Diversification of the Histone Fold Motif in Plants: Evolution of New Functional Roles

The Histone fold motif (HFM) is one of the most conserved structural motifs in biology, mainly found in the core histone sub-units of all eukaryotes. The HFM represents a helix-strand-helix motif having three alpha helices connected by two loops/beta strands. This helix-strand-helix motif has the unique property of binding strongly with proteins as well as with DNA. Apart from core histones, the HFM has been reported in a variety of other proteins in all forms of life. In this work, we review the various classes of proteins that contain the HFM, as well as the diverse roles played by these proteins in the plant kingdom. As will be clear from this review, formation of the core histones through multi-merisation is not the only role played by this conserved fold, although the characteristic ability of the HFM to dimerize with suitable partner proteins has been used by nature to perform several non-core-histone functions. Most of the information about plant HFM containing proteins, such as identification and classification, has been done based on homology with yeast and animal counterparts. However, the ability of plants genomes to duplicate extensively has led to the existence of large gene families of the HFM containing proteins, unlike other eukaryotes. Plant HFM containing proteins can broadly be classified under the following major categories; TBP-associated factors (TAF), Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y), Dr1/DrAp1 proteins and the chromatin accessibility complex (CHRAC). These proteins families are known to be involved in transcriptional regulation, co-activation and chromosome maintenance. Partner recognition through dimer formation remains a major conserved feature of these groups when compared with core histone sub-units

Immuno-CoPS (conducting paper strips) for futuristic cost-effective cancer diagnostics

The fabrication of cost-effective, rapid and specific paper based point-of-care (POC) diagnostics based on the principles of bio-recognition is currently at the vanguard of biomedical research, as it is playing a key role in early diagnosis and treatment, resulting in the inhibition of infection and reducing the mortality rate. In the present report, we demonstrate that biomolecules can be directly attached to a paper matrix covalently, by suitable modification of the paper matrices. A high conductivity is achieved and the porosity can be tailored and has been utilized for the quantitative estimation of bio-analytes. We prove the feasibility of our approach for the detection of cancer biomarkers in a wide detection range

Vacuum thermal deposition of crystalline, uniform and stoichiometric CdS thin films in ambient H2S atmosphere

Crystalline, uniform and stoichiometric thin films of CdS have been fabricated on soda lime glass (SLG) substrates using vacuum thermal deposition method in the presence of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) atmosphere. The consequence of ambient H2S on the growth, quality and structure-property relationship of vacuum deposited CdS thin films has been investigated. The deposited films have been characterized by XRD, SEM with EDX analysis, AFM, XPS and optical spectroscopy. The physical characterization of as-deposited CdS films reveals that the films deposited in controlled H2S ambient are more crystalline, highly uniform and stoichiometric in comparison to films deposited without H2S atmosphere

Hierarchical Deep Learning Architecture For 10K Objects Classification

Evolution of visual object recognition architectures based on Convolutional Neural Networks & Convolutional Deep Belief Networks paradigms has revolutionized artificial Vision Science. These architectures extract & learn the real world hierarchical visual features utilizing supervised & unsupervised learning approaches respectively. Both the approaches yet cannot scale up realistically to provide recognition for a very large number of objects as high as 10K. We propose a two level hierarchical deep learning architecture inspired by divide & conquer principle that decomposes the large scale recognition architecture into root & leaf level model architectures. Each of the root & leaf level models is trained exclusively to provide superior results than possible by any 1-level deep learning architecture prevalent today. The proposed architecture classifies objects in two steps. In the first step the root level model classifies the object in a high level category. In the second step, the leaf level recognition model for the recognized high level category is selected among all the leaf models. This leaf level model is presented with the same input object image which classifies it in a specific category. Also we propose a blend of leaf level models trained with either supervised or unsupervised learning approaches. Unsupervised learning is suitable whenever labelled data is scarce for the specific leaf level models. Currently the training of leaf level models is in progress; where we have trained 25 out of the total 47 leaf level models as of now. We have trained the leaf models with the best case top-5 error rate of 3.2% on the validation data set for the particular leaf models. Also we demonstrate that the validation error of the leaf level models saturates towards the above mentioned accuracy as the number of epochs are increased to more than sixty.Comment: As appeared in proceedings for CS & IT 2015 - Second International Conference on Computer Science & Engineering (CSEN 2015

ECHO-CARDIOGRAPHIC STUDY OF VENTRICULAR SEPTAL DEFECT IN 1-12 YEARS OF CHILDREN VISITING TERTIARY CARE CENTER.

Introduction: Congenital heart defects in neonates can cause serious growth problems, and they can increase the rates of morbidity and mortality. Objectives: This study is conducted to understand the morphology of the prominent congenital heart defect that is ventricular septal defect in the pediatric population of one to twelve years by performing the eco-cardio graphic study. Also, to derive an understanding of functional defects due to defective morphology. Methods: A survey was carried out amongst the 100 children who visited the IGIMS hospital and either presented the symptoms of cardiac defects or were previously diagnosed with ventricular septal defects. In the survey, basic information about the children was recorded, and then an eco-cardiograph was taken using 2D Doppler technology. The data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis, and the statistical significance of the data was determined. Results: Based on the location of the septal defect in the ventricle, they were classified into three categories, near the aortic valve is the peri membranous type, near the muscle of the ventricle, which is the muscular type, and at multiple locations multiple type. The first category defect was among 82%, the second category defect was about 15.5% and the last category defect was about 1.5%. The complexity of the defects increased in certain due to the presence of other cardiac problems. However, the majority of patients had defects of less than 5mm which caused leakage of the blood from systemic to pulmonary circulation. Conclusion: The majority of the defects that were observed could be managed or treated with proper intervention if they were detected earlier. This could prevent the defect from progressing to more severe cases. Recommendations: When conventional TTE is equivocal, a trans-esophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is recommended

A short glimpse on promising pharmacological effects of Begenia ciliata

Bergenia ciliata is a potent indigenous folk medicine that has been proved fruitful in the treatment of various adverse conditions of the body. The major chemical constituents of plant include tannic acid, gallic acid, glucose, metarbin, albumen, bergenin, (+)-catechin, gallicin. Bergenia ciliata was subjected to bioactivity analysis. The plant has antitussive, antiulcer, antioxidant, antibacterial, hypoglycemic, toxicological activity. It was observed that root and leaves extract were promising as antifungal agent. The root and leaves extract were effective against Microsporum canis, Pleuroetus oustreatus and Candida albicans.   All the extracts except chloroform extract of root and leaves of Bergenia ciliata were found to possess hypoglycemic activity in Streptozotocin (STZ) treated rats. The methanolic extract exhibited significant anti-tussive activity in a dose-dependent manner. B. ciliata bear potent anti-neoplastic activities that may have prospective clinical use as precursor for preventive medicine. Methanolic and aqueous B. ciliata rhizome extracts were found to possess antioxidant activity, including reducing power, free radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibition potential. Bergenia ciliata extracts exhibit a narrow spectrum antibacterial activity. The results obtained thus suggest that extracts of B. ciliata have promising therapeutic potential and could be considered as potential source for drug development by pharmaceutical industries

Pharmacological activities of pyrazolone derivatives

Pyrazoline is a five member heterocyclic ring which is a versatile lead compound for designing potent bioactive agents. The review of the literature shows that the pyrazoline derivatives are quite stable and has inspired the chemists to synthesize the new pyrazoline derivatives. The past studies of pyrazoline derivative revealed that they are useful in pharmaceutical and agrochemical research. Pyrazoline derivatives display various pharmacological activities such as antitumor, antitubercular, antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant etc. and the pharmacological activities of different synthesized compound are reviewed in the present article

Chemical potential shift and gap-state formation in SrTiO3−δ_{3-\delta} revealed by photoemission spectroscopy

In this study, we report on investigations of the electronic structure of SrTiO$_3$ annealed at temperature ranging between 550 and 840$^\circ$C in an ultrahigh vacuum. Annealing induced oxygen vacancies (O$_{vac}$) impart considerable changes in the electronic structure of SrTiO$_3$. Using core-level photoemission spectroscopy, we have studied the chemical potential shift ($\Delta\mu$) as a function of annealing temperature. The result shows that the chemical potential monotonously increases with electron doping in SrTiO$_{3-\delta}$. The monotonous increase of the chemical potential rules out the existence of electronic phase separation in the sample. Using valence band photoemission, we have demonstrated the formation of a low density of states at the near Fermi level electronic spectrum of SrTiO$_{3-\delta}$. The gap-states were observed by spectral weight transfer over a large energy scale of the stoichiometric band gap of SrTiO$_3$ system leading finally to an insulator - metal transition. We have interpreted our results from the point of structural distortions induced by oxygen vacancies.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

2017年の1月から6月へのデラウェア裁判所のM&A訴訟

This paper presents an overview of some of the most important decisions handed down by theDelaware Supreme Court　and the Delaware Court of Chancery from January 2017 to June 2017 inlawsuits arising out of Merger and Acquisition (M&A) transactions