Efficient in vitro regeneration of pathogen free mango ginger (Curcuma amada Roxb.) from rhizome bud explants

Curcuma amada is an aromatic and medicinal plant belonging to Zingiberaceae. Like all other Zingiberous crops, the plant is propagated vegetatively by rhizome for which the pathogen is easily transmitted by the planting material and lack of seed set hinders breeding efforts by conventional techniques. In vitro regeneration techniques can be used to overcome this problem. Reports on production of disease free clones of Curcuma amada is lacking. So, the present study was designed. Young rhizome sprouts were cultured in Murashige and Skoog basal medium supplemented with BAP and Kinetin. BAP gave better results compared to kinetin. Combinations of cytokinins were more potential in regeneration rather than when they were used alone. Moderate rooting were observed in all the cultures. The regenerated plants showed a survival percentage of 92 % in poly cups and 98 % in field. The plantlets produced were found disease free. Â

Bayesian nonlinear regression for large p small n problems

AbstractStatistical modeling and inference problems with sample sizes substantially smaller than the number of available covariates are challenging. This is known as large p small n problem. Furthermore, the problem is more complicated when we have multiple correlated responses. We develop multivariate nonlinear regression models in this setup for accurate prediction. In this paper, we introduce a full Bayesian support vector regression model with Vapnik’s ϵ-insensitive loss function, based on reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) under the multivariate correlated response setup. This provides a full probabilistic description of support vector machine (SVM) rather than an algorithm for fitting purposes. We have also introduced a multivariate version of the relevance vector machine (RVM). Instead of the original treatment of the RVM relying on the use of type II maximum likelihood estimates of the hyper-parameters, we put a prior on the hyper-parameters and use Markov chain Monte Carlo technique for computation. We have also proposed an empirical Bayes method for our RVM and SVM. Our methods are illustrated with a prediction problem in the near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. A simulation study is also undertaken to check the prediction accuracy of our models

A comparative study of total body fat percentage, visceral fat percentage and whole body subcutaneous and skeletal fat percentage between patients with depression and normal subjects

Background: In today’s world, depression has been named as the foremost public health problem while obesity has reached epidemic proportions in India in the 21st century. A probable association between depression and obesity has been suspected. The quantification of obesity, can be done by various methods such as body mass index (BMI), bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) etc. Among these, BMI and BIA have emerged as well accepted techniques. From impedance measurement values and other data such as a person’s height, weight and body types, it is possible to calculate the percentage of body fat, fat-free mass (skeletal muscles), and other body composition values. Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study. Cases comprised of subjects who were diagnosed with depression but were ‘drug naive’ while the control group comprised of age-matched subjects drawn from the normal population. Measurement of various anthropometric parameters like BMI, total body fat (TBF) %, visceral fat % etc. was carried out among the cases and controls using a portable body fat monitor scan that employed BIA. Results: BMI, TBF%, visceral fat %, whole body subcutaneous and skeletal fat % were found to be much higher among the cases (subjects with depression) in comparison with the controls (normal subjects), in a statistically significant way. Conclusions: The study showed that the intrinsic inflammatory potential of obesity coupled with its probable dysregulatory impact on the (hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal) HPA axis was possibly the underlying cause of the elevated anthropometric parameters noted among the cases

Micropropagation, genetic fidelity assessment and phytochemical studies of Clerodendrum thomsoniae Balf. f. with special reference to its anti-stress properties

Clerodendrum thomsoniae commonly known as bleeding heart vine or bag flower which is a good candidate for a new crop for the floriculture industry. In this study, in-vitro callus regeneration of C. thomsoniae through nodal culture has been attempted. Murashige and Skoog’s medium supplemented with 2 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/

Gene Expression-Based Glioma Classification Using Hierarchical Bayesian Vector Machines

This paper considers several Bayesian classification methods for the analysis of the glioma cancer with microarray data based on reproducing kernel Hilbert space under the multiclass setup. We consider the multinomial logit likelihood as well as the likelihood related to the multiclass Support Vector Machine (SVM) model. It is shown that our proposed Bayesian classification models with multiple shrinkage parameters can produce more accurate classification scheme for the glioma cancer compared to several existing classical methods. We have also proposed a Bayesian variable selection scheme for selecting the differentially expressed genes integrated with our model. This integrated approach improves classifier design by yielding simultaneous gene selection

Endemic and endangered ethno-herbal medicinal climber of Darjeeling hills (Edgaria darjeelingensis C.B. Clarke) is a treasure of anti-cancer molecules: A study on GC-MS analysis and probable biosynthetic pathways

Carcinogenesis, oncogenesis or tumourigenesis is a complex biomolecular mechanism that could progressively transform normal cells to malignant forms. Proper diet constituting natural fruits and vegetables enriched in bioactive components can reduce the risk factors of several forms of human cancer and other critical ailments. Endemic and endangered Cucurbitaceous climber of Darjeeling hills, Herpetospermum darjeelingense (C.B. Clarke) H. Schaef. & S.S. Renner [Edgaria darjeelingensis C.B. Clarke] is a repository of bioactive anti-cancer metabolites as depicted by the presence of fourteen anti-carcinogenic molecules explored via GC-MS analysis, which could potentially minimize the threats of various forms of cancer. The anti-cancer compounds cover about 79.22% of total GC-MS area percentage out of the total thirty four compounds detected. The explored cellular biosynthesis pathway of these anti-carcinogenic metabolites seems to follow a systemic metabologenesis pattern that may be required for the day-to-day survival of the plant and not a mere chance factor, which could have stressed the plant to produce those biochemical molecules. Isolation, pharmaceutical screening of these compounds and their medical application can revolutionise the dimension of the global cancer research in the near future.

Herbal antimicrobial gel with leaf extract of Cassia alata L.

Topical application of antimicrobials at the site of infection offer greater advantages as compared to systemic therapy. The present study reports for the first time, the in vivo wound healing potential of an herbal antimicrobial gel containing pure bioactive leaf extract of Cassia alata L. The methanolic leaf extract exhibited significant antibacterial and antifungal activity against the tested bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 9542) and fungi (Candida albicans MTCC 4842) due to the presence of alcohol and ketone containing bioactive moieties. A 1% (w/w) bioactive leaf extract based-hydrogel was formulated and evaluated for its wound healing potential in rat model with surgical site infection in the dorsal area. This herbal gel significantly enhanced the wound healing as assessed by the contraction of wound length and bio burden characteristics compared to the marketed antimicrobial formulations.  The formulated herbal gel could find use as very promising and innovative topical alternative for the treatment of skin infections caused by bacteria as well as fungal strains without hazard to human health based on the fact of its traditional use by the Assamese people with no toxic effects.    Keywords: Cassia alata L.; methanolic leaf extracts; antimicrobial gel; antibacterial; antifungal; wound healin

HIV Transmission Potential Among Local and Migrant Factory Workers in Kolkata, India

Migrant workers in India play a key role in the spread of HIV. Kolkata is a common destination for workers, who may acquire infection and transmit it to their wives and/or other sexual partners. We investigated sexual relations and condom use by factory workers. Migrant and local factory workers were randomly selected from five wards of Kolkata. Information was collected about demographic and socio-economic characteristics, sexual relationships, condom usage, and perceptions and intent to use condoms. Condom use was very low in both groups of workers, particularly among migrants. Many married workers visited female sex workers but never used condoms. Few intended to use condoms, and if they did, it did not always translate into actual usage. There is great potential for transmission of HIV/sexually transmitted infections by these workers. Carefully designed intervention and education programs in the context of low literacy and cultural norms are urgently needed

Increasing the X-ray Diffraction Power of Protein Crystals by Dehydration: The Case of Bovine Serum Albumin and a Survey of Literature Data

Serum albumin is one of the most widely studied proteins. It is the most abundant protein in plasma with a typical concentration of 5 g/100 mL and the principal transporter of fatty acids in plasma. While the crystal structures of human serum albumin (HSA) free and in complex with fatty acids, hemin, and local anesthetics have been characterized, no crystallographic models are available on bovine serum albumin (BSA), presumably because of the poor diffraction power of existing hexagonal BSA crystals. Here, the crystallization and diffraction data of a new BSA crystal form, obtained by the hanging drop method using MPEG 5K as precipitating agent, are presented. The crystals belong to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 216.45 Å, b = 44.72 Å, c = 140.18 Å, β = 114.5°. Dehydration was found to increase the diffraction limit of BSA crystals from ~8 Å to 3.2 Å, probably by improving the packing of protein molecules in the crystal lattice. These results, together with a survey of more than 60 successful cases of protein crystal dehydration, confirm that it can be a useful procedure to be used in initial screening as a method of improving the diffraction limits of existing crystals