Nitric Oxide In Health And Diseases

Nitric Oxide (NO) is color less, readily diffusible, highly reactive lipophilic and chemically unstable Free radical gas. NO is formed form arginine by enzyme nitric Oxide synthase. No acts in a paracrine or even autocrine manner. It causes asodilatation, act as neurotransmitter, Prevent Platelet aggregation and also play important role in macrophase function. Deficiency leads to, increase vascular tone, reduced thrombolitic activity. Use of NO in pediatric pulmonary hypertension and in sexual dysfunction is increases day by day. The discovery of NO as an essential effectors of many Biologica

Some studies on the species of Criconematids (Nematoda: Tylenchida) from Hilly Districts of Nepal

A nematological survey was conducted in three hilly districts – Bhaktapur, Kavre and Dhading surrounding capital city of Nepal ranging the altitudes between 1340m to 1540m. Randomly collected soil samples from vegetable fields processed through Cobb’s sieving and decantation method yielded various tylenchid nematodes. Among six species of criconematid nematodes found associated with vegetable crops, four species viz. Hemicriconemoides mangiferae Siddiqi, 1961, Criconemoides brevistylus Singh and Khera, 1976, Discocriconemella retroversa Sauer and Winoto, 1975 and Hemicycliophora arenaria Raski, 1958 are described here with their morphometric data along with localities and host plants and illustrated with photomicrographs

Cognitive load estimation in VR flight simulator

This paper discusses the design and development of a low-cost virtual reality (VR) based flight simulator with cognitive load estimation feature using ocular and EEG signals.  Focus is on exploring methods to evaluate pilot’s interactions with aircraft by means of quantifying pilot’s perceived cognitive load under different task scenarios. Realistic target tracking and context of the battlefield is designed in VR. Head mounted eye gaze tracker and EEG headset are used for acquiring pupil diameter, gaze fixation, gaze direction and EEG theta, alpha, and beta band power data in real time. We developed an AI agent model in VR and created scenarios of interactions with the piloted aircraft. To estimate the pilot’s cognitive load, we used low-frequency pupil diameter variations, fixation rate, gaze distribution pattern, EEG signal-based task load index and EEG task engagement index. We compared the physiological measures of workload with the standard user’s inceptor control-based workload metrics. Results of the piloted simulation study indicate that the metrics discussed in the paper have strong association with pilot’s perceived task difficulty

Antioxidant Therapy Does Not Reduce Pain in Patients with Chronic Pancreatitis: The ANTICIPATE Study

Background & Aims: We investigated whether antioxidant therapy reduces pain and improves quality of life in patients with chronic pancreatitis. Methods: We performed a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial that compared the effects of antioxidant therapy with placebo in 70 patients with chronic pancreatitis. Patients provided 1 month of baseline data and were followed up for 6 months while receiving either Antox version 1.2 (Pharma Nord, Morpeth, UK) or matched placebo (2 tablets, 3 times/d). The primary analysis was baseline-adjusted change in pain score at 6 months, assessed by an 11-point numeric rating scale. Secondary analyses included alternative analyses of clinic and diary pain scores, scores on quality-of-life tests (the EORTC-QLQ-C30, QLQ-PAN28, EuroQOL EQ-5D, and EQ visual analog score), levels of antioxidants, use of opiates, and adverse events. Analyses, reported by intention to treat, were prospectively protocol-defined. Results: After 6 months, pain scores reported to the clinic were reduced by 1.97 from baseline in the placebo group and by 2.33 in the antioxidant group but were similar between groups (−0.36; 95% confidence interval, −1.44 to 0.72; P = .509). Average daily pain scores from diaries were also similar (3.05 for the placebo group, 2.93 for the antioxidant group, a difference of 0.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–0.82; P = .808). Measures of quality of life were similar between groups, as was opiate use and number of hospital admissions and outpatient visits. Blood levels of vitamin C and E, β-carotene, and selenium were increased significantly in the antioxidant group. Conclusi1ons: In patients with painful chronic pancreatitis of predominantly alcoholic origin, antioxidant therapy did not reduce pain or improve quality of life, despite causing a sustained increase in blood levels of antioxidants. Trial registration: ISRCTN-21047731

Two-band fast Hartley transform

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Efficient algorithms have been developed over the past 30 years for computing the forward and inverse discrete Hartley transforms (DHTs). These are similar to the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithms for computing the discrete Fourier transform (DFT). Most of these methods seek to minimise the complexity of computations and or the number of operations. A new approach for the computation of the radix-2 fast Hartley transform (FHT) is presented. The proposed algorithm, based on a two-band decomposition of the input data, possesses a very regular structure, avoids the input or out data shuffling, requires slightly less multiplications than the existing approaches, but increases the number of additions

Influence of TNF Alpha on Testosterone Induced Cardiac Effects in Isolated Frog Heart Model

The effect of Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and testosterone was evaluated on the isolated Rana tigrina frog heart. The isolated frog heart (n= 10) were used for this study and the effect of drugs on myocardial contractility and heart rate was ascertained. Namely three drugs testosterone (4mg), bicalutamide (8mg) and TNF-alpha antagonist infliximab (0.4mg) were utilized for this study. Testosterone caused an increase in heart rate by 11.28% and decrease in myocardial contractility by 17.67%. Similarly bicalutamide caused a 20.11% decrease Heart rate and 41.17% decrease in myocardial contractility. To ascertain the role of TNF-alpha, infliximab was perfused through the heart and it potentiated the inhibitory effect of testosterone on the myocardial contractility and heart rate. The results of this study suggest the importance of TNF-alpha and testosterone hormone in cardiovascular pathophysiology

Study of starch degrading bacteria from kitchen waste soil in the production of amylase by using paddy straw

The starch degrading amylolytic enzymes are of crucial importance in biotechnology industries with huge application in food, fermentation, textile and paper production. They are universally distribution in bacteria and fungus. Present study aimed at production of pure form of α-amylase from kitchen waste soil with optimization of raw material such as carbon and nitrogen source of the culture media for it. Objective: To evaluate the kitchen waste soil for production of α-amylase with optimization of carbon and nitrogen source required for culture media. Method: The starch degrading bacteria was isolated from the kitchen waste soil environment and was used for production of α-amylase through submerged. The paddy straw extract was shown the best source of carbon and potassium nitrate as the best source of nitrogen with optimum pH 7.0 and temperature of 30ºC. The fermentor parameters were set with the agitator at speed 200rpm with 100% dissolved O2 at fixed temperature and pH. After completion of the fermentation process, the activity of the enzyme was checked by the DNS method. Results: Enzyme produced and purified by this method, was found to have an enzymatic activity of 0.51 mg/ml after column chromatography by nanodrop spectrophotometer and coincide with standard in SDS-PAGE. Here, we have shown the cheap method of commercial production of economically valuable amylase by utilizing paddy straw

Rapid development and deployment of high‐volume vaccines for pandemic response

Overcoming pandemics, such as the current Covid-19 outbreak, requires the manufacture of several billion doses of vaccines within months. This is an extremely challenging task given the constraints in small-scale manufacturing for clinical trials, clinical testing timelines involving multiple phases and large-scale drug substance and drug product manufacturing. To tackle these challenges, regulatory processes are fast-tracked, and rapid-response manufacturing platform technologies are used. Here, we evaluate the current progress, challenges ahead and potential solutions for providing vaccines for pandemic response at an unprecedented scale and rate. Emerging rapid-response vaccine platform technologies, especially RNA platforms, offer a high productivity estimated at over 1 billion doses per year with a small manufacturing footprint and low capital cost facilities. The self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) drug product cost is estimated at below 1 USD/dose. These manufacturing processes and facilities can be decentralized to facilitate production, distribution, but also raw material supply. The RNA platform technology can be complemented by an a priori Quality by Design analysis aided by computational modeling in order to assure product quality and further speed up the regulatory approval processes when these platforms are used for epidemic or pandemic response in the future

Solution processed PVB/mica flake coatings for the encapsulation of organic solar cells

YesOrganic photovoltaics (OPVs) die due to their interactions with environmental gases, i.e., moisture and oxygen, the latter being the most dangerous, especially under illumination, due to the fact that most of the active layers used in OPVs are extremely sensitive to oxygen. In this work we demonstrate solution-based effective barrier coatings based on composite of poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB)and mica flakes for the protection of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-based organic solar cells (OSCs)against photobleaching under illumination conditions. In the first step we developed a protective layer with cost effective and environmentally friendly methods and optimized its properties in terms of transparency, barrier improvement factor, and bendability. The developed protective layer maintained a high transparency in the visible region and improved oxygen and moisture barrier quality by the factor of ~7. The resultant protective layers showed ultra-flexibility, as no significant degradation in protective characteristics were observed after 10 K bending cycles. In the second step, a PVB/mica composite layer was applied on top of the P3HT film and subjected to photo-degradation. The P3HT films coated with PVB/mica composite showed improved stability under constant light irradiation and exhibited a loss of <20% of the initial optical density over the period of 150 h. Finally, optimized barrier layers were used as encapsulation for organic solar cell (OSC) devices. The lifetime results confirmed that the stability of the OSCs was extended from few hours to over 240 h in a sun test (65◦C, ambient RH%) which corresponds to an enhanced lifetime by a factor of 9 compared to devices encapsulated with pristine PVB.Higher Education Commission of Pakistan through NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan and “The APC was funded by Deanship of Scientific Research, King Saud University for funding through Vice Deanship of Scientific Research Chairs”