Evaluation of Antioxidant Capacities and Total Polyphenols in Various Edible Parts of Capparis spinosa L. Collected from Trans-Himalayas

The phytochemical screening, antioxidant capacity, and total polyphenols in the methanolic extract of leaves, flower buds, roots and fruits of Capparis spinosa collected from trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh were assessed in an effort to corroborate its medicinal and culinary potential. Highest DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity were observed in the leaves and least in dried fruit samples, even FRAP assay also illustrated the same trend. IC50 values of DPPH assay was highly correlated with that of ABTS (R2=0.9084) and FRAP assay (R2=0.9771). However, IC50 value of ABTS was reasonably correlated with FRAP assay (R2=0.5838). The highest phenolic and flavonoid content was recorded in the leaf samples (24.78 and 5.69 mg GAE/g DW respectively), whereas it was lowest in the dried fruit samples (4.07 mg quercetin equivalent/g DW and nil, respectively). The total phenolic contents were highly correlated with IC50 value of ABTS (R2=0.9084), DPPH (R2=0.9388) and FRAP value (R2=0.9618). But, total flavonoid contents were highly correlated with ABTS (R2=0.7449), DPPH (R2=0.8791) and FRAP values (R2=0.9588). Thus, this study has validated the medicinal potential of all the edible parts of the C. spinosa

Indian railway track analysis for displacement and vibration pattern estimation

This paper presents the dynamic response of the Indian Railway track. Two track models are considered for the dynamic response in terms of vertical displacement and acceleration at different wheel speeds, keeping the moving point load at constant magnitude. The rail is treated as a beam either on viscoelastic foundation or on the discrete elastic support system. The governing equation is implemented in finite element analysis using ANSYS 14.0. For the validation of result from system equation are compared with those available in published literature and the maximum deviation for displacement at the midpoint of rail is found to be within 5 %. Different wheel speed generates variation in displacement and acceleration of the rail track. The study can be viewed as the foundation for the comparison of FEA based simulation of rail track to specify its dynamic response useful to provide better safety and comfort to commuters

Zirconia: Substitute for Metal Ceramics

In the search for the ultimate esthetic restorative material, many all-ceramic systems have been proposed. Dental research is nowadays directed toward metal-free prosthetic restorations in order to improve an esthetical outcome of crown and bridge restorations. Zirconia is a polycrystalline ceramic without a glassy phase and exists in several forms. Zirconia cores for fixed partial dentures (FPD) on anterior and posterior teeth and on implants are now available. This article is a review of zirconia crowns as replacement for conventional metal-ceramic crowns

The effects of wrong pronunciation on the meaning of French words: a case study of french students of Wesley College of Education, Kumasi

Abstract: Pronunciation of French words may seem tricky and difficult as a result of the several sounds that come with the words. In the attempt by students to pronounce these French words, learners refer to English words that sound similar. This however affects the pronunciation of some, and thus hides their meanings. This study investigates the effect of wrong pronunciation on the meanings of French words, a problem identified among French students of Wesley College of Education. The mixed method was employed and 70 respondents, made up of 60 students from level 100 and 10 students from level 200 were selected and used in collecting data for the study. Questionnaires, observation and reading test were used as the key instruments to collect data. The results from the study indicate that many French learners pronounce two different words in exactly the same way. Some of these learners do not actively listen to the difference in sounds of French words. The maternal languages (L1 and L2) of learners contributed immensely to the wrong pronunciation of French words which in turn affects their meanings. Suggestions for correct pronunciation of French words are also offered to enhance easy understanding of French words. Keywords: Pronunciation; learners; wrong pronunciation; mixed method; sound

Identifying mRNA targets of microRNA dysregulated in cancer: with application to clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma

BACKGROUND. MicroRNA regulate mRNA levels in a tissue specific way, either by inducing degradation of the transcript or by inhibiting translation or transcription. Putative mRNA targets of microRNA identified from seed sequence matches are available in many databases. However, such matches have a high false positive rate and cannot identify tissue specificity of regulation. RESULTS. We describe a simple method to identify direct mRNA targets of microRNA dysregulated in cancers from expression level measurements in patient matched tumor/normal samples. The word "direct" is used here in a strict sense to: a) represent mRNA which have an exact seed sequence match to the microRNA in their 3'UTR, b) the seed sequence match is strictly conserved across mouse, human, rat and dog genomes, c) the mRNA and microRNA expression levels can distinguish tumor from normal with high significance and d) the microRNA/mRNA expression levels are strongly and significantly anti-correlated in tumor and/or normal samples. We apply and validate the method using clear cell Renal Cell Carcinoma (ccRCC) and matched normal kidney samples, limiting our analysis to mRNA targets which undergo degradation of the mRNA transcript because of a perfect seed sequence match. Dysregulated microRNA and mRNA are first identified by comparing their expression levels in tumor vs normal samples. Putative dysregulated microRNA/mRNA pairs are identified from these using seed sequence matches, requiring that the seed sequence be conserved in human/dog/rat/mouse genomes. These are further pruned by requiring a strong anti-correlation signature in tumor and/or normal samples. The method revealed many new regulations in ccRCC. For instance, loss of miR-149, miR-200c and mir-141 causes gain of function of oncogenes (KCNMA1, LOX), VEGFA and SEMA6A respectively and increased levels of miR-142-3p, miR-185, mir-34a, miR-224, miR-21 cause loss of function of tumor suppressors LRRC2, PTPN13, SFRP1, ERBB4, and (SLC12A1, TCF21) respectively. We also found strong anti-correlation between VEGFA and the miR-200 family of microRNA: miR-200a*, 200b, 200c and miR-141. Several identified microRNA/mRNA pairs were validated on an independent set of matched ccRCC/normal samples. The regulation of SEMA6A by miR-141 was verified by a transfection assay. CONCLUSIONS. We describe a simple and reliable method to identify direct gene targets of microRNA in any cancer. The constraints we impose (strong dysregulation signature for microRNA and mRNA levels between tumor/normal samples, evolutionary conservation of seed sequence and strong anti-correlation of expression levels) remove spurious matches and identify a subset of robust, tissue specific, functional mRNA targets of dysregulated microRNA.Cancer Institute of New Jersy; New Jersey Commission for Cacner Research; Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Tissue Procurement and Genomics Core Facility; Crawford Fun