STEREO SELECTIVE SYNTHESIS OF NOVEL LIGNAN INTERMEDIATES AS ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to synthesize a series of new lignan intermediates as potential antimicrobial agents.Methods: Substituted benzene and aromatic acids or acid chlorides were converted to benzophenones 1(a-f). The benzophenones 1(a-f) on Stobbe condensation with and diethyl succinate in the presence of potassium t-butoxide yielded 4-(4-aryl)-4-(4-aryl)-3-ethoxycarbonyl-but-3-enoic acids (2a, 2f) and a mixture of E and Z-isomers of 4,4-diaryl-3-ethoxycarbonyl-but-3-enoic acids 2(b-e) and 3(b-e) in relatively good yields. The synthesized compounds were tested for their antimicrobial susceptibility against different fungi and bacteria species.Results: The Stobbe condensation of benzophenones 1(a-f) and diethyl succinate in the presence of potassium t-butoxide yielded 4-(4-aryl)-4-(4-aryl)-3-ethoxycarbonyl-but-3-enoic acids (2a, 2f) and a mixture of E and Z-isomers of 4,4-diaryl-3-ethoxycarbonyl-but-3-enoic acids 2(b-e) and 3(b-e) in good yields. The compounds 1a and 1f yielded only 2a and 2f but not 3a and 3f due to symmetrical substitution in the aromatic rings. The structures of the new lignan intermediates were confirmed by spectral studies and elemental analysis.Conclusions: Results of the antimicrobial activity reveal that some of the compounds particularly 2c, 2d, 3c and 3d act as potential antimicrobial agents different fungal and bacterial organisms.Â

Comparative study between percutaneous pinning and ligamentotaxis using external fixator in the management of distal end radius fracture in adults: a prospective study

Background: Fractures of distal end of radius are beginning at the proximal end of pronator quadratus and ending at the radio-carpal articulation. The final aim in the management of comminuted intra-articular fractures of distal radius is to restore normal function. Recognition of patterns that are inherently unstable and therefore necessitate additional forms of fixation to secure and maintain reduction and prevent late collapse is the key for successful management of the more complex fractures of distal radius. The aim is to study the functional outcome of surgical management of comminuted intra-articular fractures of distal end radius by comparing 2 different methods of surgical interventions.Methods: In study of 30 cases treated in period from March 2008 to September 2009 at St. Martha’s Hospital by ligamentotaxis and percutaneous pinning, all patients with compound fractures, Frykman's IV, V, VI, VII and VIII, comminuted fractures and in fractures where reduction was lost following closed reduction and POP application were taken into consideration.Results: The average age in males were 41.35 years and female were 35 years. 12 (40%) fractures were type VII, 6 (20%) were type VIII, 9 (30%) were type IV and 3 cases (10%) was type V. functional results in ligamentotaxis group (G1) 7 cases had excellent results (47%), in percutaneous pinning (G2), 3 cases had excellent result (20%). In ligamentotaxis group (G1) 3 had good results (20%), in percutaneous group (G2) 6 had good results (40%). In ligamentotaxis group (G1) 5 had poor results (33%), in percutaneous pinning group (G2) 6 had poor results (40%).Conclusions: In comparative studies, external fixation with percutaneous pinning consistently achieves better anatomical results as compared to percutaneous pinning alone. In our study, also this technique has shown satisfactory result that lead to high rate of return to pre-injury status, high level of patient satisfaction and low rate of complications

Antimicrobial and Radical Scavenging Activity of Memecylon malabaricum

The present study was conducted to determine antimicrobial and radical scavenging potential of extract of two species of the genus Memecylon (Melastomataceae) viz., M. malabaricum (C.B. Clarke) Cogn. and M. talboltianum Brandis. The shade dried leaf materials of both Memecylon species were extracted using methanol. Antibacterial activity of leaf extracts was evaluated against five drug resistant uropathogenic bacteria by Agar well diffusion assay. Antifungal activity of leaf extracts was tested on the basis of mycelial growth inhibition of Colletotrichum capsici (isolated from anthracnose of chilli). Radical scavenging activity of extracts was determined by performing DPPH free radical scavenging activity. Total phenolic content of extracts was estimated by Folin-Ciocalteau reagent method. The extracts were subjected to preliminary phytochemical analysis to detect the presence of phytoconstituents. Among extracts, extract of M. malabaricum inhibited all test bacteria and inhibitory potential was marked against Gram positive bacteria than Gram negative bacteria. C. capsici was highly susceptible to extract of M. malabaricum when compared to extract of M. talboltianum. Overall, extract of M. malabaricum displayed marked antimicrobial activity than extract of M. talboltianum. Extract of M. malabaricum scavenged DPPH radicals more efficiently (IC50 6.26μg/ml) when compared to extract of M. talboltianum (IC50 43.80μg/ml). The content of total phenolics was also high in leaf extract of M. malabaricum (112μg GAE/mg) than that of M. talboltianum (28μg GAE/mg). Preliminary phytochemical analysis of leaf extracts revealed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, saponins and glycosides in both extracts. The antimicrobial and radical scavenging activity of leaf extracts could be ascribed to the presence of phytochemicals mainly phenolic compounds. These plants appear to be potential candidates for control of anthracnose disease of chilli and for development of agents active against drug resistant uropathogens and oxidative damage.Keywords: Memecylon; Antimicrobial; Agar well diffusion; Poisoned food technique; Antioxidant; DPP

Stimulation and inhibition by bicarbonate of stomatal opening in epidermal strips of Commelina benghalensis

The effect of 0 to 100 μM bicarbonate on stomatal opening in epidermal strips of Commelina benghalensis was examined in the presence or absence of fusicoccin in light or darkness. Low concentrations of bicarbonate (up to 10 μM in the absence and 25 μM in presence of fusicoccin) stimulated stomatal opening while higher concentrations inhibited. The enhancement of opening by low concentrations of bicarbonate and phosphoenol pyruvate (PEP), and prevention of bicarbonate stimulation by malate or oxaloacetate suggested PEP carboxylase as a CO2 sensor in the guard cells. However, the inhibition of PEP carboxylase did not completely suppress the opening caused by fusicoccin. The action of fusicoccin therefore appears to involve a site other than CO2 fixation, presumably through the stimulation of proton excretion

Boondh: The journey of a raindrop in the drylands

This book gives you glimpses of our work in 13 project sites and also features path breaking initiatives that were successfully implemented at other sites in India

Na-K-Cl Cotransporter-1 as a Regulator of Manganese-induced Astrocyte Swelling

Astrocyte swelling leads to brain edema, intracranial pressure, brain herniation and acute liver failure (fulminant hepatic failure) which is the major cause of death in this condition. Manganese has been strongly implicated as an important factor in astrocyte swelling. Manganese in excess is neurotoxic and causes a CNS disorder that resembles  Parkinson¡¦s disease (manganism). Manganese highly accumulates in astrocytes, which renders these cells more vulnerable to its toxicity. In addition to manganism, increased brain levels of manganese have been found in hepatic encephalopathy. Manganese is known to cause cellswelling in cultured astrocytes, although the means by which this occurs has not been fully elucidated. A disturbance in one or more of these systems may result in loss of ion homeostasis and cell swelling. In particular, activation of the Na-K-Cl cotransporter-1 (NKCC1) has been shown to be involved in cell swelling in several neurological disorders.We therefore examined the effect of manganese on NKCC activity and its potential role in the swelling of astrocytes. Cultured astrocytes were exposed to manganese (50 µM), and NKCC activity was measured. Manganese increased NKCC activity at 24 h. Inhibition of this  activity by bumetanide diminished manganese-induced astrocyte swelling.  Manganese (Mn) also increased total as well as phosphorylated NKCC1. These results suggest that activation of NKCC1 is an important factor in the mediation of astrocyte swelling by manganese and that such activation appears to be mediated by NKCC1 abundance

A 4D Light-Field Dataset and CNN Architectures for Material Recognition

We introduce a new light-field dataset of materials, and take advantage of the recent success of deep learning to perform material recognition on the 4D light-field. Our dataset contains 12 material categories, each with 100 images taken with a Lytro Illum, from which we extract about 30,000 patches in total. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first mid-size dataset for light-field images. Our main goal is to investigate whether the additional information in a light-field (such as multiple sub-aperture views and view-dependent reflectance effects) can aid material recognition. Since recognition networks have not been trained on 4D images before, we propose and compare several novel CNN architectures to train on light-field images. In our experiments, the best performing CNN architecture achieves a 7% boost compared with 2D image classification (70% to 77%). These results constitute important baselines that can spur further research in the use of CNNs for light-field applications. Upon publication, our dataset also enables other novel applications of light-fields, including object detection, image segmentation and view interpolation.Comment: European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV) 201

Split keyword fuzzy and synonym search over encrypted cloud data

A substitute solution for various organizations of data owners to store their data in the cloud using storage as a service(SaaS). The outsourced sensitive data is encrypted before uploading into the cloud to achieve data privacy. The encrypted data is search based on keywords and retrieve interested files by data user using a lot of traditional Search scheme. Existing search schemes supports exact keyword match or fuzzy keyword search, but synonym based multi-keyword search are not supported. In the real world scenario, cloud users may not know the exact keyword for searching and they might give synonym of the keyword as the input for search instead of exact or fuzzy keyword due to lack of appropriate knowledge of data. In this paper, we describe an efficient search approach for encrypted data called as Split Keyword Fuzzy and Synonym Search (SKFS). Multi-keyword ranked search with accurate keyword and Fuzzy search supports synonym queries are a major contribution of SKFS. The wildcard Technique is used to store the keywords securely within the index tree. Index tree helps to search faster, accurate and low storage cost. Extensive experimental results on real-time data sets shows, the proposed solution is effective and efficient for multi-keyword ranked search and synonym queries Fuzzy based search over encrypted cloud data. © 2017 Springer Science+Business Media, LL

ANTIRADICAL, ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF HARPULLIA ARBOREA (BLANCO) RADLK. (SAPINDACEAE)

Objective: The present study was conducted to investigate antiradical and antimicrobial potential of extract of Harpullia arborea (Blanco) Radlk. (Sapindaceae) leaves obtained by maceration process.Methods: Antiradical activity of leaf extract was performed by DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays. Antibacterial activity of leaf extract was carried out by Agar well diffusion assay. Antifungal activity of leaf extract was carried out by Poisoned food technique.Results: Leaf extract displayed concentration dependent scavenging of radicals with potent scavenging activity against ABTS radicals (IC50 value 4.26µg/ml) when compared to DPPH radicals (IC50 value 27.26µg/ml). Extract exhibited inhibitory activity against all test bacteria. Marked and least activity was observed against Staphylococcus epidermidis and Escherichia coli respectively. Considerable reduction in the mycelial growth of test fungi was observed in poisoned plates. Curvularia sp. and Alternaria sp. were inhibited to highest and least extent respectively. Conclusion: In suitable form, the plant can be used to treat oxidative damage, infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria and to manage seed-borne fungi

Marginal and internal fit evaluation of conventional metal-ceramic versus zirconia CAD/CAM crowns

The purpose of this in vivo study was to compare the marginal and internal gap widths of monolithic zirconia crowns fabricated by CAD/CAM technique and metal-ceramic crowns fabricated by conventional technique. 10 participants needing a single restoration were selected. Zirconia crowns using CAD/CAM technology (Group A) (n=10) and metal-ceramic crowns (Group B) (n=10) using lost wax casting technique were fabricated for each selected tooth. The marginal and internal gaps of crowns were recorded using a replica technique with light body silicone material stabilized with a regular set putty. Each replica was sectioned buccolingually and mesiodistally and then evaluated at five pre-determined sites. The points measured were PM for marginal gap, PA for axial gap, PAO for axio-occlusal transition gap and PO and PCO for occlusal gaps using a stereomicroscope at 30× magni?cation. The Paired Sample (t) test was used to detect significant differences between the two groups in terms of marginal and internal fit (?= 0.05). The mean for the marginal gap was 77.42?m (±39.5?m) for Group A compared with 95.86?m (±55.12?m) for Group B. Mean values for internal gap was 87.24 (±21.7 µm) for Group A and 132.91 µm (± 50.63 µm) for Group B. Significant differences were observed between both the groups for marginal (p=.010) and internal (p=.000) fit. The CAD/CAM fabricated zirconia crowns demonstrated a better accuracy of fit when compared to metal-ceramic crowns fabricated by conventional technology