Radiomimetic drug - ‘Bleomycin' induced DNA damage repair by Alstonia scholaris bark extracts – A G2 assay based evidence

Objective: The present study initiated to know the probable DNA damage repair by A. scholaris extracts using Bleomycin-induced chemosensitive G2 assay in in-vitro cultured human blood lymphocytes.Methods: The plant extracts were from bark, stem and leaves and extraction solvents used were double distilled water and methanol. The experiments were carried out with blood samples collected from 12 healthy volunteers. A total of 28 culture vials from each individual were set up for lymphocyte cultures. These culture tubes (vials) were divided into two groups of fourteen each. The first group was labeled as ‘G0' while the second as ‘G2'. In both groups, initial vials (‘A') were kept untreated so as to act as a control, the second vial labeled (‘B') received treatment of an alone dose of BLM (15μg/ml), while vials labeled ‘C' to ‘N' were treated with varied combinations. At the 71st hour, the cells were treated with 100 μl of 0.001% colchicine. The cultures were terminated at the 72nd hour of incubation. Routine air-dried preparations were made. Each slide was blind coded, conveniently stained in 2% Giemsa and scored under 100X oil immersion lens.Results: The results indicated that aqueous as well as methanolic bark extracts had enough potential to repair DNA damage caused by Bleomycin. The extracts (both aqueous as well as methanolic) from stem or leaves were not that promising.  Â

‘PSORIASIS’ - AN IMMUNE DISEASE IN THE RESEARCH PIPELINE

The current review article focuses on “Psoriasis”, a form of over-active wound healing response, relatively common, chronic, inflammatory and hypersensitive disease of unsolved pathogenesis affecting skin and joints in 2-3% of the general population. Psoriasis is a skin disease driven by immune system which starts below the skin's surface and cause severe pain and adverse mental health effects. Genetic susceptibility as well as environmental factors plays an important role in determining the development and prognosis of psoriasis. Natural Killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes that are best known for killing virally infected and cancer cells. However, evidence is emerging to support a role for NK cells in psoriasis. NK cells are found in the inflammatory infiltrate in psoriatic skin lesions. They can produce a range of inflammatory cytokines, many of which are important in the pathogenesis of psoriasis. Elucidation of the Immunopathogenesis of psoriasis has led to the discovery of novel biologic agents for the treatment of moderate to-severe plaque psoriasis. There are countless therapies currently in the research pipeline, with mechanisms ranging from receptor antagonism to signal transduction pathway inhibition

Learning Google Guice

This book is a practical, hands-on guide that covers everything you need to know about application development in Java with dependency injection using Google Guice.Learning Google Guice is for architects and lead programmers who want to know more about Google Guice and how to leverage its more advanced features. It is assumed that readers will have a basic knowledge of dependency injection; however, this is not an obligation

Viscous Relaxation Times of the Core and Mantle of Mars from Observations of Tidal Decay of the Orbit of Phobos

The orbit of Phobos exhibits an along-track acceleration, which suggests energy dissipation in the Mars-Phobos system. We hypothesize that the inferred dissipation occurs within Mars. We explore the response of a layered, incompressible Maxwell viscoelastic Mars to tidal forcing by Phobos using normal mode relaxation theory. Our results elucidate the general behavior of a tidally forced viscoelastic body, and have implications for the viscoelastic structure of Mars. We find the real and imaginary part of the degree-two tidal Love number for Mars to be 0.168 and -9.32x10^−4 respectively. Models which satisfy these and other constraints have either: a fluid core with radius 2040 km and density 5410 kg/m^3; or an elastic inner core with radius 1200 km and density 6700 kg/m^3, along with a fluid outer core with thickness 850 km and density 4850 kg/m^3. These findings support previous hypotheses that Mars has at least a fluid outer core.MAS

Original scientific paper Immobilization of urease in alginate, paraffin and lac

Abstract: The enzyme urease (EC.3.5.1.5) from jack bean meal was immobilized by various techniques, such as entrapment in calcium alginate gel spheres in aqueous suspension, lac impregnated muslin cloth as dry films and by embedding in paraffin wax impregnated muslin cloth. The activity of the free and immobilized enzymes as a function of pH, temperature, storage stability, kinetic parameters and periodic use were compared. The immobilized enzyme showed good storage stability. After repeated use, the alginate beads turned brown and deteriorated, hence the storage stability was not good. The paraffin films were preserved dry because during wet preservation, the film slightly softened and the protein leached out slightly. The alginate beads had moderate mechanical stability. The lac films were tougher than the paraffin wax films in terms of mechanical stability. The K m and V max values were altered after immobilization. The K m values for calcium alginate and lac were low, while it was larger in paraffin film as compared to the free enzyme. This may be due to the fact that immobilization on calcium alginate and lac in presence of CaCl 2 and methanol exposed certain active sites of the urease. While immobilization on paraffin masks the active sites and may lead to reduced binding of the substrate

Complications in groin hernia surgery and the way out

Complications in endoscopic inguinal hernia surgery are more dangerous and more frequent than those of open surgery, especially in inexperienced hands and hence are best avoided. It is possible to avoid most of these complications if one follows a set of well-defined steps and principles of endoscopic inguinal hernia surgery. Complications are known to occur at each and every step of hernia surgery. Applying caution while performing each step can save the patient from a lot of morbidity. One starts by applying strict patient selection criteria for endoscopic hernia repair, especially in the initial part of ones learning curve. A thorough knowledge of anatomy goes a long way in avoiding most of the complications seen in hernia repair. This anatomy needs to be relearned from what one is used to, as the approach is totally different from an open hernia repair. And finally, learning and mastering the right technique is an essential prerequisite before one ventures into inguinal hernia repair. Although there has been an increased incidence of complications reported in endoscopic repair in the earlier series, this can be explained partly by the fact that it was in the early part of the learning curve of most endoscopic surgeons. As the experience grew and the techniques were standardized, the incidences of complications have also reduced and have come to be on par with open hernia surgery. The various complications and precautions to be taken to avoid them will be discussed

Complications in groin hernia surgery and the way out

Complications in endoscopic inguinal hernia surgery are more dangerous and more frequent than those of open surgery, especially in inexperienced hands and hence are best avoided. It is possible to avoid most of these complications if one follows a set of well-defined steps and principles of endoscopic inguinal hernia surgery