Automatic Pill Reminder for Easy Supervision

In this paper we present a working model of an automatic pill reminder and dispenser setup that can alleviate irregularities in taking prescribed dosage of medicines at the right time dictated by the medical practitioner and switch from approaches predominantly dependent on human memory to automation with negligible supervision, thus relieving persons from error-prone tasks of giving wrong medicine at the wrong time in the wrong amount.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, ICISS- 2017 (IEEE Conference

Comparative study of ultrasonographic, hysteroscopic and histopathological findings in patients with abnormal uterine bleeding

Background: AUB (Abnormal uterine bleeding) is a considerable health care burden not only for women but their families and has a definite effect on their quality of life. Objective was to compare the ultrasonographic, hysteroscopic and histopathological findings in patients with abnormal uterine bleeding. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted at the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi, from July 2018 to June 2019. The women who came to the OPD with the complaint of AUB in the one year period and met the eligibility criteria were taken for the study. TVS was performed in 126 patients presenting with complaints of abnormal uterine bleeding followed by hysteroscopic biopsy or curettage. The specimens were sent for histopathologic examination. Results: Mean age was 43.95±8.48 years. Most common presenting complaint was found to be menorrhagia (n=53; 42%) followed by post-menopausal bleeding (n=30, 24.0%). The mean endometrial thickness was 9.79±4.84 mm. The diagnostic specifications of TVS taking histopathological examination as gold standard were: sensitivity = 64/77= 83.1%, specificity 39%, positive predictive value 68%, negative predictive value 59% and accuracy 66%. Hysteroscopy has a sensitivity of 87%, specificity of 51%, positive predictive value of 74%, negative predictive value of 71.4% and diagnostic accuracy of 73% in diagnosing aetiology of abnormal uterine bleeding. Conclusions: Both TVS and hysteroscopy are good diagnostic modalities for investigation of AUB. However, hysteroscopy has an edge over TVS in diagnosing aetiology of AUB in terms of high sensitivity, specificity and negative predictive value

Enhanced production of withaferin-A in shoot cultures of Withania somnifera (L) Dunal

Withania somnifera (L) Dunal, commonly known as ashwagandha or Indian ginseng, is the source of large number of pharmacologically active withanolides. Withaferin-A (WS-3), a major withanolide of W. somnifera, has been proven to be an effective anti-cancer molecule. In this study, a liquid culture system for shoot proliferation, biomass accumulation and withaferin-A production of an elite accession (AGB002) of W. somnifera was investigated. The nodal explants cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) semi-solid medium supplemented with various concentrations of 6-benzyl adenine (BA) and Kinetin (Kn) elicited varied responses. The highest number of regenerated shoots per ex-plant (35 ± 3.25) and the maximum average shoot length (5.0 ± 0.25 cm) were recorded on MS medium supplemented with BA (5.0 μM). The shoots were further proliferated in half and full strength MS liquid medium supplemented with the same concentration BA. It was interesting to note that shoots cultured on MS half strength liquid medium fortified with 4 gL-1 FW (fresh weight) shoot inoculum mass derived from 5 week old nodal explants of W. somnifera showed highest accumulation of biomass and withaferin A content in 5 weeks. Withaferin A was produced in relatively high amounts (1.30 % and 1.10 % DW) in shoots cultured in half and full strength MS liquid media respectively as compared to natural field grown plants (0.85 % DW). A considerable amount of the withaferin A was also excreted in the culture medium. Successful proliferation of shoots in liquid medium and the synthesis of withaferin A in vitro opens new avenues for bioreactor scale-up and the large-scale production of the compound

Natural products as lead compounds in drug discovery

This review surveys the diversity of natural products (NPs) derived from terrestrial plants, micro-organisms, marine organisms and fungi used in the treatment of various diseases. A wide spectrum of compounds derived from these sources has been found to have many applications in the fields of medicine, pharmacy, and general biology. The enormous structural diversity of NPs and their medicinal significance has led researchers to predict that screening natural resources will generate new ‘lead’ compounds. It is well established that structural analogs with greater pharmacological activity and fewer side effects can be generated by molecular modification of the functional groups of such lead compounds. The compounds derived from various NP sources have been a basis for the development of clinically important agents active against various diseases, including taxol, vinblastine, vincristine, and topotecan, which are important anticancer agents in widespread clinical use. A number of other promising agents such as flavopiridol, combretastatin, betulinic acid, and silvesterol are in clinical or preclinical development. A large number of anti-infective agents in clinical use are also derived from NPs.University of Pretoriahttp://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ganp20hb201

Dynamic association of the H3K64 trimethylation mark with genes encoding exported proteins in Plasmodium falciparum

Epigenetic modifications have emerged as critical regulators of virulence genes and stage-specific gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum. However, the specific roles of histone core epigenetic modifications in regulating the stage-specific gene expression are not well understood. In this study, we report an unconventional trimethylation at lysine 64 on histone 3 (H3K64me3) and characterize its functional relevance in P. falciparum. We show that PfSET4 and PfSET5 proteins of P. falciparum methylate H3K64 and that they prefer the nucleosome as a substrate over free histone 3 proteins. Structural analysis of PfSET5 revealed that it interacts with the nucleosome as a dimer. The H3K64me3 mark is dynamic, being enriched in the ring and trophozoite stages and drastically reduced in the schizont stages. Stage-specific global chromatin immunoprecipitation -sequencing analysis of the H3K64me3 mark revealed the selective enrichment of this methyl mark on the genes of exported family proteins in the ring and trophozoite stages and a significant reduction of the same in the schizont stages. Collectively, our data identify a novel epigenetic mark that is associated with the subset of genes encoding for exported proteins, which may regulate their expression in different stages of P. falciparum.</p

Enzyme mediated-transesterification of verbascoside and evaluation of antifungal activity of synthesised compounds

Enzymatic acylation of verbascoside, a polyhydroxylated natural product, has been reported in this study using five different commercial lipases and taking p-nitrophenyl alkanoates as acyl donors. Out of these enzymes, the immobilised Candida antarctica lipase B was found as the enzyme of choice. Mono- and di-acylated products were formed, with mono as major product indicating high regioselective nature of such transformations. A series of acyl esters of verbascoside have been synthesised by this enzymatic transesterification methodology. The lipophilicity of the synthesised analogues was also checked. The analogues were further subjected to synergistic antifungal activity with amphotericin B (AmB) against Candida albicans. Fourfold reduction in minimum inhibitory concentration of AmB was observed with few synthesised analogues such as verbascoside 400-octanoate (3b), verbascoside 400- palmitate (3d) and verbascoside 400,40 -dipalmitate (4d) at a concentration of 0.5mg/mL.Integrative Medicine (IIIM) and University of Pretoria.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gnpl20hb2017Chemistr

Anticancer agents from diverse natural sources

Cancer is one of the major causes of death and the number of new cases, as well as the number of individuals living with cancer, is expanding continuously. Worldwide the alarming rise in mortality rate due to cancer has fuelled the pursuit for effective anticancer agents to combat this disease. Finding novel and efficient compounds of natural origin has been a major point of concern for research in the pharmaceutical sciences. Natural products have been seen to possess the potential to be excellent lead structures and to serve as a basis of promising therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. Many successful anti-cancer drugs currently in use are natural products or their analogues and many more are under clinical trials. This review aims to highlight the invaluable role that natural products have played, and continue to play, in the discovery of anticancer agents and also summarizes the recently launched natural product-derived anticancer drugs and new natural product templates in clinical pipeline.University of Pretoriahttp://www.naturalproduct.us/hb2017ChemistryGenetic

Cold stress affects antioxidative response and accumulation of medicinally important withanolides in Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal

Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Indian ginseng) is a high value medicinal plant. It synthesizes a large array of biologically active withanolides. In this study, two month old seedlings of AGB002 (wild genotype) and AGB025 (cultivated genotype) of W. somnifera were subjected to cold stress (4 ◦C) under controlled envi-ronment. Plants were analyzed for three medicinally important secondary metabolites (withanolide A, withanone and withaferin A), lipid peroxidation (MDA), cell injury, superoxide radical (O2 •−) accumula-tion and anti-oxidative enzymes activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR). Increases in the titers of superoxide anion and MDA were observed from day 1 to day 7 in both genotypes, although the increase on the first day of exposure was significantly higher. Enzymatic activities of SOD, CAT, APX and GR also showed an increasing trend in both genotypes and reached a maximum on day 7 of the cold temperature exposure; however, this increase was higher in AGB002 than AGB025. Withanolide A (WS-1) in the roots of both genotypes sig-nificantly decreased on the first day of cold exposure and then showed a recovery until day 7. WS-1 was not detected in the leaves of either genotype. Withanone (WS-2) content in the leaves also decreased towards the end of the cold period in both genotypes. Cold stress also elicited the accumulation of WS-2 in AGB025, but was not detectable in control seedlings. At maturity, WS-2 was also detected in control plants. Furthermore, a significant increase in the leaf withaferin A (WS-3) content was recorded from day 1 to day 7 of the cold exposure in both the genotypes, suggesting the possible involvement of with-anolides in cold-protection. AGB002 showed comparatively higher accumulation of antioxidant enzymes and selected marker withanolides than AGB025, indicating that AGB002 is better adapted to cold than AGB025. It could be inferred from these observations that cold stress induces bioactive withanolide accu-mulation in W. somnifera as a mechanism for scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS). These studies also provide an impetus for enhancing the withanolide accumulation in W. somnifera using controlled environment technology.CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/indcrop2016-11-30hb2016BiochemistryChemistryGenetic

Role of plants in anticancer drug discovery

Cancer is one of the major causes of death and the number of new cases, as well as the number of individuals living with cancer, is expanding continuously. Worldwide the alarming rise in mortality rate due to cancer has fuelled the pursuit for effective anticancer agents to combat this disease. Finding novel and efficient compounds of natural origin has been a major point of concern for research in the pharmaceutical sciences. Plants have been seen to possess the potential to be excellent lead structures and to serve as a basis of promising therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. Many successful anti-cancer drugs currently in use or their analogues are plant derived and many more are under clinical trials. This review aims to highlight the invaluable role that plants have played, and continue to play, in the discovery of anticancer agents.We acknowledge the University of Pretoria for Postdoctoral fellowship to J.K. and B.A.M.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/phytolhb2017ChemistryGenetic

Analysis of multi-pulse position modulation free space optical communication system employing wavelength and time diversity over Malaga turbulence channel

Free space optics (FSO) communication has proved to be a useful technology both in the scientific and commercial domains in response to exponential growth in demand for ultrahigh bandwidth for applications such as urban broadband services, cellular backhaul and earth to satellite links among others. However, atmospheric turbulence, prevailing adverse weather conditions and pointing errors between the transmitter and receiver affect significantly this technology. To mitigate these challenges, different approaches have been considered in literature such as error control coding, spatial diversity, the use of relays and so on alongside different modulation techniques. Therefore in this paper, we have considered the use of multipulse position modulation (MPPM) modulation technique first with wavelength diversity and then with time diversity techniques over the Malaga (M) distribution as a way of mitigating against turbulence fading and pointing error effects. Closed form expressions for the average bit error rate (BER) and outage probability have been derived and later on used to analyze the system performance. The effect of diversity order, normalized jitter and beam width has been scrutinized, all as functions of the transmitted power. Beside the fact that the increase in diversity order improves both the BER and outage probability, it has been noted that the system performance is highly degraded when the normalized jitter is increased beyond 4 for any given diversity order. The BER decreases while the receiver beam width, Wz increases for all diversity orders, reaching to an optimum value of 0.5 m and 1.2 m for normalized jitter of 2 and 5 respectively. Ultimately, the conclusion drawn from the analytical results of this paper support the application of wavelength as well as time diversity as means of enhancing the FSO communication system performanc