Environmental friendly Polyacrylonitrile nanofiber mats encapsulated and coated with green algae mediated Titanium oxide nanoparticles for efficient oil spill adsorption.

Oil spill causes extreme environmental damage, from aquatic life to seabirds, disrupting the entire ecosystem. Herein, we have synthesized high scale, economical and bio-compatible, green algae mediated Titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles and Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber mats. We have studied the effect of encapsulation and coating of TiO2 nanoparticles over nanofiber mats for highly efficient oil spill adsorption. TiO2 encapsulated and coated PAN (TECP) nanofibers showed a maximum of 62.34 g g-1 adsorption capacity of petroleum oil from the water surface. Moreover, the composite mats show maximum adsorption within 45 s for up to 5 repeated cycles. Further, it has been observed that the adsorption capacity has increased by increasing the weight of the composite nanofiber mats, which confirms its commercial applicability. Thus, this work provides rapid, large-scale, economical, bio-compatible, and highly effective adsorbents for oil spill cleaning and extraction over natural waterbodies.

Kasabach-Merritt Syndrome Associated With a Large Cavernous Splenic Hemangioma Treated With Splenectomy: A Surgeon's Introspection of an Uncommon, Little Read, and Yet Complex Problem-Review Article.

Cavernous hemangiomas of the spleen are small benign lesions found incidentally, majority of times while patients are being investigated for some other disease and patients remain asymptomatic otherwise for this condition. The natural history of cavernous hemangiomas of spleen is slow, symptoms or complications, when present, occur late, they are rarely large and can manifest as a palpable non-tender mass in the left upper quadrant. A very rare syndrome is associated with this condition called Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (KMS), which is defined as diffuse cavernous hemangioma of the spleen alongwith anemia, thrombocytopenia, and coagulopathy. Perioperative diagnosis can be confirmed by imaging study which can be CT, MRI, or ultrasound. Splenectomy is considered the treatment of choice for such patients with symptoms. To our knowledge, a very few cases have been reported so far. The purpose of writing this review article is the reporting of this rare case and to provide some experience related to the management of this condition in a patient with KMS.

Purification, characterisation and cloning of a 2S albumin with DNase, RNase and antifungal activities from Putranjiva roxburghii.

The present study reports the characterisation of a novel ~12-kDa heterodimeric protein, designated as putrin, from the seeds of Putranjiva roxburghii. The purification of putrin to homogeneity was accomplished using DEAE-sepharose where protein was unbound, CM-sepharose and Cibacron blue 3GA where it was bound and appeared as single peak on a size-exclusion chromatography column. A 15 % sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide electrophoresis gel, under reducing condition, demonstrated that putrin is made of two polypeptide chains of approximately 4.5 and 7.5 kDa. Circular dichroism studies demonstrated the helical nature and conformational stability of protein at increasing temperatures. Putrin exhibited both RNase and DNase activities and exerted antifungal activity but possessed relatively weak translation-inhibitory activity in cell-free system. The cloning and sequence analysis revealed a 414 bp open reading frame encoding a preproprotein of 137 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence comparisons and phylogenetic analysis of putrin showed significant homology to 2S seed storage family proteins. The results demonstrated that putrin belongs to 2S albumin family and exhibits a spectrum of biotechnologically exploitable functions.

Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour of Meckel's Diverticulum Causing Perforation and Peritonitis: A Case Report.

A 23-year-old man presented with history of fever and pain in the right lower abdomen. He was diagnosed to have acute appendicitis with perforation and was taken up for emergency laparotomy after resuscitation. There was pus in the right iliac fossa and a tumor at the fundus of Meckel's diverticulum, which had perforated. Appendix was found to be normal. The histopathology examination showed it to be gastrointestinal stromal tumor of Meckel's diverticulum. The gastrointestinal stromal tumor causing Meckel's diverticulum perforation and peritonitis is very rare, and prior to this indexed case, only two such cases have been reported in the literature.

Purification and characterization of a trypsin inhibitor from Putranjiva roxburghii seeds.

A highly stable and potent trypsin inhibitor was purified to homogeneity from the seeds of Putranjiva roxburghii belonging to Euphorbiaceae family by acid precipitation, cation-exchange and anion-exchange chromatography. SDS-PAGE analysis, under reducing condition, showed that protein consists of a single polypeptide chain with molecular mass of approximately 34 kDa. The purified inhibitor inhibited bovine trypsin in 1:1 molar ratio. Kinetic studies showed that the protein is a competitive inhibitor with an equilibrium dissociation constant of 1.4x10(-11) M. The inhibitor retained the inhibitory activity over a broad range of pH (pH 2-12), temperature (20-80 degrees C) and in DTT (up to100 mM). The complete loss of inhibitory activity was observed above 90 degrees C. CD studies, at increasing temperatures, demonstrated the structural stability of inhibitor at high temperatures. The polypeptide backbone folding was retained up to 80 degrees C. The CD spectra of inhibitor at room temperature exhibited an alpha, beta pattern. N-terminal amino acid sequence of 10 residues did not show any similarities to known serine proteinase inhibitors, however, two peptides obtained by internal partial sequencing showed significant resemblance to Kunitz-type inhibitors.