Study of Geometric Features of Road and Accident Rate

The increase in traffic across the globe has resulted in the increase in the number of accidents on roads. This has resulted in the study of the reasons for accidents and also the factors which cause them. In this thesis, the factors affecting the accident rate have been studied and also how much they contribute to the accident rate has been found out using regression analysis and analysis of variance.A national highway of plain terrain has been studied and the results were found out. The accident rate has been found out by regression analysis for various geometric features of road such as horizontal radius, super elevation, K-value, vertical grade, visibility, vertical arc length, rate of change of super elevation and accident rate. The findings show that the accident rate is highly influenced by the factors such as super elevation, horizontal radius, K-value in case of plain and rolling terrain

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF LEMON PEEL OIL/GASOLINE BLEND IN A PFI ENGINE

Research on alternative fuels for fossil fuels become prominent due to the gradual depletion of fossil fuel and global warming. Lemon Peel Oil (LPO) is an alternative biofuel produced from lemon rinds. LPO has its properties lower heating value, octane number and air/fuel ratio are similar to that of gasoline. In this study, LPO is used in SI Engine as an alternative fuel. In this study, the experimental investigation of LPO-gasoline blends for combustion, performance, and emission characteristics in an SI engine. For this work, gasoline and two different LPO-gasoline blends, 20% and 40% by volume concentration of LPO, has been prepared. The present work is investigated in the Port Fuel Injection (PFI), a four-stroke single cylinder engine. The engine is operated under various loading conditions at an equivalence ratio of one and constant speed (1500 RPM). The results of different LPO-blends are compared with the baseline gasoline under various loads for the analysis of combustion, performance and emission. For the statistical analysis, ANOVA with two-factor interaction is performed. The results of shows that LPO-gasoline blends have similar brake specific fuel consumption and brake thermal efficiency to that of gasoline. The combustion characteristics heat release rate and in-cylinder pressure mean gas pressure, of LPO-gasoline blends, have similar trends that of gasoline. The decrease in emissions of HC and CO are observed with an increase of LPO content in blends. However, with the increase of LPO content in blends, an increase in NOx emissions is observed. The results indicate that LPO is a suitable alternative fuel for gasoline SI engine

Pharmaceuticals and Agro-Chemicals in Groundwater of Hyderabad, India

Organic micropollutants continue to worsen groundwater pollution, especially in many areas of the world where water resources are becoming scarce. India uses groundwater more than any other nation. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the groundwater quality of Hyderabad, India by comprehensively analyzing organic micropollutants. Samples were collected from groundwater borewells in eight different sites (Begumpet, Bharatnagar, Dundigal, Jubilee Hills, Kukatpally, Sanath nagar, Tarnaka, and Tirumalagiri). The non-targeted screening analysis was performed using liquid chromatographyquadrupole time-of-flight (LC-QTOF). About 250 different compounds were detected in total from all the samples. This includes pharmaceuticals, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, hormones, steroids, cosmetics, plasticizers, cyanotoxins, and metabolites. In all samples, pharmaceuticals accounted for approximately 50% of the detected compounds. The Sanath nagar groundwater sample had been detected with more than 130 compounds and the least number of compounds were detected in Taranaka, Jubilee Hills, and Kukatpally areas. Apramycin (veterinary drug) and Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (plasticizer) had been found in all eight samples. The high abundance values were observed for 17αβ - Dihydroequilin, Avobenzone, Butachlor, Clarithromycin-N-oxide, Dibutyl phthalate, Doxepin, Estriol, Napropamide, and Nefazodone. Estriol and 17αβ - Dihydroequilin are the largest endocrine disruptors. The presence of various pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals in groundwater reveals pollution either directly or indirectly, by the discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater

Recent applications of Cp2TiCl in natural product synthesis

This review highlights the recent applications of titanocene(III) complexes in the field of natural product synthesis from the seminal precedents to the development of modern catalytic methods. The power of the titanocene(III)-based approaches is demonstrated by the straightforward syntheses of many natural products from readily available starting materials.We thank the Regional Government of Andalucía (project P09-FQM-4571), MICINN (project CTQ-2011.22455), and CEI-Biotic for financial support. SPM thanks the Regional Government of Andalucía for her FPI fellowship. DM and AGC thank the Regional Government of Andalucía and the MICINN ( Juan de la Cierva) for their postdoctoral contracts

Multifactorial anticancer effects of digalloyl-resveratrol encompass apoptosis, cell-cycle arrest, and inhibition of lymphendothelial gap formation in vitro

BACKGROUND: Digalloyl-resveratrol (di-GA) is a synthetic compound aimed to combine the biological effects of the plant polyhydroxy phenols gallic acid and resveratrol, which are both radical scavengers and cyclooxygenase inhibitors exhibiting anticancer activity. Their broad spectrum of activities may probably be due to adjacent free hydroxyl groups. METHODS: Protein activation and expression were analysed by western blotting, deoxyribonucleoside triphosphate levels by HPLC, ribonucleotide reductase activity by 14 C-cytidine incorporation into nascent DNA and cell-cycle distribution by FACS. Apoptosis was measured by Hoechst 33258/propidium iodide double staining of nuclear chromatin and the formation of gaps into the lymphendothelial barrier in a three-dimensional co-culture model consisting of MCF-7 tumour cell spheroids and human lymphendothelial monolayers. RESULTS: In HL-60 leukaemia cells, di-GA activated caspase 3 and dose-dependently induced apoptosis. It further inhibited cell-cycle progression in the G1 phase by four different mechanisms: rapid downregulation of cyclin D1, induction of Chk2 with simultaneous downregulation of Cdc25A, induction of the Cdk-inhibitor p21(Cip/Waf) and inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase activity resulting in reduced dCTP and dTTP levels. Furthermore, di-GA inhibited the generation of lymphendothelial gaps by cancer cell spheroid-secreted lipoxygenase metabolites. Lymphendothelial gaps, adjacent to tumour bulks, can be considered as gates facilitating metastatic spread. CONCLUSION: These data show that di-GA exhibits three distinct anticancer activities: induction of apoptosis, cell-cycle arrest and disruption of cancer cell-induced lymphendothelial disintegration. British Journal of Cancer (2010) 102, 1361-1370. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6605656 www.bjcancer.com (C) 2010 Cancer Research U

Marine Cyanobacteria Compounds with Anticancer Properties: Implication of Apoptosis

Marine cyanobacteria have been proved to be an important source of potential anticancer drugs. Although several compounds were found to be cytotoxic to cancer cells in culture, the pathways by which cells are affected are still poorly elucidated. For some compounds, cancer cell death was attributed to an implication of apoptosis through morphological apoptotic features, implication of caspases and proteins of the Bcl-2 family, and other mechanisms such as interference with microtubules dynamics, cell cycle arrest and inhibition of proteases other than caspases

Cryptophycins: cytotoxic cyclodepsipeptides with potential for tumor targeting

Weiss C, Figueras Agustí E, Borbély AN, Sewald N. Cryptophycins: cytotoxic cyclodepsipeptides with potential for tumor targeting. Journal of Peptide Science. 2017;23(7-8):514-531.Cryptophycins are a class of 16-membered highly cytotoxic macrocyclic depsipeptides isolated from cyanobacteria. The biological activity is based on their ability to interact with tubulin. They interfere with microtubule dynamics and prevent microtubules from forming correct mitotic spindles, which causes cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Their strong antiproliferative activities with 100-fold to 1000-fold potency compared with those of paclitaxel and vinblastine have been observed. Cryptophycins are highly promising drug candidates, as their biological activity is not negatively affected by P-glycoprotein, a drug efflux system commonly found in multidrug-resistant cancer cell lines and solid tumors. Cryptophycin-52 had been investigated in phase II clinical trials but failed because of its high neurotoxicity. Recently, cryptophycin conjugates with peptides and antibodies have been developed for targeted delivery in tumor therapy. Copyright © 2017 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd