Bharathiar University

Wound healing is a dynamic and complex process which requires suitable environment to promote healing process. With the advancement in technology, more than 3000 products have been developed to treat different types of wounds by targeting various aspects of healing process. The present review traces the history of dressings from its earliest inception to the current status and also discusses the advantage and limitations of the dressing materials.

In modern-day medicine, nanotechnology and nanoparticles are some of the indispensable tools in disease monitoring and therapy. The term "nanomaterials" describes materials with nanoscale dimensions (< 100 nm) and are broadly classified into natural and synthetic nanomaterials. However, "engineered" nanomaterials have received significant attention due to their versatility. Although enormous strides have been made in research and development in the field of nanotechnology, it is often confusing for beginners to make an informed choice regarding the nanocarrier system and its potential applications. Hence, in this review, we have endeavored to briefly explain the most commonly used nanomaterials, their core properties and how surface functionalization would facilitate competent delivery of drugs or therapeutic molecules. Similarly, the suitability of carbon-based nanomaterials like CNT and QD has been discussed for targeted drug delivery and siRNA therapy. One of the biggest challenges in the formulation of drug delivery systems is fulfilling targeted/specific drug delivery, controlling drug release and preventing opsonization. Thus, a different mechanism of drug targeting, the role of suitable drug-laden nanocarrier fabrication and methods to augment drug solubility and bioavailability are discussed. Additionally, different routes of nanocarrier administration are discussed to provide greater understanding of the biological and other barriers and their impact on drug transport. The overall aim of this article is to facilitate straightforward perception of nanocarrier design, routes of various nanoparticle administration and the challenges associated with each drug delivery method.

Abstract An emerging concept of hybrid nanofluid with a new improved model of its thermophysical properties are introduced in the present work. Hybrid nanofluid is an advanced type of conventional heat transfer fluids, which has been employed for the enhancement of heat transfer rate. Two distinct fluids, namely hybrid nanofluid <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">C</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">u</m:mi> <m:mo>−</m:mo> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">A</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:msub> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">l</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mn>2</m:mn> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:msub> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:msub> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">O</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mn>3</m:mn> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:msub> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mo>/</m:mo> </m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">w</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">a</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">t</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">e</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">r</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo> </m:math> $({\rm{Cu - A}}{{\rm{l}}_{\rm{2}}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{3}}}{\rm{/water}})$ and nanofluid (Cu/water) are used to investigate the parametric features of the flow and heat transfer phenomena over a permeable stretching sheet in the presence of magnetic field. The effects of various physical parameters and effecting physical quantities of interest are analyzed. From this study it is observed that the heat transfer rate of hybrid nanofluid <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <m:mo stretchy="false">(</m:mo> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">C</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">u</m:mi> <m:mo>−</m:mo> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">A</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:msub> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">l</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mn>2</m:mn> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:msub> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:msub> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">O</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mn>3</m:mn> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> </m:msub> </m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mrow> <m:mo>/</m:mo> </m:mrow> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">w</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">a</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">t</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">e</m:mi> <m:mi mathvariant="normal">r</m:mi> </m:mrow> </m:mrow> <m:mo stretchy="false">)</m:mo> </m:math> $({\rm{Cu - A}}{{\rm{l}}_{\rm{2}}}{{\rm{O}}_{\rm{3}}}{\rm{/water}})$ is higher than that of Nanofluid (Cu/water) under magnetic field environment. More combinations of different nanocomposites can be tried so that the desired heat transfer rate can be achieved.

Nanotechnology is a key advanced technology enabling contribution, development, and sustainable impact on food, medicine, and agriculture sectors. Nanomaterials have potential to lead qualitative and quantitative production of healthier, safer, and high-quality functional foods which are perishable or semi-perishable in nature. Nanotechnologies are superior than conventional food processing technologies with increased shelf life of food products, preventing contamination, and production of enhanced food quality. This comprehensive review on nanotechnologies for functional food development describes the current trends and future perspectives of advanced nanomaterials in food sector considering processing, packaging, security, and storage. Applications of nanotechnologies enhance the food bioavailability, taste, texture, and consistency, achieved through modification of particle size, possible cluster formation, and surface charge of food nanomaterials. In addition, the nanodelivery-mediated nutraceuticals, synergistic action of nanomaterials in food protection, and the application of nanosensors in smart food packaging for monitoring the quality of the stored foods and the common methods employed for assessing the impact of nanomaterials in biological systems are also discussed.

Feature selection is one of the techniques in machine learning for selecting a subset of relevant features namely variables for the construction of models. The feature selection technique aims at removing the redundant or irrelevant features or features which are strongly correlated in the data without much loss of information. It is broadly used for making the model much easier to interpret and increase generalization by reducing the variance. Regression analysis plays a vital role in statistical modeling and in turn for performing machine learning tasks. The traditional procedures such as Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, Stepwise regression and partial least squares regression are very sensitive to random errors. Many alternatives have been established in the literature during the past few decades such as Ridge regression and LASSO and its variants. This paper explores the features of the popular regression methods, OLS regression, ridge regression and the LASSO regression. The performance of these procedures has been studied in terms of model fitting and prediction accuracy using real data and simulated environment with the help of R package.

BACKGROUND: Herbal products available to consumers in the marketplace may be contaminated or substituted with alternative plant species and fillers that are not listed on the labels. According to the World Health Organization, the adulteration of herbal products is a threat to consumer safety. Our research aimed to investigate herbal product integrity and authenticity with the goal of protecting consumers from health risks associated with product substitution and contamination. METHODS: We used DNA barcoding to conduct a blind test of the authenticity for (i) 44 herbal products representing 12 companies and 30 different species of herbs, and (ii) 50 leaf samples collected from 42 herbal species. Our laboratory also assembled the first standard reference material (SRM) herbal barcode library from 100 herbal species of known provenance that were used to identify the unknown herbal products and leaf samples. RESULTS: We recovered DNA barcodes from most herbal products (91%) and all leaf samples (100%), with 95% species resolution using a tiered approach (rbcL + ITS2). Most (59%) of the products tested contained DNA barcodes from plant species not listed on the labels. Although we were able to authenticate almost half (48%) of the products, one-third of these also contained contaminants and or fillers not listed on the label. Product substitution occurred in 30/44 of the products tested and only 2/12 companies had products without any substitution, contamination or fillers. Some of the contaminants we found pose serious health risks to consumers. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the herbal products tested were of poor quality, including considerable product substitution, contamination and use of fillers. These activities dilute the effectiveness of otherwise useful remedies, lowering the perceived value of all related products because of a lack of consumer confidence in them. We suggest that the herbal industry should embrace DNA barcoding for authenticating herbal products through testing of raw materials used in manufacturing products. The use of an SRM DNA herbal barcode library for testing bulk materials could provide a method for 'best practices? in the manufacturing of herbal products. This would provide consumers with safe, high quality herbal products.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a novel approach for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using aqueous leaves extracts of Catharanthus roseus (C. roseus) Linn. G. Don which has been proven active against malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum). METHODS: Characterizations were determined by using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray and X-ray diffraction. RESULTS: SEM showed the formation of silver nanoparticles with an average size of 35-55 nm. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that the particles were crystalline in nature with face centred cubic structure of the bulk silver with the broad peaks at 32.4, 46.4 and 28.0. CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that the leaves of C. roseus can be good source for synthesis of silver nanoparticle which shows antiplasmodial activity against P. falciparum. The important outcome of the study will be the development of value added products from medicinal plants C. roseus for biomedical and nanotechnology based industries.

Exposure to antioxidants and xenobiotics triggers the expression of a myriad of genes encoding antioxidant proteins, detoxifying enzymes, and xenobiotic transporters to offer protection against oxidative stress. This articulated universal mechanism is regulated through the cis-acting elements in an array of Nrf2 target genes called antioxidant response elements (AREs), which play a critical role in redox homeostasis. Though the Keap1/Nrf2/ARE system involves many players, AREs hold the key in transcriptional regulation of cytoprotective genes. ARE-mediated reporter constructs have been widely used, including xenobiotics profiling and Nrf2 activator screening. The complexity of AREs is brought by the presence of other regulatory elements within the AREs. The diversity in the ARE sequences not only bring regulatory selectivity of diverse transcription factors, but also confer functional complexity in the Keap1/Nrf2/ARE pathway. The different transcription factors either homodimerize or heterodimerize to bind the AREs. Depending on the nature of partners, they may activate or suppress the transcription. Attention is required for deeper mechanistic understanding of ARE-mediated gene regulation. The computational methods of identification and analysis of AREs are still in their infancy. Investigations are required to know whether epigenetics mechanism plays a role in the regulation of genes mediated through AREs. The polymorphisms in the AREs leading to oxidative stress related diseases are warranted. A thorough understanding of AREs will pave the way for the development of therapeutic agents against cancer, neurodegenerative, cardiovascular, metabolic and other diseases with oxidative stress.

Cancer is a multifactorial disease and is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The contributing factors include specific genetic background, chronic exposure to various environmental stresses and improper diet. All these risk factors lead to the accumulation of molecular changes or mutations in some important proteins in cells which contributes to the initiation of carcinogenesis. Chemotherapy is an effective treatment against cancer but undesirable chemotherapy reactions and the development of resistance to drugs which results in multi-drug resistance (MDR) are the major obstacles in cancer chemotherapy. Strategies which are in practice with limited success include alternative formulations e.g., liposomes, resistance modulation e.g., PSC833, antidotes/toxicity modifiers e.g., ICRF-187 and gene therapy. Targeted therapy is gaining importance due to its specificity towards cancer cells while sparing toxicity to off-target cells. The scope of this review involves the various strategies involved in targeted therapy like-monoclonal antibodies, prodrug, small molecule inhibitors and nano-particulate antibody conjugates.

Halogen (iodide, I−) added aqueous electrolyte facilitates the capacitive behaviour of biomass derived activated carbon based electric double layer capacitors. To produce economically viable electrodes in large scale for supercapacitors (SCs), the activated carbons (ACs) prepared from Eichhornia crassipes (common water hyacinth) by ZnCl2 activation. The prepared ACs were characterized by XRD, Raman, FT-IR and surface area, pore size and pore volume analysis. The electrochemical properties of the SCs were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge (GCD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cycling stability. The 3I−/I3−, 2I−/ I2, 2I3−/3I2 and I2/IO3− pairs produce redox peaks in CV and a large Faradaic plateau in charge–discharge curves. Similarly, I− ions improves the good ionic conductivity (lower charge transfer resistance) at the electrode/electrolyte interface which was identified through EIS studies. The calculated specific capacitance and energy density was 472 F g−1 and 9.5 W h kg−1 in aqueous solution of 1 M H2SO4. Interestingly, nearly two-fold improved specific capacitance and energy density of 912 F g−1 and 19.04 W h kg−1 were achieved when 0.08 M KI was added in 1 M H2SO4 electrolyte with excellent cycle stability over 4000 cycles. Subsequently, this improved specific capacitance and energy density was compared with 0.08 M KBr added to 1 M H2SO4 (572 F g−1, 11.6 W h kg−1) and 0.08 M KI added to 1 M Na2SO4 (604 F g−1, 12.3 W h kg−1) as electrolytes.

This work compares the heat transfer characteristics of traditional nanofluid with that of emerging hybrid nanofluid. Hybrid nanofluid, a new type of conventional fluid, has been used toward the enhancement of heat transfer in the boundary layer flow. A new model of thermophysical properties is employed to investigate the effects of Lorentz force over a three-dimensional stretching surface subject to Newtonian heating. Comparisons are obtained through the numerical parametric study, which has been carried out to explore the effects of various physical parameters involved in the problem. From this study it is observed that the heat transfer rate of hybrid nanofluid (Cu–Al 2 O 3 /water) is higher than nanofluid (Cu/water) even in the presence of a magnetic field environment. By opting to use different and appropriate nanoparticle proportions in hybrid nanofluid, the desired heat transfer rate can be achieved.

Abstract As the last element in Group VA, bismuthene has garnered substantial interest for its unique electronic and mechanical properties and its enhanced stability. However, the mechanism that drives the light‐bismuthene interaction remains completely unclear. Herein, a sonochemical exfoliation approach is employed to deliver a successful synthesis of few‐layer bismuthene. The corresponding nonlinear optical response at the visible wavelength is investigated. The nonlinear refractive index is ∼10 −6 cm 2 /W and was measured by spatial self‐phase modulation. Thanks to its direct energy band‐gap at 1550 nm, the saturable absorption property of bismuthene is experimentally illustrated at the telecommunication band with an optical modulation depth of ∼2.03% and a saturable intensity of ∼30 MW/cm 2 . The optimization of the laser parameters resulted in the generation of an ∼652‐femtosecond optical pulse centered at 1559.18 nm. This result indicates that the bismuthene‐based saturable absorber is indeed a new and excellent material for an ultrafast saturable absorber device. Our work highlights the promise of this material in ultrafast photonics and may be considered as an important step towards bismuthene‐based photonics devices (optical modulator, optical switcher, detector, etc.).

Interpretation of image contents is one of the objectives in computer vision specifically in image processing. In this era it has received much awareness of researchers. In image interpretation the partition of the image into object and background is a severe step. Segmentation separates an image into its component regions or objects. Image segmentation t needs to segment the object from the background to read the image properly and identify the content of the image carefully. In this context, edge detection is a fundamental tool for image segmentation. In this paper an attempt is made to study the performance of most commonly used edge detection techniques for image segmentation and also the comparison of these techniques is carried out with an experiment by using MATLAB software.

Random layered (graphene) structural parameters of the coals such as aromaticity fa, coal rank, number of carbon atoms per aromatic lamellae (n), lateral size La and stacking height Lc are determined using X-ray diffraction technique (XRD). It is found that the structural parameters like fa & Lc increases, where as interlayer spacing d002 decreases with increase in carbon content, aromaticity and coal rank. The number of layers and average number of carbon atoms per aromatic graphene are found to be varying from 7 to 8 and 16-21 for the coal samples with carbon content of 72-77.4%. A good linear relationship exists between number of layers and stacking height of the aromatic lamellae in coal.

Currently, supercapacitors (SCs) are a promising field in the area of energy storage devices. In the last few decades, different types of carbon based materials with suitable surface modifications, metal oxides, metal hydroxides, conducting polymers and their various composites have been used as electrodes to improve the energy performance of SCs. In addition, different technologies like asymmetric and hybrid systems have also been introduced. Interestingly, another alternative approach has been proposed recently by a few research groups, wherein electrolytes (liquid and polymer) can enhance the performance of the SCs via redox reactions at the electrode–electrolyte interface, by introducing redox additives or mediators in the electrolytes. The main advantage of this new technique is its simple and safe preparation method, along with cost effectiveness compared to the preparation of some active electrode materials. Hence it is believed that identification of suitable redox additives or species in electrolytes will be a hotspot in the field of SCs in the coming years.

Human brain consists of millions of neurons which are playing an important role for controlling behavior of human body with respect to internal/external motor/sensory stimuli. These neurons will act as information carriers between human body and brain. Understanding cognitive behaviour of brain can be done by analyzing either signals or images from the brain. Human behaviour can be visualized in terms of motor and sensory states such as, eye movement, lip movement, remembrance, attention, hand clenching etc. These states are related with specific signal frequency which helps to understand functional behavior of complex brain structure. Electroencephalography (EEG) is an efficient modality which helps to acquire brain signals corresponds to various states from the scalp surface area. These signals are generally categorized as delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma based on signal frequencies ranges from 0.1 Hz to more than 100 Hz. This paper primarily focuses on EEG signals and its characterization with respect to various states of human body. It also deals with experimental setup used in EEG analysis.

A novel water soluble ligand-bridged cobalt(II) coordination polymer has been synthesized by reacting the new ligand, 2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde (isonicotinic) hydrazone (H(2)L) with Co(NO(3))(2)·6H(2)O and characterized by spectral, analytical and structural methods. Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the Co(II) complex, {[Co(H(2)L)(H(2)O)(2)](NO(3))(2)·3H(2)O}(n) has a slightly distorted octahedral geometry around the central Co(II) ion; the ligand is coordinated through the ONO donor atoms to one Co(II) metal center and bridged through the pyridine nitrogen atom to another similar Co(II) center so as to form a one-dimensional polymeric unit. The interaction of the ligand and the complex with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) has been explored by absorption and emission titration methods, which revealed that the compounds could interact with CT-DNA through intercalation. The interactions of the compounds with bovine serum albumin (BSA) were also investigated using UV-visible, fluorescence and synchronous fluorescence spectroscopic methods. The results indicated that the complex exhibited a strong binding to BSA over the ligand. Investigation of the antioxidative properties showed that the polymeric Co(II) complex has a strong radical scavenging potency against hydroxyl radicals, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals, nitric oxide and superoxide anion radicals. Further, the cytotoxic effect of the compounds examined on cancerous cell lines, such as human cervical cancer cells (HeLa), human laryngeal epithelial carcinoma cells (HEp-2), human liver carcinoma cells (Hep G2), human skin cancer cells (A431) and non-cancerous NIH 3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts cell lines showed that the complex exhibited substantial anticancer activity.

ions. Photocatalytic studies revealed that 7.5% Mg-doped ZnO NPs exhibited maximum degradation (78%) for Rhodamine B (RhB) dye under UV-Vis irradiation. Antibacterial studies were conducted using Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The results demonstrated that doping with Mg ions inside the ZnO matrix had enhanced the antibacterial activity against all types of bacteria and its performance was improved with successive increment in Mg ion concentration inside ZnO NPs.

In this paper, synchronization of an inertial neural network with time-varying delays is investigated. Based on the variable transformation method, we transform the second-order differential equations into the first-order differential equations. Then, using suitable Lyapunov-Krasovskii functionals and Jensen's inequality, the synchronization criteria are established in terms of linear matrix inequalities. Moreover, a feedback controller is designed to attain synchronization between the master and slave models, and to ensure that the error model is globally asymptotically stable. Numerical examples and simulations are presented to indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Besides that, an image encryption algorithm is proposed based on the piecewise linear chaotic map and the chaotic inertial neural network. The chaotic signals obtained from the inertial neural network are utilized for the encryption process. Statistical analyses are provided to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed encryption algorithm. The results ascertain that the proposed encryption algorithm is efficient and reliable for secure communication applications.

Abstract The band gap of few‐layered 2D material is one of the significant issues for the application of practical devices. Due to the outstanding electrical transport property and excellent photoresponse, 2D InSe has recently attracted rising attention. Herein, few‐layered InSe nanosheets with direct band gap are delivered by a facile liquid‐phase exfoliation approach. We have synthesized a photoelectrochemical (PEC)‐type few‐layered InSe photodetector that exhibits high photocurrent density, responsivity, and stable cycling ability in KOH solution under the irradiation of sunlight. The detective ability of such PEC InSe photodetector can be conveniently tuned by varying the concentration of KOH and applied potential suggesting that the present device can be a fitting candidate as an excellent photodetector. Moreover, extendable optimization of the photodetection performance on InSe nanosheets would further enhance the potential of the prepared InSe in other PEC‐type devices such as dye‐sensitized solar cells, water splitting systems, and solar tracking equipment.