Repurposing distillation waste biomass and low-value mineral resources through biochar-mineral-complex for sustainable production of high-value medicinal plants and soil quality improvement

High cost of synthetic fertilizers and their hazardous effects catapult the exploration of alternative nutrient formulations and soil amendments. This study aimed to synthesize a novel biochar-mineral-complex (BMC), and evaluate its nutrient supplying and soil improvement performances. In a hydrothermal reaction, the BMC was prepared using a biochar derived from distillation waste of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) and farmyard manure, for the first time via fortification with low-grade rock phosphate and waste mica. The BMC showed improved physico-chemical properties and nutrient availability than the pristine biochar. When applied to a deeply weathered acidic soil, the BMC significantly (p<0.05) improved the herbage and bioactive compound (sennoside) yields of a medicinal plant (senna; Cassia angustifolia Vahl.) compared to the pristine biochar, farmyard manure, vermicompost, and chemical fertilizers. The BMC also improved the soil quality by increasing nutrient and carbon contents, and microbial activities. Soil quality improvement facilitated greater nutrient uptake in senna plants under BMC compared to the pristine biochar, and conventional organic and chemical fertilizer treatments. This study thus encourages the development of BMC formulations not only to overcome the limitation of sole biochar application to soils, but also to phaseout chemical fertilizers in agriculture. Moreover, BMC could bestow resilience and sustainability to crop production via value-added recycling of waste biomass and low-grade mineral resources

A two-step feature selection procedure for relevant markers of Squamous Cell Lung Carcinoma using different survival models

There are potentially infinite gene expression markers for Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma. This results in a high-dimensional data with a large number of features. The selection of relevant markers for analysis is thus, of utmost importance. In our study, we have aimed to select a subset of prominent and significant features from 31918 features of gene expressions. Analysis is then performed on the selected features using the Cox Proportional Hazards Model to know how each marker affects the survival estimates of a patient. We have employed a two-step selection process to select a subset of markers. The first step is done by L1 regularized Cox PH. Then the selected markers are screened a second time by running a univariate Cox PH model and checking for the p-value of each bio-marker via Wald inference (p<0.05). Once the final selection is made, we estimate the Hazard Ratio and Confidence intervals using Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLE) and the Bayesian Approach with the Cox Proportional Hazards Model (CPH) and the Accelerated Failure Time Model (AFT) as an alternative. A forest plot has also been generated to show the graphical representation of the meta-analysis done in the study. With the proposed selection procedure we have managed to find a suitable subset out of a large number of variables available. The features selected have been analyzed and their validity has been confirmed by using survival models

An urn model for odds ratio based adaptive phase III clinical trials

We study the limiting behaviour of a generalized Polya urn, motivated by adaptive data-dependent allocation designs, which are used in Phase III clinical trials in order to allocate a larger number of patients to the better treatment. We establish rigorous limiting results for the model, including the Central Limit Theorem, thus providing the theoretical background for using the odds ratio-based adaptive designs

Cloning, expression, crystallization and preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of staphylococcal superantigen-like protein 1 (SSL1)

Staphylococcus aureusproduces a family of exotoxins which are structural homologues of superantigens and thus are called staphylococcal superantigen-like proteins (SSLs). Amongst the 14 SSL genes,ssl1(SAOUHSC_00383) has been cloned in the pQE30 expression vector, overexpressed inEscherichia coliM15 (pREP4) cells and the protein purified to homogeneity. The protein was crystallized using 6% Tacsimate pH 6.0, 0.1 MMES pH 6.0, 25%(w/v) polyethylene glycol 3350, 100 mMNDSB 256 at 298 K by the sitting-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystals belonged to space groupP21, with unit-cell parametersa= 77.9,b= 70.5,c= 126.5 Å, β = 106.2°. X-ray diffraction data were collected and processed to a maximum resolution of 2.5 Å. The crystal contains six molecules in the asymmetric unit.</jats:p