Anti-diabetic and pharmacological activities, of phytoestrogens

Isoflavones class of phytoestrogens including, genestein, daidzein and formononetin found in human dietary and show wide range of biological effect. In this study the impact of these phytoestrogens on glucose uptake was investigated in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2 cells), using, 2-(N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1, 3- diazol-4-yl) amino)-2-deoxyglucose and Omega FluoStar plate reader. Incubation of cells (104/ml, in 24 well plate at 37 °C in 5% CO2 / air) with three phytoestrogens at concentration of 10-4 M to 10-9M in two studies mood, short term treatment (one hour) and long term treatment (24 hours) revealed, daidzein stimulates uptake of glucose, with a greater effect after a short treatment of one hour compared with treatment 24 hours. The effect was broadly higher at the lower concentrations tried, 1 μM to 1nM, at which glucose uptake was increased four to five fold after a one hour treatment. Interestingly the higher concentrations tried, 10 and 100 μM, showed less effect. Longer treatments resulted in a lesser stimulation of glucose uptake, and a peak effect was found at 0.1 μM. genestein exerted slightly inhibitory effect after one hour treatment compared with control, with the exception of treatment at 1 μM, which stimulated uptake about three-fold compared with control. Longer treatments with 10-4M to 10-6 M genistein resulted in gradual increase in glucose uptake to 2.4 times more than control, and thereafter a decline. Overall there was significant difference in glucose uptake between short and long term treatments, as indicated by two-way ANOVA, but the differences depend on the concentration of genistein, with higher concentrations of 10 and 100 μM inducing greater uptake after 24 hours treatment but at lower concentrations, uptake was stimulated more after a one hour treatment. A short treatment with formononetin inhibited glucose uptake, while longer treatments had variable effects, with an approximately two fold stimulation across a range of concentrations.HepG2 cells showed a significant increase in glucose uptake after treatment with phytoestrogens compared to the control

New structure for exact solutions of nonlinear time fractional Sharma-Tasso-Olver equation via conformable fractional derivative

In this paper new fractional derivative and direct algebraic method are used to construct exact solutions of the nonlinear time fractional Sharma-Tasso-Olver equation. As a result, three families of exact analytical solutions are obtained. The results reveal that the proposed method is very effective and simple for obtaining approximate solutions of nonlinear fractional partial differential equations

Core promoter short tandem repeats as evolutionary switch codes for primate speciation

Alteration in gene expression levels underlies many of the phenotypic differences across species. Because of their highly mutable nature, proximity to the +1 transcription start site (TSS), and the emerging evidence of functional impact on gene expression, core promoter short tandem repeats (STRs) may be considered an ideal source of variation across species. In a genome-scale analysis of the entire Homo sapiens protein-coding genes, we have previously identified core promoters with at least one STR of ≥6-repeats, with possible selective advantage in this species. In the current study, we performed reverse analysis of the entire Homo sapiens orthologous genes in mouse in the Ensembl database, in order to identify conserved STRs that have shrunk as an evolutionary advantage to humans. Two protocols were used to minimize ascertainment bias. Firstly, two species sharing a more recent ancestor with Homo sapiens (i.e. Pan troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla gorilla) were also included in the study. Secondly, four non-primate species encompassing the major orders across Mammals, including Scandentia, Laurasiatheria, Afrotheria, and Xenarthra were analyzed as out-groups. We introduce STR evolutionary events specifically identical in primates (i.e. Homo sapiens, Pan troglodytes, and Gorilla gorilla gorilla) vs. non-primate out-groups. The average frequency of the identically shared STR motifs across those primates ranged between 0.00005 and 0.06. The identified genes are involved in important evolutionary and developmental processes, such as normal craniofacial development (TFAP2B), regulation of cell shape (PALMD), learning and long-term memory (RGS14), nervous system development (GFRA2), embryonic limb morphogenesis (PBX2), and forebrain development (APAF1). We provide evidence of core promoter STRs as evolutionary switch codes for primate speciation, and the first instance of identity-by-descent for those motifs at the interspecies level. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Warm DBI inflation with constant sound speed

We study inflation with the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) noncanonical scalar field in both the cold and warm scenarios. We consider the Anti-de Sitter warp factor $f(\phi)=f_{0}/\phi^{4}$ for the DBI inflation and check viability of the quartic potential $V(\phi)=\lambda\phi^{4}/4$ in light of the Planck 2015 observational results. In the cold DBI setting, we find that the prediction of this potential in the $r-n_s$ plane is in conflict with Planck 2015 TT,TE,EE+lowP data. This motivates us to focus on the warm DBI inflation with constant sound speed. We conclude that in contrary to the case of cold scenario, the $r-n_s$ result of warm DBI model can be compatible with the 68\% CL constraints of Planck 2015 TT,TE,EE+lowP data in the intermediate and high dissipation regimes, whereas it fails to be observationally viable in the weak dissipation regime. Also, the prediction of this model for the running of the scalar spectral index $dn_s/d\ln k$ is in good agreement with the constraint of Planck 2015 TT,TE,EE+lowP data. Finally, we show that the warm DBI inflation can provide a reasonable solution to the swampland conjecture that challenges the de Sitter limit in the standard inflation.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figure

Einstein Equations and MOND Theory from Debye Entropic Gravity

Verlinde's proposal on the entropic origin of gravity is based strongly on the assumption that the equipartition law of energy holds on the holographic screen induced by the mass distribution of the system. However, from the theory of statistical mechanics we know that the equipartition law of energy does not hold in the limit of very low temperature. Inspired by the Debye model for the equipartition law of energy in statistical thermodynamics and adopting the viewpoint that gravitational systems can be regarded as a thermodynamical system, we modify Einstein field equations. We also perform the study for Poisson equation and modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND). Interestingly enough, we find that the origin of the MOND theory can be understood from Debye entropic gravity perspective. Thus our study may fill in the gap existing in the literature understanding the theoretical origin of MOND theory. In the limit of high temperature our results reduce to their respective standard gravitational equations.Comment: 8 pages, no figures. Accepted for publication in JCA

Antifungal Activity of Dried Extracts of Anise (Pimpinella anisum L.) and Star anise (Illicium verum Hook. f.) Against Dermatophyte and Saprophyte Fungi

Background: Medicinal plants synthesize a vast array of secondary metabolites that are important for human life. For medicinal purpose, antimicrobial activity of substances derived from plant extracts has been recognized for many years. Pimpinella anisum L.(Apiaceae) and Illicium verum Hook. f. (Illiciaceae) plant species, have been used for treatment of infectious diseases in Iranian traditional medicine. Objective: In this study methanol extracts of Pimpinella anisum L. (Apiaceae) and Illicium verum Hook. f. (Illiciaceae), were tested for their potential antifungal activities. Methods: Methanolic extracts were dried by freeze drying method, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was was determined according to agar dilution method and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) was determined by incorporating various concentrations of extracts (2-256 mg/ml) in Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) in tubes against 4 dermatophyte and one saprophyte fungi. Results: The extracts of anise seeds inhibited only dermatophyte species, while extracts of star anise fruits inhibited growth of all dermatophytes and saprophytes. MIC and MFC for each extracts were different and MFC was higher than MIC for all species. Conclusion: As a result of this experiment, these plants can be candidate for further studies due to their antifungal potencies

Investigation of the Impacts of Social Capital on Organizational Entrepreneurship in Tehran Municipality

Entrepreneurship is the symbol of endeavor and success in business, and entrepreneurs play a crucial role in economic and social development of communities. Since Organizational Entrepreneurship (OE) contribute to earning stable finance required for administration of urban affairs, it is very important in the case of municipalities. For this reason, this study aims to investigate the role of social capital (SC) in the development of entrepreneurship in Tehran municipality. Research method was descriptive and non-experimental, and required data were collected through 204 questionnaires distributed among managers and experts of the organization. Stratified sampling was used, in which 37 managers and 167 experts participated. Number of male participants was 147, and number of female participants was 57. The mean age of participants was 41 years, and its standard deviation was 0.765. In order to test the research hypothesis, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. The results of the study showed that social capital and its three dimensions (Cognitive, Relational and Structural dimensions) had positive significant effect on organizational entrepreneurship