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.

Vascular plant diversity in the sacred groves of Jaintia Hills in northeast India

Abstract: Diversity of vascular plants was studied in three sacred groves of the Jaintia Hills, in northeast India. About 395 species, 250 genera, and 108 families comprising pteridophytes, gymnosperms and angiosperms were found in the groves. Orchidaceae, Rubiaceae, Asteraceae and Lauraceae were dominant families and Ficus was the largest genus, with nine species. About 160 tree species were distributed in canopy, subcanopy and under canopy strata of the forest. Concentration of tropical and temperate elements of the neighbouring Sino-Himalayan and Burma-Malayan regions, and endemic (54 species), rare (31 species) and primitive taxa (38 species) due to favourable climatic conditions and prolonged protection have contributed to the high species richness of the groves. Their better management and protection is important for the conservation of plant diversity in the region and also for the benefit of indigenous tribes of the state.

Tylophorine, a phenanthraindolizidine alkaloid isolated from Tylophora indica exerts antiangiogenic and antitumor activity by targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2–mediated angiogenesis

Abstract: Anti-angiogenesis targeting VEGFR2 has been considered as an important strategy for cancer therapy. Tylophorine is known to possess anti-inflammatory and antitumor activity, but its roles in tumor angiogenesis, the key step involved in tumor growth and metastasis, and the involved molecular mechanism is still unknown. Therefore, we examined its anti-angiogenic effects and mechanisms in vitro and in vivo. We used tylophorine and analyzed its inhibitory effects on human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in vitro and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor in vivo. Tylophorine significantly inhibited a series of VEGF-induced angiogenesis processes including proliferation, migration, and tube formation of endothelial cells. Besides, it directly inhibited VEGFR2 tyrosine kinase activity and its downstream signaling pathways including Akt, Erk and ROS in endothelial cells. Using HUVECs we demonstrated that tylophorine inhibited VEGF-stimulated inflammatory responses including IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, IFN-γ, MMP-2 and NO secretion. Tylophorine significantly inhibited neovascularization in sponge implant angiogenesis assay and also inhibited tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth in vivo. Molecular docking simulation indicated that tylophorine could form hydrogen bonds and aromatic interactions within the ATP-binding region of the VEGFR2 kinase unit. Tylophorine exerts anti-angiogenesis effects via VEGFR2 signaling pathway thus, may be a viable drug candidate in anti-angiogenesis and anti-cancer therapies.

Cosmological dynamics of mimetic gravity

Abstract: We present a detailed investigation of the dynamical behavior of mimetic gravity with a general potential for the mimetic scalar field. Performing a phase-space and stability analysis, we show that the scenario at hand can successfully describe the thermal history of the universe, namely the successive sequence of radiation, matter, and dark-energy eras. Additionally, at late times the universe can either approach a de Sitter solution, or a scaling accelerated attractor where the dark-matter and dark-energy density parameters are of the same order, thus offering an alleviation of the cosmic coincidence problem. Applying our general analysis to various specific potential choices, including the power-law and the exponential ones, we show that mimetic gravity can be brought into good agreement with the observed behavior of the universe. Moreover, with an inverse square potential we find that mimetic gravity offers an appealing unified cosmological scenario where both dark energy and dark matter are characterized by a single scalar field, and where the cosmic coincidence problem is alleviated.

Characterization of Human FSH Isoforms Reveals a Nonglycosylatedβ -Subunit in Addition to the Conventional Glycosylatedβ -Subunit

Abstract: Human FSH consists of a mixture of isoforms that can be separated on the basis of differences in negative charge conferred by variations in the numbers of sialic acid residues that terminate oligosaccharide branches. Western analysis of human FSH isoforms separated by chromatofocusing revealed the presence of two human FSHβ isoforms that differed in size. A low mol wt human FSHβ isoform was associated with all FSH isoform fractions. A high mol wt human FSHβ isoform was associated with the more acidic fractions and increased in relative abundance as the pI decreased. Characterization of representative human FSHβ isoforms by mass spectrometry and automated Edman degradation revealed a low mol wt isoform that was not glycosylated. A high mol wt isoform was N-glycosylated at Asn residues 7 and 24. These results indicate that pituitary human FSH consists of two classes of molecules: those that possess a nonglycosylated β-subunit and those that possess a glycosylated β-subunit. Glycoprotein hormones are known t...

New Formulas and Predictions for Running Fermion Masses at Higher Scales in SM, 2HDM, and MSSM

Abstract: Including contributions of scale-dependent vacuum expectation values, we derive new analytic formulas and obtain substantially different numerical predictions for the running masses of quarks and charged-leptons at higher scales in the SM, 2HDM and MSSM. These formulas exhibit significantly different behaviours with respect to their dependence on gauge and Yukawa couplings than those derived earlier. At one-loop level the masses of the first two generations are found to be independent of Yukawa couplings of the third generation in all the three effective theories in the small mixing limit. Analytic formulas are also obtained for running $\tan\beta(\mu)$ in 2HDM and MSSM. Other numerical analyses include study of the third generation masses at high scales as functions of low-energy values of $\tan\beta$ and SUSY scale $M_S=M_Z-10^4$ GeV.