Search Results (4)

The guava (Psidium guajava L.), known as ‘Apple of the Tropics’ is a rich source of polyphenols, pectin, dietary fiber, and carotenoids. Guava comes under climacteric types of fruits; due to its high transpiration and respiration rate it experiences high post-harvest losses. Giloy leaf and ajwain seed herbal extracts-based nano-formulations (NFs) were synthesized using biopolymer sodium alginate and CaCl_2, viz., T1 (Alginate: CaCl₂), T2 (Alginate: CaCl₂: Ajwain extract), and T3 (Alginate: CaCl₂: Giloy extract). Antibacterial and antioxidant activity of the NFs were examined to check their efficacy as antibacterial agents, which was checked against E. coli, P. aeruginosa and B. cereus bacterial culture. The zone of inhibition against bacteria ranged from 6 ± 0.42 mm to 14 ± 0.92 mm. Antioxidant activity was 93.27%, 71.67%, and 67.04% for T2, T3 and T1 NFs and 89.90% and 67.05% for ajwain and giloy extracts. NFs treated fruits showed minimum loss in physiological weight, firmness, and color change compared to control fruit (uncoated). Physiological loss in weight ranged from 3.16 to 17.21% and 3.23 to 15.57% and fruit firmness ranged from 4.47 to 8.41 kg/cm² and 4.84 to 8.37 kg/cm² during storage at 25 ± 2 °C (incubation) and 32 ± 2 °C (room temperature), respectively. Among NFs, T2 showed the best results in preventing ripening and maximum loss of quality was observed in control (uncoated) fruits. Thus, NFs are an effective method of extending the shelf-life of fruits and ajwain based NFs increased shelf life of guava from 4–5 days to 7–8 days. Fruits storage at 25 ± 2 °C showed better results compared to storage at 32 ± 2 °C. Thus, NFs treated fruits storage at lower temperature controls the ripening related changes maximally. Full article

This paper focuses on retrieving plant leaf images based on different features that can be useful in the plant industry. Various images and their features can be used to identify the type of leaf and its disease. For this purpose, a well-organized computer-assisted plant image retrieval approach is required that can use a hybrid combination of the color and shape attributes of leaf images for plant disease identification and botanical gardening in the agriculture sector. In this research work, an innovative framework is proposed for the retrieval of leaf images that uses a hybrid combination of color and shape features to improve retrieval accuracy. For the color features, the Color Difference Histograms (CDH) descriptor is used while shape features are determined using the Saliency Structure Histogram (SSH) descriptor. To extract the various properties of leaves, Hue and Saturation Value (HSV) color space features and First Order Statistical Features (FOSF) features are computed in CDH and SSH descriptors, respectively. After that, the HSV and FOSF features of leaf images are concatenated. The concatenated features of database images are compared with the query image in terms of the Euclidean distance and a threshold value of Euclidean distance is taken for retrieval of images. The best results are obtained at the threshold value of 80% of the maximum Euclidean distance. The system’s effectiveness is also evaluated with different performance metrics like precision, recall, and F-measure, and their values come out to be respectively 1.00, 0.96, and 0.97, which is better than individual feature descriptors. Full article

Vascular calcification (VC) is one of the major causes of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). VC is a complex process expressing similarity to bone metabolism in onset and progression. VC in CKD is promoted by various factors not limited to hyperphosphatemia, Ca/Pi imbalance, uremic toxins, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and activation of multiple signaling pathways in different cell types, including vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), macrophages, and endothelial cells. In the current review, we provide an in-depth analysis of the various kinds of VC, the clinical significance and available therapies, significant contributions from multiple cell types, and the associated cellular and molecular mechanisms for the VC process in the setting of CKD. Thus, we seek to highlight the key factors and cell types driving the pathology of VC in CKD in order to assist in the identification of preventative, diagnostic, and therapeutic strategies for patients burdened with this disease. Full article

Over the last few decades, treatment for aortic dissection and thoracic aortic aneurysms has evolved significantly with improvement in outcomes. Treatment paradigms include medical, endovascular and surgical options. As aortic dissection presents as a hypertensive emergency, diligent control of BP is of utmost importance in order to reduce the progression of dissection with possible aortic branch malperfusion. Treatment should begin on arrival to the emergency department and continues in the intensive care unit, endovascular suite or the operating room. Novel antihypertensive medications with improved pharmacological profile and improved surgical techniques, have improved the prognosis of patients with aortic aneurysm and/or aortic dissection. Nevertheless, morbidity and mortality remain high and hypertensive emergency poses a significant challenge in aortic dissection and thoracic aortic aneurysms. Full article