Bifunctional NiCo-CuO Nanostructures: A Promising Catalyst for Energy Conversion and Storage.

This investigation explores the potential of co-incorporating nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) into copper oxide (CuO) nanostructures for bifunctional electrochemical charge storage and oxygen evolution reactions (OER). A facile wet chemical synthesis method is employed to co-incorporate Ni and Co into CuO, yielding diverse nanostructured morphologies, including rods, spheres, and flake. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman analyses confirmed the formation of NiCo-CuO nanostructure, with minor phases of nickel oxide (NiO) and cobalt tetraoxide (CoO).

Effect of supplementation of distillers' dried grain with solubles (DDGS) to a straw-based diet on performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality in Nellore ram lambs.

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), a byproduct of ethanol production, has gained recognition as a viable alternative feed supplement for ram lambs because of its nutritional profile and cost-effectiveness. This study evaluated the effect of supplementing straw-based diets with different levels of DDGS on the growth performance and economic viability of growing ram lambs. A total of 24 ram lambs (16.

Vineyard management systems influence arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi recruitment by grapevine rootstocks in New Zealand.

Aims: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can perform significant functions within sustainable agricultural ecosystems, including vineyards. Increased AMF diversity can be beneficial in promoting plant growth and increasing resilience to environmental changes. To effectively utilize AMF communities and their benefits in vineyard ecosystems, a better understanding of how management systems influence AMF community composition is needed.

VirulentPred 2.0: An improved method for prediction of virulent proteins in bacterial pathogens.

Virulence proteins in pathogens are essential for causing disease in a host. They enable the pathogen to invade, survive and multiply within the host, thus enhancing its potential to cause disease while also causing evasion of host defense mechanisms. Identifying these factors, especially potential vaccine candidates or drug targets, is critical for vaccine or drug development research.

Root diameter, host specificity and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community composition among native and exotic plant species.

Plant root systems rely on a functionally diverse range of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to, among other benefits, extend their nutrient foraging. Extended nutrient foraging is likely of greatest importance to coarse-rooted plants, yet few studies have examined the link between root traits and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community composition. Here, we examine the relationship between root diameter and the composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in a range of native and exotic plant species.

Adaptive profiles of Nellore sheep with reference to farming system and season: physiological, hemato-biochemical, hormonal, oxidative-enzymatic and reproductive standpoint.

This paper outlines the effect of farming systems with reference to season on the body condition score (BCS) and adaptive profile (physiological, hemato-biochemical, hormonal, enzymatic and reproductive parameters) of Nellore sheep. In trial 1, sixty ewe-lambs were allotted to extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive rearing systems (n = 20) and evaluated for BCS at puberty, mating, 2 weeks pre-lambing and 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks post-lambing. In trial 2, eighteen rams were distributed evenly to three farming systems (n = 6) and evaluated for physiological, hemato-biochemical, hormonal, enzymatic, and reproductive parameters concerning three seasons.

Farming systems in sheep rearing: Impact on growth and reproductive performance, nutrient digestibility, disease incidence and heat stress indices.

The experiment was conducted with an intent to know the effect of different farming systems on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility coefficients, reproductive traits, disease incidence, heat stress indices, and cost economics of Nellore sheep. The study includes two parallel trials to prevent the influence of age on heat stress indices (panting score and erythrocyte osmotic fragility (EOF)). One hundred and twenty lambs (60 ram-lambs and 60 ewe-lambs) were allotted in a randomized block design under extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive systems for trial I, whereas trial II include eighteen rams assigned to the three respective farming systems in a completely randomised design.

Immunoinformatics and Epitope Prediction.

With advancements in sequencing technologies, vast amount of experimental data has accumulated. Due to rapid progress in the development of bioinformatics tools and the accumulation of data, immunoinformatics or computational immunology emerged as a special branch of bioinformatics which utilizes bioinformatics approaches for understanding and interpreting immunological data. One extensively studied aspect of applied immunology involves using available databases and tools for prediction of B- and T-cell epitopes.

A competent bidrug loaded water soluble chitosan derivative for the effective inhibition of breast cancer.

Drug resistance and damage caused to the normal cells are the drawbacks which have limited the use of the existing effective anticancer drugs. Attainment of a steady and extended release by encapsulating dual drugs into biocompatible and biodegradable vehicles is the key to enable the use of these drugs for effective inhibition of cancer. In this study, carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS), a proficient water-soluble derivative of chitosan has been synthesized using chemical route and used for the delivery of 5-Fluorouracil and doxorubicin individually as well as in combination.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Quinolone Resistance-Associated T86I and P104S Mutations in Campylobacter jejuni gyrA: Unraveling Structural Repercussions.

gyrA is a clinically validated therapeutic drug target that catalyzes changes in DNA topology by introducing negative supercoils into DNA. The broad-spectrum quinolones are hitherto the most potent antibacterial agents targeted toward gyrA. Increasing resistance to quinolones is accompanied by several mutations in the quinolone resistance-determining region of gyrA.

Tapping into Salmonella typhimurium LT2 genome in a quest to explore its therapeutic arsenal: A metabolic network modeling approach.

S. typhimurium, the classical broad-host-range serovar is a widely distributed cause of food-borne illness. Escalating antibiotic resistance and potential of conjugal transmission to other pathogens attributable to its broad spectrum host specificities have aided S.

Surface proteome mining for identification of potential vaccine candidates against Campylobacter jejuni: an in silico approach.

Campylobacter jejuni remains a major cause of human gastroenteritis with estimated annual incidence rate of 450 million infections worldwide. C. jejuni is a major burden to public health in both socioeconomically developing and industrialized nations.

Travelers' Diarrhea-Associated Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli gyrA Mutants and Quinolone Antibiotic Affinity: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Residue Interaction Network Analysis.

Travelers' diarrhea (TD) is one of the most important global health issues among international travelers, especially those traveling to developing countries. Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the most frequently isolated pathogen causing TD. Although TD is self-limiting, it is also severely incapacitating.

Structural Insights into the Fluoroquinolone Resistance Mechanism of Shigella flexneri DNA Gyrase and Topoisomerase IV.

Traveler's diarrhea (TD) is an important public health concern that can result from a variety of intestinal pathogens, including bacteria, parasites, and virus. A number of antibiotics are being used to cure TD, but due to widespread use of these antibiotics, the pathogens are becoming resistant to them. In this work, we performed docking studies of DNA gyraseA (GyrA) and topoisomerase IV (ParC) of Shigella flexneri and their mutants with two different fluoroquinolones, ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin, to understand their resistance mechanism at the structural level.

Identification of epitope-based peptide vaccine candidates against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli: a comparative genomics and immunoinformatics approach.

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) associated diarrhea remains a global killer with an estimated annual incidence rate of 840 million infections and 3 800 000 deaths worldwide. There are no vaccines available for ETEC and the traditional vaccine development approach is arduous and time consuming. Thus, alternative in silico approaches for epitope prediction have engrossed the interest of researchers to reduce resources and time of vaccine development.

A review of the effects of dietary organic acids fed to swine.

Animal production depends on nutrient utilization and if done there is an accelerated momentum towards growth with a low cost to feed ratio Public concern over the consumption of pork with antibiotic residues of the animals fed with antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) has paved the way to use other additives like herbs and their products, probiotics, prebiotics etc. Numerous feed additives are in vogue for achieving this target and one such classical example is the usage of organic acids and their salts. Usage of organic acids was in progress for over four decades.

Structural signature of Ser83Leu and Asp87Asn mutations in DNA gyrase from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli and impact on quinolone resistance.

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is among the most frequent microorganisms causing traveler's diarrhea (TD). Quinolones are potent antimicrobial agents used for the treatment of TD. Resistance to quinolones is typically caused by substitutions in QRDR region of gyrA subunit of DNA gyrase.

MATEPRED-A-SVM-Based Prediction Method for Multidrug And Toxin Extrusion (MATE) Proteins.

The growth and spread of drug resistance in bacteria have been well established in both mankind and beasts and thus is a serious public health concern. Due to the increasing problem of drug resistance, control of infectious diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia etc. is becoming more difficult.

Novel Drug Targets for Food-Borne Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni: An Integrated Subtractive Genomics and Comparative Metabolic Pathway Study.

Campylobacters are a major global health burden and a cause of food-borne diarrheal illness and economic loss worldwide. In developing countries, Campylobacter infections are frequent in children under age two and may be associated with mortality. In developed countries, they are a common cause of bacterial diarrhea in early adulthood.

DBDiaSNP: An Open-Source Knowledgebase of Genetic Polymorphisms and Resistance Genes Related to Diarrheal Pathogens.

Diarrhea is a highly common infection among children, responsible for significant morbidity and mortality rate worldwide. After pneumonia, diarrhea remains the second leading cause of neonatal deaths. Numerous viral, bacterial, and parasitic enteric pathogens are associated with diarrhea.

dbDiarrhea: the database of pathogen proteins and vaccine antigens from diarrheal pathogens.

Diarrhea occurs world-wide and is most commonly caused by gastrointestinal infections which kill around 2.2 million people globally each year, mostly children in developing countries. We describe here dbDiarrhea, which is currently the most comprehensive catalog of proteins implicated in the pathogenesis of diarrhea caused by major bacterial, viral and parasitic species.

RCDB: Renal Cancer Gene Database.

Background: Renal cell carcinoma or RCC is one of the common and most lethal urological cancers, with 40% of the patients succumbing to death because of metastatic progression of the disease. Treatment of metastatic RCC remains highly challenging because of its resistance to chemotherapy as well as radiotherapy, besides surgical resection. Whereas RCC comprises tumors with differing histological types, clear cell RCC remains the most common.

Machine learning methods for prediction of CDK-inhibitors.

Progression through the cell cycle involves the coordinated activities of a suite of cyclin/cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) complexes. The activities of the complexes are regulated by CDK inhibitors (CDKIs). Apart from its role as cell cycle regulators, CDKIs are involved in apoptosis, transcriptional regulation, cell fate determination, cell migration and cytoskeletal dynamics.

FaaPred: a SVM-based prediction method for fungal adhesins and adhesin-like proteins.

Adhesion constitutes one of the initial stages of infection in microbial diseases and is mediated by adhesins. Hence, identification and comprehensive knowledge of adhesins and adhesin-like proteins is essential to understand adhesin mediated pathogenesis and how to exploit its therapeutic potential. However, the knowledge about fungal adhesins is rudimentary compared to that of bacterial adhesins.