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A greenhouse dryer under forced convection mode is designed and fabricated with the integration of solar collector and variable speed exhaust fan. The developed system is used for bitter gourd flakes drying under three different air mass flow rates (0.0275, 0.0551, and 0826 kg/s). Moisture content of bitter gourd flakes was decreased effectively from 96.8% to 12.2% in 17 h with optimum air mass flow rate 0.0551 kg/s, whereas open sun drying has taken 26 h to reach 20.7% moisture content. The average greenhouse dryer efficiency was found to be 19.7% at 0.0551 kg/s air mass flow rate. Shrinkage (in terms of percentage) of dried bitter gourd flakes was found to be higher as 74% at 0.0275 kg/s air mass flow rate because of higher greenhouse room air temperature. Hardness of dried bitter gourd flakes was found to be highest as 365 g at 0.0275 kg/s air mass flow rate due to less air exchange rate and high inside room temperature. On the basis of statistical analysis, Prakash and Kumar model and Logarithmic model were selected as best drying models for greenhouse and open sun drying, respectively. The dehydration of higher moisture content crops inside developed greenhouse dryer was found to be more consistent. The designed greenhouse system is recommended for small farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An insulated north wall greenhouse dryer has been fabricated and tested for no-load condition under passive mode. Testing has been conducted in two different cases. Case-I is considered for solar collector kept inside the dryer and Case-II is dryer without solar collector. Convective heat transfer coefficient and various heat transfer dimensionless numbers with have been calculated for thermal analysis. The maximum convective heat transfer coefficient is found 52.18 W/m2°C at 14 h during the first day for Case-I. The difference of the highest convective heat transfer coefficient of both cases was 8.34 W/m2°C. Net heat gain inside room curves are uniform and smooth for Case-I, which shows the steady heat generation process due to presence of solar collector inside the dryer. Above results depicts the effectiveness of solar collector and insulated north wall. The selection of suitable crop for drying can be done by analysing article’s result. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective: To investigate the immunosuppressive potential of Pluchea lanceolata 50% ethanolic extract (PL) and its bioactive chloroform fraction (PLC). Materials and Methods: Preliminary screening of the Pluchea lanceolata 50% ethanolic extract (PL) was carried out with basic models of immunomodulation, such as, the humoral antibody response (hemagglutination antibody titers), cell-mediated immune response (delayed-type hypersensitivity), skin allograft rejection test, in vitro (C. albicans method), and in vivo phagocytosis (carbon clearance test). The extract was then fractionated with chloroform, n-butanol, and water to receive the respective fractions by partitioning. These fractions were employed for flow cytometry to study the T-cell specific immunosuppressive potential of these fractions. Results: Oral administration of PL at doses of 50 to 800 mg/kg in mice, with sheep red blood cells (SRBC) as an antigen, inhibited both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, as evidenced by the production of the circulating antibody titer and delayed-type hypersensitiviy reaction results, respectively, and the immune suppression was statistically significant (P < 0.01) in Balb/C mice. PL also decreased the process of phagocytosis both in vitro (31.23%) and ex vivo (32.81%) and delayed the graft rejection time (30.76%). To study the T-cell-specific activities, chloroform, n-butanol, and water fractions from P. lanceolata were tested for T-cell specific immunosuppressive evaluation, wherein only the chloroform fraction (PLC) showed significant (P < 0.01) suppression of CD8+ / CD4+ T-cell surface markers and intracellular Th1 (IL-2 and IFN-γ) cytokines at 25 - 200 mg/kg p.o. doses. PLC, however, did not show significant suppression of the Th2 (IL-4) cytokine. Conclusion: The findings from the present investigation reveal that P. lanceolata causes immunosuppression by inhibiting Th1 cytokines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of the study was to investigate the effect of Acetyl-11-Keto-β-Boswellic acid (AKBA) on pro- inflammatory cytokines in inflamed rat knee joint. AKBA showed a significant dose dependent decrease in expression of TNF-α in in vitro.study on LPS activated rat neutrophils that were followed by study on its effect on pro-inflammatory cytokines produced in the synovial fluid in the knee joints of rat as a result of inflammatory effect-induced by intra-articular injection of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). AKBA at 4 and 8 mg/kg oral dose suppressed the pro-inflammatory cytokines in synovial fluid (in vitro), thereby showing potent inhibitory properties and usefulness in the treatment of inflammation and associated diseases as these cytokines play a major role in furthering the ill effects associated with inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate the T cell inhibition potential of 50% ethanol extract of Cyperus scariosus (CS) and its bioactive chloroform fraction (CSC). Methods: The preliminary screening of the extract was carried out by humoral antibody response and delayed-type hypersensitivity models employing sheep red blood cells (SRBC) as the antigen. Further, the extract was studied by skin allograft rejection test, and phagocytosis - in vitro and ex vivo - by C. albicans method and carbon clearance test, respectively. The extract was fractionated with chloroform, n-butanol and water, and then used to investigate the T-cell specific immunosuppressive potential of these fractions by flow cytometry. Results: On p.o. administration, CS inhibited both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses significantly (p < 0.01) by suppressing primary (26.8 %) and secondary (29.7 %) antibody titres, and also inhibited cell-mediated delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) immune response (45.9 %) at 600 mg/kg dose, phagocytosis - both in vitro (37.4 %) and ex vivo (37.8 %) - and delayed the graft rejection time (45.8%), thus confirming marked immunosuppression. Out of the three isolated fractions, only the chloroform fraction significantly (p < 0.01) suppressed CD8+/ CD4+ T cell surface markers (14.0/25.3 %) and intra-cellular Th1 cytokines, viz, IL-2 (34.4 %), and IFN-γ (34.7 %), compared to cyclosporine-A (5), a standard T cell inhibitor (53.6 %) which was given to Balb/C mice at 200 mg/kg dose. CSC did not significantly (p < 0.01) suppress Th2 (IL-4) system. Conclusion: The findings from this investigation reveal that C. scariosus causes immunosuppression by inhibiting Th1 cytokines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]