An experimental study to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of moringa oleifera leaves in animal models

Background: Inflammatory diseases are a major cause of morbidity and disability of work force throughout the world. The treatment of inflammation with standard steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs shares the risk of toxicity on various organ systems. Moringa oleifera, an herbal plant has been claimed to be effective in the treatment of various types of inflammatory conditions. However, there is lack of scientific studies to ratify these claims. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to explore the anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extract of leaves of Moringa oleifera (AEMO) in experimentally induced inflammation in albino rats.Methods: The study was commenced after obtaining approval from Institutional Animal Ethical Committee using AEMO leaves in Albino wistar rats (150-200 gm) of either sex. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated using carrageenan induced paw edema model, cotton pellet induced granuloma method and formaldehyde induced paw edema method. For each set of experiment, animals were divided in three groups of six animals each. In each experiment, 1st group was given normal saline (5 ml/kg/day), 2nd group was given standard anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone (0.5 mg/kg/day) and 3rd group was given Moringa oleifera (200 mg/kg/day).Results: Aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera leaves at dose of 200 mg/kg, p.o. exhibited the significant anti-inflammatory effect in all the models used in this study.Conclusions: It can be concluded from our study that aqueous extracts of Moringa oleifera leaves possess anti-inflammatory activity

Increased incidence of glomerulonephritis following spleno-renal shunt surgery in non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis

Increased incidence of glomerulonephritis following spleno-renal shunt surgery in non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis. In a prospective study of 200 non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis (NCPF) patients, 7% had mild proteinuria and their renal biopsies showed mild mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis (mes-PGN). The remaining 93% biopsies were normal. However, following the insertion of a spleno-renal shunt (SRS) for portal hypertension 32% of these patients developed nephrotic syndrome in five years. Renal histology revealed mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis (MCGN) (18.5%), mes-PGN (9%), minimal change nephropathy (3%), and chronic sclerosing GN (1.5%). Immunofluorescence showed granular deposition of IgA and C3. IgA2 was the predominant form of Ig in the glomerular deposits, indicating that IgA in the immune complexes was derived from the gastrointestinal tract. Electron microscopy revealed electron dense deposits in the mesangium. In contrast to the NCPF patients who underwent a SRS for portal hypertension, the 200 patients in our study who underwent spleno-renal shunting because of extra hepatic portal obstruction did not have renal disease, nor did they develop renal disease during the five-year post-operative follow-up. Fifty percent of the glomerulonephritis (GN) in the NCPF group progressed to renal failure in five years; 46.6% continued to have proteinuria. Low serum complement, C3 (40%) and circulating immune complexes (14.8%) were detected in the glomerulonephritis group. Our study shows that: (i) there is a high rate of the occurrence of GN following SRS in NCPF patients, but not in those with normal livers; (ii) the type of GN is primarily IgA nephropathy; and (iii) the GN could be the result of defective hepatic reticuloendothelial function in the NCPF group that is worsened by the shunting procedure

Type IIA2 urethral duplication: report of an unusual case

This report describes a rare case of type IIA2 sagittal urethral duplication. The presentation, investigation, and management of this rare anomaly are briefly discussed. A 3½-year-old boy presented with urinary obstruction and recurrent urinary tract infection due to a stenosed dorsal urethra and segmental stenosis of the dominant ventral urethra. The child also had left-sided vesicoureteric reflux. Staged surgical management consisted of an initial vesicostomy followed by serial dilatation of the ventral urethral stricture, left ureteric reimplantation, and a 2-cm long distal urethrourethrostomy between the dorsal urethra, opening at the tip of the penis, and the ventral urethra, which had a hypospadic opening at the base of the glans. The functional and cosmetic outcomes were satisfactory. The management needs to be individualized as best suited for the patient.Keywords: urethra, urethral duplication, urethral strictur

Type IIA2 urethral duplication: Report of an unusual case

Objective This report describes a rare case of type IIA2 sagittal urethral   duplication. Summary background data The presentation, investigation, and  management of this rare anomaly are briefly discussed.Methods A 3½-year-old boy presented with urinary obstruction and recurrent urinary tract infection due to a stenosed dorsal urethra and segmental stenosis of the dominant ventral urethra. The child also had left-sided vesicoureteric reflux. Staged surgical management consisted of an initial vesicostomy followed by serial dilatation of the ventral urethral stricture, left ureteric reimplantation, and a 2-cm long distal urethrourethrostomy between the dorsal urethra, opening at the tip of the penis, and the ventral urethra, which had a hypospadic opening at the base of the glans.Results The functional and cosmetic outcomes were satisfactory.Conclusion The management needs to be individualizedas best suited for the patient.Keywords: urethra, urethral duplication, urethral strictur

A Single Step Catalytic Process for the Production of Higher Range Hydrocarbon Fuel Stocks from Naphtha

A novel concept of cracking-based oligomerization of naphtha (C5-C8) to produce higher range hydrocarbons (C9-C15) suitable for the jet fuel applications has been explored by using various zeolite type catalysts. Among the bi-metallic BEA, MOR, Y, ZSM-5 and Nano ZSM-5 based catalysts, the bi-functional Pt-Sn/Nano ZSM-5 catalyst exhibited promising catalytic activity to give higher range hydrocarbons in a single step vapor phase reaction. The catalyst produced 47 wt.% higher range hydrocarbons (C9-C15) from naphtha (C5-C8) at 400 ºC and 15 bar pressure, which is first of its kind to observe on any solid acid catalyst to the best of our knowledge. Further, the studies are also conducted on various other zeolites metal functionalized by similar manner so as to understand the effect of zeolite type and the metals

A study of bronchial asthma in school going children in Southern part of Rajasthan

Background: Asthma is a chronic and common inflammatory disease involving mainly large airways of lungs. Childhood asthma is common chronic illness among school going children and is usually underdiagnosed and undertreated. The aim of the present study was to find out of the prevalence of Bronchial asthma in school going children of age group 6-12 years in southern part of Rajasthan (India), and its relation with gender, socio-economic status and heredity.Methods: A questionnaire-based study has been carried out in 1500 children of 6 to 12 years age group in four schools of Udaipur city (Rajasthan, India) with a response rate of 60.23% (904/1500).Results: The overall prevalence of asthma observed is 4.75% (43/904). The prevalence is higher among boys (5.55%) as compared to girls (3.75%). Further the prevalence is higher in upper (7.18%) and upper middle class (7.14%) children as compared to lower middle (4.84%) and upper lower class (2.01%) socioeconomic status. The children with positive family history of asthma also have higher prevalence (26.31%) of asthma.Conclusions: The prevalence of childhood asthma in Udaipur city is relatively lower and supports the already reported relation with gender, socioeconomic status and heredity.

Comparative and temporal transcriptome analysis of peste des petits ruminants virus infected goat peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Peste des petits ruminanats virus (PPRV), a morbillivirus causes an acute, highly contagious disease – peste des petits ruminants (PPR), affecting goats and sheep. Sungri/96 vaccine strain is widely used for mass vaccination programs in India against PPR and is considered the most potent vaccine providing long-term immunity. However, occurrence of outbreaks due to emerging PPR viruses may be a challenge. In this study, the temporal dynamics of immune response in goat peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) infected with Sungri/96 vaccine virus was investigated by transcriptome analysis. Infected goat PBMCs at 48 h and 120 h post infection revealed 2540 and 2000 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), respectively, on comparison with respective controls. Comparison of the infected samples revealed 1416 DEGs to be altered across time points. Functional analysis of DEGs reflected enrichment of TLR signaling pathways, innate immune response, inflammatory response, positive regulation of signal transduction and cytokine production. The upregulation of innate immune genes during early phase (between 2-5 days) viz. interferon regulatory factors (IRFs), tripartite motifs (TRIM) and several interferon stimulated genes (ISGs) in infected PBMCs and interactome analysis indicated induction of broad-spectrum anti-viral state. Several Transcription factors – IRF3, FOXO3 and SP1 that govern immune regulatory pathways were identified to co-regulate the DEGs. The results from this study, highlighted the involvement of both innate and adaptive immune systems with the enrichment of complement cascade observed at 120 h p.i., suggestive of a link between innate and adaptive immune response. Based on the transcriptome analysis and qRT-PCR validation, an in vitro mechanism for the induction of ISGs by IRFs in an interferon independent manner to trigger a robust immune response was predicted in PPRV infection

Modulation of Host miRNAs Transcriptome in Lung and Spleen of Peste des Petits Ruminants Virus Infected Sheep and Goats

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is one of the highly contagious viral disease, characterized by fever, sore mouth, conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia, primarily affecting sheep and goats. Reports suggested variable host response in goats and sheep and this host response vis-a-vis the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has not been investigated. Here, miRNAs were sequenced and proteomics data were generated to identify the role of differentially expressed miRNA (DEmiRNA) in PPR virus (PPRV) infected lung and spleen tissues of sheep and goats. In lungs, 67 and 37 DEmiRNAs have been identified in goats and sheep, respectively. Similarly, in spleen, 50 and 56 DEmiRNAs were identified in goats and sheep, respectively. A total of 20 and 11 miRNAs were found to be common differentially expressed in both the species in PPRV infected spleen and lung, respectively. Six DEmiRNAs—miR-21-3p, miR-1246, miR-27a-5p, miR-760-3p, miR-320a, and miR-363 were selected based on their role in viral infections, apoptosis, and fold change. The target prediction analysis of these six selected DEmiRNAs from the proteome data generated, revealed involvement of more number of genes in lung and spleen of goats than in sheep. On gene ontology analysis of host target genes these DEmiRNAs were found to regulate several immune response signaling pathways. It was observed that the pathways viz. T cell receptor signaling, Rap1 signaling, Toll-like receptor signaling, and B cell receptor signaling governed by DEmiRNAs were more perturbed in goats than in sheep. The data suggests that PPRV-induced miR-21-3p, miR-320a, and miR-363 might act cooperatively to enhance viral pathogenesis in the lung and spleen of sheep by downregulating several immune response genes. The study gives an important insight into the molecular pathogenesis of PPR by identifying that the PPRV—Izatnagar/94 isolate elicits a strong host response in goats than in sheep

Using Hydrophilic Ionic Liquid, [bmim]BF4 – Ethylene Glycol System as a Novel Media for the Rapid Synthesis of Copper Nanoparticles

In this work, we present a novel method for the synthesis of copper nanoparticles. We utilize the charge compensatory effect of ionic liquid [bmim]BF4 in conjunction with ethylene glycol for providing electro-steric stabilization to copper nanoparticles prepared from copper sulphate using hydrazine hydrate as a reducing agent. The formed copper nanoparticles showed extended stability over a period of one year. Copper nanoparticles thus prepared were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction measurements (pXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and quasi elastic light scattering (QELS) techniques. Powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD) analysis revealed relevant Bragg's reflection for crystal structure of copper. Powder X-ray diffraction plots also revealed no oxidized material of copper nanoparticles. TEM showed nearly uniform distribution of the particles in methanol and confirmed by QELS. Typical applications of copper nanoparticles include uses in conductive films, lubrication and nanofluids. Currently efforts are under way in our laboratory for using these nanoparticles as catalysts for a variety of organic reactions

“The Good into the Pot, the Bad into the Crop!”—A New Technology to Free Stem Cells from Feeder Cells

A variety of embryonic and adult stem cell lines require an intial co-culturing with feeder cells for non-differentiated growth, self renewal and maintenance of pluripotency. However for many downstream ES cell applications the feeder cells have to be considered contaminations that might interfere not just with the analysis of experimental data but also with clinical application and tissue engineering approaches. Here we introduce a novel technique that allows for the selection of pure feeder-freed stem cells, following stem cell proliferation on feeder cell layers. Complete and reproducible separation of feeder and embryonic stem cells was accomplished by adaptation of an automated cell selection system that resulted in the aspiration of distinct cell colonies or fraction of colonies according to predefined physical parameters. Analyzing neuronal differentiation we demonstrated feeder-freed stem cells to exhibit differentiation potentials comparable to embryonic stem cells differentiated under standard conditions. However, embryoid body growth as well as differentiation of stem cells into cardiomyocytes was significantly enhanced in feeder-freed cells, indicating a feeder cell dependent modulation of lineage differentiation during early embryoid body development. These findings underline the necessity to separate stem and feeder cells before the initiation of in vitro differentiation. The complete separation of stem and feeder cells by this new technology results in pure stem cell populations for translational approaches. Furthermore, a more detailed analysis of the effect of feeder cells on stem cell differentiation is now possible, that might facilitate the identification and development of new optimized human or genetically modified feeder cell lines