Deep Brain Stimulation : Applications and Challenges

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is widely used for the treatment of movement disorder. It is being explored in the new application areas. Since DBS deals with the internal portion of the brain it offers several challenges. It is difficult to understand the exact mechanism of DBS. This therapy is patient dependent and procedures may change drastically from patient to patient. In this paper DBS is discussed and its potential applications are explored. There are many challenges/restrictions while using this technique. Some major challenges are analyzed for better understanding of DBS

Stem Cell Antigen CD34 In Native And Engineered Form Alter Its Binding Ability To Stromal Cells And Ligands: A Classical Example Of Clinical Benefits Of Therapeutic Genetic Engineering Of Stem Cells In Transplantation

CD34 is a highly glycosylated surface-expressed sialomucin and, because it is present on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), has demonstrated immense clinical utility in their enumeration in aphaeresis products, immunoaffinity purification for transplantation, and disease monitoring. The success of CD34 based reagents in identifying hematopoietic progenitors led to the assumption that CD34 is expressed on cells with regenerative potential and is sufficient for hematopoietic reconstitution in marrow-ablated recipients. However, its role has not been identified in substantial detail. 

With the advent of the fact that CD34 binds adapter protein like CRK-L in cytosol and CD34 knock out studies identified a a signaling role, CD34 antigen has been proposed to play a signaling function. Since it is a sialomucin, a member of the group adhesion molecules, we attempted to identify a role by over-expreesing its gene in cell lines. We report here that CD34 and engineered forms (Ser306 & Tyr318) significantly regulates adhesion to stromal cells, like mesenchymal stem cells and bone marrow ligands. These enhance binding of cells overexpressing CD34 by upregulating integrins and we therefore propose that such cells may effectively potentiate the success of transplantation through greater homing if they are used for transfusion

Halotolerant Plant Growth Promoting Bacilli from Sundarban Mangrove Mitigate the Effects of Salinity Stress on Pearl Millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) Growth

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum L.) is one of the major crops in dry and saline areas across the globe. During salinity stress, plants encounter significant changes in their physio and biochemical activities, leading to decreased growth and yield. Bacillus species are used as biofertilizers and biopesticides for pearl millet and other crops to promote growth and yield. The use of Bacillus in saline soils has been beneficial to combat the negative effect of salinity on plant growth and yield. In this context, the present study emphasizes the use of two Bacillus species, i.e. Bacillus megaterium JR-12 and B. pumilus GN-5, which helped in alleviating the impact of salinity stress on the growth activities in salt-stressed pearl millet. Pearl millet seeds were treated with two strains, B. megaterium JR-12 and B.pumilus GN-5, individually and in combination under 50, 100 and 150 mM of sodium chloride stress. The treated plants showed higher plant height, biomass accumulation, and photosynthetic apparatus than the non-treated plants. Additionally, the treated plants showed increased osmoprotectant levels under salinity stress compared to control plants. The antioxidant enzyme content was improved post-inoculation, indicating the efficient stress-alleviating potential of both strains of Bacillus species. Moreover, inoculation of these microbes significantly increased plant growth attributes in plants treated with a combination of Bp-GN-5 + Bm-JR-12 and the reduction rates of plant growth were found to be alleviated to 9.12%, 20.30% and 33%, respectively. Overall, the results of the present study suggested that these microbes could have a higher potential to improve the productivity of pearl millet under salinity stress

Atypical Neurofibroma and Osteosclerotic Metastasis

35-year-old male presented with multiple swellings in left leg, headache, weakness of limbs for 4 months, and blurring of vision for the last 15 days. On examination, he was pale, cachexic with generalized lymphadenopathy and lower motor neuron type weakness of limbs sparing right upper limb. Blood investigations showed anemia with high alkaline phosphatase. Chest radiograph revealed osteosclerotic metastatic lesion in humerus. Biopsy of leg lesion revealed atypical neurofibroma. Computed tomography (CT) of thorax revealed osteoblastic metastasis. Bone marrow aspiration showed cells with round to oval nuclei, fine granular chromatin with large central prominent nucleoli and eosinophilic cytoplasm with acini formation. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain and spinal cord defined metastatic leptomeningeal deposits. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology was positive for malignant cells. Gastroscopy showed an ulceroinfiltrative growth from stomach which on histopathology revealed diffuse adenocarcinoma. Palliative treatment was given with intrathecal methotrexate and systemic corticosteroid with chemotherapy. Patient's symptom improved drastically, but we lost him to followup

Modulation of POTE-2 Expression by ncRNAs in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has one of the highest incidents and mortality rates within the Hispanic population of South Texas. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry reports a 20.3% 5-year relative survival rate upon HCC diagnoses, which decreases in advanced stage cancers. The disproportionate impact on the Hispanic community and poor prognostics makes the search for better diagnostic measures imperative. A major step in bridging the disparity in HCC occurrence is the identification of potential biomarkers aiding in HCC diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment. POTE ankyrin domain members have been recognized as key promotors of tumorigenesis. POTE-2, a novel protein, has shown to be differentially regulated in liver cancer. Micro-RNAs (miRNAs) regulate protein expression through translational inhibition or mRNA degradation. This study aims to investigate possible role of miRNA-3662 in POTE-2 expression regulation in HCC cell lines. Methods: POTE-2 mRNA and protein were analyzed using RT-PCR and western blot respectively in liver cancer cell lines, SK-HEP1, C3A, HEPG2, and HEP-3B. POTE-2 mRNA was analyzed for potential miRNA binding sites using miRNAdb.org. Identified miRNAs were verified using miRNA specific RT-PCR. Results: SK-HEP1 yielded relatively low mRNA with high protein, and the opposite was observed in C3A cells. SK-HEP1 cells showed higher proliferation, migration, and invasion. Analysis of POTE-2 mRNA using miRNA database identified potential miRNAs binding sites. MiRNA-3662 being the top candidate is being analyzed for its role in POTE-2 regulation. Conclusions: Regulation of POTE-2 mRNA by miRNA-3662 makes it a potential candidate for miRNA-based therapeutics in HCC

Magnetotransport of La0.70ca0.3-xsrxmno3 (Ag): A Potential Room Temperature Bolometer and Magnetic Sensor

Here we report the optimized magneto-transport properties of polycrystalline La0.70Ca0.3-xSrxMnO3 and their composites with Ag. The optimization was carried out by varying the Sr and Ag contents simultaneously to achieve large temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) as well as low field magneto-resistance (MR) at room temperature. Sharpest paramagnetic (PM)-ferromagnetic (FM) and insulator-metal (IM) transition is observed in the vicinity of the room temperature (TC=300 K=TIM) for the composition La0.70Ca0.20Sr00.10MnO3:Ag0.20. Partial substitution of larger Sr2+ ions at the Ca2+ ions sites controls the magnitude of the FM and IM transition temperatures, while the Ag induces the desired sharpness in these transitions. For the optimized composition, maximum TCR and MR are tuned to room temperature (300 K) with the former being as high as 9% and the later being 20 and 30 percent at 5 and 10 kOe magnetic fields respectively. Such sharp single peak (TCR= 9 percent) at room temperature can be used for the bolometric and infrared detector applications. The achievement of large TCR and low field MR at T~300K in polycrystalline samples is encouraging and we believe that further improvements can be achieved in thin films, which, by virtue of their low conduction noise, are more suitable for device applications.Comment: 11 pages Text + Figures. Suggestions/comments welcome ([email protected]

Enhanced Room Temperature Coefficient of Resistance and Magneto-resistance of Ag-added La0.7Ca0.3-xBaxMnO3 Composites

In this paper we report an enhanced temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) close to room temperature in La0.7Ca0.3-xBaxMnO3 + Agy (x = 0.10, 0.15 and y = 0.0 to 0.40) (LCBMO+Ag) composite manganites. The observed enhancement of TCR is attributed to the grain growth and opening of new conducting channels in the composites. Ag addition has also been found to enhance intra-granular magneto-resistance. Inter-granular MR, however, is seen to decrease with Ag addition. The enhanced TCR and MR at / near room temperature open up the possibility of the use of such materials as infrared bolometric and magnetic field sensors respectively.Comment: 22 pages of Text + Figs:comments/suggestions([email protected]