Isolation of Potential Compound from the Leaves of Elytraria acaulis and Evaluating Its Therapeutic Properties Using In Vitro Studies Against Ovarian Cancer.

The present study was designed to isolate a potential compound from the extracts of Elytraria acaulis (E. acaulis) for ovarian cancer. n-Hexane, ethyl acetate, chloroform, acetone and methanol extract were taken using the Soxhlet method. Thin layer, column chromatography, NMR and MASS studies were done for the isolation and structural characterization of the compound. Finally, the novel compound (Z)-3-(2-methyl-3-oxoprop-1-en-1-yl) phenyl heptanoate was identified. MTT assay, cell morphology and cell cycle analysis were done to evaluate the anticancer property of the compound. In the MTT assay, the percentage of the cell viability treated with the isolated compound was decreased while increasing the concentration of the compound. Cancer cells treated with the isolated compound showed distinct morphological changes when compared to the control untreated cells. In the cell cycle analysis, the isolated compound induced a significant increase in the percentage of cells in G0/G1 phase and a decrease in the percentage of cells in the S phase and G2-M phase of the PA 1 cell lines. The cell cycle arrest induced by the isolated compound may account for its antiproliferative capacity. Hence, the novel compound isolated from E. acaulis can be a potent candidate in the designing of anticancer drugs.

Structural, Optical, Morphological and Microbial Studies on SnO2 Nanoparticles Prepared by Co-Precipitation Method.

Nanoparticles of tin oxide (SnO2) powders were prepared by co-precipitation method at 500 °C, 700 °C and 900 °C temperature. The sintered SnO2 nanoparticles, structural, optical, magnetic, morphological properties and microbial activity have been studied. XRD studies reveals that sintered powder which exhibits tetragonal crystal structure and both crystallinity as well as crystal size increase with increase in temperature. The morphological studies reveal randomly arranged grains with compact nature grain size increases with sintering temperature. The compositional analyses of SnO2 nanoparticles have been studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The optical band gap values of SnO2 nanoparticles were calculated to be about 4.3 eV in the temperature 500 °C, comparing with that of the bulk SnO2 3.78 eV, by optical absorption measurement. Room temperature M-H curve for pure SnO2 nanoparticles exhibits ferromagnetic behaviour. The tin oxide nanoparticles are acted as potential candidate material for bacterial and fungal activity.

Synthesis and characterization of polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles by chemical co-precipitation method for biomedical applications.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. With polyethylene glycol (PEG) as a stabilizer and dispersant. The X-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) results show that the cubic inverse spinel structure of pure phase polycrystalline Fe3O4 was obtained. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and field emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM) results exhibited that the resulted Fe3O4 nanoparticles were roughly spherical in shape with narrow size distribution and homogenous shape. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) results suggested that PEG indicated with Fe3O4 via its carbonyl groups. Results of vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) indicated that the prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles exhibit superparamagnetic behavior and high saturation magnetization at room temperature. Such Fe3O4 nanoparticles with favorable size and tunable magnetic properties are promising biomedical applications.

Omentoplasty as an effective surgical modality for managing a high risk patient with deep sternal wound infection.

Poorly managed diabetes and hypertensives are risk factors for deep sternal wound infection (DSWI) following cardiac surgery; leading to increased morbidity and mortality. To reappraise the effectiveness of omental flap in the management of High risk patient with DSWI. A middle aged man with extensive mediastinitis following cardiac surgery (from outside referral). He was a known Diabetic and Hypertensive who was poorly compliant on medications. The history, physical examination, gycosylated Haemoglobin (HbA1c) and microbiological analyses showed high blood pressure, poor glycaemic control, septicaemia with staphylococcal DSWI. Resuscitation was achieved with the use of oral antihypertensives, Human insulin and antibiotics respectively. The DSWI was managed with serial debridement and subsequent wound cover with omental flap. The hospital stay was shorter and outcome was good. The management of DSWI with omental flap may be an effective surgical modality that reduces morbidity and mortality even in high risk patients.

Intra-aortic balloon pump in coronary artery bypass graft - factors affecting outcome.

BACKGROUND: The management of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) patients, especially in high risk patients ,can be challenging as the postoperative periods may be characterized by a low cardiac output state. Inotropes used in the perioperative periods to increase cardiac output may be detrimental thus making the use of mechanical devices like intra-aortic Balloon pump (IABP) for circulatory assistance desirable. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: To study the use of intra-aortic balloon pump in coronary artery bypass patients in preoperative and post operative settings and factors that affect morbidity and mortality. SETTING: Madras Medical Mission, Chennai, India. METHOD: A retrospective study of 3974 consecutive patients who had CABG done between March 2007 and February 2011 with or without additional procedures. One hundred and seven (2.7%) patients had IABP instituted either pre-operatively or postoperatively when it was obvious the patient will need cardiac assistance. The demographic data, clinical features, the indications for insertion, management offered and outcome , the creatinine levels, the duration of intraarortic balloon pump, the intensive care unit(ICU) and Hospital stay were analyzed for means and standard deviations and Pearsons Chi-square test using SPSS 10.0 window soft ware version with significant value of p-value<0.005. RESULT: The mean age of all the patients was 59.7 + SD 10.7, 85(79.4%) patients were males,22(20.6%) were females .Out of the 107 patient who had IABP insertion, 59(55.1%) patients had IABP inserted preoperatively and 48(44.9%) postoperatively. The creatinine levels after the insertion of IABP in 68 patients was<1.5mg/dl and in 39 patients was>1.5mg/dl with mortality of 15.0% for the preoperative insertion group versus 29.0% for the postoperative group respectively (p=0.005). The preoperative and postoperative insertion ICU stay were 8.3+4.7 days and 5.7+1.6days respectively (p=0.005) and mortality were16.8% and 27.1 %( p=0.005) respectively. CONCLUSION: Early institution of intra-aortic balloon pump gives a better outcome even in high risk coronary artery bypass graft patients as it reduces ICU stay and mortality, and elevated post-insertion creatinine levels has been shown to be an indicator of impending mortality and so an early warning for putting in place mitigating protocols.

Identification of Panulirus homarus puerulus larvae by restriction fragment length polymorphism of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene.

Molecular identification of puerulus larvae of Panulirus homarus of the genus Panulirus from Indian coast was studied by employing Polymerase Chain Reaction, Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Cytochrome Oxidase Gene (COI) by agarose gel electrophoresis and Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE). The size of amplified fragment of COI gene was estimated to be approximately 1300 base pairs (bp). Single fragment amplification was recorded during different stages of the life cycle. The RFLP digestion was carried out using five different restriction enzymes (BsplI, HhaI, RsaI, TaqI and AluI). The RFLP profile of the different endonucleases, varied between 1-5 restriction types. RFLP analysis using endonuclease TaqI enabled identification of P. homarus during different stages of its life history.