Determination of total phenol, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Avena sativa and Ocimum basilicum

The present study investigated the total content of phenolic compounds, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of water extracts oat (Avena sativa) and basil (Ocimum basilicum), medicinal plants. The Folin-ciocalteu reagent assay was used to estimate the total phenolic content of plants extract. The antioxidant capacity of the plants extract was tested by ferric reducing/antioxidant power Assay (FRAP) and ferric reducing scavenging activity using DPPH method, and the antimicrobial activity was measured against [Staphylococcus epidermidis; Staphylococcus aureus; Proteus spp.; Klebsiella spp.; Escherichia coli; Candida albicans] as tester strains. The total phenolic content of Avena sativa and Ocimum basilicum extracts revealed that the mixture of plants showed higher content. The mixture of Avena sativa and Ocimum basilicum extracts showed the highest antioxidant capacity followed by Avena sativa extract and Ocimum basilicum extract with FRAP and DPPH assay. However, mixture of Avena sativa and Ocimum basilicum extracts exhibited the highest antimicrobial activity when compared to the other extracts. Thus the study revealed that the consumption of mixture herbs may enhance the immune power of our body against diseases due to free radicals

Amerindian Ancestry Influences Genetic Susceptibility to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

The contribution of genetic ancestry on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) predisposition remains unclear. To explore this relationship, we analyzed the associations between 754,159 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and risk of COPD (n = 214 cases, 193 healthy controls) in Talca, Chile, considering the genetic ancestry and established risk factors. The proportion of Mapuche ancestry (PMA) was based on a panel of 45 Mapuche reference individuals. Five PRDM15 SNPs and two PPP1R12B SNPs were associate with COPD risk (p = 0.05 to 5x10(-4)) in those individuals with lower PMA. Based on linkage disequilibrium and sliding window analyses, an adjacent PRDM15 SNPs were associated with COPD risk in the lower PMA group (p = 10(-3) to 3.77x10(-8)). Our study is the first to report an association between PPP1R12B and COPD risk, as well as effect modification between ethnicity and PRDM15 SNPs in determining COPD risk. Our results are biologically plausible given that PPP1R12B and PRDM15 are involved in immune dysfunction and autoimmunity, providing mechanistic evidence for COPD pathogenesis and highlighting the importance to conduct more genome wide association studies (GWAS) in admixed populations with Amerindian descent

Reduced Incidence of Slowly Progressive Heymann Nephritis in Rats Immunized With a Modified Vaccination Technique

A slowly progressive Heymann nephritis (SPHN) was induced in three groups of rats by weekly injections of a chemically modified renal tubular antigen in an aqueous medium. A control group of rats received the chemically unmodified version of the antigen in an aqueous solution. One group of SPHN rats were pre- and post-treated with weekly injections of IC made up of rKF3 and rarKF3 IgM antibody at antigen excess (MIC) (immune complexes [ICs] containing sonicated ultracentrifuged [u/c] rat kidney fraction 3 [rKF3] antigen and IgM antibodies specific against the antigen, at slight antigen excess). One group of SPHN rats were post-treated with MIC 3 weeks after the induction of the disease and one group of SPHN animals received no treatment. The control group of rats received pre- and post-treatment with sonicated u/c rKF3

Agreement between questionnaires and registry data on routes to diagnosis and milestone dates of the cancer diagnostic pathway

BACKGROUND The routes to diagnosis and the time intervals along the diagnostic pathway affect cancer outcomes. Some data on routes to diagnosis and milestone dates can be extracted from registries or databases. When this data is incomplete, inaccurate or non-existing, other data sources are needed. This study investigates the agreement between multiple data sources on routes to diagnosis and milestone dates of cancer pathway. METHODS Information on routes to diagnosis and milestone dates were compared across four data sources (cancer patients, general practitioners, cancer specialists and registries) for breast, colorectal, lung and ovarian cancers across the UK, Scandinavia, Canada and Australia. Agreement on routes to diagnosis and milestone dates was assessed by Kappa and AC1 coefficients and Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). RESULTS 4502 patients were included in the analysis of routes to diagnosis. The agreement was almost perfect (kappa = 0.15–0.88, AC1 = 0.86–0.91) for breast cancer, substantial to almost perfect (kappa = 0.07–0.86, AC1 = 0.74–0.93) for colorectal and ovarian cancers, and substantial (kappa = 0.09–0.11, AC1 = 0.65–0.74) for lung cancer. 2287 patients were included in the analysis of milestone dates. The agreement was adequate for all cancer types (CCC = 0.88–0.99); highest agreement was seen for date of diagnosis (CCC = 0.94–0.99). CONCLUSION We found a reasonable agreement between patient/physician questionnaires and registry data for routes to diagnosis and milestone dates. The agreement on routes to diagnosis was generally higher for breast cancer than for colorectal, ovarian and lung cancers. Lower agreement was seen on date of first presentation to primary care and date of treatment initiation compared to date of diagnosis

Coupling of quantile regression into boosted regression trees (BRT) technique in forecasting emission model of PM10 concentration

Air pollution is currently becoming a significant global environmental issue. The sources of air pollution in Malaysia are mobile or stationary. Motor vehicles are one of the mobile sources. Stationary sources originated from emissions caused by urban development, quarrying and power plants and petrochemical. The most noticeable contaminant in the Peninsular of Malaysia is the particulate matter (PM10), the highest contributor of Air Pollution Index (API) compared to other pollution parameters. The aim of this study is to determine the best loss function between quantile regression (QR) and ordinary least squares (OLS) using boosted regression tree (BRT) for the prediction of PM10 concentration in Alor Setar, Klang and Kota Bharu, Malaysia. Model comparison statistics using coefficient of determination (R2), prediction accuracy (PA), index of agreement (IA), normalized absolute error (NAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) show that QR is slightly better than OLS with the performance of R2 (0.60–0.73), PA (0.78–0.85), IA (0.86–0.92), NAE (0.15–0.17) and RMSE (9.52–22.15) for next-day predictions in BRT model

Leading-effect vs. Risk-taking in Dynamic Tournaments: Evidence from a Real-life Randomized Experiment

Two 'order effects' may emerge in dynamic tournaments with information feedback. First, participants adjust effort across stages, which could advantage the leading participant who faces a larger 'effective prize' after an initial victory (leading-effect). Second, participants lagging behind may increase risk at the final stage as they have 'nothing to lose' (risk-taking). We use a randomized natural experiment in professional two-game soccer tournaments where the treatment (order of a stage-specific advantage) and team characteristics, e.g. ability, are independent. We develop an identification strategy to test for leading-effects controlling for risk-taking. We find no evidence of leading-effects and negligible risk-taking effects

Increased RPA1 gene dosage affects genomic stability potentially contributing to 17p13.3 duplication syndrome

A novel microduplication syndrome involving various-sized contiguous duplications in 17p13.3 has recently been described, suggesting that increased copy number of genes in 17p13.3, particularly PAFAH1B1, is associated with clinical features including facial dysmorphism, developmental delay, and autism spectrum disorder. We have previously shown that patient-derived cell lines from individuals with haploinsufficiency of RPA1, a gene within 17p13.3, exhibit an impaired ATR-dependent DNA damage response (DDR). Here, we show that cell lines from patients with duplications specifically incorporating RPA1 exhibit a different although characteristic spectrum of DDR defects including abnormal S phase distribution, attenuated DNA double strand break (DSB)-induced RAD51 chromatin retention, elevated genomic instability, and increased sensitivity to DNA damaging agents. Using controlled conditional over-expression of RPA1 in a human model cell system, we also see attenuated DSB-induced RAD51 chromatin retention. Furthermore, we find that transient over-expression of RPA1 can impact on homologous recombination (HR) pathways following DSB formation, favouring engagement in aberrant forms of recombination and repair. Our data identifies unanticipated defects in the DDR associated with duplications in 17p13.3 in humans involving modest RPA1 over-expression

Infrared composition of the Large Magellanic Cloud

The evolution of galaxies and the history of star formation in the Universe are among the most important topics in today's astrophysics. Especially, the role of small, irregular galaxies in the star-formation history of the Universe is not yet clear. Using the data from the AKARI IRC survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud at 3.2, 7, 11, 15, and 24 {\mu}m wavelengths, i.e., at the mid- and near-infrared, we have constructed a multiwavelength catalog containing data from a cross-correlation with a number of other databases at different wavelengths. We present the separation of different classes of stars in the LMC in color-color, and color-magnitude, diagrams, and analyze their contribution to the total LMC flux, related to point sources at different infrared wavelengths

Robustness analysis of discrete predictor-based controllers for input-delay systems

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