A study on crosstalk between lung carcinoma and immune cells

Tumor cells are seen to modulate the phenotype of all major immune cells to express tumor favouring phenotypes. Inflammation associated with tumors, a result of such interaction, is increasingly being believed to play a major role in tumor initiation, progression and even metastasis. This modulation is achieved very early when Monocytes, precursors of Macrophages and DCs, from the circulating pool are recruited towards tumors and selectively differentiated. Monocytes, in particular, are thought to generate a cytokine milieu in the microenvironment favourable to tumor. Such a crosstalk and the pathways involved therein are not well established, especially in human models. Using representative human carcinoma cells of different origin including Lung, Colon and Cervix, we show that factor(s) associated with these cells can activate secretion of tumor-associated cytokines, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12p40 but not IL-12p70 or IL-1β from human monocytes. Comparative murine co-cultures are also able to induce similar responses. Treatment of monocytes with TLR-2 blocking antibody inhibits these inflammatory responses upon encountering cell-associated as well as secretory ligand(s) from tumor cells. Pharmacological inhibition of intracellular MAP kinase pathway in carcinoma cells ablates the TLR-2 agonistic activity of carcinoma cells. However, inhibition of EGFR and Ras, two major oncogenic players, had no such effect. Early inflammatory response tends to enhance the proliferation and invasiveness of tumor cells and concurrently, increase the viability of monocytes. These tumor associated inflammatory responses may well be one of the mechanisms to manipulate effector T-cell response against tumors. These results suggest a previously unrecognized pathway that may regulate inflammatory responses triggered by cancer cells from monocytes. Our findings have important implications for understanding Cancer related Inflammation

Anti-Metastatic Propensity of Biscoumarin Scaffold Synthesized Under Catalyst Free Aqueous Phase Microwave Irradiation

An environmentally benign, catalyst free, aqueous phase, microwave assisted method for the synthesis of biscoumarin derivatives using 4-hydroxycoumarin and different aldehydes is reported. The comparative investigation of the same synthetic methodology under conventional refluxing, domestic and scientific programmable microwave synthesizer has been attempted for the purpose of comparing the reaction performance in terms of % yield, reaction time, reproducibility and reaction control. In addition to the increased yields and attenuated reaction times for biscoumarin synthesis, the difficulty of reaction control and result reproducibility usually encountered with domestic microwave ovens have been addressed through an optimized synthetic methodology using microwave synthesizer. Screening bioactive compounds for their propensity towards inhibition of cancer metastasis is a must step in advancement of cancer chemotherapy. The synthesized biscoumarin scaffold was investigated for inhibitory metastatic activity against human lung carcinoma cell line, A549 through in vitro wound healing and invasion assays. The biscoumarin scaffold was found to possess an effective anti-proliferative activity. It was also found to be efficient in ablating the migration and invasiveness of these cells under in vitro conditions. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Clonal Identification and Molecular Characterization of Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) Clones

Crocus sativus is a triploid sterile plant characterized by its long red stigmas, which produce and store significant quantities of carotenoid derivatives. Saffron is widely used mainly as herbal medicine or food coloring, and as a flavoring agent. It is cultivated only in few countries around the world. Saffron selections of Kashmir showed heterogeneity for stigma length which may be due to the genetic and environmental factors. Identification of high yielding selections using the existing gene pool of saffron shows promise and potential for improving the productivity of this crop. Thirty one morphologically distinct saffron selections/clones were characterized for identification of variation in stigma characteristics and apocarotenoid content. Molecular characterization was done through SSR, ISSR and RAPD markers and comparative gene expression between diverse selections was done through semi-quantitative and quantitative PCR analysis. In present study heterogeneity among 31 saffron selections was observed with respect to stigma length. Apocarotenoid content was estimated through soxhlet extraction and was correlated with stigma length of saffron selections. Significant variation in stigma length (2.86-4.84 cm) and non-heritable change in stigma number was observed across thirty one selected saffron clones. HPLC analysis also revealed significant variation in crocin (40-45mg/g), safranal (0.17-0.28 mg/g) and picrocrocin content (0.87-1.27 mg/gm) contents between the clones. Stigma size viz-a-viz quality evaluation confirmed that saffron of Kashmir is of intrinsically high quality with respect to colouring, aroma and taste. Variability in stigma characteristics observed in saffron selections under study can thus be utilized for saffron crop improvement

Alignment of the CMS muon system with cosmic-ray and beam-halo muons

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version of the Paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPThe CMS muon system has been aligned using cosmic-ray muons collected in 2008 and beam-halo muons from the 2008 LHC circulating beam tests. After alignment, the resolution of the most sensitive coordinate is 80 microns for the relative positions of superlayers in the same barrel chamber and 270 microns for the relative positions of endcap chambers in the same ring structure. The resolution on the position of the central barrel chambers relative to the tracker is comprised between two extreme estimates, 200 and 700 microns, provided by two complementary studies. With minor modifications, the alignment procedures can be applied using muons from LHC collisions, leading to additional significant improvements.This work is supported by FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR(Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTDS (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)

Alignment of the CMS muon system with cosmic-ray and beam-halo muons

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version of the Paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPThe CMS muon system has been aligned using cosmic-ray muons collected in 2008 and beam-halo muons from the 2008 LHC circulating beam tests. After alignment, the resolution of the most sensitive coordinate is 80 microns for the relative positions of superlayers in the same barrel chamber and 270 microns for the relative positions of endcap chambers in the same ring structure. The resolution on the position of the central barrel chambers relative to the tracker is comprised between two extreme estimates, 200 and 700 microns, provided by two complementary studies. With minor modifications, the alignment procedures can be applied using muons from LHC collisions, leading to additional significant improvements.This work is supported by FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR(Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTDS (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)

Studies on maize based cropping system as influenced by rate and frequency of FYM

A field experiment was conducted at Agronomy Farm of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar during 2008-09 and 2009-10 on silty clay loam soil low in available nitrogen and medium in available phosphorus and potassium with neutral pH. The experiment comprising of three factors viz., cropping sequences (S1 = maize-lentil, S2 = maize-oats, S3 = maize-brown sarson and S4 = maize- fallow), three FYM rates (R1 = 10 t ha-1, R2 = 20 t ha-1 and R3 = 30 t ha-1) and three frequencies of FYM (F1 = FYM application in kharif and rabi, F2 = FYM application in kharif and F3 = FYM application in rabi) and was laid out in a split plot design (cropping sequences in main plot and FYM rates and frequencies in sub plot) replicated thrice. Both maize and rabi crops were given nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as per recommended package. The results of the study showed that during 2008-09, the cropping sequences did not affect growth characters, yield attributes and yield of maize however, during 2009-10 S1 and S4 recorded significantly higher growth characters, yield attributes and yield of maize than S2 and S3. The FYM rates increased the growth characters upto 30 t ha-1 and yield attributes upto 20 t ha-1. The grain yield of maize showed significant improvement with FYM application upto 20 t ha-1 while stover yield increased significantly upto 30 t ha-1. FYM frequencies F1 and F2 recorded significantly higher growth characters, yield attributes and grain and stover yield of maize over F3. Nutrient content and uptake in grain and stover was significantly improved by cropping sequences S1 and S4 over both S2 and S3 during 2009-10. FYM rates improved nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content and uptake in grain and stover. FYM frequency F1 and F2 recorded higher NPK content and uptake over F3. The seed and straw yield of following lentil, brown sarson and dry matter yield of oats was significantly affected by FYM rates and frequencies. The equivalent maize yield of the system was significantly higher with maize-oats system supplied with 20 t FYM ha-1 during kharif and rabi, while highest net returns and benefit:cost ratio were realized with maize-oats system supplied with 10 t FYM ha-1 during kharif and rabi

Fibroin silk proteins from the nonmulberry silkworm Philosamia ricini are biochemically and immunochemically distinct from those of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori

Silk proteins were isolated from the cocoons of the nonmulberry silkworm, Philosamia ricini. Three polypeptides of 97, 66, and 45 kDa were identified. The 66-kDa molecule represented sericin, whereas the 97-kDa and the 45-kDa polypeptides linked together through a disulfide bond constituted the fibroin protein. Antibodies raised against the 97-kDa P. ricini fibroin heavy chain reacted specifically with this molecule and did not recognize fibroin heavy chain from another nonmulberry silkworm, Antheraea assama or from the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori, suggesting the presence of P. ricini species-specific determinants in this heavy chain. Antibodies generated against fibroin light chain of P. ricini also showed similar reactivity pattern. Immunoblot analysis with proteins isolated from the silk glands of P. ricini at different stages of larval development showed that the expression of fibroin heavy chain was developmentally and spatially regulated. The protein was most abundant in the 5th instar larva, and could be detected in the middle and the posterior but not the anterior silk glands. The amino acid composition of the 97-kDa fibroin protein showed abundance of glutamic acid and did not contain (Gly-Ala)n motifs, a characteristic feature of B. mori fibroin heavy chain. Our study reveals significant differences between the nonmulberry silkworm P. ricini and the mulberry silkworm B. mori in the biochemical composition and immunochemical characteristics of fibroin heavy chain. These differences might be responsible for the differences seen in the quality of silk produced by these two silkworms

A recombination-efficient baculovirus vector for simultaneous expression of multiple genes

The baculovirus system is an extremely powerful tool for expression of heterologous genes in eukaryotic environment. A multiple expression vector, pBacUCmP3, was constructed which harbored two copies of the Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis virus very late gene promoter and the Drosophila melanogaster 70-kDa heat-shock protein (hsp70) promoter with downstream unique restriction sites for cloning of three independent foreign genes. Co-transfection of pBacUCmP3 with Bsu36I-linearized viral DNA yields recombinant progeny viruses at very high frequencies. The utility of this multiple expression transfer vector was demonstrated using three heterologous reporter genes encoding the β-subunit of the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone, firefly luciferase and the bacterial β-galactosidase (βGal) enzyme. The expression of reporter genes, monitored at various times post-infection, confirmed that while β-Gal synthesis was under the transcriptional control of the hsp70 promoter, the βhCG and Luc proteins were synthesized as a function of polyhedrin promoter activation profile. This vector will be useful for multiple synthesis of proteins at different time points

Not Available

Not AvailableSaffron, the desiccated stigmas of Crocus sativus, is recognized for its attractive color, flavor, and aroma which are due to the accumulation of crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal, respectively. HPLC analysis demonstrated maximum apocarotenoid accumulation during the fully developed scarlet stage of stigma development followed by the orange and yellow stages of stigma development. Reverse Transcription-PCR analysis revealed a concurrent expression pattern of CsZCD and CsLYC genes in a developmental stagespecific manner. However, CsBCH and CsGT2 genes were specifically expressed during the mature, scarlet stage of stigma development. Real-Time PCR analysis showed a sharp increase in gene expression of CsLYC gene during stigma development indicative of its possible regulatory role in apocarotenoid biosynthesis or stigma development. Results suggest that genetic manipulation of this gene can help to improve the quality of stigma in saffron; besides highlighting its potential to monitor stigma development during in vitro experimentation.Not Availabl

Molecular Characterization of Saffron-Potential Candidates for Crop Improvement

In this study, thirty one (31) morphologically distinct selections of saffron crop were used for molecular characterization. Molecular characterization was done through SSR, ISSR and RAPD markers. RAPD and ISSR markers showed significant variation; however, SSR markers did not reveal any variation between the selected clones. The Jaccard’s similarity coefficient ranged from 0.94 to 1.00 with an average of 0.98 among all 31 selections used. Minimum similarity value (0.94) was observed between CITH-S-107 and PAM-S-116 selections. The study provides sufficient knowledge to identify clones with better stigma characteristics for further crop improvement programs