Molecular docking study of active phytocompounds from the methanolic leaf extract of vitex negundo against cyclooxygenase-2

The aim of the study is to identify the phytocompounds with anti-inflammatory properties from the methanolic leaf extract of Vitex negundo and also to find the inhibitors of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) enzyme through molecular docking. GC-MS was performed for the methanolic leaf extract of V. negundo. Various phenolic phytocompounds were identified through GC-MS. This Study has illustrated the binding of four biologically active compounds from the methanolic extract of V. negundo against the inflammation associated target COX-2 enzymes. The binding energy is evaluated through docking studies of the ligand with the target protein 6COX_A. These Phytochemical compounds have a good docking score and glide energy. Based on the results, binding energy was compared with the known COX-2 inhibitory compounds namely aspirin and ibuprofen. It is understood that these phytochemical compounds can be considered as strong inhibitors for COX-2 and possess potential medicinal values with anti-inflammatory properties

Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Perfume Atomizer Spray Pyrolysis CdO Thin Films: Effect of Solution Volume

CdO films have been deposited on glass substrates with different solution volume (30, 40 and 50 mL) at 200°C using perfume atomizers spray pyrolysis method. X-ray diffraction studies shows that the prepared thin film had cubic and polycrystalline nature. Scanning electron microscope shows the influence of solution volume on surface morphology of the CdO thin film. Optical studies show that in these films the electronic transition is of the direct transition type. The optical energy gap for the films of as deposited are vary from 2.12 to 2.00 eV with solution volume. Photoluminescence results analysis confirmed that the dependence of optical energy gap on solution volume. The Hall measurements were carried out and the results were discussed

Studies on decolorization of textile dye by using Pseudomonas and bacillus sp from the contaminated effluent soil samples of Kovilpatti, Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu

Textile industries releasing large amount of effluent which contains textile dyes and toxic chemicals and it is one of the major source of pollution also contaminating water bodies. To remove that, bacteria have been of great attention because of their ability to treat effluent. The present study was undertaken to exploit the ability of Pseudomonassp and Bacillus sp from dye contaminated soil samples for bioremediation for dye effluent. Among the bacterial strains used in the study. Pseudomonas sp emerged out to be most potent decolorizer in comparison to Bacillus sp with the degree of decolorization of 90.0 %. Thus, it was concluded that the Pseudomonas sp had highest color removing capacity from contaminated effluent soil samples.&nbsp

Dynamical properties of a modified chaotic Colpitts oscillator with triangular wave non-linearity

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new chaotic oscillator. Although different chaotic systems have been formulated by earlier researchers, only a few chaotic systems exhibit chaotic behaviour. In this work, a new chaotic system with chaotic attractor is introduced for triangular wave non-linearity. It is worth noting that this striking phenomenon rarely occurs in respect of chaotic systems. The system proposed in this paper has been realized with numerical simulation. The results emanating from the numerical simulation indicate the feasibility of the proposed chaotic system. More over, chaos control, stability, diffusion and synchronization of such a system have been dealt with

Association of CYP27B1 gene polymorphisms with pulmonary tuberculosis and vitamin D levels

Background and Objectives: Genetic factors are reported to be connected with tuberculosis (TB) infection. Studies have shown that genetic variations in genes involved in the vitamin D pathway influence the levels of vitamin D found in the bloodstream (serum). Cyp27b1 (1α-hydroxylase) is an enzyme that activates the synthesis of bioactive vitamin D3 by hydroxylation of 25(OH)D3. The in vitro studies reported rare gene variants of Cyp27b1 such as rs118204011 and rs118204012, associated with loss of Cyp27b1 function and lower serum vitamin D levels. Globally, a critical gap exists in understanding the link between these gene variants with TB and vitamin D levels. Hence, the study objective is to comprehend the association of Cyp27b1 rs118204009 (G/A), rs118204011 (C/T), and rs118204012 (A/G) with tuberculosis susceptibility/protection and to assess the influence of gene variants on vitamin D levels in both healthy controls (HCs) and those with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in South India

Plasma chemokines CXCL10 and CXCL9 as potential diagnostic markers of drug-sensitive and drug-resistant tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis still remains to be a challenge with the currently used immune based diagnostic methods particularly Interferon Gamma Release Assay due to the sensitivity issues and their inability in differentiating stages of TB infection. Immune markers are valuable sources for understanding disease biology and are easily accessible. Chemokines, the stimulant, and the shaper of host immune responses are the vital hub for disease mediated dysregulation and their varied levels in TB disease are considered as an important marker to define the disease status. Hence, we wanted to examine the levels of chemokines among the individuals with drug-resistant, drug-sensitive, and latent TB compared to healthy individuals. Our results demonstrated that the differential levels of chemokines between the study groups and revealed that CXCL10 and CXCL9 as potential markers of drug-resistant and drug-sensitive TB with better stage discriminating abilities

Differential Frequencies of Intermediate Monocyte Subsets Among Individuals Infected With Drug-Sensitive or Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The rampant increase in drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) remains a major challenge not only for treatment management but also for diagnosis, as well as drug design and development. Drug-resistant mycobacteria affect the quality of life owing to the delayed diagnosis and require prolonged treatment with multiple and toxic drugs. The phenotypic modulations defining the immune status of an individual during tuberculosis are well established. The present study aims to explore the phenotypic changes of monocytes & dendritic cells (DC) as well as their subsets across the TB disease spectrum, from latency to drug-sensitive TB (DS-TB) and drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) using traditional immunophenotypic analysis and by uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) analysis. Our results demonstrate changes in frequencies of monocytes (classical, CD14(++)CD16(-), intermediate, CD14(++)CD16(+) and non-classical, CD14(+/-)CD16(++)) and dendritic cells (DC) (HLA-DR(+)CD11c(+) myeloid DCs, cross-presenting HLA-DR(+)CD14(-)CD141(+) myeloid DCs and HLA-DR(+)CD14(-)CD16(-)CD11c(-)CD123(+) plasmacytoid DCs) together with elevated Monocyte to Lymphocyte ratios (MLR)/Neutrophil to Lymphocyte ratios (NLR) and alteration of cytokine levels between DS-TB and DR-TB groups. UMAP analysis revealed significant differential expression of CD14(+), CD16(+), CD86(+) and CD64(+) on monocytes and CD123(+) on DCs by the DR-TB group. Thus, our study reveals differential monocyte and DC subset frequencies among the various TB disease groups towards modulating the immune responses and will be helpful to understand the pathogenicity driven by Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Challenges and opportunities in mixed method data collection on mental health issues of health care workers during COVID-19 pandemic in India

Background: The present paper describes the key challenges and opportunities of mixed method telephonic data collection for mental health research using field notes and the experiences of the investigators in a multicenter study in ten sites of India. The study was conducted in public and private hospitals to understand the mental health status, social stigma and coping strategies of different healthcare personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic in India.Methods: Qualitative and quantitative interviews were conducted telephonically. The experiences of data collection were noted as a field notes/diary by the data collectors and principal investigators.Results: The interviewers reported challenges such as network issues, lack of transfer of visual cues and sensitive content of data. Although the telephonic interviews present various challenges in mixed method data collection, it can be used as an alternative to face-to-face data collection using available technology.Conclusions: It is important that the investigators are well trained keeping these challenges in mind so that their capacity is built to deal with these challenges and good quality data is obtained

Factors associated with stigma and manifestations experienced by Indian health care workers involved in COVID-19 management in India: A qualitative study

Healthcare personnel who deal with COVID-19 experience stigma. There is a lack of national-level representative qualitative data to study COVID-19-related stigma among healthcare workers in India. The present study explores factors associated with stigma and manifestations experienced by Indian healthcare workers involved in COVID-19 management. We conducted in-depth interviews across 10 centres in India, which were analysed using NVivo software version 12. Thematic and sentiment analysis was performed to gain deep insights into the complex phenomenon by categorising the qualitative data into meaningful and related categories. Healthcare workers (HCW) usually addressed the stigma they encountered when doing their COVID duties under the superordinate theme of stigma. Among them, 77.42% said they had been stigmatised in some way. Analyses revealed seven interrelated themes surrounding stigma among healthcare workers. It can be seen that the majority of the stigma and coping sentiments fall into the mixed category, followed by the negative sentiment category. This study contributes to our understanding of stigma and discrimination in low- and middle-income settings. Our data show that the emergence of fear of the virus has quickly turned into a stigma against healthcare workers