Application of Swarm Intelligence in Disaster Management: A Review

The efficient use of Swarm Intelligence in Disaster management is discussed in this paper. Many lives are lost in Disaster affected area, the rescue team cannot reach everyone to rescue them this where Swarm Intelligence can be used. The Swarm Intelligence is a collective behavior to perform multiple task. SI can be used in searching and rescue operation in the disaster affected area, the swarm of Drones and bots deployed to locate the lives and give their exact location so that they can be rescued. The drones can analyze the area a give instruction to the ground bots. Obstacle avoidance can be used for clearing path for the rescue team to reach the location of the stuck person. Bots can combine together and work as one which increases their strength and may clear path. Swarm Intelligence is effective in many areas in Disaster Management

Long Circulating Lectin Conjugated Paclitaxel Loaded Magnetic Nanoparticles: A New Theranostic Avenue for Leukemia Therapy

Amongst all leukemias, Bcr-Abl positive chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) confers resistance to native drug due to multi drug resistance and also resistance to p53 and fas ligand pathways. In the present study, we have investigated the efficacy of microtubule stabilizing paclitaxel loaded magnetic nanoparticles (pac-MNPs) to ascertain its cytotoxic effect on Bcr-Abl positive K562 cells. For active targeted therapy, pac-MNPs were functionalized with lectin glycoprotein which resulted in higher cellular uptake and lower IC50 value suggesting the efficacy of targeted delivery of paclitaxel. Both pac-MNPs and lectin conjugated pac-MNPs have a prolonged circulation time in serum suggesting increased bioavailability and therapeutics index of paclitaxel in vivo. Further, the molecular mechanism pertaining to pac-induced cytotoxicity was analyzed by studying the involvement of different apoptotic pathway proteins by immunoblotting and quantitative PCR. Our study revealed simultaneous activation of JNK pathway leading to Bcr-Abl instability and the extrinsic apoptotic pathway after pac-MNPs treatment in two Bcr-Abl positive cell lines. In addition, the MRI data suggested the potential application of MNPs as imaging agent. Thus our in vitro and in vivo results strongly suggested the pac-MNPs as a future prospective theranostic tool for leukemia therapy

Marker-Assisted Selection for Durable Rust Resistance in a Widely Adopted Wheat Cultivar "Inqilab-91"

The slow rusting wheat cultivars viz., Tukuru and Pavon-76 were hybridized with a widely adopted Pakistani wheat cultivar ?Inqilab-91? to incorporate durable rust resistance. Specific primers were used to validate the presence of durable rust resistance in a bulked segregating population. The F1 plants were backcrossed with either parent to obtain BC1F1 populations which were then self-pollinated to get four F2 populations. A total of 102 randomly selected back-crossed BC1F2 plants were used for bulk segregant?s analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from randomly selected individual plants and aliquots of DNA of each sample were mixed to constitute bulk pools of each population. Durable resistance gene Lr34/Yr18 was heterozygous in populations 1, showing amplification of both the diagnostic csLV34a allele and the null csLV34b alleles. Population 2 amplified homozygous csLV34a alleles, while populations 3 and 4 amplified the null allele. The Lr46/Yr29 gene was identified in population 3 and 4. Compared to Inqilab-91 the Population 1 indicated 33-67% and Population 2 indicated 56-78% lower infection type while population 3 and 4 indicated 22-44% lower infection type to yellow rust. All the populations and parents showed the prevalence of Sr2 and absence of Lr37/Yr17/Sr38 gene complex. ? 2017 Friends Science PublisherspreprintPeer reviewe

Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in type II diabetic patients in a health facility in Karachi, Pakistan

Purpose: To study the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in known diabetic patients attending the diabetes outpatient department (OPD) of Sind Government Hospital (SGH), New Karachi Township (NKT), Pakistan.Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was carried out at the diabetic OPD of SGH, NKT over the period of 17 months from March 2013 to August 2014. The selected patients were interviewed based on a questionnaire; laboratory investigations were performed and examination of the eye was conducted by a specialist ophthalmologist. One hundred and fifty four (154) subjects out of 305 patients contacted fully completed the study. Stratification of the data on gender basis was done, after which one-way ANOVA, χ2 test of correlation, binary logistic regression and relative risk analyses were carried out using SPSS-20.Results: It was found that 66 % men of normal weight (χ2 = 4.667, p < 0.05) and 60.7 % overweight women (χ2 = 5.143, p < 0.05) were more likely to present with diabetic retinopathy (DR). Prevalence of DR in this target population was 42.86 % (N = 66). Background DR (56 %) and maculopathy (23 %) were more prevalent than advanced conditions of the disease. There was no gender-based preponderance for the presentation of DR (χ2 = 0.663; p > 0.05), nor was this seen in different ethnic groups.Conclusion: DR is prevalent in the target population and, therefore, emphasis should be on the education of the local population of New Karachi Township on how to attain euglycemic state with regular medication, diet and exercise to avoid development and progress of DR.Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Medication, Euglycemia, Microvascular complication

AMOXICILLIN AND TETRACYCLINE ACTIVITY AGAINST STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS AND PROTEUS MIRABILIS

Objective: Present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the susceptibility and resistance pattern of clinical isolates causing different types of infections and to compare the efficacy of antibiotics namely amoxicillin and tetracycline. Methods: The in-vitro antibacterial activity and resistance patterns of these two well known antibiotics were studied and compared by using the disk diffusion method. For this, one hundred and thirty four clinical isolates comprising of, Staphylococcus aureus (103) and Proteus mirabilis (31) and information were taken regarding patient age, sex and bacterial organism isolation were collected from different local pathological laboratories and hospitals according to the zones (east Karachi, west Karachi, south Karachi and north Karachi) of Karachi (Pakistan) during the time period of February 2015 to June 2015. Results: Out of the sample analyzed, resistant pattern of one hundred and thirty four (134) clinical isolates of Staphylococcus aureus (103) and Proteus mirabilis (31) were studied by using amoxicillin and tetracycline and the results are among 103 samples of Staphylococcus aureus 4(3.9%) sample showed sensitivity, no clinical isolates showed intermediate response and 99 (96.1%) sample exhibited resistance against amoxicillin while, 84 (81.6%) sample of Staphylococcus aureus were sensitive against tetracycline, 6(5.8%) showed intermediate response and 13(12.6%) were resistant to the tetracycline 30 µg while, 2 (6.5%) clinical isolates showed sensitivity towards Proteus mirabilis, 19(61.31%) showed resistance and 10 (32.3%) showed intermediate resistance against amoxicillin. On the other hand, tetracycline showed 3(9.7 %) resistance against Proteus mirabilis, 26(83.9%) showed sensitivity and 2 (6.5%) clinical isolates showed intermediate resistance. Conclusion: overall results of the present study showed that the antibacterial activity of tetracycline is more as compare to amoxicillin. Amoxicillin is not the first choice to treat the infections against Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus because they showed resistance 96.1% and 61.3% against Proteus mirabilis as compare to tetracycline is the first choice to treat infection which is caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Proteus mirabilis because they showed 81.6% sensitivity against Staphylococcus aureus and 83.9% sensitive against tetracycline

Kinetics of endoglucanase and cellobiohydrolase production by parent and mutant derivative of moderately thermotolerant Bacillus subtilis GQ 301542 on optimized medium

A moderately thermotolerant bacterial strain was isolated from the hot spring of Tatta Pani (AJ and K) Pakistan and was designated as Bacillus subtilis strain GQ 301542 after biochemical, morphological and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. This strain and its catabolite repression resistant mutant CRM197 were utilized for the study of different production kinetic parameters of both endoglucanase and cellobiohydrolase. Time course study on one monomeric (glucose), one dimeric (maltose) and two polymeric substrates (-cellulose and wheat straw) was carried out at different time intervals (4 - 28 h, after each 4 h) for determining the maximum enzyme productivity on a particular substrate. Maximum rate of endoglucanase production by the mutant (53.1 IU/L/h) was significantly (P = 0.0007) higher than that (23.7 IU/L/h of the parental organism following their growth on glucose in Dubos salts medium while the optimum product yields (Yp/s) was calculated as 69.0 IU/g S (parent) and 82.3 IU/g S (mutant) for cellobiohydrolase production. Deoxy-D-glucose resistant mutant was significantly (p = 0.03 to 0.0007) improved over its parental strain with respect to some substrate consumption and all product formation parameters and can easily degrade cellulosic biomass for production of fermentable carbohydrates.Key words: Cellobiohydrolase, endoglucanase, thermotolerant, Bacillus subtilis

Studies of aggregated nanoparticles steering during magnetic-guided drug delivery in the blood vessels

Magnetic-guided targeted drug delivery (TDD) systems can enhance the treatment of diverse diseases. Despite the potential and promising results of nanoparticles, aggregation prevents precise particle guidance in the vasculature. In this study, we developed a simulation platform to investigate aggregation during steering of nanoparticles using a magnetic field function. The magnetic field function (MFF) comprises a positive and negative pulsed magnetic field generated by electromagnetic coils, which prevents adherence of particles to the vessel wall during magnetic guidance. A commonly used Y-shaped vessel was simulated and the performance of the MFF analyzed; the experimental data were in agreement with the simulation results. Moreover, the effects of various parameters on magnetic guidance were evaluated and the most influential identified. The simulation results presented herein will facilitate more precise guidance of nanoparticles in vivo

Antioxidant activities and phenolic composition of Olive (<i>Olea europaea</i>) leaves

     The present study compares the antioxidant activities of leaves of eight cultivars of olive. The aqueous extracts of leaves showed inhibition against thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) induced by pro-oxidant (10 µM FeSO4) in mice liver. The order of the antioxidant activity among cultivars on lipid peroxidation assay is Gemlik > Frantio > Doleca-Agogia > Moriolo > Mission > Uslu > Leccino > Carotina. Different varieties of olive showed good antioxidant properties, IC50 values ranged between22.46 to 198 µg/ml on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The major phenolic acids, some flavonoid aglycone and glycosides were identified in leaves by high performance liquid chromatography. Ellagic acid (29.80 ± 0.02 mg/g), caffeic acid (15.73 ± 0.01mg/g), gallic acid (15.69 ± 0.01 mg/g), rutin (34.56 ± 0.03 mg/g), quercetin (16.41 ± 0.01 mg/g), epicatechin (11.04 ± 0.01 11.04 ± 0.01 mg/g) and quercetrin (15.32 ± 0.03 mg/g) were predominant in infusion of olive. 

Interplay between CD8α+ Dendritic Cells and Monocytes in Response to Listeria monocytogenes Infection Attenuates T Cell Responses

During the course of a microbial infection, different antigen presenting cells (APCs) are exposed and contribute to the ensuing immune response. CD8α+ dendritic cells (DCs) are an important coordinator of early immune responses to the intracellular bacteria Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) and are crucial for CD8+ T cell immunity. In this study, we examine the contribution of different primary APCs to inducing immune responses against Lm. We find that CD8α+ DCs are the most susceptible to infection while plasmacytoid DCs are not infected. Moreover, CD8α+ DCs are the only DC subset capable of priming an immune response to Lm in vitro and are also the only APC studied that do so when transferred into β2 microglobulin deficient mice which lack endogenous cross-presentation. Upon infection, CD11b+ DCs primarily secrete low levels of TNFα while CD8α+ DCs secrete IL-12 p70. Infected monocytes secrete high levels of TNFα and IL-12p70, cytokines associated with activated inflammatory macrophages. Furthermore, co-culture of infected CD8α+ DCs and CD11b+ DCs with monocytes enhances production of IL-12 p70 and TNFα. However, the presence of monocytes in DC/T cell co-cultures attenuates T cell priming against Lm-derived antigens in vitro and in vivo. This suppressive activity of spleen-derived monocytes is mediated in part by both TNFα and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Thus these monocytes enhance IL-12 production to Lm infection, but concurrently abrogate DC-mediated T cell priming