A review of clinical trial on evalution of Taila Payita Amrutha Tantu and Mersilk as suturing material w.s.r. to Riju Granthi technique in Sadyo Vrana

Wounds are the most common problem faced by man since his very existence. So long as human has treated the wounds we have looked for the way to close them. Suturing is an inseparable part of surgery which needs no introduction, although the first description of sutures and suturing material is from Susrutha Samhitha. It is true that very few of them are practically tried now, Amrutha Tantu was taken for the study in view of testing its efficiency and whether it exhibits any medicinal property to wound. For these study effects were compared with Mersilk as this is also non absorbable most commonly used suture materials, Total 60 patients 30 in each group were taken for study about efficiency of both suture materials were assessed with criteria like pain edema colour temperature, tenderness and discharge. Efficacy of Amruth Tantu was found equal to Mersilk with extra benfit of faster wound healing due to anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial property of Guduchi

Comprehensive characterization of molecular interactions based on nanomechanics

Molecular interaction is a key concept in our understanding of the biological mechanisms of life. Two physical properties change when one molecular partner binds to another. Firstly, the masses combine and secondly, the structure of at least one binding partner is altered, mechanically transducing the binding into subsequent biological reactions. Here we present a nanomechanical micro-array technique for bio-medical research, which not only monitors the binding of effector molecules to their target but also the subsequent effect on a biological system in vitro. This label-free and real-time method directly and simultaneously tracks mass and nanomechanical changes at the sensor interface using micro-cantilever technology. To prove the concept we measured lipid vesicle (approximately 748*10(6) Da) adsorption on the sensor interface followed by subsequent binding of the bee venom peptide melittin (2840 Da) to the vesicles. The results show the high dynamic range of the instrument and that measuring the mass and structural changes simultaneously allow a comprehensive discussion of molecular interactions

Polyhydroxy Fullerenes (Fullerols or Fullerenols): Beneficial Effects on Growth and Lifespan in Diverse Biological Models

Recent toxicological studies on carbon nanomaterials, including fullerenes, have led to concerns about their safety. Functionalized fullerenes, such as polyhydroxy fullerenes (PHF, fullerols, or fullerenols), have attracted particular attention due to their water solubility and toxicity. Here, we report surprisingly beneficial and/or specific effects of PHF on model organisms representing four kingdoms, including the green algae Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the fungus Aspergillus niger, and the invertebrate Ceriodaphnia dubia. The results showed that PHF had no acute or chronic negative effects on the freshwater organisms. Conversely, PHF could surprisingly increase the algal culture density over controls at higher concentrations (i.e., 72% increase by 1 and 5 mg/L of PHF) and extend the lifespan and stimulate the reproduction of Daphnia (e.g. about 38% by 20 mg/L of PHF). We also show that at certain PHF concentrations fungal growth can be enhanced and Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings exhibit longer hypocotyls, while other complex physiological processes remain unaffected. These findings may open new research fields in the potential applications of PHF, e.g., in biofuel production and aquaculture. These results will form the basis of further research into the mechanisms of growth stimulation and life extension by PHF

Identification of financial statement fraud in Greece by using computational intelligence techniques

The consequences of financial fraud are an issue with far-reaching for investors, lenders, regulators, corporate sectors and consumers. The range of development of new technologies such as cloud and mobile computing in recent years has compounded the problem. Manual detection which is a traditional method is not only inaccurate, expensive and time-consuming but also they are impractical for the management of big data. Auditors, financial institutions and regulators have tried to automated processes using statistical and computational methods. This paper presents comprehensive research in financial statement fraud detection by using machine learning techniques with a particular focus on computational intelligence (CI) techniques. We have collected a sample of 2469 observations since 2002 to 2015. Research gap was identified as none of the existing researchers address the association between financial statement fraud and CI-based detection algorithms and their performance, as reported in the literature. Also, the innovation of this research is that the selection of data sample is aimed to create models which will be capable of detecting the falsification in financial statements

Estimating Design Effect and Calculating Sample Size for Respondent-Driven Sampling Studies of Injection Drug Users in the United States

Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) has become increasingly popular for sampling hidden populations, including injecting drug users (IDU). However, RDS data are unique and require specialized analysis techniques, many of which remain underdeveloped. RDS sample size estimation requires knowing design effect (DE), which can only be calculated post hoc. Few studies have analyzed RDS DE using real world empirical data. We analyze estimated DE from 43 samples of IDU collected using a standardized protocol. We find the previous recommendation that sample size be at least doubled, consistent with DE = 2, underestimates true DE and recommend researchers use DE = 4 as an alternate estimate when calculating sample size. A formula for calculating sample size for RDS studies among IDU is presented. Researchers faced with limited resources may wish to accept slightly higher standard errors to keep sample size requirements low. Our results highlight dangers of ignoring sampling design in analysis

Human antibodies targeting Zika virus NS1 provide protection against disease in a mouse model.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus closely related to dengue virus that can cause severe disease in humans, including microcephaly in newborns and Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults. Specific treatments and vaccines for Zika virus are not currently available. Here, we isolate and characterize four monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from an infected patient that target the non-structural protein NS1. We show that while these antibodies are non-neutralizing, NS1-specific mAbs can engage FcγR without inducing antibody dependent enhancement (ADE) of infection in vitro. Moreover, we demonstrate that mAb AA12 has protective efficacy against lethal challenges of African and Asian lineage strains of Zika virus in Stat2-/- mice. Protection is Fc-dependent, as a mutated antibody unable to activate known Fc effector functions or complement is not protective in vivo. This study highlights the importance of the ZIKV NS1 protein as a potential vaccine antigen

Meta-Alignment with Crumble and Prune: Partitioning very large alignment problems for performance and parallelization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Continuing research into the global multiple sequence alignment problem has resulted in more sophisticated and principled alignment methods. Unfortunately these new algorithms often require large amounts of time and memory to run, making it nearly impossible to run these algorithms on large datasets. As a solution, we present two general methods, Crumble and Prune, for breaking a phylogenetic alignment problem into smaller, more tractable sub-problems. We call Crumble and Prune <it>meta-alignment </it>methods because they use existing alignment algorithms and can be used with many current alignment programs. Crumble breaks long alignment problems into shorter sub-problems. Prune divides the phylogenetic tree into a collection of smaller trees to reduce the number of sequences in each alignment problem. These methods are orthogonal: they can be applied together to provide better scaling in terms of sequence length and in sequence depth. Both methods partition the problem such that many of the sub-problems can be solved independently. The results are then combined to form a solution to the full alignment problem.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Crumble and Prune each provide a significant performance improvement with little loss of accuracy. In some cases, a gain in accuracy was observed. Crumble and Prune were tested on real and simulated data. Furthermore, we have implemented a system called Job-tree that allows hierarchical sub-problems to be solved in parallel on a compute cluster, significantly shortening the run-time.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These methods enabled us to solve gigabase alignment problems. These methods could enable a new generation of biologically realistic alignment algorithms to be applied to real world, large scale alignment problems.</p

Gene Profiling of Mta1 Identifies Novel Gene Targets and Functions

BACKGROUND: Metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1), a master dual co-regulatory protein is found to be an integral part of NuRD (Nucleosome Remodeling and Histone Deacetylation) complex, which has indispensable transcriptional regulatory functions via histone deacetylation and chromatin remodeling. Emerging literature establishes MTA1 to be a valid DNA-damage responsive protein with a significant role in maintaining the optimum DNA-repair activity in mammalian cells exposed to genotoxic stress. This DNA-damage responsive function of MTA1 was reported to be a P53-dependent and independent function. Here, we investigate the influence of P53 on gene regulation function of Mta1 to identify novel gene targets and functions of Mta1. METHODS: Gene expression analysis was performed on five different mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) samples (i) the Mta1 wild type, (ii) Mta1 knock out (iii) Mta1 knock out in which Mta1 was reintroduced (iv) P53 knock out (v) P53 knock out in which Mta1 was over expressed using Affymetrix Mouse Exon 1.0 ST arrays. Further Hierarchical Clustering, Gene Ontology analysis with GO terms satisfying corrected p-value<0.1, and the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis were performed. Finally, RT-qPCR was carried out on selective candidate genes. SIGNIFICANCE/CONCLUSION: This study represents a complete genome wide screen for possible target genes of a coregulator, Mta1. The comparative gene profiling of Mta1 wild type, Mta1 knockout and Mta1 re-expression in the Mta1 knockout conditions define "bona fide" Mta1 target genes. Further extensive analyses of the data highlights the influence of P53 on Mta1 gene regulation. In the presence of P53 majority of the genes regulated by Mta1 are related to inflammatory and anti-microbial responses whereas in the absence of P53 the predominant target genes are involved in cancer signaling. Thus, the presented data emphasizes the known functions of Mta1 and serves as a rich resource which could help us identify novel Mta1 functions

N-Terminal Gly224–Gly411 Domain in Listeria Adhesion Protein Interacts with Host Receptor Hsp60

Listeria adhesion protein (LAP) is a housekeeping bifunctional enzyme consisting of N-terminal acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) and C-terminal alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). It aids Listeria monocytogenes in crossing the epithelial barrier through a paracellular route by interacting with its host receptor, heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60). To gain insight into the binding interaction between LAP and Hsp60, LAP subdomain(s) participating in the Hsp60 interaction were investigated.Using a ModBase structural model, LAP was divided into 4 putative subdomains: the ALDH region contains N1 (Met(1)-Pro(223)) and N2 (Gly(224)-Gly(411)), and the ADH region contains C1 (Gly(412)-Val(648)) and C2 (Pro(649)-Val(866)). Each subdomain was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Purified subdomains were used in ligand overlay, immunofluorescence, and bead-based epithelial cell adhesion assays to analyze each domain's affinity toward Hsp60 protein or human ileocecal epithelial HCT-8 cells.The N2 subdomain exhibited the greatest affinity for Hsp60 with a K(D) of 9.50±2.6 nM. The K(D) of full-length LAP (7.2±0.5 nM) to Hsp60 was comparable to the N2 value. Microspheres (1 µm diameter) coated with N2 subdomain showed significantly (P<0.05) higher binding to HCT-8 cells than beads coated with other subdomains and this binding was inhibited when HCT-8 cells were pretreated with anti-Hsp60 antibody to specifically block epithelial Hsp60. Furthermore, HCT-8 cells pretreated with purified N2 subdomain also reduced L. monocytogenes adhesion by about 4 log confirming its involvement in interaction with epithelial cells.These data indicate that the N2 subdomain in the LAP ALDH domain is critical in initiating interaction with mammalian cell receptor Hsp60 providing insight into the molecular mechanism of pathogenesis for the development of potential anti-listerial control strategies