ELICITATION OF FORSKOLIN IN CULTURES OF RHIZACTONIA BATATICOLA-A PHYTOCHEMICAL SYNTHESIZING ENDOPHYTIC FUNGI

Objective: Coleus forskohlii is the only known source of forskolin-a labdanediterpene and a highly valuable phytochemical. Coleus forskohlii has been listed as endangered plant; therefore, efforts have been made to find novel sources of forskolin production.Methods: Endophytic fungi were isolated from Coleus forskohlii tissue and screened for forskolin production by using thin layer chromatography (TLC) method. Further, 16 different elicitation media combinations were used to enhance the forskolin content.Results: In this study, out of 38 strains of endophytic fungi from Coleus forskohlii only 2 strains EF1 and EF2 were found to synthesize forskolin in mycelium, whereas EF2 was found to release the forskolin into the broth. Further, EF2 was identified as Rhizactonia bataticola accession no. NFCCI 2028. Further, T2S1 media showed dramatic effects on enhanced forskolin production in mycelium. However, there was a significant increase about four folds in broth which corresponded to 0.5 mg compared to T1S1 media where it was 0.09 mg.Conclusion: The present study suggests that the forskolin producing Rhizactonia bataticola and T2S1 media can serve as potential materials for large scale enhancement of forskolin production. Â

Morphological Classification of Radio Galaxies using Semi-Supervised Group Equivariant CNNs

Out of the estimated few trillion galaxies, only around a million have been detected through radio frequencies, and only a tiny fraction, approximately a thousand, have been manually classified. We have addressed this disparity between labeled and unlabeled images of radio galaxies by employing a semi-supervised learning approach to classify them into the known Fanaroff-Riley Type I (FRI) and Type II (FRII) categories. A Group Equivariant Convolutional Neural Network (G-CNN) was used as an encoder of the state-of-the-art self-supervised methods SimCLR (A Simple Framework for Contrastive Learning of Visual Representations) and BYOL (Bootstrap Your Own Latent). The G-CNN preserves the equivariance for the Euclidean Group E(2), enabling it to effectively learn the representation of globally oriented feature maps. After representation learning, we trained a fully-connected classifier and fine-tuned the trained encoder with labeled data. Our findings demonstrate that our semi-supervised approach outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods across several metrics, including cluster quality, convergence rate, accuracy, precision, recall, and the F1-score. Moreover, statistical significance testing via a t-test revealed that our method surpasses the performance of a fully supervised G-CNN. This study emphasizes the importance of semi-supervised learning in radio galaxy classification, where labeled data are still scarce, but the prospects for discovery are immense.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted in INNS Deep Learning Innovations and Applications (INNS DLIA 2023) workshop, IJCNN 2023, to be published in Procedia Computer Scienc

Synthesis and Spectral Analysis of Chromium, Copper Complexes of 2-Hydroxy-1, 2-diphenylethan-1

Various chemical process have been utilized to analyze chromium (II) and copper (II) complexes with Benzoin. The fore mentioned complexes were analyzed for elemental analyses, and characterized by infrared, electronic spectra, NMR spectroscopy. The data analysis showed the metal ion formation of 1:1 ligand to metal ratio representing the [Cr (B)] H2O and [Cu (B)] 2H2O ionic complex in which B represents the Benzoin. According to the data analyzed by Infrared spectroscopy, it is through the carbonyl and hydroxyl oxygen’s of the Benzoin that chelation chemistry takes place. The complex structural analysis was elucidated by electronic spectral data analysis and by proton NMR spectroscopy. The complex systems with the metals also showed antimicrobial property against many bacterial strains

A descriptive analysis of oral health systematic reviews published 1991-2012: cross sectional study

OBJECTIVES: To identify all systematic reviews (SRs) published in the domain of oral health research and describe them in terms of their epidemiological and descriptive characteristics. DESIGN: Cross sectional, descriptive study. METHODS: An electronic search of seven databases was performed from inception through May 2012; bibliographies of relevant publications were also reviewed. Studies were considered for inclusion if they were oral health SRs defined as therapeutic or non-therapeutic investigations that studied a topic or an intervention related to dental, oral or craniofacial diseases/disorders. Data were extracted from all the SRs based on a number of epidemiological and descriptive characteristics. Data were analysed descriptively for all the SRs, within each of the nine dental specialities, and for Cochrane and non-Cochrane SRs separately. RESULTS: 1,188 oral health (126 Cochrane and 1062 non-Cochrane) SRs published from 1991 through May 2012 were identified, encompassing the nine dental specialties. Over half (n = 676; 56.9%) of the SRs were published in specialty oral health journals, with almost all (n = 1,178; 99.2%) of the SRs published in English and almost none of the non-Cochrane SRs (n = 11; 0.9%) consisting of updates of previously published SRs. 75.3% of the SRs were categorized as therapeutic, with 64.5% examining non-drug interventions, while approximately half (n = 150/294; 51%) of the non-therapeutic SRs were classified as epidemiological SRs. The SRs included a median of 15 studies, with a meta-analysis conducted in 43.6%, in which a median of 9 studies/1 randomized trial were included in the largest meta-analysis conducted. Funding was received for 25.1% of the SRs, including nearly three-quarters (n = 96; 76.2%) of the Cochrane SRs. CONCLUSION: Epidemiological and descriptive characteristics of the 1,188 oral health SRs varied across the nine dental specialties and by SR category (Cochrane vs. non-Cochrane). There is a clear need for more updates of SRs in all the dental specialties.Humam Saltaji, Greta G. Cummings, Susan Armijo-Olivo, Michael P. Major, Maryam Amin, Paul W. Major, Lisa Hartling, Carlos Flores-Mi

Implications of risk conferred by 5p15.33 loci genetic variants; human telomerase reverse transcriptase rs2736098 and rs2736100 in predisposition of bladder cancer

Background: The polymorphic variations of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene play an important role in predisposition to carcinogenesis. The current study aimed to elucidate the genetic predisposition to bladder cancer in two important variants, rs2736098 and rs2736100 of hTERT gene. Materials and methods: Confirmed 130 patients of bladder cancer and 200 healthy controls were genotyped by PCR-RFLP to determine different variants of hTERT rs2736098 and rs2736100. Results: hTERT rs2736098 homozygous variant AA genotype frequency was observed to significantly differ 2-fold between cases and controls (26.15% vs. 13.5%) (p = 0.02). In addition, rare ‘A’ allele significantly differed among two groups (cases: 47% versus controls: 39%: p = 0.03). hTERT rs2736098 was observed to be presented significantly more in high stage tumors (p = 0.02). hTERT rs2736100 genotype AA or variant allele A showed no significant difference between cases and controls. Haplotype CA displayed significantly different pattern of frequency as 0.5 in cases as compared to 0.16 in controls (p < 0.0001). Combination of variant A/G haplotype frequency implicated more in cases than in controls (0.34 vs. 0.16, p = 0.001). Conclusions: It is concluded that hTERT rs2736098 polymorphic variant has a vital role to confer a strong risk to bladder cancer in our population. Further, hTERT haplotypes CA and AG inhTERT could prove to be a promising tool to screen the risk for bladder cancer

Evaluation of the antioxidant effects of zolpidem in the rat model of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity

Introduction: Nephrotoxicity is one of the most important side effects of cisplatin which has limited its use. Production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of this drug. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the antioxidant effect of zolpidem on the reduction of nephrotoxicity associated with cisplatin. Materials and Methods: In this study, 40 adult male rats were divided into 4 groups; 1) healthy group, 2) control group, 3, 4) cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity + different doses of zolpidem. After a certain period of time, the urine, spinal cord and kidney samples of rats were collected. Then, urine levels of functional factors including urea, creatinine and albumin/creatinine ratio, antioxidant enzymes and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were estimated. Consequently, histological studies were conducted with the collected samples. Results: Zolpidem reduced levels of urea, creatinine, albumin/creatinine ratio, and MDA. It also increased the amount of antioxidant enzymes of the kidney including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and moderated the tubular damage caused by the use of cisplatin. Conclusion: Zolpidem is able to improve the nephrotoxicity by reducing oxidative stress

Outcomes of obstructed abdominal wall hernia: results from the UK national small bowel obstruction audit

Background: Abdominal wall hernia is a common surgical condition. Patients may present in an emergency with bowel obstruction, incarceration or strangulation. Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a serious surgical condition associated with significant morbidity. The aim of this study was to describe current management and outcomes of patients with obstructed hernia in the UK as identified in the National Audit of Small Bowel Obstruction (NASBO). Methods: NASBO collated data on adults treated for SBO at 131 UK hospitals between January and March 2017. Those with obstruction due to abdominal wall hernia were included in this study. Demographics, co-morbidity, imaging, operative treatment, and in-hospital outcomes were recorded. Modelling for factors associated with mortality and complications was undertaken using Cox proportional hazards and multivariable regression modelling. Results: NASBO included 2341 patients, of whom 415 (17·7 per cent) had SBO due to hernia. Surgery was performed in 312 (75·2 per cent) of the 415 patients; small bowel resection was required in 198 (63·5 per cent) of these operations. Non-operative management was reported in 35 (54 per cent) of 65 patients with a parastomal hernia and in 34 (32·1 per cent) of 106 patients with an incisional hernia. The in-hospital mortality rate was 9·4 per cent (39 of 415), and was highest in patients with a groin hernia (11·1 per cent, 17 of 153). Complications were common, including lower respiratory tract infection in 16·3 per cent of patients with a groin hernia. Increased age was associated with an increased risk of death (hazard ratio 1·05, 95 per cent c.i. 1·01 to 1·10; P = 0·009) and complications (odds ratio 1·05, 95 per cent c.i. 1·02 to 1·09; P = 0·001). Conclusion: NASBO has highlighted poor outcomes for patients with SBO due to hernia, highlighting the need for quality improvement initiatives in this group

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele