CONVENTIONAL AYURVEDIC MANAGEMENT IN SPASTIC CEREBRAL PALSY: A CASE STUDY

Cerebral palsy is a non-progressive but crippling neurological disorder in children. The prevalence rate of cerebral palsy has risen to well above two per thousand life birth. Spastic cerebral palsy is a disorder that causes muscle tightness. This condition prevents the normal development of motor function. It makes up over 70% of all cases of cerebral palsy. As per Ayurvedic classics, the spasticity is termed as Jadatwam and is one of the Vatha predominant Lakshana. The important causative factors are the improper diet and regimen followed during pregnancy, Akalapravahanam (untimely contractures during labour), head injury during delivery, Garbha sosham (Intrauterine Growth Retardation) etc. Due to these aetiology Dhadhu, Kshaya occurs followed by Vata dosha prakopa and produces symptoms like Praseka, Sosha, Jadatwam etc. In this study, based on the concept of Vathavyadhi chikitsa, Snehana, Swedana, Sodhana and Brimhana therapy with appropriate Panchkarma procedure was done. Physiotherapy was provided along with treatment, it helped to improve motor functions and activities of daily living of the patient. The spasticity was assessed through the range of motion of joints (ROM) by using the instrument Goniometer while the motor and mental developments were assessed by developmental assessment scales for Indian infants (DASII). Considering the ROM of joints of upper and lower limb, spasticity was reduced in the extension movement of the ankle, hip, knee, elbow, and shoulder. The motor and mental developmental quotient of the baby was improved after the treatment. This article is an attempt to highlight the efficacy of conventional Ayurvedic management in spastic cerebral palsy with Kerala specialties

Highly Efficient Gene Editing of Cystic Fibrosis Patient-Derived Airway Basal Cells Results in Functional CFTR Correction

There is a strong rationale to consider future cell therapeutic approaches for cystic fibrosis (CF) in which autologous proximal airway basal stem cells, corrected for CFTR mutations, are transplanted into the patient's lungs. We assessed the possibility of editing the CFTR locus in these cells using zinc-finger nucleases and have pursued two approaches. The first, mutation-specific correction, is a footprint-free method replacing the CFTR mutation with corrected sequences. We have applied this approach for correction of ΔF508, demonstrating restoration of mature CFTR protein and function in air-liquid interface cultures established from bulk edited basal cells. The second is targeting integration of a partial CFTR cDNA within an intron of the endogenous CFTR gene, providing correction for all CFTR mutations downstream of the integration and exploiting the native CFTR promoter and chromatin architecture for physiologically relevant expression. Without selection, we observed highly efficient, site-specific targeted integration in basal cells carrying various CFTR mutations and demonstrated restored CFTR function at therapeutically relevant levels. Significantly, Omni-ATAC-seq analysis revealed minimal impact on the positions of open chromatin within the native CFTR locus. These results demonstrate efficient functional correction of CFTR and provide a platform for further ex vivo and in vivo editing. © 2020 The American Society of Gene and Cell TherapySuzuki et al. report correction of the CFTR defect in cystic fibrosis airway basal stem cells. They utilized gene-editing strategies either specific for the ΔF508 CFTR mutation or applicable to most CFTR mutations. Both approaches yielded highly efficient correction without selection, restoring CFTR function to therapeutically relevant levels

Surface stiffening and enhanced photoluminescence of ion implanted cellulose - polyvinyl alcohol - silica composite

Novel Cellulose (Cel) reinforced polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-Silica (Si) composite which has good stability and in vitro degradation was prepared by lyophilization technique and implanted using N3+ ions of energy 24 keV in the fluences of 1 x 10(15), 5 x 10(15) and 1 x 10(16) ions/cm(2). SEM analysis revealed the formation of microstructures, and improved the surface roughness on ion implantation. In addition to these structural changes, the implantation significantly modified the luminescent, thermal and mechanical properties of the samples. The elastic modulus of the implanted samples has increased by about 50 times compared to the pristine which confirms that the stiffness of the sample surface has increased remarkably on ion implantation. The photoluminescence of the native cellulose has improved greatly due to defect site, dangling bonds and hydrogen passivation. Electric conductivity of the ion implanted samples was improved by about 25%. Hence, low energy ion implantation tunes the mechanical property, surface roughness and further induces the formation of nano structures. MG63 cells seeded onto the scaffolds reveals that with the increase in implantation fluence, the cell attachment, viability and proliferation have improved greatly compared to pristine. The enhancement of cell growth of about 59% was observed in the implanted samples compared to pristine. These properties will enable the scaffolds to be ideal for bone tissue engineering and imaging applications.G.M.S. acknowledges CSIR, India (Grant no: 09/468 (0474)/2013-EMR-I) and S.N.K. thanks the award of Erasmus-Mundus Svaagata for providing financial support to carry out this research. G.M.S., N.S. and S.N.K. acknowledge the support of UGC National facility for characterization facility. J.A.G.T. acknowledges the support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through the project DPI2015-65401-C3-2-R (including the FEDER financial support). CIBER-BBN, Spain is an initiative funded by the VI National R&D Plan 2008-2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, Consolider Program. CIBER actions are financed by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. AFM was conducted by the microscopy service of the UPV, whose advice was greatly appreciated.Shanthini, GM.; Sakthivel, N.; Menon, R.; Nabhiraj, PY.; Gómez-Tejedor, JA.; Meseguer Dueñas, JM.; Gómez Ribelles, JL.... (2016). Surface stiffening and enhanced photoluminescence of ion implanted cellulose - polyvinyl alcohol - silica composite. Carbohydrate Polymers. 153:619-630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2016.08.016S61963015

Cellulose nanofiber backboned Prussian blue nanoparticles as powerful adsorbents for the selective elimination of radioactive cesium

On 11 March 2011, the day of the unforgettable disaster of the 9 magnitude Tohoku earthquake and quickly followed by the devastating Tsunami, a damageable amount of radionuclides had dispersed from the Fukushima Daiichi’s damaged nuclear reactors. Decontamination of the dispersed radionuclides from seawater and soil, due to the huge amounts of coexisting ions with competitive functionalities, has been the topmost difficulty. Ferric hexacyanoferrate, also known as Prussian blue (PB), has been the most powerful material for selectively trapping the radioactive cesium ions; its high tendency to form stable colloids in water, however, has made PB to be impossible for the open-field radioactive cesium decontamination applications. A nano/nano combinatorial approach, as is described in this study, has provided an ultimate solution to this intrinsic colloid formation difficulty of PB. Cellulose nanofibers (CNF) were used to immobilize PB via the creation of CNF-backboned PB. The CNF-backboned PB (CNF/PB) was found to be highly tolerant to water and moreover, it gave a 139 mg/g capability and a million (106) order of magnitude distribution coefficient (Kd) for absorbing of the radioactive cesium ion. Field studies on soil and seawater decontaminations in Fukushima gave satisfactory results, demonstrating high capabilities of CNF/PB for practical applications.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (DMR-1507806

Removal of Tannic Acid From Aqueous Solution by Cloud Point Extraction and Investigation of Surfactant Regeneration by Microemulsion Extraction

The aim of this work is the extraction of tannic acid (TA) with two commercial nonionic surfactants, separately: Lutensol ON 30 and Triton X-114 (TX-114).The experimental cloud point extraction results are expressed by four responses to surfactant concentration and temperature variations: extent of TA extraction (E), remaining solute (X s,w) and surfactant (X t,w) concentrations in dilute phase and volume fraction of coacervate (Φc) at equilibrium. An empirical smoothing method was used and the results are represented on three dimensional plots. In optimal conditions, the extraction extent of TA reaches 95 and 87 % using TX-114 and Lutensol ON 30, respectively. Sodium sulfate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) addition and pH effect are also studied. Finally, the possibility of recycling of the surfactant is proved

Valorisation of Biowastes for the Production of Green Materials Using Chemical Methods

With crude oil reserves dwindling, the hunt for a sustainable alternative feedstock for fuels and materials for our society continues to expand. The biorefinery concept has enjoyed both a surge in popularity and also vocal opposition to the idea of diverting food-grade land and crops for this purpose. The idea of using the inevitable wastes arising from biomass processing, particularly farming and food production, is, therefore, gaining more attention as the feedstock for the biorefinery. For the three main components of biomass—carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins—there are long-established processes for using some of these by-products. However, the recent advances in chemical technologies are expanding both the feedstocks available for processing and the products that be obtained. Herein, this review presents some of the more recent developments in processing these molecules for green materials, as well as case studies that bring these technologies and materials together into final products for applied usage

Kinetics of Pb(II) adsorption by polyacrylamide grafted sawdust

157-162<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:="" "dejavu="" sans";mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;="" mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;color:#00000a;mso-ansi-language:en-us;="" mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">Lead (ll) removal efficiency of polyacrylamide grafted sawdust has been investigated through la-boratory experiments. Kinetic measurements have been made as a function of solution concentration of Pb(II) ions, pH and temperature. The slow step governing the rate of exchange is diffusion of ions through the exchanger particles. The equilibrium data fit well with the Langmuir isotherms. Thermodynamic parameters were also presented to predict the nature of adsorption. Adsorbent can be regenerated with acid and can then be reused.</span

Removal of Hg(II) from aqueous solution by sorption on polymerised saw dust

49-54<span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:" calibri","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"dejavu="" sans";="" mso-bidi-font-family:mangal;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;mso-ansi-language:="" en-us;mso-fareast-language:en-us;mso-bidi-language:ar-sa"="">The ability of polymerised saw dust to adsorb Hg(II) from water has been carried out. The per cent of Hg(II)adsorbed increased with decrease in initial concentration of Hg(ll), increase in adsorbent dosage and temperature. Maximum accumulation was noted within 4 h and maximum removal (94%) was recorded below 10 mg/L of Hg(II).The process follows a first order rate kinetics with diffusion controlled nature and the data fits the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Sorbent is effective for the quantitative removal of Hg(II)over the pH range 3.5-8.5. Adsorption rate constants, and thermodynamic parameters were also presented to predict the nature of adsorption. Extraction studies confirmed that most Hg(II)could be released by exposure to 1 MHCl or chelating agent (0.1 M EDTA).</span