Defence Life Science Journal
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Radiation Induced Xerostomia: Current Concepts and Future Trends
Get PDFRadiation induced xerostomia is a persistent clinical presentation that affects the quality of life in head and neck cancer patients even with the best of the intensity modulated radiotherapy protocols. Comprehensive review of the anatomic, histologic, developmental and neuronal entities of salivary glands from a regenerative perspective, ensuing radiation is taken. It also evaluates the systemic and glandular radiation responses that form the early and late clinical changes. From these, the article submits probable strategies; based on the current knowledge and future challenges involved, in reversing radiation induced xerostomia. Further, it elaborates on the status of radioprotectors and mitigators including the recently reported biologic and chemical derivatives and proposes the rationale of using combination radioprotector therapy in radiation injuries. A brief of palliative regimes, alternate treatment modes and technologic advancements in radiotherapy are also explained. Salivary gland histologic components, which need to be protected in the emerging radiotherapy protocols and can be targeted in different salivary gland regeneration therapies is highlighted. The paper contributes to an improved understanding in radiation induced xerostomia and deliberates on novel mechanisms towards enhancing quality of life in head and neck cancer radiotherapy patients
Ethyl 4-(4′-heptanoyloxyphenyl)-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one-5-carboxylate Prevents Progression of Monocrotaline-induced Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rats
Get PDFTherapies to prevent onset and progression of pulmonary arterial pressure are not very effective yet. This study was designed to investigate the effects of a novel dihydropyrimidinone, ethyl 4-(4′-heptanoyloxyphenyl)-6-methyl-3,4-dihydropyrimidin-2-one-5-carboxylate (H-DHPM) on pathogenesis of monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). For the same purpose, rats were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) a single dose (60 mg/kg) of MCT which led to development of PAH in 21 days. MCT insult caused high mortality, pulmonary vascular and parenchymal remodelling. Since the course of PAH pathogenesis is characterised by an early onset and progression phases, H-DHPM was administered i.p. at 30 mg/kg dosage in MCT pre-injected animals either from day 0 through day 21 or day 14 though day 21 of MCT injection in two separate treatment groups. H-DHPM significantly improved survival, prevented remodelling of pulmonary vasculature and parenchyma and subsequently ameliorated PAH pathogenesis. Moreover, we observed significant decrease in right ventricle hypertrophy, measured by wet weight of right ventricle (RV) divided by wet weight of left ventricle plus septum (LV+S), in H-DHPM treated groups as compared to MCT injected animals. These findings suggest H-DHPM not only prevented development of PAH but also treated the PAH pathogenesis in progressive phase. In conclusion, our data determines H-DHPM, might be a future drug for the prevention of PAH
Nanomaterials based Decontamination Formulation for use in Personal Decontamination Kit Against Chemical Warfare Agents
Get PDFPresent paper relates to nanomaterials based decontamination formulation made up of TiO2, MgO, and ZnO nanoparticles for the use against chemical warfare agents. This decontamination formulation was prepared by mixing 90 per cent of TiO2 nanoparticles of 5-15 nm size range, 8 per cent of MgO nanoparticles of 5-15 nm size range, and 2 per cent of ZnO nanoparticles of 20-30 nm size range. Prepared formulation exhibited 98-99 per cent of physical removal efficiency against contaminated glass, rubber, painted metal, metal surfaces. It efficiently removed chemical warfare agents from contaminated skin thus ameliorating chances of fatality which is expected due to skin penetrated chemical warfare agents. It also chemically degraded 97 per cent of sulphur mustard in 24 h, 99.9 per cent of sarin in 2 h, respectively unlike Fuller’s earth which chemically degraded only 63 per cent of sulphur mustard and 59 per cent of sarin in 24 h
Effect of Mulching, Shading, Spacing and Cutting Thickness on Propagation of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) by Cuttings
Get PDFThe effect of plastic mulching, coloured shade netting, spacing and cutting thickness on rooting success and growth of Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) through hard wood cuttings is addressed. Use of silver black plastic mulching film resulted in 10 per cent higher rooting success and significant plant growth. Suppression of weed emergence by the plastic mulch resulted in 75.8 per cent time saving in manual weeding by farm workers. No significant gender difference in rooting success was observed. Reduction in light intensity by 66 per cent using green shade net resulted in significant reduction in rooting and growth of nursery plants. Three different spacing between cuttings did not show significant difference in rooting and growth related parameters suggesting that cuttings can be planted denser (3"×3") under mulching to get higher number of nursery stock per unit area. Cutting thickness showed significant effect on rooting success. Highest rooting percentage was observed in pencil thickness cuttings (7.5 ± 1.6 mm dia) followed by cuttings with 2.9 ± 0.8 mm and 11.3 ± 1.7 mm basal diameter. The result of the present study could facilitate establishment of a vegetative propagation method wherein faster growth and larger number of cuttings can be propagated with higher rooting success rate
Detection and classification of Bacteria using Raman Spectroscopy Combined with Multivariate Analysis
Get PDFVibrational spectroscopic techniques have advantages over conventional microbiological approaches towards identification & detection of pathogens. Since unique spectral fingerprint is obtained, one can identify very closely related bacteria using such methods. In this study Raman microspectroscopy in combination with chemometric method has been used to classify four strains of E. coli (two pathogenic & two non-pathogenic). Different multivariate approaches such as hierarchical cluster analysis, principal component analysis & linear discriminant analysis were explored to obtain efficient classification of the Raman signals obtained from the four strains of E.coli. It was observed that multivariate analysis was able to classify the bacteria at strain level. Linear discrimination analysis using PC scores (PC-LDA) was found to give very good result with as high as 100% accuracy. This hybrid technique (Raman spectroscopy & multivariate analysis) has tremendous potential to be developed as a tool for bacterial identification.
Production of Inulinase by Fusarium sp. and its Application for Fructo-oligosaccharide Production for use as Prebiotics
Get PDFFructooligosaccharides (FOS) are useful due to their applications in food and pharmaceutical industry. Fusarium spp., isolated from dahlia rhizosphere, produced endoinulinases in a medium containing inulin or sucrose as carbon substrate. In this study, characterization of exo-inulinase and production of FOS were investigated. Temperature and pH optimum of the enzyme was found to be 60°C and pH 6.0, respectively. The optimization of fermentation conditions for inulinase production was carried out using one at a time approach. The optimized medium with sucrose as a carbon source and yeast extract as a nitrogen source were found to be optimal for inulinase production at an initial pH 5.0 and incubation temperature 30 °C for 120 h. Under these conditions, the maximum inulinase concentration of 131.6 U/ml was achieved. SDS PAGE revealed that the molecular weight of the enzyme was around 90 kDa. Further study revealed that Fusarium sp. could produce inulinase as well as invertase. Thin layer chromatography was carried out to analyze the FOS production and their oligomeric properties. Inulin as well FOS can be used as prebiotics as they are selectively fermented by Bifidobacteria and Lactic acid bacteria and thus imparting health benefits
Health Benefits of Quercetin
Get PDFFlavonoids are natural antioxidants derived from plant pigments and commonly found in agricultural produce such as fruits, vegetables, and also in beverages like tea and wine. Quercetin is the most important flavonoid which belongs to the class of flavonol. Quercetin is a vital biologically active compound, which is present in many products, such as onion (Allium cepa), black tea (Camellia sinensis), Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italic), and also in red wine and green tea, It is widely used in medicine and pharmaceutics. In particular, it is used for cancer treatment; as it restrains the growth of cancer cells. Earlier some of computational investigations of this molecule were reported in literature, but they were made at low theory level. Quercetin provided many health promoting benefits, like cardiovascular properties, cancer reducing agent, Anti-inflammatory, asthma and many more. That is why the further investigation of this molecule is important. The main important of this review is to understanding of the structure of quercetin and corresponding biological properties of quercetin expressed in vitro studies, absorption is critical, but in vivo studies, better absorbed antioxidant were observed like vitamin C, further reported studies on effect of food processing, health benefits, storage effects, and evaluate its safety and dosage
Advances in the Value Addition to Foods-recent Trends
Get PDFValue addition to foods may be done by several ways. It could be done by the use of preservative, food ingredients capable of eliciting functionalities and by fortification using micronutrients. There are novel and emerging food processing technologies that are possible to preserve the ingredients in the food intact. The shelf life enhancement of the processed food can be done by adapting newer packaging technologies. Food processing industries in many of the countries across the world generates huge quantity of by-products that can be put into use by value addition. These by-products have less use and create considerable environmental pollution. The by-products of the fruits, vegetables, etc. may be used for value addition adapting commercially viable approaches. Fermented foods are value added foods that could be developed using novel starters. It is also important to note the regulatory aspects of foods whenever the foods are preserved b y value additio
Biological Radioprotection: Six Decades of Scientific Struggle
Get PDFWelcome to this special issue on ‘biological radioprotection’ of Defence Life Science Journal (DLSJ). The journal is published by Defence Scientific Information & Documentation Centre (DESIDOC) on behalf of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Govt. of India. Biological radioprotection is an uncherris goal for radiation biologist at global scale. Despite six decade’s continuous efforts, global scientific community is still searching for a radiation countermeasure agent which can be used during radiation emergency scenario. Though, few radioprotective agents received IND status by US-FDA however, so far not a single drug is approved for human uses globally. The major obstacles to achieve biological radioprotection are i.e. variable severity of biological damage with different types of radiation and dose rate, differential RBE for low LET and high LET radiation, variable radiosensitivity of biological systems, unpractical time and drug therapeutic dose window and unacceptable toxicity at efficacious dose of a radioprotective agent, etc
ANN based Joint Time and frequency analysis of EEG for detection of driver drowsiness
Get PDFDrowsiness detection plays a vital role in accidents avoidance systems, thereby saving many precious lives. According to the World Health Organization, Drowsiness has been the radical contributor of road fatalities. Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a physiological signal which relays the functioning of Brain and widely used in the diagnosis of Neurological Disorders. This study extrapolates the EEG signal analysis to examine several cognitive tasks. In this report, the EEG signal is processed to detect the behavioural patterns of the brain and drowsiness state of the drivers while performing monotonous driving for long distances. An eight-channel EEG data acquisition system is used to acquire the EEG data from 20 male volunteers. The EEG signal is pre-processed and decomposed into various rhythms by applying Digital filter in MATLAB 2007b (Mathworks, Inc., USA). Time-Frequency Domain analysis has been done to extract certain features PSG and PRMSD which are statistically significant (ρ < 0.05) in the detection of drowsiness. The driving profile is classified into Active and Drowsy by a threshold, and linear regression analysis has been performed on the features extracted. A Drowsiness index is proposed stating a positive correlation (0.8-0.9) between the Total mean and the drowsy mean of the subject