Shadows of rotating five-dimensional charged EMCS black holes

Higher dimensional theories admit astrophysical objects like supermassive black holes, which are rather different from standard ones, and their gravitational lensing features deviate from general relativity. It is well known that a black hole shadow is a dark region due to the falling geodesics of photons into the black hole and, if detected, a black hole shadow could be used to determine which theory of gravity is consistent with observations. Measurements of the shadow sizes around the black holes can help to evaluate various parameters of the black hole metric. We study the shapes of the shadow cast by the rotating five-dimensional charged Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons (EMCS) black holes, which is characterized by the four parameters, i.e., mass, two spins, and charge, in which the spin parameters are set equal. We integrate the null geodesic equations and derive an analytical formula for the shadow of the five-dimensional EMCS black hole, in turn, to show that size of black hole shadow is affected due to charge as well as spin. The shadow is a dark zone covered by a deformed circle, and the size of the shadow decreases with an increase in the charge $q$ when compared with the five-dimensional Myers-Perry black hole. Interestingly, the distortion increases with charge $q$. The effect of these parameters on the shape and size of the naked singularity shadow of five-dimensional EMCS black hole is also discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, matches with published versio

Quo vadis motor neuron disease?

Motor neuron disease (MND), also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, is a relentlessly progressive neurodegenerative condition that is invariably fatal, usually within 3 to 5 years of diagnosis. The aetio-pathogenesis of MND remains unresolved and no effective treatments exist. The only Food and Drug Administration approved disease modifying therapy is riluzole, a glutamate antagonist, which prolongs survival by up to 3 mo. Current management is largely symptomatic/supportive. There is therefore a desperate and unmet clinical need for discovery of disease mechanisms to guide novel therapeutic strategy. In this review, we start by introducing the organizational anatomy of the motor system, before providing a clinical overview of its dysfunction specifically in MND. We then summarize insights gained from pathological, genetic and animal models and conclude by speculating on optimal strategies to drive the step change in discovery, which is so desperately needed in this arena

In Vitro studies on antibacterial activity and phytochemical analysis of whole plant extracts of Stelleria media

The whole plant extracts of Stelleria media were examined for the presence of alkaloids and phenolics with simultaneous study on the antimicrobial properties of these extracts. Investigation was carried out using four different concentration (62.5, 125, 250 and 500 mg/ml) of extract to determine the quantitative effectiveness. Preliminary evaluation of both the aqueous and the chloroform fractions showed a broad spectrum of activity ((p<0.05)) since the extracts inhibit the growth of both gram positive and gram negative bacterial isolates. Clinical isolates used in present investigation were E.coli, S.typhi, K. pneumonia, Staph. Aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, saponins, tannins, flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinones and cyanogenetic glycosides in varying concentration. Both the chloroform and aqueous extracts inhibited the growth of the test organisms with Salmonella typhi and E.coli showing the highest susceptibility but the pathogens were found to be less sensitive for chloroform extract in comparison to the aqueous extract which could be due to the domination of antimicrobial activity of water soluble polar compounds. This research supports the local use of the plant, Stelleria media for prophylactic and therapeutic purposes against bacterial infection.Keywords: Stelleria media, Chickweed phytochemical analysis, antimicrobial activity, activity index, therapeutic purpos

Vulnerability Study of Public Buildings Subjected to Earthquake Event

The present article addresses on the earthquake study due to performance of critical frame reinforced concrete building. The buildings are analysed using Finite Element Modeling (FEM) under different types of analyses including Free Vibration Analysis (FVA), and Time History Analysis (THA) with varies earthquake intensities. The performances of the structure are shown by the yield point at beam-column connections where the internal forces at beam elements exceed the design capacity of the beams. The performance of critical frame reinforced concrete building when subjected to earthquake motion (Near source: Acheh) was addressed. The level of the damage state (Minor, Moderate, Major, Collapse level) has been defined as well. As a result, a greater damage index means that the members yield earlier and the plastic rotation is larger and vice versa. In general, there are no significant damage occurred to the structure. However, some non-structural elements of the building are expected to experience minor damages. These two buildings has no structural response to the earthquake because both Damage Index are less than 1.000. The study indicates that more than 50% of the buildings produced dynamic amplification factors of slightly more than one indicating not much of a dynamic response to the buildings

Specific biomarkers for C9orf72 FTD/ALS could expedite the journey towards effective therapies

A hexanucleotide repeat expansion in the C9orf72 gene is a common genetic cause of ALS and FTD. The repeats are translated into five different dipeptide repeat proteins (DPRs). In this issue, Lehmer et al (2017) demonstrate that one of these DPRs, poly(GP), can be measured in the CSF of individuals with C9orf72 mutations. In conjunction with the findings from another recent study (Gendron et al, 2017), these DPR biomarkers may prove to be extremely valuable in the quest for effective therapies for C9FTD/ALS