Influence Of Elicitor Availability On Limonene And Linalool Accumulation From Citrus Grandis Cell Cultures.

Limonene and linalool are among the active terpenes and major constituent of citrus essential oils. Limonene, the principal component of orange peel oil, has been identified as a non toxic agent with potential for cancer chemotherapy (Hardcastle et al. 1999)

A randomized, doubled-blind study comparing multiple doses of Channa striatus supplementation for knee osteoarthritis

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of chronic disability at older age. Channa striatus (CS) is a freshwater fish that is traditionally valued for its medicinal properties in promoting wound healing and reducing post-operative pain. This study evaluate the efficacy of different doses of oral Channa striatus extract on primary knee osteoarthritis patients. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 3-arm trial was conducted comparing oral CS extract 1000 mg/day or 500 mg/day and placebo among knee OA patients for a 6-month intervention period. The main outcome measures were Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), analgesic scores and serum cartilage oligomeric matric protein (COMP). Laboratory-based blood tests were used as safety measures. A total of 120 patients were randomized, and 112 patients were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. Significant reductions in WOMAC stiffness and function scores were achieved at month 6 in CS 1000 mg/day and CS 500 mg/day compared to placebo groups (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found between the groups in terms of analgesic scores, serum COMP and biochemical parameters. No serious adverse events were reported in the study. In conclusion, both doses of CS showed similar efficacy and were more effective than the placebo in treating the symptoms of knee OA

One- and Two-Dimensional Hydrological Modelling and Their Uncertainties

Earth processes, which occur in land, air and ocean in different environment and at different scales, are very complex. Flooding is also a part of the complex processes, which need to be assessed accurately to know the accurate spatial and temporal changes of flooding and their causes. Hydrological modelling has been used by several researchers in river and floodplain modelling for flood analysis. In this chapter, factors affecting flash flood, possible options of basic input parameters in one- and two-dimensional hydrological models in data sparse environment, some case studies and uncertainty in hydrological modelling were discussed. This discussion will help the readers to understand the flooding factors, selection of input parameters in data sparse environment, a brief insight of one- and two-dimensional hydrological models and uncertainties in their input and model parameters and model structures

Profile of Parkia speciosa hassk metabolites extracted with SFE using FTIR- PCA method

A rapid identification, classification and discrimination tool, using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with Principal Component Analysis (PCA), was developed and applied to determine the profile of the Supercritical Fluid Extraction (SFE) of Parkia speciosa seeds under various temperature and pressure conditions (313, 323, 333, 343, 353 and 363 K and 20.68, 27.58, 34.47, 41.37, 48.26, and 55.16MPa). The separation and identification of the compounds was carried out by Gas Chromatography coupled with Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (GC/TOF-MS). This technique has made it possible to detect the variability obtained under different SFE conditions and the separation of different chemical compounds in P. speciosa seeds. The FTIR-PCA results were verified by GC/TOF-MS, and the FTIR-PCA method successfully identified the unsaturated carboxylic acids with the highest percentage area under the different conditions

Optimization of arecoline extraction from areca nut using supercritical carbon dioxide.

The mass transfer of arecoline using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) from areca nut is studied by analyzing the diffusion coefficient derived from Crank equation for sphere model. Comparisons of the SC-CO2 extracted yield under various conditions showed that the combination of pressure at 10.3 MPa and temperature of 50°C provided the optimum condition for extraction, followed by extraction at 40°C and 25.6 MPa. From the diffusion coefficient analysis, the optimum conditions also gave the highest coefficients. It was found that the yield is directly proportional to the values of the coefficients. Key words: areca nut, arecoline, supercritical carbon dioxide, mass transfer, modelin

Statistical Analysis Of Solid Waste Generated In Selected Palm Oil Mill In Malaysia.

Similar types of industry sometimes have different solid waste management. In this study, Discriminant Analysis (DA) and Principal Components Analysis (PCA) were applied to analyze the solid waste generation from the perspective of the amount of solid wastes generated such as empty fruit bunches (EFB), potash ash, fibre, and shell from 5 different oil palm mills industry

Skolem preprocessing using WordNet and lexicon in building effective knowledge representation

We are in the information intensive environment in which various forms of digital contents have been growing exponentially. In this era of digital data, knowledge representation has been considered as a crucial component of any information retrieval system. It is also considered as a major problem especially in representing the content of unstructured text in an effective way. Although the mission remains impossible to achieve 100% accuracy, many researchers are indulging themselves in documenting these data in many different techniques so that it can be communicated effectively and easily. Indexing is an important element that determines the success of retrieval. Since we are dealing with multiple documents, preprocessing of data is needed before the data gets indexed. Thus, this paper presents an approach on the preprocessing technique. The semantic data which have been represented in skolem clauses will be preprocessed with the help of automatic lexicon generator output and WordNet. This preprocessing plays an important role in getting rid of redundant data before it gets indexed into the semantic matrix. Besides redundancy, it also helps in dealing with common problem that exists in indexing multiple documents in which similar sentences with more or less the same meaning but have been constructed by using different sets of words. As a conclusion, the integration of WordNet and lexicon leads to better result in terms of building effective knowledge representation

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CLOMIPHENE CITRATE IN COMPARISON TO GNRH ANTAGONIST IN PREVENTING LH SURGE AMONG PATIENTS UNDERGOING OVULATION INDUCTION IN IVF-ICSI

Objective: To determine the efficacy of clomiphene citrate (CC) in preventing luteinizing hormone (LH) surge without adding gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist or GnRH agonist in stimulated first fresh intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle by evaluating the outcome of oocytes and embryo quality. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Settings: Fertility Clinic registry at Hospital University Kebangsaan Malaysia. Patients: A total of 235 fresh stimulated ICSI cycle for patients aged 18-40 years old using clomiphene citrate plus gonadotropin (n=117) and GnRH antagonist plus gonadotropin (n=118) were studied. Intervention: Comparing two different ovarian stimulation protocol. Main outcome measure(s): Social economical demographic, ovarian stimulation response and laboratory outcome. Fertilization rate as our primary outcome and our secondary outcome were oocyte retrieval rate, mature oocyte rate and top quality embryo rate. Result(s):There were no difference in the demographic and hormonal characteristic of the study groups. The primary outcome of fertilization rate has significant difference with p value of 0.003; 73.2% for CC group and 64.2% for GnRH antagonist group. The secondary outcome of OR rate (78.4 + 17.6 VS 80.3 + 13.4, p=0.368), mature oocyte rate (85.2 + 19.0 VS 81.7 + 16.7, p=0.130) and top quality embryo rate (79.1 + 24.2 VS 75.8 + 21.9, p=0.178) were comparable between both groups. There were significant difference between the endometrial thickness on the day of trigger and OHSS risk among both groups (8.5 + 0.95 VS 9.4 + 1.1, p<0.001 and 12.8% VS 44.1% respectively). Discussion: Minimal stimulation protocol with CC and gonadotropin may be the answer to many infertile couples in need of IVF and yet having financial situation deterring them in attempting IVF treatment. GnRH antagonist could be safely replaced by CC by extending to 10 days as this protocol gives better primary outcome and comparable secondary outcomes with less OHSS. CC is recognized to induce thinning of endometrial lining and thus, may impair embryo implantation. However, with advancement of the vitrification system and higher success rate in frozen-thaw embryo transfer worldwide provides an excellent solution for this issue

Retrieving answers from multiple documents using semantic skolem indexing

The representation of document content is very important factors in retrieval process. The failure to create a good knowledge representation will definitely lead to failure in terms of its retrieval no matter how good the retrieval engine is. Therefore, this research focused on creating a reliable knowledge representation for our retrieval engine. We are using skolem to capture the information conveyed by multiple text documents and used skolem as an index language. This research also focuses on utilizing the skolem index as its knowledge representation in its question answering system. The system is capable of retrieving the answer as well as states the exact document in which the answer is derived from

Antinociceptive Activity of Methanolic Extract of Clinacanthus nutans

Methanolic extract of Clinacanthus nutans Lindau leaves (MECN) has been proven to possess antinociceptive activity that works via the opioid and NO-dependent/cGMP-independent pathways. In the present study, we aimed to further determine the possible mechanisms of antinociception of MECN using various nociceptive assays. The antinociceptive activity of MECN was (i) tested against capsaicin-, glutamate-, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate-, bradykinin-induced nociception model; (ii) prechallenged against selective antagonist of opioid receptor subtypes (β-funaltrexamine, naltrindole, and nor-binaltorphimine); (iii) prechallenged against antagonist of nonopioid systems, namely, α2-noradrenergic (yohimbine), β-adrenergic (pindolol), adenosinergic (caffeine), dopaminergic (haloperidol), and cholinergic (atropine) receptors; (iv) prechallenged with inhibitors of various potassium channels (glibenclamide, apamin, charybdotoxin, and tetraethylammonium chloride). The results demonstrated that the orally administered MECN (100, 250, and 500 mg/kg) significantly (p<0.05) reversed the nociceptive effect of all models in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, the antinociceptive activity of 500 mg/kg MECN was significantly (p<0.05) inhibited by (i) antagonists of μ-, δ-, and κ-opioid receptors; (ii) antagonists of α2-noradrenergic, β-adrenergic, adenosinergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic receptors; and (iii) blockers of different K+ channels (voltage-activated-, Ca2+-activated, and ATP-sensitive-K+ channels, resp.). In conclusion, MECN-induced antinociception involves modulation of protein kinase C-, bradykinin-, TRVP1 receptors-, and glutamatergic-signaling pathways; opioidergic, α2-noradrenergic, β-adrenergic, adenosinergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic receptors; and nonopioidergic receptors as well as the opening of various K+ channels. The antinociceptive activity could be associated with the presence of several flavonoid-based bioactive compounds and their synergistic action with nonvolatile bioactive compounds