A novel Steroid from Elephantopus scaber L. an Ethnomedicinal plant with antidiabetic activity

Acetone extract of Elephantopus scaber, an ethnomedicnal plant, reduced the blood glucose levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats significantly. Acute toxicity studies revealed the non-toxic nature of the crude extract. Fractionation of the acetone extract yielded a new steroid, 28Nor-22(R)Witha 2,6,23-trienolide. Biological testing of the compound demonstrated a significant antidiabetic activity by reducing the elevated blood glucose levels and restoring the insulin levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. This compound can be a useful candidate to treat diabetes.     

Mapping the Drivers of Climate Change Vulnerability for Australia’s Threatened Species

Effective conservation management for climate adaptation rests on understanding the factors driving species’ vulnerability in a spatially explicit manner so as to direct on-ground action. However, there have been only few attempts to map the spatial distribution of the factors driving vulnerability to climate change. Here we conduct a species-level assessment of climate change vulnerability for a sample of Australia’s threatened species and map the distribution of species affected by each factor driving climate change vulnerability across the continent. Almost half of the threatened species assessed were considered vulnerable to the impacts of climate change: amphibians being the most vulnerable group, followed by plants, reptiles, mammals and birds. Species with more restricted distributions were more likely to show high climate change vulnerability than widespread species. The main factors driving climate change vulnerability were low genetic variation, dependence on a particular disturbance regime and reliance on a particular moisture regime or habitat. The geographic distribution of the species impacted by each driver varies markedly across the continent, for example species impacted by low genetic variation are prevalent across the human-dominated south-east of the country, while reliance on particular moisture regimes is prevalent across northern Australia. Our results show that actions to address climate adaptation will need to be spatially appropriate, and that in some regions a complex suite of factors driving climate change vulnerability will need to be addressed. Taxonomic and geographic variation in the factors driving climate change vulnerability highlights an urgent need for a spatial prioritisation of climate adaptation actions for threatened species.     

Mass Media and the Contagion of Fear: The Case of Ebola in America

Background

In the weeks following the first imported case of Ebola in the U. S. on September 29, 2014, coverage of the very limited outbreak dominated the news media, in a manner quite disproportionate to the actual threat to national public health; by the end of October, 2014, there were only four laboratory confirmed cases of Ebola in the entire nation. Public interest in these events was high, as reflected in the millions of Ebola-related Internet searches and tweets performed in the month following the first confirmed case. Use of trending Internet searches and tweets has been proposed in the past for real-time prediction of outbreaks (a field referred to as “digital epidemiology”), but accounting for the biases of public panic has been problematic. In the case of the limited U. S. Ebola outbreak, we know that the Ebola-related searches and tweets originating the U. S. during the outbreak were due only to public interest or panic, providing an unprecedented means to determine how these dynamics affect such data, and how news media may be driving these trends.

Methodology

We examine daily Ebola-related Internet search and Twitter data in the U. S. during the six week period ending Oct 31, 2014. TV news coverage data were obtained from the daily number of Ebola-related news videos appearing on two major news networks. We fit the parameters of a mathematical contagion model to the data to determine if the news coverage was a significant factor in the temporal patterns in Ebola-related Internet and Twitter data.

Conclusions

We find significant evidence of contagion, with each Ebola-related news video inspiring tens of thousands of Ebola-related tweets and Internet searches. Between 65% to 76% of the variance in all samples is described by the news media contagion model.     

Health Disparity Still Exists in an Economically Well-Developed Society in Asia

Background

The socioeconomic inequalities in child health continue to widen despite improved economy.

Objective

To investigate the correlation between socio-economic factors and health risk behaviors and psychosocial well-being of children in Hong Kong.

Hypothesis

The null hypothesis is that for this particular developed region, there exists little or no correlation between social-economic factors and health risk behaviors and psychosocial well-being of children.

Design

Cross sectional territory wide survey.

Participants

Caregivers of 7,000 children in kindergartens in Hong Kong.

Measuring tools

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance questionnaire, health-related knowledge and hygienic practice questionnaire, and Children Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

Results

Children were less likely to have somatic complaints and anxiety/depression as reflected by CBCL scores coming from families of higher income, not being recipients of social assistance, with fathers in employment, and with higher parental education. Children with only mother or father as caretakers had lower odds ratios (ORs) 0.71 (95% CI 0.58-0.89) and 0.53 (95% CI 0.33-0.84) respectively to have the habit of eating breakfast, whilst parental education at post-secondary level and higher family income had higher ORs 1.91 (95% CI 1.31-2.78), and 1.63 (95% CI 1.11-2.39). Fathers unemployed, relatives as main caretakers and living in districts with low median household inome incurred higher ORs, as 1.46 (95% CI 1.10-1.94),1.52 (95% CI 1.27-1.83) and 1.17 (95% CI 1.02-1.34) respectively, of watching television over two hours daily, whilst children with parental education at secondary level or above incurred lower OR 0.33 (95% CI 0.24-0.45). Children with parental education at post-secondary level and higher family income had lower ORs of 0.32 (95% CI 0.48-0.97) and 0.52 (95% CI 0.34-0.79) respectively, with regard to exposing to passive smoking, and reversed for those living in districts with lower median household income, lower family income and recipient of CSSA with ORs 1.24 (95% CI 1.06-1.44) and 1.6 (95% CI 1.09-2.37) respectively.

Conclusion

Null hypothesis was not supported. A strong gradient was still found to exist among different socio-economic groups for various health-related behaviors in developed society like Hong Kong.     

Gonadosomatic index‐based size at first sexual maturity and fecundity indices of the Indian River shad Gudusia chapra (Clupeidae) in the Ganges River (NW Bangladesh)

The present study aims to estimate the size at first sexual maturity and fecundity for female Gudusia chapra from the lower Ganges River, northwestern Bangladesh. A total of 250 female specimens, 3.60–13.70 cm in standard length (SL) and 1.00–43.60 g in body weight (BW), were collected during March–August 2006. The gonadosomatic index (GSI) for females was calculated by the equation, GSI (%) = (GW/BW) × 100. The size at first sexual maturity of females was estimated by the relationship between their gonadosomatic index and standard length. The specimen larger (≥8.00 cm in SL) than first size at sexual maturity was used for the estimation of fecundity. The size at first sexual maturity for female G. chapra was considered to be 8.00 cm SL in the Ganges River. The mean total fecundity was 20200 ± 6500 and ranged from 10800 to 36200. This study should be useful for fisheries biologists/managers to impose adequate regulations for sustainable‐fishery management in the Ganges River and elsewhere in Bangladesh.     

Anatomical study of an aquatic mustard: Subularia aquatica (Brassicaceae)

Subularia aquatica is a small annual aquatic plant in the family Brassicaceae with unique leaf morphology. Its anatomical features were studied using light microscopy. We show that the leaves of S. aquatica are bifacial dorsiventral phyllodes, having adaxial-abaxial polarity, rather than the alternative unifacial type. This morphology is also manifested in the collaterally arranged vascular bundles, which are clearly bifacial. The roots exhibit typical anatomical features of an aquatic plant, including prominent aerenchyma. Although unique within the Brassicaceae, S. aquatica displays many of the same morphological characteristics as other Isoetid life-forms.     

Development and Characterization of Enteric-Coated Immediate-Release Pellets of Aceclofenac by Extrusion/Spheronization Technique Using κ-Carrageenan as a Pelletizing Agent

In the present study, an attempt was made to prepare immediate-release enteric-coated pellets of aceclofenac, a poorly soluble nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that has a gastrointestinal intolerance as its serious side effect. Formulation of enteric-coated pellets with improved solubility of aceclofenac could address both of these problems. To achieve these goals, pellets were prepared by extrusion–spheronization method using pelletizing agents that can contribute to the faster disintegration and thereby improve the solubility of the drug. Different disintegrants like β-cyclodextrin, kollidon CL, Ac-Di-Sol, and sodium starch glycolate were tried in order to further improve disintegration time. The pellets were characterized for drug content, particle size distribution, flow properties, infrared spectroscopy, surface morphology, disintegration rate, and dissolution profile. The formulations, which showed best disintegration and dissolution profiles, were coated with Eudragit L100-55, an enteric-coated polymer which does not dissolve at gastric pH but dissolves at intestinal pH, releasing the drug immediately in the dissolution medium. The optimized enteric-coated formulation containing 20% κ-carrageenan, lactose, and sodium starch glycolate as a disintegrant did inhibit the release of the drug for 2 h in 0.1 N HCl, whereas 87% of the drug was released within 45 min. The improvement was substantial when it was compared with solubility of pure drug under the same conditions. Thus, dissolution profiles suggested that combination of κ-carrageenan and sodium starch glycolate resulted into fast-disintegrating, immediate-release pellets, overcoming the bioavailability problem of the poorly soluble drug, aceclofenac, and enteric coating of these pellets avoids the exposure of aceclofenac to ulcer-prone areas of the gastrointestinal tract.     

Trans-SILAC: sorting out the non-cell-autonomous proteome

Non-cell-autonomous proteins are incorporated into cells that form tight contacts or are invaded by bacteria, but identifying the full repertoire of transferred proteins has been a challenge. Here we introduce a quantitative proteomics approach to sort out non-cell-autonomous proteins synthesized by other cells or intracellular pathogens. Our approach combines stable-isotope labeling of amino acids in cell culture (SILAC), high-purity cell sorting and bioinformatics analysis to identify the repertoire of relevant non-cell-autonomous proteins. This 'trans-SILAC' method allowed us to discover many proteins transferred from human B to natural killer cells and to measure biosynthesis rates of Salmonella enterica proteins in infected human cells. Trans-SILAC should be a useful method to examine protein exchange between different cells of multicellular organisms or pathogen and host.     

Warming and free-air CO2 enrichment alter demographics in four co-occurring grassland species

Species differ in their responses to global changes such as rising CO(2) and temperature, meaning that global changes are likely to change the structure of plant communities. Such alterations in community composition must be underlain by changes in the population dynamics of component species. Here, the impact of elevated CO(2) (550 micromol mol(-1)) and warming (+2 degrees C) on the population growth of four plant species important in Australian temperate grasslands is reported. Data collected from the Tasmanian free-air CO(2) enrichment (TasFACE) experiment between 2003 and 2006 were analysed using population matrix models. Population growth of Themeda triandra, a perennial C(4) grass, was largely unaffected by either factor but population growth of Austrodanthonia caespitosa, a perennial C(3) grass, was reduced substantially in elevated CO(2) plots. Warming and elevated CO(2) had antagonistic effects on population growth of two invasive weeds, Hypochaeris radicata and Leontodon taraxacoides, with warming causing population decline. Analysis of life cycle stages showed that seed production, seedling emergence and establishment were important factors in the responses of the species to global changes. These results show that the demographic approach is very useful in understanding the variable responses of plants to global changes and in elucidating the life cycle stages that are most responsive.     

De novo formation of plant endoplasmic reticulum export sites is membrane cargo induced and signal mediated

The plant endoplasmic reticulum (ER) contains functionally distinct subdomains at which cargo molecules are packed into transport carriers. To study these ER export sites (ERES), we used tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaf epidermis as a model system and tested whether increased cargo dosage leads to their de novo formation. We have followed the subcellular distribution of the known ERES marker based on a yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) fusion of the Sec24 COPII coat component (YFP-Sec24), which, differently from the previously described ERES marker, tobacco Sar1-YFP, is visibly recruited at ERES in both the presence and absence of overexpressed membrane cargo. This allowed us to quantify variation in the ERES number and in the recruitment of Sec24 to ERES upon expression of cargo. We show that increased synthesis of membrane cargo leads to an increase in the number of ERES and induces the recruitment of Sec24 to these ER subdomains. Soluble proteins that are passively secreted were found to leave the ER with no apparent up-regulation of either the ERES number or the COPII marker, showing that bulk flow transport has spare capacity in vivo. However, de novo ERES formation, as well as increased recruitment of Sec24 to ERES, was found to be dependent on the presence of the diacidic ER export motif in the cytosolic domain of the membrane cargo. Our data suggest that the plant ER can adapt to a sudden increase in membrane cargo-stimulated secretory activity by signal-mediated recruitment of COPII machinery onto existing ERES, accompanied by de novo generation of new ERES.