alpha -Lactalbumin (LA) Stimulates Milk beta-1,4-Galactosyltransferase I (beta 4Gal-T1) to Transfer Glucose from UDP-glucose to N-Acetylglucosamine: CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF beta 4Gal-T1·LA COMPLEX WITH UDP-Glc*

beta-1,4-Galactosyltransferase 1 (Gal-T1) transfers galactose (Gal) from UDP-Gal to N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), which constitutes its normal galactosyltransferase (Gal-T) activity. In the presence of alpha -lactalbumin (LA), it transfers Gal to Glc, which is its lactose synthase (LS) activity. It also transfers glucose (Glc) from UDP-Glc to GlcNAc, constituting the glucosyltransferase (Glc-T) activity, albeit at an efficiency of only 0.3-0.4% of Gal-T activity. In the present study, we show that LA increases this activity almost 30-fold. It also enhances the Glc-T activity toward various N-acyl substituted glucosamine acceptors. Steady state kinetic studies of Glc-T reaction show that the Km for the donor and acceptor substrates are high in the absence of LA. In the presence of LA, the Km for the acceptor substrate is reduced 30-fold, whereas for UDP-Glc it is reduced only 5-fold. In order to understand this property, we have determined the crystal structures of the Gal-T1·LA complex with UDP-Glc·Mn2+ and with N-butanoyl-glucosamine (N-butanoyl-GlcN), a preferred sugar acceptor in the Glc-T activity. The crystal structures reveal that although the binding of UDP-Glc is quite similar to UDP-Gal, there are few significant differences observed in the hydrogen bonding interactions between UDP-Glc and Gal-T1. Based on the present kinetic and crystal structural studies, a possible explanation for the role of LA in the Glc-T activity has been proposed

Photoluminescence, laser damage threshold, optical transmittance, FTIR, mechanical, dielectric, thermal and XRD studies on Bis – Glycine hydrochloride single crystal

Single crystals of Bis – glycine hydrochloride (BGHC) were grown from aqueous solution by means of slow evaporation and slow cooling techniques. Single crystal XRD study reveals that the grown BGHC crystallizes in orthorhombic system with  space group P212121 and  the obtained unit cell parameters are a = 5.32 Å, b = 8.10 Å and c = 18.01 Å. Powder X – ray diffraction pattern of grown BGHC has been indexed. Functional groups present in the BGHC crystals were identified by FT – IR spectral analysis. The transmission and absorption spectra for the grown BGHC crystal shows that the lower cut off wavelength lies at 235 nm. The photoluminescence spectrum of the grown crystal was recorded. Mechanical hardness of the grown BGHC was determined and Vickers microhardness hardness number was calculated. Laser damage threshold study was carried out for the grown crystal using Nd:YAG laser. The thermal stability of the grown crystal was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis and the grown crystal is thermally stable up to 198 °C. Particle size dependent second harmonic generation efficiency of the grown crystal was examined by Kurtz and Perry powder technique using 1064 nm laser

Anticancer Drugs from Marine Flora: An Overview

Marine floras, such as bacteria, actinobacteria, cyanobacteria, fungi, microalgae, seaweeds, mangroves, and other halophytes are extremely important oceanic resources, constituting over 90% of the oceanic biomass. They are taxonomically diverse, largely productive, biologically active, and chemically unique offering a great scope for discovery of new anticancer drugs. The marine floras are rich in medicinally potent chemicals predominantly belonging to polyphenols and sulphated polysaccharides. The chemicals have displayed an array of pharmacological properties especially antioxidant, immunostimulatory, and antitumour activities. The phytochemicals possibly activate macrophages, induce apoptosis, and prevent oxidative damage of DNA, thereby controlling carcinogenesis. In spite of vast resources enriched with chemicals, the marine floras are largely unexplored for anticancer lead compounds. Hence, this paper reviews the works so far conducted on this aspect with a view to provide a baseline information for promoting the marine flora-based anticancer research in the present context of increasing cancer incidence, deprived of the cheaper, safer, and potent medicines to challenge the dreadful human disease

DELAMINATION PREDICTION IN DRILLING OF CFRP COMPOSITES USING ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

Carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials play a major role in the applications of aeronautic, aerospace, sporting and transportation industries. Machining is indispensible and hence drilling of CFRP materials is considered in this present study with respect to spindle speed in rpm, drill size in mm and feed in mm/min. Delamination is one of the major defects to be dealt with. The experiments are carried out using computer numerical control machine and the results are applied to an artificial neural network (ANN) for the prediction of delamination factor at the exit plane of the CFRP material. It is found that ANN model predicts the delamination for any given set of machining parameters with a maximum error of 0.81% and a minimum error of 0.03%. Thus an ANN model is highly suitable for the prediction of delamination in CFRP materials

Clinical profile and outcome of diabetic foot ulcers

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic endocrine disorder, once prevalent in developed countries has become the leading ‘global epidemic’. WHO estimated that in the year 2000. Roughly 3% of the total world population had Diabetes. In India around 61million of general population affected in 2011 which may rise to 101 million by 2030. The aim of the study was to study the clinical profile and outcome of diabetic foot ulcers. The clinical profile of 120 patients with diabetic foot ulcer was studied.   Methods: Patients with diabetic foot ulcer of both genders with age above 30 years willing to participate were included in the study. All patients were subjected to routine diabetic work up with Doppler study and X-ray foot to rule out bone involvement. Results: The majority of patients with diabetic foot ulcers were of age group 51 to 60 years, male predominant, 84 patients out of 120 isolated included for study, 24 (28.6%) isolates had Klebsiella, 46(54.8%) isolates Pseudomonas, 14 (16.7%) isolates has E.coli. Conclusions: Our study gives important information that diabetic foot ulcer is more common among middle-aged people with male predominance which gives the importance of screening diabetic patients for neuropathy and peripheral vascular disease

A Study on Neuropsychiatric Lupus patients.

INTRODUCTION : Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) could be defined as the neurologic syndromes of the central, peripheral and autonomic nervous system and the psychiatric syndromes observed in patients with SLE in which other causes have been excluded. Hebra and Kaposi in 1875 were the first to note central nervous involvement in lupus and while writing on the erythema group of skin diseases in 1885, Osler discussed cerebral changes in SLE and reported a patient with SLE and hemiplegia. Potential involvement of the nervous system by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has been recognized ever since the multisystem nature of the disease first was appreciated. Clinical features include both neurologic (N) and psychiatric (P) manifestations, which may involve both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Although there have been significant advances in understanding some aspects of neuropsychiatric (NP) SLE in recent years, nervous system disease continues to pose diagnostic, therapeutic, and scientific challenges for physicians and researchers alike. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES : 1. To study the various neurological manifestations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. 2. To study the various psychiatric manifestations in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. 3. To compare the neuropsychiatric manifestations between childhood and adult SLE patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS : One hundred consecutive patients (7 males, 93 females) with systemic lupus erythematosus who attended the Department of Rheumatology, Madras Medical College, Chennai were included as the study population. This is a prospective study done during November 2005-March2008. Inclusion Criteria: Patients who fulfilled 1997 Revised ACR Classification Criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus were included. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patients with overlap syndrome were excluded. 2. Patients with history of head injury. 3. Patients with chronic renal failure. 4). Patients with alcoholism. All the selected patients were subjected to clinical examination including detailed neurological evaluation. The psychiatric evaluation was done with the help from Institute of Mental health, Madras Medical College. RESULTS : The clinical, laboratory and imaging profile of 100 patients who satisfied the 1997 revised ACR classification criteria for SLE were analyzed. The 100 patients were divided into as to whether they belong to childhood SLE or adult SLE. The age range was 3 years to 55 years. The maximum number of cases occurred in 20 to 35 years. The mean age of study group is 22.44 years and the mean age in patients with NPSLE is 24.10 years. The female to male ratio was 14:1.The mean duration of illness in patients with NPSLE is 3.74 years. Out of 56 patients with NP-SLE manifestations, 41 patients belong to adult group and 15 patients are children (Table 3, 4, 5). The most common manifestations in adults are seizures (39%), headache and CVA (26.8%). In childhood group, the most common manifestations are seizures (80%), headache(26.6%)and psychosis(26.6%).The analysis of the other manifestations showed that the renal involvement was seen in 23(41%) NP-SLE patients. CONCLUSION : There was a female predominance in the patients with neuropsychiatric manifestations due to systemic lupus erythematosus. The Neuropsychiatric manifestations were present in 56% of our study population. The CNS involvement was seen in 96.4% of patients with neuropsychiatric manifestations. The four common NP-SLE syndromes in adult patients were seizures, headache, mood disorder and cerebrovascular disease and in paediatric patients seizures, headache, cerebrovascular disease and psychosis. Out of 30 patients with renal involvement, 23 patients had neuropsychiatric manifestations. The APA positivity was seen in 46% of patients with NP-SLE syndromes. It was associated with cerebrovascular disease in twelve out of fourteen patients. Out of 28 patients with seizures, nine had APA positivity and six had abnormal MRI findings. The most common MRI finding was focal ischemic lesion in both adult and paediatric patients

An overview of laparoscopic versus open incisional hernia repair

Background: An incisional hernia is perceived as a morbidity following an abdominal wall operation. Risk factors that increase the chances of developing these hernias are wound infection, male sex, obesity, abdominal distension, underlying disease process and occasionally poor surgical closure. The aim of this study was to compare laparoscopic vs open incisional hernia repair with regard to postoperative pain and nausea, operative time, postoperative complications and length of hospital stay. Methods: We conducted retrospective review of consecutive patients with hernia in department of surgery, Sri Venkateshwaraa Medical College and Hospital, Redhills, Chennai, Tamil Nadu between September 2022 to February 2023 (6 months). We analyzed 140 patients that met the inclusion criteria and their clinical data. The patients were divided into two groups: open incision hernia repair (OI=70) group and laparoscopic hernia repair (LR=70) group. Results: In our study, the mean operative time of 99.64±13.1 min for the laparoscopic repair group was longer than the mean operative time of 74.64±9.14 min for open repair (p =0.264). Hospital stay was not significantly in the laparoscopic group with a mean of 2.4±0.6 days compared with 2.8±1.4 of the open repair group (p=0.0515). Conclusions: Smaller incisional hernias with a transverse diameter <10 cm can be repaired successfully by a laparoscopic approach if a suitably skilled surgeon is available, although an ugly scar may remain on the anterior abdominal wall. Major defects >10 cm was best repaired by an open operation

Role of Hippo Pathway-YAP/TAZ Signaling in Angiogenesis

Angiogenesis is a highly coordinated process of formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing blood vessels. The process of development of the proper vascular network is a complex process that is crucial for the vertebrate development. Several studies have defined essential roles of Hippo pathway-YAP/TAZ in organ size control, tissue regeneration, and self-renewal. Thus Hippo pathway is one of the central components in tissue homeostasis. There are mounting evidences on the eminence of Hippo pathway-YAP/TAZ in angiogenesis in multiple model organisms. Hippo pathway-YAP/TAZ is now demonstrated to regulate endothelial cell proliferation, migration and survival; subsequently regulating vascular sprouting, vascular barrier formation, and vascular remodeling. Major intracellular signaling programs that regulate angiogenesis concomitantly activate YAP/TAZ to regulate key events in angiogenesis. In this review, we provide a brief overview of the recent findings in the Hippo pathway and YAP/TAZ signaling in angiogenesis