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Triterpenoids are ubiquitously distributed secondary metabolites, primarily scrutinized as a source of medication and preventive measures for various chronic diseases. The ease of isolation and excellent pharmacological properties of triterpenoids are notable reasons behind the exponential rise of extensive research on the bioactive triterpenoids over the past few decades. Herein, we attempted to explore the anticancer potential of the fruit extract of the ethnomedicinal plant Dillenia indica against oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and have exclusively attributed the efficacy of the extracts to the presence of two triterpenoids, namely, betulinic acid (BA) and koetjapic acid (KA). Preliminary in vitro screening of both BA and KA unveiled that the entities could impart cytotoxicity and induce apoptosis in OSCC cell lines, which were further well-supported by virtual screening based on ligand binding affinity and molecular dynamic simulations. Additionally, the aforementioned metabolites could significantly modulate the critical players such as Akt/mTOR, NF-κB, and JAK/STAT3 signaling pathways involved in the regulation of important hallmarks of cancer like cell survival, proliferation, invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis. The present findings provide insight and immense scientific support and integrity to a piece of indigenous knowledge. However, in vivo validation is a requisite for moving to clinical trials and developing it as a commercial drug.

Phytochemical investigation of the stem bark of Hopea parviflora resulted in the isolation of 9 compounds; which includes friedelin (1), friedelin-3β-ol (2), (-)-ampelopsin A (3), (-)-ɛ-viniferin (4), (-)-hopeaphenol (5), vaticaphenol A (6), 2,4,8-trihydroxyphenanthrene-2-O-glucoside (7), ellagic acid-3,3',4-trimethoxy-4'-O-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (8) and β-sitosterol-β-D-glucoside (9). Among them, compounds 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are isolated for the first time from this species. Further, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory activity of compounds 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. In this study, compound 8 inhibited the activity of proinflammatory mediators like NO, TNF-α, IL-6, 5-LOX and COX-2, also promoted the action of anti-inflammatory mediator like IL-10 via inhibition of the NF-κB pathway in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.

In recent years, driving accidents have been increasing gradually, with most of them due to drowsiness. To tackle this problem, various methods and systems were developed to alert the driver behind the wheels, and to prevent accidents. A few approaches include heartbeat monitoring, pulse rate check, blink, and yawn detector. This paper discusses a driver mechanism, which is capable of detecting fatigue in real-time, using the Eye Aspect Ratio – EAR – parameter, and also provides a database with an interface for managers to track drivers. When the driver is tired, an email will also be sent to the manager. On the drivers’ side, there will be a buzzer noise to wake the driver up and nearby resting locations will be shown to the driver. Further, mapping to the nearby resting location of the driver’s choice is shown, if the driver feels too drowsy and feels the need for rest. It is essential to fabricate and construct this complete system via IoT and OpenCV methods to address this issue.

AIM To determine the effectiveness of two different endodontic retreatment systems for the removal of laterally compacted gutta-percha (GP). MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty-three freshly extracted human maxillary central incisors were used for the study. The teeth were instrumented with K-flex files and obturated using lateral condensation technique with GP and AH Plus sealer. The teeth were divided into three retreatment groups, each group consisting of 21 teeth. Group I: D-RaCe desobturation files (D-RaCe); group II: ProTaper Universal retreatment files (PTUR); group III: Hedstrom files (H-file). After removal of GP, the teeth were split longitudinally and divided into three equal parts: Cervical, middle, and apical third. The middle and apical thirds of all root halves were examined using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The total surface area covered by the residual debris was evaluated using Motic Image plus 2.0 software. Statistical analysis was done by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test with a p-value

The remarkable α-glucosidase inhibition exhibited by the acetone extract of the rhizome of Ampelocissus indica (L.) and stem bark of Vateria indica Linn. (IC50 23.2 and 1.47 μg mL−1) encouraged us to isolate the phytochemicals from these plants. (+) and (−)-hopeaphenol (1) and (2) were isolated from A. indica (L.) and V. indica Linn. respectively. Compounds 1 and 2 displayed IC50 values of 21.21 ± 0.987 and 9.47 ± 0.967 μM in an α-glucosidase inhibitory assay. The effect of glucose uptake performed by 2-NBDG in L6 rat skeletal muscle cells using flow cytometry (BD FACS Aria II, USA) showed potent glucose uptake by (+) and (−)-hopeaphenol of 31% and 26.4%, respectively. The data from an MTT cell viability assay revealed that the compounds are not toxic to the cells up to 200 μM. Molecular docking studies show that the compounds bind effectively to the active sites of the proteins 1BVN, 3A4A and 3AJ7, which supported the observed α-glucosidase inhibition. The structures of these compounds were determined by the analysis of various spectroscopic data including HRMS-ESI, 2D NMR, CD spectroscopy, optical activity and were unequivocally established by single crystal X-ray crystallography. Herein we are reporting the phytochemicals from Ampelocissus indica (L.) and their antidiabetic activities for the first time.

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of ashwagandha on alleviating heat stress using 90 numbers of day old broiler chicks dividing into 3 treatment groups containing 3 replicates in each group during summer season. The dietary treatments included T1 (Control) without any herbal supplementation, T2 - 1.0 % ashwagandha root powder and T3 - 0.15 % ashwagandha root extract. At the end of 42 days of age, the body weight, feed intake, antioxidant level and immune status were significantly.

Progress in understanding the role of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in craniofacial and tooth development and the demonstration of stem cells in periodontal ligament have set the stage for periodontal regenerative therapy and tissue engineering. Furthermore, recent approval by the Food and Drug Administration of recombinant human BMPs for accelerating bone fusion in slow-healing fractures indicates that this protein family may prove useful in designing regenerative treatments in periodontics. In the near term, these advances are likely to be applied to periodontal surgery; ultimately, they may facilitate approaches to regenerating whole lost periodontal structures.

The main purpose of the present study was to synthesize cellulose nanoparticles with gelation of alginate core to provide excellent solubility in aqueous solution and to and characterize the resulting nanomedicine after loading with Doxorubicin, an anticancer agent. Cellulose exhibits the property of biodegradation and compatibility with body tissues and in combination with doxorubicin provides toxicity to cancer tissues. These nanoparticles were characterized under scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to find topology, crystal structure and chemical purity of nanoparticles. The release of doxorubicin from cellulose-alginate nanoparticles was studied by in vitro method using a dialysis membrane in the presence of phosphate buffer. Under suitable conditions, the cellulose-alginate nanoparticles obtained were in size ranging between 10 and 100 nm. The in vitro drug release revealed the controlled release of drug from the polymer in a sustained manner. The percentage release of drug released from the dialysis bag was found to be 78% at the end of 72 hours.