Myrcene-What Are the Potential Health Benefits of This Flavouring and Aroma Agent?

Myrcene (β-myrcene) is an abundant monoterpene which occurs as a major constituent in many plant species, including hops and cannabis. It is a popular flavouring and aroma agent (food additive) used in the manufacture of food and beverages. This review aims to report on the occurrence, biological and toxicological profile of β-myrcene. The main reported biological properties of β-myrcene—anxiolytic, antioxidant, anti-ageing, antiinflammatory, analgesic properties—are discussed, with the mechanisms of activity. Here we also discuss recent data regarding the safety of β-myrcene. Overall, β-myrcene has shown promising health benefits in many animal studies. However, studies conducted in humans is lacking. In the future, there is potential for the formulation and production of non-alcoholic beers, functional foods and drinks, and cannabis extracts (low in THC) rich in β-myrcene

The difficult coughing child: prolonged acute cough in children

Cough is one of the most common symptoms that patients bring to the attention of primary care clinicians. Cough can be designated as acute (<3 weeks in duration), prolonged acute cough (3 to 8 weeks in duration) or chronic (> 8 weeks in duration). The use of the term ‘prolonged acute cough’ in a cough guideline allows a period of natural resolution to occur before further investigations are warranted. The common causes are in children with post viral or pertussis like illnesses causing the cough. Persistent bacterial bronchitis typically occurs when an initial dry acute cough due to a viral infection becomes a prolonged wet cough remaining long after the febrile illness has resolved. This cough responds to a completed course of appropriate antibiotics

Incidence and Molecular Typing of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from Tiger Shrimp Culture Environments along the Southwest Coast of India

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is one of the most prevalent food-borne pathogens along the southwest coast of India, where marine foods are frequently consumed. Shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and environmental samples were collected from aquaculture farms located in and around Cochin. Confirmation of the biochemically identified strains with species-specific toxR gene and detection of virulent genes viz., tdh and trh was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The phenotypic markers for the presence of tdh and trh genes were assayed by Kanagawa phenomenon and urease activity, respectively. Protease activity was examined to identify other potential virulence factors. After phenotypic characterization of bacterial strains fingerprinting of genomic DNA was carried by various typing methods, viz., random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus sequence (ERIC), repetitive extragenic palindromic sequence (REP), and ribosomal gene spacer sequence (RS) PCR methods to assess the genetic diversity within the isolates. Eighteen percent of the samples were found positive for the incidence of V. parahaemolyticus by biochemical protocols and toxR (368 bp) targeted PCR. PCR analyses revealed 1% of the samples positive for tdh (269 bp) and trh (500 bp) gene. RAPD analysis revealed clustering of toxigenic strains into a single group. Cluster analysis revealed the conglomeration of isolates into two, five, and seven major groups using RS, ERIC, and REP PCR methods, respectively. RS PCR generated fewer amplified bands compared to REP and ERIC PCR methods, thus giving scope for higher discrimination. Moreover, RS PCR patterns were more discernible visually from other patterns, suggesting RS PCR as a considerably practical method for routine use

Occurrence and distribution of virulent strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus in seafoods marketed from Cochin (India)

This study was aimed for the detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus by biochemical and molecular methods in seafood samples collected from the markets of Cochin located at the southwest coast of India.Atotal of seventy-two V. parahaemolyticus cultures were isolated by selecting sucrose and cellobiose non-fermenting colonies. All the biochemically confirmed strains were found to have 368-bp toxR gene fragment, while an additional 24% of the samples were confirmed as V. parahaemolyticus by toxR based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from enrichment broths

Spin-1 chain with spin-1/2 excitations in the bulk

We present a spin-1 chain with a Hamiltonian which has three exactly solvable ground states. Two of these are fully dimerized, analogous to the Majumdar-Ghosh (MG) states of a spin-1/2 chain, while the third is of the Affleck-Kennedy-Lieb-Tasaki (AKLT) type. We use variational and numerical methods to study the low-energy excitations which interpolate between these ground states in different ways. In particular, there is a spin-1/2 excitation which interpolates between the MG and AKLT ground states; this is the lowest excitation of the system and it has a surprisingly small gap. We discuss generalizations of our model of spin fractionalization to higher spin chains and higher dimensions.Comment: 7 pages including 4 figures; this is the published version of the pape

Growth Kinetics and Survival of Urease positive and negative Strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Two each of urease positive and negative Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains along with their respective type strains were used for studying the growth kinetics and survival at various temperatures, NaCl concentrations and pH. Maximum growth was obtained at 37°C for both urease positive and negative isolates. The urease positive and negative strains were found to grow only at pH 7 and 9 among the pH's tested. Urease negative isolates were found to grow between 3% and 8% NaCI while urease positives could grow between 3% and 10% NaCI

Isolation and characterization of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from seafoods along the southwest coast of India

The work was aimed to study the microbial quality of the seafood sold in the domestic markets and incidence of Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Samples comprising of shellfish, finfish, and cephalopodswere collected fromvarious fish markets in and around Cochin. Presumed V. parahaemolyticus were identified by standard biochemical tests, and further confirmed by polymerase chain reaction targeting species-specific tl gene (450 bp)

Study of water usage in rural areas

Study of water usage in rural area

GANODERMA LUCIDUM-ORIENTAL MUSHROOM MEDIATED SYNTHESIS OF GOLD NANOPARTICLES CONJUGATED WITH DOXORUBICIN AND EVALUATION OF ITS ANTICANCER POTENTIAL ON HUMAN BREAST CANCER MCF-7/DOX CELLS

Objective: The present investigations are to mycosynthesis and characterization of gold nanoparticles conjugated with doxorubicin and evaluated anticancer activity.Methods: The characterization of the gold nanoparticles using ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy. FTIR investigations were carried out to find and read the functional group responsible designed at the bioconversion of gold ions and crystalline arrangement of gold nanoparticles was detected in the XRD study. The gold nanoparticles conjugated with doxorubicin were treated against MCF-7-dox resisted breast cancer cells and observed the in vitro cytotoxicity by MTT assay, SCGE (Comet), Apoptosis and Mito-potential assay. Further more we determinate the mRNA expression of ABCB1 gene and cDNA was synthesized from the mRNA for amplification of the ABCB1 gene corresponding to the specific primer.Results: Surface Plasmon resonance showed the development of gold nanoparticles in UV–Visible spectra at 537 nm. The synthesized gold nanoparticles were polydisperse spherical and it was determined by EDAX and stabilized in the solution to the spherical shapes further confirmed by High-resolution transmission electron microscope analysis designate in the reading of 2–100 nm. The anticancer assays were given significant results and the mRNA expression of ABCB1 gene and cDNA was amplified as directly proportional to the expression of ABCB1 gene.Conclusion: We propose that gold nanoparticles synthesized and conjugated with doxorubicin from G. lucidum might be a significant resource of drug delivery for anti-cancer preparation that may advantage breast cancer treatment

General topological features and instanton vacuum in quantum Hall and spin liquids

We introduce the concept of super universality in quantum Hall and spin liquids which has emerged from previous studies. It states that all the fundamental features of the quantum Hall effect are generically displayed as general topological features of the $\theta$ parameter in nonlinear sigma models in two dimensions. To establish super universality in spin liquids we revisit the mapping by Haldane who argued that the anti ferromagnetic Heisenberg spin $s$ chain is effectively described by the O(3) nonlinear sigma model with a $\theta$ term. By combining the path integral representation for the dimerized spin $s=1/2$ chain with renormalization group decimation techniques we generalise the Haldane approach to include a more complicated theory, the fermionic rotor chain, involving four different renormalization group parameters. We show how the renormalization group calculation technique can be used to lay the bridge between the fermionic rotor chain and the sigma model. As an integral and fundamental aspect of the mapping we establish the topological significance of the dangling spin at the edge of the chain which is in all respects identical to the massless chiral edge excitations in quantum Hall liquids. We consider various different geometries of the spin chain and show that for each of the different geometries correspond to a topologically equivalent quantum Hall liquid.Comment: Title changed, Section 2 and Appendix expanded, an error in the expression for theta correcte