IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ANTI-CANCER POTENTIAL OF A3 ADENOSINE RECEPTOR AGONIST ON A549 HUMAN LUNG CANCER CELL LINE

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of A3AR agonist (ABMECA) against human lung cancer cell line A549 by using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Methods: Adenocarcinoma cell line A549 was used to assess MTT based cells viability. In vitro cytotoxic activity was evaluated for 3 different concentration of doxorubicin and A3AR by MTT cytotoxicity assay. Cytotoxicity assay carried out for 3 consecutive days that involves culturing cells into Dulbecco’s MEM medium modified with 10% FBS for 24 h then treatment with different dose of standard and test drug with incubation period of 24 h followed by treatment with MTT for estimation of cytotoxicity and finally, optical density (OD) was measured at 570-630 nm. Results: Different concentration of doxorubicin (1, 5, 10 µM) and ABMECA (10-6M, 10-5M and 10-4M) shown dose-dependent cytotoxicity. There was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in cell viability in both doxorubicin and ABMECA concentration in a dose-dependent manner. This study may guide further for in vivo evaluation of test drug in the lung cancer model. Conclusion: A3 Adenosine Receptor agonist could be potential moiety for the treatment of lung cancer and it would require in vivo study for further research

A rat model against chemotherapy plus radiation-induced oral mucositis

AbstractObjectivesPresent study was aimed at developing an experimental model of oral mucositis in rats using a combination of chemotherapeutic agent and radiation.Study designFemale Wistar rats (150–200g) were divided into 3 groups (n=6). Rats in group 1 (normal control) and group 2 (mucositis control) were treated with vehicle. Rats in group 3 were treated with l-glutamine (1g/kg, p.o.; 15days) before and after mucositis induction. Oral mucositis was induced by busulfan (6mg/kg, p.o.; 4days) and the tongue exposed to infrared (IR) radiation of intensity 40mV/cm2 for 5 s on the 1st, 4th and 10th days of challenge using a tail flick apparatus. Parameters monitored were body weight, food intake, blood count and survival. Oral mucositis score (OMS) was recorded daily. Histological changes of the irradiated tongue were assessed by hematoxylin and eosin staining.ResultsBusulfan and IR radiation significantly reduced body weight and food intake of the mucositis control group as compared to normal control. Clear ulceration of the tongue reflected in the OMS. Histopathology of the tongue revealed intense lymphocytic infiltration, decreased thickness of squamous epithelial cell layer, decrease in number of blood vessels, and necrosis of cells along with pseudo-membrane formation in the mucositis control group. These findings suggested that oral mucositis was successfully induced and treatment with l-glutamine partially reversed these conditions.ConclusionOral mucositis was established successfully in rats by the combination of chemotherapeutic agent and IR radiation. This may be a useful model for screening drugs in the treatment of oral mucositis

Referring to Screen Texts with Voice Assistants

Voice assistants help users make phone calls, send messages, create events, navigate, and do a lot more. However, assistants have limited capacity to understand their users' context. In this work, we aim to take a step in this direction. Our work dives into a new experience for users to refer to phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, URLs, and dates on their phone screens. Our focus lies in reference understanding, which becomes particularly interesting when multiple similar texts are present on screen, similar to visual grounding. We collect a dataset and propose a lightweight general-purpose model for this novel experience. Due to the high cost of consuming pixels directly, our system is designed to rely on the extracted text from the UI. Our model is modular, thus offering flexibility, improved interpretability, and efficient runtime memory utilization.Comment: 7 pages, Accepted to ACL Industry Track 202

Protective Effects of Aqueous Extract of Solanum nigrum

Oral mucositis is one of the most debilitating side effects in patient undergoing chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Leaves of the plant Solanum nigrum are used in folklore medicine to treat oral ulcers in India. However, no pharmacological investigation has been carried out till date. Aqueous extract of Solanum nigrum leaves (AESN) was prepared and subjected to various phytochemical screening. HPLC analysis of the ethyl acetate fraction was carried out. The aqueous extract (100 and 200 mg/kg) was further evaluated for its protective effect on two rat models: (a) busulfan plus infrared radiation (chemoradiotherapy) induced oral mucositis and (b) methotrexate (chemotherapy) induced oral mucositis. Various parameters including body weight change, food intake, and mortality were measured. AESN showed protective effect in both models of oral mucositis; however, the higher dose was more effective in chemotherapy induced oral mucositis. A reduction in oral mucositis score (P<0.05) was observed in the treatment groups. Significant (P<0.05) improvement in food intake was also observed in AESN treated groups. Aqueous extract of Solanum nigrum leaves has protective effect on chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy induced oral mucositis in rats

Anisotropic study of ReSe

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are extensively in demand as photodetectors due to their extraordinary electrical and optical properties. In this work, we have reported the synthesis of high-quality bulk single crystals of rhenium diselenide (ReSe2) by the DVT technique. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and elemental mapping confirmed the crystal structure, crystallinity, and phase singularity of the material. TEM and SEM confirm the crystallinity and layered structure of the grown material. Owing to these unique properties, we have utilized the ReSe2 crystal to construct a high-performance anisotropic photodetector. The crystals’ photodetection capacity was confirmed in terms of typical detector parameters such as responsivity, detectivity, and rise time for white light under different intensities, biasing voltages, and wavelengths. The anisotropy in the properties due to its unique layered structure is also explored here. Observing the encouraging results, ReSe2 is a potential choice in 2D TMDCs for electrical and optoelectronic applications