Archives-December 

Developments in the life sciences, whether in health, agriculture or the environment, have had an unexpected impact on life expectancy and the quality of life. Further, biotechnological inventions has already provided life-saving medicines such as monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer, human insulin to treat diabetes, erythropoietin to treat anaemia and cling to promise for cures for deceases currently regarded as untreatable. In the past decades biotechnology has been one of the fastest growing fields of technology among all. As the field covers a wide range of areas from micro-organisms to agriculture and medical applications, and involves publicly disputed techniques and products such as genetically modified plants, animal cloning or human embryonic stem cells, the ethical issue on patents is more heated & controversial than in other technological areas.

The objective of this work was to investigate the possible formation of the heterocycyclic N-nitrosomorpholine upon administration of nitrite and morpholine and also the significance of high fat diet on the metabolism of the nitrosamine, using spectrophotometric, cell fractionation, centrifugation, thin layer chromatographic, ultraviolet irradiation and in vitro and in vivo methods. The possible endogenous formation of NMOR was detected in urine collected 24hours after a combined oral administration of 20mg nitrite and 40mg of morpholine/kg through the process of thin layer chromatography. The retention factor (Rf) 0.664 and the purple chromatogram observed in the test urine using a detector NEDSA spray correlated with that of the standard thereby indicating the in vivo formation of nitrosamine. Also an in vitro study confirmed the formation of nitrosomorpholine at pH 7.4 in an appropriate phosphate buffer. The increase nitrite level after incubation of the liver microsomal fraction for 30minutes, arising from exposure to ultra violet light irradiation, confirmed the formation of nitrosomorpholine. The histopathology result of rat liver treated with concurrent administration of morpholine and NaNO2 revealed heavy hemorrhage, inflammatory cells, fat deposition and general cytolysis which confirm the toxicity of nitrosomorpholine on the liver. It is concluded that the combined administration of nitrite and morpholine produced a nitrosamine whose metabolism to toxic species in the liver tissue is attributed to the biochemical and histopathologic lesions enhanced by a high fat diet.

There are various types of tests which are to be carried out in wooden furniture such as Chemical Testing, Furniture Flammability testing, Furniture testing for durability and Performance, Furniture Safety Testing, CARB Certification, Children’s Furniture Testing, Furniture Inspection Services, Mattress Testing. Considering the safety aspects of the furniture which is being used from child to the senior citizens it is essential to have reliable and dependable tests to be carried out on the wooden furniture. This paper is aimed at defining the various tests to be carried out in wooden furniture.

The individual use of these pharmacologically active substances which generate great but underappreciated levels of other toxicologically potent and associated bioactive metabolites through purposeful and inadvertent discharge to the environment via excreta and by illegal disposal has become a global issue. This work reviews aspects of drugs occurrence, metabolism, transport routes, stability, analysis and environmental distribution of these emerging contaminants and highlights current developments in investigating and monitoring their fate and potential effects in aquatic environments. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) and high performance liquid chromatography are the preferred methods for trace drugs analysis in wastewaters as their measurements depend largely on successful application of a fast and reliable method for qualitative and quantitative determination. The application of this method to the actual influents, effluents, sludge and environmental sediments from sewage treatment works (STWs) allows the assessment of drugs content and the extent at which STW helps in the transport of these pollutants (via different media) into the environment. The capability is also outlined for furthering our understanding of fate and behaviour of drugs with particular reference to illicit drugs, abused pharmaceuticals and environmental processes in our quest to understand the overall issues of drugs and make available exposure data for the aquatic realm.

Gender differences played an important role in theoretical mechanics to influence students’ learning interests, academic interests and achievements. In order to improve teaching quality and assist students’ learning, we used SPSS to analyze the data of theoretical mechanics test, gained a comprehensive understanding of gender differences on the theoretical mechanics teaching. The findings of the study indicated that the gap of gender difference exists in theoretical mechanics learning. The test showed female students get higher points in theoretical mechanics test. The result of t-test for two groups of male and female students showed that they had significant difference in terms of mean scores obtained in choice questions, calculating questions, particle mechanics and rotating reference frame tests.

This paper provides a unified framework for chain ratio-product estimation and proposes a generalized chain ratio-product estimator for estimating population mean in stratified sampling. The bias and variance expressions of the proposed estimator have been derived under large sample approximation. Asymptotic optimum estimator (AOE) and its approximate variance estimator are derived with conditions for allowable departure identified. Some existing estimators in theory are obtained and shown to be particular members of the proposed estimator under certain restrictions. Analytical comparisons of the AOE with other existing estimators showed that the AOE is substantially more efficient under certain realistic conditions.

In the present day scenario of manufacturing industry, quality and productivity play a significant role. Surface roughness and material removal rate are indicators of quality and productivity as also interface temperature and flank wear are the indicators of tool life. Hence surface roughness, material removal rate, interface temperature and flank wear are considered as response characteristics. This article focuses on an approach based on Grey relational analysis and Desirability function analysis for optimizing the process parameters during turning of AISI D3 steel with CVD coated tool with multiple performance characteristics. Experimentation were carried out on a Conventional lathe using L9 orthogonal array based on Taguchi design of experiments. The influence of spindle speed, feed and depth of cut were analyzed on the performance of surface roughness, material removal rate, interface temperature and flank wear .The optimal turning parameters are determined by composite desirability index and grey relational grade. Analysis of variance(ANOVA) is used to determine the influence of parameters which significantly affect the responses simultaneously. From the study, it is concluded that machining performance is significantly improved.

Higher education has a strategic role in empowering women and in achieving gender equity. However, the increasing of women participation in higher education does not automatically extend and transform into the enhancement of women?s access and benefits from development. The purpose of this article is to explore gender issues and strategies of gender mainstreaming in higher education. It contributes to the analyzing of concepts and the implementation of power in organizational structure and practices in revealing the complexity of gender inequality in higher education. The intertwined of organizational, institutional and market significantly affect the realization of gender equality in higher education.

In this paper, in order to show some interesting phenomena of fourth-order hyperchaotic autonomous electric circuit with a smooth cubic nonlinearity, different kinds of attractors, time waveforms and corresponding power spectra of systems are presented, respectively. The perturbation transforms an unpredictable hyperchaotic behavior into a predictable hyperchaotic or periodic motion via stabilization of unstable, aperiodic, or periodic orbits of the strange hyperchaotic attractor. One advantage of the method is its robustness against noise. A theoretical analysis of the circuit equations is presented, along with experimental simulation and numerical results.

Oxidative stress is one of the most popular terms in biomedicine. Oxidative Stress is a general term used to describe the steady state level of oxidative damage in a cell, tissue, or organ, results from an imbalance between radical-generating and radical scavenging systems, i.e. increased free radical production or reduced activity of antioxidant defenses or both. A great number of aromatic, medicinal, spice and other plants contain chemical compounds exhibiting antioxidant properties. In the present study the antioxidant activity and radical scavenging activity of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of Allium sativum Linn. traditionally used by Indian population as folk remedies was evaluated.