Molecular Identification of Microbes: I. Macrophomina Phaseolina

This chapter will help us in the isolation of Macrophomina phaseolina from soil and infected plants and examination of morphological and physiological features for identification by using microscopic and cultural characters. In the later part, we will learn recent research findings to identify this fungus using PCR-based molecular techniques

Development and Implementation of Integrated Road Traffic Injuries Surveillance – India (IRIS-India): A Protocol

Road traffic accidents stand as one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity across the globe. The reasons for the high burden of road traffic injuries (RTIs) in developing countries are increasing in the number of motor vehicles, poor enforcement of traffic safety regulations, inadequacy of health infrastructure and poor transport facility. However, the systematic collection of road traffic data is not well developed in many developing countries including India and under-reporting of RTIs and deaths are common. Hence, surveillance of RTIs is recommended to assess the burden, to identify high-risk groups, to establish an association with probable risk factors and to plan interventions to control the RTIs. The broad objective of this study is to establish an electronic-based comprehensive and integrated RTI surveillance system, to assess the burden of RTIs, its risk factors and outcomes across rural and urban settings in India. This study with the support of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is progressing in three cities (Chennai, Delhi and Jaipur) and two rural areas (Chittoor and Tehri-Garhwal). At each centre, major sources of data can be categorized under two categories including health facilities and community. In urban areas, one trauma centre, one private hospital and a community of 10000-population are included in the study. In rural areas, a district hospital, a private nursing home and two sub-centres areas of different primary health centres at each site are included for the surveillance. Passive surveillance is done at the trauma centres/district hospitals, while active surveillance is done in private hospitals/nursing homes, sub-centres and communities. Before establishing the surveillance system, situational analysis has been undertaken. Surveillance-related software was developed during the preparatory stage. This electronic surveillance platform allowed to gather data electronically across multiple sites. This internet-enabled surveillance platform has several modules to capture and analyse the data. The present study provides a model of surveillance including both passive and active surveillance to cover maximum number of RTIs. This study further provides the first comprehensive epidemiology of RTIs. The results of these studies will contribute to the setting of research and investment priorities to tackle the burden of RTIs

Development and Implementation of Integrated Road Traffic Injuries Surveillance – India (IRIS-India): A Protocol

Road traffic accidents stand as one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity across the globe. The reasons for the high burden of road traffic injuries (RTIs) in developing countries are increasing in the number of motor vehicles, poor enforcement of traffic safety regulations, inadequacy of health infrastructure and poor transport facility. However, the systematic collection of road traffic data is not well developed in many developing countries including India and under-reporting of RTIs and deaths are common. Hence, surveillance of RTIs is recommended to assess the burden, to identify high-risk groups, to establish an association with probable risk factors and to plan interventions to control the RTIs. The broad objective of this study is to establish an electronic-based comprehensive and integrated RTI surveillance system, to assess the burden of RTIs, its risk factors and outcomes across rural and urban settings in India. This study with the support of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is progressing in three cities (Chennai, Delhi and Jaipur) and two rural areas (Chittoor and Tehri-Garhwal). At each centre, major sources of data can be categorized under two categories including health facilities and community. In urban areas, one trauma centre, one private hospital and a community of 10000-population are included in the study. In rural areas, a district hospital, a private nursing home and two sub-centres areas of different primary health centres at each site are included for the surveillance. Passive surveillance is done at the trauma centres/district hospitals, while active surveillance is done in private hospitals/nursing homes, sub-centres and communities. Before establishing the surveillance system, situational analysis has been undertaken. Surveillance-related software was developed during the preparatory stage. This electronic surveillance platform allowed to gather data electronically across multiple sites. This internet-enabled surveillance platform has several modules to capture and analyse the data. The present study provides a model of surveillance including both passive and active surveillance to cover maximum number of RTIs. This study further provides the first comprehensive epidemiology of RTIs. The results of these studies will contribute to the setting of research and investment priorities to tackle the burden of RTIs

Therapeutic Implications of Targeting Energy Metabolism in Breast Cancer

PPARs are ligand activated transcription factors. PPAR agonists have been reported as a new and potentially efficacious treatment of inflammation, diabetes, obesity, cancer, AD, and schizophrenia. Since cancer cells show dysregulation of glycolysis they are potentially manageable through changes in metabolic environment. Interestingly, several of the genes involved in maintaining the metabolic environment and the central energy generation pathway are regulated or predicted to be regulated by PPAR . The use of synthetic PPAR ligands as drugs and their recent withdrawal/restricted usage highlight the lack of understanding of the molecular basis of these drugs, their off-target effects, and their network. These data further underscores the complexity of nuclear receptor signalling mechanisms. This paper will discuss the function and role of PPAR in energy metabolism and cancer biology in general and its emergence as a promising therapeutic target in breast cancer

Prevalence and pathogenic diversity in pearl millet downy mildew pathogen populations in Maharashtra, India

Pearl millet fields were surveyed in Maharashtra, India during the rainy seasons of 2009 and 2010 to monitor onfarm downy mildew (DM) incidence and assess the pathogenic diversity among native populations of Sclerospora graminicola. Of the 131 fields surveyed in seven districts in Maharashtra, DM was observed in 72 fields in the range of 1–90%. DM was quite severe in Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Aurangabad and Jalna districts with mean disease incidence of 56, 40, 35 and 32, respectively. Severe DM was observed on Pioneer 86M32, B 2301, GK 419, Tulsi, 535, 452 and several hybrids of unknown identity; whereas hybrids MRB 204, Nirmal 40, Sathya, Super 515, Super Boss, Tulja, XL 51, Great 555, Nuzvid 2301, Paras 51 and Sandeep were free from DM. Twenty six S. graminicola isolates collected during 2009–10 from Maharashtra were evaluated for pathogenic diversity on seven pearl millet host differential lines along with three isolates of S. graminicola collected earlier from the same region. Mean disease incidence on host differentials varied from 5 to 80%. S. graminicola isolates Sg 542, Sg 543, Sg 544, Sg 545, Sg 547, Sg 549, Sg 550, Sg 552, Sg 553, Sg 554 and Sg 555 showed > 50% mean DM incidence across host differentials. Highly virulent isolate Sg 542 collected from Deogaon, Aurangabad has been selected for the greenhouse screening of pearl millet lines being developed for Maharashtr

Formulations and evaluation of Cyclodextrin complexed Ceadroxil loaded nanosponges

Cefadroxil (CFD) is a broad spectrum antibiotic that acts against an extensive variety of bacteria, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The major drawback of orally administered drug like cefadroxil is its shorter half life of 1.2 hrs. The goal of the study is to prolong the drug release, producing a desired blood serum level, reduction in drug toxicity and improving the patient compliance by prolonging the dosing intervals. Cyclodextrin-based nanosponges (NS) are a novel class of cross-linked derivatives of cyclodextrins. They have been used to increase the solubility of poorly soluble actives, to protect the labile groups and control the release. This study aimed at formulating complexes of CFDwith three types of β-cyclodextrin NS obtained with different cross-linking ratio (viz. 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8 on molar basis with the cross-linker) to protect the lactone ring from hydrolysis and to prolong the release kinetics of CFD. Crystalline (F1:2, F1:4 and F1:8) and paracrystalline NS formulations were prepared. XRPD, DSC and FTIR studies confirmed the interactions of CFDwith NS. XRPD showed that the crystallinity of CFD decreased after loading. CFD was loaded as much as 21%, 37% and 13% w/w in F1:2 , F1:4 and F1:8, respectively while the paracrystalline NS formulations gave a loading of about 10% w/w or lower. The particle sizes of the loaded NS formulations were between 450 and 600 nm with low polydispersity indices. The zeta potentials were sufficiently high (-20 to -25 mV) to obtain a stable colloidal nanosuspension. The in vitro studies indicated a slow and prolonged CFD release over a period of 24 h. The NS formulations protected the lactone ring of CFD after their incubation in physiological conditions at 37°C for 24 h with a 80% w/w of intact lactone ring when compared to only around 20% w/w of plain CFD

Understanding the burden of injuries in Nepal: A systematic review of published studies

BackgroundThe population of Nepal are vulnerable to injuries from natural disasters as well as those occurring in the home, at work and on the roads.AimTo collate and synthesise the published literature reporting injuries to people of any age resident in Nepal.MethodWe searched five electronic databases using an inclusive search strategy. Potentially eligible citations were screened by title and abstract and full texts of studies obtained. Data were extracted by two researchers. Synthesis was reported narratively by injury type and study design.ResultsWe identified 186 publications reporting 176 unique studies. Most studies used designs likely to underestimate the true burden of disease, including 144 case series and 36 cross-sectional studies. No trials were identified. The largest number of publications were related to poisoning and self-harm with only 22 focussing on road traffic injuries. There was minimal exploration of inequalities in injury occurrence other than descriptive reporting by age and gender. ConclusionsThere is limited research using study designs at low risk of bias on injuries occurring to residents of Nepal, even on areas of concern such as road traffic injuries. The findings indicate a lack of robust epidemiological evidence to inform strategic approaches to injury prevention and suggest a need for capacity strengthening for injury prevention research

Fine genetic mapping of combined shoot fly resistance (SFR) and stay green (STG) traits on sorghum chromosome SBI-10

Sorghum is fifth most important C4 cereal crop used as food, feed, fodder, fuel and a “fail safe” source in semi-arid tropics of the world..

Curcumin-Loaded Apotransferrin Nanoparticles Provide Efficient Cellular Uptake and Effectively Inhibit HIV-1 Replication In Vitro

Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) shows significant activity across a wide spectrum of conditions, but its usefulness is rather limited because of its low bioavailability. Use of nanoparticle formulations to enhance curcumin bioavailability is an emerging area of research.In the present study, curcumin-loaded apotransferrin nanoparticles (nano-curcumin) prepared by sol-oil chemistry and were characterized by electron and atomic force microscopy. Confocal studies and fluorimetric analysis revealed that these particles enter T cells through transferrin-mediated endocytosis. Nano-curcumin releases significant quantities of drug gradually over a fairly long period, ∼50% of curcumin still remaining at 6 h of time. In contrast, intracellular soluble curcumin (sol-curcumin) reaches a maximum at 2 h followed by its complete elimination by 4 h. While sol-curcumin (GI(50) = 15.6 µM) is twice more toxic than nano-curcumin (GI(50) = 32.5 µM), nano-curcumin (IC(50)<1.75 µM) shows a higher anti-HIV activity compared to sol-curcumin (IC(50) = 5.1 µM). Studies in vitro showed that nano-curcumin prominently inhibited the HIV-1 induced expression of Topo II α, IL-1β and COX-2, an effect not seen with sol-curcumin. Nano-curcumin did not affect the expression of Topoisomerase II β and TNF α. This point out that nano-curcumin affects the HIV-1 induced inflammatory responses through pathways downstream or independent of TNF α. Furthermore, nano-curcumin completely blocks the synthesis of viral cDNA in the gag region suggesting that the nano-curcumin mediated inhibition of HIV-1 replication is targeted to viral cDNA synthesis.Curcumin-loaded apotransferrin nanoparticles are highly efficacious inhibitors of HIV-1 replication in vitro and promise a high potential for clinical usefulness