STUDY OF CNS ACTIVITIES OF PIPERINE PERSE AND ITS BIOENHANCING EFFECT ON VARIOUS DRUGS IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMAL MODELS

Objective: Study of CNS activities of piperine perse and its bio-enhancing effect on various drugs in experimental animal models.Methods: The CNS effects of piperine and its interaction with various drugs were evaluated by maximal electroshock convulsion model, pentobarbitone-induced sleeping time, anxiolytic activity, muscle relaxant activity and antidepressant activity using tail suspension and forced swimming test using standard procedures in experimental animal models. piperine at a dose of 10 and 20 mg/kg orally was used to evaluate CNS activities.Results: The results revealed that piperine perse posses only anticonvulsant activity and other significant CNS effects were not observe. But when it was combined with various drugs piperine increases the effect of the standard drug.Conclusion: Piperine 10 mg/kg has the potential to be used as a bio-enhancing agent when combined with other drugs. Bio-enhancing effect of piperine will decrease the dose of the standard drug, thereby decreasing the risk of their toxicity.Keywords: Piperine, Bio-enhancing, MES, Anxiolytic test, Tail suspension test, Forced swimming test, Motor co-ordination, Righting refle

Wireless Data Acquisition System for Launch Vehicles

Present launch vehicle integration architecture for avionics uses wired link to transfer data between various sub-systems. Depending on system criticality and complexity, MIL1553 and RS485 are the common protocols that are adopted. These buses have their inherent complexity and failure issues due to harness defects or under adverse flight environments. To mitigate this problem, a prototype wireless, data acquisition system for telemetry applications has been developed and demonstrated. The wireless system simplifies the integration, while reducing weight and costs. Commercial applications of wireless systems are widespread. Few systems have recently been developed for complex and critical environments. Efforts have been underway to make such architectures operational in promising application scenarios. This paper discusses the system concept for adapting a wireless system to the existing bus topology. The protocol involved and the internal implementation of the different modules are described. The test results are presented; some of the issues faced are discussed and the; future course of action is identified.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(2), pp.186-191, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.426

Association between Helicobacter Pylori and Gastric Cancer

Introduction:A casual relation has been thought to exist between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric cancer. The present study was carried out to find correlation between H. pylori and gastric carcinogenesis. Methods: A case control study was performed in the department of endoscopy, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, between January 2008 and February 2009. All patients having carcinoma stomach on endoscopic evaluation later confirmed by histopathological examination were included. Total 50 healthy individuals, with no positive finding in endoscopy were included in control group. Results: Total 37 cases were analyzed. There were 23 (62.2%) males and 14 (37.8%) females. Majority were above 60 years (46%). Blood group A was commonest group found in patients with carcinoma stomach. Distal part, antrum, 20 (54%) was commonest location of tumor and Borrmann type three was commonest endoscopic type of tumor presentation. Majority of patients received triple therapy and H. pylori detection was low in those treated with triple therapy. Distal tumors were significantly associated with increased prevalence of H. pylori positivity. Total incidence of H. pylori in cases was 54% (20/37). In 15 (75%) cases, H. pylori could be detected by both ELISA and biopsy method. Incidence of H. pylori in controls was 64% (32/50). There was no statistically significant difference in H. pylori presence in cases and control. Conclusions: Our study couldn’t establish association between H. pylori and gastric cancer. More prospective trials can help find out correlation between combination of risk factors and gastric cancer.  Keywords: helicobacter pylori; gastric cancer; risk factors

Antinociceptive effect of terminalia bellirica in diabetic peripheral neuropathy: a comparison with fluoxetin, imipramine and quercetin

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the possible antinociceptive effect of Terminalia bellirica fruit aqueous extract in animal models of diabetic neuropathic pain. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin (50 mg/kg i.p.). T. bellirica (70 mg/kg), fluoxetine (14.5 mg/kg), imipramine (10.5 mg/kg) and quercetin (10 mg/kg) were administered orally for 21 consecutive days, starting after 4th week in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Hot plate test, tail immersion test and formalin test were used to assess the antinociceptive activity. For assessment of the role of opioid receptors in antinociception of T. bellirica, naloxone (2 mg/kg, i.p.) as opioid receptor antagonist was injected prior to its administration. Thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS), catalase and superoxide dismutase were also estimated to evaluate oxidative stress. Diabetes induced axonal degeneration was assessed histopathologically. T. bellirica attenuated hyperalgesia in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. Furthermore, T. bellirica significantly decreased TBARS and restored the activity of SOD and catalase towards normal. Histopathological examination of sciatic nerve also confirms the protective nature of T. bellirica. Antinociceptive activity of T. bellirica was reversed by prior administration of naloxone, and. was comparable with standard treatments like fluoxetine, imipramine and quercetin. The antidepressant and anti-oxidant activity of T. bellirica may be responsible for its antinociceptive action in diabetic neuropathy.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Plumbagin inhibits invasion and migration of breast and gastric cancer cells by downregulating the expression of chemokine receptor CXCR4

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increasing evidence indicates that the interaction between the CXC chemokine receptor-4 (CXCR4) and its ligand CXCL12 is critical in the process of metastasis that accounts for more than 90% of cancer-related deaths. Thus, novel agents that can downregulate the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis have therapeutic potential in inhibiting cancer metastasis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this report, we investigated the potential of an agent, plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1, 4-naphthoquinone), for its ability to modulate CXCR4 expression and function in various tumor cells using Western blot analysis, DNA binding assay, transient transfection, real time PCR analysis, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and cellular migration and invasion assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that plumbagin downregulated the expression of CXCR4 in breast cancer cells irrespective of their HER2 status. The decrease in CXCR4 expression induced by plumbagin was not cell type-specific as the inhibition also occurred in gastric, lung, renal, oral, and hepatocellular tumor cell lines. Neither proteasome inhibition nor lysosomal stabilization had any effect on plumbagin-induced decrease in CXCR4 expression. Detailed study of the underlying molecular mechanism(s) revealed that the regulation of the downregulation of CXCR4 was at the transcriptional level, as indicated by downregulation of mRNA expression, inhibition of NF-κB activation, and suppression of chromatin immunoprecipitation activity. In addition, using a virtual, predictive, functional proteomics-based tumor pathway platform, we tested the hypothesis that NF-κB inhibition by plumbagin causes the decrease in CXCR4 and other metastatic genes. Suppression of CXCR4 expression by plumbagin was found to correlate with the inhibition of CXCL12-induced migration and invasion of both breast and gastric cancer cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall, our results indicate, for the first time, that plumbagin is a novel blocker of CXCR4 expression and thus has the potential to suppress metastasis of cancer.</p

Emodin Suppresses Migration and Invasion through the Modulation of CXCR4 Expression in an Orthotopic Model of Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma

10.1371/journal.pone.0057015PLoS ONE83

An attempt of supply chain practices to enhance a country\u27s performance

The fast emerging global economy shattered many traditional boundaries across the continents, resulted in free trade movement. Till last decade, the developed countries were considered as the super power in their economic structure. This trend has got changed recently because of globalization and outsourcing of manufacturing and Information Technology (IT) related services to developing countries like China and India. This paper provides an analysis of considering supply chain as an enabler to develop country’s development. Extensive analysis has been performed by using Modified Brown-Gibson model considering situational and operational factors. The results are significant and it shows there is a strong positive correlation between supply chain and country’s development

Assessing the challenges and opportunities of global supply chain management

Business organisations all over the world are striving hard to evolve strategies to survive in the new era of competition ushered in by globalisation. Global Supply Chain Management (GSCM) is one such strategy. In this paper, various countries across the world have been separated on the basis of various regions and development in their respective economies. To compare the degree of implementation of an ideal supply chain in these countries, a Supply Chain Management Index (SCMI) has been formulated with the help of questionnaire survey and analysis. The difference between the SCMI of underdeveloped, developing and developed nations with respect to the ideal SCMI has been evaluated by using the method of gap analysis. Various strategies have been suggested for different economies in the world for optimising their supply chain network and improving its respective SCMI. Opportunities and challenges offered by the global supply chain, as suggested by various experts, have been pointed out and discussed thoroughly. The effect of bullwhip on global supply chain has also been analysed. Further, the factors affecting the GSCM have been identified and discussed

A DSS to Optimize Facings on the Shelf of a Retail Store

This paper aims to maximize the profitability of a set of brand SKUs stocked at a particular retailer by optimizing the number of facings for each product. Based on the past data, a set of variables such as retail price of different SKUs, linear footage that a particular manufacturer manages from the retailer, number of facings for each SKU and volume of sales for each SKU are identified. We develop a set of models, which will measure the volumetric impact of these instances on the overall revenue dollars and volume of sales in particular. One of the major issues in this problem is the relationship between Volume of Sales Vi and the number of facings Xi. If this relationship were linear, this optimization problem could have been treated as a MIP and solved accordingly. We treat this non-linear program by an innovative approximation technique and solve the objective using a piecewise approximation function