INVESTIGATION ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROBIOTIC MICROBIOTA ON CANCER

Cancer is the one of the deadly menace diseases with high medical significance which remains one of the keys that causes ailments and death, the security and firmness of the typical chemotherapeutics drugs and artificial agents used to accomplish cancer are doubtful now a days. These mediators affect the quality of life or sometimes they causative for progress of drug resistance and are not judicious to the majority of the patients So the clinical management of the cancer with high efficiency can done with the probiotic microbiota. An imbalance in the gut microbiota promotes the progress of carcinogenesis through several mechanisms, including inflammation, initiation of carcinogens, and tumorigenic pathways as well. In vivo and molecular studies have exhibited the support to role of probiotics in cancer. Probiotic agents are live microbes or components of microbes that have a positive effect on the host. They exert their action through interaction with the immune system of the host. Some of this effect is localized and some is in improvement in total body system. The Probiotic bacteria are the live microorganisms that, when directed in acceptable amounts, deliberate a healthy benefit on the host, and they have been considered for their protective anti-tumour effects. This review emphases on the role of probiotic microbiota as substitute for the prevention and treatment of cancer in the relation between gut microbiota and the progress of cancer

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease may not be a severe disease at presentation among Asian Indians

Aim: To evaluate the clinical and biochemical profile of patients with non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and to assess their histological severity at presentation. Methods: Consecutive patients presenting to the liver clinic of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) with raised transaminases to at least 1.5 times upper limit of normal, and histologically confi rmed non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were included. Patients who had significant alcohol intake or positive markers of other liver diseases or who were taking drugs known to produce fatty liver were excluded. The clinical, biochemical and histological profi le of this group was studied. Results: Fifty-one patients with NAFLD formed the study population. Their median age and BMI were 34(17-58) years and 26.7(21.3-32.5) kg/m2 respectively and 46 (90.1%) were males. The majority of the patients had mild inflammation, either grade 1 [32 (63%)] or grade 2 [16 (31%)] and only 3 (6%) patients had severe (grade 3) infl ammation. Twenty-three (45%), 19 (37%), 8(16%) and 1(2%) patient had stage 0, 1, 2 and 3 fi brosis respectively on index biopsy and none had cirrhosis. On univariate analysis, triglyceride levels more than 150 mg % (OR = 7.1; 95% CI: 1.6-31.5, P = 0.002) and AST/ALT ratio > 1 (OR = 14.3; 95% CI: 1.4-678.5, P = 0.008) were associated with high grades of inflammation and none was associated with advanced fibrosis. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, hypertriglyceridemia >150 mg% was the only factor independently associated with presence of high grade of infl ammation (OR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.3-22.7, P = 0.02), while none was associated with advanced fi brosis. Triglyceride levels correlated positively with infl ammatory grade (r = 0.412; P = 0.003). Conclusion: NAFLD in North Indian patients is a disease of young over-weight males, most of whom are insulin resistant and they tend to have a mild histological disease at presentation

Electrodeposited NiX2 (X= S, Se) thin films for solar cell applications

Thin films of nickel chalcogenide, NiX2 (X= S, Se) have been electrosynthesized on indiumtin-oxide (ITO) coated glass substrates. The films were characterized for their structural, morphological and compositional characteristics. Their optical and semiconducting parameters were also analysed in order to determine the suitability of the thin films for photoelectrochemical (PEC) / solar cell applications. Structural analysis via X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that the films are polycrystalline in nature. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies reveals that the films were adherent to the substrate with uniform and pin-hole free. Compositional analysis via energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique confirms the presence of Ni, S, and Se elements in the films. The optical studies show that the films are of direct bandgap. Results on the semiconductor parameters analysis of the films showed that the nature of the Mott-Schottky plots indicates that the films obtained are of p-type material

New Rotation Periods in the Pleiades: Interpreting Activity Indicators

We present results of photometric monitoring campaigns of G, K and M dwarfs in the Pleiades carried out in 1994, 1995 and 1996. We have determined rotation periods for 18 stars in this cluster. In this paper, we examine the validity of using observables such as X-ray activity and amplitude of photometric variations as indicators of angular momentum loss. We report the discovery of cool, slow rotators with high amplitudes of variation. This contradicts previous conclusions about the use of amplitudes as an alternate diagnostic of the saturation of angular momentum loss. We show that the X-ray data can be used as observational indicators of mass-dependent saturation in the angular momentum loss proposed on theoretical grounds

New rotation periods in the Pleiades: Interpreting activity indicators

We present results of photometric monitoring campaigns of G, K and M dwarfs in the Pleiades carried out in 1994, 1995 and 1996. We have determined rotation periods for 18 stars in this cluster. In this paper, we examine the validity of using observables such as X-ray activity and amplitude of photometric variations as indicators of angular momentum loss. We report the discovery of cool, slow rotators with high amplitudes of variation. This contradicts previous conclusions about the use of amplitudes as an alternate diagnostic of the saturation of angular momentum loss. We show that the X-ray data can be used as observational indicators of mass-dependent saturation in the angular momentum loss proposed on theoretical grounds.Comment: 24 pages, LaTex (AASTeX); includes 8 postscript figures and 4 Latex tables. To appear in ApJ, Feb. 1, 1998. Postscript version of preprint can be obtained from http://casa.colorado.edu/~anitak/pubs.htm

Gemini Planet Imager Observational Calibrations VI: Photometric and Spectroscopic Calibration for the Integral Field Spectrograph

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a new facility instrument for the Gemini Observatory designed to provide direct detection and characterization of planets and debris disks around stars in the solar neighborhood. In addition to its extreme adaptive optics and corona graphic systems which give access to high angular resolution and high-contrast imaging capabilities, GPI contains an integral field spectrograph providing low resolution spectroscopy across five bands between 0.95 and 2.5 $\mu$m. This paper describes the sequence of processing steps required for the spectro-photometric calibration of GPI science data, and the necessary calibration files. Based on calibration observations of the white dwarf HD 8049B we estimate that the systematic error in spectra extracted from GPI observations is less than 5%. The flux ratio of the occulted star and fiducial satellite spots within coronagraphic GPI observations, required to estimate the magnitude difference between a target and any resolved companions, was measured in the $H$-band to be $\Delta m = 9.23\pm0.06$ in laboratory measurements and $\Delta m = 9.39\pm 0.11$ using on-sky observations. Laboratory measurements for the $Y$, $J$, $K1$ and $K2$ filters are also presented. The total throughput of GPI, Gemini South and the atmosphere of the Earth was also measured in each photometric passband, with a typical throughput in $H$-band of 18% in the non-coronagraphic mode, with some variation observed over the six-month period for which observations were available. We also report ongoing development and improvement of the data cube extraction algorithm.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Proceedings of the SPIE, 9147-30

The Peculiar Debris Disk of HD 111520 as Resolved by the Gemini Planet Imager

Using the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI), we have resolved the circumstellar debris disk around HD 111520 at a projected range of ~30-100 AU in both total and polarized $H$-band intensity. The disk is seen edge-on at a position angle of ~165$^{\circ}$ along the spine of emission. A slight inclination or asymmetric warping are covariant and alters the interpretation of the observed disk emission. We employ 3 point spread function (PSF) subtraction methods to reduce the stellar glare and instrumental artifacts to confirm that there is a roughly 2:1 brightness asymmetry between the NW and SE extension. This specific feature makes HD 111520 the most extreme examples of asymmetric debris disks observed in scattered light among similar highly inclined systems, such as HD 15115 and HD 106906. We further identify a tentative localized brightness enhancement and scale height enhancement associated with the disk at ~40 AU away from the star on the SE extension. We also find that the fractional polarization rises from 10 to 40% from 0.5" to 0.8" from the star. The combination of large brightness asymmetry and symmetric polarization fraction leads us to believe that an azimuthal dust density variation is causing the observed asymmetry.Comment: 9 pages, 8 Figures, 1 table, Accepted to Ap