Nutritional studies of Chara corallina

Physico-chemical analysis of the pond water supporting growth of Chara corallina and of those grown in different culture media in the laboratory conditions have been carried out. The physico-chemical parameters of the water of Napli forest and P.N. Mehra Botanical Garden show that Chara corallina requires less amount of nutrients and the level of pollution is quite low as is evident from the data and standards. The water is clear enough to allow penetration of visibility to its bottom. Napli forest and P.N. Mehra Botanical Garden lack rich diversity which may be attributed to some chemicals released by Chara corallina. In laboratory culture, it is found that Chara corallina can be grown in all three culture media, viz., Allen and Arnon’s medium , Chu-10 medium and BG-11 medium but growth is seen to be the best in Allen and Arnon’s culture medium in comparison with the other two culture media

High Speed Machining for Enhancing the AZ91 Magnesium Alloy Surface Characteristics Influence and Optimisation of Machining Parameters

In this study, optimum machining parameters are evaluated for enhancing the surface roughness and hardness of AZ91 alloy using Taguchi design of experiments with Grey Relational Analysis. Dry face milling is performed using cutting conditions determined using Taguchi L9 design and Grey Relational Analysis has been used for the optimization of multiple objectives. Taguchi’s signal-to-noise ratio analysis is also performed individually for both characteristics and grey relational grade to identify the most influential machining parameter affecting them. Further, Analysis of Variance is carried to see the contribution of factors on both surface roughness and hardness. Finally, the predicted trends obtained from the signal-to-noise ratio are validated using confirmation experiments. The study showed the effectiveness of Taguchi design combined with Grey Relational Analysis for the multi-objective problems such as surface characteristics studies

Randomized Clinical Trial of High-Dose Rifampicin With or Without Levofloxacin Versus Standard of Care for Pediatric Tuberculous Meningitis: The TBM-KIDS Trial

Background. Pediatric tuberculous meningitis (TBM) commonly causes death or disability. In adults, high-dose rifampicin may reduce mortality. The role of fluoroquinolones remains unclear. There have been no antimicrobial treatment trials for pediatric TBM. Methods. TBM-KIDS was a phase 2 open-label randomized trial among children with TBM in India and Malawi. Participants received isoniazid and pyrazinamide plus: (i) high-dose rifampicin (30 mg/kg) and ethambutol (R30HZE, arm 1); (ii) high-dose rifampicin and levofloxacin (R30HZL, arm 2); or (iii) standard-dose rifampicin and ethambutol (R15HZE, arm 3) for 8 weeks, followed by 10 months of standard treatment. Functional and neurocognitive outcomes were measured longitudinally using Modified Rankin Scale (MRS) and Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL). Results. Of 2487 children prescreened, 79 were screened and 37 enrolled. Median age was 72 months; 49%, 43%, and 8% had stage I, II, and III disease, respectively. Grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in 58%, 55%, and 36% of children in arms 1, 2, and 3, with 1 death (arm 1) and 6 early treatment discontinuations (4 in arm 1, 1 each in arms 2 and 3). By week 8, all children recovered to MRS score of 0 or 1. Average MSEL scores were significantly better in arm 1 than arm 3 in fine motor, receptive language, and expressive language domains (P < .01). Conclusions. In a pediatric TBM trial, functional outcomes were excellent overall. The trend toward higher frequency of adverse events but better neurocognitive outcomes in children receiving high-dose rifampicin requires confirmation in a larger trial. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT02958709

Synthesis and characterization of porous silicon as hydroxyapatite host matrix of biomedical applications

In this work, porous-silicon samples were prepared by electrochemical etching on p-type (Bdoped) Silicon (Si) wafers. Hydrofluoric acid (HF)-ethanol (C2H5OH) [HF:Et] and Hydrofluoric acid (HF)-dimethylformamide (DMF-C3H7NO) [HF:DMF] solution concentrations were varied between [1:2]-[1:3] and [1:7]-[1:9], respectively. Effects of synthesis parameters, like current density, solution concentrations, reaction time, on morphological properties were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements. Pore sizes varying from 20 nm to micrometers were obtained for long reaction times and [HF:Et] [1:2] concentrations; while pore sizes in the same order were observed for [HF:DMF] [1:7], but for shorter reaction time. Greater surface uniformity and pore distribution was obtained for a current density of around 8 mA/cm2 using solutions with DMF. A correlation between reflectance measurements and pore size is presented. The porous-silicon samples were used as substrate for hydroxyapatite growth by sol-gel method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM were used to characterize the layers grown. It was found that the layer topography obtained on PS samples was characterized by the evidence of Hydroxyapatite in the inter-pore regions and over the surface. © 2017 Dussan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Hemostatically potent small molecular weight serine protease from Maclura spinosa (Roxb. ex Willd.) accelerates healing of subcutaneous dermal wounds in Swiss albino mice

Latex of Maclura spinosa has been used by Kollamalayali tribal community of Western Ghats for curdling of milk. In our previous study we have reported the presence of multiple proteases in the latex, among which the serine protease possesses potent role in hemostasis. With a view to further characterize these proteases the current study was taken up. Maclura spinosa latex contains a serine protease which is resolved using molecular size exclusion column chromatography and an anion exchanger resin in a consecutive manner. The specific activity of the enzyme Maclura spinosa latex protease (MSLP) was found to be 56.15 units/mg and recovery to be 2.68% with a fold purity of 0.41. Being a typical serine protease, MSLP is significantly inhibited by PMSF up to 72.97%. The optimum temperature and pH for the enzyme were found to be 50 degrees C and 8 respectively. Excision wound healing assay in Swiss albino mice using MSLP, showed accelerated wound closure up to 89.35 +/- 1.209% compared to 91.938 +/- 1.649% shown by positive control. Further PMSF treated MSLP sample did not show considerable wound healing which confirms exclusive involvement of serine proteases. Examination of biochemical markers viz, hydroxy proline content in healing tissue and catalase activity of fatty tissue also ascertain the potential of MSLP in wound healing. Histopathological studies of healing tissue provide confirmatory evidence with dense collagenation of tissue and fibroblast proliferation rendered by MSLP in the respective treated subjects