Loss of PTEN Is Not Associated with Poor Survival in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma Patients of the Temozolomide Era

Introduction: Pre-temozolomide studies demonstrated that loss of the tumor suppressor gene PTEN held independent prognostic significance in GBM patients. We investigated whether loss of PTEN predicted shorter survival in the temozolomide era. The role of PTEN in the PI3K/Akt pathway is also reviewed. Methods: Patients with histologically proven newly diagnosed GBM were identified from a retrospective database between 2007 and 2010. Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to calculate the independent effects of PTEN expression, age

Study of the soil isolates for antimicrobial activity

During the process of screening for a potent antimicrobial compound, a new strain was isolated from the soil sample of Thalaikunda village in Ooty, Tamil Nadu. That organism was name as NK(2). It was found to be antagonistic to both bacterial and fungal test organisms. Production of antibiotic was more in a newly formulated broth. Antibiotic production reached maximum at the end of the 70 h of fermentation by stirred flask culture. The antimicrobial compound was extracted in n-butanol, ethyl acetate and methanol. Antimicrobial compound, which was produced by the soil isolate NK(2) did not showed cytotoxic activity on Vero cell lines

Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity of Alpinia officinarum

Alpinia officinarum is a rhizome belonging to the family zingeberaeceae. Hydro alcoholic extract by hot and cold maceration and methanol extract by percolation process Qualitative phytochemical analysis of extract of Alpinia officinarum rhizome showed a majority of the compound including tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins. Hydroalcoholic extract prepared by hot maceration process was found to contain more phenol and flavonol and it was measured as 50.1 mg/g and 54.02 mg/g, respectively. All the three extracts showed moderate to potent antimicrobial activity against the Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureas, Pseudomonas auroginosa, Escherichia coli. None of the extracts showed antifungal activity against Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. All the three extracts showed a concentration dependent radical scavenging activity by inhibiting diphenylpicrylhydrazyl free radical at the same time hydroalcoholic extract prepared by hot maceration process showed better reducing and total antioxidant activity