Cucurbitacins and its Anticancer property: A Review

Cucurbitacins which are structurally unlike triterpenes found in the members of Cucurbitaceae and several other plant families possess immense pharmacological activity. This diverse group of compounds may substantiate to be important lead molecules for the treatment of cancer. Research focused on this unattended medicinal compound can prove the significance and explore the hidden potential to cure various diseases. These compounds show their proposed mode of action, probable molecular targets and have future aspects of their use as a medicinal agent. This review is aimed to provide the chemical nature and medicinal property of cucurbitacins

Evaluation of Role of Xpert MTB/RIF in Diagnosis of Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Patients attending Tertiary Care Hospital

BACKGROUND: Globally extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) accounts for 25% of all tuberculosis cases. The Gene Xpert MTB/RIF assay is a newly developed, automated diagnostic molecular test recommended by WHO for diagnosing EPTB. In the current situation determination of MDR status is also important. Thus Xpert MTB/RIF assay plays a major role in diagnosing extrapulmonary tuberculosis and MDR status. AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate Xpert MTB/RIF assay in diagnosing Mycobacterium tuberculosis in extra pulmonary samples. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Around 500 extra pulmonary samples from patients suspected of extrapulmonary tuberculosis were tested. We evaluated the sensitivity and specificity of Xpert MTB/RIF with gold standard liquid culture and composite gold standard. Individually each sample type were analysed against liquid culture. RESULTS: In total 500 extrapulmonary samples were analysed against culture and composite gold standard. Compared to gold standard liquid culture, the sensitivity and specificity of Gene Xpert MTB/RIF assay was 94.7% and 99.5% respectively. While using Composite Gold Standard, Xpert MTB/RIF assay showed a pooled sensitivity of 63.5% and specificity of 99.5%. Multidrug resistance tuberculosis was reported in 5.35% of extrapulmonary samples. CONCLUSION: We conclude that Xpert MTB/RIF assay can be used for diagnosing extra pulmonary tuberculosis with a good sensitivity and specificity. It also allows rapid identification of MDR TB

Towards Individual and Multistakeholder Fairness in Tourism Recommender Systems

This position paper summarizes our published review on individual and multistakeholder fairness in Tourism Recommender Systems (TRS). Recently, there has been growing attention to fairness considerations in recommender systems (RS). It has been acknowledged in research that fairness in RS is often closely tied to the presence of multiple stakeholders, such as end users, item providers, and platforms, as it raises concerns for the fair treatment of all parties involved. Hence, fairness in RS is a multi-faceted concept that requires consideration of the perspectives and needs of the different stakeholders to ensure fair outcomes for them. However, there may often be instances where achieving the goals of one stakeholder could conflict with those of another, resulting in trade-offs. In this paper, we emphasized addressing the unique challenges of ensuring fairness in RS within the tourism domain. We aimed to discuss potential strategies for mitigating the aforementioned challenges and examine the applicability of solutions from other domains to tackle fairness issues in tourism. By exploring cross-domain approaches and strategies for incorporating S-Fairness, we can uncover valuable insights and determine how these solutions can be adapted and implemented effectively in the context of tourism to enhance fairness in RS.Comment: Position Paper for FAcctRec 2023 at RecSys 202

Eksistensi Pos Bantuan Hukum (POSBAKUM) di Pengadilan Agama Sungguminasa

Penelitian ini adalah penelitian yang bersifat deskriptif analitis melalui pendekatan normatif empiris. Tujuannya adalah untuk mengetahui pelaksanaan program Posbakum di Pengadilan Agama Sungguminasa, serta untuk mengetahui faktor-faktor apa saja yang menjadi pendukung dan penghambat dalam pelaksanaan Posbakum. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskriptif yaitu dengan mendeskriptifkan secara sistematis, faktual, dan akurat terhadap data yang diperoleh dari wawancara dan telaah pustaka serta dokumen yang berkaitan dengan masalah yang diteliti, dengan dianalisa secara kualitatif yaitu dengan jalan memberikan penilaian apakah program layanan bantuan hukum Posbakum telah terlaksana di pengadilan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa program layanan Posbakum di Pengadilan Agama Sungguminasa telah terlaksana dengan baik, hal tersebut diperoleh berdasarkan kesuksesan pelaksanaan Posbakum di tahun 2015 dan pada tahun ini mulai kembali dilaksanakan pada tanggal 1 Maret 2016. Dan faktor yang mempengaruhi pelaksanaan Posbakum adalah terutama tesedianya sarana dan fasilitas, dukugan kelembagaan, dan tingkat pemahaman masyarakat terhadap eksistensi Posbakum di Pengadilan Agama Sungguminasa. Untuk itu dengan mengacu pada Perma No. 1 Tahun 2014 tentang Pedoman Pemberian Layanan Hukum Bagi Masyarakat Tidak Mampu di Pengadilan, kiranya dapat dipastikan akan membawa manfaat luas tidak saja bagi penyelenggaraan bantuan hukum yang menjadi sasaran pemerataan keadilan tetapi juga bagi kelangsungan pendidikan hukum. Sehingga dapat memberikan sumbangan terhadap ilmu pengetahuan di bidang hukum pada umumnya dan memberikan wawasan seluasluasnya kepada masyarakat pecinta hukum tentang pentingnya penegakan hukum dan keadilan melalui bantuan hukum pada khususnya, dan berdampak pada peningkatan kualitas para sarjana hukum

Getting Things Done, Virtually! - The Role of Virtual Team Leadership in Virtual Team Effectiveness

A virtual team’s success depends on the team's effectiveness. Accomplishing such a team’s effectiveness is far more difficult when compared with traditional work teams. This article is a result of an exploratory study of the role of leadership in virtual teams. Virtual teams’ leadership is seemingly situational and supervisory, depending on the task. This study reveals that (1) individual virtual team members act as leaders based on the specific requirements for getting things done, (2) classifies virtual team leadership under supervisory and facilitating leadership, (3) suggests that both leadership roles are essential for virtual team effectiveness and functioning and (4) recommends exploration of leadership-oriented communication competency, shared understanding and virtual team citizenship behaviour as these are required for the effective performance of a virtual team

Automatic Field Monitoring and Detection of Plant Diseases Using IoT

This research presents a GSM-based system for automatic plant disease diagnosis and describes its use in the creation of ACPS. Traditional farming methods were largely ineffective against microbial diseases. In addition, farmers can't keep up with the ever-changing nature of infections, so a reliable disease forecasting system is essential. To circumvent this, we employ a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model that has been trained to examine the crop image recorded by a health maintenance system. The solar sensor node is in charge of taking pictures, sensing continuously, and automating smartly. An agricultural robot is sometimes known as an agribot or agbot. An autonomous robot with agricultural applications. It helps the farmer improve crop productivity while decreasing the need for manual labour. In the future, these agricultural robots could replace human labour in a variety of farming tasks, including tilling, planting, and harvesting. These agricultural robots will manage pests and diseases as well as perform tasks like weeding. In order to keep an eye on the crops and streamline the irrigation process, this system is equipped with disease prediction technology for plants and intelligent irrigation controls. The energy required to provide disease prediction and irrigation systems separately is reduced by combining them in this project

Whose Journalism Is It Anyway? Vernacular Modernity, Symbolic Balance and Silence on Indian Maoism

This study deals with the media representations of Indian Maoism based in the Dandakaranya forest region of central India. The aim is twofold: a) to examine the role of media in conflict, and b) situate Maoism in public imagination within the broader context of the Indian democracy. The following research questions guide the research explorations: 1) How do Hindi journalists make meaning of their news-making practices while reporting on Maoism in central India? 2) How do Hindi readers understand this news construction? 3) How is Indian Maoism represented in the Hindi news pages before and during Salwa Judum attack? Through participant observation, interviews with key informants, focused group discussions and an analysis of news narratives, I argue that the rise of the Hindi press as vernacular modernity and conditions of conflict specific to Chhattisgarh enable a reporting culture of balance and silence. A resulting hybrid news content on Indian Maoism brings forth narratives, sensitive to local needs. Through their own literacy, rural news readers are able to appreciate and question aspects of this reporting culture.This study therefore examines the representation of Indian Maoism in the press and local imagination, using the lens of critical cultural studies to deconstruct the master narratives.</p

Evaluation of Antiurolithic and Antioxidant Activities of Glochidion Velutinum Leaves

AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Most of the plants are used in the alternative system of medicine but they are not systematically standardised. According to WHO guideline all the customary drugs should be standardised before going for the formulation. One of the WHO assembly resolutions emphasized the need to ensure quality control of medicinal plants products using modern techniques and establishment of required standards of quality for herbal medicines. So the objective of the project is to evaluate the pharmacognostical and phytochemical characters’ of the selected plants by advanced techniques. Exploiting the leaves of glochidion velutinum Phytochemical Pharmacological aspects with special emphasis on anti urolithiatic activity. SUMMARY & CONCLUSION This present study evaluated Glochidion velutinum for urolithiasis and related problems in human. As conventional medicines are typically taken by the oral route, same course of administration was used for assessment of antilithiatic consequence of the extracts of Glochidion velutinum at a dose of 200mg/kg and Cystone herbal tablet at a dose of 100mg/kg aligned with ethylene glycol induced urolithiasis in rats. In the present study, male rats were selected to persuade urolithiasis because the urinal system of male rats resembles that of humans and also the quantity of stone deposition in female rats was drastically fewer. Substantiation in preceding studies indicated that in response to 14 day period of ethylene glycol (1% v/v) administration, young male albino rats form renal calculi encompassed mainly of calcium oxalate. The biochemical mechanisms for this progression are related to a raised in the urinal concentration of oxalate. Stone development in ethylene glycol fed animals is caused by hyperoxaluria, which causes augmented renal retention and emission of oxalate. In the present study oxalate and calcium excretion progressively augmented in calculi- induced animals, since it is customary that hyperoxaluria, is a far more risk reason in the pathogenesis of renal stones than hypercalciuria, and the changes in urinal oxalate levels are comparatively much more important than those of calcium. Augmented urinal calcium is a feature favouring the nucleation and precipitation of calcium oxalate (or) apatite (calcium phosphate) from urine and consequent crystal growth. Conversely, extracts of Glochidion velutinum treated animals lowered the levels of oxalate as well as calcium excretion. In the present study, Glochidion velutinum are having good antioxidant and antiurolithiatic activity, it was proved obviously in this juncture. Meticulous percevings of the patho-physiology of illness and method of action of these herbal medicines have great importance in improvement of effective and safe antiurolithiatic agent. The antioxidant action was calculated as free radical scavenging activity technique, Nitric oxide scavenging, DPPH method, Reducing control determination technique, Hydrogen peroxide method. All the methods depict good response due to thepresence of phenolic compounds and flavonoids in three species. The herbal drugs exert their urolithiatic consequence by varying the ionic content of urine lessening the ca+ and oxalate ion strength or escalating magnesium and citrate excretion and also with diuretic activity. In this respect this information provides a fruitful area for scientific research by willing investigators.An attempt may be made to develop new herbal formulation to treat Kidney stone by Glochidion velutinum plants. From this present study we can conclude by using this Glochidion velutinum, we can go for herbal formulation development to treat Kidney stone

Differential Difference Current Conveyor (DDCC) Based Schmitt Trigger Circuit & Its Application

A new voltage mode Schmitt trigger and its application using Differential Difference Current Conveyor (DDCC) is presented in this paper. The proposed circuit has a single DDCC block & two passive components. This circuit does not have any matching conditions. Here two passive components are used and one of them is grounded .The proposed circuit is simulated on SPICE platfor