Ophthalmic combination of SurR9-C84A and trichostatin-A targeting molecular pathogenesis of alkali burn

Background: Alkali burn is a frequently occurring ocular injury that resembles ocular inflammation caused by eye allergies, infection, and refractive surgeries.Methods: We investigated the synergistic regenerative potential of dominant negative survivin mutant (SurR9-C84A) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor trichostatin-A (TSA) against alkali burn and corneal haze using human keratocytes and rabbit alkali burn model (Female New Zealand white rabbits).Results: Combination of SurR9-C84A and TSA suppressed levels of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, alpha smooth-muscle actin (α-SMA), fibronectin and HDAC1, leading to apoptosis in myofibroblast cells and, showed the potential to clear the corneal haze. An insult with 0.5 N NaOH for 1 min led to neutrophils infiltration and formation of large vacuoles in the stroma. Treatments with TSA and SurR9-C84A for 40 min led to improvement in the conjunctival and corneal tissue integrity, marked by an increase in clathrin, and claudin expressions. An increase in TGF-β and endogenous survivin confirmed wound healing and cell proliferation in rabbit cornea. The blood analysis revealed a substantial decrease in the RBC, WBC, platelets, or the hemoglobin content post alkali burn. The cytokine array analysis revealed that NaOH induced expressions of IL-1α and MMP-9, which were found to be significantly downregulated (1.8 and 11.5 fold respectively) by the combinatorial treatment of SurR9-C84A and TSA.Conclusion: Our results confirmed that combination of SurR9-C84A with TSA worked in synergy to heal ocular injury and inflammations due to alkali burn and led to the regeneration of ocular tissue by increasing clathrin, claudin, survivin, and TGF-β and reversal of alkali burn by suppressing IL-1α and MMP-9 without inducing haze

Macrophage Dysfunction Impairs Resolution of Inflammation in the Wounds of Diabetic Mice

Background: Chronic inflammation is a characteristic feature of diabetic cutaneous wounds. We sought to delineate novel mechanisms involved in the impairment of resolution of inflammation in diabetic cutaneous wounds. At the wound-site, efficient dead cell clearance (efferocytosis) is a pre-requisite for the timely resolution of inflammation and successful healing. Methodology/Principal Findings: Macrophages isolated from wounds of diabetic mice showed significant impairment in efferocytosis. Impaired efferocytosis was associated with significantly higher burden of apoptotic cells in wound tissue as well as higher expression of pro-inflammatory and lower expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Observations related to apoptotic cell load at the wound site in mice were validated in the wound tissue of diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Forced Fas ligand driven elevation of apoptotic cell burden at the wound site augmented pro-inflammatory and attenuated anti-inflammatory cytokine response. Furthermore, successful efferocytosis switched wound macrophages from proinflammatory to an anti-inflammatory mode. Conclusions/Significance: Taken together, this study presents first evidence demonstrating that diabetic wounds suffer from dysfunctional macrophage efferocytosis resulting in increased apoptotic cell burden at the wound site. This burden, in turn, prolongs the inflammatory phase and complicates wound healing

The First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has validated and made publicly available its First Data Release. This consists of 2099 square degrees of five-band (u, g, r, i, z) imaging data, 186,240 spectra of galaxies, quasars, stars and calibrating blank sky patches selected over 1360 square degrees of this area, and tables of measured parameters from these data. The imaging data go to a depth of r ~ 22.6 and are photometrically and astrometrically calibrated to 2% rms and 100 milli-arcsec rms per coordinate, respectively. The spectra cover the range 3800--9200 A, with a resolution of 1800--2100. Further characteristics of the data are described, as are the data products themselves.Comment: Submitted to The Astronomical Journal. 16 pages. For associated documentation, see http://www.sdss.org/dr

Fouling characteristics of cooling tower water : pH effect

The fouling characteristics of simulated cooling tower water flowing over a heated metallic surface has been studied. The bulk temperature of the water was maintained around 95°F. Mainly three different water qualities with respect to calcium hardness level were investigated. The pH was controlled by the addition of hydrochloric acid. The flow velocities ranged from 1.5 ft/sec to 6.0 ft/sec, and surface temperatures averaged between 150°F and 200 °F. Runs 102, 103 and 104 were particularly made to investigate the relative fouling behavior of three different metallic surfaces exposed to cooling tower water of the same quality. For cooling tower water of pH of 7.5 and flow velocity of 4.0 ft/sec, the following equation relates the asymptotic fouling resistance to the surface temperature. R[subscript f]* = 3.6902 x10⁶ exp(-14308/T[subscript s]) Similarly for cooling tower of pH 8.5 and flow velocity of 5.0 ft/sec, the following arrhenius relationship was obtained. R[subscript f]* = 0.3264 exp(-4314.8/T[subscript s]) For both values of pH of 7.5 and 8.5 for cooling tower water, it was shown that asymptotic fouling resistance decreased with increase of flow velocity. For a flow velocity of 4.0 ft/sec, it was shown that a minimum value of R[subscript f]* exists in the neighbourhood of pH of 8.0. The results of the deposit analysis for runs made at an average pH of 8.5 indicate calcium, magnesium, silicon and carbonate as the major constituents. The chemical analysis of scales of runs made at an average pH of 7.5 indicate silicon, iron and copper as the chief constituents. Also it was found that inner layer of deposit contained higher amounts of magnesium, copper and silicon and the outer layer had higher percentage of calcium

Assessment of SNP and InDel Variations Among Rice Lines of Tulaipanji x Ranjit

Genotyping by sequencing (GBS) is the recent approach of next-generation sequencing technique for discovering and genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in crop species. Genotypic variation studies (SNPs and insertion-deletions/InDels) were performed using four rice lines based on GBS data by aligning to the reference genome Nipponbare. Local aromatic rice landrace Tulaipanji was crossed with Ranjit, and two distinct lines were identified from the progenies: one line with awns and aroma traits and the other without awns and aroma. Total number of SNPs and InDels identified were 52 810 and 4 327 at read depth 10, respectively. Out of the total polymorphic SNPs/InDels, 16 490 were intergeneric, 7 812 were inside gene, and 4 435 were intronic. Phylogenetically, Tulaipanji was closer to the reference genome nipponbare. Based on recurrent parent genome analysis, out of 10 013 alleles, 92.52% was introgressed into progeny-awn from Tulaipanji and 7.48% from Ranjit, whereas progeny-awnless carried 89.19% alleles from Ranjit and only 10.81% alleles from Tulaipanji. In addition, progeny-awn was the highest heterozygous (83.88%) and progeny-awnless was the least (2.24%) at this fifth generation of recombinant inbred lines. These SNP variations may be linked to the phenotypic traits and can be utilized in crop improvement through linkage mapping. These results suggest that adding a high density of SNP markers to a mapping or breeding population through GBS has a great value for numerous applications in rice breeding and genetics research

Evaluation of nanoformulated therapeutics in an ex-vivo bovine corneal irritation model

Aim : To determine the internalization and protective effects of potential ophthalmic formulations and nanoformulated natural proteins in ex-vivo bovine corneal alkali burn model.Methods : The bovine cornea obtained were subjected to the 0.5 N NaOH insult that induced alkali burn and inflammation as observed in the in vivo situation. The toxic effects of the nanoformulation were evaluated in the normal and insult induced cornea using histological analysis. Internalization studies were carried out using in vivo imaging and analysis (IVIS, PerkinElmer, USA).Results : The nanoformulations employed in this study showed no obvious changes in the integrity of the cornea. Further, improvements in the light transmittance and reduced inflammation were observed. The IVIS showed a dose dependant increase in the uptake of the nanoformulations with time.Conclusion : The nanoformulated bovine lactoferrin and SurR9-C84A (SR9) proteins evaluated in the ex vivo bovine corneal irritation model is the first of its kind, and we report here the non-toxic and therapeutic potential of these formulations for topical applications.<br /

Extraction of chitosan and its oligomers from shrimp shell waste, their characterization and antimicrobial effect

Aim: The present study was performed to utilize the shrimp shell waste for chitin and chitosan production, characterization by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) technique and to evaluate the antimicrobial effects of chitosan oligomers produced by depolymerization of chitosan by nitrous acid. Materials and Methods: Chitosan was extracted from the shrimp shell waste by the chemical method and characterized by FT-IR. Chitooligomers were produced by depolymerising chitosan using nitrous acid, and the chitooligomers were tested for antimicrobial effect against four gut pathogenic organisms, i.e., Enterobacter aerogen (National Collection of Dairy Culture [NCDC] 106), Enterococcus faecalis (NCDC 119), Escherichia coli (NCDC 134), and Staphylococcus aureus (NCDC 109) by well diffusion method using Muller-Hinton agar. A pure culture of pathogenic organisms was collected from NCDC, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. Results: Extracted chitosan characterized by FT-IR and chitooligomers demonstrated antimicrobial effect against four gut pathogenic organisms used in this study. Zone of inhibitions (mm) were observed in E. faecalis (13±0.20), E. coli (11.5±0.4), S. aureus (10.7±0.2), and E. aerogen (10.7±0.3). E. faecalis showed larger inhibition zone as compared to all other organisms and inhibitions zones of E. aerogen and S. aureus were comparable to each other. Conclusion: Shrimp waste can be utilized for chitosan production, and the chitooligomers can be used as feed additive for gut health enhancement and have potential to replace antibiotics from the feed. Along with value addition pollutant load could be reduced by waste utilization