Antifertility activity of Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz:In vitro and in vivo study on human sperm and male wistar rats

Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz, commonly called as Broken bones tree or Indian trumpet flower, belonging to Fam. Bignoniaceae, is traditionally used as a contraceptive by ethnic people of Tripura, North-East India. Here, we investigated the scientific basis for use of O. indicum as male antifertility agent by folklore healers. In vitro spermicidal activity of aqueous (AEOI) and methanolic (MEOI) extracts of O. indicum stem bark were studied on human sperm. The in vivo activity was experimented on male albino rats. The treated animals were allowed to mate and the pups delivered by female rat partners were counted. Phytochemical estimation of test samples was done using HPLC. The AEOI and MEOI treatments significantly decreased human sperm motility and viability. Test extracts have increased the hypo-osmotic swelling of sperm. Both the extracts were significantly declined the weight of reproductive organ. The MEOI treated rats have shown significant decrease in sperm motility and sperm counts. AEOI and MEOI treatment significantly reduced level of testosterone, but sharply raised dihydrotestosterone and prostaglandin in rats. Results testified the traditional claim for use of O. indicum as a male contraceptive agent, where MEOI have shown reversible action on male reproductive system leading to contraception without harming the libido

Mapping knowledge in higher education: A Bibliometric study of UGC CARE list of LIS journals

Various policies have been adopted worldwide for the upliftment of research work in higher education. The current paper is a study of initiatives taken by University Grant Commission (UGC), which is a statutory body set up by Indian Union Government to maintain the standards of higher education in India. The paper studied the quality journal list published by UGC-Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (UGC CARE) in LIS discipline. Top 20 journals has been analysed from the list in accordance to their ranking in Scimago journal ranking list. The articles are analysed as the most prolific author, prolific institute, most cited paper and country wise publication. Keyword analysis is also done where the most used keywords are found to be- bibliometric (355), social media (222) and citation analysis (219). Cluster map is also drawn to derive the relation between the concepts

Management of <i style="">Madhumeha</i> (Diabetes mellitus) with current evidence and intervention with <i style="">Ayurvedic Rasausadhies</i>

624-628Rasausadhies or organo-metallic formulations have been use in the treatment of Diabetes mellitus with its excellence for centuries but their scientific evaluation has not thoroughly constituted with modern tools. Rasausadhies are popularly use since the period of great alchemist Nagarjuna, i.e. 8th century AD. In fact, it is explored that strategies and treatment modalities to control diabetes exists in Rasashastra, a discipline of Ayurveda. In this time, invention of special processing techniques as sodhan (purification and detoxification), marana (incineration), etc. have been established which are being use to convert the minerals and metals into easily consumable form and immediate showing the desirable effect. Madhumeha (Diabetes mellitus) is a multi-factorial disease resulting from a gene environment interaction. Projection of disease prevalence and incidence rate in worldwide by World Health Organization indicating the danger and graveness of this disease. In the present study, the initiation have been taken to collect and compiled all the related information about Madhumeha with current evidence regarding Rasausadhies used therapeutically that may facilitate further research work

Static Permittivity and Electro-Optical Properties of Bi-Component Orthoconic Antiferroelectric Liquid Crystalline Mixtures Targeted for Polymer Stabilized Sensing Systems

The behavior of two newly formulated bi-component orthoconic antiferroelectric liquid crystalline (OAFLC) systems, i.e., the Compound A + Compound B mixture system and Compound C + Compound B mixture system has been discussed in light of temperature and concentration dependencies of helical pitch length, spontaneous polarization, relaxation time, bulk viscosity, and the anchoring energy strength coefficient, together with static dielectric permittivity (&epsilon;) and dielectric anisotropy. Compound A + Compound B mixtures possess spontaneous polarization between 190&ndash;340 nC.cm&minus;2 and fast relaxation times between 190&ndash;320 &micro;s in the smectic antiferroelectric SmCA* phase at room temperature. Compound C + Compound B mixtures also have a spontaneous polarization in the range of 190&ndash;280 nC.cm&minus;2 and relaxation times in the range of 190&ndash;230 &micro;s at room temperature. Most of the mixtures have a helical pitch below one micrometer in the SmCA* phase. These advanced mixtures show a broad temperature range of the antiferroelectric SmCA* phase, fast switching of molecules under an applied electric field, negative dielectric anisotropy and a short helical pitch, confirming the advantage of designing new polymer-stabilized OAFLC that is targeted for novel application in sensing devices, utilizing the fast responsive electro-optical modulation elements

Antifertility activity of Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz: In vitro and in vivo study on human sperm and male wistar rats

33-41Oroxylum indicum (L.) Kurz, commonly called as Broken bones tree or Indian trumpet flower, belonging to Fam. Bignoniaceae, is traditionally used as a contraceptive by ethnic people of Tripura, North-East India. Here, we investigated the scientific basis for use of O. indicum as male antifertility agent by folklore healers. In vitro spermicidal activity of aqueous (AEOI) and methanolic (MEOI) extracts of O. indicum stem bark were studied on human sperm. The in vivo activity was experimented on male albino rats. The treated animals were allowed to mate and the pups delivered by female rat partners were counted. Phytochemical estimation of test samples was done using HPLC. The AEOI and MEOI treatments significantly decreased human sperm motility and viability. Test extracts have increased the hypo-osmotic swelling of sperm. Both the extracts were significantly declined the weight of reproductive organ. The MEOI treated rats have shown significant decrease in sperm motility and sperm counts. AEOI and MEOI treatment significantly reduced level of testosterone, but sharply raised dihydrotestosterone and prostaglandin in rats. Results testified the traditional claim for use of O. indicum as a male contraceptive agent, where MEOI have shown reversible action on male reproductive system leading to contraception without harming the libido

Curcumin ameliorates the targeted delivery of methotrexate intercalated montmorillonite clay to cancer cells

Montmorillonite Clay (MMT) is aimed to develop as an orally administrable drug delivery vehicle with enhanced efficacy. Aiming to enhance the therapeutic index of methotrexate, curcumin is concomitantly used with methotrexate in the present study. Being folate antagonist in nature, methotrexate is internalized into cells by folate receptor (FR); which is over-expressed in certain human cancer cells such as cervical carcinoma cells (HeLa). Firstly, montmorillonite Clay (MMT) is organically modified (OMMT) with cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) and used to intercalate curcumin and methotrexate separately, designated as OMMT-Cur and OMMT-MTX, respectively. XRD pattern demonstrated successful intercalation of therapeutics and an increase in clay interlayer distance facilitated by CTAB. The dissolution kinetics of methotrexate follows Higuchi model for both Simulated Gastric Fluid (SGF) and Simulated Intestinal Fluid (SIF), while the release kinetics for curcumin fitted into Higuchi model for SGF and Hixson-Crowell model for SIF, respectively. OMMT-MTX are able to discriminate FR-positive HeLa cells from FR-negative breast cancer cells (MCF7); irrespective of alike cellular phenotypes. Further, the pre-treatment of HeLa cells with curcumin improves its sensitivity towards metho- trexate causing a greater killing of the Hela cells. Together, the results propose the concomitant use of curcumin and methotrexate for successfully targeting highly invasive FR-positive carcinomas by means of folate receptor using MMTs.This work was supported by European Union (Horizon 2020) funded project FoReCaST(Grant Agreement Number 668983)(BK).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio