STUDY ON IN VITRO CYTOTOXICITY OF PAPAIN AGAINST LIVER CANCER CELL LINE HEP G2

Objective: Cancer is a devastating public health problem all over the world. Herbal medicines have a vital role in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Papain is a proteolytic enzyme and a phyto therapeutic agent which highly appreciated in the medical field that prevents several chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. The aim of the study describes about the cytotoxicity of papain against liver cancer cell line HepG2. Methods: In different concentrations of samples have been taken for cytotoxicity analysis using the MTT assay and calculate the percentage of cell viability. Results: The 50% inhibition concentration (IC50) of a sample was 125µg/ml and their cell viability percentage was 49.20. The 85% of cytotoxicity has been observed in 1000 µg/ml of papain against HepG2 cell line than other concentrations. Conclusion: 1000 µg/ml of papain has maximum (85%) cytotoxicity effect against liver cancer cell line hepG2

Implementation of Improved Method on Embedded Surveillance System with Reduced Power Usage

In this project design and implement a home embedded surveillance system with ultra-low alert power. Traditional surveillance systems suffer from an unnecessary waste of power and the shortcomings of memory conditions in the absence of invasion. In this design we pressure sensors as the alert group in windows and doors where an intruder must pass through. These low-power alert sensors wake up the MCU (Micro Controller Unit) which has power management for the ultrasonic sensors and PIR sensors indoors. This state transition method saves a large number of sensors required for the alert power. We also use the Majority Voting Mechanism (MVM) to manage the sensor groups to enhance the probability of multiple sensors sensing. After the MCU sends the sensor signals to the embedded system, the program starts the Web camera. Our sensing experiment shows that we reduce the system’s power consumption Keywords: Embedded Surveillance System, PIR Sensor, Ultrasonic Sensor, Low-PowerStat

DEVELOPMENT AND COMPARISON OF ORALLY INHALABLE SUSTAINED RELEASE FORMULATIONS FOR THREE RESPIRATORY DRUGS FOR ASTHMA

The present work was designed to develop and compare orally inhalable sustained release formulation for salbutamol sulphate (SS), ambroxol hydrochloride (AH) and montelukast sodium (MS).The emulsion solvent evaporation method was used to prepare microparticles with the polymers. The prepared polymer encapsulated microparticles were blended with carrier inhalable lactose and filled in size 3 hard empty gelatin capsule. Formulations T1-T9 were prepared with 1:1 ratio of PLGA (50:50), PLGA (75:25) and Eudragit RS100. The formulation T1 prepared with SS:PLGA (50:50) produces best result when compared with other formulations T2-T9. Formulation T1 gives in vitro release 91.23% at 12 h and having particle size of microparticles (D0.5 µm) 1.94±0.6 and respiratory fraction 34.9± 2.59 %

Experimental and parametric studies of a louvered fin and flat tube compact heat exchanger using computational fluid dynamics

AbstractThe present study aimed to perform the parametric analysis on thermo-hydraulic performance of a compact heat exchanger using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The analysis has been carried out at different frontal air velocities by varying the geometrical parameters such as fin pitch, transverse tube pitch, longitudinal tube pitch, louver pitch and louver angle. The air side performance of the heat exchanger has been evaluated by calculating Colburn factor (j) and Fanning friction factor (f). The comparison of CFD results with the experimental data exhibited a good agreement and the influence of various geometrical parameters for the selected range of values on the pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient and goodness factor was analyzed. The results obtained from the analysis will be very useful to optimize the louvered fin and flat tube compact heat exchanger for better thermo-hydraulic performance analysis without the need of time consuming and expensive experimentation

Carbon Nanotube/PEDOT: PSS Composite-based Flexible Temperature Sensor with Enhanced Response and Recovery Time

Temperature sensors with good mechanical flexibility, high sensitivity, fast response and recovery time are essential features for real time measurements by electronic Skin (eSkin). This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of a flexible temperature sensor using PEDOT: PSS and carbon nanotube (CNT) at 1:1 mixing ratio. In order to establish the performance enhancement capability of this composition, a comparative study was carried out. This was done by fabricating two flexible temperature sensors each on ~175μm-thick PVC substrate using only CNT and then with CNT/PEDOT: PSS polymer composite following simple drop casting technique. Both sensors show good sensitivity ~0.27(%)oC -1 )) for CNT and ~0.64(%)oC -1 )) for CNT/PEDOT: PSS for temperatures varying from 20°C to 80°C. Although both the sensors, CNT and CNT/PEDOT: PSS composite revealed fast response and recovery time, the latter shows a higher sensitivity (~0.64 (%)oC -1 )). Further, a comparison of the sensor made with CNT/PEDOT: PSS with similar works in literature reveals that the presented sensor exhibits relatively faster response (~4.8s) and recovery (~2.5s) time. This response enhancement can provide a biomimetic eSkin with unique feature

Highly Sensitive Flexible Capacitive Pressure Sensor with ZnO NW interlayers

Pressure or force sensors that can reliably detect a broad range of pressure with high sensitivity are prerequisite for applications such as human-machine interface, electronic skin in robotics, and health monitoring. This paper presents a novel approach to fabricate a highly sensitive capacitive pressure sensor by introducing a zinc oxide nanowire (ZnO NW) interlayers between the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/electrodes interface in the conventional metal-insulator-metal architecture. The sensing performances of PDMS-based pressure sensors with and without ZnO NW interlayers were investigated. The ZnO NW interlayers reinforced the electrical connection from metal to PDMS to significantly enhance the device performance with ~50 times improvement in sensitivity (from 0.125 %kPa -1 to 5.6452 %kPa -1 at a low-pressure range (0-10 kPa)) with respect to conventional PDMS only dielectric-based capacitive sensors

Gynocentrism in Langston Hughes selected poetic works

Gynocentrism exclusive focuses on women both as theory and practice. Anything can be considered gynocentric when it is concerned exclusively with a female point of view. The works of Langston Hughes, which reflect the intersection of races and genders in the lives of blacks, are studied. His contributions take multiple forms including poetry, short stories, dramas and novels which are about black women's love, nature, romantic dilemmas, mother - daughter relationships, friendship, and silences. The authors analyze how gender in a special way colors female identity in Hughes' works. He expresses interdependence of genders and racial identities in his representations of black women and hence can be dubbed as gender racial. His writings are in a gender racial style, highlighting and intertwining gender and racial identities. Hughes' overcomes gender and racial stereotypes with open discussions on contentious themes. It is concluded that Hughes creates an alternative to repressive social realities by combining challenges with sensual visions

Determinants of dysphagia following stroke

Background: Swallowing is affected following stroke. Many studies focus on various aspects of swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) following stroke. However, there are not many studies on the determinants of dysphagia following stroke. The aim of the present study is to establish the association between various factors with the severity of dysphagia.Methods: After screening for Mann Assessment of Swallowing Ability (MASA),110 patients, post-stroke were selected using consecutive sampling to assess the common risk factors, namely the presence of diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension, alcohol usage and smoking habits. Additionally, other variables such as age, gender, type of lesion, side of lesion, tobacco chewing, speech disorders, arterial dysfunction, lobe involvement and Brunnstrom’s stages, were also evaluated using a structured interview method. c2 (chi-squared) analysis was carried out to find out the association between the selected determinants and severity of dysphagia following stroke.Results: It was found that age and Brunnstrom’s stages are the determinants of dysphagia, as analysis showed a strong association with a p value < 0.001. A marginal association between post-stroke dysphagia and type of lesion with a p value of 0.056 was also observed.Conclusions: Among 15 factors evaluated, age, type of lesion and Brunnstrom’s stages showed a significant association with the severity of dysphagia following stroke. This study advocates early dysphagia management for elderly patients with high Brunnstrom’s grading, for those who are not expected to spontaneously recover following stroke, and for earlier and better community rehabilitation. [Ethiop.J. Health Dev. 2019; 33(3):147-152]Key words: Post-stroke dysphagia, Brunnstrom’s stages, dysphagia risk factors

Targeting Btk/Etk of prostate cancer cells by a novel dual inhibitor.

Btk and Etk/BMX are Tec-family non-receptor tyrosine kinases. Btk has previously been reported to be expressed primarily in B cells and has an important role in immune responses and B-cell malignancies. Etk has been shown previously to provide a strong survival and metastasis signal in human prostate cancer cells, and to confer androgen independence and drug resistance. While the role of Etk in prostate carcinogenesis is well established, the functions of Btk in prostate cancer have never been investigated, likely due to the perception that Btk is a hematopoietic, but not epithelial, kinase. Herein, we found that Btk is overexpressed in prostate cancer tissues and prostate cancer cells. The level of Btk in prostate cancer tissues correlates with cancer grades. Knockdown of Btk expression selectively inhibits the growth of prostate cancer cells, but not that of the normal prostate epithelial cells, which express very little Btk. Dual inhibition of Btk and Etk has an additive inhibitory effect on prostate cancer cell growth. To explore Btk and Etk as targets for prostate cancer, we developed a small molecule dual inhibitor of Btk and Etk, CTN06. Treatment of PC3 and other prostate cancer cells, but not immortalized prostate epithelial cells with CTN06 resulted in effective cell killing, accompanied by the attenuation of Btk/Etk signals. The killing effect of CTN06 is more potent than that of commonly used inhibitors against Src, Raf/VEGFR and EGFR. CTN06 induces apoptosis as well as autophagy in human prostate cancer cells, and is a chemo-sensitizer for docetaxel (DTX), a standard of care for metastatic prostate cancer patients. CTN06 also impeded the migration of human prostate cancer cells based on a 'wound healing' assay. The anti-cancer effect of CTN06 was further validated in vivo in a PC3 xenograft mouse model