ANTIMOTILITY AND ANTISECRETORY RELATED ANTIDIARRHOEAL ACTIVITY OF THE ABELMOSCHUS MOSCHATUS MEDIK IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL MODELS

Objective: This study was intended to evaluate the anti-diarrhoeal potential of Abelmoschus moschatus Medik (A. moschatus Medik) seeds and the possible mechanism therein involved by using different experimental models in albino Wistar rats.Methods: The hydroalcoholic seed extract of A. moschatus Medik. (HEAM) was orally administered at the doses of 150, 300 and 500 mg/kg respectively to the different groups in order to assess the effect of extract in castor oil induced diarrhea model in rats. In order to comprehend the mechanism involved in its anti-diarrhoeal potential, the extract was further investigated for its effect on gastrointestinal motility using charcoal meal test and antisecretory action by castor oil induced intestinal enter pooling where, atropine sulphate (5 mg/kg) and loperamide (2 mg/kg) were used as reference standards respectively.Results: The HEAM exhibited significant (p<0.05, p<0.001) and dose-dependent anti-diarrhoeal effect by decreasing the mean number of fecal droppings produced upon castor oil administration as compared to the normal control. The effect of the extract at 500 mg/kg was near to that of loperamide (2 mg/kg). The extract (300 mg/kg) showed antimotility action by significantly (p<0.05, p<0.001) attenuating the charcoal meal transit in the intestine as compared to negative control animals. Further, the extract showed significant (p<0.05, p<0.001) inhibition in the accumulation of intestinal fluid due to castor oil.Conclusion: The HEAM exhibited significant anti-diarrhoeal action that could be presumably related to its observed antimotility and antisecretory activities. This study justifies the usage of A. moschatus Medik. as an anti-diarrhoeal agent in traditional practices of medicine

Synopsis of the genus Cinnamomum Schaeffer (Lauraceae) in India

A checklist of the genus Cinnamomum in India is presented including nomenclature, a brief description, details of the publications where the detailed description and illustration of the species appeared, phenology, distribution of the species within and outside India and IUCN threat status. A total of 45 taxa (43 species and two infraspecific taxa) have been recorded here based on available information. Twenty-four taxa are found to be endemic to India. Kerala in Peninsular India records the largest number of 24 taxa and may be considered as hotspot area for this genus. The genus possesses the greatest phytogeographical affinity to China with 13 species

Experimental and Numerical Studies of Secondary Injection in Nozzle Divergence for Thrust Augmentation

Thrust augmentation in rocket engines using secondary injection in the diverging part of a nozzle is an innovative extension of after burners. This technique finds application in single stage to orbit propulsion devices, where the nozzle has to work at varying ambient pressures. Experimental and numerical studies have been conducted with varying cross flow and injection conditions to analyse the performance augmentation in a 2D nozzle. Schlieren images and wall pressure data are obtained from the experiment. Simulations are con-ducted using a HLLC scheme based finite volume solver. A detailed description of flow physics resulting due to the introduction of sonic angled jet into expanding supersonic flow is presented. It is found that the injection angle, pressure and main flow pressure have notable influence in the performance of the nozzle

Terahertz Magneto Optical Polarization Modulation Spectroscopy

We report the development of new terahertz techniques for rapidly measuring the complex Faraday angle in systems with broken time-reversal symmetry using the cyclotron resonance of a GaAs two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field as a system for demonstration of performance. We have made polarization modulation, high sensitivity (< 1 mrad) narrow band rotation measurements with a CW optically pumped molecular gas laser, and by combining the distinct advantages of terahertz (THz) time domain spectroscopy and polarization modulation techniques, we have demonstrated rapid broadband rotation measurements to < 5 mrad precision.Comment: 25 pages including 7 figures, introduces use of rotating polarizer with THz TDS for Complex Faraday Angle determinatio

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels

The Development of Models Based on Linear and Nonlinear Multivariate Methods to Predict ADME/PK Properties Using Physicochemical Properties of Kinase, Protease Inhibitors, and GPCR Antagonists

Oral bioavailability of a drug compound is the significant property for potential drug candidates. Measuring this property can be costly and time-consuming. Quantitative structure-property relationships (QSPRs) are used to estimate the percentage of oral bioavailability, and they are an attractive alternative to experimental measurements. A data set of 217 drug and drug-like compounds with measured values of the percentage of oral bioavailability taken from the small molecule ChemBioBase database was used to develop and test a QSPR model. Descriptors were calculated for the compounds using Codessa 2.1 tool. Nonlinear general regression neural network model was generated using the DTREG predictive modeling program software. The calculated percentage of oral bioavailability model performs well, with root-mean-square (rms) errors of 4.55% oral bioavailability units for the training set, 14.32% oral bioavailability units for the test set, and 19.12% oral bioavailability units for the external prediction set. Given the structural diversity and bias of the data set, this is a good first attempt at modeling oral bioavailability using QSPR methods. The model can be used as a potential virtual screen or property estimator. With a larger data supply less biased toward the high end values of the percentage of oral bioavailability, a more successful model could likely be developed