Antioxidant effect of Morus indica L against paraquat-induced oxidative stress in Drosophila melanogaster

BACKGROUND: Mulberry extracts and active components have numerous good neurological and biological benefits, making them promising candidates in the research for new medications to treat neurological problems. METHODS: In the present study we evaluated the neuroprotective role of mulberry fruit extract against the paraquat (PQ) induced oxidative stress in Drosophila melanogaster. After the exposure to PQ, Flies were assayed for climbing activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and lipid peroxide (LPO) content, acetylcholine esterase activities (AChe), and also the antioxidant defense system such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase activities (CAT) and glutathione synthetase (GSH) RESULTS: In a negative geotaxis assay, MF pre-treated flies exposed to PQ showed a lower incidence of mortality and enhanced climbing activities of flies when compared to untreated flies exposed to PQ. In addition, when exposed to PQ, untreated flies resulted in a significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in oxidative stress markers such as ROS, LPO content and AChe and decreased the antioxidant defense system such as SOD, CAT, and GSH. However, flies pre-treated with MF when exposed to PQ ameliorated oxidative stress markers and by restoring the antioxidant defense system, additionally, the pre-treatment of MF flies also reduced AChe activities. CONCLUSION: The pre-treatment of flies with MF extract has the potential to reduce PQ-induced oxidative stress due to its antioxidative nature and ability to modify the activities of antioxidant defense systems. However, further research is needed to understand the exact mechanism of its activity

Horizontal gene transfer in Histophilus somni and its role in the evolution of pathogenic strain 2336, as determined by comparative genomic analyses

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pneumonia and myocarditis are the most commonly reported diseases due to <it>Histophilus somni</it>, an opportunistic pathogen of the reproductive and respiratory tracts of cattle. Thus far only a few genes involved in metabolic and virulence functions have been identified and characterized in <it>H. somni </it>using traditional methods. Analyses of the genome sequences of several <it>Pasteurellaceae </it>species have provided insights into their biology and evolution. In view of the economic and ecological importance of <it>H. somni</it>, the genome sequence of pneumonia strain 2336 has been determined and compared to that of commensal strain 129Pt and other members of the <it>Pasteurellaceae</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The chromosome of strain 2336 (2,263,857 bp) contained 1,980 protein coding genes, whereas the chromosome of strain 129Pt (2,007,700 bp) contained only 1,792 protein coding genes. Although the chromosomes of the two strains differ in size, their average GC content, gene density (total number of genes predicted on the chromosome), and percentage of sequence (number of genes) that encodes proteins were similar. The chromosomes of these strains also contained a number of discrete prophage regions and genomic islands. One of the genomic islands in strain 2336 contained genes putatively involved in copper, zinc, and tetracycline resistance. Using the genome sequence data and comparative analyses with other members of the <it>Pasteurellaceae</it>, several <it>H. somni </it>genes that may encode proteins involved in virulence (<it>e.g</it>., filamentous haemaggutinins, adhesins, and polysaccharide biosynthesis/modification enzymes) were identified. The two strains contained a total of 17 ORFs that encode putative glycosyltransferases and some of these ORFs had characteristic simple sequence repeats within them. Most of the genes/loci common to both the strains were located in different regions of the two chromosomes and occurred in opposite orientations, indicating genome rearrangement since their divergence from a common ancestor.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Since the genome of strain 129Pt was ~256,000 bp smaller than that of strain 2336, these genomes provide yet another paradigm for studying evolutionary gene loss and/or gain in regard to virulence repertoire and pathogenic ability. Analyses of the complete genome sequences revealed that bacteriophage- and transposon-mediated horizontal gene transfer had occurred at several loci in the chromosomes of strains 2336 and 129Pt. It appears that these mobile genetic elements have played a major role in creating genomic diversity and phenotypic variability among the two <it>H. somni </it>strains.</p

COMPARATIVE PHYTOCHEMICAL PROFILE AND ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTY OF BARK, FLOWERS AND LEAVES EXTRACTS OF SIMAROUBA GLAUCA

Objective: The current study was to evaluate and compare the phytochemical constituents and antioxidant activity of bark, flowers and leaves of the tree Simarouba glauca. Methods: The solvent extraction of phytochemicals was carried out using Soxhlet apparatus with ethanol, chloroform, methanol, and water. The antioxidant property was determined by 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl, hydrogen peroxide free radical scavenging, reducing power assay, and nitric oxide radical scavenging assay using gallic acid and ascorbic acid as the standards. Results: The extraction yield was found maximum in the water extract of flower (3.7% w/w). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytoconstituents showed that the highest amount of alkaloids and flavonoid content (2.1% w/w) and (3.9% w/w), respectively, was in the chloroform extract of the flower. Phenol and carbohydrate constituent was found to be highest in the methanol extract of leaves 2.5% w/w and 2.2% w/w, respectively. The antioxidant assays showed that the bark possessed maximum antioxidant activity. The water extracts of S. glauca bark exhibited scavenging property (90%) with an IC50 value 39.63 μg/ml, and the least activity (56%) was observed in the methanol extracts of leaves with an IC50 value of 62.96 μg/ml of S. glauca. Conclusion: The study concluded that the water extract of the bark is a potent antioxidant compared to leaves and flowers. Further, in vivo studies are essential to enumerate its medicinal use and prove its efficacy in therapeutic applications

A quad tree based method for blurred and non-blurred video text frames classification through quality metrics

© 2016 IEEE. Blur is a common artifact in video, which adds more complexity to text detection and recognition. To achieve good accuracies for text detection and recognition, this paper suggests a new method for classifying blurred and non-blurred frames in video. We explore quality metrics, namely, BRISQUE, NRIQA, GPC and SI, in a new way for classification. We estimate the values of these metrics with the help of predefined samples called reference values. To widen the difference between metric values for better classification, we introduce scaling factors as a non-linear sigmoidal function, which considers the metric of each current frame and its reference and results in templates. Based on the characteristics of metrics, the proposed method finds a relationship between the metrics to derive rules for classification. To classify the frame containing local blur, we explore quad tree division with classification rules which divide non-blurred blocks to identify local blur. We use standard databases, namely, ICDAR 2013, ICDAR 2015 and YVT videos for experimentation, and evaluate the proposed method in terms of text detection and recognition rates given by text detection and binarization methods before and after classification