Pharmacodynamic evaluation of Terminalia bellerica for its antihypertensive effect.

Terminalia bellerica has been used as a folk medicine in a variety of ailments including hypertension. Our aim was to investigate the possible mechanism of its blood pressure (BP)-lowering effect. The crude extract of Terminalia bellerica fruit (Tb.Cr) which tested positive for flavonoids, sterols and tannins induced a dose-dependent (10-100 mg/kg) fall in the arterial BP of rats under anaesthesia. In isolated guinea-pig atria, Tb.Cr inhibited the force and rate of atrial contractions. In rabbit thoracic aorta, Tb.Cr relaxed the phenylephrine (PE, 1 μM) and K+ (80 mM)-induced contractions as well as suppressed the PE (1 μM) control peaks in the Ca++-free medium, similar to that caused by verapamil. The vasodilator effect of Tb.Cr was endothelium-independent as it was not opposed by Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester in endothelium-intact rat aortic preparations and it occurred at the similar concentration in the endothelium-denuded tissues. These results indicate that Terminalia bellerica lowers BP through Ca++ antagonist mechanism and thus provides a sound mechanistic background for its medicinal use in hypertensio

Antisecretory and analgesic activities of Terminalia bellerica

This study describes the antisecretory and analgesic activities of the crude extract of Terminalia bellerica (Tb.Cr). T. bellerica extract inhibited the castor oil-induced intestinal fluid secretion in mice at the dose range of 300 - 1000 mg/kg. The extract also dose-dependently (50 - 100 mg/kg) reduced the numbers of acetic acid-mediated writhes in mice. These results indicate that T. bellerica exhibit antisecretory and anti-nociceptive effects, hence justifying its medicinal use in diarrhea and pain

Airways and cardiovascular inhibitory effects of Olea europea and Terminalia bellerica aqueous fractions

This study describes the bronchodilatory, vaso-relaxant and cardiac inhibitory effects of aqueous fractions of Olea europea (Oe.Aq) and Terminalia bellerica (Tb.Aq) fruits. In guinea-pig tracheal preparations, Oe.Aq and Tb.Aq caused concentrationdependent (0.03-5 mg/mL) relaxation of carbachol (CCh, 1 μM) and high potassium (80 mM)-induced contractions. When tested on rabbit aortic rings, against phenylephrine (PE, 1 μM) and potassium (K+)-induced contractions, Oe.Aq and Tb.Aq caused non-specific inhibition of the induced contractions. In isolated guinea-pig atria, Oe.Aq and Tb.Aq exhibited a suppressive effect on the atrial force and the rate of contractions. These data indicate that Olea europea and Terminalia bellerica aqueous fractions possess airways and cardiovascular inhibitory activities, via calcium antagonism like verapamil

Classification of Arrhythmia by Using Deep Learning with 2-D ECG Spectral Image Representation

The electrocardiogram (ECG) is one of the most extensively employed signals used in the diagnosis and prediction of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The ECG signals can capture the heart's rhythmic irregularities, commonly known as arrhythmias. A careful study of ECG signals is crucial for precise diagnoses of patients' acute and chronic heart conditions. In this study, we propose a two-dimensional (2-D) convolutional neural network (CNN) model for the classification of ECG signals into eight classes; namely, normal beat, premature ventricular contraction beat, paced beat, right bundle branch block beat, left bundle branch block beat, atrial premature contraction beat, ventricular flutter wave beat, and ventricular escape beat. The one-dimensional ECG time series signals are transformed into 2-D spectrograms through short-time Fourier transform. The 2-D CNN model consisting of four convolutional layers and four pooling layers is designed for extracting robust features from the input spectrograms. Our proposed methodology is evaluated on a publicly available MIT-BIH arrhythmia dataset. We achieved a state-of-the-art average classification accuracy of 99.11\%, which is better than those of recently reported results in classifying similar types of arrhythmias. The performance is significant in other indices as well, including sensitivity and specificity, which indicates the success of the proposed method.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for future publication in Remote Sensing MDPI Journa

Antispasmodic, Bronchodilator and Blood Pressure Lowering Properties of Hypericum oblongifolium - Possible Mechanism of Action

The crude extract of Hypericum oblongifolium (Ho.Cr), which tested positive for flavonoids, saponins and tannins caused concentration-dependent (0.1-1.0 mg/mL) relaxation of spontaneous and high K(+) (80 mM)-induced contractions in isolated rabbit jejunum preparations, suggesting a Ca(++) antagonistic effect, which was confirmed when pretreatment of the tissue with Ho.Cr produced a rightward shift in the Ca(++) concentration-response curves, like that caused by verapamil. Ho.Cr relaxed carbachol (1 mu M) and high K(+)-induced contractions in guinea pig tracheal preparations. It caused a dose-dependent (3-100 mg/kg) fall in arterial blood pressure of rats under anesthesia. In isolated guinea pig atria, Ho.Cr caused inhibition of both atrial force and rate of spontaneous contractions. When tested in rabbit aortic rings, Ho.Cr exhibited a vasodilator effect against phenylephrine (1 mu M) and high K(+)-induced contractions. These results indicate that Ho.Cr possesses gastrointestinal, respiratory and cardiovascular inhibitory effects, mediated via a Ca(++) antagonist mechanism

Studies on Buddleja asiatica antibacterial, antifungal, antispasmodic and Ca++ antagonist activities

Crude extract of Buddleja asiatica Lour and its fractions, chloroform (F1), ethyl acetate (F2) and nbutanol (F3) were evaluated for antibacterial, antifungal, antispasmodic and Ca++ antagonist activities. The antibacterial activity was performed against 11 types of bacteria. The crude extract and fractions F2 and F3 exhibited significant activity, while F1 showed low activity in killing the Shigella flexenari, Sternostoma boydi and Escherichia coli. In the rest bacteria, the crude extract and all the fractions (F1 to F3) revealed minimum to nil inhibitory effect. The fungicidal activity of the crude extract and all the fractions (F1 to F3) was also performed against six different fungi. The crude extract and fractions F1 and F3 displayed significant activity, while fraction F2 showed moderate activity against Fusarium solani. In the case of Microsporum canis, the crude extract and fraction F3 showed high activity but in the other four fungi, the inhibition area exhibited optimum to nil activity in crude extract and all the fractions (F1 to F3). In isolated rabbit jejunum preparations, B. asiatica crude extract caused concentration-dependent (0.03 to 1.0 mg/ml) relaxation of spontaneous and high K+ (80 mM)-induced contractions. The results indicate the antibacterial, antifungal, antispasmodic and Ca++ antagonist potential of B. asiatica Lour

Influence of Feed Supplementation with Cannabis Sativa on Quality of Broilers Carcass

A project was planned to study the effect of feeding powdered seeds of Cannabis sativa on the carcass quality of broiler chicks. A total of 160 day-old broiler chicks of equal weight were randomly divided into four equal groups A, B, C and D. Each group was further divided into four replicates with 10 chicks in each replicate. Dried crushed Cannabis sativa seeds were added to the feed of groups B, C and D at the rate of 5, 10 and 20% of offered feed respectively, while group A served as a control. The studied parameters were body weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), dressing percentage, mortality and economics. After an experimental period of 42 days, the data were analyzed statistically. It was revealed from the results that body weight gain was significantly higher (P<0.05), while feed intake was significantly lower (P<0.05), in group D compared to the control. FCR was significantly better in birds of group D compared to controls. Differences in dressing percentage and mortality were non significant between the treated and control groups. Return per chick (in rupees) was significantly higher in group D compared to groups A and B (P<0.05). It was concluded from these results that seeds of Cannabis sativa have remarkable impact on growth of broiler chicks and can help in alleviating feed expenditure incurred on raising broiler chicks

Characterization of newly synthesized ZrFe2O5 nanomaterial and investigations of its tremendous photocatalytic properties under visible light irradiation

High functional ZrFe2O5 nanoparticles were synthesized using coprecipitation technique. The chemical composition of nanomaterials was studied by energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). To observe the morphology, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) was used. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was utilized to appraise the structure of the synthesized material. The photocatalytic behavior of ZrFe2O 5 nano-particles was investigated by measuring the degradation rate of toluidine blue O (TBO) dye in aqueous solution in the presence of ZrFe 2O5 nano-particles under visible light irradiation. A steady decrease in absorption peak under visible light irradiation was observed by increasing exposure time. The degradation efficiency was observed as 92% after 140 min of exposure to visible light. Besides, ZrFe2O 5 nanophotocatalyst could be recovered and recycled easily. The rate of TBO and total organic carbon (TOC) removal under visible light irradiation decreased by only 5% and 10%, respectively, after seven cycles of use, demonstrating the high photostability of the synthesized nano-photocatalyst material

Combined experimental and theoretical study of poly(aniline-co-pyrrole) oligomer

Quantum mechanical calculations are performed to establish the structure of an oligomer of aniline and pyrrole [Poly(Ani-co-Py)], through comparison of experimental and theoretically calculated properties, including conductivity. The copolymer was synthesized through chemical oxidative polymerization and then confirmed from the experimental IR, UV-vis, mass spectra, elemental, XRD, TGA, and SEM analysis. Quantum mechanical calculations are performed at Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time dependent DFT (TD-DFT) methods for the electronic and spectroscopic properties of the oligomer. A very nice correlation is found between the theory and experiment which consequences the structure of Poly(Ani-co-Py). Poly(Ani-co-Py) is not explored like other conducting polymers; however, by tuning this molecular structure, the electro-active nature of this material can be enhanced adequately