HypoglycAemic, Phytochemical and other Properties of Allium cepa L.

In the view of the promising potential of hypoglycaemic plants, 19 plants indigenous to Sudan and of common use in Sudanese folk-medicine, were screened for their hypoglycaemic activity. Out of these Allium cepa L being the most active, safe and non toxic, available and affordable, hence it had been selected for further investigation. Allium cepa was subjected to chemical tests and chromatographic procedures for the detection of its active components present.  Conducted tests and procedures confirmed the presence of sulfur compounds.  Comparative chromatographic methods as thin layer chromatography and C–18 high performance liquid chromatography revealed that the aminoacid, cysteine (0.059%) occurs as a major  constituent found in Allium cepa.  Allium cepa alcoholic extract was found to possess its hypoglycemic effect (36.33 mg/dl – reduction of glycemia) through a synergestic action of its similar sulfur phytoconstituents present, since less activity was exhibited by each of it’s fractions (aqueous and organic) obtained when partioned with hexane. We can conclude that the integrated properties of the active medicinal products especially edible plants with their hypoglycaemic activity, make their use for the control and prevention of diabetes mellitus possible and recommendable.  Unstability, similarity in constituents and synergy of their activity give reasons for not to isolate individual compounds from onions and give credits to use them whole as a crude drug or a concentrated extract.  Furthermore, descriptive characters, chemical tests and chromatographic profiles obtained in this study could be used as measures to standardize red onion growing in Sudan.                   &nbsp

Existence and multiplicity results for a doubly anisotropic problem with sign-changing nonlinearity

We consider in this paper the following problem $-\sum\limits_{i=1}^{N}\partial _{i}\left[ \left\vert \partial _{i}u\right\vert ^{p_{i}-2}\partial _{i}u\right] -\sum\limits_{i=1}^{N} \partial _{i}\left[ \left\vert \partial _{i}u\right\vert ^{q_{i}-2}\partial _{i}u\right] =\lambda f(u) \text{ \ }\ \text{in } \Omega,\\$ $u=0\text{ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ }\ \text{on }\partial \Omega.$ Where $\Omega$ is a bounded regular domain in $\mathbb{R}^{N}$, $%

Studies of SmBa2Cu3O7-δ / ZnFe2O4 Superconducting Composites

SmBa2Cu3O7-δ /(ZnFe2O4)x superconducting composites with 0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.20 wt% were prepared by the usual solid-state reaction method. The prepared samples were investigated using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) at room temperature and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements in the temperature range (100-295 K). It is found that EPR spectra are dominated by an anisotropic Cu2+ EPR pattern. Moreover, the EPR spectral intensity increases as the temperature decrease from room temperature down to 100 K. The number of spins (N) participating in EPR resonance, the activation energy (Ea), the paramagnetic susceptibility (c) and the effective magnetic moment (µeff) are calculated as a function of both nanosized ZnFe2O4 addition and temperature. The results are interpreted in terms of localized Cu2+ ions from non-superconducting impurity phases and confirmed by magnetization-field (M-H) hysteresis measurements

COMPARISON OF MPPT ALGORITHMS FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS UNDER UNIFORM IRRIADIANCE BETWEEN PSO AND P&O

This paper shows a Comparison between Conventional Method [P&O] and particle swarm optimization [PSO] Based on MPPT Algorithms for Photovoltaic Systems under uniform irradiance and temperature. The main idea is to show that PSO method has a very high tracking speed and has the ability to track MPP under different environmental conditions in addition to an easy hardware implementation using a low-cost microcontroller. MATLAB simulations are carried out under very challenging conditions, namely irradiance and temperature, which reflect a change in the load [KW]. The proposed PSO tracking method Results will be compared with conventional method called [P&O] through MATLAB/SIMULINK

Antimalarial Activity of Certain Sudanese Medicinal Plants Used in Folk –Medicine

Ten indigenous plants of common use in Sudanese folk-medicine, vitro for antimalarial activity against Plasmoclium were examined in falciparum, the major human malaria parasite. All plant samples displayed various antimalarial activity. Three plant extracts caused 100% inhibition of the parasite growth at a concentration ≤ 500 g/ml. The most active extracts that produced 100% inhibition of the parasite growth at a concentration ≤ 50 g/ml were obtained from the seeds of Nigella sativa and the whole plant of Aristolochia bracteolata. These two plants were phytochemically screened for their active constituents and both showed the presence of sterols, alkaloids and tannins

ENHANCED ENZYMATIC ACTIVITY OF STREPTOMYCES GRISEOPLANUS L-ASPARGINASE VIA ITS INCORPORATION IN AN OIL-BASED NANOCARRIER

Objective: L-asparaginase (L-asp) is a vital enzyme used as a therapeutic agent in combination with other drugs in the treatment of acute lymphoma, melanosarcoma and lymphocytic leukemia. Immobilization of enzymes through loading on nanoemulsion (NE) results in some advantages such as enhancing their stability and increasing their resistance to proteases. Aim of the present study is to formulate L-asp loaded nanoemulsion to enhance its efficiency and thermal stability. Methods: Nanoemulsion loaded with L-asp crude extract (specific activity 13.23U/mg protein) was prepared employing oleic acid as oil, tween 20/tween 80 as surfactants and propylene glycol (PG) as co-surfactant. L-asp loaded NE underwent several thermodynamic stability studies and the optimized formulae were further examined for their biochemical properties and thermal stability. Results The developed formulations were spherical in shape and their sizes were in the nanometric dimensions with negatively charged zeta potential values. Upon comparing the enzyme activity of L-asp loaded NE employing tween 20 (F1) or tween80 (F4) at different concentrations, the results revealed that F4 NE showed higher enzymatic activity [323 U/ml] compared to F1 NE [197 U/ml] at the same concentration. The nanosized immobilized L-asp was more stable in the pH range from 8 to 8.5 as compared to free L-asp. The immobilized enzyme preserved about 59.11% of its residual activity at 50 °C; while free L-asp preserved about 33.84%. Conclusion: In the view of these results, NE composed of oleic acid, tween 80 and PG represents a promising dosage form for enhancing the activity and stability of Streptomyces griseoplanus L-asp

Antiplasmodial Activity of Some Medicinal Plants Used in Sudanese Folk-medicine

Ten plants indigenous to Sudan and of common use in Sudanese folk-medicine, were examined in vitro for antimalarial activity against schizonts maturation of Plasmodium falciparum, the major human malaria parasite. All plant samples displayed various antiplasmodial activity. Three plant extracts caused 100% inhibition of the parasite growth at concentrations of plant material ≤ 500 ug/ml. The two most active extracts that produced 100% inhibition of the parasite growth at concentration of plant material ≤ 50 μg/ml were obtained from the seeds of Nigella sativa and the whole plant of Aristolochia bracteolata. The ten plants were phytochemically screened for their active constituents. The two most active plants showed the presence of sterols, alkaloids and tannins

Psiadia punctulata (DC.) Vatke induces cell apoptosis in highly metastatic MDA-MB-231 cells

Purpose: This study assessed the in vitro cell migration inhibitory and cell apoptotic effects of P. punctulata stem (PPS (and leaf hexane) PPL (extracts on breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 andMCF-7 cells).Methods: Cytotoxicity was quantified using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LD) release test after 48 h exposure of MDA-MB-231 cells to 0 – 200 μg/mL of PPS and PPL hexane extract. Cell apoptosis was determined using Muse™ cell cytometry, while the phytoconstituents of PPS and PPL hexane extracts were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.Results: The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) for PPS and PPL hexane extracts against MDA-MB-231 cells was 44.33 and 52.16 μg/mL, respectively. T, whereas the IC50 of PPS and PPL hexane extracts was 102.22 and 59.53 μg/mL against MCF-7 cells, sequentially. Treatment with 100 and 200 μg/mL of PPS and PPL hexane extract increased late apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells to 16.005 ± 1.155 and 52.58 ± 3.02 %, respectively, for PPS hexane extract and 77.34 ± 0 % and 95.21 ± 1.61 %, respectively, for PPL hexane extract, when compared to control cells (3.81% ± 0.79%). PPL hexane extract decreased cell migration and filled ~15.5 % of the wound gap on MDA-MB-231 cells after 24 h, while PPS hexane extract decreased cell migration by ~35 and ~42.5 % at 24 and 48 h, respectively. PPS and PPL hexane extracts contained several phytocompounds. Stem and leaf extracts of P. punctulata showed significant (p < 0.05) cell apoptotic and migration inhibition activities.Conclusion: The extracts P. punctulata exhibit potent cytotoxic activity against the tested breast cancer cells. Further research is required to assess the acute and subacute toxicity of the extracts