A CASE REPORT ON BENIGN PROSTATIC HYPERPLASIA WITH HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is characterized by proliferation of the cellular elements of the prostate. The complications faced by elderly people need to be minimized and most of elderly don not prefer a surgical approach. Therefore, treatment of BPH with medicines is prioritized by elderly people. The present case report adds a little to the field that how to treat BPH cases in elderly without surgical approach but with homeopathic formulations. Case report presented here is diagnosed case of BPH having grade III prostatomegaly on USG. Patient presented with increased frequency of urination in feeble stream and sudden urging occasionally. Patient was treated with homoeopathic medication and assessed using Ultrasonography, International Prostate Symptom Score, and Uroflowmetry with significant improvement. Hence, it is suggestive that homoeopathic treatment could be effective in the management of cases of BPH in elderly people. Keywords: Homoeopathy, BPH, Uroflowmetry, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), Constitutional medicine, Organopathic medicine, Sabal serrulat

Molecular and functional diversity in Capsicum landraces of Andaman Islands

The present study analyzed the diversity in 26 landraces of Capsicum from Andaman Islands using 20 morphological, 16 biochemical and 10 DNA markers. Significant differences were observed in tested landraces and 16 reference genotypes from mainland India. Biochemical markers grouped all the genotypes into eight clusters with inter-cluster distance of 0.5 to 1.9 while seven quantified morphological traits divided the test genotypes into three major clusters and seven sub-clusters with 0.1 to 1.6 inter-cluster distance value. The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers assured the genetic nature of diversity in landraces. The similarity matrix from RAPD and ISSR markers revealed 48% diversity among 42 genotypes with polymorphism information content (PIC) values of 0.43 and 0.41, respectively. The correspondence in morphological and biochemical markers indicates their interdependence for observed traits. However, poor correlation between DNA profiles and functional markers suggest further screening of more number of markers.The study identified phytochemical rich landraces CA-334, SPG-7, CARI-1 and CCB-2. The information will be useful in chemo-taxonomic foot-printing of Capsicum landraces and devising apposite conservation and utilization strategies.Keywords: Capsicum, landraces, functional diversity, chemo-taxonomic diversity, DNA markersAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(39), pp. 5729-573

EVALUATION OF REVERSAL EFFECTS OF EUGENIA JAMBOLANA SEED EXTRACTS AGAINST HIGH-FRUCTOSE DIET-INDUCED INSULIN RESISTANCE IN ALBINO RATS

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the reversal effects of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of jamun seeds against high-fructose (HFr) diet-induced insulin resistance (IR) in albino rats.Methods: Thirty male albino rats were divided into five groups (n=6), and all the group rats except normal control were provided with HFr (60% w/v) to their drinking water daily for 42 days. Group 1 and 2 served as a normal and fructose control. Groups 3, 4, and 5 were supplemented with metformin (MET 500mg/kg p.o) and aqueous and ethanolic extracts of jamun seeds (Jamun seed aqueous extract [JSAE] and Jamun seed ethanolic extract [JSEE] 1000 mg/kg of each p.o), from day 28 to day 42, respectively. Physical (body weights, food, and water intake) and biochemical (glucose, insulin, and lipid) parameters were estimated, and Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA)-IR values were calculated.Results: HFr diet significantly (p<0.05) increased weight gain and water intake with decreased food intake in rats. HFr-fed rats exhibited a significant (p<0.05) increase in fasting glucose, insulin, and lipid levels along with increased HOMA-IR values and confirms the development of IR. Supplementation with MET, JSAE, and JSEE significantly (p<0.05) restored the physical parameters and reversed fasting glucose and lipid levels in comparison with HFr control. Whereas, only JSAE had significantly reversed the fasting insulin levels in comparison with HFr control. HOMA-IR values were significantly (p<0.05) decreased in both the extract groups of HFr-fed rats, and the results were comparable to MET.Conclusion: Our study concludes that both aqueous and ethanolic extracts of jamun exhibit a significant reversal effect against HFr diet-induced IR, due to insulin-sensitizing actions at the target tissues

Anyons in a weakly interacting system

We describe a theoretical proposal for a system whose excitations are anyons with the exchange phase pi/4 and charge -e/2, but, remarkably, can be built by filling a set of single-particle states of essentially noninteracting electrons. The system consists of an artificially structured type-II superconducting film adjacent to a 2D electron gas in the integer quantum Hall regime with unit filling fraction. The proposal rests on the observation that a vacancy in an otherwise periodic vortex lattice in the superconductor creates a bound state in the 2DEG with total charge -e/2. A composite of this fractionally charged hole and the missing flux due to the vacancy behaves as an anyon. The proposed setup allows for manipulation of these anyons and could prove useful in various schemes for fault-tolerant topological quantum computation.Comment: 7 pages with 3 figures. For related work and info visit http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~fran

Genetic Improvement of Rice for Multiple Stress Tolerance in Unfavorable Rainfed Ecology

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HER1-Targeted 86Y-Panitumumab Possesses Superior Targeting Characteristics than 86Y-Cetuximab for PET Imaging of Human Malignant Mesothelioma Tumors Xenografts

Malignant mesothelioma (MM), a rare form of cancer is often associated with previous exposure to fibrous minerals, such as asbestos. Asbestos exposure increases HER1-activity and expression in pre-clinical models. Additionally, HER1 over-expression is observed in the majority of MM cases. In this study, the utility of HER1-targeted chimeric IgG(1), cetuximab, and a human IgG(2), panitumumab, radiolabeled with (86)Y, were evaluated for PET imaging to detect MM non-invasively in vivo, and to select an antibody candidate for radioimmunotherapy (RIT).Radioimmunoconjugates (RICs) of cetuximab and panitumumab were prepared by conjugation with CHX-A''-DTPA followed by radiolabeling with (86)Y. The HER1 expression of NCI-H226, NCI-H2052, NCI-H2452 and MSTO-211H human mesothelioma cells was characterized by flow cytometry. In vivo biodistribution, pharmacokinetic analysis, and PET imaging were performed in tumor bearing athymic mice.In vivo studies demonstrated high HER1 tumor uptake of both RICs. Significant reduction in tumor uptake was observed in mice co-injected with excess mAb (0.1 mg), demonstrating that uptake in the tumor was receptor specific. Significant differences were observed in the in vivo characteristics of the RICs. The blood clearance T(½)α of (86)Y-cetuximab (0.9-1.1 h) was faster than (86)Y-panitumumab (2.6-3.1 h). Also, the tumor area under the curve (AUC) to liver AUC ratios of (86)Y-panitumumab were 1.5 to 2.5 times greater than (86)Y-cetuximab as observed by the differences in PET tumor to background ratios, which could be critical when imaging orthotopic tumors and concerns regarding radiation doses to normal organs such as the liver.This study demonstrates the more favorable HER1-targeting characteristics of (86)Y-panitumumab than (86)Y-cetuximab for non-invasive assessment of the HER1 status of MM by PET imaging. Due to lower liver uptake, panitumumab based immunoconjugates may fare better in therapy than corresponding cetuximab based immunoconjugates

Differential expression of collectins in human placenta and role in inflammation during spontaneous Labor.

© 2014 Yadav et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Collectins, collagen-containing Ca2+ dependent C-type lectins and a class of secretory proteins including SP-A, SP-D and MBL, are integral to immunomodulation and innate immune defense. In the present study, we aimed to investigate their placental transcript synthesis, labor associated differential expression and localization at feto-maternal interface, and their functional implication in spontaneous labor. The study involved using feto-maternal interface (placental/decidual tissues) from two groups of healthy pregnant women at term (≥37 weeks of gestation), undergoing either elective C-section with no labor ('NLc' group, n = 5), or normal vaginal delivery with spontaneous labor ('SLv' group, n = 5). The immune function of SP-D, on term placental explants, was analyzed for cytokine profile using multiplexed cytokine array. SP-A, SP-D and MBL transcripts were observed in the term placenta. The 'SLv' group showed significant up-regulation of SP-D (p = 0.001), and down-regulation of SP-A (p = 0.005), transcripts and protein compared to the 'NLc' group. Significant increase in 43 kDa and 50 kDa SP-D forms in placental and decidual tissues was associated with the spontaneous labor (p<0.05). In addition, the MMP-9-cleaved form of SP-D (25 kDa) was significantly higher in the placentae of 'SLv' group compared to the 'NLc' group (p = 0.002). Labor associated cytokines IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α and MCP-1 showed significant increase (p<0.05) in a dose dependent manner in the placental explants treated with nSP-D and rhSP-D. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that SP-A and SP-D proteins associate with the spontaneous labor and SP-D plausibly contributes to the pro-inflammatory immune milieu of feto-maternal tissues.Funding provided by BT/PR15227/BRB/10/906/2011) Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India http://dbtindia.nic.in/index.asp (TM) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Junior Research Fellowship (JRF)/Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), Government of India, www.icmr.nic.in (AKY)

Surfactant protein D inhibits HIV-1 infection of target cells via interference with gp120-CD4 interaction and modulates pro-inflammatory cytokine production

© 2014 Pandit et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Surfactant Protein SP-D, a member of the collectin family, is a pattern recognition protein, secreted by mucosal epithelial cells and has an important role in innate immunity against various pathogens. In this study, we confirm that native human SP-D and a recombinant fragment of human SP-D (rhSP-D) bind to gp120 of HIV-1 and significantly inhibit viral replication in vitro in a calcium and dose-dependent manner. We show, for the first time, that SP-D and rhSP-D act as potent inhibitors of HIV-1 entry in to target cells and block the interaction between CD4 and gp120 in a dose-dependent manner. The rhSP-D-mediated inhibition of viral replication was examined using three clinical isolates of HIV-1 and three target cells: Jurkat T cells, U937 monocytic cells and PBMCs. HIV-1 induced cytokine storm in the three target cells was significantly suppressed by rhSP-D. Phosphorylation of key kinases p38, Erk1/2 and AKT, which contribute to HIV-1 induced immune activation, was significantly reduced in vitro in the presence of rhSP-D. Notably, anti-HIV-1 activity of rhSP-D was retained in the presence of biological fluids such as cervico-vaginal lavage and seminal plasma. Our study illustrates the multi-faceted role of human SPD against HIV-1 and potential of rhSP-D for immunotherapy to inhibit viral entry and immune activation in acute HIV infection. © 2014 Pandit et al.The work (Project no. 2011-16850) was supported by Medical Innovation Fund of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India (www.icmr.nic.in/)

Azimuthal Anisotropy of Photon and Charged Particle Emission in Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 A GeV/c

The azimuthal distributions of photons and charged particles with respect to the event plane are investigated as a function of centrality in Pb + Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c in the WA98 experiment at the CERN SPS. The anisotropy of the azimuthal distributions is characterized using a Fourier analysis. For both the photon and charged particle distributions the first two Fourier coefficients are observed to decrease with increasing centrality. The observed anisotropies of the photon distributions compare well with the expectations from the charged particle measurements for all centralities.Comment: 8 pages and 6 figures. The manuscript has undergone a major revision. The unwanted correlations were enhanced in the random subdivision method used in the earlier version. The present version uses the more established method of division into subevents separated in rapidity to minimise short range correlations. The observed results for charged particles are in agreement with results from the other experiments. The observed anisotropy in photons is explained using flow results of pions and the correlations arising due to the decay of the neutral pion