Bassia indica (Wight) A.J. Scott is an Indian origin plant with documented medicinal and nutritional value, but has not been fully characterized yet. The present study was designed to establish pharmacognostic standards for the proper identification of the B. indica plant and its chemical characterization. The plant was standardized with World Health Organization (WHO) standardization tools and chemically characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis. Antibacterial potential was assessed by the zone of inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), and molecular docking studies were also performed. Pharmacognostic evaluation established the macroscopic and microscopic parameters for the identification of whole plant and its powder. Physicochemical parameters were also set forth while quantitative phytochemical analysis showed that the ethyl acetate fraction had the highest quantity of phenols, flavonoids, and tannins. FTIR analysis showed several functional groups such as phenols, alkanes, and alcohols while 55 phytochemicals were identified in the GC-MS analysis of the crude fraction. The crude extract and other fractions showed marked antibacterial activity, while the ethyl acetate fraction showed the least MIC (1.95-31.25 mg/mL). Phytochemicals identified in the GC-MS showed good molecular docking interactions against the DNA gyrase subunit B of bacteria with binding energies ranging from -4.2 to -9.4 kcal/mol. The current study describes the pharmacognostic characterization and phytochemical profiling of B. indica and provides scientific evidence to support its use in infections.

Copper ions in wastewater pose a significant threat to human and ecological safety. Therefore, preparing macroscopic adsorbents with reusable and high adsorption performance is paramount. This paper used graphene oxide as the adsorbent and chitosan as the thickener. Additionally, a silane coupling agent was employed to enhance the acid resistance of chitosan, and amino-modification of graphene oxide was performed. Macroscopic adsorbents with high adsorption capacity were fabricated using 3D printing technology. The results show that all five proportions of inks exhibit good printability. Dissolution experiments revealed that all materials maintained structural integrity after 180 days across pH values. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the successful preparation of the materials. Adsorption experiments showed that the best performing material ratio was 8 wt% graphene oxide and 7 wt% chitosan. Adsorption kinetics and isothermal adsorption experiments demonstrated that the adsorption process occurred via monolayer chemisorption. The adsorption process was attributed to strong electrostatic forces, van der Waals forces, and nitrogen/oxygen-containing functional group coordination. Cycling experiments showed that the material retained good adsorption performance after 6 cycles, suggesting its potential for practical heavy metal treatment applications.

BACKGROUND: members of the genus Sarcocystis are intracellular obligate protozoan parasites classified within the phylum Apicomplexa and have an obligate heteroxenous life cycle involving two hosts. A more comprehensive understanding of the prevalence and geographic range of different Sarcocystis species in marine ecosystems is needed globally and nationally. Hence, the objective of this study was to document the incidence of Sarcocystis infection in sharks within the aquarium ecosystem of Egypt and to identify the species through the characterization of the SSU rDNA gene.
METHODS: All organs of the mako shark specimen underwent macroscopic screening to detect the existence of a Sarcocystis cyst. Ten cysts were collected from the intestine and processed separately to extract the genomic DNA. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was accomplished by amplifying a specific 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene fragment. Subsequently, the resulting amplicons were subjected to purification and sequencing processes.
RESULTS: Macroscopic examination of the mako shark intestinal wall sample revealed the presence of Sarcocystis cysts of various sizes and shapes, and sequencing of the amplicons from Sarcocystis DNA revealed a 100% nucleotide identity with the sequence of Sarcocystis tenella recorded from sheep in Iran; The mako shark sequence has been deposited in the GeneBank with the accession number OQ721979. This study presents the first scientific evidence demonstrating the presence of the Sarcocystis parasite in sharks, thereby documenting this specific marine species as a novel intermediate host in the Sarcocystis life cycle.
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first identification of Sarcocystis infection in sharks, and we anticipate it will be an essential study for future screenings and establishing effective management measures for this disease in aquatic ecosystems.

OBJECTIVE: Vasovasostomy is a cost-effective procedure for the reversal of vasectomy. A water-tight adequately blood-supplied mucosal anastomosis is required for better outcomes. This review aimed to compare the outcome of vasovasostomy performed by three different techniques: macroscopic, pure microsurgical, and robot-assisted microsurgical techniques.
METHODS: Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane library databases were searched for relevant studies from January 1901 to June 2023. We conducted our quantitative syntheses using the inverse variance method in OpenMeta software. The study\'s protocol was registered on PROSPERO.
RESULTS: This review involved 95 studies of different designs, with a total sample size of 48,132. The majority of operations were performed bilaterally, and participants were monitored for up to 10 years. The pooled patency rate was the highest following robot-assisted vasovasostomy (94.4%), followed by pure microsurgical vasovasostomy (87.5%), and macroscopic vasovasostomy (83.7%). The pooled pregnancy rate following purely microsurgical vasovasostomy was higher than that of macroscopic vasovasostomy (47.4 vs. 43.7%). Definitive pregnancy rates in robotic vasovasostomy are yet to be determined.
CONCLUSIONS: Patency outcomes for vasovasostomy were best with robot-assisted microsurgical technique, followed by pure microsurgical technique, and conventional macroscopic technique. Further investigations of robot-assisted microsurgical vasovasostomy outcomes and randomized control trials are required to support this evidence.

Non-melanocytic skin cancers (NMSCs) account for five times the incidence of all other cancers combined and cost US $6 billion annually. These are the most frequent specimens encountered in community pathology practice in many Western countries. Lack of standardised structured pathology reporting protocols (SPRPs) can result in omission of critical information or miscommunication leading to suboptimal patient management. The lack of standardised data has significant downstream public health implications, including insufficient data for reliable development of prognostic tools and health-economy planning. The Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia has developed an NMSC SPRP. A multidisciplinary expert committee including pathologists, surgeons, dermatologists, and radiation and medical oncologists from high volume cancer centres was convened. A systematic literature review was performed to identify evidence for including elements as mandatory standards or best practice guidelines. The SPRP and accompanying commentary of evidence, definitions and criteria was peer reviewed by external stakeholders. Finally, the protocol was revised following feedback and trialled in multiple centres prior to implementation. Some parameters utilised clinically for determining management and prognosis including tumour depth, lymphovascular invasion or distance to the margins lack high level evidence in NMSC. Dermatologists, surgeons, and radiation oncologists welcomed the SPRP. Pathologists indicated that the variety of NMSC specimens ranging from curettes to radical resections as well as significant differences in the biological behaviour of different tumours covered by the NMSC umbrella made use of a single protocol difficult. The feedback included that using a SPRP for low risk NMSC was neither clinically justified nor compensated adequately by the Australian Medicare Reimbursement Schedule. Following stakeholder feedback, the SPRP implementation was restricted to excision specimens of head and neck NMSC; and low-risk NMSC, such as superficial basal cell carcinoma, were excluded. Implementing NMSC SPRP fulfils an unmet clinical need. Unlike other cancers, NMSCs generate a range of specimen types and are reported in a wide range of pathology practices. Limiting use of SPRP to NMSC at higher risk of progression and providing formatted templates for easy incorporation into laboratory information systems were essential to successful deployment. In the future, further consideration should be given to implementing the SPRP to include all relevant specimens, including non-head and neck and low-risk NMSC specimens.

The fungal pathogen Pseudocercospora fuligena, known to affect tomatoes in the tropics and subtropics, has been reported from temperate climates including the United States and Turkey in recent years. In this study, an isolate from fresh tomatoes and the disease it causes were characterized and infection mechanisms investigated. Macroscopically, both sides of tomato leaves show indistinct effuse patches but prolific production of fuliginous lesions is conspicuous on the abaxial side first but also on the adaxial side later on as infection progressed. Microscopically, fascicles of conidiophores (11-128 µm × 3.5-9 µm) arising from stromata and conidia with up to 12 septations were observed. Molecular characterization of the isolate revealed high homology (99.8%) to other P. fuligena isolated from tomatoes in Turkey. Out of the 10 media tested, P. fuligena grew significantly well and sporulated better on unsealed tomato oatmeal agar and carrot leaf decoction agar, both supplemented with CaCO3. Direct transfer of conidia from profusely sporulating lesions was the easiest and quickest method of isolation for in-vitro studies. Light and scanning electron microscopy on cleared and intact tomato leaves further confirmed stomatal penetration and egress as well as prevalence of primary and secondary infection hyphae. In situ, blocked stomatal aperture areas of 154, 401, and 2,043 µm2 were recorded at 7, 12, and 17 days after inoculation, respectively. With the recent expanded horizon of the pathosystem and its consequential impact, such studies will be useful for a proper diagnosis, identification and management of the disease on tomato worldwide.

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Anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) are key components in relatively novel technologies such as alkaline exchange-based membrane fuel cells and AEM-based water electrolyzers. The application of AEMs in these processes is made possible in an alkaline environment, where hydroxide ions (OH-) play the role of charge carriers in the presence of an electrocatalyst and an AEM acts as an electrical insulator blocking the transport of electrons, thereby preventing circuit break. Thus, a good AEM would allow the selective transport of OH- while preventing fuel (e.g., hydrogen, alcohol) crossover. These issues are the subjects of in-depth studies of AEMs-both experimental and theoretical studies-with particular emphasis on the ionic conductivity, ion exchange capacity, fuel crossover, durability, stability, and cell performance properties of AEMs. In this review article, the computational approaches used to investigate the properties of AEMs are discussed. The different modeling length scales are microscopic, mesoscopic, and macroscopic. The microscopic scale entails the ab initio and quantum mechanical modeling of alkaline AEMs. The mesoscopic scale entails using molecular dynamics simulations and other techniques to assess the alkaline electrolyte diffusion in AEMs, OH- transport and chemical degradation in AEMs, ion exchange capacity of an AEM, as well as morphological microstructures. This review shows that computational approaches can be used to investigate different properties of AEMs and sheds light on how the different computational domains can be deployed to investigate AEM properties.

Chiral materials displaying chirality across multiple length scales have attracted increasing interest due to their potential applications in diverse fields. Herein, we report an efficient approach for the construction of macroscopic crystal dendrites with hierarchical chirality based on an in situ solid assembly in a block copolymer film. Chiral fluorescent crystals are formed by enantiopure d-/l-dibenzoyl tartaric acid and pyrenecarboxylic acid in a poly(1,4-butadiene)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) film. The chiro-optical activity of the crystalline dendrites can be greatly amplified in the absorption and scattering regions and goes along with the dimension of dendrites. Notably, the chiral dendrites exhibited strong circularly polarized luminescence emission with a high dissymmetric factor (0.03). The enhancement of the quantum yield of the chiral film was up to 28%, which was 14 times higher that of the corresponding fluorescent molecules. The circularly polarized emission bands of the films can be fine-tuned by contriving the emissive bands of fluorescent molecules. More importantly, the chiral signals are able to be wiped when the fluorescent group photodimerizes under UV irradiation. This work provides an efficient way to develop functional materials through solid self-assembly.

Standardized pathology reporting of thyroid cancer is important for quality clinical management, research as well as education purposes. International Collaboration on Cancer Reporting (ICCR) has produced a Dataset for reporting carcinoma of thyroid. Of the 19 core elements to report, six (operative procedure, operative findings, specimen submitted, tumor focality, tumor site, tumor dimensions) depend on the proper macroscopic examination of the surgical specimen with thyroid carcinoma. The other core elements to report depend on proper and adequate sampling on macroscopic examination. Thus, proper handling, examination, dissection, and sampling of different types, the surgical specimen(s) are needed in different situations for patients with thyroid carcinomas.