Mar Thoma College

Despite evident carbon-nitrogen pollution in tropical estuaries, the chronology and origin of accelerated carbon-nitrogen pollution are still largely unexplored. Here, we report that the Cochin Estuary, India, showed more than five decades of carbon and nitrogen accumulation at Site 6. The estuary serves as a major carbon reservoir, sequestering approximately 38.4 Gg C yr-1 and as an important nitrogen sink. The delta 13C signatures indicated a mix of marine and terrestrial carbon sources, whereas the delta 15N signatures revealed significant pollution from anthropogenic nitrogen, with enrichment (5.9 to 9.6 parts per thousand) observed in the surface sediment layer (0-2 cm) and extending several centimeters deeper into the core. It was also evident that nitrogen pollution, through the inputs from the adjacent fertilizer industry, existed since 1972. Physicochemical variables such as pH, oxidation-reduction potential, and dry bulk density showed negative associations with carbon, whereas water content and dry bulk density were positively associated with nitrogen. The findings highlight the dual role of estuaries as sites of pollutant accumulation and significant carbon reservoirs, emphasizing both their importance in regulating carbon and nitrogen cycles and their vulnerability to long-term contaminant buildup, thereby underscoring the need for their protection and careful management within global carbon and nitrogen strategies.

Renewable energy sources are being employed more frequently to address energy needs as environmental pollution concerns rise. Photovoltaic (PV) systems are vital in the area of renewable energy sources. We will be able to use a simulation tool to assess the performance and behavior of the PV systems after we obtain experimental data from the systems. Here, the simulation process is carried out by developing a programme in the MATLAB environment based on the experimental data obtained from the fabricated Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) and allowing users to view the experimental results and characteristic curves on a user-friendly platform like the Graphical User Interface (GUI). The proposed DSSC device achieved an efficiency of 7.38

A series of Cu(II) complexes [CuLCl], [CuLBr], [CuLNO3], and [CuLOAc], which have different counter anions, has been synthesised using a tridentate Schiff base, namely 2-(thienylideneamino)benzoic acid (L), to study the effects of the anions on fluorescence and α-amylase inhibitory activity. The spectral data indicate that the ligand moiety was coordinated to the Cu(II) ion through carboxylate (O), azomethine (N), and thiophene (S) atoms. The EPR spectral data suggest a significant covalent character for the Cu-L bond. The fluorescence properties of Cu(II) complexes vary depending on the anions present. As a part of the biological evaluation, antibacterial and α-amylase inhibitory activities of the Schiff base ligand and the Cu(II) complexes have been investigated. The complexes [CuLCl] and [CuLNO3] exhibited notable antibacterial potential with good minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values. From the in vitro α-amylase inhibitory activities, the [CuLNO3] and [CuLOAc] showed IC50 0.22 ± 0.019 mg/mL and 0.18 ± 0.015 mg/mL, respectively, which are comparable with the standard drug acarbose with an IC50 of 0.11 ± 0.017 mg/mL. Furthermore, investigations involving the binding interactions of Cu(II) complexes with various enzymes’ active sites, including human pancreatic α-amylase (PDB ID: 4W93), maltase-glucoamylase (PDB ID: 3TOP), and lysosomal acid-α-glucosidase (PDB ID: 5NN8) involved in human glucose hydrolysis have been conducted using molecular docking. CDOCKER interaction energy values of the complexes were quite promising compared to acarbose.

Plant-mediated methods of synthesizing nanoparticles have piqued the fascination due to their economical, rapidity, and environmental biocompatibility. Metal/metal oxide-based nanoparticles have long been a major attraction of researchers around the globe in various applications intersecting the various domains of science. The nanoparticles of silver, gold, zinc oxide, copper, copper oxide have been surveyed extensively with copious documentations of synthetic, applicative and practical insights. Selenium, as a precursor has remained largely been underexplored and under prospected. There is few research on the green synthesis of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) because of limitations with the process's intricacy, unpredictability, and possibility for low purity. Although green synthesis is virtuous for the environment, it can be time-consuming, location-dependent, and subject to change based on the plant source. Furthermore, the precise method and effects of each plant are not entirely understood, even though reducing agents in plant extracts can transform metal ions into nanoparticles. The current work presented a first-hand employment of aqueous fruit extracts of Morus alba in the biological synthesis of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs). The characterization studies [UV-Vis (ultraviolet-visible), Raman spectroscopy, TEM (transmission electron microscopy), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy), zeta potential] authenticated and established the fabrication of SeNPs. The GC-MS (Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry) analysis reported the presence of a multitude of organic compounds; well authenticated for the novel pharmaceutical candidates by molecular docking studies. The synthesized SeNPs reported promising and exceptional activities in various biological experimental evaluations. Also, the growing manufacturing of environmentally friendly nanoparticles necessitates research on their safety for biological systems and environment. The findings demonstrated that the SeNPs might, in a dose-dependent way, lower the end-points of photosensitive pigments and biomass of Chlorella vulgaris. The dye reaction dynamics was found to be outstandingly high following pseudo-first order kinetics with a 95-96 % degradation rate, implying SeNPs as favorable candidates for catalysis.

Sensors that are handy for the common man are highly demanded. Unfortunately, fluorescence sensors alone cannot satisfy this need. Hence here we introduce a dual mode foolproof sensor based on glutathione stabilized copper nanoclusters (GSH-CuNCs) for sensing mercuric ion (Hg2+), that can combine the features of both worlds, that is the handiness of a colorimetric sensor and the ultra-sensitivity of a fluorescence sensor. On exciting at 300 nm, GSH-CuNCs gave fluorescence emission at 450 nm with a stokes shift of 150 nm and the emission was dependent of excitation wavelength. GSH-CuNCs was characterized using UV–visible spectroscopy, Photoluminescence (PL), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight (MALDI TOF), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting studies (TCSPC) studies. It was found that the synthesized probe fits great to serve both as a fluorescence and colorimetric probe in sensing the presence of Hg2+. Hg2+ caused the quenching of fluorescence of the probe. Ascorbic acid (AsA) was used to turn on the fluorescence of this quenched system. Both quenched (Turn off) and turned on system were also studied by employing PL, TCSPC, TEM and XPS techniques. Colorimetric studies found the change in colour of the probe from light yellow to dark brown. The limit of detection (LoD) of Hg2+ was found to be 161.6 nM fluorometrically and 1.5 µM colorimetrically. LoD of AsA was found to be 39.17 nM fluorometrically. This work outshines other similar dual mode sensing techniques for Hg2+ in having simple synthesis and sensing strategy with almost similar sensitivity and selectivity. The feasibility of this sensing strategy to be embedded in complex logic devices for multiplex analysis has also been explored.