Optimization of bio-oil extraction from Chlorella biomass via a green approach to obtain algal-based Di-ethyl phthalate.

This study focuses on determining the optimum external operating parameters of algal cell lysis for extraction of bio-oil from Chlorella biomass. Response surface methodology has been applied to a regression analysis model for optimizing solvent ratios, i.e., ethyl acetate to ethanol (E.A.:E) ratio for maximum extraction of bio-oil and aqueous deep eutectic solvent to biomass (aDES:biomass) ratio for algal pretreatment for the enhanced yield of bio-oil. Optimized process conditions were 15 min of homogenization combined with ultrasonication (hybrid method). The aDES:biomass ratio of 8.25 caused the highest cell disruption efficiency to liberate bio-oil from encapsulated cells. The solvent ethyl acetate to ethanol ratio (E.A.:E) was optimum at 0.8 for maximum extraction of bio-oil, and studies indicated a maximum bio-oil yield of 94.0% using this hybrid pretreatment process combined with ultrasonication and homogenization. The GC-MS characterization technique was used to analyze the bio-oil, which showed it consisted of 67.93% Di-ethyl phthalate (DEP) and 32.07% esters compounds (C12-C40 hydrocarbons range). The produced DEP from Chlorella biomass using this sustainable green approach is very promising. The estimated cost was around Rs 49 per gm (equivalent to Rs 664.56 for 13.58 gm), which indicates the potential for a cost-effective method to produce pure DEP from Chlorella biomass.

Performance, combustion, and emission characteristics of bio-oil produced by in situ catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene using spent FCC.

Plastic waste is a rich source of hydrocarbons that can be converted into bio-oil through pyrolysis. In this study, bio-oil was produced by pyrolysis of waste-polypropylene using spent FCC catalyst. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed that catalytically produced oil has the majority of compounds in the hydrocarbon range of C6-C18. The catalytic pyrolysis oil was blended with conventional fuel (diesel) to extensively investigate its suitability as a fuel substitute in a single-cylinder, four-stroke, 3.5 kW, diesel internal combustion (IC) engine. Furthermore, four fuels, i.e., CF100PO00 (pure diesel), CF90PO10 (10% v/v pyrolysis oil blended with diesel), CF85PO15 (15% v/v pyrolysis oil blended with diesel), and CF80PO20 (20% v/v pyrolysis oil blended with diesel), were tested in IC diesel engine for performance, combustion, and exhaust emission analysis at 1500 rpm. The tests were carried out at five loads, i.e., 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 Nm. It was found that CF90PO10 produced 6.61% higher brake thermal efficiency (BTE), whereas CO2 exhaust emission decreased by 20% for CF80PO20 with respect to the pure diesel. Diesel blends with plastic pyrolysis oil can be a promising biofuel to improve engine performance and combustion characteristics without any significant engine modification.

Ayurvedic formulations Guduchi and Madhuyashti triggers JNK signaling mediated immune response and adversely affects Huntington phenotype.

BACKGROUND: Huntington's disease manifests due to abnormal CAG trinucleotide expansion, in the first exon of the Huntingtin gene and disease progression involves genetic, immune, and environmental components. The pathogenesis is characterized by the formation of Inclusion Bodies, disruption of neuronal circuitry, cellular machinery, and apoptosis, resulting in gradual and progressive loss of neuronal cells, ultimately leading to nervous system dysfunction. Thus, the present study was conducted to assess the effect of two Ayurvedic formulations, Guduchi and Madhuyashti, on Huntington's phenotype, using Drosophila as a model system. METHOD: The Huntington phenotype was ectopically induced in the Drosophila eye using the UAS-GAL4 binary system and the effect of the two Ayurvedic formulations were assessed by feeding the progenies on them. Degeneration was observed microscopically and Real Time-PCR was done to assay the alterations in the different transcripts of the innate immune pathways and JNK signaling pathway. Immunostaining was performed to assay different gene expression patterns. RESULT: The present study shows that Guduchi and Madhuyashti, endowed with immunomodulatory and intellect promoting properties, aggravates polyQ mediated neurodegeneration. We provide evidence that these formulations enhance JNK signaling by activating the MAP 3 K, dTAK1, which regulates the expression of Drosophila homologue for JNK. Sustained, rather than a transient expression of JNK leads to excessive production of Anti-Microbial Peptides without involving the canonical transcription factors of the Toll or IMD pathways, NF-κB. Enhanced JNK expression also increases caspase levels, with a concomitant reduction in cell proliferation, which may further contribute to increased degeneration. CONCLUSION: This is a report linking the functional relevance of Guduchi and Madhuyashti with molecular pathways, which can be important for understanding their use in therapeutic applications and holds promise for mechanistic insight into the mammalian counterpart.

Ketamine-polymer based drug delivery system for prolonged analgesia: recent advances, challenges and future prospects.

Introduction: With a sharp increase in NSAIDs and opioid use for chronic pain conditions associated with traumatic injuries and diseases, there has been an escalated risk of life-threatening side effects (cardiac and respiratory malfunction), inadvertent overdose, and even death. Their short duration of action and toxicity induces the need to develop extended-release analgesic drug formulations based on safe drugs like ketamine.Areas covered: This review presents progressive breakthroughs in pain control strategies for augmenting patient's comfort and minimizing unnecessary adverse effects associated with NSAIDs and opioids. Advantages of using ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic and potent analgesic over opioids have been elaborated here for the development of advanced sustained-release analgesic drug formulations based on ketamine and polymers (hydrogels, microparticles, and nanoparticles) as mainstream systems. These systems can be very promising in the resource-constrained healthcare set-up where frequent drug dosing at short time intervals is extremely challenging. PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar electronic databases, and clinical websites were used for conducting extensive research.Expert opinion: Controlled drug release analgesic systems can significantly reduce the burden of repeated drug dosing and opioid drug dependency, maximizing the function of analgesic drugs for clinical translation, and improving the quality of life of those living with pain.

Bioactive Khadi Cotton Fabric by Functional Designing and Immobilization of Nanosilver Nanogels.

The antimicrobial finishing is the most suitable alternative for designing medical textiles for biomedical applications. The present investigation aims at the preparation of skin-contacting khadi cotton fabric that would prevent microbial infection and offer excellent skin compatibility. A simple approach has been followed for the preparation of bioactive nanogels for antimicrobial finishing of the khadi cotton fabric. Bioactive nanogels were synthesized by using aloe vera (AV) as a reducing agent for silver ions in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). PVA stabilizes the growth of silver nanoparticles, which is influenced by the variation in the reaction time and the temperature. Nanogels were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses. The nanogels exhibited strong antimicrobial behavior against both Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, as confirmed by the colony count method. Almost 100% antibacterial behavior was observed for the nanosilver content of 10 mM. The nanogel-finished khadi fabric showed bactericidal properties against both S. aureus and E. coli. The nanogel-finished fabric exhibited high hydrophilicity allowing complete water droplet penetration within 10 s as compared to 136 s in virgin fabric. Moreover, the skin irritation study of the fabric on male Swiss albino mice did not show any appearance of dermal toxicity. These results demonstrated that the bioactive finished khadi fabric is appropriate as skin contacting material in human health care.

Methods for Identification and Validation of G-Quadruplex Sequences in Legumes.

Among the different secondary structures that DNA can adopt, G-quadruplex is a noncanonical form that has recently started to garner attention about the possible layers of regulation they could introduce in cellular processes. Here, we outline how the presence of G-quadruplexes can be probed in legumes and other plant genomes. This chapter describes various in silico approaches that can be utilized to identify putative G-quadruplex forming sequences (GQSes) and validate their formation through in vitro experimental approaches.

Correction to: Molecular basis for efficacy of Guduchi and Madhuyashti feeding on different environmental stressors in Drosophila.

It has come to authors' attention that an inadvertent mistake was made in the construction of Figure 4 and Figure 6 of the original publication.

Molecular basis for efficacy of Guduchi and Madhuyashti feeding on different environmental stressors in Drosophila.

Stressors of different kinds adversely affect life history parameters like growth, development, and reproduction. Organisms overcome the negative impact of environmental stressors and strive to reach a tolerant state through genetic and metabolic activities. Ayurvedic formulations are reported to have life trait benefitting properties which improve capacity to withstand stress and tolerate adverse conditions. Guduchi (Tinospora cordifolia) and Madhuyashti (Glycirrhiza glabra) Ayurvedic formulations are known to have immunomodulatory, intellect promoting, and adaptogenic properties, thus favoring good health and healthy aging. Present study investigates the efficacy of Guduchi and Madhuyashti in providing tolerance to different stresses and the underlying mechanisms using the Drosophila model. Drosophila larvae/flies fed on Guduchi or Madhuyashti were better thermo-protected, which correlated with increased expression of heat shock genes even without the heat shock. Guduchi or Madhuyashti feeding also increased antimicrobial peptide expression, thus providing better tolerance to pathogenic assaults. Feeding on Guduchi- or Madhuyashti- supplemented food also enhanced starvation and desiccation tolerance. However, neither of these formulations provided beneficial effects when grown under crowded conditions or when exposed to oxidative stressors.

Complex effects of Ayurvedic formulation: Guduchi and Madhuyashti on different components of life history may elude the elixir effect.

Formulations from the traditional Indian medicine, Ayurveda, have long been considered to have potent life-style enhancing effects, possibly by their effect(s) on key life-history attributes. Although several studies have reported beneficial effects of these formulations on different components of life history, few have investigated their concurrent influence on various life-history traits. Here, we report the results of an investigation showing the effect of two well-known Ayurvedic formulations, Guduchi and Madhuyashti, on fecundity and longevity of Drosophila melanogaster. Flies were either grown (i.e., larval exposure) and/or maintained (i.e., adult exposure) on standard food supplemented with 0.5% Guduchi or 0.5% Madhuyashti. It was observed that the longevity of adult flies of both sexes was not affected on feeding Guduchifood, but fecundity of the females was greatly enhanced. Fecundity was also found to be affected by the adult food and whether their mates were grown on Guduchi or normal food. Madhuyashti, on the other hand, significantly reduced mean longevity and had a stimulatory effect on female fecundity. This fecundity enhancing effect however seemed to be mediated through its effect on the males. Interestingly, much of these effects interacted with age in a complex way, making it difficult to generalize the overall effect of these formulations on the reproductive output of the flies. Ourstudy underlines the importance of evaluating the interacting effects of these (and similar) formulations on a range of life-history traits in a holistic way to understand their utility better.

Scar free healing mediated by the release of aloe vera and manuka honey from dextran bionanocomposite wound dressings.

Scar preventive dextran based bionanocomposite dressings containing aloe vera (AV) and manuka honey (MH) were developed as wound care devices. This work was a challenge to fabricate herbal dressing that promotes healing, which at the same time is biocompatible, non-toxic, biodegradable, and cost effective in terms of the simplicity of application in complex chronic wound situations. With this aim, we synthesized in-situ crosslinked dextran/nanosoy/glycerol/chitosan (DNG/Ch) nanocomposite membranes via solvent casting technique followed by subsequent addition of AV and MH to obtain DNG/Ch/AV and DNG/Ch/MH herbal dressings. The drug release kinetics of the bionanocomposite dressings indicated an initial burst release of AV and MH, followed by controlled release when examined in-vitro using non-fickian and quasi-fickian model. Antibacterial studies confirmed >99% antibacterial activity against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) and bacterial adherence test demonstrated its efficacy for arresting microbial invasion. Wound healing analysis conducted in-vivo showed enhanced epithelialization in the terms scar prevention and aesthetics with absolute wound contraction for the mice treated with AV loaded dressings after 14th post wounding day. Histological features displayed ordered deposition of collagen with a thin epidermis layer. Hence, the present herbal dressing could function without many cytotoxicity and biocompatibility issues.

Dextran based herbal nanobiocomposite membranes for scar free wound healing.

Dextran based bionanocomposite membranes encapsulating clove oil (CO) and sandalwood oil (SO) that are capable of preventing infection due to their inherent virtue of antibacterial activity and modifying the wound healing cascade for accelerated scar free healing, were developed. A facile solvent casting technique was used to fabricate dextran/nanosoy/glycerol/chitosan (DNG/Ch) nanocomposite membranes followed by subsequent addition of CO and SO to obtain DNG/Ch/CO and DNG/Ch/SO herbal nanodressings. Dressings exhibited >98% antibacterial activity against both Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) at extremely low loadings of 5% and 10% for CO and SO, respectively. This encapsulation strategy allowed controlled diffusion of EO over a period of 72h which was measured in terms of drug efficacy using bacterial reduction count test and serial plate transfer disk diffusion test (SPTDDT). Swelling behavior and mechanical properties were also examined. Bacterial adherence study was performed to demonstrate the efficiency of dressings for arresting microbial invasion. In vivo wound healing studies were conducted using male swiss albino mice of BALB/c strain and DNG/Ch/CO dressings exhibited complete healing within 14days with remarkable efficacy in scar prevention. Histological analysis revealed that CO and SO treatment led to deposition of ordered collagen along with fibroblast migration.

Biomodification Strategies for the Development of Antimicrobial Urinary Catheters: Overview and Advances.

Microbial burden associated with medical devices poses serious health challenges and is accountable for an increased number of deaths leading to enormous medical costs. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections are the most common hospital-acquired infections with enhanced patient morbidity. Quite often, catheter-associated bacteriuria produces apparent adverse outcomes such as urosepsis and even death. Taking this into account, the methods to modify urinary catheters to control microbial infections with relevance to clinical drug resistance are systematically evaluated in this review. Technologies to restrict biofilm formation at initial stages by using functional nanomaterials are elucidated. The conventional methodology of using single therapeutic intervention for developing an antimicrobial catheter lacks clinically meaningful benefit. Therefore, catheter modification using naturally derived antimicrobials such as essential oils, curcumin, enzymes, and antimicrobial peptides in combination with synthetic antibiotics/nanoantibiotics is likely to exert sufficient inhibitory effect on uropathogens and is extensively discussed. Futuristic efforts in this area are projected here that demand clinical studies to address areas of uncertainty to avoid development of bacterial resistance to the new generation therapy with minimum discomfort to the patients.

Novel aryl piperazines for alleviation of 'andropause' associated prostatic disorders and depression.

A series of seventeen piperazine derivatives have been synthesized and biologically evaluated for the management of andropause-associated prostatic disorders and depression. Five compounds 16, 19, 20, 21 and 22 significantly inhibited proliferation of androgen-sensitive LNCaP prostatic cell line with EC50 values of 12.4 µM, 15.6 µM, 11.8 µM, 10.4 µM, 12.2 µM respectively and decreased Ca2+ entry through adrenergic-receptor α1A blocking activity. Anti-androgenic behaviour of compound 19 and 22 was evident by decreased luciferase activity. The high EC50 value in AR-negative cells PC3 and DU145 suggested that the cytotoxicity of compounds was due to AR down regulation. Compound 19 reduced the prostate weight of rats by 53.8%. Further, forced-swimming and tail-suspension tests revealed antidepressant-like activity of compound 19, lacking effects on neuromuscular co-ordination. In silico ADMET predictions revealed that the compound 19 had good oral absorption, aqueous solubility, non-hepatotoxic and good affinity for plasma protein binding. Pharmacokinetic and tissue uptake of 19 at 10 mg/kg demonstrated an oral bioavailability of 35.4%. In silico docking studies predicted similar binding pattern of compound 19 on androgen receptor as hydroxyflutamide. Compound 19 appears to be a unique scaffold with promising activities against androgen associated prostatic disorders in males like prostate cancer and BPH and associated depression.