TRACE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF GROUNDWATER FROM RASIPURAM TALUK, TAMILNADU, INDIA

Groundwater is an important source of water for many municipalities, industries and for irrigation, which needs careful and critical assessment of its quality. The groundwater samples collected from Rasipuram Taluk, Which is located in southern part of India, have been used for the trace element analysis. The main reason behind this analysis is based on the fact that, the industrial wastewater contributes to the groundwater pollution. The samples were analyzed for trace elements such as cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) and other associated equipments. It was found that the concentrations of trace elements in groundwater of the study area are well within the prescribed limit

ASSESSING AND EMPOWERING COUNSELLING A PATIENT WITH SEVERE DENGUE FEVER ASSOCIATED WITH THROMBOCYTOPENIA

Dengue is one of the common mosquito-borne arbovirus infections, especially in India. Dengue virus is a single strand RNA virus, which composed of four serotypes and these serotypes, belongs to the flavivirus genus. Dengue viruses are normally transmitted through the bites of aedes mosquito species. Dengue is the most frequent cause of fever which is caused with thrombocytopenia. Dengue is probably a fatal ailment that is widely spread through the tropical and subtropical regions of the world affecting urban and semi-urban areas. It also becomes a dominant health concern globally in recent decades. The most serious complications of this infection are dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. 18 y old male patient was admitted to the general ward in thiruvallur government hospital with chief complaints of fever, vomiting and dehydration, cough with expectorant for a period of 3 d. The patient was diagnosed with dengue fever followed by thrombocytopenia and advised for proper rehydration therapy. The patient was initiated with prophylactic therapy and Oral Rehydration Solution. He was also treated by focusing points based on patient counselling to recover the current condition. The patient was counseled accordingly as regular sit-ups, with points focusing on disease condition and therapy prescribed. The current case was aimed to target on the counselling points for dengue, which made a better improvement in the patient with severe dengue fever with thrombocytopenia and this could be a measure as community awareness outlook to spread alertness which can avoid the outbreak of Dengue.Â

Degradation of o-Chlorophenol from aqueous solution by electro-fenton process

The study explores the utility of the electro-Fenton process for the degradation of o-chlorophenol (o-CP) from aqueous solution. The extent of degradation of o-CP is found to be a function of applied current, electrolysis time, concentration of o-CP and concentration of ferrous ions. Under optimized conditions it is possible to achieve efficiencies higher than 70%. Accelerating the regeneration of Fe2+ ions in the electrolyte determines the efficiency of the process. Addition of goethite as a catalyst in the medium did not significantly improve the process efficiency

Analysis of differentially expressed genes and molecular pathways in familial hypercholesterolemia involved in atherosclerosis: A systematic and bioinformatics approach

Background and Aims: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is one of the major risk factor for the progression of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. This study focused on identifying the dysregulated molecular pathways and core genes that are differentially regulated in FH and to identify the possible genetic factors and potential underlying mechanisms that increase the risk to atherosclerosis in patients with FH. Methods: The Affymetrix microarray dataset (GSE13985) from the GEO database and the GEO2R statistical tool were used to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the white blood cells (WBCs) of five heterozygous FH patients and five healthy controls. The interaction between the DEGs was identified by applying the STRING tool and visualized using Cytoscape software. MCODE was used to determine the gene cluster in the interactive networks. The identified DEGs were subjected to the DAVID v6.8 webserver and ClueGo/CluePedia for functional annotation, such as gene ontology (GO) and enriched molecular pathway analysis of DEGs. Results: We investigated the top 250 significant DEGs (p-value < 0.05; fold two change ≥ 1 or ≤ −1). The GO analysis of DEGs with significant differences revealed that they are involved in critical biological processes and molecular pathways, such as myeloid cell differentiation, peptidyl-lysine modification, signaling pathway of MyD88-dependent Toll-like receptor, and cell-cell adhesion. The analysis of enriched KEGG pathways revealed the association of the DEGs in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and cardiac muscle contraction. The genes involved in the molecular pathways were shown to be differentially regulated by either activating or inhibiting the genes that are essential for the canonical signaling pathways. Our study identified seven core genes (UQCR11, UBE2N, ADD1, TLN1, IRAK3, LY96, and MAP3K1) that are strongly linked to FH and lead to a higher risk of atherosclerosis. Conclusion: We identified seven core genes that represent potential molecular biomarkers for the diagnosis of atherosclerosis and might serve as a platform for developing therapeutics against both FH and atherosclerosis. However, functional studies are further needed to validate their role in the pathogenesis of FH and atherosclerosis

Hydrogenolysis of sorbitol over Ni, Pt and Ru supported on SBA-15

Hydrogenolysis of sorbitol (15% aqueous solution) has been carried out in a batch reactor over Ni (6 wt%), Pt (1 wt%) and Ru (1 wt%) supported on SBA-15 and carbon coated SBA-15 (SBA-15(C)). For comparison, the three metals have also been supported on activated carbon (AC). The catalysts are characterized by XRD, N2 and H2 adsorption measurements. Addition of Ca(OH)2 to the reaction mixture increases conversion and selectivity for the dihydroxy compounds, 1,2-propanediol (PD) and ethylene glycol (EG). Based on yield of dihydric alcohols (PD+EG), the performance of the catalysts at 220 °C and 60 bar in the presence of Ca(OH)2 is in the order: Ru-AC ~ Ru-SBA-15(C) &gt; Ru-SBA-15 ~ Ni-SBA-15, the yields being 40, 39, 31 and 29 wt%, respectively

An outbreak of food poisoning in Tamil Nadu associated with Yersinia enterocolitica

An outbreak of food poisoning in a Tamil Nadu village, affecting 25 of 48 individuals who participated in a feast, was investigated. The risk of developing illness was associated with consumption of buttermilk (relative risk 3.8). None of the food items consumed during the feast was available for analysis. Toxin-producing Y. enterocolitica (serotype 3, biotype 4) was grown from 1 of 11 stool samples from affected individuals, as well as from a water sample from the source used to dilute the buttermilk. High titres of antibody of Yersinia were detected in 2 of 12 patients but in neither of the two groups of controls. Toxin production was noted in buttermilk incubated for 6 h with Y. enterocolitica. This is the first report from India of a food poisoning outbreak associated with this organism

The NEU1-selective sialidase inhibitor, C9- butyl-amide-DANA, blocks sialidase activity and NEU1-mediated bioactivities in human lung in vitro and murine lung in vivo

Neuraminidase-1 (NEU1) is the predominant sialidase expressed in human airway epithelia and lung microvascular endothelia where it mediates multiple biological processes. We tested whether the NEU1-selective sialidase inhibitor, C9-butyl-amide-2-deoxy-2,3-dehydro-Nacetylneuraminic acid (C9-BA-DANA), inhibits one or more established NEU1-mediated bioactivities in human lung cells. We established the IC50 values of C9-BA-DANA for total sialidase activity in human airway epithelia, lung microvascular endothelia and lung fibroblasts to be 3.74 µM, 13.0 µM and 4.82 µM, respectively. In human airway epithelia, C9-BA-DANA dose-dependently inhibited flagellin-induced, NEU1-mediated mucin-1 ectodomain desialylation, adhesiveness for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and shedding. In lung microvascular endothelia, C9-BA-DANA reversed NEU1-driven restraint of cell migration into a wound and disruption of capillary-like tube formation. NEU1 and its chaperone/transport protein, protective protein/cathepsin A (PPCA), were differentially expressed in these same cells. Normalized NEU1 protein expression correlated with total sialidase activity whereas PPCA expression did not. In contrast to eukaryotic sialidases, C9-BA-DANA exerted far less inhibitory activity for three selected bacterial neuraminidases (IC50 \u3e 800 µM). Structural modeling of the four human sialidases and three bacterial neuraminidases revealed a loop between the seventh and eighth strands of the β-propeller fold, that in NEU1, was substantially shorter than that seen in the six other enzymes. Predicted steric hindrance between this loop and C9-BA-DANA could explain its selectivity for NEU1. Finally, pretreatment of mice with C9-BA-DANA completely protected against flagellin-induced increases in lung sialidase activity. Our combined data indicate that C9- BA-DANA inhibits endogenous and ectopically expressed sialidase activity and established NEU1-mediated bioactivities in human airway epithelia, lung microvascular endothelia, and fibroblasts in vitro and murine lungs in vivo