Candida albicans : a shape changing, opportunistic pathogenic fungus of humans

Funding information The authors received funding support from Wellcome Trust (086827, 075470, 101873 and 200208) and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology (N006364/1). Acknowledgements We thank Prashant Sood for help with the graphical abstract figure.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A comparative study of lip print patterns in monozygotic and dizygotic twins

Background: External surface of lips has many elevations and depressions forming a characteristic pattern called lip prints, the study of which is known as cheiloscopy. This is unique for the individuals like in fingerprints.Methods: The present study was conducted in 40 pairs of twins and their families to evaluate the possibility of variation of lip print patterns in twins and their parents to find out any similarity among twins and their families.  The twins were taken as the primary subject and their parents as the secondary subjects.Results: The subjects with congenital lip deformity and any inflammation were excluded from the study. The lip prints were taken on the cello tape and highlighted with the black printer powder of Oddyessy make. the photographs were taken for the permanent record. The prints were studied on Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software and classified under Tsuchihashi classification.Conclusions: Comparison of lip prints showed that they are unique to each individual and among twins revealed that they are similar but not identical and their characteristics resembled either parent. Since the lip print patterns are unique, lip print analysis can be considered as a tool for personal identification

Fatness Predicts Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factor Profile Better than Fitness in Healthy Men A Discriminant Analysis Approach

Fitness is healthy and can help to reduce, but not eliminate, the negative effects of obesity. As a result,identifying variables for categorizing individuals into high-risk or low-risk groups is critical.The study’s goalwasto determine the relationship between fitness, fatness, and cardiovascular disease risk factors as well as to construct a discriminant model for categorizing individuals as high-risk or low-risk. A total of 120 in-service healthy armed forces personnel aged 25 to 49 years were randomly selected as subjects for this study and were measured for the selected fitness and fatness variables, namely cardio respiratory endurance, muscular endurance, muscular leg and back strength, flexibility, weight, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-hip ratio, body mass index, waist to height ratio, and fat percentage. The findings revealed that fitness variables contribute little to CVD risk factors than specific fatness characteristics, which appear to play a larger role.Based on selected fitness and fatness indicators, a discriminant model was developed to classify subjects into high and low cardiovascular disease risk groups. The group centroid was found to be 0.829. The model validity was determined to be 80.6 per cent based on the classification matrix. Finally, the findings of the study suggest that age and waist circumference play an important role in distinguishing individuals with high and low CVD ris

Fibroadenoma/benign phyllodes: a cytologic diagnostic challenge

Background: To study and compare cytomorphological features of histologically proven cases of benign phyllodes and cellular fibroadenoma.Methods: Smears of histologically-proven cases of benign phyllodes and cellular fibroadenoma in one year, were reviewed. The cellular fibroadenoma had epithelial and/or stromal hypercellularity. The stromal and epithelial components as well as the background cells were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed.Results: Number, cellularity and type of stromal fragments varied significantly in two groups. Higher number, intermediate to large-sized and hypercellular stromal fragments were commonly seen in phyllodes. Hypercellular (3+ cellularity) fragments were seen in 100% cases of phyllodes against 11.1% cases of fibroadenoma. Large-sized stromal fragments were found in 100% of phyllodes while in only 11.1% cases of fibroadenoma. The ratio of number of epithelial to stromal fragments was significantly high (58.5:1) in fibroadenoma against phyllodes (1.3:1). The epithelial architecture, atypia, apocrine metaplasia and presence of cystic macrophages did not very much in the two groups. The cellularity of the dispersed cells in background did not reveal significant difference though the type of cells varied; the proportion of long and short spindle cells was higher in PT group while proportion of oval cells was higher in FA group.Conclusion: The number, cellularity and nature of stromal fragments, ratio of epithelial to stromal fragments, cellularity and type of background cells are helpful in distinguishing benign phyllodes from cellular fibroadenoma. The identification of these features can improve the pickup rate of phyllodes tumor, thereby assisting proper management

Ras hyperactivation versus overexpression : Lessons from Ras dynamics in Candida albicans

We thank Prof. Neta Dean for the CIp10ADH1-Cherry plasmid and Prof. Aaron Mitchell for the BWP17 strain. We gratefully acknowledge Prof. Sudipta Maiti, TIFR, Mumbai, India for providing the data acquisition software. We also appreciate the feedback and discussions with Dr. Rohini Muthuswami, SLS, JNU as well as from the Protein Society group, New Delhi while this study was taking shape. We thank Prof. Alok Bhattacharya for Cytochalasin D. The GC-MS and fluorescence lifetime measurements were carried out at the Advanced Instrumentation Research Facility (AIRF), JNU. Confocal images were recorded either at the central instrumentation facility (CIF), SLS, JNU or at AIRF, JNU. This work was supported by project grants from Department of Biotechnology (DBT, Project grant no. BT/PR20410/BRB/10/1542/2016) and Department of Science and Technology (DST, Project grant no. SB/SO/BB-011/2014), India to S.S.K; and project grants from Department of Information Technology, (DIT, Project grant no. 12(4)/2007-PDD), India to S.S. for FCS setup. In addition, both S.S. and S.S.K. thank DBT-BUILDER for funding support (Project grant no. BT/PR5006/INF/153/2012). S.S.K. also acknowledges funding support from UGC Resource Networking grant to the School of Life Sciences. We thank DST-PURSE and JNU for assistance with funding for publication. G.S.V. and S.C.S. received a fellowship from UGC; V.A.P., B.Y., P.J., N.P., M.F.K. acknowledge CSIR for fellowships. S.L.S. received a fellowship from ICMR. D.T.H. and M.F.K. thank DBT-BUILDER for funding.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A REVIEW ON “HOW EXACTLY DIURETIC DRUGS ARE WORKING IN OUR BODYâ€

Diuretics are among the most commonly used drugs. They act by diminishing sodium reabsorption at different sites in the nephron, thereby increasing urinary sodium and water losses. The ability to induce negative fluid balance has made diuretics useful in the treatment of a variety of conditions, particularly edematous states and hypertension. A review on physiology of kidney, nephron, urine formation, diuretic drugs with their classification and the mechanism of various diuretics are discussed here with neatly described schematic diagrams. Key words Diuretics, Kidney, Nephron, Physiology of urine formation, Mechanism of action of various diuretic drugs

Cell biology of Candida albicans-host interactions

Acknowledgements The authors are supported by the Wellcome Trust via a Senior Investigator Award to NG, an ISST award and a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology. The authors are also part of the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Lung eosinophils elicited during allergic and acute aspergillosis express RORgammat and IL-23R but do not require IL-23 for IL-17 production

Exposure to the mold, Aspergillus, is ubiquitous and generally has no adverse consequences in immunocompetent persons. However, invasive and allergic aspergillosis can develop in immunocompromised and atopic individuals, respectively. Previously, we demonstrated that mouse lung eosinophils produce IL-17 in response to stimulation by live conidia and antigens of A. fumigatus. Here, we utilized murine models of allergic and acute pulmonary aspergillosis to determine the association of IL-23, IL-23R and RORgammat with eosinophil IL-17 expression. Following A. fumigatus stimulation, a population of lung eosinophils expressed RORgammat, the master transcription factor for IL-17 regulation. Eosinophil RORgammat expression was demonstrated by flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, western blotting and an mCherry reporter mouse. Both nuclear and cytoplasmic localization of RORgammat in eosinophils were observed, although the former predominated. A population of lung eosinophils also expressed IL-23R. While expression of IL-23R was positively correlated with expression of RORgammat, expression of RORgammat and IL-17 was similar when comparing lung eosinophils from A. fumigatus-challenged wild-type and IL-23p19-/- mice. Thus, in allergic and acute models of pulmonary aspergillosis, lung eosinophils express IL-17, RORgammat and IL-23R. However, IL-23 is dispensable for production of IL-17 and RORgammat

Anti-diarrhoeal activity of ethanolic extract of heartwood of Pterocarpus marsupium roxb.

Diarrhoea is a common cause of death in developing countries and second most common cause of infant’s death worldwide. Pterocarpus marsupium is a medicinal herb belonging to the family Fabaceae has been traditionally used in the treatment of diarrhoea. They were found to contain tannins, alkaloids, saponins, sterols, triterpenes and reducing sugars. This study evaluated the antidiarrhoeal activity of ethanolic extract of heartwood of Pterocarpus marsupium induced by castor oil and magnesium sulphate in rat at 200 and 400 mg/kg b.w. The doses were given orally and showed significant antidiarrhoeal activity comparable with that of the standard drug loperamide. The statistical analyses of results were carried out using one-way analysis (ANOVA) followed by Student t-test.  On the basis of these findings, it can be assumed that Pterocarpus marsupium could be a potential source for novel discovery for antidiarrhoeal. These results may support the fact that this plant is used traditionally to cure diarrhoea. Keywords: Pterocarpus marsupium, Anti-Diarrhoeal, Castor Oil, Magnesium Sulphate, Loperamid

Differences in fungal immune recognition by monocytes and macrophages : N-mannan can be a shield or activator of immune recognition

Acknowledgements We thank Professor Gordon Brown for Fc-dectin-1 and Professor David Williams for glucan phosphate. We also thank Kevin MacKenzie, Debbie Wilkinson, Gillian Milne, and Lucy Wright at the University of Aberdeen Core Microscopy & Histology Facility.Peer reviewedPublisher PD