DNA binding properties of histone-like protein HU from Deinoccus radiodurans suggest involvement in DNA recombination

The Histone-like protein HU is ubiquitous in eubacteria. Usually with a length of ~90 amino acids, they are predominantly homodimeric, with sequence and structural homology. Escherichia coli HU is involved in DNA repair and recombination. The crystal structure of Anabaena HU shows that it binds DNA with prolines intercalating into the DNA backbone, introducing two kinks at a spacing of 9 bp and bending the DNA through a variable angle of 105-140°. Deinococcus radiodurans is a gram positive mesophile, capable of reconstituting its genome from 1000-2000 double strand breaks incurred due to exposure to environmental extremes. In the first study, D. radiodurans HU (DrHU) is characterized in terms of its DNA binding properties. The binding site size of DrHU is the largest so far reported, ~50 bp. DrHU binds preferentially to four-way junction DNA with half-maximal saturation of 18 ± 2 nM. In distinct contrast to E. coli HU, DrHU has no marked preference for DNA with nicks or gaps compared to perfect duplex DNA, nor is it able of mediating circularization of linear duplex DNA. In the second study, the N-terminus of DrHU was truncated, generating ΔDrHU, and the functional role of the N-terminus investigated. ΔDrHU exhibits a binding site size of 17 ± 1 bp similar to HU homologs from other mesophiles. ΔDrHU also binds preferentially to four-way junction DNA, but protects the crossover rather than the junction arms protected by DrHU. The melting temperature of ΔDrHU of 46.4 ± 0.1°C is similar to that of HU from mesophiles. DrHU interacts with other D. radiodurans proteins(s) in the presence of four-way junction DNA, suggesting its role in DNA recombination. In a similar study with the HU homolog from Helicobacter pylori (HpyHU), the protein binds stably to four-way junction DNA with half-maximal saturation of 5.0 ± 0.5 nM. Thermal denaturation of HpyHU measured by circular dichroism spectroscopy yields a Tm = 56.4 ± 0.1°C suggesting greater than average thermal stability. Mutagenesis of HpyHU suggests that a differential target site selection of HU proteins is achieved through their individual capacity for inducing the required DNA bend

Determination of pH dependent antioxidant activity of Palm (Borassus flabellifer) Polyphenol compounds by Photoluminol and DPPH methods -A Comparison redox-reaction Sensitivity

Palm juice (Borassus flabellifer) is one of the most common and cheap natural juices. Fermented palm juice contains various phytochemical compounds that exhibit antioxidant activity. In the present study, we examined the effects of pH on the production of phytochemicals and their antioxidant activity during the fermentation process. The concentration of total phenolics and flavonoid compounds of fermented palm juice and their antioxidant activity were investigated at various pH. The results showed that total phenolics concentration and antioxidant activity of palm wine and palm vinegar increase as pH increases: 3.54.55.5. Maximum flavonoid concentration was obtained at pH 6.5. Measurements of antioxidant activity by conventional DPPH method and Photochem antioxidant analyzer technique were highly correlated, with a corresponding R2 value of 0.94

Association of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and coronary artery disease

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a feature of metabolic syndrome is a highly prevalent condition worldwide. Patients with NAFLD have a higher mortality when compared to general population. Many investigators have shown a close relationship between NAFLD and cardiovascular disease which contributes to the total mortality associated with NAFLD particularly in Western population. This study was therefore conducted to evaluate whether NAFLD independently affects angio-graphically proven coronary artery disease in Asians.Methods: The severity assessment of fatty liver disease was done by ultrasonography and was graded with increased severity from 0 to 4. Coronary angiography was performed to detect the presence or absence of significant coronary artery disease and modified Gensisni score, which determines the severity of coronary atherosclerotic involvement in individual patients was calculated.Results: Statistical analysis showed that Fatty liver disease was significantly higher in patients with significant coronary artery disease than in non-significant coronary artery disease group. When analyzed on basis on severity of fatty liver disease, modified Gensini score was significantly higher in group with fatty liver grade 2-3 than in group with fatty liver grade 0 or 1. Logistic regression analysis further showed that severity of fatty liver disease had independent effect on coronary atherosclerotic involvement.Conclusions: From our current study it can be reasonably said that NAFLD may be an independent risk factor for developing arteriosclerosis. This hypothesis should be verified with larger studies in different population groups

Uncertain Query Processing using Vague Set or Fuzzy Set: Which One Is Better?

In this paper we attempt to make a theoretical comparison between fuzzy sets and vague sets in processing uncertain queries. We have designed an architecture to process uncertain i.e. fuzzy or vague queries. In the architecture we have presented an algorithm to find the membership value that generates the fuzzy or vague representation of the attributes with respect to the given uncertain query. Next, a similarity measure is used to get each tuples similarity value with the uncertain query for both fuzzy and vague sets. Finally, a decision maker will supply a threshold or α-cut value based on which a corresponding SQL statement is generated for the given uncertain query. This SQL retrieves different result sets from the database for fuzzy or vague data. It has been shown with examples that vague sets give more accurate  result in comparison with fuzzy sets for any uncertain query

Probing defect induced room temperature ferromagnetism in CVD grown MoO3 flakes: A correlation with electronic structure and first principle-based calculations

In this paper, we report the growth of pure {\alpha}-MoO3 micro-flakes by CVD technique and their structural, electronic, optical, and magnetic properties. Samples are annealed at various temperatures in an H2 atmosphere to induce ferromagnetism. All the samples exhibit ferromagnetism at room temperature, and 250oC annealed sample shows the highest magnetic moment of 0.087 emu/g. It is evident from PL data that pristine as well as annealed samples contain different types of defects like oxygen vacancies, surface defects, interstitial oxygen, etc. It is deduced from the analysis of Mo3d and O1s core-level XPS spectra that oxygen vacancies increase up to an annealing temperature of 250oC that correlates with the magnetic moment. Significant changes in the total density of states and also in the magnetic moment for two and three oxygen vacancies are noticed through first-principle-based calculations. It is concluded that the magnetic moment is produced by oxygen vacancies or vacancy clusters, which is consistent with our experimental findings

LEVERAGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TO CHALLENGE MENTAL HEALTH STIGMA IN WEST BENGAL: A PROTOCOL

Mental health related stigma is a pernicious phenomenon that permeates and pervades our world. As stigma continues to evolve so too must our approach to reduce it. This paper outlines a protocol that leverages the power of virtual contact and digital technology to challenge mental health related stigma in West Bengal, India

A Polycomb complex remains bound through DNA replication in the absence of other eukaryotic proteins

Propagation of chromatin states through DNA replication is central to epigenetic regulation and can involve recruitment of chromatin proteins to replicating chromatin through interactions with replication fork components. Here we show using a fully reconstituted T7 bacteriophage system that eukaryotic proteins are not required to tether the Polycomb complex PRC1 to templates during DNA replication. Instead, DNA binding by PRC1 can withstand passage of a simple replication fork.Molecular and Cellular Biolog

Switching of ferroelectric liquid crystal doped with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-assisted CdS nanostructures

Large scale high yield cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowires with uniform diameter were synthesized using a rapid and simple solvo-chemical and hydrothermal route assisted by the surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). Unique CdS nanowires of different morphologies could be selectively produced by only varying the concentration of CTAB in the reaction system with cadmium acetate, sulfur powder and ethylenediamine. We obtained CdS nanowires with diameters of 64–65 nm and lengths of up to several micrometers. A comparative study of the optical properties of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) Felix-017/100 doped with 1% of CdS nanowires was performed. Response times of the order of from 160 to 180 μs, rotational viscosities of the order of from 5000 to 3000 mN s m−2 and polarizations of the order of from 10 to 70 nC cm−2 were measured. We also observed an anti-ferroelectric to ferroelectric transition for CdS doped FLC instead of the ferroelectric to paraelectric transition for pure FLC

Empleo de la espectroscopia VIS NIR para la identificación de trazas de cacahuete en productos alimentarios en polvo

En el mundo existen ciertos grupos de población que muestran una hipersensibilidad a determinados alimentos, y cuya ingestión accidental desencadena, una respuesta del tipo “shock” anafiláctico. Esto ha obligado a las empresas alimentarias a estudiar de forma exhaustiva la gestión del riesgo de todos sus productos. El cacahuete es uno de los principales alérgenos en la industria. La espectroscopia NIR se ha utilizado recientemente para analizar la cantidad total de aceite y ácido grasos en cacahuete intacto (Sudaram y colaboradores, 2012). El objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar métodos no destructivos basados en espectroscopia para la detección de trazas de cacahuete en alimentos en polvo, como complemento al método genético reacción en cadena de la polimerasa en tiempo real (Real Time -PCR) desarrollado por el grupo de investigación TRADETBIO de la UCM, en el marco de colaboración en el Campus de Excelencia Internacional Moncloa. Los materiales utilizados fueron cacahuetes de cinco variedades de origen geográfico distinto y sometidas a diferentes tratamientos, proporcionadas por el Instituto de Materiales de Referencia CE, así como leche en polvo, cacao, harina de trigo, y cacahuete de diferentes marcas comerciales. Para todos ellos, se adquirieron dos series de espectros: en el infrarrojo cercano NIR (896-1686 nm), y los extraídos de imágenes hiperespectrales HIS (400-1000nm). La espectroscopia VIS se mostró sensible a las diferencias en el cacahuete en cuanto a su origen y/o tratamiento, ya que inducen cambios en el color, siendo inviable la separación entre los cacahuetes blanqueados, la leche y la harina en esta región espectral. Las principales diferencias entre los cacahuetes y el resto de ingredientes alimentarios se han encontrado en el rango NIR, específicamente en las longitudes de onda de (1207-1210 nm), relacionadas con una región de absorción de los lípidos. El infrarrojo permite 100% de segregación de cualquier tipo de cacahuete respecto al resto de los ingredientes alimentarios. La espectroscopia NIR combinada con las técnicas de imagen (hiperespectral o multiespectral) podría por tanto, ser aplicado para detectar trazas de cacahuetes en alimentos en polvo, no influyendo su origen y/o tratamiento, ya que es capaz de separar cualquier cacahuete del resto de los ingredientes alimentarios. Este método podría ser una técnica de cribado previo al método PCR de elevado coste