Cellular internalization of silver nanoparticles in gut epithelia of the estuarine polychaete Nereis diversicolor

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are widely used which may result in environmental impacts, notably within aquatic ecosystems. As estuarine sediments are sinks for numerous pollutants, but also habitat and food for deposit feeders such as Nereis diversicolor, ingested sediments must be investigated as an important route of uptake for NPs. N. diversicolor were fed sediment spiked with either citrate capped AgNPs (30 ± 5 nm) or aqueous Ag for 10 days. Postexposure AgNPs were observed in the lumen of exposed animals, and three lines of evidence indicated direct internalization of AgNPs into the gut epithelium. With TEM, electron-dense particles resembling AgNPs were observed associated with the apical plasma membrane, in endocytotic pits and in endosomes. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) confirmed the presence of Ag in these particles, which were absent in controls. Subcellular fractionation revealed that Ag accumulated from AgNPs was predominantly associated with inorganic granules, organelles, and the heat denatured proteins; whereas dissolved Ag was localized to the metallothionein fraction. Collectively, these results indicate separate routes of cellular internalization and differing in vivo fates of Ag delivered in dissolved and NP form. For AgNPs an endocytotic pathway appears to be a key route of cellular uptake.     

Adaptive bending-twist coupling in laminated composite plates by controllable shear stress transfer

Performance and efficiency of morphing structures can be increased by the integration of variable-stiffness elements. In this context, the present work investigates a concept of adaptive bending-twist coupling stiffness of laminated composite plates based on variable shear stress transfer at laminate interfaces. These adaptive interfaces are put into practice by exploiting the change of mechanical properties that is characteristic of the glass transition of a polymeric material. Numerical simulation and experiment are performed to verify the effectiveness of the concept and to analyze the main influences on the elastic behavior of the adaptive laminates. The results show changes in coupling stiffness by about one order of magnitude.     

Nutraceutical and Functional Scenario of Wheat Straw

In the era of nutrition, much focus has been remunerated to functional and nutraceutical foodstuffs. The health endorsing potential of such provisions is attributed to affluent phytochemistry. These dynamic constituents have functional possessions that are imperative for cereal industry. The functional and nutraceutical significance of variety of foods is often accredited to their bioactive molecules. Numerous components have been considered but wheat straw and its diverse components are of prime consideration. In this comprehensive dissertation, efforts are directed to elaborate the functional and nutraceutical importance of wheat straw. Wheat straw is lignocellulosic materials including cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. It hold various bioactive compounds such as policosanols, phytosterols, phenolics, and triterpenoids, having enormous nutraceutical properties like anti-allergenic, anti-artherogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antioxidant, anti-thrombotic, cardioprotective and vasodilatory effects, antiviral, and anticancer. These compounds are protecting against various ailments like hypercholesterolemia, intermittent claudication, benign prostatic hyperplasia and cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, wheat straw has demonstrated successfully, low cost, renewable, versatile, widely distributed, easily available source for the production of biogas, bioethanol, and biohydrogen in biorefineries to enhance the overall effectiveness of biomass consumption in protected and eco-friendly environment. Furthermore, its role in enhancing the quality and extending the shelf life of bakery products through reducing the progression of staling and retrogradation is limelight of the article.     

Onion: Nature Protection Against Physiological Threats

Onion (Allium cepa L.) is found in various regions of Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. It is one of the classic examples of Allium species used not only for culinary preparations but also for medicinal purposes. Onion with a variety of purposes is often used as a raw material in many dishes and accepts almost all of the traditions and culture. Owing to its storage characteristics and durability of shipping, onions have been traded more widely than most vegetables. The pungent fractions of garlic are mostly sulfur-containing moieties while its two chemical groups have marked effect on human health. These are flavonoids and ALK (EN)-based cysteine sulfoxides (ACSOs). Compounds in onions have been reported with a range of health benefits, including anticancer properties, antiplatelet activity, antithrombotic activity, antiasthmatic activity, and antibiotic effects.     

The Solvation of the E. coli CheY Phosphorylation Site Mapped by XFMS

The Escherichia coli CheY protein belongs to a large bacterial response regulator superfamily. X-ray hydroxy radical foot-printing with mass spectroscopy (XFMS) has shown that allosteric activation of CheY by its motor target triggers a concerted internalization of aromatic sidechains. We reanalyzed the XFMS data to compare polar versus non-polar CheY residue positions. The polar residues around and including the 57D phosphorylated site had an elevated hydroxy radical reactivity. Bioinformatic measures revealed that a water-mediated hydrogen bond network connected this ring of residues with the central 57D. These residues solvated 57D to energetically stabilize the apo-CheY fold. The abundance of these reactive residues was reduced upon activation. This result was supported by the bioinformatics and consistent with the previously reported activation-induced increase in core hydrophobicity. It further illustrated XFMS detection of structural waters. Direct contacts between the ring residues and the phosphorylation site would stabilize the aspartyl phosphate. In addition, we report that the ring residue, 18R, is a constant central node in the 57D solvation network and that 18R non-polar substitutions determine CheY diversity as assessed by its evolutionary trace in bacteria with well-studied chemotaxis. These results showcase the importance of structured water dynamics for phosphorylation-mediated signal transduction.     

Grain Growth Orientation and Anisotropy in Cu6Sn5 Intermetallic: Nanoindentation and Electron Backscatter Diffraction Analysis

As the size of joints in micro/nano-electronics diminishes, the role of intermetallic (IMC) layers becomes more significant. It was shown that solder joint strength is controlled largely by IMC strength at higher strain rates. Additionally, there is a possibility that very small joints are completely composed of IMCs. Further miniaturization of joints may result in statistical grain size effects. Therefore, it is essential to characterize IMC materials and understand their anisotropic mechanical properties. One of the most common types of IMCs in microelectronic joints is Cu₆Sn₅, which is formed in a variety of bonding materials with different compositions of Sn, Cu, and Ag. This work studies through nanoindentation elastic–plastic properties of a single grain of Cu₆Sn₅ IMC in a Sn-3.5Ag/Cu system with reflow soldering. Elastic properties such as elastic modulus and hardness were determined from the nanoindentation load–depth curve. The reverse analysis model described by Dao et al. was used to extract plastic properties such as yield strength and strain hardening exponent from nanoindentation data. Care was taken to achieve indentation of single grains with sufficient accuracy and repeatability. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) mapping was used to determine orientation of Cu₆Sn₅ grains and to relate the orientation with the load–depth curve results of nanoindentation and the corresponding elastic and plastic properties. The EBSD results indicated that the Cu₆Sn₅ crystal structure is hexagonal. Columnar growth of the Cu₆Sn₅ grains was observed as the grains mostly grew along the c-axis of the crystal. Indentation of different grains parallel to the basal plane showed no significant difference in mechanical properties.     

Prospects of using different clad materials in a material test research reactor – Part 1 – The kinetic parameters

The kinetic parameters of a material test research reactor using stainless steel-316 and zircaloy-4 as clad were calculated. For this purpose, the aluminum clad of an MTR was replaced separately with stainless steel-316 and zircaloy-4. Calculations were carried out to find the core excess reactivity, neutron flux spectrum, prompt neutron generation time and effective delayed-neutron fraction. Nuclear reactor analysis codes including WIMS-D4 and CITATION were employed to carry out these calculations. It was observed that at the beginning of life, the excess reactivity was maximum at 0.054110 Δk/k when zircaloy-4 was used as clad while it was minimum at ?0.365650 Δk/k when stainless steel-316 was the clad as compared to 0.017945 Δk/k for aluminum. The thermal neutron flux at the mid of the central flux trap increased by 59.9% and 12.5% for stainless steel and zircaloy-4 clads, respectively, from the flux of the original aluminum clad. The prompt neutron generation time was maximum at 45.36 μs when stainless steel-316 was the clad while it was minimum at 44.03 μs for the original aluminum clad. The effective delayed-neutron fraction was maximum at 0.007185 for the original aluminum clad while it was minimum at 0.007078 for stainless steel clad.     

Photo‐inactivation of bacteria in hospital effluent via thiolated iron‐doped nanoceria

Hospital wastewater is a major contributor of disease‐causing microbes and the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. In this study, thiolated iron‐doped nanoceria was synthesised and tested for killing of microbes from hospital effluent. These particles were designed to inhibit the efflux pumps of the bacteria found in hospital effluent with further ability to activate in visible light via iron doping thus generating tunable amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The quantum yield of the ROS generated by the nanoceria was 0.67 while the ROS types produced were singlet oxygen (36%), hydroxyl radical (31%) and hydroxyl ions (32%), respectively. The particles were initially synthesised through green route using Foeniculum vulgare seeds extract and were annealed at 200°C and further coated with thiolated chitosan to enhance the solubility and efflux pump inhibition. X‐ray diffraction confirmed the polycrystalline nature of nanoparticles and uniform spherical shape with 30 nm size, confirmed by scanning electron microscope. The nanoparticles exhibited 100% bactericidal activity at 100 µg/mL against all the isolated bacteria. The enhanced bactericidal effect of iron‐doped nanoceria could be attributed to efflux inhibition via thiolated chitosan as well as the production of ROS upon illumination in visible light, causing oxidative stress against microbes found in hospital effluent.Inspec keywords: health and safety, chemical engineering, solubility, renewable materials, annealing, hospitals, antibacterial activity, cerium compounds, nanoparticles, photochemistry, wastewater treatment, iron, nanofabrication, microorganisms, X‐ray diffraction, effluents, scanning electron microscopy, particle size, diseasesOther keywords: antibiotic resistant bacteria, thiolated iron‐doped nanoceria, hospital effluent, visible light, reactive oxygen species, hydroxyl ions, thiolated chitosan, solubility, efflux pump inhibition, disease‐causing microbes, wastewater treatment, singlet oxygen, hydroxyl radical, Foeniculum vulgare seeds extract, annealing process, X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, particle size, bactericidal activity, oxidative stress, photoinactivation, size 30.0 nm, temperature 200.0 degC, CeO₂ :Fe