Evaluation of Antioxidant Activity of Two Indian Medicinal Plants

Adhatoda vasica Nees and Sesbania grandiflora (L.) Pers are the two important medicinal plants native to India. The aqueous leaf extracts of these two plants have been analysed for their free radical-scavenging activity in different in vitro systems, e.g. DPPH radical-scavenging activity, hydroxyl radical-scavenging activity in Fe3+/ascorbate/EDTA/H2O2 system, inhibition of lipid peroxidation induced by FeSO4 in egg yolk, metal chelating activity. The free radical scavenging activities were compared with standard antioxidants like butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT), ascorbic acid and EDTA. Total antioxidant activity was measured, based on the reduction of Mo (VI) to Mo(V) by the extract and subsequent formation of green phosphate/Mo(V) complex at acid pH and reducing power by Fe3+ - Fe2+ transformation in the presence of extracts. The content of total phenolics (expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalents/gm) and total flavonoids (expressed as mg of quercetin equivalent/gm) and ascorbic acid were determined along with antioxidant enzymes. The results indicated that A. vasica and S. grandiflora showed significant antioxidant activity in vitro. The enzymatic and non enzymatic antioxidants in A. vasica were found to be more than that of S. grandiflora, similarly the antioxidant and radical scavenging activities of A. vasica were found to be more significant than S. grandiflora

Lime Pretreatment Associated Compositional and Ultrastructural Changes in Selected Root and Vegetable Processing Residues

The study aimed at exploring the suitability of processing residues from selected root and vegetables for bioethanol production, which are otherwise environmental pollutants. The effect of lime pretreatment at high (HT), low (LT) or room (RT) temperatures on compositional and ultrastructural changes in peels of root crops (sweet potato, elephant foot yam and tannia) and vegetable processing residues (peels from ash gourd and mixed vegetable waste) was studied. Pretreatment resulted in the removal of very little polysaccharides, including starch from these biomasses. Hemicellulose was removed to a higher extent in 24 h RT pretreatment (11.6-12.3%) compared to 7.3-8.5% removal in HT pretreatment. Maximum lignin removal (ca. 33-38%) occurred in RT pretreated (24 h) samples. Approximately 22-25.7% lignin was removed during HT pretreatment (121 °C) for 30 min. which increased to 28-31% when prolonged to 60 min. Pretreatment Efficiency (PE) was low (4.2-14.7%) in HT pretreatment, while 5.7-13.5% and 5.2-14.2% PE was observed in LT and RT pretreatments respectively. Scanning electron micrographs of lime pretreated biomass indicated that starch being a major ingredient of the biomass under study, preferential saccharification of starch by amylases might be necessary to expose the cellulose and hemicellulose for their subsequent saccharification to release fermentable sugars

Comparative Alterations in the Compositional Profile of Selected Root and Vegetable Peels Subjected to Three Pretreatments for Enhanced Saccharification

Lignocellulosic feedstocks have gained worldwide interest as alternative biofuel source in the context of squeezing petroleum resources, enhanced environmental pollution from greenhouse gases and resulting climate change. The potential of agricultural processing residues such as root and vegetable peels (beet root, greater yam, pumpkin and vegetable banana) for bioethanol production was investigated through an understanding of their compositional profile and efficacy of three pretreatments in altering their composition and reducing biomass recalcitrance. Starch was the major polysaccharide in the residues (range: 25-37%), followed by cellulose (18-22%) and hemicellulose (15-20%). While dilute sulfuric acid (DSA; 121°C ; 0.102 MPa) hydrolyzed starch and hemicellulose to a high extent, steam pretreatment of moist residues (40 % and 50 % MC) at 100 °C also facilitated hemicellulose and starch solubilization. On the contrary, lime pretreatment retained most of the cellulose, hemicellulose and starch in the pretreated residues. Delignification was the highest (28- 37%) in steam pretreated residues, with minimal effect in DSA and lime pretreatments, necessitating lignin binding surfactants during saccharification in the latter. Reducing sugar content in pretreated liquors and Pretreatment Efficiency (%) were the highest (40-45 g L-1 and 57-64% respectively) in the DSA pretreatment. The study showed that as the pretreated liquor DSA and steam pretreatment was rich in fermentable sugars, whole slurry saccharification would be beneficial for maximizing the bioethanol yield

STABILITY-INDICATING REVERSED-PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF METHYLCOBALAMIN, ALPHA-LIPOIC ACID, PYRIDOXINE HCL, AND FOLIC ACID IN BULK AND COMBINED DOSAGE FORM

Objectives: The purpose of the research is to develop a simple, precise, economical, accurate, reproducible, and sensitive method for the estimation of methylcobalamin, alpha-lipoic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, and folic acid drug product by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method.Methods: New analytical method was developed for the estimation of methylcobalamin, alpha-lipoic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, and folic acid in drug product by RP-HPLC. The chromatographic separation was achieved on the Inertsil C18, 250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm at ambient temperature. The separation achieved employing a mobile phase consists of buffer (added 5.05 g hexane-1-sulfonic acid is dissolved into 1000 mL of distilled water):acetonitrile in the ratio of 10:90% v/v. The flow rate was 1 mL/min and UV-visible spectrophotometer at 285 nm. The average retention time for methylcobalamin, alpha-lipoic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, and folic acid was found to be 3.5, 6.7, 8.5, and 9.3, respectively.Results: The developed method was validated as per ICH guidelines. All validation parameters were within the acceptable ranges. The assay methods were found to be linear from 0 to 2130 μg/mL for methylcobalamin, 0 to 142.5 μg/mL for alpha-lipoic acid, 0–4.54 μg/mL for pyridoxine hydrochloride, and 0–2 μg/mL for folic acid. The correlation coefficient was 0.999 for all drugs, respectively. The mean percentage values for the developed method were found to be within the range of 98–100.6%. The developed method was also found to be robust.Conclusion: It is concluded that developed method was accurate, precise, linear, reproducible, robust, and sensitive

Evaluation of efficacy and safety of terbinafine and itraconazole in superficial mycoses: a prospective, randomized, controlled and cost-effective analysis study

Background: Superficial mycoses are common worldwide. Dermatophytic infections can greatly affect quality of life. Several newer antimycotic agents, have been reported effective and safe. Hence this study was planned to analyse effectiveness as well as cost effectiveness of these treatments.Methods: It were a prospective, randomized, parallel, open label, comparative study. Fifty patients were included in the study and divided into 2 groups. They were randomized to receive either oral terbinafine 250 mg or itraconazole 100 mg once daily for 4 weeks. Scaling, erythema and pruritus were rated as clinical score 0 to 3: 0 - absent, 1 - mild, 2 - moderate, and 3 - severe for the above three target symptoms. Total symptom score was assessed. Pruritus was also graded on visual analogue scale (VAS). Mycological cure was assessed by skin scraping with KOH mounts and fungal culture. Clinical efficacy scoring and VAS were assessed before the study and at each follow up visit at 2 and 4 weeks. Patients were followed up for another 4 weeks after completion of the treatment.Results: There was highly significant decrease p<000.1 in the mean total symptoms scores in both the study groups from baseline. No significant difference in the mean total symptoms score was observed when compared between groups. ADRs were more in terbinafine group.Conclusions: Both terbinafine and itraconazole are effective and safe against superficial mycoses, but adverse effects are more with terbinafine. Itraconazole was found to be cost effective compared to terbinafine

Underreported injection drug use and its potential contribution to reported increase in sexual transmission of HIV in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Background We conducted a cross-sectional integrated bio-behavioral survey among sex partners of persons who inject drugs (PWID) to explore reasons for reported increase in reporting of heterosexually transmitted HIV in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Methods Sexual partners of PWID were recruited through PWID. Behavioral data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Dried blood spots were obtained and tested for HIV and hepatitis C virus antibodies (HCVAb). Descriptive univariate and bivariate analyses, and multivariate analyses using logistic regression modeling were performed to identify factors associated with HIV and HCV infections. Results Among 1982 sex partners of PWID, overall HIV prevalence was 6.4%; 5.1% and 12.9% among those reported never and ever injecting drugs, respectively (p < 0.001). Overall, HCVAb prevalence was 21.3%; 15.0% and 53.9% among those reported never and ever injecting drugs, respectively (p < 0.001). Of HCV-positive participants, 58% and 34% (p < 0.001) reported prior history of injecting drug use among men and women, respectively. HIV prevalence was lower among HCV-negative (4.2%) compared to HCV-positive participants (14.4%) (p < 0.001). HIV prevalence was 3.5% (95%CI = 2.4–4.6) in a subset of female participants with no reported prior injecting drug use history and who were HCVAb-negative and did not report having an HIV-positive sex partner. Participant sex and number of sex partners as well as use of condoms in the past 12 months were not associated with HIV seropositivity. Conclusions High prevalence of HCV among sex partners of PWID who denied ever injecting drugs suggests underreporting of injecting practices. The increased attribution of HIV infection to sexual transmission based on self-report may be partly explained by underreporting of injection drug use due to stigmatization of this behavior

Spindle cell sarcoma of sphenoid bone

Primary bone tumors involving skull are extremely rare and they constitute 0.8% of all bone tumors. The common tumors that are seen in skull base include fibrous dysplasia, giant cell tumor, chordoma, ossifying fibroma, angiosarcoma. We report a rare case of spindle cell sarcoma arising from right sphenoid bone in a 70-year-old male which presented as unilateral defective vision with mild proptosis

ADVANCES OF MODERN SECURE COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE AND ITS OPTIMIZATION IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORK

Routing is yet another very challenging design problem for WSNs. A correctly designed routing protocol shouldn't only ensure a higher message delivery ratio and occasional energy consumption for message delivery, but additionally balance the whole sensor network energy consumption, and therefore extend the sensor network lifetime Motivated because WSNs routing is frequently geography-based, we advise a geography-based safe and effective Cost-Aware Secure routing (CASER) protocol for WSNs without counting on flooding. CASER protocol has two major advantages: (i) It ensures balanced energy use of the whole sensor network so the duration of the WSNs could be maximized. (ii) CASER protocol supports multiple routing strategies in line with the routing needs, including fast/slow message delivery and secure message delivery to avoid routing trackback attacks and malicious traffic jamming attacks in WSNs. We advise a safe and effective Cost-Aware Secure Routing (CASER) protocol for WSNs. Within this protocol, cost-aware based routing strategies do apply to deal with the content delivery needs. Actually, the foe is infeasible to look for the previous hop source node through routing trackback analysis. Furthermore, the probability for that foe to get multiple messages in the same source node continuously is minimal for big sensor systems. The content is first transmitted to some randomly selected intermediate node within the sensor domain prior to the message has been given to a network mixing ring in which the messages from various directions are mixed... The quantitative security analysis demonstrates the suggested formula can safeguard the origin location information in the adversaries. Our extensive OPNET simulation results reveal that CASER can offer excellent energy balance and routing security. Our analysis and simulation results reveal that we are able to boost the lifetime and the amount of messages that may be delivered underneath the non-uniform energy deployment by greater than four occasions