IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ANTI MYCOTIC ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF GLYCYRRHIZA GLABRA

Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the anti fungal activity of ethanolic extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra. Glycyrrhiza glabra commonly called as liquorice or sweet root is one of the oldest known herbal remedies famous for its vast variety of therapeutic properties. Ethanolic extract of Glycyrrhiza glabra was tested for antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigates, Mucor spp and Penicilium marneffei.   Method: Disc diffusion technique was followed for screening anti fungal activity. The discs were loaded with 100µl of ethanolic extracts at different concentrations [500ug/disc,1000ug/disc and 2000µg/disc]. Positive controls used were fluconazole (10 mcg/disc) and amphotericin B (100 units/disc).   Result : After incubation at 28oC for 48 hours, the zone of Inhibition was measured.   Conclusion: The extract at different concentrations showed varying degree of antifungal activity against the micro organisms tested compared to standard.   KEYWORDS: Glycyrrhiza glabra, disc diffusion, zone of inhibition, anti mycotic activity

A Concept of a Probable Autoinjector for Bio-threat Agents

Chemical and biological weapons can be used during conflicts and by terrorists to injure or kill humans and animals. Chemical weapons contain toxic chemicals and biological weapons contain pathogenic organisms. With proper protective equipments and training, the lethal effects of chemical and biological warfare agents can be minimised. First aid kit is available that contain detection, decontamination and medical protection for chemical warfare agents including autoinjectors, for rapid administration and faster absorption of drugs. The autoinjectors are safe and available for life saving drugs like atropine sulphate and pralidoxime chloride (nerve agent poisoning), epinephrine (anaphylaxis), diazepam (seizures) and sumatriptan (migraine). For bio-threat agents doxycycline alone is available as a broad spectrum antibiotic in the first aid kit. Majority of the bacterial agents are gram negative and hence amikacin drug cartridge was developed for the existing autoinjector. The advantage of amikacin is its safety, stability, can be given prophylactically and supplemented with other antibiotics when medical attention arrives. The usability and tolerability of amikacin administered repeatedly through autoinjector was studied using various haematological, biochemical and oxidative stress parameters in animal models. The results are promising and as there is no antibiotic autoinjector available, amikacin autoinjector can be considered for bio-threat agents

Pathway-dependent gold nanoparticle formation by biocatalytic self-assembly

YesWe report on the use of non-equillibrium biocatalytic self-assembly and gelation to guide the reductive synthesis of gold nanoparticles. We show that biocatalytic rates simultaneously dictate supramolecular order and presentation of reductive phenols which in turn results in size control of nanoparticles that are formed.BBSRC funding (BB/K007513/1); European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme, ERC (Starting Grant EMERgE) grant agreement no. 258775

Higgs-Boson Production Induced by Bottom Quarks

Bottom quark-induced processes are responsible for a large fraction of the LHC discovery potential, in particular for supersymmetric Higgs bosons. Recently, the discrepancy between exclusive and inclusive Higgs boson production rates has been linked to the choice of an appropriate bottom factorization scale. We investigate the process kinematics at hadron colliders and show that it leads to a considerable decrease in the bottom factorization scale. This effect is the missing piece needed to understand the corresponding higher order results. Our results hold generally for charged and for neutral Higgs boson production at the LHC as well as at the Tevatron. The situation is different for single top quark production, where we find no sizeable suppression of the factorization scale. Turning the argument around, we can specify how large the collinear logarithms are, which can be resummed using the bottom parton picture.Comment: 18 page

Tunable supramolecular gel properties by varying thermal history

YesThe possibility of using differential pre‐heating prior to supramolecular gelation to control the balance between hydrogen‐bonding and aromatic stacking interactions in supramolecular gels and obtain consequent systematic regulation of structure and properties is demonstrated. Using a model aromatic peptide amphiphile, Fmoc‐tyrosyl‐leucine (Fmoc‐YL) and a combination of fluorescence, infrared, circular dichroism and NMR spectroscopy, it is shown that the balance of these interactions can be adjusted by temporary exposure to elevated temperatures in the range 313–365 K, followed by supramolecular locking in the gel state by cooling to room temperature. Distinct regimes can be identified regarding the balance between H‐bonding and aromatic stacking interactions, with a transition point at 333 K. Consequently, gels can be obtained with customizable properties, including supramolecular chirality and gel stiffness. The differential supramolecular structures also result in changes in proteolytic stability, highlighting the possibility of obtaining a range of supramolecular architectures from a single molecular structure by simply controlling the pre‐assembly temperature.FP7 Ideas: European Research Council. Grant Number: 25877

Why do naked singularities form in gravitational collapse?

We investigate what are the key physical features that cause the development of a naked singularity, rather than a black hole, as the end-state of spherical gravitational collapse. We show that sufficiently strong shearing effects near the singularity delay the formation of the apparent horizon. This exposes the singularity to an external observer, in contrast to a black hole, which is hidden behind an event horizon due to the early formation of an apparent horizon.Comment: revised for clarity, new figure included; version accepted by Phys. Rev. D (RC

Charged Higgs Boson Production in Bottom-Gluon Fusion

We compute the complete next-to-leading order SUSY-QCD corrections for the associated production of a charged Higgs boson with a top quark via bottom-gluon fusion. We investigate the applicability of the bottom parton description in detail. The higher order corrections can be split into real and virtual corrections for a general two Higgs doublet model and into additional massive supersymmetric loop contributions. We find that the perturbative behavior is well under control. The supersymmetric contributions consist of the universal bottom Yukawa coupling corrections and non-factorizable diagrams. Over most of the relevant supersymmetric parameter space the Yukawa coupling corrections are sizeable, while the remaining supersymmetric loop contributions are negligible.Comment: 18 pages, v2: some discussions added, v3: published versio

Cerebellar Modules and Their Role as Operational Cerebellar Processing Units

The compartmentalization of the cerebellum into modules is often used to discuss its function. What, exactly, can be considered a module, how do they operate, can they be subdivided and do they act individually or in concert are only some of the key questions discussed in this consensus paper. Experts studying cerebellar compartmentalization give their insights on the structure and function of cerebellar modules, with the aim of providing an up-to-date review of the extensive literature on this subject. Starting with an historical perspective indicating that the basis of the modular organization is formed by matching olivocorticonuclear connectivity, this is followed by consideration of anatomical and chemical modular boundaries, revealing a relation between anatomical, chemical, and physiological borders. In addition, the question is asked what the smallest operational unit of the cerebellum might be. Furthermore, it has become clear that chemical diversity of Purkinje cells also results in diversity of information processing between cerebellar modules. An additional important consideration is the relation between modular compartmentalization and the organization of the mossy fiber system, resulting in the concept of modular plasticity. Finally, examination of cerebellar output patterns suggesting cooperation between modules and recent work on modular aspects of emotional behavior are discussed. Despite the general consensus that the cerebellum has a modular organization, many questions remain. The authors hope that this joint review will inspire future cerebellar research so that we are better able to understand how this brain structure makes its vital contribution to behavior in its most general form

Electroweak Symmetry Breaking at the LHC

One of the major goals of the Large Hadron Collider is to probe the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism and the generation of the masses of the elementary particles. We review the physics of the Higgs sector in the Standard Model and some of its extensions such as supersymmetric theories and models of extra dimensions. The prospects for discovering the Higgs particles at the LHC and the study of their fundamental properties are summarised.Comment: 27 pages, 45 figures, uses LaTeX (insa.sty). Invited review for volume on LHC physics to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the Indian National Science Academy, edited by Amitava Datta, Biswarup Mukhopadhyaya and Amitava Raychaudhuri. Expanded the acronym in the title in the annoncement. No other change in the text or reference