Swiss Albino Mice: A Model of Research

30-31Some of the reasons why humans use animals for research purpose are discussed here

Swiss Albino Mice: A Model of Research

30-31Some of the reasons why humans use animals for research purpose are discussed here

Management of type III female genital mutilation in Birmingham, UK: a retrospective audit.

OBJECTIVES to audit clinical management of women with type III female genital mutilation (FGM) according to local guidelines. Secondary objectives were to describe the population that uses the service and compare obstetric outcomes of intrapartum deinfibulation and antenatal deinfibulation. DESIGN retrospective audit. SETTING a hospital midwifery-led FGM specialist service in Birmingham, UK. PARTICIPANTS 253 women with type III FGM who gave birth between January 2008 and December 2009 METHODS: retrospective case analysis using patient records. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES proportion of women managed according to locally agreed criteria for the management of FGM; obstetric outcomes including perineal tears, episiotomy rates, estimated blood loss, infant APGAR scores and indications for caesarean section. FINDINGS 91 (36%) women booked into antenatal care after 16 weeks gestation. Only 26 (10.3%) were managed fully according to guidelines. The area with poorest performance was child protection, where the presence of normal genitalia was documented in only 52 (38.8%) of medical notes following birth of a female infant. The majority of women (214, 84.6%) had been deinfibulated in a previous pregnancy. Of the 39 infibulated at booking, only 9 (23.1%) were deinfibulated antenatally, the rest opted for intrapartum deinfibulation. Women who had intrapartum deinfibulation had a higher average blood loss and more tears than those deinfibulated antenatally, although this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE alternative systems should be considered to improve documentation of child protection related information. Further research is needed to confirm or refute the adverse findings among those that delayed deinfibulation

Predicting Diagnostic Potential of Cathepsin in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer: A Design Validated by Computational, Biophysical and Electrochemical Data

Background: Epithelial ovarian cancer remains one of the leading variants of gynecological cancer with a high mortality rate. Feasibility and technical competence for screening and detection of epithelial ovarian cancer remain a major obstacle and the development of point of care diagnostics (POCD) may offer a simple solution for monitoring its progression. Cathepsins have been implicated as biomarkers for cancer progression and metastasis; being a protease, it has an inherent tendency to interact with Cystatin C, a cysteine protease inhibitor. This interaction was assessed for designing a POCD module. Methods: A combinatorial approach encompassing computational, biophysical and electron-transfer kinetics has been used to assess this protease-inhibitor interaction. Results: Calculations predicted two cathepsin candidates, Cathepsin K and Cathepsin L based on their binding energies and structural alignment and both predictions were confirmed experimentally. Differential pulse voltammetry was used to verify the potency of Cathepsin K and Cathepsin L interaction with Cystatin C and assess the selectivity and sensitivity of their electrochemical interactions. Electrochemical measurements indicated selectivity for both the ligands, but with increasing concentrations, there was a marked difference in the sensitivity of the detection. Conclusions: This work validated the utility of dry-lab integration in the wet-lab technique to generate leads for the design of electrochemical diagnostics for epithelial ovarian cancer

Biosynthesis and Response of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles against Periimplantitis Triggering Pathogens

Periimplantitis due to pathogenic bacteria is considered as a major cause for dental implants failures. Biogenic zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnPs) are known to inhibit periimplantitis triggering pathogens. The current investigation intended to perform ZnPs biosynthesis and evaluation against periimplantitis triggering bacteria. The current study involved ZnPs biosynthesis using Andrographis paniculata leaves aqueous extract (APLAE), followed by optimization, stability, characterization, and in vitro evaluation against periimplantitis triggering bacteria. The experimental results indicated the success of ZnPs biosynthesis based on the optimization of zinc acetate (1.5 g), plant extract (5 mL), pH 12, and temperature (25 °C), and using the stability study (absorbance between 365–370 nm) and characterization data exhibiting broad and shifted bands (in FTIR spectrum), the size was found to be below 98.61 nm (determined by FESEM and XRD spectra) and 71.54% zinc was observed in the EDX spectrum. Biogenic ZnPs exhibited a high inhibitory activity against periimplantitis-triggering pathogens (E. coli and S. aureus). Based on the experimental results, the present study concludes that biogenic ZnPs possess a high inhibitory potential against periimplantitis-triggering bacteria, and it is established that the biosynthesis of ZnPs using APLAE is a useful method

Distinguishing Thermodynamic and Kinetic Views of the Preferential Hydration of Protein Surfaces

Motivated by a quasi-chemical view of protein hydration, we define specific hydration sites on the surface of globular proteins in terms of the local water density at each site relative to bulk water density. The corresponding kinetic definition invokes the average residence time for a water molecule at each site and the average time that site remains unoccupied. Bound waters are identified by high site occupancies using either definition. In agreement with previous molecular dynamics simulation studies, we find only a weak correlation between local water densities and water residence times for hydration sites on the surface of two globular proteins, lysozyme and staphylococcal nuclease. However, a strong correlation is obtained when both the average residence and vacancy times are appropriately taken into account. In addition, two distinct kinetic regimes are observed for hydration sites with high occupancies: long residence times relative to vacancy times for a single water molecule, and short residence times with high turnover involving multiple water molecules. We also correlate water dynamics, characterized by average occupancy and vacancy times, with local heterogeneities in surface charge and surface roughness, and show that both features are necessary to obtain sites corresponding to kinetically bound waters