Effects of carbon and nitrogen sources on the induction and repression of chitinase enzyme from Beauveria bassiana isolates

Beauveria bassiana a natural soil borne insect pathogen is being used effectively these days in integrated pest management system. Foliar application of these fungi is quite satisfactory as it invades its host by adhering to insect cuticles through the formation of penetration structures called appresoria, which produces various extracellular enzymes, including chitinase that causes the insect cuticle breaching. Although many investigations have been done in this regard, only a little is known about the induction and repression mechanism of this hydrolytic enzyme. This report illustrates the effect of two carbon sources; colloidal chitin and dextrose and a nitrogen source, yeast extract on the chitinase production of seventeen B. bassiana isolates. The chitinase activity varied among the isolates and the different media studied. A high enzymatic activity was observed in the medium with colloidal chitin as a sole source of carbon followed by the medium containing an extra nitrogen source, yeast extract. Exochitinase activity and the chitinase activity gel were also determined for the isolates showing high chitinase enzyme activity. An array of chitinase isozymes were observed on chitinase activity gel with a common 70 kDa enzyme for all the isolates.Keywords: Beauveria bassiana, induction, colloidal chitin, chitinase, exochitinase

Molecular Docking Unmasks Potent Phytoligands against SARS CoV 2 Spike Glycoprotein, Main Protease, Papain like Protease and RNA dependent RNA Polymerase

The recent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has offered a unique challenge for human survival. However, there is no available known prophylaxis, therapeutic intervention, and vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 to date. We aimed towards identifying novel phytoligands from widely available botanical resources which could serve as potential inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2. Based on literature review, database search, ADMET, and drug-likeness, 55 phytoligands and 8 synthetic repurposing drugs were screened and tested against SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein, main protease, papain-like protease, and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase using molecular docking and protein-ligand interaction. All phytoligands and repurposing drugs showed binding affinity based inhibitory potential against the viral proteins. The highest binding affinities of phytoligands towards antiviral targets were exhibited by colchicine and oleic acid, and that of repurposing drugs was shown by saquinavir and nelfinavir. Capsaicin, oleic acid, azithromycin, nelfinavir, remdesivir, and saquinavir were acted as plausible broad-spectrum inhibitors. Hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions of amino acids were varied significantly within the conserved domain along with glutamic acid richness. Further investigation should be carried out to obtain the synergistic effect using cell-based assays, animal models, and clinical trials to discover novel phytomedicine against SARS-CoV-2

Genetic Enhancement of Plant Secondary Metabolites Recent Developments and Future Perspectives

Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) are convenient intrinsic products synthesized through secondary metabolism in plants influenced by other environmental stressors and bio-geo-chemical factors. Various biotechnological techniques such as hairy root culture, ploidy engineering, genome editing, RNA interference, etc. are available for increased production of diverse secondary metabolites in plants having hitherto known medicinal properties. Plant tissue culture is useful for conservation, micro-propagation, and overproduction of medicinal plants. It also provides the primary platform for biotechnology-based breeding methods (BBBMs). Targeted genome editing has become a promising BBBM that can produce custom-tailored medicinal plants with desirable secondary metabolites. Here, we discuss the recent developments of BBBMs to increase the concentration of desired metabolites in important medicinal crops and the prospects of various genetic enhancement techniques. We also shed light on the recent progress in the genetic enhancement methods, their execution, industrial aspects, and international and national regulations for genetic manipulation to develop high-value crops for overall economic growth and sustainable utilization of hitherto explored bioresources. We pointed out the pitfalls and challenges in genetic modification of crops, success stories of genetic enhancement of PSMs, and future perspectives. Several techniques like endogenous target mimics (eTMs), CRISPR/Cas, PTC-based methods, NGS, and bioinformatics-based methods were tested for increased production rate and quality of various PSMs. Utilization of these techniques in combination may provide higher efficiency to develop genetically improved crops and enhance the production of PSMs for industrial scale and human health promotion

Infinite randomness and quantum Griffiths effects in a classical system: the randomly layered Heisenberg magnet

We investigate the phase transition in a three-dimensional classical Heisenberg magnet with planar defects, i.e., disorder perfectly correlated in two dimensions. By applying a strong-disorder renormalization group, we show that the critical point has exotic infinite-randomness character. It is accompanied by strong power-law Griffiths singularities. We compute various thermodynamic observables paying particular attention to finite-size effects relevant for an experimental verification of our theory. We also study the critical dynamics within a Langevin equation approach and find it extremely slow. At the critical point, the autocorrelation function decays only logarithmically with time while it follows a nonuniversal power-law in the Griffiths phase.Comment: 10 pages, 2 eps figures included, final version as published

Assessment of Airborne Fungi in Childrens Hospital Located in Kolkata India

Fungal spores contribute significant concentration in the bioaerosol of various environmental conditions which may have potential health threats. Our study was aimed at determining the presence of disseminating airborne fungi in a pediatric government hospital in Kolkata. The study was started from the post-monsoon to the middle winter (August to December 2008) in the indoor and outdoor environment of the hospital with temperature and humidity ranges of 11.2 °C-35.2 °C and 70 per cent-90 per cent, respectively. Air sampling was performed at 14 days intervals during the daytime following the gravitation settling method, and the fungal colonies were identified based on micro and macro morphological characteristics. The percentage contribution of individual fungal species from the outdoor section and indoor units (Newborn Baby Ward, Respiratory Care Unit, Step Down Ward, Thalassemia Care Unit) of the hospital environment was calculated. We observed profound aeromycofloral diversity where the outdoor environment was mostly colonised by sterile hyphae (16.43 %) along with the allergenic Aspergillus fumigatus (13.6 %) and Penicillium sp. (12.32 %). Conversely, an abundance of Cladosporium herbarum (24.7 %) and Penicillium sp. (17.85 %) followed by Aspergillus sp. (12.9 %) and sterile hyphae (14.51 %) were found in different indoor units. Our results showed the diversity of airborne mycoflora which promotes the trend to health difficulties and thus the hospital environment monitoring along with proper control measures is essential

Formulation and Evaluation of Sustained Release Matrix Tablets of Aceclofenac

This study aimed to improve the dissolution rate of aceclofenac and release the drug in a controlled manner over a period of 24 hours. Matrix tablets were prepared by direct compression method, using hydrophilic polymers (HPMC/guar gum). Matrix tablets were prepared by wet granulation method using different hydrophilic polymers (HPMC/guar gum). Tablets were evaluated for in vitro drug release profile in phosphate buffer with pH 6.8 (without enzymes). The thickness and hardness of prepared tablets were 3.23 ± 0.035 to 3.28 ± 0.008 mm and 3.26 ± 0.115 to 3.60 ± 0.200 kg/cm2, respectively. The friability was within the acceptable limits of pharmacopoeial specifications (0.31 to 0.71%), which indicates the good mechanical strength of the tablets. Drug release was retarded with an increase in polymer concentration due to the gelling property of polymers. The in vitro drug release from the proposed system was best explained by Higuchi’s model, indicating that drug release from tablets displayed a diffusion-controlled mechanism. The results clearly indicate that guar gum could be a potential hydrophilic carrier in developing oral controlled drug delivery systems. Based on the study results, formulations F8 was selected as the best formulation

Chemical composition and antioxidant capacities of phytococktail extracts from trans-Himalayan cold desert

BACKGROUND: Himalayan plants are widely used in traditional system of medicine both as prophylactics and therapeutics for high altitude maladies. Our aim was to evaluate the antioxidant capacities and bioactive compounds of methanol and n-hexane extracts of the phytococktail comprising of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides), apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and roseroot (Rhodiola imbricata) from trans-Himalaya. METHODS: The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) and nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging capacities and lipid peroxidation inhibition (LPI) property of the extracts were determined. Total antioxidant power was determined by ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Total polyphenol, flavonoid, flavonol, proanthocyanidin and carotenoid were also estimated for both extracts. We have identified and quantified the phyto-chemotypes present in the methanol and n-hexane extracts by hyphenated gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) technique. RESULTS: Antioxidant capacity assays using DPPH, ABTS, NO, LPI and FRAP exhibited analogous results where the phytococktail showed high antioxidant action. The phytococktail was also found to possess high quantity of total polyphenol, flavonoid, flavonol and carotenoid. A significant and linear correlation was found between the antioxidant capacities and bioactive principles. A total of 32 phyto-chemotypes were identified from these extracts by GC/MS chemometric fingerprinting. Major phyto-chemotypes identified by GC/MS were glycosides, phenylpropanoids and derivatives, terpenoids, alkaloids, phytosterols, fatty acids and esters, alkaloids and derivatives, organic acid esters and aromatic ethers with positive biological and pharmacological actions. CONCLUSION: The phytococktail extracts were found to contain considerable amount of diverse bioactive compounds with high antioxidant capacities. The presence of hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidants in the phytococktail could have contributed to the higher antioxidant values. Hence, the phytococktail could be used as natural source of antioxidants to ameliorate disorders associated with oxidative stress

The optimization and analysis of a triple-fin heterostructure-on-insulator fin field-effect transistor with a stacked high-k configuration and 10 nm channel length

The recent developments in the replacement of bulk MOSFETs with high-performance semiconductor devices create new opportunities in attaining the best device configuration with drive current, leakage current, subthreshold swing, Drain-Induced Barrier Lowering (DIBL), and other short-channel effect (SCE) parameters. Now, multigate FETs (FinFET and tri-gate (TG)) are advanced methodologies to continue the scaling of devices. Also, strain technology is used to gain a higher current drive, which raises the device performance, and high-k dielectric material is used to minimize the subthreshold current. In this work, we used stacked high-k dielectric materials in a TG n-FinFET with three fins and a 10 nm channel length, incorporating a three-layered strained silicon channel to determine the short-channel effects. Here, we replaced the gate oxide (SiO2) with a stacked gate oxide of 0.5 nm of SiO2 with a 0.5 nm effective oxide thickness of different high-k dielectric materials like Si3N4, Al2O3, ZrO2, and HfO2. It was found that the use of strained silicon and replacing only the SiO2 device with the stacked SiO2 and HfO2 device was more beneficial to obtain an optimized device with the least leakage and improved drive currents

The Effects of Different Antihypertensives, Steroids, and Beta Blockers on COVID-19 Outcomes in a CKD and Non-CKD Cohort in Detroit, Michigan

Initial studies during the COVID-19 pandemic reported angiotensin converting enzyme 2 inhibitors (ACE2i) could be associated with worse disease course due to potential increase in ACE2 receptors which SARS-CoV2 virus uses for cellular entry. Subsequent studies refuted such concerns, reporting that continued use of ACEis and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) in hypertensive individuals is protective. However, there remains a paucity of data evaluating effects of various antihypertensive medications, steroids, and beta blockers in chronic kidney disease (CKD) populations and in individuals with normal kidney function. This study was designed to evaluate the potential risks associated with antihypertensive medications and COVID-19 outcomes in a cohort of mostly Black and Caucasian patients admitted to the Detroit Medical Center for COVID-19. We collected data from 330 patients using inclusion criteria of age \u3e 18 years and a positive SARS-CoV2 PCR test. We used the mean, standard deviation/standard error of mean, and percentages when appropriate for the description of patient characteristics. Group differences (CKD vs. non-CKD) were compared using the Pearson χ2 test. P-values of \u3c0.05 were regarded as significant. On regression analyses, the odds of death during hospitalization for COVID-19 infection was not significantly associated with either biological sex, race, or CKD status in our sample population. The odds of dying in the hospital were higher in patients who were on calcium channel blockers (OR 2.99, 95% CI 1.29-6.93) and steroids (OR 4.23, 95% CI 1.17-15.31). The only significance for ICU admission was obtained for steroid use (OR 1.872, 95% CI 1.059-3.311)