Low Cost Strategy for Micropropagation of Lilium Asiatic Hybrid Cv. Toscana

A low cost protocol for in vitro propagation of Lilium cv. Toscana has been developed through incorporation of cost-effective media components. MS medium supplemented with 0.75 mg-1 BAP (6-benzylaminopurine) and 0.5 mg-1 NAA (α-naphthalene-acetic acid) was prepared with tapioca granules, table sugar and tap water in different combinations in place of agar-agar, sucrose and distilled water, respectively. Culture medium containing all the cost effective components was found to be the best for in vitro establishment of cultures yielding 6.00 bulblets per explant and medium supplemented with tapioca granules as cost effective component was found to be the best for in vitro multiplication of bulblets giving 3.70 bulblets per in vitro formed bulblet five weeks from third subculture. Tapioca supplemented MS medium containing 1 mg-1 NAA was significantly better than all the other modified media giving 86.62% in vitro rooting, 2.86 average root number and 4.60 cm average root length. For hardening of in vitro rooted bulblets, coco peat, peat moss and coco peat in combination with peat moss were found to be at par giving 100% survival

Physico-chemical and microbiological characterization of the ground water across the city Bareilly (U.P.), India

The drinking water quality (underground water) of Bareilly city has been assessed by estimating physicochemical parameters and calculating Water Quality Index (WQI). Water Quality Index plays an important role in interpreting the information on water quality. The WQI of different sites shows that drinking water is of good quality. The correlation between different parameters was also estimated. During course of study the average value of physico-chemical parameters studied were observed as temperature 20.17 o C, turbidity 2.17 NTU, pH 8.13, electrical conductivity 1360 mmhos/cm, total dissolved solids 1218.9 mg/l, total hardness 515.0 mg/l chlorides 106.34 mg/l, alkalinity 342.15, fluorides 0.44 mg/l, sulphates 84.68 mg/l, nitrates 22.83 mg/l, DO 2.44 mg/l, BOD 1.26 mg/l. While average MPN were observed as 5.66 and average WQI as 21.48

The Great Tsunami of 26 December 2004: A description based on tide-gauge data from the Indian subcontinent and surrounding areas

The Great Tsunami of 26 December 2004 is described using data from seven tide gauges in India and others from surrounding areas in the Indian Ocean. The tsunami struck the Indian east coast around 0330 UTC. The amplitude was 2 m above the tide at Chennai, Paradip, and Colombo. The east coast of India (and of Sri Lanka) was hit shortly after high tide; Tuticorin and Colombo, however, were hit shortly after low tide. The tsunami wave propagated northward along the Indian west coast. All these gauges are to the west of the earthquake zone and the detided sea levels show first a rise in sea level with the arrival of the tsunami, and then a sharp decrease. Spectral and wavelet analysis of the detided series show that the maximum amplitude was at a period of 35-45 minutes, with another maximum around 20 minutes. Along the Indian east coast, however, there is another broad peak between 1-2 hours within the first few hours after the first tsunami wave

Reversal of Klein reflection in bilayer graphene

Whereas massless Dirac fermions in monolayer graphene exhibit Klein tunneling when passing through a potential barrier upon normal incidence, such a barrier totally reflects massive Dirac fermions in bilayer graphene due to difference in chirality. We show that, in the presence of magnetic barriers, such massive Dirac fermions can have transmission through even at normal incidence. The general consequence of this behaviour for multilayer graphene consisting of massless and massive modes are mentioned. We also briefly discuss the effect of a bias voltage on such magnetotransport.Comment: 10 double space single column latexed pages, 15 eps files in four figure

Co-Expression of DevR and DevRN-Aph Proteins Is Associated with Hypoxic Adaptation Defect and Virulence Attenuation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: The DevR response regulator is implicated in both hypoxic adaptation and virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb). DevR regulon genes are powerfully induced in vivo implicating them in bacterial adaptation to host control strategies. A better understanding of DevR function will illumine the way for new strategies to control and treat tuberculosis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Towards this objective, we used a combination of genetic, microbiological, biochemical, cell biological tools and a guinea pig virulence assay to compare the hypoxic adaptation and virulence properties of two novel M. tb strains, namely, a devR disruption mutant, Mut1, that expresses C-terminal truncated N-terminal domain of DevR (DevR(NTD)) as a fusion protein with AphI (DevR(N)-Kan), and its complemented strain, Comp1, that expresses intact DevR along with DevR(N)-Kan. Comp1 bacteria exhibit a defect in DevR-mediated phosphosignalling, hypoxic induction of HspX and also hypoxic survival. In addition, we find that Comp1 is attenuated in virulence in guinea pigs and shows decreased infectivity of THP-1 cells. While Mut1 bacilli are also defective in hypoxic adaptation and early growth in spleen, they exhibit an overall virulence comparable to that of wild-type bacteria. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The hypoxic defect of Comp1 is associated to a defect in DevR expression level. The demonstrated repression of DevR function by DevR(N)-Kan suggests that such a knockdown approach could be useful for evaluating the activity of DevRS and other two-component signaling pathways. Further investigation is necessary to elucidate the mechanism underlying Comp1 attenuation

Bioresponsive Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Triggered Drug Release

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) have garnered a great deal of attention as potential carriers for therapeutic payloads. However, achieving triggered drug release from MSNPs in vivo has been challenging. Here, we describe the synthesis of stimulus-responsive polymer-coated MSNPs and the loading of therapeutics into both the core and shell domains. We characterize MSNP drug-eluting properties in vitro and demonstrate that the polymer-coated MSNPs release doxorubicin in response to proteases present at a tumor site in vivo, resulting in cellular apoptosis. These results demonstrate the utility of polymer-coated nanoparticles in specifically delivering an antitumor payload.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant R01-CA124427)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant U54-CA119349)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant U54-CA119335

Polyphenols Sensitization Potentiates Susceptibility of MCF-7 and MDA MB-231 Cells to Centchroman

Polyphenols as “sensitizers” together with cytotoxic drugs as “inducers” cooperate to trigger apoptosis in various cancer cells. Hence, their combination having similar mode of mechanism may be a novel approach to enhance the efficacy of inducers. Additionally, this will also enable to achieve the physiological concentrations facilitating significant increase in the activity at concentrations which the compound can individually provide. Here we propose that polyphenols (Resveratrol (RES) and Curcumin (CUR)) pre-treatment may sensitize MCF-7/MDA MB-231 (Human Breast Cancer Cells, HBCCs) to Centchroman (CC, antineoplastic agent). 6 h pre-treated cells with 10 µM RES/CUR and 100 µM RES/30 µM CUR doses, followed by 10 µM CC for 18 h were investigated for Ser-167 ER-phosphorylation, cell cycle arrest, redox homeostasis, stress activated protein kinase (SAPKs: JNK and p38 MAPK) pathways and downstream apoptosis effectors. Low dose RES/CUR enhances the CC action through ROS mediated JNK/p38 as well as mitochondrial pathway in MCF-7 cells. However, RES/CUR sensitization enhanced apoptosis in p53 mutant MDA MB-231 cells without/with involvement of ROS mediated JNK/p38 adjunct to Caspase-9. Contrarily, through high dose sensitization in CC treated cells, the parameters remained unaltered as in polyphenols alone. We conclude that differential sensitization of HBCCs with low dose polyphenol augments apoptotic efficacy of CC. This may offer a novel approach to achieve enhanced action of CC with concomitant reduction of side effects enabling improved management of hormone-dependent breast cancer

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Transcriptional Adaptation, Growth Arrest and Dormancy Phenotype Development Is Triggered by Vitamin C

BACKGROUND: Tubercle bacilli are thought to persist in a dormant state during latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. Although little is known about the host factors that induce and maintain Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) within latent lesions, O(2) depletion, nutrient limitation and acidification are some of the stresses implicated in bacterial dormancy development/growth arrest. Adaptation to hypoxia and exposure to NO/CO is implemented through the DevRS/DosT two-component system which induces the dormancy regulon. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we show that vitamin C (ascorbic acid/AA) can serve as an additional signal to induce the DevR regulon. Physiological levels of AA scavenge O(2) and rapidly induce the DevR regulon at an estimated O(2) saturation of <30%. The kinetics and magnitude of the response suggests an initial involvement of DosT and a sustained DevS-mediated response during bacterial adaptation to increasing hypoxia. In addition to inducing DevR regulon mechanisms, vitamin C induces the expression of selected genes previously shown to be responsive to low pH and oxidative stress, triggers bacterial growth arrest and promotes dormancy phenotype development in M. tb grown in axenic culture and intracellularly in THP-1 cells. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Vitamin C mimics multiple intracellular stresses and has wide-ranging regulatory effects on gene expression and physiology of M. tb which leads to growth arrest and a 'dormant' drug-tolerant phenotype, but in a manner independent of the DevRS/DosT system. The 'AA-dormancy infection model' offers a potential alternative to other models of non-replicating persistence of M. tb and may be useful for investigating host-'dormant' M. tb interactions. Our findings offer a new perspective on the role of nutritional factors in TB and suggest a possible role for vitamin C in TB

Identification of B Cell Epitopes of Alcohol Dehydrogenase Allergen of Curvularia lunata

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Epitope identification assists in developing molecules for clinical applications and is useful in defining molecular features of allergens for understanding structure/function relationship. The present study was aimed to identify the B cell epitopes of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) allergen from Curvularia lunata using in-silico methods and immunoassay. METHOD: B cell epitopes of ADH were predicted by sequence and structure based methods and protein-protein interaction tools while T cell epitopes by inhibitory concentration and binding score methods. The epitopes were superimposed on a three dimensional model of ADH generated by homology modeling and analyzed for antigenic characteristics. Peptides corresponding to predicted epitopes were synthesized and immunoreactivity assessed by ELISA using individual and pooled patients' sera. RESULT: The homology model showed GroES like catalytic domain joined to Rossmann superfamily domain by an alpha helix. Stereochemical quality was confirmed by Procheck which showed 90% residues in most favorable region of Ramachandran plot while Errat gave a quality score of 92.733%. Six B cell (P1-P6) and four T cell (P7-P10) epitopes were predicted by a combination of methods. Peptide P2 (epitope P2) showed E(X)(2)GGP(X)(3)KKI conserved pattern among allergens of pathogenesis related family. It was predicted as high affinity binder based on electronegativity and low hydrophobicity. The computational methods employed were validated using Bet v 1 and Der p 2 allergens where 67% and 60% of the epitope residues were predicted correctly. Among B cell epitopes, Peptide P2 showed maximum IgE binding with individual and pooled patients' sera (mean OD 0.604±0.059 and 0.506±0.0035, respectively) followed by P1, P4 and P3 epitopes. All T cell epitopes showed lower IgE binding. CONCLUSION: Four B cell epitopes of C. lunata ADH were identified. Peptide P2 can serve as a potential candidate for diagnosis of allergic diseases