Documentary of Woody flora and its usage in Maruthamalai Hills of the Southern Western Ghats of Coimbatore district, India

The present study described the occurrence of woody species and its usage inMaruthamalai Hills of the southern Western Ghats. A total of 119 species were collected ofwhich one individual categorized as gymnosperm and the remaining 118 individualscategorized as an angiosperms. Among the life habit the trees are the dominant species (86)other than shrubs (28) and lianas (5). The Fabaceae, Mimosaceae, Caesalpiniaceae andBignoniaceae are the dominant families of woody flora of the Maruthamalai Hills. Theimportance of recording the usage of plants in this region is imperative because of rapid lossof forest wealth and traditional wisdom. In view of the various resources use, habitatuniqueness and anthropological pressure on the forest resources, the need for conservation isstressed

Studies on DNA barcoding of sacred plant - Ficus religiosa L.

In the present investigation, DNA barcoding were made for the sacred trees of Main (Big) Temples in Cuddalore district, namely Ficus religiosa, to document their reliable identification, discrimination, similarities and evolutionary trend among them and with their related taxa for future use.  DNA isolation from leaf samples of present study species was carried out by using a modified CTAB method and good isolation was got for the species studied. Gradient PCR amplification was performed for the isolated DNA using matK gene and the primers matK472F & matK1248R.  The amplification success was 90-95%. PCR amplification was tested with 1 % agarose gel electrophoresis using ethidium bromide and the products were confirmed.  The PCR products were sent to Xcelris Labs Ltd. Sydney House, Premchand Nagar Road, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380054, India, for DNA sequencing and sequences were got for the species with the success rate of 95 %.  Pairwise sequence alignments were made with BLAST and multiple sequence alignments are made with ClustalW, and based on the sequence alignments, dentrograms were constructed using software Mega 5 and Neighbor joining method to study the phylogenetic aspects of the species studied and with their related taxa

E-Learning approach in Teacher Education

There has been an increasing interest in e-learning in teacher training at universities during the last ten years. With the developing technology, educational methods have differed as well as many other processes. Firstly, a definition on e-learning as a new approach should be given. E-learning could shortly be defined as a web-based educational system on platform with Internet, Intranet or computer access. In this model, the lessons planned were simulations and software’s for students on polymers and metals. Nine experiments were designed on the topic. Students were interviewed and administered laboratory attitude scales at the end of the experiments.  The study concluded that the experiments in the new model were appropriate to teacher training programs and could successfully be administered to large groups

Hypoxia and hyperglycaemia determine why some endometrial tumours fail to respond to metformin

High expression of Ki67, a proliferation marker, is associated with reduced endometrial cancer-specific survival. Pre-surgical metformin reduces tumour Ki-67 expression in some women with endometrial cancer. Metformin's anti-cancer activity may relate to effects on cellular energy metabolism. Since tumour hypoxia and glucose availability are major cellular redox determinants, we evaluated their role in endometrial cancer response to metformin. Endometrial cancer biopsies from women treated with pre-surgical metformin were tested for the hypoxia markers, HIF-1α and CA-9. Endometrial cancer cell lines were treated with metformin in variable glucose concentrations in normoxia or hypoxia and cell viability, mitochondrial biogenesis, function and energy metabolism were assessed. In women treated with metformin (n = 28), Ki-67 response was lower in hypoxic tumours. Metformin showed minimal cytostatic effects towards Ishikawa and HEC1A cells in conventional medium (25 mM glucose). In low glucose (5.5 mM), a dose-dependent cytostatic effect was observed in normoxia but attenuated in hypoxia. Tumours treated with metformin showed increased mitochondrial mass (n = 25), while in cultured cells metformin decreased mitochondrial function. Metformin targets mitochondrial respiration, however, in hypoxic, high glucose conditions, there was a switch to glycolytic metabolism and decreased metformin response. Understanding the metabolic adaptations of endometrial tumours may identify patients likely to derive clinical benefit from metformin

Drift Correction in a Porphyrin-coated ZnO Nanorods Gas Sensor

AbstractPhotoconductivity and gas sensitivity cooperate in porphyrins coated ZnO nanostructures. However, in organic coated semiconductors the former is regulated by a number of mechanisms, involving the charge transfer in the organic layer. Since organic layers are poor conductors these processes are quite slow and the sensor may exhibits a long time drift before to be operative as gas sensor. In this paper we show that under light modulation, the carrier frequency component of the signal is free of drift and it can readily indicate the interaction with volatile compounds

Gas Sensitivity of the Surface Potential of Hybrid Porphyrin-ZnO Nanorods

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Wound Healing Ethnomedicinal Plants Popular among the Malayali Tribes in Vattal Hills, Dharmapuri, TN, India

Healing of chronic lower extremity wounds is a global problem, especially in developing countries where traditional medicine is often used by the people in remote places. India has a rich tradition of plant based knowledge pertinent to healthcare. A survey of ethnomedicinal plant species used by Malayali’s to heal cut/ wounds in Vattal Hills of Dharmapuri was made. A large number of plants/ extracts/ decoctions/ pastes are used by tribals to heal wounds, cuts and burns. In the present study, an attempt has been made to document ethnobotanical knowledge base and methods employed by Malayali’s for treatment of cut/ wounds. A large number of ethnomedicinal plants used by the Malayali’s have not been validated for wound healing potential. The present investigation resulted in the identification of 82 medicinal plant species distributed across 39 families that are used by Malayali’s to heal cut/ wounds. This study is an attempt to gather the information on the existing ethnobotanical knowledge base and document the traditional claims toward the development of safe of effective herbal drugs for cut/ wounds. Results of the study is organized in table form depicting the botanical name, family, vernacular name and habit with a brief note on plant parts used and method of administration

Monocarboxy Tetraphenylporphyrin functionalized ZnO nanorods photoactivated gas sensor

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Developing an algorithm of informative markers for evaluation of chimerism after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

Analysis of chimerism by polymerase chain reaction amplification of STR or VNTR has become a routine procedure for the evaluation of engraftment after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Knowledge of the frequency of different STR or VNTR alleles in unrelated individuals in a population is useful for forensic work. In the context of HLA identical sibling bone marrow transplantation the informativeness of these markers needs to be evaluated. We evaluated five STRs (THO1, VWA, FES, ACTBP2, and F13A1) and 1 VNTR (APOB) for informativeness in stem cell transplants from HLA identical sibling donors. All four markers used individually allowed us to discriminate 20-56% of the patient donor pairs. Using a combination of all these markers along with a polymorphic marker in the β-globin gene and the sex chromosome specific amelogenin marker, we were able to discriminate 99% of the patient donor pairs. We have established an algorithm for evaluating chimerism following HLA identical sibling donor transplants in the Indian population using molecular markers in 310 patients. Analysis of heterozygote frequencies in different populations is similar suggesting that this algorithm can be used universally for transplant centers to evaluate chimerism following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation