A Narrative Review on the Phytochemistry,Pharmacology and Therapeutic Potentials of Clinacanthus nutans (Burm. f.) Lindau Leaves as an Alternative Source of Future Medicine

The application of natural products and supplements has expanded tremendously over the past few decades. Clinacanthus nutans (C. nutans), which is affiliated to the Acanthaceae family, has recently caught the interest of researchers from the countries of subtropical Asia due to its medicinal uses in alternative treatment for skin infection conditions due to insect bites, microorganism infections and cancer, as well as for health well-being. A number of bioactive compounds from this plant’s extract, namely phenolic compounds, sulphur containing compounds, sulphur containing glycosides compounds, terpens-tripenoids, terpens-phytosterols and chlorophyll-related compounds possess high antioxidant activities. This literature search yielded about one hundred articles which were then further documented, including the valuable data and findings obtained from all accessible electronic searches and library databases. The promising pharmacological activities from C. nutans leaves extract, including antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-venom, analgesic and anti-nociceptive properties were meticulously dissected. Moreover, the authors also discuss a few of the pharmacological aspect of C. nutans leaves extracts against anti-hyperlipidemia, vasorelaxation and renoprotective activities, which are seldom available from the previously discussed review papers. From the aspect of toxicological studies, controversial findings have been reported in both in-vitro and in-vivo experiments. Thus, further investigations on their phytochemical compounds and their mode of action showing pharmacological activities are required to fully grasp both traditional usage and their suitability for future drugs development. Data related to therapeutic activity and the constituents of C. nutans leaves were searched by using the search engines Google scholar, PubMed, Scopus and Science Direct, and accepting literature reported between 2010 to present. On the whole, this review paper compiles all the available contemporary data from this subtropical herb on its phytochemistry and pharmacological activities with a view towards garnering further interest in exploring its use in cardiovascular and renal diseases.     

Phytochemicals from Polyalthia Species: Potential and Implication on Anti-Oxidant,Anti-Inflammatory,Anti-Cancer,and Chemoprevention Activities

Polyalthia belong to the Annonaceae family and are a type of evergreen tree distributed across many tropical and subtropical regions. Polyalthia species have been used long term as indigenous medicine to treat certain diseases, including fever, diabetes, infection, digestive disease, etc. Recent studies have demonstrated that not only crude extracts but also the isolated pure compounds exhibit various pharmacological activities, such as anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-tumor, anti-cancer, etc. It is known that the initiation of cancer usually takes several years and is related to unhealthy lifestyle, as well as dietary and environmental factors, such as stress, toxins and smoking. In fact, natural or synthetic substances have been used as cancer chemoprevention to delay, impede, or even stop cancer growing. This review is an attempt to collect current available phytochemicals from Polyalthia species, which exhibit anti-cancer potentials for chemoprevention purposes, providing directions for further research on the interesting agents and possible clinical applications.     

Software lens compensation applied to athermalization of infrared imaging systems

A different approach, aiming to achieve the constant blur status of point-spread function (PSF) at a certain defocused plane, is described. The correlation between the two PSF is used to control the PSF blur similarity, and simultaneously the Strehl ratio is also used to control the PSF blur minimization. By designing the PSF so that it is significantly insensitive to defocus or related defocus quantity, for example, due to temperature change, all the constantly blurred images can be accurately de-blurred by a simple inverse restoration filter for an adequate range of defocus. We refer to that as “software lens compensation” and apply a design method to solve the athermalization of middle wavelength infrared (MWIR) imaging systems. The resultant PSF is almost invariant in the temperature range from −10 to 50°C at the same focal plane. Consequently, the constant blur spot can be removed by a simple digital signal processing. Thus, clear and sharp de-blurred images at different temperatures are obtained.     

Solving polynomials by radicals with roots of unity in minimum depth

Let be an algebraic number field. Let be a root of a polynomial which is solvable by radicals. Let be the splitting field of over . Let be a natural number divisible by the discriminant of the maximal abelian subextension of , as well as the exponent of , the Galois group of over . We show that an optimal nested radical with roots of unity for can be effectively constructed from the derived series of the solvable Galois group of over .

     

Fabrication of copper oxide nanofluid using submerged arc nanoparticle synthesis system (SANSS)

The optimal parameters are found for preparing nanofluid in our submerged arc nanoparticle synthesis system (SANSS) using a copper electrode. A suspended copper oxide nanofluid is thus produced at the current of 8.5–10 A, voltage of 220 V, pulse duration of 12 μs, and dielectric liquid temperature of 2°C. The CuO nanoparticle are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron diffraction pattern (SAD) and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). The equality volume spherical diameter of the obtained copper oxide particle is 49.1 nm, regular shape and narrow size distribution.This revised version was published online in August 2005 with a corrected issue number.     

Global simulation for laser-driven MeV electrons in fast ignition

A comprehensive examination of the interaction of a picosecond-long ignition pulse on high-density (40 times critical density) pellets using a two-dimensional particle-in-cell model is described. The global geometry consists of a 50 mum diameter pellet surrounded by a corona which is isolated by a vacuum region from the boundary. For cone-attached targets, as much as 67% of the incident laser energy is absorbed with 12% sent forward as fast electrons in a 23 degrees cone. The current filaments are driven by the Weibel instability of the forward-going fast electron flux and its return current with the ions playing an important role of neutralizing the space charge. No global current filament coalescence has been observed. The electron distribution function obeys a power law, which begins at E approximately 0.2 MeV and falls off as E-(2-3).     

Tunable diffraction of magnetic fluid films and its potential application in coarse wavelength-division multiplexing

When an external magnetic field is applied parallel to the film surface of a magnetic fluid film, a high-quality one-dimensional periodic chain structure is formed when the field strength reaches a certain level. With a periodic chain structure in the magnetic fluid film, an incident light is diffracted onto the magnetic thin film. The results show that the one-dimensional periodic chain structure in the magnetic fluid film can serve as an optical grating. Further investigations reveal the feasibility of developing tunable coarse wavelength-division multiplexing by utilizing a periodic chain structure.     

Dynamics of a supersonic plume moving along a magnetized plasma

A particle-in-cell code is used to investigate the evolution of a density plume moving through a background plasma with supersonic speed directed along the confinement magnetic field. For scale lengths representative of laboratory and auroral phenomena, the major nonlinear effects identified by the present simulations are the formation of a bipolar current system from the ballistic electrons, the appearance of transient potential layers, and the carving of deep density cavities. A 3D magnetic topology is generated by the self-consistent ballistic and diamagnetic currents that accompany highly localized potential layers.     

Chow’s Theorem for Semi-abelian Varieties and Bounds for Splitting Fields of Algebraic Tori

A theorem of Chow concerns homomorphisms of two abelian varieties under a primary field extension base change. In this paper, we generalize Chow's theorem to semi-abelian varieties. This contributes to different proofs of a well-known result that every algebraic torus splits over a finite separable field extension. We also obtain the best bound for the degrees of splitting fields of tori.