Detoxifying effect of Nelumbo nucifera and Aegle marmelos on hematological parameters of Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of Nelumbo nucifera and Aegle marmelos on common carp exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of combined heavy metals (5 ppm) under laboratory conditions. The fish were treated with Nelumbo nucifera (500 mg/kg bwt) and Aegle marmelos (500 mg/kgbwt) for 30 days as a dietary supplement. The blood biochemical parameters of the fish were evaluated by analyzing the level of red blood cells (RBC), packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin concentration, glucose, cholesterol, iron and copper. The findings of the present investigation showed significant increase in hemoglobin (p<0.001), RBC (p<0.01) and PCV (p<0.01) of herbal drug-treated groups compared with metal-exposed fish. Conversely, glucose and cholesterol level in blood of common carp showed significant reduction compared with heavy-metal-exposed groups. All the values measured in Nelumbo nucifera and Aegle marmelos treated fish were restored comparably to control fish. Our results confirmed that Nelumbo nucifera and Aegle marmelos provide a detoxification mechanism for heavy metals in common carp

Clinical Evaluation of Parangipattai Chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi Chenduram (External) for Venpulli (Vitiligo) in Children

Evaluation of Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External) was done after getting approved by IEC of National Institute of Siddha. [IEC No: NIS/IEC/2016/11-24/14.10.2016] and the trial is registered in Clinical trial Registry of India with Reg.No.CTRI/2017/06/008755 [Registered on: 05/06/2017]. • The raw drugs of Parangipattai chooranam and Annabedhi chenduram were identified and authentication certificate was obtained. • The drug Parangipattai choornam was a fine powder pale milky white in colour with mild odour, bitter and slightly sweet in taste. • The drug size has a particlesize with the range of lowest 41.1 μm to highest 211.341.1 μm. The loss on drying indicates the moisture content of the drug was determined as 8.5 ± 2.8%. The total ash was found to be 0.55 ± 0.05% which indicates the inorganic content of the drug. The water soluble ash was calculated as 7.46 ± 0.72% and the value of acid insoluble ash was found to be 0.32 ± 0.15% which indicates that the drug contains negligible amount of siliceous matter. The water soluble extractive value and alcohol soluble extractive value were found to be 25.86 ± 0.81% and 34.44 ± 2.12%. The pH value is measured as 4.8 which indicate that the drug is acidic. • HPTLC was done to identify phyto- chemicals and their Rf values were calculated. • The drug is free of microbial contamination and pesticide residues. • In heavy metals analysis mercury was not detected and lead, arsenic, cadmium were present within the permissible limit. • Aflatoxin like B2, G1, G2 were not detected except B1 which was within the permissible limit. • The disease Venpulli was taken for the clinical study with Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External) as a trial medicine and 30 cases were selected based on the approved protocol. • The detailed study of Venpulli with reference to its etiology, pathogenesis, investigations, clinical features, diagnosis and treatment with trial drug was done. • The results were observed by VASI score. Among the 30 cases treated 57% of the cases had moderate improvement and 43% had pigmented spots in depigmented area. • Statistical analysis: The Mean Standard Deviation of VASI Score before and after treatment was 5.58 ± 5.4 and 4.89 ± 5.36 respectively which is statistically significant (p < 0.001). • The analysis reveals that there is 12% reduction in depigmentation when compared to before treatment. CONCLUSION: The poly herbal formulation Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External)exhibited no toxicity on short term administration in children. The present clinical study confirms the efficacy and safety of the trial drug ―Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External)‖ which is Siddha poly herbal and herbomineral formulation respectively. • It was found to be having good result on Venpulli patients in reducing clinical symptoms like depigmention of skin. • The Mean Standard Deviation of VASI Score before and after treatment was 5.58 ±5.4 and 4.89 ± 5.36 respectively which is statistically significant (p < 0.001). The analysis reveals that there is 12% reduction in depigmentation when compared to before treatment. • The qualitative outcome shows that 100% of the cases had pigmentation in depigmented area and good improvement in 57%. • From the above results, the trial drug ―Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External)‖ provides moderate improvement in the treatment of Venpulli. • The open clinical trial conducted on Venpulli with the trial drug Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External) creates a very good impact on the pigmentation of the affected area. Hence the author recommends by increasing the trial period for about 90 days will bring out the tremendous effect of the drug in future which will reduce the stress of the affected children and enable to lead a healthy life. • As a conclusion it can be stated that the Siddha Herbal formulation Parangipattai chooranam (Internal) and Annabedhi chenduram (External) can be used as a safe and extremely efficacious drug towards the management of Venpulli in children which takes a huge toll of inducing psychological stress and impact on the cosmetic purposes

Formulation and Invitro Evaluation of Escitalopram Oxalate Oral Disintegrating Tablets

NTRODUCTION:Oral route of drug administration is most appealing route for delivery of drugs of various dosage forms. The tablets is one of the most preferred dosage form because of its ease of administration, accurate dosing and stability as compared to oral liquid dosage forms and when compared to capsules, tablets are more temper evident.TABLETS1:Tablets may be defined as solid unit pharmaceutical dosage forms containing drug substance with or without suitable Excipients and prepared by either compression or molding mehtods1. The first step in the development of dosage form is Preformulation, which can be defined as investigation of physicochemical properties of drug substance alone and when combined with Excipients. The main objective of Preformulation studies, is to develop stable and bioavilabel dosage form and study of factors affecting such stability, bioavailability and to optimize so as to formulate the best dosage form, here optimization of formulation means finding the best possible composition2. compressed tablets are formed by applying pressure, for which compression machines (tablet presses) are used and they are made from powdered crystalline or granular material, alone or in combination with binder, disintegrants, release polymers, lubricants and diluents and in some cases colorant.AIM:To carry out preformulation study of excipients and their compatibility with the API. Development of various formulations and preparation of ODT’s by direct compression technique. Selection and optimization of the best formulation. To conduct accelerated stability testing to the finished dosage form as per ICH guidelines OBJECTIVE OF STUDY:To carry out literature survey of drug molecules To analyse the trial samples To optimize the final formula To conduct the stability studies of final formula SUMMARY:A recent advance in Novel Drug Delivery System aims to enhance safety to enhance safety and efficacy of drug molecule by formulating a convenient dosage form for administration and to achieve better patient compliance. One such approach is Orally Disintegrating Tablet. The present study was to formulate and standardize of an Anti depressant drug Escitalopram Oxalate. Escitalopram Oxalate orally disintegrating tablets formulated in the present study are beneficial to the pediatrics and elderly patients. It is also beneficial to the person having Dysphagia and mentally ill. Preformulation studies were carried out during the early stages of this work. It was found that Escitalopram oxalate is having maximum absorbance at wavelength 239 nm. The drug-polymer compatibility study was carried out to determine the interactions between the drug and the polymers used in the study. The orally disintegrating tablets were formulated using the above mentioned difrent super disintegrants by direct compression technique. Crospovidone, LHPC-21 and Kyron T-314 were used as super disintegrants . Prepared tablets were evaluated for Pre-Compression Parameters and Post compression Parameters. Flow properties –Angle of repose, Bulk density, Tap Density and also %compressability was determined to all formulations which showed good flow property. Formulation F1 was carried Microcrystalline cellulose (Cyclocel pH112) as diluents, Crosspovidone XL (2.5%) & L-HPC (2.5%) as Superdisintegrants. Aerosil is used as a glident. here shows the DT more than 3mins to improve the disintegration time the addition of the super disintegrants KYRONT-314 ,the disintegration time was improved but still the wetting time and the invitro dispersion time were not improved for this reason the Spray dried Mannitol was used as diluents and concentration of super disintegrants was increased in F3.As the increasing the concentration of the diluents Mannitol results in the good wetting time and invitro dispersion.CONCLUSION:Escitalopram Oxalate used as Antidepressant. They are formulated as oral disintegrating tablets which show better patient acceptability and compliance with improved efficacy when compared with conventional dosage forms. Direct compression was the preferred technology for the preparation of oral disintegrating tablets of Escitalopram Oxalate. Based on the preliminary studies various formulation trials (F1-F9) were carried out with different concentrations of Superdisintegrants, filers and lubricants. From the various formulations it was concluded that the formulation F9, the reproducibility batch of F8 was finalized as the optimized formula. Formulation F9 showed satisfactory results with various physicochemical evaluation parameters like Hardness, Percentage weight loss, Disintegration time, Dissolution profile, Assay and Moisture content. When subjected to accelerated stability studies the tablets were found to be stable

An Early Detection-Warning System to Identify Speed Breakers and Bumpy Roads using Sensors In Smartphones

Speed breakers and bumpy roads are a major threat to drivers that questions their safety. The mishap happens because of no sign boards indicating the speed breaker, poor visibility at night and road works that are often carried out with no proper signs of road deviations and also the negligence of the driver. All these factors put the life of the persons in vain causing damage to the vehicle as well as life. Also, bumpy roads have become a problem for cars with less ground clearance. The focus of the paper is on designing an early warning system detecting both speed breaker humps and bad road conditions. The approach used in this paper is a real-time solution and is developed as an android service that runs in the background and relies on Google Maps application in the smartphone. This service will throw an alert giving early warning if the user is approaching the speed breaker or a bumpy road. Apart from just giving an early alert to the user, it also provides the user with an alternative and a better route. The solution proposed in this work is a form of crowdsourcing where users share and get data, therefore making the system cost effective

Characterization of New Bacterial Leaf Blight of Rice Caused by Pantoea stewartii subsp. indologenes in Southern Districts of Tamil Nadu

A survey was conducted in the rice fields of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Kanyakumari and Madurai districts of Tamil Nadu during 2016to assess the importance of bacterial leaf blight (BLB) of rice caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. Bacterial Leaf Blight affected leaf samples showing yellowing symptoms or orange to brown stripes on one or both halves of the leaf blade were collected from seventeen places and maintained as isolates. Upon isolation, symptomatic leaf pieces were surface sterilized and placed in wakimoto semi-synthetic medium. The yellow pigmented, raised and translucent colonies with smooth margin were obtained after incubation at 28°C for 2 days. The biochemical characterization revealed that the bacteria belong to gramnegativefacultative anaerobes with small rods either arranged singly or in chains. Thirteen isolates show positive results in biochemical tests viz.,Gram staining, KOH test, starch hydrolysis, anaerobic growth test, tween 80 hydrolysis test, catalase test, citrate utilizationtest and production of yellow pigment on Yeast Dextrose Chalk agar medium. In virulence test, Isolate 1, Isolate 3 and Isolate 4 were considered virulent as they have caused severe blight symptoms both in TN1 and ADT 43, the susceptible check varieties. Based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis, the causal agent was identified as Pantoea stewartii subsp. indolegenes (Accession No. SUB2733370: MF163273; MF163274; MF16327). The biochemical and molecular analysis revealed that the causal agent was not Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae, but a new species of bacteriumnamely Pantoea stewartii subsp. indolegenes. This is the first report of new bacterial leaf blight disease of rice caused by Pantoea stewartii subsp.indologenesin southern districts of Tamil Nadu

Discovery and Optimisation of a Compound Series active against Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas’ Disease

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan parasite; Trypanosoma cruzi; . It is endemic in South and Central America and recently has been found in other parts of the world, due to migration of chronically infected patients. The current treatment for Chagas disease is not satisfactory, and there is a need for new treatments. In this work, we describe the optimization of a hit compound resulting from the phenotypic screen of a library of compounds against; T. cruzi; . The compound series was optimized to the level where it had satisfactory pharmacokinetics to allow an efficacy study in a mouse model of Chagas disease. We were able to demonstrate efficacy in this model, although further work is required to improve the potency and selectivity of this series

Fungal diversity notes 929–1035: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungi

This article is the ninth in the series of Fungal Diversity Notes, where 107 taxa distributed in three phyla, nine classes, 31 orders and 57 families are described and illustrated. Taxa described in the present study include 12 new genera, 74 new species, three new combinations, two reference specimens, a re-circumscription of the epitype, and 15 records of sexualasexual morph connections, new hosts and new geographical distributions. Twelve new genera comprise Brunneofusispora, Brunneomurispora, Liua, Lonicericola, Neoeutypella, Paratrimmatostroma, Parazalerion, Proliferophorum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis, Septomelanconiella, Velebitea and Vicosamyces. Seventy-four new species are Agaricus memnonius, A. langensis, Aleurodiscus patagonicus, Amanita flavoalba, A. subtropicana, Amphisphaeria mangrovei, Baorangia major, Bartalinia kunmingensis, Brunneofusispora sinensis, Brunneomurispora lonicerae, Capronia camelliaeyunnanensis, Clavulina thindii, Coniochaeta simbalensis, Conlarium thailandense, Coprinus trigonosporus, Liua muriformis, Cyphellophora filicis, Cytospora ulmicola, Dacrymyces invisibilis, Dictyocheirospora metroxylonis, Distoseptispora thysanolaenae, Emericellopsis koreana, Galiicola baoshanensis, Hygrocybe lucida, Hypoxylon teeravasati, Hyweljonesia indica, Keissleriella caraganae, Lactarius olivaceopallidus, Lactifluus midnapurensis, Lembosia brigadeirensis, Leptosphaeria urticae, Lonicericola hyaloseptispora, Lophiotrema mucilaginosis, Marasmiellus bicoloripes, Marasmius indojasminodorus, Micropeltis phetchaburiensis, Mucor orantomantidis, Murilentithecium lonicerae, Neobambusicola brunnea, Neoeutypella baoshanensis, Neoroussoella heveae, Neosetophoma lonicerae, Ophiobolus malleolus, Parabambusicola thysanolaenae, Paratrimmatostroma kunmingensis, Parazalerion indica, Penicillium dokdoense, Peroneutypa mangrovei, Phaeosphaeria cycadis, Phanerochaete australosanguinea, Plectosphaerella kunmingensis, Plenodomus artemisiae, P. lijiangensis, Proliferophorum thailandicum, Pseudoastrosphaeriellopsis kaveriana, Pseudohelicomyces menglunicus, Pseudoplagiostoma mangiferae, Robillarda mangiferae, Roussoella elaeicola, Russula choptae, R. uttarakhandia, Septomelanconiella thailandica, Spencermartinsia acericola, Sphaerellopsis isthmospora, Thozetella lithocarpi, Trechispora echinospora, Tremellochaete atlantica, Trichoderma koreanum, T. pinicola, T. rugulosum, Velebitea chrysotexta, Vicosamyces venturisporus, Wojnowiciella kunmingensis and Zopfiella indica. Three new combinations are Baorangia rufomaculata, Lanmaoa pallidorosea and Wojnowiciella rosicola. The reference specimens of Canalisporium kenyense and Tamsiniella labiosa are designated. The epitype of Sarcopeziza sicula is re-circumscribed based on cyto- and histochemical analyses. The sexual-asexual morph connection of Plenodomus sinensis is reported from ferns and Cirsium for the first time. In addition, the new host records and country records are Amanita altipes, A. melleialba, Amarenomyces dactylidis, Chaetosphaeria panamensis, Coniella vitis, Coprinopsis kubickae, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Leptobacillium leptobactrum var. calidus, Muyocopron lithocarpi, Neoroussoella solani, Periconia cortaderiae, Phragmocamarosporium hederae, Sphaerellopsis paraphysata and Sphaeropsis eucalypticola

Mídias Sociais e Administração Pública: Análise do sentimento social perante a atuação do governo federal brasileiro

Este estudo procurou identificar como a análise de sentimento, baseada em textos extraídos de mídias sociais, pode ser um instrumento de mensuração da opinião pública sobre a atuação do governo de forma a contribuir para a avaliação da administração pública. Trata-se de um estudo aplicado, interdisciplinar, exploratório, qualitativo e quantitativo. Foram revisadas as principais formulações teóricas e conceituais acerca do tema e realizadas demonstrações práticas, utilizando-se uma ferramenta de mineração de opinião que proporcionou precisão satisfatória no processamento de dados. Para fins de demonstração, foram selecionados temas que motivaram a realização da onda de protestos que envolveu milhões de pessoas no Brasil em junho de 2013. Foram coletadas, processadas e analisadas, aproximadamente, 130.000 mensagens postadas no Facebook e no Twitter sobre esses temas em dois períodos distintos. Por meio desta investigação, observou-se que a análise de sentimento pode revelar a opinião polarizada dos cidadãos quanto à atuação do governo