died. BCG had a protective efficacy of 62% (95% CI 28–80%) for likely symptomatic COVID-19 infection.ConclusionsBCG is protective in reducing the incidence of acute respiratory illness (probable symptomatic COVID-19 infection) and severity of the disease, including hospitalisation, in patients belonging to the high-risk group of COVID-19 infection, and the antibody response persists for quite a long time. A multi-centre study with a larger sample size will help to confirm the findings in this study.Clinical Trials RegistryClinical Trials Registry India (CTRI/2020/07/026668).Plain Language SummaryThe Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been studied previously in several settings, including reducing childhood mortalities due to viral infections and induction of trained immunity and reducing upper respiratory tract infections and pneumonia in older adults. This multi-centre trial has tried to evaluate the efficacy of BCG revaccination in reducing the incidence and severity of COVID-19 infections in adults between 18 and 60 years of age belonging to the high-risk group owing to the presence of comorbidities including diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease and chronic lung diseases. A single dose of BCG vaccine produced significantly high titres of BCG antibodies lasting for six months. While there was no significant reduction in the incidence of COVID-19 infection, there was an 8.4% reduction in the incidence of symptomatic COVID-19 disease at the end of 9 months of follow-up. In addition, there were significantly fewer severe COVID-19 infections requiring hospital stay and oxygen support. However, the overall numbers of severe COVID-19 infections were low. Thus, the study shows that BCG can protect against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 disease. However, it might not reduce the incidence of new infections. The study results are significant for low- and middle-income countries without adequate coverage of primary doses of COVID-19 vaccination, let alone the booster doses. Future studies should evaluate the BCG vaccine’s efficacy as a booster compared with routine COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

Both the enantiomers of 2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxylic acid are valuable chiral synthons for enantiospecific synthesis of therapeutic agents such as (S)-doxazosin mesylate, WB 4101, MKC 242, 2,3-dihydro-2-hydroxymethyl-1,4-benzodioxin, and N-[2,4-oxo-1,3-thiazolidin-3-yl]-2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxamide. Pharmaceutical applications require these enantiomers in optically pure form. However, currently available methods suffer from one drawback or other, such as low efficiency, uncommon and not so easily accessible chiral resolving agent and less than optimal enantiomeric purity. Our interest in finding a biocatalyst for efficient production of enantiomerically pure 2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxylic acid lead us to discover an amidase activity from Alcaligenes faecalis subsp. parafaecalis, which was able to kinetically resolve 2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxyamide with E value of >200. Thus, at about 50% conversion, (R)-2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxylic acid was produced in >99% e.e. The remaining amide had (S)-configuration and 99% e.e. The amide and acid were easily separated by aqueous (alkaline)-organic two phase extraction method. The same amidase was able to catalyse, albeit at much lower rate the hydrolysis of (S)-amide to (S)-acid without loss of e.e. The amidase activity was identified as indole-3-acetamide hydrolase (IaaH). IaaH is known to catalyse conversion of indole-3-acetamide (IAM) to indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), which is phytohormone of auxin class and is widespread among plants and bacteria that inhabit plant rhizosphere. IaaH exhibited high activity for 2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxamide, which was about 65% compared to its natural substrate, indole-3-acetamide. The natural substrate for IaaH indole-3-acetamide shared, at least in part a similar bicyclic structure with 2,3-dihydro-1,4-benzodioxin-2-carboxamide, which may account for high activity of enzyme towards this un-natural substrate. To the best of our knowledge this is the first application of IaaH in production of industrially important molecules.

Usually Acoustic Echo Cancellers (AECs) are realized by adaptive Finite duration Impulse Response (FIR) filter having large number of coefficients and Least Mean Square (LMS) as an adaptive algorithm resulting in slow convergence speed and poor tracking performance of these adaptive filters. In this paper, we have proposed a Multiple Sub-filter (MSF) parallel structure based on multipath acoustic echo model using the basis that each sub-filter will compensate the echo contributed by each path of multipath acoustic channel. To realize the MSF, modified Generalized Autocorrelation-based Estimator (MAE) has been used to estimate time delay associated with each path while the order of each sub-filter has been estimated using Power Spectral Density (PSD) method. Accuracy Percentage (AP) performance measure has been used to characterize the performance of the estimator. Simulation results show that the performance of the MAE improves with the increase in SNR and/or decrease in number of multipath. Using these estimates MSF based AEC is constructed. The convergence performance of MSF-based AEC has been studied, via computer simulation, and compared with the conventional Single Long length adaptive Filter (SLF)-based canceller for different SNRs and number of multipath. The results of MSF have been found to be very encouraging in almost all of the various situations considered. Subsequently, the tracking behavior has also been studied with variation in the channel parameters of the multipath model. The proposed MSF can track variations in the channel parameters of the multipath model faster as compared to the conventional echo canceller.

Identification and authentication are ubiquitous questions which pan across various systems. In certain domains, they are of paramount importance. Like, security forces deploy various human identifications systems to discern potential wrongdoers. They constitute a vital part of various government social welfare schemes. The efficacy of the schemes is greatly impacted by them. Being pervasive and eminent, they demand more dedicated and focused research. Now-a-days, most of the systems incorporate a biometric system to address identification and authentication. The biometric system employs disparate traits like face, signature, iris, fingerprint, palmprint, speech, etc. for identification and authentication. A biometric trait must possess the following fundamental aspects; It should be able to identify an individual uniquely. For an individual, it should be consistent. To acquire it should be easy, cost-effective, time-efficient and automated. On such account, fingerprint trait is of outstanding merit. It has been widely studied and is an integral part of the many present biometric systems. However, fingerprints are subject to occupational hazard. The fingerprint is of abysmal quality for hand labourer, blacksmith, etc. due to the nature of their work. If a fingerprint based biometric system has a large number of such users then its precision is greatly affected. In such scenario, an alternate is to use finger-knuckle-print which possess almost comparable feature as fingerprint while being unaffected by such occupational hazards. In this paper, we propose a novel finger-knuckle-print based biometric system which could be deployed where a large number of user base is rural. Initially, ROI of finger knuckle image has been extracted, enhanced and transformed using the proposed Bubble ordinal pattern (BOP), STAR ordinal pattern (SOP), and Image ray transform (IRT) based locally adapted procedures. A novel DeepMatching technique has been used to perform non-rigid distortion free matching between multiple features of two Finger Knuckle Images (FKI). Finally, the performance of proposed system has been evaluated using score level fusion rule, revealing improvement in the results.

Non-invasive imaging of lactate is of enormous significance in cancer and metabolic disorders where glycolysis dominates. Here, for the first time, we describe a chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method (LATEST), based on the exchange between lactate hydroxyl proton and bulk water protons to image lactate with high spatial resolution. We demonstrate the feasibility of imaging lactate with LATEST in lactate phantoms under physiological conditions, in a mouse model of lymphoma tumors and in skeletal muscle of healthy human subjects pre- and post-exercise. The method is validated by measuring LATEST changes in lymphoma tumors pre- and post-infusion of pyruvate and correlating them with lactate determined from multiple quantum filtered proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (SEL-MQC 1 H-MRS). Similarly, dynamic LATEST changes in exercising human skeletal muscle are correlated with lactate determined from SEL-MQC 1 H-MRS. The LATEST method does not involve injection of radioactive isotopes or labeled metabolites. It has over two orders of magnitude higher sensitivity compared to conventional 1 H-MRS. It is anticipated that this technique will have a wide range of applications including diagnosis and evaluation of therapeutic response of cancer, diabetes, cardiac and musculoskeletal diseases. The advantages of LATEST over existing methods and its potential challenges are discussed.