Effect of alpha-tocopherol on pulmonary antioxidant defence system and lipid peroxidation in cigarette smoke inhaling mice

BACKGROUND: Free radicals generated in biological systems by cigarette smoke (CS) inhalation can cause oxidative stress in tissues, resulting in lipid peroxidation (LPO). In view of the antioxidant properties of α-tocopherol (AT), in the present study, effects of AT on antioxidant defence system and LPO were investigated in mice inhaling CS for different time intervals. RESULTS: Male Balb/c mice were fed orally with AT (5 I.U./Kg.b.wt.) and /or exposed to CS for 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks. No effect was observed on body growth, diet consumption, water intake and lung weight due to AT and /or CS treatment in any of the groups as compared to their control counterparts. After two weeks of treatment, no change in LPO, reduced glutathione (GSH) levels and antioxidant enzymes were observed except for glutathione reductase (GR) which increased in all the treated groups. A significant increase in pulmonary LPO levels was observed in mice exposed to CS inhalation for 4, 6 or 8 weeks. There was a gradual increase in the LPO levels as the extent of CS inhalation increased from 4 to 8 weeks. However, the extent of increase in LPO levels due to CS exposure for 4, 6 or 8 weeks in the mice treated with AT was comparatively less. A significant decrease in the GSH levels was also observed in all the animals exposed to CS for 4, 6 or 8 weeks. There was a significant increase in the activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and GR observed in all the groups exposed to CS for 4,6 or 8 weeks. The increase in above antioxidant enzymes seems to be insufficient to combat the oxidative stress posed by CS inhalation. There was a marked decrease observed in the LPO levels in the animals treated with AT alone for 4, 6, or 8 weeks, when compared to their control counterparts. However, the supplementation of AT for 4, 6 or 8 weeks demonstrated a significant increase in GSH levels. CONCLUSION: It appears from our studies that AT exhibits its antioxidant role either directly by scavenging the oxidative species or indirectly by modulating the GSH levels

Association of body mass index, hand grip strength and quality of life with response to anti-tubercular therapy in adult patients of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis

Background: Monitoring of anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) response necessary for successful completion of ATT regimen. Presently available monitoring tools are invasive and have limitations. This study undertaken to see whether non-invasive tools like body mass index (BMI), hand grip strength (HGS) and quality of life (QOL) can serve as a reliable tool for monitoring ATT response.Methods: The 50 patients of tuberculosis were monitored for BMI, HGS and QOL via WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire and analyzed at baseline, 2 months and 6 months of starting ATT.Results: BMI HGS increased significantly at 2 months and 6 months compared to baseline with ATT. Physical and social domain of WHOQOL-BREF increased at 2 and 6 months with ATT, other domains shown no significant changes.Conclusions: Monitoring of BMI, handgrip strength and QOL can be a cost-effective tool for monitoring ATT response, both in pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis

Combined Forward-Backward Asymmetry Measurements in Top-Antitop Quark Production at the Tevatron

The CDF and D0 experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron have measured the asymmetry between yields of forward- and backward-produced top and antitop quarks based on their rapidity difference and the asymmetry between their decay leptons. These measurements use the full data sets collected in proton-antiproton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt s =1.96$ TeV. We report the results of combinations of the inclusive asymmetries and their differential dependencies on relevant kinematic quantities. The combined inclusive asymmetry is $A_{\mathrm{FB}}^{t\bar{t}} = 0.128 \pm 0.025$. The combined inclusive and differential asymmetries are consistent with recent standard model predictions

A comparative evaluation of porous hydroxyapatite bone graft with and without platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of periodontal intrabony osseous defects: A clinico-Radiographic study

Background: Today, regenerative attempts for treatment of periodontal disease focus on the introduction of a filler material into the defect in hope of inducing bone regeneration. The purpose of this study was to clinically and radiographically evaluate the use of porous hydroxyapatite bone graft with and without platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of intrabony defects. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in ten patients between 18 and 60 years. Patients with pocket depth ≥5 mm and radiographic evidence of vertical bone loss in the affected site were randomly assigned to treatment with a combination of PRP + Hydroxyapatite (HA) (test sites) or HA alone (control sites). The parameters were compared at baseline and 6 months postoperatively. Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in probing depth and gain in clinical attachment in both the groups individually (more in experimental group); however, on comparing the two groups, the net reduction was not significant. Radiographic assessment showed a decrease in the defect size in both the groups. Conclusion: PRP in addition to a bone graft in the treatment of intrabony defects is safe and shows improved defect fill as compared to the use of bone graft alone

CID-miRNA: a web server for prediction of novel miRNA precursors in human genome

microRNAs (miRNA) are a class of non-protein coding functional RNAs that are thought to regulate expression of target genes by direct interaction with mRNAs. miRNAs have been identified through both experimental and computational methods in a variety of eukaryotic organisms. Though these approaches have been partially successful, there is a need to develop more tools for detection of these RNAs as they are also thought to be present in abundance in many genomes. In this report we describe a tool and a web server, named CID-miRNA, for identification of miRNA precursors in a given DNA sequence, utilising secondary structure-based filtering systems and an algorithm based on stochastic context free grammar trained on human miRNAs. CID-miRNA analyses a given sequence using a web interface, for presence of putative miRNA precursors and the generated output lists all the potential regions that can form miRNA-like structures. It can also scan large genomic sequences for the presence of potential miRNA precursors in its stand-alone form