Protective role of biosynthesised zinc oxide nanoparticles on pancreatic beta cells: an in vitro and in vivo approach

Sulphonylureas are extensively used in the treatment of type II diabetes; however, these drugs have complications of hypoglycaemia and weight gain. The current study aims at developing a potent antidiabetic drug that has lesser side effects and better management of its associated conditions. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were synthesised using Syzygium cumini seed extract with an average size of 18.92 nm. In vitro studies on rat insulinoma (RIN‐5F) cells revealed that cells treated with synthesised ZnO NPs showed a dose‐dependent increase in insulin secretion. Streptozotocin‐fructose‐induced type II diabetic rats treated with ZnO NPS exhibited a significant reduction (p  < 0.01) in the blood glucose levels, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low‐density lipoprotein levels and increase (p  < 0.01) in serum insulin and liver antioxidant enzyme levels proclaiming its role as a hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic drug. Treatment of ZnO NPs in diabetic rats exhibited an increased number of beta cells which was responsible for its increased insulin levels and reduced glucose levels. From the overall observations, biosynthesised ZnO NPs exhibited an efficacious hypoglycaemic effect in diabetic rats, so it can be suggested as a potent antidiabetic drug.Inspec keywords: biochemistry, II‐VI semiconductors, drug delivery systems, drugs, patient treatment, blood, enzymes, zinc compounds, molecular biophysics, sugar, cellular biophysics, nanofabrication, liver, nanoparticles, diseases, biomedical materials, nanomedicineOther keywords: protective role, biosynthesised zinc oxide nanoparticles, pancreatic beta cells, vivo approach, type II diabetes, drugs, hypoglycaemia, weight gain, potent antidiabetic drug, lesser side effects, associated conditions, Syzygium cumini seed, rat insulinoma, synthesised ZnO NPs, dose‐dependent increase, insulin secretion, streptozotocin‐fructose‐induced type II diabetic rats, blood glucose levels, low‐density lipoprotein levels, serum insulin, liver antioxidant enzyme levels, hypoglycaemic drug, hypolipidaemic drug, increased insulin levels, reduced glucose levels, biosynthesised ZnO NPs, efficacious hypoglycaemic effect, size 18.92 nm, temperature 5.0 F, ZnO     

Nano‐encapsulated Tinospora cordifolia (Willd.) using poly (D,L‐lactide) nanoparticles educe effective control in streptozotocin‐induced type 2 diabetic rats

The therapeutics for type 2 diabetes mellitus has emerged in the current century towards nanomedicine incorporated with plant active compounds. In this study, Tinospora cordifolia loaded poly (D, L‐lactide) (PLA) nanoparticles (NPs) were evaluated in vivo for their anti‐hyperglycemic potency towards streptozotocin‐induced type 2 diabetic rats. T. cordifolia loaded PLA NPs were synthesised by the double solvent evaporation method using PLA polymer. The NPs were then characterised and administrated orally for 28 successive days to streptozotocin‐induced diabetic rats. The PLA NPs had significant anti‐diabetic effects which were equal to the existing anti‐diabetic drug glibenclamide. The antidiabetic activity is due to the synergism of compounds present in stem extract of the plant which reduced the side effects and anti‐diabetic.Inspec keywords: blood, nanofabrication, drug delivery systems, biochemistry, evaporation, nanoparticles, nanomedicine, drugs, diseases, polymers, biomedical materialsOther keywords: PLA nanoparticles, antidiabetic effects, nanoencapsulated Tinospora cordifolia, streptozotocin‐induced type 2 diabetic rats, type 2 diabetes mellitus, poly(d, l‐lactide) nanoparticles, diabetic drug glibenclamide, nanomedicine, antihyperglycemic potency, double‐solvent evaporation     

Blast-related fracture patterns: a forensic biomechanical approach

Improved protective measures and medical care has increased the survivability from battlefield injuries. In an attempt to reduce the debilitating consequences of blast injury, understanding and mitigating the effects of explosion on the extremities is key. In this study, forensic biomechanical analyses have been applied to determine mechanisms of injury after the traumatic event. The aims of this study were (i) to determine which effects of the explosion are responsible for combat casualty extremity bone injury in two distinct environments, namely open, free-field (open group), and in vehicle or in cover (enclosed group), and (ii) to determine whether patterns of combat casualty bone injury differed between environments. Medical records of casualties admitted to a military hospital in Afghanistan were reviewed over a six-month period. Explosive injuries have been sub-divided traditionally into primary, secondary and tertiary effects. All radiographs were independently reviewed by a military radiologist, a team of military orthopaedic surgeons and a team of academic biomechanists, in order to determine ‘zones of injury’ (ZoIs), and their related mechanisms. Sixty-two combat casualties with 115 ZoIs were identified. Thirty-four casualties in the open group sustained 56 ZoIs; 28 casualties in the enclosed group sustained 59 ZoIs. There was no statistical difference in mean ZoIs per casualty between groups (p = 0.54). There was a higher proportion of lower limb injuries in the enclosed group compared with the open group (p < 0.05). Of the casualties in the open group, 1 ZoI was owing to the primary effects of blast, 10 owing to a combination of primary and secondary blast effects, 23 owing to secondary blast effects and 24 owing to tertiary blast effects. In contrast, tertiary blast effects predominated in the enclosed group, accounting for 96 per cent of ZoIs. These data clearly demonstrate two distinct injury groups based upon the casualties'' environment. The enclosed environment appears to attenuate the primary and secondary effects of the explosion. However, tertiary blast effects were the predominant mechanism of injury, with severe axial loading to the lower extremity being a characteristic of the fractures seen. The development of future mitigation strategies must focus on reducing all explosion-related injury mechanisms. Integral to this process is an urgent requirement to better understand the behaviour of bone in this unique environment.     

Evaluation of enthalpy of sublimation of Zr(tmhd)4 by using thermogravimetric transpiration method

The metallo-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) of ZrO₂ films is promising in various technological fields. Zr(tmhd)₄, tetrakis(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato)zirconium(IV), has been identified as an ideal precursor. The thermal stability and complete volatility of the synthesized zirconium precursor were inferred from the thermogravimetric analysis. The monomeric structure of the complex was confirmed by electron spray-ionization mass spectroscopy. The vapour pressure measurement was carried out by TG-based transpiration technique and the enthalpy of sublimation was calculated from the slope of Clausius-Clapeyron equation. This yielded a value of 85.36 (± 3.60) kJ mol^− 1 for the standard enthalpy of sublimation over the temperature span of 411-463 K.     

Adjoint operator approach to functional reliability analysis of passive fluid dynamical systems

Reliability analysis of passive systems mainly involves quantification of the margin to safety limits in probabilistic terms. For systems represented by complex models, propagating input uncertainty to get the response uncertainty and hence probability information requires intensive computational effort. Here a computationally efficient method for the functional reliability analysis of passive fluid dynamical systems is presented. The approach is based on continuous adjoint operator technique to generate a response surface approximating the given system model from the sensitivity coefficients. A numerical application of this method to the reliability analysis of heat transport in an asymmetrical natural convection loop is demonstrated. Computational efficiency and accuracy compared with the direct Monte-Carlo and forward response surface methods.     

Variable reference alignment: an improved peak alignment protocol for NMR spectral data with large intersample variation

In an effort to address the variable correspondence problem across large sample cohorts common in metabolomic/metabonomic studies, we have developed a prealignment protocol that aims to generate spectral segments sharing a common target spectrum. Under the assumption that a single reference spectrum will not correctly represent all spectra of a data set, the goal of this approach is to perform local alignment corrections on spectral regions which share a common "most similar" spectrum. A natural beneficial outcome of this procedure is the automatic definition of spectral segments, a feature that is not common to all alignment methods. This protocol is shown to specifically improve the quality of alignment in (1)H NMR data sets exhibiting large intersample compositional variation (e.g., pH, ionic strength). As a proof-of-principle demonstration, we have utilized two recently developed alignment algorithms specific to NMR data, recursive segment-wise peak alignment and interval correlated shifting, and applied them to two data sets composed of 15 aqueous cell line extract and 20 human urine (1)H NMR profiles. Application of this protocol represents a fundamental shift from current alignment methodologies that seek to correct misalignments utilizing a single representative spectrum, with the added benefit that it can be appended to any alignment algorithm.     

Data-driven construction of Convex Region Surrogate models

With the increasing trend of solving more complex and integrated optimization problems, there is a need for developing process models that are sufficiently accurate as well as computationally efficient. In this work, we develop an algorithm for the data-driven construction of a type of surrogate model that can be formulated as a set of mixed-integer linear constraints, yet still provide good approximations of nonlinearities and nonconvexities. In such a surrogate model, which we refer to as Convex Region Surrogate (CRS), the feasible region is given by the union of convex regions in the form of polytopes, and for each region, the corresponding cost function can be approximated by a linear function. The general problem is as follows: given a set of data points in the parameter space and a scalar cost value associated with each data point, find a CRS model that approximates the feasible region and cost function indicated by the given data points. We present a two-phase algorithm to solve this problem and demonstrate its effectiveness with an extensive computational study as well as a real-world case study.     

A Novel Approach for the Synthesis and Characterization Studies of Mn 2 + -Doped CdS Nanocrystals by a Facile Microwave-Assisted Combustion Method

A simple and efficient microwave-assisted combustion method was developed to synthesize Mn ²⁺-doped CdS (Mn _x Cd _1?xS: x= 0.0, 0.3, and 0.5) nanocrystallites. The study suggested that the application of microwave heating produced spherical shaped cluster of pure and Mn ²⁺-doped CdS nanocrystallites, which was achieved in few minutes. The effects of Mn ²⁺-doping on structural, morphological, optical and magnetic properties of CdS nanocrystallites were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) with selected area electron diffraction (SAED), UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The XRD results confirmed the formation of hexagonal CdS. The formation of pure and Mn ²⁺-doped CdS phase was also confirmed by FT-IR and EDX. The formation of spherical shaped cluster of nanocrystallites was confirmed by HR-SEM and HR-TEM. The as-synthesized nanocrystallites were found to have good optoelectronic properties that were determined by DRS and PL spectra. VSM results of the as-synthesized Mn ²⁺-doped CdS nanocrystallites showed ferromagnetic behavior. Graphical Abstract

A simple and rapid microwave-assisted combustion method was developed to synthesize pure and Mn²⁺-doped CdS-nanocrystallites. The formation of spherical shaped cluster of nano-crystallites was confirmed by HR-SEM and HR-TEM. The optical properties were determined by DRS and PL spectra. Magnetic properties were analyzed by VSM.     

The Variable Precision Rough Set Inductive Logic Programming Model and Strings

The Variable Precision Rough Set Inductive Logic Programming model (VPRSILP model) extends the Variable Precision Rough Set (VPRS) model to Inductive Logic Programming (ILP). The generic Rough Set Inductive Logic Programming (gRS-ILP) model provides a framework for ILP when the setting is imprecise and any induced logic program will not be able to distinguish between certain positive and negative examples. The gRS-ILP model is extended in this paper to the VPRSILP model by including features of the VPRS model. The VPRSILP model is applied to strings and an illustrative experiment on transmembrane domains in amino acid sequences is presented.