Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol—which is a marker of cardiovascular risk—changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million–4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.</p

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol�which is a marker of cardiovascular risk�changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95 credible interval 3.7 million�4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited

Assessing Policy Choices For Managing SO2 Emisions From Indian Power Sector

The production, transportation and consumption of energy resources, especially of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, generate negative environmental externalities including air pollution. The use of energy resources are the largest anthropogenic source of air pollution and the impacts are felt both at the global and local level. At the global level, emissions include greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon-dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) and the local pollutants include sulphur-dioxide (SO2), nitrogen-dioxide (NO2), suspended particulate matter (SPM) and carbon monoxide (CO). The GHG emissions cause global warming, which impacts agriculture and food security, natural ecosystems, human health, energy and industrial infrastructures, and coastal areas. In the case of local pollutants, their concentration in the ambient air reflects the air quality in an area. These concentrations, if exceeded, result in direct and immediate damaging impacts on human health and ecosystems, besides having other local and regional impacts such as acid rains.[CSH OP NO 12]Energy; environment; policymaking; deteriorating; air quality; market-based instruments; power generation; coal; steel; cement; chemical; fertilizer; externalities; GHG emissions; SO2; air quality management; Mashelkar Committee; Public Interest Litigations; power sector; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; cost savings; Power; Planning Commission, 2002b; Industrial Policy Resolution; Electricity Supply Act, 1948; National Thermal Power Corporation

Matters of the desert: A perspective on achieving food and nutrition security through plants of the (semi) arid regions

The semi- and arid agro-climatic zones of India harbor numerous plants, many occurring as wild and neglected inhabitants of the desert landscape, that bear edible fruits. They are capable of growing in extreme temperatures, on marginal lands and water-scarce conditions. These also represent sustainable food sources for the future. The benefits that they confer to the ecosystems and communities can be manifold: (a) as influencers of agricultural productivity for other crops (like cereals) in agroforestry systems; (b) as balanced functional foods by way of providing high quality protein, macro- and micronutrients to target protein-calorie malnutrition; (c) as sources of antioxidants, nutraceuticals and bioactive leads to target the ever-increasing burden of non-communicable diseases like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. A few representative examples of the promising desert plants include: Prosopis cineraria, Acacia senegal, Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (cluster bean), Capparis decidua, Ziziphus mauritiana (Indian jujube), Cordia dichotoma, Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Calligonum polygonoides, and millets. Even though the potential of such plants has been recognized by food and agricultural scientists, research gaps like low yield, disease vulnerability, presence of anti-nutrients, unavailable genomic sequence information, exclusion from the formal food value chain, and poor marketing strategies, prevent the realization of their full potential. The current perspective looks at the promise afforded by underutilized plants of the Indian desert regions in ensuring food and nutrition security as well as the possibility of developing value-added agri-food products from them. The complementary role that food processing technologies can play in achieving the desired goals would also be highlighted so as to transform the desert plants from traditional to ‘climate-smart’ future foods

Microstructural changes and their influence on corrosion post-annealing treatment of copper and AISI 5140 steel in 3.5 wt% NaCl medium

AbstractCorrosion is one of the major issues faced by marine industries. Two of the major metals used in these industries include copper and AISI 5140 steel. This iterates the importance of understanding the microstructure and its influence on the corrosion behavior of these metals in 3.5 wt% NaCl that is studied here. Annealing treatment was performed for both the metals, and the microstructure before and after the annealing treatment was performed using an optical microscope and SEM. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the metals before and after heat treatment was performed, and it was found that the annealing treatment caused an increase in the crystallite size irrespective of the metal. The samples were subjected to Vicker’s microhardness testing, and a decrease in the hardness was achieved post-annealing. The electrochemical studies further proved that there is an improvement in corrosion resistance post-annealing. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters are described using Arrhenius and transition state theories

In silico anti-viral assessment of phytoconstituents in a traditional (Siddha Medicine) polyherbal formulation – Targeting Mpro and pan-coronavirus post-fusion Spike protein

Background and aim: Novel nature of the viral pathogen SARS-CoV-2 and the absence of standard drugs for treatment, have been a major challenge to combat this deadly infection. Natural products offer safe and effective remedy, for which traditional ethnic medicine can provide leads. An indigenous poly-herbal formulation, Kabasura Kudineer from Siddha system of medicine was evaluated here using a combination of computational approaches, to identify potential inhibitors against two anti-SARS-CoV-2 targets – post-fusion Spike protein (structural protein) and main protease (Mpro, non-structural protein). Experimental procedure: We docked 32 phytochemicals from the poly-herbal formulation against viral post-fusion Spike glycoprotein and Mpro followed by molecular dynamics using Schrodinger software. Drug-likeness analysis was performed using machine learning (ML) approach and pkCSM. Results: The binding affinity of the phytochemicals in Kabasura Kudineer revealed the following top-five bioactives: Quercetin > Luteolin > Chrysoeriol > 5-Hydroxy-7,8-Dimethoxyflavone > Scutellarein against Mpro target, and Gallic acid > Piperlonguminine > Chrysoeriol > Elemol > Piperine against post-fusion Spike protein target. Quercetin and Gallic acid exhibited binding stability in complexation with their respective viral-targets and favourable free energy change as revealed by the molecular dynamics simulations and MM-PBSA analysis. In silico predicted pharmacokinetic profiling of these ligands revealed appropriate drug-likeness properties. Conclusion: These outcomes provide: (a) potential mechanism for the anti-viral efficacy of the indigenous Siddha formulation, targeting Mpro and post-fusion Spike protein (b) top bioactive lead-molecules that may be developed as natural product-based anti-viral pharmacotherapy and their pleiotropic protective effects may be leveraged to manage co-morbidities associated with COVID-19

Supplementary Material for: Targeting HMGA2 in Retinoblastoma Cells in vitro Using the Aptamer Strategy

High-mobility group A2 (HMGA2) protein regulates retinoblastoma (RB) cancer cell proliferation. Here, a stable phosphorothioate-modified HMGA2 aptamer was used to block HMGA2 protein function in RB cells. HMGA2-aptamer internalisation in RB cells (Y79, Weri Rb1) and non-neoplastic human retinal cells (MIO-M1) were optimised. Aptamer induced dose-dependent cytotoxicity in RB cancer cells (0.25-1.5 µM). Increased expression of <i>TGFβ</i>, <i>SMAD4</i>,<i> CDH1</i>, <i>BAX</i>, <i>CASP 3</i>,<i> PARP </i>mRNA and decreased <i>SNAI1</i>,<i> Bcl2</i> mRNA levels in aptamer-treated RB cells suggests the activation of TGFβ-<i>SMAD4</i>-mediated apoptotic pathway. Synergistic effect with etoposide was observed in aptamer treated RB cells (p value ≤0.05). No significant toxicity was observed in non-neoplastic retinal cells

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Not AvailableTransgenic tomato plants accumulating high amounts (70–100 fold) of anthocyanin in the fruit were developed by the fruit specific expression of two transcription factors, Delila and Rosea1 isolated from Antirrhinum majus. The transgenic tomato plants were identical to the control plants, except for the accumulation of high levels of anthocyanin pigments throughout the fruit during maturity, thus giving the fruit a purplish colour. The total carotenoids, including lycopene levels were unaffected in the anthocyanin-rich fruits, while its antioxidant capacity was elevated. The gene expression analysis confirmed the elevated expression of the downstream genes of the anthocyanin pathway due to the expression of the transcription factors and the expression levels coincided with the fruit ripening stages, highest expression occurring during the breaker stage. Anthocyanin-rich tomato fruit is important in view of the protective function of these compounds on consumption against a number of lifestyle-related diseases.Not Availabl