Siddaganga Institute of Technology

Nanotechnology has the potential to circumvent several drawbacks of conventional therapeutic formulations. In fact, significant strides have been made towards the application of engineered nanomaterials for the treatment of cancer with high specificity, sensitivity and efficacy. Tailor-made nanomaterials functionalized with specific ligands can target cancer cells in a predictable manner and deliver encapsulated payloads effectively. Moreover, nanomaterials can also be designed for increased drug loading, improved half-life in the body, controlled release, and selective distribution by modifying their composition, size, morphology, and surface chemistry. To date, polymeric nanomaterials, metallic nanoparticles, carbon-based materials, liposomes, and dendrimers have been developed as smart drug delivery systems for cancer treatment, demonstrating enhanced pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiles over conventional formulations due to their nanoscale size and unique physicochemical characteristics. The data present in the literature suggest that nanotechnology will provide next-generation platforms for cancer management and anticancer therapy. Therefore, in this critical review, we summarize a range of nanomaterials which are currently being employed for anticancer therapies and discuss the fundamental role of their physicochemical properties in cancer management. We further elaborate on the topical progress made to date toward nanomaterial engineering for cancer therapy, including current strategies for drug targeting and release for efficient cancer administration. We also discuss issues of nanotoxicity, which is an often-neglected feature of nanotechnology. Finally, we attempt to summarize the current challenges in nanotherapeutics and provide an outlook on the future of this important field.

Innovative engineered nanomaterials are at the leading edge of rapidly emerging fields of nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine. Meticulous synthesis, unique physicochemical properties, manifestation of chemical or biological moieties on the surface of materials make engineered nanostructures suitable for a variety of biomedical applications. Besides, tailored nanomaterials exhibit entirely novel therapeutic applications with better functionality, sensitivity, efficiency and specificity due to their customized unique physicochemical and surface properties. Additionally, such designer made nanomaterials has potential to generate series of interactions with various biological entities including DNA, proteins, membranes, cells and organelles at nano-bio interface. These nano-bio interactions are driven by colloidal forces and predominantly depend on the dynamic physicochemical and surface properties of nanomaterials. Nevertheless, recent development and atomic scale tailoring of various physical, chemical and surface properties of nanomaterials is promising to dictate their interaction in anticipated manner with biological entities for biomedical applications. As a result, rationally designed nanomaterials are in extensive demand for bio-molecular detection and diagnostics, therapeutics, drug and gene delivery, fluorescent labelling, tissue engineering, biochemical sensing and other pharmaceuticals applications. However, toxicity and risk associated with engineered nanomaterials is rather unclear or not well understood; which is gaining considerable attention and the field of nanotoxicology is evolving promptly. Therefore, this review explores current knowledge of articulate engineering of nanomaterials for biomedical applications with special attention on potential toxicological perspectives.

The tomato crop is an important staple in the Indian market with high commercial value and is produced in large quantities. Diseases are detrimental to the plant's health which in turn affects its growth. To ensure minimal losses to the cultivated crop, it is crucial to supervise its growth. There are numerous types of tomato diseases that target the crop's leaf at an alarming rate. This paper adopts a slight variation of the convolutional neural network model called LeNet to detect and identify diseases in tomato leaves. The main aim of the proposed work is to find a solution to the problem of tomato leaf disease detection using the simplest approach while making use of minimal computing resources to achieve results comparable to state of the art techniques. Neural network models employ automatic feature extraction to aid in the classification of the input image into respective disease classes. This proposed system has achieved an average accuracy of 94-95 % indicating the feasibility of the neural network approach even under unfavourable conditions.

Salinity and sodicity have been a major environmental hazard of the past century since more than 25% of the total land and 33% of the irrigated land globally are affected by salinity and sodicity. Adverse effects of soil salinity and sodicity include inhibited crop growth, waterlogging issues, groundwater contamination, loss in soil fertility and other associated secondary impacts on dependent ecosystems. Salinity and sodicity also have an enormous impact on food security since a substantial portion of the world’s irrigated land is affected by them. While the intrinsic nature of the soil could cause soil salinity and sodicity, in developing countries, they are also primarily caused by unsustainable irrigation practices, such as using high volumes of fertilizers, irrigating with saline/sodic water and lack of adequate drainage facilities to drain surplus irrigated water. This has also caused irreversible groundwater contamination in many regions. Although several remediation techniques have been developed, comprehensive land reclamation still remains challenging and is often time and resource inefficient. Mitigating the risk of salinity and sodicity while continuing to irrigate the land, for example, by growing salt-resistant crops such as halophytes together with regular crops or creating artificial drainage appears to be the most practical solution as farmers cannot halt irrigation. The purpose of this review is to highlight the global prevalence of salinity and sodicity in irrigated areas, highlight their spatiotemporal variability and causes, document the effects of irrigation induced salinity and sodicity on physicochemical properties of soil and groundwater, and discuss practical, innovative, and feasible practices and solutions to mitigate the salinity and sodicity hazards on soil and groundwater.

Aluminum MMCs are preferred to other conventional materials in the fields of aerospace, automotive and marine applications owing to their improved properties like high strength to weight ratio, good wear resistance etc. In the present work an attempt has been made to synthesize metal matrix composite using 6061Al as matrix material reinforced with ceramic Al2O3 particulates using liquid metallurgy route in particular stir casting technique. The addition level of reinforcement is being varied from 6-12wt% in steps of 3wt%. For each composite, reinforcement particles were preheated to a temperature of 200 °C and then dispersed in steps of three into the vortex of molten Al6061 alloy to improve wettability and distribution. Microstructural characterization was carried out for the above prepared composites by taking specimens from central portion of the casting to ensure homogeneous distribution of particles. Hardness and tensile properties of the prepared composite were determined before and after addition of Al2O3 particulates to note the extent of improvement. Microstructural characterization of the composites has revealed fairly uniform distribution and some amount of grain refinement in the specimens. Further, the hardness and tensile properties are higher in case of composites when compared to unreinforced 6061Al matrix, also increasing addition level of reinforcement has resulted in further increase in both hardness and tensile strength.

A new ultrafast and highly sensitive 'turn-off/turn-on' biosensing approach that combines the intrinsic peroxidase-like activity of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) with the high affinity and specificity of a ssDNA aptamer is presented for the efficient detection of a model small molecule kanamycin.

In the present investigation, green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by biological method using aqueous stem extract of Ruta graveolens act as reducing agent. Formation of ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), UV–visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Zinc oxide nanoparticles were subjected to biological properties such as antibacterial and antioxidant studies. The PXRD pattern reveals that ZnO sample belongs to hexagonal phase with Wurtzite structure. The UV–vis absorption spectrum shows an absorption band at 355 nm due to ZnO nanoparticles. SEM images show that the particles have spherical like structure with large surface area and the average crystallite sizes were found to be in the range ~28 nm. These observations were confirmed by TEM analysis. The ZnO nanoparticles are found to inhibit the antioxidant activity of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals effectively. ZnO Nps exhibit significant bactericidal activity against Gram −ve bacterial strains such as Klebsiella aerogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Gram +ve Staphylococcus aureus by agar well diffusion method.

CeO2 nanoparticles have been proven to be competent photocatalysts for environmental applications because of their strong redox ability, nontoxicity, long-term stability, and low cost. We have synthesized CeO2 nanoparticles via solution combustion method using ceric ammonium nitrate as an oxidizer and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as fuel at 450 °C. These nanoparticles exhibit good photocatalytic degradation and antibacterial activity. The obtained product was characterized by various techniques. X-ray diffraction data confirms a cerianite structure: a cubic phase CeO2 having crystallite size of 35 nm. The infrared spectrum shows a strong band below 700 cm(-1) due to the Ce-O-Ce stretching vibrations. The UV/Vis spectrum shows maximum absorption at 302 nm. The photoluminescence spectrum shows characteristic peaks of CeO2 nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images clearly show the presence of a porous network with a lot of voids. From transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images, it is clear that the particles are almost spherical, and the average size of the nanoparticles is found to be 42 nm. CeO2 nanoparticles exhibit photocatalytic activity against trypan blue at pH 10 in UV light, and the reaction follows pseudo first-order kinetics. Finally, CeO2 nanoparticles also reduce Cr(VI) to Cr(III) and show antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

This paper presents the development of ambient temperature cured ultra-high-performance geopolymer concrete (UHPGPC). Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) mixtures were developed by completely eliminating Portland cement and activating industrial by-product materials such as ground granulated blastfurnace slag and silica fume. Local standard sand (maximum size 2 mm), quartz sand (600 μm) and 0·16 mm diameter steel fibres of 13 and 6 mm length were used. Fresh properties (density and flowability) and mechanical properties (compressive strength) of the UHPGPC produced under ambient temperature curing conditions were evaluated. Four mixtures with fibres and one mix without fibre addition were studied as the UHPGPC mixtures. The highest average compressive strengths obtained were 175 MPa for UHPGPC with steel fibres (1% 6 mm and 2% 13 mm) and 124 MPa for UHPGPC without fibres. Prismatic specimens (100 × 100 × 500 mm) were cast to determine the flexural strength, which was found to be 10·3–13·5 MPa and 9·1 MPa for mixes with and without steel fibres respectively. The compressive and flexural strengths obtained in this work are comparable to UHPC strengths presented in the literature. Production of this innovative material with industrial by-products and without the conventional curing regimes used for UHPC will improve sustainability and lead to cast-in-situ applications of UHPC.

Neural Networks are one of many data mining analytical tools that can be utilized to make predictions for medical data. Model selection for a neural network entails various factors such as selection of the optimal number of hidden nodes, selection of the relevant input variables and selection of optimal connection weights. This paper presents the application of hybrid model that integrates Genetic Algorithm and Back Propatation network (BPN) where GA is used to initialize and optmize the connection weights of BPN . Significant feactures identified by using two methods :Decision tree and GA-CFS method are used as input to the hybrid model to diagonise diabetes mellitus. The results prove that, GA-optimized BPN approach has outperformed the BPN approach without GA optimization. In addition the hybrid GA-BPN with relevant inputs lead to further improvised categorization accuracy compared to results produced by GA-BPN alone with some redundant inputs.

studies to examine their effectiveness versus COVID-19.

The excessive discharge and accumulation of solid organic waste into the environment is of severe concern across the globe. Thus, an efficient waste management system is important to mitigate health risks to humans, minimize harmful impacts on the environment, and ensure a sustainable ecosystem. The organic waste is converted into value-added products either using microorganisms or heat energy; these methods are commonly known as biochemical and thermochemical techniques. The biochemical process has the advantage of higher selectivity of the products and lower processing temperatures. The principal conversion processes of this category are fermentation and anaerobic digestion (AD). This review article focuses on AD, a potential method for treating organic waste and creating a variety of products with added value. Here we present the digestibility of various organic wastes, the role of microorganisms, the decomposition process, co-substrates, digester designs, biogas yields, by-products, environmental impacts, and overall techno-economical effectiveness of the process. Further, this review offers insights into new directions for AD for waste treatment and future research without compromising the overall feasibility and environmental sustainability.

Nickel oxide Nanoparticles (NiO NPs) were synthesized from E. heterophylla (L.) leaves extract act as reducing/capping agent by biosynthesis process. Further the synthesized NiO NPs was subjected for structural, optical and biological properties. The XRD pattern of NiO NPS exhibit face centred cubic (FCC) crystalline structure. The UV-DR spectrum of biosynthesized NiO NPs exhibited optical properties with well-defined at 321 nm and its exhibits optical band gap is 3.24 eV. The FT-IR spectrum of NiO NPs shows stretching vibration of Ni-O at 452 cm−1. The morphological features of NiO NPs are rhombohedra and slightly agglomerated and then size of the biosynthesized NiO NPs as found in the range of 12–15 nm. The NiO NPs shows vital non-toxic properties on human erythrocytes and its interference in activity coagulation cascade both on PRP and PPP on human blood. The Bactericidal activity of NiO NPs was shows significant inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacterial strains. Further, NiO NPs show significant cytotoxicity against human lung cancer cell line (A549) and human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cell lines. Therefore, the study reveals states that, the E. heterophylla (L.) leaves extract is an effective reducing/capping agent for the formation of NiO NPs and its exhibits biological properties.

In the present work, we have developed a novel, ecofriendly method for the synthesis of ZnO superstructures for the first time through the thermal decomposition of zinc nitrate precursor without using any fuel. The synthesized materials were thoroughly characterized using various analytical tools such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry, UV–vis, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Further, it has been used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of one of the environmental pollutants such as methylene blue and also as a biosensor toward the detection of dopamine at trace level. The as-synthesized ZnO nanoparticles showed superior catalytic activity toward the degradation of methylene blue dye with high degree of recyclability with yellow light emitting photoluminescence. The developed sensor showed a linear range for dopamine up to 300 μM with a detection limit of 1 μM with reproduced results over periods of several months without any deviation in its electrochemical performance.

Abstract Gadolinium (Gd 3+ ) substituted bismuth ferrite (BF) photocatalysts were synthesized using sol‐gel method and the effect of Gd 3+ substitution was investigated on the structural, optical and surface properties of Gd 3+ substituted BF nanoparticles. Different techniques such as X‐ray diffraction (XRD), high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) with Selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED), Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), ultraviolet‐visible diffuse reflection spectra (UV‐DRS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller (BET), and photoluminescence spectra (PL) were employed to characterize the nanoparticles. Compared to nascent BF, the Gd 3+ substituted BF nanoparticles showed improved long‐range ordering, smaller pore diameter, higher porosity and redshift of the band gap. These properties were responsible for their improved photocatalytic activity, when tested for the photodegradation of organic dyes. It was found that 3 % Gd 3+ substituted BF nanoparticles exhibited enhanced the photocatalytic activity of indigo carmine dye with a degradation ranging from 34 % to 69 %, while for Congo red dye the degradation varied from 37 % to 73 % under the visible light. Furthermore, bio‐sensing properties of BF materials were improved as detected by the uric acid using cyclic voltammogram technique.

Metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) is a class of enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of a broad range of beta-lactam antibiotics leading to the development of drug resistance in bacteria. Inhibition of MBL is therefore pursued as a potential way to increase the susceptibility of bacteria to beta-lactam antibiotics. In this study, MBL inhibitors from natural sources such as Eupalitin, Rosmarinic acid and Luteolin are used as a potential alternative to explore their effect. The crystal structure of MBL revealed a hydrolyzed Meropenem, which was undocked from the active center pocket to get the apo-protein. The apo-protein was re-docked with substrate, three known MBL inhibitors and natural compounds to prepare the starting structure in the current work and to draw conclusions. Further, to explore the efficiency of natural inhibitors, we analyzed the dynamic behavior of the enzyme over simulation time using molecular dynamics studies. Our results suggest that MBL enzyme adopted altered conformational state in the presence of natural inhibitor. This is because, the natural inhibitors were tried to occupy a different binding pocket in the enzyme by causing positional drift from the active center pocket. Here, the different binding pocket partly comprised of active site pocket and partly by a new region explored by ligand, making it inappropriate for substrate to occupy the active site. Thus natural inhibitors may be potential entities to target MBL. AbbreviationsADMEAbsorption, Distribution, Metabolism and ExcretionBBBBlood brain barrierCHARMMChemistry at Harvard Macromolecular MechanicsCOMCenter of MassCYP2D6Cytochrome P450 2D6DSDiscovery StudioESBLExtended Spectrum Beta-lactamasesFDAFood and Drug AdministrationGLASSGlobal antimicrobial resistance surveillance systemGROMACSGROningen MAchine for Chemical SimulationsKDEKernel Density Estimation PlotsMBLMetallo-beta-lactamaseMBL-CMetallo-beta-lactamase bound to L-CaptoprilMBL-EMetallo-beta -lactamase bound to EupalitinMBL-IMetallo-beta -lactamase bound to ImipenemMBL-LMetallo-beta -lactamase bound to LuteolinMBL-RMetallo-beta -lactamase bound to Rosmarinic acidMDMolecular DynamicsMMPBSAMolecular Mechanics Poisson - Boltzmann surface areaNPTNumber of atoms in the system, Pressure of the system and Temperature of the systemnsNano secondsNVTNumber of atoms in the system, Volume of the system, and Temperature of the systemPDBProtein Data BankRgRadius of GyrationRMSDRoot Mean Square DeviationRMSFRoot Mean Square FluctuationSASASolvent Accessible Surface AreaSPC/ESimple Point ChargeWHOWorld Health OrganizationCommunicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

In the present work, 11wt% B4C particulate reinforced 6061 Al matrix composites were produced by conventional melt stirring method. Processing of composite is carried out at a temperature of 750 °C involving two stage additions. Preheated B4C particles along with K2TiF6 halide salt (with ratio of 0.3) was introduced in steps of two rather than adding all at once. Characterization of the prepared composites is done using SEM/EDX and X-RD studies. Fairly uniform distribution of B4C particulates without clustering in 6061Al matrix was evident from SEM studies. The prepared composite consists of α-Al, B4C and minor phases like Al3Ti, AlB2 and Al3BC are confirmed by XRD studies. The addition of B4C particulates to 6061Al matrix has resulted in improvements in mechanical properties of the base alloy.

Silver doped zirconium oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using milk powder via single step solution combustion method and has been examined for the removal of toxic chemicals from an organic dye. Ag doped ZrO2 were intended to play a vital role in the removal of accumulated contaminants in aqueous environment due to high efficiency of visible light triggered photocatalytic activity. The obtained product was analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV–Vis spectroscopy, BET measurements and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD and FTIR investigation probe the occurrence of silver in the synthesized final nanoparticles. The calculated average crystallite size is about 10–16 nm. Pure ZrO2 and Ag doped ZrO2 nanoparticles were analyzed against Rhodamine B (Rh B), a cataionic dye in visible light irradiation. By the analysis of experiments, silver (6 mol %) doped ZrO2 shows good photocatalyst towards 95% of Rhodamine B degradation with 150 mg photocatalyst and 10 ppm dye within 105 min.

Dispersive soils which occur in many parts of the world are easily erodible and segregate in water pose serious problems of stability of earth and earth retaining structures. The mechanism of dispersivity of soils is reasonably well understood. However there is simple method to identify the dispersivity of the soils and even more difficult to quantify the dispersivity. Visual classification, Atterberg’s limits and particle size analysis do not provide sufficient basis to differentiate between dispersive clays and ordinary erosion resistant clays. Pinhole test and double hydrometer test are the only two tests that are in vogue to identify the dispersive soils. This paper explores the possibility of using other standard tests such as shrinkage limit and unconfined compressive strength tests to quantify the dispersivity of the soils. The rationale of using the methods and correlation between the dispersivity determined by various methods has been explained. It has been concluded that dispersivity ascertained from strength tests is more reliable.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are neurodegenerative disorders that have emerged as among the serious health problems of the 21st century. The medications currently available to treat AD and PD have limited efficacy and are associated with side effects. Natural products are one of the most vital and conservative sources of medicines for treating neurological problems. Karanjin is a furanoflavonoid, isolated mainly from Pongamia pinnata with several medicinal plants, and has been reported for numerous health benefits. However, the effect of karanjin on AD and PD has not yet been systematically investigated. To evaluate the neuroprotective effect of karanjin, extensive in silico studies starting with molecular docking against five putative targets for AD and four targets for PD were conducted. The findings were compared with three standard drugs using Auto Dock 4.1 and Molegro Virtual Docker software. Additionally, the physiochemical properties (Lipinski rule of five), drug-likeness and parameters including absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and toxicity (ADMET) profiles of karanjin were also studied. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed with two selective karanjin docking complexes to analyze the dynamic behaviors and binding free energy at 100 ns time scale. In addition, frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs) and density-functional theory (DFT) were also investigated from computational quantum mechanism perspectives using the Avogadro-ORCA 1.2.0 platform. Karanjin complies with all five of Lipinski’s drug-likeness rules with suitable ADMET profiles for therapeutic use. The docking scores (kcal/mol) showed comparatively higher potency against AD and PD associated targets than currently used standard drugs. Overall, the potential binding affinity from molecular docking, static thermodynamics feature from MD-simulation and other multiparametric drug-ability profiles suggest that karanjin could be considered as a suitable therapeutic lead for AD and PD treatment. Furthermore, the present results were strongly correlated with the earlier study on karanjin in an Alzheimer’s animal model. However, necessary in vivo studies, clinical trials, bioavailability, permeability and safe dose administration, etc. must be required to use karanjin as a potential drug against AD and PD treatment, where the in silico results are more helpful to accelerate the drug development.