Nephroprotective effect of silymarin in hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress in rats

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia. Hyperglycemia is the etiological factor for oxidative stress-induced microvascular and macrovascular complications. Many animal experimental models and clinical trials have proved the antioxidant defense mechanism of flavonoids in ameliorating the progression of chronic diabetic complications. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the nephroprotective effects of silymarin in alloxan induced Type I diabetes.Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into five groups of six each. Group I served as control. Group II, III, IV and V were diabetic rats. Group II diabetic rats received the vehicle. Groups III and IV were treated with 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg of silymarin, respectively. Group V was treated with glibenclamide (0.5 mg/kg). After 3 weeks, blood samples were collected from all the groups of animals to measure serum glucose, urea and creatinine. Lipid peroxidation study and histopathological study were conducted in the renal tissue to confirm the oxidative damage.Results: The serum glucose, urea and creatinine significantly increased in untreated diabetic rats. In addition, there was a significant rise in lipid peroxidation with a glomerular atrophy and necrotic tubular epithelium in the renal tissue. The rise in serum glucose, urea and creatinine was ameliorated by silymarin. The renal tissue showed increased antioxidant levels, decreased lipid peroxides and only mild changes in glomeruli and tubules.Conclusion: The results of this study indicate silymarin is an effective nutritional supplement to prevent complications of diabetes

NEPHROPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF LYCOPENE IN HYPERGLYCEMIA INDUCED OXIDATIVE STRESS IN MALE WISTAR RATS

Objective: Diabetes mellitus is the chronic metabolic disorder characterized by chronic hyperglycemia associated with absolute or relative deficiency in insulin secretion or insulin action. The most commonly accepted cause of diabetes is the oxidative damage that is caused by free radicals generation. Free radicals have high ability to attract electrons from macromolecules such as carbohydrates, protein, lipid and DNA. Excessive Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can cause structural deterioration and instability of the macromolecules, consequently affecting proper cellular signaling pathways, gene regulation and function. The present study was conducted to investigate the nephroprotective effect of lycopene in alloxan induced type I diabetes. Methods: Male wistar rats were divided in to 5 groups 6 in each. Group1 as control, Group II. III,IV and V were diabetic groups. Group II diabetic control, Group III treated with protamine zinc insulin 0.9 u/100 gm s. c. Group IV and V treated with 2.5 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg of lycopene. After 3 weeks blood samples were collected from all the groups of animals to measure Lipid peroxidation. Serum glucose, urea and creatinine. Results: The serum Glucose, urea and creatinine were significantly increased in untreated diabetic rats. In addition, there was significant rise in lipid peroxidation. Conclusion: In this study, oxidative damage with diabetes was ameliorated with administration of lycopene. The results of this study indicate that lycopene is an effective nutritional component to alleviate or prevent the complications

Alignment and preliminary outcomes of an ELT-size instrument to a very large telescope: LINC-NIRVANA at LBT

LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is a high resolution, near infrared imager that uses a multiple field-of-view, layer-oriented, multi-conjugate AO system, consisting of four multi-pyramid wavefront sensors (two for each arm of the Large Binocular Telescope, each conjugated to a different altitude). The system employs up to 40 star probes, looking at up to 20 natural guide stars simultaneously. Its final goal is to perform Fizeau interferometric imaging, thereby achieving ELT-like spatial resolution (22.8 m baseline resolution). For this reason, LN is also equipped with a fringe tracker, a beam combiner and a NIR science camera, for a total of more than 250 optical components and an overall size of approximately 6x4x4.5 meters. This paper describes the tradeoffs evaluated in order to achieve the alignment of the system to the telescope. We note that LN is comparable in size to planned ELT instrumentation. The impact of such alignment strategies will be compared and the selected procedure, where the LBT telescope is, in fact, aligned to the instrument, will be described. Furthermore, results coming from early night-time commissioning of the system will be presented.Comment: 8 pages, 6 pages, AO4ELT5 Proceedings, 201

LINC-NIRVANA Commissioning at the Large Binocular Telescope - Lessons Learned

LINC-NIRVANA (LN) is one of the instruments on-board the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). LN is a high- resolution, near-infrared imager equipped with an advanced adaptive optics module. LN implements layer- oriented Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics (MCAO) approach using two independent wavefront sensors per side of the binocular telescope measuring the turbulence volume above the telescope. The capability of acquiring up to 20 Natural Guide Stars simultaneously from two distinct fields of view, and using them for wavefront sensing with 20 separate pyramids per side of the telescope makes the LN MCAO system one of a kind. Commissioning of the left MCAO channel is almost complete, while that of the right arm is on-going. The Science Verification on the left side is expected to start soon after the MCAO performance is optimised for faint guide stars. In this article, we put together the lessons learned during the commissioning of the LN MCAO module. We hope and believe that this article will help the future MCAO instrument commissioning teams

Geographic population structure analysis of worldwide human populations infers their biogeographical origins

The search for a method that utilizes biological information to predict humans’ place of origin has occupied scientists for millennia. Over the past four decades, scientists have employed genetic data in an effort to achieve this goal but with limited success. While biogeographical algorithms using next-generation sequencing data have achieved an accuracy of 700 km in Europe, they were inaccurate elsewhere. Here we describe the Geographic Population Structure (GPS) algorithm and demonstrate its accuracy with three data sets using 40,000–130,000 SNPs. GPS placed 83% of worldwide individuals in their country of origin. Applied to over 200 Sardinians villagers, GPS placed a quarter of them in their villages and most of the rest within 50 km of their villages. GPS’s accuracy and power to infer the biogeography of worldwide individuals down to their country or, in some cases, village, of origin, underscores the promise of admixture-based methods for biogeography and has ramifications for genetic ancestry testing

The GenoChip: A New Tool for Genetic Anthropology

The Genographic Project is an international effort aimed at charting human migratory history. The project is nonprofit and nonmedical, and, through its Legacy Fund, supports locally led efforts to preserve indigenous and traditional cultures. Although the first phase of the project was focused on uniparentally inherited markers on the Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), the current phase focuses on markers from across the entire genome to obtain a more complete understanding of human genetic variation. Although many commercial arrays exist for genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping, they were designed for medical genetic studies and contain medically related markers that are inappropriate for global population genetic studies. GenoChip, the Genographic Project’s new genotyping array, was designed to resolve these issues and enable higher resolution research into outstanding questions in genetic anthropology. TheGenoChip includes ancestry informativemarkers obtained for over 450 human populations, an ancient human (Saqqaq), and two archaic hominins (Neanderthal and Denisovan) and was designed to identify all knownY-chromosome andmtDNAhaplogroups. The chip was carefully vetted to avoid inclusion ofmedically relevant markers. To demonstrate its capabilities, we compared the FST distributions of GenoChip SNPs to those of two commercial arrays. Although all arrays yielded similarly shaped (inverse J) FST distributions, the GenoChip autosomal and X-chromosomal distributions had the highestmean FST, attesting to its ability to discern subpopulations. The chip performances are illustrated in a principal component analysis for 14 worldwide populations. In summary, the GenoChip is a dedicated genotyping platform for genetic anthropology. With an unprecedented number of approximately 12,000 Y-chromosomal and approximately 3,300 mtDNA SNPs and over 130,000 autosomal and X-chromosomal SNPswithout any known health,medical, or phenotypic relevance, the GenoChip is a useful tool for genetic anthropology and population genetics

MAVIS: The adaptive optics module feasibility study

The Adaptive Optics Module of MAVIS is a self-contained MCAO module, which delivers a corrected FoV to the postfocal scientific instruments, in the visible. The module aims to exploit the full potential of the ESO VLT UT4 Adaptive Optics Facility, which is composed of the high spatial frequency deformable secondary mirror and the laser guide stars launching and control systems. During the MAVIS Phase A, we evaluated, with the support of simulations and analysis at different levels, the main terms of the error budgets aiming at estimating the realistic AOM performance. After introducing the current opto-mechanical design and AO scheme of the AOM, we here present the standard wavefront error budget and the other budgets, including manufacturing, alignment of the module, thermal behavior and noncommon path aberrations, together with the contribution of the upstream telescope system

Population differentiation of Southern Indian male lineages correlates with agricultural expansions predating the caste system

Christina J. Adler, Alan Cooper, Clio S.I. Der Sarkissian and Wolfgang Haak are contributors to the Genographic ConsortiumPrevious studies that pooled Indian populations from a wide variety of geographical locations, have obtained contradictory conclusions about the processes of the establishment of the Varna caste system and its genetic impact on the origins and demographic histories of Indian populations. To further investigate these questions we took advantage that both Y chromosome and caste designation are paternally inherited, and genotyped 1,680 Y chromosomes representing 12 tribal and 19 non-tribal (caste) endogamous populations from the predominantly Dravidian-speaking Tamil Nadu state in the southernmost part of India. Tribes and castes were both characterized by an overwhelming proportion of putatively Indian autochthonous Y-chromosomal haplogroups (H-M69, F-M89, R1a1-M17, L1-M27, R2-M124, and C5-M356; 81% combined) with a shared genetic heritage dating back to the late Pleistocene (10–30 Kya), suggesting that more recent Holocene migrations from western Eurasia contributed, <20% of the male lineages. We found strong evidence for genetic structure, associated primarily with the current mode of subsistence. Coalescence analysis suggested that the social stratification was established 4–6 Kya and there was little admixture during the last 3 Kya, implying a minimal genetic impact of the Varna(caste) system from the historically-documented Brahmin migrations into the area. In contrast, the overall Y-chromosomal patterns, the time depth of population diversifications and the period of differentiation were best explained by the emergence of agricultural technology in South Asia. These results highlight the utility of detailed local genetic studies within India, without prior assumptions about the importance of Varna rank status for population grouping, to obtain new insights into the relative influences of past demographic events for the population structure of the whole of modern India.GaneshPrasad ArunKumar, David F. Soria-Hernanz, Valampuri John Kavitha, Varatharajan Santhakumari Arun, Adhikarla Syama, Kumaran Samy Ashokan, Kavandanpatti Thangaraj Gandhirajan, Koothapuli Vijayakumar, Muthuswamy Narayanan, Mariakuttikan Jayalakshmi, Janet S. Ziegle, Ajay K. Royyuru, Laxmi Parida, R. Spencer Wells, Colin Renfrew, Theodore G. Schurr, Chris Tyler Smith, Daniel E. Platt, Ramasamy Pitchappan, The Genographic Consortiu

Growth and Etching Studies of Cadmium Mercury Thiocyanate Single Crystals Grown by Gel Technique

International audienceSingle crystals of Cadmium mercury thiocyanate CdHg(SCN)4, a bimetallic thiocyanate complex material have been grown in silica gel using gel technique by the process of diffusion. Colourless transparent crystals of size 10mm x 3.1mm x 3.2mm have been obtained. The grown crystals were subjected to single crystal X-ray diffraction and high resolution X-ray diffraction studies. The crystal structure belongs to tetragonal system. Etching studies were made on the grown crystal to analyze the structural imperfection of the crystal. The Second harmonic generation efficiency of the grown crystal has been determined using Kurtz powder technique in comparison with Urea. Its efficiency is found to be 6.2 times greater than that of Urea

Studies On The Electrical Properties Of Some Crystalline Organic Compounds And Conducting Polymers

Solid electrolytes for applications like chemical sensing, energy storage, and conversion have been actively investigated and developed since the early sixties. Although of immense potential, solid state protonic conductors have been ignored in comparison with the great interest that has been shown to other ionic conductors like lithium and silver ion conductors. The non-availability of good, stable protonic conductors could be partly the reason for this situation. Although organic solids are better known for their electrical insulating character, ionic conductors of organic origin constitute a recent addition to the class of ionic conductors. However, detailed studies (N1 such conductors are scarce. Also the last decade has witnessed an unprecedented boom in research on organic "conducting polymers". These newly devised materials show conductivity spanning from insulator to metallic regimes, which can be manipulated by appropriate chemical treatment. They find applications in devices ranging from rechargeable batteries to "smart windows". This thesis mainly deals with the synthesis and investigations on the electrical properties of (i) certain organbc protonic conductors derived from ethylenediamine and (ii) substituted polyanilinesCochin University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Physics, Cochin University of Science and Technolog