Metabolomics: Special Emphasis on Basic Drug Discovery and Development

Metabolomics utilizes analytical profiling technique for measuring and comparing large numbers of metabolites produced in the biological fluids. Traditional process of drug development is not sufficient enough to understand the proper biochemical processes within the targets which may finally lead to the failure. Metabolomics can be very useful to overcome such failure as it involves in the detailed profiling and understanding of the biochemical processes which helps in identification of target engagement (TE) markers as well as predicting mode of action (MOA). Currently pharmaceutical companies are utilizing this approach in the early drug development stage to combat failure. This chapter will mainly highlight the advantages of this concept over traditional concept of drug development along with recent developments of it

FORECASTING IRRIGATION WATER DEMAND: A STRUCTURAL AND TIME SERIES ANALYSIS

An expected utility model was developed to capture the impacts of wealth, other economic, and institutional factors on irrigation acreage allocation decisions. Predicted water demand is derived from an expected utility structural model and various ARIMA models. No significant differences arise between forecasted irrigation acreage and, thereby, amount of forecasted water demand between econometric and time series models. However, estimates of water demand differ significantly from a Blaney-Criddle-based physical model. Keywords: water forecasting, acreage response, water slippage, BC formulawater forecasting, acreage response, water slippage, BC formula, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Sensing behaviour of some nanocomposite systems

Silver nanoparticles of diameters 3.4 to 13.2 nm grown at the interfaces between silicate glass and some oxide crystallites exhibited about six orders of magnitude reduction in resistivity for a relative humidity change from 25% to 80%. Sn-SnO2 nano core-shell structure prepared within a gel-derived silica glass film by electrodeposition technique followed by heat treatment showed large change in resistivity as a function of humidity. The resistivity also changed due to gas flow of CO2, C2H5OH and NO2, respectively. The latter arose because of reduction/oxidation of Sn4+/Sn2+ species present at the shell layer of the nanostructures. Nickel nanosheets of thickness ~0.6 nm grown within the interlayer spaces of Na-4 mica crystallites showed a change of dielectric permittivity (5%) for an applied magnetic field of 1.2 Tesla. An inhomogeneous model was used to explain this behavior. Two dimensional CuO phase was grown within the channels of diameter ~5 nm of mesoporous SiO2 structure. A magnetodielectric (MD) parameter M.D. of 4.4% was obtained in this case. BaTiO3 nanoparticles of diameter ~25 nm having pores with diameter 10 nm showed multiferroic behavior which arose due to the presence of oxygen vacancies as a result of large surface area present. An M.D. parameter of 11% was found. Similarly mesoporous LiNbO3 of 10 nm diameter showed an M.D. parameter of ~4.5% at a magnetic field 1 Tesla. A giant magnetocapacitance effect with a value of 44% at 1.5 T was observed in nickel zinc ferrite (NZF) impregnated mesoporous silica. A magnetocapacitance of 51% at magnetic field 1.7 T was found in the case of nanocomposites comprising of iron ion containing silica based nanoglass and mesoporous silica. In the last two examples the behavior was explained on the basis of Catalan model of space-charge polarization with extracted values of magnetoresistance of the NZF and nanoglass phases being 58%

A simple copper(II) dppy-based receptor for sensing of L-Cysteine and L-Histidine in aqueous acetonitrile medium

The development of simple yet efficient receptors that rapidly detect and monitor amino acids with high sensitivity and reliability is crucial for the early-stage identification of various diseases. In this work, we report the synthesis and characterisation of a copper(II) complex, CuCl2L, by employing a 2,6-dipyrazinylpyridine (dppy)-based ligand (L = 2,2'-(4-(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)pyridine-2,6-diyl)dipyrazine). The in-situ prepared CuCl2L receptor exhibits an instantaneous response to the presence of L-Cysteine (Cys) and L-Histidine (His) in aqueous acetonitrile (4:1 v/v, 10 mM HEPES buffer, pH 7.4). Furthermore, competitive experiments demonstrate the selectivity of CuCl2L towards Cys (1 equiv.) in the vicinity of other L-amino acids in the aforementioned solvent conditions. The lowest detection limits for Cys and His are calculated as 0.33 µM and 1.40 µM, respectively. DFT calculations offer a plausible explanation for the observed selectivity of the CuCl2L receptor towards Cys and His. They reveal that the most stable conformer of Cu:Cys complex (1:1) is a five-membered ring formed through N,S-coordination mode (ΔG = –26.7 kcal mol–1) over various other possible coordination modes, while comparable ΔG values are only obtained for Cu:His complexes featuring two His moieties

Ultrasound mediated synthesis of aldimines from non-enolizable aldehydes at room temperature

A user-friendly, energy efficient method of synthesizing N-sulfonyl aldimines at room temperature (25‒28°C) from readily available and inexpensive reagents has been developed. The method employs ultrasonication from common laboratory ultrasonic cleaner to mediate the reaction. FeCl3 as catalyst and molecular sieves as water scavenger have produced excellent yields of aldimines with short reaction time. The reaction set-up does not require inert atmosphere or anhydrous solvent thereby saving resources and time. The easily scalable method works well for the condensation of aromatic non-enolizable aldehydes and sulfonamides

Ultrasound mediated synthesis of aldimines from non-enolizable aldehydes at room temperature

1593-1600user-friendly, energy efficient method of synthesizing N-sulfonyl aldimines at room temperature (25‒28°C) from readily available and inexpensive reagents has been developed. The method employs ultrasonication from common laboratory ultrasonic cleaner to mediate the reaction. FeCl3 as catalyst and molecular sieves as water scavenger have produced excellent yields of aldimines with short reaction time. The reaction set-up does not require inert atmosphere or anhydrous solvent thereby saving resources and time. The easily scalable method works well for the condensation of aromatic non-enolizable aldehydes and sulfonamides

Optomechanical resonator-enhanced atom interferometry

Matter-wave interferometry and spectroscopy of optomechanical resonators offer complementary advantages. Interferometry with cold atoms is employed for accurate and long-term stable measurements, yet it is challenged by its dynamic range and cyclic acquisition. Spectroscopy of optomechanical resonators features continuous signals with large dynamic range, however it is generally subject to drifts. In this work, we combine the advantages of both devices. Measuring the motion of a mirror and matter waves interferometrically with respect to a joint reference allows us to operate an atomic gravimeter in a seismically noisy environment otherwise inhibiting readout of its phase. Our method is applicable to a variety of quantum sensors and shows large potential for improvements of both elements by quantum engineering. © 2020, The Author(s)

Evaluation of In vitro Antioxidant and Antidiabetic activity of a Polyherbal formulation

Recent years have seen significant improvements in the identification, management, and study of metabolic illnesses, particularly diabetes. In addition to the present synthetic medicines, current research is focused on developing an alternate source of medication from natural resources for managing diabetes. Objective: To investigate the antioxidant and antidiabetic efficacy of a poly-herbal formulation (PHF) by in vitro models. Methods: The Polyherbal formulation was screened for the presence of phytochemical constituents. The total phenolic and flavonoids content of the formulation was also analysed.  The in vitro antioxidant and antidiabetic activity of the formulation (PHF) were calculated. Results: The Polyherbal formulation showed presence of phenols, flavonoids, steroids, and saponins. The IC50 value of PHF4 was found to be 42.70µg/ml in DPPH radical scavenging assay.  It has shown high levels of phenols (172.6±0.68 mg/g), flavonoids (137.3±0.91 mg/g) and had IC50 values of 422.50 µg/ml and 438.71 µg/ml for amylase and glucosidase, respectively. Conclusion: The results indicate that Polyherbal Formulation (PHF4) had significant antioxidant activity as well as a strong inhibitory effect on α -amylase and α -glucosidase. However, for further validation of the above findings, in vivo antidiabetic study of polyherbal formulation will be carried out using animal models