A novel fluorescent "turn-on" chemosensor for nanomolar detection of Fe(III) from aqueous solution and its application in living cells imaging

An electronically active and spectral sensitive fluorescent “turn-on” chemosensor (BTP-1) based on the benzo-thiazolo-pyrimidine unit was designed and synthesized for the highly selective and sensitive detection of Fe³⁺ from aqueous medium. With Fe³⁺, the sensor BTP-1 showed a remarkable fluorescence enhancement at 554 nm (λex=314 nm) due to the inhibition of photo-induced electron transfer. The sensor formed a host-guest complex in 1:1 stoichiometry with the detection limit down to 0.74 nM. Further, the sensor was successfully utilized for the qualitative and quantitative intracellular detection of Fe³⁺ in two liver cell lines i.e., HepG2 cells (human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell line) and HL-7701 cells (human normal liver cell line) by a confocal imaging technique

Endophytic Mycoflora of Indian Medicinal Plant, Terminalia arjuna and their Biological Activities

Studies were undertaken to isolate, identify and evaluate the biological activities of endophytic mycoflora of Indian medicinal plant, Terminalia arjuna. A total of 20 isolates of endophytic fungi were obtained from the leaves, twigs and bark tissues of the Terminalia arjuna. Out of 20, six isolates exhibited promising antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory activities when cultivated at shake flask level. The selected isolates were identified on the basis of morphology and ITS gene sequencing. Three isolates, designated as TA BA 1, TA L1 and TA L2 were identified as Aspergillus flavus whereas; the remaining three endophytic fungi were identified as Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2), Alternaria Sp. (TA TW1) and Lasiodiplodia theobromae (TA BA2). Aspergillus flavus was found as the predominant endophyte in leaves and bark tissues of the plant. The crude extract of the test isolates showed considerable antimicrobial activity against common human bacterial (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Salmonella abony and Bacillus subtilis) and fungal (Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Penicilium sp.) pathogens. The extract of Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2) significantly reduced the concentration of DPPH free radical as percent DPPH scavenging activity was found to be highest (69.56%) in comparison with other isolates. The % inhibition of hemolysis of RBCs was found to be highest (82.85%) with Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2) in comparison (83.26%) with standard drug (Ibuprofen). Among all, the extract of the Diaporthe arengae (TA TW2) showed excellent biological activities and hence was subjected to further characterization. The phytochemical investigation of the extract revealed the presence of terpenoids as the major phytoconstituents which was supported by TLC and UV spectroscopic studies. The results indicate that the isolated endophytes could be the valuable source of these bioactive molecules with diverse biological activities. The bioactivities may be attributed to the terpenoids present in the endophytic extract

ZnO nanocrystalline thin films: a correlation of microstructural, optoelectronic properties

The compositional, structural, microstructural, dc electrical conductivity and optical properties of undoped zinc oxide films prepared by the sol-gel process using a spin-coating technique were investigated. The ZnO films were obtained by 5 cycle spin-coated and dried zinc oxide films followed by annealing in air at 600 ° C. The films deposited on the platinum coated silicon substrate were crystallized in a hexagonal wurtzite form. The energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometry shows Zn and O elements in the products with an approximate molar ratio. TEM image of ZnO thin film shows that a grain of about 60-80 nm in size is really an aggregate of many small crystallites of around 10-20 nm. Electron diffraction pattern shows that the ZnO films exhibited hexagonal structure. The SEM micrograph showed that the films consist in nanocrystalline grains randomly distributed with voids in different regions. The dc conductivity found in the range of 10-5-10-6 (Ω cm)-1. The optical study showed that the spectra for all samples give the transparency in the visible range

Blood transfusion needs among obstetric patients in a tertiary care hospital: a prospective observational study

Background: Pregnancy possess a special challenge as immune responses in pregnant and non-pregnant states are different. The objectives of this study were to analyze the various indications for blood and blood component transfusion in obstetric patients. To study the prevalence and indications for blood transfusion among obstetric patients. To evaluate the various risk factors among these women. To study the role of antenatal visits in patients requiring blood transfusionMethods: A prospective observational study will be undertaken over a period of one year from July 2018 to June 2019 in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at SSIMS and RC, Davangere. This study was conducted on pregnant women and immediate postpartum patients (up to 7 days after delivery) admitted in Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and requiring blood and blood component therapy. Statistical analysis will be performed using Chi square test and Student’s t test.Results: During study period out of 5486 patients 543 patients required blood transfusion. The incidence of blood transfusion is 9.89%. The indications for blood and blood product transfusion observed in our study were anemia, obstetric hemorrhage, thrombocytopenia, disseminated intravascular coagulopathy, ruptured ectopic, incomplete abortion, complete abortion and hydatidiform mole. Anemia in pregnancy was the most common indication and was observed in 217 cases (39.96%) followed by postpartum hemorrhage, which was seen in 117 cases (21.54%). The incidence of transfusion reactions was 5.34% in our study.Conclusions: A proper knowledge of blood and blood product transfusion is needed to make it available for people who are actually in need and also to decrease the economic burden. Regular Antenatal checkups should be given more importance in order to maximize the hemoglobin level at the time of delivery and to screen out the high-risk patients. Active management of the third stage of labor is required to minimize the blood loss. Anemia followed by obstetric hemorrhage still persists to be a major cause for blood and blood product transfusion

The Cosmology of Massless String Modes

We consider the spacetime dynamics of a gas of closed strings in the context of General Relativity in a background of arbitrary spatial dimensions. Our motivation is primarily late time String Gas Cosmology, where such a spacetime picture has to emerge after the dilaton has stabilized. We find that after accounting for the thermodynamics of a gas of strings, only string modes which are massless at the self-dual radius are relevant, and that they lead to a dynamics which is qualitatively different from that induced by the modes usually considered in the literature. In the context of an ansatz with three large spatial dimensions and an arbitrary number of small extra dimensions, we obtain isotropic stabilization of these extra dimensions at the self-dual radius. This stabilization occurs for fixed dilaton, and is induced by the special string states we focus on. The three large dimensions undergo a regular Friedmann-Robertson-Walker expansion. We also show that this framework for late-time cosmology is consistent with observational bounds.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, references added (again

COMPARATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF ETHNOBOTANICALLY IMPORTANT MEDICINAL PARASITIC HERB: ALECTRA CHITRAKUTENSIS

Objective: Alectra chitrakutensis (M. A. Rau) R. Prasad & R. D. Dixit is a critically endangered and ethnobotanically very important plant. Official drug i.e. dried rhizome of the plant has been reported to be used for treatment of leprosy, tuberculosis, paralysis, oedematous swelling, fevers, intestinal worms and constipation. Besides having high medicinal properties, detail studies on chemical constituents present in the rhizome of this particular species have not been done so far. Thus, in present study efforts were made for evaluation of phytochemical as well as physicochemical analysis of the rhizome collected from six different places of the Chitrakoot region of Madhya Pradesh (M. P.) and Uttar Pradesh (U. P.).Methods: Phytochemical analysis of the rhizome was carried out as per standard protocol given in Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India (API). Separation and qualitative phytochemical screening were done by using an advance technique of High-performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC).Results: The study revealed the presence of alkaloids, steroids, triterpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, carbohydrates, starch, saponin, tannins, etc. in the rhizome of the plants, and the study confirmed the chemotaxonomic resemblance among all the collected plant materials.Conclusion: Comparative study of six rhizome samples of A. Chitrakutensis provides authenticity for establishing Pharmacopoeial standardization of drug and evidence of the study proves the chemotaxonomic similarities of official drug.Keywords: Alectra chitrakutensis, Endangered plant, Quality control, Physicochemical, Phytochemical analysis, HPTL