Monogenean infestations in Thai silver barb (Barbodes gonionotus Bleeker) and their adaptations in Bangladesh waters

An investigation on the infestation of monogenetic trematodes of Barbodes gonionotus was conducted during the period from July '97 to June '98. Host specimens were collected from local fish farms and also from local fish markets of Mymensingh. Samples of P. ticto and P. sarana were also examined. Two species - Dactylogyrus lampam (Lim and Furtado 1986) and Dactylogyrus siamensis (Chinabut and Lim 1993) the Thai parasites were recorded from B. gonionotus and D. lampam, from our indigenous fish P. sarana. Two species of Gyrodactylus were also recorded from B. gonionotus. Both prevalence and intensity of infestation were moderate in B. gonionotus. Prevalences were recorded higher in larger fishes and mean intensity in intermediate size group fishes. Infestations were higher in winter months. Adaptations of the foreign parasites in Bangladesh waters, their transmission in local fishes and invasion of the local parasites to this exotic fish have been discussed. Suggestions have also been made to protect the introduction of new species in our waters

Navigational control of multiple mobile robots in various environments

The thesis addresses the problem of mobile robots navigation in various cluttered environments and proposes methodologies based on a soft computing approach, concerning to three main techniques: Potential Field technique, Genetic Algorithm technique and Fuzzy Logic technique. The selected techniques along with their hybrid models, based on a mathematical support, solve the three main issues of path planning of robots such as environment representation, localization and navigation. The motivation of the thesis is based on some cutting edge issues for path planning and navigation capabilities, that retrieve the essential for various situations found in day-to-day life. For this purpose, complete algorithms are developed and analysed for standalone techniques and their hybrid models. In the potential field technique the local minima due to existence of dead cycle problem has been addressed and the possible solution for different situations has been carried out. In fuzzy logic technique the different controllers have been designed and their performance analysis has been done during their navigational control in various environments. Firstly, the fuzzy controller having all triangular members with five membership functions have been considered. Subsequently the membership functions are changed from Triangular to other functions, e.g. Trapezoidal, Gaussian functions and combinational form to have a more smooth and optimised control response. It has been found that the fuzzy controller with all Gaussian membership function works better compared to other chosen membership functions. Similarly the proposed Genetic algorithm is based on the suitable population size and fitness functions for finding out the robot steering angle in various cluttered field. At the end hybrid approaches e.g. Potential-Fuzzy, otential-Genetic, Fuzzy-Genetic and Potential-Fuzzy-Genetic are considered for navigation of multiple mobile robots. Initially the combination of two techniques has been selected in order to model the controllers and then all the techniques have been hybridized to get a better controller. These hybrid controllers are first designed and analysed for possible solutions for various situations provided by human intelligence. Then computer simulations have been executed extensively for various known and unknown environments. The proposed hybrid algorithms are embedded in the controllers of the real robots and tested in realistic scenarios to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed controllers. Finally, the thesis concludes in a chapter describing the comparison of results acquired from various environments, showing that the developed algorithms achieve the main goals proposed by different approaches with a high level of simulations. The main contribution provided in the thesis is the definition and demonstration of the applicability of multiple mobile robots navigations with multiple targets in various environments based on the strategy of path optimisation

Solid Lipid Based Nano-particulate Formulations in Drug Targeting

Recently, targeted drug delivery systems have gained much more interest for delivering varieties of drugs as well as imaging agents specifically to the targeted disease cells or tissues. These are well known for their increased precision and accuracy in mode of drug delivery along with reduced side effects. Though numerous carriers are being employed for drug targeting, the solid lipid based nanoparticles (SLNs) are preferred over them owing to their ability to encapsulate wide varieties of drugs, biocompatibility, ease of surface modification, scaling up feasibility, and possibilities of both active as well as passive targeting to various organs. Surface of these drug loaded SLNs can be modified by conjugating different ligands to enhance their tissue/organ targeting ability and therapeutic efficacy to much higher extent. In this chapter, we have discussed about the SLNs and their different surface modified forms for passive as well as active targeting to different organ such as (colon, breast, lungs, liver, kidney, brain, eyes, etc.) in combating different diseases

Intergranular percolation in granular YBCO/BaTiO3 composites

Ferroelectrics and high temperature superconductors are two promising materials for future electronic devices. Both being perovskite ceramic structures with similar crystal chemistry a set of samples were prepared from the composite of (1-x)YBa2Cu307–δ – (x)BaTiO3 (YBCO/BT). These samples were investigated with temperature dependent resistance, FTIR, X-ray diffraction and SEM-EDX analysis. It has been found that the critical exponent in the Tc0 (R = 0) region is in agreement with the percolation theory. A long-range superconducting order results from thermally assisted percolation process through weak-links between the grains. The connectivity in the coherent transition region can be explained by a power law.Annapurna Mohanta1, Dhrubananda Behera1*, Simanchalo Panigrahi1 and Naresh Chandra Mishra2 1Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela-769 008, Orissa, India 2Department of Physics, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar-751 004, Orissa, India E-mail : [email protected] of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela-769 008, Orissa, India Department of Physics, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar-751 004, Orissa, Indi

Differential induction of Leishmania donovani bi-subunit topoisomerase I–DNA cleavage complex by selected flavones and camptothecin: activity of flavones against camptothecin-resistant topoisomerase I

Emergence of the bi-subunit topoisomerase I in the kinetoplastid family (Trypanosoma and Leishmania) has brought a new twist in topoisomerase research related to evolution, functional conservation and preferential sensitivities to the specific inhibitors of type IB topoisomerase family. In the present study, we describe that naturally occurring flavones baicalein, luteolin and quercetin are potent inhibitors of the recombinant Leishmania donovani topoisomerase I. These compounds bind to the free enzyme and also intercalate into the DNA at a very high concentration (300 µM) without binding to the minor grove. Here, we show that inhibition of topoisomerase I by these flavones is due to stabilization of topoisomerase I–DNA cleavage complexes, which subsequently inhibit the religation step. Their ability to stabilize the covalent topoisomerase I–DNA complex in vitro and in living cells is similar to that of the known topoisomerase I inhibitor camptothecin (CPT). However, in contrast to CPT, baicalein and luteolin failed to inhibit the religation step when the drugs were added to pre-formed enzyme substrate binary complex. This differential mechanism to induce the stabilization of cleavable complex with topoisomerase I and DNA by these selected flavones and CPT led us to investigate the effect of baicalein and luteolin on CPT-resistant mutant enzyme LdTOP1Δ39LS lacking 1–39 amino acids of the large subunit [B. B. Das, N. Sen, S. B. Dasgupta, A. Ganguly and H. K. Majumder (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280, 16335–16344]. Baicalein and luteolin stabilize duplex oligonucleotide cleavage with LdTOP1Δ39LS. This observation was further supported by the stabilization of in vivo cleavable complex by baicalein and luteolin with highly CPT-resistant L.donovani strain. Taken together, our data suggest that the interacting amino acid residues of topoisomerase I may be partially overlapping or different for flavones and CPT. This study illuminates new properties of the flavones and provide additional insights into the ligand binding properties of L.donovani topoisomerase I

The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. Methods: In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. Results and Conclusion: The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events

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PEGylated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for pH Responsive Drug Delivery Application

In order to meet the growing interest of magnetic nanoparticles in drug delivery applications, we have synthesized nearly spherical Fe3O4 nanoparticles having size in the 8-20 nm range by a sonication assisted co-precipitation method. To enhance the surface functionality, the synthesized nanoparticles were further stabilized by coating with PEG-400, a hydrophilic and biocompatible polymer. Both bare and PEG-400 coated iron oxide particles were characterized by various techniques to evaluate their suitability for drug delivery applications. For this purpose, the PEG-400 coated iron oxide nanoparticle was loaded with a water soluble anticancer drug daunorubicin hydrochloride. Here, our main focus was to optimize the PEG coating by changing the PEG/iron oxide ratio for effective surface functionalization leading to enhanced drug loading and stability. The drug release study has been monitored in physiological and acidic pH conditions. The functionalized particles exhibited pH responsive drug release with a higher amount of drug release at low pH indicating their potential use as drug delivery vehicles. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

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