Screening for Antibacterial Activity of Andrographis paniculata Used in Malaysian Folkloric Medicine: A Possible Alternative for the Treatment of Skin Infections

In this study non-polar (dichloromethane) and polar (MeOH & aqueous) extracts of A. paniculata (whole plant) were evaluated for in vitro antibacterial activity against 12 skin disease causing bacterial strains (7 gram positive strains; Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Staphylococcus epidermis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus anthracis, Micrococcus luteus, Enterococcus faecalis) and 5 gram negative strains; Proteus mirabilis, Proteus vulgaris, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ) using the disc diffusion method at three concentrations; 1000, 500, and 250 μg/disc respectively in order to ascertain its folkloric claim to treat skin infections. The extracts showed significant antibacterial activities against both the Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains tested. Highest significant antibacterial activity was exerted by the MeOH extract against E. faecalis at 1000 μg/disc (24.00 ± 0.00 mm) and the least activity by the DCM extract against N. meningitis at 250 μg/disc (6.00 ± 0.00mm). The minimum inhibitory concentration ranged between 150 μg /mL and 300 μg /mL depending on microorganism and various extracts. Presence of phytochemicals such as terpenoids, tannins, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, amino acids and steroids were observed. These results candidly suggest the presence of promising antibacterial substances in the polar as well as non-polar extracts which could be potential phytomedicine for the treatment of skin infections caused by pathogenic bacterial strains. These findings explicitly support its traditional claims and form a strong basis for further efforts to explore A. paniculata’s antibacterial potential to treat skin frailties efficaciously. Our results confer the utility of this plant extracts in developing a novel broad spectrum antimicrobial agent

Digital Forensic Examination of Mobile phone Data

Mobile phones are an integral part of our lives since they have played a vital role in bringing people closer together. They have abundantly been used by people all across the globe as they keep them up-to-date about the happenings in the world. However, these mobile phones have also been used in carrying out various criminal activities for the past few decades, therefore, a new discipline of Mobile Phone Forensics has been introduced which will help a lot in curbing the menace of these crimes by locating the whereabouts of the criminals. This research paper deals with the introduction of this innovative discipline of mobile phone forensics by throwing light on the importance of this discipline. It also deals with the detailed procedure of conducting a formal forensics analysis with the help of these mobile phones

Complementarity of Semileptonic BB to K2∗(1430)K_2^*(1430) and K∗(892)K^*(892) Decays in the Standard Model with Fourth Generation

The $B\rightarrow K_{2}^{\ast}(1430)l^{+}l^{-}$ $(l=\mu,\tau)$ decays are analyzed in the Standard Model extended to fourth generation of quarks (SM4). The decay rate, forward-backward asymmetry, lepton polarization asymmetries and the helicity fractions of the final state $K^{*}_{2}(1430)$ meson are obtained using the form factors calculated in the light cone sum rules (LCSR) approach. We have utilized the constraints on different fourth generation parameters obtained from the experimental information on $K$, $B$ and $D$ decays and from the electroweak precision data to explore their impact on the $B\rightarrow K_{2}^{\ast}(1430)l^{+}l^{-}$ decay. We find that the values of above mentioned physical observables deviate deviate significantly from their minimal SM predications. We also identify a number of correlations between various observables in $B\rightarrow K_{2}^{\ast}(1430)l^{+}l^{-}$ and $B\rightarrow K^{\ast}(892)l^{+}l^{-}$ decays. Therefore a combined analysis of these two decays will compliment each other in the searches of SM4 effects in flavor physics.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure

Search for a Signal on QCD Critical Point in Central Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

We discuss that the QCD critical point could appear in central collisions in percolation cluster. We suggest using the nuclear transparency effect and the one of the light nuclear production to identify the critical point.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (QM2008), Jaipur, India, February 4-10, 200

Some Properties of the Central pi--Meson Carbon Interactions at 40 Gev/C

We discuss some properties of the central pi--meson carbon reactions at 40 GeV/c. While these results were obtained many years ago they have not been explained completely. We attempt to interpret following: results regime change on the behavior of some characteristics of the events as a function of the centrality; anomaly peak on the angular distributions of the slow protons emitted in these reactions; charge asymmetry on the pi--mesons production in the back hemisphere in lcs. Understanding of the results could help to explain the new ones coming from the modern central experiments at high and ultrarelativistic energies.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 10th nternational Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction (MESON 2008), Krakow, Poland, 6 - 10 June 2008. 4 pages and 4 figure

A unified parameter identification method for nonlinear time-delay systems

This paper deals with the problem of identifying unknown time-delays and model parameters in a general nonlinear time-delay system. We propose a unified computational approach that involves solving a dynamic optimization problem, whose cost function measures the discrepancy between predicted and observed system output, to determine optimal values for the unknown quantities. Our main contribution is to show that the partial derivatives of this cost function can be computed by solving a set of auxiliary time-delay systems. On this basis, the parameter identification problem can be solved using existing gradient-based optimization techniques. We conclude the paper with two numerical simulations

Correlation of the GC-MS-based metabolite profile of Momordica charantia fruit and its antioxidant activity

Momordica charantia or bitter melon (Cucurbitaceae) is a widely consumed edible fruit with strong antioxidant properties. Due to these properties, it has been commercialised by the natural product industries as a coadjutant in the treatment of various ailments attributable to the deleterious effects of oxidants. The present work aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activity of M. charantia fruit extracts made with different compositions of ethanol:water, and to identify the metabolites that are responsible for this activity. To this end, the fruit samples were extracted using six different concentrations of ethanol in water (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and multivariate data analysis (MVDA) were used to identify significant antioxidants. The 80% ethanol:water extract showed the most significant (p < 0.05) antioxidant activity when tested with the 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) antioxidant assays. The multivariate data analysis revealed that the metabolites related to this antioxidant activity were gentiobiose, glucose, galactonic acid, palmitic acid, galactose, mannose, and fructose