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PurposeThe changes in tensile behavior of polycrystalline nanocopper lattice with changes in temperature, average grain size (AGS) and strain rate, have been explored. The existence of a critical AGS has also been observed which shows that the Hall–Petch relationship behaves inversely.Design/methodology/approachNanoscale deformation of polycrystalline nanocopper has been done in this study with the help of an embedded atom method (EAM) potential. Voronoi construction method has been employed for creating four polycrystals of nanocopper with different sizes. Statistical analysis has been used to examine the observations with emphasis on the polycrystal size effect on melting point temperature.FindingsThe study has found that the key stress values (i.e. elastic modulus, yield stress and ultimate tensile stress) are significantly influenced by the considered parameters. The increase in strain rate is observed to have an increasing impact on mechanical properties, whereas the increase in temperature degrades the mechanical properties. In-depth analysis of the deformation mechanism has been studied to deliver real-time visualization of grain boundary motion.Originality/valueThis study provides the relationship between required grain size variations for consecutive possible variations in mechanical properties and may help to reduce the trial processes in the synthesis of polycrystalline copper based on different temperatures and strain rates.

Temperature, strain rate, and defects are important considerations in determining the mechanical properties of materials. The mechanical properties of nanocrystalline copper-tantalum (Cu-Ta) alloy are investigated using classical molecular dynamics simulation approach in which embedded atom method of potential with periodic boundary conditions in all directions has been adopted. Numerical simulation has been performed to predict the mechanical properties of nanocrystalline copper-tantalum alloy. The virtual tensile test has been conducted at a fixed strain rate and increasing temperature where the discreet change in temperature from 50 to 1600 K has been used as a controlling parameter. The strain rate is fixed in the direction of the principal crystallographic planes and has not been affected by the change in temperature. The mechanical properties of the Cu-Ta nanocrystalline alloy such as yield strength, ultimate strength, and Young's modulus are observed. Further, simulations are carried out to analyze the vacancy formation energy with vacancy concentration and potential energy response at discrete temperatures. Nanocrystalline Cu-Ta alloy is observed to be more susceptible to failure at high temperatures. Particularly at 300 K, the strength of nanocrystalline Cu-Ta is 6 GPa which decreases to 4 GPa at 1200 K.

Introduction Fecaloma is a large mass of organized hardened feces causing impaction, usually in rectum and sigmoid colon. Medical management usually entails digital evacuation, use of clearance enema, and oral laxatives. We report two patients managed successfully with colonoscopic instillation of Coca-Cola and review the literature. Case Report Patient 1: A 37-year-old male presented with firm, nontender, pitting mass over lower abdomen for 2 months and inability to pass stool for 1 month. Per-rectal examination and imaging confirmed presence of solid stool with gross distension of rectum and sigmoid colon. Attempts at clearance of stool with conventional methods were unsuccessful. At colonoscopy, 4 L of Coca-Cola was instilled into descending and sigmoid colon, leading to evacuation of 10 L of fragmented and liquid stool.Patient 2: A 72-year-old diabetic lady presented with constipation and tender, firm pelvic mass extending till mid-abdomen for 6 months. Per-rectal examination revealed presence of hard stool. Imaging confirmed large amount of fecal matter in dilated rectum, sigmoid, and descending colon. Attempts at evacuating stool with digital evacuation, sodium phosphate enema, and oral polyethylene glycol were unsuccessful. At colonoscopy, two sittings of instillation of 990 mL of Coca-Cola Light each were done into sigmoid colon over 2 days, resulting in clearance. Conclusion Colonoscopic instillation of Coca-Cola may be effective in evacuation of large fecaloma from rectum, sigmoid, and descending colon when refractory to use of conventional methods like digital disimpaction, rectal enema, and oral laxatives.

This paper reports on molecular dynamic simulation approach for the modeling and simulation of nanocrystalline Nitinol (NiTi). The relation between stress–strain behaviour of NiTi at the multiple steps of temperature ranging from 300 K to 1300 K at a particular strain rate 1 × 10-1 sec-1 and observed at a fixed temperature of 300 K with the variation in strain rate in the order of tens. It has been noticed that the value of stress-bearing capacity of NiTi is decreasing slowly with the increasing temperature in the multiple steps from 300 K to 1300 K and the value of strength in the stress-strain curve of NiTi increases with increase in strain rate at that particular temperature. Elastic constant and ultimate strength at different temperatures and strain rates were also recorded to examine their individual dependence on the stress–strain behaviour of NiTi alloy.

Introduction United States Food and Drug Administration recently approved use of Hemospray for the management of gastrointestinal (GI) Bleeding. We report our experience with Haemoseal Spray (HS, Shaili Endoscopy) for the treatment of upper GI bleeding (UGIB). Methods Records of patients who received HS for UGIB from January 2013 to June 2018 were studied retrospectively. Patients with UGIB from focal lesions refractory to conventional endotherapy or those with diffuse/multiple lesions not amenable to conventional endotherapy received 5cc HS spray. Primary end-point studied was clinical success, defined as control of bleeding over 24 hours. Secondary end-points evaluated included recurrence of bleeding within 7 days, in-hospital mortality, and complications secondary to HS. Results Thirty-eight patients were treated with HS. The median age was 57 (range: 5–87) years with 27 males and 11 females. In 24 patients, HS was used as monotherapy, while it was combined with Injection/Clip/Argon Plasma Coagulation in 14. Etiology of bleeding was ulcers or erosions in 22, malignancy in 10, portal hypertensive gastropathy/gastric antral vascular ectasia in 4, and radiation gastropathy in 2. Clinical success was achieved in 32/38 (84%). All six nonresponders had coagulopathy related to chemotherapy/bone marrow transplant. Recurrent bleeding within 7 days was observed in four patients (gastric malignancy 2, radiation gastropathy 2). In-hospital mortality was seen in 8/38 (21%) of which 2(4.8%) were directly related to ongoing GI bleeding. There was no procedure-related complication. Conclusion HS is an effective and safe tool in the endoscopic management of UGIB due to diffuse or multiple focal lesions or focal lesions refractory to conventional endotherapy.

Introduction Heterotopic gastric mucosa (HGM) in esophagus is commonly noted as an inlet patch at endoscopy. We describe a rare patient with symptomatic distal esophageal HGM. Case Report A 40-year-old male presented with retrosternal pain and marked odynophagia for the last 4 weeks without any history of ingestion of antibiotics, foreign body, or corrosive. Endoscopy showed abrupt circumferential transition to salmon pink mucosa at 35 cm from incisors. From 35 to 41 cm, there were areas of polypoid edematous thickening with few superficial ulcers of 1 to 3 mm. Squamous epithelium was visualized at narrow band imaging from 41 cm to the Z-line at 43 cm with no hiatus hernia. Biopsy showed gastric-type mucosa with parietal cells without dysplasia. Serology for cytomegalovirus and human immunodeficiency virus was negative. He was managed with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and prokinetics and improved symptomatically. Follow-up endoscopy at 3 months demonstrated healing of ulcers with persistence of HGM and pseudopolyps. He remains well on maintenance with PPI at 1-year follow-up. Conclusion Symptomatic HGM in distal esophagus is rare and can be differentiated from Barrett’s esophagus histologically and by presence of squamous epithelium between HGM and stomach. Inflammatory mass lesions may develop and mimic esophageal malignancy. Symptoms are largely due to acid production and usually respond to PPI.

Acid activated carbon obtained from cheap, non-toxic and locally available banana peel was used as a low cost and efficient adsorbent for the removal of dyes methyl orange and rhodamine-B from the aqueous solution. Changes in the resulting material before and after activation and after treatment were studied by different techniques, such as SEM-EDX, XRD, FTIR measurements. Effects of duration of treatment, amount of banana peel activated carbon, pH, and initial methyl orange and rhodamine-B concentration, on the removal of dye were studied to get optimum conditions for maximum dye removal. Removal efficiency of the activated ash remains almost constant in a wide range of pH from 2.5 to 5.6. In 75 min at room temperature removal of 98.5 % methyl orange (anionic) and 99.0 % rhodamine-B (cationic) dyes with 0.1 g and 0.125 g, respectively was obtained from the contaminated water having 10 ppm dye concentration.

BACKGROUND- This study to nd out the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among diabetic children with type 1 DM treated with insulin. METHODS -This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 100 children with type 1 DM from 1 to 16 years of age. All patients were subjected to full fundus examination and were then classied according to its results into patients with DR and patients without DR. RESULTS- The mean age of the patients was 9.42±1.31 years and 56.00% were males. DR was found in 10 (10.00%) patients, seven of whom had retinopathy in one eye and three had retinopathy in both eyes. Mild nonproliferative DR was found in 11 eyes and moderate DR was found in 2 eyes. CONCLUSION- The prevalence of DR was 10.0% among all studied patients and 6.50% among all studied eyes. The grade of retinopathy was directly related to the duration of DM, fasting blood glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin levels.

BACKGROUND- Exact incidence of ITS is not known but it was accounted for 0.2 to 2% pediatric hospital admissions in 1962 and reduced to 0.2% currently in India. Aims of this study to estimate Vitamin B level 12 and folate in children with Infantile Tremor Syndrome METHODS- This Hospital based cross sectional observational study was conducted in, Sir Padampat Mother and Child Health Institute (SPMCHI), SMS Medical College, Jaipur. RESULTS- The mean serum B level was highest in children aged 13-18 months (117.40 pg/ml) and was lowest in children aged 12 6-12 months (67.90 pg/ml). This difference in B level in different age groups was statistically not signicant (p>0.05). The mean 12 serum folate level was highest in children aged 6-12 months (17.32 ng/ml) followed by children aged 13-18 months (15.53 ng/ml) and was lowest in children aged >18 months (13.70 ng/ml). This difference in folate level in different age groups was statistically not signicant (p>0.05). CONCLUSION- Present study ndings suggest that serum vitamin B and folate levels are decreased in children with Infantile 12 Tremor Syndrome.

A 37-year-old man with corticosteroid-dependent ulcerative pancolitis was taken up for colonoscopic fecal microbiota transplant (FMT). Preparation for colonoscopy was done with 118 g polyethylene glycol (PEG) in 2 L water ingested over 2 hours, followed by clear fluids. 200 g of screened donor stool, blended with water was instilled into terminal ileum; cecum; and ascending, transverse, and descending colon. Eighteen hours following ingestion of PEG and 2 hours following FMT, he complained of severe epigastric pain with radiation to back. Serum lipase was 6,756 U/L. He was managed with intravenous (IV) fluids and symptomatic treatment with discontinuation of corticosteroids and 6-MP. Ultrasound did not reveal gall bladder stones or sludge. There was no history of alcohol intake. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan at 48 hours showed bulky pancreas with peripancreatic stranding. He recovered over a week with normalization of lipase. Three weeks later he again reported severe epigastric pain 14 hours following ingestion of PEG, this time prior to colonoscopic FMT. Serum lipase was 1,140 U/L; the procedure was deferred and he recovered with symptomatic treatment over 3 days. Maintenance colonoscopic FMT was performed 4 times over the following 2 years with sodium phosphate preparation with no recurrence of pain. MRCP showed no evidence of chronic pancreatitis. He remains in clinical and endoscopic steroid-free, thiopurine-free remission. PEG is a rare cause of acute pancreatitis and merits consideration in appropriate clinical setting.

The main of our study is to evaluate the Wound Healing Potential of Methanolic Extract of Flowers of Butea monosperma Linn. in Diabetic Animals. Methanolic extract was prepared by continuous hot extraction method by soxhlet apparatus. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, phenolic compounds and some glycosides. Diabetes was induced by single injection of Alloxan monohydrate in Wistar albino rats and their blood glucose levels were measured. Excision wound model was used for creation of wound in diabetic animals and methanolic extract was administered in diabetic animals to observe its effect. Methanolic extract significantly lowered the blood glucose level and highly significantly showed wound contraction in diabetic animals. The preliminary phytochemical analysis of the Butea monosperma flower extract showed the presence of tannins, flavonoids and triterpenoids. As per previous literature survey, flavonoids are responsible for anti-diabetic and wound healing activity. So this wound healing effect of Butea monosperma may be due to presence of flavonoids in plant. Hence present research supports traditional claims of the plant in wound healing. Keywords: Butea monosperma, Diabetic animals, Alloxan monohydrate, Methanolic Extract, Wound Area

Wireless data transmission in the underwater medium is of high importance for applications related to the oil industry, military, and scientific community purposes. In the underwater environment, optical wave propagation experiences scattering effect that produces dispersion and creates inter symbol interference that minimizes the signal-to-noise ratio. This paper evaluates different modulation techniques like Phase Shift Keying (PSK), Differential Phase Shift Keying (DPSK), Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM), and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) for four different types of underwater media, viz., pure sea, clean ocean, coastal ocean, and turbid harbor water by assuming the Rayleigh fading channel model and found the best suitable technique for Underwater Free Space Optical (UW-FSO) communication.

Background and study aims The role of endoscopic-ultrasound (EUS) guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in patients with lymphadenopathy in terms of diagnostic adequacy and safety in large population is not well defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate diagnostic adequacy and safety of EUS-FNA in patients with lymphadenopathy. Patients and methods Retrospective study from October 2010 to September 2015 at tertiary care center in Delhi-NCR. We analyzed data from 1005 EUS- FNAs of lymph nodes. Results The study cohort comprised 1005 lymph nodes in 865 patients; 68 % were males, mean age was 50 ± 14 years. Indications of FNA were to look for etiology of pyrexia of unknown origin or staging of malignancy mainly. FNA was taken from mediastinal nodes (n = 528, 52.5 %) and intra-abdominal nodes (n = 477, 47.5 %). Median size of nodes at long axis and short axis was 17 (12 – 25.7) and 10 (8 – 15) mm respectively. Adequate material by FNA was obtained in 92.8 % cases. The cytopathologic diagnosis were malignancy in 153 (15.2 %), granulomatous change in 452 (42 %), and reactive lymphadenopathy in 328 (35.6 %). There was statistically significant difference seen between groups with pathological and reactive lymph nodes regarding size at long and short axis, hypoechoic nature, well defined borders and presence of necrosis and calcification. Procedure-related adverse effects were encountered in 6 patients (0.8 %). Four patients had mild mucosal bleeding in chronic liver disease patients and two had mild hepatic encephalopathy related to sedation. Conclusion EUS-FNA of lymph nodes has good diagnostic adequacy and safety.

Many online platforms emerges and got huge popularity in this pandemic situation for virtual conferences like Zoom, Microsoft team, Google meet[, Cisco WebEx, you tube live, Facebook group messengers, WhatsApp group video calling etc. No doubt the online platform is best for every sector in such pandemic situation to handle the routine works. The attention is that to make awareness and enhance the technical skill of professionals towards online platform.

Water is an essential resource for all the organisms, plants and animals including human beings. It is the backbone for the agricultural and industrial sectors and all the small business units. Increase in human population and economic activities have tremendously increased the demand for large-scale suppliers of freshwater for various competing end users. The quality evaluation of water is represented in terms of physical, chemical and biological parameters. A particular problem in the case of water quality monitoring is the complexity associated with analyzing a large number of measured variables. The data sets contain rich information about the behaviour of the water resources. Multivariate statistical approaches allow deriving hidden information from the data sets about the possible influences of the environment on water quality. Classification, modelling and interpretation of monitored data are the most important steps in the assessment of water quality. The application of different multivariate statistical techniques, such as cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis (FA) help to identify important components or factors accounting for most of the variances of a system. In the present study water samples were analyzed for various physicochemical analyses by different methods following the standards of APHA, BIS and WHO and were subjected to further statistical analysis viz. the cluster analysis to understand the similarity and differences among the various sampling stations. Three clusters were found. Cluster 1 was marked with 3 sampling locations 1, 3 & 5; Cluster-2 was marked with sampling location-2 and cluster-3 was marked with sampling location-4. Principal component analysis/factor analysis is a pattern reorganization technique which is used to assess the correlation between the observations in terms of different factors which are not observable. Observations correlated either positively or negatively, are likely to be affected by the same factors while the observations which are not correlated are influenced by different factors. In our study, three factors explained 99.827% of variances. F1 marked 51.619% of total variances, high positive strong loading with TSS, TS, Temp, TDS, phosphate and moderate with electrical conductivity with loading values of 0.986, 0.970, 0.792, 0.744, 0.695, 0.701, respectively. Factor 2 marked 27.236% of the total variance with moderate positive loading with total alkalinity & temp. with loading values 0.723 & 0.606 respectively. It also explained the moderate negative loading with conductivity, TDS, and chloride with loading values -0.698, -0.690, -0.582. Factor F 3 marked 20.972 % of the variances with positive loading with pH, chloride, and phosphate with strong loading of pH 0.872 and moderate positive loading with chloride and phosphate with loading values 0.721, and 0.569 respectively.

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding due to jejunal diverticula is very rare. Capsule endoscopy is a useful diagnostic tool for localizing the bleeding site, but single‑balloon enteroscopy is a good therapeutic modality for the management. Here, we report two cases, in whom the cause of GI bleeding was jejunal diverticula and they managed successfully with endoscopic management.

Nanotechnology, which refers to the techniques that suggest the ways to synthesize, design and control properties in the nano region, is the processes and/or technologies which are environmentally benign, improved and can be used in such a way to reduce waste generation, cut pollution and conserve natural resources. Nanotechnology has emerged as a most revolutionary technology in the world that provides efficient, cost-effective and environmentally acceptable solutions for the decontamination of water. Although nanotechnology has been used in almost all the fields like medicine, biotechnology, electronics etc., its major application to drinking water treatment has begun only recently. Although many physical and chemical methods have been developed till now to synthesize a variety of nanomaterials but majority of them have negative effect on the environment and social life. Majority of them require high energy consumption, need toxic and costly chemicals and produce hazardous by-products. Thus, it is desirable to find alternative sources of eco-friendly and renewable materials and to develop sustainable procedures for the treatment of polluted water. As it is not possible to cover all the methods which are being used traditionally or currently to decontaminate water, in the present chapter we have picked up only the recent environmentally sustainable methodologies for the removal of contaminants like dyes, heavy metals, anions and microbial contamination in water in which nanotechnology plays the vital role. In this chapter we have mainly discussed the role of nanotechnology as an effective solution for the decontamination of wastewater in a sustainable way.

Drinking water sources are regularly polluted by various human activities that cause severe health problem all over the world. In recent years, water quality research has drawn great attention from scientific communities. A lot number of tools and techniques are used for proper water quality analysis, monitoring and assessment. This paper includes brief information about some of the them namely, physio-chemical water analysis (PCWA), adsorption, metal pollution index (MPI), water quality index (WQI), water quality modelling tools (WQMT) and multivariable statistical models that include five multivariate data mining approaches i.e. cluster analysis (CA), principal component analysis (PCA), factor analysis (FA), multiple linear regression analysis (MLRA), discriminant analysis (DA). Present paper also explores the interaction between science and technologies and provides basic knowledge of emerging tools and techniques used in water purification.

We report a case of 61-year-old immunocompetent man with no comorbidity presenting with unexplained weight loss. All routine investigations could not point to the etiology of weight loss, but duodenal biopsy taken on upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed larvae of Strongyloides stercoralis, a nematode endemic to Indian subcontinent. The patient recovered after course of albendazole, and in the absence of other causality, weight loss was attributed to strongyloidiasis.

An attempt has been made to formulate new chewing gum for Dolasetron. The new drug delivery system was obtained, at room temperature conventional pharmaceutical equipment. The resulting chewing gum comprises a gum core combined with fillers, antioxidants, coloring agent and plasticizers, which provide smooth appearance and flexibility during storage and chewing. Drug release from a dosage form is the critical step in drug absorption and bioavailability, thus an experimental work has been designed to evaluate the efficiency of this kind of therapeutic system by verifying its capability to release the drug dose and by assessing the delivery of Dolasetron for bypassing the hepatic first pass effect. Simple diffusion into the medium causes the release of only a small percentage of the drug contained in the medicated chewing gum, while the delivery of the major part of the dose occurs during mastication. In the present study, an attempt has been made to formulate the chewing gum of Dolasetron. Different formulations of chewing gum with varying concentration of plasticizers like glycerol and castor oil were formulated. MCG II formulation was considered to be the best-optimized formula which consists of synthetic gum base (45%), Sorbitol (14.6%), sucrose (46%) etc. which shows first slow release the fast release in the phosphate buffer saline (ph 6.8). The cumulative drug release of MCG II formulation was found to be 99.43 %. From this study, we can conclude that the medicated chewing formulation can be a better choice in the coming years which provides several benefits and also benefits commercially.

Among the complex mixture of biologically active compounds in the bark of Grewia tiliaefolia , a plant used in folklore, lupeol, a constituent of the bark, has been used as an analytical marker indicative of the quality of the plant. A sensitive and reliable quantitative high-performance thin-layer chromatographic method has been developed for the determination of lupeol from Grewia tiliaefolia . Chloroform extracts of bark from five different sources were used for HPTLC on silica gel with benzene-ethyl acetate, 95 + 5, as mobile phase. Under these conditions the R F of lupeol was 0.40. The calibration plot was linear in the range 0.5 to 1.5 μg lupeol and the correlation coefficient, 0.999, was indicative of good linear dependence of peak area on concentration. The mean assay of lupeol was 2.902 ± 0.243 mg g −1 bark. The method enables reliable quantification of lupeol and good resolution and separation of lupeol from other constituents of Grewia tiliaefolia . To ascertain the purity of the peak from the ...

The present paper deals with a generalized fractional integral operator involving the well-known Fox's H-function. Here, we first obtain the images of certain special functions under this operator and then apply them to the study of a generalized form of a finite statistical distribution. Thus, we obain the distribution function, characteristic function and mathemat­ ical expectation of a function for this statistical distribution. We also mention certain, known particular cases of our findings.

In this paper we have solved a double convolution integral equation whose kernel involves the product of theH-functions of several variables and a general class of multivariable polynomials. Due to general nature of the kernel, we can obtain from it, solutions of a large number of double and single convolution integral equations involving products of several classical orthogonal polynomials and simpler functions. We have also obtained here solutions of two double convolution integral equations as special cases of our main result. Exact reference of three known results, which are obtainable as particular cases of one of these special cases, have also been included.

A bacterial strain, Streptomyces sp. CIMAP- A1 was isolated from Geranium rhizosphere and identified by morphological, physiological, biochemical and molecular characters (16S rDNA gene sequence). Phylogenetically, it was found most closely related to S. vinacendrappus, strain NRRL-2363 with 99% sequence similarity. The strain had potential antagonistic activity (in vitro) against wide range of phytopathogenic fungi like Stemphylium sp., Botrytis cinerea, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Colletotrichum spp., Curvularia spp., Corynespora cassicola and Thielavia basicola. The extracellular secondary metabolites produced by the strain in the culture filtrates significantly inhibited the spore germination, growth of germ tube of the germinated spores and radial growth of Alternaria alternata, Colletotrichum acutatum, Curvularia andropogonis and Fusarium moniliforme. The extraction of culture filtrate with solvents and purification by following VLC and PTLC methods always yielded a 10th fraction antifungal compound showing activity against wide range of phytopathogenic fungi. The strain was able to produce siderophores and indole-3-acetic acid. The strain was found to enhance the growth and biomass production of Geranium. It increased 11.3% fresh shoot biomass of Geranium and 21.7% essential oil yield.

A number of aldehydes and ketones were condensed with 2, 4-dinitro phenyl hydrazine to give corresponding 2, 4-dinitrophenyl hydrazones (Ia-Ic). Again aldehydes and ketones were reacted with 2-phenylacetohydrazide to give hydrazide-hydrazones (IIa-IIc). Structure of synthesized compounds were confirmed by elemental analysis and spectral data. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for anticonvulsant activity in maximial electroshock seizure (MES) test using phenytoin as standard drug. In which compound IIa was found most potent among the series.

A sensitive, rapid, simple, and accurate high performance thin layer chromatographic method has been developed to standardize the bark of Grewia tiliaefolia Vahl. (Family: Tiliaceae) using betulin as an analytical marker. Chloroform extracts of bark from five different sources were used for HPTLC on silica gel with toluene-ethyl acetate, 90 + 10 v/v, as mobile phase. Under these conditions, the Rf of betulin was 0.22. The calibration plot was linear in the range of 1000 ng to 1800 ng of betulin and the correlation coefficient, 0.999, was indicative of good linear dependence of peak area on concentration. The mean assay of betulin was 2.596 +/- 0.594 mg g(-1) of bark. The method permits reliable quantification of betulin and good resolution and separation of betulin from other constituents of Grewia tiliaefolia. Recovery values from 96.09 to 98.87% showed that the reliability and reproducibility of the method were excellent. The proposed HPTLC method for quantitative monitoring of betulin in Grewia tiliaefolia can be used for routine quality testing.

Plants containing flavonoids have been reported to possess strong antioxidant properties. The ethanolic extract of Striga orobanchioides was screened for in vitro and in vivo antioxidant properties using standard procedures. The ethanol extract exhibited IC(50) values of 18.65+/-1.46 and 11.20+/-0.52 micro g/ml, respectively in DPPH and nitric oxide radical inhibition assays. These values were less than those obtained for ascorbic acid and rutin, used as standards. In the in vivo experiments the extract treatment at 100mg/kg body weight dose caused a significant increase in the level of the catalase in the liver and the kidneys. A significant increase in the level of SOD in the liver was observed. The treatment also caused a significant decrease in the TBA-RS and increase in the ascorbic acid levels. These results suggest strong antioxidant potentials of the ethanolic extract of S. orobanchioides.