NEUROPROTECTIVE ROLE OF ASCORBIC ACID: ANTIOXIDANT AND NON-ANTIOXIDANT FUNCTIONS

Ascorbic acid (AA) or Vitamin C is an important antioxidant which participates in numerous cellular functions. Although in human plasma its concentration is in micromolars but it reaches millimolar concentrations in most of the human tissues. The high ascorbate cellular concentrations are generated and maintained by a specific sodium-dependent Vitamin C transporter type 2 (SVCT2, member of Slc23 family). Metabolic processes recycle Vitamin C from its oxidized forms (ascorbate) inside the cells. AA concentration is highest in the neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) of mammals, and deletion of its transporter affects mice brain and overall survival. In the CNS, intracellular ascorbate serves several functions including antioxidant protection, peptide amidation, myelin formation, synaptic potentiation, and protection against glutamate toxicity. SVCT2 maintains neuronal ascorbate content in CNS which has relevance for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. As ascorbate supplements decrease infarct size in ischemia-reperfusion injury and protect neurons from oxidative damage, it is a vital dietary antioxidant. The aim of this review is to assess the role of the SVCT2 in regulating neuronal ascorbate homeostasis in CNS and the extent to which ascorbate affects brain function as an antioxidant

Possible use of self-calibration to reduce systematic uncertainties in determining distance-redshift relation via gravitational radiation from merging binaries

By observing mergers of compact objects, future gravity wave experiments would measure the luminosity distance to a large number of sources to a high precision but not their redshifts. Given the directional sensitivity of an experiment, a fraction of such sources (gold plated -- GP) can be identified optically as single objects in the direction of the source. We show that if an approximate distance-redshift relation is known then it is possible to statistically resolve those sources that have multiple galaxies in the beam. We study the feasibility of using gold plated sources to iteratively resolve the unresolved sources, obtain the self-calibrated best possible distance-redshift relation and provide an analytical expression for the accuracy achievable. We derive lower limit on the total number of sources that is needed to achieve this accuracy through self-calibration. We show that this limit depends exponentially on the beam width and give estimates for various experimental parameters representative of future gravitational wave experiments DECIGO and BBO.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PR

SourcererCC: Scaling Code Clone Detection to Big Code

Despite a decade of active research, there is a marked lack in clone detectors that scale to very large repositories of source code, in particular for detecting near-miss clones where significant editing activities may take place in the cloned code. We present SourcererCC, a token-based clone detector that targets three clone types, and exploits an index to achieve scalability to large inter-project repositories using a standard workstation. SourcererCC uses an optimized inverted-index to quickly query the potential clones of a given code block. Filtering heuristics based on token ordering are used to significantly reduce the size of the index, the number of code-block comparisons needed to detect the clones, as well as the number of required token-comparisons needed to judge a potential clone. We evaluate the scalability, execution time, recall and precision of SourcererCC, and compare it to four publicly available and state-of-the-art tools. To measure recall, we use two recent benchmarks, (1) a large benchmark of real clones, BigCloneBench, and (2) a Mutation/Injection-based framework of thousands of fine-grained artificial clones. We find SourcererCC has both high recall and precision, and is able to scale to a large inter-project repository (250MLOC) using a standard workstation.Comment: Accepted for publication at ICSE'16 (preprint, unrevised

Constraining the nature of dark compact objects with spin-induced octupole moment measurement

Various theoretical models predict the existence of exotic compact objects that can mimic the properties of black holes (BHs). Gravitational waves (GWs) from the mergers of compact objects have the potential to distinguish between exotic compact objects and BHs. The measurement of spin-induced multipole moments of compact objects in binaries provides a unique way to test the nature of compact objects. The observations of GWs by LIGO and Virgo have already put constraints on the spin-induced quadrupole moment, the leading order spin-induced moment. In this work, we develop a Bayesian framework to measure the spin-induced octupole moment, the next-to-leading order spin-induced moment. The precise measurement of the spin-induced octupole moment will allow us to test its consistency with that of Kerr BHs in general relativity and constrain the allowed parameter space for non-BH compact objects. For various simulated compact object binaries, we explore the ability of the LIGO and Virgo detector network to constrain spin-induced octupole moment of compact objects. We find that LIGO and Virgo at design sensitivity can constrain the symmetric combination of component spin-induced octupole moments of binary for dimensionless spin magnitudes $\sim 0.8$. Further, we study the possibility of simultaneously measuring the spin-induced quadrupole and octupole moments. Finally, we perform this test on selected GW events reported in the third GW catalog. These are the first constraints on spin-induced octupole moment using full Bayesian analysis.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure

Seismic Behaviour of Multistorey RC Frames with vertical Mass Irregularities

The buildings with mass irregularity behave differently as compared to regular buildings. In the present study, a parameter called mass irregularity index has been proposed to quantify the mass irregularity. The proposed factor depends mainly upon magnitude and location of mass irregularity. Further the present study aims to modify the expression of time period proposed by IS 1893:2002 and relation between mass irregularity coefficient and time period has been evaluated. For present study a family of 108 frames with mass irregularity have been modelled and analyzed by time history analysis. The proposed expression for time period has been validated for buildings with mass irregularity

Structure and electronic properties of transition-metal/Mg bimetallic clusters at realistic temperatures and oxygen partial pressures

Composition, atomic structure, and electronic properties of TM$_x$Mg$_y$O$_z$ clusters (TM = Cr, Ni, Fe, Co, $x+y \leq 3$) at realistic temperature $T$ and partial oxygen pressure $p_{\textrm{O}_2}$ conditions are explored using the {\em ab initio} atomistic thermodynamics approach. The low-energy isomers of the different clusters are identified using a massively parallel cascade genetic algorithm at the hybrid density-functional level of theory. On analyzing a large set of data, we find that the fundamental gap E$_\textrm{g}$ of the thermodynamically stable clusters are strongly affected by the presence of Mg-coordinated O$_2$ moieties. In contrast, the nature of the transition metal does not play a significant role in determining E$_\textrm{g}$. Using E$_\textrm{g}$ of a cluster as a descriptor of its redox properties, our finding is against the conventional belief that the transition metal plays the key role in determining the electronic and therefore chemical properties of the clusters. High reactivity may be correlated more strongly with oxygen content in the cluster than with any specific TM type.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

ACCESS POINT NAME (APN)/DATA NETWORK NAME (DNN) BASED AUTO-ANCHORING OF FIFTH GENERATION/NEXT GENERATION TRAFFIC IN WI-FI

Private Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation/next Generation (5G/nG) network environments will have a mix of access technologies, such as Wi-Fi6 and 5G/nG Radio Access Network (RAN) technologies. Techniques presented herein provide for the capability to transport and intelligently anchor 5G/nG data using a Wi-Fi system, which may allow for private 5G/nG onboarding utilizing the Wi-Fi system

NATURAL ANTIOXIDANTS AS DEFENSE SYSTEM AGAINST CANCER

In living cells, the production of free radicals that comprise both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species is highly regulated that help the cells to sustain redox homeostasis. Overproduction of ROS from mitochondrial electron transport chain leakage or excessive stimulation of xanthine oxidase and other oxidative enzymes leads to the uncontrolled production of free radicals leading to oxidative stress that can mediate damage to cell structures. This damage can be repaired by the antioxidant defense system. Antioxidants are capable of stabilizing, or deactivating, free radicals before they attack cellular components such as DNA, proteins, and lipids. The use of antioxidants in cancer prevention is a rapidly evolving research area where antioxidants scavenge free radicals and thus, indirectly help in the prevention of cancer. A wide range of antioxidants such as glutathione, N-acetylcysteine, coenzyme Q10, lycopene, flavonoids, and isoflavones when used in combination with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, result in the reduction of drug toxicity and enhanced efficacy of anticancer agents. This review aims at the use of these exogenous antioxidants as disease-oriented therapy and elucidating the relation of antioxidant enzymes with different types of cancers to overcome the harmful effects of cancer treatment

Analysis of plant growth promoting potential of endophytes isolated from echinacea purpurea and lonicera japonica

Plant endophytes help in maintaining plant health by means of their biofertilizer and biocontrol attributes and, are currently being explored for their ability to produce novel biologically active compounds. Herein, we have isolated beneficial endophytic bacteria from Echinacea purpurea (EF.B3) and Lonicera japonica (LS.B11) that showed phosphate solubilization, siderophore, indole acetic acid and hydrogen cyanide production, and fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. Additionally, the endophytes also conferred antifungal activity against Fusarium sp., Rhizoctonia sp., Pythium sp. and Alternaria sp. When tested in plantae, the LS.B11 and EF.B3 strains were able to promote plant growth and control fungal infections in peaseedlings. Both strains were found to be endophytic as tested by RAPD and viability count. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we show that the LS.B11 and EF.B3 strains are related to Pseudomonas sp. And Burkholderia sp. By using degenerate primers, we identified genes related to polyketide synthases and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases in EF.B3 and LS.B11, respectively that are typically involved in the production of antimicrobial compounds. Therefore, we conclude that both endophytes can be used for increasing agriculture productivity and in the production of antimicrobial compounds for crop improvement