Kannur University

TNBC is an aggressive form of breast cancer with heterogeneous tumour differentiation, metastatic potential, and ineffective targeted therapies, making the identification of new molecular targets and treatment strategies a high priority. This study aimed to discover potential phytobased inhibitors for selected TNBC targets by an AI-assisted integrated computational biology pipeline with chemoinformatics, molecular docking, advanced MD simulations, and free energy estimations. Based on the functional relevance, two transcriptional cofactors, namely EYA1 and TFAP2A, were identified as potential molecular targets. The structure of TFAP2A was available in its native form; however, no 3D structure for EYA1 is available, thus computationally predicted. Hundred phytocompounds from the COCUNUT database were screened for drug likeliness and pharmacokinetic features, and Andrograpanin, a compound found in Andrographis paniculata, was identified as a potential lead. When Andrograpanin docked against the targets, the interactions with EYA1 and TFAP2A were stabilized by BE of -8.0 kcal/mol and − 6.8 kcal/mol, respectively, compared to the BE of the methodological reference, Olaparib, and its usual target, PARP1 (BE-6.1 kcal/mol). The MD simulation revealed that the binding of Andrograpanin with the targets remained stable throughout the MD trajectories, as indicated by RMSD, RMSF, Rg, SASA, and HB analysis. The PCA, FEL, and DCCM analyses revealed that Andrograpanin stabilizes EYA1 and enhances dynamic allosteric signaling with TFAP2A, demonstrating the strongest binding affinity. The binding free energy estimation by MMBGSA and MMPBSA demonstrated that Andrograpanin binds better to TFAP2A (ΔGbind − 119.79 kcal/mol) and EYA1 (ΔGbind -50.46 ± 12.64 kcal/mol) than Olaparib to PARP1 (ΔGbind − 37.86 kcal/mol). The present in silico hypothesis driven study suggested that Andrograpanin is a potent EYA1 and TFAP2A multitarget inhibitor, and this theoretical model offers substantial insights for future experimentation and discovery of multitarget natural inhibitors for TNBC.

This numerical study aims to optimize the performance of hybrid solar cells comprising Copper Tin Sulfide (CTS) and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) layers, to improve energy conversion efficiency. The simulated solar cell architecture features a thin layer of Aluminum-doped Zinc Oxide (AZO) as the front contact, a CTS/ZnO hetero-junction active layer and a layer of Aluminum (Al) as the back contact, which provides high reflectivity and enhances light trapping and absorption in the active layer. This study explores the effects of band gap variation, ZnO substrate thickness and CTS thin-film thickness on key performance parameters, including fill factor (FF), short-circuit current density (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE). This study identifies the optimal parameters for the CTS/ZnO hetero-junction thin film, including a CTS thickness of 2 mu m, ZnO thin film thickness 60-80 nm and a band gap energy of 1.5 eV. Verification of these parameters using the transfer matrix method yielded exceptional optical properties, including high transmittance (84.5%), low reflectance (6.5%) and moderate absorption (9%). These results demonstrate the hetero-junction film's outstanding transparency, reduced light scattering and enhanced charge carrier mobility, making it an attractive material for high-efficiency photovoltaic devices, such as transparent electrodes or carrier transport layers.

This study reveals SrTiO3 (STO) synthesized via the combustion method, characterized by inherent oxygen deficiency, and its photoluminescent properties upon doping with Samarium (Sm3+), resulting in a (STO:Sm3+) single-phase white-light-emitting phosphor. The crystallographic characteristics and morphological features of the prepared sample were studied using XRD and FE-SEM methods. The crystallite size of the doped samples is observed to be 10–15 nm. The particles have a spherical morphology and are agglomerated. The presence of oxygen deficiency in the material’s lattice was confirmed using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, with the presence of a defective oxygen peak in the O1s Spectra, and the estimated oxygen vacancy fraction is 23

Digital micromirror devices (DMDs) are a popular choice for wavefront-shaping applications. We describe the restructuring of commercial digital light projectors to utilise their DMD for consistently replicable and budget-friendly diffraction and wavefront-shaping application experiments. Techniques for validating the optical parameters of DMDs are described. The experimental validation of the concept of the Fresnel zone plate using the set-up is discussed. We verified the experimental and simulated reconstruction of two dots and their Fourier transforms. We also describe the generation of orbital angular momentum states of light using the experimental set-up.

A visual cryptography scheme is a secret-sharing mechanism that enables an image to be shared and protected without using a key. In a visual cryptography scheme, the secret image is encoded into shares that appear as random noise. By overlaying these shares, the secret image can be reconstructed. However, the noise-like quality of the shares creates challenges in management and security. The extended visual cryptography scheme creates shares with meaningful cover images to solve these issues. This paper focuses on implementing and analyzing various expansion-free extended visual cryptography algorithms developed between 2013 and 2022. The study includes random grid-based, codebook-based, and block-based extended visual cryptography schemes, encompassing (2, 2), (k, n), and progressive extended visual cryptography schemes. Trials were conducted using grayscale images, and various threshold values were considered. The reconstructed images were assessed based on their contrast and visual quality. The goal is to identify which extended visual cryptography algorithm produces the best results through detailed implementation and analysis.