Risk Factors and Hazards in the Household Environment for Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Urban Preschool Children of Vellore: A Case-Control Approach in the MAL-ED Birth Cohort.

Objectives: To study the household environmental risk factors and hazards associated with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) in preschool children in an urban setting of Vellore, South India.

Methods: A case-control study within the MAL-ED (Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development) birth cohort was conducted between January 2014 and January 2015. The study included 153 pre-school children: 87 cases and 66 controls with elevated and normal BLLs, respectively.

Ultrasonication-Assisted and Benzimidazolium-Based Brønsted Acid Ionic Liquid-Catalyzed Transesterification of Castor Oil.

In this investigation, we report the synthesis of biodiesel using benzimidazolium-based brønsted acid ionic liquid (BBAIL) catalyst under the influence of ultrasonication. The prepared BBAIL catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform infrared and NMR spectroscopy techniques, and its acidity was determined by the Hammett method with 4-nitroaniline as the indicator. Ultrasonicator horn (22 kHz, 500 W) was used in this work with an on-off cycle of 50-20 s at 70% amplitude.

A bioinspired ionic liquid tagged cobalt-salophen complex for nonenzymatic detection of glucose.

The development of efficient and cost effective nonenzymatic biosensors with remarkable sensitivity, selectivity and stability for the detection of biomolecules, especially glucose is one of the major challenges in materials- and electrochemistry. Herein, we report the design and preparation of nonenzymatic biosensor based on an ionic liquid tagged cobalt-salophen metal complex (Co-salophen-IL) immobilized on electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ERGO) for the detection of glucose via an electrochemical oxidation. The bioinspired Co-salophen-IL complex has been synthesized and immobilized on ERGO, which was previously deposited on a screen printed carbon electrode (SPE) to form the Co-salophen-IL/ERGO/SPE nonenzymatic biosensor.

Recent developments of metal N-heterocyclic carbenes as anticancer agents.

Metal based anticancer drugs have demonstrated their crucial role in preventing all types of cancers whereas their effectiveness is selective with respect to the cancer cells rather than the normal cells. Recently metal N-heterocyclic carbenes have established their selective performance for cancer cells excluding normal healthy cells based on which they are widely utilised for targeting cancer cells specifically which leads to cell death or cell growth inhibition. This is mainly due to their ionic character which helps them to localise in cancer cells with the help of enhanced expression of Organic Cation Transporters (OCT).

Synthesis and evaluation of cyclohexane carboxylic acid head group containing isoxazole and thiazole analogs as DGAT1 inhibitors.

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) is known to play an important catalytic role in the final step of triglyceride biosynthesis. High fat diet fed DGAT1 knockout mice were resistant to weight gain and exhibited increased insulin and leptin sensitivity thereby indicating a plausible role for DGAT1 inhibitors in the treatment of obesity. 4-Phenylpiperidine-1-carbonyl cyclohexanecarboxylic acid (compound 6, DGAT1 IC50 = 57 nM) has been lately reported as a potent DGAT1 inhibitor.