Apoptotic Effects of Prunus persica (L) Batsch Leaves against Breast Cancer Cell Line (MDA-MB-231) and Cervical Cancer Cell Line (HeLa) In Vitro

Background: Apoptosis is a normal physiological phenomenon that plays a pivotal role during embryonic development, retention of tissue homeostasis and pathology. The experimental investigation of apoptotic processes is still challenging and routinely based on the assessment of molecular events like chromatin fragmentation and caspase enzyme activity. The present study was conducted to evaluate the apoptosis inducing effect of the Methanol, aqueous and chloroform extracts of Prunus persica leaves. Methods: Different extracts were obtained by cold extraction process using Methanol, water and Chloroform as solvents. Crude extracts were screened for different phytochemical constituents like flavonoids, tannins, sugars, saponins, and glycosides etc. The apoptotic effect of Prunus persica leaves was examined by DAPI staining assay against MDA-MB-231 (Human breast cancer cell line) and HeLa (Human cervical cancer cell line). Results: The results of the studies revealed that the Chloroform extract have tremendous apoptotic activity on MDA-MB-231 cells and methanolic extract have good apoptotic activity on HeLa cells. Nuclear morphological changes assessed by DAPI shows changes in morphology, apoptotic body formation, cell shrinkage, nuclei that were broken into discrete fragments and cell budding that resulted  in cells of various sizes. Conclusion: The phytochemical screening reveals the presence of alkaloids, tannins, Saponins, steroids and flavonoids. The Chloroform extract has shown more effectiveness and less toxicity against MDA-MB-231 and Methanol extract was more apoptotic against HeLa in comparison to others. The present findings clearly indicated that Prunus persica leaves showed dose dependant cytotoxicity

Musculoskeletal Tuberculosis: Two Year Experience at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Northern India and Review of Literature

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the present trend of osteo-articular tuberculosis at a teaching hospital in North India.Methods: All the cases of skeletal tuberculosis that were diagnosed and managed either on outdoor or in-hospital stay basis over a period of two years were evaluated with respect to age, gender, anatomical location of lesion, laboratory parameters (ESR, Mantoux test, HIV screening), concomitant skeletaltuberculous lesions, associated pulmonary tuberculosis, and other associated clinical features.Results: A total of 84 skeletal tuberculous lesions in 80 patients were enrolled for the study. The age of the patients ranged from 2 to 70 years with a mean of 29.1±19.1 years. 55% patients were in second and third decade of life and 63.7% were males. ESR was elevated in 61.25% and 56.25% tested positive forMantoux skin test. 21.25% patients had associated active or healed focus of tuberculosis in the lungs. Spine was the most common site involved (58.75%) followed by hip (13.1%), knee (8.3%), foot (4.7%) and shoulder joint (3.5%). Lumbar spine was the most common site affected in the spine followed by lowerdorsal spine. 3.75% cases had multifocal skeletal tuberculous lesions.Conclusion: Prevalence of osteo-articular tuberculosis continues to be high in North India with the disease predominantly affecting young population. Spine is the most common site for skeletal tuberculosis followed by hip, knee, foot and shoulder. Lumbar region followed by lower dorsal spine is much more affected.Multifocal skeletal lesions incidence is lower than expected. And one-fifth of the patients have associated pulmonary tubercular lesion

US Presence in Afghanistan and its Impact on Central Asia.

The US war in Afghanistan and the controversial attack on Iraq and insurgency are examples of contemporary globalization. The US and her allies have made their presence not only in Afghanistan but different parts of the world are under siege. The US initiated military action in Afghanistan with two aims: firstly, to defeat al-Qaeda and their Taliban allies, and secondly, in concert with the Afghan people and the international community, to facilitate the creation of democratic conditions which would thwart the terrorist sanctuaries within Afghanistan. The overarching US government strategy for winning the war on terrorism and rebuilding the state of Afghanistan is predicated on six lines of operation that include: a) improving governance ; b) defeating the terrorist threat; c) improving political stability; d) enhancing economic and social development; e) implementing regional and donor strategies; and f) integrating the US government actions. The US led coalition in Afghanistan was strong with forty countries involved in so-called Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force. The US military had nearly 30,000 troops under Enduring Freedom, and about 20,000 coalition troops from 18 nations, the total was over 25,000.Digital copy of Thesis.University of Kashmir

Medical thoracoscopy in evaluation of undiagnosed pleural effusion

Background: Medical thoracoscopy or pleuroscopy, in recent past has received lot of interest for diagnostic as well as therapeutic purposes. In the evaluation of undiagnosed pleural effusion, it has become a key diagnostic modality as it is a cost effective and safe procedure. The aim of present study was to assess the diagnostic yield of medical thoracoscopy in patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion.Methods: This prospective study was conducted at government chest diseases hospital Srinagar between December 2016 to June 2018. One hundred and twenty-five (125) patients who fulfilled inclusion criteria were included in this study. Thoracoscopy was done using rigid thoracoscope under local anesthesia.  Thoracoscopic and histopathological data of enrolled patients was collected prospectively and analysed.Results: Patients enrolled in the study were in the age range of 17 to 82 years and consisted of 80 males and 45 females. Most common thoracoscopic finding was multiple variable sized nodules (53.6%) followed by sago grain infiltration (15.2%). Malignancy was the most common histopathological diagnosis (60.8%) with metastatic adenocarcinoma being the most common histopathological diagnosis (50%). The overall diagnostic yield of thoracoscopy was 90.4%.Conclusions: Medical thoracoscopy is a safe procedure with excellent diagnostic yield for evaluation of undiagnosed pleural effusion with minimal complication rates

Acute haematogenous osteomyelitis of femur in a neonate with ‘bone within bone’ appearance: a case report

Acute osteomyelitis in infants, which was known for high mortality and morbidity in the pre-antibiotic era can be managed conservatively by intravenous antibiotics and supportive therapy if the condition is detected and treatment started early in the course of the disease. Infantile osteomyelitis is separate entity from the one seen in older children in terms of vascular anatomy, pathogenesis, radiological changes and natural history. We present a neonate with acute haematogenous osteomyelitis of femur with preceding respiratory tract infection that was managed conservatively without surgical intervention despite severe radiographic changes. The child recovered without any residual deformity and final radiographs did not show any trace of the disease though early radiographs had exuberant involucrum formation and sequestration of entire diaphysis giving it a “bone within bone” appearance. Infants have excellent capacity of re-sorption of sequestrum and remodelling of involucrum such that no trace of disease is left in the adulthood

A network map of thrombopoietin signaling

Thrombopoietin (THPO), also known as megakaryocyte growth and development factor (MGDF), is a cytokine involved in the production of platelets. THPO is a glycoprotein produced by liver and kidney. It regulates the production of platelets by stimulating the differentiation and maturation of megakaryocyte progenitors. It acts as a ligand for MPL receptor, a member of the hematopoietic cytokine receptor superfamily and is essential for megakaryocyte maturation. THPO binding induces homodimerization of the receptor which results in activation of JAKSTAT and MAPK signaling cascades that subsequently control cellular proliferation, differentiation and other signaling events. Despite the importance of THPO signaling in various diseases and biological processes, a detailed signaling network of THPO is not available in any publicly available database. Therefore, in this study, we present a resource of signaling events induced by THPO that was manually curated from published literature on THPO. Our manual curation of thrombopoietin pathway resulted in identification of 48 molecular associations, 66 catalytic reactions, 100 gene regulation events, 19 protein translocation events and 43 activation/inhibition reactions that occur upon activation of thrombopoietin receptor by THPO. THPO signaling pathway is made available on NetPath, a freely available human signaling pathway resource developed previously by our group. We believe this resource will provide a platform for scientific community to accelerate further research in this area on potential therapeutic interventions