Histamine mediates the pro-inflammatory effect of latex of Calotropis procera in rats.

INTRODUCTiON: Calotropis procera is known to produce contact dermatitis and the latex of this plant produces intense inflammation when injected locally. However, the precise mode of its pro-inflammatory effect is not known. In present study we have pharmacologically characterized the inflammation induced by latex of C. procera in a rat paw edema model and determined the role of histamine in latex-induced inflammation. METHODS: Inflammation was induced in the hind paw of rats by injecting different doses of dried latex (DL) of C. procera. The inhibitory effect of phenylbutazone, dexamethasone, celecoxib, cyproheptadine, chlorpheniramine and compound 48/80 on edema volume was evaluated and compared with that against carrageenan. The histamine content of DL was measured fluorometrically. RESULTS: DL produced dose-dependent inflammation of the rat paw. Cyproheptadine and chlorpheniramine effectively inhibited DL-induced inflammation (90%; p < 0.01), while anti-inflammatory drugs phenylbutazone, dexamethasone and celecoxib were more effective against carrageenan-induced inflammation. Depletion of mast cell histamine by compound 48/80 produced a significant decrease in DL-induced inflammation as compared with carrageenan (500% versus 25%). DL was also found to contain about 6 microg/g of histamine. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, our study shows that the biogenic amines play a significant role in C. procera latex-induced inflammation and antihistaminic drugs could be effectively used to inhibit inflammatory response elicited by exposure to latex

Etnobotani Meniran Hijau (Phyllanthus Ninuri L) sebagai Potensi Obat Kayap Ular (Herpes Zoster) dalam Tradisi Suku Dayak Ngaju

Tujan penelitian ini mendeskripsikan botani tanaman meniran hijau (Phyllanthus ninuri L), mengetahui kandungan fitokimia dan khasiatnya dalam tradisi pengobatan penyakit herpes zozter oleh masyarakat suku Dayak Ngaju Kalimantan Tengah. Jenis penelitian ini adalah deskriptif eksploratif dengan wawancara dan observasi. Wawancara dilakukan secara terstruktur dan semi terstruktur yang disertai dengan keterlibatan aktif peneliti dalam kegiatan masyarakat setempat / parcipatory ethnobotanica apraisa (PEA). Data tradisi pengobatan suku Dayak Ngaju dan kandungan fitokimia dianalisis deskriptif kualitatif, dan pengaruhnya terhadap kulit dengan membandingkan dengan referensi. Teknik keabsahan data dengan triangulasi / konfirmabilitas, dimana data diambil lebih dari 3 subjek informasi kunci dan non kunci yang berbeda. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa ekstrak daun meniran hijau dibuat ramuan dicampurkan dengan kasai tai handalai (kotoran cacing tanah) dipercaya mampu menyembuhkan penyakit kulit kayap ular (herpes zoster) dengan metode penggunaan sebagai obat luar serupa salep. Terdapat beberapa perlakuan khas menurut tradisi setempat, yaitu (1) pembuatan ramuan harus dilaksanakan menjelang senja, (2) ada doa tertentu saat pengobatan, (3) pengobatan selama 3 hari berturut-turut dan harus dimulai dari hari jumat, (4) pasien diharuskan membawa jarum. Kandungan ekstrak meniran hijau memiliki kontribusi besar dalam campuran racikan kasai tai handalai. Antrakuinon yang terkandung pada ekstrak meniran membantu merangsang meningkatnya imunitas tubuh dengan mendorong limfosit T aktif bekerja, zat quercetin&nbsp; berperan sebagai anti-inflamasi, dan kandungan alkaloid pada meniran berperan sebagai anti-nociceptive. Kotoran cacing mengandung mineral berupa Zinc (Zn) yang juga memiliki peran besar dalam penyembuhan herpes zoster serta menutrisi kulit

Driver fatigue and its effect on safety of roads & A review

80-86In 2015, Government of India launched the concept of Smart Cities where we talk about cities which will be having future technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), about waste management, information systems, intelligent communications and Intelligent Transportations Systems (ITS) etc. And for that, the government has already started working in this direction. Out of these future technologies, let us take traffic and transportation systems for smart cities. It is expected that in a smart city, traffic accidents and injuries should decrease or should be very less atleast. But as per the accidents data released by the government, accidents are no doubt have decreased but their fatalities and their severity has unfortunately increased. There are many reason for the increase of severity of accidents like overspeeding, drunken driving, carelessness etc. But one such reason which we are not focusing upon is Driver Fatigue. Some of the developed countries has identified this factor as one of the increasing cause of accidents. But in India, this factor ends up coming in "Unknown" causes of accidents. As we are talking about Smart Cities, no city can be smart if its transportation system is not safe. We cannot compromise on any individual's safety. So, in this paper, it is shown that how this factor affects the safety of roads. In this paper, studies, literature and work of various people is presented and a review is done on the basis of these studies on how to make our roads safer without compromising on any individual's safety

WEARS: Wearable Emotion AI with Real-time Sensor data

Emotion prediction is the field of study to understand human emotions. Existing methods focus on modalities like text, audio, facial expressions, etc., which could be private to the user. Emotion can be derived from the subject's psychological data as well. Various approaches that employ combinations of physiological sensors for emotion recognition have been proposed. Yet, not all sensors are simple to use and handy for individuals in their daily lives. Thus, we propose a system to predict user emotion using smartwatch sensors. We design a framework to collect ground truth in real-time utilizing a mix of English and regional language-based videos to invoke emotions in participants and collect the data. Further, we modeled the problem as binary classification due to the limited dataset size and experimented with multiple machine-learning models. We also did an ablation study to understand the impact of features including Heart Rate, Accelerometer, and Gyroscope sensor data on mood. From the experimental results, Multi-Layer Perceptron has shown a maximum accuracy of 93.75 percent for pleasant-unpleasant (high/low valence classification) moods

The antioxidant vitamin E modulates amyloid b-peptid-induced creatine kinase activity inhibition and increased protein oxidation: Implications for the free radical hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease

Amyloid B-peptide (AB), the main constituent of senile plaques in Alzheimer&apos;s disease (AD) brain, is hypothesized to be a key factor in the neurodegeneration seen in AD. Recently it has been shown by us and others that the neurotoxicity of AB occurs in conjunction with free radical oxidative stress associated with the peptide. AB(1-40) and several other fragments of the AB sequence are associated with free radicals in solution that are detectable using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. These free radicals were shown to attack brain cell membranes, initiate lipid peroxidation, increase Ca 2+ influx and damage membrane and cytosolic proteins. In AD brain obtained under rapid autopsy protocol, the activity of the oxidatively-sensitive enzyme creatine kinase was shown to be significantly reduced. We reasoned that AB-associated free radical-induced modification of creatine kinase activity and other markers of cellular damage might be modulated by free radical scavengers. Accordingly, this study demonstrates that vitamin E can modulate AB(25-35)-induced oxidative damage to creatine kinase and cellular proteins in cultured embryonic hippocampal neurons. These results, consistent with the hypothesis of free radical-mediated AB toxicity in AD, are discussed with deference to potential free radical scavengers as therapeutic agents for slowing the progression of AD

NiO Nanofibers as a Candidate for a Nanophotocathode

p-type NiO nanofibers have been synthesized from a simple electrospinning and sintering procedure. For the first time, p-type nanofibers have been electrospun onto a conductive fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) surface. The properties of the NiO nanofibers have been directly compared to that of bulk NiO nanopowder. We have observed a p-type photocurrent for a NiO photocathode fabricated on an FTO substrate

STATUS AND DIVERSITY OF ETHNO-MEDICINAL PLANTS OF DHINODHAR HILL, KACHCHH DISTRICT, GUJARAT

ABSTRACT: Some plants are uses by human community to cure diseases and health related problems from long period of time are called ethno-medicinal plants. Dhinodar Hill is located in Kachchh district under arid zone of India; in spite of this many medicinal plants are found in the various parts of this district. These medicinal plants and their ethnic uses are losing day by day due to loss of traditional knowledge and habitat destruction so; this study was carried out to document the medicinal plants and its associated traditional knowledge. A total of 220 plants recorded from this hilly tract, out of which 35 medicinal plants identified. These medicinal plants are used by the local community in curing 53 types of disease and health related problems. This study recorded some plant species viz; Commiphora wightii, Capparis cartilaginea, Sterculia urens, Sarcocostemma acidum, Tinospora cordifolia, having high medicinal values. It was found that Fagonia schweienfurthii (1850.65Density/ha) and Achyranthes aspera var. argentea (1331.17 Density/ha) were most dense medicinal plants of the Hill, and the diversity of medicinal plant were high in mixed vegetation habitat. In conclusion, the medicinal species require special attention to conserve and documentation of their medicinal uses for local people and future commercial production

N-[(4-Amino-5-sulfanyl­idene-4,5-dihydro-1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl)meth­yl]-4-methyl­benzamide

In the title compound, C11H13N5OS, the dihedral angle between the triazole ring and the benzene ring is 84.21 (7)°. The amino group adopts a pyramidal configuration. An intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond stabilizes the mol­ecular structure and generates an S(8) ring. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by inter­molecular N—H⋯O, N—H⋯S, N—H⋯N and C—H⋯S hydrogen bonds into layers lying parallel to the bc plane. The crystal structure is further stabilized by aromatic π–π stacking inter­actions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.3330 (7) Å]

Should I stay or should I go: South Indian artisanal fishers’ precarious livelihoods and their engagement with categorical ocean forecasts

Ocean State Forecasts contribute to safe and sustainable fishing in India, but their usage among artisanal fishers is often limited. Our research in Thiruvananthapuram district in the southern Indian state of Kerala tested forecast quality and value and how fishers engage with forecasts. In two fishing villages, we verified forecast accuracy, skill, and reliability by comparing forecasts with observations during the 2018 monsoon season (June–September; n 5 122). We assessed forecast value by analyzing fishers’ perceptions of weather and risks and the way they used forecasts based on 8 focus group discussions, 20 interviews, conversations, and logs of 10 fishing boats. We find that while forecasts are mostly accurate, inadequate forecasting of unusual events (e.g., wind .45 km h21) and frequent fishing restrictions (n 5 32) undermine their value. Fishers seek more localized and detailed forecasts, but they do not always use them. Weather forecasts are just one of the tools artisanal fishers deploy, used not simply to decide as to whether to go to sea but also to manage potential risks, allowing them to prepare for fishing under hazardous conditions. Their decisions are also based on the availability of fish and their economic needs. From our findings, we suggest that political, economic, and social marginality of south Indian fishers influences their perceptions and responses to weather-related risks. Therefore, improving forecast usage requires not only better forecast skill and wide dissemination of tailor-made weather information, but also better appreciation of risk cultures and the livelihood imperatives of artisanal fishing communities