Antimicrobial Activity of Vigna unguiculata L. Walp Seed Oil

The antimicrobial activity of three varieties of Vigna unguiculata L. Walp seed oil (LBS-1, LBS-2 and LBS-3) were investigated against five Gram positive bacteria (Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus subtilis, Sarcina lutea, Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus) and four Gram negative (Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella sonnei, Shigella shiga) and four fungi (Penicilium spp., Mucor spp., Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatius). The LBS-1 oil at the concentration of 400 µg/ disc showed the highest activity against Sarcina lutea (19±0.1 mm) than that of LBS-2 (14±0.3 mm) and LBS-3 (12±0.3 mm) oil whereas LBS-3 oil showed highest activity against Staphylococcus aureus (16±0.1 mm) than that of LBS-1 (10±0.6 mm) and LBS-2 (13±0.4 mm) oil. All the three oils are active against the three tested fungi namely Penicilium spp., Mucor spp. and Candida albicans but showed no sensitivity against Aspergillus fumigatius

[6]-Gingerol, from Zingiber officinale, potentiates GLP-1 mediated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion pathway in pancreatic β-cells and increases RAB8/RAB10-regulated membrane presentation of GLUT4 transporters in skeletal muscle to improve hyperglycemia in Leprdb/db type 2 diabetic mice

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Abstract Background [6]-Gingerol, a major component of Zingiber officinale, was previously reported to ameliorate hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetic mice. Endocrine signaling is involved in insulin secretion and is perturbed in db/db Type-2 diabetic mice. [6]-Gingerol was reported to restore the disrupted endocrine signaling in rodents. In this current study on Leprdb/db diabetic mice, we investigated the involvement of endocrine pathway in the insulin secretagogue activity of [6]-Gingerol and the mechanism(s) through which [6]-Gingerol ameliorates hyperglycemia. Methods Leprdb/db type 2 diabetic mice were orally administered a daily dose of [6]-Gingerol (200 mg/kg) for 28 days. We measured the plasma levels of different endocrine hormones in fasting and fed conditions. GLP-1 levels were modulated using pharmacological approaches, and cAMP/PKA pathway for insulin secretion was assessed by qRT-PCR and ELISA in isolated pancreatic islets. Total skeletal muscle and its membrane fractions were used to measure glycogen synthase 1 level and Glut4 expression and protein levels. Results 4-weeks treatment of [6]-Gingerol dramatically increased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and improved glucose tolerance. Plasma GLP-1 was found to be significantly elevated in the treated mice. Pharmacological intervention of GLP-1 levels regulated the effect of [6]-Gingerol on insulin secretion. Mechanistically, [6]-Gingerol treatment upregulated and activated cAMP, PKA, and CREB in the pancreatic islets, which are critical components of GLP-1-mediated insulin secretion pathway. [6]-Gingerol upregulated both Rab27a GTPase and its effector protein Slp4-a expression in isolated islets, which regulates the exocytosis of insulin-containing dense-core granules. [6]-Gingerol treatment improved skeletal glycogen storage by increased glycogen synthase 1 activity. Additionally, GLUT4 transporters were highly abundant in the membrane of the skeletal myocytes, which could be explained by the increased expression of Rab8 and Rab10 GTPases that are responsible for GLUT4 vesicle fusion to the membrane. Conclusions Collectively, our study reports that GLP-1 mediates the insulinotropic activity of [6]-Gingerol, and [6]-Gingerol treatment facilitates glucose disposal in skeletal muscles through increased activity of glycogen synthase 1 and enhanced cell surface presentation of GLUT4 transporters

Assessing Service Quality Using SERVQUAL Model: An Empirical Study on Some Private Universities in Bangladesh

The increased competitive academic environment pushes higher institutions to improve their service quality for meeting the market demands. It is thus necessary to assess the factors that satisfy students and make them loyal to the university. This study has focused on assessing service quality, using the SERVQUAL Model to measure students’ satisfaction with private universities in Bangladesh. In the study, the primary data collection method through a questionnaire with the 5-point Likert scale was adopted to collect data from 229 students who are currently studying in different private universities in Chattogram, Bangladesh. Structural equation modeling (SEM) has been performed to analyze the data through the AMOS 22 statistical package. The findings report that a comfortable lecture room under the tangible dimension, providing service on time under the reliability dimension, the capacity of administrative staff to solve immediate problems under the responsiveness dimension, proficient lecturers for teaching and research under the assurance dimension, and focus of university management on students under the empathy dimension have a great influence on student satisfaction. The study concludes that managers and authorities of private universities must focus on ensuring better service quality as student satisfaction largely affects the sustainability and recurrence development of the institutions

Enzymatic hydrolysis of potato starches containing different amounts of phosphorus.

The rapid hydrolysis of potato starches differing in phosphorus content, as well as sweet potato, cassava and yam starches, was accomplished by treatment of gelatinised starches with bacterial liquefying α-amylase at 50 °C for 1 h, followed by Bacillus licheniformis α-amylase at 55 °C up to 24 h, and then by glucoamylase at 40 °C for a further 24 h. Among the potato starches, the high-phosphorus starches showed higher starch resistant capacity than the medium-phosphorus starches, as well as other tuber and root starches. The hydrolysis rate of tuber and root starches was not greatly influenced by their amylose content and median granule size. Only glucose was detected in the almost completely hydrolysed tuber and root starch samples, indicating that the concomitant enzymes treatment could hydrolyse both the α-1,4 and α-1,6 linkages of the starches examined

Physicochemical and biochemical properties of pepsin-solubilized collagen isolated from the integument of Sea Cucumber (Stichopus vastus)

The integument (high collagen content) of sea cucumber Stichopus vastus is generally wasted after harvesting, whereas only its stomach and intestines are eaten in few Asian countries. Amino acid composition, thermal transition temperature (Tm), zeta potential, solubility, moisture absorption and retention capacities, proximate composition and morphology of pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC) isolated from the integument of S. vastus were studied. Amino acid composition revealed that glycine was dominant in the isolated collagen. PSC was found to have an isoelectric pH of 4.67, good moisture absorption and retention capacity at higher humidity, a sharp effect of pH and NaCl concentration on solubility, and an inverse relationship between temperature and viscosity. PSC also showed the maximum Tm to be 37.3C, very high protein content and ultrastructural characteristics. Hence, the PSC has the potential to be used as a functional ingredient in food, cosmetics and nutraceutical products

Governance in union parishad: problems and prospects

This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Governance and Development, 2006.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 109 - 111).Mohammad Nurul AbsarM. Governance and Developmen

Standard costs for labor

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