Phytocomplexity: Implications For Development Of Novel Anticancer Therapeutics Using Dietary Agents

Chemotherapy, employing single-molecule or multidrug concoctions inspired by the diverse repository of plant chemicals, has been the mainstay of cancer treatment for years. However, isolating single molecules has proven to be expensive along with limited therapeutic window and toxicity. On the other hand, whole foods, while preserving the natural complex balance between their constituent phytochemicals and being non-toxic, have proven to impart better disease-fighting efficacies, thus leading to an increased focus on dietary interventions to both treat and prevent cancer. Owing to the complex interactions between their constituent phytochemicals, several dietary agents have been investigated for their therapeutic and preventive efficacies. However, due to lack of emphasis on confounding factors like bioavailability, absorption, metabolism, and excretion, essentially driven by phytocomplexity, incorporation of whole foods in therapeutic regimen has not been successful. This thesis exemplifies the need to investigate factors associated with the limitations in the current approach with respect to dietary agents. Bioactivity-guided fractionation of sweet potato greens extract (SPGE) led to the identification of ~100-fold more potent fraction in vitro. However, this efficacy could not be translated in vivo. We also studied whole ginger extract (GE) for its in vitro and in vivo prostate tumor growth-inhibitory and apoptosis-inducing effects. In addition, GE proved to be more efficacious as compared to its individual most-active constituents owing to the differences in their pharmacokinetic (PK) and bioavailability measurements. Hence, these studies emphasize the crucial role of synergistic/additive interactions among the constituents of whole foods in successful translation of their therapeutic benefits. Another factor that seeks further attention is the unique cellular mechanisms engaged by these phytochemicals to confer their remarkable effects. Phenolic compounds, the most-abundant of all phytochemicals, are well known for their antioxidant properties and act via reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated mechanisms. We however assert the underappreciated xenohormetic prooxidant role of phenolics, where cancer cell death is caused by induction of intolerable levels of ROS. We demonstrated that a Piper betel constituent, hydroxychavicol (HC), mediates cytotoxicity via ROS-induced DNA-damage. This thesis thus provides compelling grounds for future preclinical studies to validate their potential usefulness for cancer management

MyBookStore-eshopping for books

Master of ScienceDepartment of Computing and Information SciencesDaniel A. AndresenThe Web is a shopper's paradise boasting every kind of product imaginable — plus many more that are almost unimaginable. People find it easy and secure to shop online these days thereby saving time and also have more options to choose from at their fingertips. Based on this comes MyBookStore, a neat web application designed to exclusively cater the needs of students for purchasing books online. Primary focus of this application is to ease the use of searching for a particular book by the user and also navigability within the website. A sophisticated search engine has been designed in this application which filters the products based on various user criterions. Searching and viewing the details about a book is available. This also has an administrator side through which the administrator can update the website with new products, remove any of the available products, and add new categories, subcategories and products along with updating the shipping status of orders placed. This section is majorly responsible for user accounts maintenance, product maintenance as well as orders maintenance. Major emphasis of this application is to build user interactive search techniques for simplifying user needs and to provide specific products as required by the user

Lipid Profile levels on the second day of Acute Myocardial Infarction; is it the right time for estimation?

The main objective of this study is to note the changes that occur in the lipid profile levels following an acute myocardial ischemic attack and also correlate the changes in the lipid profile levels to the ischemic markers (Cardiac troponin-I and AST). The study included two groups; the first group consisted of 50 patients who were admitted to the hospital with Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI). The second group patients were normal healthy controls. Serum levels of Cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) and AST were assessed immediately and 12hrs fasting blood drawn for assessing the lipid profile levels. The patients with AMI had shown significant rise in cTnI and AST and the lipid parameters like High density lipoprotein (HDL) had shown significant decrease and the Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglycerides (TG) had shown significant increase in cases compared to normal healthy individuals. Total Cholesterol (TC) and Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) in cases had shown decrease compare to controls but not significant statistically. The cTnI showed a significant negative correlation with decrease in the TC and HDL and LDL. The AST showed significant negative correlation with TC and LDL only. So routine diagnosis of lipid parameter for assessing the clinical risk should be reliably assessed within 24 hours and the lipid parameters assessed after 24 hours are invalid for risk assessment for patients with AMI

L‐proline and betaine inhibit extracellular enzymes mediated abeta 1‐42 aggregation, oxidative stress, and toxicity

Extracellular amyloid plaques are characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The amyloid plaques mainly consist of amyloid‐β (abeta) fragments. Extracellular biomolecules play a key role in abeta aggregation and subsequent plaque formation during AD. Among them, extracellular enzymes are known to induce abeta aggregation by catalyzing the crosslinking of abeta proteins. Although several therapeutic strategies have been studied to combat AD, studies to treat extracellular enzymes mediated abeta aggregation and toxicity is not explored in detail yet. Here we study the potential of osmolyte molecules l‐proline and betaine to inhibit the abeta aggregation and toxicity promoted by extracellular enzymes transglutaminase and lysyl oxidase in vitro. Results reveal that l‐proline and betaine have the potential to inhibit extracellular matrix enzymes mediated abeta aggregation/fibril formation and toxicity and oxidative stress in brain endothelial cells. Hence osmolytes could have the potential to modulate the effects of extracellular molecules during AD.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147177/1/pep224093_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147177/2/pep224093.pd

RLPG: Reinforcement Learning Approach for Dynamic Intra-Platoon Gap Adaptation for Highway On-Ramp Merging

A platoon refers to a group of vehicles traveling together in very close proximity using automated driving technology. Owing to its immense capacity to improve fuel efficiency, driving safety, and driver comfort, platooning technology has garnered substantial attention from the autonomous vehicle research community. Although highly advantageous, recent research has uncovered that an excessively small intra-platoon gap can impede traffic flow during highway on-ramp merging. While existing control-based methods allow for adaptation of the intra-platoon gap to improve traffic flow, making an optimal control decision under the complex dynamics of traffic conditions remains a challenge due to the massive computational complexity. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a novel reinforcement learning framework that adaptively adjusts the intra-platoon gap of an individual platoon member to maximize traffic flow in response to dynamically changing, complex traffic conditions for highway on-ramp merging. The framework's state space has been meticulously designed in consultation with the transportation literature to take into account critical traffic parameters that bear direct relevance to merging efficiency. An intra-platoon gap decision making method based on the deep deterministic policy gradient algorithm is created to incorporate the continuous action space to ensure precise and continuous adaptation of the intra-platoon gap. An extensive simulation study demonstrates the effectiveness of the reinforcement learning-based approach for significantly improving traffic flow in various highway on-ramp merging scenarios

Parents’ knowledge, attitude, and practice on childhood immunization

Background: The objective of present study was to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of parents regarding childhood immunization.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in immunization clinic at Vanivilas hospital, a government tertiary care center (G) attached to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute and a private pediatric clinic (P) in Bengaluru. Data were collected from 200 parents/guardians (100 from each set up) using structured questionnaire administered by the investigators.Results: Out of 200 parents surveyed, 172 (86%) children were found to be fully immunized. The sickness of child was the most common cause (67%) for missing vaccination. A statistically significant proportion of boys (95%) were completely immunized as compared to girls (84%, p<0.01). Most of them knew that vaccination prevented some communicable diseases but were unaware as to which diseases they prevented and that the immunity is not life-long. Knowledge (p<0.004) and practice (p<0.001) of parents opting for optional vaccines were significantly higher in private setting compared to the government setting. All mothers opined that compliance to immunization schedule is important, had recommended vaccination to others and maintained a vaccination card. Gender of the child, birth order, mothers’ educational status, monthly income of parents and religion significantly affected the vaccination status while mother’s employment did not influence it.Conclusion: Although childhood immunization practices and attitudes are satisfactory, majority do not have specific knowledge on vaccines and the duration of protection they offer. Socio-demographic factors had a significant influence on the immunization status. Hence, efforts should be focused on improving them also besides educating them about vaccines to improve their knowledge

A prospective study on reproductive health problems and menstrual hygiene practices among women in rural population

Background: Menstruation is defined as periodic discharge of blood from uterus occurring more (or) less at regular monthly intervals throughout the active reproductive life of a female. Hygiene-related practices of women during menstruation are considered important because it can increase vulnerability to reproductive tract infections (RTIs).Methods: A prospective, observational study was done for a period of 6 months to assess the reproductive health problems and menstrual hygiene practices among women in rural population. It was conducted by first considering RTI cases among female in-patients of obstetrics and gynaecology department at MNR hospital, Sangareddy, Telangana, on the basis of which the study was extended to certain villages of Andole Mandal, where RTIs were found to be more prevalent. The data was collected using pre designed and semi-structured questionnaire.Results: Out of 106 cases taken in the hospital, cervicitis was most prevalent 40 (37.7%). A maximum of 36 (34%) cases were from Andole Mandal, so the community-based study was done here. Among the 710 subjects considered, 206 (29%) were found to use sanitary napkins and 85 (12%) of them used disposable cloth. Majority 392 (55.2%) of the women disposed their menstrual absorbent by burning and many were presented with RTI symptoms such as lower abdominal pain, vaginal discharge.Conclusions: In the health status of women among the reproductive age group, RTIs are known to pose a serious and continuing threat, which has become a silent epidemic that devastates women’s life which is closely related with poor menstrual hygiene. Hence, there is an urgent need to provide accurate and adequate information about hygienic practices to be followed during menstruation, so as to enable them to lead a healthy reproductive life

ASSESSMENT OF SERUM LIPID PROFILE IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Background: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are strongly associated with each other, and they are the most common risk factors for the development of the cardiovascular disease. Aim: Compare the serum lipid profile values among hypertensive patients and non-hypertensive individuals. Method: 30 patients with Hypertension and 30 age-matched non-hypertensive controls were included in the study. From the serum, total cholesterol levels were estimated by enzymatic (CHOD-PAP) colorimetric method, triglyceride by enzymatic (GPO-PAP) method, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were estimated using precipitant and Friedewald formula, by using commercially available reagent kits. Lipid profiles were compared with controls. Results: The mean values of total cholesterol were significantly more in Hypertensives-202.93 ± 28.44 and normotensives-178.76 ± 37.21, P&lt;0.006. The mean values of triglycerides were significantly more in Hypertensives-139.8 ± 18.72 and normotensives-125.8± 12.34, P&lt;0.001. The mean values of LDL-Cholesterol were significantly more in Hypertensives-141.63 ± 11.59 and normotensives-127.83 ± 14.65, P&lt;0.0001. Conclusions: As Dyslipidemia is associated with Hypertension, serum lipid profile may be useful in the identification of patients at risk of Hypertension. Hypertensive patients need the measurement of blood pressure and lipid profile at regular intervals to prevent Cardiovascular diseases. Keywords: Cholesterol; Cardiovascular Diseases; Hypertension; Triglycerides; Dyslipidemia

ASSESSMENT OF SERUM LIPID PROFILE IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS: A CASE-CONTROL STUDY

Background: Hypertension and dyslipidemia are strongly associated with each other, and they are the most common risk factors for the development of the cardiovascular disease. Aim: Compare the serum lipid profile values among hypertensive patients and non-hypertensive individuals. Method: 30 patients with Hypertension and 30 age-matched non-hypertensive controls were included in the study. From the serum, total cholesterol levels were estimated by enzymatic (CHOD-PAP) colorimetric method, triglyceride by enzymatic (GPO-PAP) method, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were estimated using precipitant and Friedewald formula, by using commercially available reagent kits. Lipid profiles were compared with controls. Results: The mean values of total cholesterol were significantly more in Hypertensives-202.93 ± 28.44 and normotensives-178.76 ± 37.21, P&lt;0.006. The mean values of triglycerides were significantly more in Hypertensives-139.8 ± 18.72 and normotensives-125.8± 12.34, P&lt;0.001. The mean values of LDL-Cholesterol were significantly more in Hypertensives-141.63 ± 11.59 and normotensives-127.83 ± 14.65, P&lt;0.0001. Conclusions: As Dyslipidemia is associated with Hypertension, serum lipid profile may be useful in the identification of patients at risk of Hypertension. Hypertensive patients need the measurement of blood pressure and lipid profile at regular intervals to prevent Cardiovascular diseases. Keywords: Cholesterol; Cardiovascular Diseases; Hypertension; Triglycerides; Dyslipidemia