Characterization of the Che4 Signal Transduction Pathway in Taxis Behaviors of Azospirillum brasilense

Azospirillum brasilense is a gram negative, soil diazotroph that colonizes the roots of agronomically important crops. Studies have shown that swimming motility is an important trait for its survival and colonization of plant roots by these bacteria. Taxis responses, such as chemotaxis and aerotaxis, depend on the ability of the organism to bias its movements in the presence of gradients. The recently sequenced genome of A. brasilense has been shown to possess four chemotaxis operons, but the dominant pathway that modulates swimming behavior by affecting swimming bias in this organism is unknown. Characterization of one of the chemotaxis operons, Che1, revealed that it played a role in regulating swimming velocity in gradients and indirectly affected rate of change in swimming direction. In this study, we determined that the Che4 pathway of Azospirillum brasilense plays a dominant role in controlling rate of change in swimming direction. Our data also suggests that cross-talk between Che4 and the previously characterized Che1 pathway possibly at the level of receptors also contributes to taxis responses in A. brasilense. Finally, characterization of double mutants lacking components of both pathways, suggest presence of additional chemosensory mechanisms that modulate taxis behavior in A. brasilense

Therapeutic plasma exchange in neuro-immunological disorder

Background: Therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is an extracorporeal blood purification technique used to remove high molecular weight substances from the plasma. Examples of these substances include immune complexes, pathogenic autoantibodies, endotoxin, cryoglobulins and cholesterol-containing lipoproteins and myeloma light chains. Therapeutic Plasma exchange is a well-established therapeutic procedure most commonly used in many neuro-immunological disorders. The benefit of plasma exchange occurs by elimination of pathognomonic inflammatory mediators, including complement components, autoantibodies and cytokines. Various studied have demonstrated that TPE plays an important role in neuro-immunological disorder (eg. Guillain-Barré syndrome, myasthenia gravis and other forms of immune neuropathies).Methods: It is descriptive and prospective study on the effect of TPE in neuro-immunological disorders. TPE are studied prospectively for a period from September 2011 to August 2013. The amount of plasma to be exchanged during TPE was determined using the formula EPV = (0.065 x weight [kg]) x (1-hematocrit). TPE was performed using a Haemonetics MCS+ intermittent flow cell separator. An average of 1-1.5 plasma volume is removed on alternative days. Clinical outcome of TPE was assessed at the time of discharge.Results: A total of 138 Therapeutic plasma exchange procedure were performed on 30 patients. In which the improvement begins within days of commencing the treatments and progressed steadily so that 25 out of 30 patients who responded favourably to TPE with a manageable adverse reaction. And only 5 patients failed to respond this therapy. So the clinical outcome for therapeutic plasma exchange for Neuro-immunological cases were 83.3% and remaining 16.7% doesn’t show any improvement after five plasma exchanges.Conclusions: Therapeutic plasma exchange is a first line of management for most of the neuro-immunological disorder. In our study there was an improvement in motor performance after 3-5 plasma exchanges which are mainly due to removal of unbound antibodies from the plasma. Although the statistical power of our study was not sufficient to allow definitive conclusion, the result strongly suggest that 3-5 procedures on alternative days with 1-1.5 volume of plasma exchange gives a better result in patient with neuro-immunlogical diseases. The success of therapeutic plasma exchange also depends on composition of the replacement fluid. The risk and complication associated with procedure are also minimal and easily manageable

A STUDY ON HYPERPHOSPHATEMIA AND EFFECT OF SEVELAMER ON CARDIAC ENZYME LEVELS IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE PATIENTS

Objective: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is characterized by progressive loss of kidney function over a period of time. Sevelamer hydrochloride is a phosphate binding agent used to control serum phosphate levels in End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients with hyperphosphatemia. Since hyperphosphatemia is associated with acute myocyte injury and elevation of cardiac biomarkers. ESRD patients treated with sevelamer hydrochloride display reduced cardiac biomarker levels due to a decrease in serum phosphate. Therefore, the study was designed to evaluate the effect of sevelamer hydrochloride on cardiac enzyme levels. Methods: This retrospective observational study was carried out in the nephrology department of a multispecialty hospital for a period of two months. Clinical and biochemistry reports of 30 ESRD patients were collected in designed case report forms. All statistical analysis was carried out using International Business Machines-Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 17 (IBM SPSS 17) Statistics package.Results: No significant difference in cardiac enzymes between sevelamer-treated and untreated groups was observed. Hence, further prospective studies on sevelamer hydrochloride are necessary to determine their activity in preventing hyperphosphatemia-induced acute myocyte injury.Conclusion: A direct correlation was observed between cardiac enzyme markers and phosphate levels. However, sevelamer at conventional doses was not found to be effective in reducing acute cardiomyocytes injury caused by hyperphosphatemia. Hence, higher doses sevelamer or other modalities achieving normal serum phosphorous levels are necessary for preventing cardiac damage due to hyperphosphatemia in ESRD patients.Keywords: ESRD, Hyperphosphatemia, Sevelamer, Cardiomyocytes injury

Study of causes and facility based lags in a tertiary care hospital contributing to maternal mortality

Background: Maternal death is a tragic situation as these deaths occur during or after a natural process like pregnancy. By addressing the three levels of delays i.e., delay in seeking care, delay in reaching care and delay in receiving care; it can be prevented to a fair extent.Methods: All maternal deaths occurred in SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack between September 2015 to September 2016 included in the study, Antepartum and postpartum events were documented as per the proforma. Opinions of respective faculties regarding diagnosis, treatment, possible preventable factors and any delays and lapses at our set up were obtained.Results: There were 10060 live births and 121 maternal deaths, giving the hospital based incidence of maternal mortality as 12.02 per 1000 live births. 42.98%, 6.61% and 50.41% of death were due to Level I, Level II and level III delays respectively. The delays due to unavailability of appropriate facilities in our institution are highlighted. Lack of ICU facility accounted 37.19% deaths. Unavailability of blood, a delay in surgery, delayed multispecialty referral and required investigation follow it. 91.7%. deaths were preventable.Conclusions: Hypertension, Obstetric hemorrhage, liver and kidney diseases were mainly responsible for maternal mortality. Facility based maternal death review system help in finding out the constraints in the existing system. It brings a sense of responsibility in all stake holders involved in delivery of MCH care. It is feasible and cost effective strategy to reach Millennium Development target 5 in extended time frame

Studies on the potency of oral polio vaccine using RD cell line and evaluation of growth using different serum concentration and volume of media

Oral polio vaccine (OPV) proved to be superior in administration eliminating the need of sterile syringes and making the vaccine more suitable for mass vaccination campaigns. Poliovirus is heatsensitive in nature, and thus OPV is stored at low temperature (frozen). The growth medium containing varying concentration of serum such as 6, 8, 10, 12, 14% were prepared. 10 ml of the above mentionedgrowth media containing different concentration of serum were added to different culture bottles. The culture flasks containing different volumes of growth medium with 10% serum concentration such as 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 ml were added to a series of culture flasks. All the culture flasks were inoculated with the RD cells (10,000 cells/culture flask) and kept at 37°C. The most favoured serum concentration and volume for the growth of RD cells was found and used for testing the potency of vaccine. Vaccinesfrom two manufacturers were kept at three different temperatures, 2-8 ± 0.5°C (refrigerator), 26 ± 0.5°C and 37 ± 0.5°C (Incubator). Cytopathic viruses were titrated by the determination of a tissue culture infectious dose50 (TCID50), vaccine dilutions were seeded in replicate onto cells in multiwell plates (usually 96 wells). After a suitable incubation period, wells were examined microscopically and scored as infected or not infected. The potency of vaccines was tested using the Karber’s Formula

Analysis of Torque and Speed Controller for Five Phase Switched Reluctance Motor

Abstract-The electric drives play a vital role on the productivity to any industry. The application of Switched Reluctance Motor (SRMs) in high performance industry is due to the progress in the motor design and power electronic control technology. The electromagnetic operation of an SRM is achieved by the proper excitation and control. A SRM is characterized by simple features like simple construction, high reliability and low cost. It can be used in the high temperature and hazardous environment applications. Most switched reluctance motors are either 3 phase or 4 phase types with unipolar or half wave electronic drives. The torque ripple must be carefully minimized with proper commutation of the power to each of the stator phase winding. The design of control system for five phase SRM is very complex since it has large torque ripples and non uniform torque at its output. The reduction in torque ripples and speed control requires an effective controller. In this paper the output obtained using PI controller is shown clearly.Here, simulation of the PI based controller for SRM is performed by using MATLAB/simulink. Keywords-switched reluctance motor, proportional integral controller (PI), torque ripple. I.INTRODUCTION A switched reluctance motor is a brushless AC motor which has simple construction and does not require permanent magnet for its operation. Hence it has many advantages over other dc or ac machines. The stator and rotor in SRM have salient poles and the number of poles depends on the number of phases. Normally two stator poles at opposite ends are configured to form one phase. The number of stator poles is always different from that of rotor poles. SR motor has the phase winding on its stator and concentrated windings are used. The windings are inserted into the stator poles and connected in series to form one phase of the motor. SR motor has the phase winding on its stator only and concentrated windings are used. The windings are inserted into the stator poles and connected in series to form one phase of the motor. In a five phase SRM there are five pairs of concentrated windings and each pair of the winding is connected in series to form each phase respectively. The flux linkage, inductance and torque characteristics vary with rotor position (i.e. the relative position of the rotor pole with the stator pole). The flux linkage, inductance and torque characteristics of a SR motor are highly non-linear. Positive torque in a SR motor is available at half the rotor pole pitch. Torque production in an SR motor can be explained based on energy conversion process. When one phase of the motor is energized, energy from the power supply is transferred to the phase winding. Part of the energy, which is also known as the co-energy, is used to produce mechanical movement. Torque produced in this movement is defined as the ratio of change in co-energy to the change in rotor position. In mathematical expression, the torque production process can be expressed as Torque = ΔW′̸ Δθ where W′ is co-energy, θ is rotor position

The nuclear envelope localization of DYT1 dystonia torsinA-ΔE requires the SUN1 LINC complex component

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>DYT1 dystonia is an autosomal dominant neurological condition caused by a mutation that removes a single glutamic acid residue (ΔE) from the torsinA (torA) AAA+ protein. TorA appears to possess a nuclear envelope (NE) localized activity that requires Lamina-Associated-Polypeptide 1 (LAP1), which is an inner nuclear membrane localized torA-binding partner. Although hypoactive, the DYT1 dystonia torA-ΔE isoform often concentrates in the NE, suggesting that torA-ΔE also interacts with an NE-localized binding partner.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We confirm that NE-localized torA-ΔE does not co-immunoprecipitate with LAP1, and find that torA-ΔE continues to concentrate in the NE of cells that lack LAP1. Instead, we find that variability in torA-ΔE localization correlates with the presence of the SUN-domain and Nesprin proteins that assemble into the LINC complex. We also find that siRNA depletion of SUN1, but not other LINC complex components, removes torA-ΔE from the NE. In contrast, the LAP1-dependent NE-accumulation of an ATP-locked torA mutant is unaffected by loss of LINC complex proteins. This SUN1 dependent torA-ΔE localization requires the torA membrane association domain, as well as a putative substrate-interaction residue, Y147, neither of which are required for torA interaction with LAP1. We also find that mutation of these motifs, or depletion of SUN1, decreases the amount of torA-WT that colocalizes with NE markers, indicating that each also underlies a normal NE-localized torA binding interaction.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These data suggest that the disease causing ΔE mutation promotes an association between torA and SUN1 that is distinct to the interaction between LAP1 and ATP-bound torA. This evidence for two NE-localized binding partners suggests that torA may act on multiple substrates and/or possesses regulatory co-factor partners. In addition, finding that the DYT1 mutation causes abnormal association with SUN1 implicates LINC complex dysfunction in DYT1 dystonia pathogenesis, and suggests a gain-of-function activity contributes to this dominantly inherited disease.</p

A recurrent case of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency

Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency is an inherited inborn error of metabolism causing lactic acidosis and several neurological symptoms. Its incidence and prevalence are not known. Here we report about a child with global developmental delay, central hypotonia and dyskinesia. Sanger sequencing was done and found to have homozygous nonsense mutation in exon 4 of PDHX gene causing lactic acidosis. In the next pregnancy selective Sanger variant analysis was carried out and the fetus was also found to be affected with the same genetic defect. Hence medical termination of Pregnancy was carried out. We conclude that early selective genetic testing will prevent further affected births

Effect of Unilateral Congenital Ptosis on Ocular Higher Order Aberrations in Children

To analyse the effect of congenital unilateral ptosis on the ocular higher order aberrations (HOA) and to compare these eyes with normal fellow eyes this study has been performed. In this observational comparative case series, 16 eyes of 16 patients less than 15 years old with congenital unilateral upper eyelid ptosis were included. Corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA), corneal topography, ocular HOA’s with Zywave workstation was recorded. The amount of ptosis was measured from marginal reflex distance (MRD1). The ocular HOA’s were compared between the ptosis and the normal fellow eyes after making necessary corrections to avoid errors due to enantiomeric midline symmetry. The mean age was 12.5±2.7years (range7-15years). The mean MRD1 was -0.9±1.8mm in the ptosis eyes. There was significant difference noted in the mean 6mm Zernicke coefficients Z3−3 (p=0.002), Z4−2 (p=0.034), Z42 (p=0.008), Z5−5 (p=0.044), Z51 (p=0.039), Z53 (p=0.036), Z55 (p=0.044) between the ptosis and the fellow eyes. The mean Z3−3 was -0.17±0.15 and 0.07±0.12 in the ptosis and the normal eyes respectively. There was a significant difference (p=0.023) in total RMS (root mean square) between the ptosis and the normal eyes. Total coma aberration correlated with CDVA (p=0.004) and MRD (p=0.030) in the ptosis eyes. There was no correlation (p=0.815) between the age (duration of ptosis) and total RMS. In conclusion, Eyes with congenital ptosis differed from their normal fellow eyes in the higher order aberrations. None of the HOA’s which differed between the two groups affected the visual acuity in the ptosis eyes