A gravity core SK-221 recovered from the southeastern Arabian Sea near Laccadive–Chagos Ridge was examined to identify the sources of detrital clay minerals and to decipher paleoenvironmental changes for the last 30 kyr. The clay mineral assemblages predominantly consist of illite, kaolinite and chlorite with small amounts of smectite. Quartz, feldspar and occasionally gibbsite are the clay-sized non-clay minerals present in the examined section. The detrital clay minerals primarily originated from the hinterland and were supplied to the present site by the numerous small rivers draining western India during preglacial and Holocene periods, and partly by the strong reworking of Indian continental shelf during glacial period. The low values of humidity proxies (kaolinite content, kaolinite to illite and smectite to illite ratios) and better illite crystallinity indicate relatively weak summer monsoon condition that resulted in reduced chemical weathering during glacial period, which was interrupted by a discrete event of winter monsoon intensification at ~20–17 ka. The increased kaolinite content, higher values of humidity indices and poorer illite crystallinity reflect high humidity that resulted in strong hydrolysis activity during the preglacial and Holocene periods. The increased CaCO₃ during above periods also indicates less terrigenous dilution and intensified southwest monsoon-led upwelling which result in higher surface biogenic productivity. The characteristic clay mineral associations broadly suggest dry to semi-drier conditions during Heinrich Events H1, H2, and H3 and also during Younger Dryas. The low values of biogenic carbonate and organic carbon also indicate low productivity associated with weak summer monsoons during Heinrich Events. Abrupt increased humidity was recorded at 15–12.7 ka (Bølling/Allerød Event) sandwiched between two lows of Heinrich Events. Cycles of millennial timescale variations 2300, 1800, 1300 and 1000 yr have been observed from the clay mineralogical data. All the cycles observed in the monsoonal climate appear to be part of global oscillations.

Variously synthesized and fabricated Bi₂Se₃ nanoparticles (NPs) have recently been explored for their theranostic properties. Herein, we investigated the long term in-vivo biodistribution of Bi₂Se₃ NPs and systematically screened its immune-toxic potential over lungs and other secondary organs post intratracheal instillation. X-Ray CT scan and ICP MS results revealed significant particle localization and retention in lungs monitored for 1 h and 6 months time period respectively. Subsequent particle trafficking was observed in liver, the major reticuloendothelial organ followed by gradual but incomplete renal clearance. Pulmonary cytotoxicity was also found to be associated with persistent neutrophilic and ROS generation at all time points following NP exposure. The inflammatory markers along with ROS generation further promoted oxidative stress and exaggerated additional inflammatory pathways leading to cell death. The present study, therefore, raises serious concern about the hazardous effects of Bi₂Se₃ NPs and calls for further toxicity assessments through different administration routes and doses as well.

Synthesis of paramagnetic gadolinium monosulfide nanoparticles at low temperature is achieved using dextrose ligands.

Antibiotics are very effective for treatment of infections as well as they are persistent pharmaceutical compounds, and their elimination from the water resources proved to be a major concern. Amoxicillin (AMX), Azithromycin (AZT) and Ofloxacin (OFX) are the most commonly utilized antibiotics for the treatment of infections. Each of the three antibiotics was used for the antimicrobial resistance in the current study. The mixed oxides of ZnO-WO₃ were synthesized by the precipitation method by doping 10 % WO₃ nanoparticles in 90 % ZnO nanoparticles. The fabricated nanocomposites were characterized by using different techniques such as UV-Vis, XRD, FTIR, SEM and TEM and the photocatalytic activity has been measured in the presence of UV-light. Further the antimicrobial residual activity (AMR) was tested to confirm the degradation of antibiotics using E. coli and Staphyllococcus aureus bacteria respectively. The characterization study revealed the presence of Zn, O and W and confirms the shape of the particle is flaky and spheroidal. The prepared ZnO-WO₃ nanocomposite has been utilized for the degradation of antibiotic residues of 10 mg l^-1 concentration (AMX, AZT and OFX) with different catalyst concentrations of 10 %, 20 %, 30 % and 40 %. The catalyst concentration of 40 % showed effective degradation of AMX with 89 % efficiency. AZT and OFX showed best degradation at 30 % and 10 % catalyst concentration with 90 % and 98 % efficiency respectively. Further, the AMR has been tested by the disc diffusion method and it showed huge bacterial growth at 48hrs, it was revealed that there is no antibiotic residues are left as the bacterial growth increased in the samples treated with nanocomposite and there was no bacterial growth occurs in the untreated samples. It can be concluded that the after doping with WO3 the efficiency of ZnO increased and showed better degradation of antibiotics in comparison with ZnO nanoparticle.