The increased global production of plastic materials and the presence of plastic waste in the environment have resulted in widespread environmental contamination despite the presence of restrictions from various governments. The breakdown of macroplastic materials has resulted in the formation of microplastics (MPs; ≤ 5 mm), which are now widespread in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems. The widespread presence of MPs in the environment poses severe ecotoxicological risks to organisms at various trophic levels. Although there has been increased interest in the study of the impacts of MPs, critical knowledge gaps still exist regarding the application of remediation measures at various scales. This article aims to comprehend the present status of global MP contamination, with a special focus on the patterns of contamination and the difficulties associated with environmental monitoring in India. The study also examines advances over the last decade in the biodegradation of secondary MPs using bacterial and fungal consortia. The critical parameters associated with the degradation process, the efficiency of the microorganisms in various experimental setups, and the associated enzymatic processes are critically reviewed in the study.
Life-inspired algorithms offer robust tools to tackle intricate classification challenges by applying principles derived from natural systems. This study presents the Camel-Support Vector Machine (SVM) predictive model aimed at categorizing patients having breast cancer into distinct subgroups attributed on clinical and pathological characteristics. The proposed model can also assess the likelihood of recurrence or non-recurrence events through an analysis of clinicopathological parameters and differentiate breast cancer patients by evaluating digitized images of tumor masses. The Camel-SVM predictive model was developed through a three-step process: In the first step, the Camel algorithm was adopted to optimize the SVM hyperparameters, aiming to achieve the most effective configuration. Secondly, the Camel algorithm was further applied for identifying a subset of pertinent features. In the third step, the selected features were used by the hyperparameter-tuned SVM classifier to identify breast cancer subgroups. The Camel-SVM hybrid model exhibited superior classification performance than four other established hybrid life-inspired models when evaluated across five different datasets of hospitals patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Thus, the newly created life-inspired hybrid model can be used as an alternate diagnostic tool that can identify the growing complexity of breast cancer for various patient cohorts.
A strong peak of the X-ray spectra observed in collisions of 6.6 MeV/u ^238U on a ^64Ni Frégeau et al. in Phys Rev Lett 108:122701, 2012) was attributed to be originating from the compound nucleus ^302_120Ubn based ions. Though extremely small evaporation residue cross section (10^-9 fb) and nuclear decay properties favor such X-ray emission from ^302_120Ubn , but such a strong X-ray peak from a small fusion cross section is not possible. Furthermore, X-ray emission from the ion formed with the compound nucleus must be affected by the Doppler effects. Thereby, the origin of this X-ray peak ought to be something else. Interestingly, this particular X-ray peak not affected by the Doppler effect is found to be belonging to the two-electron one-photon (TEOP) process of thorium that is produced from the α -breakup reaction of the uranium projectiles. We show that the TEOP process emits the Doppler-free radiations and we can analyse the entire observed spectra by accounting this process in the atomic structure calculations. Remarkably, the intensity of this peak is nearly equal to that of thorium K_α peak. Such an unusual feature is possible from uranium X-ray absorption to the thorium excited states having a vacancy in the K-shell and and then a doubly excited state is formed with the fully vacant K-shell. Thus, we reveal that the particular peak does not at all originate from the compound nucleus rather it comes from the thorium TEOP process. Now this Doppler-free radiation phenomenon can help us to analyse correctly the spectra observed in the X-ray region where both the atomic and nuclear events prevail.
The pectinolytic potential of Fusarium commune isolated from Lathyrus sativus rhizosphere had been addressed. The crude enzyme obtained by growing the isolate in pectin-supplemented Czapek Dox broth showed activities of polygalacturonase, polymethylgalacturonase, pectate lyase, pectin lyase and pectin methyl esterase. Dialysis improved the yield almost 2.5 times with four-fold purification. The enzymes were optimally active at 50 °C, with low Michaelis constant (Km: 2.37–4.83 mg/ml), high maximum reaction velocities (Vmax: 72.33–118.71 U/ml) and activation energy (Ea: 33.99–42.50 kJ/mol). They retained their original activity at 50 °C for 150 min, with their half-life 192–203 min. Ca2+ and Mg2+ stimulated their activities, and β-mercaptoethanol and sodium dodecyl sulphate did not affect their activities. The fruit peels were found to be an efficient substrate for the enzyme. The isolate could use the agro-wastes as growth media with orange peel as the best substrate, producing 1328.56 ± 65.59 µmol of reducing sugar monomer per gram of substrate. When fruit-juice-waste effluent was used as a substrate, the enzyme activity increased up to 38
An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1062359026010012
