Sinapic acid reduces pentylenetetrazol induced seizures in rats

379-392Seizure is known to induce oxidative stress which may initiate neuronal death. Oxidant-antioxidant imbalance often leads to mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, and apoptosis in the brain which may further result in the development of seizure. Phenolic compounds such as curcumin and rosmarinic acid are reported to control convulsions and seizures in pentylenetetrazol induced seizures models by suppressing seizure time, oxidative stress and inflammation indirectly. Sinapic acid (SA), a polyphenolic product of hydroxycinnamic acid found in various plants, exhibits anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anxiolytic effects. In this study, we investigated the effects of sinapic acid on pentylenetetrazol induced seizures in rats through oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and neurotrophic factor. A total of 28 male Wistar Albino rats weighing 200-220 g were divided into four equal groups (n=7/group). The treatment groups received 10 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg SA, respectively, by oral gavage for five consecutive days along with pentylenetetrazol (45 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) to induce seizures. The levels of Total oxidant status (TOS), Total antioxidant status (TAS), TNF-α, IL-1β, and Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were measured in the cortex and hippocampus. Additionally, caspase 3 and caspase 9 levels, as well as the immunoreactivity of Cleaved caspase 3, were determined in the hippocampus. The results showed that pretreatment with 20 mg/kg SA delayed the latency of generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) and first myoclonic jerk, reduced GTCS duration, and improved seizure score and cognitive function. Importantly, the 20 mg/kg SA pretreatment resulted in decreased levels of TOS, TNF-α, IL-1β, and BDNF in the cortex and hippocampus, while increasing TAS levels in these brain areas. Moreover, the 20 mg/kg SA reduced hippocampal caspase 3 and caspase 9 levels, as well as the immunoreactivity of Cleaved caspase 3 in rats with pentylenetetrazol-induced seizures. These findings suggest that the anti-seizure effects of SA are mediated by BDNF modulation, as well as its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic properties

Tropical Root and Tuber Crops Treasures from the Soil

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A Tiny Fish Loud as a Gunshot

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Nano-structured gas sensing materials for ammonia detection with special emphasis on medical applications

167-181Ammonia, a highly toxic gas, known for its wide industrial usage, is now gaining importance as a biomarker for quite a few terminal diseases. Therefore, the quest for a sensitive and selective ammonia gas sensor is booming. A brief study on the importance and various sources of ammonia gas has been recapitulated in this review along with the elaboration of ammonia as a biomarker for clinical applications embracing renal and hepatic diseases. In addition, developments in nanotechnology-based ammonia sensors have been summarized in-depth, emphasizing metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) based, polymer-based, and carbon nanomaterial-based gas sensors. This review has brought into the limelight the importance of sensing very low concentrations of ammonia. The performance of a wide range of MOS, polymer, and carbon nanomaterial-based sensors has been summarized in minute detail which will help researchers in attaining a quick analysis of state of art sensors to meet the needs of their intended application areas

A novel route for the synthesis of impurities C and G of antihypertensive drug timolol maleate

732-736In this short communication has been described the synthesis and characterization of C and G impurities of Timolol maleate. The recent study introduces the initial synthesis of these impurities with both high yield and high purity. The purity of the impurities have been validated through High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), while their structures have been determined utilizing ¹H NMR and mass spectroscopy

Development of wet-laid nonwoven from pineapple leaf fibre for sustainable flushable wipes

181-188This research aims to explore a sustainable way of utilizing pineapple leaf fibres (PALF) to develop flushable wipes with a higher disintegration percentage. The suitable fibre extraction method has been determined, and the extracted PALF is subjected to steam-explosion using a sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution with varying NaOH concentration, pressure, and time. Flushable wipes are manufactured using the wet-laid nonwoven technique from steam-exploded pineapple leaf microfibres. From SEM analysis, it is observed that the fibre bundles are separated into individual micro-sized fibres (3–4 μm) after steam explosion. The effect of process parameters in steam explosion treatment on disintegration percentage with respect to shaking speed and time has been explored and then compared with commercial products. The result indicates that the micro-fibres obtained by steam explosion of PALF with 1.5% NaOH at 25 psi for 60 min demonstrate excellent flushability properties (~96.67% disintegration), which exceeds the commercial product by 27.62%. This suggests a potential to meet the EDANA/INDA flushability standards, making it a viable good flushable wipe that won't cause drainage clog. This research concludes that the steam-exploded PALF is found to be beneficial in the hygiene and health care segments for the production of emerging and essential flushable wipes, taking advantage of its unique property of fibrillation on steam explosion

Strain sensing performance of conductive polyester knitted fabric and its application in body motion monitoring

72-82The effect of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) content in solution system on the structure and performance of conductive PET/PANI/PVA (polyester/polyaniline/PVA) composite yarns has been studied. Conductive knitted fabrics of 2+2 rib structure are then prepared by conductive composite yarns; the strain–resistance sensing performances of the conductive knitted fabrics and their application in body motion monitoring are studied. The results indicate that an appropriate amount of PVA could help the conductive PANI layer on the fibre surface to form a stable interpenetrating polymer network structure, and improve its structural uniformity and conductivity. When the mass ratio of PVA to aniline in the solution system is 5%, the conductivity of the PET/PANI/PVA composite yarn could reach 1.887 S/cm, which is about 40% higher than that without PVA. Similarly, it’s wash fastness and abrasion resistance are significantly higher than that without PVA. Under the action of stretch-recovery, the electrical resistance of the conductive knitted fabric is first increased, then decreased, again increased and decreased. The conductive fabric shows a good sensing linearity when the resistance dropped or increased monotonously. In the process of cyclic tension, the resistance of the fabric increases and then tends to be stable. The fabric has good sensing repeatability after dozens of stretching cycles, and the addition of PVA in the conductive yarn is beneficial for the conductive fabric to obtain better sensing repeatability. The conductive knitted fabric has good sensitivity, with its gauge factor reaching up to 126.99. The strain sensor based on the conductive PET/PANI/PVA knitted fabric can be used to monitor real-time movement of a human body

Stance and Sentiment Analysis of Health-related Tweets with Data Augmentation

381-391Common social media platforms like Twitter are important as up-to-date information sources for several monitoring purposes, including instant public health monitoring. In this sense, large volumes of health-related social media posts (such as tweets on the COVID-19 pandemic) have been produced recently, and are ready to be analyzed to facilitate health-related decision making. In this paper, joint stance detection and sentiment analysis on tweets about the COVID-19 vaccination was performed, in order to showcase the contribution of different machine learning and deep learning techniques equipped with data augmentation. Training and test tweet datasets are compiled and annotated for both stance and sentiment analysis and next, the training dataset is extended using an automatic data augmentation technique to increase its size. Experiments with different classifiers are performed for automated stance and sentiment analyses, using this extended dataset during training. The data augmentation technique adopted in this study to cope with data scarcity problems in machine learning research leads to better performance rates in this domain of health-related social media analysis. Comparative evaluations are also performed using a publicly-available sentiment analysis tool. The extended dataset and the test dataset, along with the approaches, and evaluation results are significant for health informatics, because, they facilitate joint estimation of instant community stance and sentiment towards COVID-19 vaccination which has been an important public health concern. Therefore, public health decision-makers can extensively and readily benefit from the findings and resources of the current study

BDCDTA-based Reconfigurable Frequency Selective Filter Structures for Medium Wave Communication and Biomedical Signal Processing Applications

388-396Frequency-selective filters are usually required at the receiving end of a communication system to change the frequency range of a band-pass filter (BPF), which is used to extract the broadcast signal. In this study, we have designed such frequency-selective filters using a novel bulk-driven current differential transconductance amplifier (BDCDTA) as its fundamental building block. This BDCDTA is first used to create a biquad filter, and the designed filter is then reconfigured for frequency selection. The proposed frequency-selective filter structures have the capability of providing a constant gain based on the communication system's requirements. The suggested structures with CMOS 180 nm technology parameters are validated using PSPICE and the Cadence Virtuoso design environment. The theory is confirmed by pre and post-layout simulation. PVT corner and Monte-Carlo analysis demonstrate its applicability for a broad range of applications and provide a range for its use under various conditions. This design is suitable for low voltage and low power applications due to the bulk-driven transistors, and the suggested structures are designed especially for medium wave communication and biomedical signal processing

Normative Consideration of A2K in the Space between Intellectual Property and Human Rights

109-119In the long-running tensions between Human Rights Law (HRL) and Intellectual Property Rights Law (IPR), the author is introducing the conceptual placement of Access to knowledge (A2K) movements. Access to knowledge (A2K) is the ‘new politics of intellectual property’ that seeks to fundamentally realign and reform intellectual property law. It is difficult to draw a commonality between an activist protesting for waiving patents on HIV+ medicine and Covid-19 vaccines and a subsistence farmer or a software programmer. A2K politics offers a perfect balance of freedom and control that the IP and HR debate are trying to find. This analysis is relevant because it seeks to investigate two conceptions; one is to understand the relevance of the access to knowledge movements in the IPR - Human rights debate. There is no clear discussion wherein normative examination of this kind has been undertaken. Second is, viewing the solutions to human rights issues caused by IP or caused to due scarcity or governance issues, resolved through IP. Although the concept draws from existing debates, it departs on some conceptual level from the available framework on IP and human rights