Prediction of antigenic epitopes and MHC binders of neurotoxin alpha-KTx 3.8 from Mesobuthus tamulus sindicus

The potassium channel inhibitor alpha-KTx 3.8, a 38-residue peptide was isolated from the venom of Mesobuthus tamulus sindicus. In this assay we have predicted the binding affinity of alpha-KTx 3.8 having 38 amino acids, which shows 30 nonamers. Peptide fragments of the neurotoxin can be used to select nonamers for use in rational vaccine design and to increase the understanding of roles of the immune system in neurotoxin studies. Small segment ‘4-INVKCRGSPQCIQPCR-19’of neurotoxin proteincalled the antigenic epitopes is sufficient for eliciting the desired immune response. We also found the SVM based MHCII-IAb peptide regions, 26- GKCMNGKCH, 20- DAGMRFGKC, 1- GVPINVKCR, 19- RDAGMRFGK, (optimal score is 0.388); MHCII-IAd peptide regions, 20- DAGMRFGKC, 14- CIQPCRDAG, 10- GSPQCIQPC, 25- FGKCMNGKC, (optimal score is 0.386); MHCII-IAg7 peptide regions, 18- CRDAGMRFG, 17- PCRDAGMRF, 14- CIQPCRDAG, 3- PINVKCRGS, (optimal score is 1.341); and MHCIIRT1.B peptide regions, 16- QPCRDAGMR, 29- MNGKCHCTP, 8- CRGSPQCIQ, 7- KCRGSPQCI, (optimal score is -0.039) which represented predicted binders from neurotoxin protein. CTL epitope with their (ANN/SVM) scores were predicted to be 1- GVPINVKCR (0.81/0.87220559). This theme is implemented in designing subunit and synthetic peptide vaccines. We have predicted a successful immunization

Design & Analysis of Clamped Free MEMS Resonator

This paper presents use of the simple cantilever beam as a Clamped free MEMS resonator, it’s design, Eigen frequency and electrostatic analysis. This resonator requires 4V DC voltage and has a quality factor of 1302.5 DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.150611

UROLITHIASIS (KIDNEY STONES) CURRENT PHARMACOLOGICAL DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT

Kidney stones are a common condition causing significant morbidity and economic burden. The prevalence of Urolithiasis (Kidney stones) is increasing from past 20 years, worldwide 5-15% of the population affected by Urolithiasis. The most common type of kidney stone is calcium oxalate formed in the renal surfaces. The mechanism of stone formation is a complex process which results from several physicochemical events including supersaturation, nucleation, growth, aggregation, and retention of urinary stone constituents within tubular cells. Obese people are known to have a higher risk of stone formation. Metabolic syndrome has resulted in an increasing rate of nephrolithiasis among women. The diagnosis and initial management of urolithiasis have undergone considerable evolution in recent years. This review article provides information about epidemiology, mechanism, diagnosis, and pathophysiology of kidney stone formation, and methods for the evaluation of stone risks for new and follow-up patients

Recovery of Acrylic Acid Using Calcium Peroxide Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterisation, Batch Study, Equilibrium, and Kinetics

Recovery of acrylic acid from aqueous solution using low-cost CaO2 nanoparticles was investigated. CaO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation technique and characterised using XRD and FTIR. A mechanism was proposed for adsorption of acrylic acid onto CaO2 nanoparticles based on FTIR analysis. Acrylic acid recovery is highly dependent on contact time, CaO2 nanoparticle dosage, initial acrylic concentration, and temperature. Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich, Tempkin, Hill, Redlich-Peterson, Sips and Toth isotherms were used and well represented by Redlich-Peterson isotherm (R2 = 0.9998) as compared to other isotherms. Kinetic studies revealed pseudo-second-order kinetics (k2 = 1.962·10–4 g mg–1 min–1) for adsorption of acrylic acid onto CaO2 nanoparticles. CaO2 nanoparticles exhibited high acrylic acid recovery over varied concentration ranges. The acrylic acid can be regenerated by desorption from the surface of adsorbent and utilised for numerous applications. The presented results may be useful for the design of adsorption system using nanoparticles, which can be extended to other systems. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Enhancement of Sulfamethoxazole by Solid Dispersion using Spray Dryer Technique

The aim of this study was to enhance the solubility of SMZ by preparing solid dispersion using a spray dryer. Different polymers were used to study their effect on the solubility of SMZ. Effect of polymer on solubility of drug in the form of solid dispersion was studied by determining the solubility of each solid dispersion separately. It was observed that solubility of drug changes with change in the polymer. As   a result of this study, it was found that solubility of SMZ was significantly enhanced by solid dispersion with the polymers especially with the PVP K30 and HPMC E15. Keywords SMZ, Solubility, Solid dispersion, Spray dryer

Quantum Dots: Method of Preparation and Biological Application

Quantum dots are inorganic semiconductor crystal of nanometer size which having distinctive conductive property depend on its size & shape. After administration of quantum dots parentally they identify target and bound them. Also quantum dots having light emitting property depend on size & shape. Quantum dots are prepared by chemical synthesis method include both organic & water phase synthesis & also by top- bottom approach. Tumor cell targeting & detection of pathogen & toxin are the main application of quantum dots & also in targeting drug delivery system. This review provides the overview of method of preparation of quantum dots & its biological application. Keywords: Quantum dot, targeting drug delivery, biological applicatio

PHARMACOGNOSTIC, PHYTOCHEMICAL SCREENING OF DIFFERENT SOLVENT EXTRACT OF EUPHORBIA HUMIFUSA

Medicinal plants have bioactive compounds which are used to curing of various diseases. The aim of the study to Pharmacognostic, Preliminary phytochemical screening of different solvent extracts of Euphorbia humifusa were carried out. The traditional medicine involves the use of different plant extracts or the bioactive constituents, qualitative phytochemical analysis of these plants confirm the presence of various phytochemical like alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, Protein, Amino acid, Carbohydrate, phytosterols. The result suggest that the phytochemical properties for curing various ailments and possess potential antioxidant and reads to the isolation of new and novel compounds

Reconsideration of In-Silico siRNA Design Based on Feature Selection: A Cross-Platform Data Integration Perspective

RNA interference via exogenous short interference RNAs (siRNA) is increasingly more widely employed as a tool in gene function studies, drug target discovery and disease treatment. Currently there is a strong need for rational siRNA design to achieve more reliable and specific gene silencing; and to keep up with the increasing needs for a wider range of applications. While progress has been made in the ability to design siRNAs with specific targets, we are clearly at an infancy stage towards achieving rational design of siRNAs with high efficacy. Among the many obstacles to overcome, lack of general understanding of what sequence features of siRNAs may affect their silencing efficacy and of large-scale homogeneous data needed to carry out such association analyses represents two challenges. To address these issues, we investigated a feature-selection based in-silico siRNA design from a novel cross-platform data integration perspective. An integration analysis of 4,482 siRNAs from ten meta-datasets was conducted for ranking siRNA features, according to their possible importance to the silencing efficacy of siRNAs across heterogeneous data sources. Our ranking analysis revealed for the first time the most relevant features based on cross-platform experiments, which compares favorably with the traditional in-silico siRNA feature screening based on the small samples of individual platform data. We believe that our feature ranking analysis can offer more creditable suggestions to help improving the design of siRNA with specific silencing targets. Data and scripts are available at http://csbl.bmb.uga.edu/publications/materials/qiliu/siRNA.html

Discovery of Novel MicroRNAs in Rat Kidney Using Next Generation Sequencing and Microarray Validation

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate a variety of biological processes. The latest version of the miRBase database (Release 18) includes 1,157 mouse and 680 rat mature miRNAs. Only one new rat mature miRNA was added to the rat miRNA database from version 16 to version 18 of miRBase, suggesting that many rat miRNAs remain to be discovered. Given the importance of rat as a model organism, discovery of the completed set of rat miRNAs is necessary for understanding rat miRNA regulation. In this study, next generation sequencing (NGS), microarray analysis and bioinformatics technologies were applied to discover novel miRNAs in rat kidneys. MiRanalyzer was utilized to analyze the sequences of the small RNAs generated from NGS analysis of rat kidney samples. Hundreds of novel miRNA candidates were examined according to the mappings of their reads to the rat genome, presence of sequences that can form a miRNA hairpin structure around the mapped locations, Dicer cleavage patterns, and the levels of their expression determined by both NGS and microarray analyses. Nine novel rat hairpin precursor miRNAs (pre-miRNA) were discovered with high confidence. Five of the novel pre-miRNAs are also reported in other species while four of them are rat specific. In summary, 9 novel pre-miRNAs (14 novel mature miRNAs) were identified via combination of NGS, microarray and bioinformatics high-throughput technologies

Comparative Expression Profile of miRNA and mRNA in Primary Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1)

Host cells respond to exogenous infectious agents such as viruses, including HIV-1. Studies have evaluated the changes associated with virus infection at the transcriptional and translational levels of the cellular genes involved in specific pathways. While this approach is useful, in our view it provides only a partial view of genome-wide changes. Recently, technological advances in the expression profiling at the microRNA (miRNA) and mRNA levels have made it possible to evaluate the changes in the components of multiple pathways. To understand the role of miRNA and its interplay with host cellular gene expression (mRNA) during HIV-1 infection, we performed a comparative global miRNA and mRNA microarray using human PBMCs infected with HIV-1. The PBMCs were derived from multiple donors and were infected with virus generated from the molecular clone pNL4-3. The results showed that HIV-1 infection led to altered regulation of 21 miRNAs and 444 mRNA more than 2-fold, with a statistical significance of p<0.05. Furthermore, the differentially regulated miRNA and mRNA were shown to be associated with host cellular pathways involved in cell cycle/proliferation, apoptosis, T-cell signaling, and immune activation. We also observed a number of inverse correlations of miRNA and mRNA expression in infected PBMCs, further confirming the interrelationship between miRNA and mRNA regulation during HIV-1 infection. These results for the first time provide evidence that the miRNA profile could be an early indicator of host cellular dysfunction induced by HIV-1