Saussurea lappa (S. lappa) extracts have been shown to exhibit anticancer activity in cancer cell lines; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this cytotoxicity are not fully understood. In the current study, human leukemia HL-60 cells treated with an S. lappa extract exhibited a substantial decrease in cell viability, along with a concomitant increase in apoptosis compared to untreated cells. The S. lappa extract induced the cleavage of caspase-8, caspase-9, caspase-3, and PARP in HL-60 cells, consistent with the direct activation of apoptotic pathways. \n Treatment of HL-60 cells with the S. lappa extract led to activation of the apoptotic mediators c-jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, along with decreased activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2). Involvement of these signaling pathways was confirmed through the use of pharmacological agents. The S. lappa-mediated activation of caspase-8 was blocked following treatment with the ERK activator phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate, while the ERK inhibitor PD58089 restored activity. Likewise, the JNK and p38 inhibitors SP600125 and SB203580, respectively, diminished the S. lappa-mediated activation of caspase-9. In addition, the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine attenuated S. lappa-mediated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, ERK inactivation, JNK and p38 activation, and apoptosis. Taken together, these data show that the S. lappa extract induced the production of ROS, leading to the activation of JNK and p38 and the inhibition of ERK activity, ultimately resulting in HL-60 cell death.

After Lithuania\'s independence restoration, emigration from this country started and is still one of the most important social phenomena in Lithuania. The consequences of migration of health professionals in Lithuania are perceived rather negatively. External migration of Lithuanian health professionals is seen as a loss of investments made in the process of preparing healthcare personnel. Medical or healthcare related studies are expensive and they are offered to Lithuanian citizens for free, whereas the skills and knowledge passed to students may be used in other countries, where work opportunities are much better than in Lithuania. The EU framework within which Lithuanian health professionals move at the moment may be also treated as a facilitator of decisions about mobility. However, the economic reason still prevails. Health professionals want to work and get such remuneration for their work that will allow them to live on a quite good level, without daily worries about bills, money for clothes, money to support the family, to invest in professional development. Salary of our physicians is not low, but keeping in mind, that physician’s work is very hard, responsible, requiring permanent training and skills development, the salary should be yet higher. In other countries the medical professions are respected, have higher position in the hierarchy of respected professions. It is partly not the case in Lithuania, since only specific categories of health professions are respected, while others seem to occupy much lower positions in the social hierarchy.

This essay analyses Barbara Omolade’s argument which claims that black women are defined as a “fragmented commodity” in slavery. An introduction of slavery is presented to give a better understanding to the issue and it relates directly to the main discussion point; before arguing about slaves’ status, the history of slavery and its reality should be mentioned as they have direct effects on it. The reasons which cause such a definition will be shown by interpreting Omolade’s speeches. Then, to support the argument, some events in slave history and narratives will be given. Some of the given support evidences are taken from the historical texts which recorded real slave life events and some others are from narratives. There will be also a claim to show that all white people did not see black women as a commodity.

Modern information systems widely use intelligent tools for detection, recognition and prediction of new knowledge. The area of implementation of such systems is huge and there is almost no area of industry and services, where such systems are not represented. The aim of the development of such systems is to obtain such an information system in the future that will have full functionality with the ability to upgrade without the intervention of a software development team.\nThe paper proposes an intelligent software solution as a part of the way toward the set ideal software solution. It will particularly highlight that the methodology by which the prototype of the proposed software solution was developed represents a valid basis for the development of software solutions for different areas and services.

The present paper deals with the estimation of population variance of the\nstudy variable. We have proposed an exponential type estimator using transformation on both the study and the auxiliary variable, when variance of the auxiliary variable is known. The\nexpression for bias and mean squared error are derived up to first order of approximation and its\nproperties are carried out. We also have derived the efficiency comparison conditions under which the proposed variance estimator performed better than the usual unbiased estimator,\ntraditional ratio estimator and Yadav et al. (2013) estimator. The results have been demonstrated numerically by taking some real data sets considered in the literature

The proposed research studies the seasonal and temporal variations within the floral canopy throughout Punjab Province using Remote Sensing tools and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) Satellite Imagery during 2008-11. Data from literature and Meteorological department was collected to exhibit influence of multiple factors on Vegetation diversity within Punjab Province viz., geographical, environmental, geological, atmospheric factors including soil moisture, temperature, winds, humidity and precipitation. The province of Punjab historically comprised of sizeable vegetation land area. As reported in 1997, it had 1.5 Million Acres total area under forest and trees comprising of 14% total forest area; and 29.79 Million Acres under agricultural land including 26.5 Million Acres in Irrigated zone while 3.3 Million Acres in Rain fed zone. The Rangelands occupied a total of 14.2 Million Acres land within the province. It is known for its highest agricultural land use and cropping intensity within Pakistan. Provincially it comprises of 64% distributed farms with a contribution of 55% farm land area within Pakistan. Of the total country’s cultivated land area i.e. 42.62 Million Acres, it contributes 27.04 Million Acres. Wheat, Rice, Cotton, Sugarcane and Maize are the major crops grown in Punjab covering 66%, 67%, 72%, 60% and 27% respectively administrative provincial expanse within Pakistan. Observing the Vegetation coverage in the Land Use/Land Cover data derived from the MODIS Satellite Imagery showed dependence of seasonal NDVI variations upon the nature of distribution and type of vegetation cover viz., range land, forest cover, grazing land, arable land, barren land etc. As denser the Vegetation coverage, so more positive \nNDVI values resulted. While as lower the elevation, so less the NDVI values. Floral canopy comprising of shrubs, trees, agricultural crops and bushes is dominated in Spring and Monsoon seasons while canopy cover of herbs, grasses and low shrubs is prominent in Summer and Winter. Most notable temporal increase in vegetation cover included: 709% rise in Rain fed zone in April, 812.5% rise in Irrigated zone and 1455.7% rise in Rain fed zone during October 2010-2011 for high vegetation; while 591.4% rise in Rain fed zone during June 2008-2009 for medium vegetation.

The aim of this paper is to introduce the relative superior Julia sets by using S-iteration scheme. Relative superior Julia sets are further generalization of Julia sets for\ncomplex-valued polynomials using S-iteration orbit. Julia sets live in complex plane and are non empty. Graphical images of Julia sets have been visualized and certain\npatterns in Julia sets have been recognized. Presented results shows that fractal images generated by S-iteration scheme are entirely different from those existing in the present literature.

ABSTRACT\nThe purpose of this research was to determine the predicting factors of Divorce among Iranian couples including: personality characteristics and mental disorders. The research design was casual–comparative and the sampling method was clustering sampling. As divorce prone couples, 30 couples (n=60), which were initially referred to divorce crisis Intervention Centre in Isfahan, Iran, were selected. For normal couples sampling, 30 students from Isfahan schools, whose parents (n=60) were members of normal couples were selected. The inventories were Big-Five Factor Personality Questionnaire and SCL-90. From the dimension of Big-Five Factor Questionnaire, results of t-test revealed that, the groups were significantly different in terms of Neuroticism, Openness and Conscientiousness. And from the dimension of SCL-90, the groups were significantly different in terms of all (p <.05). The results of Logistic Regression analysis showed that overall variables Depression, Paranoid, Somatization, Neuroticism, Openness, Agreeableness, Extroversion and Conscientiousness significantly predicted divorce in couples. So that Depression, Paranoid, Somatization, Extroversion and Neuroticism increase the probability of Divorce and increasing the Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness decrease it. The findings emphasize the importance of personality characteristics and mental disorders in Divorce.

Health can only create, acquire by hard work focused on themselves and acquiring knowledge. It is laid in childhood based on genetic factors, lifestyle and environmental conditions. An important factor is physical activity that are studying in school. Quality of pupil performance is guiding, correcting element in the classroom and as a result of training. This article raises the question of the proper approach to the final evaluation, a most important place in the percentage should take those or other abilities, knowledge, abilities, skills. Based on a literature review of scientific, methodical literature, own teacher observations, experiment is a possible approach to exhibiting the final evaluation at physical training lessons in secondary school. It is important to take into account the achievement of pupils with three sides: the physical, social and mental, which are the basis for good health. For the definition of health, they are the same, so each of them is the importance of 1/3 (33.3%). Such a method of evaluation of outcomes provide a more accurate picture of how to prepare pupils and their level of health.

The structural, micro structural and electric properties have been investigated for lead oxide doped strontium titanate ceramics synthesized via conventional solid state diffusion method which were calcined at 900 0C for 13hr and sintered at 1000 0C for 4hrs respectively. The strong relaxation dynamics in loss factor was observed at higher temperatures. AC- conductivity variations with temperatures were studied and the activation energies (Ea) were calculated of the range 0.24-0.94 eV using the lnσ Vs 1/T plots. The crystalline sizes were found to be varying from 77 nm-109 nm by means of XRD and the FTIR spectrum was recorded over a continuous spectral range of 400-4000 cm-1 to study the presence of different metal oxides. Dielectric constant plot established the curie transition temperature Tc = 653K revealing the structural transformation from cubic to tetragonal phase.