PRODUCTION OF BETALAINS FROM HAIRY ROOT CULTURE OF BETA VULGARIS AND ITS USE IN PARACETAMOL SYRUP AS A NATURAL COLOURANT

Objective: The present study was aimed to extract betalains from hairy root culture of Beta vulgaris and its use in pharmaceutical formulations as a colorant. Methods: Hairy roots were initiated using different strains of Agrobacterium rhizogenes such as A.2/83, A.20/83, A.4, and LMG 150; LMG 150 was found to initiate a large number of hairy roots, and betalain content was estimated. Paracetamol syrup was prepared using extracted betalains as a colorant at different concentrations of 10 and 30 mg/150 ml. Stability studies were carried out at a different temperatures such as 25°C, 30°C, and 40°C) and light (dark, 1000 and 2000 lux) for 45 days. Results: In case of a concentration of 10 mg/150 ml syrup, the effects of temperature such as 25°C, 30°C, and 40°C and dark condition on the degradation of betalains were found to be 48%, 88%, and 100% in 45 days, respectively. The effects of temperature such as 25°C, 30°C, and 40°C at light 1000 lux on degradations of betalains were found to be 81% and 98% at 25°C and 30°C in 45 days, respectively, and 100% at 40°C in 30 days and at 2000 lux were found to be 100% at 25°C and 30°C in 30 days and 100% at 40°C in 10 days. The similar levels of degradation rate were observed with a concentration of 30 mg/150 ml. Conclusion: Experimental data demonstrated that formulation with betalains exhibited better stability at the dark condition and lower temperature

Adaptive Authentication using User’s Uniqueness Quotient

Identity of a person is multi-faceted. However the identities in IAM solutions typically include only the external facet like user’s name, age, designation, role, high school name, etc. This information is used for securely identifying the user, by prompting security questions like “What is your mother’s maiden name”, “What is the name of your pet” etc. as part of an Authentication method or the reset password option. However in this age of information oversharing, such data could be easily harvested from social media to impersonate the user. Hence we need a reliable user identification that is intuitive to the user but hard to spoof by others. The industry solution for this is to use biometrics. However biometric data is extremely sensitive as there is no way to reset if hacked. This invention addresses these shortcomings and provides a way to create a comprehensive user identity that is intuitive, cannot be stolen or impersonated and doesn’t require any additional equipment

UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISM OF DRUG-RESISTANT AND TUMOR RECURRENCE IN LIVER CANCER

Chemo-resistant and tumor recurrence are the major hurdle to overcome the cancer patients. Especially in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is notoriously refractory to chemotherapy because of its tendency to develop multi-drug resistance (MDR), through various mechanisms. Aim: The current research is focussed on understanding the mechanism involved in chemo-resistant and tumor recurrence in liver cancer. Methods: Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (Huh7) was used entire study. Huh7 cells were cultured with known chemotherapeutic drugs such as 5-FU, Paclitaxel and Cisplatin-based on their Cmax concentration, and then these drug-treated cells were examined for chemoresistant and tumor recurrence properties through flow cytometry analysis, spheroid formation assay, and morphological analysis. Results: In morphological analysis confirm these all the chemo drugs were shown more cytotoxic effete than control, even though there were few viable cells noticed in cisplatin treatment. In flow cytometry analysis cisplatin pre-treated cells were well expressed LCSC marker such as CD133 and stem cell transduction factors like Oct-4 & Nanog than control. In addition to this, all the CD133 expressed cells also expressed to EpCAM. In spheroid formation assay, cisplatin pre-treated cells shown well-defined spheroid than control. Conclusion: LCSC plays a major role in chemoresistant and tumor recurrence through PI3K/Akt/mTOR, wnt-β catenin signaling, NF-kB signaling. So, targeting LCSC through EpCAM targeted therapy along with chemotherapy might be the better option for enhanced prognosis. Keywords: LCSC, Chemoresistant, Tumor recurrence, Hepatocellular carcinoma

Responses of wild Vigna species/sub-species to yellow mosaic disease viruses, detected by a PCR-based method

Forty-eight accessions of wild Vigna species/sub-species were grown to verify their reactions to yellow mosaic disease (YMD), under field conditions in New Delhi (India) during 2012 and 2013. Symptoms of YMD that developed on wild Vigna were similar to those observed on cultivated species. Symptomatic plants produced few flowers and pods with reduced seed size. The infection coefficient was in the range of 0–71%. The causal virus was identified by PCR using species-specific primers to detect all the four viruses responsible for YMD in pulse crops. All the YMD-affected wild Vigna species/sub-species accessions were infected by Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV), with positive amplification of the targeted DNA fragment, except one accession of V. hainiana (IC331450) which was infected with Mungbean yellow mosaic virus. This indicated that MYMIV is the predominant virus causing yellow mosaic in wild species/sub-species of Vigna at New Delhi. Eight accessions belonging to V. synthetic allotetraploid, V. umbellata, V. mungo var. mungo, V. trilobata, V. trinervia var. bourneae, V. radiata var. sublobata and V. dalzelliana were completely free from YMD and gave negative PCR results with primers specific to all the four viruses. This confirms resistance to YMD in these wild Vigna species

A Featureless Approach to 3D Polyhedral Building Modeling from Aerial Images

This paper presents a model-based approach for reconstructing 3D polyhedral building models from aerial images. The proposed approach exploits some geometric and photometric properties resulting from the perspective projection of planar structures. Data are provided by calibrated aerial images. The novelty of the approach lies in its featurelessness and in its use of direct optimization based on image rawbrightness. The proposed framework avoids feature extraction and matching. The 3D polyhedral model is directly estimated by optimizing an objective function that combines an image-based dissimilarity measure and a gradient score over several aerial images. The optimization process is carried out by the Differential Evolution algorithm. The proposed approach is intended to provide more accurate 3D reconstruction than feature-based approaches. Fast 3D model rectification and updating can take advantage of the proposed method. Several results and evaluations of performance from real and synthetic images show the feasibility and robustness of the proposed approach

Plasma chemokines CXCL10 and CXCL9 as potential diagnostic markers of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis still remains to be a challenge with the currently used immune based diagnostic methods particularly Interferon Gamma Release Assay due to the sensitivity issues and their inability in differentiating stages of TB infection. Immune markers are valuable sources for understanding disease biology and are easily accessible. Chemokines, the stimulant, and the shaper of host immune responses are the vital hub for disease mediated dysregulation and their varied levels in TB disease are considered as an important marker to define the disease status. Hence, we wanted to examine the levels of chemokines among the individuals with drug-resistant, drug-sensitive, and latent TB compared to healthy individuals. Our results demonstrated that the differential levels of chemokines between the study groups and revealed that CXCL10 and CXCL9 as potential markers of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive TB with better stage discriminating abilities

Differential Frequencies of Intermediate Monocyte Subsets Among Individuals Infected With Drug-Sensitive or Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The rampant increase in drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) remains a major challenge not only for treatment management but also for diagnosis, as well as drug design and development. Drug-resistant mycobacteria affect the quality of life owing to the delayed diagnosis and require prolonged treatment with multiple and toxic drugs. The phenotypic modulations defining the immune status of an individual during tuberculosis are well established. The present study aims to explore the phenotypic changes of monocytes & dendritic cells (DC) as well as their subsets across the TB disease spectrum, from latency to drug-sensitive TB (DS-TB) and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) using traditional immunophenotypic analysis and by uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) analysis. Our results demonstrate changes in frequencies of monocytes (classical, CD14(++)CD16(-), intermediate, CD14(++)CD16(+) and non-classical, CD14(+/-)CD16(++)) and dendritic cells (DC) (HLA-DR(+)CD11c(+) myeloid DCs, cross-presenting HLA-DR(+)CD14(-)CD141(+) myeloid DCs and HLA-DR(+)CD14(-)CD16(-)CD11c(-)CD123(+) plasmacytoid DCs) together with elevated Monocyte to Lymphocyte ratios (MLR)/Neutrophil to Lymphocyte ratios (NLR) and alteration of cytokine levels between DS-TB and DR-TB groups. UMAP analysis revealed significant differential expression of CD14(+), CD16(+), CD86(+) and CD64(+) on monocytes and CD123(+) on DCs by the DR-TB group. Thus, our study reveals differential monocyte and DC subset frequencies among the various TB disease groups towards modulating the immune responses and will be helpful to understand the pathogenicity driven by Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Harnessing the probiotic properties and immunomodulatory effects of fermented food-derived Limosilactobacillus fermentum strains: implications for environmental enteropathy

IntroductionEnvironmental enteropathy (EE), a chronic small intestine disease characterized by gut inflammation, is widely prevalent in low-income countries and is hypothesized to be caused by continuous exposure to fecal contamination. Targeted nutritional interventions using potential probiotic strains from fermented foods can be an effective strategy to inhibit enteric pathogens and prevent chronic gut inflammation.MethodsWe isolated potential strains from fermented rice water and lemon pickle and investigated their cell surface properties, antagonistic properties, adhesion to HT-29 cells, and inhibition of pathogen adherence to HT-29 cells. Bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances (BLIS) were purified, and in vivo, survival studies in Caenorhabditis elegans infected with Salmonella enterica MW116733 were performed. We further checked the expression pattern of pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL8, and IL-10) in HT-29 cells supplemented with strains.ResultsThe strains isolated from rice water (RS) and lemon pickle (T1) were identified as Limosilactobacillus fermentum MN410703 and MN410702, respectively. Strains showed probiotic properties like tolerance to low pH (pH 3.0), bile salts up to 0.5%, simulated gastric juice at low pH, and binding to extracellular matrix molecules. Auto-aggregation of T1 was in the range of 85% and significantly co-aggregated with Klebsiella pneumoniae, S. enterica, and Escherichia coli at 48, 79, and 65%, respectively. Both strains had a higher binding affinity to gelatin and heparin compared to Bacillus clausii. Susceptibility to most aminoglycoside, cephalosporin, and macrolide classes of antibiotics was also observed. RS showed BLIS activity against K. pneumoniae, S. aureus, and S. enterica at 60, 48, and 30%, respectively, and the protective effects of BLIS from RS in the C. elegans infection model demonstrated a 70% survival rate of the worms infected with S. enterica. RS and T1 demonstrated binding efficiency to HT-29 cell lines in the 38–46% range, and both strains inhibited the adhesion of E. coli MDR and S. enterica. Upregulation of IL-6 and IL-10 and the downregulation of IL-8 were observed when HT-29 cells were treated with RS, indicating the immunomodulatory effects of the strain.DiscussionThe potential strains identified could effectively inhibit enteric pathogens and prevent environmental enteropathy

Adult Neurogenesis Transiently Generates Oxidative Stress

An increasing body of evidence suggests that alterations in neurogenesis and oxidative stress are associated with a wide variety of CNS diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease, as well as routine loss of function accompanying aging. Interestingly, the association between neurogenesis and the production of reactive oxidative species (ROS) remains largely unexamined. The adult CNS harbors two regions of persistent lifelong neurogenesis: the subventricular zone and the dentate gyrus (DG). These regions contain populations of quiescent neural stem cells (NSCs) that generate mature progeny via rapidly-dividing progenitor cells. We hypothesized that the energetic demands of highly proliferative progenitors generates localized oxidative stress that contributes to ROS-mediated damage within the neuropoietic microenvironment. In vivo examination of germinal niches in adult rodents revealed increases in oxidized DNA and lipid markers, particularly in the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the dentate gyrus. To further pinpoint the cell types responsible for oxidative stress, we employed an in vitro cell culture model allowing for the synchronous terminal differentiation of primary hippocampal NSCs. Inducing differentiation in primary NSCs resulted in an immediate increase in total mitochondria number and overall ROS production, suggesting oxidative stress is generated during a transient window of elevated neurogenesis accompanying normal neurogenesis. To confirm these findings in vivo, we identified a set of oxidation-responsive genes, which respond to antioxidant administration and are significantly elevated in genetic- and exercise-induced model of hyperactive hippocampal neurogenesis. While no direct evidence exists coupling neurogenesis-associated stress to CNS disease, our data suggest that oxidative stress is produced as a result of routine adult neurogenesis

Hypothermia for encephalopathy in low and middle-income countries (HELIX): Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic hypothermia reduces death and disability after moderate or severe neonatal encephalopathy in high-income countries and is used as standard therapy in these settings. However, the safety and efficacy of cooling therapy in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 99% of the disease burden occurs, remains unclear. We will examine whether whole body cooling reduces death or neurodisability at 18-22 months after neonatal encephalopathy, in LMICs. METHODS: We will randomly allocate 408 term or near-term babies (aged ≤ 6 h) with moderate or severe neonatal encephalopathy admitted to public sector neonatal units in LMIC countries (India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka), to either usual care alone or whole-body cooling with usual care. Babies allocated to the cooling arm will have core body temperature maintained at 33.5 °C using a servo-controlled cooling device for 72 h, followed by re-warming at 0.5 °C per hour. All babies will have detailed infection screening at the time of recruitment and 3 Telsa cerebral magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy at 1-2 weeks after birth. Our primary endpoint is death or moderate or severe disability at the age of 18 months. DISCUSSION: Upon completion, HELIX will be the largest cooling trial in neonatal encephalopathy and will provide a definitive answer regarding the safety and efficacy of cooling therapy for neonatal encephalopathy in LMICs. The trial will also provide important data about the influence of co-existent perinatal infection on the efficacy of hypothermic neuroprotection. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02387385. Registered on 27 February 2015