Hypolipidemic effect of water extract ofFicus bengalensis in alloxan induced diabetes mellitus in rabbits

Hypolipidemic effect of the water extract of the bark ofFicus bengalensis was investigated in alloxan induced diabetes mellitus in rabbits. Treatment for one month (50 mg/kg body weight/day) brought down the level of total serum cholesterol (TC) in subdiabetic and diabetic rabbits (five in each group) from 82±11 mg% and 118±10.6 mg% to 42.7±3.1 mg% and 51.7±4.7 mg% respectively. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol values came down from 34±10 mg% and 95±24 mg% to 16±3 mg% and 29±4 mg% in subdiabetic and diabetic rabbits. Triacylglycerol level before treatment was 121±21.6 mg% and 416±70 mg% in subdiabetic and diabetic rabbits. Treatment brought it down to 45±5 mg% and 81±27.5 mg%. Glycosylated hemoglobin was brought down from 2.1±0.3% to 1.5±0.1% in subdiabetic group and from 4.28±0.5% to 2±0.3% in diabetic group, indicating that treatment with water extract effectively controlled blood sugar. After treatment with water extract serum lipid values were nearly equal to those in healthy controls (normal) in subdiabetic rabbits, while in diabetic group, the values were only slightly above those of normal.     

Purification of three orally active hypoglycemic compounds Kakara Ib,IIIa1 and IIIb1 from the unripe fruits ofMomordica charantia Linn (Bitter gourd)

Three orally active hypoglycemic compounds Kakara Ib, IIIa₁ and IIIb₁ were purified from the unripe fruits ofMomordica charantia Linn (bitter gourd). Powder of the dried fruits was extracted with benzene and the extract was purified further by sillicic acid column chromatography. They were homogeneous by HPLC. Kakara Ib (400 mg/kg), IIIa₁ (100 mg/kg) and IIIb₁ (300 mg/kg) improved glucose tolerance in subdiabetic (alloxan recovered) rabbits in acute (single dose) and subacute (10 days) studies. When compared with tolbutamide, Kakara Ib was less active, IIIa₁ was more potent and IIIb₁ was equal in activity. Two hyperglycemic compounds were also present.     

A rabbit model for studying hypocholesterolemic effect of drugs and hypocholesterolemic effect of extracts of garlic (Allium sativum)

An experimental model of hypercholesterolemic rabbits suitable for studying the hypocholesterolemic effect of compounds was developed. Rabbits were made hypercholesterolemic by oral administration of cholesterol (100mg/kg body weight/day) suspended in groud nut oil by gastric intubation (Ryle's tube). Cholesterol can be given to rabbits from 10 days to 6 months depending on the degree of hypercholesterolemia required and duration of study of hypocholesterolemic effect. In one month cholesterol feeding experiment, the serum cholesterol level in normal controls (not given cholesterol) was 67±11.3 mg/dl and in cholesterol fed animals 191.3±70.6 mg/dl. In 2 months experiment, besides hypercholesterolemia, abnormal serum lipid profile and increase in lipid content in liver, heart and aorta were also seen. To such animals when water and methanol extracts of garlic were given along with cholesterol, there was significant decrease in serum cholesterol level. The advantage of this method over the method in which cholesterol is mixed with diet to induce hypercholesterolemia is that exactly same and calculated amount of cholesterol can be given for each animal. This minimises the variations in serum cholesterol levels in different animals.     

Studies on a new antitubercular drug, trifluoperazine: Its effect in combination with conventional antitubercular drugs in tubercular lymphadenitis

After demonstrating that trifluoperazine (TFP) possesses invitro antitubercular activity against drug (single and multidrug) resistantMycobacterium tuberculosis, we initiated preliminary clinical studies in a few patients of tubercular lymphadenitis. Effect of TFP was assessed by testing the antitubercular activity of the serum of patients receiving TFP in addition to regular therapy. Patients were divided into two groups of 30 each. For ethical considerations, patients of both groups were treated initially for one month with antitubercular therapy (ATT) consisting of isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide and TFP was tried for 15 days only. Patients of group1 were given a single dose of TFP (5mg/day) daily from days 31 to 45 in addition to ATT, while those in group 2 received ATT only. Assessment of the antitubercular activity of the serum (testedin vitro in Youmans and Karlson’s liquid medium) revealed that the serum of patients (collected on 45th day) of group1 (ATT+TFP treated) possessed much higher antitubercular activity than that of group 2 (ATT only treated) patients. Clinical examination indicated that overall improvement was seen much earlier in group1 (ATT+TFP) patients than in group 2 (ATT alone) patients. At the end of the follow up period of 6 months with ATT from 46th day onwards to both groups, there were no side effects due to TFP. Hematology and liver function tests were normal in both the groups. We suggest that TFP has good potential and therefore deserves further studies either in combination with other drugs of ATT or as one of the drugs of ATT, for the treatment of tuberculosis due to MDR strains to find a suitable effective dose without side effects.     

Self-assessed intelligence: Inter-ethnic,rural–urban,and sex differences in Malaysia

The present study examined inter-ethnic, rural–urban, and sex differences in self-assessed intelligence (SAI) in a Malaysian general population sample. In total, 633 individuals varying in rural or urban location, ethnicity (Malay, Kadazan, and Bajau), and sex (women versus men) provided their self-assessed overall intelligence and ten multiple intelligences. In general, results of a series of univariate analyses of variance showed that urban participants tended to have higher SAI than their rural counterparts and that men reported higher SAI than women. There was also a significant main effect of ethnicity, with Malays generally having lower estimates than Bajaus and Kadazans, respectively. There were few significant interactions between ethnicity, urban–rural location, and sex. These data present the first concurrent investigation of ethnic, rural–urban, and sex differences in SAI, and are discussed in relation to previous theoretical discussions of SAI.     

Lectin-functionalized microchannels for characterizing pluripotent cells and early differentiation

Embryonic stem (ES) cells are capable of proliferating and differentiating to form cells of the three embryonic germ layers, namely, endoderm, mesoderm, and ectoderm. The utilization of human ES cell derivatives requires the ability to direct differentiation to specific lineages in defined, efficient, and scalable systems. Better markers are needed to identify early differentiation. Lectins have been reported as an attractive alternative to the common stem cell markers. They have been used to identify, characterize, and isolate various cell subpopulations on the basis of the presentation of specific carbohydrate groups on the cell surface. This article demonstrates how simple adhesion assays in lectin-coated microfluidic channels can provide key information on the interaction of lectins with ES and definitive endoderm cells and thereby track early differentiation. The microfluidic approach incorporates both binding strength and cell surface receptor density, whereas traditional flow cytometry only incorporates the latter. Both approaches are examined and shown to be complementary with the microfluidic approach providing more biologically relevant information.     

Doubly-terminated two-variable lossless ladder networks

In this paper necessary and sufficient conditions are derived for a two-variable positive real function to be the driving-point impedance of certain classes of doubly-terminated lossless ladder networks. Specifically, two classes of networks are studied: (a) the class of networks in which the lossless structure is a cascade of p₁- and p₂-variable two-ports, each two-port having its transmission zeros at the origin and/or at infinity; (b) the class of networks in which the lossless structure is a lowpass or highpass ladder network with series arms having p₁- and p₂-type elements in series and shunt arms having the p₁- and p₂-type elements in parallel. It is indicated that via suitable transformations of the variables, conditions for many other types of ladder structures can be derived.     

Effect of some antitubercular drugs on the calmodulin content ofMycobacterium tuberculosis

The effect of the antitubercular drugs isoniazid (10 μg/ml), ethambutol (10 μg/ml), rifampicin (0.5 μg/ml) and streptomycin (1 μg/ml) on the calmodulin like protein (CAMLP) content ofMycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇R_v andM. tuberculosis H₃₇R_a was investigated. The drugs were added to actively growing cells at their mid log phase of growth (14 days) and after 12 more hours of incubation, CAMLP was estimated. In both the mycobacteria, all the four antitubercular drugs CAMLP.