NIDANA VIVECHANA IN AKAALAJA JARA – REVIEW

Aging is defined as process of growing old, damage to cells, tissues and organs with the passage of time. Ayurveda being ancient system of medicine, clearly described about Jara and defined it as “Vayakrita slathamamsadi avastha” with other Lakshanas like Khalitya, Palitya, Smritinasha, Ksheenabala etc. In the blown up human civilization of present era and in the midst of increased various stress, improper diet, lack of exercise, low quality of food grain etc has adversely affected on the process of aging and may cause signs of premature aging, which is definitely an alarming sign and it may indicate the shorten lifespan. In Ayurveda prevention of disease has given utmost importance. To prevent any of the diseases one must know the causative factors properly, where Nidanaparivarjana is considered as first line of treatment in most of the diseases. “Everyone grows old”, Jara is an inescapable part of life but premature aging is an unnatural, untimely process. Prevention of this Akaalaja jara is possible only by understanding its Nidanas. There are so many internal and external factors which contribute for premature aging and this article is intended to explore those factors like Aharaja, Viharaja, Manasika nidanas to aim for targeted treatment

Solid crystalline polymorphism in M-21

This paper reports on the different solid crystalline (SC) forms of 4-cyano-4'-heptyloxy biphenyl (M-21) as revealed through differential scanning calorimetric, polarizing microscopic and infrared spectroscopic investigations. There are three solid crystalline modifications, namely SCI,SCII,SCIII. The appearance and preponderance of the SC forms depend critically on the manner in which the liquid crystalline melt solidifies. Each SC phase has its CN stretching band split into two components because of Davydov or correlation splitting. The position, separation and relative intensities of the two components characterize each SC phase. The systematic study of the variations in these three features with temperature leads to interesting information about the intermolecular ordering forces and the spatial arrangement of the molecules in the unit cell. It is shown that the intermolecular interactions of the dipolar nature play a dominant role in the SC phases but contribute negligibly in stabilizing the nematic phase. The angle between the correlated molecules in the unit cell changes in the order SCI> SCII > SCIII > nematic = 0, resulting in parallel arrangement of molecules in the nematic phase

Advancement in biomarker based effective diagnosis of neonatal sepsis

Neonatal sepsis is considered as alarming medical emergency and becomes the common global reason of neonatal mortality. Non-specific symptoms and limitations of conventional diagnostic methods for neonatal sepsis mandate fast and reliable method to diagnose disease for point of care application. Recently, disease specific biomarkers have gained interest for rapid diagnosis that led to the development of electrochemical biosensor with enhanced specificity, sensitivity, cost-effectiveness and user-friendliness. Other than conventional biomarker C-reactive protein to diagnose neonatal sepsis, several potential biomarkers including Procalcitonin (PCT), Serum amyloid A (SAA) and other candidates are extensively investigated. The present review provides insights on advancements and diagnostic abilities of protein and nucleotide based biomarkers with their incorporation in developing electrochemical biosensors by employing novel fabrication strategies. This review provides an overview of most promising biomarker and its capability for neonatal sepsis diagnosis to fulfil future demand to develop electrochemical biosensor for point-of-care applications.</p

Protein/energy ratio and HUFA content in the diet of Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Sauvage, 1878) fingerlings: Effect on growth and flesh quality

A 60 day feeding trial was conducted to study the effect of varying levels of protein/energy (P/E) ratio and highly unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) supplemented diet on growth and flesh quality parameters of Pangasianodon hypophthalmus fingerlings. One hundred and eighty fingerlings of uniform weight (4.32±0.08g) were randomly distributed into five treatment groups with three replications. The five different treatment groups were: Control - T0H0 (basal feed+117 mg/kcal, P/E ratio); T1H0 (basal feed +100 mg/kcal, P/E ratio); T2H0 (basal feed +133 mg/kcal, P/E ratio); T3H1 (basal feed +100 mg/kcal, P/E ratio+1% HUFA) and T4H1 (basal feed + 133 mg/kcal, P/E ratio+1% HUFA). Significantly higher (P<0.05) weight gain (WG) %, specific growth rate (SGR), and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) were observed in the T4H1 and T2H0 groups. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were lowest in the T4H1 group. T3H1 and T4H1 groups manifested significantly higher (P<0.05) value for flesh quality indices such as springiness, adhesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness. Lowest hardness value was found in T4H1 group. Significantly higher (P<0.05) EPA and DHA deposition in fish muscle was observed in T4H1 group. Protease activity was higher in T4H1 group followed by T2H0 group and lowest in T1H0 group. Amylase activity was lower in T2H0 and T4H1 groups. Overall results revealed that P/E ratio of 133 mg/kcal with additional supplementation of 1% HUFA in the diet enhances growth and improves flesh quality of P. hypophthalmus fingerling

NANOSUSPENSION: AN OVERVIEW

Nanotechnology has emerged as a tremendous field in the medicine. Nano refers to particles size range of 1-1000nm. Nanosuspensions are part of nanotechnology. Nanosuspensions contain submicron colloidal dispersion of pharmaceutical active ingredient particles in a liquid phase stabilized by surfactants. Nanosuspension technology is a unique andeconomical approach to overcome poor bioavailability that is related with the delivery of hydrophobic drugs, including those that are poorly soluble in aqueous media. Nanosuspensions are important carriers to develop novel drug formulations. Few techniques such as precipitation methods, milling methods and homogenization methods are developed to produce nanosuspension (NS) and have been successfully employed in large-scale production. They are administered by Parenteral, per oral, ocular and pulmonary routes. Now their application also extended to site specific delivery. Nanosuspensions are prepared by using wet mill, high pressure homogenizer, emulsionâ€solvent evaporation, melt emulsification method and super critical fluid techniques. Nanosuspension technology can be used to improve the stability as well as bioavailability of poorly soluble drug. Nanosuspensions are also use in various dosage forms, including specialized drug delivery system such as mucoadhesive hydrogel. The unique features of nanosuspensions have enabled their use in various dosage forms, including specialized delivery systems such as mucoadhesive hydrogels. Rapid strides have been made in the delivery of nanosuspensions by parenteral, per-oral, ocular and pulmonary routes. Currently, efforts are being directed to extending their applications in site-specific drug delivery

Multi-wavelength Diagnostics of the Precursor and Main phases of an M1.8 Flare on 2011 April 22

We study the temporal, spatial and spectral evolution of the M1.8 flare, which occurred in NOAA AR 11195 (S17E31) on 22 April 2011, and explore the underlying physical processes during the precursors and their relation to the main phase. The study of the source morphology using the composite images in 131 {\deg}A wavelength observed by the SDO/AIA and 6-14 keV revealed a multiloop system that destabilized systematically during the precursor and main phases. In contrast, HXR emission (20-50 keV) was absent during the precursor phase, appearing only from the onset of the impulsive phase in the form of foot-points of emitting loop/s. This study has also revealed the heated loop-top prior to the loop emission, although no accompanying foot-point sources were observed during the precursor phase. We estimate the flare plasma parameters viz. T, EM, power-law index, and photon turn-over energy by forward fitting RHESSI spectral observations. The energy released in the precursor phase was thermal and constituted ~1 per cent of the total energy released during the flare. The study of morphological evolution of the filament in conjunction with synthesized T and EM maps has been carried out which reveals (a) Partial filament eruption prior to the onset of the precursor emission, (b) Heated dense plasma over the polarity inversion line and in the vicinity of the slowly rising filament during the precursor phase. Based on the implications from multi-wavelength observations, we propose a scheme to unify the energy release during the precursor and main phase emissions in which, the precursor phase emission has been originated via conduction front formed due to the partial filament eruption. Next, the heated leftover S-shaped filament has undergone slow rise and heating due to magnetic reconnection and finally erupted to produce emission during the impulsive and gradual phases.Comment: 16 Pages, 11 Figures, Accepted for Publication in MNRAS Main Journa

Disk-Jet Connection in Cygnus X-3

We present the results of a detailed correlation study between the soft X-ray, hard X-ray, and radio emission (obtained from RXTE ASM, BATSE, and GBI observations, respectively) of the bright radio emitting Galactic X-ray binary Cygnus X-3. We detect a very strong positive correlation between the soft X-ray and radio emission during the low-hard and minor flaring periods of the source, and an anti-correlation between the soft and hard X-ray emissions. We present statistical arguments to suggest that the anti-correlation between the radio and hard X-ray emission, reported earlier, is primarily due to their correlation and anti-correlation, respectively, with the soft X-ray emission. We make a wide band X-ray spectral study using the pointed RXTE observations and detect a pivotal behaviour in the X-ray spectrum. We argue that this X-ray spectral pivoting is responsible for the anti-correlation between the soft and hard X-ray emissions. The strong correlation between the soft X-ray and radio emission suggests a close link between the accreting mechanism, plasma cloud surrounding the compact object and the radio emission.Comment: Accepted in A&A Letters. Major revioson of discussion, minor revision of tables and figure

Parity Effects in Eigenvalue Correlators, Parametric and Crossover Correlators in Random Matrix Models: Application to Mesoscopic systems

This paper summarizes some work I've been doing on eigenvalue correlators of Random Matrix Models which show some interesting behaviour. First we consider matrix models with gaps in there spectrum or density of eigenvalues. The density-density correlators of these models depend on whether N, where N is the size of the matrix, takes even or odd values. The fact that this dependence persists in the large N thermodynamic limit is an unusual property and may have consequences in the study of one electron effects in mesoscopic systems. Secondly, we study the parametric and cross correlators of the Harish Chandra-Itzykson-Zuber matrix model. The analytic expressions determine how the correlators change as a parameter (e.g. the strength of a perturbation in the hamiltonian of the chaotic system or external magnetic field on a sample of material) is varied. The results are relevant for the conductance fluctuations in disordered mesoscopic systems.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, 2 Figure