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| 2. |
- Liu, DJ, et al.
(author)
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Schizophrenia risk conferred by rare protein-truncating variants is conserved across diverse human populations
- 2023
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In: Nature genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 55:3, s. 369-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a chronic mental illness and among the most debilitating conditions encountered in medical practice. A recent landmark SCZ study of the protein-coding regions of the genome identified a causal role for ten genes and a concentration of rare variant signals in evolutionarily constrained genes1. This recent study—and most other large-scale human genetics studies—was mainly composed of individuals of European (EUR) ancestry, and the generalizability of the findings in non-EUR populations remains unclear. To address this gap, we designed a custom sequencing panel of 161 genes selected based on the current knowledge of SCZ genetics and sequenced a new cohort of 11,580 SCZ cases and 10,555 controls of diverse ancestries. Replicating earlier work, we found that cases carried a significantly higher burden of rare protein-truncating variants (PTVs) among evolutionarily constrained genes (odds ratio = 1.48; P = 5.4 × 10−6). In meta-analyses with existing datasets totaling up to 35,828 cases and 107,877 controls, this excess burden was largely consistent across five ancestral populations. Two genes (SRRM2 and AKAP11) were newly implicated as SCZ risk genes, and one gene (PCLO) was identified as shared by individuals with SCZ and those with autism. Overall, our results lend robust support to the rare allelic spectrum of the genetic architecture of SCZ being conserved across diverse human populations.
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| 3. |
- Ahmed, Naeem, et al.
(author)
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A study to examine the ageing behaviour of cold plasma-treated agricultural seeds
- 2023
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 13
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cold plasma (low pressure) technology has been effectively used to boost the germination and growth of various crops in recent decades. The durability of these plasma-treated seeds is essential because of the need to store and distribute the seeds at different locations. However, these ageing effects are often not ascertained and reported because germination and related tests are carried out within a short time after the plasma-treatment. This research aims to fill that knowledge gap by subjecting three different types of seeds (and precursors): Bambara groundnuts (water), chilli (oxygen), and papaya (oxygen) to cold plasma-treatment. Common mechanisms found for these diverse seed types and treatment conditions were the physical and chemical changes induced by the physical etching and the cold plasma on the seeds and subsequent oxidation, which promoted germination and growth. The high glass transition temperature of the lignin-cellulose prevented any physical restructuring of the surfaces while maintaining the chemical changes to continue to promote the seeds germination and growth. These changes were monitored over 60 days of ageing using water contact angle (WCA), water uptake, electrical conductivity, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The vacuum effect was also investigated to separate its effect from cold plasma (low pressure). This finding offers a framework for determining how long agricultural seeds that have received plasma treatment can be used. Additionally, there is a need to transfer this research from the lab to the field. Once the impact of plasma treatment on seeds has been estimated, it will be simple to do so.
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| 4. |
- Ahmed, Naeem, et al.
(author)
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Effects of Oxygen (O2) Plasma Treatment in Promoting the Germination and Growth of Chili
- 2022
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In: Plasma chemistry and plasma processing. - : Springer. - 0272-4324 .- 1572-8986. ; 42:1, s. 91-108
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In general, seed germination is improved by low-pressure plasma treatment using precursors such as air, nitrogen, O2, and argon, etc. For the first time, low-pressure O2 plasma was used to treat chili seeds in this study. When compared to untreated and vacuum-treated seeds, O2 plasma treatment using the discharge power of 80 W for 60 s significantly improves chili seed germination and growth. The effect of vacuum on the germination and growth of chili seeds was also studied and shown to be negligible. The physical and chemical changes induced by O2 plasma treatment were investigated to understand the plasma treatment to germination improvement. Combinatory etching and chemical modification aided imbibition and increased germination percentage in this O2 plasma treatment on chili seeds. The success of this method has the potential to be scaled up to solve food security issues with seeds that would otherwise struggle to germinate.
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| 5. |
- Ahmed, Naeem, et al.
(author)
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Germination and growth improvement of papaya utilizing oxygen (O2) plasma treatment
- 2022
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In: Journal of Physics D. - : Institute of Physics (IOP). - 0022-3727 .- 1361-6463. ; 55:25
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In general, cold plasma treatment improves crop germination and growth. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of low-pressure O2 plasma treatment on the germination and growth kinetics of papaya seeds. Seeds were treated for 40 s at a discharge power of 80 W using O2 as a monomer. Physical and chemical changes were studied to understand the mechanism of germination and growth improvement. Furthermore, changes in phytohormones and antioxidant activity that were beneficial to germination were also examined. O2 plasma treatment improved wettability, surface etching, and oxidation, and affected other molecular-level changes leading to a 16% germination improvement in papaya.
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| 7. |
- Arof, A. K., et al.
(author)
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Quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) electrolytes containing redox couple
- 2014
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In: Optical and Quantum Electronics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0306-8919 .- 1572-817X. ; 46:1, s. 143-154
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated with electrolytes containing I-/I-3(-) redox couple using 80% hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped with potassium iodide (KI) and a mixture of potassium iodide and tetrapropyl ammonium iodide (Pr4NI) salts. The quasi solid state gel polymer electrolytes were prepared using 1: 1 ethylene carbonate (EC): propylene carbonate (PC) mixture. The solar cells have the structure of ITO/TiO2/N-3-Dye/electrolyte/Pt/ITO. The conductivity of the electrolytes has been calculated from the bulk resistance value determined using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The performance of the DSSCs has been studied by varying the concentration of the doping salts in the electrolyte and incident light intensity. The DSSC fabricated with the KI salt electrolyte containing 9.9 wt% PVA, 39.6 wt% EC, 39.6 wt% PC, 10.9 wt% KI(+I-2) exhibited the best power conversion efficiency of 1.97 %. However, the DSSC with a double-salt electrolyte containing 9.9 wt% PVA: 39.6 wt% EC: 39.6 wt% PC: (6.5 wt% KI: 4.4 wt% Pr4NI) (+I-2) exhibited a higher efficiency of 3.27% under 100 mW/cm(2) light intensity. The efficiency of this cell increased to 4.59 % under dimmer light of intensity of 54 mW/cm(2).
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| 8. |
- Chernikova, Dina, 1982, et al.
(author)
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A potential alternative/complement to the traditional thermal neutron based counting in Nuclear Safeguards and Security
- 2016
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002. ; 810, s. 164-171
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A new concept for thermal neutron based correlation and multiplicity measurements is proposed in this paper. The main idea of the concept consists of using 2.223 MeV gammas (or 1.201 MeV, DE) originating in the (1) H (n,gamma)D-2-reaction instead of using traditional thermal neutron counting. Results of investigations presented in this paper indicate that gammas from thermal neutron capture reactions preserve the information about the correlation characteristics of thermal (fast) neutrons in the same time scale. Therefore, instead of thermal neutron detectors (or as a complement) one may use traditional and inexpensive gamma detectors, such as Nal, BGO, CdZnTe or any other gamma detector. In this work we used D8 x 8 cm(2) Nal scintillator to test the concept. Thus, the new approach helps to address the problem of replacement of He-3-counters and problems related to the specific measurements of spent nuclear fuel directly in the spent fuel pool. It has a particular importance for Nuclear Safeguards and Security. Overall, this work represents the proof of concept study and reports on the experimental and numerical evidence that thermal neutron capture gammas may be used in the context of correlation and multiplicity measurements. Investigations were performed using a (252)-Cf-correlated neutron source and an Am-241-Be-random neutron source. The related idea of the Gamma Differential Die-Away approach is investigated numerically in this paper as well, and will be tested experimentally in future work.
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| 9. |
- Iqbal, M. Naeem, et al.
(author)
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Mesoporous Ruthenium Oxide : A Heterogeneous Catalyst for Water Oxidation
- 2017
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In: ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2168-0485. ; 5:11, s. 9651-9656
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Herein we report the synthesis of mesoporous ruthenium oxide (MP-RuO2) using a template-based approach. The catalytic efficiency of the prepared MP-RuO2 was compared to commercially available ruthenium oxide nanoparticles (C-RuO2) as heterogeneous catalysts for water oxidation. The results demonstrated superior performance of MP-RuO2 for oxygen evolution compared to the C-RuO2 with respect to recyclability, amount of generated oxygen, and stability over several catalytic runs.
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| 10. |
- Khan, H. R., et al.
(author)
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Cross-cultural prevalence of sleep quality and psychological distress in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic
- 2021
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In: Brain and Behavior. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2162-3279 .- 2162-3279. ; 11:11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Poor quality sleep and emotional disturbances are expected in times of crisis. COVID-19 has severely impacted healthcare worldwide and with that comes the concern about its effects on healthcare workers. The purpose of the present study was to assess sleep quality and psychological distress in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: The present work is a multi-centric cross-sectional study targeting healthcare workers from India, Pakistan, and Nepal. It used an online version of the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index and the General Health Questionnaire, and data were analyzed using SPSS V.24.Results: A total of 1790 participants completed the questionnaire. Of the 1790 participants, 57% reported poor sleep quality, and 10% reported a high level of psychological distress. A cross-cultural comparison found some differences between the different groups of participants. The details of the differences were further explored in the article.Conclusion: The present study highlights that a significant proportion of healthcare workers are affected by poor sleep quality and psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also emphasizes the imperative to provide them with psychosocial support to avoid potential short- and long-term psychological consequences of these troubling times.
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