Publications by authors named "Muthukumar K"

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) can form biomolecular condensates through phase separation. It is recognized that the conformation of IDPs in the dense and dilute phases, as well as at the interfaces of condensates, can critically impact their functionality. However, a residue-level understanding of the conformational transitions of IDPs during condensation remains elusive.

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Objective: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) has a multifactorial etiology, with a majority of cases remaining unexplained. To account for these unexplained cases, possible male factors are being explored. Conventional semen analysis lacks a qualitative assessment of sperms and information regarding sperm DNA integrity.

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Introduction: The gut microbiome's influence on weight management has gained significant interest for its potential to support better obesity therapeutics. Patient stratification leading to personalized nutritional intervention has shown benefits over one-size-fit-all diets. However, the efficacy and impact on the gut's microbiome of personalizing weight loss diets based on individual factors remains under-investigated.

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Article Synopsis
  • Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common incurable movement disorder, and the DJ-1 molecule associated with familial PD might show altered levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as the disease progresses.
  • Recent research explores creating molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) to selectively detect the DJ-1 biomarker using various functional monomers for accurate recognition.
  • Computational methods, including molecular docking and simulations, indicate that polythiophene derivative PEDOT has the best interactions with DJ-1, making it a strong candidate for developing selective DJ-1 sensors.*
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Alternative treatment strategies for urinary tract infections (UTIs) are becoming more necessary due to increasing drug resistance patterns in uropathogens. Nanoparticle-based therapeutics is emerging as a way to treat UTIs. In the present study, using extract, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized, characterized, and their anti-uropathogenic activity was evaluated.

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In this study, a one-step hydrothermal approach was used to make pure magnetic copper ferrite (CuFeO) and copper ferrite-graphene oxide (CuFeO-rGO) nanocomposites (NCs) and spinel structure CuFeO with a single phase of tetragonal CuFeO-rGO-NCs was confirmed by the XRD. Then, characterization of CuFeO-rGO-NCs was done using ng Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR, TGA-DTA, EDS, SEM, and TEM. The synthesized NCs was exposed to UV light to evaluate its photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB) with CuFeO and CuFeO-rGO-NCs, respectively.

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The entire human race is struggling with the spread of COVID-19. Worldwide, the wearing of face masks is indispensable to prevent such spread. Despite numerous studies reporting on the fabrication of face masks and surgical masks to reduce spread and thus human deaths, this novel work is considered the marine waste of microplastics, namely Polypropylene (PP) polymer, used to fabricate non-woven fabric masks through the melt-blown process.

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Mental health services continue to experience rising demand that exceeds capacity. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this crisis, with access to services being reduced. Although video consultations (VCs) are a solution, usage in UK community mental healthcare settings remains limited.

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Amongst the current alternatives, algae were proven to be a promising source of biofuel, which is renewable and capable of meeting world demand for transportation fuels. However, a suitable lipid extraction method that efficiently releases the lipids from different algal strains remains a bottleneck. The multifarious pretreatment methods are prevalent in this field of lipid extraction, and therefore, this article has critically reviewed the various lipid extraction methods for ameliorating the lipid yield from algae, irrespective of the strains/species.

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Background: Stoma closure is a widely performed surgical procedure, with 6295 undertaken in England in 2018 alone. This procedure is associated with significant complications; incisional hernias are the most severe, occurring in 30% of patients. Complications place considerable financial burden on the NHS; hernia costs are estimated at GBP 114 million annually.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study explores how genetic, lifestyle, and gut microbiome factors contribute to differences in mental health improvements during weight-loss interventions for individuals with neuropsychiatric diseases and obesity.
  • - Participants in the study, who were part of a digital health program, lost an average of 5.4% of their body weight, and over 95% reported improved mental health symptoms, indicating a potential link between weight loss and mental well-being.
  • - Significant correlations were found between genetic scores and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, as well as between gut microbial functions and sleep problems, suggesting that both genetics and gut health play roles in how individuals respond to weight-loss interventions in terms of mental health.
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In this paper, we propose an activity detection system using a 24 × 32 resolution infrared array sensor placed on the ceiling. We first collect the data at different resolutions (i.e.

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Diet and lifestyle-related illnesses including functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and obesity are rapidly emerging health issues worldwide. Research has focused on addressing FGIDs via in-person cognitive-behavioral therapies, diet modulation and pharmaceutical intervention. Yet, there is paucity of research reporting on digital therapeutics care delivering weight loss and reduction of FGID symptom severity, and on modeling FGID status and symptom severity reduction including personalized genomic SNPs and gut microbiome signals.

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The surface properties of three-dimensional scaffolds are improved by coating or covalently linking certain adhesion-promoting proteins or peptides. In the present study, the effect of type I collagen-derived peptide (GKNGDDGEA) on adhesion and proliferation of HaCaT keratinocytes and NIH3T3 murine fibroblast cell lines was studied to assess its suitability for possible skin tissue engineering applications. Cell adhesion and proliferation of HaCaT and NIH3T3 were found to be enhanced by peptide coating.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency of addressing an epidemic of obesity and associated inflammatory illnesses. Previous studies have demonstrated that interactions between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and lifestyle interventions such as food and exercise may vary metabolic outcomes, contributing to obesity. However, there is a paucity of research relating outcomes from digital therapeutics to the inclusion of genetic data in care interventions.

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Globally, the scarcity of drinking water has triggered the researchers towards the development of desalination techniques to turn up saline water into potable. Microbial Desalination Cell (MDC) is a novel green technology that shows potential approach for desalination along with electricity generation and wastewater treatment. However, the expensive catholyte/catalyst in the cathode side has limited the MDC for real time application.

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We demonstrate the feasibility of algal lipid production and bioelectricity generation with concurrent treatment of municipal solid waste (MSW) leachate in a double-chamber algal-assisted microbial fuel cell (AAMFC). The cathode chamber was loaded with Synechococcus sp. and MSW leachate whereas anode chamber was loaded with anaerobic microflora.

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Generation of calcium vanadate waste sludge their management and treatment.is one of the major problem of metal processing industry. In this paper, we have proposed a simple process for the selective recovery of vanadium as ammonium metavanadate (AMV) from the calcium vanadate sludge using ammonium sulphate (AS) as a leaching agent.

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In this study, the treatment of kitchen wastewater was demonstrated using microbial fuel cell (MFC) consisting photosynthetic microorganism as cathode catalyst. The power density and biomass generation were investigated using two photosynthetic microorganisms namely Synechococcus sp. and Chlorococcum sp.

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The surface modification of biomaterials with matrikines for tissue engineering application is one of the recent approaches to improve their biocompatibility. In an earlier study, a peptide containing 21 amino acid isolated from bovine tendon collagen was shown to promote good cell adhesion in HeLa cell, and a smaller region in the peptide was identified using bioinformatics tool to mediate cell-peptide interaction. Hence, the present study was undertaken to validate the cell adhesion property of the smaller region of the peptide and elucidate probable peptide-cell interaction pathway.

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Summary: Somatic Mutation calling method using a Random Forest (SMuRF) integrates predictions and auxiliary features from multiple somatic mutation callers using a supervised machine learning approach. SMuRF is trained on community-curated matched tumor and normal whole genome sequencing data. SMuRF predicts both SNVs and indels with high accuracy in genome or exome-level sequencing data.

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Objectives: Newer oral anticoagulants like rivaroxaban are increasingly becoming the mainstay of treatment in systemic thrombosis. However cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is conventionally treated with heparin followed by oral vitamin K antagonists. Currently very little information is available about the use of rivaroxaban in CVT.

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Background: Assessment of ovarian reserve before an fertilization cycle (IVF) is one among the many factors that predicts a successful cycle. Individualized protocol based on ovarian reserve is designed to optimize the pregnancy outcome without compromising the patient safety. Although authors have shown that anti-Mullerian hormone-tailored (AMH) protocols have reduced the treatment burden and improved pregnancy rates, a few others have questioned its efficacy.

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The interaction of trimethyl(methylcyclopentadienyl)platinum(IV) ((CHCH)Pt(CH)) molecules on fully and partially hydroxylated SiO surfaces, as well as the dynamics of this interaction were investigated using density functional theory (DFT) and finite temperature DFT-based molecular dynamics simulations. Fully and partially hydroxylated surfaces represent substrates before and after electron beam treatment and this study examines the role of electron beam pretreatment on the substrates in the initial stages of precursor dissociation and formation of Pt deposits. Our simulations show that on fully hydroxylated surfaces or untreated surfaces, the precursor molecules remain inactivated while we observe fragmentation of (CHCH)Pt(CH) on partially hydroxylated surfaces.

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Trace metals concentrations were studied for three different seasons on four seaweed species (Halimeda gracilis, Padina pavonica, Sargassum swartzii and Turbinaria ornata) from Wandoor area of southern Andaman Island. Though diversified seaweed population records in the study area, the studied four species were predominantly present in all the seasons. The observed average levels on trace metals concentrations were Cd 0-0.

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