Ethanolic extract of melgota (Macaranga postulata) for repellency, insecticidal activity against rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae)

Ethanolic extract of Melgota is used for repellency, insecticidal activity against rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) with emphasis on chemical investigation. Fruits of Melgota (Macaranga postulata) wereextracted on different solvents as in ethanol, acetone, petroleum ether, distilled water and the extracts were concentrated and dried. The ethanol extracts of Melgota (M. postulata) of differentconcentrations were investigated for their repellency and insecticidal activity against S. oryzae. Average mortality percentage indicated that the extracts caused significant mortality and repellencyon the target insects and bioassays indicated that the toxic and repellent effect was proportional to the concentration and higher concentration has stronger effect. Observed mortality percentageincreased with increase in time intervals after treatment. Mortality percentage at 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, and 1.50 h after treatment (HAT) indicated that 4% solution showed the highest mortality (34.0%) in S.oryzae at 1.50 HAT compared to pediculus humanus. Mortality percentage showed parallel response to the level of concentration at different time intervals after treatment. 1% fruit extract of Melgota (M.postulata) showed the lowest repellency 9.84 % in case of rice weevil. On other side, 2% showed 12.76% and 4% showed 22.43% respectively. TLC of crude ethanol extract of Melgota (M. postulata)showed six distinct compounds at uv-visible light

Student learning about UK health services in a cross-border curriculum partnership; the London-Cyprus experience.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Purpose of the article Cross border partnerships require curricula, faculty and students to negotiate challenges associated with national regulatory frameworks, contexts and cultures. This study investigated student attitude and behaviours when encountering learning about health services in host and home students in the context of problem based learning. Materials and Methods First year graduate entry students' health systems interest and exposure and their perceptions of the dynamics of learning in PBL were investigated via a questionnaire comprising open and closed questions. Results and Conclusions Results showed a difference between home and host students in the ways they learned about home health systems and their attitudes to the value of learning about home and international health systems. There was no difference in the quantity of health service related learning objectives generated. Both groups reported noticing differences between the PBL cases and clinical practice, however, perceptions of the reasons for the differences varied between home and host students. We are interested in the way in which this perception of difference was reported as either a stimulus or a barrier to learning

A Biopsychosocial Perspective of User-Generated Innovation in Open Innovation Models: A Moderated-Mediation Analysis

User-generated innovation has contributed to the growth of the democratization of open-innovation models. One of the most common forms of user-generated innovation is evident on social media platforms. The purpose of this study is to investigate nonpecuniary motivations that drive innovation among user innovators on social media platforms. Furthermore, the study examines the underlying sociopsychological and biological dispositions that influence nonpecuniary motivation. The experimental and control group consisted of 204 user innovators on different social media platforms who filled out a self-reporting questionnaire in this exploratory research design. The study assessed endocrinal biomarkers through a proxy measure of 2D:4D ratio associated with behavioral, emotional, and social behavior. It developed a moderated-mediation model evaluating the indirect conditional relationships through a regression-based analysis with bootstrapped estimations. The findings support the moderated-mediation model, indicating that nonpecuniary motivation primarily explains user innovator behavior. Hedonic emotions, characterized by aesthetics, experiential enjoyment, and satisfaction-related feelings, mediate this relationship. A critical finding of the study is that endocrinal testosterone moderates this mediated relationship. This study is the first to apply a biopsychosocial lens to examine motivational drives influencing user-generated innovation using a moderated-mediation model. It contributes to understanding user innovators’ tricky motivational purposes, emphasizing the role of human agency in advancing the open-innovation agenda.</jats:p

Fusion Techniques in Biomedical Information Retrieval

For difficult cases clinicians usually use their experience and also the information found in textbooks to determine a diagnosis. Computer tools can help them supply the relevant information now that much medical knowledge is available in digital form. A biomedical search system such as developed in the Khresmoi project (that this chapter partially reuses) has the goal to fulfil information needs of physicians. This chapter concentrates on information needs for medical cases that contain a large variety of data, from free text, structured data to images. Fusion techniques will be compared to combine the various information sources to supply cases similar to an example case given. This can supply physicians with answers to problems similar to the one they are analyzing and can help in diagnosis and treatment planning

Impact of renewable energy utilization and artificial intelligence in achieving sustainable development goals

Many countries around the world are planning to reach 100% renewable energy use by 2050. In this context and due to the recent sharp increase in RE utilization in the global energy mix along with its progressive impact on the world energy sector, the evaluation and investigation of its effect on achieving sustainable development goals are not covered sufficiently. Moreover, an assessment of the emerging role of artificial intelligence for renewable energy utilization toward achieving SDGs is conducted. A total of 17 SDGs were divided into three groups, namely, environment, society, and economy, as per the three key pillars of sustainable development. Renewable energy has a positive impact toward achieving 75 targets across all sustainable development goals by using an expert elicitation method-based consensus. However, it may negatively affect the accomplishment of the 27 targets. In addition, artificial intelligence can help renewable energy enable the attainment of 42 out of 169 targets. However, with the current exponential growth of renewable energy share and artificial intelligence development and addressing certain present limitations, this impact may cover additional targets in the future. Nevertheless, recent research foci overlook essential aspects. The exponential growth of renewable energy share and rapid evolution of artificial intelligence need to be accompanied through the requisite regulatory insight and technology regulation to cover additional targets in the future

Predictors of extra care among magnesium sulphate treated eclamptic patients at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania

\ud The inclusion of Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) as a gold standard in the treatment of eclampsia has substantially reduced incidences of repeated fits, eclamptic morbidity and deaths. However, despite treatment with MgSO4, a proportion of patients need extra medical/nursing attention and prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (ICU). The literature on the underlying factors for the need of extra care in the MgSO4 era is lacking. This study sought to establish predictors of extra care in ICU among eclamptic patients after treatment with MgSO4 at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH). Data were obtained from hospital records of eclamptic patients who were admitted at MNH and treated with MgSO4 from January 1st to December 31st, 2008. Based on set criteria, patients who needed extra care were identified. Analysis was performed using PASW statistics 18 whereby frequencies, cross-tabulations, bivariate and multiple logistic regressions were performed. A total of 366 eclamptic patients were admitted and treated with MgSO4 at MNH during a 12 month study period in 2008. Most of these (76%) were referred from district hospitals and 132 (36%) met the criteria for extra care in ICU. After adjusting for other variables, the risk of extra care in ICU for patients who were admitted with altered consciousness was double (OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.3-4.0) that of the ones admitted in alert state. The risk or need of extra care increased by increasing time to delivery and was doubled (OR = 2.0; 95% CI:1.1-3.7) if it was between 12 and 24 hours and tenfold elevated (OR = 10.0; 95% CI:4.3-23.6) if beyond 24 hours as compared to when time to delivery was less than 12 hours.Abdominal delivery was also independently associated with increased risk compared to vaginal delivery (OR = 2.5; 95%CI: 1.4-4.5). The type of referral and number of fits were associated with extra care in ICU but this association was wholly explained by the clinical status of the patient on admission to MNH and prolonged time lag to delivery. We concluded that even with MgSO4 used as the gold standard in the treatment of eclampsia, effective pre-referral care and expedited delivery were crucial in minimizing the need for extra care in ICU.\u

Expression and Differential Responsiveness of Central Nervous System Glial Cell Populations to the Acute Phase Protein Serum Amyloid A

Acute-phase response is a systemic reaction to environmental/inflammatory insults and involves hepatic production of acute-phase proteins, including serum amyloid A (SAA). Extrahepatically, SAA immunoreactivity is found in axonal myelin sheaths of cortex in Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), although its cellular origin is unclear. We examined the responses of cultured rat cortical astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) to master pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-\u3b1 and lipopolysaccaride (LPS). TNF-\u3b1 time-dependently increased Saa1 (but not Saa3) mRNA expression in purified microglia, enriched astrocytes, and OPCs (as did LPS for microglia and astrocytes). Astrocytes depleted of microglia were markedly less responsive to TNF-\u3b1 and LPS, even after re-addition of microglia. Microglia and enriched astrocytes showed complementary Saa1 expression profiles following TNF-\u3b1 or LPS challenge, being higher in microglia with TNF-\u3b1 and higher in astrocytes with LPS. Recombinant human apo-SAA stimulated production of both inflammatory mediators and its own mRNA in microglia and enriched, but not microglia-depleted astrocytes. Co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin, an established anti-inflammatory/neuroprotective agent, reduced Saa1 expression in OPCs subjected to TNF-\u3b1 treatment. These last data, together with past findings suggest that co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin may be a novel approach in the treatment of inflammatory demyelinating disorders like MS

Star forming dwarf galaxies

Star forming dwarf galaxies (SFDGs) have a high gas content and low metallicities, reminiscent of the basic entities in hierarchical galaxy formation scenarios. In the young universe they probably also played a major role in the cosmic reionization. Their abundant presence in the local volume and their youthful character make them ideal objects for detailed studies of the initial stellar mass function (IMF), fundamental star formation processes and its feedback to the interstellar medium. Occasionally we witness SFDGs involved in extreme starbursts, giving rise to strongly elevated production of super star clusters and global superwinds, mechanisms yet to be explored in more detail. SFDGs is the initial state of all dwarf galaxies and the relation to the environment provides us with a key to how different types of dwarf galaxies are emerging. In this review we will put the emphasis on the exotic starburst phase, as it seems less important for present day galaxy evolution but perhaps fundamental in the initial phase of galaxy formation.Comment: To appear in JENAM Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy Formation and Evolution", P. Papaderos, G. Hensler, S. Recchi (eds.). Lisbon, September 2010, Springer Verlag, in pres

CXCR4/CXCL12 expression and signalling in kidney cancer

CXCL12 (SDF-1), a CXC-chemokine, and its specific receptor, CXCR4, have recently been shown to be involved in tumourgenesis, proliferation and angiogenesis. Therefore, we analysed CXCL12α/CXCR4 expression and function in four human kidney cancer cell lines (A-498, CAKI-1, CAKI-2, HA-7), 10 freshly harvested human tumour samples and corresponding normal kidney tissue. While none of the analysed tumour cell lines expressed CXCL12α, A-498 cells were found to express CXCR4. More importantly, real-time RT–PCR analysis of 10 tumour samples and respective adjacent normal kidney tissue disclosed a distinct and divergent downregulation of CXCL12α and upregulation of CXCR4 in primary tumour tissue. To prove that the CXCR4 protein is functionally active, rhCXCL12α was investigated for its ability to induce changes of intracellular calcium levels in A-498 cells. Moreover, we used cDNA expression arrays to evaluate the biological influence of CXCL12α. Comparing gene expression profiles in rhCXCL12α stimulated vs unstimulated A-498 kidney cancer cells revealed specific regulation of 31 out of 1176 genes tested on a selected human cancer array, with a prominent stimulation of genes involved in cell-cycle regulation and apoptosis. The genetic changes reported here should provide new insights into the developmental paths leading to tumour progression and may also aid the design of new approaches to therapeutic intervention

A Chemical Analog of Curcumin as an Improved Inhibitor of Amyloid Abeta Oligomerization

Amyloid-like plaques are characteristic lesions defining the neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The size and density of these plaques are closely associated with cognitive decline. To combat this disease, the few therapies that are available rely on drugs that increase neurotransmission; however, this approach has had limited success as it has simply slowed an imminent decline and failed to target the root cause of AD. Amyloid-like deposits result from aggregation of the Aβ peptide, and thus, reducing amyloid burden by preventing Aβ aggregation represents an attractive approach to improve the therapeutic arsenal for AD. Recent studies have shown that the natural product curcumin is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier in the CNS in sufficient quantities so as to reduce amyloid plaque burden. Based upon this bioactivity, we hypothesized that curcumin presents molecular features that make it an excellent lead compound for the development of more effective inhibitors of Aβ aggregation. To explore this hypothesis, we screened a library of curcumin analogs and identified structural features that contribute to the anti-oligomerization activity of curcumin and its analogs. First, at least one enone group in the spacer between aryl rings is necessary for measureable anti-Aβ aggregation activity. Second, an unsaturated carbon spacer between aryl rings is essential for inhibitory activity, as none of the saturated carbon spacers showed any margin of improvement over that of native curcumin. Third, methoxyl and hydroxyl substitutions in the meta- and para-positions on the aryl rings appear necessary for some measure of improved inhibitory activity. The best lead inhibitors have either their meta- and para-substituted methoxyl and hydroxyl groups reversed from that of curcumin or methoxyl or hydroxyl groups placed in both positions. The simple substitution of the para-hydroxy group on curcumin with a methoxy substitution improved inhibitor function by 6-7-fold over that measured for curcumin