63 research outputs found
ERRATUM TO: MOLECULAR AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF COSTUS PICTUS D. DON PLANTS ORIGINALLY OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF KERALA, INDIA
[Reference: JAFS, Vol 2(2), 141, November 2016
TAXONOMIC, MOLECULAR AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF COSTUS PICTUS D. DON PLANTS ORIGINALLY OBTAINED FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF KERALA, INDIA
Costus pictus D. Don is known to have antidiabetic property, and its leaves are traditionally consumed (2-3, twice a day) for the management of diabetes. The plant is popularly known as “insulin plant†and it was introduced in India only recently. However, it is already cultivated in home gardens throughout Kerala. The objectives of this study were to identify and characterize the newly introduced Costus pictus on the basis of a large number of morphological, molecular (RAPD analyses), and selected physiological (gas and water vapour exchange) characteristics. The results of this study confirm that the three accessions of Costus pictus originally collected from different populations growing in south, middle and north Kerala belong to the same gene pool. These findings will be useful marker for the further exploitation of C. pictus scientifically. Â
Study of Birth-Death Processes with Immigration
Birth-death processes are applied in the modelling of many biological populations, such as tumour cells and viruses. Various studies have established that birth-death processes, which occur
when the population size is zero, are not in-line with reality in many situations. Therefore, in this study, the birth-death processes with immigration were investigated. We considered two immigration policies. First, immigration is allowed if and only if the population size is zero. Second, immigration at a constant rate is allowed irrespective of the population size. Birth and death rates were chosen such that the mean population size is a Gompertz function when the immigration rate is zero. The transient population size probability was obtained for both cases. Several tumour growth datasets were fitted using the mean population size of the above models and standard birth-death model without immigration. The two models with immigration provided entirely different probabilities of the population size being zero at an arbitrary epoch when compared with the model without immigration. Moreover, all three models provided a similar fit to the data. For each of the datasets studied, the models that allowed immigration produced less variance than the non-immigration model
Optimization and characterization of silver nanoparticle synthesis from the microalgae, Isochrysis galbana
The present study was aimed to carry out a green synthesis of Silver Nano Particless by using marine micro algae
and its characterization by SEM, EDAX, Particle analyzer and Zeta potential. Microalgae samples (Isochrysis galbana
and Nannochloropsis sp.) were collected from phytoplankton laboratory, Tuticorin Research Centre of ICAR-Central
Marine Fisheries Research Institute. The culture media of I. galbana and Nannochloropsis sp. were taken for the
preliminary synthesis of SNPs. Hence, Nannochloropsis sp. was not synthesized for its SNPs, I. galbana was selected
for further study. Culture media, cell filtrate and supernatant of I. galbana were subjected to the SNPs synthesis in
order to find out the maximum yield of silver with low chloride content. Among these, the supernatant of I. galbana
showed maximum yield with low chloride content. It was confirmed by colorimetric reading at 450 nm. Synthesized
SNPs from I. galbana contained 80.68% of silver and 15.25% of chloride as detected by EDAX analysis. Size of the
SNPs was analyzed by particle analyzer and ranged from 16.6 to 205.3 nm and average size was 40.6 nm. Zeta potential
of SNPs from I. galbana was -44.0 mV, which reveals the high stability of SNPs. This is the first authenticated
work of I. galbana with respect to complete characterization of its SNPs
ON THE UPLINK-DOWNLINK DUALITY FOR GAUSSIAN VECTOR CHANNELS WITH COLORED NOISE AND APPLICATIONS TO CDMA TRANSMITTER ADAPTATION
ABSTRACT In this paper we study the uplink-downlink duality for Gaussian vector channels with colored noise, and we derive the duality transformations (downlink-to-uplink and vice versa) that imply transmit covariance matrices for which user rates in uplink and downlink are identical. These transformations are then applied for transmitter adaptation in Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems to obtain an ensemble of downlink CDMA codewords from an optimal ensemble of uplink codewords
RecombinantWolbachia surface protein (WSP)-induced T cell responses in Wuchereria bancrofti infections
Human lymphatic filariasis is a debilitating parasitic
disease characterized by downregulation of the host’s
immune response in asymptomatic carriers along with
profound hyperreactivity in chronic patients apart from
putatively immune endemic normals. The endosymbiont
Wolbachia, a bacterium of filarial nematodes has received
much attention as possible chemotherapeutic target and its
involvement in disease pathogenesis. The role of recombinant
Wolbachia surface protein (rWSP), one of the most
abundantly expressed proteins of the endosymbiont, in
modulating cell-mediated immune responses in patients
harboring Wuchereria bancrofti infections was evaluated in
the current study. rWSP-induced lymphoproliferation with
peripheral blood mononuclear cells suggested an impaired
proliferative response in asymptomatic microfilaremic (MF)
and symptomatic chronic pathology (CP) patients compared
to endemic normals (EN). This was further supported by a significantly diminished expression of CD69 along with
elevated levels of CD127 and CD62L in filarial patients
(MF and CP) compared to EN. Further, rWSP induced
the expression of regulatory T cell markers CTLA-4 and
CD25 along with suppressor cytokines IL-10 and TGF-β
in MF and CP patients compared to EN. However, the
rWSP-stimulated expression of IFN-γ was diminished
significantly in filarial patients compared to endemic
normals. Thus, these findings suggest that WSP may also
contribute to the suppression of immune responses seen
in filarial patients
Biochemical Characterization and Evaluation of a Brugia malayi Small Heat Shock Protein as a Vaccine against Lymphatic Filariasis
Filarial nematodes enjoy one of the longest life spans of any human pathogen due to effective immune evasion strategies developed by the parasite. Among the various immune evasion strategies exhibited by the parasite, Interleukin 10 (IL-10) productions and IL-10 mediated immune suppression has significant negative impact on the host immune system. Recently, we identified a small heat shock protein expressed by Brugia malayi (BmHsp12.6) that can bind to soluble human IL-10 receptor alpha (IL-10R) and activate IL-10 mediated effects in cell lines. In this study we show that the IL-10R binding region of BmHsp12.6 is localized to its N-terminal region. This region has significant sequence similarity to the receptor binding region of human IL-10. In vitro studies confirm that the N-terminal region of BmHsp12.6 (N-BmHsp12.6) has IL-10 like activity and the region containing the alpha crystalline domain and C-terminus of BmHsp12.6 (BmHsp12.6αc) has no IL-10 like activity. However, BmHsp12.6αc contains B cell, T cell and CTL epitopes. Members of the sHSP families are excellent vaccine candidates. Evaluation of sera samples from putatively immune endemic normal (EN) subjects showed IgG1 and IgG3 antibodies against BmHsp12.6αc and these antibodies were involved in the ADCC mediated protection. Subsequent vaccination trials with BmHsp12.6αc in a mouse model using a heterologous prime boost approach showed that 83% protection can be achieved against B. malayi L3 challenge. Results presented in this study thus show that the N-BmHsp12.6 subunit of BmHsp12.6 has immunoregulatory function, whereas, the BmHsp12.6αc subunit of BmHsp12.6 has significant vaccine potential
Early Life Child Micronutrient Status, Maternal Reasoning, and a Nurturing Household Environment have Persistent Influences on Child Cognitive Development at Age 5 years : Results from MAL-ED
Funding Information: The Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project (MAL-ED) is carried out as a collaborative project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Foundation for the NIH, and the National Institutes of Health/Fogarty International Center. This work was also supported by the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health (D43-TW009359 to ETR). Author disclosures: BJJM, SAR, LEC, LLP, JCS, BK, RR, RS, ES, LB, ZR, AM, RS, BN, SH, MR, RO, ETR, and LEM-K, no conflicts of interest. Supplemental Tables 1–5 and Supplemental Figures 1–3 are available from the “Supplementary data” link in the online posting of the article and from the same link in the online table of contents at https://academic.oup.com/jn/. Address correspondence to LEM-K (e-mail: [email protected]). Abbreviations used: HOME, Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory; MAL-ED, The Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development Project; TfR, transferrin receptor; WPPSI, Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence.Peer reviewe
Early life child micronutrient status, maternal reasoning, and a nurturing household environment have persistent influences on child cognitive development at age 5 years: Results from MAL-ED
Background: Child cognitive development is influenced by early-life insults and protective factors. To what extent these factors have a long-term legacy on child development and hence fulfillment of cognitive potential is unknown. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the relation between early-life factors (birth to 2 y) and cognitive development at 5 y. Methods: Observational follow-up visits were made of children at 5 y, previously enrolled in the community-based MAL-ED longitudinal cohort. The burden of enteropathogens, prevalence of illness, complementary diet intake, micronutrient status, and household and maternal factors from birth to 2 y were extensively measured and their relation with the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scales of Intelligence at 5 y was examined through use of linear regression. Results: Cognitive T-scores from 813 of 1198 (68%) children were examined and 5 variables had significant associations in multivariable models: mean child plasma transferrin receptor concentration (β: −1.81, 95% CI: −2.75, −0.86), number of years of maternal education (β: 0.27, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.45), maternal cognitive reasoning score (β: 0.09, 95% CI: 0.03, 0.15), household assets score (β: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.24, 1.04), and HOME child cleanliness factor (β: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.05, 1.15). In multivariable models, the mean rate of enteropathogen detections, burden of illness, and complementary food intakes between birth and 2 y were not significantly related to 5-y cognition. Conclusions: A nurturing home context in terms of a healthy/clean environment and household wealth, provision of adequate micronutrients, maternal education, and cognitive reasoning have a strong and persistent influence on child cognitive development. Efforts addressing aspects of poverty around micronutrient status, nurturing caregiving, and enabling home environments are likely to have lasting positive impacts on child cognitive development.publishedVersio
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