Antimicrobial and modulation effects of selected Ghanaian medicinal plants

The alarming rise in the incidences of multidrug-resistant microorganisms and the decline innew antibiotic discovery make the search for new antimicrobial agents or efforts at restoring the activity of older antibiotics to which the microbes have developed resistance very necessary. The aim of the present study is to investigate the antimicrobial and modulation effects of the 70% ethanol extracts of Lannea schimperi, Commelina nudiflora and Piliostigma reticulatum against usceptible strains of microorganisms. Using the broth microdilution method, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the extracts were determined. The checkerboard assay was used to determine the modulation effects when sub-inhibitory concentrations of plant extracts were combined with the standard antibiotics. All three plants extracts possessed weak antimicrobial effects. For the modulation experiments, fifteen of the twenty-seven combinatorial casesyielded biologically significant effects. The ethanol extracts of the three plants studied here are good modulators as they reduced the MIC of ciprofloxacin and ketoconazole by factors that are comparable to that of reserpine. However the exact compounds and their exact mechanism of modulation require further investigation.Keywords: Anti-infective, modulation, Lannea schimperi, Commelina nudiflora, Piliostigmareticulatum, ethnomedicin

Performance requirements analysis for payload delivery from a space station

Operations conducted from a space station in low Earth orbit which have different constraints and opportunities than those conducted from direct Earth launch were examined. While a space station relieves many size and performance constraints on the space shuttle, the space station's inertial orbit has different launch window constraints from those associated with customary Earth launches which reflect upon upper stage capability. A performance requirements analysis was developed to provide a reference source of parametric data, and specific case solutions and upper stage sizing trade to assist potential space station users and space station and upper stage developers assess the impacts of a space station on missions of interest

β3-integrin is required for differentiation in OC-2 cells derived from mammalian embryonic inner ear

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The mammalian inner ear contains the organ of Corti which is responsible for the conversion of sound into neuronal signals. This specialised epithelial tissue is the product of a complex developmental process where a common precursor cell type differentiates into the sound transducing hair cells and the non-innervated supporting cells. We hypothesised that integrin proteins, which are involved in cell attachment to extracellular matrix proteins and cellular signalling, play a role in the differentiation process of the precursor inner ear epithelial cells. To test our hypothesis we have utilised a cell line (OC-2) derived from E13 embryonic immortomouse inner ears. In vitro, by switching the incubation temperature from 33°C to 39°C, the OC-2 cells can be induced to differentiate and express hair cells markers, such as Myosin VIIa. The OC-2 cells are thus a useful model system for testing mechanism of hair cells differentiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have identified 4 integrin subunits which are expressed in OC-2 cells: α6, αv, β1 and β3. Among these, the relative level of expression of the αv, β1 and β3 subunits increased in a time dependent manner when the cells were exposed to the differentiating temperature of 39°C, most notably so for β3 which was not detectable at 33°C. Treatment of fully differentiated OC-2 cells with siRNA against the four integrin subunits reduced the expression of not only the respective integrin proteins but also of the hair cell marker Myosin VIIa. Conversely over-expression of β3 was sufficient to induce the expression of Myosin VIIa at 33°C.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our data demonstrate that modulation of integrin expression is associated with the differentiation process of the OC-2 cells. This suggests that the maturation of the organ of Corti, from where OC-2 cells are derived, may also depend on changes of gene expression associated with integrin expression.</p

Testing Comptonizing coronae on a long BeppoSAX observation of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548

We test accurate models of Comptonization spectra over the high quality data of the BeppoSAX long look at NGC 5548, allowing for different geometries of the scattering region, different temperatures of the input soft photon field and different viewing angles. We find that the BeppoSAX data are well represented by a plane parallel or hemispherical corona viewed at an inclination angle of 30$^{\circ}$. For both geometries the best fit temperature of the soft photons is close to 15$^{+3}_{-9}$ eV. The corresponding best fit values of the hot plasma temperature and optical depth are $kT_{\rm e}\simeq$ 250--260 keV and $\tau\simeq$ 0.16--0.37 for the slab and hemisphere respectively. These values are substantially different from those derived fitting the data with a power-law + cut off approximation to the Comptonization component (kT_{\rm e}\lta 60 keV, $\tau\simeq$ 2.4). This is due to the fact that accurate Comptonization spectra in anisotropic geometries show "intrinsic" curvature which reduces the necessity of a high energy cut-off. The Comptonization parameter derived for the slab model {is} larger than predicted for a two phase plane parallel corona in energy balance, suggesting that a more ``photon-starved'' geometry is necessary. The spectral softening detected during a flare which occurred in the central part of the observation corresponds to a decrease of the Comptonization parameter, probably associated with an increase of the soft photon luminosity, the {hard} photon luminosity remaining constant.Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap

A Medium Survey of the Hard X-Ray Sky with ASCA. II.: The Source's Broad Band X-Ray Spectral Properties

A complete sample of 60 serendipitous hard X-ray sources with flux in the range $\sim 1 \times 10^{-13}$ \ecs to $\sim 4 \times 10^{-12}$ \ecs (2 - 10 keV), detected in 87 ASCA GIS2 images, was recently presented in literature. Using this sample it was possible to extend the description of the 2-10 keV LogN(>S)-LogS down to a flux limit of $\sim 6\times 10^{-14}$ \ecs (the faintest detectable flux), resolving about a quarter of the Cosmic X-ray Background. In this paper we have combined the ASCA GIS2 and GIS3 data of these sources to investigate their X-ray spectral properties using the "hardness" ratios and the "stacked" spectra method. Because of the sample statistical representativeness, the results presented here, that refer to the faintest hard X-ray sources that can be studied with the current instrumentation, are relevant to the understanding of the CXB and of the AGN unification scheme.Comment: 28 pages plus 6 figures, LaTex manuscript, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, Figure 5 can retrieved via anonymous ftp at ftp://ftp.brera.mi.astro.it/pub/ASCA/paper2/fig5.ps.g

INTEGRAL observations of the black hole candidate H 1743-322 in outburst

INTEGRAL made 3 observations in 2003 April of the black hole candidate H 1743-322 during the rising part, and close to the maximum, of an outburst. H 1743-322 was previously observed in outburst in 1977-1978. The source is located in a crowded region of the sky (l = 357 deg, b = -2 deg) and at least 18 sources are clearly detected in the field of view of the gamma-ray imager during a 277 ksec exposure. These are well known persistent X-ray binaries and 3 transient sources in outburst. The combined 5-200 keV JEM-X and SPI spectrum of H 1743-322 is well fit with an absorbed ((2.5 10E22 atom/cm2) soft (photon index 2.70 +/- 0.09) power-law model consistent with J 1743-322 being in a high/soft state.Comment: 5 pages. Figs. 2 and 3 are best viewed in color. To appear in INTEGRAL special edition of A&A

Popular music, psychogeography, place identity and tourism: The case of Sheffield

Tourism and cultural agencies in some English provincial cities are promoting their popular music ‘heritage’ and, in some cases, contemporary musicians through the packaging of trails, sites, ‘iconic’ venues and festivals. This article focuses on Sheffield, a ‘post-industrial’ northern English city which is drawing on its associations with musicians past and present in seeking to attract tourists. This article is based on interviews with, among others, recording artists, promoters, producers and venue managers, along with reflective observational and documentary data. Theoretical remarks are made on the representations of popular musicians through cultural tourism strategies, programmes and products and also on the ways in which musicians convey a ‘psychogeographical’ sense of place in the ‘soundscape’ of the city

Cavitation inception of a van der Waals fluid at a sack-wall obstacle

Cavitation in a liquid moving past a constraint is numerically investigated by means of a free-energy lattice Boltzmann simulation based on the van der Waals equation of state. The fluid is streamed past an obstacle and, depending on the pressure drop between inlet and outlet, vapor formation underneath the corner of the sack-wall is observed. The circumstances of cavitation formation are investigated and it is found that the local bulk pressure and mean stress are insufficient to explain the phenomenon. Results obtained in this study strongly suggest that the viscous stress, interfacial contributions to the local pressure, and the Laplace pressure are relevant to the opening of a vapor cavity. This can be described by a generalization of Joseph's criterion that includes these contributions. A macroscopic investigation measuring mass flow rate behavior and discharge coefficient was also performed. As theoretically predicted, mass flow rate increases linearly with the square root of the pressure drop. However, when cavitation occurs, the mass flow growth rate is reduced and eventually it collapses into a choked flow state. In the cavitating regime, as theoretically predicted and experimentally verified, the discharge coefficient grows with the Nurick cavitation number

Control-volume representation of molecular dynamics

A Molecular Dynamics (MD) parallel to the Control Volume (CV) formulation of fluid mechanics is developed by integrating the formulas of Irving and Kirkwood, J. Chem. Phys. 18, 817 (1950) over a finite cubic volume of molecular dimensions. The Lagrangian molecular system is expressed in terms of an Eulerian CV, which yields an equivalent to Reynolds' Transport Theorem for the discrete system. This approach casts the dynamics of the molecular system into a form that can be readily compared to the continuum equations. The MD equations of motion are reinterpreted in terms of a Lagrangian-to-Control-Volume (\CV) conversion function $\vartheta_{i}$, for each molecule $i$. The \CV function and its spatial derivatives are used to express fluxes and relevant forces across the control surfaces. The relationship between the local pressures computed using the Volume Average (VA, Lutsko, J. Appl. Phys 64, 1152 (1988)) techniques and the Method of Planes (MOP, Todd et al, Phys. Rev. E 52, 1627 (1995)) emerges naturally from the treatment. Numerical experiments using the MD CV method are reported for equilibrium and non-equilibrium (start-up Couette flow) model liquids, which demonstrate the advantages of the formulation. The CV formulation of the MD is shown to be exactly conservative, and is therefore ideally suited to obtain macroscopic properties from a discrete system.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figure