Bacteria-Responsive Self-Assembly of Antimicrobial Peptide Nanonets for Trap-and-Kill of Antibiotic-Resistant Strains

Bacterial trapping using nanonets is a ubiquitous immune defense mechanism against infectious microbes. These nanonets can entrap microbial cells, effectively arresting their dissemination and rendering them more vulnerable to locally secreted microbicides. Inspired by this evolutionarily conserved anti-infective strategy, a series of 15 to 16 residue-long synthetic β-hairpin peptides is herein constructed with the ability to self-assemble into nanonets in response to the presence of bacteria, enabling spatiotemporal control over microbial killing. Using amyloid-specific K114 assay and confocal microscopy, the membrane components lipoteichoic acid and lipopolysaccharide are shown to play a major role in determining the amyloid-nucleating capacity as triggered by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria respectively. These nanonets displayed both trapping and killing functionalities, hence offering a direct improvement from the trap-only biomimetics in literature. By substituting a single turn residue of the non-amyloidogenic BTT1 peptide, the nanonet-forming BTT1-3A analog is produced with comparable antimicrobial potency. With the same sequence manipulation approach, BTT2-4A analog modified from BTT2 peptide showed improved antimicrobial potency against colistin-resistant clinical isolates. The peptide nanonets also demonstrated robust stability against proteolytic degradation, and promising in vivo efficacy and biosafety profile. Overall, these bacteria-responsive peptide nanonets are promising clinical anti-infective alternatives for circumventing antibiotic resistance.     

Organometallic L-Alanine Cadmium Iodide Crystals for Optical Device Fabrication

Single crystals of L-alanine cadmium iodide (LACI) were grown by the slow evaporation technique at room temperature. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SXRD) model was used to evaluate the crystal structure of the as-grown LACI crystal. The energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-vis-NIR) transmittance studies were carried out, and the results reveal the presence of elements in the title compound. From the transmittance data, the optical bandgap as a function of photon energy was estimated, and the different optical constants were calculated. A fluorescence study was performed for the LACI crystal. Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses have also been studied to investigate the thermal property of the LACI crystal. The efficiency of the second harmonic generation (SHG) of the title crystal was investigated. The magnetic and electrical properties were estimated by the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis and impedance study, respectively.     

Plasma spheroidization of nickel powders in a plasma reactor

Thermal spray coatings of surfaces with metal, alloy and ceramic materials for protection against corrosion, erosion and wear is an intense field of research. The technique involves injection of the powder into a plasma flame, melting, acceleration of the powder particles, impact and bonding with the substrate. Feedstock powders of metals, alloys and ceramics for thermal spray applications have to meet several requirements. Particle shape, size and its distribution, powder flow characteristics and density are the important factors to be considered in order to ensure high spray efficiency and better coating properties. For smooth and uniform feeding of powders into plasma jet, the powder particles have to be spherical in shape. High temperatures and steep temperatures present in thermal plasma is exploited to spheroidize particles in the present investigation. Nickel powder particles in the size range from 40–100 μm were spheroidized using plasma processing. SEM and optical micrographs showed spherical shape of processed particles.     

Chryseobacterium meningosepticum in a parapneumonic effusion in a chronic kidney disease patient on hemodialysis

Chryseobacterium meningosepticum is an uncommon human pathogen, which is an inhabitant of soil and water. It should be included in the list of suspected nosocomial infections, especially in patients with immunocompromised status. C. meningosepticum infections are not common but are clinically important because the organism is naturally resistant to multiple antibiotics. We report a case where the bacterium was isolated from the pleural fluid from a chronic kidney disease patient on hemodialysis, who developed pneumonia with complicated parapneumonic effusion. To the best of our knowedge, this is the first case where C. meningosepticum is isolated from the pleural effusion, from India.     

Temperature dependence of the dielectric response of BaZrO3 by immittance spectroscopy

Electrical measurements using AC immittance spectroscopic technique over the temperature range of 25-300°C, on sintered compacts of pure BaZrO₃ and those containing 5 wt.% BaSnO₃ sintered in the temperature range of 1600-1700°C for up to 12 h are reported. Data analyses revealed that the capacitance and the derived dielectric constant remained invariant over more than three decades of frequency in the kilo to megahertz regime. Typically, the average dielectric constant was 15 and the TCK values were P3 and P186 ppm/°C for pure and 5 wt.% BaSnO₃-added BaZrO₃, respectively, in the range 25-300°C.     

Textural and microstructural developments during fabrication of Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes

Zr-2.5wt%Nb pressure tubes, as used in the Indian pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR), are fabricated through a combination of hot extrusion followed by two stages of cold pilgering and annealing. The present study makes an effort to systematically characterize the textural changes during the fabrication stages. The starting single-phase hcp martensitic structure was textured to start with and it also went through strong texture developments during hot extrusion. First and especially the second pilgering modified the texture. Such modifications were related to local discontinuity of the softer second phase, as an apparent continuity restricted lattice rotation in the primary hcp phase. Annealing caused discontinuity or spherodization of the bcc phase, but did not create recrystallization in the hcp matrix. The combination of two pilgering plus annealing operations, though the latter did not cause noticeable texture changes, however, reverted the final texture close to the parent hot-extruded texture.     

Synthesis of BaZrO3 by a solid-state reaction technique using nitrate precursors

High phase purity barium metazirconate powders have been synthesized from a modified solid-state reaction. Reactive powders consisting of submicron particles and narrow particle size distribution were obtained by heating a 1:1 molar mixture of barium nitrate and zirconyl nitrate at 800°C up to 8 h. Simultaneous thermal analysis (TG-DTA) assisted in elucidating the probable reaction pathways leading to the formation of the target compound in the BaO-ZrO₂ system. Systematic structural and microstructural characterization on the green powders and the compacts sintered up to 1700°C were carried out. A two-stage sintering schedule consisting of a 6 h soak at 1600°C followed by slow heating up to 1700°C with no dwell, led to highly dense microstructural features.     

Growth and characterization of pure and potassium chloride-doped Zinc Tris-thiourea Sulphate (ZTS) single crystals

Single crystals of pure and potassium chloride-doped Zinc Tris-thiourea Sulphate (ZTS) were grown from aqueous solution by slow evaporation technique. The grown crystals were subjected to various studies such as XRD, FTIR, atomic absorption, SHG and TGA-DTA studies. The melting point and density of the grown crystals were also measured. The various studies revealed the incorporation of the impurity (potassium chloride) into ZTS crystals and the investigations indicated that the impurity played an important role in the changes of the spectral and structured properties of ZTS crystals.     

Crystal growth,structure, surface,optical, thermal,mechanical, magnetic,electrical investigations on cesium sulphate-doped 4-methoxyaniline: a single crystal for NLO and antimicrobial applications

A new single crystal of cesium sulphate-doped 4-methoxyaniline (CS-4MOA) was obtained by the solvent evaporation approach. XRD manifests that the CS-4MOA crystallizes in orthorhombic crystal structure. The existence of several functional groups in the CS-4MOA crystal is affirmed by FTIR analysis. SEM-EDAX analysis was performed to examine the surface morphology and the composition of CS-4MOA sample. Ultraviolet–visible spectral study validates the transparency of CS-4MOA in the region of 330–1100 nm. The thermal steadiness of the CS-4MOA crystal was examined using TG/DTA, which revealed that it was stable up to 88 °C. The mechanical stability of CS-4MOA crystal was assessed through Vickers microhardness analysis. VSM analysis was used to evaluate the magnetic behaviour of the CS-4MOA crystal. The electrical characteristics of the CS-4MOA were investigated by impedance study for various temperatures. The NLO parameters of CS-4MOA were computed by Z-scan technique. The existence of second order nonlinear optical susceptibility in CS-4MOA was confirmed by the SHG investigation. Additionally, antimicrobial activity of CS-4MOA was performed against bacterial strains and fungal pathogen for medicinal applications.