Inhibitory effect against polymerase and ribonuclease activities of HIV-reverse transcriptase of the aqueous leaf extract of Terminalia triflora

Dichloromethane, methanol and aqueous extracts from the leaves of Terminalia triflora were investigated for their inhibitory effect on polymerase and ribonuclease activities of HIV reverse transcriptase.The most potent activity was found in the aqueous extract, which inhibited both polymerase and ribonuclease activities of the enzyme with an IC50 of 1.6 micro g/mL and 1.8 micro g/mL respectively. The antiinfective activity of the extract was demonstrated in HLT4LacZ-IIIB cell culture with an IC50 of 1.0 micro g/mL. The extract was submitted to a purification process by extractive and chromatographic methods. The activity remained in the hydrophillic fraction. Tannins present in this active purified fraction, as determined by TLC and HPLC methods, could account for the anti HIV-RT activity found in the aqueous extract

D-branes on AdS flux compactifications

We study D-branes in N=1 flux compactifications to AdS_4. We derive their supersymmetry conditions and express them in terms of background generalized calibrations. Basically because AdS has a boundary, the analysis of stability is more subtle and qualitatively different from the usual case of Minkowski compactifications. For instance, stable D-branes filling AdS_4 may wrap trivial internal cycles. Our analysis gives a geometric realization of the four-dimensional field theory approach of Freedman and collaborators. Furthermore, the one-to-one correspondence between the supersymmetry conditions of the background and the existence of generalized calibrations for D-branes is clarified and extended to any supersymmetric flux background that admits a time-like Killing vector and for which all fields are time-independent with respect to the associated time. As explicit examples, we discuss supersymmetric D-branes on IIA nearly Kaehler AdS_4 flux compactifications.Comment: 43 pages, 2 pictures, 1 table; v2: added references, color to figure and corrected typo in (6.21b

Argentine plant extracts active against polymerase and ribonuclease H activities of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase

Lipophilic and hydrophilic extracts of four Argentine plants (Gamochaeta simplicaulis Cabr. 1, Achyrocline flaccida Wein. D. C. 2, Eupatorium buniifolium H. et A. 3, and Phyllanthus sellowianus Muell. Arg. 4) were examined in vitro for their ability to inhibit the polymerase and ribonuclease H (RNase H) activities of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) (wild and Y181C mutant types). The active extracts were also examined as inhibitors of viral replication in HLT4LacZ-1IIIB cell cultures, evaluating their cytotoxicity in parallel. Infusions 2I and 4I, among the crude extracts, showed the highest activity. These extracts were refractioned into four fractions; 2I4 and 4I4 were active as inhibitors of DNA-polymerase (wild and Y181C types) and RNase H activities. These fractions were potent as inhibitors of viral replication and were not cytotoxic. Refractionation of 2I4 yielded five new fractions, two of which, 2I4-4 and 2I4-5, showed notable activity. Refractionation of 4I4 yielded for new fractions; of these, 4I4-3 and 4I4-4 were active. The marked biological activity found in the infusion of A. flaccida and P. sellowianus makes them sufficiently attractive to be considered in the combined chemotherapy of the disease

Unfolding of differential energy spectra in the MAGIC experiment

The paper describes the different methods, used in the MAGIC experiment, to unfold experimental energy distributions of cosmic ray particles (gamma-rays). Questions and problems related to the unfolding are discussed. Various procedures are proposed which can help to make the unfolding robust and reliable. The different methods and procedures are implemented in the MAGIC software and are used in most of the analyses.Comment: Submitted to NIM

Implementation of the Random Forest Method for the Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope MAGIC

The paper describes an application of the tree classification method Random Forest (RF), as used in the analysis of data from the ground-based gamma telescope MAGIC. In such telescopes, cosmic gamma-rays are observed and have to be discriminated against a dominating background of hadronic cosmic-ray particles. We describe the application of RF for this gamma/hadron separation. The RF method often shows superior performance in comparison with traditional semi-empirical techniques. Critical issues of the method and its implementation are discussed. An application of the RF method for estimation of a continuous parameter from related variables, rather than discrete classes, is also discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Probing quantum gravity using photons from a flare of the active galactic nucleus Markarian 501 observed by the MAGIC telescope

We analyze the timing of photons observed by the MAGIC telescope during a flare of the active galactic nucleus Mkn 501 for a possible correlation with energy, as suggested by some models of quantum gravity (QG), which predict a vacuum refractive index \simeq 1 + (E/M_{QGn})^n, n = 1,2. Parametrizing the delay between gamma-rays of different energies as \Delta t =\pm\tau_l E or \Delta t =\pm\tau_q E^2, we find \tau_l=(0.030\pm0.012) s/GeV at the 2.5-sigma level, and \tau_q=(3.71\pm2.57)x10^{-6} s/GeV^2, respectively. We use these results to establish lower limits M_{QG1} > 0.21x10^{18} GeV and M_{QG2} > 0.26x10^{11} GeV at the 95% C.L. Monte Carlo studies confirm the MAGIC sensitivity to propagation effects at these levels. Thermal plasma effects in the source are negligible, but we cannot exclude the importance of some other source effect.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Phys. Lett. B, reflects published versio

Erratum: "A Gravitational-wave Measurement of the Hubble Constant Following the Second Observing Run of Advanced LIGO and Virgo" (2021, ApJ, 909, 218)

[no abstract available

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3b

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC-2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: A generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society