LARVICIDAL AND ENZYME INHIBITORY EFFECTS OF ACALYPHA FRUTICOSA (F.) AND CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS L (G) DON. LEAF EXTRACTS AGAINST CULEX QUINQUEFASCIATUS (SAY.) (DIPTERA: CULICIDAE)

ABSTRACTObjective: The prime objective of this study is to evaluate the larvicidal and enzyme inhibitory effects of Acalypha fruticosa and Catharanthus roseusleaf extracts against Culex quinquefasciatus.Methods: Insecticidal susceptibility tests were carried out using the World Health Organization standard method, and the mortality was observedafter 24 hrs exposure.Results: The tested extracts showed a significant larvicidal activity depending on the dose of the plant extracts. However, maximum larval mortalitywas detected in ethyl acetate extract of A. fruticosa with a lethal concentration (LC50) value of 253.08 ppm and (LC90) value of 455.40 ppm followedby hexane extract of C. roseus with LC50 value of 645.33 ppm and LC90 value of 1452.88 ppm against the larvae of C. quinquefasciatus. In control, therewere five different fractions of α-carboxylesterases resolved in the gel with the mobilities ranging between 0.14 and 0.66. β-carboxylesterase isozymeprofile of larvae treated with hexane extract of A. fruticosa showed higher enzyme activities by way of intense staining of fractions both at 1/4 and1/10 LC50 value of 48 hrs treatments. A. fruticosa ethyl acetate extract, and C. roseus hexane extract exposed larvae indicated increased quantitiesof β-Est4/5 isozymes in the concentration of 1/4 and 1/10 of LC50 value of 24 hrs treatment when compared to control. The protein quantity in themajority of treatments decreased compared to control.Conclusion: The results revealed that the organic leaf extract of A. fruticosa and C. roseus had significant larvicidal and enzyme inhibitory effectsagainst C. quinquefasciatus.Keywords: Acalypha fruticosa, Catharanthus roseus leaves extract, β-carboxylesterase, Culex quinquefasciatus, Lethal concentration50

Bioreduction of Cr(VI) by alkaliphilic Bacillus subtilis and interaction of the membrane groups

AbstractDetoxification of Cr(VI) under alkaline pH requires attention due to the alkaline nature of many effluents. An alkaliphilic gram-positive Bacillus subtilis isolated from tannery effluent contaminated soil was found to grow and reduce Cr(VI) up to 100% at an alkaline pH9. Decrease in pH to acidic range with growth of the bacterium signified the role played by metabolites (organic acids) in chromium resistance and reduction mechanism. The XPS and FT-IR spectra confirmed the reduction of Cr(VI) by bacteria into +3 oxidation state. Chromate reductase assay indicated that the reduction was mediated by constitutive membrane bound enzymes. The kinetics of Cr(VI) reduction activity derived using the monod equation proved (Ks=0.00032) high affinity of the organism to the metal. This study thus helped to localize the reduction activity at subcellular level in a chromium resistant alkaliphilic Bacillus sp

An Efficient Comparative Analysis of CNN-based Image Classification in the Jupyter Tool Using Multi-Stage Techniques

The main process of this image classification with a convolution neural network using deep learning model was performed in the programming language Python code in the Jupyter tool, mainly using the data set of IRS P-6 LISS IV from an Indian remote sensing satellite with a high resolution multi-spectral camera with around 5.8m from an 817 km altitude Delhi image. To classify the areas within the cropped image required to apply enhancement techniques, the image size was 1000 mb. To view this image file required high-end software for opening. For that, initially, ERDAS imaging software viewer was used for cropping into correct resolution pixels. based on that cropped image used for image classification with preprocessing for applying filters for enhancement. And with the convolution neural network model, required to train the sample images of the same pixels, was collected from the group of objects that were cropped. Then we needed to use image sample areas to train the model with learning rate and epoch rate to improve object detection accuracy using the Jupyter notebook tool with tensorflow and machine learning model produce the accuracy rate of 90.78%

Optimizing extraction of cellulose and synthesizing pharmaceutical grade carboxymethyl sago cellulose from Malaysian sago pulp

Sago biomass is an agro-industrial waste produced in large quantities, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region and in particular South-East Asia. This work focuses on using sago biomass to obtain cellulose as the raw material, through chemical processing using acid hydrolysis, alkaline extraction, chlorination and bleaching, finally converting the material to pharmaceutical grade carboxymethyl sago cellulose (CMSC) by carboxymethylation. The cellulose was evaluated using Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Field Emission Scanning Electronic Microscopy (FESEM). The extracted cellulose was analyzed for cellulose composition, and subsequently modified to CMSC with a degree of substitution (DS) 0.6 by typical carboxymethylation reactions. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the crystallinity of the sago cellulose was reduced after carboxymethylation. FTIR and NMR studies indicate that the hydroxyl groups of the cellulose fibers were etherified through carboxymethylation to produce CMSC. Further characterization of the cellulose and CMSC were performed using FESEM and DSC. The purity of CMSC was analyzed according to the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International standards. In this case, acid and alkaline treatments coupled with high-pressure defibrillation were found to be effective in depolymerization and defibrillation of the cellulose fibers. The synthesized CMSC also shows no toxicity in the cell line studies and could be exploited as a pharmaceutical excipient

Association between proton pump inhibitor therapy and clostridium difficile infection: a contemporary systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract Introduction Emerging epidemiological evidence suggests that proton pump inhibitor (PPI) acid-suppression therapy is associated with an increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Methods Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus were searched from 1990 to January 2012 for analytical studies that reported an adjusted effect estimate of the association between PPI use and CDI. We performed random-effect meta-analyses. We used the GRADE framework to interpret the findings. Results We identified 47 eligible citations (37 case-control and 14 cohort studies) with corresponding 51 effect estimates. The pooled OR was 1.65, 95% CI (1.47, 1.85), I2 = 89.9%, with evidence of publication bias suggested by a contour funnel plot. A novel regression based method was used to adjust for publication bias and resulted in an adjusted pooled OR of 1.51 (95% CI, 1.26–1.83). In a speculative analysis that assumes that this association is based on causality, and based on published baseline CDI incidence, the risk of CDI would be very low in the general population taking PPIs with an estimated NNH of 3925 at 1 year. Conclusions In this rigorously conducted systemic review and meta-analysis, we found very low quality evidence (GRADE class) for an association between PPI use and CDI that does not support a cause-effect relationship

Elevated expression of long intergenic non-coding RNA HOTAIR in a basal-like variant of MCF-7 breast cancer cells

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is critical to phenotypic maintenance and transition of human breast cancer cells. HOX antisense intergenic RNA (HOTAIR) is a long intergenic non-coding RNA that epigenetically represses gene expression via recruitment of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), a histone methyltransferase. Elevated expression of HOTAIR promotes progression of breast cancer. In the current study we examined the expression and function of HOTAIR in MCF-7-TNR cells, a derivative of the luminal-like breast cancer cell line MCF-7 that acquired resistance to TNF-α-induced cell death. The expression of HOTAIR, markers of the luminal-like and basal-like subtypes, and growth were compared between MCF-7 and MCF-7-TNR cells. These variables were further assessed upon inhibition of HOTAIR, EZH2, p38 MAPK, and SRC kinase in MCF-7-TNR cells. When compared with MCF-7 cells, MCF-7-TNR cells exhibited an increase in the expression of HOTAIR, which correlated with characteristics of a luminal-like to basal-like transition as evidenced by dysregulated gene expression and accelerated growth. MCF-7-TNR cells exhibited reduced suppressive histone H3 lysine27 trimethylation on the HOTAIR promoter. Inhibition of HOTAIR and EZH2 attenuated the luminal-like to basal-like transition in terms of gene expression and growth in MCF-7-TNR cells. Inhibition of p38 and SRC diminished HOTAIR expression and the basal-like phenotype in MCF-7-TNR cells. HOTAIR was robustly expressed in the native basal-like breast cancer cells and inhibition of HOTAIR reduced the basal-like gene expression and growth. Our findings suggest HOTAIR-mediated regulation of gene expression and growth associated with the basal-like phenotype of breast cancer cells

The expression of TRMT2A, a novel cell cycle regulated protein, identifies a subset of breast cancer patients with HER2 over-expression that are at an increased risk of recurrence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Over-expression of <it>HER2 </it>in a subset of breast cancers (<it>HER2</it>+) is associated with high histological grade and aggressive clinical course. Despite these distinctive features, the differences in response of <it>HER2</it>+ patients to both adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy and targeted therapy (e.g. trastuzumab) suggests that unrecognized biologic and clinical diversity is confounding treatment strategies. Furthermore, the small but established risk of cardiac morbidity with trastuzumab therapy compels efforts towards the identification of biomarkers that might help stratify patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A single institution tissue array cohort assembled at the Clearview Cancer Institute of Huntsville (CCIH) was screened by immunohistochemistry staining using a large number of novel and commercially available antibodies to identify those with a univariate association with clinical outcome in <it>HER2</it>+ patients. Staining with antibody directed at TRMT2A was found to be strongly associated with outcome in <it>HER2</it>+ patients. This association with outcome was tested in two independent validation cohorts; an existing staining dataset derived from tissue assembled at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF), and in a new retrospective study performed by staining archived paraffin blocks available at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>TRMT2A staining showed a strong correlation with likelihood of recurrence at five years in 67 <it>HER2</it>+ patients from the CCIH discovery cohort (HR 7.0; 95% CI 2.4 to 20.1, p < 0.0004). This association with outcome was confirmed using 75 <it>HER2</it>+ patients from the CCF cohort (HR 3.6; 95% CI 1.3 to 10.2, p < 0.02) and 64 patients from the RPCI cohort (HR 3.4; 95% CI 1.3-8.9, p < 0.02). In bivariable analysis the association with outcome was independent of grade, tumor size, nodal status and the administration of conventional adjuvant chemotherapy in the CCIH and RPCI cohorts.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Studies from three independent single institution cohorts support TRMT2A protein expression as a biomarker of increased risk of recurrence in <it>HER2+ </it>breast cancer patients. These results suggest that TRMT2A expression should be further studied in the clinical trial setting to explore its predictive power for response to adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy in combination with <it>HER2 </it>targeted therapy.</p