Ipomoea aquatica extract shows protective action against thioacetamide-induced hepatotoxicity

In the Indian system of traditional medicine (Ayurveda) it is recommended to consume Ipomoea aquatica to mitigate disorders like jaundice. In this study, the protective effects of ethanol extract of I. aquatica against liver damage were evaluated in thioacetamide (TAA)-induced chronic hepatotoxicity in rats. There was no sign of toxicity in the acute toxicity study, in which Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were orally fed with I. aquatica (250 and 500 mg/kg) for two months along with administration of TAA (i.p injection 200 mg/kg three times a week for two months). The results showed that the treatment of I. aquatica significantly lowered the TAA-induced serum levels of hepatic enzyme markers (ALP, ALT, AST, protein, albumin, bilirubin and prothrombin time). The hepatic content of activities and expressions SOD and CAT that were reduced by TAA were brought back to control levels by the plant extract supplement. Meanwhile, the rise in MDA level in the TAA receiving groups also were significantly reduced by I. aquatica treatment. Histopathology of hepatic tissues by H&E and Masson trichrome stains displayed that I. aquatica has reduced the incidence of liver lesions, including hepatic cells cloudy swelling, infiltration, hepatic necrosis, and fibrous connective tissue proliferation induced by TAA in rats. Therefore, the results of this study show that the protective effect of I. aquatica in TAA-induced liver damage might be contributed to its modulation on detoxification enzymes and its antioxidant and free radical scavenger effects. Moreover, it confirms a scientific basis for the traditional use of I. aquatica for the treatment of liver disorders.     

Solution and solid state characterization of oxo-centered trinuclear iron(III) acetate complexes [Fe3(μ3-O)(μ-OAc)6(L)3]+

[Fe(3)(μ(3)-O)(μ-OAc)(6)(py)(3)][FeBr(4)](2)[py·H], complex (1), (OAc is acetate) was prepared from the reaction of FeBr(3) with pyridine in 1.2 molar aqueous HBr and 2.4 molar aqueous CH(3)COOH. Recrystallization of 1 in acetonitrile produced the [Fe(3)(μ(3)-O)(μ-OAc)(6)(py)(3)][FeBr(4)] complex (2). Both complexes were characterized by IR and (1)H NMR spectroscopies and their structures were studied using the single-crystal diffraction method. There is a lack of thorough characterization of the titled compounds in solution. Paramagnetic (1)H NMR is introduced as a good probe for the characterization of a family of titled compounds in solution when the L ligand coordinated to iron varies as: CH(3)OH, CH(3)CN, DMSO, H(2)O, py and acetone.     

Antibacterial evaluation of some Schiff bases derived from 2-acetylpyridine and their metal complexes

A series of Schiff bases derived from 2-acetylpyridne and their metal complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, NMR, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectral studies. The complexes were screened for anti-bacterial activity against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Acinetobacter baumanni (AC), Klebsiella pneumonie (KB) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) using the disc diffusion and micro broth dilution assays. Based on the overall results, the complexes showed the highest activities against MRSA while a weak antibacterial activity was observed against A. baumanii and P. aeruginosa.     

Synthesis and spectroscopic studies of new Schiff bases

Five novel Schiff bases have been prepared from o-formylphenoxyacetic acid and a series of aminothiazoles to form a number of potentially biologically active compounds. The structures of these Schiff bases have been characterized using IR and (1)H-and (13)C-NMR spectroscopy.     

Identification of P-glycoprotein substrates using open tubular chromatography on an immobilized P-glycoprotein column: Comparison of chromatographic results with Caco-2 permeability

The Caco-2 cell monolayer model was used to classify 13 compounds as P-glycoprotein (Pgp) substrates or non-substrates. The apparent permeability coefficients (Papp) in the basal-to-apical direction (Papp_B-A) and in the apical-to-basal direction (Papp_A-B) were determined for each compound and a compound was designated as a Pgp substrate if Papp_B-A/Papp_A-B, the permeability ratio, exceeded 2.0. The same compounds were chromatographed on open tubular glass columns containing membranes from cell lines that either expressed Pgp (Pgp(+)-OT column) or did not express Pgp (Pgp(−)-OT column). The differential retentions in min, Δt values, of the compounds were determined using the following relationship Δt = t_(Pgp(+)-OT) − t_{(Pgp(−)-OT)}. A statistically significant correlation was observed between the Δt values and the permeability ratios, r² = 0.7749 (p = 0.0063), indicating that the differential chromatography approach could be used to quantitatively assess permeability ratios. The results also indicated that a Δt value ≥0.5 min was a reliable measure of a permeability ratios >2 and could be used as a rapid qualitative determination of whether a test compound was a Pgp substrate. The chromatographic study took 1 h to complete and a single pair of columns could be used to screen at least 150 compounds a week and 600 compounds during the 4-week lifetime of the columns.     

Noncommutative Inspired Reissner-Nordstrom Black Holes in Large Extra Dimensions

Recently, a new noncommutative geometry inspired solution of the coupled Einstein Maxwell field equations including black holes in 4-dimension is found. In this paper, we generalize some aspects of this model to the Reissner Nordstrom （RN） like geometries with large extra dimensions. We discuss Hawking radiation process based on noncommutative inspired solutions. In this framework, existence of black hole remnant and possibility of its detection in LHC are investigated.     

Temporal context and conditional associative learning

Background  

We investigated how temporal context affects the learning of arbitrary visuo-motor associations. Human observers viewed highly distinguishable, fractal objects and learned to choose for each object the one motor response (of four) that was rewarded. Some objects were consistently preceded by specific other objects, while other objects lacked this task-irrelevant but predictive context.     

A cosmological viewpoint on the correspondence between deformed phase-space and canonical quantization

We employ the familiar canonical quantization procedure in a given cosmological setting to argue that it is equivalent to and results in the same physical picture if one considers the deformation of the phase-space instead. To show this we use a probabilistic evolutionary process to make the solutions of these different approaches comparable. Specific model theories are used to show that the independent solutions of the resulting Wheeler–DeWitt equation are equivalent to solutions of the deformation method with different signs for the deformation parameter. We also argued that since the Wheeler–DeWitt equation is a direct consequence of diffeomorphism invariance, this equivalence is only true provided that the deformation of phase-space does not break such an invariance.