Sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 towards Alcohols: Potential for Alcohol-Related Toxicity in Humans

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative organism that is highly contagious and has been responsible for more than 240 million cases and 5 million deaths worldwide. Using masks, soap-based hand washing, and maintaining social distancing are some of the common methods to prevent the spread of the virus. In the absence of any preventive medications, from the outset of pandemic, alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS) have been one of the first-line measures to control transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The purpose of this narrative review is to evaluate the sensitivity of SARS-CoV-2 towards ABHS and understand their potential adverse effects on humans. Ethanol and isopropanol have been the most commonly used alcohols in ABHS (e.g., gel, solution, spray, wipes, or foam) with alcohol in the range of 70–85% v/v in World Health Organization or Food and Drug Administration-approved ABHS. The denaturation of proteins around the envelope of SARS-CoV-2 positive sense single-stranded RNA virus is the major mechanism of action of ABHS. Due to frequent use of high-percentage alcohol-containing ABHS over an extended period of time, the oral, dermal, or pulmonary absorption is a possibility. In addition to the systemic toxicity, topical adverse effects such as contact dermatitis and atopic dermatitis are plausible and have been reported during COVID-19. ABHS appear to be effective in controlling the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 with the concern of oral, dermal, or pulmonary absorption

Recombinant Promoter (MUASCsV8CP) Driven Totiviral Killer Protein 4 (KP4) Imparts Resistance Against Fungal Pathogens in Transgenic Tobacco

Development of disease-resistant plant varieties achieved by engineering anti-microbial transgenes under the control of strong promoters can suffice the inhibition of pathogen growth and simultaneously ensure enhanced crop production. For evaluating the prospect of such strong promoters, we comprehensively characterized the full-length transcript promoter of Cassava Vein Mosaic Virus (CsVMV; -565 to +166) and identified CsVMV8 (-215 to +166) as the highest expressing fragment in both transient and transgenic assays. Further, we designed a new chimeric promoter ‘MUASCsV8CP’ through inter-molecular hybridization among the upstream activation sequence (UAS) of Mirabilis Mosaic Virus (MMV; -297 to -38) and CsVMV8, as the core promoter (CP). The MUASCsV8CP was found to be ∼2.2 and ∼2.4 times stronger than the CsVMV8 and CaMV35S promoters, respectively, while its activity was found to be equivalent to that of the CaMV35S2 promoter. Furthermore, we generated transgenic tobacco plants expressing the totiviral ‘Killer protein KP4’ (KP4) under the control of the MUASCsV8CP promoter. Recombinant KP4 was found to accumulate both in the cytoplasm and apoplast of plant cells. The agar-based killing zone assays revealed enhanced resistance of plant-derived KP4 against two deuteromycetous foliar pathogenic fungi viz. Alternaria alternata and Phoma exigua var. exigua. Also, transgenic plants expressing KP4 inhibited the growth progression of these fungi and conferred significant fungal resistance in detached-leaf and whole plant assays. Taken together, we establish the potential of engineering “in-built” fungal stress-tolerance in plants by expressing KP4 under a novel chimeric caulimoviral promoter in a transgenic approach

Comparison between prolotherapy using 25% dextrose versus extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the management of pain and improvement of functional outcome in patients suffering from chronic lateral epicondylitis: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Lateral epicondylitis is a tendinopathy characterized by pain around the lateral aspect of the elbow occuring more frequently in nonathletes than athletes significantly affecting the patient’s life in terms of the quantity and quality of work done. In resistant cases of tennis elbow, a number of treatment options have been tried including extracorporeal shockwave therapy, autologous blood injections and surgery as last resort but none of them has proved to be superior over another. Recent studies show that 25% dextrose prolotherapy which induces an inflammatory reaction at site of administration would be a better treatment option in resistant cases.Methods: A prospective randomized controlled trial was done in Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal to compare the effectiveness of 25% dextrose prolotherapy injection and extracorporeal shockwave therapy in management of pain and improvement of functional outcome in patients suffering from chronic lateral epicondylitis.Results: The outcome variables VAS for pain and Grip strength for function were measured at baseline, 1 month, 3 months and 6months. Data collected were analysed using SPSS version 21. For analytical purpose, description statistics like mean and standard deviation were used. Statistical tests like t-test, Chi square test, Fisher’s exact test were used for intra group and inter group analysis. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant. In study group 2ml of 25% dextrose mixed with 2% lignocaine (0.5ml) was given to the affected lateral epicondyle. In control group, weekly sessions of single sitting ESWT was given to the lateral epicondyle for 3 consecutive weeks. In the follow up assessment at 1 month, 3 months and 6 months, there was significant improvement in mean score of VAS and Grip Strength scores in both the groups (p<0.05). When both the groups were compared with each other, study group showed a better improvement and was found to be significantly more effective than shockwave therapy group in reducing pain and improvement of functional outcome in chronic lateral epicondylitis (p = 0.001).Conclusions: Prolotherapy may be considered as a novel alternative conservative management before opting for surgery in resistant cases of lateral epicondylitis

An overview of nutritional profiling in foods: Bioanalytical techniques and useful protocols

Maintaining a nutritious diet is essential for humans if they want to live a healthier life. Several food businesses and food safety organizations play a significant role and offer useful ways for improving nutritional quality that assists consumers in making informed selections. Making poor food choices and consuming unhealthy meals are the main causes of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Nutritional profiling (NP) models are developed to evaluate the nutritional value, calorie content, and the amount of micronutrients and macronutrients contained in a given food accompanied by additional details on the nutritional anomaly provided by published standard nutrients and nutritional databases. To construct an ideal nutritional model that can facilitate food consumption, bioanalytical methods such as chromatography, microscopic techniques, molecular assays, and metabolomics can be applied. With the use of these technologies, one can learn more about the health advantages of nutrition and how to prevent disease. A wider element of NP is also provided by the developing technologies in the area of nutrition research, such as nanotechnology, proteomics, and microarray technology. In this review, we are focusing on the different bioanalytical techniques and the various protocols of NP and their application and refinement of the models. We have evaluated various NP techniques currently used in the food industry for the detection of different components present in food items

Diffusion over an entropic barrier: Non-Arrhenius behavior

We have examined the temperature dependence of noise-induced escape rate of Brownian particles between two distinct regions in a two-dimensional enclosure through a narrow bottleneck. Varying cross section of the confinement results in an effective entropic barrier in reduced dimension. The strong non-Arrhenius dependence of the escape rate is observed, which can be explained in terms of a crossover between entropy-dominated regime and energy-dominated regime in presence of an interplay of gravitational bias and thermal motion

SGLT2 Inhibitors as Potential Anticancer Agents

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) serves as a critical glucose transporter that has been reported to be overexpressed in cancer models, followed by increased glucose uptake in both mice and humans. Inhibition of its expression can robustly thwart tumor development in vitro and in vivo. SGLT2 inhibitors are a comparatively new class of antidiabetic drugs that have demonstrated anticancer effects in several malignancies, including breast, liver, pancreatic, thyroid, prostate, and lung cancers. This review aims to assess the extent of SGLT involvement in different cancer cell lines and discuss the pharmacology, mechanisms of action, and potential applications of SGLT2 inhibitors to reduce tumorigenesis and its progression. Although these agents display a common mechanism of action, they exhibit distinct affinity towards the SGLT type 2 transporter compared to the SGLT type 1 transporter and varying extents of bioavailability and half-lives. While suppression of glucose uptake has been attributed to their primary mode of antidiabetic action, SGLT2 inhibitors have demonstrated several mechanistic ways to combat cancer, including mitochondrial membrane instability, suppression of β-catenin, and PI3K-Akt pathways, increase in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, and downregulation of oxidative phosphorylation. Growing evidence and ongoing clinical trials suggest a potential benefit of combination therapy using an SGLT2 inhibitor with the standard chemotherapeutic regimen. Nevertheless, further experimental and clinical evidence is required to characterize the expression and role of SGLTs in different cancer types, the activity of different SGLT subtypes, and their role in tumor development and progression.AlumniReviewedFacult

Predicting manoid molecules, a novel class of compounds

1317-1323Seven stable new molecules in the form of human beings, are predicted to be stable. The geometries of these “manoid molecules” have been optimized using a combination of semi-empirical and ab initio quantum chemical methods. The relative dimensions of these molecules conform by and large to those of human beings, belonging to the C1 point group, with one kind of molecule resembling a player heading a soccer ball. A possible route is suggested for synthesizing the torso of such molecules of considerable potential interest

Kramers-like turnover in load-dependent activated dynamics

Recent advancement of experimental techniques at the single molecule level has demonstrated how an external load affects a chemical reaction which controls the transport of biological motor proteins. Majority of these studies are concerned with thermodynamically open systems. We have examined a prototype model reaction in terms of inertial Brownian motion of a particle in a force field subjected to an overdamped motion of a viscous load coupled harmonically to the particle. A general analytical expression for the rate constant has been derived to demonstrate that depending on the strength of harmonic coupling and drag coefficient of the load a Kramers-like turnover can be realized in the spatial diffusion-limited regime. The turnover reduces to a crossover between the two states characterized by zero-load and finite load condition

Unusual Foreign Body in Urinary Bladder: A Case Report

In the urinary tract, foreign body is most commonly found in the urinary bladder. It is commonly self-inflicted but can rarely be introduced by other person. Various types of foreign bodies have been reported, which includes infusion set, aluminum rod, gold chain, pearl, fish, pencil etc. Here we report a case of a 28-year young man who gave the history of forceful introduction of a long wire of mobile charger into the bladder by another person. It could not be removed by himself and by the local doctors. Then he was referred to Enam Medical College & Hospital and subsequently was removed by suprapubic cystostomy