QSAR studies on Withanolide analogs for anticancer activity

Withanolides are a group of pharmacologically active compounds present in most prodigal amounts in roots and leaves of Withania somnifera (Indian ginseng), one of the most important medicinal plants of Indian systems of medicine. Withanolides are basically steroidal lactones (highly oxygenated C-28 phytochemicals) and similar to ginsenosides activity. Some of the withanolides that have been reported possess immunomodulatory, and anticancer activities. In the present investigation, a quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) model based on forward stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) has been developed against the MCF7, MCF7/BUS, and SK-Br-3 human solid tumor breast cancer cell lines. Relationship correlation coefficient (r2) and cross validation correlation coefficient (r2CV) of QSAR model were 0.77 and 0.73 for MCF7, 0.91 and 0.85 for MCF7/BUS, 0.93 and 0.90 for SK-Br-3 respectively. Developed QSAR model was also evaluated for prediction accuracy through internal, external and randomization validation methods. The QSAR study indicates that chemical descriptors viz., atom count (all atoms), connectivity index (order 2, standard), for MCF7, Connectivity Index (order 0, standard), Dipole Vector X (debye), Molar Refractivity, Shape Index (basic kappa, order 2) for SK-Br-3 and Atom Count (all atoms), Dielectric Energy (kcal/mole), Total Energy (Hartree), Heat of Formation (kcal/mole) for MCF7/BUS are correlate well with the breast cancer activity, Moreover, on the basis of screening for oral bioavailability, in silico ADME and toxicity risk assessment, we concluded that compounds W3, W4, W8 have markedly higher anticancer activity compared to control. These results can offer useful references for directing the molecular design of lead compound(s) based on withanolide or analogous template with improved activity

Biochemical response of earthworm, Eisenia fetida to heavy metals toxicity

Soil heavy metal pollution is widespread and has severe adverse effects on soil organisms. Earthworms are the major soil organisms which perform several beneficial ecological functions butare vulnerable to damage from heavy metal pollution of soil. The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential toxicity of arsenic (As) and chromium (Cr) on the biochemical response of the earthworm, Eisenia fetida. Following exposure to various sub-lethal concentrations ofAs (34, 68, 102 and 136 mg/kg) and Cr(26, 51, 77 and 102 mg/kg ) for 28 days, the levels of several biochemical markers, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), Glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were assessed. The results showed that both heavy metals significantly (p<0.05)  impacted the antioxidant enzyme activities and MDA content during the entire exposure period. Compared with the control, SOD, CAT, POD and GST activities increased significantly (p<0.05) by (6.21-23.23, 6.32-18.6, 15.87-34.18 and 0.84-5.45% respectively) at14th day, but after prolonged exposure, these activities were significantly (p<0.05) decreased (9.58-38.13, 10.09-30.03, 19.05-53.16 and 2.26-9.36% respectively) at 28th day. The contents of MDA showed significant (p<0.05) increase (17.84-45.59%) in all exposure groups for entire exposure period. Therefore, it can be concluded that antioxidants play a direct role in the adaptive response of E. fetida for survival in heavy metal contaminated soil. This adaptive antioxidant response can be used as an important biomarker to assess the toxicity of heavy metals in the soil ecosystems

Agronomic biofortification of food crops: An emerging opportunity for global food and nutritional security

Fortification of food with mineral micronutrients and micronutrient supplementation occupied the center stage during the two-year-long Corona Pandemic, highlighting the urgent need to focus on micronutrition. Focus has also been intensified on the biofortification (natural assimilation) of mineral micronutrients into food crops using various techniques like agronomic, genetic, or transgenic. Agronomic biofortification is a time-tested method and has been found useful in the fortification of several nutrients in several crops, yet the nutrient use and uptake efficiency of crops has been noted to vary due to different growing conditions like soil type, crop management, fertilizer type, etc. Agronomic biofortification can be an important tool in achieving nutritional security and its importance has recently increased because of climate change related issues, and pandemics such as COVID-19. The introduction of high specialty fertilizers like nano-fertilizers, chelated fertilizers, and water-soluble fertilizers that have high nutrient uptake efficiency and better nutrient translocation to the consumable parts of a crop plant has further improved the effectiveness of agronomic biofortification. Several new agronomic biofortification techniques like nutripriming, foliar application, soilless activation, and mechanized application techniques have further increased the relevance of agronomic biofortification. These new technological advances, along with an increased realization of mineral micronutrient nutrition have reinforced the relevance of agronomic biofortification for global food and nutritional security. The review highlights the advances made in the field of agronomic biofortification via the improved new fertilizer forms, and the emerging techniques that achieve better micronutrient use efficiency of crop plants

Proteomics of Trypanosoma evansi Infection in Rodents

infection using mass spectrometry (MS). in mice infected with camel isolate. Homology driven searches for protein identification from MS/MS data led to most of the matches arising from related Trypanosoma species. Proteins identified belonged to various functional categories including metabolic enzymes; DNA metabolism; transcription; translation as well as cell-cell communication and signal transduction. TCA cycle enzymes were strikingly missing, possibly suggesting their low abundances. The clinical proteome revealed the presence of known and potential drug targets such as oligopeptidases, kinases, cysteine proteases and more. infections

Computed tomography texture-based radiomics analysis in gallbladder cancer: initial experience

Aim of the study: To investigate computed tomography (CT) texture parameters in suspected gallbladder cancer (GBC) and assess its utility in predicting histopathological grade and overall survival. Material and methods: This retrospective pilot study included consecutive patients with clinically suspected GBC. CT images, clinical, and histological or cytological data were retrieved from the database. CT images were reviewed by two radiologists. A single axial CT section in the portal venous phase was selected for texture analysis. Radiomic feature extraction was done using commercially available research software. Results: Thirty-eight patients (31 females, mean age 53.1 years) were included. Malignancy was confirmed in 29 patients in histopathology or cytology analysis, and the rest had no features of malignancy. Exophytic gallbladder mass with associated gallbladder wall thickening was present in 22 (58%) patients. Lymph nodal, liver, and omental metastases were present in 10, 1, and 3 patients, respectively. The mean overall survival was 9.7 months. There were significant differences in mean and kurtosis at medium texture scales to differentiate moderately differentiated and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (p < 0.05). The only texture parameter that was significantly associated with survival was kurtosis (p = 0.020) at medium texture scales. In multivariate analysis, factors found to be significantly associated with length of overall survival were mean number of positive pixels (p = 0.02), skewness (p = -0.046), kurtosis (0.018), and standard deviation (p = 0.045). Conclusions: Our preliminary results highlight the potential utility of CT texture-based radiomics analysis in patients with GBC. Medium texture scale parameters including both mean and kurtosis, or kurtosis alone, may help predict the histological grade and survival, respectively

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An Empirical Study on Consumers’ Buying Intentions of Counterfeit Products in India

250-260The infringement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the form of counterfeiting has emerged as one of the biggest crimes of the contemporary world. Counterfeiting has become a global epidemic, creating huge losses to the established brands, economy of a nation, undermining innovation and creativity and posing a significant threat to consumer health and safety. In recent times, it has become the world’s fastest growing and most profitable business. To combat counterfeiting, a detailed investigation from the consumers demand perspective is required as the universal law of economics states that “where there is a demand, there will be a supply”. The main aim of the study is to identify the key psychographic determinants affecting consumers’ buying intentions of purchasing counterfeit products in India. The main findings of the study revealed that price consciousness, novelty seeking, status consumption and peer pressure are the key psychographic determinants affecting consumers’ buying intention of purchasing counterfeit products. It has also been found that value consciousness has no influence on consumers’ buying intention of purchasing counterfeit products. The study is relevant to the current marketing scenario as it provides useful insights to the brand manufacturers and marketers for developing effective strategies and policies required to influence consumers’ buying intentions of purchasing counterfeit products

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Not AvailableThe importance of Trypanosoma evansi as the etiological agent for surra is often overlooked due to difficulty in accurate diagnosis of the disease. In the present study, an antibody-ELISA was developed using whole cell lysate antigen prepared from purified trypanosomes and used for seroprevalence study of T. evansi in equids. A total of 3695 equids were surveyed and blood samples were collected from each animal during September 2009 to August 2011. Out of these, 420 serum samples were found positive for presence of antibodies against T. evansi collected from equids of six agro-climatic zones of North and North-western regions of India comprising eight states viz., Gujarat (36/479), Haryana (11/275), Himachal Pradesh (14/83), Jammu and Kashmir (32/221), Punjab (1/38), Rajasthan (90/1148), Uttarakhand (141/753), and Uttar Pradesh (65/330). The maximum seroprevalence (19.69%) for T. evansi infection was observed in equids of Uttar Pradesh state with an overall seroprevalence of 11.36% in North and North-western regions of India. The results indicated that surra is endemic in equids of North and North-western parts of India.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe importance of Trypanosoma evansi as the etiological agent for surra is often overlooked due to difficulty in accurate diagnosis of the disease. In the present study, an antibody-ELISA was developed using whole cell lysate antigen prepared from purified trypanosomes and used for seroprevalence study of T. evansi in equids. A total of 3695 equids were surveyed and blood samples were collected from each animal during September 2009 to August 2011. Out of these, 420 serum samples were found positive for presence of antibodies against T. evansi collected from equids of six agro-climatic zones of North and North-western regions of India comprising eight states viz., Gujarat (36/479), Haryana (11/275), Himachal Pradesh (14/83), Jammu and Kashmir (32/221), Punjab (1/38), Rajasthan (90/1148), Uttarakhand (141/753), and Uttar Pradesh (65/330). The maximum seroprevalence (19.69%) for T. evansi infection was observed in equids of Uttar Pradesh state with an overall seroprevalence of 11.36% in North and North-western regions of India. The results indicated that surra is endemic in equids of North and North-western parts of India.Not Availabl