MAPPING THE RESEARCH OUTPUT OF “JOURNAL OF BIOSCIENCE AND BIOENGINEERING” (2007-2016) : A SINGLE JOURNAL SCIENTOMETRIC STUDY

A scientometric analysis was conducted on 2835 articles published in the Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering from 2007-2016, downloaded from Web of Science on 12.03.2017 and analysed using Bibexcel and MS Excel. The study reveals that : Year 2009 had seen a maximum of (709, 25.01%) articles; volume 108 is most productive; RGR decreased from 1.00 in 2009 to 0.08 in 2016. The doubling time of the research output kept on increasing from 2009 ; Kondo A is the most productive author with 52 (1.83%) articles; Only 56 (1.98%) articles were contributed in single author style ; The authors working in small research teams have contributed the most; The overall degree of collaboration for the study period is 98.02; Fukusaki E has the highest h-index of 14 for his 46 articles and 582 citations; Bamba T and Fukusaki E are the most prolific joint authors who have contributed 35 articles; 1/4th of the articles (25.26 %, 176) did not receive any citation and 10% of the articles received just one citation. Less number of articles received highest number of citations; the articles published during 2006-2010 have received more citations than those during 2013-2016; Average citations per volume is 1095; Average citations per article is 8; Japan has emerged as the most productive country with the SPI of 63.21 (1792 articles); Japan and china have collectively published 47 articles; Osaka University is the most productive organization with 276 articles; a majority of 21.09% (598) of articles have 6 pages

MAPPING THE RESEARCH OUTPUT OF “JOURNAL OF BIOSCIENCE AND BIOENGINEERING” (2007-2016) : A SINGLE JOURNAL SCIENTOMETRIC STUDY

A scientometric analysis was conducted on 2835 articles published in the Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering from 2007-2016, downloaded from Web of Science on 12.03.2017 and analysed using Bibexcel and MS Excel. The study reveals that : Year 2009 had seen a maximum of (709, 25.01%) articles; volume 108 is most productive; RGR decreased from 1.00 in 2009 to 0.08 in 2016. The doubling time of the research output kept on increasing from 2009 ; Kondo A is the most productive author with 52 (1.83%) articles; Only 56 (1.98%) articles were contributed in single author style ; The authors working in small research teams have contributed the most; The overall degree of collaboration for the study period is 98.02; Fukusaki E has the highest h-index of 14 for his 46 articles and 582 citations; Bamba T and Fukusaki E are the most prolific joint authors who have contributed 35 articles; 1/4th of the articles (25.26 %, 176) did not receive any citation and 10% of the articles received just one citation. Less number of articles received highest number of citations; the articles published during 2006-2010 have received more citations than those during 2013-2016; Average citations per volume is 1095; Average citations per article is 8; Japan has emerged as the most productive country with the SPI of 63.21 (1792 articles); Japan and china have collectively published 47 articles; Osaka University is the most productive organization with 276 articles; a majority of 21.09% (598) of articles have 6 pages

SOCIAL MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS OF POST GRADUATE STUDENTS AND M.PHIL SCHOLARS OF ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGES AFFILIATED TO MOTHER TERESA WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY, KODAIKANAL : A DISCIPLINE BASED EVALUATIVE STUDY USING THE INDIGENOUS MODEL

The present study aimed at evaluating the information literacy skills and social media literacy skills of the post graduate students and M.Phil scholars of Arts and Science Colleges affiliated to Mother Teresa Women’s University, Kodaikanal. Out of 10 such colleges, 8 colleges were randomly selected. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the randomly drawn sample of Post graduate students and M.Phil scholars. In toto, 940 duly filled-in questionnaires were considered for the study. RPG’s 10 pillar model was used to evaluate the skills. The model was indigenously developed one by the researcher. The science students are better skilled than non-science students in many of their basic skills in respect social media. The science students are better skilled than non-science students in all these skills to create groups in social media tools. The science students are better skilled than non-science students in seven skills and the non-science students are better skilled than science students in the remaining seven skills in respect of creation of contents in social media tools. The science students are better skilled than non-science students in four skills required to undertake content management tasks as an administrator. Non-science students are better skilled than science students in the remaining four skills. The science students are better skilled than non-science students in three skills required to be cautious in social media tools. Non-science students are better skilled than science students in the remaining two skills. More than half of the respondents are highly capable to use social media tools to communicate and interact with friends and to learn online, to share notes with their classmates. One third of the respondents are moderately capable of using social media tools to learn online, for leisure and personal socialization, to undertake professional activities, to carry out academic activities, for private messaging and updating photos, for collaborative and peer to peer learning, for promoting their reading and writing skills and for creating an e-portfolio for future employment. The college libraries may join hands with other departments and conduct some kind of orientation or user awareness programme for the students and scholars on the various modules of social media literacy. This may enable the students to become an active user, careful user, beneficial user and comfortable user in required social media tools

In-vitro antioxidant potential and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect of Ficus benghalensis aerial root extract

Aim and objective: The aim of the current study was to evaluate the antioxidant effect, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory effect and phytochemical screening of different extracts of aerial root extract of Ficus benghalensis using in-vitro methods. Methods: The aerial root extract was prepared by successive extraction method using different organic solvents having increasing order of polarity. FB aerial root extract was screened for preliminary phytochemical analysis. FB aerial root extracts were evaluated for in-vitro acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect by the Ellman’s method and anti-oxidant potential by DPPH assay and hydroxyl radical neutralizing assay. Results: Preliminary phytochemical screening of FB extracts indicate the existence of the phytochemicals such as phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, anthraquinones, tannins and steroids. The results of the DPPH assay, hydroxyl radical scavenging assay and AChE inhibitory assay show that chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts are having significant antioxidant activity and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect as compared to the other extracts, respectively. Conclusion: The results of the current study suggest that the aerial root extract of FB might be a potential drug source for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer disease. Keywords: Ficus benghalensis; antioxidant; DPPH; acetylcholinesterase; neurodegenerative disorder

THE MODUS OPERANDI OF CREATING AN ONLINE DIRECTORY OF LIS PROFESSIONALS OF TAMILNADU, INDIA : A LIVE WEB PROJECT IN WORDPRESS DOMAIN

The present study is an online endeavour by the researchers to create a web directory to give a brief account of library and information science professionals working in different institutions in Tamilnadu. The researchers have chosen Wordpress – an open source blogging software and domain – to create an online directory of LIS professionals because of its simplicity and powerful features. The researchers who have a good understanding of Wordpress blogs, collected data about 50 LIS professionals working in universities and arts and science colleges of about 10 districts. They have created the online directory with the URL www.tnlisdirectory.wordpress.com. First of all they chose theme for the blog and decided upon its layout. Then, they customized the blog with various options like site title, tagline, font style, font colour, background colour and custom header. After customization, widgets required for the blog were added. Home page was designed as a static page. The data for about 25 LIS professionals – both teaching and practicing – of higher educational institutions of Tamilnadu are uploaded in the form of posts. Links were created for about 15 LIS professionals. Interesting quotes on Librarians were also included. Six galleries to showcase the photos of about 100 LIS professionals were created to add a colourful look of the blog. Text widget and image widget were used to give ‘about information’ and ‘motivating pictures’. Search option is provided in the blog to enable the online users to search for LIS professionals. A video about the life of Dr.S.R.Ranganathan is placed in the footer sidebar along with the archives option and calendar option. The feedback received from 15 diverse LIS professionals on the design, layout and content of the blog was quite welcoming, motivating and positive. This endeavour was a different, fruitful, online learning experience for the researchers

THE MODUS OPERANDI OF CREATING AN ONLINE DIRECTORY OF LIS PROFESSIONALS OF TAMILNADU, INDIA : A LIVE WEB PROJECT IN WORDPRESS DOMAIN

The present study is an online endeavour by the researchers to create a web directory to give a brief account of library and information science professionals working in different institutions in Tamilnadu. The researchers have chosen Wordpress – an open source blogging software and domain – to create an online directory of LIS professionals because of its simplicity and powerful features. The researchers who have a good understanding of Wordpress blogs, collected data about 50 LIS professionals working in universities and arts and science colleges of about 10 districts. They have created the online directory with the URL www.tnlisdirectory.wordpress.com. First of all they chose theme for the blog and decided upon its layout. Then, they customized the blog with various options like site title, tagline, font style, font colour, background colour and custom header. After customization, widgets required for the blog were added. Home page was designed as a static page. The data for about 25 LIS professionals – both teaching and practicing – of higher educational institutions of Tamilnadu are uploaded in the form of posts. Links were created for about 15 LIS professionals. Interesting quotes on Librarians were also included. Six galleries to showcase the photos of about 100 LIS professionals were created to add a colourful look of the blog. Text widget and image widget were used to give ‘about information’ and ‘motivating pictures’. Search option is provided in the blog to enable the online users to search for LIS professionals. A video about the life of Dr.S.R.Ranganathan is placed in the footer sidebar along with the archives option and calendar option. The feedback received from 15 diverse LIS professionals on the design, layout and content of the blog was quite welcoming, motivating and positive. This endeavour was a different, fruitful, online learning experience for the researchers

Computer-aided design of selective COX2 inhibitors: molecular docking of structurally diverse cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors using FlexX

Motivation: Three-dimensional structures of pharmacologically important macromolecules offer a route to the discovery of new drugs. Understanding the macromolecule-ligand interactions and validation of method used for docking and virtual screening of chemical databases is crucial step in structure-based design. We therefore carried out molecular docking for a set of eighty two structurally diverse COX-1/COX-2 inhibitors including traditional NSAIDs and the recent developed coxibs using FlexX method to find out how good this method differentiate between the active and inactive compounds. Method: FlexX is one of the fast flexible docking method that uses an incremental construction algorithm to place ligands into an active site. The scoring function (empirical binding free energy) of the flexX used to estimate the free binding energy of the protein-ligand complex is called F_score. Results: Reproducibility of the experimental conformations of the bound ligands such as SC-558, indomethacin, flurbiprofen indicates the better performance of FlexX method. Good correlation between the standard FlexX score (F_score) and the COX-2 inhibitory activity (pIC50) was observed. Simple linear regression analysis provided the correlation coefficient values of 0.731 and 0.670 for two classes of COX-2 inhibitors. Conclusions: Flexible docking of eighty two structurally diverse COX-2 inhibitors have been successfully carried out. Some false positives and false negatives were observed but considering the limitations of the available docking programs, the results are encouraging. The detailed analysis of the resulted COX-2-ligand complexes may improve our knowledge in understanding the binding interactions in detail. Thus, this study will be useful for the design of novel COX-2 inhibitors based on docking and the resulted bioactive conformations of the ligands will be useful in building structure-based 3-D QSAR model

Model multiple antigenic and homopolymeric peptides from non-repetitive sequences of malaria merozoite proteins elicit biologically irrelevant antibodies

AbstractThree model peptides containing B-epitopes from conserved, non-repetitive regions of the merozoite surface antigens, MSA2 and MSA1, and the erythrocyte binding protein EBP of Plasmodium falciparum were synthesised. The peptides incorporated GPG spacers and C residues at the N and C termini, and were polymerised by oxidation to form cystine bridges. Multiple copies of essentially the same peptide sequences were also synthesised on a branching lysyl matrix to form a tetrameric multiple antigen peptide. Rabbits were immunised with the polymerised and multiple antigen peptides, in alum followed by Freund’s adjuvant, and the antibody responses examined by IFA and ELISA. Reproducible antibody responses were obtained against the MSA1 and EBP but not MSA2 peptides. IgG antibody levels detected by ELISA after three injections of antigen in alum, increased significantly after further immunisation in Freund’s adjuvant. IgG levels were largely maintained for at least 23 weeks after the final immunisation. IgM antibodies, generally detectable only after immunisation in Freund’s adjuvant, were absent 23 weeks later. Antibody titres against the native protein on fixed parasites, assayed by IFA, were three to five orders of magnitude lower than the corresponding ELISA titres against the peptides. Antibody-dependent inhibition of P. falciparum growth in vitro could not be demonstrated with the immune rabbit sera. The MSA1 and EBP peptides elicited cross-reactive antibodies. The results suggest that the selected non-repetitive sequences are conformationally constrained in the native proteins and only a small proportion of the anti-peptide antibodies bind to the native proteins. The significance of the findings for the development of peptide vaccines and the use of peptides in immunoassays is discussed

Pomegranate (Punicagranatum. Linn. var. Ganesh) Leaf Extracts Ameliorates Neurotoxicity In Transgenic Drosophila Expressing Human Amyloid Pathology

To prescreen the in vivo neuroprotective activity of the chloroform, ethanol extracts of the leaves of Punicagranatum L.var. Ganesh family Punicaceae, commonly called pomegranate, using the model organism Aβ42 -amyloid neurotoxicity included Drosophila melanogaster. Chloroform(CEPGL), ethanol, (EEPGL) extracts were prepared, and its analysis by HPLC were carried out. Acute toxicity assessments were also performed. The neuroprotective effect of CEPGL, EEPGL in vivo was evaluated on the transgenic Aβ42 model of Drosophila melanogaster, a novel model system for screening drugs for Alzheimer’s disease by longevity assay, Climbing assay, Pseudopupil assay and nail polish imprint technique, and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). HPLC profile of the CEPGL, EEPGL showed the presence of Ursolic acid. Toxicity assessment using brine shrimp lethality bioassay (BSLA) of the CEPGL, EEPGL showed nontoxic up to 2500, 2000 ppm, respectively. The extracts possess potential in vivo neuroprotective activity on Drosophila melanogaster against beta-amyloid included neuronal toxicity. Conclusion: In the present study, we have presented the first evidence of the extracts of the leaves could significantly ameliorate the adverse morphological changes from Aβ42 protein in Drosophila, as indicated by prolonging the lifespan, by improving locomotor abilities and rescuing neuro-degeneration in ommatidia of Aβ42 expressing Drosophila which is comparable with donepezil. So it demonstrated the novel use of Ursolic acid of the extracts CEPGL, EEPGL effectively protect, rescue and most importantly, restore the impaired movement activity (i.e., climbing capability) in Drosophila melanogaster

MAPPING OF THE RESEARCH OUTPUT ON ‘WIRELESS COMMUNICATION (2010 - 2018)’: A WEB OF SCIENCE BASED SCIENTOMETRIC EVALUATION

The present study aimed at examining the quantitative and qualitative aspects of literature output on Wireless Communication as available and indexed in Web of Science database covering a nine year period i.e from 2010 to 2018. A total of 8482 records were downloaded from Web of Science core collection database. The downloaded records, in txt format, were exported to Bibexcel software for analyzing the data for certain quantitative and qualitative indicators. MS Excel programme was used to do all the necessary calculations and preparation of cross tables with Pivot Table options. The findings were presented under the major heads as basic metrics, author metrics, quality metrics, institution and publisher metrics, future metrics and geo metrics. The findings reveal that there is a gradual growth of publications on WLC during the study period. An exponential growth pattern was found. The Relative Growth Rate shows a decreasing trend and the Doubling time shows an increasing trend. Rather than single authored publications, multi-authored publications are more in numbers. The authors preferred to work in very small / small teams. The Degree of collaboration kept on growing throughout the study period. The researchers in WLC preferred to publish their research findings in the form of Journal articles. English is the preferred language of publications among the WLC researchers. China and USA lead the world in WLC research followed by India in the third place. Intra-county collaboration was found to be more in numbers than inter-country collaboration in WLC research output. The journals publishing research papers in WLC research do not fall in Bradford’s law of scattering. The time series analysis shows that the growth of WLC research output will be in better prospects in the years to come