410 research outputs found
Transition Metal Complexes of 6-Methyl-2-Amino Benzothiazole -Part III
Complexes of the type ML/sub2/X/sub2/ and ML/sub4/X/sub2/ (where M=Cu(II),Ni(II), Co(II), Mn(II), Zin(II), Hg(II) and Cd(II); L=6-methyl-2-aminobenzothiazole;X=-I, -NCS and -OAC have been isolated and characterised on the basis of analytical, magnetic moment, molar conductance, electronic and i.r.spectal data. The antifungal screening of Cu(II) and Hg(II) complexes is also reported
Mixed Ligand Complexes of N-6 methyl Benzothiazol-2-yl-salicylaldimine and 2-methyl Benzimidazole with Cu(II) Ni(II) Co(II) Mn(II) VO(II) Zn(II) Cd(II) and Hg(II)
Mixed-ligand complexes of the type MS/sub2/ (MeBI)/sub2/ (where M=Cu(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Hg(II), SH=N-6-methyl benzothiazol-2-yl-salicyladldimine and MeBI=2-methyl benzimidazole) and VOS/sub2/. MeBI have been synthesised and characterised on the basis of analysis, molar conductance, magnetic moments, electronic and i.r. spectral data. All the complexes, were found to be nonelectrolyte and possessed octahedral geometry
Sirtuin inhibition induces apoptosis-like changes in platelets and thrombocytopenia
Sirtuins are evolutionarily conserved NAD+-dependent acetyl-lysine deacetylases that belong to class III type of histone deacetylases. In humans, seven sirtuin isoforms (Sirt1 to Sirt7) have been identified. Sirtinol, a cell permeable lactone ring derived from naphthol, is a dual Sirt1/Sirt2 inhibitor of low potency whereas EX-527 is a potent and selective Sirt1 inhibitor. Here we have demonstrated that Sirt1, Sirt2 and Sirt3 are expressed in enucleate platelets. Both sirtinol or EX-527 induced apoptosis-like changes in platelets as revealed from enhanced annexin V binding, ROS production and drop in mitochondrial transmembrane potential. Above changes were associated with increased phagocytic clearance of the platelets by macrophages. Expression of acetylated p53 and the conformationally active form of Bax were found to be significantly higher in both sirtinol- as well as EX-527-treated platelets, thus implicating p53-Bax axis in apoptosis induced by sirtuin inhibitors. Administration of either sirtinol or EX-527 in mice led to reduction in both platelet count and number of reticulated platelets. Our results, for the first time, implicate sirtuins as a central player in determination of platelet aging. Since sirtuin inhibitors are being evaluated for their anti-tumor activity, this study rekindles attention to potential side effect of sirtuin inhibition in delimiting platelet life span and management of thrombosis
Platelet HIF-2α promotes thrombogenicity through PAI-1 synthesis and extracellular vesicle release
Oxygen-compromised environments, such as high altitude, are associated with platelet hyperactivity. Platelets confined within the relatively impervious core of an aggregate/thrombus have restricted access to oxygen, yet they continue to perform energy-intensive procoagulant activities that sustain the thrombus. Studying platelet signaling under hypoxia is, therefore, critical to our understanding of the mechanistic basis of thrombus stability. We report here that hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-2α is translated from pre-existing mRNA and stabilized against proteolytic degradation in enucleate platelets exposed to hypoxia. Hypoxic stress, too, stimulates platelets to synthesize plasminogen-activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and shed extracellular vesicles, both of which potentially contribute to the prothrombotic phenotype associated with hypoxia. Stabilization of HIF-α by administering hypoxia-mimetics to mice accelerates thrombus formation in mesenteric arterioles. In agreement, platelets from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and high altitude residents exhibiting thrombogenic attributes have abundant expression of HIF-2α and PAI- 1. Thus, targeting platelet hypoxia signaling could be an effective anti-thrombotic strategy
Relative Biological Effectiveness Studies Using 3 MeV Proton Beam from Folded Tandem Ion Accelerator: An Experimental and Theoretical Approach
Proton being the easiest light ion to accelerate and achieve desired beam profile, has been pursued as a popular particulate radiation for therapy applications. In the present study, Saccharomyces cerevisiae D7 strain was used to estimate the RBE values of the 3 MeV proton beam, and an attempt was made to derive mathematical formula for calculating RBE value with respect to the dose. Dosimetry studies were carried out using Fricke dosimetry and Semiconductor Surface Barrier detector to calibrate the absorbed doses of Gamma chamber-1200 and Folded Tandem Ion Accelerator respectively. Gold standard cell survival assay and gene conversion assay were used to compare gamma and proton radiation induced cell death and genetic endpoint. Multi target single hit model was used to derive mathematical formula for RBE estimation. The results show a linear survival-dose response after proton radiation and sigmoid survival-dose response after gamma radiation treatment. The calculated RBE value from the survival and gene conversion studies was 1.60 and 3.93, respectively. The derived mathematical formula is very useful in calculating RBE value, which varies from 3.61 to 1.80 with increasing dose. The estimated RBE value from the mathematical formula is comparable with the experimental values. With the help of the present mathematical formulation, RBE value at any dose can be calculated in the exponential and sigmoidal regions of the survival curve without actually extending the experiment in that dose region, which is not possible using conventional methods
Earthworm Grazed-Trichoderma harzianum Biofortified Spent Mushroom Substrates Modulate Accumulation of Natural Antioxidants and Bio-Fortification of Mineral Nutrients in Tomato
The present investigation was aimed at evaluating the impact of earthworm grazed and Trichoderma harzianum biofortified spent mushroom substrate (SMS) on natural antioxidant and nutritional properties of tomato. Results of the investigation reveal that earthworm grazing and T. harzianum bio-fortification led to significant improvement in the physico-chemical properties of fresh SMS and its application increased the accumulation of natural antioxidants and mineral content in tomato as compared to either T. harzianum biofortified SMS or fresh SMS. In particular, the earthworm grazed, T. harzianum biofortified SMS (EGTHB-SMS) was found to inhibit lipid peroxidation and protein oxidation with significant increase in total polyphenol and flavonoid content in tomato. Further, it increased Fe2+/Fe3+ chelating activity, superoxide anion radical scavenging activity compared to other treatments. The results thus suggest an augmented elicitation of natural antioxidant properties in tomato treated with EGTHB-SMS, resulting in a higher radical scavenging activity, that is highly desirable for human health. In addition, the use of SMS to enhance the nutritional value of tomato fruits becomes an environment friendly approach in sustainable crop production
ProteoLens: a visual analytic tool for multi-scale database-driven biological network data mining
Background
New systems biology studies require researchers to understand how interplay among myriads of biomolecular entities is orchestrated in order to achieve high-level cellular and physiological functions. Many software tools have been developed in the past decade to help researchers visually navigate large networks of biomolecular interactions with built-in template-based query capabilities. To further advance researchers' ability to interrogate global physiological states of cells through multi-scale visual network explorations, new visualization software tools still need to be developed to empower the analysis. A robust visual data analysis platform driven by database management systems to perform bi-directional data processing-to-visualizations with declarative querying capabilities is needed.
Results
We developed ProteoLens as a JAVA-based visual analytic software tool for creating, annotating and exploring multi-scale biological networks. It supports direct database connectivity to either Oracle or PostgreSQL database tables/views, on which SQL statements using both Data Definition Languages (DDL) and Data Manipulation languages (DML) may be specified. The robust query languages embedded directly within the visualization software help users to bring their network data into a visualization context for annotation and exploration. ProteoLens supports graph/network represented data in standard Graph Modeling Language (GML) formats, and this enables interoperation with a wide range of other visual layout tools. The architectural design of ProteoLens enables the de-coupling of complex network data visualization tasks into two distinct phases: 1) creating network data association rules, which are mapping rules between network node IDs or edge IDs and data attributes such as functional annotations, expression levels, scores, synonyms, descriptions etc; 2) applying network data association rules to build the network and perform the visual annotation of graph nodes and edges according to associated data values. We demonstrated the advantages of these new capabilities through three biological network visualization case studies: human disease association network, drug-target interaction network and protein-peptide mapping network.
Conclusion
The architectural design of ProteoLens makes it suitable for bioinformatics expert data analysts who are experienced with relational database management to perform large-scale integrated network visual explorations. ProteoLens is a promising visual analytic platform that will facilitate knowledge discoveries in future network and systems biology studies
Capture, Reconstruction, and Representation of the Visual Real World for Virtual Reality
We provide an overview of the concerns, current practice, and limitations for capturing, reconstructing, and representing the real world visually within virtual reality. Given that our goals are to capture, transmit, and depict complex real-world phenomena to humans, these challenges cover the opto-electro-mechanical, computational, informational, and perceptual fields. Practically producing a system for real-world VR capture requires navigating a complex design space and pushing the state of the art in each of these areas. As such, we outline several promising directions for future work to improve the quality and flexibility of real-world VR capture systems
Aberrant DNA Methylation of Matrix Remodeling and Cell Adhesion Related Genes in Pterygium
10.1371/journal.pone.0014687PLoS ONE62
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