Exploring Lead Zirconate Titanate, the Potential Advancement as an Anode for Li-Ion Batteries.

Graphite, widely adopted as an anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), faces challenges such as an unsustainable supply chain and sluggish rate capabilities. This emphasizes the urgent need to explore alternative anode materials for LIBs, aiming to resolve these challenges and drive the advancement of more efficient and sustainable battery technologies. The present research investigates the potential of lead zirconate titanate (PZT: PbZr0.53Ti0.47O3) as an anode material for LIBs. Bulk PZT materials were synthesized by using a solid-state reaction, and the electrochemical performance as an anode was examined. A high initial discharge capacity of approximately 686 mAh/g was attained, maintaining a stable capacity of around 161 mAh/g after 200 cycles with diffusion-controlled intercalation as the primary charge storage mechanism in a PZT anode. These findings suggest that PZT exhibits a promising electrochemical performance, positioning it as a potential alternative anode material for LIBs.

Corrosive induced esophageal and gastric injury: Histopathological evaluation of surgically resected specimens over a decade in a tertiary care center.

BACKGROUND: Caustic ingestion is associated with long-term sequelae like esophageal stricture, gastric cicatrization, and long-term risk of dysplasia or even carcinoma. However, only a few small studies have explored histopathological aspects of caustic-induced esophageal/gastric injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated specimens of patients undergoing surgery due to caustic ingestion-related complications from 2008 to 2020. Pathological examination was conducted by two independent gastro-pathologists to evaluate the extent and depth of the caustic injury, presence or absence of tissue necrosis, type and degree of inflammation, or presence of any dysplastic cells. RESULTS: A total of 54 patients underwent surgical exploration during the inclusion period and complete details of 39 specimens could be retrieved. The mean age of the included patients was 28.66 ± 9.31 years and 25 (64.1%) were male. The majority of patients (30; 76.9%) had a history of caustic ingestion more than three months before the surgery and the presence of long or refractory stricture was the most common indication for the surgery (20; 51.28%). In the resected specimen, a majority of patients had superficial esophageal or gastric ulcer (90.6%; 60.0%), transmural inflammation (68.8%; 65.6%), transmural fibrosis (62.5%; 34.4%), and hypertrophied muscularis mucosa (78.13%; 53.3%). However, none of the patients had dysplasia in the resected esophageal or gastric specimens. CONCLUSION: Caustic ingestion leads to mucosal ulceration, transmural inflammation, and transmural fibrosis which might be the reason for refractory stricture in such patients.

Performance evaluation of hybrid constructed wetlands for nitrogen removal and statistical approaches.

Nitrogen pollution in water bodies has become a pressing environmental and public health issue worldwide, demanding the implementation of effective nitrogen removal strategies. This research paper delves into the performance evaluation of hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs) as a sustainable and innovative approach for nitrogen removal, employing a comprehensive year-long dataset gathered from a practical setup. The study collected data under diverse operating conditions to investigate the effectiveness of HCWs in removing nitrogen. Results revealed that HCWs achieved nitrogen removal efficiencies ranging from 28% to 65%, influenced by temperature and hydraulic retention time. Optimal removal occurred at an average temperature of 28°C and a 4-day hydraulic retention time. Notably, performance declined during colder periods, with temperatures below 15°C. The study also aims to predict nitrogen removal by three modeling techniques, that is, artificial neural networks (ANNs), support vector machines Pearson VII kernel function (SVM PUK), and multiple linear regression (MLR). Prediction has been done considering temperature (TEMP), hydraulic loading rate (HLR), initial concentration of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (CODin), initial concentration of total nitrogen (TNin ), initial concentration of total phosphorous (TPin ), and initial concentration of turbidity (TBin ) as input parameters, whereas reduction of total nitrogen (RED TN) is regarded as output parameter. The performance of the soft computing techniques has been compared in terms of coefficient of determination (R2 ), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). The analysis revealed that the performance of the SVM (PUK) model (R2 : 0.572, RMSE: 0.0359, MAE: 0.0294) for the prediction of TN reduction is superior followed by MLR (R2 : 0.562, RMSE: 0.0365, MAE: 0.0294) and ANN (R2 : 0.597, RMSE: 0.0377, MAE: 0.0301). The present study concludes that the treated effluent by the HCWs, using water hyacinth and water lettuce, is of fair quality, thus having potential application for the treatment of rice mill wastewater in warmer climates. Further, machine learning approaches employed in estimating the total nitrogen reduction by HCWs technology have shown promising applicability and utilization in such studies. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs) are effective in removing nitrogen from wastewater. The performance of HCWs in nitrogen removal can vary due to physical, chemical, and biological processes. The performance of the HCWs highly depends on temperature and hydraulic retention time. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machines (SVMs) provided better predictions of nitrogen removal with high accuracy and low root mean square error.

Genome-wide investigation of GRAM-domain containing genes in rice reveals their role in plant-rhizobacteria interactions and abiotic stress responses.

A comprehensive genome-wide survey of GRAM-domain containing genes in rice identified total 64 genes which were grouped into six classes and were physically mapped onto different rice chromosomes. GRAM domain-containing genes showed total 8 segmental and 3 tandem duplications. Comparative physical mapping between rice OsGRAM and its orthologs in related C4-crops depicted evolutionary insights into this gene family. Expression analyses of OsGRAM genes in rice roots subjected to salt stress with or without Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (SN13) inoculation revealed significant differential expression patterns suggesting their crucial role in beneficial plant-rhizobacteria interactions under stress. Further, expression analyses of selected 15 candidate genes with ≥3.0-fold induction in salt + SN13 treated samples indicated their precise and overlapping expression patterns under various abiotic stresses and phytohormones at early (1 h) and late (24 h) durations which might be ultimately responsible for functional divergence and beneficial plant-microbe interactions. Furthermore, OsGRAM27 and OsGRAM47 could be considered as potential candidate genes for further functional characterization and application in crop improvement since these genes showed positive modulation in stress under the influence of SN13. This study provides new dimensions into the evolution and divergence of OsGRAM and their role in plant-rhizobacteria interactions that could be utilized for improving stress tolerance in crops.

Study on aquaporins of Setaria italica suggests the involvement of SiPIP3;1 and SiSIP1;1 in abiotic stress response.

Aquaporins are versatile proteins involved in several biological as well as molecular functions, and they have been extensively studied in various plant systems. Increasing evidences indicate their role in biotic and abiotic stresses, and therefore, studying these proteins in a naturally stress-tolerant crop would provide further insights into the roles of this important protein family. Given this, the present study was performed in foxtail millet (Setaria italica), a model plant for studying biofuel, stress tolerance, and C4 photosynthetic traits. The study identified 12 plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIPs), 11 tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIPs), 13 NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIPs), and 3 small basic intrinsic proteins (SIPs) in foxtail millet. The identified proteins and their corresponding genes were characterized using in silico approaches such as chromosomal localization, analysis of gene and protein properties, phylogenetic analysis, promoter analysis, and RNA-seq-derived expression profiling. The candidate genes identified through these analyses were studied for their expression in response to abiotic stresses (dehydration, salinity, and heat) as well as hormone treatments (abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate, and salicylic acid) in two contrasting cultivars of foxtail millet. The study showed that SiPIP3;1 and SiSIP1;1 were differentially expressed in both the cultivars in response to stress and hormone treatments. Overexpression of these genes in a heterologous yeast system also demonstrated that the transgenic cells were able to tolerate dehydration as well as salt stress which suggests the involvement of these proteins in the tolerance mechanism. Overall, the present study provides insights into structure and organization of the aquaporin gene family in foxtail millet and highlights the potential candidate genes for further functional characterizations.

Identification, characterization, expression profiling, and virus-induced gene silencing of armadillo repeat-containing proteins in tomato suggest their involvement in tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus resistance.

Armadillo repeat family is well-characterized in several plant species for their involvement in multiple regulatory processes including growth, development, and stress response. We have previously shown a three-fold higher expression of ARM protein-encoding in tomato cultivar tolerant to tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) compared to susceptible cultivar upon virus infection. This suggests the putative involvement of ARM proteins in defense response against virus infection; however, no comprehensive investigation has been performed to address this inference. In the present study, we have identified a total of 46 ARM-repeat proteins (SlARMs), and 41 U-box-containing proteins (SlPUBs) in tomato. These proteins and their corresponding genes were studied for their physicochemical properties, gene structure, domain architecture, chromosomal localization, phylogeny, and cis-regulatory elements in the upstream promoter region. Expression profiling of candidate genes in response to ToLCNDV infection in contrasting tomato cultivars showed significant upregulation of SlARM18 in the tolerant cultivar. Virus-induced gene silencing of SlARM18 in the tolerant tomato cultivar conferred susceptibility, which suggests the involvement of this gene in resistance mechanism. Further studies are underway to functionally characterize SlARM18 to delineate its precise role in defense mechanism.

Evolving quality standards for large-scale registries: the GARFIELD-AF experience.

Aims: Registries have the potential to capture treatment practices and outcomes in populations beyond the constraints of clinical trial settings. The value of data obtained depend critically upon robust quality standards (including source data verification [SDV] and training); features that are commonly absent from registries. This article outlines the quality standards developed for Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF). Methods and Results: GARFIELD-AF comprises ∼57 000 patients prospectively recruited over 6.5 years in 35 countries in five successive cohorts. The registry employs a combination of remote and onsite monitoring to ascertain completeness and accuracy of records and by design, SDV is performed on 20% of cases (i.e. ∼11 400 patients). Four performance measures for ranking sites according to data quality and other performance indicators were evaluated (including data quality for 13 quantifiable variables, late data locking, number of missing critical variables, and history of poor data quality from the previous monitoring phase). These criteria facilitated the identification of sites with potentially suboptimal data quality for onsite monitoring. During early phases of the registry, critical variables for data checking were also identified. SDV using these variables (partial SDV in 902 patients) showed similar concordance to SDV of all fields (110 patients): 94.4% vs. 93.1%, respectively. This standard formed the baseline against which ongoing quality improvements were assessed, facilitating corrective action on data quality issues. In consequence, concordance was improved in the next monitoring phase (95.6%; n = 1172). Conclusion: The quality standards in GARFIELD-AF have the potential to inform a future 'reference' for registries.

Genome-wide analysis of heat shock proteins in C4 model, foxtail millet identifies potential candidates for crop improvement under abiotic stress.

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) perform significant roles in conferring abiotic stress tolerance to crop plants. In view of this, HSPs and their encoding genes were extensively characterized in several plant species; however, understanding their structure, organization, evolution and expression profiling in a naturally stress tolerant crop is necessary to delineate their precise roles in stress-responsive molecular machinery. In this context, the present study has been performed in C4 panicoid model, foxtail millet, which resulted in identification of 20, 9, 27, 20 and 37 genes belonging to SiHSP100, SiHSP90, SiHSP70, SiHSP60 and SisHSP families, respectively. Comprehensive in silico characterization of these genes followed by their expression profiling in response to dehydration, heat, salinity and cold stresses in foxtail millet cultivars contrastingly differing in stress tolerance revealed significant upregulation of several genes in tolerant cultivar. SisHSP-27 showed substantial higher expression in response to heat stress in tolerant cultivar, and its over-expression in yeast system conferred tolerance to several abiotic stresses. Methylation analysis of SiHSP genes suggested that, in susceptible cultivar, higher levels of methylation might be the reason for reduced expression of these genes during stress. Altogether, the study provides novel clues on the role of HSPs in conferring stress tolerance.

Comprehensive analysis of SET domain gene family in foxtail millet identifies the putative role of SiSET14 in abiotic stress tolerance.

SET domain-containing genes catalyse histone lysine methylation, which alters chromatin structure and regulates the transcription of genes that are involved in various developmental and physiological processes. The present study identified 53 SET domain-containing genes in C4 panicoid model, foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and the genes were physically mapped onto nine chromosomes. Phylogenetic and structural analyses classified SiSET proteins into five classes (I-V). RNA-seq derived expression profiling showed that SiSET genes were differentially expressed in four tissues namely, leaf, root, stem and spica. Expression analyses using qRT-PCR was performed for 21 SiSET genes under different abiotic stress and hormonal treatments, which showed differential expression of these genes during late phase of stress and hormonal treatments. Significant upregulation of SiSET gene was observed during cold stress, which has been confirmed by over-expressing a candidate gene, SiSET14 in yeast. Interestingly, hypermethylation was observed in gene body of highly differentially expressed genes, whereas methylation event was completely absent in their transcription start sites. This suggested the occurrence of demethylation events during various abiotic stresses, which enhance the gene expression. Altogether, the present study would serve as a base for further functional characterization of SiSET genes towards understanding their molecular roles in conferring stress tolerance.

Global analysis of WRKY transcription factor superfamily in Setaria identifies potential candidates involved in abiotic stress signaling.

Transcription factors (TFs) are major players in stress signaling and constitute an integral part of signaling networks. Among the major TFs, WRKY proteins play pivotal roles in regulation of transcriptional reprogramming associated with stress responses. In view of this, genome- and transcriptome-wide identification of WRKY TF family was performed in the C4model plants, Setaria italica (SiWRKY) and S. viridis (SvWRKY), respectively. The study identified 105 SiWRKY and 44 SvWRKY proteins that were computationally analyzed for their physicochemical properties. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis classified these proteins into three major groups, namely I, II, and III with majority of WRKY proteins belonging to group II (53 SiWRKY and 23 SvWRKY), followed by group III (39 SiWRKY and 11 SvWRKY) and group I (10 SiWRKY and 6 SvWRKY). Group II proteins were further classified into 5 subgroups (IIa to IIe) based on their phylogeny. Domain analysis showed the presence of WRKY motif and zinc finger-like structures in these proteins along with additional domains in a few proteins. All SiWRKY genes were physically mapped on the S. italica genome and their duplication analysis revealed that 10 and 8 gene pairs underwent tandem and segmental duplications, respectively. Comparative mapping of SiWRKY and SvWRKY genes in related C4 panicoid genomes demonstrated the orthologous relationships between these genomes. In silico expression analysis of SiWRKY and SvWRKY genes showed their differential expression patterns in different tissues and stress conditions. Expression profiling of candidate SiWRKY genes in response to stress (dehydration and salinity) and hormone treatments (abscisic acid, salicylic acid, and methyl jasmonate) suggested the putative involvement of SiWRKY066 and SiWRKY082 in stress and hormone signaling. These genes could be potential candidates for further characterization to delineate their functional roles in abiotic stress signaling.

Integrative analysis and expression profiling of secondary cell wall genes in C4 biofuel model Setaria italica reveals targets for lignocellulose bioengineering.

Several underutilized grasses have excellent potential for use as bioenergy feedstock due to their lignocellulosic biomass. Genomic tools have enabled identification of lignocellulose biosynthesis genes in several sequenced plants. However, the non-availability of whole genome sequence of bioenergy grasses hinders the study on bioenergy genomics and their genomics-assisted crop improvement. Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L.; Si) is a model crop for studying systems biology of bioenergy grasses. In the present study, a systematic approach has been used for identification of gene families involved in cellulose (CesA/Csl), callose (Gsl) and monolignol biosynthesis (PAL, C4H, 4CL, HCT, C3H, CCoAOMT, F5H, COMT, CCR, CAD) and construction of physical map of foxtail millet. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis of identified proteins showed that monolignol biosynthesis proteins were highly diverse, whereas CesA/Csl and Gsl proteins were homologous to rice and Arabidopsis. Comparative mapping of foxtail millet lignocellulose biosynthesis genes with other C4 panicoid genomes revealed maximum homology with switchgrass, followed by sorghum and maize. Expression profiling of candidate lignocellulose genes in response to different abiotic stresses and hormone treatments showed their differential expression pattern, with significant higher expression of SiGsl12, SiPAL2, SiHCT1, SiF5H2, and SiCAD6 genes. Further, due to the evolutionary conservation of grass genomes, the insights gained from the present study could be extrapolated for identifying genes involved in lignocellulose biosynthesis in other biofuel species for further characterization.