Ravenshaw University

Two triazine‐cored BODIPY trimers (Compounds 6 and 12) were synthesized and well characterized using ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ¹¹B NMR, ¹⁹F NMR, FT‐IR, and high‐resolution mass spectral analysis. The photophysical, computational, and in vitro anticancer studies of the synthesized compounds were comprehensively evaluated along with previously reported phenylene‐BODIPY trimer (Compound 1). The photophysical studies indicated that the triazine‐cored BODIPY trimers exhibited a slight bathochromic shift compared to the phenylene‐cored trimer. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the order of stability of the BODIPY trimers was 1 > 6 > 12. The anticancer efficacy of the BODIPY trimers was investigated against human breast adenocarcinomas cell line MDA‐MB‐231 and mouse embryo fibroblast cell line NIH/3T3 through in vitro cytotoxicity assay. All the BODIPY trimers exhibited elevated cytotoxicity towards cancer cells while displaying lesser cytotoxicity towards normal cells. Compound 6 showed the highest cell death potential with an IC50 value of 27.02 μM, which is twice higher than that of the chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin. The triazine‐cored BODIPY trimers demonstrated superior cytotoxicity against cancer cells in comparison to their phenylene‐cored counterparts. The enhanced cytotoxicity of the triazine‐cored trimers suggests that the triazine core plays a crucial role in enhancing their therapeutic efficacy. This result underscores the potential of triazine‐cored BODIPY trimers as promising anticancer agents.

Designing a low‐cost, long‐lasting, and active electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is crucial to replace the high‐cost commercial Pt/C electrocatalyst. We have examined the electrocatalytic activity of a stannate‐based perovskite system modified with N‐doped reduced graphene oxide (SrSnO3/NrGO). The sol–gel method was used to synthesize SrSnO3 nanoparticles. Later on, hydrothermal technique was employed to prepare SrSnO3/rGO and SrSnO3/NrGO, respectively. We assessed the ORR performance of all the three synthesized catalyst. Compared to SrSnO3 and SrSnO3/rGO, the composites, SrSnO3/NrGO exhibit more activity in oxygen reduction processes in a 0.1 M KOH medium with an onset potential of 0.84 V versus RHE. In addition, SrSnO3/NrGO exhibits superior stability and better methanol tolerant when compared to commercial Pt/C (20 wt%).

In this twenty-first century, the aggregative model of democracy would not be able to address the complex problem of a plural society where structural inequality is rampant. Hence, it is imperative to unearth a convenient way of the decision-making process through various social and economic empowerment factors which help to enhance the participation and awareness of women despite structural inequalities deeply rooted in Indian society in general and Odisha in particular. This article seeks to highlight the factors determining the empowerment of women and identify issues related to the management of the enterprise. This work attempts to highlight determinants of empowerment of women involved in micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) in Odisha, an eastern state of India. This study has taken a sample of 256 women entrepreneurs considering both registered and unregistered units across five regions of Odisha. For analysis, an overall empowerment index (OEI) has been framed by taking both social empowerment and economic empowerment variables. This study used a multiple regression model and an ordered logistic regression model to find out the determinants that are significantly influencing women’s empowerment. Based on the results, it is observed that economic empowerment variables like expenditure, savings, physical asset value, enterprise decision-making, and self-employment generation have a significant impact on OEI. Similarly, social empowerment variables like social status, leisure availability, business skills, unpaid work, self-decision, self-confidence, freedom of physical mobility, involvement in domestic decision-making, family problems, and networking with other entrepreneurs are playing a significant role in influencing women entrepreneurs’ OEI. Factors such as being self-employed, supplementing family income, making use of spare time, saving, educating children, better health status, etc are some of the motivating factors which encouraged women entrepreneurs to run an MSME. Major challenges faced by women entrepreneurs include constant and frequent need of capital for meeting day-to-day expenses, lack of long-term finance, obtaining finance from financial institutions, lack of experience in financial institutions, lack of technical expertise, etc. Hence, there is a need for sustainable financing the women entrepreneurs to continue their enterprises in the future.

Key message A long tracrRNA (tracr-L), which naturally act as single guide RNA, and its truncated version, Δtracr-L, from S. pyogenes, efficiently induce Cas9-mediated double-strand breaks (DSBs) in plant genomic loci, as demonstrated by in vitro cleavage assay and protoplast transfection. Abstract CRISPR-Cas system provides a form of immune memory in prokaryotes and archaea, protecting them against viruses and foreign genetic elements. In Streptococcus pyogenes, this system includes the pre-crRNA along with another non-coding RNA, tracrRNA, which aids in CRISPR-based immunity. In S. pyogenes, two distinct tracrRNAs are produced: a long form (tracr-L) and a short form (tracr-S). The tracr-S regulates crRNA biogenesis and Cas9 cleavage, while tracr-L suppresses CRISPR-Cas expression by targeting the Cas9 promoter to prevent autoimmunity. Deleting 79 nucleotides from tracr-L results in Δtracr-L, which retains similar functionality in gene repression. This study investigates, for the first time, the effectiveness of tracr-L, and Δtracr-L in genome editing within plant systems. In vitro cleavage assays using purified Cas9 and synthesized sgRNAs targeting the Cas9 gene, OsPDS, and the OsSWEET11 promoter revealed that across all target sites, tracr-S demonstrated the highest cleavage efficiency compared to tracr-L and Δtracr-L. For in vivo genome editing, we transfected rice protoplasts with tracr-L, Δtracr-L, and tracr-S, targeting three rice genes: OsPDS, OsSPL14, and the promoter of OsSWEET14. Amplicon deep sequencing revealed various types of indels at the target regions across all three tracrRNA versions, indicating comparable levels of efficiency. This study establishes the utility of both the long-form tracrRNA (tracr-L) and its truncated variant (Δtracr-L) in eukaryote genome editing. These two new forms of tracrRNA provide proof of concept and expand the CRISPR-Cas toolkit for plant genome editing applications, and for eukaryotes more broadly.

In this paper, we define weighted failure rate and their means from the stand point of an application. We begin by emphasizing that the formation of n independent component series system having weighted failure rates with sum of weight functions being unity is same as a mixture of n distributions. We derive some parametric and nonparametric characterization results. We discuss on the form invariance property of baseline failure rate for a specific choice of weight function. Some bounds on means of aging functions are obtained. Here, we establish that weighted increasing failure rate average (IFRA) class is not closed under formation of coherent systems unlike the IFRA class. An interesting application of the present work is credited to the fact that the quantile version of means of failure rate is obtained as a special case of weighted means of failure rate.

Oxidative stress (OS) induces differential expression of proteins and nucleic acids in several disease states. The proteomics approach is used to analyze the involvement of OS-associated proteins in several body fluids, including seminal plasma. In addition, advanced redox mass-proteomic approaches are used to identify the redox-induced modifications of proteins, peptides, and amino acids. Seminal OS affects the functional ability of spermatozoa, including its motility, hyperactivation, capacitation, acrosome reaction, and zona pellucida penetration, all of which are required to fertilize the ovum. This chapter presents an overview of novel proteomics methods and bioinformatics used to analyze proteomics data under conditions of OS. Furthermore, we provide a summary of recent findings from proteomics investigations conducted in males with significantly high seminal OS compared to males with normal levels of free radicals.

A microcosm experiment was performed to quantify the residues of antibiotics [tetracycline (TC), streptomycin (STR), and streptocycline (STC; a mixture of TC and STR)] in rice soil and to assess their impact on microbial community structure and function using Illumina-MiSeq metagenomic analysis. Antibiotics were applied at half the recommended dose (0.5RD), recommended dose (RD), and double the recommended dose (2RD). At RD, TC was degraded in soil within 9 days of its application, whereas it took 21 days for STR and STC to degrade below limit of quantification (LOQ) level. The residue data were fitted in decay models, and half-lives (DT50) were 46.5–53.3 h and 177.6–198 h for TC and STR, respectively. Soil enzyme activities (dehydrogenase, β-glucosidase, fluorescein diacetate hydrolase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase) were negatively affected in the antibiotic-treated soil. Targeted metagenomic analysis showed that the major bacterial phyla such as Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, Planctomycetes, Crenarchaeota, and Gemmatimonadetes were suppressed by antibiotic treatments as compared to control. Shannon, Simpson, ACE, and Chao1 diversity indices showed that bacterial diversity decreased with the application of antibiotics, and decrease in bacterial diversity was more prominent in case of STC as compared to TC and STR. Overall, the combination of antibiotics negatively affected the soil microbial community structure and function in comparison to their individual application.

Three billion people globally rely on fish and other seafood as a significant source of animal protein. Despite being deemed illegal due to its ability to cause cancer, mutagenesis, and tumor development, formaldehyde is still in use to extend the shelf life of different fish and shellfish, which indicates the failure of awareness among people. Formaldehyde is categorized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a Group-I human carcinogen. Therefore, we try to summarize the chemistry of formaldehyde, its illegal addition in various food materials leading to adverse health conditions followed by its evaluation at physiological and histological levels in our review with the help of data collected from various research papers, newspaper articles, and online data. We have also highlighted on various environmental factors that play a role in altering the levels of formaldehyde in various food materials. This review also gives an insight into various rules and regulations made to limit the usage of formaldehyde in fish and other seafood at both national and international levels. Our review will help to generate awareness among common people, the establishment of much stronger rules, and regulations on usage of formaldehyde, and finding an alternative for preservation of fish and other food materials.

A series of four carboranyl-BODIPY conjugates (o-CB-10, m-CB-15, Me-o-CB-28, and Me-o-CB-35) and one phenylene-BODIPY conjugate (PB-20) were synthesized. The carboranyl-BODIPY conjugates incorporate boron clusters, specifically ortho- and meta-carboranes, covalently linked to BODIPY fluorophores while the phenylene-BODIPY conjugate features a phenylene ring covalently linked to BODIPY fluorophore. The newly synthesized conjugates were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ¹¹B NMR, ¹⁹F NMR, FT-IR, and high-resolution mass spectral analysis. In vitro cytotoxicity of the synthesized conjugates has been evaluated against the HeLa cervical cancer cell line. The study reveals that o-CB-10 shows a maximum cell death potential at lower concentrations (12.03 μM) and inhibited cell proliferation and migration in cancer (HeLa) cells. Additionally, flow cytometry study reveals that o-CB-10 and Me-o-CB-28 arrest the cell cycle at the S phase. The results indicate that the carboranyl-BODIPY conjugates have the potential to be effective anticancer agents.

Indian women spend the majority of their waking hours in the kitchen. Since women and children spend the majority of their lives at home, the source of their cooking fuels affects their health. Accordingly, the current study examined the usage trend and patterns of solid and clean cooking fuels both before and after the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) based on the NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 databases for India’s rural and urban areas, respectively. The study also looked into how women’s nutritional health (BMI) and childbirth weight were affected by the types and nature of cooking fuels based on NFHS-5 data. Overall, this study found that the use of clean fuel in both rural and urban households significantly increased, and solid fuel use decreased from NFHS-4 to NFHS-5. South Indian states and union territories, except Lakshadweep, belong to a high share of clean fuel users. Result from NFHS-5 shows that underweight and normal weight have a higher prevalence among women who are using solid cooking fuel, but above normal weight have a higher prevalence among women who are using clean cooking fuels in both rural and urban areas. Multivariate decomposition analysis shows that the nutritional gap (BMI) between rural and urban areas was attributed to major contributing factors—wealth index, education level, age, nature of cooking fuels, and food consumption, respectively. Low birth weight has a higher prevalence among those who use solid cooking fuel but normal birth weight has a higher prevalence among clean cooking fuel users in both rural and urban areas although there is a small difference in the use of cooking fuel on both birth weights.

Haplotype breeding assists in improvement of traits through introgression of superior haplotypes. Growth Regulating Factor 4 (GRF4) regulates yield and nitrogen use efficiency in rice. Further, through regulation of MYB61, GRF4 also regulates the plant biomass in rice. However, the trait effects of different GRF4 haplotypes on yield and biomass relationship is not understood properly. This study hypothesised that GRF4 haplotypes affects the yield and biomass relationship and studied the haplotype differences of GRF4 in 335 rice accessions for yield and biomass relationship. Fixation index (Fst) of GRF4 haplotypes were found to be higher (0.31) between indica and japonica as compared to indica and aus (0.18), japonica and aus ecotypes (0.18). Further, marker trait association identified five significant associations one for flag leaf length (Chr02:28862688), two each for biomass (Chr02:28862385, Chr02:28868744) and grain number (Chr02:28861294, Chr02:28863481), and one for seed yield per plant (Chr02:28868744). Among the traits associated with haplotypes, Hap4 showed higher yield and biomass relationship (r2 = 0.82), whereas the superior haplotype for yield (Hap1) showed relatively lesser biomass and yield relationship (r2 = 0.60). Besides, two favourable SNPs regulating grain number and non-favourable SNP for flag leaf width was fixed in the IRRI elite lines and popular rice varieties. This indicates yield and biomass relationship between the GRF4 haplotypes varies in the rice genotypes. Further, balancing the breeding or genome editing strategies for yield and biomass has potential for genetic improvement in rice. Graphical Abstract

Anion sensing plays a crucial role in areas ranging from medical diagnostics to environmental monitoring. Dipyrromethane‐based compounds offer a versatile platform for developing colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensors, owing to their structural tunability and favorable optical properties. This review provides a concise overview of current advancements in anion sensing using dipyrromethane molecular framework. We examined the diverse strategies employed in designing dipyrromethane‐based anion sensors. Emphasis is placed on the structure‐function relationships that dictate anion affinity and selectivity. Key sensing mechanisms, including visual detection, UV‐vis studies, NMR studies, and fluorescence modulation, are explored. Finally, the synthetic routes for the synthesis of chemosensors are mentioned in detail. Given the efficiency and flexibility of dipyrromethane‐based sensor, we believe that major developments are to be expected in the field of both sensor and analytical chemistry.

Rice yield is greatly constrained by drought stress. In Arabidopsis, XYLEM NAC DOMAIN 1 (XND1) gene regulates the xylem formation, efficiency of water transport, and the delicate equilibrium between drought tolerance and resistance to pathogens. However, diversity and the role of rice homologs of OsXND1 is not reported so far. This study hypothesized that the rice homolog of OsXND1 also regulates drought stress tolerance through modulation of root architecture. Initially, phylogenetic analysis identified two OsXND1 homologs (Os02g0555300 and Os04g0437000) in rice. Further, 14 haplotypes were identified in the OsXND1 of which Hap1 and Hap3 were major haplotypes. The association analysis of OsXND1 with 16 different traits, including 10 root traits, showed three SNPs (Chr02:20972728-Promoter variant; Chr02:20972791-5′ UTR variant, and Chr02:20973745-3′ UTR variant) were significantly associated with root area, root surface area, total root length, and convex hull area only under drought stress in indica rice. Besides, the superior haplotype of OsXND1 increased the root area, root surface area, total root length, and convex hull area by 46%, 40%, 38%, and 42%, respectively, under drought stress conditions. Therefore, the identified superior haplotype of OsXND1 can be utilized in haplotype breeding programs for the improvement of drought tolerance in rice. Graphical abstract

Triazine‐based molecules have emerged as promising candidates for developing selective and sensitive chemosensors for metal ion detection. Their structural tunability facilitates the introduction of a variety of functional groups, improving their binding affinity and specificity toward a variety of metal ions. This review highlights various sensing mechanisms, including colorimetric and fluorometric methods, and provides insights into the performance of these sensors in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, and detection limits. The synthetic routes for synthesizing the chemosensors are mentioned in detail. Given their reliability and flexibility, triazine‐based sensors are poised to make significant contributions in the field of both sensor and analytical chemistry.

The exploration of a broad range of offerings (bhoga or prasad) that encompasses Odia cuisine with its past is what makes Jangannath Culture special. With the largest kitchen in Asia, the temple provides its followers with over 300 different food options around-the-clock. The most revered dish among Hindus is the offering known as “Mahaprasad.” It’s interesting to note that while pakhala, or cooked rice soaked in water, is the most common and fundamental dish eaten by Odias worldwide, it holds a special position at the Jagannath temple where it is presented to the lord every evening during “Bada Sinhar Besha.” The objective of this article is to examine Jagannath culture via Odia and Pakhala cuisine. This piece attempts to analyze the feeling of Odias with Pakhala and probes its existence in the Lord Jagannath temple in an attempt to go further into the historical component of Pakhala. As the authentic “Baishanb Culture,” Jagannath Culture connects cuisine and Odisha culture, and it is attempted to examine how, over time, Hindus are coming to value this ancient custom more and more. In order to ensure the study’s validity, primary data was gathered from Pakhala customers on “Pakhala Divas” through a questionnaire about their preferences and tastes, their awareness of the company’s advantages, and their method of payment (whether they had purchased meals from hotels or restaurants). It was discovered from the data that people’s preferences and tastes differed depending on their nativity. The youth knew a decent amount about the health advantages of eating Pakhala, but they knew very little about the Jagannath Culture linked with the beverage. Despite their preference for preparing Pakhala at home, the respondents typically ordered the side dishes from nearby hotels or “dhabbas.” Most customers favored digital payment methods, however the option they selected depended on the supplier’s offerings. In order to attract the masses, the article suggests that steps should be done to combine culture with benefits and causes. The right mix of faith and science can create the impetus for a revolution.

An efficient stereoselective synthesis of tetrahydro‐1H‐isobenzofuro[4,5‐c]chromene‐1,3(3aH)‐dione derivatives were achieved through a novel [4+2] cycloaddition reaction of 4‐styryl‐2H‐chromenes with cheaply available maleic anhydride. A series of new tetrahydro‐1H‐isobenzofuro[4,5‐c]chromene‐1,3(3aH)‐dione derivatives 21(a–p) were synthesized in good to excellent yield under mild reaction condition with no chromatographic purification. In this reaction, the generation of four new consecutive stereogenic centers were determined by single crystal X‐ray analysis. All the synthesized compounds were investigated further in silico and in vitro for antibacterial activities using two bacterial strain of DNA gyrase. Compounds 21 b and 21 j showed excellent docking score −9.3 kCal/mol and −8.6 kCal/mol with gram negative bacterial strain Escherichia coli (E. coli) with protein data bank (PDB ID) 3G7E. Out of all the tested molecules, 21 b and 21 j displayed good results with minimum inhibitory concentration 10 μg/ml, 10 μg/ml against the bacterial strain Escherichia coli(E. coli) and 10 μg/ml, 20 μg/ml against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) respectively.