Role of adjuvant therapy in resected periampullary adenocarcinoma: A propensity matched case-control study

Backgrounds/Aims

The published data had contradictory information on the role of adjuvant therapy on resected periampullary carcinomas (PACA). The study was performed to evaluate the survival benefit of adjuvant treatment.

Methods

This was a propensity score matched case-control study from a prospectively maintained database from 2004-2019. The study included patients with nonpancreatic PACA who underwent curative resection. The patients (cases) who received adjuvant chemotherapy were compared with patients (controls) who were observed alone after surgery.

Results

Of 510 patients with PACA, 230 patients (cases = 107, controls = 123) formed the unmatched study cohort. After propensity score matching, 140 patients (cases = 70, controls = 70) formed the matched study cohort. The median overall survival (OS) was similar in cases than controls in the unmatched population but doubled non-significantly in cases after matching (unmatched population, 54 months vs. 54 months, p-value = 0.624; matched population, 71 months vs. 36 months, p-value = 0.087). However, the median recurrence-free survival (RFS) was non significantly higher in the control group (unmatched population, 59 months vs. 38 months, p-value = 0.195; matched population, 53 months vs. 40 months, p-value = 0.797). In cox regression analysis, age < 60 years, advanced T stage, and presence of perineural invasion were independent factors for worse RFS, while tumor recurrence was an independent factor for poor OS.

Conclusions

Patients with nonpancreatic PACA may have an OS benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, and this needs to be validated with large prospective randomized studies.

Biotransformation of Raw Mango Seed Waste into Bacterial Hydrolytic Enzymes Enhancement Via Solid State Fermentation Strategy

Solid waste generation is a huge contributor to environmental pollution issues, and food wastes are prominent in this category due to their large generation on a day-to-day basis. Thus, the settlement of daily food waste is one of the major constraints and needs innovative manufacturing sheme to valorize solid waste in sustainable manner. Moreover, these food wastes are rich in organic content, which has promising scope for their value-added products. In the present study, raw mango seed waste has been biotransformed to produce bacterial hydrolytic enzymes as feedstock. On investigating the impact of substrate, the highest bacterial cellulase production was recorded to be 18 IU/gds FP (filter paper) in 24 h of microbial incubation at 5 g of substrate in solid-state fermentation (SSF). Furthermore, at 40 °C and pH 6.0, 23 IU/gds FP enzyme could be produced in 24 h of SSF. Beside this, on comparing the influence of inorganic and organic nitrogen sources, urea has been found to provide better cellulase production, which yielded 28 IU/gds FP in 24 h of incubation, along with 77 IU/gds BG (β-glucosidase) and 89 IU/gds EG (endoglucanase). On the other hand, Tween-40 and Tween-80, two different surfactants, were employed at a 1.0% concentration for 24 h of incubation. It was noticed that Tween-80 showed complete enzyme activity at 24 h, which was found to be relatively superior to that of Tween-40. This study may have potential utility in enzyme production using mango seed as a food waste for various industrial applications.

Bionanofabrication of Cupric oxide catalyst from Water hyacinth based carbohydrate and its impact on cellulose deconstructing enzymes production under solid state fermentation

One of the most important properties of cellulolytic enzyme is its ability to convert cellulosic polymer into monomeric fermentable sugars which are carbohydrate by nature can efficiently convert into biofuels. However, higher production costs of these enzymes with moderate activity-based stability are the main obstacles to making cellulase-based applications sustainably viable, and this has necessitated rigorous research for the economical availability of this process. Using water hyacinth (WH) waste leaves as the substrate for cellulase production under solid state fermentation (SSF) while treating the fermentation production medium with CuO (cupric oxide oxide) bionanocatalyst have been examined as ways to make fungal cellulase production economically feasible. Herein, a sustainable green synthesis of CuO bionanocatalyst has been performed by using waste leaves of WH. Through XRD, FT-IR, SEM, and TEM analysis, the prepared CuO bionanocatalyst's physicochemical properties have been evaluated. Furthermore, the effect of CuO bionanocatalyst on the temperature stability of raw cellulases was observed, and its half-life stability was found to be up to 9 h at 65 °C. The results presented in the current investigation may have broad scope for mass trials for various industrial applications, such as cellulosic biomass conversion.

Production of fermentable glucose from bioconversion of cellulose using efficient microbial cellulases produced from water hyacinth waste

The economic production of cellulase enzymes for various industrial applications is one of the major research areas. A number of broad industrial applications, for example, in cellulosic biomass hydrolysis for simple sugars such as glucose and subsequent biofuel production, make these enzyme systems the third most demanding enzymes. Nevertheless, due to their production on commercial substrates, cellulases fall into the category of costly enzymes. Therefore, the goal of the present work is to evaluate the enhancement of cellulase production and its utilization in the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass using low-cost cellulosic substrate, which is abundant and widely available. In this context, waste biomasses of water hyacinth (WH), including leaves and stems, have been used as feedstock to produce cellulases via solid-state fermentation (SSF) in the current study, which improves its production as well as activity. Furthermore, the impact of process parameters like temperature and pH has been investigated for improved cellulase production. At optimum concentration using 10 g of feedstock, 22 IU/gds of FP, 92 IU/gds of BGL, and 111 IU/gds of EG have been noticed in day 5 of SSF. Herein, 40 °C has been identified as the optimum temperature for cellulase production, whereas 50-55 °C has been recorded as the optimum reaction temperature for cellulase enzyme activity. Additionally, pH 5.5 has been identified as the optimum pH for cellulase enzyme production, whereas this enzyme was thermally stable (55 °C) at pH 5.0 up to 3.5 h. Further, the cellulosic biomass hydrolysis of WH leaves via an optimized crude enzyme has been performed, and this could release 24.34 g/L of glucose in 24 h of the reaction. The current findings may have potential for developing cellulases for mass-scale production using WH-based waste bioresources for numerous biorefinery applications.

Soil microbes: a natural solution for mitigating the impact of climate change

Soil microbes are microscopic organisms that inhabit the soil and play a significant role in various ecological processes. They are essential for nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and maintaining soil health. Importantly, soil microbes have the potential to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere through processes like carbon fixation and storage in organic matter. Unlocking the potential of microbial-driven carbon storage holds the key to revolutionizing climate-smart agricultural practices, paving the way for sustainable productivity and environmental conservation. A fascinating tale of nature's unsung heroes is revealed by delving into the realm of soil microbes. The guardians of the Earth are these tiny creatures that live beneath our feet and discreetly work their magic to fend off the effects of climate change. These microbes are also essential for plant growth enhancement through their roles in nutrient uptake, nitrogen fixation, and synthesis of growth-promoting chemicals. By understanding and managing soil microbial communities, it is possible to improve soil health, soil water-holding capacity, and promote plant growth in agricultural and natural ecosystems. Added to it, these microbes play an important role in biodegradation, bioremediation of heavy metals, and phytoremediation, which in turn helps in treating the contaminated soils. Unfortunately, climate change events affect the diversity, composition, and metabolism of these microbes. Unlocking the microbial potential demands an interdisciplinary endeavor spanning microbiology, ecology, agronomy, and climate science. It is a call to arms for the scientific community to recognize soil microbes as invaluable partners in the fight against climate change. By implementing data-driven land management strategies and pioneering interventions, we possess the means to harness their capabilities, paving the way for climate mitigation, sustainable agriculture, and promote ecosystem resilience in the imminent future.

Facile pretreatment strategies to biotransform Kans grass into nanocatalyst, cellulolytic enzymes, and fermentable sugars towards sustainable biorefinery applications

The present investigation is targeted towards the facile fabrication of a carbon-based nanocatalyst (CNCs) using Kans grass biomass (KGB) and its sustainable application in microbial cellulase enhancement for the alleviation of enzymatic hydrolysis for sugar production. Different pretreatments, including physical, KGB extract-mediated treatment, followed by KOH pretreatment, have been applied to produce CNCs using KGB. The presence of CNCs influences the pretreatment of KGB substrate, fungal cellulase production, stability, and sugar recovery in the enzymatic hydrolysis of KGB. Using 1.0% CNCs pretreated KGB-based solid-state fermentation, 33 U/gds FPA and 126 U/gds BGL were obtained at 72 h, followed by 107 U/gds EG at 48 h in the presence of 0.5% CNCs. Further, 42 °C has been identified as the optimum temperature for cellulase production, while the enzyme showed thermal stability at 50 °C up to 20 h and produced 38.4 g/L sugar in 24 h through enzymatic hydrolysis of KGB.

Enhancement in Bacterial Cellulolytic Enzyme Production Using Acid-Pretreated Banana Peel Waste: A Comparative Evaluation

Banana peel waste is one of the major contributors in the issue raised from solid waste, however, it can be valorized effectively due to high content of cellulose and hemicellulose. Significant conversion of banana waste includes cellulolytic enzymes and bioenergy production. In the present study, bacterial cellulase was produced using raw banana peel and ripe banana peel under SSF. Additionally, impact of acid pretreatment was investigated as one of strategy to improve cellulolytic enzyme production. A comparative evaluation of raw and ripe banana peels showed that ripe banana peels showed better enzyme production after pretreatment with 0.5% dilute HCl acid. In the series of enhancement of the enzyme production, temperature and pH of the SSF medium were also investigated, and found temperature 35 °C and pH 6.0 were optimum to produce maximum 3.5-U/ml FPA, 39-U/ml BGL, and 54-U/ml EG in 18-h SSF incubation. The study presented eco-friendly waste management to produce industrial enzyme for its promising application in waste valorization and biorefinery area.

Production Enhancement of Bacterial Cellulase Cocktail Using Potato Peels Waste Feedstock and Combination of Water Hyacinth Root and Pea Pod Extract as Natural Nutrient Media: Application in Bioconversion of Potato Peels

Solid wastes are the major contributors in global environmental pollution and their management is the need of urgency towards development of sustainable world. In the present work, solid waste of potato peels has been used as feedstock for fermentation of bacterial cellulase production and substrate for enzymatic hydrolysis via this enzymes cocktail. Additionally, liquid extracts of pea pod and root of water hyacinth wastes have been used to complete nutritional requirements and moisture balance in SSF process during the course of enzyme production. At optimum feedstock concentration of 6.0 g PPW and 10:40 extract-based moisture ratio of WHR and Ppw, Bacillus sp. produced 15 U/gds FP in 18 h, whereas maximum 36 U/gds BGL and 42 U/gds EG have been recorded in 24 h of SSF. Temperature 35 °C and pH 5.5 were optimum for enzyme production while the produced enzyme was thermally stable upto 30 h at 35 °C with 100% pH stability upto 14 h and 77% relative activity at 34 h. The optimized bacterial enzymes have been used for bioconversion of PPW biomass and 26 g/L glucose has been recorded at a hydrolytic temperature of 50 °C and pH 5.0. The study may have feasible promising scope in cellulosic biorefineries and waste management.

Clinical significance of SPOP and APC gene alterations in colorectal cancer in Indian population

Speckle-Type Poz Protein (SPOP) involved in the regulation of proteasome-mediated degradation of several oncoproteins, resulting in cancer initiation and progression. Mutations in Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) gene is reported in most sporadic and hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC). Identifying the cellular changes involved in carcinogenesis when APC is mutated is an important issue that needs attention. The tumor suppressive function of SPOP and APC has long been a major focus in the research field of colorectal cancer. However, the clinical significance of SPOP and APC gene alteration in CRC has not been established to date. Mutational analysis was performed by single-strand conformational polymorphism followed by Sanger sequencing, methylation status by methylation-specific PCR, and protein expression by immunohistochemistry on 142 tumor tissues along with their adjacent non-cancerous specimens. The overall survival (OS) and recurrence free survival (RFS) were estimated by Kaplan-Meier Curve. Mutation rates of APC and SPOP gene were 2.8% and 11.9% while that of promoter hypermethylation were 37% and 47%, respectively. The grade of differentiation and Lymph node metastasis were significantly correlated with APC methylation pattern (p ≤ 0.05). The down regulation of APC was more often seen in colonic cancer compared to rectal cancer (p = 0.07) and more commonly in T3-4 depth of invasion (p = 0.07) and in patients without lymphovascular and perineural invasion (p = 0.007, p = 0.08 respectively). The median overall survival and recurrence free survival (RFS) was 67 & 36 months while 3-yr and 5-yr OS and RFS were 61.1% & 56.4% and 49.2% & 44.8%, respectively. APC promoter methylation had a better overall survival (p = 0.035) while loss of SPOP expression had a worse survival (p = 0.09). Our findings reveal high percentage of SPOP gene mutations in CRC. A significant link is found between promoter hyper methylation and protein expression in all mutant cases of APC and SPOP, suggesting that both genes may be associated in the development of colorectal cancer in people of Indian decent. Hypermethylation of APC gene and loss of SPOP expression have shown an association with disease prognosis and could be further studied looking at its potential role in planning adjuvant treatment in CRC patients.

Retraction Note: India perspective: CNN-LSTM hybrid deep learning model-based COVID-19 prediction and current status of medical resource availability

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1007/s00500-021-06490-x.].

Biologically derived copper oxide-based nanocatalyst using Moringa oleifera leaves and its applications in hydrolytic enzymes and biohydrogen production

Due to the limited availability of fossil fuels, pollution causing serious environmental issues, and their continuously rising price, the development of low-cost efficient enzymes and their implementation in biomass-based bioenergy industries are highly demanded. In the present work, phytogenic fabrication of copper oxide based nanocatalyst has been performed using moringa leaves and has been characterized using different techniques. Herein, the impact of different dosages of as-prepared nanocatalyst on fungal co-cultured cellulolytic enzyme production under co-substrate fermentation using wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse in 4:2 ratios in solid state fermentation (SSF) has been investigated. An optimal concentration of 25 ppm of nanocatalyst influenced the production of 32 IU/gds of enzyme, which showed thermal stability at 70 °C for 15 h. Additionally, enzymatic bioconversion of rice husk at 70 °C librated 41 g/L of total reducing sugars, which led to the production of 2390 mL/L of cumulative H₂ in 120 h.

Current research and development in cotton harvesters: A review with application to Indian cotton production systems

High-quality cotton fiber begins with variety selection, continues with adherence to all production methods, and concludes with a well-planned and executed harvest. A potential strategy for harvesting cotton in developing nations is cotton harvesters. Even though there have been significant improvements in recent years, there are still difficulties with its implementation in developing countries. Cotton picking is entirely mechanical in developed nations. Mechanization in the agriculture business has intensified in emerging nations such as India due to rising labor prices and shortages. This review provides an overview of cotton harvesting technologies. Recent work on robotics in cotton-picking operations is discussed. The present study thoroughly discusses hand-held, self-propelled, tractor-mounted cotton harvester development and evaluation. Information in this review will fill a gap in cotton harvesting operation mechanization and may contribute to enhancing cotton-picking operation mechanization and improving picking/harvesting intelligence research.

Enhancement in functional stability of microbial endoglanases produced using paddy straw via treatment with manganese oxide based porous nanocomposite synthesized from mixed fruit waste

Microbial cellulases are the enzymes used in numerous industrial biotechnological applications. Efficiency of celluloytic cocktails plays a key role in the conversion of biomass into biofuels, but limited production, high cost and low efficiency are the main obstacles to sustainable biorefining. The current work aims to establish a feasible approach for boosting the production of fungal endoglucanse (EG) and its functional stability utilizing nanocomposite materials based on manganese oxide. Herein, aqueous extract from mixed fruit waste was used to synthesize the nanocomposite sample, which was subsequently subjected to several characterization techniques for analysis. Following the solid-state fermentation of paddy straw, and by employing 75 mg nanocomposite, 192 IU/gds EG was produced under the optimal conditions, while 19 IU/gds FP and 98 IU/gds BGL production were recorded. The crude EG enzyme treated with nanocomposite also shows complete stability at pH 5.0 for 3.5 h while retaining thermal activity at 70 °C for 4 h.

Multivariable modeling, optimization and experimental study of Cr(VI) removal from aqueous solution using peanut shell biochar

Peanut shell biomass was selected and utilized to produce biochar through pyrolysis under N₂ atmosphere at 923 K. After studying various effects of experimental parameters and by statistical modeling and optimization by RSM using Box-Benken design, optimized conditions of pH 2.0 ± 0.1, temperature 303 K, and adsorbent dose used of 2.5 g L^-1 were obtained giving almost 99.99% removal for Cr(VI) from the solution. FESEM, FTIR, XRD, XPS, EDX, elemental mapping, and pH_zpc were used for the evaluation of the surface characteristics of peanut shell biochar (PSB). Studies revealed C-O, C-H, CO, and O-H functional groups' presence with the help of FTIR, majorly in control of adsorption mechanism and the EDX confirmed the presence of Cr(VI) onto peanut shell biochar (PSB). Further adsorption mechanism for Cr(VI) adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order rate with adsorption capacity of 29.38 mg g^-1 given by the Langmuir isotherm. The thermodynamic study confirmed the exothermic and spontaneous nature of the process for Cr(VI) adsorption onto PSB. The adsorption mechanism showed electrostatic attraction, reduction, and complexation mainly responsible for Cr(VI) adsorption by PSB. Thus, PSB effectively removes Cr(VI) is confirmed by the present study.

Kinetics investigation of phenolic pollutant degradation via Serratia marcescens ABHI 001 and its application in wastewater treatment

In the present work, kinetic study has been conducted in order to effectively eliminate the p-cresol from wastewater employing isolated bacterial strain Serratia marcescens ABHI001 under batch shake flasks in the concentration varying from 50 to 500 mg/L. Further, effects of various parameters including p-cresol concentration, inoculum dosage, temperature, pH and agitation have been investigated. It was found that 10% v/v inoculum of 24 h age, was effective in degrading p-cresol. Beside this, it was noticed that the concentration of P-cresol above 100 mg/L exhibited an inhibitory effect. The maximum specific growth rate (μmax) was obtained to be 0.360 h-1 for 100 mgL-1 concentration. Further, the experimental results were well fitted with Halden's and Andrew's models and kinetic parameters μmax, KS and Ki in case of Haldane model were calculated to be 0.9697 h-1, 88.07 mgL-1 and 219.9 mgL-1, respectively whereas the corresponding values in case of Andrews's constants were 0.6917 h-1, 62.83 mgL-1 and 307.4 mgL-1, respectively. The yield coefficient for the growth on p-cresol was found to be 0.82.

Covid-MANet: Multi-task attention network for explainable diagnosis and severity assessment of COVID-19 from CXR images

The devastating outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases in early 2020 led the world to face health crises. Subsequently, the exponential reproduction rate of COVID-19 disease can only be reduced by early diagnosis of COVID-19 infection cases correctly. The initial research findings reported that radiological examinations using CT and CXR modality have successfully reduced false negatives by RT-PCR test. This research study aims to develop an explainable diagnosis system for the detection and infection region quantification of COVID-19 disease. The existing research studies successfully explored deep learning approaches with higher performance measures but lacked generalization and interpretability for COVID-19 diagnosis. In this study, we address these issues by the Covid-MANet network, an automated end-to-end multi-task attention network that works for 5 classes in three stages for COVID-19 infection screening. The first stage of the Covid-MANet network localizes attention of the model to the relevant lungs region for disease recognition. The second stage of the Covid-MANet network differentiates COVID-19 cases from bacterial pneumonia, viral pneumonia, normal and tuberculosis cases, respectively. To improve the interpretation and explainability, three experiments have been conducted in exploration of the most coherent and appropriate classification approach. Moreover, the multi-scale attention model MA-DenseNet201 proposed for the classification of COVID-19 cases. The final stage of the Covid-MANet network quantifies the proportion of infection and severity of COVID-19 in the lungs. The COVID-19 cases are graded into more specific severity levels such as mild, moderate, severe, and critical as per the score assigned by the RALE scoring system. The MA-DenseNet201 classification model outperforms eight state-of-the-art CNN models, in terms of sensitivity and interpretation with lung localization network. The COVID-19 infection segmentation by UNet with DenseNet121 encoder achieves dice score of 86.15% outperforming UNet, UNet++, AttentionUNet, R2UNet, with VGG16, ResNet50 and DenseNet201 encoder. The proposed network not only classifies images based on the predicted label but also highlights the infection by segmentation/localization of model-focused regions to support explainable decisions. MA-DenseNet201 model with a segmentation-based cropping approach achieves maximum interpretation of 96% with COVID-19 sensitivity of 97.75%. Finally, based on class-varied sensitivity analysis Covid-MANet ensemble network of MA-DenseNet201, ResNet50 and MobileNet achieve 95.05% accuracy and 98.75% COVID-19 sensitivity. The proposed model is externally validated on an unseen dataset, yields 98.17% COVID-19 sensitivity.

Histopathological Changes in Liver of Patients With Chronic Pancreatitis Requiring Surgical Intervention and Their Clinical Significance

OBJECTIVES

The histopathological changes in the liver and their clinical implication in chronic pancreatitis (CP) have not been studied well. We analyzed the incidence, risk factors, and long-term outcomes of these changes in CP.

METHODS

Chronic pancreatitis patients who underwent surgery with intraoperative liver biopsy from 2012 to 2018 formed the study group. Based on liver histopathology, 3 groups were formed: normal liver, group NL; fatty liver, group FL; and inflammation/fibrosis, group FS. The risk factors and long-term outcomes, including mortality, were evaluated.

RESULTS

Among 73 patients, 39 (53.4%) had idiopathic, and 34 (46.6%) had alcoholic CP. The median age was 32 years, 52 (71.2%) were males and comprised NL, n = 40 (55%); FL, n = 22 (30%); and FS, n = 11 (15%). The preoperative risk factors were comparable among NL and FL groups. Overall 14 of 73 patients (19.2%) (NL, 5 of 40; FL, 5 of 22; FS, 4 of 11 [P = 0.82]) had died at median follow-up of 36 months (range, 25-85 months). The main causes of mortality were tuberculosis and severe malnutrition secondary to pancreatic insufficiency.

CONCLUSIONS

The mortality is higher in patients with inflammation/fibrosis or steatosis in liver biopsy, and such patients need monitoring for progression of liver disease and pancreatic insufficiency.

Cardiac sympathetic afferent denervation reduces matrix metalloproteinase expression and improves cardiac remodeling in rats post myocardial infarction

 

In a previous study from our laboratory, we demonstrated that chronic and selective cardiac sympathetic afferent (spinal) denervation at the time of myocardial infarction (MI) using epicardial application of resiniferatoxin (RTX), a neuronal toxin capable of inducing rapid degeneration of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1)-expressing afferent neurons and fibers, markedly reduced the cardiac remodeling process 9–11 weeks post-MI in rats. This included reduced cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis and apoptosis. Here, we further investigated the effect of epicardial application of RTX at the time of MI on cardiac extracellular matrix (ECM) and remodeling post-MI. Echocardiographic and morphologic data demonstrated that, compared to MI+vehicle, MI+RTX exhibited a significantly slower LV chamber dilation (6-week echocardiographic data: left ventricular end-diastolic diameter, 10.7±0.2 vs. 9.6±0.3 mm; left ventricular end-systolic diameter: 8.8±0.2 vs. 7.8±0.3 mm; MI+vehicle vs. MI+RTX, n=18, p&lt;0.05; mean±SE). Scanning electron microscopy showed that RTX reduced collagen deposition in the peri-infarct area in post-MI rats. Western blot and zymography were used to further evaluate the effect of RTX application on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) expression and activity, which is responsible for degrading ECM and contributing to cardiac dilation post MI. Our data suggest time-dependent increases in MMP expression in infarcted hearts post MI. RTX application largely prevented the increase in MMP9 but not MMP2, 4 weeks post-MI. RTX prevented both increased MMP2 and MMP9 activities in the peri-infarct myocardium at 8–10 weeks post-MI. We further investigated the effect of RTX application on MI-induced cardiac inflammation, which has been reported as an upstream mechanism triggering MMP activation post-MI. The data show that RTX largely abolished MI-induced plasma extravasation and reduced macrophage infiltration and cardiac cytokine content in the peri-infarct or remote myocardium of post-MI rats. These data suggest that cardiac sympathetic afferent denervation at the time of MI exerts a local anti-inflammatory effect and reduces ECM remodeling by preventing excessive MMP activation in post-MI rats.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): National Institutes of Health Grant HL126796

Improved production of biogas via microbial digestion of pressmud using CuO/Cu2O based nanocatalyst prepared from pressmud and sugarcane bagasse waste

Biogas production through anaerobic digestions of organic wastes using microbes is a potential alternative to maintain the long term sustainability of the environment and also to full-fill the energy demands and waste management issues. In this context, pressmud can be a vital substrate which is generated from sugarcane industries and found to be broadly available. In this work, biogas improvement has been investigated in presence of CuO/Cu₂O based nanocatalyst wherein pressmud is employed as a substrate in anaerobic digestion. Herein, CuO/Cu₂O based nanocatalyst has been prepared using the aqueous extract prepared from the combination of PM and SCB which is employed as a reducing agent. The physicochemical properties of CuO/Cu₂O nanocatalyst have been probed through different techniques and it is noticed that using 1.0 % CuO/Cu₂O based nanocatalyst employed in AD process, cumulative biogas 224.7 mL CH₄ /g VS could be recorded after 42 days.

Barriers in biogas production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste: A circular bioeconomy perspective

Biogas-based circular bioeconomy can provide a long-term way out of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. The barriers to biogas production are obstructing the growth of the biogas-based circular bioeconomy. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the barriers to biogas in developing countries for the wider implementation of biogastechnology. Twenty barriers are identified and categorized into technical, logistical, institutional, and social dimensions. The analytical hierarchy process is applied to rank the barriers. The result of barrier ranking shows that the lack of appropriate segregation facilities is the most crucial barrier, followed by waste characteristics variation, and inconsistent supply. This study will provide an outline for rational decision-making in the sustainable organic fraction of municipal waste management.

Improved biohydrogen production via graphene oxide supported granular system based on algal hydrolyzate, secondary sewage sludge and bacterial consortia

Biohydrogen production using renewable sources has been regarded as one of the most sustainable ways to develop low-cost and green production technology. In order to achieve this objective, herein biohydrogen production has been conducted using the combination of untreated secondary sewage sludge (Sss), algal biomass hydrolyzate (Abh), graphene oxide (GO) and bacterial consortia that forms a granular system. Thus, naturally formed granular system produced cumulative H₂ of 1520mL/L in 168h with the maximum production rate of 13.4mL/L/h in 96h at initial pH 7.0, and optimum temperature of 37^oC. It is noticed that the combination of Abh, Sss and GO governed medium showed 42.05% higher cumulative H₂ production along with 22.71% higher production rate as compared to Abh and Sss based H₂ production medium. The strategy presented herein may find potential applications for the low-cost biohydrogen production using waste biomasses including Sss and Abh.

Numerical groundwater modelling for studying surface water-groundwater interaction and impact of reduced draft on groundwater resources in central Ganga basin

Water resources in India's Indo-Gangetic plains are over-exploited and vulnerable to impacts of climate change. The unequal spatial and temporal variation of meteorological, hydrological and hydrogeological parameters has created additional challenges for field engineers and policy planners. The groundwater and surface water are extensively utilized in the middle Gangetic plain for agriculture. The primary purpose of this study is to understand the discharge and recharge processes of groundwater system using trend analysis, and surface water and groundwater interaction using groundwater modelling. A comprehensive hydrological, and hydrogeological data analysis was carried out and a numerical groundwater model was developed for Bhojpur district, Bihar, India covering 2395 km² geographical area, located in central Ganga basin. The groundwater level data analyses for the year 2018 revealed that depth to water level varies from 3.0 to 9.0 meter below ground level (m bgl) in the study area. The M-K test showed no significant declining trend in the groundwater level in the study area. The groundwater modelling results revealed that groundwater head is higher in the southern part of the district and the groundwater flow direction is from south-west to north-east. The groundwater head fluctuation between the monsoon and the summer seasons was observed to be 2 m, it is also witnessed that groundwater is contributing more to rivers in the monsoon season in comparison with other seasons. Impact of reduction in pumping on groundwater heads was also investigated, considering a 10% reduction in groundwater withdrawal. The results indicated an overall head rise of 2 m in the southern part and 0.2-0.5 m in the middle and northern part of the district.

Image enhancement techniques on deep learning approaches for automated diagnosis of COVID-19 features using CXR images

The outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has infected more than 135.6 million people globally. For its early diagnosis, researchers consider chest X-ray examinations as a standard screening technique in addition to RT-PCR test. Majority of research work till date focused only on application of deep learning approaches that is relevant but lacking in better pre-processing of CXR images. Towards this direction, this study aims to explore cumulative effects of image denoising and enhancement approaches on the performance of deep learning approaches. Regarding pre-processing, suitable methods for X-ray images, Histogram equalization, CLAHE and gamma correction have been tested individually and along with adaptive median filter, median filter, total variation filter and gaussian denoising filters. Proposed study compared eleven combinations in exploration of most coherent approach in greedy manner. For more robust analysis, we compared ten CNN architectures for performance evaluation with and without enhancement approaches. These models are InceptionV3, InceptionResNetV2, MobileNet, MobileNetV2, Vgg19, NASNetMobile, ResNet101, DenseNet121, DenseNet169, DenseNet201. These models are trained in 4-way (COVID-19 pneumonia vs Viral vs Bacterial pneumonia vs Normal) and 3-way classification scenario (COVID-19 vs Pneumonia vs Normal) on two benchmark datasets. The proposed methodology determines with TVF + Gamma, models achieve higher classification accuracy and sensitivity. In 4-way classification MobileNet with TVF + Gamma achieves top accuracy of 93.25% with 1.91% improvement in accuracy score, COVID-19 sensitivity of 98.72% and F1-score of 92.14%. In 3-way classification our DenseNet201 with TVF + Gamma gains accuracy of 91.10% with improvement of 1.47%, COVID-19 sensitivity of 100% and F1-score of 91.09%. Proposed study concludes that deep learning modes with gamma correction and TVF + Gamma has superior performance compared to state-of-the-art models. This not only minimizes overlapping between COVID-19 and virus pneumonia but advantageous in time required to converge best possible results.

ANN-GA based biosorption of As(III) from water through chemo-tailored and iron impregnated fungal biofilter system

The iron impregnated fungal bio-filter (IIFB) discs of luffa sponge containing Phanerochaete chrysosporium mycelia have been used for the removal of As(III) from water. Two different forms of same biomass viz. free fungal biomass (FFB) and modified free fungal biomass (chemically modified and iron impregnated; CFB and IIFB) have been simultaneously investigated to compare the performance of immobilization, chemo-tailoring and iron impregnation for remediation of As(III). IIFB showed highest uptake capacity and percentage removal of As(III), 1.32 mg/g and 92.4% respectively among FFB, CFB and IIFB. Further, the application of RSM and ANN-GA based mathematical model showed a substantial increase in removal i.e. 99.2% of As(III) was filtered out from water at optimised conditions i.e. biomass dose 0.72 g/L, pH 7.31, temperature 42 °C, and initial As(III) concentration 1.1 mg/L. Isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic studies proved that the process followed monolayer sorption pattern in spontaneous and endothermic way through pseudo-second order kinetic pathway. Continuous mode of As(III) removal in IIFB packed bed bioreactor, revealed increased removal of As(III) from 76.40 to 88.23% with increased column height from 5 to 25 cm whereas the removal decreased from 88.23 to 69.45% while increasing flow rate from 1.66 to 8.30 mL/min. Moreover, the IIFB discs was regenerated by using 10% NaOH as eluting agent and evaluated for As(III) removal for four sorption–desorption cycles, showing slight decrease of their efficiency by 1–2%. SEM–EDX, pHzpc, and FTIR analysis, revealed the involvement of hydroxyl and amino surface groups following a non-electrostatic legend exchange sorption mechanism during removal of As(III).

Effect of Ce substitution on the local magnetic ordering and phonon instabilities in antiferromagnetic DyCrO3perovskites

A detailed crystal structure analysis, temperature and field dependence of magnetic characteristics and phonon instabilities for different compositions (0.1 ⩽x⩽ 0.5) of Dy_1-xCe_xCrO₃solid-solutions have been reported. All the investigated compounds exhibit distorted orthorhombic crystal structure with a distortion factor ofd_Oct/d_Cell∼ 6 × 10^-3/3.5 ppm (forx∼ 0.2) forPbnmspace group that follows Vegard's law. The bonds between apical oxygen atoms (O_A1) and Cr atoms stand more rigidly in comparison with the basal oxygen atoms (O_B1/O_B2) resulting the octahedral distortion and thereby causing the changes in phonon modes. The CrO₆octahedral tilt angleθrotates with respect to the Miller pseudocubic axis [101] which varies from 10.36° (x= 0.1) to 12.25° (x= 0.5) and significantly influences the A_g(5) phonon stability by 3% for a change in A-site mean radius from 1.095 Å to 1.141 Å forx= 0.1 and 0.5, respectively. From the magnetization measurements we find that these series of compositions exhibit canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering with Néel temperature,TN1that increases from 151.8 K (x= 0.1) to 162 K (x= 0.5) which also manifests as a significant reduction in the magneto-crystalline anisotropy (H_K∼ 2.58 kOe → 2.07 kOe,K₁∼ 36.47 J m^-3→ 18.97 J m^-3) while maintaining the stable Γ₄(G_x,A_y,F_z) AFM configuration. Both Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction method and modified Curie-Weiss law are employed to analyse the inverse paramagnetic susceptibility,χ^-1(T>TN1). Further, we have evaluated the symmetric (J_S) and antisymmetric exchange (D_AS) constants, which show progressively increasing trend (J_S→ 10.08 K to 11.18 K andD_AS→ 1.24 K to 1.73 K) with the incorporation of Ce inside the perovskite lattice. Furthermore, the role of Ce substitution on the low-temperature spin reorientation transition (T_SR∼ 3.5 K → 16.8 K pertaining to the Γ₂₅phase configuration) and emergence ofΓ2(Fx,Cy,Gz;FxR,CyR)weak-FM phase between 31 K and 45.5 K are discussed in consonance with the phonon spectra.

Hybrid classification model for eye state detection using electroencephalogram signals

The electroencephalography (EEG) signal is an essential source of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology implementation. The BCI is nothing but a non-muscle communication medium among the external devices and the brain. The basic concept of BCI is to enable the interaction among the neurological ill patients to others with the help of brain signals. EEG signal classification is an essential requirement for various applications such as motor imagery classification, drug effects diagnosis, emotion classification, seizure prediction/detection, eye state prediction/detection, and so on. Thus, there is a need for an efficient classification model that can deal with the EEG datasets more adequately with better classification accuracy, which will further help in developing the automatic solution for the medical domain. In this paper, we have introduced a hybrid classification model for eye state detection using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. This hybrid classification model has been evaluated with the other traditional machine learning models, eight classification models (Prepossessed + Hypertuned) and six state-of-the-art methods to assess its appropriateness and correctness. This proposed classification model establishes a machine learning-based hybrid model for the classification of eye state using EEG signals with greater exactness. It is also capable of solving the issue of outlier detection and removal to address the class imbalance problem, which will offer the solution toward building the robotic or smart machine-based solution for social well-being.

Impact of mixed lignocellulosic substrate and fungal consortia to enhance cellulase production and its application in NiFe2O4 nanoparticles mediated enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat straw

Economic biowaste to biofuels production technology suffers from issues including high production cost of cellulase enzyme and its low efficiency. In this study five lignocellulosic biomass based on their high cellulosic contents are employed in 1:1 ratio with mixed fungal consortia to achieve enhance cellulase production via solid state fermentation. Under the optimum condition total 41 IU/gds FP activity was achieved in 120 h at 40 °C and pH 6.0. Further, crude cellulase was evaluated to improve thermal and pH stability under the influence of 2.0 mg/L NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles, showed stability at 70 °C and pH 6.0 up to 8 h. Consequently, NiFe₂O₄ nanoparticles treated cellulase was used for the enzymatic hydrolysis of alkali treated wheat straw, and total 53 g/L reducing sugars could be produced in 18 h at 65 °C and pH 6.0. Thus, nanoparticles mediated enzymatic hydrolysis exhibited ∼ 29% and ∼ 28% higher sugar yield and productivity as compared to control after 18 h.

Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Adjuvant Chemotherapy vs. No Chemotherapy for Patients with Carcinoma of Gallbladder Undergoing Curative Resection

BACKGROUND

Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) has a dismal prognosis even after curative resection. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with GBC undergoing curative resection in a randomized control trial (RCT).

METHODS

A single-center open-labeled prospective RCT was done from January 2012 to June 2018. R0 curative resected GBC patients were randomized in 1:1 to either surveillance alone (control group) or adjuvant chemotherapy (gemcitabine and cisplatin (GemCis group)) for 6 cycles. The primary outcome was disease-free survival (DFS), and the secondary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and toxicity profile.

RESULTS

On the evaluation of 362 patients with GBC, 50 patients were enrolled in each control or GemCis group. Per protocol (PP), it comprised 96 patients. The demographic and clinical profile was similar between the two groups except in the lower nodal stage where patients were higher in the control group (p = 0.01). Recurrences were similar between groups (control 44% vs GemCis 56%; p = 0.23). On the intention to treat (ITT), analyses of median DFS (not reached vs. 24 months, p = 0.14) and OS (not reached vs. 31 months, p = 0.10) were similar between groups. On PP, analyses of median DFS (not reached vs. 24 months, p = 0.16) and OS (not reached vs. 31 months, p = 0.09) were similar between groups. The common toxicity profile was hematological followed by gastrointestinal symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Adjuvant GemCis therapy for 6 cycles does not improve DFS or OS than R0 surgery alone patients with GBC.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

NCT02778308 ( https://www.clinicaltrials.gov ).

Sustainable green approach to synthesize Fe3O4/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposite using waste pulp of Syzygium cumini and its application in functional stability of microbial cellulases

Synthesis of nanomaterials following green routes have drawn much attention in recent years due to the low cost, easy and eco-friendly approaches involved therein. Therefore, the current study is focused towards the synthesis of Fe₃O₄/α-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite using waste pulp of Jamun (Syzygium cumini) and iron nitrate as the precursor of iron in an eco-friendly way. The synthesized Fe₃O₄/α-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite has been extensively characterized through numerous techniques to explore the physicochemical properties, including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Ultraviolet-Vis spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope, high resolution transmission electron microscope and vibrating sample magnetometer. Further, efficiency of the Fe₃O₄/α-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite has been evaluated to improve the incubation temperature, thermal/pH stability of the crude cellulase enzymes obtained from the lab isolate fungal strain Cladosporium cladosporioides NS2 via solid state fermentation. It is found that the presence of 0.5% Fe₃O₄/α-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite showed optimum incubation temperature and thermal stability in the long temperature range of 50–60 °C for 15 h along with improved pH stability in the range of pH 3.5–6.0. The presented study may have potential application in bioconversion of waste biomass at high temperature and broad pH range.

Evaluation of enhanced production of cellulose deconstructing enzyme using natural and alkali pretreated sugar cane bagasse under the influence of graphene oxide

High production cost of cellulase enzyme is one of the main constraints in the practical implementation of biofuels at global scale. Therefore, the present investigation is focused to produce low-cost cellulase via sustainable strategies. This work evaluates to achieve enhanced fungal cellulase production using natural and pretreated sugar cane bagasse (SCB) via Rhizopus oryzae NS5 under the solid state fermentation (SSF) while implementing graphene oxide (GO) as a catalyst. A low alkali treatment showed better performance for cellulase production wherein 14 IU/gds FP activity is observed in 96 h using 0.5% alkali treated SCB, significantly higher as compared to 10 IU/gds FP in case of untreated SCB. Further, the effect of GO has been investigated on cellulase production, incubation temperature and pH of the production medium. Under the influence of 1.5% concentration of GO, alkali pretreated SCB produced maximum 25 IU/gds cellulase in 72 h at pH 5.0 and 40 °C.

Co-fermentation of residual algal biomass and glucose under the influence of Fe3O4 nanoparticles to enhance biohydrogen production under dark mode

The present study reports Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄ NPs) induced enhanced hydrogen production via co-fermentation of glucose and residual algal biomass (cyanobacteria Lyngbya limnetica). A significant enhancement of dark fermentative H₂ production has been noticed under the influence of co-fermentation of glucose and residual algal biomass using Fe₃O₄ NPs as catalyst. Further, using the optimized ratio of glucose to residual algal biomass (10:4), ∼ 37.14 % higher cumulative H₂ has been recorded in presence of 7.5 mg/L Fe₃O₄ NPs as compared to control at 37 °C. In addition, under the optimum conditions [glucose to residual algal biomass ratio (10:4)] presence of 7.5 mg/L Fe₃O₄ NPs produces ∼ 937 mL/L cumulative H₂ in 168 h at pH 7.5 and at temperature 40 °C. Clostridum butyrium, employed for the dark fermentation yielded ∼ 7.7 g/L dry biomass in 168 h whereas acetate (9.0 g/L) and butyrate (6.2 g/L) have been recorded as the dominating metabolites.

Biogenic enabled in-vitro synthesis of nickel cobaltite nanoparticle and its application in single stage hybrid biohydrogen production

In biomass to biofuels production technology enzyme plays a key role. Nevertheless, the high production cost of cellulase enzyme is one of the critical issues in the economical production of biofuels. Nowadays, implementation of nanomaterials as catalyst is emerging as an innovative approach for the production of sustainable energy. In this context, synthesis of nickel cobaltite nanoparticles (NiCo₂O₄ NPs) via in vitro route has been conducted using fungus Emericella variecolor NS3 meanwhile; its impact has been evaluated on improved thermal and pH stability of crude cellulase enzyme obtained from Emericella variecolor NS3. Additionally, bioconversion of alkali treated rice straw using NiCo₂O₄ NPs stabilized cellulase produced sugar hydrolyzate which is further used for H₂ production via hybrid fermentation. Total 51.7 g/L sugar hydrolyzate produced 2978 mL/L cumulative H₂ production after 336 h along with maximum rate 34.12 mL/L/h in 24 h using Bacillus subtilis PF_1 and Rhodobacter sp. employed for dark and photo-fermentation, respectively.

A multi-scale agent-based model for avascular tumour growth

In this paper, we have developed a multi-scale, lattice-free, agent based model of avascular tumour growth in epithelial tissue. The model integrates different events to identify the underlying diversity within intracellular, cellular, and extracellular layer dynamics. The model considers every cell as an agent. A cellular agent may proliferate, spawns two identical daughter agents, or it may be transformed into other phenotypes during its life time depending on its internal proteins' activity as well as its external microenvironment. In this context, a simplified age-structured cell cycle model is adopted from the existing literature. The model considers that the intracellular events are regulated by p27 gene expression. In this model, p27 protein controls the overall tumour growth dynamics. Moreover, p27 is controlled by the external oxygen and nutrients that are modelled with the reaction-diffusion equations. The model also considers several biophysical forces which directly effect on the tumour growth dynamics. This modelling framework offers biologically realistic outcomes and also covers important criteria of the hallmarks of cancer which include oxygen and nutrient consumptions, micro-environmental heterogeneity, tumour cell proliferation by avoiding growth suppressor signals, replication of tumour cells at an abnormally faster rate, and resistance of apoptosis. The avascular tumour growth model is validated with immunohistochemistry and histopathology data. The outcome of the proposed model is very close to the range of the patient data, which concludes that the model is capable enough to mimic these complex biophysical phenomena.

Management of Obscurely Dilated Common Bile Duct with Normal Liver Function Tests: A Pragmatic Approach

OBJECTIVE

Dilated common bile duct (CBD) (8-15 mm) with normal liver function tests is seen not infrequently, while management of such patients is ambiguous. We propose a treatment algorithm for this cohort of patients after observing them over a period of 8 years.

METHODS

Seventy-eight such patients were managed from 2009 to 2017 and categorized as: Group A-dilated CBD with post-cholecystectomy status (n = 15); B-dilated CBD with cholelithiasis (n = 34); C-dilated CBD without cholelithiasis (n = 16); D-dilated CBD with no cause identified and underwent CBD excision (n = 13). Causes for CBD dilatation were evaluated. The outcome of patients in Group B + C without any cause (n = 33) was compared with Group D.

RESULT

Median age, CBD diameter, bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase were 51 years (13-79), 10 mm (8-20), 0.6 mg/dl (0.2-2.5) and 126 IU (60-214), respectively. Group-A patients who did not manifest any cause of CBD dilatation were managed conservatively. The aetiology was identified in 17/50 patients in Group B & C [acute pancreatitis (n = 6), passed CBD calculi (n = 3), perivaterian diverticulum (n = 3), viral aetiology (n = 4) and tumour (n-1)]. In Group-C, 7 patients with no obvious cause underwent endoscopic sphincterotomy, pancreatoduodenectomy (n = 1), and the rest were managed conservatively (n = 8). There was no significant difference in the complication between Group B + C (without any cause) and Group D (3/33 vs. 1/13; p = 0.58) at a median follow-up of 72 months (30-90).

CONCLUSION

Dilated CBD with normal LFT's without apparent cause is mostly benign and of no consequence. Excision of the CBD is not required for most of these patients.

Prospects of nanomaterials-enabled biosensors for COVID-19 detection

We are currently facing the COVID-19 pandemic which is the consequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Since no specific vaccines or drugs have been developed till date for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection, early diagnosis is essential to further combat this pandemic. In this context, the reliable, rapid, and low-cost technique for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is the foremost priority. At present reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is the reference technique presently being used for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, in a number of cases, false results have been noticed in COVID-19 diagnosis. To develop advanced techniques, researchers are continuously working and in the series of constant efforts, nanomaterials-enabled biosensing approaches can be a hope to offer novel techniques that may perhaps meet the current demand of fast and early diagnosis of COVID-19 cases. This paper provides an overview of the COVID-19 pandemic and nanomaterials-enabled biosensing approaches that have been recently reported for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. Though limited studies on the development of nanomaterials enabled biosensing techniques for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 have been reported, this review summarizes nanomaterials mediated improved biosensing strategies and the possible mechanisms that may be responsible for the diagnosis of the COVID-19 disease. It is reviewed that nanomaterials e.g. gold nanostructures, lanthanide-doped polysterene nanoparticles (NPs), graphene and iron oxide NPs can be potentially used to develop advanced techniques offered by colorimetric, amperometric, impedimetric, fluorescence, and optomagnetic based biosensing of SARS-CoV-2. Finally, critical issues that are likely to accelerate the development of nanomaterials-enabled biosensing for SARS-CoV-2 infection have been discussed in detail. This review may serve as a guide for the development of advanced techniques for nanomaterials enabled biosensing to fulfill the present demand of low-cost, rapid and early diagnosis of COVID-19 infection.

Impact of lymph node staging systems in predicting outcome in patients with ampullary cancer

Backgrounds/Aims

Lymph node (LN) metastasis though, is a poor prognostic factor for ampullary carcinoma (APC), the impact of Lymph node ratio (LNR) and Logarithm odds of positive lymph node (LODDS) in the long-term survival remains controversial. We evaluated the factors affecting the long-term outcome in APC patients with emphasis on LNR and LODDS.

Methods

The prospectively collected data of 198 patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy for APC was analyzed after excluding 12 patients for various reasons. Factors affecting Disease specific survival (DSS) and Recurrence free survival (RFS) were analyzed with special reference to LN positivity, LNR and LODDS.

Results

Out of 186, 117 (62.9%) patients were alive at a median follow-up of 39.5 months and 72 (38.7%) developed recurrence. The overall 5-year DSS was 59.3% & RFS 54.9%. Univariate analysis showed T-stage, tumor differentiation, perineural invasion, LN positivity, LNR and LODDS was significantly affected DSS and RFS. On multivariate analysis, perineural invasion, LN positivity, LNR and LODDS lost its significance for DSS and RFS. AUC for prediction of DSS and RFS for LNR was 0.654 (p<0.001) & 0.629 (p=0.003) respectively and for LODDS, it was 0.697 (p<0.001) & 0.677 (p=0.001) respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of LNR (0.1) for DSS were 37.7% & 83.8% and for RFS were 36.1% & 83.3%; for LODDS (-1.00), sensitivity and specificity for DSS was 62.3% and 67.5% and for RFS it was 59.7% and 66.7% respectively.

Conclusions

LNR and LODDS although independently seem to affect the RFS and DSS, albeit have a low sensitivity and specificity in predicting DSS and RFS.

Analysis of thermal degradation of banana (Musa balbisiana) trunk biomass waste using iso-conversional models

The thermo-chemical characterization (proximate and ultimate analyses and higher heating value) of banana trunk biomass waste has been carried out. The thermo-gravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) investigations have been made at heating rates of 10, 15, 20 and 25 °C/min. The TGA data have been used to carry out kinetic analysis and evaluate the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters using iso-conversional models. The values of activation energy increase with conversion (α) irrespective of the iso-conversional model used. The average values of activation energies (E_α) are found to be 386.21, 355.43, 385.77, 355.01, 379.67, and 292.78 kJ/mol for Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO), Starink, Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), Tang, Vyzovkin and Vyzovkin AIC model, respectively. The average values of change in enthalpy, Gibbs free energy, and entropy have been calculated. The reaction mechanisms of pyrolysis have been predicted using Criado's method.

Effect of Montmorillonite clay on pyrolysis of paper mill waste

The thermal degradation of paper mill waste (PMW) has been investigated in presence and absence of Montmorillonite clay in the temperature range of ambient to 1000 °C and at the heating rates of 20 °C/min, 25 °C/min and 30 °C/min. Proximate and ultimate analyses and evaluation of calorific value (HHV) of PMW have been carried out using standard protocols. The thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermogravimetric (DTG) data obtained under both situations have been used to evaluate the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters and elucidate the reaction mechanism. The clay has also been characterized using TGA/DTG analysis, Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopic analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques. The activation energy, pre-exponential factor and thermodynamic parameters have been evaluated using the model-free iso-conversional method of Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) and Vyazovkin and the distributed activation energy model (DAEM). The Montmorillonite clay has influenced the degradation process appreciably through its catalytic action.

Advances in nanomaterials induced biohydrogen production using waste biomass

Recent advances on biohydrogen production using different types of waste biomass with the implementation of nanomaterials are summarized. Inspired by exceptional physicochemical and catalytic properties of nanomaterials, the present review focuses on several approaches including impact of nanomaterials on cellulosic biohydrogen production, possible pretreatment technology, as well as improved enzyme & sugar production in order to enhance the biohydrogen yield. Particularly, impacts of nanomaterial are elaborated in detail on different pathways of biohydrogen production (e.g. dark fermentation, photo-fermentation and hybrid-fermentation) using variety of waste biomass. Additionally, emphases are made on the feasibility of nanomaterials for making the biohydrogen production process more economical and sustainable and hence to develop advanced techniques for biohydrogen production using waste biomass.

Splenectomy with endotherapy in non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis related portal hypertension: Can it be an alternative to proximal spleno-renal shunt?

Backgrounds/Aims

Proximal splenorenal shunt (PSRS) is usually done in symptomatic non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis (NCPF). The outcomes of splenectomy with endotherapy in non-bleeder NCPF patients has not been well studied. We here by aimed to study the post-surgical outcomes on short and long-term basis between PSRS and splenectomy among non-bleeder NCPF patients.

Methods

The consecutive non-bleeder NCPF patients whom underwent either splenectomy or PSRS from 2008 to 2016 were enrolled. The patients were followed up post-surgery clinically and biochemical investigations, Doppler ultrasound and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were done as required. The peri-operative parameters compared were operative time, blood loss, hospital stay and morbidity. The long-term outcome measures compared were incidence of portal hypertension (PHTN) related bleed, change in grade of varices, shunt patency, shunt complications and thrombosis of spleno-portal axis.

Results

Among 40 patients with non-bleeder status, 24 underwent splenectomy and 16 underwent PSRS. The baseline characteristics including indication of surgery, biochemical investigations and grade of varices were comparable between PSRS and splenectomy. The peri-operative morbidity was not significantly different between two groups. The median follow up duration was 42 months (12-72 months), the decrement in grade of varices was significantly higher in PSRS group (p=0.03), symptomatic PHTN related UGIB was non-significant between PSRS and splenectomy (p=0.5). In PSRS group, 3 (18.3%) patients had shunt thrombosis (n=1) & encephalopathy (n=2) while in splenectomy group two patients developed thrombosis of splenoportal axis.

Conclusions

Splenectomy with endotherapy is alternative to PSRS in non-bleeder NCPF patients with indications for surgery.

A Real-Time Health 4.0 Framework with Novel Feature Extraction and Classification for Brain-Controlled IoT-Enabled Environments

In this letter, we propose two novel methods for four-class motor imagery (MI) classification using electroencephalography (EEG). Also, we developed a real-time health 4.0 (H4.0) architecture for brain-controlled internet of things (IoT) enabled environments (BCE), which uses the classified MI task to assist disabled persons in controlling IoT-enabled environments such as lighting and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC). The first method for classification involves a simple and low-complex classification framework using a combination of regularized Riemannian mean (RRM) and linear SVM. Although this method performs better compared to state-of-the-art techniques, it still suffers from a nonnegligible misclassification rate. Hence, to overcome this, the second method offers a persistent decision engine (PDE) for the MI classification, which improves classification accuracy (CA) significantly. The proposed methods are validated using an in-house recorded four-class MI data set (data set I, collected over 14 subjects), and a four-class MI data set 2a of BCI competition IV (data set II, collected over 9 subjects). The proposed RRM architecture obtained average CAs of 74.30% and 67.60% when validated using datasets I and II, respectively. When analyzed along with the proposed PDE classification framework, an average CA of 92.25% on 12 subjects of data set I and 82.54% on 7 subjects of data set II is obtained. The results show that the PDE algorithm is more reliable for the classification of four-class MI and is also feasible for BCE applications. The proposed low-complex BCE architecture is implemented in real time using Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ along with the Virgo EEG data acquisition system. The hardware implementation results show that the proposed system architecture is well suited for body-wearable devices in the scenario of Health 4.0. We strongly feel that this study can aid in driving the future scope of BCE research.

Bio-efficacy of chitinolytic Bacillus thuringiensis isolates native to northwestern Indian Himalayas and their synergistic toxicity with selected insecticides

Pesticidal properties of Bacillus thuringiensis and its associated toxic proteins is an ever-growing science with potential implications in biological pest management. In the present study 80 Bacillus thuringiensis isolates native to Uttarakhand Himalayas were evaluated for chitinolytic activity and potent ones (11 isolates) were further subjected to multiphasic characterization for their antifungal, insecticidal and synergistic properties with selected chemical insecticides. Although all the 11 potent isolates were biologically active, only three isolates (VLBt27, VLBt109 and VLBt238) showed >90% inhibition in radial growth of 3 out of 4 tested plant pathogenic fungi (Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Alternaria pori and Pyricularia oryzae). The key antagonism was manifested in the form of disruptions in growing tips and uneven mycelial thickenings. In insect bioassays (against Helicoverpa armigera, Mythimna separata and Thysanoplusia orichalcea), no considerable direct mortality was observed. However, the larval weight reduction was prominent in four isolates (VLBt27, VLBt38, VLBt109 and VLBt135) which accounts to >75% in first instar larvae of H. armigera. Joint action of these four isolates with chemical insecticides showed an overall additive interaction against Brevicoryne brassicae and synergism against H. armigera. All the isolates were compatible with tested insecticides at their field recommended doses except for chlorpyriphos with around 130 kDa protein as chitinase. The study identified VLBt27 and VLBt109, two native isolates of B. thuringiensis with potential antagonistic activity and synergism as well. These isolates have possible implications as single strategy against two diverse pest problems (pathogenic fungi and phytophagous insect) of agriculture with a view of reduced pesticide application.