Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Momordica charantia from Turkey

Momordica charantia L. has long been regarded as a food and medicinal plant. Although it is not a native plant in Turkey, it is frequently used in folk medicine, especially in west and southwest parts of Anatolia. In the present study, unripe/ripe seed and fruit ethanol extracts of M. charantia from Turkey were screened for their potential antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The antimicrobial activities of the extract were determined against four gram positive bacteria, seven gram negative bacteria, and one yeast with disc diffusion and microdilution broth methods. The extracts were also tested in vitro against four different fish pathogens. The unripe fruit extract was the most active against the tested microorganisms in the study with higher inhibition zones and lower minimal bactericidal or fungicidal activities (MBC or MFC) than the other extracts. Antioxidant capacity of the extracts was investigated by different assay, namely, total antioxidant activity, free radical scavenging activity (DPPH assay), iron (III) and cupric ion reduction assay. The total phenolic content was only determined from ripe fruit and seed extracts as 23.45 and 9.36 mg GAE/g, respectively. The results show that the ripe fruit extract has the strongest antioxidant capacity compared with other extracts. The findings indicate the potential use of unripe fruit and ripe fruit extracts as biopreservatives as they demonstrated high antimicrobial and antioxidant activities, respectively.Keywords: Fruit, seed, ethanol extract, food borne and clinical pathogens, fish pathogensAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 12(13), pp. 1548-155

Aktiviti Bakterisidal in vitro Fagosit daripada Pesakit Lupus Eritematosus Sistemik (SLE)

Di dalam kajian ini, neutrofil dan monosit daripada darah Periferi pesakit SLE telah diasingkan dan diuji aktiviti bakterisidalnya terhadap Staphylococcus aureus berbanding dengan sel daripada kontrol normal. Keputusan ujian ini menunjukkan bahawa neutrofil dan monosit daripada pesakit SLE masih mempunyai aktiviti bakterisidal yang normal, walaupun sebelum ini pernah dilaporkan terdapat kecacatan pada fungsi fagositosis dan kemotaksis. Fagosit daripada pesakit ini dapat membunuh bakteria dengan berkesan. Fungsi serumnya sebagai opsonin di dalam aktiviti bakterisidal juga didapati normal

Expression of T4 Lysozyme Gene (gene e) in Streptococcus salivarius subsp. Thermophilus

In present study, we aimed to express T4 Lysozyme gene (gene e) in Streptococcus salivarus subsp. thermophilus to create better probiotics for poultry. The Esherichia coli plasmid, Bluescript II SK +/-harboring gene e named pL1, was converted to a new E. coli-Streptococcus sp. shuttle vector (pL2) by cloning and inserting Streptococcal replication origin of pTRW10 vector into pL1. pL2 plasmid isolated from E. coli was introduced into S. salivarius subsp. thermophilus and Lactococcus lactis cells by electro-transformation. The lysozyme enzymes expressing by these bacteria were found to be active on Micrococcus luteus cells and thereby preventing their growth on assay plates. Thermostability of these enzymes from the recombinant bacteria was also found different from each other. The lysozyme expressed by S. salivarius subsp. thermophilus cells seemed to increase its capacity for thermoresistance and was not denaturated at 70°C for 15 min. In contrast, the enzyme expressed by L.lactis and E. coli cells were easily denaturated when exposed to the same temperature treatment

Nonzero θ13\theta_{13} and Neutrino Masses from Modified Neutrino Mixing Matrix

The nonzero and relatively large $\theta_{13}$ have been reported by Daya Bay, T2K, MINOS, and Double Chooz Collaborations. In order to accommodate the nonzero $\theta_{13}$, we modified the tribimaximal (TB), bimaxima (BM), and democratic (DC) neutrino mixing matrices. From three modified neutrino mixing matrices, two of them (the modified BM and DC mixing matrices) can give nonzero $\theta_{13}$ which is compatible with the result of the Daya Bay and T2K experiments. The modified TB neutrino mixing matrix predicts the value of $\theta_{13}$ greater than the upper bound value of the latest experimental results. By using the modified neutrino mixing matrices and impose an additional assumption that neutrino mass matrices have two zeros texture, we then obtain the neutrino mass in normal hierarchy when $(M_{\nu})_{22}=(M_{\nu})_{33}=0$ for the neutrino mass matrix from the modified TB neutrino mixing matrix and $(M_{\nu})_{11}=(M_{\nu})_{13}=0$ for the neutrino mass matrix from the modified DC neutrino mixing matrix. For these two patterns of neutrino mass matrices, either the atmospheric mass squared difference or the solar mass squared difference can be obtained, but not both of them simultaneously. From four patterns of two zeros texture to be considered on the obtained neutrino mass matrix from the modified BM neutrino mixing matrix, none of them can predict correctly neutrino mass spectrum (normal or inverted hierarchy).Comment: 13 pages, no figure, some references added, and slight revision due to reviewer(s) comments, to be published in IJMP

Study on micro-patterning process of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs)

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) have drawn significant attention by the researchers because of their nanometric size and favorable material properties. Patterning of CNT forests in the micrometric domain is very important for their application in the area of microelectromechanical system (MEMS). For the first time this paper reports, detailed experimental investigation on a post growth m-patterning process of VACNT forests. The micromechanical bending (M2B) process was locally applied at the targeted area in order to change the alignment of VACNT forests. Interestingly, the VACNT forest was transformed from typical black body absorber to reflective mirror as the M2B process was applied. Several parameters were identified that govern the resultant patterns such as rotational spindle speed, lateral bending speed, step size, tool morphology, and total depth of bend. Optimization of the parameters was carried out experimentally to obtain the best surface roughness and integrity of the microstructure. A minimum average surface roughness of Ra D 15 nm was achieved with 2000 rpm spindle speed, 1 mm/min bending speed and 1 mm step size

Construction of plasmids expressing specific genes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: towards the development of vaccine against tuberculosis

The objective of the project was to oonstrud plasmid(s) expressing specific genes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB): towards the development of potential DNA vaccine candidates against tuberculosis.Several T-cell epitopes from various specific genes of MTB were selected which include ESAT-6, MTP40, MPT64 and 38k0a.In order to construct the synthetic gene consists of those selected epitopes, the innovative PCR technology known as 'Assembly PCR' was employed. In this project, the synthetic gene (consist of multiple epitopes of M. tuberculosis) was successfully constructed and the gene is designated as vacll.The vacll was then cloned into plasmid DNA vector, pJW4303.The recombinant plasmid containing the vacll designated as pJWvacll was obtained.The DNA sequence of the cloned gene(vacll) or the insert was confinned by DNA sequencing method.So, in this project,we have constructed one DNA vaccine candidate for tuberculosis. Further studies that to be done to evaluate this vaccine candidate include immunogenecity and protection efficacy in animal model.In this project, the immunogenicity of pJWvacll was studied in mice in order to determine its ability to induce various immune responses. Mice were immunised with the pJWvacll and control plasmid (pJW blank vector). At the end of the immunisation protocol, the spleenic lymhocytes were prepared from the two groups of mice. Lymphocyte responses in vitro were determined by Flow Cytometric analyses, Lymphocyte Transformation Test and IFN gamma production {by ELISA) after culturing them with several peptides derived from the vacll construct.Results of Flow Cytometry which measure lymphocyte activation status did not show any significant different between the control and test group. But, results of LTT and IFN gamma production showed that some mice vaccinated with pJWvacll were positive when compared to the control group. These results indicated that the DNA vaccine candidate (pJWvacll) is immunogenic in mice ie able to induce immune response. The ability of pJWvacll to induce IFN gamma production suggested that the DNA vaccine construct stimulated the Th1 type of immune response which is essential or immunity to TB. However, more studies need to be done to confirm these prilimanary findings. Such studies include protection or challenge studies in mice but this part of the study can be done here due to lack of facility required

High-throughput identification of adapters in single-read sequencing data

publishedVersio

Compensated inverse PID controller for active vibration control with piezoelectric patches: modeling, simulation and implementation

Active vibration control of the first three modes of a vibrating cantilever beam using collocated piezoelectric sensor and actuator is examined in this paper. To achieve this, a model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam equation is adopted and extended to the case of three bonded piezoelectric patches that act as sensor, actuator and exciter respectively. A compensated inverse PID controller has been designed and developed to damp first three modes of vibration. Controllers have been designed for each mode and these are later combined in parallel to damp any of the three modes. Individual controller gives better reduction in sensor output for the second and third modes while the combined controller performs better for the first mode. Simulation studies are carried out using MATLAB. These results are compared and verified experimentally and the real-time implementation is carried out with xPC-target toolbox in MATLA