A novel kind of pH and temperature dual-sensitive Molecular imprint polymers (MIPs) combined with Cu2+ coordination (SiO2@CS/NIPAM-Cu2+-MIP) has been synthesized using glycidyl methacrylate-iminodiacetic acid (GMA-IDA) as a metalchelating ligand, with bovine serum albumin (BSA) as template protein, combined with pNIPAM and chiston (CS) as temperature and pH sensitive monomers, respectively. The coordination effect of GMA-IDA-Cu2+ has been shown to be beneficial to improve the adsorption capacity and adsorption specificity of BSA. The influence of pH not only changed the charge force between the polymer and protein in the imprinting system, but also deformed the imprinting cavity through the protonation of NH3+ on CS. Further, the thermo-sensitivity of the imprinted polymer was also found to be satisfactory. Withthe joint efforts of coordination, electrostatic action and good matching of imprinted sites, higher adsorption capacity (173.48 mg∙g-1) and imprinting factor (2.72) have been obtained at pH 4.6 and 35ºC. Although it took about 4 h to reach saturation adsorption, the cyclability of the SiO2@CS/NIPAM-Cu2+-MIP was found to be acceptable and the adsorptioncapacity was maintained at original 81.16% after six cycles. It is for the first time that GMA-IDA-Cu2+ has been used to prepare the pH and temperature dual-sensitive imprinted polymer for BSA.

The supercapacitor is an intriguing future energy storage device. 2D nanomaterials such as Graphene oxide (GO) and MoS2 are well-known electrostatic double layer capacitance (EDLC) based electrode materials. In the present work, the effect of compositing CeO2 with GO and MoS2 on their electrochemical performance has been investigated. The crystal structure of the pure CeO2 and composites were confirmed by XRD analysis. Raman spectroscopic analysis revealed the F2g vibration mode of CeO2, D and G bands of GO nanosheets. SEM analysis confirmed the spherical morphology of CeO2 nanoparticle and sheets like morphology of rGO and MoS2. The SEM images of composites show the presence of spherical particles and nanosheets, which confirm the formation of CeO2/rGO and CeO2/MoS2 nanocomposites. The electrochemical characteristics of CeO2/rGO and CeO2/MoS2 nanocomposites-based electrode materials were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry (CP), and EIS analyses. The CeO2, CeO2/MoS2, and CeO2/rGO electrodes exhibited the specific capacitance of 660, 866, and 959 Fg-1, respectively at 5mVs-1. Due to the synergistic effect of CeO2 with rGO and MoS2, the CeO2/rGO and CeO2/MoS2 nanocomposite electrode materials have shown improved energy storage performance compared to pure CeO2.

First time, the electro-oxidative behaviour and determination of acotiamide at a pencil graphite electrode have been investigated under different experimental conditions using cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV), and square wave anodic stripping voltammetric (SWASV) techniques. The voltammetric responses of acotiamide have been analyzed at different scan rates, pH and concentrations. Oxidation of acotiamide at the surface of pencil graphite electrode gave two well defined irreversible peaks in the voltammograms in BR buffer of pH 7.0. The oxidation process is completely diffusion controlled. A linear response of peak current has been obtained between 15.5 to 124 μM in non-aqueous media for all the voltammetric techniques. The proposed DPASV and SWASV techniques show limit of detection at 18.58 and 13.36 μM, respectively.

This study has been carried out to prepare neem oil-in-water nano-emulsions stabilized by Brij 30 surfactant using the phase inversion temperature (PIT) method at three different temperatures, i.e., 60, 75 and 80°C. Compositions of homogenous phase have been identified in the pseudo-ternary phase diagram. Among the total seventeen formulations, three formulations (NB1, NB2 and NB3) have been short-listed and characterized for emulsion size and viscosity. The selected formulations have shown emulsion size of 348-981 nm in diameter. The volume percentage ratio of Brij 30 to neem oil have shown significant effect on the droplet size of nano-emulsions. Formulations having lower concentration of Brij 30 have displayed a smaller emulsion droplet size (348 nm). The NB3 formulation (4% neem oil, 11% Brij 30 and 85% deionized water) has exhibited the highest stability after 60 days of storage. Antimicrobial study has shown that in contrast to raw neem and Ampicillin (synthetic drug), NB1 exhibited best result in terms of minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) reduction by 100% against E-coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus and S. pyogenus.

This study explore the efficacy, toxic and side effects and survival impact of apatinib combined with capecitabine chemotherapy for the second-line treatment of advanced esophageal cancer. The clinical data of 76 patients with advanced esophageal cancer treated from January 2015 to April 2020 have been retrospectively analyzed. They are divided into experimental and control groups according to different treatment methods. The experimental group (n=29) underwent oral apatinib targeted therapy (250 mg/once/d) combined with oral capecitabine chemotherapy (1000 mg/m2 according to the body surface area on D1-14). Maintenance therapy with apatinib has been conducted after 4-6 cycles. The control group (n=47) received the second-line chemotherapy. After more than 2 cycles of chemotherapy, complete response is achieved in 0 cases, partial response in 19 cases, stable disease in 6 cases, and progressive disease in 3 cases. Overall response rate (ORR) is found to be 67.86% and the disease control rate is 89.28%. The median progression-free survival (mPFS) and the median overall survival (mOS) are 6.7 months and 8.9 months, respectively. Karnofsky Performance Status score of 2 points, liver metastasis, elevation of tumor marker squamous cell carcinoma and unsatisfactory efficacy are independent prognostic factors. In control group, ORR was 34.04%, and mPFS and mOS are 3.9 months and 7.4 months, respectively. No severe drug-related toxic and side effects have been observed, except for 1 patient who voluntarily discontinued treatment due to grade III hypertension. Apatinib combined with capecitabine chemotherapy shows good overall efficacy with satisfactory safety and tolerance for the second-line treatment of advanced esophageal cancer.

A novel enzyme-free electrochemical sensor has been developed based on the prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) loaded on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with amphiphilic poly(propylene imine) dendrimer (PBNPs/APPI(G3)/GCE) for sensing of hydrogen peroxide. The structural characterization of the newly synthesized template of APPI(G3) has been carried out by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization coupled to time-of-flight mass spectroscopic (MALDI-TOF) studies. The electrodeposition and stabilization of PBNPs on the APPI(G3) template have been characterized by cyclic voltammetry and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) studies. From the results, a homogeneous distribution of PBNPs with an average size of 50-100 nm on the APPI(G3) modified electrode surface has been observed. The PBNPs/APPI(G3)/GCE has shown an excellent performance towards the detection of hydrogen peroxide with ample electrochemical, mechanical stability, and good sensitivity to the other prussian blue-based H2O2 sensors. The developed sensor exhibit a linear response for H2O2 reduction over the concentration range of 100 to 1000 μM with a detection limit of 60 μM (S/N = 3), and sensitivity of 0.012 AM-1 using the amperometric method. The obtained results have shown that PBNPs/APPI(G3)/GCE can be a promising electrochemical sensing platform for the detection of H2O2 in chemical and biological analysis.

Functionalization of fullerene via covalent addition of substituted 4-benzo-9-crown-3 ether diazonium salt has been described. This procedure is used for the preparation of new derivative fullerenes which is described as a phase transfer catalyst. The covalent grafting has led to a considerable increment in the solubility of fullerene in organic solvents such as, CH2Cl2, acetone and ethanol. The covalent grafting of crown ether (4-(benzo-9-crown-3)) to fullerene (Fullerene-CE) has been identified and confirmed by IR, H-NMR, 7Li-NMR and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) methods. Fullerene-CE in solvents has been used as a phase transfer catalyst for organic reactions. The Fullerene-CE is capable to become the Li+ host.

Ni-P-W-TiO2 coating has been deposited on the AISI 304L steel substrate using the electroplating method. Electroplating has been performed at 30, 45, and 60 min, and the effect of electroplating time on microstructure, corrosion and wear behaviour has been investigated. The coatings have been characterized by use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In order to investigate corrosion resistance, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) tests have been used in 3.5% of NaCl aqueous solution. A pin on disk test has been used to test the wear resistance of uncoated and coated samples. Sample micro-hardness has also been measured by the Vickers hardness test. Examination of the microstructure has shown that the best time for deposition is 45 min. The results of potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy tests are also consistent with microscopic images, and the results have shown that the coating created within 45 min has the highest corrosion resistance (7058 Ω.cm2) compared to coated sample within 30 (4142 Ω.cm2) and 60 (3059 Ω.cm2) minutes. Also, the results of the wear test and micro-hardness have shown that composite coating formed within 45 minutes has the highest wear resistance and micro-hardness (677 Vickers) compared to coated sample within 30 (257 Vickers) and 60 (638 Vickers) minutes.

The development of innovative sensors for the detection of analytes at extremely low concentrations with great sensitivity and selectivity has been a major focus of this study. The electrochemical activity of chlorpheniramine maleate (CPRM) in the presence of a graphene modified GCE has been investigated. Cyclic voltammograms (CV) have been obtained in the linear dynamic range 3.5- 156 μM while the optimum pH range and the maximum peak current (IPa) have been measured at pH 7.3. The process on the electrode's surface, diffusion regulated, heterogeneous rate constant, charge transfer coefficient, and the number of electrons transferred among the physicochemical properties have been obtained. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) of CPRM at the modified has electrode revealed a good linear calibration curve with a linear range of 10 to 60 μM and limit of detection of 0.062 μM. The suggested sensor has been fabricated and utilized to determine CPRM in medicines as well as serum samples.

Polyvinyl alcohol–iron oxide nanocomposite (PVA-Fe2O3 NC) films have been formed when iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3 NPs) are incorporated into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) base matrix. In this study, for the preparation of a series of PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, different weight percentages (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 wt. %) of Fe2O3 NPs have been added into the PVA solution using the solution cast method. The morphological and spectroscopic properties of the PVA-Fe2O3 NC films have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) spectroscopy techniques. XRD studies reveal that the original structure of the Fe2O3 NPs is preserved in the PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, and the crystallinity of the PVA-Fe2O3NC films has been increased. The SEM images confirm that the Fe2O3 NPs have been homogeneously distributed in 3-dimension with dots and rod-like structures. The UV-visible investigations have been carried out for the series of PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, which result in a significant change in opto-electronic properties. With an increasing weight percentage of Fe2O3 NPs in the PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, the direct bandgap decreased from 5.39 eV to 5.01 eV, the indirect bandgap decreased from 4.73 eV to 3.27 eV, the Urbach energy increased from 0.428 eV to 0.538 eV, the linear refractive index increased from 1.63 to 5.86, and the extinction coefficient increased from 1.86 X 10-6 to 1.74 X 10-5. These results have shown that the spectroscopic properties of PVA-Fe2O3 NC films are modified considerably with the small addition of Fe2O3 NPs in the PVA matrix, which are useful for optoelectronic applications.

New soluble and insoluble Nb, Ta, Mo, and Sb complex catalysts have been developed using pyridine and polymersupported cross-linked (poly-4-vinyl pyridine) bead (PSCPVP), and characterized using FT-IR, SEM, EDAX, elemental analysis (CHN), and TGA. Their ability to catalyze the acylation of ethanol with acetic anhydride at 303K has been proven. Both soluble and insoluble chemicals have the same order of activity: MoCl5, TaCl5, NbCl5, and SbCl5. The insoluble catalyst outperformed in terms of activity by complex catalysts, although they have significant limitations in terms of solubility and recyclability and soluble homogeneous catalysts in terms of lowest cost and recyclability, whereas all soluble Py-MCl5 catalysts exhibit better activity than insoluble PSCPVP-MCl5 catalysts according to the computed kobs values. Insoluble catalysts are preferable than soluble homogeneous catalysts in terms of recyclability, although all the soluble catalysts of Py-MCl5, M= Nb, Ta, Mo, and Sb have exhibited better activity than insoluble PSCPVP-MCl5 (kobs= 6.51, 6.98, 7.48 & 1.73 x103 min-1) based on the computed kobs values. For acylation process, it has been found that the soluble Py- NbCl5, Py-TaCl5, Py-MoCl5, and Py-SbCl5 catalysts whereas 1.47, 1.63, 1.59, and 1.67 folds more active than PSCPVPNbCl5, PSCPVP-TaCl5, PSCPVP-MoCl5, and PSCPVP-SbCl5 correspondingly.

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-Nps) decorated conducting copolymers of aniline and pyrrole monomers [poly (aniline -copyrrole)] have been synthesized through a simple in-situ chemical oxidative co-polymerization. The formation and characteristics of poly (aniline -co- pyrrole)-Ag have been confirmed using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. The synthesized nanocomposite has been characterized using scanning electron microscopy, fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, RAMAN spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and UV-Visible spectroscopy have been used to identify the phase, morphology and thermal stability. The composite has been used to modify the glassy carbon electrode to obtain poly (aniline -co- pyrrole)-Ag/ GCE. Cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry have been used for the electrochemical sensing of uric acid. The modified GC electrode has shown an excellent electrocatalytic oxidation of uric acid to allantoin at neutral pH of phosphate buffer solution. The proposed sensor thus involves simple fabrication with high accuracy and sensitivity.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacterial enzyme pantothenate synthetase (PS) catalyzes the synthesis of pantothenate, a precursor of coenzyme A. Hence, targeting PS is a potential mechanism in the development of anti-tuberculosis drugs. Bruceine, a highly oxygenated natural quassinoid molecule, is isolated from plants of the Simaroubaceae family. The anti-tuberculosis potential of eleven bruceine (A, B, C, D, E, G, H, I, J, K and L) has been investigated by in silico approach. The molecular docking (AutodockVina) and drug-likeness (Lipinski’s rule of five) analyses identified bruceine D as a potential inhibitor. Further, it has shown six hydrogen bond interactions with the key amino acids residues of the target protein, Tyr82, His135, Lys160 and Asp161. The ring-A and -D has contributed two hydrogen bonds, while one each from ring-C and -E. The results reveal that bruceine D possesses druglikeness property and binding energy of -9.3 kcal/mol. The binding score similar to pantoyl adenylate suggests chemical modifications to enhance the protein inhibition potency. Bruceine D has a great potential to inhibit PS and could contribute to the tuberculosis drug discovery process.

This study has been undertaken to evaluate the effect of butylphthalide combined with ozagrel sodium on cerebral perfusion and oxidative stress indexes in patients with transient ischemic attack. In this study, a total of 116 patients diagnosed as transient ischemic attack in our hospital (February 2018-February 2020) have been selected and divided into two groups according to the treatment methods.58 cases in the control group have been treated with ozagrel sodium, 58 cases in the observation group have been treated with butylphthalide combined with ozagrelsodium. The CT perfusion imaging parameters, oxidative stress indexes, plaque area, and the levels of platelet activating factor (PAF), α-granule membrane protein-140 (GMP-140), fibrinogen (FIB), platelet aggregation rate (PAgT), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), oxygen-inducible factor-1α ( HIF-1α ), and matrix metalloproteinases-9 ( MMP-9) in the two groups have been recorded, and the total effective rate and adverse reaction rate have been counted. The results shown that the total effective rate of the observation group is higher than that of the control group, and the difference is statistically significant (χ2 = 4.640, P = 0.031). The average time (MTT) required for the two groups of contrast agents to pass through the local brain tissue and the time (TTP) required starting the injection of contrast agents to reach the peak concentration decreased compared to that with before treatment. After treatment, the MTT and TTP of the observation group are shorter than those of the control group (P < 0.05). Compared with before treatment, superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the two groups has higher than that in the control group, PAF, GMP-140, FIB, PAgT, NSE, HIF-1α, MMP-9, malondialdehyde (MDA) and plaque area has decreased. After treatment, the levels of related factors in the observation group are better than those in the control group, and the plaque area is less than that in the control group (P < 0.05).There has been no significant difference in the adverse reaction rate between the observation group and the control group (χ2 = 0.438, P = 0.508).

The inhibition effect of acridine orange (AO) on the corrosion of A105 carbon steel in 0.5 M hydrochloric acid has been investigated using potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and weight loss tests. Using polarization plots and corrosion rate calculations, it has been revealed that AO acts as an effective inhibitor. The results have showed that the inhibition efficiency increases with increasing inhibitor concentration and A behaves as a mixed type inhibitor in HCl solution. Based on the data obtained from the EIS tests, it has been determined that the charge transfer resistance increased from 74.20 Ω.cm2 for blank solution to 250 Ω.cm2for 100 ppm of AO. Comparison of the results obtained from the three methods, have shown that the methods are in acceptable agreement. Investigation the effect of temperature in the range of 20-60 °C has indicated that the inhibition efficiency increased with temperature, so that at 40 and 60 °C, the inhibition efficiency would reach 90%. The thermodynamic parameters of steel dissolution including activation energy, standard enthalpy and entropy of activation have been calculated and discussed. It was also found, that the adsorption of AO on the steel surface has obeyed Langmuir isotherm and adsorption has been performed spontaneously.

Titania (TiO2) powders have been prepared by precipitation method in different precipitation media which contain sulfate, nitrate or organic species. Photocatalytic degradation of different dyes and a real textile wastewater have been conducted with these powders along with commercial powder Degussa P25 for comparison. Ethyl alcohol (organic medium), sulfuric acid (sulfate medium) and nitric acid (nitrate medium) have been used to dissolve titanium precursor for the precipitation of TiO2 in ammonia solution. UV-Vis DRS and XPS results indicate that S doping in sulfate medium precipitated powder and N doping in nitrate medium precipitated powder has been occurred and the presence of S or N containing impurities on the grain boundaries have been improved light absorption of TiO2 significantly. However, these powders have exhibited low surface reactivities. The highest surface reactivity has been obtained with the powder precipitated in organic medium which also has the highest crystallite sizes (76 nm rutile and 34 nm anatase crystallites) with relatively low rutile weight percentage (10.0%). The surface-normalized rate constants of this powder are 0.02038 min-1.m-2 in real textile wastewater degradation and 0.0161 min-1.m-2 in methyl orange degradation, which are 0.01563 and 0.0091 min-1.m-2, respectively, for Degussa P25. Results have shown that this powder show 30-70% higher surface reactivities compared to Degussa P25. The main structural difference of organic medium precipitated powder and Degussa P25 has been found to be the anatase-rutile weight ratio and crystallite size of rutile phase whereas band gap energy of Degussa P25 is lower and other properties are not significantly different.

The study intends to investigate the physical, chemical and thermal characteristics of paraffin blended fuels to determine their suitability as a solid fuel in a hybrid rocket. Wax fuels are a viable and efficient alternative to conventional rocket fuels, having excellent structural strength and thermal and mechanical properties. By utilizing both axial and swirl injection technique, the combustion performance of paraffin – beeswax blended fuels have been tested with a fabricated cylindrical grain in a laboratory-scale rocket setting along with oxygen. The test outcomes revealed solid fuel compositions of more beeswax content in paraffin wax on an oxygenated gaseous environment with a swirl-flow injection method has the highest average regression rate of 1.649 mm/sec at 181 kg/m2s mass flux. Axially injected oxygen with pure paraffin wax has the lowest value of 0.85 mm/sec at 96 kg/m2s. The regression rate comparisons revealed that oxygen injection by a swirl injector increased the regression rates by 40% for mass fluxes greater than 80 kg/m2s. Compared to other studies, the combustion efficiencies have been obtained in this study are good. Blended fuels can manage and increase combustion efficiencies for axial and swirl flow conditions. Swirl injectors outperform axial injectors for oxygen injection and allow for a higher proportion of Beeswax combined with paraffin. This study exclusively designed and manufactured an axial injector and swirl injector, according to the required dimensions of a lab-scale hybrid rocket's combustion chamber, injector, and exhaust nozzle, and their performances have been evaluated.

Removal of fluoroquinolone antibiotic pollutants in the aquatic environment has become a research hotspot. In this work, two skeletal resins and four acidic ion exchange resins have been used as adsorbent materials to evaluate their adsorption properties for fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) in aqueous solution. Compared with other materials, the sulfonic-phosphoric acid-based bifunctional resin S9570 has shown the best adsorption performance for CIP. The effect of solution pH on the adsorption of CIP by S9570 has been further explored, and the optimal adsorption capacity has been obtained at pH 4.0. The adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics of S9570 for CIP have been investigated in details. The high fits of the pseudo-second-order and intraparticle diffusion equations indicate that these two models can better describe the adsorption process of S9570 for CIP which has been jointly controlled by chemical adsorption and intraparticle diffusion steps and has been accompanied by weak or intermediate initial adsorption behaviour. The best fit results of Langmuir has indicated that there exists a monolayer adsorption on the surface of the S9570.Thermodynamic parameters suggest that the adsorption is an endothermic, spontaneous process with increased randomness at the solid-liquid interface. Through this evaluation of resin adsorption materials, it has been proved that the adsorbent material has good reusability and antiinterference performance.

The effect of new compounds named, 6,6'-(((2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diyl)bis(azanediyl))bis(methylene))bis(2- methoxyphenol) (RSH) on the corrosion inhibiting of ST- 37 low carbon steel in 1.0 M HCl has been studied. The inhibitor effects on the corrosion behaviour of the samples have been determined at three different concentrations, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/L. Weight loss, polarization curves, AC impedance measurements and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) have been utilized to study the corrosion behaviour of carbon steel in corrosive environment in the presence and absence of new ligand. Results show that the inhibition occurs through adsorption of the inhibitors molecules on the metal surface. The inhibition efficiency was found to increase with increasing inhibitor’s concentration. Polarization data indicated that this compounds act as mixed-type inhibitors. The corrosion efficiency of RSH at an optimal concentration of 2mg/L is 86. The adsorption of inhibitors follows the Langmuir isotherm. The values of free energy of adsorption in the presence of the corrosion inhibitor are around -32 KJmol-1, which indicate chemiosorption of the molecules. Powerful Atomic Force microscopy is used for the surface morphology studies.

Nanocomposite cotton fabrics (NCCFs) with in situ formed copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) using aqueous extraction of citrus lemon leaves as reducing agent have been made. The NCCFs have been analyzed by SEM, FTIR, XRD and TGA techniques and antibacterial test. The CuNPS have been roughly spherical in shape with a mean size in the range of 82-114 nm. The OH and C-OH groups of leaf extract has played an important role in the generation of the CuNPs in the NCCFs as established by the FTIR spectral analysis. The XRD analysis has indicated that the formation of CuNPs in NCCFs lowered the crystallinity of NCCFs. The thermal stability of NCCFs has been lowered by the CuNPs. However, the NCCFs with in situ generated CuNPs exhibited higher antibacterial activity against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and hence can be effectively used as antibacterial wound dressing and hospital bed materials.