Boron and Nitrogen Co-Doped Porous Graphene Nanostructures for the Electrochemical Detection of Poisonous Heavy Metal Ions.

Heavy metal poisoning has a life-threatening impact on the human body to aquatic ecosystems. This necessitates designing a convenient green methodology for the fabrication of an electrochemical sensor that can detect heavy metal ions efficiently. In this study, boron (B) and nitrogen (N) co-doped laser-induced porous graphene (LIG) nanostructured electrodes were fabricated using a direct laser writing technique.

Superior functionality of niobium pentoxide nano-rod/tripod photocatalyst synthesized using polyethyleneimine as a soft template for the abatement of methylene blue under UV and visible irradiation.

Polyethyleneimine (PEI) capping agent-cum-template-mediated synthesis of niobium oxide nanoparticles is reported to explore its impact on the resultant morphology, porosity, crystallinity, phase complexation, and thus on the photocatalytic activity. The resultant niobium oxides calcined at 800°C and 1000°C crystallized into highly ordered nano-rod/tripod nanostructure with inter-rod angle <120° having orthorhombic phase and heavily agglomerated rod-like nanostructures having monoclinic crystal phase, respectively. Contrary to the expectations, the nano-rod/tripods showed superior photocatalytic degradation kinetics and high adsorption of methylene blue dye in the hydrocolloid than formerly reported monoclinic nanoparticles.

Bibliometric Analysis of Context, Trends, and Contents of Digital Health Technology Used in Dental Health.

Digital tools and apps are revolutionizing healthcare and provide creative answers to urgent problems. Through teamwork and the incorporation of digital technologies, dentistry has experienced a remarkable revolution. A large body of scholarly research backs up this trend.

Single Crystalline α-FeO Nanosheets with Improved PEC Performance for Water Splitting.

We report the photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance of a densely grown single crystalline hematite (α-FeO) nanosheet photoanode for water splitting. Unlike expensive ITO/FTO substrates, the sheets were grown on a piece of pure Fe through controlled thermal oxidation, which is a facile low cost and one-step synthesis route. The sheets grow with a widest surface parallel to basal plane (0001).

A single-step plasma method for rapid production of 2D, ferromagnetic, surface vacancy-engineered MoOnanomaterials, for photothermal ablation of cancer.

A rapid, clean plasma-chemical technique is demonstrated here, for cost-effective, synthesis of surface vacancy engineered, 2D, molybdenum-oxide nanomaterials, during a one-step, integrated synthesis-hydrogenation process for biomedical applications. A laminar plasma beam populated with O and H radicals impinges on a molybdenum target, out of which molybdenum-oxide nanomaterials are very rapidly generated with controlled surface O vacancies. 2D, dark-blue coloured, nano-flake/ribbon like MoOis produced maximum up to 194 g h, the core of which still remains as stoichiometric molybdenum-oxide.

Temperature-Dependent n-p-n Switching and Highly Selective Room-Temperature n-SnSe/p-SnO/n-SnSe Heterojunction-Based NO Gas Sensor.

Many toxic gases are mixed into the atmosphere because of increased air pollution. An efficient gas sensor is required to detect these poisonous gases with its ultrasensitive ability. We employed the thermal evaporation method to deposit an n-SnSe/p-SnO/n-SnSe heterojunction and observed a temperature-dependent n-p-n switching NO gas sensor with high selectivity working at room temperature (RT).

End-to-End Automated Latent Fingerprint Identification With Improved DCNN-FFT Enhancement.

Automatic Latent Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) are most widely used by forensic experts in law enforcement and criminal investigations. One of the critical steps used in automatic latent fingerprint matching is to automatically extract reliable minutiae from fingerprint images. Hence, minutiae extraction is considered to be a very important step in AFIS.

CNNAI: A Convolution Neural Network-Based Latent Fingerprint Matching Using the Combination of Nearest Neighbor Arrangement Indexing.

Automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS) make use of global fingerprint information like ridge flow, ridge frequency, and delta or core points for fingerprint alignment, before performing matching. In latent fingerprints, the ridges will be smudged and delta or core points may not be available. It becomes difficult to pre-align fingerprints with such partial fingerprint information.

Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance of Novel Reaction Condition-Induced BiS-Bi Nanocomposites.

This is the first report on the enhanced thermoelectric (TE) properties of novel reaction-temperature () and duration-induced BiS-Bi nanocomposites synthesized using a facile one-step polyol method. They are well characterized as nanorod composites of orthorhombic BiS and rhombohedral Bi phases in which the latter coats the former forming BiS-Bi core-shell-like structures along with independent Bi nanoparticles. A very significant observation is the systematic reduction in electrical resistivity ρ with a whopping 7 orders of magnitude (∼10) with just reaction temperature and duration increase, revealing a promising approach for the reduction of ρ of this highly resistive chalcogenide and hence resolving the earlier obstacles for its thermoelectric application potentials in the past few decades.

Vibrational spectra and optical properties of FeCrVO solid solutions: With a group theory analysis.

The present manuscript reports vibrational spectra and optical studies of polycrystalline FeCrVO solid solutions through FT-IR spectroscopy augmented with a group theory (G.T.) analysis and UV-Visible DRS spectroscopy.

Effect of vanadium pentoxide concentration in ZnO/VO nanostructured composite thin films for toluene detection.

ZnO/VO nanocomposite thin films were synthesised by the spray pyrolysis technique with optimised deposition parameters by varying the concentration of vanadium pentoxide. The X-ray diffraction results showed that the ZnO/VO nanocomposite thin films have a Wurtzite-type hexagonal ZnO structure. We attained crystal phases at all concentrations.

Complete Genome Sequence of α-1,3-Glucanase-Producing Strain RSP-02.

A mutanase (α-1,3 glucanase)-producing bacterial strain of Paracoccus mutanolyticus was isolated from soil samples rich in cellulosic waste. Here, we report the whole-genome sequencing and annotation of P. mutanolyticus, which has a genome size of around 3.

Draft genome sequence and detailed characterization of biofuel production by oleaginous microalga LWG002611.

Background: Due to scarcity of fossil fuel, the importance of alternative energy sources is ever increasing. The oleaginous microalgae have demonstrated their potential as an alternative source of energy, but have not achieved commercialization owing to some biological and technical inefficiency. Modern methods of recombinant strain development for improved efficacy are suffering due to inadequate knowledge of genome and limited molecular tools available for their manipulation.

Thermoelectric properties of Ag-doped CuS nanocomposites synthesized by a facile polyol method.

We report the first thermoelectric properties of CuAgS, x = 0-0.75 nanocomposites, synthesized by using a facile polyol method. Systematic characterizations using powder XRD, Rietveld refinement of XRD, EDAX, XPS and Raman spectroscopy confirmed their single phase, hexagonal crystal structure with the space group P6/mmc, nominal elemental composition, valence states of the constituent elements and stoichiometric nature.

Thiourea priming enhances salt tolerance through co-ordinated regulation of microRNAs and hormones in Brassica juncea.

Activation of stress tolerance mechanisms demands transcriptional reprogramming. Salt stress, a major threat to plant growth, enhances ROS production and affects transcription through modulation of miRNAs and hormones. The present study delineates salt stress ameliorating action of thiourea (TU, a ROS scavenger) in Brassica juncea and provides mechanistic link between redox, microRNA and hormones.

Effect of gamma irradiation on X-ray absorption and photoelectron spectroscopy of Nd-doped phosphate glass.

X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of Nd-doped phosphate glasses have been studied before and after gamma irradiation. The intensity and the location of the white line peak of the L-edge XANES of Nd are found to be dependent on the ratio O/Nd in the glass matrix. Gamma irradiation changes the elemental concentration of atoms in the glass matrix, which affects the peak intensity of the white line due to changes in the covalence of the chemical bonds with Nd atoms in the glass (structural changes).

Agent-Based Deterministic Modeling of the Bone Marrow Homeostasis.

Modeling of stem cells not only describes but also predicts how a stem cell's environment can control its fate. The first stem cell populations discovered were hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). In this paper, we present a deterministic model of bone marrow (that hosts HSCs) that is consistent with several of the qualitative biological observations.

Draft Genome Sequence of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Strain E24377A, Obtained from a Tribal Drinking Water Source in India.

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a major cause of diarrheal disease in humans and animals. Its dissemination can occur through water sources contaminated by it. Here, we report for the first time the draft genome sequence of ETEC strain E24377A, obtained from a tribal drinking water source in India.

First observation of the temperature-dependent light-induced response of Ge(25)As(10)Se(65) thin films.

Ge-rich ternary chalcogenide glasses (ChGs) exhibit photobleaching (PB) when illuminated with bandgap light. This effect originates from the combined effects of intrinsic structural changes and photo-oxidation. In a sharp contradiction to previous observations, in this Letter, we demonstrate, for the first time, that Ge-rich Ge(25)As(10)Se(65) ChG thin films exhibit photodarkening (PD) at 20 K and PB at 300 and 420 K after having been continuously illuminated for ∼3 hours.

Whole-Genome Sequencing and Annotation of a Clinical Isolate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Mumbai, India.

We report here the annotated genome sequence of a clinical isolate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Mumbai, India.

Whole-Genome Sequences of Four Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Tamil Nadu, South India.

We report the annotated genome sequences of four clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Tamil Nadu, India.

Antifungals: need to search for a new molecular target.

In the 1990s, drug resistance has become an important problem in a variety of infectious diseases including human immunodeficiency virus infection, tuberculosis, and other bacterial infections which have profound effects on human health. At the same time, there have been dramatic increase in the incidence of fungal infections, which are probably the result of alterations in immune status associated with the acquired immuno deficiency syndrome epidemic, cancer chemotherapy, and organ and bone marrow transplantation. The rise in the incidence of fungal infections has exacerbated the need for the next generation of antifungal agents, since many of the currently available drugs have undesirable side effects, are ineffective against new or reemerging fungi, or lead to the rapid development of the resistance.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray characterization of a lectin from Cicer arietinum (chickpea).

The lectin isolated from mature seeds of Cicer arietinum (CAL) agglutinates pronase-treated rabbit and human erythrocytes and its haemagglutination activity is inhibited by fetuin and desialated fetuin but not by simple monosaccharides or oligosaccharides. The purified lectin is a dimer of molecular weight 43,000 Da composed of two identical subunits (MW 21,500), as confirmed by SDS-PAGE. The lectin has been crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method at 295 K over a well solution containing 0.