Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotube Confined Co-N Sites for Selective Hydrogenation of Biomass-Derived Compounds.

Biomass is the most abundant renewable resource on earth and developing high-performance nonprecious selective hydrogenation (SH) catalysts will enable the use of biomass to replace rapidly diminishing fossil resources. This work utilizes ZIF-67-derived nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes to confine Co nanoparticles (NPs) with Co-N active sites as a high-performance SH catalyst. The confined Co NPs with Co-N exhibit excellent catalytic activity, selectivity, and stability toward a wide range of biomass-derived compounds.

Myeloid cell IRF4 signaling protects neonatal brains from hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy.

Interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4), a transcription factor recognized as a key regulator of lymphoid and myeloid cell differentiation, has recently been recognized as a critical mediator of macrophage activation. Previously we have reported that IRF4 signaling is closely correlated with anti-inflammatory polarization of microglia in adult mice after stroke. However, IRF4's role in the inflammatory response in the immature brain is unknown.

A data-driven individual-based model of infectious disease in livestock operation: A validation study for paratuberculosis.

Chronic livestock diseases cause large financial loss and affect animal health and welfare. Controlling these diseases mostly requires precise information on both individual animal and population dynamics to inform the farmer's decisions, but even successful control programmes do by no means assure elimination. Mathematical models provide opportunities to test different control and elimination options rather than implementing them in real herds, but these models require robust parameter estimation and validation.

Nootropic and Anti-Alzheimer's Actions of Medicinal Plants: Molecular Insight into Therapeutic Potential to Alleviate Alzheimer's Neuropathology.

Medicinal plants are the backbone of modern medicine. In recent times, there is a great urge to discover nootropic medicinal plants to reverse cognitive dysfunction owing to their less adverse effects. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the inevitable loss of cognitive function, memory and language impairment, and behavioral disturbances, which turn into gradually more severe.

Dispersion and deposition estimation of fugitive iron particles from an iron industry on nearby communities via AERMOD.

Emission of fugitive iron particles from anthropogenic sources can have significant effects on the human health and the environment. In this study, a regulatory air pollutant dispersion model (AERMOD) was implemented to predict the dispersion and deposition of fugitive iron particles towards a mid-sized residential area in Sultanate of Oman. The performance of the model was validated using air, soil, and dust fall samples.

Indoor air pollution and exposure assessment of the gulf cooperation council countries: A critical review.

Indoor air pollution is one of the human health threat problems in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In these countries, due to unfavorable meteorological conditions, such as elevated ambient temperature, high relative humidity, and natural events such as dust storms, people spend a substantial amount of their time in indoor environments. In addition, production of physical and biological aerosols from air conditioners, cooking activities, burning of Arabian incense, and overcrowding due to pilgrimage programs are common causes of low quality indoor air in this region.

Enhanced Thermochemical Water Splitting through Formation of Oxygen Vacancy in La Sr BO (B=Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) Perovskites.

Oxygen vacancies in catalyst systems play a crucial role in manipulating pivotal redox properties that are strongly dependent on the composition of the material. Herein, for the first time, experimental evidence of a linear correlation between the extent of oxygen vacancy formation in the La Sr BO (B=Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) perovskite series and H generation in two-step thermochemical water splitting is reported, with detailed materials characterization by means of thermogravimetric analysis, XRD, SEM, TEM, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Noteworthy O (718 μmol g ) and H (514 μmol g ) production was achieved by the La Sr CoO perovskite in the thermochemical water-splitting process conducted between 1300 and 900 °C.

Enhanced photocatalytic activity and ultra-sensitive benzaldehyde sensing performance of a SnO·ZnO·TiO nanomaterial.

The synthesis of a ternary SnO·ZnO·TiO nanomaterial (NM) by a simple co-precipitation method and its potential applications as an efficient photocatalyst and chemical sensor have been reported. The synthesized nanomaterial was fully characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, XPS, FTIR, AFM and photoluminescence studies. This nanomaterial exhibited enhanced efficiency in photo-catalysis of Methyl Violet 6b (MV) dye degradation.

A Mesenchymal Stem Cell Line Transplantation Improves Neurological Function and Angiogenesis in Intraventricular Amyloid β-Infused Rats.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cell transplantation is demonstrated to improve neurological performance in neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: The objective of this study is to understand the underlying mechanism of such improvement.

Methods: Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide was infused into the lateral ventricle of adult Wister rats using the osmotic pump.

Prevalence of cardiovascular disease among Bangladeshi adult population: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the studies.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a group of conditions affecting the functioning of the heart or blood vessels and is one of the leading causes of death globally. Like other countries, CVD prevalence is also rising among the adults in Bangladesh. Epidemiological studies have shown not only a high CVD prevalence but also a significant increase in its prevalence in Bangladesh in the last few decades.

Intention and behavior towards green consumption among low-income households.

In order to address the issues of climate change through wise management of resources and environmental conservation, this study examined the intention and behavior towards green consumption among low-income households. This study was a cross-sectional that relied on 380 low-income household respondents who lived in coastal areas of Peninsular Malaysia. The findings revealed a positive effect of eco-literacy and self-efficacy on attitude towards green products.

Spatio-Spectral Representation Learning for Electroencephalographic Gait-Pattern Classification.

The brain plays a pivotal role in locomotion by coordinating muscles through interconnections that get established by the peripheral nervous system. To date, many attempts have been made to reveal the underlying mechanisms of humans' gait. However, decoding cortical processes associated with different walking conditions using EEG signals for gait-pattern classification is a less-explored research area.

APOE and Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence Mounts that Targeting APOE4 may Combat Alzheimer's Pathogenesis.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an immutable neurodegenerative disease featured by the two hallmark brain pathologies that are the extracellular amyloid ß (Aß) and intraneuronal tau protein. People carrying the APOE4 allele are at high risk of AD concerning the ones carrying the ε3 allele, while the ε2 allele abates risk. ApoE isoforms exert a central role in controlling the transport of brain lipid, neuronal signaling, mitochondrial function, glucose metabolism, and neuroinflammation.

Postharvest Supply Chain with Microbial Travelers: a Farm-to-Retail Microbial Simulation and Visualization Framework.

Fresh produce supply chains present variable and diverse conditions that are relevant to food quality and safety because they may favor microbial growth and survival following contamination. This study presents the development of a simulation and visualization framework to model microbial dynamics on fresh produce moving through postharvest supply chain processes. The postharvest supply chain with microbial travelers (PSCMT) tool provides a modular process modeling approach and graphical user interface to visualize microbial populations and evaluate practices specific to any fresh produce supply chain.

Spectrum of Disease and Prescription Pattern for Outpatients with Neurological Disorders: An Empirical Pilot Study in Bangladesh.

Background: Neurological disorders represent one of the most prominent causes of morbidity and mortality that adversely affect the lifestyle of patients and a major percentage of these diseases exists in developing countries.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and prescription pattern for outpatients with neurological disorders in Bangladesh.

Methods: The study was conducted on 1,684 patients in 6 hospitals (National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital, Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College, Sir Salimullah Medical College, and Apollo Hospitals Dhaka) of the Dhaka City from March 2014 to June 2015.

Identifying bioindicators across trait-taxon space for assessing water quality in marine environments.

The response units of protozoan communities, based on a community-weighted mean (CWM) dataset across trait-taxon space, were investigated in order to determine their utility as bioindicators of marine water quality. From a total of 17 functional categories of seven biological traits, three functional response units (FRUs) were identified at correlation levels of >0.75.

Moisture Damage Modeling in Lime and Chemically Modified Asphalt at Nanolevel Using Ensemble Computational Intelligence.

This paper measures the adhesion/cohesion force among asphalt molecules at nanoscale level using an Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and models the moisture damage by applying state-of-the-art Computational Intelligence (CI) techniques (e.g., artificial neural network (ANN), support vector regression (SVR), and an Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS)).

Ultrathin Transition Metal Dichalcogenide/3d Metal Hydroxide Hybridized Nanosheets to Enhance Hydrogen Evolution Activity.

The vast majority of the reported hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts perform poorly under alkaline conditions due to the sluggish water dissociation kinetics. Herein, a hybridization catalyst construction concept is presented to dramatically enhance the alkaline HER activities of catalysts based on 2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) (MoS and WS ). A series of ultrathin 2D-hybrids are synthesized via facile controllable growth of 3d metal (Ni, Co, Fe, Mn) hydroxides on the monolayer 2D-TMD nanosheets.

Self-Assembling Hollow Carbon Nanobeads into Double-Shell Microspheres as a Hierarchical Sulfur Host for Sustainable Room-Temperature Sodium-Sulfur Batteries.

We report the use of passion fruit-like double-carbon-shell porous carbon microspheres (PCMs) as the sulfur substrate in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries. The PCMs are covered by microsized carbon shells on the outside and consisted of carbon nanobeads with hollow structure inside, leading to a unique multidimensional scaling double-carbon-shell structure with high electronic conductivity and strengthened mechanical properties. Sulfur is filled inside the PCMs (PCMs-S) and protected by the unique double-carbon-shell, which means the subsequently generated intermediate sodium polysulfide species cannot be exposed to the electrolyte directly and well protected inside.

Cardioprotective effect of Amaranthus tricolor extract in isoprenaline induced myocardial damage in ovariectomized rats.

Red spinach (Amaranthus tricolor) has been reported to possess many benefits and medicinal properties and used as a part of traditional medicine in Ayurveda and Siddha. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of Amaranthus tricolor on isoproterenol-induced oxidative stress, fibrosis, and myocardial damage in ovariectomized rats. Ovariectomy surgery was conducted to remove both ovaries from the rats.

Ambient air quality and exposure assessment study of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries: A critical review.

With rapid urbanization and economic growth, many developing countries have faced a greater share of air pollutants in recent years. An increasing number of exposure studies on air pollutants have been reported lately. However, due to lack of strict regulations and monitoring stations among developing countries, such as Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, limited air pollution and exposure assessment studies have been conducted in this region.

An agent-based model evaluation of economic control strategies for paratuberculosis in a dairy herd.

This paper uses an agent-based simulation model to estimate the costs associated with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP), or Johne's disease, in a milking herd, and to determine the net benefits of implementing various control strategies. The net present value (NPV) of a 1,000-cow milking herd is calculated over 20 yr, parametrized to a representative US commercial herd.