Price Transmission Along the Canadian Beef Supply Chain and the Impact of BSE

This study investigates the dynamics of price transmission between the Canadian beef markets along the supply chain and the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on prices. Retail price models are estimated for the provinces accounting for the major share of national demand, while farm price models are estimated for the beef cattle producing provinces. A model for the processing level is also estimated with national industrial prices of beef and provincial farm prices of beef cattle. The results indicate that retail beef prices in the major consuming provinces adjust either faster or at a greater magnitude to increases in industrial prices than to decreases. Furthermore, industrial prices adjust faster and at a greater magnitude in response to rising farm prices of beef cattle in Ontario and Quebec than when they fall. The impact of BSE on retail prices has been small and negative for Alberta and Ontario, and positive for Quebec and British Columbia. The impact of BSE on industrial prices has also been small and positive. On the contrary, strong and sustained negative influence of BSE on farm prices is evident in the results for the beef cattle producing provinces.Price Transmission, Beef Prices, BSE, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis,

Cytisus scoparius link - A natural antioxidant

BACKGROUND: Recent investigations have shown that the antioxidant properties of plants could be correlated with oxidative stress defense and different human diseases. In this respect flavonoids and other polyphenolic compounds have gained the greatest attention. The plant Cytisus scoparius contains the main constituent of flavone and flavonals. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activities of extract of aerial part of Cytisus scoparius. METHODS: The plant extract was tested for DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl, 2-picryl hydrazyl) radical scavenging, nitric oxide radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, hydroxyl radical scavenging, antilipid peroxidation assay, reducing power and total phenol content. RESULTS: The extract exhibited scavenging potential with IC(50 )value of 1.5 μg/ml, 116.0 μg/ml and 4.7 μg/ml for DPPH, nitric oxide and superoxide anion radicals. The values were found to lesser than those of vitamin C, rutin, and curcumin, as standards. The extract showed 50% protection at the dose of 104.0 μg/ml in lipid peroxidation induced by Fe(2+)/ ascorbate system in rat liver microsomal preparation. There is decrease in hydroxyl radical generation with IC(50 )value of 27.0 μg/ml when compared with standard vitamin E. The reducing power of the extract depends on the amount of extract. A significant amount of polyphenols could be detected by the equivalent to 0.0589 μg of pyrocatechol from 1 mg of extract. CONCLUSION: The results obtained in the present study indicate that hydro alcoholic extract of aerial part of Cytisus scoparius is a potential source of natural antioxidants

Price Transmission Along the Canadian Beef Supply Chain and the Impact of BSE

This study investigates the dynamics of price transmission between the Canadian beef markets along the supply chain and the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on prices. Retail price models are estimated for the provinces accounting for the major share of national demand, while farm price models are estimated for the beef cattle producing provinces. A model for the processing level is also estimated with national industrial prices of beef and provincial farm prices of beef cattle. The results indicate that retail beef prices in the major consuming provinces adjust either faster or at a greater magnitude to increases in industrial prices than to decreases. Furthermore, industrial prices adjust faster and at a greater magnitude in response to rising farm prices of beef cattle in Ontario and Quebec than when they fall. The impact of BSE on retail prices has been small and negative for Alberta and Ontario, and positive for Quebec and British Columbia. The impact of BSE on industrial prices has also been small and positive. On the contrary, strong and sustained negative influence of BSE on farm prices is evident in the results for the beef cattle producing provinces

Development of a machine learning-based Parkinson's disease prediction system through Ayurvedic dosha analysis

The development of a machine learning (ML) based prediction model for Parkinson's disease (PD) using Ayurvedic literature is very rare in practice. In modern era of digitization and artificial intelligence this lack leads us for developing a significant and useful predictive model for PD in light of Ayurveda. As in contemporary Ayurvedic literature, PD has not been fully classified according to all of its motor and non-motor symptoms, with the exception of Kampavata or tremor, one of the cardinal motor symptoms of PD, we have taken the help of MDS-UPDRS-II and MDS-NMSQ scaling system as an initial input for this purpose. Based on the available literature, we determined our tridosha score using these scales, which become our main inputs to the ML algorithm, along with other general health attributes such as age, sex, and BMI. We applied various ML algorithms and ranked our best ML model based on their performance. For training and testing purposes, we used the Fox Insight dataset with n = 80,916 records including PD and control. Finally, we found that Kernel-SVM, SVM, Logistics Regression (LR), and XGBoost are our four most accurate algorithms, with an accuracy more than 92.5% with no dimensionality reduction applied. Here we chose the LR model as our best ML model, depending on the lower false positive rate of 0.045 with an accuracy of 92.6%. The designed LR model is statistically significant with χ2(6) = 70703.137, p =0.000. The LR coefficient was also calculated for probability analysis and future implementation of digital Ayurveda-based PD prediction applications

Marker analysis of polyherbal formulation, Triphala – A well known Indian traditional medicine

379-383Triphala is one of the ages old; most commonly used polyherbal preparation in Indian System of Medicine (ISM) particularly in Ayurveda. A rapid, simple, and accurate method with high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) has been developed to standardize Triphala and its individual component using gallic acid (GA) as analytical marker compound. Methanol extracts of Triphala, Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula and Terminalia belerica were used for HPTLC on silica gel plates. The Rf of GA was found to be 0.80 with densitometric scanning at 254 nm and the calibration plot was linear in the range of 400 ng to 1800 ng of GA. The correlation coefficient, 0.999, was indicative of good linear dependence of peak area on concentration. The GA content in Triphala with its individual constituents like Emblica officinalis, Terminalia chebula and Terminalia belerica, was found to be 14.38, 17.50, 16.60 and 11.92 mg g⁻¹. This method permits reliable quantification of GA with good resolution and separation of the same from other constituents of extracts of Triphala and its constituents. Recovery values from 96.86 to 98.71% showed the reliability and reproducibility of the method. The proposed HPTLC method for quantitative monitoring of GA in Triphala and its constituents can be used for routine quality testing and similar methods can be developed for other herbal formulations

<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Ocimum sanctum </i>L. a potential angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor useful in hypertension

83-87The main objective of this study was to determine the in vitro Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibition and antioxidant activity of standardized extract of the Ocimum sanctum L. leaves and its fractions. The ACE inhibition activity and antioxidant activity were investigated by UV method. In ACE inhibition method, the synthetic substrate hippuryl-L-histidyl-L-leucine was allowed to react with a test sample containing ACE, to produce hippuric acid. Dried hippuric acid was dissolved in distilled water, the absorbance of the solution was determined in the ultraviolet region and from the concentration of hippuric acid and the ACE inhibition activity was calculated. The antioxidant activity of the plant extract/fractions were examined on the basis of the scavenging effect on the stable DPPH free radical activity. Different concentrations of methanol extract of O. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">sanctum L. and eugenol were subjected to HPLC analysis using the mobile phase (methanol: water: acetic acid; 60 %: 40 %: 1 %). O. sanctum L. oil, eugenol and ethyl acetate fractions showed the maximum ACE inhibition activity in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 value of 32.11 ± 3.6, 42.16 ± 2.7 and 56.83 ± 2.8 µg/mL, respectively. Strong DPPH radical scavenging was also found in O. sanctum L. oil, methanol extract and ethyl acetate fractions, showing IC50 value of 40.31± 3.5µg/mL, 105.62 ± 4.6 and 145.31 ± 5.8µg/mL, respectively. O. sanctum L. extract/fractions, eugenol and O. sanctum L<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">. oil inhibited ACE in concentration-dependent manner

Ocimum sanctum L. a potential angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor useful in hypertension

The main objective of this study was to determine the in vitro Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibition and antioxidant activity of standardized extract of the Ocimum sanctum L. leaves and its fractions. The ACE inhibition activity and antioxidant activity were investigated by UV method. In ACE inhibition method, the synthetic substrate hippuryl-L-histidyl-L-leucine was allowed to react with a test sample containing ACE, to produce hippuric acid. Dried hippuric acid was dissolved in distilled water, the absorbance of the solution was determined in the ultraviolet region and from the concentration of hippuric acid and the ACE inhibition activity was calculated. The antioxidant activity of the plant extract/fractions were examined on the basis of the scavenging effect on the stable DPPH free radical activity. Different concentrations of methanol extract of O. sanctum L. and eugenol were subjected to HPLC analysis using the mobile phase (methanol: water: acetic acid; 60 %: 40 %: 1 %). O. sanctum L. oil, eugenol and ethyl acetate fractions showed the maximum ACE inhibition activity in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 value of 32.11 ± 3.6, 42.16 ± 2.7 and 56.83 ± 2.8 µg/mL, respectively. Strong DPPH radical scavenging was also found in O. sanctum L. oil, methanol extract and ethyl acetate fractions, showing IC50 value of 40.31± 3.5µg/mL, 105.62 ± 4.6 and 145.31 ± 5.8µg/mL, respectively. O. sanctum L. extract/fractions, eugenol and O. sanctum L. oil inhibited ACE in concentration-dependent manner

Evaluation of Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition and anti-oxidant activity of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Piper longum </i>L.

478-482The present study was aimed to investigate the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibition and antioxidant activity of the standardized hydro alcoholic extract of Piper longum <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic" lang="EN-GB">L. fruits, its fractions and isolated piperine. Extract and its fractions were standardized with reference to marker piperine by HPLC method. ACE inhibition activity was estimated using hippuryl-L-histidyl-L-leucine (HHL) as substrate. Antioxidant activity was determined by DPPH radical scavenging method. Among all the fractions tested, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions showed the maximum ACE inhibitory activity in a concentration-dependent manner with IC50 value of 1.40 ± 0.07 mg/ml and 1.75 ± 0.43 mg/ml respectively. Potential DPPH radical scavenging effect was elicited by the extract and ethyl acetate fraction with IC50 value of 193.12 ± 0.43 µg/ml and 247.78 ± 0.20 µg/ml, respectively. Though piperine showed ACE inhibition and scavenging of DPPH radical but not significant compared to the ethyl acetate fraction. <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: " ms="" mincho";mso-fareast-language:ja;mso-bidi-language:bn"="" lang="EN-GB">P. longum can be explored further as a functional food to be useful as antihypertensive. The present experiment justifies its traditional claim as antihypertensive agent. </span