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The Euphorbiaceae family Euphorbia pulcherrima is well known for its anticancer properties. The research examines the roles of two flavonoids found in E. pulcherrima in the inhibition of thymidine phosphorylase (TP), an enzyme in cancer development, metastasis, and chemotherapy resistance. This study was designed to evaluate the in vitro TP inhibitory activity of two flavonoids isolated from E. pulcherrima and to investigate their potential binding modes and interactions with TP using molecular docking analysis. In the current studies, the chemical constituents of E. pulcherrima were isolated and characterized. Both of the constituents were flavonoids, namely-5,7,8,3',4'-pentahydroxy-3-methoxyflavone (Flavonoid 1) and kaempferol-3-β-D-glucopyranosyl (Flavonoid 2). Both of the flavonoids were evaluated spectrophotometrically for TP inhibitory activity as compared to the 7-deazaxanthine, and the IC₅₀ values were determined. Molecular docking was performed to explore the protein-ligand interactions at the TP active site. Both the flavonoids significantly antagonized TP. The maximum inhibitory effect of flavonoid 1 was 83.60% at 0.2 µM and an IC₅₀ of 12.60 ± 1.00µM. At a concentration of 0.2 µM, flavonoid 2 showed 78.09% TP inhibition, with an IC₅₀ of 19.09 ± 1.40 µM. These findings were supported by docking results according to which Flavonoid 1 had a better predicted binding affinity (-8.5 kcal/mol) than Flavonoid 2 (-4.8 kcal/mol). Moreover, Flavonoid 1 was predicted to exhibit better drug-like properties and increased bioavailability compared to Flavonoid 2, whose sizeable sugar group reduced the compound's predicted bioavailability. The results indicate Flavonoid 1 is a promising anti-cancer lead compound, as it has a strong TP inhibition, good pharmacokinetic profiles, and low toxicity. Further preclinical testing of Flavonoid 1 should be done.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most frequent neurodegenerative disorder. It is characterized by the buildup of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, as well as of tangles made out of tau that increasingly damage and kill neurons while also impairing memory and thinking. Recent findings indicate that cellular senescence is implicated in the pathogenesis of AD. Senescence occurs when cells irreversibly stop dividing under stress. In the brain, it can be induced by chronic activation of astrocytes and microglia, Aβ toxicity, tau hyperphosphorylation and oxidative stress. Senescent cells secrete proinflammatory factors, i.e., the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). These molecules promote inflammation, destroy mitochondria and interfere with synapses in ways that speed up the progress of the disease. Blocking those senescent cells may offer a new approach to treatment. Approaches including VEGFR-1 and SIRT5 interference, senolytics or senomorphs drugs, NLRP3 antagonist, PAI-1 inhibitors and small vessels inhibitors (including aspirin, curcumin derivatives and sildenafil) have been suggested to promisingly mitigate brain injury. RNA based therapy (miRNAs- and lncRNAs-targeted) and exosomal derived biomarkers are also an optimistic approach. A clearer understanding of how senescence is implicated in AD would have implications regarding the design and application of novel treatments aimed at delaying disease onset, slowing down progression or preserving brain function.

The South Eastern Arabian Sea (SEAS) along the west coast of India often shows intense aerosol build-up during the pre-monsoon season, marked by brief Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) surges. As such events are found crucial to regional weather, this study examines the causes and effects of these events, integrating data from MODIS, CALIPSO, and INSAT-3D satellites, MERRA-2 reanalysis, and back-trajectory analysis for the period 2015-2017. High AOD events over the SEAS are linked to elevated aerosol layers between 1 and 4 km, mainly polluted dust and smoke, with pure dust in most of the cases. These events are found to be fuelled by pronounced shifts in wind circulation, increased convergence, strong updrafts, and higher humidity above ~ 1.5 km, aiding aerosol transport from upwind biomass-burning and industrial regions. Absorbing aerosols like black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) strongly correlate with sulphates (SU), suggesting common origin and mixed aerosol type, pointing towards higher absorption effects. This together with the amplifying influence of underlying clouds increases the positive Atmospheric Radiative Forcing (ARF_ATM) from 4 to 6 W m⁻² on normal days to 8-12 W m⁻² during high-pollution events. This increased radiative forcing heats the lower atmosphere (0.3-2.5 km) by about 1-2 K, as seen in temperature profiles, and its changes closely follow the observed temperature variations. These exciting observational results highlight the strong role of absorbing aerosols in high pollution events modifying the atmospheric thermal structure, with probable implications on aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions and weather patterns along the west coast of India.

This study presents a transformative zero-waste paradigm for up-cycling steel slag (SS) which is an abundant industrial waste, by strategically deconstructing it into two valuable products. The established process involves the targeted sulfuric acid leaching of SS to separate its major components: iron ions and calcium. The iron-rich leachate serves as a precursor for the plant-mediated synthesis of α-Fe₂O₃/SiO₂ nanocomposites using Gingko biloba leaf extract, while the solid residue is transformed into gypsum (CaSO₄·2H₂O), a huge applicable material in construction and agriculture. Optimization of methylene blue (MB) adsorption using the Taguchi method achieved an experimental equilibrium capacity of 37.03 mg/g under the investigated conditions. The adsorption behavior was best described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm model, indicating dominant chemisorption on a heterogeneous surface. The Freundlich constants (K_F = 75.5 (mg/g)(L/mg)^1/n and n = 2.04) confirmed strong adsorption affinity and favorable adsorption characteristics. A Langmuir monolayer capacity of 102.04 mg/g was estimated from model fitting. Density functional theory (DFT) and molecular mechanics simulations provided atomistic-level confirmation of a strong, exothermic interaction between methylene blue (MB) and the Fe₂O₃ surface, albeit moderated in an aqueous environment. Furthermore, the nanocomposite showed remarkable stability, retaining over 70% of its removal efficiency after five consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles. This study establishes a comprehensive "waste-to-wealth" pipeline beyond simple waste modification and demonstrates a viable circular economy model simultaneously designed to control the solid waste management and water pollution.

A simple, sensitive, precise, and cost-effective high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of Amlodipine and some Angiotensin II Receptor Antagonist drugs, including Olmesartan, Telmisartan, Candesartan, Losartan, and Irbesartan, in spiked human plasma. The HPTLC analysis utilized a mobile phase consisting of toluene: ethyl acetate: methanol: acetone: acetic acid (6:1.5:1:0.5:1, v/v/v/v/v) on an aluminum-backed layer of silica gel 60 F254. Amlodipine demonstrated a linear relationship within the range of 60-600 ng/band, while the AIIRA drugs showed linearity within the range of 90-900 ng/band. The proposed method exhibited good linearity, with correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.9939 to 0.9998 for all five studied mixtures. The method was validated according to International Council for Harmonization guidelines for linearity, accuracy, precision, robustness, and detection and quantitation limits. Amlodipine and the investigated Angiotensin II Receptor Antagonist drugs were successfully detected and quantified in both bulk drug and plasma samples, yielding high recovery percentages and low standard deviation values. The greenness of the proposed HPTLC method has been evaluated using the standards of greenness profile (AGREE and GAPI) and Eco-Scale.

Membrane-based approach is a very effective method for water purification, but fouling is still a major obstacle that limits its performance. In this study, a self-cleaning GO/g-C₃N₄/ZnO composite membrane was developed to improve the fouling resistance by utilizing the structural stability of g-C₃N₄ and the photocatalytic properties of ZnO (band gap 3.2 eV). GO was synthesized via a modified Hummer method, while g-C₃N₄ was obtained via a calcination process. The membranes were prepared using vacuum filtration on nylon support with varying ZnO concentrations (5-25%) and maleic anhydride as a cross-linker to enhance the membrane stability. FTIR, XRD, UV-Vis DRS, PL, and SEM-EDX characterizations confirmed the successful synthesis of the composite with homogeneous distribution of C, O, N, and Zn on the membrane surface. The naphthol blue black filtration test showed the separation efficiency up to 99.9%. The GO/g-C₃N₄/17.5.ZnO membrane exhibited the highest permeability in the first cycle at 70.6 L m^-2·h^-1·bar^-1, while the GO/g-C₃N₄/15.ZnO membrane demonstrated the best stability, maintaining a 93% rejection efficiency after four usage cycles. Long-term cross-flow filtration under periodic UV light irradiation further confirmed stable rejection (~ 99%) over 20 h, highlighting the effective self-cleaning capability of the membrane. These results demonstrate that the GO/g-C₃N₄/ZnO composite membrane is a promising candidate for durable, self-cleaning water filtration applications.