The aim of this two-part review in this issue is to provide some basic perspectives from Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, and to discuss how current research methodologies may be used to ...shed light on mechanisms of Ayurvedic treatments to support cancer care and prevention. It addresses some of the challenges for scientific validation of Ayurvedic herbal compounds, protocols, and modalities in four areas. Part 1 1 has reviewed Ayurvedic theories and applications of body constitution (Prakriti), digestion (Agni and Ama) and mind-body-spirit health in relation to cancer. Here in Part 2, the focus is on preclinical and clinical research of Ayurvedic botanical herbs, with a review of pertinent literature on three selected herbs, Curcumin, Ashwagandha, and Triphala. A discussion of the challenges and possibilities of research in Ayurveda is offered to guide the development of translational research programs. Ayurvedic modalities are not intended as a substitute for allopathic treatments of cancer but as an integrative component for prevention and restoration of strength and immunity.
We demonstrate that active carpets of bacteria or self-propelled colloids generate coherent flows towards the substrate, and propose that these currents provide efficient pathways to replenish ...nutrients that feed back into activity. A full theory is developed in terms of gradients in the active matter density and velocity, and applied to bacterial turbulence, topological defects and clustering. Currents with complex spatiotemporal patterns are obtained, which are tunable through confinement. Our findings show that diversity in carpet architecture is essential to maintain biofunctionality.
Integration of Ayurveda into our current health care research programs is critical to making progress in global wellness and in disease prevention and control, especially for cancer. Ayurveda ...promotes restoration of the innate healing mechanisms existing in the body for optimal immunity, resilience, and health. Ayurveda also has an abundant resource of botanical products containing diverse pharmaco-active ingredients and millennia of experience of clinical applications for health benefits. But there is a lack of evidence–based research to demonstrate its efficacy and potential. This 2-part review is written from the perspective of a western-trained biomedical scientist and student of Ayurveda. It aims to educate research scientist peers about the opportunities and challenges for scientific validation of Ayurvedic herbal compounds, protocols, and modalities and inspire more research in this area. Part 1 will review several aspects of Ayurveda including principles of body constitution (Prakriti), digestion (Agni and Ama) and mind-body health, in relation to cancer. Part 2 1 will focus on Ayurvedic botanical resources used for cancer and research studies will be discussed on selected herbal compounds. Research gaps and opportunities will be identified to guide development of research programs to validate safety and efficacy of these therapies. Importantly, the use of Ayurvedic modalities is not intended to substitute for allopathic treatments for cancer but as an integrative component for prevention and restoration of strength and immunity post treatment.
Innovations in fluid mechanics have been leading to better food since ancient history, while creativity in cooking has inspired fundamental breakthroughs in science. This review addresses how recent ...advances in hydrodynamics are changing food science and the culinary arts and, reciprocally, how the surprising phenomena that arise in the kitchen are leading to new discoveries across the disciplines, including molecular gastronomy, rheology, soft matter, biophysics, medicine, and nanotechnology. This review is structured like a menu, where each course highlights different aspects of culinary fluid mechanics. Our main themes include multiphase flows, complex fluids, thermal convection, hydrodynamic instabilities, viscous flows, granular matter, porous media, percolation, chaotic advection, interfacial phenomena, and turbulence. For every topic, an introduction and its connections to food are provided, followed by a discussion of how science could be made more accessible and inclusive. The state-of-the-art knowledge is then assessed, the open problems, along with the likely directions for future research and indeed future dishes. New ideas in science and gastronomy are growing rapidly side by side.
Upstream Swimming in Microbiological Flows Mathijssen, Arnold J T M; Shendruk, Tyler N; Yeomans, Julia M ...
Physical review letters,
01/2016, Letnik:
116, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Interactions between microorganisms and their complex flowing environments are essential in many biological systems. We develop a model for microswimmer dynamics in non-Newtonian Poiseuille flows. We ...predict that swimmers in shear-thickening (-thinning) fluids migrate upstream more (less) quickly than in Newtonian fluids and demonstrate that viscoelastic normal stress differences reorient swimmers causing them to migrate upstream at the centerline, in contrast to well-known boundary accumulation in quiescent Newtonian fluids. Based on these observations, we suggest a sorting mechanism to select microbes by swimming speed.
Biological activity is often highly concentrated on surfaces, across the scales from molecular motors and ciliary arrays to sessile and motile organisms. These 'active carpets' locally inject energy ...into their surrounding fluid. Whereas Fick's laws of diffusion are established near equilibrium, it is unclear how to solve non-equilibrium transport driven by such boundary-actuated fluctuations. Here, we derive the enhanced diffusivity of molecules or passive particles as a function of distance from an active carpet. Following Schnitzer's telegraph model, we then cast these results into generalised Fick's laws. Two archetypal problems are solved using these laws: First, considering sedimentation towards an active carpet, we find a self-cleaning effect where surface-driven fluctuations can repel particles. Second, considering diffusion from a source to an active sink, say nutrient capture by suspension feeders, we find a large molecular flux compared to thermal diffusion. Hence, our results could elucidate certain non-equilibrium properties of active coating materials and life at interfaces.
We carried out geochemical analyses on a sediment core from Lake Harris, Florida (USA) to identify sources of organic matter to the sediment throughout the Holocene, and relate changes in those ...sources to shifts in past climate and environmental conditions. We hypothesized that the sources of organic matter changed in response to regional hydrologic shifts following de-glaciation, and to human population expansion in the state during the 20th century. Hydroclimate shifts in Florida were related to: 1) a steady rise in relative sea level and the fresh water table that began in the early Holocene, 2) wetland formation and expansion ca. 5,000 cal yrs BP, and 3) the onset of the modern El Niño (ENSO) cycle ~3,000 cal yrs BP. Stratigraphic changes in sediment variables from Lake Harris reflect each of these hydroclimate periods. Early in the Holocene, Lake Harris was a marsh-like system in a relatively dry, open-prairie environment. Organic sediments deposited at that time were derived largely from terrestrial sources, as inferred from high TOC/TN ratios, a dominance of longer-chain of n-alkanes (n-C29-31), relatively negative organic carbon isotope values (δ13CTOC), and low biogenic silica concentrations. In the middle Holocene, a positive shift in δ13CTOC coincided with the onset of wetter conditions in Florida. Submerged macrophyte biomarkers (n-C21-23) dominated, and during that period bulk organic carbon isotope values were most similar to δ13C values of mid-chain-length n-alkanes. In the late Holocene, δ13CTOC values declined, CaCO3 levels decreased to trace amounts, organic carbon concentrations increased and diatom biogenic silica concentrations increased from 10 to 120 mg g-1. Around 2,900 cal yrs BP, the effects of ENSO intensified and many Florida lakes deepened to their current limnetic state. Concentrations of algal and cyanobacterial biomarkers in the Lake Harris core increased by orders of magnitude after about AD 1940, in response to human-induced eutrophication, an inference supported by values of δ15N that fluctuate around zero.
Associations between markers and complex quantitative traits were investigated in a collection of 146 modern two-row spring barley cultivars, representing the current commercial germ plasm in Europe. ...Using 236 AFLP markers, associations between markers were found for markers as far apart as 10 cM. Subsequently, for the 146 cultivars the complex traits mean yield, adaptability (Finlay-Wilkinson slope), and stability (deviations from regression) were estimated from the analysis of variety trial data. Regression of those traits on individual marker data disclosed marker-trait associations for mean yield and yield stability. Support for identified associations was obtained from association profiles, i.e., from plots of P-values against chromosome positions. In addition, many of the associated markers were located in regions where earlier QTL were found for yield and yield components. To study the oligogenic genetic base of the traits in more detail, multiple linear regression of the traits on markers was carried out, using stepwise selection. By this procedure, 18-20 markers that accounted for 40-58% of the variation were selected. Our results indicate that association mapping approaches can be a viable alternative to classical QTL approaches based on crosses between inbred lines, especially for complex traits with costly measurements.