Development & evaluation of herbal fast dissolving tablet of Capparis divaricata Lam

Fast dissolving tablets can be disintegrated, dissolved or suspended by saliva in the mouth. Herbal medicines are effective in all types of diseases. Standardization assures a consistently stronger product with guaranteed constituents. The aim of this study was to formulate fast dissolving tablets of Capparis Divaricata Lam leaves extract to achieve faster disintegration in the oral cavity without water. Fast dissolving tablets of Capparis Divaricata Lam leaves extract were prepared by using different super disintegrants like cross povidone, cross carmellose sodium and sodium starch glycolate by direct compression method. FDTs were evaluated for physicochemical properties and in-vitro dissolution. The drug release from FDTs increased with increasing concentration of superdisintegrants at certain extent and was found to be highest with formulations containing cross povidone. The tablets were subjected to weight variation, drug content uniformity, hardness, friability, in-vitro disintegration time and in- vitro drug release studies

Comparative analysis of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) between drought-tolerant and -susceptible genotypes of chickpea under terminal drought stress

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chickpea (<it>Cicer arietinum </it>L.) is an important grain-legume crop that is mainly grown in rainfed areas, where terminal drought is a major constraint to its productivity. We generated expressed sequence tags (ESTs) by suppression subtraction hybridization (SSH) to identify differentially expressed genes in drought-tolerant and -susceptible genotypes in chickpea.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>EST libraries were generated by SSH from root and shoot tissues of IC4958 (drought tolerant) and ICC 1882 (drought resistant) exposed to terminal drought conditions by the dry down method. SSH libraries were also constructed by using 2 sets of bulks prepared from the RNA of root tissues from selected recombinant inbred lines (RILs) (10 each) for the extreme high and low root biomass phenotype. A total of 3062 unigenes (638 contigs and 2424 singletons), 51.4% of which were novel in chickpea, were derived by cluster assembly and sequence alignment of 5949 ESTs. Only 2185 (71%) unigenes showed significant BLASTX similarity (<1E-06) in the NCBI non-redundant (nr) database. Gene ontology functional classification terms (BLASTX results and GO term), were retrieved for 2006 (92.0%) sequences, and 656 sequences were further annotated with 812 Enzyme Commission (EC) codes and were mapped to 108 different KEGG pathways. In addition, expression status of 830 unigenes in response to terminal drought stress was evaluated using macro-array (dot blots). The expression of few selected genes was validated by northern blotting and quantitative real-time PCR assay.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our study compares not only genes that are up- and down-regulated in a drought-tolerant genotype under terminal drought stress and a drought susceptible genotype but also between the bulks of the selected RILs exhibiting extreme phenotypes. More than 50% of the genes identified have been shown to be associated with drought stress in chickpea for the first time. This study not only serves as resource for marker discovery, but can provide a better insight into the selection of candidate genes (both up- and downregulated) associated with drought tolerance. These results can be used to identify suitable targets for manipulating the drought-tolerance trait in chickpea.</p

The CarERF genes in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and the identification of CarERF116 as abiotic stress responsive transcription factor

The AP2/ERF family is one of the largest transcription factor gene families that are involved in various plant processes, especially in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Complete genome sequences of one of the world's most important pulse crops chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), has provided an important opportunity to identify and characterize genome-wide ERF genes. In this study, we identified 120 putative ERF genes from chickpea. The genomic organization of the chickpea ERF genes suggested that the gene family might have been expanded through the segmental duplications. The 120 member ERF family was classified into eleven distinct groups (I-X and VI-L). Transcriptional factor CarERF116, which is differentially expressed between drought tolerant and susceptible chickpea cultivar under terminal drought stress has been identified and functionally characterized. The CarERF116 encodes a putative protein of 241 amino acids and classified into group IX of ERF family. An in vitro CarERF116 protein-DNA binding assay demonstrated that CarERF116 protein specifically interacts with GCC box. We demonstrate that CarERF116 is capable of transactivation activity of and show that the functional transcriptional domain lies at the C-terminal region of the CarERF116. In transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing CarERF116, significant up-regulation of several stress related genes were observed. These plants also exhibit resistance to osmotic stress and reduced sensitivity to ABA during seed germination. Based on these findings, we conclude that CarERF116 is an abiotic stress responsive gene, which plays an important role in stress tolerance. In addition, the present study leads to genome-wide identification and evolutionary analyses of chickpea ERF gene family, which will facilitate further research on this important group of genes and provides valuable resources for comparative genomics among the grain legumes

Waveguide integration of a > 4.7-THz quantum-cascade laser

Waveguide integration of terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THzQCLs) is demonstrated at frequencies above 4.7 THz. A precision micromachining technique, followed by diamond-turning and electroless-plating has been used to manufacture hollow rectangular waveguides with integrated diagonal feedhorns. It is shown that surface roughness at the≈1μm level is achieved, enabling outcoupling of radiation in the4.75–5.05 THz band, with a divergence angle of<5◦along the plane of the QCLs substrate

Transport properties of conductive polyaniline nanocomposites based on carbon nanotubes

Abstract Intrinsically conducting polymers have been studied extensively due to their intriguing electronic and redox properties and numerous potential applications. To improve and extend their functions, the fabrication of multifunctional conducting polymer nanocomposites has attracted a great deal of attention with the advent of nanoscale dimension. In this paper we report the comparative study of nanocomposite synthesized by an in-situ oxidative polymerization of aniline monomer in the presence of functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) with that of pure polyaniline (PANI). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) are employed to characterize the pure PANI and the PANI-CNT nanocomposite. XRD and SEM reveal the homogeneous coating of PANI onto the CNT indicating that carbon nanotubes were well dispersed in polymer matrix. The interaction between the quinoid ring of PANI and the MWCNT causes PANI chains to be adsorbed at the surface of MWCNT, thus forming a tubular core surrounding the MWCNT was confirmed from FTIR. Nanocomposite shows high electrical conductivity compared to pure PANI. The enhancement in conductivity of the nanocomposite is due to the charge transfer effect from the quinoid rings of the PANI to the MWCNT. The effect of MWCNT on the transport properties of PANI in the form of the transport parameters such as charge localization length, most probable hopping distance and charge hopping energy in the temperature range 300-430 K was also studied

Influence of La3+ co-doping on the photoluminescence properties of YAG: Dy3+ electrospun light emitting nanofibers

Synthesizing Yttrium Aluminium Garnet (YAG) into nanoscale fibers significantly enhances its optical properties. These nanofibers exhibit excellent flexibility, lightweight nature, and high strength, making them highly suitable for smart clothing applications. Additionally, by doping rare earth ions into the YAG fibers, their luminescence properties can be further optimized, opening new possibilities for advanced smart clothing designs. In this paper, we present the successful fabrication of dysprosium (Dy) doped YAG nanofibers, lanthanum (La) doped YAG nanofibers, La co-doped Dy: YAG nanofibers with different concentration and investigate their photoluminescence properties. The photoluminescence excitation spectrum of the Dy3+-YAG nanofibers showed an intense peak centred at 350 nm due to absorption by Dy3+ ions and emits strong blue colour centred at 483 nm in emission spectrum, which is attributed to the 4F9/2 → 6H15/2 transition of Dy3+ions. The La3+-YAG nanofibers excited at 350 nm also showed an emission in blue region at 483 nm. Co-doping of La3+ ions in Dy3+-YAG nanofibers exhibited enhancement in the emission intensity significantly. In comparison with all as-synthesized nanofibers, specific concentration of Dy and La in YAG nanofibers would be the potential candidate for flexible light emitting devices