Biochemical Evaluation of Withania Somnifera Root Powder on Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis in Rats

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the biochemical effect of Withania somnifera Linn. Solanaceae, commonly known as ashwagandha on adjuvant induced arthritic rats. Results were compared to Indomethacin, a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Arthritis was induced by an intra dermal injection of Complete Freund’s Adjuvant (0.1 ml) into the right hind paw of Wistar albino rats. Withania somnifera root powder (1000 mg/kg/day) and Indomethacin (3 mg/kg/day) were orally administered for 8 days (from 11th to 18th day) after adjuvant injection. After the experimental period, all the animals were sacrificed and serum, liver and spleen samples were collected for further biochemical analysis. A significant increase in the activities of gluconeogenic enzymes, tissue marker enzymes, blood glucose level, WBC, platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and acute phase proteins (hyaluronic acid, fibrinogen and ceruloplasmin) was observed in adjuvant-induced arthritic rats, whereas the activities of glycolytic enzymes, body weight, levels of hemoglobin, RBC count, and packed cell volume were found to be decreased. These biochemical alterations observed in arthritic animals were ameliorated significantly after the administration of Withania somnifera root powder (1000 mg/kg/b.wt) and Indomethacin (3 mg/kg/b.wt). Our results suggest that Withania somnifera root powder is capable of rectifying the above biochemical changes in adjuvant arthritis and it may prove to be useful in treating rheumatoid arthritis

Tribology of tidal turbine blades : impact angle effects on erosion of polymeric coatings in sea water conditions

Tidal energy, of all marine renewables energies, possesses higher persistency and predictability over long time scales. Due to the aggressive marine environment, there are barriers in the development of tidal power generation technology. In particular, with regard to increased rotor diameter, the selection of material presents significant challenges to be addressed including the tribological environment, such as solid particle erosion, cavitation erosion, the effect of high thrust loading on the turbine blade tips, and the synergy between sea water conditions and such tribological phenomena. This research focuses on producing and testing a variety of advanced materials and surface coatings to investigate two main tribological issues in tidal environments: matrix cutting and reinforcement fracture. In our previous work, a G10 epoxy glass laminate was tested in this environment and the results revealed tribological issues. In this present work, G10 epoxy glass laminate base erosion resistant polymeric coatings have been tested for the range of sand particles size in our our previous work and in NaCl solution. The test results reveal that the coating has enhanced the quality of performance of the composite with respect to tribological behaviour, and has diminished the synergy between sea water and tribological phenomena. This indicates progress toward the selection of advanced materials to manufacture tidal turbine blades

ISOLATION OF EGG DROP SYNDROME VIRUS AND ITS MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION USING SODIUM DODECYL SULPHATE POLYACRYLAMIDE GEL ELECTROPHORESIS

Six isolates of egg drop syndrome (EDS) virus were recovered from five different outbreaks of EDS in commercial laying hens in and around Faisalabad. The aberrant eggs were fed to the susceptible laying hens for experimental induction of infection. The samples from infected birds (egg washing, cloacal swabs, oviducts and spleens) were collected, processed and inoculated into 11-day old duck embryos. The presence of virus in harvested allanto-amniotic fluid was monitored by spot and microhaemagglutination tests and confirmed by haemagglutination inhibition and agar gel precipitation tests. The EDS virus grew well in duck embryos and agglutinated only avian but not mammalian red blood cells. These isolates were purified through velocity density gradient centrifugation. Protein concentration was determined through Lowry method and sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) was conducted by loading 300 µg protein concentration on 12.5% gel using discontinuous buffer system. All the six isolates showed 13 polypeptides, which were identical to those described in the referral EDS-76 virus (strain-127). The molecular weights of the polypeptides ranged from 6.5 KDa to 126 KDa

Mapping synergy of erosion mechanisms of tidal turbine composite materials in sea water conditions

Tidal energy, of all marine renewables energy, possesses higher persistency and predictability over long time scales. Moreover, the higher density of water than air also results in greater power output from a tidal turbine than a wind turbine with similar dimensions. Due to the aggressive marine environment, there are barriers in the development of tidal power generation technology. In particular, with regard to increased rotor diameter, the selection of material presents significant challenges to be addressed including the tribological environment, such as solid particle erosion, cavitation erosion, the effect of high thrust loading on the turbine blade tips, and the synergy between sea water conditions and such tribological phenomena. This research focuses on producing and testing a variety of composite materials with different fibres and reinforcement layouts to evaluate two main tribological issues in tidal environments: matrix cutting and reinforcement fracture. A slurry pot test rig was used to measures the effects of different impact angles and particles sizes at constant tip speeds

Utility of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in Diagnosis of Soft Tissue Lesions with Histopathological Correlation

100 cases of Soft tissue lesions were studied by Fine Needle Cytology (FNAC) and subsequently correlated by Histopathological examination and Immunohistochemical staining. The study revealed that 55% of the cases were benign soft tissue tumour masses, 34% were benign soft tissue tumour like masses and 11% were malignant soft tissue lesions. The accuracy determined by the histopathological examination for benign soft tissue masses was 94.38% and in 100%malignant soft tissue lesions. The discordance of 5.62% in the benign soft tissue masses was due to aspiration of inadequate material and loss of architectural pattern. Hence, excision with histopathological examination is mandatory in such cases

Emergence of hexatic and long-range herringbone order in two-dimensional smectic liquid crystals : A Monte Carlo study

Using a high resolution Monte Carlo simulation technique based on multi-histogram method and cluster-algorithm, we have investigated critical properties of a coupled XY model, consists of a six-fold symmetric hexatic and a three-fold symmetric herringbone field, in two dimensions. The simulation results demonstrate a series of novel continues transitions, in which both long-range hexatic and herringbone orderings are established simultaneously. It is found that the specific-heat anomaly exponents for some regions in coupling constants space are in excellent agreement with the experimentally measured exponents extracted from heat-capacity data near the smecticA-hexaticB transition of two-layer free standing film

PREPARATION OF CONJUGATE FOR USE IN AN ELISA FOR HUMORAL IMMUNE RESPONSE AGAINST EGG DROP SYNDROME VIRUS IN LAYER CHICKS

An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was performed for the detection of antibodies against Egg Drop Syndrome (EDS) virus. Virus identification was done through haemaggluti- nation inhibition (HI) test using known antisera. Antichicken immunoglobulins were raised in goats and purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation technique. These goat-antichicken immunoglobulins were conjugated with horseradish peroxidase. Twenty-seven serum samples were collected from a layers flock vaccinated against EDS and specific antibodies were determined by using a horseradish conjugate

Measurement of beam losses at the australian synchrotron

The unprecedented requirements that new machines are setting on their diagnostic systems is leading to the development of new generation of devices with large dynamic range, sensitivity and time resolution. Beam loss detection is particularly challenging due to the large extension of new facilities that need to be covered with localized detector. Candidates to mitigate this problem consist of systems in which the sensitive part of the radiation detectors can be extended over long distance of beam lines. In this document we study the feasibility of a BLM system based on optical f ber as an active detector for an electron storage ring. The Australian Synchrotron (AS) comprises a 216 m ring that stores electrons up to 3 GeV. The Accelerator has recently claimed the world record ultra low transverse emittance (below pm rad) and its surroundings are rich in synchrotron radiation. Therefore, the AS provides beam conditions very similar to those expected in the CLIC/ILC damping rings. A qualitative benchmark of beam losses in a damping ring-like environment is presented here. A wide range of beam loss rates can be achieved by modifying three beam parameters strongly correlated to the beam lifetime: bunch charge (with a variation range between 1 uA and 10 mA), horizontal/vertical coupling and of dynamic aperture. The controlled beam losses are observed by means of the Cherenkov light produced in a 365 μ m core Silica f ber. The output light is coupled to different type of photo sensors namely: Metal Semiconductor Metal (MSM), Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs), standard PhotoMulTiplier (PMT) tubes, Avalanche Photo- Diodes (APD) and PIN diodes. A detailed comparison of the sensitivities and time resolution obtained with the different read-outs are discussed in this contribution

Temperature Impact in Electromagnetic Non-Invasive Water/Oil/Gas Multiphase Real Time Monitoring

The measurement of the reflected S-parameter (S11) for multiphase (liquid-liquid-gas) 10-60% water, 70-20% oil and 20% gas (air) in volume are monitored using an electromagnetic microwave resonation method at a frequency range of 1-6 GHz. The measurements were examined at variable temperature ranges from 5-60 oC that were stepped by 5 oC. Clear shifts are observed in three resonant peaks of the S-parameter measurements as a volume fraction of mixture constituents. These are changed by 10% per step. The two frequency type (horizontal) S11 shifts take place at main (4 GHz frequency) and around 5 GHz frequency resonant peaks and one power type (vertical) shift at 5.45 GHz frequency resonant peak. When the temperature is held constant, the S11 values for all resonant peaks increase as WVF (water volume fraction) in the mixture increases. When WVF is held constant, the values of S11 increase as the temperature increases for around 5 GHz, 5.45 GHz frequency peaks and decreases for main peak. The results are validated by HFSS simulation executed for all tested volume fractions at 5 and 60 oC. For verification, a complete simulation is carried out at 40-40-20 percent of water-oil-gas and compared with experimental results at 5 oC intervals from 5-60 oC. The experimental results agreed well with theoretical predictions that simulated the HFSS software package with a maximum error of 1.91% for 5 oC mixtures and 1.13% for 60 oC mixtures at the main peak and 5.4% for 5 oC mixtures and 6.01% for 60 oC mixtures at 5.45 GHz peak. The study shows that the S11 measurements can be used as a dependent method to specify both the phase fraction of the multiphase mixture as well as its salinity and temperature

Affinity of Tau antibodies for solubilized pathological Tau species but not their immunogen or insoluble Tau aggregates predicts in vivo and ex vivo efficacy

BACKGROUND: A few tau immunotherapies are now in clinical trials with several more likely to be initiated in the near future. A priori, it can be anticipated that an antibody which broadly recognizes various pathological tau aggregates with high affinity would have the ideal therapeutic properties. Tau antibodies 4E6 and 6B2, raised against the same epitope region but of varying specificity and affinity, were tested for acutely improving cognition and reducing tau pathology in transgenic tauopathy mice and neuronal cultures. RESULTS: Surprisingly, we here show that one antibody, 4E6, which has low affinity for most forms of tau acutely improved cognition and reduced soluble phospho-tau, whereas another antibody, 6B2, which has high affinity for various tau species was ineffective. Concurrently, we confirmed and clarified these efficacy differences in an ex vivo model of tauopathy. Alzheimer’s paired helical filaments (PHF) were toxic to the neurons and increased tau levels in remaining neurons. Both toxicity and tau seeding were prevented by 4E6 but not by 6B2. Furthermore, 4E6 reduced PHF spreading between neurons. Interestingly, 4E6’s efficacy relates to its high affinity binding to solubilized PHF, whereas the ineffective 6B2 binds mainly to aggregated PHF. Blocking 4E6's uptake into neurons prevented its protective effects if the antibody was administered after PHF had been internalized. When 4E6 and PHF were administered at the same time, the antibody was protective extracellularly. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these findings indicate that high antibody affinity for solubilized PHF predicts efficacy, and that acute antibody-mediated improvement in cognition relates to clearance of soluble phospho-tau. Importantly, both intra- and extracellular clearance pathways are in play. Together, these results have major implications for understanding the pathogenesis of tauopathies and for development of immunotherapies. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13024-016-0126-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users