Ontology Based E-Healthcare Information Retrieval System: A Semantic Approach

With the increase of data in the health care system provides a base for the development of an effective information retrieval system. The implementation of such information retrieval system integrates the heterogeneous information from the healthcare environment. Most of the existing information retrieval systems are syntactic based systems, which will provide inefficient results for the search queries. The objective of this approach is to design a semantic based E-Healthcare information retrieval system. The proposed approach uses an ontology to define the disease-treatment information and will be used for the effective information retrieval. The designated approach is evaluated with a web based tool and the results shows that there is an improvement in the approach

In-silico analysis and mRNA modulation of detoxification enzymes GST delta and kappa against various biotic and abiotic oxidative stressors

This study reports the comprehensive comparative information of two different detoxification enzymes such as glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) delta and kappa from freshwater giant prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (designated as MrGSTD and MrGSTK) by investigating their in-silico characters and mRNA modulation against various biotic and abiotic oxidative stressors. The physico-chemical properties of these cDNA and their polypeptide structure were analyzed using various bioinformatics program. The analysis indicated the variation in size of the polypeptides, presence or absence of domains and motifs and structure. Homology and phylogenetic analysis revealed that MrGSTD shared maximum identity (83%) with crustaceans GST delta, whereas MrGSTK fell in arthropods GST kappa. It is interesting to note that MrGSTD and MrGSTK shared only 21% identity; it indicated their structural difference. Structural analysis indicated that MrGSTD to be canonical dimer like shape and MrGSTK appeared to be butterfly dimer like shape, in spite of four β-sheets being conserved in both GSTs. Tissue specific gene expression analysis showed that both MrGSTD and MrGSTK are highly expressed in immune organs such as haemocyte and hepatopancreas, respectively. To understand the role of mRNA modulation of MrGSTD and MrGSTK, the prawns were inducted with oxidative stressors such as bacteria (Vibrio harveyi), virus [white spot syndrome virus (WSSV)] and heavy metal, cadmium (Cd). The analysis revealed an interesting fact that both MrGSTD and MrGSTK showed higher (P < 0.05) up-regulation at 48 h post-challenge, except MrGSTD stressed with bacteria, where it showed up-regulation at 24 h post-challenge. Overall, the results suggested that GSTs are diverse in their structure and possibly conferring their potential involvement in immune protection in crustaceans. However, further study is necessary to focus their functional differences at proteomic level

Molecular importance of prawn large heat shock proteins 60, 70 and 90

Considering the importance of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in the innate immune system of prawn, a comparative molecular approach was proposed to study the crustacean large HSPs 60, 70 and 90. Three different large HSPs were identified from freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Mr) cDNA library during screening. The structural and functional characteristic features of HSPs were studied using various bioinformatics tools. Also, their gene expression and mRNA regulation upon various pathogenic infections was studied by relative quantification using 2-ΔΔCT method. MrHSP60 contains a long chaperonin 60 domain at 46–547 which carries a chaperonin 60 signature motif between 427 and 438, whereas MrHSP70 contains a long HSP70 domain at 21–624 and MrHSP90 carries a HSP90 domain at 188–719. The two dimensional analysis showed that MrHSP60 contains more amino acids (52%) in helices, whereas MrHSP70 (40.6%) and MrHSP90 (51.8%) carried more residues in coils. Gene expression results showed significant (P < 0.05) expression of MrHSP60, 70 and 90 in haemocyte, gill and hepatopancreas, respectively. Further, the expression level was up-regulated upon bacterial (Aeromonas hydrophilla and Vibrio harveyi) and viral [white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and M. rosenbergii nodo virus (MrNV)] infections during various time periods. The gene expression results exhibited the potential involvement of these three HSPs in the immune system of prawn. The study indicated the potentiality of these molecules, thereby protecting cells against pathogens as well as severe cellular and environmental stresses in crustaceans

Enhanced EPR directed and Imaging guided Photothermal Therapy using Vitamin E Modified Toco-Photoxil

Herein we report synthesis, characterization and preclinical applications of a novel hybrid nanomaterial Toco-Photoxil developed using vitamin E modified gold coated poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoshells incorporating Pgp inhibitor d-α-tocopheryl polyethylene glycol 1000 succinate (TPGS) as a highly inert and disintegrable photothermal therapy (PTT) agent. Toco-Photoxil is highly biocompatible, physiologically stable PTT material with an average diameter of 130 nm that shows good passive accumulation (2.3% ID) in solid tumors when delivered systemically. In comparison to its surface modified counterparts such as IR780-Toco-Photoxil, FA-Toco-Photoxil or FA-IR780-Toco-Photoxil accumulation are merely ~0.3% ID, ~0.025% ID and ~0.005% ID in folate receptor (FR) negative and positive tumor model. Further, Toco-Photoxil variants are prepared by tuning the material absorbance either at 750 nm (narrow) or 915 nm (broad) to study optimal therapeutic efficacy in terms of peak broadness and nanomaterial’s concentration. Our findings suggest that Toco-Photoxil tuned at 750 nm absorbance is more efficient (P = 0.0097) in preclinical setting. Toco-Photoxil shows complete passiveness in critical biocompatibility test and reasonable body clearance. High tumor specific accumulation from systemic circulation, strong photothermal conversion and a very safe material property in body physiology makes Toco-Photoxil a superior and powerful PTT agent, which may pave its way for fast track clinical trial in future

Aptamer-Mediated Nanotheranostics for Cancer Treatment: A Review

The incessant transitions occurring in a cancer cell in response to cancer therapy have put forth a lot of irreversible consequences, eventuating a high mortality rate. This upsurge in morbidity and fatality is rationalized by the unilateral modes of conventional treatment regimens such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Eventually, the advent of nanotechnology in cancer medicine has unfolded a plethora of efficient ways to tackle the impediments associated with current treatment modalities such as metastasis, relapse, and therapy resistance. Active targeting guides nanocarriers for not just mitigating the drug payload but also minimizing the off-target side effects. Nanotherapeutics emphasizes this multidimensional approach and has portrayed promising preclinical outcomes, but clinical assessments need yet to be validated. This review discusses and elaborates on the oligonucleotide aptamer−nanoparticles leveraging active targeting and its applications in multifarious therapeutic interventions for the eradication of cancer. This, in combination with the various technological gains in aptamer synthesis, projects its potential contribution in the facet of nanomedicine. © 2020 American Chemical Societ

Ascorbic acid assisted synthesis of fluorescent PEG for bioimaging application

Highly fluorescent Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was synthesized with the incorporation of ascorbic acid. With a facile synthesis induced by heating, PEG molecule was furnished with its fluorescent property along with its ingrained virtues of being biocompatible and biodegradable. The ascorbic acid modified PEG (FLPEG AA) demonstrated a red shift in the fluorescence and further optimization with the ascorbic acid concentration in the system, highly fluorescent nanoparticles were elicited for the application of cancer cell imaging. In addition, with the preliminary studies, we attempted to deduce the effect of different types of materials such as polymers (PVP) and metals (Gold NPs) towards the fluorescence property of the PEG AA. © 202

Microbial Degradation of Lobster Shells to Extract Chitin Derivatives for Plant Disease Management

International audienceBiodegradation of lobster shells by chitinolytic microorganisms are an environment safe approach to utilize lobster processing wastes for chitin derivation. In this study, we report degradation activities of two microbes, " S223 " and " S224 " isolated from soil samples that had the highest rate of deproteinization, demineralization and chitinolysis among ten microorganisms screened. Isolates S223 and S224 had 27.3 and 103.8 protease units mg −1 protein and 12.3 and 11.2 µg ml −1 of calcium in their samples, respectively, after 1 week of incubation with raw lobster shells. Further, S223 contained 23.8 µg ml −1 of N-Acetylglucosamine on day 3, while S224 had 27.3 µg ml −1 on day 7 of incubation with chitin. Morphological observations and 16S rDNA sequencing suggested both the isolates were Streptomyces. The culture conditions were optimized for efficient degradation of lobster shells and chitinase (∼30 kDa) was purified from crude extract by affinity chromatography. The digested lobster shell extracts induced disease resistance in Arabidopsis by induction of defense related genes (PR1 > 500-fold, PDF1.2 > 40-fold) upon Pseudomonas syringae and Botrytis cinerea infection. The study suggests that soil microbes aid in sustainable bioconversion of lobster shells and extraction of chitin derivatives that could be applied in plant protection

Innate immune function of serine/threonine-protein kinase from Macrobrachium rosenbergii in response to host-pathogen interactions

The occurrences of multiple drug-resistant strains have been relentlessly increasing in recent years. The aquaculture industry has encountered major disease outbreaks and crucially affected by this situation. The usage of non-specific chemicals and antibiotics expedites the stimulation of resistant strains. Triggering the natural defense mechanism would provide an effective and safest way of protecting the host system. Hence, we have investigated the innate immune function of serine/threonine-protein kinase (STPK) in Macrobrachium rosenbergii (Mr). The in-silico protein analysis resulted in the identification of cationic antimicrobial peptide, MrSL-19, with interesting properties from STPK of M. rosenbergii. Antimicrobial assay, FACS and SEM analysis demonstrated that the peptide potentially inhibits Staphylococcus aureus by interacting with its membrane. The toxic study on MrSL-19 demonstrated that the peptide is not toxic against HEK293 cells as well as human erythrocytes. This investigation showed the significant innate immune property of an efficient cationic antimicrobial peptide, MrSL-19 of STPK from M. rosenbergii

Medicinal Plant Using Ground State Stabilization of Natural Antioxidant Curcumin by Keto-Enol Tautomerisation

Abstract Curcumin is a medicinal agent that exhibits anti-cancer properties and bioactive pigment in Turmeric has a huge therapeutic value. It has a keto-enol moiety that gives rise to many of its chemical properties. A recent study has shown that keto-enol tautomerisation at this moiety is implicated the effect of curcumin. The tautomerisation of curcumin in methanol, acetone and acetonitrile are used in nuclear magnetic resonance (1H, 13C) spectroscopy. It was characterized using UV, IR and Raman spectral values. The molecular electrostatic potential surface of the Curcumin has been visualized in electropositive potential in the region of the CH3+ group and most electronegative potential in the two oxygen atom has very strong binding group. In the following, the modality of structural and thermo dynamical parameters, electrophilicity (ω), chemical potential (μ), chemical hardness (η) and electronic charge transfer confirms the local reactivity. The rate constant of tautomerisation of curcumin shows strong temperature dependence. Molecular electrostatic potential and Temperature dependence of various thermodynamic properties like $$\left( {{\hbox{C}}_{\rm{p,m}}^{0},\;{\hbox{S}}_{\rm{m}}^{0},\;{\hbox{and}}\;{\hbox{H}}_{\rm{m}}^{0} } \right)$$ Cp,m0,Sm0,andHm0 is increase with increase in temperature for monomer and dimer of various electrical fields

Highly fluorescent polyethylene glycol-ascorbic acid complex for imaging and antimicrobial therapeutics

In this report, a facile and eco-friendly method was developed to synthesize a potent antimicrobial agent, effective against fungus, bacteria, and virus. The biocompatible FDA approved polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG), has been modified by ascorbic acid to form fluorescent polyethylene glycol-ascorbic acid complex (FL PEG AA). The flourescence of FL PEG AA complex could be tuned from green to red in the visible range with varying ascorbic acid(AA) concentrations. The Density Functional Theory (DFT) and the Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (DT-DFT) on ascorbic acid–monoethylene glycol and ascorbic acid–hexaethylene glycol studies were performed to understand the electronic and bonding nature of FL PEG-ascorbic acid (FL PEG AA) system. The emission of FL PEG AA can be ascribed to the integrated core of FL PEG AA through strong hydrogen-bonding interactions. The fluorescence of FL PEG AA was successfully applied to understand its cellular uptake by breast cancer cells. The FL PEG AA complex showed significant inhibition of growth, when tested against fungus (Candida albicans), bacteria: gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and the virus (Bacteriophage lambda). The antimicrobial activity of the FL PEG AA system supports the application of this novel formulation as a potent antimicrobial agent. Due to its viscous physical nature, the FL PEG AA complex could be applied as a coating agent or aerosol spray. © 2021 Elsevier Lt