The present study deals with the effect of rolling deformation and solution treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a cast duplex stainless steel. Cast steel reveals acicular/Widmanstätten morphology as well as island of austenite within the δ-ferrite matrix. Hot rolled samples exhibit the presence of lower volume percent of elongated band of δ-ferrite (∼40%) and austenite phase which convert into finer and fragmented microstructural constituents after 30% cold deformation. By the solution treatment, the elongated and broken crystalline grains recrystallize which leads to the formation of finer grains (<10 μm) of austenite. X-ray diffraction analysis has corroborated well with the above-mentioned microstructural investigation. Enhancement in hardness, yield strength and tensile strength values as well as drop in percent elongation with cold deformation increases its suitability for use in thinner sections. 30% cold rolled and solution treated sample reveals attractive combination of strength and ductility (25•22 GPa%). The examination of fracture surface also substantiates the tensile results. The sub-surface micrographs provide the potential sites for initiation of microvoids.

An antifungal lipopeptide fengycin, producing strain SM1 was isolated from farm land soil sample and identified as Bacillus thuringiensis strain SM1 by using 16S rDNA analysis. Fengycin detected in the culture extract was further purified using HPLC and showed a molecular mass of 1492.8 Da by MALDI-TOF-MS analysis. Purified fengycin was allowed to construct their self-assembled structure onto a hydrophobic surface showing a clear improvement of antibacterial activity. In self-assembly, fengycin adapts a spherical micelle core shell like structure. Self-assembled fengycin may be a successful antimicrobial compound modifying its action from confined antifungal function. Besides it can open up a new area of research in supramolecular lipopeptide based compound making. This can revealed the mode of action of this unique self-assembled structure to fully evaluate its potential for use as an antimicrobial drug to control the emergence of bacterial infection.

Lignin, one of the most abundant renewable feedstock, is used to develop a biocompatible hydrogel as anti-infective ointment. A hydrophilic polyoxazoline chain is grafted through ring opening polymerization, possess homogeneous spherical nanoparticles of 10–15 nm. The copolymer was covalently modified with triazole moiety to fortify the antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities. The hydrogel was capable of down regulating the expression level of IL-1β in LPS induced macrophage cells, and to cause significant reduction of iNOS production. It supported cellular anti-inflammatory activity which was confirmed with luciferase assay, western blot, and NF-κB analysis. This novel lignin-based hydrogel tested in-vivo has shown the abilities to prevent infection of burn wound, aid healing, and an anti-inflammatory dressing material. The hydrogel reported here provides a new material platform to introduce a cost-effective and efficient ointment option after undertaking further work to look at its use in the area of clinical practice.

Background: Glucose level alters susceptibility of antifungal agents during chemotherapy in diabetes patients. Results: Glucose selectively interacts with antifungal agents, strongly affects azole drugs, and forms complexes by hydrogen bonding. Conclusion: It is important for researchers and pharmaceuticals to make new antibiograms for diabetes patients. Significance: Drug selection is important for controlling fungal infections in diabetes patients.Effects of glucose on the susceptibility of antifungal agents were investigated against Candida spp. Increasing the concentration of glucose decreased the activity of antifungal agents; voriconazole was the most affected drugs followed by amphotericin B. No significant change has been observed for anidulafungin. Biophysical interactions between antifungal agents with glucose molecules were investigated using isothermal titration calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared, and 1 H NMR. Glucose has a higher affinity to bind with voriconazole by hydrogen bonding and decrease the susceptibility of antifungal agents during chemotherapy. In addition to confirming the results observed in vitro, theoretical docking studies demonstrated that voriconazole presented three important hydrogen bonds and amphotericin B presented two hydrogen bonds that stabilized the glucose. In vivo results also suggest that the physiologically relevant higher glucose level in the bloodstream of diabetes mellitus mice might interact with the available selective agents during antifungal therapy, thus decreasing glucose activity by complex formation. Thus, proper selection of drugs for diabetes mellitus patients is important to control infectious diseases. Among several emerging diseases, DM3 is considered one of the largest emerging threats to public health in the 21st century. From the medical profession to the general public, individuals are well aware that the greater frequency of metabolic disorders and morbimortality in diabetic patients are due to the hyperglycemia. Extra glucose in blood and urine provides an increased propensity to develop infections, and diabetes patients are especially prone to foot infections, yeast infections, urinary tract infections, and surgical site infections (1, 2). The prevalence of yeast infection is more common in patients with DM because of the higher density of candidal growth (3,4). Candida species are the part of the body's normal oral and intestinal flora, but infection becomes more severe in DM patients with higher levels of inflammation (5, 6). Antifungal medications, such as clotrimazole, nystatin, fluconazole, and ketoconazole, are very effective in controlling topical yeast infections. In the case of candidal infections in blood, the choices of drugs are intravenous fluconazole or echinocandin or amphotericin B (AmpB) (7,8). However, there is no such specific indication of the choice of drug for people suffering from DM. When a patient is suffering from DM and has a yeast infection, that patient is more likely to get other infections because the combinat...

A novel antibacterial ointment using bacitracin, specific for Gram-positive bacteria, and gramicidin S, a highly toxic antibacterial peptide, was here developed showing broad-spectrum antibacterial activities against pathogenic strains with less toxicity after self-assembly into nanofiber structures. Such structures were confirmed with scanning electron microscopy and CD analyses. In addition, in silico studies using docking associated with molecular dynamics were carried out to obtain information about fiber structural oligomerization. Thus, the bacitracin and gramicidin S-based self-assembled nanopeptide ribbon may be a successful ointment formulation for bacterial infection control.

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The present invention deals with the functionalization of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) by chemically grafting meta-pentadecenyl phenol (cardanol) onto the backbone chain. This imparts inherent multifunctional characteristics to the nitrile rubber. The grafting of cardanol onto NBR was accomplished successfully in emulsion stage using benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as a free radical initiator. The grafted NBR is characterized by ultraviolet–visible, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and gel permeation chromatography. Cardanol grafted NBR (CGNBR) shows an increase in molecular weight (6.6%) with an increase in polydispersity index value. The optimal conditions of grafting are found out to be, “1 phr BPO, 15 phr cardanol, at a reaction temperature of 60 °C and a reaction time 10 h” by using the “Taguchi L9 orthogonal array” method. The grafting efficiency and percentage grafting are calculated to be 79.2% and 7.1%, respectively, at the optimum combination of parameters. The CGNBR shows an increase in molecular weight and reduction in Wallace plasticity number as well as Mooney viscosity, but exhibits a higher plasticity retention index value, as compared to ungrafted NBR. The rheological characteristics of CGNBR exhibit a better flow behavior index than NBR. Differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis results exhibit a decrease in Tg value for grafted NBR. Thermogravimetric analysis results displayed an increase in thermal stability of the functionalized NBR than that of raw NBR.