Selenium and Vitamin E for Prostate Cancer - Justifications for the SELECT Study

Ramamoorthy, Venkataraghavan,Rubens, Muni,Saxena, Anshul,Shehadeh, Nancy Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.7

There are several studies that relate oxidative damage as possible mechanism for many cancers. Many studies have also shown that anti-oxidants like selenium and vitamin E decrease the risk for prostate cancer. The main objective of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) study was to look for the benefits of selenium and vitamin E supplementation on prostate cancer. The study had a large sample size, stringent experimental conditions, very long duration, standardized laboratories for biochemical analyses and other factors that contribute to high external validity. The SELECT study failed to show any significant risk reduction for prostate cancers ascribable to selenium and vitamin E supplementations. Because of these conflicting results, many researchers argue about the methods used, supplementations administered (selenium and vitamin E) and indicators used for assessing levels of supplementations. We reviewed many epidemiological studies, clinical trials, and pre-clinical studies. With corroborative evidences we justify that SELECT study has a sound methodology and rationale. In lieu of the contrary results of the select study, researchers should focus on the probable mechanisms for these contrary findings and continue their search for newer and effective agents for prevention of prostate cancer.

Evaluation of Antibacterial, Antifungal, and Antioxidant Properties of Some Food Dyes

Ramamoorthy Siva,Meera George Palackan,Lubaina Maimoon,T. Geetha,Dipita Bhakta,P. Balamurugan,S. Rajanarayanan 한국식품과학회 2011 Food Science and Biotechnology Vol.20 No.1

Natural dyes find use in the coloring of textiles,drugs, cosmetics, etc. Owing to their nontoxic effects, they are also used for coloring various food products. In the present study antimicrobial properties of 8 food dyes against 10 bacteria and 5 fungal organisms were investigated. It was observed that red dyes showed best antibacterial activity while yellow dyes showed better antifungal activity. Dyes obtained from catechu (Acacia catechu) and myrobalan (Terminalia chebula) is not sufficiently effective against the tested microorganisms. In addition to antimicrobial analysis,antioxidant activity by 3 different methods was also investigated. In all the methods, red dye was found to have greater antioxidant activity. It suggest that the addition of these dyes in food not only enhances the value addition by making the food more presentable but also shall address the issue of food supplementation with substances that are good antibiotics and antioxidants, subsequently proving to be health benefactors.

Development of a novel high optical quality ZnO thin films by PLD for III-V opto-electronic devices

K. Ramamoorthy,C. Sanjeeviraja,M. Jayachandran,K. Sankaranarayanan,Pankaj Misra,L.M. Kukreja 한국물리학회 2006 Current Applied Physics Vol.6 No.1

pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique using Johnson Matthey ‘‘specpure’’- grade ZnO pellets. The eects of substrate tempera-tures on zinc oxide thin lm growth, optical transmission, absorption, reection and photoluminescence properties were studied. Aswell as the feasibility of developing high quality transparent oxide thin lms was also studied simultaneously. The optical transmis-sion window of such obtained lms, i.e.,T% (max) P 95% is broader than those of other transparent conducting oxides such asto emphasize as a interesting, signicant and novel physical eect that the average optical transmittance of ZnO thin lms rivals thatof the most transmittive TCO lms reported to date for this conductivity level (of the order of 103 X. 1 cm. 1). Also this is the rsttime that we have applied these PLD prepared ZnO thin lms to iso and hetero semiconductorinsulatorsemiconductor (SIS) typereective coatings. From photoluminescence study, we conrmed the purity and high electrical conductivity of the deposited thinlms of ZnO. The optical parameter values for the lms were calculated, tabulated and graphically emphasized. Supplementarystudies on surface, electrical, structural and internal morphological properties of zinc oxide thin lm growth correlated with opticaltransmission, absorption, reection and photoluminescence properties gives added advantages to this work. We hope that surelythese data should be helpful either as a scientic or technical basis in the semiconductor processing and technology.

Effect of fourth hourly oropharyngeal suctioning on ventilator-associated events in patients requiring mechanical ventilation in intensive care units of a tertiary care center in South India: a randomized controlled trial

Borah Khanjana,Ramamoorthy Lakshmi,Senthilnathan Muthapillai,Murugesan Rajeswari,Lalthanthuami Hmar Thiak,Subramaniyan Rani 대한중환자의학회 2023 Acute and Critical Care Vol.38 No.4

Background: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is a necessary life-saving measure for critically ill patients. Ventilator-associated events (VAEs) are potentially avoidable complications associated with MV that can double the rate of death. Oral care and oropharyngeal suctioning, although neglected procedures, play a vital role in the prevention of VAE.Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted in the intensive care units to compare the effect of fourth hourly oropharyngeal suctioning with the standard oral care protocol on VAE among patients on MV. One hundred twenty mechanically ventilated patients who were freshly intubated and expected to be on ventilator support for the next 72 hours were randomly allocated to the control or intervention groups. The intervention was fourth hourly oropharyngeal suctioning along with the standard oral care procedure. The control group received standard oral care (i.e., thrice a day) and on-demand oral suctioning. On the 3rd and 7th days following the intervention, endotracheal aspirates were sent to rule out ventilator-associated pneumonia.Results: Both groups were homogenous at baseline with respect to their clinical characteristics. The intervention group had fewer VAEs (56.7%) than the control group (78.3%) which was significant at P<0.01. A significant reduction in the status of “positive culture” on ET aspirate also been observed following the 3rd day of the intervention (P<0.001).Conclusions: One of the most basic preventive strategies is providing oral care. Oropharyngeal suctioning is also an important component of oral care that prevents microaspiration. Hence, fourth-hourly oropharyngeal suctioning with standard oral care significantly reduces the incidence of VAE.

Impacts of Soil Microbial Populations on Soil Chemical and Biological Properties under Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest, Coromandel Coast, India

Sudhakaran M,Ramamoorthy D,Swamynathan B,Ramya J 강원대학교 산림과학연구소 2014 Journal of Forest Science Vol.30 No.4

There are very few studies about soil chemical and biological properties under tropical dry evergreen forest Coromandel Coast, India. The present study was conducted in six tropical dry evergreen forests sites such as Oorani, Puthupet, Vadaagram, Kotthatai, Sendrakillai and Palvathunnan. We measured the quantity of soil chemical, biological properties and selected soil microorganisms for investigating the impacts of soil microbial populations on soil chemical and biological properties. The result showed that total N, P, Ca, S, Fe, Mn, Cu, Co, exchangeable K, Olson P, extractable Ca and phosphobacterial population were higher in the soil from Kothattai forest site. Organic carbon, total Mg, extractable Na, soil respiration, β-glucosidase activity, bacterial population, fungi population and actinomycetes population were higher in the soil from Palvathunn forest site. Total K, NH4 +-N, NO3 −-N, exchangeable K, extractable Ca, extractable Na, azotobacter population, bacillus population and rhizobacteria population were higher in the soil from Sendrakillai. Beijerinckia population, rhizobacteria and soluble sodium were higher in Puthupet forest soil. Total Si, total Na and exchangeable K were higher in soil from Oorani forest site. Total Mo and exchangeable K were higher in the soil from Vadaagaram forest site. The results showed that organic carbon, total N, NH4 +-N, NO3 −-N, extractable P, extractable Ca, soil respiration and β-glucosidase were significantly correlated with soil microbial populations. Therefore soil microorganisms are important factor for maintaining soil quality in tropical dry evergreen forest.

Feeding the extra billions: strategies to improve crops and enhance future food security

Stamm, Petra,Ramamoorthy, Rengasamy,Kumar, Prakash P. The Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology 2011 Plant biotechnology reports Vol.5 No.2

The ability to feed an expanding world population poses one of the greatest challenges to mankind in the future. Accompanying the increased demand for food by the expected nine billion inhabitants of Earth in 2050 will be a continual decrease in arable land area, together with a decline in crop yield due to a variety of stresses. For these formidable challenges to be met, future crops should not only by high-yielding, but also stress-tolerant and disease-resistant. In this review, we highlight the importance of genetic engineering as an indispensable tool to generate just such future crops. We briefly discuss strategies and available tools for biotechnological crop improvement and identify selected examples of candidate genes that may be manipulated so that current biological maxima in yield may be surpassed by comfortable margins. Future prospects and the necessity for basic research aimed at identifying novel target genes are also discussed.

Ginsenoside Rg1 modulates medial prefrontal cortical firing and suppresses the hippocampo-medial prefrontal cortical long-term potentiation

Ghaeminia, Mehdy,Rajkumar, Ramamoorthy,Koh, Hwee-Ling,Dawe, Gavin S.,Tan, Chay Hoon The Korean Society of Ginseng 2018 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.42 No.3

Background: Panax ginseng is one of the most commonly used medicinal herbs worldwide for a variety of therapeutic properties including neurocognitive effects. Ginsenoside Rg1 is one of the most abundant active chemical constituents of this herb with known neuroprotective, anxiolytic, and cognition improving effects. Methods: We investigated the effects of Rg1 on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a key brain region involved in cognition, information processing, working memory, and decision making. In this study, the effects of systemic administration of Rg1 (1 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg, or 10 mg/kg) on (1) spontaneous firing of the medial prefrontal cortical neurons and (2) long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampal-medial prefrontal cortical (HP-mPFC) pathway were investigated in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Results: The spontaneous neuronal activity of approximately 50% the recorded pyramidal cells in the mPFC was suppressed by Rg1. In addition, Rg1 attenuated LTP in the HP-mPFC pathway. These effects were not dose-dependent. Conclusion: This report suggests that acute treatment of Rg1 impairs LTP in the HP-mPFC pathway, perhaps by suppressing the firing of a subset of mPFC neurons that may contribute to the neurocognitive effects of Rg1.

The Abstraction of Petri Net

Joo Seok Song,Shinobu Satoh,C. V. Ramamoorthy 대한전자공학회 1987 TENCON 87 - Computers and Communications Technolog Vol.- No.-

Task Prioritization for Automated Robotic Item Picking

Albert Causo,Zheng-Hao Chong,Ramamoorthy Luxman,Yuan Yik Kok,I-Ming Chen 제어로봇시스템학회 2017 제어로봇시스템학회 국제학술대회 논문집 Vol.2017 No.10

This paper describes a task scheduling method designed for a robotic picking system. The main goal of the system is to fulfill an order, ie, pick all the items in an order list and place them into the order bin, as fast as possible with the least number of unfulfilled items or errors. Picking an item on the list is considered as one task. The system will prioritize and schedule first the tasks with higher chances of being executed successfully. The probability for successful pick is computed from the vision data and grasping information. The items with higher chances of failure to be picked are pushed to the end of the queue. Forty experiments were conducted using randomly generated arrangement of items in a shelf and a randomly generated task order list. The test result shows that the strategy delivers an average fulfillment rate of 90% and an average fulfillment efficiency rate of 71%. The strategy described in this paper could be used to determine items that could be picked with human assistance instead of by robot alone.

Atomically flat single terminated oxide substrate surfaces

Biswas, Abhijit,Yang, Chan-Ho,Ramesh, Ramamoorthy,Jeong, Yoon H. Elsevier 2017 Progress in surface science Vol.92 No.2

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Scientific interest in atomically controlled layer-by-layer fabrication of transition metal oxide thin films and heterostructures has increased intensely in recent decades for basic physics reasons as well as for technological applications. This trend has to do, in part, with the coming post-Moore era, and functional oxide electronics could be regarded as a viable alternative for the current semiconductor electronics. Furthermore, the interface of transition metal oxides is exposing many new emergent phenomena and is increasingly becoming a playground for testing new ideas in condensed matter physics. To achieve high quality epitaxial thin films and heterostructures of transition metal oxides with atomically controlled interfaces, one critical requirement is the use of atomically flat single terminated oxide substrates since the atomic arrangements and the reaction chemistry of the topmost surface layer of substrates determine the growth and consequent properties of the overlying films. Achieving the atomically flat and chemically single terminated surface state of commercially available substrates, however, requires judicious efforts because the surface of as-received substrates is of chemically mixed nature and also often polar. In this review, we summarize the surface treatment procedures to accomplish atomically flat surfaces with single terminating layer for various metal oxide substrates. We particularly focus on the substrates with lattice constant ranging from 4.00Å to 3.70Å, as the lattice constant of most perovskite materials falls into this range. For materials outside the range, one can utilize the substrates to induce compressive or tensile strain on the films and explore new states not available in bulk. The substrates covered in this review, which have been chosen with commercial availability and, most importantly, experimental practicality as a criterion, are KTaO<SUB>3</SUB>, <I>RE</I>ScO<SUB>3</SUB> (<I>RE</I> =Rare-earth elements), SrTiO<SUB>3</SUB>, La<SUB>0.18</SUB>Sr<SUB>0.82</SUB>Al<SUB>0.59</SUB>Ta<SUB>0.41</SUB>O<SUB>3</SUB> (LSAT), NdGaO<SUB>3</SUB>, LaAlO<SUB>3</SUB>, SrLaAlO<SUB>4</SUB>, and YAlO<SUB>3</SUB>. Analyzing all the established procedures, we conclude that atomically flat surfaces with selective A- or B-site single termination would be obtained for most commercially available oxide substrates. We further note that this topmost surface layer selectivity would provide an additional degree of freedom in searching for unforeseen emergent phenomena and functional applications in epitaxial oxide thin films and heterostructures with atomically controlled interfaces.</P>