An awareness program on dengue fever among adults residing in an urban slum area, Coimbatore

Background: Dengue fever is a mosquito borne disease transmitted by the Aedes mosquito. This disease is known to be worldwide problem, affecting the tropical and sub-tropical regions. One third of the world’s population is at risk of transmission of disease. So, creating awareness is an effective way of preventing Dengue Fever. The objective of the study was to create awareness on Dengue Fever among adults residing in an Urban Slum area in Coimbatore.Methods: The study was conducted among 150 adults residing in an urban slum area in Coimbatore. After informed consent, pre-test questionnaire was administered to assess their awareness on Dengue Fever. Health education programme was conducted and after one month their improvement in the knowledge on dengue fever was recorded using post-test questionnaire.Results: After the awareness program the improvement in knowledge on Dengue Fever among the study participants was assessed and found to have improved significantly (p< 0.001).Conclusions: Health education on Awareness of Dengue Fever among adults aged 20 to 30 years in urban slum at Coimbatore has produced an improvement in knowledge by 48 percent

Development of a Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor nAChR α7 Binding Activity Prediction Model

Despite the well-known adverse health effects associated with tobacco use, addiction to nicotine found in tobacco products causes difficulty in quitting among users. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are the physiological targets of nicotine and facilitate addiction to tobacco products. The nAChR-α7 subtype plays an important role in addiction; therefore, predicting the binding activity of tobacco constituents to nAChR-α7 is an important component for assessing addictive potential of tobacco constituents. We developed an α7 binding activity prediction model based on a large training data set of 843 chemicals with human α7 binding activity data extracted from PubChem and ChEMBL. The model was tested using 1215 chemicals with rat α7 binding activity data from the same databases. Based on the competitive docking results, the docking scores were partitioned to the key residues that play important roles in the receptor−ligand binding. A decision forest was used to train the human α7 binding activity prediction model based on the partition of docking scores. Five-fold cross validations were conducted to estimate the performance of the decision forest models. The developed model was used to predict the potential human α7 binding activity for 5275 tobacco constituents. The human α7 binding activity data for 84 of the 5275 tobacco constituents were experimentally measured to confirm and empirically validate the prediction results. The prediction accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 64.3, 40.0, and 81.6%, respectively. The developed prediction model of human α7 may be a useful tool for high-throughput screening of potential addictive tobacco constituents

Correlation of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors Status with the Grade and Type of Breast Cancer

Abstract: The present study was designed to evaluate the use of estrogen and progesterone receptor as biomarkers in human benign and malignant mammary tumors. Tissue samples from tumors and adjacent uninvolved areas from fifteen breast cancer patient&apos;s undergone prior treatment were analyzed. The blood samples obtained from the breast cancer patients were analyzed together with an equal number of age-and sex -matched normal healthy subjects. The relationship between expression of receptors for estrogen and progesterone (ER &amp; PR) and disease progression in breast cancer was involved by comparing immunohisto chemical determinations of estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor. Incidence of receptor expression were significantly more among the cases with grade II malignancy (53.3 percent) than compared with grade I (6.6 percent) and grade III (40 percent) malignancy. Estrogens promote the development of mammary cancer and exert both direct and indirect proliferating effects. MIB Index was used for the determination of grade of the tumor by counting the number of cells involved in mitotic process which directly controls the grade of tumors. In view of the present results obtained in women with breast cancer the lesions observed from the removed samples ranged from grade I to III in malignancy

An Innovative Strategy for Dual Inhibitor Design and Its Application in Dual Inhibition of Human Thymidylate Synthase and Dihydrofolate Reductase Enzymes

Due to the diligence of inherent redundancy and robustness in many biological networks and pathways, multitarget inhibitors present a new prospect in the pharmaceutical industry for treatment of complex diseases. Nevertheless, to design multitarget inhibitors is concurrently a great challenge for medicinal chemists. We have developed a novel computational approach by integrating the affinity predictions from structure-based virtual screening with dual ligand-based pharmacophore to discover potential dual inhibitors of human Thymidylate synthase (hTS) and human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR). These are the key enzymes in folate metabolic pathway that is necessary for the biosynthesis of RNA,DNA, and protein. Their inhibition has found clinical utility as antitumor, antimicrobial, and antiprotozoal agents. A druglike database was utilized to perform dual-target docking studies. Hits identified through docking experiments were mapped over a dual pharmacophore which was developed from experimentally known dual inhibitors of hTS and hDHFR. Pharmacophore mapping procedure helped us in eliminating the compounds which do not possess basic chemical features necessary for dual inhibition. Finally, three structurally diverse hit compounds that showed key interactions at both activesites, mapped well upon the dual pharmacophore, and exhibited lowest binding energies were regarded as possible dual inhibitors of hTS and hDHFR. Furthermore, optimization studies were performed for final dual hit compound and eight optimized dual hits demonstrating excellent binding features at target systems were also regarded as possible dual inhibitors of hTS and hDHFR. In general, the strategy used in the current study could be a promising computational approach and may be generally applicable to other dual target drug designs

Molecular Modeling Study for Inhibition Mechanism of Human Chymase and Its Application in Inhibitor Design

Human chymase catalyzes the hydrolysis of peptide bonds. Three chymase inhibitors with very similar chemical structures but highly different inhibitory profiles towards the hydrolase function of chymase were selected with the aim of elucidating the origin of disparities in their biological activities. As a substrate (angiotensin-I) bound crystal structure is not available, molecular docking was performed to dock the substrate into the active site. Molecular dynamics simulations of chymasecomplexes with inhibitors and substrate were performed to calculate the binding orientation of inhibitors and substrate as well as to characterize conformational changes in the active site. The results elucidate details of the 3D chymase structure as well as the importance of K40 in hydrolase function. Binding mode analysis showed that substitution of a heavier Cl atom at the phenyl ring of most active inhibitor produced a great deal of variation in its orientation causing the phosphinate group to interact strongly with residue K40. Dynamics simulations revealed the conformational variation in region of V36-F41upon substrate and inhibitor binding induced a shift in the location of K40 thus changing its interactions with them. Chymase complexes with the most activecompound and substrate were used for development of a hybrid pharmacophore model which was applied in databases screening. Finally, hits which bound well at the active site, exhibited key interactions and favorable electronic properties were identified as possible inhibitors for chymase. This study not only elucidates inhibitorymechanism of chymase inhibitors but also provides key structural insights which will aid in the rational design of novel potent inhibitors of the enzyme. In general, the strategy applied in the current study could be a promising computational approach and may be generally applicable to drug design for other enzymes

A Study on Sleep-Pattern and Sleep Hygiene Behaviors Among School Going Adolescents in Semi Urban Coimbatore

Background: Sleep plays an important role in our life. Adolescents undergo several changes with puberty and have a preference for later bedtimes due to internet usage. Evidence shows that many adolescents are not obtain-ing the required amounts of sleep (8-10 hours) due to inadequate sleep practices. The objectives of this research were to study sleep-pattern among adolescents in Semi urban Coimbatore and also to determine the sleep hygiene practices among the adolescents. Methodology: This study is a school based cross-sectional study. A total of 300 adolescents from class VIII to XIIth were selected using simple random sampling. Data was collected from February to May 2018. A structured questionnaire for sleep pattern and Sleep Hygiene Index was used. Results: The adolescents’ mean sleep duration was 7.49 ± 1.12 hours on weekdays and 9.32 ± 1.55 hours on weekends. Mean Sleep Pattern Index (SPI) score was 22.48±6.9 and Mean Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI) score was 17.51±6.3 in our study. Conclusions: Majority of the adolescents had moderate scores of sleep pattern and sleep hygiene practices. Inter-ventions directed towards promoting good sleep hygiene strategies are required to improve the physical and emotional health of adolescents

Experimental Data Extraction and in Silico Prediction of the Estrogenic Activity of Renewable Replacements for Bisphenol A

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a ubiquitous compound used in polymer manufacturing for a wide array of applications; however, increasing evidence has shown that BPA causes significant endocrine disruption and this has raised public concerns over safety and exposure limits. The use of renewable materials as polymer feedstocks provides an opportunity to develop replacement compounds for BPA that are sustainable and exhibit unique properties due to their diverse structures. As new bio-based materials are developed and tested, it is important to consider the impacts of both monomers and polymers on human health. Molecular docking simulations using the Estrogenic Activity Database in conjunction with the decision forest were performed as part of a two-tier in silico model to predict the activity of 29 bio-based platform chemicals in the estrogen receptor-α (ERα). Fifteen of the candidates were predicted as ER binders and fifteen as non-binders. Gaining insight into the estrogenic activity of the bio-based BPA replacements aids in the sustainable development of new polymeric materials

Dynamic and Multi-Pharmacophore Modeling for Designing Polo-Box Domain Inhibitors

The polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) is a critical regulator of cell division that is overexpressed in many types of tumors. Thus, a strategy in the treatment of cancer has been to target the kinase activity (ATPase domain) or substrate-binding domain (Polo-box Domain, PBD) of Plk1. However, only few synthetic small molecules have been identified that target the Plk1-PBD. Here, we have applied an integrative approach that combines pharmacophore modeling, molecular docking, virtual screening, and in vitro testing to discover novel Plk1-PBD inhibitors. Nine Plk1-PBD crystal structures were used to generate structure-based hypotheses. A common pharmacophore model (Hypo1) composed of five chemical features was selected from the 9 structure-based hypotheses and used for virtual screening of a drug-like database consisting of 159,757 compounds to identify novel Plk1-PBD inhibitors. The virtual screening technique revealed 9,327 compounds with a maximum fit value of 3 or greater, which were selected and subjected to molecular docking analyses. This approach yielded 93 compounds that made good interactions with critical residues within the Plk1-PBD active site. The testing of these 93 compounds in vitro for their ability to inhibit the Plk1-PBD, showed that many of these compounds had Plk1-PBD inhibitory activity and that compound Chemistry_28272 was the most potent Plk1-PBD inhibitor. Thus Chemistry_28272 and the other top compounds are novel Plk1-PBD inhibitors and could be used for the development of cancer therapeutics

Theoretical approaches to identify the potent scaffold for human sirtuin1 activator: Bayesian modeling and density functional theory

Bayesian and pharmacophore modeling approaches were utilized to identify the fragments and critical chemical features of small molecules that enhance sirtuin1 (SIRT1) activity. Initially, 48 Bayesian models (BMs) were developed by exploring 12 different fingerprints (ECFC, ECFP, EPFC, EPFP, FPFC, FPFP, FCFC, FCFP, LCFC, LCFP, LPFC, and LPLP) with diameters of 4, 6, 8, and 10. Among them the BM1 model was selected as the best model based on its good statistical parameters including total accuracy: 0.98 and positive recalls: 0.95. Additionally, BM1 showed good predictive power for the test set (total accuracy: 0.87 and positive recall: 0.87). In addition, 10 qualitative pharmacophore models were generated using 6 well-known SIRT1 activators. Hypothesis2 (Hypo2) was selected as best hypothesis, among 10 Hypos, based on its discriminant ability between the highly active and least/moderately active SIRT1 activators. The best models, BM1 and Hypo2 were used as a query in virtual screens of a drug-like database and the hit molecules were sorted based on Bayesian score and fit value, respectively. In addition, the highest occupied molecular orbital, lowest unoccupied molecular orbital, and energy gap values were calculated for the selected virtual screening hits using density functional theory. Finally, 16 compounds were selected as leads based on their energy gap values, which represent the high reactivity of molecules. Thus, our results indicated that the combination of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D approaches are useful for the discovery and development of specific and potent SIRT1 activators, and will benefit medicinal chemists focused on designing novel lead compounds that activate SIRT1