Anti-Inflammatory Potential of Ethanolic Leaf Extract of Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng. Through Alteration in Production of TNF-α, ROS and Expression of Certain Genes

Search for a novel anti-inflammatory agent from a herbal source, such as Eupatorium adenophorum Spreng., a plant from the Eastern Himalayas, is of prime interest in the present investigation. Inflammation causes tissue destruction and development of diseases such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and so forth. The ethanolic leaf extract of E. adenophorum (EEA) was administered intravenously and in other cases topically at the site of delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction in mouse foot paw induced with dinitrofluorobenzene. EEA can effectively inhibit DTH reaction and bring back normalcy to the paw much earlier than the controls. Efficacy of EEA on regulatory mechanisms for inflammation has also been considered. Intravenous administration of EEA increased the number of CD4+ T cells in spleen and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in serum of DTH mice. Initially it was difficult to reconcile with the anti-inflammatory role of EEA and simultaneous induction of TNF-α, an established pro-inflammatory cytokine. EEA induces higher expression of TNF-α gene and amount of the cytokine in serum. We discussed the other role of TNF-α, its involvement in repairing tissue damage incurred in course of inflammatory reaction. EEA also induces TGF-β encoding a cytokine involved in tissue repair mechanism. EEA inhibits expression of another pro-inflammatory cytokine gene IL-1β and downregulates cycloxygenase 2 (COX2) gene responsible for metabolism of inflammatory mediators like prostaglandins. Furthermore, anti-inflammatory role of EEA is also revealed through its inhibition of hydroxyl radical generation. Notably EEA does not necessarily affect the expression of other inflammation-related genes such as IL-6, IL-10 and IKK. The present study reports and analyzes for the first time the anti-inflammatory property of the leaf extract of E. adenophorum

The Hyperfine Molecular Hubbard Hamiltonian

An ultracold gas of heteronuclear alkali dimer molecules with hyperfine structure loaded into a one-dimensional optical lattice is investigated. The \emph{Hyperfine Molecular Hubbard Hamiltonian} (HMHH), an effective low-energy lattice Hamiltonian, is derived from first principles. The large permanent electric dipole moment of these molecules gives rise to long range dipole-dipole forces in a DC electric field and allows for transitions between rotational states in an AC microwave field. Additionally, a strong magnetic field can be used to control the hyperfine degrees of freedom independently of the rotational degrees of freedom. By tuning the angle between the DC electric and magnetic fields and the strength of the AC field it is possible to control the number of internal states involved in the dynamics as well as the degree of correlation between the spatial and internal degrees of freedom. The HMHH's unique features have direct experimental consequences such as quantum dephasing, tunable complexity, and the dependence of the phase diagram on the molecular state

Improvements in Refractory Practices in Reheating furnaces in Tisco

The rated capacity of the authors' plant is two million tonnes of ingot all of which are processed through the primary and finishing mills. Various products manufactured in these mills are- blooms, slabs, billets, rails, heavy and light structurals, wheels, tyres, axles, plates, sheets, merchant mill products, etc. In spite of the fact that the plant is more than 70 years old, the finished products produced are over 100% capacity for the past four years

Molecular Characterization and SNP Detection of CD14 Gene of Crossbred Cattle

CD14 is an important molecule for innate immunity that can act against a wide range of pathogens. The present paper has characterized CD14 gene of crossbred (CB) cattle (Bos indicus×Bos taurus). Cloning and sequence analysis of CD14 cDNA revealed 1119 nucleotide long open reading frame encoding 373 amino acids protein and 20 amino acids signal peptide. CB cattle CD14 gene exhibited a high percentage of nucleotide identity (59.3–98.1%) with the corresponding mammalian homologs. Cattle and buffalo appear to have diverged from a common ancestor in phylogenetic analysis. 25 SNPs with 17 amino acid changes were newly reported and the site for mutational hot-spot was detected in CB cattle CD14 gene. Non-synonymous substitutions exceeding synonymous substitutions indicate the evolution of this protein through positive selection among domestic animals. Predicted protein structures obtained from deduced amino acid sequence indicated CB cattle CD14 molecule to be a receptor with horse shoe-shaped structure. The sites for LPS binding, LPS signalling, leucine-rich repeats, putative N-linked glycosylation, O-linked glycosylation, glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol anchor, disulphide bridges, alpha helix, beta strand, leucine rich nuclear export signal, leucine zipper and domain linker were predicted. Most of leucine and cysteine residues remain conserved across the species

Theory of d-density wave viewed from a vertex model and its implications

The thermal disordering of the $d$-density wave, proposed to be the origin of the pseudogap state of high temperature superconductors, is suggested to be the same as that of the statistical mechanical model known as the 6-vertex model. The low temperature phase consists of a staggered order parameter of circulating currents, while the disordered high temperature phase is a power-law phase with no order. A special feature of this transition is the complete lack of an observable specific heat anomaly at the transition. There is also a transition at a even higher temperature at which the magnitude of the order parameter collapses. These results are due to classical thermal fluctuations and are entirely unrelated to a quantum critical point in the ground state. The quantum mechanical ground state can be explored by incorporating processes that causes transitions between the vertices, allowing us to discuss quantum phase transition in the ground state as well as the effect of quantum criticality at a finite temperature as distinct from the power-law fluctuations in the classical regime. A generalization of the model on a triangular lattice that leads to a 20-vertex model may shed light on the Wigner glass picture of the metal-insulator transition in two-dimensional electron gas. The power-law ordered high temperature phase may be generic to a class of constrained systems and its relation to recent advances in the quantum dimer models is noted.Comment: RevTex4, 10 pages, 11 figure

Copper complexes as chemical nucleases

Redox active mononuclear and binuclear copper(II) complexes have been prepared and structurally characterized. The complexes have planar N-donor heterocyclic bases like 1,10-phenanthroline (phen), dipyridoquinoxaline (dpq) and dipyridophenazine (dppz) ligands that are suitable for intercalation to B-DNA. Complexes studied for nuclease activity have the formulations [Cu(dpq)2(H2O)] (ClO4)2.H2O (1), [CuL(H2O)2(μ-ox)](ClO4)2 (L = bpy,2; phen,3; dpq,4; and dppz,5) and [Cu(L)(salgly)] (L = bpy,6; phen,7; dpq,8; and dppz,9), where salgly is a tridentate Schiff base obtained from the condensation of glycine and salicylaldehyde. The dpq complexes are efficient DNA binding and cleavage active species. The dppz complexes show good binding ability but poor nuclease activity. The cleavage activity of thebis-dpq complex is significantly higher than thebis-phen complex of copper(II). The nuclease activity is found to be dependent on the intercalating nature of the complex and on the redox potential of the copper(II)/copper(I) couple. The ancillary ligand plays a significant role in binding and cleavage activity

Spin-gap effect on resistivity in the t-J model

We calculate the spin-gap effect on dc resistivity in the t-J model of high-$T_{\rm c}$ cuprates by using the Ginzburg-Landau theory coupled with a gauge field as its effective field theory to get $\rho(T) \propto T \{1-c\:(T^* -T)^d \}$, where $T^*$ is the spin-gap onset temperature. By taking the compactness of massive gauge field into account, the exponent $d$ deviates from its mean-field value 1/2 and becomes a nonuniversal $T$-dependent quantity, which improves the correspondence with the experiments.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX format, 2 eps-figure

The Two-Dimensional S=1 Quantum Heisenberg Antiferromagnet at Finite Temperatures

The temperature dependence of the correlation length, susceptibilities and the magnetic structure factor of the two-dimensional spin-1 square lattice quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet are computed by the quantum Monte Carlo loop algorithm (QMC). In the experimentally relevant temperature regime the theoretically predicted asymptotic low temperature behavior is found to be not valid. The QMC results however, agree reasonably well with the experimental measurements of La2NiO4 even without considering anisotropies in the exchange interactions.Comment: 4 Pages, 1 table, 4 figure

A to G transitions at 260, 386 and 437 in DAZL gene are not associated with spermatogenic failure in Indian population

The autosomal DAZL (Deleted-in-Azoospermic-Like) gene, mapped to the short arm of the human chromosome 3, is the precursor for the Y-chromosomal DAZ cluster, which encodes for putative RNA-binding proteins. Mutations in the DAZL have been reported to be associated with spermatogenic failure in Taiwanese population but not in Caucasians. As there was no study on Indian populations, we have analysed the entire coding sequences of exons 2 and 3 of DAZL in a total of 1010 men from Indian subcontinent, including 660 infertile men with 598 non-obstructive azoospermia, 62 severe oligozoospermia and 350 normozoospermic fertile control men, to investigate whether mutation(s) in the DAZL is associated with male infertility. Interestingly, none of our samples (1010) showed A386G (T54A) mutation, which was found to be associated with spermatogenic failure in Taiwanese population. In contrast, A260G (T12A) mutation was observed in both infertile and normozoospermic fertile control men, without any significant association with infertile groups (χ2=0.342; p=0.556). Similarly, we have found a novel A437G (I71V) mutation, which is also present in both infertile and normozoospermic fertile control men without any significant difference (χ2=0.476; p=0.490). Our study clearly demonstrates the complete absence of the A386G (T54A) mutation in Indian subcontinent and the other two mutations- A260G (T12A) and A437G (I71V)- observed are polymorpic. Therefore, we conclude that these mutations in the DAZL gene are not associated with male infertility in Indian subcontinent