Venom-spit ophthalmia: A novel envenomation of Monocled Cobra (Naja kaouthia).

Handling venomous snakes poses a significant risk of envenomation. In the case of spitting cobras, additional precautions, like wearing face shields, are necessary to prevent ophthalmic envenomation. Although, the Monocled Cobra (Naja kaouthia) is not a true spitting cobra, however some spitting events has been reported from Northeastern India and Nepal but ocular envenomation is scarce.

Thermionic Emission in Artificially Structured Single-Crystalline Elemental Metal/Compound Semiconductor Superlattices.

Metal/semiconductor superlattices represent a fascinating frontier in materials science and nanotechnology, where alternating layers of metals and semiconductors are precisely engineered at the atomic and nano-scales. Traditionally, epitaxial metal/semiconductor superlattice growth requires constituent materials from the same family, exhibiting identical structural symmetry and low lattice mismatch. Here, beyond this conventional constraint, a novel class of epitaxial lattice-matched metal/semiconductor superlattices is introduced that utilizes refractory hexagonal elemental transition metals and wide-bandgap III-nitride semiconductors.

Electron confinement-induced plasmonic breakdown in metals.

Plasmon resonance represents the collective oscillation of free electron gas density and enables enhanced light-matter interactions in nanoscale dimensions. Traditionally, the classical Drude model describes plasmonic excitation, wherein plasma frequency exhibits no spatial dispersion. Here, we show conclusive experimental evidence of the breakdown of plasmon resonance and a consequent metal-insulator transition in an ultrathin refractory plasmonic material, hafnium nitride (HfN).

Improved nutritional and functional properties of plant protein isolate blends through steam infusion: A study on chickpea, brown rice and defatted peanut protein blends.

This study examined the impact of steam-infusion on defatted peanut (Pn), chickpea (Cp), and rice (R) protein isolates (PI) and their blends. Steam infusion significantly increased protein content (up to 83.13 % in PnPI, 75.