North Eastern Hill University

About: North Eastern Hill University is a education organization based out in Shillong, Meghalaya, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Ruthenium. The organization has 2318 authors who have published 4476 publications receiving 48894 citations.

PCR-based determination of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of ribosomal DNA of giant intestinal fluke, Fasciolopsis buski (Lankester, 1857) Looss, 1899.

Abstract: Fasciolopsis buski, the zoonotic intestinal flukes of pigs in South and Southeast Asia, is commonly prevalent in regions across Northeast India. Populations of the fluke collected from different parts of the region exhibit variations in morphology. The main objective of our study was to provide molecular characterization of the parasite so as to supplement morphological criteria, using ribosomal DNA cluster (rDNA), which is flanked by more conserved internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions. We describe herein the ITS sequences of the parasite collected from swine hosts of Assam region. The ITS sequences of both egg and adult origins were found to be identical in length and composition. Phylogenetically, F. buski resembles closely the other members of family Fasciolidae, showing significant expectation value in the alignment. The results corroborate that the ITS sequences are not stage specific and are conserved through different stages of development of the fluke, and thus could be used as species markers.

The effects of cyclophosphamide alone and in combination with ascorbic acid against murine ascites Dalton's lymphoma

Abstract: Objective : To evaluate the therapeutic activity of cyclophosphamide alone and in combination with ascorbic acid against murine ascites Dalton's lymphoma. Materials and Methods: Cyclophosphamide (CP) is an anticancer drug with immunosuppressive activity, while ascorbic acid (AA) is an antioxidant. Ascites Dalton's lymphoma (DL) was maintained by intraperitoneal (i.p.) transplantation of tumor cells in Swiss albino mice. Tumor transplanted mice were divided into four groups. Group-I mice received normal saline only and served as control. Group-II mice were given 1% ascorbic acid through drinking water from the 5th to the 10th day. Group-III mice were injected i.p. with a single dose of CP (200 mg/kg) on the 10th day of tumor transplantation. Group IV mice received 1% ascorbic acid from the 5th day onwards and, then, a single dose of CP, i.p., on the 10th day of tumor transplantation. In groups III and IV, after 24, 48, 72, and 96 h of CP treatment the liver, kidneys, spleen, and tumor tissue were collected for biochemical determinations. In group II, which received AA only from the 5th to the 10th day, the same tissues were collected on the 10th day of tumor transplantation. The changes in reduced glutathione (GSH) and carbohydrate in tumor cells as well as the liver, kidney, and spleen of tumor-bearing mice in relation to the antitumor activity of CP alone or in combination with AA were evaluated. The quantitative changes in sialic acid level of DL cells under these treatment conditions were also determined. Results: AA and CP combination in tumor-bearing mice was found to be more effective against DL as it caused a 257% increase in life span compared with control, while it was 106% with AA and 188% with CP alone (ANOVA, P 0.001). The reduced glutathione (GSH) level increased in DL cells with tumor growth. Compared with CP alone, the combination treatment (AA + CP) resulted in a more pronounced effect causing decreases in non-protein thiol (NPSH) as well as sialic acid levels in DL cells (ANOVA, P 0.001). Conclusion: The drug-mediated lowering of GSH levels in DL cells may be involved in the cytotoxicity due to CP (group-III) as well as AA + CP combination (group-IV). An overall decrease in the sialic acid content of DL cells after combination treatment may also play a role to bring about alterations in the tumor cells, cell-cell interaction and enhanced tumor regression.

Entrepreneurial intention, job satisfaction and organisation commitment - construct of a research model through literature review

Abstract: Intention is a human behavior. Measurement of intention in terms of entrepreneurial mindset is becoming a researchable topic. During the past years, the factors namely lack of fund, lack of raw materials, unskilled employees etc. were mostly considered to be the deterrents of initiation and development of entrepreneurial activities. But, with the various development provisions are made by the concern authorities, it leads to the emergence of entrepreneurial intention as an important factor. The present paper is a humble effort to develop a research model of the relationship between entrepreneurial intention, job satisfaction and organisation commitment.

Multi-species Cuckoo Search Algorithm for Global Optimization

Abstract: Many optimization problems in science and engineering are highly nonlinear and thus require sophisticated optimization techniques to solve. Traditional techniques such as gradient-based algorithms are mostly local search methods and often struggle to cope with such challenging optimization problems. Recent trends tend to use nature-inspired optimization algorithms. The standard cuckoo search (CS) is an optimization algorithm based on a single cuckoo species and a single host species. This work extends the standard CS by using the successful features of the cuckoo-host co-evolution with multiple interacting species. The proposed multi-species cuckoo search (MSCS) intends to mimic the co-evolution among multiple cuckoo species that compete for the survival of the fittest. The solution vectors are encoded as position vectors. The proposed algorithm is then validated by 15 benchmark functions as well as five nonlinear, multimodal case studies in practical applications. Simulation results suggest that the proposed algorithm can be effective for finding optimal solutions and all optimal solutions are achievable in the tested cases. The results for the test benchmarks are also compared with those obtained by other methods such as the standard cuckoo search and genetic algorithm. The comparison has demonstrated the efficiency of the present algorithm. Based on numerical experiments and case studies, we can conclude that the proposed algorithm can be more efficient in most cases. Therefore, the proposed approach can be a very effective tool for solving nonlinear global optimization problems.