Nanoparticulate Silica Internalization and Its Effect on the Growth and Yield of Groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

In recent years, foliar applications of nanoparticles are increasingly being employed in agricultural fields as fertilizers to enhance crop yields. However, limited studies are available on the foliar uptake of nanoscale nutrients and their interaction with plants. In this study, we reported the effects of foliar spray with varied concentrations of nanoscale silica (N-SiO₂) and bulk tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS at 2000 ppm) on the growth and yield of groundnut. Nanosilica was prepared by a sol-gel method and characterized by transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and X-ray diffraction. The size and zeta potential of N-SiO₂ were found to be 28.7 nm and 32 mV, respectively. The plant height, number of branches, total dry weight, SPAD chlorophyll meter reading, photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency, number of nodules, and ascorbic acid content were increased significantly with the N-SiO₂ foliar application at 400 ppm over control. The number of filled pods increased significantly by 38.78 and 58.60% with N-SiO₂ at 400 ppm application over TEOS and control, respectively. The pod yield per plant in N-SiO₂ at 400 ppm increased by 25.52 and 31.7% higher over TEOS and control, respectively. Antioxidant enzyme activities enhanced significantly in N-SiO₂ at 200 and 400 ppm over control, indicating a stimulatory effect on the plant growth. In addition, confocal microscopy revealed that fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-N-SiO₂ entered through stomata and then transported to vascular bundles via apoplastic movement. Our study for the first time demonstrated that N-SiO₂ can significantly modulate multiple complex traits in groundnut through an eco-friendly and sustainable approach.

Formulation and Evaluation of Topical Gel Loaded with Fluconazole Niosomes

Aim: The study aims to formulate and evaluate topical gel-loaded fluconazole niosomes. Fluconazole is a macrolide antibacterial used against various susceptible bacteria. Niosomes have a substantial role in the delivery of drugs as they can reduce toxicity and modify pharmacokinetics and bioavailability. Niosomes which are applied topically improve the deposition of drugs within stratum corneum and epidermis at the same time reducing systemic availability. Methodology: In current investigation, fluconazole was entrapped into niosomes by thin-film hydration technique with the optimization of various process parameters like entrapment efficiency, vesicle size, shape and in-vitro drug release studies. Results: Optimized formulations FNS5 and FNT4 prepared with Span-60 and Tween-60 exhibited vesicle sizes of 845.6 nm and 164.2 nm, zeta potential -10.2 mV and -46.4 mV indicating the formulation has good stability. The optimized niosomes were integrated into carbopol 934 and guar gum gels and then extensively characterized for zeta potential and vesicle size. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that entrapment of drugs into niosomes led to prolonged drug release time, enhanced permeation and drug retention.

Glycoside hydrolase production by Aspergillus terreus CM20 using mixture design approach for enhanced enzymatic saccharification of alkali pretreated paddy straw

A successful lignocellulosic ethanol production process needs to address the technological impediments such as cost-competitiveness and sustainability of the process. Effective biomass utilization requires a repertoire of enzymes including various accessory enzymes. Developing an enzyme preparation with defined hydrolytic activities can circumvent the need for supplementing cellulases with accessory enzymes for enhanced hydrolysis. With this objective, mixture design approach was used in the present study to enhance glycoside hydrolase production of a fungal isolate, Aspergillus terreus CM20, by determining the proportion of different lignocellulosic components as enzyme inducers in the culture medium. A mixture of paddy straw and wheat straw (1.42:1.58) resulted in improved cellulolytic activities. The precipitated crude enzyme showed higher CMCase (365.03 18 IU g-1), FPase (161.48 IU g-1), avicelase (15.46 IU g-1), β-glucosidase (920.92 IU g-1) and xylanase (9627.79 IU g-1) activities. The potential of the crude enzyme for saccharification of alkali pretreated paddy straw was also tested. Under optimum conditions, saccharification released 25.0 g L-1 of fermentable sugars. This indicates the superiority of the crude enzyme produced with respect to its hydrolytic enzyme components.

Ram's Horn Nail - Giant Onychomatricoma Treated by Complete Surgical Excision- A Rare Case Report

Giant onychomatricoma is a rare fibroepithelial nail matrix tumor with only two previous reports in literature, from Mexico. An 80-year-old female patient presented with a progressively painless mass in the left great toe nail, following trauma, of 2 years duration. On examination there was a single, hard, immobile mass of size 4 × 3 × 2 cm with proximal hyperpigmentation of the left great toe nail. The mass was totally excised and a punch biopsy of nail matrix was taken. Histopathology revealed hyperkeratosis, acanthosis, multiple channels lined by flattened epithelium and fibrocollagenous tissue in horizontal orientation in deeper layers. The patient had no recurrence after 1 month. We report this case for its rare and distinct clinical presentation, characteristic histopathology and easy surgical treatment.

Late onset epidermal nevus with hypertrichosis and facial hemihypertrophy

Epidermal nevus syndromes are rare conditions, characterized by different types of keratinocytic or organoid epidermal nevi in association with ocular, neurological, and skeletal manifestations. We present a case of late onset epidermal nevus with hypertrichosis and hemihypertrophy of face. Genetic analysis did not reveal presence of FGFR3 or PIK3CA mutations. The patient has features that cannot be categorized into the present well-known syndromes.

Streptomyces griseorubens mediated delignification of paddy straw for improved enzymatic saccharification yields

Biological pretreatment of paddy straw was carried out using an actinomycete isolate, identified as Streptomyces griseorubens ssr38, for delignification under solid state fermentation and enhanced sugar recovery by enzymatic saccharification. After 10 days incubation, the inoculated paddy straw was extracted with mild alkali and high absorbance at 205 nm was shown by the extracts indicating the ability of S. griseorubens ssr38 to depolymerize/solubilize lignin to a high extent. Also, almost 25% of depolymerized lignin could be recovered as value-added acid-precipitable polymeric lignin (APPL) as compared to controls. Enrichment in carbohydrate content of inoculated paddy straw following delignification led to a high saccharification efficiency of 97.8% upon enzymatic hydrolysis with Accelerase®1500. The study, therefore, proves the potential of actinomycetes, besides the conventionally used white-rot fungi, for biological pretreatment, in the biomass to bioethanol process, with respect to the high extent of delignification, lignin recovery, cellulose enrichment and very high saccharification efficiency.

Synthesis, structural characterization, fluorescence, antimicrobial, antioxidant and DNA cleavage studies of Cu(II) complexes of formyl chromone Schiff bases

Cu(II) complexes have been synthesized from different Schiff bases, such as 3-((2-hydroxy phenylimino)methyl)-4H-chromen-4-one (HL(1)), 2-((4-oxo-4H-chromen-3-yl)methylneamino) benzoicacid (HL(2)), 3-((3-hydroxypyridin-2-ylimino)methyl)-4H-chromen-4-one (HL(3)) and 3-((2-mercaptophenylimino)methyl)-4H-chromen-4-one (HL(4)). The complexes were characterized by analytical, molar conductance, IR, electronic, magnetic, ESR, thermal, powder XRD and SEM studies. The analytical data reveal that metal to ligand molar ratio is 1:2 in all the complexes. Molar conductivity data indicates that all the Cu(II) complexes are neutral. On the basis of magnetic and electronic spectral data, distorted octahedral geometry is proposed for all the Cu(II) complexes. Thermal behaviour of the synthesized complexes illustrates the presence of lattice water molecules in the complexes. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that all the ligands and their Cu(II) complexes have triclinic system with different unit cell parameters. Antimicrobial, antioxidant and DNA cleavage activities indicate that metal complexes exhibited greater activity as compared with ligands.

Pretreatment of paddy straw with Trametes hirsuta for improved enzymatic saccharification

Delignification of paddy straw with the white-rot fungus, Trametes hirsuta under solid state fermentation, for enhanced sugar recovery by enzymatic saccharification was studied. T. hirsuta MTCC136 showed high ligninase and low cellulase activities. Solid state fermentation of paddy straw with T. hirsuta enhanced carbohydrate content by 11.1% within 10 days of incubation. Alkali extracts of Trametes pretreated paddy straw showed high absorbance at 205 nm indicating high lignin break down. The amount of value-added lignin recovered from the Trametes pretreated paddy straw was much higher than controls. Enzymatic hydrolysis of the Trametes pretreated paddy straw yielded much higher sugars than controls and yields increased till 120 h of incubation. Saccharification efficiency of the biologically pretreated paddy straw with Accelerase®1500 was 52.69% within 72 h and was higher than controls. Thus, the study brings out the delignification potential of T. hirsuta for pretreatment of lignocellulosic substrate and facilitating efficient enzymatic digestibility of cellulose.

Biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic substrates for enhanced delignification and enzymatic digestibility

Sheer enormity of lignocellulosics makes them potential feedstock for biofuel production but, their conversion into fermentable sugars is a major hurdle. They have to be pretreated physically, chemically, or biologically to be used by fermenting organisms for production of ethanol. Each lignocellulosic substrate is a complex mix of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, bound in a matrix. While cellulose and hemicellulose yield fermentable sugars, lignin is the most recalcitrant polymer, consisting of phenyl-propanoid units. Many microorganisms in nature are able to attack and degrade lignin, thus making access to cellulose easy. Such organisms are abundantly found in forest leaf litter/composts and especially include the wood rotting fungi, actinomycetes and bacteria. These microorganisms possess enzyme systems to attack, depolymerize and degrade the polymers in lignocellulosic substrates. Current pretreatment research is targeted towards developing processes which are mild, economical and environment friendly facilitating subsequent saccharification of cellulose and its fermentation to ethanol. Besides being the critical step, pretreatment is also cost intensive. Biological treatments with white rot fungi and Streptomyces have been studied for delignification of pulp, increasing digestibility of lignocellulosics for animal feed and for bioremediation of paper mill effluents. Such lignocellulolytic organisms can prove extremely useful in production of bioethanol when used for removal of lignin from lignocellulosic substrate and also for cellulase production. Our studies on treatment of hardwood and softwood residues with Streptomyces griseus isolated from leaf litter showed that it enhanced the mild alkaline solubilisation of lignins and also produced high levels of the cellulase complex when growing on wood substrates. Lignin loss (Klason lignin) observed was 10.5 and 23.5% in case of soft wood and hard wood, respectively. Thus, biological pretreatment process for lignocellulosic substrate using lignolytic organisms such as actinomycetes and white rot fungi can be developed for facilitating efficient enzymatic digestibility of cellulose.