Effect of organic manures on the performance of ginger under Northern Dry Zone of Karnataka

A field trial was conducted to assess the effect of different organic manures on the performance of ginger cv. Humnabad. Higher growth, yield and quality attributes were observed in the treatment receiving FYM (25 t ha-1) along with recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) (100 : 50 : 50 kg NPK ha-1) followed by poultry manure (5 t ha-1) along with RDF. Among the treatments, significantly higher fresh rhizome yield was recorded in FYM + RDF (16.52 t ha-1) followed by poultry manure (5 t ha-1) + RDF (16.23 t ha-1) and press mud (10 t ha-1) + RDF (15.47 t ha-1). Net returns per ha ranged between Rs. 1.30 lakh (FYM+RDF) and Rs. 0.48 lakh (Neem cake @ 2 t ha-1). &nbsp

Prevalence of fumonisin producing Fusarium verticillioides associated with cereals grown in Karnataka (India)

Isoxazole derivatives are an important group of chemotherapeutic prototypes. In the current study, we have synthesized few isoxazole derivatives and tested them for their antiproliferative properties in cancer cell lines such as MCF7 and HeLa. The lead compound, 3-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-5-(thiophen-2-yl)isoxazole (2b), showed considerable inhibition of proliferation of MCF7 and HeLa cells with the IC50 values of 19.5 and 39.2 µM, respectively. Cell cycle analyses and annexin-FITC staining in 2b-treated breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF7) showed increased sub-G1 population and apoptosis. Furthermore, we tested the tumor inhibitory effect of 2b and estrogen receptor expression profile in DMBA-induced mammary tumors in Sprague–Dawley rats. The gross morphology of tumor studies was investigated by histopathology and ERα protein expression was evaluated by immunohistochemistry, which showed tumor regression and downregulation of ERα in tumor cells. The present results implicate that compound 2b could be used for the further derivatization for the treatment of breast cancer

Measurement of temperature and pressure on the surface of a blunt cone using FBG sensor in hypersonic wind tunnel

Measurement of temperature and pressure exerted on the leeward surface of a blunt cone specimen has been demonstrated in the present work in a hypersonic wind tunnel using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. The experiments were conducted on a 30 degrees apex-angle blunt cone with 51 mm base diameter at wind flow speeds of Mach 6.5 and 8.35 in a 300 mm hypersonic wind tunnel of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. A special pressure insensitive temperature sensor probe along with the conventional bare FBG sensors was used for explicit temperature and aerodynamic pressure measurement respectively on the leeward surface of the specimen. computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the flow field around the blunt cone specimen has also been carried out to obtain the temperature and pressure at conditions analogous to experiments. The results obtained from FBG sensors and the CFD simulations are found to be in good agreement with each other

Synthesis and antiproliferative effect of novel 4-thiazolidinone-, pyridine- and piperazine-based conjugates on human leukemic cells

The present work reveals the synthesis and antiproliferative effect of a series of 2, 3 disubstituted 4-thiazolidinone analogues on human leukemic cells. The chemical structures of newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and mass spectral analysis. Compound methyl 3-methoxy-4-(4-oxo-3-(5-(piperazin-1-yl)pyridin-2-yl)thiazolidin-2-yl) benzoate (5) displayed potent activity (IC509.71, 15.24 and 19.29 μM) against Nalm6, K562, Jurkat cells. Cell cycle analysis and mitochondrial membrane potential further confirmed that compound 5 is cytotoxic and able to induce cell death

A novel benzimidazole derivative binds to the DNA minor groove and induces apoptosis in leukemic cells

DNA minor groove binders are an important class of chemotherapeutic agents. These small molecule inhibitors interfere with various cellular processes like DNA replication and transcription. Several benzimidazole derivatives showed affinity towards the DNA minor groove. In this study we show the synthesis and biological studies of a novel benzimidazole derivative (MH1), that inhibits topoisomerase II activity and in vitro transcription. UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopic methods in conjunction with Hoechst displacement assay demonstrate that MH1 binds to DNA at the minor groove. Cytotoxic studies showed that leukemic cells are more sensitive to MH1 compared to cancer cells of epithelial origin. Further, we find that MH1 treatment leads to cell cycle arrest at G2/M, at early time points in Molt4 cells. Finally multiple cellular assays demonstrate that MH1 treatment leads to reduction in MMP, induction of apoptosis by activating CASPASE 9 and CASPASE 3. Thus our study shows MH1, a novel DNA minor groove binder, induces cytotoxicity efficiently in leukemic cells by activating the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis

Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor Instrumentation for Parking Space Occupancy Management

This work aims at providing an effective parking management system by reducing the drivers' searching time for vacant car-parking space, in turn improving the traffic flow in the car park areas. This is achieved by the use of Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor (FBG) sensor instrumentation in vehicle parking management system. Present work involves embedding an array of FBG sensors underground in the parking space, then determining the strain changes on the FBG sensor due to load applied by the vehicle parked in the parking space, occupancy of the parking space is determined. To validate the FBG sensor parking management system, three most common cases have been considered. This closed loop FBG parking management system can give real-time feed-back to space-guidance display board helping the driver in maneuvering the vehicle to the appropriate parking space. The proposed technique offers optimized usage of parking space for the various segments of cars and also facilitates in a conjoined automated billing system, as compared to conventional method of parking systems

Regioselective synthesis and biological studies of novel 1-aryl-3, 5-bis (het) aryl pyrazole derivatives as potential antiproliferative agents

Pyrazole moiety represents an important category of heterocyclic compound in pharmaceutical and medicinal chemistry. The novel 1-aryl-3, 5-bis (het) aryl pyrazole derivatives were synthesized with complementary regioselectivity. The chemical structures were confirmed by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass spectral analysis. The chemical entities were screened in various cancer cell lines to assess their cell viability activity. Results showed that the compound 3-(1-(4-bromophenyl)-5-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl) pyridine (5d) possessed maximum cytotoxic effect against breast cancer and leukemic cells. The cytotoxicity was confirmed by live--dead cell assay and cell cycle analysis. Mitochondrial membrane potential, Annexin V-FITC staining, DNA fragmentation, Hoechst staining, and western blot assays revealed the ability of compound 5d to induce cell death by activating apoptosis in cancer cells. Thus, the present study demonstrates that compound 5d could be an attractive chemical entity for the development of small molecule inhibitors for treatment of leukemia and breast cancer