EVALUTION OF IN VITRO ANTI-ANGIOGENESIS ACTIVITY ON METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF Clematis buchaniana PLANT

Objective: Angiogenesis plays an important role in embryonic development and various physiological processes. However, excessive angiogenesis is associated with several pathological conditions including cancer. Clematis is a genus of about 300 species within the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is native to the India, where has been used as folk medicine for the treatment of various ailments. This work is aimed to evaluate the antiangiogenesis activity in the crude methanolic extract of Clematis buchaniana plant.Methods: The entire aerial parts of C. buchaniana were extracted by soxhelation in methanol. Then, the solvent was evaporated to dryness to yield the dried crude extract of C. buchaniana. Then, the extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening to determine the active constituents for effective pharmacological activity. The in-vitro antiangiogenesis effects were later evaluated using chorioallantoic membrane model carried out by incubation in fresh chicken's eggs.Results: The crude methanolic extract of C. buchaniana was found to have slight ability to inhibit angiogenesis that was evaluated by visualization.Conclusion: C. buchaniana plant extract inhibits angiogenesis by blocking normal vascularization in chick embryo. The ability of inhibiting angiogenic process in eggs by this extract can provide us an herbal anticancer agent in future for further scrutiny.Keywords: Antiangiogenesis, Chorioallantoic membrane, Incubation, Angiogenesis, Clematis buchaniana, Methanolic extract.Â

Exploring Mobile Technology to Enhance Birth Outcomes in Rural Mozambique: Pilot Study Results

INTRODUCTION: Public health is defined as the science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through systematic efforts and educated choices by communities, organizations and individuals around the globe. World Vision is no stranger to this. The World Vision Organization currently has a Mobile Health division. Mobile Technologies for Health (mHealth) is the term used for practicing medicine and public health, supported by mobile phones and other communication devices, such as tablets and personal digital assistants. This new field has emerged as a viable source to communicate health needs and collect community health data. It has been proven to help deliver healthcare information to community health workers (CHW), researchers, physicians and patients, in real-time. AIM: The goal was to compare two groups of prenatal mothers and see if mobile phone technologies provided a viable resource to better serve the health care needs of those in the rural area of Mozambique. METHODS: The mobile phones were used for health promotion plus data collection, CHW training and emergency referral. The mobile phones were implemented into the intervention group and were compared to control group: CHWs without the mHealth intervention. A survey was administered at the end of the study to women in both groups and the data was analyzed to compare the experimental group with the control group to see if the intervention led to more awareness and knowledge of pregnancy and postpartum danger signs in women. Odds ratios, confidence intervals and p-values for each indicator were calculated and compared between groups. RESULTS: The results above show, mothers who know at least 2 danger signs in pregnancy is significantly higher in the control area (68%, OR=0.4, p-value=0.009) than in the intervention group (51.6%). The proportion of mothers who know danger signs in the postpartum period is fairly low in both groups, but the intervention group (11.8%, OR=0.4, p-value=0.05) is significantly higher than the control group (5.3%). DISCUSSION: Based on the findings, the interventions group was also more likely to know about pregnancy and postpartum danger signs than the control group. Because the difference in the two groups was the mHealth intervention modules, it can be proven that the cause of the improvements between the groups was the mobile phones; though a self-selection bias could have accounted for the difference between the groups

Properties and occurrence rates of KeplerKepler exoplanet candidates as a function of host star metallicity from the DR25 catalog

Correlations between the occurrence rate of exoplanets and their host star properties provide important clues about the planet formation processes. We studied the dependence of the observed properties of exoplanets (radius, mass, and orbital period) as a function of their host star metallicity. We analyzed the planetary radii and orbital periods of over 2800 $Kepler$ candidates from the latest $Kepler$ data release DR25 (Q1-Q17) with revised planetary radii based on $Gaia$~DR2 as a function of host star metallicity (from the Q1-Q17 (DR25) stellar and planet catalog). With a much larger sample and improved radius measurements, we are able to reconfirm previous results in the literature. We show that the average metallicity of the host star increases as the radius of the planet increases. We demonstrate this by first calculating the average host star metallicity for different radius bins and then supplementing these results by calculating the occurrence rate as a function of planetary radius and host star metallicity. We find a similar trend between host star metallicity and planet mass: the average host star metallicity increases with increasing planet mass. This trend, however, reverses for masses $> 4.0\, M_\mathrm{J}$: host star metallicity drops with increasing planetary mass. We further examined the correlation between the host star metallicity and the orbital period of the planet. We find that for planets with orbital periods less than 10 days, the average metallicity of the host star is higher than that for planets with periods greater than 10 days.Comment: 14 pages, 13 Figures, Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

Dynamics of a passive sliding particle on a randomly fluctuating surface

We study the motion of a particle sliding under the action of an external field on a stochastically fluctuating one-dimensional Edwards-Wilkinson surface. Numerical simulations using the single-step model shows that the mean-square displacement of the sliding particle shows distinct dynamic scaling behavior, depending on whether the surface fluctuates faster or slower than the motion of the particle. When the surface fluctuations occur on a time scale much smaller than the particle motion, we find that the characteristic length scale shows anomalous diffusion with $\xi(t)\sim t^{2\phi}$, where $\phi\approx 0.67$ from numerical data. On the other hand, when the particle moves faster than the surface, its dynamics is controlled by the surface fluctuations and $\xi(t)\sim t^{{1/2}}$. A self-consistent approximation predicts that the anomalous diffusion exponent is $\phi={2/3}$, in good agreement with simulation results. We also discuss the possibility of a slow cross-over towards asymptotic diffusive behavior. The probability distribution of the displacement has a Gaussian form in both the cases.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, error in reference corrected and new reference added, submitted to Phys. Rev.

CONTROL OF Z-SOURCE INVERTER USING ADVANCED FUZZY LOGIC CONTROL FOR PV SYSTEM APPLICATIONS

The Z-source inverter (ZSI) has some advantages and suitable for all the Photo Voltaic (PV) system. This paper deals with a new topology for all ZSI with battery for PV power generation and distribution system. Thus the battery is connected parallel to one of the capacitors in Z-Source (ZS) network, instead of involving an additional DC/DC converter. This system builds all the advantages of ZSI. The operating principle of the new topology is designed and the design scheme of the ZS network is explained and also closed-loop control strategy for the proposed system is analyzed to manage the three power flow of PV panel, grid, and battery in the system. Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) has been implemented in the ZSI with battery based PV system by using the proposed control strategy. Different modes of operation are simulated. Simulation for this proposed system using fuzzy logic control technique is completely analyzed through the MATLAB/SIMULINK software

Sickle Cell MicroRNAs Inhibit the Malaria Parasite

Sickle cell hemoglobin conveys resistance to malaria. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, LaMonte et al. (2012) demonstrate a surprising mechanism for this innate immunity. A microRNA enriched in sickle red blood cells is translocated into the parasite, incorporated covalently into P. falciparum mRNAs and inhibits parasite growth

Reaction of sulphate radical anion (SO<SUB>4</SUB><SUP>&#8226;-</SUP>) with hydroxy- and methyl-substituted pyrimidines: a pulse radiolysis study

Reactions of sulphate radical anion (SO4&#8226;-) with 4,6-dihydroxy-2-methyl pyrimidine (DHMP), 2,4-dimethyl-6-hydroxy pyrimidine (DMHP), 6-methyl uracil (MU) and 5,6-dimethyl uracil (DMU) have been studied by pulse radiolysis at pH 3 and at pH 10. The transient intermediate spectra were compared with those from the reaction of hydroxyl radical (&#8226;OH). It is proposed that SOSO4&#8226;- produces radical cations of these pyrimidines in the initial stage. These radical cations are short-lived except in the case of DMHP where a relatively longer lived radical cation is proposed to be formed. When there is a hydrogen atom attached to the N(1) or N(3) position, a deprotonation from these sites is highly favored. When there is no hydrogen attached to these sites, deprotonation from a substituted methyl group is favored. At acidic pH, deprotonation from nitrogen is observed for DHMP, MU and DMU. At basic pH, the radical cation reacts with OH- leading to the formation of OH adducts

Reaction of oxide radical ion (O<SUP>&#8226;-</SUP>) with substituted pyrimidines

Pulse radiolysis technique has been used to investigate the reaction of oxide radical ion (O&#8226;-) with 4,6-dihydroxy-2-methyl pyrimidine (DHMP), 2,4-dimethyl-6-hydroxy pyrimidine (DMHP), 5,6-dimethyl uracil (DMU) and 6-methyl uracil (MU) in strongly alkaline medium. The second-order rate constants for the reaction of O&#8226;- with these compounds are in the range 2-5 &#215; 108 dm3 mol-1 s-1. The transient absorption spectra obtained with DHMP have two maxima at 290 and 370 nm and with DMHP have maxima at 310 and 470 nm. The transient spectrum from DMU is characterized by its absorption maxima at 310 and 520 nm and that of MU by its single maximum at 425 nm. The intermediate species were found to react with N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD) with high G(TMPD&#8226;+) values ranged between 3.9 &#215; 10-7 molJ-1 and 4.8 &#215; 10-7 molJ-1. These radicals undergo decay by second-order kinetics (2k/&#949; = 1.0-1.7 &#215; 106 s-1). The reaction of O&#8226;- with the selected pyrimidines is proposed to proceed through a hydrogen abstraction from the methyl group forming allyl type radicals. These are mainly oxidizing radicals and hence readily undergo electron transfer reactions with TMPD

AVID triad: a case report

Asymmetric ventriculomegaly, interhemispheric cyst and dysgenesis of the corpus callosum (AVID) constitutes a rare imaging triad. Additional findings include subcortical and subependymal heterotopia, polymicrogyria, fused thalami, deficient falx, and hydrocephalus. The knowledge of this triad helps us to diagnose prenatally by sonography and fetal MRI. In this case report authors present MRI Imaging findings in a case of AVID syndrome in a 6year old male child presenting with history of seizures and delayed milestones