A phytochemical and pharmacognostic approach of Ficus hispida Linn: a review

Herbal plants are arguably poised for a comeback as like sources of ethnic health products in the main due after their vast desire in accordance with synthesize complicated combinations on structurally diverse compounds, which ought to furnish a safer than more holistic approach in conformity with disease cure and prevention. Ficus hispida (FH) Linn belonging to the family Moraceae, who have various pharmacognostic properties. The class Ficus constitutes a necessary crew on trees, now not solely concerning their extensive medicinal virtue however also of their growth habits yet religious significance. Almost every part over those plants is ancient as a traditional belief on treatment because of the treatment on a variety of ailments through Indian traditional healers. The goal on the existing instruction is to accumulate competencies over ethno-medicinal and pharmacognostic importance about FH. FH includes extensive sorts on bioactives compounds as alkaloids, proteins and amino acids, carbohydrates, flavonoids, sterols, phenols, glycosides, gums and mucilage, saponins and terpenes. Multiple scientific researches have been published to establish the scientific foundation over common medicinal values attributed in conformity with FH of terms on ayurvedic usage the plant for blood disorders, anemia, dysentery, hemorrhoids, stomatorrhagia, jaundice and ulcers. The crop fruits are used namely aphrodisiac, lactagogue, emetic and tonic. Furthermore, pharmacological activities like anticancer, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory have been additionally acknowledged recently. Till now, no action has been published in conformity with elaborate the pharmacognostic functions of FH Linn. The existing decrial is, therefore, an endeavour to relinquish a clear estimate of its pharmacognosy and phytochemistry and a considerable survey over its pharmacological activities

Anti-inflammatory activity of methanolic extract of Ficus hispida dried fruit

Background: Natural products are a valuable resource of novel bioactive metabolites and these products exist in which the anti-inflammatory activity. The present investigation studies the in vivo and in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of methanolic extract of Ficus hispida in rat’s model.Methods: Plant material was extracted with methanol in a Soxhlet extraction apparatus. Indomethacin was used as a standard drug here, which is a known potent inhibitor of PG synthesis. The carrageenin and histamine induced paw oedema were selected to represent models of acute inflammations. The test compounds and standard drugs were administered orally. After 60 minutes paw oedema was induced by giving 0.1 ml of 1% Carrageenan and 0.1 % histamine by sub-plantar administration. Paw volume-Plethysmometer by mercury displacement method, before and after 1 hr to 4 hours of carrageenan and histamine administration. Performed MTT-based cytotoxicity assay of the Ficus hispida on the RAW264.7 cell line to determine the IC50 and calculate the pro-inflammatory cytokines viz, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α and compared to the LPS control.Results: The result obtained from the in-vivo study shows that the Ficus hispida has significant anti- inflammatory activity in a dose dependent manner. This effect is similar to that produced by NSAIDS such as Indomethacin. The concentrations of IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α, secreted by the cells after challenging with bacterial LPS (2 µg/ml) and subsequent treatment with 50 µg Ficus hispida has been found to reduce the production of all the three pro-inflammatory cytokines viz, IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α as compared to the LPS control. The activity, in fact, is comparable to the standard NSAID Indomethacin.Conclusions: All these findings and phytoconstituents present in the extract could be the possible chemicals involved in the prevention of inflammations

An RNA polymerase II-coupled function for histone H3K36 methylation in checkpoint activation and DSB repair

Histone modifications are major determinants of DNA double-strand break (DSB) response and repair. Here we elucidate a DSB repair function for transcription-coupled Set2 methylation at H3 lysine 36 (H3K36me). Cells devoid of Set2/H3K36me are hypersensitive to DNA-damaging agents and site-specific DSBs, fail to properly activate the DNA-damage checkpoint, and show genetic interactions with DSB-sensing and repair machinery. Set2/H3K36me3 is enriched at DSBs, and loss of Set2 results in altered chromatin architecture and inappropriate resection during G1 near break sites. Surprisingly, Set2 and RNA polymerase II are programmed for destruction after DSBs in a temporal manner – resulting in H3K36me3 to H3K36me2 transition that may be linked to DSB repair. Finally, we show a requirement of Set2 in DSB repair in transcription units – thus underscoring the importance of transcription-dependent H3K36me in DSB repair

Content analysis of documents using neural networks: A study of Antarctic science research articles published in international journals

Content analysis of scientific papers emanating from Antarctic science research during the 25 years period (1980— 2004) has been carried out using neural network based algorithm–CATPAC. A total of 10 942 research articles published in Science Citation Indexed (SCI) journals were used for the study. Normalized co-word matrix from 35 most-used significant words was used to study the semantic association between the words. Structural Equivalence blocks were constructed from these 35 most-used words. Four-block model solution was found to be optimum. The density table was dichotomized using the mean density of the table to derive the binary matrix, which was used to construct the network map. Network maps represent the thematic character of the blocks. The blocks showed preferred connection in establishing semantic relationship with the blocks, characterizing thematic composition of Antarctic science research. The analysis has provided an analytical framework for carrying out studies on the content of scientific articles. The paper has shown the utility of co-word analysis in highlighting the important areas of research in Antarctic science

Doxorubicin induced histomorphometric changes in testes of albino rat

Anticancer drugs like doxorubicin have been found to affect male gonads thereby leading to infertility. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of doxorubicin over short, mid and long term on testes of male albino rats. Sixty male albino rats aged 6-8 weeks were taken for study. The rats were randomly divided into 3 groups of experimental (each group containing 10 rats) and 3 groups of control (each group containing 10 rats). The experimental groups were given a single dose of doxorubicin i.e. 10 mg/kg body weight intra-peritoneally and sacrificed after 3 different duration for each group (second week, eighth week and sixteenth week). All rats under 3 control groups were given a single intra-peritoneal dose of 2.5 ml/kg body weight normal saline and sacrificed with their respective experimental groups. Significant difference in diameters (p=0.029) and cross-sectional area (p=0.028) of seminiferous tubules was observed between short term experimental and short term control rats. For both between midterm experimental and midterm control group, and between long term experimental and long term control group, a significant difference in right testis weight (p<0.001 for both), left testis weight (p<0.001 for both), volume of testis (p<0.001 and p=0.038), diameter (p<0.001 for both) and area (p<0.001 for both) of seminiferous tubules was observed. As compared to short term experimental group, midterm experimental group and long term experimental group had significantly lower right testis weight (p<0.001 for both), left testis weight (p<0.001 for both), diameter of seminiferous tubule (p<0.001 for both) and cross-sectional area of seminiferous tubule (p<0.001 both). Cross-sections of the seminiferous tubules of all the control groups had normal architecture. However, there was progressive destruction of seminiferous tubules structure across the experimental groups. Doxorubicin has deleterious effect on seminiferous tubules of albino rat testis.Nepal Journal of Biotechnology. Dec. 2015 Vol. 3, No. 1: 10-1

A high-resolution transcriptome map of cell cycle reveals novel connections between periodic genes and cancer

Progression through the cell cycle is largely dependent on waves of periodic gene expression, and the regulatory networks for these transcriptome dynamics have emerged as critical points of vulnerability in various aspects of tumor biology. Through RNA-sequencing of human cells during two continuous cell cycles (>2.3 billion paired reads), we identified over 1 000 mRNAs, non-coding RNAs and pseudogenes with periodic expression. Periodic transcripts are enriched in functions related to DNA metabolism, mitosis, and DNA damage response, indicating these genes likely represent putative cell cycle regulators. Using our set of periodic genes, we developed a new approach termed “mitotic trait” that can classify primary tumors and normal tissues by their transcriptome similarity to different cell cycle stages. By analyzing >4 000 tumor samples in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and other expression data sets, we found that mitotic trait significantly correlates with genetic alterations, tumor subtype and, notably, patient survival. We further defined a core set of 67 genes with robust periodic expression in multiple cell types. Proteins encoded by these genes function as major hubs of protein-protein interaction and are mostly required for cell cycle progression. The core genes also have unique chromatin features including increased levels of CTCF/RAD21 binding and H3K36me3. Loss of these features in uterine and kidney cancers is associated with altered expression of the core 67 genes. Our study suggests new chromatin-associated mechanisms for periodic gene regulation and offers a predictor of cancer patient outcomes

Design and Development of Soil Moisture Based Automatic Irrigation System in Nepal

A prototype soil moisture based an automated irrigation system were developed at National Maize Research Program in 2018 to study the water requirement of drought tolerant crop genotype. The irrigation system has been controlled by Arduino UNO as a micro controller. The instant soil moisture data were collected either in Excel format or graphical format using internet of things through the programming of Global System for Mobile Communication: Subscriber Identity Module (GSM:SIM card) of Nepal Telecom. The developed automated irrigation system has found maintained the predetermined threshold soil moisture. This automated irrigation system has been developed to make applicable for drip irrigation system which has operated at low water pressure maintained by 1.5² professional-grade solenoid valve. The introduction of this automated irrigation system has developed the base for Nepalese agricultural scientist in designing and promoting irrigation technology to make Nepalese agricultural more sustainable, mechanized and productive

Intrinsic Vertebral Markers for Spinal Level Localization in Anterior Cervical Spine Surgery: A Preliminary Report

Study DesignProspective clinical study.PurposeTo observe the usefulness of anterior cervical osteophytes as intrinsic markers for spinal level localization (SLL) during sub-axial cervical spinal surgery via the anterior approach.Overview of LiteratureVarious landmarks, such as the mandibular angle, hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage, first cricoid ring, and C6 carotid tubercle, are used for gross cervical SLL; however, none are used during cervical spinal surgery via the anterior approach. We present our preliminary assessment of SLL over anterior vertebral surfaces (i.e., intrinsic markers) in 48 consecutive cases of anterior cervical spinal surgeries for the disc-osteophyte complex (DOC) in degenerative diseases and granulation or tumor tissue associated with infectious or neoplastic diseases, respectively, at an ill-equipped center.MethodsThis prospective study on patients undergoing anterior cervical surgery for various sub-axial cervical spinal pathologies aimed to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of SLL via intraoperative palpation of disease-related morphological changes on anterior vertebral surfaces visible on preoperative midline sagittal T1/2-weighted magnetic resonance images.ResultsDuring a 3-year period, 48 patients (38 males,10 females; average age, 43.58 years) who underwent surgery via the anterior approach for various sub-axial cervical spinal pathologies, including degenerative disease (n= 42), tubercular infection (Pott's disease; n=3), traumatic prolapsed disc (n=2), and a metastatic lesion from thyroid carcinoma (n=1), comprised the study group. Intrinsic marker palpation yielded accurate SLL in 79% of patients (n=38). Among those with degenerative diseases (n=42), intrinsic marker palpation yielded accurate SLL in 76% of patients (n=32).ConclusionsIntrinsic marker palpation is an attractive potential adjunct for SLL during cervical spinal surgeries via the anterior approach in well-selected patients at ill-equipped centers (e.g., those found in developing countries). This technique may prove helpful when radiographic visualization is occasionally inadequate