HS-C reactive protein and red blood cell distribution width as effective markers for hypertension

Background: Hypertension or elevated blood pressure is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. HsCRP, which is a known marker for CVD, is also one of the predictive markers of inflammation processes which result in hypertension. Increased RDW is also believed to be associated with CVD morbidity and mortality in patients with previous myocardial infarction, brain vascular disease, strokes, septicemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hepatitis B. Methods: 200 patients 100 male and 100 females and 50 each of controls were selected for the study. Complete demographic details were collected from all the patients including the age, sex, height, weight, BMI, smoking/nonsmoking status, alcoholism etc. After a thorough clinical examination, venous blood was collected from all the patients after an overnight fast for lipid profile, hs-CRP and complete blood count. Results: The patients in both males and females had a higher BMI than that of the controls. Hs-CRP levels in males was 1.64 mg/L and in females it was 1.47 mg/L. Significant difference was seen in the RDW values also in the patients. Conclusions: Hs-CRP levels and RDW levels are both equally effective as a predictive marker for hypertension.Background: Hypertension or elevated blood pressure is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. HsCRP, which is a known marker for CVD, is also one of the predictive markers of inflammation processes which result in hypertension. Increased RDW is also believed to be associated with CVD morbidity and mortality in patients with previous myocardial infarction, brain vascular disease, strokes, septicemia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hepatitis B. Methods: 200 patients 100 male and 100 females and 50 each of controls were selected for the study. Complete demographic details were collected from all the patients including the age, sex, height, weight, BMI, smoking/nonsmoking status, alcoholism etc. After a thorough clinical examination, venous blood was collected from all the patients after an overnight fast for lipid profile, hs-CRP and complete blood count. Results: The patients in both males and females had a higher BMI than that of the controls. Hs-CRP levels in males was 1.64 mg/L and in females it was 1.47 mg/L. Significant difference was seen in the RDW values also in the patients. Conclusions: Hs-CRP levels and RDW levels are both equally effective as a predictive marker for hypertension

Three Dimensional Casson nanofluid Flow with Convective Boundary Layer via Stretching Sheet

The present work examined Casson nanofluid in a three-dimensional boundary layer motion via stretching sheet. The study focuses on analyzing the behavior of a Casson nanofluid, which is one type of non-Newtonian fluid. The study appears to involve solving partial differential equations related to fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer. These PDEs are transformed into ordinary differential equations using standard similarity variables. To solve the ODEs, the researchers employ the Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg (R-K-F) 4th order iterative scheme. It appears that higher values of the Biot number can significantly affect the temperature and concentration profiles in the Casson liquid flow

Ocimum sanctum: a review on the pharmacological properties

Herbal medicine, the backbone of traditional medicine in many countries have played an important role in curing the diseases of humans since ancient time. Medicinal plants are great source of bioactive compounds and chemical structures that have potential beneficial effects. The present review compiles information on ethnopharmacologically useful information and pharmacological properties of Ocimum sanctum. Ocimum sanctum (OS) has many medicinal properties like antioxidant, antidiabetic, antiulcer, anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal and other. The phytochemicals compounds of Ocimum, alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolics, essential oils, tannins and saponins play an important role in herbal medicine. Bioactive compounds of Ocimum responsible for its various medicinal properties and their effects at the molecular level need to be investigated in more detail. Furthermore, pharmacological properties of bioactive compounds in Ocimum sanctum are required to confirm the ethnomedicinal claims of Ocimum sanctum for pharmaceutical therapeutic applications

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 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

Role of Duration of Diabetes on Ventilatory Capacities and Expiratory Flow Rates in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic debilitating problem with increasing incidence and long term complications such as diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy etc. These complications are mainly a consequence of macro vascular and micro vascular damages of the target organs. The magnitude of the complications of diabetes is related to its duration. Less has been known about the after effects of diabetes on lungs. So this work was carried out to know the relation between duration of diabetes and lung volumes and capacities in Type 2 DM patients. The presence of an extensive micro vascular circulation and abundant connective tissue in the lungs raises the possibility that lung tissue may be affected by Microangiopathy process and non-enzymatic glycosylation of tissue proteins, induced by chronic hyperglycemia, there by rendering the lung a “target organ” in diabetic patients.  This is a cross-sectional study, the test group were Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients (n=50) with duration of 2-35 years, the control group were staff of Narayana medical college (n=50). Written consent was obtained from them. The following lung function parameters were recorded: Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in the first second (FEV1), Forced Expiratory Volume percent (FEV1/FVC %), Peak Expiratory Flow Rate (PEFR), Forced Expiratory Flow 25-75% (FEF25-75%), Maximum Voluntary Ventilation (MVV). The mean FVC, FEV1, PEFR, FEF25-75%, MVV values are low in diabetics compared to controls (p value <0.001) and the parameters showed significant negative correlation with duration of diabetes. Key words: Chronic hyperglycemia, Diabetes mellitus, Microangiopathy, Micro vascular circulation, Pulmonary function test

Expression of Pennisetum glaucum Eukaryotic Translational Initiation Factor 4A (PgeIF4A) Confers Improved Drought, Salinity, and Oxidative Stress Tolerance in Groundnut

Eukaryotic translational initiation factor 4A belong to family of helicases, involved in multifunctional activities during stress and non-stress conditions. The eIF4A gene was isolated and cloned from semi-arid cereal crop of Pennisetum glaucum. In present study, the PgeIF4A gene was expressed under the regulation of stress inducible Arabidopsis rd29A promoter in groundnut (cv JL-24) with bar as a selectable marker. The de-embryonated cotyledons were infected with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (LBA4404) carrying rd29A:PgeIF4A construct and generated high frequency of multiple shoots in phosphinothricin medium. Twenty- four T0 plants showed integration of both nos-bar and rd29A-PgeIF4A gene cassettes in genome with expected amplification products of 429 and 654 bps, respectively. Transgene copy number integration was observed in five T0 transgenic plants through Southern blot analysis. Predicted Mendelian ratio of segregation (3:1) was noted in transgenic plants at T1 generation. The T2 homozygous lines (L1-5, L8-2, and L16-2) expressing PgeIF4A gene were exhibited superior growth performance with respect to phenotypic parameters like shoot length, tap root length, and lateral root formation under simulated drought and salinity stresses compared to the wild type. In addition, the chlorophyll retention was found to be higher in these plants compared to the control plants. The quantitative real time—PCR results confirmed higher expression of PgeIF4A gene in L1-5, L8-3, and L16-2 plants imposed with drought/salt stress. Further, the salt stress tolerance was associated with increase in oxidative stress markers, such as superoxide dismutase accumulation, reactive oxygen species scavenging, and membrane stability in transgenic plants. Taken together our results confirmed that the PgeIF4A gene expressing transgenic groundnut plants exhibited better adaptation to stress conditions

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of N-Substituted Maleimide Derivatives as Exogenous Antioxidant Agents

A series of N-substituted maleimide derivatives have been developed via acetic acid-mediated microwave reaction pathway, which was identified as the incomparable method for this maleimide compounds. All the synthesized compounds were tested for antioxidant activity by DPPH and H 2 O 2 methods. Compounds 5h and 5m were displayed with higher antioxidant activity in two methods. The structure–activity relationship demonstrated that the compounds having electron releasing substitutions 5h and 5m generally show beneficial activity than electron capture substitution cores. Thus, compounds 5h and 5m may be useful as an exogenous antioxidant. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Groundnut

Groundnut, a crop rich in nutrients, originated in South America and spread to the rest of the world. Cultivated groundnut contains a fraction of the genetic diversity present in their closely related wild relatives, which is not more than 13 %, due to domestication bottleneck. Closely related ones are placed in section Arachis , which have not been extensively utilized until now due to ploidy differences between the cultivated and wild relatives. In order to overcome Arachis species utilization bottleneck, a large number of tetraploid synthetics were developed at the Legume Cell Biology Unit of Grain Legumes Program, ICRISAT, India. Evaluation of synthetics for some of the constraints showed that these were good sources of multiple disease and pest resistances. Some of the synthetics were utilized by developing ABQTL mapping populations, which were screened for some biotic and abiotic constraints. Phenotyping experiments showed ABQTL progeny lines with traits of interest necessary for the improvement of groundnut