55 research outputs found
Solid and liquid lipid-based binary solid lipid nanoparticles of diacerein: in vitro evaluation of sustained release, simultaneous loading of gold nanoparticles, and potential thermoresponsive behavior
No full textMubashar Rehman,1 Asadullah Madni,1 Ayesha Ihsan,2 Waheed Samraiz Khan,2 Muhammad Imran Khan,1 Muhammad Ahmad Mahmood,1 Muhammad Ashfaq,1 Sadia Zafar Bajwa,2 Imran Shakir31Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Alternative Medicine, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan; 2Nanobiotechnology Group, Industrial Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 3Sustainable Energy Technologies (SET) centre, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaAbstract: Binary fatty acid mixture-based solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) were prepared for delivery of diacerein, a novel disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug, with and without simultaneously loaded gold nanoparticles (GNPs). In order to optimize SLNs for temperature-responsive release, lipid mixtures were prepared using different ratios of solid (stearic acid or lauric acid) and liquid (oleic acid) fatty acids. SLNs were prepared by microemulsification (53 nm), hot melt encapsulation (10.4 nm), and a solvent emulsification-evaporation technique (7.8 nm). The physicochemical characteristics of SLNs were studied by Zetasizer, Fourier transform infrared, and X-ray diffraction analysis. High encapsulation of diacerein was achieved with diacerein-loaded and simultaneously GNP-diacerein-loaded SLNs. In vitro dissolution studies revealed a sustained release pattern for diacerein over 72 hours for diacerein-loaded SLNs and 12 hours for GNP-diacerein-loaded SLNs. An increase in diacerein payload increased the release time of diacerein while GNPs decreased it. In addition, rapid release of diacerein over 4 hours was observed at 40°C (melting point of optimized fatty acid mixture), demonstrating that these binary SLNs could be used for thermoresponsive drug delivery. Kinetic modeling indicated that drug release followed zero order and Higuchi diffusion models (R2>0.9), while the Korsmeyer-Peppas model predicted a diffusion release mechanism (n<0.5).Keywords: diacerein, thermoresponsive, binary, gold nanoparticles, lipids, nanoparticle
Improved Solar Power Prediction Using CNN-LSTM Models for Optimized Smart Grid Performance
No full textDuring the fourth energy revolution, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across various technological fields is critical to meet rising energy demands and address the depletion of fossil fuel reserves, leading to the adoption of smart grids. This study aims to enhance power generation capacity and minimize losses in smart grids by accurately predicting parameters. Traditional power grid stations transitioning to smart grids require precise parameter predictions. To achieve this, we employed AI-based machine learning models, specifically Random Forest (RF) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), to predict the parameters of a solar power plant. After initial analysis through graphical visualization, we further refined the LSTM model using an advanced technique: Convolutional Neural Network (CNN-LSTM). Comparative results indicate that the CNN-LSTM model outperforms both the LSTM and RF models. For daily power generation, the CNN-LSTM achieved the lowest Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 0.1335 and Mean Squared Error (MSE) of 0.0497. Consequently, the application of AI in this study significantly improves the accuracy of parameter prediction, enhancing the performance of basic machine learning models. This advancement supports the development of a robust and efficient power system that reduces power losses and boosts production capacity within the framework of smart grids
The The Use of Modality: A Stylistic Analysis of Karel Capek’s Grafitto
No full textThe article analyses various shades of modality and its role in extracting the literary and thematic concerns of the writer from the text. It focuses on the use of modality in Karel Capek’s Grafitto, identifies the shades used in the text and shows that by using different verbs the characters express their attitude to various events and situations. The article shows that the study of modality not only helps the readers determine the style of the writing but also assists them in comprehending the meanings in the story meticulously and scientifically and why the writer uses certain shades of modality more frequently than others. To analyse the text, the researcher has used Paul Simpson’s given types and shades of modality and shown that by using epistemic modality more often, the author has brought forth the existential uncertainties and ambivalence in the life of characters
The Sensitivity of DTR to the Increased CO2 over Mid-latitude Semi-dry Regions
No full textThe rationale for this study lies in the fact that the mid-latitude regions are largely affected by the global and regional scale circulation changes. Moreover, earlier studies emphasize that the variation in atmospheric concentration of heat-trapping gases, cloud amount and moisture contents produce substantial regional climatic changes. Therefore, it is of significant practical importance to analyze the sensitivity of midlatitude regions to anthropogenic forcing, especially, the CO2 radiative forcing. This study assesses the role of CO2 radiative forcing in causing asymmetric diurnal changes over the mid-latitude semi-dry region using an idealized experiment conducted by single column (1-D) RadiativeConvective Model (RCM) of the diurnal cycle. The model is capable enough in highlighting the main features responsible for the observed diurnal asymmetry in the ground temperature. A significant decrease in the Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) is observed in this region under doubled CO2 forcing. The amount of thermal radiation trapped by CO2 forcing in the presence of water vapors plays a key role in surface temperature changes and resultant decreasing of the DTR. It is further found that CO2 induced climatic feedbacks are equally important in producing diurnal asymmetry. To better understand the complete picture of the DTR variability, one needs to explore all the possible forcing and feedbacks such as caused by aerosols, water vapors and cloud amount along with their distribution in the atmosphere.The author would like to thank Prof. Georgiy Stenchikov, Chairman, Earth Science and Engineering Department, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology for providing access to his single column RCM used in this study
Impact of Tropical Volcanic Eruptions on Hadley Circulation Using a High-Resolution AGCM
No full textThe direct radiative effects of volcanic eruptions resulting in solar dimming, stratospheric warming, global surface cooling and reduction in rainfall are well documented. However, eruptions also cause indirect climatic impacts that are not well understood. For example, solar dimming induced by volcanic aerosols could cause changes in tropical Hadley circulation that in turn largely affect evaporation and precipitation patterns. Therefore, understanding the sensitivity of HC to volcanism is essential, as this circulation is directly related to precipitation changes in the tropics and with other large-scale circulations. Hence, to better understand the post-eruption sensitivity of HC and associated changes in the hydrologic cycle, simulations for the El Chichón and Pinatubo tropical eruptions were conducted using a high-resolution atmospheric model (HIRAM), effectively at 25 and 50 km grid spacing. The model simulated results are then compared with observational and reanalysis products. Both the model and observational analysis show posteruption weakening, shrinking and equatorward displacement of the updraft branch of HC caused by the equatorward shift of midlatitude jets and hemispheric land-sea thermal gradient. The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) is tightly coupled to the rising branch of HC, hence, post-eruption weakening and equatorward displacement of HC cause weakening of ITCZ that adversely affects rainfall distribution in the monsoon-fed regions, especially the South Asian and African tropical rain-belt regions. The modelproduced post-eruption distribution of cloud contents suggests a southward shift of ITCZ. The HIRAM results are largely in agreement with the reanalysis, observations and previous studies indicating that this model performs reasonably well in reproducing the global and regional-scale dynamic changes caused by volcanic radiative forcing.I thank Earth Science and Engineering Department, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia for providing computational facilities that were used to conduct model simulations. The observational and simulation results are available from the author upon reques
Ribonomics Approaches to Identify RBPome in Plants and Other Eukaryotes: Current Progress and Future Prospects
No full textRNA-binding proteins (RBPs) form complex interactions with RNA to regulate the cell’s activities including cell development and disease resistance. RNA-binding proteome (RBPome) aims to profile and characterize the RNAs and proteins that interact with each other to carry out biological functions. Generally, RNA-centric and protein-centric ribonomic approaches have been successfully developed to profile RBPome in different organisms including plants and animals. Further, more and more novel methods that were firstly devised and applied in mammalians have shown great potential to unravel RBPome in plants such as RNA-interactome capture (RIC) and orthogonal organic phase separation (OOPS). Despise the development of various robust and state-of-the-art ribonomics techniques, genome-wide RBP identifications and characterizations in plants are relatively fewer than those in other eukaryotes, indicating that ribonomics techniques have great opportunities in unraveling and characterizing the RNA–protein interactions in plant species. Here, we review all the available approaches for analyzing RBPs in living organisms. Additionally, we summarize the transcriptome-wide approaches to characterize both the coding and non-coding RBPs in plants and the promising use of RBPome for booming agriculture
Sensitive detection of pre-existing BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations in CD34+ cells of newly diagnosed chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients is associated with imatinib resistance: implications in the post-imatinib era
No full textBACKGROUND BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations are infrequently detected in newly diagnosed chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. Recent studies indicate the presence of pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations in a higher percentage of CML patients when CD34+ stem/progenitor cells are investigated using sensitive techniques, and these mutations are associated with imatinib resistance and disease progression. However, such studies were limited to smaller number of patients. METHODS We investigated BCR-ABL kinase domain mutations in CD34+ cells from 100 chronic-phase CML patients by multiplex allele-specific PCR and sequencing at diagnosis. Mutations were re-investigated upon manifestation of imatinib resistance using allele-specific PCR and direct sequencing of BCR-ABL kinase domain. RESULTS Pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations were detected in 32/100 patients and included F311L, M351T, and T315I. After a median follow-up of 30 months (range 8–48), all patients with pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations exhibited imatinib resistance. Of the 68 patients without pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations, 24 developed imatinib resistance; allele-specific PCR and BCR-ABL kinase domain sequencing detected mutations in 22 of these patients. All 32 patients with pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations had the same mutations after manifestation of imatinib-resistance. In imatinib-resistant patients without pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations, we detected F311L, M351T, Y253F, and T315I mutations. All imatinib-resistant patients except T315I and Y253F mutations responded to imatinib dose escalation. CONCLUSION Pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations can be detected in a substantial number of chronic-phase CML patients by sensitive allele-specific PCR technique using CD34+ cells. These mutations are associated with imatinib resistance if affecting drug binding directly or indirectly. After the recent approval of nilotinib, dasatinib, bosutinib and ponatinib for treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia along with imatinib, all of which vary in their effectiveness against mutated BCR-ABL forms, detection of pre-existing BCR-ABL mutations can help in selection of appropriate first-line drug therapy. Thus, mutation testing using CD34+ cells may facilitate improved, patient-tailored treatment.Zafar Iqbal, Aamer Aleem, Mudassar Iqbal, Mubashar Iqbal Naqvi, Ammara Gill, Abid Sohail Taj, Abdul Qayyum, Najeeb ur-Rehman, Ahmad Mukhtar Khalid, Ijaz Hussain Shah, Muhammad Khalid, Riazul Haq, Mahwish Khan, Shahid Mahmood Baig, Abid Jamil, Muhammad Naeem Abbas, Muhammad Absar, Amer Mahmood, Mahmood Rasool, Tanveer Akhta
Diversity and Distribution of Coccinellid Beetles in Irrigated and Rainfed Fields of Gujrat, Punjab, Pakistan
No full textEffect of Temperature and Al2O3 NanoFiller on the Stress Field of CFRP/Al Adhesively Bonded Single-Lap Joints
No full textIn this paper, the effect of aluminum oxide, Al2O3, nanoparticles’ inclusion into Epocast 50-Al/946 epoxy adhesive at different temperatures, subjected to quasi-static tensile loading, is numerically investigated. The single-lap adhesive joint with two different types of material adherends (composite fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) and aluminum (Al) 5083 adherends) and adhesive Epocast 50-A1/hardener 946 were modeled in ABAQUS/CAE. A numerical methodology was proposed to analyze the effect on peel stress and shear stress by adding Al2O3 nanoparticles into the neat adhesive at 25 °C, 50 °C, and 75 °C temperatures at four different locations of the adhesive regions: the interface of the adhesive and aluminum adherend (location A), the middle plane of the adhesive region (location B), the middle longer edge (along the length of the adhesive, location C), and the middle shorter edge (along the width of the adhesive, location D). The results showed that adding nanoparticles into the neat adhesive improves joint strength at room and elevated temperatures. High peel and shear stresses were recorded near both edges of the locations (A, B, C, and D). For location A, adding nanofillers into the adhesive resulted in the reduction in peak peel stress by 1.3% for 25 °C; however, it increased by 2.7% and 10.7% for 50 °C and 75 °C temperatures, respectively. Furthermore, the peak shear stress observed a considerable reduction of 19.6% for 25 °C, but it increased by 7.7% and 8.7% for 50 °C and 75 °C temperatures, respectively, for location A. The same trend was also observed for other locations (i.e., B, C, and D). This signified that adding aluminum oxide nanoparticles in the adhesive resulted in increased stiffness at higher temperatures and increased ductility of the joint, as compared to the joint with neat adhesives at room temperature. Moreover, it was observed that locations A and B were more vulnerable to damage initiation, as the peak of stresses lay near the edges, indicating that the crack initiation would take place close to the edges and propagate towards the center, leading to ultimate failure
Study of the global and regional climatic impacts of ENSO magnitude using SPEEDY AGCM
No full textENSO is considered as a strong atmospheric teleconnection that has pronounced global and regional circulation effects. It modifies global monsoon system, especially, Asian and African monsoons. Previous studies suggest that both the frequency and magnitude of ENSO events have increased over the last few decades resulting in a need to study climatic impacts of ENSO magnitude both at global and regional scales. Hence, to better understand the impact of ENSO amplitude over the tropical and extratropical regions focussing on the Asian and African domains, ENSO sensitivity experiments are conducted using ICTPAGCM (‘SPEEDY’). It is anticipated that the tropical Pacific SST forcing will be enough to produce ENSO-induced teleconnection patterns; therefore, the model is forced using NINO3.4 regressed SST anomalies over the tropical Pacific only. SPEEDY reproduces the impact of ENSO over the Pacific, North and South America and African regions very well. However, it underestimates ENSO teleconnection patterns and associated changes over South Asia, particularly in the Indian region, which suggests that the tropical Pacific SST forcing is not sufficient to represent ENSO-induced teleconnection patterns over South Asia. Therefore, SST forcing over the tropical Indian Ocean together with air–sea coupling is also required for better representation of ENSO-induced changes in these regions. Moreover, results obtained by this pacemaker experiment show that ENSO impacts are relatively stronger over the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) compared to extratropics and high latitude regions. The positive phase of ENSO causes weakening in rainfall activity over African tropical rain belt, parts of South and Southeast Asia, whereas, the La Niña phase produces more rain over these regions during the summer season. Model results further reveal that ENSO magnitude has a stronger impact over African Sahel and South Asia, especially over the Indian region because of its significant impact over the tropical Atlantic and the Indian Ocean through Walker circulation. ENSO-induced negative (positive) NAO-like response and associated changes over Southern Europe and North Africa get significantly strong following increased intensity of El Niño (La Niña) in the northern (southern) hemisphere in the boreal winter (summer) season. We further find that ENSO magnitude significantly impacts Hadley and Walker circulations. The positive phase of ENSO (El Niño) overall strengthens Hadley cell and a reverse is true for the La Niña phase. ENSO-induced strengthening and weakening of Hadley cell induces significant impact over South Asian and African ITCZ convective regions through modification of ITCZ/monsoon circulation system.We would like to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers whose constructive suggestions and comments significantly improved the manuscript. We are also thankful to the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy, for providing computational facilities and technical support to perform the experiments at ICTP computer lab. The first author is supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. The simulation results and figures are available from the authors on request
- …
