Phytochemical composition,biological potential and enzyme inhibition activity of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scandix pecten-veneris</Emphasis> L.

Objective

Scandix pecten-veneris L. is a less studied wild edible herb and is considered an extinct plant species in many parts of the world. This study was designed to evaluate its phytochemical composition and biological potential of S. pecten-veneris L.

Methods

Phytochemicals including alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols, and tannins were determined in extracts of S. pecten-veneris. Antioxidant activity was determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), while reducing power was tested by ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Antimicrobial activity against seven bacterial and four fungal strains was evaluated using agar well diffusion assay. Enzymes inhibition study was performed for urease, phosphodiesterase-I, and catalase-II.

Results

S. pecten-veneris showed moderate antiradical activity and reducing potential of hydroxyl radicals to about 20% of the initial value. The antioxidant activity of various extracts of S. pecten-veneris showed a linear correlation with total phenolic contents in the order of water>n-butanol>chloroform>ethyl acetate>methanol extracts. S. pecten-veneris leaves showed the highest inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus while the highest antifungal activity was observed against Candida albicans. The plant extract was most potent against urease enzymes but showed moderate activity against phosphodiestrase-I and carbonic anhydrase-II.

Conclusions

Our data demonstrate that in addition to its culinary uses, S. pecten-veneris has good medicinal potential and hence could be used for treating some specific health ailments.

     

Detection of hemoglobin E in Endhra Pradesh: Mutational analysis using polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme Mnl 1

Hemoglobin E (beta-26^{Glutamic acid→Lysine}) is the second most prevalent hemoglobin variant in the world. 293 blood samples from cases referred from several hospitals in the region of Andhra Pradesh were screened for the detection of hemoglobinopathies. Four samples were found to be in heterozygous state for Hb E condition. Mutation in two of these heterozygotes was analysed using a 722 base pair (bp) amplified DNA fragment from beta-globin gene and restriction enzyme Mnl 1. A 232bp DNA fragment was found to be associated with the Hb E mutation.     

Pre-game perceived wellness highly associates with match running performances during an international field hockey tournament

This study examined the associations between pre-game wellness and changes in match running performance normalised to either (i) playing time, (ii) post-match RPE or (iii) both playing time and post-match RPE, over the course of a field hockey tournament. Twelve male hockey players were equipped with global positioning system (GPS) units while competing in an international tournament (six matches over 9 days). The following GPS-derived variables, total distance (TD), low-intensity activity (LIA; <15?km/h), high-intensity running (HIR; >15?km/h), high-intensity accelerations (HIACC; >2?m/s²) and decelerations (HIDEC; >?2?m/s²) were acquired and normalised to either (i) playing time, (ii) post-match RPE or (iii) both playing time and post-match RPE. Each morning, players completed ratings on a 0–10 scale for four variables: fatigue, muscle soreness, mood state and sleep quality, with cumulative scores determined as wellness. Associations between match performances and wellness were analysed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Combined time and RPE normalisation demonstrated the largest associations with Δwellness compared with time or RPE alone for most variables; TD (r?=??0.95; ?1.00 to ?0.82, p?=?.004), HIR (r?=??0.95; ?1.00 to ?0.83, p?=?.003), LIA (r?=??0.94; ?1.00 to ?0.81, p?=?.026), HIACC (r?=??0.87; ?1.00 to ?0.66, p?=?.004) and HIDEC (r?=??0.90; ?0.99 to ?0.74, p?=?.008). These findings support the use of wellness measures as a pre-match tool to assist with managing internal load over the course of a field hockey tournament.

Highlights

• Fixtures during international field hockey tournaments are typically congested and impose high physiological demands on an athlete. To minimise decrements in running performance over the course of a tournament, measures to identify players who have sustained high internal loads are logically warranted.

• The present study examined the association between changes in simple customised psychometric wellness measures, on changes in match running performance normalised to (i) playing time, (ii) post-match RPE and (iii) playing time and post-match RPE, over the course of a field hockey tournament.

• Changes in match running performance were better associated to changes in wellness (r = ?0.87 to ?0.95), when running performances were normalised to both time and RPE compared with time or RPE alone.

• The present findings support the use of wellness measures as a pre-match tool to assist with managing internal load over the course of a field hockey tournament. Improved associations between wellness scores and match running performances were evident, when running variables were normalised to both playing time and post-match RPE.

     

hs-CRP: A potential marker for hypertension in Kashmiri population

Hypertension is the most important public health problem in developing countries and one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and it has been reported that hypertension is in part an inflammatory disorder and several workers have reported elevated levels of CRP in hypertensive individuals. The main aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between blood pressure and serum CRP levels across the range of blood pressure categories including prehypertension. A total of 104 patients and 63 control subjects were included in the present study. The level of CRP in the serum samples was estimated by a high sensitivity immunoturbidometric assay. Standard unpaired student’s ‘t’ test was used for comparison of hs-CRP levels between hypertensive patients and normotensive control subjects and between patient groups with different grades of hypertension and different durations of hypertensive histories. The mean serum hs-CRP level in hypertensive patients was 3.26 mg/L compared with 1.36 mg/L among normotensive control subjects (P<0.001). On comparison with normotensive control subjects, the hs-CRP levels vary significantly both with grades and duration of hypertension, with most significant difference found in patients with prehypertension (P<0.001), followed by Stage-I (P=0.01) and Stage-II(P=0.02) hypertensives. Significant difference in hs-CRP levels was also found in patients with shorter duration of hypertensive history (≤ 1year) when compared with those with ≥5 years of hypertensive history (P<0.01). Our study reveals a graded association between blood pressure and CRP elevation in people with hypertension. Individuals with prehypertension or with shorter duration of hypertension (≤1 Year) had significantly a greater likelihood of CRP elevation in comparison to chronic stage-I or stage-II hypertensives.     

Ranking educational channels on YouTube: Aspects and issues

YouTube has become a global platform for learning and teaching. Its design as a social medium, its rapidly growing content and the obscurity of its search and recommendation system, however, frequently leave users with suboptimal results. Trying to give guidance, many professional websites started to publish ranked lists of educational channels. These lists, however, are highly non-conjoint and different in length, which challenges their general usefulness. This study first highlights some aspects and issues related to ranking YouTube’s educational channels by a qualitative and quantitative analysis of 193 lists collected from 101 websites. Then, an iterative multi-algorithm approach is proposed to derive aggregated ranked lists starting from these online lists for three categories: general education, science and history. The aggregated lists were then correlated with surface features of the channels including the channel’s lifetime and the total number of videos, views and subscribers. Also, an alternative rating-based ranking was established by analysing a total of 2900 videos from the different channels. The results show that the aggregated ranked list of science channels has strong correlation with surface channel features. In contrast, the aggregated ranks of history channels are more correlated with viewers’ positive ratings. The aggregated ranks of general education channels neither relate to channel features nor to viewers’ ratings. Based on these findings several remarks and recommendations for the generation, usage, and research on ranked lists and rank aggregation of YouTube’s educational channels are given.

     

Exploring pharmacy students chosen career path: a year-on-year perspective

Higher Education - There are many factors that motivate students to choose a particular academic major, whether it is due to interest, salary, or family. Government policies and...