RNAi-Based Therapy: Combating Shrimp Viral Diseases.

Shrimp aquaculture has become a vital industry, meeting the growing global demand for seafood. Shrimp viral diseases have posed significant challenges to the aquaculture industry, causing major economic losses worldwide. Conventional treatment methods have proven to be ineffective in controlling these diseases. However, recent advances in RNA interference (RNAi) technology have opened new possibilities for combating shrimp viral diseases. This cutting-edge technology uses cellular machinery to silence specific viral genes, preventing viral replication and spread. Numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of RNAi-based therapies in various model organisms, paving the way for their use in shrimp health. By precisely targeting viral pathogens, RNAi has the potential to provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution to combat viral diseases in shrimp aquaculture. This review paper provides an overview of RNAi-based therapy and its potential as a game-changer for shrimp viral diseases. We discuss the principles of RNAi, its application in combating viral infections, and the current progress made in RNAi-based therapy for shrimp viral diseases. We also address the challenges and prospects of this innovative approach.

In Vivo and In Silico Assessment of Diabetes Ameliorating Potentiality and Safety Profile of Gynura procumbens Leaves.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most notable health dilemmas. Analyzing plants for new antidiabetic remedies has become an impressive territory for life science researchers. Gynura procumbens has long been used to treat diabetes. Thus, we strived to ascertain the hypoglycemic potentiality of extract of leaves of G. procumbens by in vivo and in silico approaches. METHODS: Fresh leaves of G. procumbens were collected and shade-dried to prepare ethanolic extracts to evaluate pharmacological parameters. Diabetes was induced in rats via injecting alloxan through the intraperitoneal route at a dose of 150 mg/kg body weight. Humalyzer 3000 was used to perform a biochemical assay of collected samples from rats. Anti-hyperglycemic activity study along with overdose toxicity test was performed. The pharmacological activity of this plant was also evaluated through a molecular docking study. This in silico study investigated the binding affinity of natural ligands from G. procumbens against glycoside hydrolase enzymes. RESULTS: We detected a peak plasma concentration of G. procumbens at 3 hours 45 minutes that is roughly similar to the peak plasma concentration of metformin. Again, in OGTT and anti-hyperglycemic tests, it has been ascertained that both plant extract and metformin can exert significant (P < 0.05) and highly significant (P < 0.01) hypoglycemic activity in a dose-dependent manner. Metformin exhibited better therapeutic efficacy than that of plant extract, but it possessed null statistical significance. Also, our safety profile expressed that, similar to metformin, the plant extract can restore the disturbed pathological state in a dose-oriented approach with a wide safety margin. In silico study also validated the potentialities of natural constituents of G. procumbens. Conclusion. This study suggested that G. procumbens can be considered as potential antidiabetic plant. Robust and meticulous investigation regarding plant chemistry and pharmacology in the future may bring about a new dimension that will aid in discovering antidiabetic drugs from this plant in the diabetes management system.

Geographic variability of post-disaster mental health: case study after the 2017 flood in Bangladesh.

Every year Bangladesh faces enormous damages due to flooding. Facing these damages the Government adopts various recovery approaches. However, the psychological dimension of any disaster is generally overlooked in disaster management. Researchers have found that the spatial distribution of post-disaster mental health can help the authorities to apply recovery procedures where they are most needed. For this research, Posttraumatic Stress Checklist (PCL-5), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to estimate posttraumatic stress, major depressive disorder and anxiety following three episodes of severe floods in 2017 that affected at least 8 million people. To better understand the spatial pattern of psychological vulnerability and reach a comprehensive scenario of post-disaster mental health, Moran's I was applied for spatial autocorrelation and Pearson's correlation and regression analysis for a study of the relationship between the psychological aspects. It was found that psychological vulnerability showed a spatial clustering pattern and that there was a strong positive linear relationship among psychological aspects in the study area. This research might help to adopt disaster management policies that consider the psychological dimension and spatial distribution of various psychological aspects to identify areas characterized by high vulnerability and risk so that they can be reached without delay.

Current Knowledge Regarding Pharmacological Profile and Chemical Constituents of Gynura procumbens.

Gynura procumbens (Lour.) Merr. is a well-known plant used in folkloric medicine in tropical Asian countries. The plant is prevalently employed by traditional healers in the treatment of diabetes, cancer, hypertension, inflammation, fever, and skin disorders. Several scientific studies reported that Gynura procumbens possesses considerable therapeutic value for the development of emerging treatment options. The diverse pharmacological effects of this plant are attributed to its vast phytoconstituent content. Different chemical classes, including alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, steroids, proteins, and polysaccharides, have been isolated from this plant. In this review, we tried to explore the different aspects of Gynura procumbens as an established medicinal plant. The data gathered here give an indication that the plant Gynura procumbens is a good natural source of chemical compounds with different types of pharmacological actions, and these chemical compounds can be used as models for the development of de novo therapeutic agents.

Improved Electrical Properties of AlGaN/GaN High-Electron-Mobility Transistors by In Situ Tailoring the SiNx Passivation Layer.

In situ metal-organic chemical vapor deposition growth of SiNx passivation layers is reported on AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) without surface damage. A higher SiNx growth rate, when produced by higher SiH4 reactant gas flow, enables faster lateral coverage and coalescence of the initial SiNx islands, thereby suppressing SiH4-induced III-nitride etching. The effect of in situ SiNx passivation on the structural properties of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs has been evaluated using high-resolution X-ray diffraction. Electrical properties of the passivated HEMTs were evaluated by clover-leaf van der Pauw Hall measurements. The key findings include (a) a correlation of constituent gas chemistry with SiNx stoichiometry, (b) the degree of suppression of strain relaxation in the barrier layer that can be optimized through the SiNx stoichiometry, and (c) optimum strain relaxation by tailoring the SiNx passivation layer stoichiometry that can result in near-ideal AlGaN/AlN/GaN interfaces. The latter is expected to reduce the carrier scatterings and improve electron mobility. Under optimized conditions, low sheet resistance and high electron mobility are obtained. At 10 K, a sheet resistance of 33 Ω/sq and a mobility of 16,500 cm2/V-s are achieved. At 300 K, the sheet resistance is 336 Ω/sq and mobility is 2020 cm2/V-s with a sheet charge density of 0.78 × 1013 cm-2.

Role of transport network accessibility in the spread of COVID-19 - a case study in Savar Upazila, Bangladesh.

The aim of this research was to test the hypothesis that people in a typical high-transport zone are particularly vulnerable with respect to transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a new contagious disease that has rapidly developed into a highrisk global problem. A case study was carried out in Savar Upazila, a sub-district of the capital city Dhaka in Bangladesh, which is traversed by a prominent national highway (Dhaka- Aricha-N5) that also passes the concentric industrial export processing zone surrounding Dhaka. This municipality is thus part of a high-density transport network with extensive economic activities. COVID-19 data were collected from local records at the Upazila Health Complex, while spatial data of the Savar Upazila, including the pertinent road network, were identified and digitized using geographical information systems software. The presence of COVID-19 in in Savar Upazila was found to be strongly associated with the reach and mechanism of transport networks (Pearson correlation = 0.76 with 99% confidence interval).

Integration of GaN and Diamond Using Epitaxial Lateral Overgrowth.

Growth of single-crystalline GaN on polycrystalline diamond is reported for the first time. The structure was achieved using a combined process including selective diamond growth on GaN/Si wafers using hot filament chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and epitaxial lateral overgrowth of GaN on the window region between then above the diamond stripes via metal organic CVD. Optimization of the growth was performed by varying the ammonia to trimethylgallium mole ratio (V/III), chamber pressure, and temperature in the range of 8000-1330, 40-200 Torr, and 975-1030 °C, respectively. A lower pressure, higher V/III ratio, higher temperature, and GaN window mask openings along [11̅00] resulted in enhanced lateral growth of GaN. Complete lateral coverage and coalescence of GaN were achieved over a [11̅00]-oriented 5 µm-wide GaN window between 5 µm diamond stripes when using V/III = 7880, P = 100 Torr, and T = 1030 °C. The crystalline quality of overgrown GaN was confirmed using cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution X-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and selective-area electron diffraction.

Characterization of marine derived collagen extracted from the by-products of bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus).

Fish collagen is gaining immense interest because the use of mammalian collagen is restricted due to disease transmission and religious issues. So, collagen was extracted and characterized from three different parts (skin, scale, and bone) of bigeye tuna using the acid and pepsin extraction methods. The yield of acid-soluble collagen (ASC) and pepsin-soluble collagen (PSC) in skin were 13.5 ±â€¯0.6% and 16.7 ±â€¯0.7%, respectively, on a dry basis. The yields of PSC in scale and bone were 4.6 ±â€¯0.3% and 2.6 ±â€¯0.3%, respectively, while ASCs were in negligible amount. All the extracted collagens were type I collagen and a high level of imino acids (227-232/1000 residues) was found in all the extracted collagens. The thermal transition temperature (31.6-33.7 °C) and thermal denaturation temperature (31.1-32.2 °C) were higher than those of many temperate- and cold-water fish collagens. All collagens were highly soluble at acidic pH. The isoelectric points were 6.1, 6.4, 5.4, and 5.5 for skin-ASC, skin-PSC, scale-PSC, and bone-PSC, respectively. Therefore, the high collagen contents, especially in the skin, and higher thermal properties of the extracted collagens suggested that they have great potential for use as an alternate for mammalian collagen.

Pre-hybridisation: an efficient way of suppressing endogenous biotin-binding activity inherent to biotin-streptavidin detection system.

Endogenous biotin or biotinylated protein binding activity is a major drawback to biotin-avidin/streptavidin detection system. The avidin/streptavidin conjugate used to detect the complex of the biotinylated secondary antibody and the primary antibody binds to endogenous biotin or biotinylated proteins leading to non-specific signals. In Western blot, the endogenous biotin or biotinylated protein binding activity is usually manifested in the form of ~72kDa, ~75kDa and ~150kDa protein bands, which often mask the signals of interest. To overcome this problem, a method based on prior hybridisation of the biotinylated secondary antibody and the streptavidin conjugate was developed. The method was tested alongside the conventional biotin-streptavidin method on proteins extracted from zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Results showed that the newly developed method efficiently suppresses the endogenous biotin or biotinylated protein binding activity inherent to the biotin-streptavidin detection system.