On the occurrence of priapulids in the littoral region of Bhimilipatnam (Vishakhapatnam, Bay of Bengal)

Very little is known about the eucoelomate phylum Priapuiida, which arc marine vermiform cylindrical organisms attaining a length of over 12 cm with a bulbous anterior end destitute of appendages and with an eversible proboscis. Surface of the body is superfic ia lly •segmented and covered with spines

A kinetic and mechanistic study on the silver (I)-catalyzed oxidation of l-alanine by cerium (IV) in sulfuric acid medium

AbstractThe kinetics and mechanism of Ag(I)-catalyzed oxidation of l-alanine by cerium (IV) in sulfuric acid media have been investigated by titrimetric technique of redox in the temperature range of 298–313K. It is found that the reaction is of first order with respect to Ce(IV) and l-alanine, and it is of a positive fractional order with respect to Ag(I). It is found that the pseudo first order ([l-alanine]≫[Ce(IV)]≫[Ag(I)]) rate constant k′ increases with the increase of[H+]. The major oxidation product of alanine has been identified as acetaldehyde by an 1H NMR and IR spectroscopy. Under the experimental conditions, the kinetically active species has been found to be Ce4+. Under nitrogen atmosphere, the reaction system can initiate the polymerization of acrylonitrile, indicating generation of free radicals. On the basis of the experimental results, a suitable mechanism has been proposed. The rate constants of the rate-determining step together with the activation parameters were evaluated

Morin, A Flavonoid, On Lipid Peroxidation And Antioxidant Status In Experimental Myocardial Ischemic Rats

Background: Myocardial infarction affects a large population in the world. Lipid peroxide metabolism plays an important role in the pathology of myocardial infarction. Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the antioxidant potential of morin, a flavonoid in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced myocardial infarction (MI), in rats.Materials and Methods: Male albino Wistar rats were pre-treated with morin (40 mg/kg), daily for a period of 30 days. After the treatment period, ISO (85 mg/kg), was subcutaneously injected in rats at an interval of 24 h for 2days.Re s u l t s : ISO-administered rats showed elevated levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and lipid hydro-peroxide (LOOH), in plasma and heart. Pretreatment with morin, the above changes were significantly reduced to near normal level. ISOadministered rats showed decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) in heart. In addition, decrease the levels non enzymatic antioxidants such as reduced glutathione (GSH), vitamin C and vitamin E in plasma and heart while ceruloplasmin in plasma.Conclusion: Pretreatment with morin, reversed these above biochemical changes towards normalcy. These findings revealed that, the morin possess antioxidant activity in experimentally induced cardiac toxicity.Key words: Morin, Isoproterenol, Myocardial infarction, Lipid peroxidation, Antioxidant

Adherence to treatment with artemether-lumefantrine or amodiaquine-artesunate for uncomplicated malaria in children in Sierra Leone: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Prompt, effective treatment of confirmed malaria cases with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is a cornerstone of malaria control. Maximizing adherence to ACT medicines is key to ensuring treatment effectiveness. METHODS: This open-label, randomized trial evaluated caregiver adherence to co-formulated artemether-lumefantrine (AL) and fixed-dose amodiaquine-artesunate (AQAS) in Sierra Leone. Children aged 6-59 months diagnosed with malaria were recruited from two public clinics, randomized to receive AL or AQAS, and visited at home the day after completing treatment. Analyses were stratified by site, due to differences in participant characteristics and outcomes. RESULTS: Of the 784 randomized children, 680 (85.6%) were included in the final per-protocol analysis (340 AL, 340 AQAS). Definite adherence (self-reported adherence plus empty package) was higher for AL than AQAS at both sites (Site 1: 79.4% AL vs 63.4% AQAS, odds ratio [OR] 2.16, compared to probable adherence plus probable or definite non-adherence, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.34-3.49; p = 0.001; Site 2: 52.1% AL vs 37.5% AQAS, OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.00-2.33, p = 0.049). However, self-reported adherence (ignoring drug package inspection) was higher for both regimens at both sites and there was no strong evidence of variation by treatment (Site 1: 96.6% AL vs 95.9% AQAS, OR 1.19, 95% CI 0.39-3.63, p = 0.753; Site 2: 91.5% AL vs 96.4% AQAS, OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.15-1.07, p = 0.067). In Site 2, correct treatment (correct dose + timing + duration) was lower for AL than AQAS (75.8% vs 88.1%, OR 0.42, 95% CI 0.23-0.76, p = 0.004). In both sites, more caregivers in the AQAS arm reported adverse events (Site 1: 3.4% AL vs 15.7% AQAS, p < 0.001; Site 2: 15.2% AL vs 24.4% AQAS, p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported adherence was high for both AL and AQAS, but varied by site. These results suggest that each regimen has potential disadvantages that might affect adherence; AL was less likely to be taken correctly at one site, but was better tolerated than AQAS at both sites. Measuring adherence to anti-malarials remains challenging, but important. Future research should focus on comparative studies of new drug regimens, and improving the methodology of measuring adherence. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01967472. Retrospectively registered 18 October 2013, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01967472

Numerical Simulation for Freeze Drying of Skimmed Milk with Moving Sublimation Front using Tri-Diagonal Matrix Algorithm

Freeze drying is a highly advanced dehydration technique used for preserving pharmaceuticals, human organs transplanted to others and highly heat sensitive food products. During the freeze drying, there are two layers formed namely dried region and frozen region. In this present work, a numerical model is developed to estimate the temperature distribution of both regions. The sample object considered is skimmed milk. The transient heat conduction equations are solved for both regions of dried and frozen region. The interface layer between the two region is considered as moving sublimation front as same as the realistic case. Radiative boundary condition at the top and convective boundary condition at the bottom are considered. The model has been solved by finite difference method and the scheme used is backward difference in time and central difference in space (implicit scheme), which generates set of finite difference equations forming a Tri-Diagonal Matrix. A computer program is developed in MATLAB to solve the tri-diagonal matrix. The temperature distribution along the length of the product with varying chamber pressures and the sublimation front temperature with time are estimated. The transient effect of sublimation front movement was estimated with different applied chamber pressure. It was noticed that at lower pressure the sublimation rate is very fast

Growth and Yield Performance of Hybrid Hot Pepper, Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) as Influenced by Fertigation and Polyethylene Mulching

A field experiment was conducted at Bengaluru during 2015 to study the effect of fertigation on performance of hybrid chilli (Capsicum annuum&nbsp;L.). The trial included nine treatments comprising varying rates and sources of fertilizers, tested with or without mulching. Application of recommended dose of fertilizer (180:120:180 kg NPK/ha) through fertigation using water-soluble fertilizers resulted in higher values for plant height (104.27 cm), number of branches per plant (16.71), leaf area per plant (89.44 dm2), dry matter per plant (185.49 g), number of fruits per plant (142.7), fruit length (11.13 cm), fruit girth (4.75 cm), fruit weight (1.29 g), yield per plant (184.11 g) and fruit yield (5.03 t/ha) which remained on par with same amount of fertilizer applied using conventional means along with polyethylene mulching. In general, treatments that received fertilizers through fertigation took less number of days to flowering over conventional soil-application of fertilizers. All fertigation treatments recorded higher dry-chilli fruit yield over the conventional soil-application of fertilizers, to a tune of 27.87% to 52.4% over the control

Influences of Intermittent Preventive Treatment and Persistent Multiclonal Plasmodium falciparum Infections on Clinical Malaria Risk

BACKGROUND: Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) of malaria involves administration of curative doses of antimalarials at specified time points to vulnerable populations in endemic areas, regardless whether a subject is known to be infected. The effect of this new intervention on the development and maintenance of protective immunity needs further understanding. We have investigated how seasonal IPT affects the genetic diversity of Plasmodium falciparum infections and the risk of subsequent clinical malaria. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 2227 Ghanaian children (3-59 months) who were given sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) bimonthly, artesunate plus amodiaquine (AS+AQ) monthly or bimonthly, or placebo monthly for six months spanning the malaria transmission season. Blood samples collected at three post-interventional surveys were analysed by genotyping of the polymorphic merozoite surface protein 2 gene. Malaria morbidity and anaemia was monitored during 12 months follow-up. RESULTS: Monthly IPT with AS+AQ resulted in a marked reduction in number of concurrent clones and only children parasite negative just after the intervention period developed clinical malaria during follow-up. In the placebo group, children without parasites as well as those infected with ≥2 clones had a reduced risk of subsequent malaria. The bimonthly SP or AS+AQ groups had similar number of clones as placebo after intervention; however, diversity and parasite negativity did not predict the risk of malaria. An interaction effect showed that multiclonal infections were only associated with protection in children without intermittent treatment. CONCLUSION: Molecular typing revealed effects of the intervention not detected by ordinary microscopy. Effective seasonal IPT temporarily reduced the prevalence and genetic diversity of P. falciparum infections. The reduced risk of malaria in children with multiclonal infections only seen in untreated children suggests that persistence of antigenically diverse P. falciparum infections is important for the maintenance of protective malaria immunity in high transmission settings

Determination of the Strong Coupling \boldmath{\as} from hadronic Event Shapes and NNLO QCD predictions using JADE Data

Event Shape Data from $e^+e^-$ annihilation into hadrons collected by the JADE experiment at centre-of-mass energies between 14 GeV and 44 GeV are used to determine the strong coupling $\alpha_S$. QCD predictions complete to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO), alternatively combined with resummed next-to-leading-log-approximation (NNLO+NLLA) calculations, are used. The combined value from six different event shape observables at the six JADE centre-of-mass energies using the NNLO calculations is $\alpha_S(M_Z)$= 0.1210 +/- 0.0007(stat.) +/- 0.0021(expt.) +/- 0.0044(had.) +/- 0.0036(theo.) and with the NNLO+NLLA calculations the combined value is $\alpha_S$= 0.1172 +/- 0.0006(stat.) +/- 0.0020(expt.) +/- 0.0035(had.) +/- 0.0030(theo.) . The stability of the NNLO and NNLO+NLLA results with respect to missing higher order contributions, studied by variations of the renormalisation scale, is improved compared to previous results obtained with NLO+NLLA or with NLO predictions only. The observed energy dependence of $\alpha_S$ agrees with the QCD prediction of asymptotic freedom and excludes absence of running with 99% confidence level.Comment: 9 pages, EPHJA style, 4 figures, corresponds to published version with JADE author lis