PHARMACOGNOSTIC STUDY OF MANSOA ALLIACEA LEAF

Mansoa alliacea Lam. (Family: Bignoniaceae) is a native plant from Amazonian basin in South America. Plant derivatives are used as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiseptic and antibacterial agents. The study was aimed to determine the pharmacognostic and phytochemicals present in Mansoa alliacea. Micro and organoleptic characteristics of fresh and dried leaf samples had been examined. Physicochemical variables had been done by using WHO suggested variables; preliminary phytochemical of leaf sample had been performed to identify the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and phenols, and quinones using the ethanolic extract of the leaves of M. alliacea

Farmers' perception on plant protection in India and Nepal: a case study

Participatory rural appraisal was undertaken in 70 villages in India and Nepal, covering 1185 farmers to generate baseline information on the current plant protection practices. The study revealed that 93% of the farmers in India and 90% in Nepal had adopted chemical control for the management of various insect pests in different crops; however, less than 20% of the farmers expressed confidence on their efficacy. In India, 52% of farmers get their plant protection advice from pesticide dealers, while in Nepal, the majority of the farmers (69%) make their plant protection decisions through agricultural officers. A majority of the farmers (73% in India and 86% in Nepal) initiate the plant protection based on the first appearance of the pest, irrespective of their population, crop stage and their damage relationships. About 50% of the farmers in India and 20% in Nepal were not using any protective clothing while spraying. Health problems associated with the application of plant protection chemicals were reported by farmers. The cost of plant protection on various crops ranged from 7 to 40% of the total crop production cost. Though integrated pest management (IPM) has been advocated for the past two decades, only 32% in India and 20% in Nepal were aware of IPM practices. IPM implementation in selected villages brought a 20-65% reduction in pesticide use in different crops. The vegetable samples analysed for pesticide residues revealed the presence of residues

A data mining approach for data generation and analysis for digital forensic application

With the rapid advancements in information and communication technology in the world, crimes committed are becoming technically intensive. When crimes committed use digital devices, forensic examiners have to adopt practical frameworks and methods to recover data for analysis which can pose as evidence. Data Generation, Data Warehousing and Data Mining, are the three essential features involved in the investigation process. This paper proposes a unique way of generating, storing and analyzing data, retrieved from digital devices which pose as evidence in forensic analysis. A statistical approach is used in validating the reliability of the pre-processed data. This work proposes a practical framework for digital forensics on flash drives

Generic CBTS: Correlation based Transformation Strategy for Privacy Preserving Data Mining

Mining useful knowledge from corpus of data has become an important application in many fields. Data Mining algorithms like Clustering, Classification work on this data and provide crisp information for analysis. As these data are available through various channels into public domain, privacy for the owners of the data is increasing need. Though privacy can be provided by hiding sensitive data, it will affect the Data Mining algorithms in knowledge extraction, so an effective mechanism is required to provide privacy to the data and at the same time without affecting the Data Mining results. Privacy concern is a primary hindrance for quality data analysis. Data mining algorithms on the contrary focus on the mathematical nature than on the private nature of the information. Therefore instead of removing or encrypting sensitive data, we propose transformation strategies that retain the statistical, semantic and heuristic nature of the data while masking the sensitive information. The proposed Correlation Based Transformation Strategy (CBTS) combines Correlation Analysis in tandem with data transformation techniques such as Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Non Negative Matrix Factorization (NNMF) provides the intended level of privacy preservation and enables data analysis. The proposed technique will work for numerical, ordinal and nominal data. The outcome of CBTS is evaluated on standard datasets against popular data mining techniques with significant success and Information Entropy is also accounted

Member, IAENG, Prasanth G Rao, Abhilash VR, P. Deepa Shenoy, Venugopal KR and LM Patnaik. A Data Mining Approach for Data Generation and Analysis for Digital Forensic Application

With the rapid advancements in information and communication technology in the world, crimes committed are becoming technically intensive. When crimes committed use digital devices, forensic examiners have to adopt practical frameworks and methods to recover data for analysis which can pose as evidence. Data Generation, Data Warehousing and Data Mining, are the three essential features involved in the investigation process. This paper proposes a unique way of generating, storing and analyzing data, retrieved from digital devices which pose as evidence in forensic analysis. A statistical approach is used in validating the reliability of the pre-processed data. This work proposes a practical framework for digital forensics on flash drive

DNA Replication Fading As Proliferating Cells Advance in Their Commitment to Terminal Differentiation

Terminal differentiation is the process by which cycling cells stop proliferating to start new specific functions. It involves dramatic changes in chromatin organization as well as gene expression. In the present report we used cell flow cytometry and genome wide DNA combing to investigate DNA replication during murine erythroleukemia-induced terminal cell differentiation. The results obtained indicated that the rate of replication fork movement slows down and the inter-origin distance becomes shorter during the precommitment and commitment periods before cells stop proliferating and accumulate in G1. We propose this is a general feature caused by the progressive heterochromatinization that characterizes terminal cell differentiation

Belle II Vertex Detector Performance

The Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB accelerator (KEK, Tsukuba, Japan) collected its first e+e− collision data in the spring 2019. The aim of accumulating a 50 times larger data sample than Belle at KEKB, a first generation B-Factory, presents substantial challenges to both the collider and the detector, requiring not only state-of-the-art hardware, but also modern software algorithms for tracking and alignment. The broad physics program requires excellent performance of the vertex detector, which is composed of two layers of DEPFET pixels and four layers of double sided-strip sensors. In this contribution, an overview of the vertex detector of Belle II and our methods to ensure its optimal performance, are described, and the first results and experiences from the first physics run are presented

Long non-coding RNAs: spatial amplifiers that control nuclear structure and gene expression

Over the past decade, it has become clear that mammalian genomes encode thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), many of which are now implicated in diverse biological processes. Recent work studying the molecular mechanisms of several key examples — including Xist, which orchestrates X chromosome inactivation — has provided new insights into how lncRNAs can control cellular functions by acting in the nucleus. Here we discuss emerging mechanistic insights into how lncRNAs can regulate gene expression by coordinating regulatory proteins, localizing to target loci and shaping three-dimensional (3D) nuclear organization. We explore these principles to highlight biological challenges in gene regulation, in which lncRNAs are well-suited to perform roles that cannot be carried out by DNA elements or protein regulators alone, such as acting as spatial amplifiers of regulatory signals in the nucleus

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years