847 research outputs found
Catharanthus roseus flower extract has wound-healing activity in Sprague Dawley rats
BACKGROUND: Catharanthus roseus L (C. roseus) has been used to treat a wide assortment of diseases including diabetes. The objective of our study was to evaluate the antimicrobial and wound healing activity of the flower extract of Catharanthus in rats. METHODS: Wound healing activity was determined in rats, after administration (100 mg kg(-1 )day(-1)) of the ethanol extract of C. roseus flower, using excision, incision and dead space wounds models. The animals were divided into two groups of 6 each in all the models. In the excision model, group 1 animals were topically treated with carboxymethyl cellulose as placebo control and group 2 received topical application of the ethanol extract of C. roseus at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight/day. In an incision and dead space model group 1 animals were given normal saline and group 2 received the extract orally at a dose of 100 mg kg(-1 )day(-1). Healing was assessed by the rate of wound contraction, period of epithelization, tensile strength (skin breaking strength), granulation tissue weight, and hydoxyproline content. Antimicrobial activity of the flower extract against four microorganisms was also assessed RESULTS: The extract of C. roseus significantly increased the wound breaking strength in the incision wound model compared with controls (P < 0.001). The extract-treated wounds were found to epithelialize faster, and the rate of wound contraction was significantly increased in comparison to control wounds (P < 0.001), Wet and dry granulation tissue weights, and hydroxyproline content in a dead space wound model increased significantly (p < 0.05). Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus demonstrated sensitivity to C. roseus CONCLUSION: Increased wound contraction and tensile strength, augmented hydroxyproline content along with antimicrobial activity support the use of C. roseus in the topical management of wound healing
Supersymmetric Intersecting Branes on the Waves
We construct a general family of supersymmetric solutions in time- and
space-dependent wave backgrounds in general supergravity theories describing
single and intersecting p-branes embedded into time-dependent dilaton-gravity
plane waves of an arbitrary (isotropic) profile, with the brane world-volume
aligned parallel to the propagation direction of the wave. We discuss how many
degrees of freedom we have in the solutions. We also propose that these
solutions can be used to describe higher-dimensional time-dependent "black
holes", and discuss their property briefly.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe
Impact of generic alendronate cost on the cost-effectiveness of osteoporosis screening and treatment
Introduction: Since alendronate became available in generic form in the Unites States in 2008, its price has been decreasing. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of alendronate cost on the cost-effectiveness of osteoporosis screening and treatment in postmenopausal women. Methods: Microsimulation cost-effectiveness model of osteoporosis screening and treatment for U.S. women age 65 and older. We assumed screening initiation at age 65 with central dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and alendronate treatment for individuals with osteoporosis; with a comparator of "no screening" and treatment only after fracture occurrence. We evaluated annual alendronate costs of 800; outcome measures included fractures; nursing home admission; medication adverse events; death; costs; quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs); and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) in 2010 U.S. dollars per QALY gained. A lifetime time horizon was used, and direct costs were included. Base-case and sensitivity analyses were performed. Results: Base-case analysis results showed that at annual alendronate costs of 400 through 714 per QALY gained through 50,000/QALY at all alendronate costs evaluated. Conclusions: Osteoporosis screening followed by alendronate treatment is effective and highly cost-effective for postmenopausal women across a range of alendronate costs, and may be cost-saving at annual alendronate costs of $200 or less. © 2012 Nayak et al
Intersecting black branes in strong gravitational waves
We consider intersecting black branes with strong gravitational waves
propagating along their worldvolume in the context of supergravity theories.
Both near-horizon and space-filling gravitational wave modes are included in
our ansatz. The equations of motion (originally, partial differential
equations) are shown to reduce to ordinary differential equations, which
include a Toda-like system. For special arrangements of intersecting black
branes, the Toda-like system becomes integrable, permitting a more thorough
analysis of the gravitational equations of motion.Comment: 17 pages; v2: cosmetic improvements, published versio
Spiky Strings on I-brane
We study rigidly rotating strings in the near horizon geometry of the 1+1
dimensional intersection of two orthogonal stacks of NS5-branes, the so called
I-brane background. We solve the equations of motion of the fundamental string
action in the presence of two form NS-NS fluxes that the I-brane background
supports and write down general form of conserved quantities. We further find
out two limiting cases corresponding to giant magnon and single spike like
strings in various parameter space of solutions.Comment: 17 pages, major restructuring of text, added a referenc
Dermatological remedies in the traditional pharmacopoeia of Vulture-Alto Bradano, inland southern Italy
Dermatological remedies make up at least one-third of the traditional pharmacopoeia in southern Italy. The identification of folk remedies for the skin is important both for the preservation of traditional medical knowledge and in the search for novel antimicrobial agents in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infection (SSTI). Our goal is to document traditional remedies from botanical, animal, mineral and industrial sources for the topical treatment of skin ailments. In addition to SSTI remedies for humans, we also discuss certain ethnoveterinary applications.
Field research was conducted in ten communities in the Vulture-Alto Bradano area of the Basilicata province, southern Italy. We randomly sampled 112 interviewees, stratified by age and gender. After obtaining prior informed consent, we collected data through semi-structured interviews, participant-observation, and small focus groups techniques. Voucher specimens of all cited botanic species were deposited at FTG and HLUC herbaria located in the US and Italy.
We report the preparation and topical application of 116 remedies derived from 38 plant species. Remedies are used to treat laceration, burn wound, wart, inflammation, rash, dental abscess, furuncle, dermatitis, and other conditions. The pharmacopoeia also includes 49 animal remedies derived from sources such as pigs, slugs, and humans. Ethnoveterinary medicine, which incorporates both animal and plant derived remedies, is addressed. We also examine the recent decline in knowledge regarding the dermatological pharmacopoeia.
The traditional dermatological pharmacopoeia of Vulture-Alto Bradano is based on a dynamic folk medical construct of natural and spiritual illness and healing. Remedies are used to treat more than 45 skin and soft tissue conditions of both humans and animals. Of the total 165 remedies reported, 110 have never before been published in the mainland southern Italian ethnomedical literature
Genetic Improvement of Rice for Multiple Stress Tolerance in Unfavorable Rainfed Ecology
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Charged, conformal non-relativistic hydrodynamics
We embed a holographic model of an U(1) charged fluid with Galilean
invariance in string theory and calculate its specific heat capacity and
Prandtl number. Such theories are generated by a R-symmetry twist along a null
direction of a N=1 superconformal theory. We study the hydrodynamic properties
of such systems employing ideas from the fluid-gravity correspondence.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, JHEP3 style, refs added, typos corrected, missing
terms in spatial charge current and field corrections added, to be published
in JHE
Extended black holes in strong gravitational waves
We describe a large class of solutions in pure gravity, dilaton gravity and
supergravity corresponding to extended higher-dimensional black holes with
strong (non-linear) gravitational waves propagating along their worldvolume.
For pure gravity, the extended black holes are higher-dimensional analogs of
the point-like Schwarzschild black hole in four dimensions. For supergravity,
they are non-extremal p-branes. The gravitational waves can be both
space-filling and localized around the worldvolume of the extended black holes.
The solutions we present contain a large number of arbitrary functions of the
light-cone time describing the amplitudes of different non-linear gravitational
wave modes.Comment: 14 pages; v3: commentary and references extended, published versio
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