Interface superconductivity in La1.48_{1.48}Nd0.4_{0.4}Sr0.12_{0.12}CuO4_{4}/La1.84_{1.84}Sr0.16_{0.16}CuO4_{4} bilayers

We identify a distinct superconducting phase at the interface of a La$_{1.48}$Nd$_{0.4}$Sr$_{0.12}$CuO$_4$ (LNSCO)/La$_{1.84}$Sr$_{0.16}$CuO$_4$ (LSCO) epitaxial bilayer system using ac screening measurements. A model based on inter-diffusion of quasiparticles and condensate at the interface yields a thickness of $\sim$ 25 nm for the interfacial layer. Two-dimensional superconductivity of the interface layer appears to be governed by Kosterlitz-Thouless-Berezinskii transition. A parallel magnetic field suppresses the superconducting transition temperature of this layer with a pair breaking parameter $\alpha$ varying as $H^2$

ANTI-HYPERGLYCEMIC EFFECT OF DIFFERENT FRACTIONS OF ANNONA RETICULATA LEAF

ABSTRACTContext: Several species of the genus Annona were reported to have hypoglycemic properties and this makes Annona reticulata Linn. (Annonaceae)an interesting plant for investigating its anti-hyperglycemic potential.Objective: Different fractions prepared from hydro-alcoholic extract of A. reticulata leave were investigated for their blood glucose lowering effect onStreptozotocin (STZ) induced hyperglycemic rats.Methods: Ethyl acetate, methanol, and residual fractions (at dose level of 100 mg/kg by oral route) prepared from the hydro-alcoholic extract ofA. reticulata leave were administered for 14 consecutive days to STZ induced hyperglycemic rats for evaluation of their anti-hyperglycemic potential.Anti-hyperglycemic potential was assessed by observation of a decrease in fasting blood glucose level.Results: The studies revealed that ethyl acetate fraction decreased the blood glucose level of hyperglycemic rats from 447.67 to 234.17 mg/dL and issignificant (p<0.001) when compared with diabetic control group. The residual fraction and methanolic fraction decreased blood glucose level from417.83 to 402.50 mg/dL and 432.33 to 371.67 mg/dL respectively but not significant when compared with the diabetic control group. Standard drugmetformin (dose 300 mg/kg) reduced the blood glucose level from 447.33 to 219.50 mg/dL.Discussion: Ethyl acetate fraction at tested dose level was capable not only to control the elevated blood glucose level but also able to attenuatecertain secondary parameters associated with STZ induced hyperglycemia.Conclusion: This study suggested that the ethyl acetate fraction prepared from hydro-alcoholic extract of A. reticulata leave exhibit potential antihyperglycemicpropertyin the testedexperimentalmodels and should be investigatedfurther.Keywords: Streptozotocin, Diabetes, Dyslipidemia

Optimal adaptive management for the translocation of a threatened species

Active adaptive management (AAM) is an approach to wildlife management that acknowledges our imperfect understanding of natural systems and allows for some resolution of our uncertainty. Such learning may be characterized by risky strategies in the short term. Experimentation is only considered acceptable if it is expected to be repaid by increased returns in the long term, generated by an improved understanding of the system. By setting AAM problems within a decision theory framework, we can find this optimal balance between achieving our objectives in the short term and learning for the long term. We apply this approach to managing the translocation of the bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata), an endangered species from Queensland, Australia. Our task is to allocate captive-bred animals, between two sites or populations to maximize abundance at the end of the translocation project. One population, at the original site of occupancy, has a known growth rate. A population potentially could be established at a second site of suitable habitat, but we can only learn the growth rate of this new population by monitoring translocated animals. We use a mathematical programming technique called stochastic dynamic programming, which determines optimal management decisions for every possible management trajectory. We find optimal strategies under active and passive adaptive management, which enables us to examine the balance between learning and managing directly. Learning is more often optimal when we have less prior information about the uncertain population growth rate at the new site, when the growth rate at the original site is low, and when there is substantial time remaining in the translocation project. Few studies outside the area of optimal harvesting have framed AAM within a decision theory context. This is the first application to threatened species translocation

Expression pattern and regulation of genes differ between fibroblasts of adhesion and normal human peritoneum

BACKGROUND: Injury to the peritoneum during surgery is followed by a healing process that frequently results in the attachment of adjacent organs by a fibrous mass, referred commonly as adhesions. Because injuries to the peritoneum during surgery are inevitable, it is imperative that we understand the mechanisms of adhesion formation to prevent its occurrence. This requires thorough understanding of the molecular sequence that results in the attachment of injured peritoneum and the development of fibrous tissue. Recent data show that fibroblasts from the injured peritoneum may play a critical role in the formation of adhesion tissues. Therefore, identifying changes in gene expression pattern in the peritoneal fibroblasts during the process may provide clues to the mechanisms by which adhesion develop. METHODS: In this study, we compared expression patterns of larger number of genes in the fibroblasts isolated from adhesion and normal human peritoneum using gene filters. Contributions of TGF-beta1 and hypoxia in the altered expression of specific genes were also examined using a semiquantitative RT-PCR technique. RESULTS: Results show that several genes are differentially expressed between fibroblasts of normal and adhesion peritoneum and that the peritoneal fibroblast may acquire a different phenotype during adhesion formation. Genes that are differentially expressed between normal and adhesion fibroblasts encode molecules involved in cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, migration and factors regulating cytokines, transcription, translation and protein/vesicle trafficking. CONCLUSIONS: Our data substantiate that adhesion formation is a multigenic phenomenon and not all changes in gene expression pattern between normal and adhesion fibroblasts are the function of TGF-beta1 and hypoxia that are known to influence adhesion formation. Analysis of the gene expression data in the perspective of known functions of genes connote to additional targets that may be manipulated to inhibit adhesion development

Solar cycle 24: an unusual polar field reversal

Aims: To investigate solar polar fields during cycle 24, using measurements of solar magnetic fields in the latitude range 55 - 90 degree and 78 - 90 degree, to report a prolonged and unusual hemispheric asymmetry in the polar field reversal pattern in solar cycle 24. Methods: This study was carried out using medium resolution line-of-sight synoptic magnetograms from the magnetic database of the National Solar Observatory at Kitt Peak (NSO/KP), USA for the period between February 1975 and October 2017, covering solar cycles 21-24 and high-resolution line-of-sight synoptic magnetograms from the Michaelson Doppler Imager instrument onboard the Solar Heliospheric Observatory. Synoptic magnetograms using radial measurements from the Heliospheric Magnetic Imager instrument onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory, covering solar cycle 23 and 24, were also used. Results: We show that the Southern solar hemisphere unambiguously reversed polarity in mid-2013 while the reversal in the field in the Northern solar hemisphere started as early as June 2012, was followed by a sustained period of near-zero field strength lasting until the end of 2014, after which the field began to show a clear rise from its near-zero value. While this study compliments a similar study carried out using microwave brightness measurements (Gopalswamy et al. 2016) which claimed that the field reversal process in cycle 24 was completed by the end of 2015, our results show that the field reversal in cycle 24 was completed earlier i.e. in late 2014. Signatures of this unusual field reversal pattern were also clearly identifiable in the solar wind, using our observations of interplanetary scintillation at 327 MHz which supported our magnetic field observations and confirmed that the field reversal process was completed at the end of 2014.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, Under review in A&

Efficiency, selectivity and robustness of the nuclear pore complex transport

All materials enter or exit the cell nucleus through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), efficient transport devices that combine high selectivity and throughput. A central feature of this transport is the binding of cargo-carrying soluble transport factors to flexible, unstructured proteinaceous filaments called FG-nups that line the NPC. We have modeled the dynamics of transport factors and their interaction with the flexible FG-nups as diffusion in an effective potential, using both analytical theory and computer simulations. We show that specific binding of transport factors to the FG-nups facilitates transport and provides the mechanism of selectivity. We show that the high selectivity of transport can be accounted for by competition for both binding sites and space inside the NPC, which selects for transport factors over other macromolecules that interact only non-specifically with the NPC. We also show that transport is relatively insensitive to changes in the number and distribution of FG-nups in the NPC, due mainly to their flexibility; this accounts for recent experiments where up to half of the total mass of the NPC has been deleted, without abolishing the transport. Notably, we demonstrate that previously established physical and structural properties of the NPC can account for observed features of nucleocytoplasmic transport. Finally, our results suggest strategies for creation of artificial nano-molecular sorting devices.Comment: 38 pages, six figure

IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTY OF FRACTIONS OF ANNONA RETICULATA (L) LEAVE

Objective: The present study has been carried out to evaluate the antioxidant property of different fractions prepared from hydro-alcoholic extract of Annona reticulata L. leave. Effort also has been made to estimate the flavonoid and phenolics content of the fractions.Method: The antioxidant activity has been studied in vitro by using Nitric oxide-scavenging assay, Free radical scavenging activity in DPPH assay and Iron chelating activity assay.Results: In Nitric oxide-scavenging assay the IC50 values for Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 476.43 µg/mL, 328.09 µg/mL and 329.61 µg/mL respectively. In DPPH assay the IC50 values for Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 87.50 µg/mL, 161.06 µg/mL and 90.36 µg/mLrespectively. The IC50 values of the Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction in Iron chelating assay are 210.86 µg/mL, 462.38 µg/mL and 586.14 µg/mL respectively. The flavonoid content of Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 8.73, 7.45 and 8.62 respectively expressed as mg/g of Catechol. Similarly the phenol content of Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 8.43, 7.25 and 6.23 respectively expressed as mg/g of Catechol.Conclusion: The results suggest that all the tested fractions are having antioxidant property, but the ethhylacetate fraction is having significantly higher flavonoid and phenol content. Due to presence of higher flavonoid and phenol content in ethylacetate fraction, it may be considered as the fraction with better pharmacological property in comparison to other tested fractions.Â