A therapeutic review on Trikatu Churna in the management of Sthaulya (Obesity)

Acharya Sushruta has also narrated the etiopathogenesis of Sthaulya Roga based on an endogenous entity being caused due to “Dhatvagni Mandya.” Acharya Charak described that a person in whom excessive and abnormal increase of Medo Dhatu along with Mamsa Dhatu is found which results into pendulous Sphika, Udara and Sthana and having lack of enthusiasm. A person suffering from this condition is called ‘Atisthula.’ The disease Sthaulya is occurring due to the Kaphavardhaka Ahara and Vihara mentioned as Santarpaka Nidana like Atiguru, Atisnigdha, Atipichchhil, Atishita, Navanna-pana, Atinidra, Atiaasana, Avyayama etc, which vitiate Rasa Dhatvagni, Medadhatvagni, Kaphadosha and Vatadosha. Trikatu Churna having Ushna, Laghu, Ruksha Guna and Deepana, Kapha-Vatahara and Sthaulyahara Karma expected to increase the power of Rasa and Medadhatvagni, decrease in Kapha and Vata and thus decrease in further formation of Aama Medadhatu and its deposition in body results in improvement in Sthaulya

Convertible staircase lift

The present work investigates the design and analysis of a staircase lift, which can be used as a Material Handling System. A staircase lift is a mechanical device for lifting people and wheelchairs up and down the stairs, who may find difficulty in doing so themselves. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A person on the chair or platform is lifted as the chair or platform moves along the rail, old age and goods are to be carried across the staircase. A staircase lift is a type of lift that can be mounted on the staircase without altering civil structure. Not only altering, but the person need not change the seat from the wheelchair to the staircase lift, there is a foldable supporting rod for the staircase lift which directly attaches to the wheelchair. This lift runs on electric power and consists of a motor, reduction gearbox, rope drive, two rails and a sliding chair. In this system, we use a DC motor for changing the polarity of the power supply which will make the motor run in reverse direction. Advantages over the conventional hydraulic lift are no civil structure and alteration is required, low cost, less bulkiness, less power, less maintenance required. Easy design, easy installations can be of industrial use too. Moreover, considering some drawbacks due to weight carrying capacity completely depends upon the capacity of the motor. There is a lot of scope for further modification in the project as using a monorail instead of two, using a belt drive or chain drive instead of a rope drive. Incorporation and automation/timer unit will ease the use of the device. Rack and carrier arrangement for using the device for a curved staircase and use of work & roller reduction gear assembly

Study of BaCl doped ZTS Crystals Grown by Gel Method

Optically good quality doped ZTS crystals with BaCl have grown by silica gel growth method at ambient temperature and their characterization have studied. The presence of functional groups of doped crystals has identified from FTIR spectra. The hardness analysis has performed with using different hardness models. Chemical Etching study has carried out in the present work. The second harmonic generation efficiency has tested from Kurtz-Perry test as the main important finding of this work. The results are reported in the paper

TIME-DEPENDENT DETERMINATIVE BIOCHEMICAL TRAITS FOR SALT TOLERANCE MECHANISM IN MUNGBEAN (Vigna radiata (L.) R. WILCZEK)

Mungbean is one of the commercially valuable pulse crops. Time-dependent biochemical modulations in the mungbean varieties PKV AKM 12-28 and VBN (Gg)3 exposed to 75, 100, and 125 mM NaCl were estimated, and the results were concluded through multivariate modeling. The cluster analysis gave two fairly distinct clusters that had similar biochemical responses. Results on the principal component analysis suggested that protein content (PC), total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), DPPH radical scavenging activity, ABTS radical scavenging activity, proline content (PRC), total free amino acid (TFAA) content, and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were dominant traits in the shoot as compared to the root. These can be taken as the primary indicators to assess the effect of salt stress on mungbean varieties. The discriminant analysis had identified TFC, MDA, and total sugar content (TSC) as discriminating variables between the roots and shoots. Further, MDA and TFC were identified as discriminating variables under different salt concentrations, and TSC was identified as a discriminating variable at different exposure durations. Discriminant partial least squares analysis further identified optimum biochemical modulations in the shoots of PKV AKM 12-28 and 75 mM NaCl. The salt treatment produced a strong biochemical modulation after 30 and 45 days, which helped plants survive under salt stress. The multivariate approaches efficiently interpreted time-dependent biochemical modulations in shoots and roots of mungbean varieties under salt stress

Optical, structural and morphological study of CdS nanoparticles: Role of sulphur source

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles were synthesized by simple and low cost homemade hot injection method at low process temperature using different sulphur sources. The effects of sulphur concentration on the structural, morphological, and optoelectronic properties of synthesized CdS films were studied using a range of characterization techniques: X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV-Visible spectroscopy. The XRD studies revealed the formation of hexagonal type CdS nanoparticles. The varying morphology dependence on the sulphur source was ascertained from FESEM analysis. The longitudinal optical (LO) phonon vibrational modes of CdS were assigned in Raman spectra at 300 and 600 cm−1. The band gap of the CdS particles was estimated to be 2.30 eV from Tauc’s plots. Consistent with the experimental results, our first-principles DFT calculations predict the band gap of CdS nanoparticles to increase with decreasing S concentration: Cd52S52 (2.38 eV) Cd52S51 (2.52 eV) and Cd52S50 (2.65 eV), with both the valence and conduction band edges demonstrated to be dominated by S-p states

The International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce (INPST) and the power of Twitter networking exemplified through #INPST hashtag analysis

Background: The development of digital technologies and the evolution of open innovation approaches have enabled the creation of diverse virtual organizations and enterprises coordinating their activities primarily online. The open innovation platform titled "International Natural Product Sciences Taskforce" (INPST) was established in 2018, to bring together in collaborative environment individuals and organizations interested in natural product scientific research, and to empower their interactions by using digital communication tools. Methods: In this work, we present a general overview of INPST activities and showcase the specific use of Twitter as a powerful networking tool that was used to host a one-week "2021 INPST Twitter Networking Event" (spanning from 31st May 2021 to 6th June 2021) based on the application of the Twitter hashtag #INPST. Results and Conclusion: The use of this hashtag during the networking event period was analyzed with Symplur Signals (https://www.symplur.com/), revealing a total of 6,036 tweets, shared by 686 users, which generated a total of 65,004,773 impressions (views of the respective tweets). This networking event's achieved high visibility and participation rate showcases a convincing example of how this social media platform can be used as a highly effective tool to host virtual Twitter-based international biomedical research events

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Construction of hpRNA expression vector for silencing a gene in Rhizopus oryzae

Depending on the previous research on LDHA gene silencing in Rhizopus oryzae CCUG 28959 through introduction of siRNA, a integral vector was constructed by inserting two copies of LDHA gene (by PCR cloning) in a fashion that it can express hpRNA in the transformed fungi, which will trigger the post transcriptional degradation of targeted mRNA through RNA degradation pathway which is known to be quelling in fungi.The vector was successfully designed with the LDHA gene, transformed in to the host organism, and also transferred to its progeny. This helps in maintaining stability of the transformed cell lines. This created vector will be advantageous at this point when compared to the use of siRNA for gene silencing, which is not a stable way. In the future, this vector can be used for down regulating other genes of interest in R. oryzae and can also be used for studying its effect on other metabolic pathways.In this study, Hygromycin resistance to the R. oryzae CCUG 28959 was shown at levels up to 1000 μg/ml, which has not been reported previously.Program: MSc in Resource Recovery - Industrial Biotechnolog