Laboratory Profile of Adult Hemoglobinopathies Picked Up During Routine Health Check in a Tertiary Care Hospital from South India

Background and aim: Hemoglobin (Hb) variants can clinically range from being completely asymptomatic to frequent requirement of transfusions. Some individuals may become aware of a variant only when a complete blood count (CBC), hemoglobin analysis or genetic testing is done for a different reason. These individuals are typically heterozygous for an autosomal recessive variant. A study was conducted to find out the different types of hemoglobinopathies in adults presenting to a tertiary care hospital for routine health check and its geographic distribution. Objective: 1) To find out the severity of anemia associated with different hemoglobinopathies. 2) To find the relevance of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in the presence of various hemoglobinopathies. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional observational study was done in 111 consecutive patients who were found to have hemoglobinopathies during routine health checks in a tertiary care hospital in South India from 2013 to 2021. Results: One hundred eleven patients were found to have abnormality in Hb electrophoresis and there was a male predominance (69 patients, 62.2%). Majority of patients with beta-thalassemia (28 patients, 63.6%) were from West Bengal. Both HbE trait (17 patients, 65.4%) and homozygous HbE (23 patients, 62.2%) were from Assam. There was statistically significant distribution (p value 0.0001). HbA1c detected Hb variant in those with HbE disease. Conclusion: Hemoglobinopathies constitute a huge hereditary burden and a serious healthcare concern in India. Hence, it is the need of the hour to pick up such asymptomatic cases and provide appropriate premarital and prenatal counseling. Also, it is essential to devise strategies other than routine HbA1c testing to guide blood sugar control

Polymeric Piezoelectric Transducers for Hydrophone Applications

Conventional ceramic piezoelectric materials have been used in hydrophones for sonarapplications since 1940's. In the last few years since the discovery of polymeric piezoelectrichydrophones, the technology has matured, applications have emerged in extraordinary number ofcases such as underwater navigation, biomedical applications, biomimetics, etc. Hydrophones areused underwater at high hydrostatic pressures. In the presence of hydrostatic pressures, theanisotropic piezoelectric response of ceramic materials is such that it has poor hydrophone performancecharacteristics whereas polymeric piezoelectric materials show enough hydrostatic piezoelectriccoefficients. Moreover, piezoelectric polymers have low acoustic impedance, which is only 2-6 timethat of water, whereas in piezoelectric ceramics, it is typically 11-time greater than that of water. Aclose impedance match permits efficient transduction of acoustic signals in water and tissues. Newlydeveloped hydrostatic-mode polyvinylidene flouride (PVDF) hydrophones use a pressure-releasesystem to achieve improved sensitivity. Recently, voided PVDF materials have been used for makinghydrophones having higher sensitivity and figure of merit than unvoided PVDF materials

Enhanced Production of Recombinant Extractable Antigen (EA1) an Extracellular Protein and its use in Detection of Spores of Bacillus anthracis the Causative Agent of Anthrax

Detection of spores of Bacillus anthracis, the causative agent of anthrax in human and animals in environment is cumbersome due to the presence of spores of other closely related Bacillus species. The Extractable Antigen 1 (EA1), an extracellular protein is considered as a biomarker for detection of B. anthracis spores. In the present work, we have cloned and expressed the recombinant EA1 protein in soluble form in Escherichia coli. Optimisation of culture conditions and cultivation media was carried out to achieve enhanced soluble expression of recombinant EA1 protein. Further, the batch fermentation process was also developed using optimised conditions for scale up production of recombinant EA1 protein. The final yield of protein purified employing affinity chromatography was 42.64 mg/l of culture during batch fermentation process. The polyclonal antibodies were raised against recombinant EA in rabbit and mice and used to develop an ELISA for detection of B. anthracis spores. The specificity of the developed assay was ascertained with spores of other Bacillus species. The results corroborated that the EA1 could be a suitable biomarker for detection of B. anthracis spores

Selective Th2 Upregulation by Crocus sativus: A Neutraceutical Spice

The immunomodulatory activity of an Indian neutraceutical spice, saffron (Crocus sativus) was studied on Th1 and Th2 limbs of the immune system. Oral administration of alcoholic extract of Crocus sativus (ACS) at graded dose levels from 1.56–50 mg/kg p.o. potentiated the Th2 response of humoral immunity causing the significant increases in agglutinating antibody titre in mice at a dose of 6.25 mg/kg and an elevation of CD19+ B cells and IL-4 cytokine, a signature cytokine of Th2 pathway. Appreciable elevation in levels of IgG-1 and IgM antibodies of the primary and secondary immune response was observed. However, ACS showed no appreciable expression of the Th1 cytokines IL-2 (growth factor for CD4+ T cells) and IFN-γ (signature cytokine of Th1 response). A significant modulation of immune reactivity was observed in all the animal models used. This paper represents the selective upregulation of the Th2 response of the test material and suggests its use for subsequent selective Th2 immunomodulation

Electron energy states and miniband parameters in a class of non-uniform quantum well and superlattice structures

A simple method to compute the carrier energy states, miniband parameters and dispersion characteristics for single and multiple quantum well and superlattice structures is presented. The method utilizes the continuity of the envelope function across the heterojunctions according to the boundary conditions that both the wavefunction [psi] and the particle current density [psi]'/m* be continuous at each interface. The nonuniform potential distribution encountered in doped or compositionally graded materials is approximated by piecewise constant potential functions. In addition to being conceptually simple, the method is readily adopted to fairly complex structures where other more sophisticated methods such as LCAO, reduced Hamiltonian and tight binding theories may become unfeasible or unmanageable. It is shown that for an arbitrary stepped potential variation, the eigenvalues (or the energy states) of quantum wells or a finite number of coupled quantum wells can be found by utilizing a transverse resonance method which is readily implemented on a digital computer for the computation of these eigenvalues. For the case of periodic superlattices, the miniband parameters and the dispersion characteristics are computed from a suitably defined transmission matrix associated with a unit cell of the superlattice which may itself consist of multiple layers. Typical results for the computed parameters for several wells and simple, biperiodic, binary and polytype superlattices consisting of various AlxGa1-xAs and InxGa1-xAs alloys are presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25821/1/0000384.pd

Engineered Microbes for Pigment Production Using Waste Biomass

Received: February 04, 2020; Revised: March 08, 2020; Accepted: March 16, 2020.Agri-food waste biomass is the most abundant organic waste and has high valorisation potential for sustainable bioproducts development. These wastes are not only recyclable in nature but are also rich sources of bioactive carbohydrates, peptides, pigments, polyphenols, vitamins, natural antioxidants, etc. Bioconversion of agri-food waste to value-added products is very important towards zero waste and circular economy concepts. To reduce the environmental burden, food researchers are seeking strategies to utilize this waste for microbial pigments production and further biotechnological exploitation in functional foods or value-added products. Microbes are valuable sources for a range of bioactive molecules, including microbial pigments production through fermentation and/or utilisation of waste. Here, we have reviewed some of the recent advancements made in important bioengineering technologies to develop engineered microbial systems for enhanced pigments production using agrifood wastes biomass/by-products as substrates in a sustainable way.MS, VKG and RB acknowledge ERA Chair for Food (By-) Products Valorization Technologies of the Estonian University of Life Sciences (VALORTECH) which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (under grant agreement No. 810630)

Production and Purification of Protective Antigen of Bacillus anthracis and Development of a Sandwich ELISA for its Detection

Anthrax, a zoonotic disease caused by Bacillus anthracis is important for biowarfare as well as public health point of view. The virulence factors of B. anthracis are encoded by the two plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. Protective antigen (PA), an 83 kDa protein encoded by pXO1 along with lethal factor (LF, 90 kDa) or edema factor (EF, 89 kDa), makes the anthrax toxin responsible for causing the disease. Current detection and diagnostic systems for anthrax are mostly based on PA, a potential biomarker of B. anthracis. The objective of the present study was to produce and purify the PA for development of a sandwich ELISA for its detection. In this study, pYS5 plasmid containing the full PA gene was transformed into an 8 proteases deficient Bacillus anthracis host BH480. The PA was produced under shake flask conditions and purified using the gel filtration chromatography. The reactivity of PA with rabbit and mouse anti-PA antibodies was confirmed by Western blotting. The antibodies were purified and used for the development of a sandwich ELISA for detection of PA. The detection sensitivity of ELISA was found to be 3.9 ng/ mL PA

Exploring the role of nanocellulose as potential sustainable material for enhanced oil recovery:New paradigm for a circular economy

Presently, due to growing global energy demand and depletion of existing oil reservoirs, oil industry is focussing on development of novel and effective ways to enhance crude oil recovery and exploration of new oil reserves, which are typically found in challenging environment and require deep drilling in high temperature and high-pressure regime. The nanocelluloses with numerous advantages such as high temperature and pressure stability, ecofriendly nature, excellent rheology modifying ability, interfacial tension reduction capability, etc., have shown a huge potential in oil recovery over conventional chemicals and macro/micro sized biopolymers-based approach. In present review, an attempt has been made to thoroughly investigate the potential of nanocellulose (cellulose nanocrystals/nanofibers) in development of drilling fluid and in enhancement of oil recovery. The impact of various factors such as nanocellulose shape, charge density, inter-particle or inter-fibers interactions after surface functionalization, rheometer geometries, additives, post processing techniques, etc., which provides insight into the attributes of nanocellulose suspension and exemplify their behaviour during oil recovery have also been reviewed and discussed. Finally, the conclusion and challenges in utility of nanocellulose for oilfield applications are addressed. Knowing how to adjust/quantify nanocrystals/nanofibers shape and size; and monitor their interactions might promote their utility in oilfield industry.</p