Posted by admin on May 1, 2014 in |
Phthalate esters are industrial chemicals widely used in cosmetics, plastics bottles and medical devices, and the risk of exposure to phthalates is on the increase. In recent years, many studies have been carried out on the possible health hazards of phthalates, including the effect on reproduction. In this studyrats were injected twice weekly with Di-butyl Phthalates (DBP) or Di (2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalates (DEHP) (100 mg/kg) and cohabited with male rats for one month. Fertility and mortality rates as well as fecundity were impacted significantly. Fertility rate decreased from 87 % in control rsats to 67 % in DBP treated and 50 % in DEHP treated rats. Similarly mortality rate in new born litters increased from 2.8 % in control rats to 52.3 % in DBP treated and 31.3 % in DEHP treated rats. Fecundity rate which expresses the average number of litters in each delivery was reduced from 8.2 in control rats to 7.3 in DBP treated and 5.3 in DEHP treated rats. No significant changes were observed in total...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2014 in |
Probiotic formulations are now widely accepted throughout the world for therapeutic applications as these organisms have a long history of safe use (GRAS). There are two main challenges to make a probiotic formulation viable for commercial utilization. The first one is the quality of health attributes that the probiotic organisms can confer and the second one is the stability of the formulation till the end of its shelf life. With our promising probiotic blend (a mixture of probiotic organisms) as API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient), we have tried to develop a sachet containing probiotic formulation by using different types of excipients and packaging options. Among the excipients that were tried, a commercial variety of mannitol was found to be most suitable. Appropriate packaging material is most vital for enhancement of the shelf life of a formulation. Three types of laminates were used for making sachets for protecting the probiotic formulation against moisture and oxygen. Among them, type 1 (combination of Paper/ Polyethylene/Aluminium foil/ Polyethylene) was found to give maximum protection...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2014 in |
Oxidative stress is found to be one of the major causes of health hazards in the present global scenario. The traditional herbs and medicinal plants have been investigated for the presence of natural antioxidants, which have incredible effects in the prevention of various oxidative stress associated diseases. The objective of present investigation is to assess the antioxidant capacity and phytochemical analysis of selected endemic medicinal plants viz., Abutilon indicum, Albezia odoratissima, Aglaia elaegnoides, Calicarpa tomentosa, Colebrookia oppostifolia and Pterocarpus marsupium. The antioxidant potentiality of these medicinal plants was assayed by 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl, superoxide radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation assays, total antioxidant potential by Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed that ethanolic bark extract of A. odoratissima showed positive results for the presence of alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins, anthraquinones and saponins. The plants with high phenol contents showed high antioxidant activity. The results showed that ethanolic bark extract of A. odoratissima exhibited highest antioxidant activity by possessing considerably high...
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2014 in |
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a lent virus that cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a state in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. HIV-1 protease is a retroviral aspartyl protease (retropepsin) that is essential for the life-cycle of HIV, the retrovirus that causes AIDS. HIV Wild type (PDB: 3EKV) and Mutated (PDB: 3NU9) proteins structures were retrieved from Protein Data Bank in order to check the consistency of ligand’s interactions even if mutated viral attack is present. Docking is frequently used to predict the binding orientation of small moleculedrug candidates to their protein targets in order to in turn predict the affinity and activity of the small molecule. Docking study of the target protein was done with natural compounds derived from Annona Squamosa to find the preferred orientation and binding affinity of drug with target protein using scoring functions. Annona squamosa is a small, well-branched tree or shrub from the family Annonaceae that bears edible fruits called sugar-apples....
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Posted by admin on May 1, 2014 in |
The present study is done to study and optimize the process of enzyme-assisted extraction of Chebulinic acid from the dried fruit of Terminalia chebula. A selective extraction process after the treatment with enzymes is proposed by using 30% (v/v) methanol which releases increased yield of the Chebulinic acid, present in the dried fruit compare to aqueous extract. The optimal conditions were as follows: pH value was 4.5, concentration of cellulase solution was 2.5 mg/mL, incubation time was 8 h, and incubation temperature was 50 º C and solid: solvent ratio was 1:8.Enzymes have the ability to degrade or disrupt cell walls and membranes, thus enabling better release and more efficient extraction of bioactives. Enzyme-assisted extraction methods are gaining more attention because of the need for eco-friendly extraction technologies. Enzyme-assisted extraction was proven to be highly efficient in the designing, process development and standardization of extraction of marker compound from herbal drugs and could be used in making enriched phytopharmaceuticals which may be translated into herbal drug for treating a...
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