Cell-free nucleic acid fragmentomics: A non-invasive window into cellular epigenomes.

Clinical genomic profiling of cell-free nucleic acids (e.g. cell-free DNA or cfDNA) from blood and other body fluids has ushered in a new era in non-invasive diagnostics and treatment monitoring strategies for health conditions and diseases such as cancer.

Investigating the thermal stability of ultra-small Ag, Au and AuAg alloy nanoparticles embedded in a silica matrix.

Thermal growth kinetics of embedded bimetallic (AuAg/SiO) nanoparticles are explored and compared with their monometallic (Au/SiO and Ag/SiO) counterparts, as their practical applicability demands stability and uniformity. The plasmonic properties of these nanoparticles (NPs) significantly improve when their size falls in the ultra-small region (diameter < 10 nm), owing to their large active surface area. Interestingly, the bimetallic NPs exhibit better optical properties and structural stability as compared to their monometallic counterparts.

The Value of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Endorectal Ultrasound for the Accurate Preoperative T-staging of Rectal Cancer.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and endorectal ultrasound (ERUS) are essential imaging modalities to assess the depth of tumour invasion (T-staging) in rectal cancer preoperative staging. Accurate T-staging is critical for rectal cancer prognosis and has substantial importance in the determination of appropriate treatment strategies for rectal tumours. There seems to be a knowledge gap in the published literature regarding the most appropriate imaging modality for the preoperative staging of rectal cancer.

Understanding the effect of irradiation temperature on microstructural evolution of 20MnMoNi55 steel.

In this study, the effect of irradiation temperature on microstructural evolution of Indian RPV steel is reported. This study, by virtue of helium ion irradiation at 77, 300 and 573 K, could bring out the effect of the irradiation induced defects on microstructural and mechanical property changes at different stages of their existence starting from the state of cascade damage till the point of their free migration. Irradiation experiments were performed with varying ion energies to achieve nearly uniform irradiation damage of 0.

A Combinatorial Study Investigating the Growth of Ultrasmall Embedded Silver Nanoparticles upon Thermal Annealing.

Ultrasmall nanoparticles (NPs) with a high active surface area are essential for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. However, the structural stability and sustainability of these ultrasmall NPs at higher temperatures remain a critical problem. Here, we have synthesized the nanocomposites (NCs) of Ag NPs inside the silica matrix using the atom beam co-sputtering technique.

Mitogenome-wise codon usage pattern from comparative analysis of the first mitogenome of Blepharipa sp. (Muga uzifly) with other Oestroid flies.

Uziflies (Family: Tachinidae) are dipteran endoparasites of sericigenous insects which cause major economic loss in the silk industry globally. Here, we are presenting the first full mitogenome of Blepharipa sp. (Acc: KY644698, 15,080 bp, A + T = 78.

The mitochondrial genome of Muga silkworm (Antheraea assamensis) and its comparative analysis with other lepidopteran insects.

Muga (Antheraea assamensis) is an economically important silkmoth endemic to the states of Assam and Meghalaya in India and is the producer of the strongest known commercial silk. However, there is a scarcity of genomic and proteomic data for understanding the organism at a molecular level. Our present study is on decoding the complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of A.

De novo transcriptome of the muga silkworm, Antheraea assamensis (Helfer).

Antheraea assamensis (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae), is a semi-domesticated silkworm known to be endemic to Assam and the adjoining hilly areas of Northeast India. It is the only producer of a unique, commercially important variety of golden silk called "muga silk". Herein, we report the de novo transcriptome of A.

Fabrication and characterization of carbon-backed thin Pb targets.

Thin carbon-backed isotopically enriched Pb targets were required for our experiment aimed to study the reaction dynamics for Ti + Pb system, populating the near super-heavy nucleus Rf, through mass-energy correlation of the fission fragments. Purity and thickness of the targets are of utmost importance in such studies as these factors have strong influence on the measurement accuracy of mass and energy distribution of fission fragments. Pb targets with thickness ranging from 60 μg/cm to 250 μg/cm have been fabricated in high vacuum environment using physical vapor deposition method.

Genome-wide mitochondrial DNA sequence variations and lower expression of OXPHOS genes predict mitochondrial dysfunction in oral cancer tissue.

Several studies reported that mtDNA mutations may play important roles in carcinogenesis although the mechanism is not clear yet. Most of the studies compared mtDNA sequences in a tumor with those in normal tissues from different individuals ignoring inter-individual variations. In this study, 271 SNPs, 7 novel SNPs (or SNVs), and 15 somatic mutations were detected in mtDNA of 8 oral cancer tissues with respect to reference (rCRS) and adjacent normal tissues, respectively, using Ion PGM next generation sequencing method.

A comprehensive view of the web-resources related to sericulture.

Recent progress in the field of sequencing and analysis has led to a tremendous spike in data and the development of data science tools. One of the outcomes of this scientific progress is development of numerous databases which are gaining popularity in all disciplines of biology including sericulture. As economically important organism, silkworms are studied extensively for their numerous applications in the field of textiles, biomaterials, biomimetics, etc.

Unraveling The Origin of Enhanced Field Emission from Irradiated FeCo-SiO2 Nanocomposites: A Combined Experimental and First-Principles Based Study.

This work is driven by the vision of engineering planar field emitters with ferromagnetic metal-insulator nanocomposite thin films, using swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation method. FeCo nanoparticles inside SiO2 matrix, when subjected to SHI get elongated. Using this, we demonstrate here a planar field emitter with maximum current density of 550 μA/cm(2) at an applied field of 15 V/μm.

Curcumin Resource Database.

Curcumin is one of the most intensively studied diarylheptanoid, Curcuma longa being its principal producer. This apart, a class of promising curcumin analogs has been generated in laboratories, aptly named as Curcuminoids which are showing huge potential in the fields of medicine, food technology, etc. The lack of a universal source of data on curcumin as well as curcuminoids has been felt by the curcumin research community for long.

A study on the consequence of swift heavy ion irradiation of Zn-silica nanocomposite thin films: electronic sputtering.

Zn-silica nanocomposite thin films with varying Zn metal content, deposited by atom beam sputtering technique were subjected to 100 MeV Ag ion irradiation. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry reveals the loss of Zn with irradiation, which is observed to be greater from thin films with lower Zn content. The sputtered species collected on carbon-coated transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids consist of Zn nanoparticles of sizes comparable to those present in the nanocomposite thin film.

Opto-structural studies of well-dispersed silicon nano-crystals grown by atom beam sputtering.

Synthesis and characterization of nano-crystalline silicon grown by atom beam sputtering technique are reported. Rapid thermal annealing of the deposited films is carried out in Ar + 5% H2 atmosphere for 5 min at different temperatures for precipitation of silicon nano-crystals. The samples are characterized for their optical and structural properties using various techniques.

Ion beam-induced shaping of Ni nanoparticles embedded in a silica matrix: from spherical to prolate shape.

Present work reports the elongation of spherical Ni nanoparticles (NPs) parallel to each other, due to bombardment with 120 MeV Au+9 ions at a fluence of 5 × 1013 ions/cm2. The Ni NPs embedded in silica matrix have been prepared by atom beam sputtering technique and subsequent annealing. The elongation of Ni NPs due to interaction with Au+9 ions as investigated by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows a strong dependence on initial Ni particle size and is explained on the basis of thermal spike model.

Quasi-aligned gold nanodots on a nanorippled silica surface: experimental and atomistic simulation investigations.

Quasi-aligned gold nanodots with a periodicity of ∼ 40 nm have been synthesized on a silica substrate by oblique deposition of gold on fast argon atom-beam-created nanoripples of wavelength 40 nm and subsequent annealing. The size distribution of these aligned nanodots resulting from oblique deposition at 85° of 0.5 nm Au film perpendicular to ripples is narrower than the similar deposition on a flat surface.

Synthesis of plasmonic nanocomposites for diverse applications.

We report the synthesis of gold and silver nanostructures embedded in different dielectric matrices by atom beam co-sputtering, a novel technique. We have synthesized gold-silicon core shell nanostructures and Au-ZnO nanocomposite with tunable surface plasmon resonance (SPR) by atom beam co-sputtering and subsequent annealing. The Au-ZnO nanocomposite shows significant enhancement in intensity of Raman modes of fullerene molecules and therefore can help in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy investigation of organic molecules.

Surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles embedded in partially oxidized amorphous Si matrix.

Nanocomposite films containing Ag nanoparticles embedded in partially oxidized amorphous Si matrix were deposited on silica glass substrates by co-sputtering of Ag and Si with 1.5 keV neutral Ar atoms. The Ag content and thickness of the nanocomposite films was determined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry.

KeV ion-induced effective surface modifications on InP.

In the present study, we have analyzed the changes in surface morphology leading to formation of periodic structures known as ripples which arise due to an interplay between sputtering and surface diffusion. The 1.5 keV Ar atoms with a flux of 14.

Development of Ge nanoparticles embedded in GeO2 matrix.

Germanium (Ge) nanoparticles have attracted a lot of attention due to their excellent optical properties. In this paper, we report on the formation of Ge nanoparticles embedded in GeO2 matrix prepared by electron beam evaporation and subsequent annealing. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies clearly indicate the formation of Ge nanocrystals in the films annealed at 500 degrees C.

Integration of thin-film-fracture-based nanowires into microchip fabrication.

One-step device fabrication through the integration of nanowires (NWs) into silicon microchips is still under intensive scientific study as it has proved difficult to obtain a reliable and controllable fabrication technique. So far, the techniques are either costly or suffer from small throughput. Recently, a cost-effective method based on thin-film fracture that can be used as a template for NW fabrication was suggested.

Synthesis and characterization of gold nanorings.

In the present work, we report the formation of Au nanorings on quartz substrate by thermal evaporation of Au on quartz and subsequent annealing in certain conditions as a function of metal volume fraction and annealing temperature. Optical extinction cross-sections measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies have been performed on the as-deposited and annealed samples. No signature of nanoparticles formation is found in case of as-deposited samples, while spectra of annealed samples show a clear signature of surface plasmon resonance absorption (SPR) peaks around 580 nm, which reveals the formation of Au nanostructure.