Nucleic acid melting by Escherichia coli CspE

Escherichia coli contains nine members of the CspA family. CspA and some of its homologues play critical role in cold acclimation of cells by acting as RNA chaperones, destabilizing nucleicacid secondary structures. Disruption of nucleic acid melting activity of CspE led to loss of its transcription antitermination activity and consequently its cold acclimation activity. To date, the melting activity of Csp proteins was studied using partially double-stranded model nucleic acids substrates forming stem–loop structures. Here, we studied the mechanism of nucleic acid melting by CspE. We show that CspE melts the stem region in two directions, that CspE-induced melting does not require the continuity of the substrate's loop region, and CspE can efficiently melt model substrates with single-stranded overhangs as short as 4 nt. We further show that preferential binding of CspE at the stem–loop junction site initiates melting; binding of additional CspE molecules that fully cover the single-stranded region of a melting substrate leads to complete melting of the stem

Woollahra Sustainability Plan

Woollahra Municipal Council (WMC) is currently undertaking a process to develop the Woollahra Sustainability Plan (WSP). The purpose of the WSP is to provide a long-term and integrated approach to planning for a sustainable community in the Woollahra local government area. The WSP will identify a long-term community derived vision with associated actions to achieve more sustainable practices in Council's function areas and activities, in addition to enabling planning of a more sustainability-focused community. The vision and actions in the WSP will embody the principles of Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD). The WSP development process is being undertaken in three stages. The first is a background stage consisting of audit and gap analysis activities, the second (the subject of this report) is a community visioning and issues stage, and the third will consist of the development of an action plan. The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) was engaged to undertake visioning and issues consultation for Stage 2. Objectives for Stage 2 include the following: to inform and involve the community in the preparation of the WSP to build strong partnerships between Council and the community to identify a community derived, long term vision for the future of Woollahra to identify sustainability related issues for Council to address in its Sustainability Plan, including social, economic and environmental issues to involve a range of people in the project including the youth, children, seniors and families and to employ a range of consultation methods and techniques to engage the community and gain the necessary community input and participation in the project

LIQUISOLID COMPACT TECHNIQUES: A REVIEW

The poor dissolution rate of water-insoluble drugs is still a substantial problem confronting the pharmaceutical industry. There are several methods used to increase the solubility of drugs, of those liquid-solid compact technique is a new and promising addition towards such a novel aim, that the solubility of the insoluble drug moiety is increased by the aid of non-volatile solvents and hence increasing the dissolution and bioavailability. Oral drug administration has been one of the most convenient and widely accepted routes of delivery for most of the therapeutic agents. It is one of the most extensively used routes of drug administration because of its obvious advantages of ease of administration, improved patient compliance, and convenience. The enhancement of oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs remains one of the most challenging aspects of drug development. A more recent technique, powdered solution technology†or Liquisolid technologyâ€, has been applied to prepare water-insoluble drugs into rapid-release solid dosage forms. The limited solubility of drugs is a challenging issue for the industry, during the development of the ideal solid dosage form unit. The technique is based upon the dissolving the insoluble drug in the nonvolatile solvent and admixture of drug loaded solutions with appropriate carrier and coating materials to convert into acceptably flowing and compressible powders

Android Application for Ticket Booking using QR-Code

India?s population increase day by day, mostly common peoples are depends on the railway locals for travelling to their destinations. Due to increase in travelling passengers by local trains, it is time consuming and frustrated process to buy tickets in a standing queue. To encounter this, the railway has introduced the concept of ATVM cards but losing or theft cards proved to be uneconomical. Our project deals with implementation of a smart-phone application to buy a local railway tickets which is simple and easy to use.The customer application consists of Registration and buying ticket through QR-code.Payment can be done through user?s account i.e. if user is agree to buy ticket then the equivalent ?amount? of the ticket will be deducted from the users account. After payment, ticket is generated on server side, saved in the database and also sent back to the user mobile and saved in the application?s memory which serves as a ticket for the user. The ticket checker application is used to validate the ticket by entering the serial number obtained by the user and searching in the railway database to check whether the user?s ticket is valid or invalid

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF TOPICAL ANTIFUNGAL GEL CONTAINING ITRACONAZOLE

Objective: The present research has been undertaken with the aim to develop a topical gel formulation of Itraconazole. Itraconazole is an imidazole derivative and used for the treatment of local and systemic fungal infection. The oral use of Itraconazole is not much recommended as it has many side effects. Commercially Itraconazole topical gel preparation are not available in the market, thus this formulation is made for better patient compliance and to reduce the dose of the drug and to avoid the side effects like liver damage and kidney damage.Methods: The gel was formulated by changing the polymer ratio. Various formulation (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5) were developed by using a suitable polymer (carbopol 934p and HPMC). The formulation was evaluated for % yield, spreadability, extrudability, wash ability and viscosity in vitro drug release study, skin irritation study, stability testing.Results: Viscosity studies of various formulations revealed that formulation F3 was better to compare to others. From among all the developed formulation, F3 shows better drug diffusion, did good Rheological properties. pH of the F3 formulation is sufficient enough to treat the skin infections. Results indicated that the concentration of carbopol-934 and HPMC K4M significantly affects drug release and rheological properties of the gels.Conclusion: It was concluded that formulation F3 was the best formulation among this formulation. Hence formulation F3 should be further developed for scale-up to industrial production

Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Clinical Manifestations, Dietary Influences, and Management.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder that is characterized by symptoms of chronic abdominal pain and altered bowel habits in the absence of an overtly identifiable cause. It is the most commonly diagnosed functional gastrointestinal disorder, accounting for about one third of gastroenterology visits. It generally presents as a complex of symptoms, including psychological dysfunction. Hypersensitivity to certain foods, especially foods that contain high amounts of fructose, plays a role in the pathophysiology of IBS. Elevated consumption of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has been discussed in this aspect. The treatment options for IBS are challenging and varied. In addition to dietary restrictions for HFCS-induced IBS, such as low-FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharide, Monosaccharides, and Polyols) diets, existing drug therapies are administered based on the predominant symptoms and IBS-subtype. Patients with IBS are likely to suffer from issues, such as anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic-stress disorder. Biopsychosocial factors particularly socioeconomic status, sex, and race should, thus, be considered for diagnostic evaluation of patients with IBS

Shrimp oil extracted from shrimp processing by-product is a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids and astaxanthin-esters, and reveals potential anti-adipogenic effects in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

The province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, generates tons of shrimp processing by-product every year. Shrimp processing by-product is a valuable source of shrimp oil and astaxanthin (Astx), a potent antioxidant that exist in either free or esterified form (Astx-E). As part of this thesis, extraction of shrimp oil was carried out from shrimp processing by-product using various extraction methods. The shrimp oil extracted from shrimp processing by-product using Soxhlet method (hexane: acetone 2:3) showed that shrimp oil is rich in omega (n)-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), phospholipids and Astx-E. Shrimp oil was also extracted from shrimp processing by-product using waste fish oil as a solvent, and also fish waste. The oil extracts were rich in triacylglycerols (TAG), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), followed by PUFA, and contained low amount of total carotenoids. The next objective of this thesis was to investigate the effects of shrimp extract and shrimp oil on fat accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, and the mRNA expression of genes involved in adipogenesis and lipogenesis. I also investigated the effects of fish oil, and a combination of fish oil plus Astx-E on fat accumulation, and the mRNA expression of genes involved in adipogenesis and lipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. My findings demonstrated that shrimp oil extracted from shrimp processing by-product using the Soxhlet method decreased fat accumulation, and reduced the mRNA expression of adipogenic and lipogenic genes, compared to untreated cells. However, fish oil and fish oil plus Astx-E increased fat accumulation, and the mRNA expression of adipogenic and lipogenic genes, compared to untreated cells. Thus, shrimp oil and fish oil appear to regulate adipogenesis and lipogenesis via independent pathways. Shrimp oil extracts using waste fish oil revealed similar effects on adipogenesis and lipogenesis as that of fish oil. Overall, my findings demonstrate that shrimp oil extracted from shrimp processing by-product using the Soxhlet method contains a significant amount of phospholipids, n-3 PUFA and Astx-E, and inhibits fat accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells. Thus, it has the potential to elicit anti-adipogenic effects