Evaluation of Antihyperglycemic Effect of Aqueous Extract of Leaves of Annona Squamosa in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

AIM OF THE SUDY: The aim is to evaluate the antihyperglycemic effect of Annona squamosa leaf extract in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats by tail venepuncture method. METHODS: 24 adult male albino rats weighing 150-200g were selected from central animal house, Madurai Medical College, Madurai. Initially, 24 albino rats were divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each. Group I received normal feed. Group II received Tab. Glibenclamide1mg/kg orally. Group III and Group IV received Annona squamosa leaf extract 300mg/kg and 600mg/kg orally for 14days.The blood glucose level was monitored on day 1, 7 and 14 by tail vene puncture method. RESULTS: On day 7 and day 14, there was a significant fall in blood glucose level in the Annona treated groups, when compared with the control (p Test group 2 > Test group 1, when compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: It was observed that Annona leaf extract at 300 mg/kg and 600 mg/kg produce statistically significant reduction in blood glucose level in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats when compared with control group. Increased mRNA expression of GLUT4 in peripheral tissues, the insulin releasing property, free radical scavenging property, inhibition of intestinal absorption of glucose and inhibition of PTP1B, might be possible mechanisms for the antihyperglycemic activity of Annona squamosa

A prognostic model for overall survival of patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer: a multicentre, retrospective study.

Intratumoural heterogeneity has been previously shown to be related to clonal evolution and genetic instability and associated with tumour progression. Phenotypically, it is reflected in the diversity of appearance and morphology within cell populations. Computer-extracted features relating to tumour cellular diversity on routine tissue images might correlate with outcome. This study investigated the prognostic ability of computer-extracted features of tumour cellular diversity (CellDiv) from haematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained histology images of non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs). In this multicentre, retrospective study, we included 1057 patients with early-stage NSCLC with corresponding diagnostic histology slides and overall survival information from four different centres. CellDiv features quantifying local cellular morphological diversity from H&E-stained histology images were extracted from the tumour epithelium region. A Cox proportional hazards model based on CellDiv was used to construct risk scores for lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD; 270 patients) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC; 216 patients) separately using data from two of the cohorts, and was validated in the two remaining independent cohorts (comprising 236 patients with LUAD and 335 patients with LUSC). We used multivariable Cox regression analysis to examine the predictive ability of CellDiv features for 5-year overall survival, controlling for the effects of clinical and pathological parameters. We did a gene set enrichment and Gene Ontology analysis on 405 patients to identify associations with differentially expressed biological pathways implicated in lung cancer pathogenesis. For prognosis of patients with early-stage LUSC, the CellDiv LUSC model included 11 discriminative CellDiv features, whereas for patients with early-stage LUAD, the model included 23 features. In the independent validation cohorts, patients predicted to be at a higher risk by the univariable CellDiv model had significantly worse 5-year overall survival (hazard ratio 1·48 [95% CI 1·06-2·08]; p=0·022 for The Cancer Genome Atlas [TCGA] LUSC group, 2·24 [1·04-4·80]; p=0·039 for the University of Bern LUSC group, and 1·62 [1·15-2·30]; p=0·0058 for the TCGA LUAD group). The identified CellDiv features were also found to be strongly associated with apoptotic signalling and cell differentiation pathways. CellDiv features were strongly prognostic of 5-year overall survival in patients with early-stage NSCLC and also associated with apoptotic signalling and cell differentiation pathways. The CellDiv-based risk stratification model could potentially help to determine which patients with early-stage NSCLC might receive added benefit from adjuvant therapy. National Institue of Health and US Department of Defense

Molecular breeding for nutritionally enriched maize: status and prospects

Open Access Journal; Published online: 21 Feb 2020Maize is a major source of food security and economic development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), Latin America, and the Caribbean, and is among the top three cereal crops in Asia. Yet, maize is deficient in certain essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Biofortified maize cultivars enriched with essential minerals and vitamins could be particularly impactful in rural areas with limited access to diversified diet, dietary supplements, and fortified foods. Significant progress has been made in developing, testing, and deploying maize cultivars biofortified with quality protein maize (QPM), provitamin A, and kernel zinc. In this review, we outline the status and prospects of developing nutritionally enriched maize by successfully harnessing conventional and molecular marker-assisted breeding, highlighting the need for intensification of efforts to create greater impacts on malnutrition in maize-consuming populations, especially in the low- and middle-income countries. Molecular marker-assisted selection methods are particularly useful for improving nutritional traits since conventional breeding methods are relatively constrained by the cost and throughput of nutritional trait phenotyping

Centrifugally driven relativistic dynamics on curved trajectories

Motion of test particles along rotating curved trajectories is considered. The problem is studied both in the laboratory and the rotating frames of reference. It is assumed that the system rotates with the constant angular velocity $\omega = const$. The solutions are found and analyzed for the case when the form of the trajectory is given by an Archimedes spiral. It is found that particles can reach infinity while they move along these trajectories and the physical interpretation of their behaviour is given. The analogy of this idealized study with the motion of particles along the curved rotating magnetic field lines in the pulsar magnetosphere is pointed out. We discuss further physical development (the conserved total energy case, when $\omega \ne const$) and astrophysical applications (the acceleration of particles in active galactic nuclei) of this theory.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the vol.35 (July issue) of the "General Relativity and Gravitation

An efficient auxin-inducible degron system with low basal degradation in human cells

Auxin-inducible degron technology allows rapid and controlled protein depletion. However, basal degradation without auxin and inefficient auxin-inducible depletion have limited its utility. We have identified a potent auxin-inducible degron system composed of auxin receptor F-box protein AtAFB2 and short degron minilAA7. The system showed minimal basal degradation and enabled rapid auxin-inducible depletion of endogenous human transmembrane, cytoplasmic and nuclear proteins in 1 h with robust functional phenotypes.Peer reviewe

Using ICP-OES and SEM-EDX in biosorption studies

We have compared the analytical results obtained by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and by scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive X-ray analytical system (SEM-EDX) in order to explore the mechanism of metal ions biosorption by biomass using two independent methods. The marine macroalga Enteromorpha sp. was enriched with Cu(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), and Co(II) ions via biosorption, and the biosorption capacity of alga determined from the solution and biomass composition before and after biosorption process was compared. The first technique was used to analyze the composition of the natural and metal-loaded biomass, and additionally the composition of the solution before and after biosorption. The second technique was used to obtain a picture of the surface of natural and metal ion-loaded macroalgae, to map the elements on the cell wall of dry biomass, and to determine their concentration before and after biosorption. ICP-OES showed a better precision and lower detection limit than EDX, but SEM-EDX gave more information regarding the sample composition of Enteromorpha sp. Both techniques confirmed that biosorption is a surface phenomenon, in which alkali and alkaline earth metal ions were exchanged by metal ions from aqueous solution

Surgical Techniques to Optimize Early Urinary Continence Recovery Post Robot Assisted Radical Prostatectomy for Prostate Cancer.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: A variety of different surgical techniques are thought to impact on urinary continence (UC) recovery in patients undergoing robot assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for prostate cancer. Herein, we review current evidence and propose a composite evidence-based technique to optimize UC recovery after RARP. RECENT FINDINGS: A literature search on studies reporting on surgical techniques to improve early continence recovery post robotic prostatectomy was conducted on PubMed and EMBASE. The available data from studies ranging from randomized control trials to retrospective cohort studies suggest that minimizing damage to the internal and external urinary sphincters and their neural supply, maximal sparing of urethral length, creating a secure vesicourethral anastomosis, and providing anterior and posterior myo- fascio-ligamentous support to the anastomosis can improve early UC recovery post RARP. A composite evidence-based surgical technique incorporating the above principles could optimize early UC recovery post RARP. Evidence from randomized studies is required to prove benefit

Cholesterol Corrects Altered Conformation of MHC-II Protein in Leishmania donovani Infected Macrophages: Implication in Therapy

Previously we reported that Kala-azar patients show progressive decrease in serum cholesterol as a function of splenic parasite burden. Splenic macrophages (MΦ) of Leishmania donovani (LD) infected mice show decrease in membrane cholesterol, while LD infected macrophages (I-MΦ) show defective T cell stimulating ability that could be corrected by liposomal delivery of cholesterol. T helper cells recognize peptide antigen in the context of class II MHC molecule. It is known that the conformation of a large number of membrane proteins is dependent on membrane cholesterol. In this investigation we tried to understand the influence of decreased membrane cholesterol in I-MΦ on the conformation of MHC-II protein and peptide-MHC-II stability, and its bearing on the antigen specific T-cell activatio

Long-term monitoring of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's jets with OSIRIS onboard Rosetta

We used the OSIRIS camera system onboard the Rosetta spacecraft to monitor jet activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. With a monthly cadence, we covered an epoch from 2014 December to 2015 October, thereby including the first equinox and the perihelion passage. Jet features were measured in individual images, which were used to perform a statistical inversion. The study provides maps for the locations of likeliest sources of jet activity on the comet's surface as a function of time. The sources follow the subsolar latitude, show clustering and a broadening of the activity band with time in the Northern hemisphere. In the Southern hemisphere, they are not clustered but show a broader spread over all longitudes which is either related to the north-south dichotomy of the comet's topography or due to a higher insolation during southern summer