Potential role of gut microbiota in induction and regulation of innate immune memory

The gut microbiota significantly regulates the development and function of the innate and adaptive immune system. The attribute of immunological memory has long been linked only with adaptive immunity. Recent evidence indicates that memory is also present in the innate immune cells such as monocytes/macrophages and natural killer cells. These cells exhibit pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognize microbe- or pathogen-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs or PAMPs) expressed by the microbes. Interaction between PRRs and MAMPs is quite crucial since it triggers the sequence of signaling events and epigenetic rewiring that not only play a cardinal role in modulating the activation and function of the innate cells but also impart a sense of memory response. We discuss here how gut microbiota can influence the generation of innate memory and functional reprogramming of bone marrow progenitors that helps in protection against infections. This article will broaden our current perspective of association between the gut microbiome and innate memory. In the future, this knowledge may pave avenues for development and designing of novel immunotherapies and vaccination strategies

Electro-acoustic Scattering from a Pulsating Sphere

In this paper, we show the RCS enhancement due to the acoustic disturbances around a pulsating sphere. The acoustic variation is modeled with the dielectric inhomogeneities around the sphere caused by the pressure fluctuations due to the acoustic source. RCS is computed for the modeled dielectric pulsating sphere, a cube, and a cone on a cylinder across a frequency band using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. The RCS of the pulsating sphere and other objects considered are dominated by the background scattering from the pulsating object. In this work, we show that the dielectric variation due to the acoustic source can be detected even if there is no scattering from the object. The scattering from the dielectric variation leads to the detection of Bragg scattering along with a significant increase in RCS.Comment: 8 Page

A Comparative Study of Antioxidant Potential and Phytochemical Contents of different Extracts of Wild Nasturtium Officinale W T Aiton Collected from Kumaun Region of Uttarakhand

Nasturtium officinale W. T Aiton or “watercress” (Brassicaceae) is a nutritionally valuable plant that is the richest source of carotenoids, polyphenols, iron, calcium, iodine, folic acid, essential vitamins and minerals. It is traditionally used for their appetiser, anti-scorbutic, stimulant, diuretic and detoxifying properties. The present study was conducted to investigate the antioxidant potential, phytochemical contents (total phenolic, flavonoids and tannin contents) as well as a preliminary phytochemical screening of different extract of aerial parts of Nasturtium officinale collected from the Kumaun region. The different extracts showed significant antioxidant activity as well as total phenolic, flavonoids and tannin contents. The preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of several phytochemical constituents such as carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, glycosides, alkaloids and others. The hydroalcoholic extract possess significantly (P<0.05) higher antioxidant potential with IC50 value (0.333 mg/ml, 0.509mg/ml)and EC50 value (3.537 mg/ml) by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid)(ABTS), and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) methods, respectively, as well as highest total tannin, flavonoid and phenolic contents among all the extracts. These results provide substantial evidence that the plant Nasturtium officinalehas antioxidant potential and valuable sources of phytochemicals

Generalized Electromagnetic fields in Chiral Medium

The time dependent Dirac-Maxwell's Equations in presence of electric and magnetic sources are written in chiral media and the solutions for the classical problem are obtained in unique simple and consistent manner. The quaternion reformulation of generalized electromagnetic fields in chiral media has also been developed in compact, simple and consistent manner

Ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity in highly resistive Pb(0.7)Sr(0.3)(Fe(0.012)Ti(0.988))O(3) nanoparticles and its conduction by variable-range-hopping mechanism

The enhancement in ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity at room temperature for Pb0.7Sr0.3�Fe0.012Ti0.988�O3 �PSFT� nanoparticles is proved by magnetization and polarization hysteresis loop. The x-ray diffraction and micrograph show that the PSFT nanoparticles have distorted tetragonal single phase, and their average particle’s size is 8 nm. The effect of Sr content reduces the particle size, and hence the multiferroic system becomes more resistive, which dominates the superparamagnetic/paraelectric relaxation. The variable-range-hopping conduction mechanism explained the high resistivity of PSFT nanoparticles, which suggests that the room temperature movement of electrons involves short-range order through defect states

Prevalence and genotype distribution of human papilloma virus in cervical samples of young married women: a hospital based prospective cross-sectional study

Background: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the cervical samples of young married women at a tertiary care hospital in Chhattisgarh. A prospective cross-sectional observational study was performed in married women, aged 18 to 30 years.Methods: Relevant history was noted and cervical samples were collected and tested for HPV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Data was compiled to calculate the prevalence of HPV and the genotypic distribution.Results: The overall prevalence of HPV in this study was 22.73% and that of type 16 and 18 either alone or in combination with other subtypes was 17.26%. They were the commonest subtypes. HPV positivity was inversely related to education levels (Chi square, p=0.05). There was a significant difference in parity of women testing positive for HPV versus those negative for HPV (one tailed Pr (t<t)=0.03, 95% CI=1.445 to 1,865 at 108 degrees of freedom). No difference was observed between education and socio economic levels of positive versus negative women. Type 16 and 18 accounted for 76% of all HPV subtypes detected.Conclusions: The prevalence of HPV infection is high in Indian women. The high risk oncogenic types are the commonest subtypes. There is an urgent need to screen for the presence of high risk HPV infections in younger women so that they may be followed up more closely to prevent cervical cancers

Infergen stimulated macrophages restrict Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth by autophagy and release of nitric oxide

IFN alfacon-1 (Infergen) is a synthetic form of Interferon (IFN)-&#945;2b. Infergen has immunomodulatory activity and is effective against hepatitis C virus. However, the effect of Infergen (IFG) on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) has not yet been reported. Therefore, for the first time, we have studied the influence of IFG in constraining the survival of Mtb in human macrophages. We observed that IFG significantly enhanced the maturation and activation of macrophages. Further, it substantially augmented the secretion of IL-6, Nitric Oxide (NO) and antigen uptake. Moreover, macrophages exhibited remarkably higher bactericidal activity, as evidenced by reduction in the Mtb growth. Infergen-mediated mechanism was different from the type-1 interferons; since it worked through the activation of NF-&#954;B, phosphorylation of STAT-3 and Akt-PI3K that improved the bactericidal activity through autophagy and NO release. In future, IFG immunotherapy can be a novel strategy for treating patients and controlling TB