Oxidative stress in cigarette smoker and smokeless tobacco user among ethnic group north-eastern population of Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: Cigarette smoking and other form of tobacco abusing habits are high prevalence in India at present which can be compare the oxidative level among them. This study aimed to measure the oxidative level among different cigarette smoke and other form of users in north-eastern, Uttar Pradesh of India.Methods: Total of 934 male and female subjects were selected in which 387 were controls (Group I), 140 were active smokers (Group II), 105 were passive smokers (group III), 182 were tobacco users (Group IV) and 120 were active smokers plus tobacco users (group V). Cigarette smoker and tobacco user prevalence 10/day for 5 years’ duration were collected. MDA, SOD, GR and CAT were measured.Results: Cigarette smoker and tobacco user prevalence is high in >10 cigarette/day for 5 years, Mean and SD value in oxidative stress in cigarette smokers and tobacco users MDA level 1314±330.1µmol/mg is increased, whereas SOD, GR and CAT level 2.229±0.248 units/ml, 0.0152±0.0071mg/ml and 0.345±0.046mg/ml respectively were reduced in active smoker plus tobacco users.Conclusions: Present study concluded that cigarette smoker and tobacco user showed their increased MDA and decreased SOD, GR and CAT which represented the significantly increased oxidative stress in north-eastern of Uttar Pradesh, India

Performance of Concrete Exposed to Corrosive Environment

A comprehensive programme to investigate the behaviour of portland cement concrete exposed to corrosive environment was chalked out in this short duration study.The programme composed of compressive strength study, weight loss study , effect of carbonation, pH test study and study of ultrasonic pulse velocity test. Investigation to study the performance of portland cement concrete of M20 strength exposed to corrosive environment ( 5% H2SO4 Solution, 5% HC 1 Solution, 10% (NH4SO4 Solution and 10% NaOH Sol- ution ) revealed that the concrete cube deteriorated more in acidic environment than alkaline environment. The stre-ngth of PCC exposed to aggressive medium reduced signif- icantly after exposure of 28 days. This reduction in strength was mainly due to expansive salt formation . The formation of expansive salt also resulted in loss of cem-entitious properties and loss of weight. The concrete exposed to H2SO4 solution was found least durable . This study also shows that higher the ultrasonic pulse velocity lower is the corrosion . This paper presents an approach of investigation along with analysis of test results of PCC exposed to corrosive environment

Fisheries geographical information system for Greater Mumbai region in Maharashtra, India

Geographical information system (GIS) is an invaluable decision support tool, designed to address spatially related problems for management of natural resources. The power of GIS lies in its ability to visualise and relate various types of geo-referenced spatial and non-spatial data allowing users to analyse them. In India, use of GIS in fisheries management is yet to find its rightful place. An effort has been made in the present study to design and organise a fisheries spatial information system for Greater Mumbai region in Maharashtra to serve as a macro-level database for the planners and administrators, which can be used for querying, analysing and displaying datasets in the form of graphs and summarised tabular data for all the fisheries infrastructural facilities. This GIS will be of immense help to planners, managers and administrators in quick storing, retrieving and updating the required information for management of fisheries in Greater Mumbai region

Role of the Bcl-2 gene family in prostate cancer progression and its implications for therapeutic intervention.

Prostate cancer (PC) is an escalating health burden in the western world. A large number of patients still present with extraprostatic (i.e., T3/T4, N0, M0/M1 or any T category and M1 disease or involved lymph nodes) and therefore incurable disease. Since the work of Huggins in 1940, there have been no major therapeutic advances and androgen ablation remains the best treatment option for extraprostatic androgen-responsive PC. Eighty to ninety percent of PC patients respond well to this form of treatment initially. After a median time of approximately 2 years, however, relapse to an androgen-independent (AI) state occurs, followed by death after a further median 6 months. Androgen ablation is rarely curative. The major molecular defect in extraprostatic and AI PC is the inability of PC cells to initiate apoptosis in response to a variety of stimuli, including different forms of androgen ablation and cytotoxic agents. The balance between cellular proliferation and cell death is regulated by multiple genes or families of genes through the cell cycle. The exact mechanisms governing this intricate and complex process are as yet not fully understood. One family of genes involved in cell survival/death control is the Bcl-2 gene family, which consists of homologous proteins that function to regulate distal and crucial commitment steps of the apoptotic pathway. The Bcl-2 family constitutes both agonists and antagonists of apoptosis that function at least in part through protein-protein interactions between various members of the family. The final outcome depends on the relative ratio of death agonists and antagonists. Bcl-2 expression has been closely associated with the AI phenotype of PC. Cytotoxic chemotherapy may be used as palliative therapy in AI PC but has not been found effective. Most chemotherapeutic cytotoxic agents induce apoptosis in cancer cells by direct and indirect action on the cell cycle. In vitro and in vivo studies have established that Bcl-2 expression confers an antiapoptotic activity against androgen withdrawal and cytotoxic chemotherapy. It thus offers a tempting potential target for therapeutic manipulations of PC

Numerical studies of ion beam in NX2 plasma focus for different applied voltage

Plasma focus device gives simultaneous interaction between magnetic and electric field which results in exhibiting multi-radiation properties. Ion beam radiates from the system is significant for experimenting target material of interest in plasma focus research. Lee code model is used to simulate the numerical experiments on NX2-plasma focus device system using different applied voltage in the range 10 to 14 kV. The system is operating in Neon filled at an optimum pressure depending on the applied voltage used in the experiment. Results obtained are analysed and fitted with the experimental results for system validation. Good fitting on the numerical with the experimental results is obtained by incorporating mass shedding effects and current shedding factor. The range of current density obtained is in the range 1.6 × 108 to 7.3×109 Am-2whilst the maximum ion beam energy is estimated to be 156 J

Differential nucleosome occupancy modulates alternative splicing in Arabidopsis thaliana

• Alternative splicing (AS) is a major gene regulatory mechanism in plants. Recent evidence supports co-transcriptional splicing in plants, hence the chromatin state can impact AS. However, how dynamic changes in the chromatin state such as nucleosome occupancy influence the cold-induced AS remains poorly understood. • Here, we generated transcriptome (RNA-Seq) and nucleosome positioning (MNase-Seq) data for Arabidopsis thaliana to understand how nucleosome positioning modulates cold-induced AS. • Our results show that characteristic nucleosome occupancy levels are strongly associated with the type and abundance of various AS events under normal and cold temperature conditions in Arabidopsis. Intriguingly, exitrons, alternatively spliced internal regions of protein-coding exons, exhibit distinctive nucleosome positioning pattern compared to other alternatively spliced regions. Likewise, nucleosome patterns differ between exitrons and retained introns pointing to their distinct regulation. • Collectively, our data show that characteristic changes in nucleosome positioning modulate AS in plants in response to cold

Bronchodilator, spasmolytic and calcium antagonist activities of Nigella sativa seeds (Kalonji): a traditional herbal product with multiple medicinal uses

Objective: The seeds of Nigella sativa locally known as Kalonji has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of a variety of diseases including diarrhoea and asthma. The crude extract of N. sativa seeds (Ns.Cr) was studied in vitro for its possible spasmolytic and bronchodilator activities to rationalize the folkloric uses.Methods: Isolated rabbit jejunum and guinea-pig tracheal preparations were set up in Tyrode\u27s and Kreb\u27s solutions respectively and aerated with 5% CO2 in oxygen. Isotonic and isometric responses were measured on Bioscience oscillograph and Grass polygraph respectively.Results: The Ns.Cr caused a dose-dependent (0.1-3.0 mg/ml) relaxation of spontaneous contractions in rabbit jejunum. Ns.Cr also inhibited K(+)-induced contractions in a similar dose range, suggestive of calcium channel blockade (CCB). This effect was confirmed when pretreatment of the tissue with Ns.Cr, produced a dose-dependent shift in the Ca++ dose-response curves to the right similar to that of verapamil, a standard calcium channel blocker. In guinea-pig trachea, it caused relaxation of carbachol-, histamine- or K(+)-induced contractions indicating CCB. Activity-directed fractionation revealed that the CCB activity is concentrated in the petroleum ether fraction, which was found to be approximately 10 times more potent than the crude extract both in jejunum and tracheal preparations.Conclusion: These data indicate that the crude extract of Nigella sativa seeds exhibits spasmolytic and bronchodilator activities mediated possibly through calcium channel blockade and this activity is concentrated in the organic fraction. Its usefulness for diarrhoea and asthma in traditional medicine, appears thus to be based on a sound mechanistic background

Observational Constraints and Cosmological Implications of Scalar-Tensor f(R,T)f(R, T) Gravity

Recently, the scalar-tensor representation of $f (R,T)$ gravity was used to explore gravitationally induced particle production/annihilation. Using the framework of irreversible thermodynamics of open systems in the presence of matter creation/annihilation, the physical and cosmological consequences of this setup were investigated in detail. In this paper, we test observationally the scalar-tensor representation of $f(R,T)$ gravity in the context of the aforementioned framework, using the Hubble and Pantheon+ measurements. The best fit parameters are obtained by solving numerically the modified Friedmann equations of two distinct cosmological models in scalar tensor $f(R, T)$ gravity, corresponding to two different choices of the potential, and by performing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis. The best parameters are used to compute the cosmographic parameters, i.e., the deceleration, the jerk and the snap parameters. Using the output resulting from the Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis, the cosmological evolution of the creation pressure and of the matter creation rates are presented for both models. To figure out the statistical significance of the studied scalar-tensor $f(R,T)$ gravity, the Bayesian and the corrected Akaike information criteria are used. The latter indicates that the first considered model in scalar tensor $f(R,T)$ gravity is statistically better than $\Lambda$CDM, i.e., it is more favored by observations. Besides, a continuous particle creation process is present in Model 1. On the other hand, for large redshifts, in Model 2 the particle creation rate may become negative, thus indicating the presence of particle annihilation processes. However, both models lead to an accelerating expansion of the Universe at late times, with a deceleration parameter equivalent to that of the $\Lambda$CDM model.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA

Does co-transcriptional regulation of alternative splicing mediate plant stress responses?

Plants display exquisite control over gene expression to elicit appropriate responses under normal and stress conditions. Alternative splicing (AS) of pre-mRNAs, a process that generates two or more transcripts from multi-exon genes, adds another layer of regulation to fine-tune condition-specific gene expression in animals and plants. However, exactly how plants control splice isoform ratios and the timing of this regulation in response to environmental signals remains elusive. In mammals, recent evidence indicate that epigenetic and epitranscriptome changes, such as DNA methylation, chromatin modifications and RNA methylation, regulate RNA polymerase II processivity, co-transcriptional splicing, and stability and translation efficiency of splice isoforms. In plants, the role of epigenetic modifications in regulating transcription rate and mRNA abundance under stress is beginning to emerge. However, the mechanisms by which epigenetic and epitranscriptomic modifications regulate AS and translation efficiency require further research. Dynamic changes in the chromatin landscape in response to stress may provide a scaffold around which gene expression, AS and translation are orchestrated. Finally, we discuss CRISPR/Cas-based strategies for engineering chromatin architecture to manipulate AS patterns (or splice isoforms levels) to obtain insight into the epigenetic regulation of AS