Plant Derived Bioactive Compounds, Their Anti-Cancer Effects as an Alternative Target Treatment Strategy for Breast Cancer: An Updated Overview

For decades, cancer has been a major public health concern worldwide owing to its high mortality rate. Many therapeutic strategies have come up in the scientific world, but it\u27s pitiful to know that synthetic chemotherapeutic agents either cause adverse effects or cancer cells develop resistance to these agents. Plant-derived chemotherapeutic agents present a wide range of therapeutics and most are yet to be discovered. In the current review, we have discussed the tumoricidal properties of Mucuna pruriens (seed), Withania coagulans (berry), Anacyclus pyrethrum (rhizome), Arachis hypogea (leaf), Rhizaoma polygoni (root) and Terminalia chebula (fruit). We have also tried to summarize the latest research in cancer chemoprevention and treatment using the bioactive components from these natural plants. Pharmaceutical developmental challenges and opportunities in bringing the phytochemicals into the market are also explored. The authors wish to expand this research area not only for their scientific soundness, but also for their potential-yet-affordable druggability

Theory of a Higher Order Phase Transition: Superconducting Transition in BKBO

We describe here the properties expected of a higher (with emphasis on the order fourth) order phase transition. The order is identified in the sense first noted by Ehrenfest, namely in terms of the temperature dependence of the ordered state free energy near the phase boundary. We have derived an equation for the phase boundary in terms of the discontinuities in thermodynamic observables, developed a Ginzburg-Landau free energy and studied the thermodynamic and magnetic properties. We also discuss the current status of experiments on $Ba_{0.6}K_{0.4}BiO_3$ and other $BiO_3$ based superconductors, the expectations for parameters and examine alternative explanations of the experimental results.Comment: 18 pages, no figure

Eco-friendly dyeing of wool and pashmina fabric using Quercus robur L. (fruit cups) dye and Salix alba L. (wood extract) mordant

Study was conducted to investigate the dyeing potential of Quercus robur L. (fruit cups) dye and Salix alba L. (wood extract) mordant on wool and pashmina fabrics. The experiment was conducted keeping in view the environmental safety by using unutilized plant materials and excluding the usage of chemical agents. The dyeing was carried out individually including and excluding mordant adopting different mordanting methods. The parameters like percent absorption, colour coordinates, colour strength (K/S), relative colour strength and colour fastness with regard to washing, light and rubbing were investigated. The results revealed higher percent absorption of mordanted samples than unmordanted samples. Colour coordinates (L*a*b*, Chroma, hue and ?E) of dyed wool and pashmina fabric exhibited satisfactory results. The colour strength (K/S) and relative colour strength of pashmina fabric recorded higher than wool fabric. The fastness properties to washing, light and rubbing showed satisfactory grades including and excluding natural mordant. However, the grades of mordanted samples were found better than unmordanted samples. The dye and mordant in isolation and in combination showed beautiful colours and shades on selected fabrics with satisfactory retention properties, hence can be utilized commercially for coloration of wool and pashmina fabrics

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

A comprehensive analytical exploration and customer behaviour analysis of smart home energy consumption data with a practical case study

Over the years, the automation of traditional power grids has been taking place to overcome the difficulties such as blackouts, outages, demand-side management, load profiling, enhancing customer participation, etc. This automation enables the traditional grids to be transformed into smart grids. Smart homes/buildings are key sub-categories of smart grids. The advanced metering infrastructure connected to them continuously captures and stores the energy consumption data as datasets. Usually, understanding the structure of data and the behaviour of customers from energy consumption datasets is a tedious task. There are some literature works tried to explore various smart home energy consumption datasets as well as investigate customer behaviour, however, most of these methods are complex in implementation. Hence, this paper proposes a simple approach for the comprehensive exploration of the smart home energy consumption dataset. This approach can be used for any similar smart home dataset that contains numerical data. Further, using the exploration results, this paper analyzes the customers’ energy consumption behaviour by identifying peak hours in communication and electrical perspectives. To implement the proposed approach, an energy consumption dataset ‘Tracebase’ is considered as a case study. The exploration of the considered dataset results in 2356 files distributed among various directories. For customer behaviour analysis, the energy consumption data of all 43 appliances (with more than 95 million records) is considered from the “complete” directory of the “Tracebase” dataset. This analysis revealed the peak hours as hour-23 from the communication perspective and hour-9 from the electrical perspective. These represent the customer behaviour in terms of their participation in the power network, which further helps for better grid operations

Managing Channel Profits: The Role of Managerial Incentives

The existing literature has examined how manufacturers can enhance profits by employing specific channel structures and channel coordination mechanisms. In this paper, we examine the implications of strategically designed managerial incentives for channel performance in a duopoly. We first analyze how equilibrium outcomes (especially manufacturer profits) are altered when the manufacturers provide their channel managers with strategically designed incentives. Following that, we examine how optimal channel structure decisions are altered when manufacturers provide their managers with strategic incentives, i.e., we examine how strategic incentives moderate optimal channel structure decisions. In contrast with the existing literature, we find that an asymmetric channel structure with one manufacturer employing a profit-maximizing retailer and the other integrated manufacturer providing strategic incentives for the channel manager in charge of pricing, is an equilibrium outcome under certain conditions. We then compare how the implications of strategic incentives differ from those of channel structure decisions and channel coordination initiatives, and discuss when and why strategic incentives yield superior outcomes from the manufacturer’s perspective. Our results shed light on the sparsely researched role of managerial incentives in the channel context. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2005game theory, channel strategy, strategic incentive design, channel structure, channel coordination, vertical integration,