ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF VARIOUS SOLVENT EXTRACTS OF SPIRULINA PLATENSIS AGAINST HUMAN PATHOGENS

Background: Spirulina has been used as human food supplement over the last century. It contains high protein content, vitamins (A, D, E, K and B complex vitamins), beta-carotene, manganese, zinc, copper, iron, selenium, and gamma linolenic acid. Numerous studies reported that Spirulina contains biological properties such as immunomodulation, antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial and probiotic effects. Aim: In the present study, phytochemical analysis and in vitro antibacterial activity of four different solvent extracts (methanol, acetone, chloroform and hexane) of Spirulina platensis was examined. Methods: agar well diffusion technique and paper disc diffusion technique were used to analyse the antimicrobial against human bacterial pathogens viz., Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Proteus mirabilis, Vibrio vulnificus and Cellulomonas cellulans. Results: Results cleared that methanol and chloroform extracts of Spirulina platensis showed maximum zone of inhibition against E.coli followed by Cellulomonas cellulans and Proteus mirabilis at 100 µg concentration. Acetone extracts showed moderate biological activity against all tested organisms and least activity was recorded in hexane extracts at 10 µg concentrations. Presence of phytochemical compounds such as protein, carbohydrates, flavonoids, phenols, terpenoids and steroids exhibits the relation to the antimicrobial activity of Spirulina platensis against human pathogens. Conclusion: nutritional composition and antimicrobial activity analyses of our present study helps in increasing the importance of utilising Spirulina platensis.Key words: antimicrobial activity, phytochemical compounds, human pathogens

Activity Concentrations of Natural Radionuclides in Soils of Rainforest Sites in Western Ghats

Assessments of naturally occurring radionuclides in soil collected from a tropical rainforest forest of western Ghats, India were conducted. These radionuclides were distributed unevenly in the forest soil. For all soil samples, the terrestrial gamma dose rate and the corresponding outdoor annual effective dose equivalents were evaluated. The activity concentration of 232Th and average outdoor gamma dose rates were found to be higher than the global average which appears to affects Western Ghats environment in general, the radiological hazard indices were found to be within the International Commission on Radiological Protection recommended limits. Hence, obtained results for natural radionuclides in the forest soils were within the range specified by UNSCEAR (2000) report for virgin soils except 232Th

Forensic approach to a case of death due to burn injury: a case report

Injuries due to burns are known to have a very high mortality. Burn injuries occur due to a variety of thermal, electrical, mechanical products and can be accidental, suicidal or even homicidal in nature. As the inquiry and research are limited to identifying patterns and causes for burns, the accurate originator and mechanisms are not clearly known. Herein, we report a case of 25 year old female died due to ante-mortem burn injuries with soot particles found in trachea

Fatal Case of Diazepam and Paraquat Poisoning – A Case Report

Background: A very dangerous activity among youth and young adults is the indiscriminate mixing and sharing of prescription drugs, often in combination with alcohol or other drugs. The effects of these combinations of substances can be fatal.Case Report: A 28 years old adult male with alleged history of diazepam and paraquat poisoning was admitted with complaints of chest discomfort, epigastric pain, vomiting and drowsiness. The patient developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and expired on the next day. To conclude, diazepam even though considered to be a safer drug, has risk of drug abuse and is fatal when taken in overdose along with other central nervous system depressants. Paraquat is a highly toxic compound widely used as herbicide and ingestion of the drug causes death due to respiratory failure. Conclusion: The present study emphasizes on the proper surveillance of diazepam intake in known psychiatric patients and strict rules must be enforced by the Government on marketing of herbicides and pesticides

EQUALIZING ASYMMETRY DELAY FOR ALIGNING SIGNALS ON AIR INTERFACE IN 5G/LTE-A XHAUL/FRONTHAUL C-RAN NETWORK

The stringent performance criteria that are required in a, for example, Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) fronthaul network raise a number of challenges. To address those types of challenges, techniques are presented herein that support, among other things, removing path asymmetry at a service layer to align the signal at an air interface in 3GPP Fourth Generation (4G) or 5G converged wireless and optical transport (often referred to as \u27XHaul\u27), fronthaul, or centralized radio access network (C-RAN) use cases; thus, equalizing the delay between an uplink and a downlink direction. Aspects of the techniques presented herein encompass, among other things, a custom extension header in a Radio over Ethernet (RoE) packet to support the conveyance of timestamps, the dynamic configuration of a re-timer buffer depth, etc. Additionally, aspects of the techniques presented herein may be leveraged for other transport applications where, for example, an application over a transport network expects a symmetric delay as a wider scope

INSILICO DOCKING STUDIES TO IDENTIFY POTENT INHIBITORS OF ALPHA-SYNUCLEIN AGGREGATION IN PARKINSON DISEASE

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease. Etiology of PD is progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in Substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). One of the pathological hallmarks of PD is the presence of intracellular proteinaceous substances termed ‘Lewy bodies' composed of aggregated alpha-synuclein which is responsible for its toxic effect on SNpc. Hence any therapeutic target which blocks α-synuclein aggregation will provide a new channel to cure PD. Objective: The aim of the present study is to identify potent inhibitors (ligands) which binds to active site of α-synuclein and prevents self-association. Methods: In this study, insilico molecular docking was done against α-synuclein using five plant derived compounds namely (a) stimovul (b) 7,8dihydroxycoumarin, (c) etorphine (d) propoxyphene and (e) pentazdine. These compounds were analyzed for their Lipinski and ADMET properties using Accelrys Discovery studio 3.5. Molecular docking was performed between ligand and protein using Lead IT. Results: Results revealed that the best fit ligands against active site of α-synuclein were identified as Stimovul with a docking score of -4.5122 and the interacting amino acids were found to be SER 87 and VAL 95 followed by other compounds. Conclusion: These compounds which have the ability to bind to α-Synuclein insilico can be further developed using invitro and in vivo studies as a potent anti-parkinson drug.   Keywords: Parkinson disease, Substantia nigra, Molecular docking, Lipinski, ADMET

An Efficient Resource Allocation Strategies in Cloud Computing

ABSTRACT: Recently cloud computing booming area and emerging trends in information communication technology domain. Resource allocation is to allocate the resource based on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is one of the keys for large-scale Cloud applications. Therefore, performance evaluation of workload models and Cloud resource allocation and algorithms in a repeatable manner under different configurations and requirements is difficult. There is still lack of tools that enable developers to compare different resource allocation strategies in IaaS regarding both computing servers and user workloads. To fill this gap in tools for evaluation and modeling of Cloud environments and applications, we propose Cloud computing environment can help developers identify and explore appropriate solutions considering different resource allocation stratigies. we proposed for resource allocation strategies in cloud computing environment such as Cloud data centers, and results by applying the proposed system are analyzed and discussed

Antimicrobial activity of Plectranthus amboinicus solvent extracts against Human Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi

Plectranthus amboinicus or locally known as bangun-bangun, is an indigenous vegetable which can be freshly eaten. However, the plant is unpopular among local people and being neglected. It has been reported to be traditionally used for medicine to cure common illnesses such as cough, stomachache, headache and skin infection. Based on the potential, a study was conducted to bioprospect the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil. Plectranthus amboinicus essential oil of methanol and chloroform extract was tested against nine bacteria and four fungi i.e., Escherichia coli, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella flexneri, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcus faecal, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Bacillus cereus, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus. The methanol extract of Plectranthus amboinicus showed the maximum antibacterial activity against the bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae and fungi Candida albicans. The antimicrobial activity of Plectranthus amboinicus was more at 100 mg/ml concentration when compared to 50 mg/ml concentration. Comparatively, the Methanol extract of Plectranthus amboinicus exhibited maximum antimicrobial activity when compared to Chloroform extract. The Plectranthus amboinicus has showed good antimicrobial activity against most of the bacteria and only one fungal yeast Candida albicans. No zone of inhibition was recorded against other fungal isolates like Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus and Negative DMSO control. Keywords: Plectranthus amboinicus, Bacteria, Fungi, Antimicrobial activity and Well diffusion assay

Tele-Neurorehabilitation During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Practice in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

The importance of neurorehabilitation services for people with disabilities is getting well-recognized in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) recently. However, accessibility to the same has remained the most significant challenge, in these contexts. This is especially because of the non-availability of trained specialists and the availability of neurorehabilitation centers only in urban cities owned predominantly by private healthcare organizations. In the current COVID-19 pandemic, the members of the Task Force for research at the Indian Federation of Neurorehabilitation (IFNR) reviewed the context for tele-neurorehabilitation (TNR) and have provided the contemporary implications for practicing TNR during COVID-19 for people with neurological disabilities (PWNDs) in LMICs. Neurorehabilitation is a science that is driven by rigorous research-based evidence. The current pandemic implies the need for systematically developed TNR interventions that is evaluated for its feasibility and acceptability and that is informed by available evidence from LMICs. Given the lack of organized systems in place for the provision of neurorehabilitation services in general, there needs to be sufficient budgetary allocations and a sector-wide approach to developing policies and systems for the provision of TNR services for PWNDs. The pandemic situation provides an opportunity to optimize the technological innovations in health and scale up these innovations to meet the growing burden of neurological disability in LMICs. Thus, this immense opportunity must be tapped to build capacity for safe and effective TNR services provision for PWNDs in these settings

Systemic pro-inflammatory cytokine status following therapeutic hypothermia in a piglet hypoxia-ischemia model

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory cytokines are implicated in the pathogenesis of perinatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI). The influence of hypothermia (HT) on cytokines after HI is unclear. Our aim was to assess in a piglet asphyxia model, under normothermic (NT) and HT conditions: (i) the evolution of serum cytokines over 48 h and (ii) cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytokine levels at 48 h; (iii) serum pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine profile over 48 h and (iv) relation between brain injury measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and brain TUNEL positive cells with serum cytokines, serum pro/anti-inflammatory cytokines and CSF cytokines. METHODS: Newborn piglets were randomized to NT (n = 5) or HT (n = 6) lasting 2-26 h after HI. Serum samples were obtained 4-6 h before, during and at 6-12 h intervals after HI; CSF was obtained at 48 h. Concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1beta, -4, -6, -8, -10 and TNF-alpha were measured and pro/anti-inflammatory status compared between groups. White matter and thalamic voxel lactate/N-acetyl aspartate (Lac/NAA) (a measure of both oxidative metabolism and neuronal loss) were acquired at baseline, after HI and at 24 and 36 h. RESULTS: Lac/NAA was reduced at 36 h with HT compared to NT (p = 0.013 basal ganglia and p = 0.033 white matter). HT showed lower serum TNF-alpha from baseline to 12 h (p < 0.05). Time-matched (acquired within 5 h of each other) serum cytokine and MRS showed correlations between Lac/NAA and serum IL-1beta and IL-10 (all p < 0.01). The pro/anti-inflammatory ratios IL-1beta/IL-10, IL-6/IL-10, IL-4/IL-10 and IL-8/IL-10 were similar in NT and HT groups until 36 h (24 h for IL-6/IL-10); after this, 36 h pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine ratios in the serum were higher in HT compared to NT (p < 0.05), indicating a pro-inflammatory cytokine surge after rewarming in the HT group. In the CSF at 48 h, IL-8 was lower in the HT group (p < 0.05). At 48 h, CSF TNF-alpha correlated with Lac/NAA (p = 0.02) and CSF IL-8 correlated with white matter TUNEL positive cell death (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Following cerebral HI, there was a systemic pro-inflammatory surge after rewarming in the HT group, which is counterintuitive to the putative neuroprotective effects of HT. While serum cytokines were variable, elevations in CSF inflammatory cytokines at 48 h were associated with MRS Lac/NAA and white matter cell death