PHARMACOGNOSTIC AND PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF TREMA ORIENTALIS LEAF

Trema orientalis (Ulmaceae) is native to India. This tree species has been of interest to researchers because it is a medicinal plant employed in the Indian indigenous system of medicine. Pharmacognostic standardization, physic-chemical evaluation of the leafs of Trema orientalis was carried out to determine its macro-and micro-scopical characters and also some insoluble ash and sulphated ash values, alcohol-and water-soluble extractive values were determined for phytochemical evaluations. Preliminary phytochemical screening was also done to detect different phytoconstituents. Microscopically, Leaf showed trichomes, Lamina, midrib regions, stomata and calcium oxalate crystals. Powder microscopy showed mesophyll region, abundant xylem vessels with annular thickenings and xylem vessels, Unicellular, multiseriate covering trichomes and glandular trichomes, Rosette and prism shape calcium oxalate crystals, Anomocytic stomata. Total ash was approximately two times and four times more than acid insoluble and water soluble as, respectively Ethanol soluble extractive was approximately two times higher than water soluble extractive. TLC of petroleum ether and ethanol extract showed five spots using Hexane: Ethyl acetate (12:4) and four spot using Choloroform: Ethyl acetate (5:4). Phytochemically, root exhibited phytosterols, Flavanoids, Tannin and phenolic compounds

Efficiency of free energy calculations of spin lattices by spectral quantum algorithms

Quantum algorithms are well-suited to calculate estimates of the energy spectra for spin lattice systems. These algorithms are based on the efficient calculation of the discrete Fourier components of the density of states. The efficiency of these algorithms in calculating the free energy per spin of general spin lattices to bounded error is examined. We find that the number of Fourier components required to bound the error in the free energy due to the broadening of the density of states scales polynomially with the number of spins in the lattice. However, the precision with which the Fourier components must be calculated is found to be an exponential function of the system size.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; corrected typographical and minor mathematical error

Towards the development of an Inter-Cultural Scale to Measure Trust in Automation

Trust is conceived as an attitude leading to intentions resulting in user actions involving automation. It is generally believed that trust is dynamic and that a user’s prior experience with automation affects future behavior indirectly through causing changes in trust. Additionally, individual differences and cultural factors have been frequently cited as the contributors to influencing trust beliefs about using and monitoring automation. The presented research focuses on modeling human’s trust when interacting with automated systems across cultures. The initial trust assessment instrument, comprising 110 items along with 2 perceptions (general vs. specific use of automation), has been empirically validated. Detailed results comparing items and dimensionality with our new pooled measure will be presented

Task-related enhancement in corticomotor excitability during haptic sensing with the contra- or ipsilateral hand in young and senior adults

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Haptic sensing with the fingers represents a unique class of manipulative actions, engaging motor, somatosensory and associative areas of the cortex while requiring only minimal forces and relatively simple movement patterns. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we investigated task-related changes in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude associated with unimanual haptic sensing in two related experiments. In Experiment I, we contrasted changes in the excitability of the hemisphere controlling the task hand in young and old adults under two trial conditions, i.e. when participants either touched a fine grating (<it>smooth trials</it>) or touched a coarse grating to detect its groove orientation (<it>grating trials</it>). In Experiment II, the same contrast between tasks was performed but with TMS applied over the hemisphere controlling the resting hand, while also addressing hemispheric (right vs. left) and age differences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Experiment I, a main effect of <it>trial type </it>on MEP amplitude was detected (p = 0.001), MEPs in the task hand being ~50% larger during grating than smooth trials. No interaction with age was detected. Similar results were found for Experiment II, <it>trial type </it>having a large effect on MEP amplitude in the resting hand (p < 0.001) owing to selective increase in MEP size (~2.6 times greater) for grating trials. No interactions with age or side (right vs. left) were detected.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Collectively, these results indicate that adding a haptic component to a simple unilateral finger action can elicit robust corticomotor facilitation not only in the working hemisphere but also in the opposite hemisphere. The fact that this facilitation seems well preserved with age, when task difficulty is adjusted, has some potential clinical implications.</p

Differential modulation of corticospinal excitability during haptic sensing of 2-D patterns vs. textures

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, we showed a selective enhancement in corticospinal excitability when participants actively discriminated raised 2-D symbols with the index finger. This extra-facilitation likely reflected activation in the premotor and dorsal prefrontal cortices modulating motor cortical activity during attention to haptic sensing. However, this parieto-frontal network appears to be finely modulated depending upon whether haptic sensing is directed towards material or geometric properties. To examine this issue, we contrasted changes in corticospinal excitability when young adults (n = 18) were engaged in either a roughness discrimination on two gratings with different spatial periods, or a 2-D pattern discrimination of the relative offset in the alignment of a row of small circles in the upward or downward direction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A significant effect of task conditions was detected on motor evoked potential amplitudes, reflecting the observation that corticospinal facilitation was, on average, ~18% greater in the pattern discrimination than in the roughness discrimination.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This differential modulation of corticospinal excitability during haptic sensing of 2-D patterns vs. roughness is consistent with the existence of preferred activation of a visuo-haptic cortical dorsal stream network including frontal motor areas during spatial vs. intensive processing of surface properties in the haptic system.</p

The immortalized UROtsa cell line as a potential cell culture model of human urothelium.

The UROtsa cell line was isolated from a primary culture of normal human urothelium through immortalization with a construct containing the SV40 large T antigen. It proliferates in serum-containing growth medium as a cell monolayer with little evidence of uroepithelial differentiation. The working hypothesis in the present study was that this cell line could be induced to differentiate and express known features of in situ urothelium if the original serum-containing growth medium was changed to a serum-free formulation. We demonstrated that the UROtsa cells could be successfully placed into a serum-free growth medium consisting of a 1:1 mixture of Dulbeco\u27s modified Eagle\u27s medium and Ham\u27s F-12 supplemented with selenium (5 ng/mL), insulin (5 microg/mL), transferrin (5 microg/mL), hydrocortisone (36 ng/mL), triiodothyronine (4 pg/mL), and epidermal growth factor (10 ng/mL). Under serum-free growth conditions, confluent UROtsa cells were shown by light microscopy to produce raised, three-dimensional structures. Routine ultrastructural examination disclosed these three-dimensional areas to consist of a stratified layer of cells that strongly resembled in situ urothelium. The cells displayed numerous desmosomal connections, complex interactions of the lateral membranes, and abundant intermediate filaments within the cytoplasm. Freeze fracture analysis demonstrated that the cells possessed tight-junction sealing strands and gap junctions. The overall morphology was most consistent with that found in the intermediate layers of in situ urothelium. The basal expression patterns of the metallothionein (MT) and heat shock proteins 27, 60, and 70 were determined in these cells, and expression was in agreement with that known to occur for in situ urothelium. The cells were also successfully tested for their ability to be stably transfected using expression vectors containing the MT-3 or MT-2A genes. The findings suggest that the UROtsa cells grown with a serum-free medium could be a valuable adjunct for studying environmental insult to the human urothelium in general and for the stress response in particular

A Comparison of the Conditioning Regimens BEAM and FEAM for Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Lymphoma: An Observational Study on 1038 Patients From Fondazione Italiana Linfomi

Abstract Background Carmustine (BCNU)-Etoposide-Citarabine-Melphalan (BEAM) chemotherapy is the standard conditioning regimen for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in lymphomas. Owing to BCNU shortages, many centers switched to Fotemustine-substituted BEAM (FEAM), lacking proof of equivalence. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study in 18 Italian centers to compare safety and efficacy of BEAM and FEAM regimens for ASCT in lymphomas performed from 2008 to 2015. Results We enrolled 1038 patients (BEAM n=607, FEAM n=431), of which 27% had Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), 14% indolent Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (iNHL) and 59% aggressive NHL (aNHL). Baseline characteristics including age, sex, stage, B-symptoms, extranodal involvement, previous treatments, response before ASCT, overall conditioning intensity, were well balanced between BEAM and FEAM; notable exceptions were: ASCT year (median: BEAM=2011 vs FEAM=2013, p Conclusions BEAM and FEAM do not appear different in terms of survival and disease control. However, due to concerns of higher toxicity, Fotemustine substitution in BEAM does not seem justified, if not for easier supply

Flood Risk Assessment for Urban Drainage System in a Changing Climate Using Artificial Neural Network

Changes in rainfall patterns due to climate change are expected to have negative impact on urban drainage systems, causing increase in flow volumes entering the system. In this paper, two emission scenarios for greenhouse concentration have been used, the high (A1FI) and the low (B1). Each scenario was selected for purpose of assessing the impacts on the drainage system. An artificial neural network downscaling technique was used to obtain local-scale future rainfall from three coarse-scale GCMs. An impact assessment was then carried out using the projected local rainfall and a risk assessment methodology to understand and quantify the potential hazard from surface flooding. The case study is a selected urban drainage catchment in northwestern England. The results show that there will be potential increase in the spilling volume from manholes and surcharge in sewers, which would cause a significant number of properties to be affected by flooding

Delayed-type hypersensitivity in classic Kaposi sarcoma patients and controls

BACKGROUND: Immune perturbation likely affects the development of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) among people infected with the KS-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). We tested whether KSHV-seropositive individuals or cases of classic KS (cKS), which typically originates in the leg, had differing delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) in the forearm or leg. METHODS: Mantoux DTH with three antigens (Candida, tetanus, PPD) was performed on the forearm and leg of 15 cKS cases, 14 KSHV-positives without KS, and 15 KSHV-negative controls. The diameters of induration responses were compared by group and body site. RESULTS: Leg DTH was greater than forearm DTH among controls (mean difference 5.6 mm, P\ubc0.0004), whereas this was not observed in cKS cases ( 2.2 mm, P\ubc0.32) or KSHV-positives (0.5 mm, P\ubc0.56). Leg-minus-forearm DTH difference was greater in controls compared with cKS cases (P\ubc0.004) and KSHV-positives (P\ubc0.002). Leg-plus-forearm DTH was similar in controls (mean 28.2 mm) and cKS cases (24.5 mm, P\ubc0.60), but it was reduced in KSHV-positives (11.8 mm, P\ubc0.02), particularly in the leg (P\ubc0.004) and marginally in the forearm (P\ubc0.07). CONCLUSION: KS cases had weaker DTH only in the leg, whereas both body sites appeared weaker in KSHV-positives without KS. Both systemic and regional immune alterations may influence the development of this malignancy