Comparative Effects of Datura stramonium Leaf and Seed Extracts on Membrane Stabilization and Platelet Aggregation In-vitro

Despite the progress in developing new therapies, inflammatory diseases remain one of the major causes of mortality. In this study, anti-inflammatory activity of the aqueous extracts of Datura stramonium leaves and seeds were evaluated. Heat and hypotonicity-induced haemolysis of human red blood cells (HRBCs) were used to determine the effect of the extracts on membrane stabilization, and the effect of the extracts on platelet aggregation was determined using calcium chloride (CaCl2)-induced platelet aggregation. The concentrations of the extracts used were 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 mg/ml. Indomethacin (0.4 mg/ml) was used as the standard drug. The leaf extract significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited heat-induced haemolysis by 44.47% and 52.89% at 0.2 and 0.1 mg/ml respectively compared to the seed extract. On the other hand, the seed extract significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited heat-induced haemolysis by 29.5%, 44.88% and 50.01% at 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 mg/ml respectively compared to the leaf extract. Effect of the leaf extract on hypotonicity-induced haemolysis showed that it significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited haemolysis from 27.27% - 68.67% corresponding to concentrations 0.1 – 0.8 mg/ml, compared to the seed extract. The effect of the extracts on platelet aggregation showed that the leaf extract exhibited significantly (p < 0.05) higher inhibition of platelet aggregation from 0 – 120 seconds, compared to the seed. Both extracts thus, have comparable effect on heat-induced haemolysis of HRBCs, though at different concentrations. The ability of the leaf extract to inhibit hypotonicity-induced haemolysis and platelet aggregation outweigh that of the seed

Constraints on cosmic strings using data from the first Advanced LIGO observing run

Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed in grand unified theory scale phase transitions in the early universe. They are also predicted to form in the context of string theory. The main mechanism for a network of Nambu-Goto cosmic strings to lose energy is through the production of loops and the subsequent emission of gravitational waves, thus offering an experimental signature for the existence of cosmic strings. Here we report on the analysis conducted to specifically search for gravitational-wave bursts from cosmic string loops in the data of Advanced LIGO 2015-2016 observing run (O1). No evidence of such signals was found in the data, and as a result we set upper limits on the cosmic string parameters for three recent loop distribution models. In this paper, we initially derive constraints on the string tension Gμ and the intercommutation probability, using not only the burst analysis performed on the O1 data set but also results from the previously published LIGO stochastic O1 analysis, pulsar timing arrays, cosmic microwave background and big-bang nucleosynthesis experiments. We show that these data sets are complementary in that they probe gravitational waves produced by cosmic string loops during very different epochs. Finally, we show that the data sets exclude large parts of the parameter space of the three loop distribution models we consider

Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 with a hidden Markov model in O3 LIGO data

Results are presented for a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to allow for spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory data by including the orbital period in the search template grid, and by analyzing data from the latest (third) observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 500 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1 using a HMM to date. For the most sensitive subband, starting at 256.06 Hz, we report an upper limit on gravitational wave strain (at 95% confidence) of h 95 % 0 = 6.16 × 10 − 26 , assuming the orbital inclination angle takes its electromagnetically restricted value ι = 4 4 ° . The upper limits on gravitational wave strain reported here are on average a factor of ∼ 3 lower than in the second observing run HMM search. This is the first Scorpius X-1 HMM search with upper limits that reach below the indirect torque-balance limit for certain subbands, assuming ι = 4 4 °