Detection of Adulteration of Meat and Meat Products with Buffalo Meat Employing Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay

The primer pair was designed based on mitochondrial d-loop gene for detection of adulteration of buffalo meat in admixed meat and meat products by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. Amplification of 537-bp DNA fragments was observed from buffalo, without any cross-reaction with cattle, sheep, goat, pig, and chicken. The amplification was further confirmed by BamHI restriction enzymes. No adverse effect of processing was found on PCR amplification of buffalo meat DNA extracted from processed meat and meat products, even from meat emulsion autoclaved at 121 °C, 20 psi for 15–20 min. The detection limit for buffalo meat was found to be 1% in the admixed meat and meat products; however, very faint and inconsistent results were obtained in autoclaved meat emulsion at 1% level. The developed PCR assay was found to be specific for buffalo and could be a useful tool for detection of meat adulteration.     

Estimation of convective mass transfer in solar distillation systems

In this article a thermal model has been developed to determine the convective mass transfer for different Grashof Number range in solar distillatiOn process. The model is based on simple regression analysis. Based on the experimental data obtained from the rigorous outdoor experimentation on passive and active distillation systems for summer climatic conditions, the values of C and n have been calculated. The modified values of C and n for Nu=C(GrPr)ⁿ, are proposed as C=0.0322; N=0.4114 for 1.794 × 10⁶6 in a passive solar still and C=0.0538; N=0.383 for 5.498 × 10⁶6 in an active solar still. The percentage deviation between experimental and theoretical results are found within an accuracy of 12%.     

Aromatase and dual aromatase-steroid sulfatase inhibitors from the letrozole and vorozole templates

Concurrent inhibition of aromatase and steroid sulfatase (STS) may provide a more effective treatment for hormone‐dependent breast cancer than monotherapy against individual enzymes, and several dual aromatase–sulfatase inhibitors (DASIs) have been reported. Three aromatase inhibitors with sub‐nanomolar potency, better than the benchmark agent letrozole, were designed. To further explore the DASI concept, a new series of letrozole‐derived sulfamates and a vorozole‐based sulfamate were designed and biologically evaluated in JEG‐3 cells to reveal structure–activity relationships. Amongst achiral and racemic compounds, 2‐bromo‐4‐(2‐(4‐cyanophenyl)‐2‐(1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl)ethyl)phenyl sulfamate is the most potent DASI (aromatase: IC₅₀=0.87 nM ; STS: IC₅₀=593 nM ). The enantiomers of the phenolic precursor to this compound were separated by chiral HPLC and their absolute configuration determined by X‐ray crystallography. Following conversion to their corresponding sulfamates, the S‐(+)‐enantiomer was found to inhibit aromatase and sulfatase most potently (aromatase: IC₅₀=0.52 nM ; STS: IC₅₀=280 nM ). The docking of each enantiomer and other ligands into the aromatase and sulfatase active sites was also investigated.     

A novel optical aerosol detector utilizing an optic fiber with conductive polymer coating

The detection of atmospheric aerosol particles is becoming an important issue in many fields such as environmental science, occupational medicine, semiconductor industry and material science. In the present paper, we utilized the conductive polymer, polypyrrole (PPy), as a sensitive membrane for detecting aerosol particles optically. A polymer optical fiber reflectance probe is constructed by depositing the PPy nanofilm at the end face of the fiber. The sensor principle relies on the change in the refractive index of the PPy nanofilm upon its interaction with aerosol nanoparticles and on the electrostatic induction between aerosol particles and the PPy nanofilm, which leads to a change in the reflected intensity. For preliminary evaluation of optical aerosol detector, three types of aerosol particles, NaCl, black carbon (BC) and polystyrene latex (PSL), are selected. The fabricated fiber optic reflectance probe using the PPy nanofilm shows distinct variations in the reflected light intensity depending on the type of aerosol particle and its properties. The proposed sensing approach may promote the use of conductive polymers in optical techniques for the detection of atmospheric aerosols.     

Thermal Mixing of Impinging Laminar Streams of Shear-Thinning Fluids

Abstract

Thermal mixing behavior of shear-thinning fluids with the specified heat flux boundary condition at mixing zone walls is studied numerically to investigate the effect of Reynolds number (10 to 50), power-law index (0.6161 to 1), Nusselt number (10⁴ to 10⁶) for external air flows and dimensionless ambient temperature (?2.7 to 1.3). The temperature is a passive tracer that quantifies the degree of mixing in this study. Detailed kinematics shows the formation of recirculation zones at the mixing channel walls. Length required to achieve the well mixed condition (i.e., a flat temperature profile across the channel height) is shorter at low Reynolds number, convective heat transfer coefficient and ambient temperature, and high power-law index values. In the impingement zone, a faster reduction in mixing index has been observed with respect to mixing length at high power-law index and low Reynolds numbers, while Nusselt number and ambient temperature exert only a weak influence. Under appropriate conditions, significant energy exchange between the system and surroundings can occur and has been analyzed in detail in this work. This work finds its applications in the improved mixing as practiced in the processing and production of food-stuffs, fine chemicals, personal care products, etc.     

The relationship between oil prices and US economy revisited

The authors revisit the relationship between US economic growth and crude oil prices considering Industrial Production Index and West Texas Intermediate crude oil spot prices as respective proxies for a period spanning over January 1986 to June 2017. To capture the asymmetric and time-varying relationship, the authors employ maximum overlap discrete wavelet transform (MODWT)-based quantile regression (QR) analysis. Interestingly, MODWT-based QR analysis provides evidence of supply-driven link between crude oil prices and economic growth in the short run. However, in the medium to long run a demand-driven link is dominant. In addition, the QR results without MODWT also advocate a demand-driven link. Overall, the result of this study adds a new dimension to the literature on the relationship between crude oil prices and economic growth by focusing upon the time-frequency varying business cycle fluctuations.     

Impulse Pressure Assisted Diffusion Bonding of Low Carbon Steel Using Silver Interlayer

In the present study, impulse pressure assisted diffusion bonding of low carbon steel was carried out using silver interlayer. To study the influence of input process parameters namely bonding temperature (T), maximum pulse pressure (P), and number of pulses (N), experiments of diffusion bonding were conducted according to the Taguchi L9 orthogonal array. To reveal the typical bond interface characteristics, selected samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The EDS analysis revealed a diffusion affected zone at the interface due to the diffusion of silver and iron across the interface. Lap joints were developed to measure the shear strength of the diffusion bonds. The optimum level of bonding temperature, maximum pulse pressure and number of pulses (875 °C, 10 MPa and 10 pulses) were identified. The ANOVA results indicated that bonding temperature had the highest statistical effect of 66.37% on shear strength followed by number of pulses and maximum pulse pressure. The fracture surface of the lap joints was also examined by FESEM and X-ray diffraction analysis.     

Covalent Complex of DNA and Bacterial Topoisomerase: Implications in Antibacterial Drug Development

A topoisomerase-DNA transient covalent complex can be a druggable target for novel topoisomerase poison inhibitors that represent a new class of antibacterial or anticancer drugs. Herein, we have investigated molecular features of the functionally important Escherichia coli topoisomerase I (EctopoI)-DNA covalent complex (EctopoIcc) for molecular simulations, which is very useful in the development of new antibacterial drugs. To demonstrate the usefulness of our approach, we used a model small molecule (SM), NSC76027, obtained from virtual screening. We examined the direct binding of NSC76027 to EctopoI as well as inhibition of EctopoI relaxation activity of this SM via experimental techniques. We then performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the dynamics and stability of EctopoIcc and EctopoI-NSC76027-DNA ternary complex. Our simulation results show that NSC76027 forms a stable ternary complex with EctopoIcc. EctopoI investigated here also serves as a model system for investigating a complex of topoisomerase and DNA in which DNA is covalently attached to the protein.     

Experimental investigation of Al2O3–MgO hot hybrid nanofluid in a plate heat exchanger

Exergy–energy analysis of the plate heat exchanger is experimentally performed with different Al₂O₃–MgO hybrid nanofluid (HyNf) as a hot fluid. There were six combinations of fluids, namely, deionized (DI) water, ethylene glycol–DI water brine (1:9 volume ratio), propylene glycol–DI water brine (1:9 volume ratio), base fluids and their respective Al₂O₃–MgO (4:1 particle volume ratio) HyNfs of 0.1% total volume concentration. The effects of different flow rates and hot inlet temperatures on the heat transfer rate, heat transfer coefficient, pump work, irreversibility, and performance index (PI) are investigated. It is witnessed that the heat transfer rate, heat transfer coefficient, pump work, and irreversibility enhances with the flow rate and nanoparticle suspension. While the PI declines with a rise in the flow rate, the heat transfer rate, heat transfer coefficient, PI, and irreversibility rise up maximum for MgO–alumina (1:4) DI water HyNf upto 11.8%, 31.7%, 11.1%, and 4.05%, respectively. The pump work enhances upto 1.6% for MgO–alumina (1:4)/EG–DI water (1:9) HyNf.