Publications by authors named "Smita Rai"

We consider carbon monoxide (CO) confined in the hydrogen-bonded building blocks of sI and sII clathrate hydrates, viz., (5, 56, 56) cages, within the density functional theory-based calculations. We study their response to the applied electric fields in terms of changes in the geometrical parameters, dipole moment, HOMO-LUMO gap, and vibrational frequency shift.

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Nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit fascinating size-dependent chemical and physical characteristics that make them useful for a variety of applications. The present paper reports the green synthesis of CuO NPs and B-doped CuO NPs (B-CuO NPs) from Livistona chinensis leaf extract. Not much work has been reported on the use of the plant extract for the fabrication of NPs, particularly those of Cu and its doped counterparts.

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We consider a water molecule under tight confinement in the small-sized fullerenes (C , C , C ) within the density functional theory (DFT) calculations with suitable exchange-correlation functionals. Such nanoscopic molecular cages provide an ideal setup to study their characteristic properties not present in the condensed phase. The water molecule entirely loses its feature of typical water when it is confined in small fullerenes of size equal to C or smaller, in which the asymmetric O-H stretching vibration occurs at a lower wavenumber than the symmetric stretching.

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Psidium guajava fruits are highly appreciated for their nutrients and bioactive compounds content, which contribute to their antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities. The purpose of this study was to determine bioactive compound (phenolic, flavonoids, and carotenoid contents), antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTS, ORAC, and FRAP), and antibacterial potential against MDR and food-borne pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus during different stages of fruit ripening.The results elucidated that ripe fruits (methanolic extract) contain the highest total phenolic, flavonoids, and carotenoid contents (417.

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Salinity-induced ethylene production and reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibit agricultural productivity. The plant synthesizes ethylene directly from aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC). By using ACC as a nitrogen source, bacteria with ACC deaminase (ACCD) inhibit the overproduction of ethylene, thereby maintaining the ROS.

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Climate change has devastating effects on plant growth and yield. During ontogenesis, plants are subjected to a variety of abiotic stresses, including drought and salinity, affecting the crop loss (20-50%) and making them vulnerable in terms of survival. These stresses lead to the excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that damage nucleic acid, proteins, and lipids.

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Unlabelled: Salinity stress is one of the most serious environmental stresses which limit plant growth, development and productivity. In this study, we screened 25 bacterial isolates based on the biochemical activity of ACC deaminase. Two potent PGPR namely (CHR JH 203) and (BST YS1_42) having the highest ACC deaminase (ACCD) activity were selected for further analyses such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), salt tolerance assay, expression analysis, antioxidant assay, etc.

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Breast cancer cell proliferation is promoted by a variety of mitogenic signals. Classically estrogen is considered as most predominant mitogenic signal in hormone-dependent breast cancer and progesterone is primarily considered to have protective effect. However, it is suggested that some progesterone metabolite may promote breast cancer and progesterone metabolites like 5α-pregnane and 4-pregnene could serve as regulators of estrogen-responsiveness of breast cancer cells.

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Background: In view of the recent upsurge in the phenomenon of therapeutic failure, drug resistance in Leishmania, developed under natural field conditions, has become a great concern yet little understood. Accordingly, the study of determinants of antimony resistance is urgently warranted. Efflux transporters have been reported in Leishmania but their role in clinical resistance is still unknown.

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Trypanothione reductase [TR], an NADPH-dependent disulfide oxidoreductase, unique to kinetoplastid parasites including Trypanosoma and Leishmania, is a validated target for the design of improved drugs. TR is a stable homodimer with a FAD molecule tightly bound to each subunit. In this paper, structure, function, stability properties and cofactor protein interactions of recombinant TR from Leishmania donovani were investigated under equilibrium unfolding/denaturing conditions.

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The tetrafunctionalized AB3-type porphyrin building blocks containing two different types of functional groups with N4, N3O, N3S, and N2S2 porphyrin cores were synthesized by following various synthetic routes. The AB3-type tetrafunctionalized N4 porphyrin building block was synthesized by a mixed condensation approach, the N3S and N3O porphyrin building blocks by a mono-ol method, and N2S2 porphyrin building block by an unsymmetrical diol method. The tetrafunctionalized porphyrin building blocks were used to synthesize monofunctionalized porphyrin tetrads containing two different types of porphyrin subunits by coupling of 1 equiv of tetrafunctionalized N4, N3O, N3S, and N2S2 porphyrin building block with 3 equiv of monofunctionalized ZnN4 porphyrin building block under mild copper-free Pd(0) coupling conditions.

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Clinical resistance to pentavalent antimonial compounds has long been recognized as a major problem in the treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in India. However, mechanisms of natural resistance are unclear. In this study, we observed that Leishmania donovani clinical isolates not responsive to sodium stibogluconate showed resistance to antimony treatment in both in vitro and in vivo laboratory conditions.

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