Haloes gone MAD: The Halo-Finder Comparison Project

[abridged] We present a detailed comparison of fundamental dark matter halo properties retrieved by a substantial number of different halo finders. These codes span a wide range of techniques including friends-of-friends (FOF), spherical-overdensity (SO) and phase-space based algorithms. We further introduce a robust (and publicly available) suite of test scenarios that allows halo finder developers to compare the performance of their codes against those presented here. This set includes mock haloes containing various levels and distributions of substructure at a range of resolutions as well as a cosmological simulation of the large-scale structure of the universe. All the halo finding codes tested could successfully recover the spatial location of our mock haloes. They further returned lists of particles (potentially) belonging to the object that led to coinciding values for the maximum of the circular velocity profile and the radius where it is reached. All the finders based in configuration space struggled to recover substructure that was located close to the centre of the host halo and the radial dependence of the mass recovered varies from finder to finder. Those finders based in phase space could resolve central substructure although they found difficulties in accurately recovering its properties. Via a resolution study we found that most of the finders could not reliably recover substructure containing fewer than 30-40 particles. However, also here the phase space finders excelled by resolving substructure down to 10-20 particles. By comparing the halo finders using a high resolution cosmological volume we found that they agree remarkably well on fundamental properties of astrophysical significance (e.g. mass, position, velocity, and peak of the rotation curve).Comment: 27 interesting pages, 20 beautiful figures, and 4 informative tables accepted for publication in MNRAS. The high-resolution version of the paper as well as all the test cases and analysis can be found at the web site http://popia.ft.uam.es/HaloesGoingMA

PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING, ANTIMICROBIAL AND CYTOTOXICITY STUDIES OF ETHANOL LEAF EXTRACT OF APHANIA SENEGALENSIS (SAPINDACEAE)

Background: Aphania senegalensis (Sapindaceae) is commonly used in Senegalese traditional medicine to treat pain, inflammation, asthenia, bacterial and fungal infections. The aim of this study was to determine the type of phytochemical constituents present in the ethanol leaf extract and its antimicrobial activity against selected bacterial and fungal pathogens. Materials and Methods: The ethanol leaf extract of A. senegalensis was evaluated for its cytotoxic effect in the MTT assay against Vero cells. Flavonoids and tannins were the main constituents of the ethanol leaf extract. Results: The extract inhibited the growth of the three fungal strains used in this study moderately with the lowest MIC obtained for Candida albicans (0.16 mg/mL). The extract also inhibited the growth of Aspergillus fumigatus and Cryptococcus neoformans with an MIC of 0.62 mg/mL. For bacterial pathogens, strong inhibition was obtained against Enterococcus faecalis (ATTC 29212) (MIC 0.08 mg/mL), while moderate inhibition was obtained for Escherichia coli (ATTC 25922) (MIC 0.16 mg/mL) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATTC 29213) (MIC 0.31mg/mL). The extract however did not inhibit the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATTC 27853) at the highest concentration (2.5 mg/ml) tested. The ethanol leaf extract of A. senegalensis had a higher cytotoxicity than berberine used as the positive control (LC50 2.67±0.04 μg/mL and 9.99±0.54 μg/mL respectively). The best selectivity index values was obtained for Enterococcus faecalis (SI = 1.24), followed by Escherichia coli (SI = 0.62) for bacterial pathogens and C. albicans (SI = 0.62) for fungal pathogens. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that the extracts may not be safe for use in animals infected by some pathogens.Enterococcus faecalis (ATTC 29212) (MIC 0.08 mg/mL), while moderate inhibition was obtained for Escherichia coli (ATTC 25922) (MIC 0.16 mg/mL) and Staphylococcus aureus (ATTC 29213) (MIC 0.31mg/mL). The extract however did not inhibit the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATTC 27853) at the highest concentration (2.5 mg/ml) tested. The ethanol leaf extract of A. senegalensis had a higher cytotoxicity than berberine used as the positive control (LC50 2.67±0.04 µg/mL and 9.99±0.54 µg/mL respectively). The best selectivity index values was obtained for Enterococcus faecalis (SI = 1.24), followed by Escherichia coli (SI = 0.62) for bacterial pathogens and C. albicans (SI = 0.62) for fungal pathogens. This indicatives that the extracts may not be safe to use on animals infected by some pathogens

Antioxidant, Antiglycation, and Hypoglycaemic Effect of Seriphium plumosum Crude Plant Extracts

Diabetes is a severely debilitating metabolic disorder characterised by chronic hyperglycaemia. Traditional medicinal plants provide an important avenue for the development of novel antidiabetic agents. The antidiabetic potential of the methanol, acetone, and hexane extracts of S. plumosum was assessed using different parameters. These included secondary metabolite quantification, hypoglycaemic, cytotoxic effects, and GLUT4 translocation augmentation on C2C12 cells. The methanol extract contained the highest amount of total phenolic and flavonoid compounds and showed enhanced antioxidant activity. The methanol extracts had the best DPPH scavenging (EC50 = 0.72 mg/ml) and ferric reducing powers (EC50 = 2.31 mg/ml). The hexane extract resulted in the highest glucose uptake activity of 35, 77% with respect to all other treatments after a 6-hour exposure period. Immunocytochemistry technique further revealed that the increased glucose utilisation may be due to increased membrane fused GLUT4 molecules in C2C12 cells. The hexane extract was also shown to upregulate the phosphorylation of p70 S6 kinase and Akt1/2. The study highlights a probable insulin-mimetic activity of the hexane extract via the augmentation of Akt1/2 phosphorylation which is involved in the GLUT4 translocation pathway. Furthermore, the study represents the first report on the cytotoxic effect, GLUT4 translocation, and glucose uptake potential of S. plumosum

Defatting of acetone leaf extract of Acacia karroo (Hayne) enhances its hypoglycaemic potential

Abstract Background Conventional drugs used to treat diabetes are too expensive, toxic and rarely available to rural communities. This study was aimed at investigating the phytochemical differences and hypoglycaemic effects (α-amylase enzyme inhibition, glucose uptake, GLUT4 translocation and phosphorylation of MAPKs) of non-defatted and defatted acetone leaf extract of Acacia karroo. Methods Qualitative phytochemical analyses of extracts were determined using standard chemical tests and total phenolic contents using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent method. Presence of antioxidant constituents was determined using DPPH scavenging and ferric reducing power assays. Alpha amylase enzyme inhibitory potential was determined chromogenically and cytotoxicity of the extracts on C2C12 muscle and 3T3-L1 cells using the MTT assay. Glucose uptake by the cells was determined colorimetrically and the most active extract was evaluated for its ability to translocate GLUT4 and MAPKs phosphorylation potential using immunofluorescence microscopy and dot blot analysis, respectively. Results Phenols, flavonoids, tannins, saponins and cardiac glycosides were detected in both extracts. Defatting of the plant material resulted in low amounts of phenols (0.432 ± 0.014 TAE/mg), DPPH scavenging activity (EC50 0.40 ± 0.012 mg/ml), low toxicity and high ferric reducing power (EC50 1.13 ± 0.017 mg/ml), α-amylase enzyme inhibition (IC50 30.2 ± 3.037 μg/ml) and glucose uptake by both cells. The defatted extract showed an increase in GLUT4 translocation (at 25 μg/ml) with decrease in Akt expression while in combination with insulin showed a decrease in GLUT4 translocation. A finding, that is implicative that the effect of the extract on GLUT4 translocation in C2C12 cells was not Akt dependent. The defatted extract in the absence and presence of insulin show varying phosphorylation levels of CREB, p38, GSK-3 and ERK2 which are important in cell survival and metabolism. Conclusion This study represents the first report on the hypoglycemic potential of A. karroo and presence of compounds that can be exploited in the search for therapeutics with antidiabetic effect

Potential Antiglycation and Hypoglycaemic Effects of Toona ciliata M. Roem. and Schkuhria pinnata Lam. Thell. Crude Extracts in Differentiated C2C12 Cells

Medicinal plants have been identified as a feasible avenue for the development of new potent antidiabetic agents. The phytoconstituent compositions of different Toona ciliata and Schkuhria pinnata extracts were determined and quantified using standard chemical methods after exhaustive extraction. Thereafter, their antioxidant and antiglycation potentials were spectrophotometrically determined. The cytotoxicity profiles of the extracts on C2C12 cells were determined using the MTT assay. Toona ciliata methanol extract resulted in the highest percentage yield (20.83%) and high total phenols and flavonoids content in the methanol and acetone extracts compared to S. pinnata extracts. The acetone extract of T. ciliata showed good activity in the DPPH scavenging and FRAP assays with EC50 values of 1.90 mg/ml and 5.26 mg/ml, respectively. Arbutin’s antiglycation ability was outperformed by treatments with the methanol, acetone, and hexane extract of T. ciliata which resulted in 2.49%, 2.79%, and 2.56% glycation, respectively. The hexane extract of T. ciliata was less toxic to C2C12 cells as compared to the other extracts with CC50 value of 402.16 μg/ml. Only the hexane extract of S. pinnata resulted in glucose utilisation of 28.56% which was higher than that of insulin (26.06%) after 6 hours and is therefore considered as the most potent extract with hypoglycaemic potential in this study. Studies are ongoing aimed at identifying drug candidates in this extract that may be employed in the development of hypoglycaemic, antioxidant, and antiglycation agents