The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates, and awards degrees under the purview of the University of Delhi. Ramjas College is one of the best colleges in the country.It is one of the founding colleges of University of Delhi, along with Hindu College and St. Stephen's College. It is a co-educational college that admits students and select teachers from all communities irrespective of gender, caste, religion and physical challenges. The college is situated in the north campus of university of Delhi.
Indocyanine Green (ICG) is a widely used near-infrared fluorophore in biomedical imaging and therapy due to its strong light absorption and effective heat conversion abilities. Recently, combination of chemotherapy with PTT (chemo-PTT) has emerged as a promising approach to improve cancer treatment effectiveness. This study investigates the interaction between Noscapine Hydrochloride (Np.HCl), a benzyl isoquinoline alkaloid with potential anticancer effects, and ICG, with a specific focus on its influence on ICG's optical properties. The findings indicate that Np.HCl promotes J-aggregation even at low concentrations, with aggregation intensity increasing proportionally to Np.HCl concentrations. A simple and reproducible method has been developed to synthesize these J-aggregates (IJAs) using FDA-approved agents, Np.HCl and ICG, highlighting their potential applications in improving chemotherapy outcomes. Spectral analysis revealed the presence of both blue and red shifts, depending on the dye concentration, indicating molecular interactions between Np.HCl and IGs, which were quantitatively assessed through Gaussian fitting. Additionally, Stern-Volmer plots were used to analyze the quenching dynamics and interaction mechanism. Further, cytotoxicity studies have been performed on H1299 cells, which revealed IC50 values of 354.4 and 165.8 μM for ICG and Np.HCl, respectively. Notably, the combination treatment (ICG:Np.HCl) exhibited the highest cytotoxic effect, suggesting a potential synergistic interaction. This is the first demonstration of noscapine-driven ICG J-aggregation, creating a new scope for designing dye-drug assemblies with optical and therapeutic functions.
The present study was done to evaluate the phytochemical constituents, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities of the ethanolic extract of leaves, stem, and fruit of Anneslea fragrans Wall. Qualitative phytochemical screening of three different extracts revealed the presence of various secondary metabolites, including alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, phenolics, tannins, etc. Quantitative analysis revealed that the highest total phenolic, flavonoid, and tannin content in the stem extract followed by leaf and fruit, respectively. CG-MS analysis of all three extracts revealed the presence of various antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancerous, hepatoprotective, antiurolithiac, and anti-inflammatory compounds. The antioxidant activity was evaluated using the phosphomolybdate assay, and DPPH free radical scavenging assay which depicts the maximum activity was observed in stem ethanolic extract, followed by leaves and fruit extract. Antibacterial activity showed the highest zone of inhibition (ZOI) for Escherichia coli (9mm-15mm) in leaf extract, while the stem extract exhibited the highest ZOI against Staphylococcus aureus (9mm-14mm). Our findings revealed that the Anneslea fragrans Wall. could be used for antioxidant and antibacterial agents.
India is a rich reservoir of medicinal plants and is perhaps the largest producer of medicinal herbs which holds a lot of potential in the pharmaceutical industry. Medicinal plants have amazing power to cure diseases without much side effects and are important therapeutic aid for alleviating ailments of humankind. They are endowed with many useful phytochemicals which make them useful for medicinal purposes. These active principles are dietary fibers, alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, amino acids, steroids, peptides, etc. The concentration and solubility parameters of the active principles vary with the plant part used, prevailing season and climatic conditions along with type of extract. The aim of the present study is to compile together and document the scattered information available with local people of Delhi NCR region. In addition, the purpose was also to gain knowledge from common people or community mukhiyas through their participation, technically called the ‘Citizen Science’ approach. The gathered information would be of great help in creating mass awareness about medicinal plant usage in a prescribed dosage with maximal benefits.
ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to combine morbidity in terms of various levels of growth faltering or malnutrition among surviving children with mortality to better understand the determinants of infant and child health.MethodThis study uses data from the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 of India conducted during 2019–21 to provide a framework that integrates both mortality and morbidity as a measure of infant and child health to investigate their association with maternal and other socio-economic determinants of health. The outcome variable representing health status of a child is defined as a categorical variable with four progressively worsening levels– no malnutrition, moderate malnutrition, severe malnutrition, and not alive. The levels of morbidity in terms of growth faltering or malnutrition are defined in line with the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Cumulative Link Mixed Model (CLMM) with partial proportional odds framework has been used to assess the association of risk factors with the outcome variable. Multivariate Imputations by Chained Equation has been employed to address high amount of missingness in three risk factors. Parameter estimates from CLMMs fitted to each of the 20 multiply imputed datasets were combined using Rubin’s rules to obtain pooled estimates.ResultsAmong the examined determinants, maternal education and household wealth index demonstrated the strongest associations with child health outcomes. Notably, low birth weight and non-institutional delivery are consistently strong risk factors across all thresholds of child health status, from moderate malnutrition till mortality. Antenatal care incompleteness does not associate with whether a child enters moderate malnutrition, but it strongly associates (14–19% higher odds) with severe malnutrition and with death, confirming its role in preventing the worse child health outcomes.ConclusionCombining child mortality and morbidity allows better indication of child health status with added sensitivity through progressive health status levels, ranging from best scenario (no malnutrition) to worst scenario (death). Consequently, it enables a more comprehensive assessment of maternal and socioeconomic determinants of child health. In addition, using such combined outcome ensures complete utilization of information available in a survey dataset, irrespective of the mortality status of the child.
