Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity of Alkanna bracteosa and Alkanna tricophila

Alkanna bracteosa and Alkanna tricophila, Boraginaceae, have been reported to be useful for their anti-inflammatory and wound-healing effects in traditional medicine. Methanol extracts of A. bracteosa and A. tricophila were evaluated for their potential analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Alkanna bracteosa was observed to produce a maximum of 42% reduction of hind paw licking in acute as well as 68% alleviation in inflammatory phase of formalin test in mice and about 30% declination of carrageenan-induced rats paw swelling at doses 100-400?mg?kg?1 in comparison to negative control; on the other hand, A. tricophila required at least 200?mg?kg?1 to exhibit a significant reduction in paw licking or oedemas at the early phase of formalin test and the late phase of carrageenan test, respectively. Our results suggest that the extracts may be of use for their analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects.     

Adsorption of methyl orange using activated carbon prepared from lignin by ZnCl2 treatment

Lignocellulosic materials are good and cheap precursors for the production of activated carbon. In this study, activated carbons were prepared from the lignin at different temperatures (200 to 500°C) by ZnCl₂. The effects influencing the surface area of the resulting activated carbon are activation temperature, activation time and impregnation ratio. The optimum condition, are found an impregnation ratio of 2, an activation temperature of 450°C, and an activation time of 2 h. The results showed that the surface area and micropores volume of activated carbon at the experimental conditions are achieved to 587 and 0.23 cm³ g^?1, respectively. The adsorption behavior of methyl orange dye from aqueous solution onto activated lignin was investigated as a function of equilibrium time, pH and concentration. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms. A maximum adsorption capacity of 300 mg g^?1 of methyl orange by activated carbon was achieved.     

Essentiality and injectivity relative to sequential purity of acts

For a class ℳ of monomorphisms of a category, mathematicians consider different types of essentiality, depending on ℳ. In this paper, considering the category of acts over a semigroup, we first briefly study the class ℳ _p of a certain kind of pure monomorphisms, in a manner borrowed from V. Gould, to be called sequentially pure. Then, we study in detail three kinds of essentiality with respect to this class, and give some useful criteria to get (internal) characterizations (in terms of elements) for essentialities. Finally, the relations between injectivity, essentiality, retractness, and injective hulls, all with respect to the class of sequentially pure monomorphisms, are investigated. The second author is thankful to Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) for their financial support.     

The minimal flavour violation benchmark in view of the latest LHCb data

We derive the consequences of the MFV hypothesis for ΔF=1$\mathrm{\Delta }F=1$ flavour observables based on the latest LHCb data. Any future measurement beyond the MFV bounds and relations unambiguously indicates the existence of new flavour structures next to the Yukawa couplings of the Standard Model.     

Implications of LHC searches on SUSY particle spectra

We study the implications of LHC searches on SUSY particle spectra using flat scans of the 19-parameter pMSSM phase space. We apply constraints from flavour physics, g _μ −2, dark matter and earlier LEP and Tevatron searches. The sensitivity of the LHC SUSY searches with jets, leptons and missing energy is assessed by reproducing with fast simulation the recent CMS analyses after validation on benchmark points. We present results in terms of the fraction of pMSSM points compatible with all the constraints which are excluded by the LHC searches with 1 fb⁻¹ and 15 fb⁻¹ as a function of the mass of strongly and weakly interacting SUSY particles. We also discuss the suppression of Higgs production cross sections for the MSSM points not excluded and contrast the region of parameter space tested by the LHC data with the constraints from dark matter direct detection experiments.     

Constraints on the MSSM from the Higgs sector

We discuss the constraints on supersymmetry in the Higgs sector arising from LHC searches, rare B decays and dark matter direct detection experiments. We show that constraints derived on the mass of the lightest h ⁰ and the CP-odd A ⁰ bosons from these searches are covering a larger fraction of the SUSY parameter space compared to searches for strongly interacting supersymmetric particle partners. We discuss the implications of a mass determination for the lightest Higgs boson in the range 123<M _h <127?GeV, inspired by the intriguing hints reported by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations, as well as those of a non-observation of the lightest Higgs boson for MSSM scenarios not excluded at the end of 2012 by LHC and direct dark matter searches and their implications on LHC SUSY searches.     

Decreased Water Mobility Contributes To Increased α-Synuclein Aggregation**

The solvation shell is essential for the folding and function of proteins, but how it contributes to protein misfolding and aggregation has still to be elucidated. We show that the mobility of solvation shell H₂O molecules influences the aggregation rate of the amyloid protein α-synuclein (αSyn), a protein associated with Parkinson's disease. When the mobility of H₂O within the solvation shell is reduced by the presence of NaCl, αSyn aggregation rate increases. Conversely, in the presence CsI the mobility of the solvation shell is increased and αSyn aggregation is reduced. Changing the solvent from H₂O to D₂O leads to increased aggregation rates, indicating a solvent driven effect. We show the increased aggregation rate is not directly due to a change in the structural conformations of αSyn, it is also influenced by a reduction in both the H₂O mobility and αSyn mobility. We propose that reduced mobility of αSyn contributes to increased aggregation by promoting intermolecular interactions.