Morphological and Molecular Characterisation of Ethanolic Neem (Azadirachta Indica) Leaf Extract In an in Vivo Breast Cancer Model

Breast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer death in women worldwide and Malaysia in all ethnic groups and all age groups. Neem's (Azadirachta indica) ability as a medicinal herb is traced as far back as 4500 years ago. Some of the impressive therapeutic qualities have been discovered such as anti-viral, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-hyperglycemic; however the anticancer effect of ethanolic Neem leaves extract against breast cancer has not been documented. Besides this, Neem was found to induce apotosis in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line in local study recently. Thus, this study was done to evaluate the effect of ethanolic Neem leaves extract as apoptosis inducer in in vivo 4Tl breast cancer model. Two different concentrations of Neem, 250 mgkg and 500 mglkg were tested on 4T1 breast cancer model. The 4T1 breast cancer models were evaluated by light microscopy, transmission electron microscopy for morphological changes, TUNEL assay for apoptotic cell labeling and in situ RT-PCR for c-myc, c-erbB2 and c-fos oncogene expressions. All treatment groups exhibited a higher incidence of apoptosis compared to untreated group from morphological analysis and TUNEL assay. The cancerous mice treated with both different concentration of Neem showed significantly higher value (p<0.05) in mean body weight, mean apoptotic index and mean apoptotic score compared to the control group. At the same time both group were showing a significantly lower value of mean mitotic index in histological evaluation. The mean tumour volume and mass proved that there was evidence of tumour regression in Neem treated mice. However, the overall observation showed that 500 mglkg of Neem has more significant effect (p <0.05) of inducing apoptosis in the 4T1 breast cancer cells compared to 250 mgkg of Neem. Furthermore, the 500 mgkg Neem concentration has significantly lengthened the mean survival time by 44.62% in the 4T1 breast cancer model (p <0.05). Neem 500 mglkg group also showed a better suppression of c-myc, c-erbB2 and c-fos oncogenes expression in mean distribution and intensity score (pc 0.05) in the 4T1 breast cancer model. By considering all the three down regulated oncogenes (c-myc, c-erbB2 and c-fos) under effect of Neem 500 mgkg together, it becomes clearer that Neem 500 mglkg was effective in inducing apoptosis in the 4T1 breast cancer model. In conclusion, the Neem 500 mglkg treatment was effective in inducing cell death via apoptosis and regulates cell proliferation in 4T1 breast cancer model. Its effectiveness was proportional to the concentration of Neem treatment given

Postharvest Studies on Carambola (Averrhoa Carambola L.) Fruit

The carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) is determined to be anon-climacteric type fruit. The characteristic upsurge of carbon dioxide exhibited by climacteric fruits was not evident in carambola fruits of different ages. Green mature fruit did not respond to 700 ul/l of C2 H4 and 1000 u l/l of ethrel treatment. Unripe fruits (less than 25 % yellow colour) were susceptible to chilling injury after storing for 5 week sat 5 C , but ripe fruits (more than 25 % yellow colour) were not affected. Ripe fruits have a storage life of approximately 9 to 12 week sin 1.5 percent perforated (holes of 5 mm diameter) polyethylene bags. Storage life decreased within creasing storage temperatures from 5°c to ambient temperatures (240 to 35°C). The storage life was 5 weeks at 10° and 15°C:1 to 3 weeks at 20 and ambient temperatures. Unripe fruits in sealed polyethylene bag sat 20°C can be stored for 2 to 3 weeks. They could be stored for another one week when the bags were opened and the fruits exposed to normal air. The fruits would ripen and turn completely yellow in colour

Robust Intrinsic Ferromagnetism and Half Semiconductivity in Stable Two-Dimensional Single-Layer Chromium Trihalides

Two-dimensional (2D) intrinsic ferromagnetic (FM) semiconductors are crucial to develop low-dimensional spintronic devices. Using density functional theory, we show that single-layer chromium trihalides (SLCTs) (CrX$_3$,X=F, Cl, Br and I) constitute a series of stable 2D intrinsic FM semiconductors. A free-standing SLCT can be easily exfoliated from the bulk crystal, due to a low cleavage energy and a high in-plane stiffness. Electronic structure calculations using the HSE06 functional indicate that both bulk and single-layer CrX$_3$ are half semiconductors with indirect gaps and their valence bands and conduction bands are fully spin-polarized in the same spin direction. The energy gaps and absorption edges of CrBr$_3$ and CrI$_3$ are found to be in the visible frequency range, which implies possible opt-electronic applications. Furthermore, SLCTs are found to possess a large magnetic moment of 3$\mu_B$ per formula unit and a sizable magnetic anisotropy energy. The magnetic exchange constants of SLCTs are then extracted using the Heisenberg spin Hamiltonian and the microscopic origins of the various exchange interactions are analyzed. A competition between a near 90$^\circ$ FM superexchange and a direct antiferromagnetic (AFM) exchange results in a FM nearest-neighbour exchange interaction. The next and third nearest-neighbour exchange interactions are found to be FM and AFM respectively and this can be understood by the angle-dependent extended Cr-X-X-Cr superexchange interaction. Moreover, the Curie temperatures of SLCTs are also predicted using Monte Carlo simulations and the values can further increase by applying a biaxial tensile strain. The unique combination of robust intrinsic ferromagnetism, half semiconductivity and large magnetic anisotropy energies renders the SLCTs as promising candidates for next-generation semiconductor spintronic applications.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures. published in J. Mater. Chem.

An Ant Colony Optimization Approach to Test Sequence Generation for State-Based Software Testing

Properly generated test suites may not only locate the defects in software systems, but also help in reducing the high cost associated with software testing, ft is often desired that test sequences in a test suite can be automatically generated to achieve required test coverage. However, automatic test sequence generation remains a major problem in software testing. This paper proposes an ant colony optimization approach to automatic test sequence generation for state-based software testing. The proposed approach can directly use UML artifacts to automatically generate test sequences to achieve required test coverage

Mutation Analysis for the Evaluation of AD Models

UML has became the industry standard for analysis and design modeling. Model is a key artifact in Model Driven Architect (MDA) and considered as an only concrete artifact available at earlier development stages. Error detection at earlier development stages can save enormous amount of cost and time. The article presents a novel mutation analysis technique for UML 2.0 Activity Diagram (AD). Based on the AD oriented fault types, a number of mutation operators are defined. The technique focuses on the key features of AD and enhances the confidence in design correctness by showing the absence of control-flow and concurrency related faults. It will enable the automated analysis technique of AD models and can potentially be used for service oriented applications, workflows and concurrent applications