Evaluation of effect of alcoholic extract of Tinospora cordifolia on learning and memory in alprazolam induced amnesia in albino mice

Background: Tinospora cordifolia is one of the most versatile shrub with cognitive enhancing effects could be beneficial for treatment of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases like alzheimer’s disease. The purpose of study was to evaluate the effect of Tinospora cordifolia on learning and memory in alprazolam induced amnesia in albino mice.Methods: The study was carried out on albino mice, divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each (either sex, 3-4 months of age, weight 25-30g). Amnesia was induced by administering alprazolam (2 mg/kg body weight for 14 days) in all 4 groups for 14 days from 1st to 14th day. Group 1 was given alprazolam (2 mg/kg/p.o) alone for 14 days. In addition, group 2 was given piracetam (400 mg/kg p.o) from 8th to 15th day. Group 3 was given alcoholic extract of Tinospora cordifolia 140 mg/kg, p.o. from 1st to 15th day. Group 4 was given alcoholic extract of Tinospora cordifolia 280 mg/kg, p.o. from 1st to 15th day. The learning and memory of the animals was assessed by employing elevated plus maze (EPM) and step-down type passive avoidance model (SDA).Results: Results were compared among the different groups using one way-ANOVA followed by post hoc Tukey’s test. The measured parameters were compared with standard drug piracetam. Tinospora cordifolia at 140 mg/kg (p<0.02) and 280 mg/kg was significant in both models (p<0.02) and in EPM model, Tinospora cordifolia at 280 mg/kg showed highly significant result (P<0.01).Conclusions: Tinospora cordifolia, Indian medicinal plant useful for treatment of various ailments can also be a useful alternative for treating dementia and associated diseases like alzheimer’s disease

Genome wide analysis of heat responsive microRNAs in banana during acquired thermo tolerance

MicroRNAs are a class of small regulatory RNAs in plants, which play vital roles during various abiotic and abiotic stress conditions including plant processes. In this present study, we examined the expression of miRNAs and their predicted target expression levels during heat stress in banana. Out of 235 miRNA found in Musa, 40 miRNA showed homology to heat responsive miRNAs from other plants. Further, 14 targets for miRNA were predicted that are potentially regulated by their cognate miRNAs and were monitored under three stages of stress viz, induction, induction + lethal alone using qPCR analysis. The results suggest that generally, there is a negative relationship in the expression patterns of miRNA and their predicted cognate targets - HSP70, HSP90, SAP, DNAj genes. These were highly up regulated and their respective miRNAs showed lower expression. This is the first report in banana, which demonstrated that during induction stress, various thermo-protective genes are activated at initial stages of stress to achieve thermotolerance through altered miRNA expression. The results will help in broadening our understanding acquired thermotolerance and their regulation by miRNAs in plants

Efficacy of growth hormone in improving the pregnancy rate in poor responders in ART

Background: Poor responders impose a great challenge to ART clinicians. Research to improve their pregnancy rate is going on. This study was conducted to analyze the effect of growth hormone in poor responders in ART.Methods: This study was done from January 2015 to December 2015. It was a retrospective, single centre, cohort study in which 36 poor responders were selected and allotted into group A (18) with growth hormone and group B (18) without growth hormone. High dose of gonadotrophins was used for ovarian stimulation and antagonist protocol was followed in all patients. Group A received 4 IU of growth hormone along with usual treatment from day 2 till ovulation trigger with HCG injection, group B usual protocol.Results: Statistical analysis was done with independent T test, and p value <0.05 was considered significant. Higher number of mature oocytes and pregnancy rates were observed in growth hormone group. Number of MII oocytes was 5.8, on an average in group A and 3.7 in group B, the difference was statistically significant (p 0.0000001).  Clinical pregnancy rates were 27.7% in group A and 16.6% in group B, statistical significance (p 0.02).Conclusions: Addition of growth hormone shows increase in number of oocytes retrieved and pregnancy rates in poor responders in ART patients

Outcome of laparoscopic surgeries during pregnancy for non-obstetric emergencies

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the surgical and obstetric outcome, safety and feasibility of various laparoscopic surgeries for non-obstetric indications in pregnancy.Methods: We did a retrospective analysis of 18 pregnant patients who underwent laparoscopic surgeries. Study period was from October 2013 till September 2015 conducted in Radhakrishna multispeciality hospital /IVF center Bangalore. Patients operated are 6 cases cholicystectomy, 6 cases appendicectomy, 5 adnexal mass removals, one salpingectomy for heterotopic pregnancy resulted from ART. All patients were between 11 to 32 weeks of gestation, with mean gestational age 21±6.5 weeks at the time of surgery and mean duration of surgery was 46±16.3 minutes.Results: All eighteen pregnant patients had uneventful hospital courses after laparoscopic procedures. Mean duration of hospital stay after surgery was 43±8.5 hours. One pregnancy was terminated at 11 weeks for suspected ovarian malignancy and 16 delivered full-term babies without complications, one patient delivered preterm at 35 weeks with NICU admission. The mean birth weight at the time of delivery was 2.8±550 gms. There was no maternal morbidity or mortality, or any identifiable neonatal birth defect. No conversion to laparotomy required in any case.Conclusions: Laparoscopic surgeries can be done in any trimester of pregnancy, but more safe and feasible during the second and early third trimester of pregnancy. Laparoscopic surgeries are as safe as laparotomy in the hands of experienced laparoscopic surgeon with no deleterious effects on either mother or fetus

Involvement of a periplasmic protein kinase in DNA strand break repair and homologous recombination in Escherichia coli

The involvement of signal transduction in the repair of radiation-induced damage to DNA has been known in eukaryotes but remains understudied in bacteria. This article for the first time demonstrates a role for the periplasmic lipoprotein (YfgL) with protein kinase activity transducing a signal for DNA strand break repair in Escherichia coli. Purified YfgL protein showed physical as well as functional interaction with pyrroloquinoline-quinone in solution; the protein kinase activity of YfgL was strongly stimulated in the presence of pyrroloquinoline-quinone. Transgenic E. coli cells producing Deinococcus radiodurans pyrroloquinoline-quinone synthase showed nearly four log cycle improvement in UVC dark survival, 0-fold increases in gamma radiation resistance as compared with untransformed cells. Pyrroloquinoline-quinone enhanced the UV resistance of E. coli through the YfgL protein; required the active recombination repair proteins. The yfgL mutant showed higher sensitivity to UVC, mitomycin C, gamma radiation as compared with wild-type cells, showed a strong impairment in homologous DNA recombination. The mutant expressing an active YfgL in trans recovered the lost phenotypes to nearly wild-type levels. The results strongly suggest that the periplasmic phosphoquinolipoprotein kinase YfgL plays an important role in radiation-induced DNA strand break repair, homologous recombination in E. coli

RADIOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY OF FICUS RACEMOSA ETHANOL EXTRACT AGAINST ELECTRON BEAM INDUCED DNA DAMAGE IN VITRO, IN VIVO AND IN SILICO

Objective: To investigate the radioprotective effect of Ficus racemosa (Fr) ethanol stem bark extract against electron beam radiation (EBR) induced DNA damage using in vitro, in vivo and in silico models.Methods: The extract of Fr was tested against radiation induced DNA damage by exposing pBR322 plasmid to different EBR dose rates. Comet assay was conducted using mice which were exposed at 6Gy EBR. In silico study was performed by inhibiting p53 protein C-chain (1TUP C) using phyto chemicals of Fr.Results: The in vitro results revealed that, Fr at lower concentration (50µg) showed inhibitory effect on radiation induced DNA damage compared with control. Exposure of mice to 6Gy EBR increased comet parameters like TL (Tail length), OTM (Olive tail moment) and %T (percentage of DNA in the tail) of blood lymphocytes. Fr ethanol extract given orally prior to irradiation at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight protected the DNA from the radiation damage. The phytochemicals of Fr showed clear interaction with p53 protein chain C, specifically binding to Arginine 248 (ARG248) and Arginine 273 (ARG273) amino acid residues thereby inhibiting the p53 protein-DNA interaction upon radiation.Conclusion: The present study indicates that Fr ethanol extract significantly reduced radiation induced DNA damage in vivo and in vitro. It also showed that the biologically active compounds of Fr have ability to inhibit wild p53 protein which is responsible for apoptosis; these compounds can be used as radioprotectors during chemotherapy to protect normal tissues surrounding cancerous tissue.Â

Correlation of Maxillary Sinus Mucosal Thickness with Alveolar Bone Loss Using Computed Tomography

Background: Because of close association of roots of maxillary premolars and molars with maxillary sinuses, effect of periodontal bone loss on sinuses needs to be evaluated. Objective: The current study aimed to analyze relationship between of maxillary sinus mucosal thickening and alveolar bone loss using computed tomography. Methodology: All erupted second premolars and first and second molars in the maxillary arch bilaterally, at 12 points in each patient (mesial and distal sides of each tooth) were assessed for periodontal bone loss (PBL) and at same locations mucosal thickening (MT) was assessed on maxillary sinus floor. Furthermore, probable effect of each tooth pulpoperiapical condition (PPAC) on sinus mucosal thickening was assessed. Results: The present study consisted of 110 individuals of which CT images of 220 maxillary sinuses and 639 teeth (total 1278 teeth surfaces) were studied. MT was observed in 71.83% of sinus locations showing thickening of 1-3mm in 64.38%, 3.1-6mm in 14.71%, 6.1-10mm in 11.33%, and \u3e10mm in 9.59% of cases. PBL was observed in 69.01% of teeth surface locations showing mild alveolar bone loss in 69.84%, moderate in 25.06%, and severe in 5.10% of cases. When statistically analyzed, sinus MT was significantly associated with PBL and PPAC but stronger effect of PBL was present. Conclusion: In our study, observed prevalence of sinus MT was 71.83% and prevalence of periodontitis was 69.01%. Sinus MT was associated significantly with PBL. Key Words: Maxillary sinus, alveolar bone loss, pulpoperiapical condition, sinus mucosal thickening, computed tomography

SEAD: source encrypted authentic data for wireless sensor networks

One of the critical issues in WSNs is providing security for the secret data in military applications. It is necessary to ensure data integrity and authentication for the source data and secure end-to-end path for data transmission. Mobile sinks are suitable for data collection and localization. Mobile sinks and sensor nodes communicate with each other using their public identity, which is prone to security attacks like sink replication and node replication attack. In this work, we have proposed Source Encrypted Authentic Data algorithm (SEAD) that hides the location of mobile sink from malicious nodes. The sensed data is encrypted utilizing symmetric encryption---Advanced Encryption Standards (AES) and tracks the location of the mobile sink. When data encounters a malicious node in a path, then data transmission path is diverted through a secure path. SEAD uses public encryption---Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) to verify the authenticity of the data. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm ensures data integrity and node authenticity against malicious nodes. Double encryption in the proposed algorithm produces better results in comparison with the existing algorithms

Electronic structure, phase stability and chemical bonding in Th2_2Al and Th2_2AlH4_4

We present the results of theoretical investigation on the electronic structure, bonding nature and ground state properties of Th$_2$Al and Th$_2$AlH$_4$ using generalized-gradient-corrected first-principles full-potential density-functional calculations. Th$_2$AlH$_4$ has been reported to violate the "2 \AA rule" of H-H separation in hydrides. From our total energy as well as force-minimization calculations, we found a shortest H-H separation of 1.95 {\AA} in accordance with recent high resolution powder neutron diffraction experiments. When the Th$_2$Al matrix is hydrogenated, the volume expansion is highly anisotropic, which is quite opposite to other hydrides having the same crystal structure. The bonding nature of these materials are analyzed from the density of states, crystal-orbital Hamiltonian population and valence-charge-density analyses. Our calculation predicts different nature of bonding for the H atoms along $a$ and $c$. The strongest bonding in Th$_2$AlH$_4$ is between Th and H along $c$ which form dumb-bell shaped H-Th-H subunits. Due to this strong covalent interaction there is very small amount of electrons present between H atoms along $c$ which makes repulsive interaction between the H atoms smaller and this is the precise reason why the 2 {\AA} rule is violated. The large difference in the interatomic distances between the interstitial region where one can accommodate H in the $ac$ and $ab$ planes along with the strong covalent interaction between Th and H are the main reasons for highly anisotropic volume expansion on hydrogenation of Th$_2$Al.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Spin, charge and orbital ordering in ferrimagnetic insulator YBaMn2_2O5_5

The oxygen-deficient (double) perovskite YBaMn$_2$O$_5$, containing corner-linked MnO$_5$ square pyramids, is found to exhibit ferrimagnetic ordering in its ground state. In the present work we report generalized-gradient-corrected, relativistic first-principles full-potential density-functional calculations performed on YBaMn$_2$O$_5$ in the nonmagnetic, ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic states. The charge, orbital and spin orderings are explained with site-, angular momentum- and orbital-projected density of states, charge-density plots, electronic structure and total energy studies. YBaMn$_2$O$_5$ is found to stabilize in a G-type ferrimagnetic state in accordance with experimental results. The experimentally observed insulating behavior appears only when we include ferrimagnetic ordering in our calculation. We observed significant optical anisotropy in this material originating from the combined effect of ferrimagnetic ordering and crystal field splitting. In order to gain knowledge about the presence of different valence states for Mn in YBaMn$_2$O$_5$ we have calculated $K$-edge x-ray absorption near-edge spectra for the Mn and O atoms. The presence of the different valence states for Mn is clearly established from the x-ray absorption near-edge spectra, hyperfine field parameters and the magnetic properties study. Among the experimentally proposed structures, the recently reported description based on $P$4/$nmm$ is found to represent the stable structure