Pharmacognostic Investigation of Clerodendrum Phlomidis Linn. F. Root

The present study was aimed to perform the pharmacognostic evaluation of Clerodendrum phlomidis Linn. f. root in terms of organoleptic, macro-microscopy, fluorescence analysis and physicochemical parameters. The characteristic macroscopic features showed that the root consists of 7-15 cm long, 0.2 -3.0 cm thick pieces which are cylindrical, tough and yellowish-brown externally, with hard fracture and slightly astringent taste. The main microscopic characters of the root shows exfoliating cork, having 10-15 rows of tangentially elongated, thick-walled cells. Cortex consists of round to oval parenchymatous cells, a few containing rhomboidal shaped calcium oxalate crystals. Endodermis consists of 3-4 layers of non-lignified, thick-walled rounded parenchymatous cells followed by a single pericyclic layer. Phloem consists of isodiametric, thin-walled, parenchymatous cells whereas xylem contains lignified pitted vessels. Medullary rays consisting of biseriate layer of lignified and radially elongated parenchymatous cells, is narrower in the xylem region while wider in the phloem region. Further, physicochemical analysis of the root power reports total ash, water soluble ash, sulphated ash as 7.8, 0.9 and 10.3 % w/w respectively. Successive extraction of the root powder with petroleum ether, chloroform, alcohol, water yielded 2.2, 2.4, 12.4 and 9.6 % w/w extracts respectively. Fluorescence study imparted characteristic colours to the root powder when observed under visible, short and long wavelength light. Various pharmacognostic parameters evaluated in this study helps in botanical identification and standardization of Clerodendrum phlomidis L. root part in crude form and provide the authentic data for the researchers and scientists involved in carrying out further research on this plant part

Wireless LAN Security: The IEEE 802.11 Risks and Technical Challenges

Wireless local area networks (LANs) are playing a major role in the information technology revolution. They have found their way into a wide variety of markets including financial sectors, corporations, health care, and education.The rapid deployment of wireless LANs is testimony to the inherent benefits of this technology. Unfortunately, most wireless deployments are, at this time, fundamentally insecure. This is not an exaggeration. It is an accurate assessment of the reality of the current state of the security of wireless 802.11-based environments.Because of its transmission characteristic, many security problems have set in. This paper aims to introduce the security mechanism of the wireless LAN and points out the shortcoming of it

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease presenting as pyrexia of unknown origin

Background: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease, a benign self-limited lymphadenopathy is an uncommon cause of pyrexia of unknown origin (PUO). Methods: We retrospectively studied the case-records of 13 patients presenting with PUO who were diagnosed to have Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease on peripheral lymph node excision biopsy and report the salient clinical manifestations and histopathological findings in them. All of them received symptomatic treatment. Results: Their median age was 28 [interquartile range (IQR) 18.5-38.0] years. Women (11/13, 84.6%) were more frequently affected. All of them were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seronegative. Prior to presenting to us, two were being treated for lymph node tuberculosis with DOTS. Cervical lymph nodes were predominantly involved, the distribution being: right cervical (n=10, 76.9%); left cervical (n=4); and bilateral cervical (n=2). Axillary and generalized lymphadenopathy were rare being seen in 2 and 1 patient respectively. The median (IQR) erythrocyte sedimentation rate (n=11) was 53 (35-89) mm at the end of first hour. Salient histopathological features were paracortical patchy zones of eosinophilic fibrinoid necrosis with karyorrhectic debris, large numbers of histiocytes, including histiocytes with peripherally placed “crescentic” nuclei. Spontaneous regression of fever and lymphadenopathy was observed over a median (IQR) period of 8 (6.75-10.25) months in all of them. Conclusions: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease is a rare but important cause of PUO presenting with peripheral lymphadenopathy. Women are most often affected and cervical lymph nodes are the most frequently involved site. Clinical suspicion and thoughtful collaboration between clinicians and pathologists are essential for accurate diagnosis, and to minimize unnecessary investigations and inappropriate aggressive treatment

The extent of strangeness in equilibration in quark-gluon plasma

The evolution and production of strangeness from chemically equilibrating and transversely expanding quark gluon plasma which may be formed in the wake of relativistic heavy ion collisions is studied with initial conditions obtained from the Self Screened Parton Cascade (SSPC) model. The extent of partonic equilibration increases almost linearly with the square of the initial energy density, which can then be scaled with number of participants.Comment: 4 pages including three figures, talk given at ICPAQGP'01, Jaipur, India, to appear in Pramana - Journal of Physics, Indian Academy of Scienc

Production of intermediate-mass dileptons in relativistic heavy ion collisions

The production of intermediate mass dileptons in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions at SPS energies is studied. The acceptance and detector resolution inherent to measurements by the NA50 experimental collaboration are accurately modeled. The measured centrality dependence of the intermediate mass lepton pair excess is also addressed.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, ReVTe

Comparative evaluation of water budgeting parameters under different rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation methods

Water budgeting studies under different rice cultivation methods provides an insight into the amount of water used by the plant and percolated below the root zone for judicious water management. To undertake this study, a field experiment was conducted to estimate different soil water balance parameters under three rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivation methods viz. Direct Seeded Rice (DSR), System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and Conventional Puddled Rice (CPR). The experiment was conducted during kharif 2013 and kharif 2014 season at research farm of Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. In this study, the rainfall and irrigation depth, Crop Evapotranspiration (ETc), percolation beyond root zone of the crop and surface runoff during the crop growth period were accounted in water budgeting. It was observed that the percolation be-yond root zone of the crop was the highest under CPR method amounting 963 mm and 831 mm, which was about 55% and 58% of total water applied during 2013 and 2014, respectively. However, the percolation beyond root zone of the crop was the lowest under DSR method of rice cultivation amounting 367 mm and 332 mm which was 43% and 39% of total water applied during 2013 and 2014, respectively. Water loss through Etc was around 30% of total water applied in all three cultivation methods for year 2013. However, it was 59%, 46% and 43% of total water ap-plied for DSR, SRI and CPR, respectively in the year 2014.This indicates more effective utilization of total applied water in the year 2014.The study highlighted that water loss through deep percolation beyond root zone is the major factor contributing to the high water requirement in CPR and SRI methods compare to DSR method. Moreover, different soil water balance components computed in this study will be helpful for estimation of irrigation water requirement in the rice growing areas of the agro-climatic region VI (Trans-gangetic Plains) of India

Soft Electromagnetic Radiations from Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

The production of low mass dileptons and soft photons from thermalized Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) and hadronic matter in relativistic heavy ion collisions is evaluated. A boost invariant longitudinal and cylindrically symmetric transverse expansion of the systems created in central collision of lead nuclei at CERN SPS, BNL RHIC, and CERN LHC, and undergoing a first order phase transition to hadronic matter is considered. A large production of low mass (M< 0.3 GeV) dileptons, and soft photons (p_T< 0.4 GeV) is seen to emanate from the bremsstrahlung of quarks and pions. We find an increase by a factor of 2--4 in the low mass dilepton and soft photon yield as we move from SPS to RHIC energies, and an increase by an order of magnitude as we move from SPS to LHC energies. Most of the soft radiations are found to originate from pion driven processes at SPS and RHIC energies, while at the LHC energies the quark and the pion driven processes contribute by a similar amount. The study of the transverse mass distribution is seen to provide interesting details of the evolution. We also find a unique universal behaviour for the ratio of M^2 weighted transverse mass distribution for M= 0.1 GeV to that for M= 0.2 and 0.3 GeV, as a function of M_T, for SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies, in the absence of transverse expansion of the system. A deviation from this universal behaviour is seen as a clear indication of the flow.Comment: Revtex fil

Ab initio molecular dynamics using density based energy functionals: application to ground state geometries of some small clusters

The ground state geometries of some small clusters have been obtained via ab initio molecular dynamical simulations by employing density based energy functionals. The approximate kinetic energy functionals that have been employed are the standard Thomas-Fermi $(T_{TF})$ along with the Weizsacker correction $T_W$ and a combination $F(N_e)T_{TF} + T_W$. It is shown that the functional involving $F(N_e)$ gives superior charge densities and bondlengths over the standard functional. Apart from dimers and trimers of Na, Mg, Al, Li, Si, equilibrium geometries for $Li_nAl, n=1,8$ and $Al_{13}$ clusters have also been reported. For all the clusters investigated, the method yields the ground state geometries with the correct symmetries with bondlengths within 5\% when compared with the corresponding results obtained via full orbital based Kohn-Sham method. The method is fast and a promising one to study the ground state geometries of large clusters.Comment: 15 pages, 3 PS figure

RNA sequencing of cancer reveals novel splicing alterations

Breast cancer transcriptome acquires a myriad of regulation changes, and splicing is critical for the cell to “tailor-make” specific functional transcripts. We systematically revealed splicing signatures of the three most common types of breast tumors using RNA sequencing: TNBC, non-TNBC and HER2-positive breast cancer. We discovered subtype specific differentially spliced genes and splice isoforms not previously recognized in human transcriptome. Further, we showed that exon skip and intron retention are predominant splice events in breast cancer. In addition, we found that differential expression of primary transcripts and promoter switching are significantly deregulated in breast cancer compared to normal breast. We validated the presence of novel hybrid isoforms of critical molecules like CDK4, LARP1, ADD3, and PHLPP2. Our study provides the first comprehensive portrait of transcriptional and splicing signatures specific to breast cancer sub-types, as well as previously unknown transcripts that prompt the need for complete annotation of tissue and disease specific transcriptome

Effect of integrated nutrient supply on yield and uptake of cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum L. Maton.)

Field experiments were conducted for seven years (2000 to 2007) to assess the effect of integrated nutrient supply with Azospirillum and the combination of Azospirillum, FYM and graded levels of nitrogen on yield and uptake of cardamom. Results revealed that application of FYM @ 5 or 10 kg/plant with or without Azospirillum did not influence the yield components as well as yield levels appreciably. Application of FYM @ 5kg/ plant + 75 % recommended N + Azospirillum yielded 163.53 kg/ha similar to that of FYM @ 5 kg / plant + 100 % recommended N (175.42 kg/ha) and FYM @ 5 kg / plant + 50 % recommended N + Azospirillum yielded 141.20 kg/ha similar to that of FYM @ 5 kg / plant + 75 % recommended N (146.34 kg/ha), thereby providing 25 % saving in inorganic nitrogen. Further, FYM @ 5 kg / plant + 100% recommended N + Azospirillum, responded with 186.48 kg/ha but found on par to FYM @ 5 kg/ plant + 100 % recommended N (175.42 kg/ha). Integrated nutrient management treatments recorded higher nitrogen in plants compared to pure organic treatments. Influence of Azospirillum is not that conspicuous on nitrogen uptake by plants