Evaluation of analgesic activity of Emblica officinalis in albino rats

Background: Amla is one of the most often used herbs in indigenous medicine, whose all parts including fruit, seed, leaves, root, bark, and flowers are used in various Ayurvedic/Unani medicines. However, studies to establish analgesic potential of amla were limited, so the purpose of the present study was to evaluate analgesic activity of amla, if it possesses any.Methods: Albino rats were divided randomly in three groups of six rats each. Group 1 (control) received distilled water orally, Group 2 (test) received Emblica officinalis extract in dose of 600 mg/kg orally and Group 3 (standard) received Pentazocine in dose 10 mg/kg intraperitoneally.Results: Emblica officinalis extract did not produced statistically significant (p>0.05) analgesia when compared with the control group in hot plate latency, but produced a statistically significant reduction in 6% NaCl induced abdominal writhing (p<0.05). Conclusions: Since the plant extract significantly reduced the number of writhes in abdominal writhing model, but do not increase hot plate latency, the commercially available crude extract of Emblica officinalis exhibit analgesic activity involving peripheral mechanisms

Comparative study to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of commercially available extract of Tinospora cordifolia and Phyllanthus emblica in streptozocin induced diabetic rat

Background: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder with significant socioeconomic impact on a developing country like India. Ayurvedic texts have mentioned Tinospora cordifolia (guduchi) and Phyllanthus emblica (amla) to possess antidiabetic properties. The study was conducted to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of commercially available extract of these herbal plants in streptozocin induced diabetic rats and its comparison to standard antidiabetic drug glibenclamide.Methods: The study was carried out with albino rats of either sex weighing between 100-150 gm. All the rats were intraperitonially injected with 35 mg/kg of streptozocin in citrate buffer. Blood glucose was estimated after 1 week high fat diet and rats having blood glucose >200 mg/dl were considered diabetic and included in further study. They were divided into 6 groups of 6 rats each. Six groups were given different interventions as distilled water (which were control rats), Tinospora cordifolia extract low dose (200 mg/kg/day), Tinospora cordifolia extract high dose (400mg/kg/day), Phyllanthus emblica extract low dose (200 mg/kg/day), Phyllanthus emblica extract high dose (400 mg/kg/day) and standard drug glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg/day). All the rats received allocated drugs for further 6 weeks. Blood glucose was measured every 2 weeks till the end of sixth weeks by glucose-oxidase method.Results: In both low as well as high dose groups, Tinospora cordifolia and Phyllanthus emblica showed significant reduction (P <0.01) in plasma glucose levels from fourth week onwards.Conclusions: Commercially available extract of Tinospora cordifolia and Phyllanthus emblica have significant anti-diabetic activity in streptozocin induced diabetic rats

Application of Spectroscopic Techniques in Early Detection of Fungal Plant Pathogens

Among the plant pathogens, around 85% of diseases in plants are caused by fungi. Rapid and accurate detection of fungal phytopathogens up to the species level is crucial for the implementation of proper disease control strategies, which were previously relied on conventional approaches. The conventional identification methods have been replaced by many rapid and accurate methods like high throughput sequencing, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), serological and spectroscopic technique. Among these rapid pathogen detection techniques, spectroscopy is a rapid, cost-effective, non-destructive method and does not require sample preparation. Nowadays, visible, infrared and near-infrared rays are commonly employed for pathogen detection. Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR)-FTIR spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, Matrix-assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Biocontrol fungus-like Trichoderma spp. can be detected with the help of MALDI-TOF MS. Fluorescence spectroscopy used fluorescence emanating from the sample and successfully used in the detection of powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis). Hyperspectral imaging is an advanced approach which uses artificial intelligence in plant disease detection. This literature discusses briefly about the features of above-mentioned spectroscopy techniques which may impel the general understanding and propel the research activities

Phase encoded quantum key distribution up to 380 km in standard telecom grade fiber enabled by baseline error optimization

Abstract Phase encoding in quantum key distribution (QKD) enables long-distance information-theoretic secure communication in optical fibers. We present a novel theoretical model characterizing errors from various sources in practical phase encoding-based QKD systems, namely the laser linewidth, detector dark counts, and channel dispersion. This model provides optimized optical pulse parameters and less distortion in pulses, which eliminates system imperfections and leads to a reduced quantum bit error rate (QBER) for practical QKD scenario. This analysis is applicable to various fiber-based phase and time encoding protocols. In particular, we implement this to a differential phase shift (DPS) QKD scheme operating at a 2.5 GHz clock, which produces a secure key rate of 193 bits/s at a fiber length of 265 km and an unprecedented QBER < 1 $$\%$$ % up to 225 km length with standard telecom components. We show that by adjusting the quantum efficiency and dark count rates of detectors, proposed system can establish secure keys up to 380 km distance using standard telecom grade fiber with a QBER of 1.48%. Moreover, the system is compatible with existing optical fiber networks and capable of establishing a secure key exchange between two cities 432 km apart using ultra-low-loss (ULL) specialty fiber

Comparative study to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of commercially available extract of Tinospora cordifolia and Phyllanthus emblica in streptozocin induced diabetic rat

Background: Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disorder with significant socioeconomic impact on a developing country like India. Ayurvedic texts have mentioned Tinospora cordifolia (guduchi) and Phyllanthus emblica (amla) to possess antidiabetic properties. The study was conducted to evaluate the anti-diabetic activity of commercially available extract of these herbal plants in streptozocin induced diabetic rats and its comparison to standard antidiabetic drug glibenclamide. Methods: The study was carried out with albino rats of either sex weighing between 100-150 gm. All the rats were intraperitonially injected with 35 mg/kg of streptozocin in citrate buffer. Blood glucose was estimated after 1 week high fat diet and rats having blood glucose >200 mg/dl were considered diabetic and included in further study. They were divided into 6 groups of 6 rats each. Six groups were given different interventions as distilled water (which were control rats), Tinospora cordifolia extract low dose (200 mg/kg/day), Tinospora cordifolia extract high dose (400mg/kg/day), Phyllanthus emblica extract low dose (200 mg/kg/day), Phyllanthus emblica extract high dose (400 mg/kg/day) and standard drug glibenclamide (0.6 mg/kg/day). All the rats received allocated drugs for further 6 weeks. Blood glucose was measured every 2 weeks till the end of sixth weeks by glucose-oxidase method. Results: In both low as well as high dose groups, Tinospora cordifolia and Phyllanthus emblica showed significant reduction (P <0.01) in plasma glucose levels from fourth week onwards. Conclusions: Commercially available extract of Tinospora cordifolia and Phyllanthus emblica have significant anti-diabetic activity in streptozocin induced diabetic rats. [Int J Basic Clin Pharmacol 2016; 5(4.000): 1641-1646