Optimization of culture conditions of Streptomyces rochei (MTCC 10109) for the production of antimicrobial metabolites

Fermentation and culture conditions were studied in shaken-flask culture to induce the production of greater amounts of antimicrobial metabolites by Streptomyces rochei (10109). Antimicrobial metabolite production started after 48 h incubation and reached its optimum level at 20% inoculum size at 120 h, at which point the metabolites showed maximum antifungal and antibacterial activity against selected human pathogenic microorganisms (Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli). Optimal production occurred at pH 7.5 and temperature 32°C, with 2% glycerol and 1% peptone as the carbon and nitrogen sources respectively. The effects of adding sea water (optimum 30%) and NaCl (optimum 1%) were also evaluated.Keywords: human pathogen

QUALITY BY DESIGN APPROACH TO STABILITY-INDICATING REVERSE-PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD DEVELOPMENT, OPTIMIZATION, AND VALIDATION FOR THE ESTIMATION OF SIMEPREVIR IN BULK DRUG:

Objective: A simple, robust, precise, and selective stability-indicating liquid chromatography (LC) method (reverse-phase high-performance LC) was developed for the estimation of simeprevir through quality by design paradigm. Methods: The chromatographic separation was performed on Water’s 2695(Alliance) equipped with a photodiode array detector at 300 nm. The method was developed on Discovery C18 column (250×4.6, 5 mm) using orthophosphoric acid and acetonitrile (55:45 % v/v) with the flow rate of 1 ml/min at 30°C. The degradation studies of simeprevir were carried out under the stress conditions of hydrolysis (acid, base, and neutral), oxidation, photolytic, and thermal as per the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The peroxide hydrolysis shows more critical impurities which were well resolved from pure drug with the application of design of experiment and optimized the method. Results: Independent variables (critical analytical attributes) selected for the method optimization were mobile phase ratio, flow rate, and temperature of the column based on the risk assessment. The retention time and resolution were selected as the method response. In response surface method, the central composite design and 23 factorial designs were employed for the optimization of the method. The polynomial equation was derived for the estimation of method response. Conclusion: The method was optimized for better resolution among the drug, and impurity peaks were then validated as per the ICH parameters

PREVALENCE AND SEVERITY OF POSSIBLE DRUG-DRUG INTERACTIONS AMONG THE GERIATRIC PATIENTS AT AN INDIAN TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Objective: The objective of this study was to study the prevalence and severity of possible drug-drug interactions (DDIs) among the geriatric patients.Methods: The present study was a retrospective cross-sectional study. Case records of geriatric inpatients from the medical records department were included in the study and the case records of all the remaining age group inpatients were excluded from the study. All the collected cases were subjected to check for the DDIs using the software Micromedex 2.0 and were categorized into minor, moderate, and major based on the severity.Results: In this study, a total of 85 cases were screened for possible DDIs, and among them, 54 cases were found to be with 179 possible DDIs. The prevalence was observed to be 63.5%. Most of the possible DDIs were found to be with moderate severity (65.4%) followed by major (25.7%). Majority of the possible DDIs were observed in the Department of General Medicine (83.2%) followed by chest and tuberculosis (7.8%).Conclusion: Majorly, the severity of interactions was found to be moderate in this study. To reduce the DDIs, rationale prescriptions have to be prescribed by considering the risk-benefit ratio. Geriatrics should be prescribed very cautiously because the age-related pharmacokinetics plays a significant role. By taking all the above aspects into consideration, clinical pharmacist should play a crucial role in the prevention and management of DDIs, especially in geriatrics.Â

Global Burden of Double Malnutrition: Has Anyone Seen It?

Background. Low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) are believed to be characterized by the coexistence of underweight and overweight. It has also been posited that such coexistence is appearing among the low socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of nationally representative samples of 451321 women aged 20–49 years drawn from 57 Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 1994 and 2008. Body Mass Index (BMI in $kg/m^2$), was used to define underweight and overweight following conventional cut-points. Covariates included age, household wealth, education, and residence. We estimated multinomial multilevel models to assess the extent to which underweight $(BMI<18.5 kg/m^2)$ and overweight $(BMI≥25.0 kg/m^2)$ correlate at the country-level, and at the neighborhood-level within each country. Results. In age-adjusted models, there was a strong negative correlation between likelihood of being underweight and overweight at country- (r = −0.79, p<0.001), and at the neighborhood-level within countries (r = −0.51, P<0.001). Negative correlations ranging from −0.11 to −0.90 were observed in 46 of the 57 countries at the neighborhood-level and 29/57 were statistically significant $(p\leq 0.05)$. Similar negative correlations were observed in analyses restricted to low SES groups. Finally, the negative correlations across countries, and within-countries, appeared to be stable over time in a sub-set of 36 countries. Conclusion. The explicitly negative correlations between prevalence of underweight and overweight at the country-level and at neighborhood-level suggest that the hypothesized coexistence of underweight and overweight has not yet occurred in a substantial manner in a majority of LMICs

GLI2 Is a Regulator of beta-Catenin and Is Associated with Loss of E-Cadherin, Cell Invasiveness, and Long-Term Epidermal Regeneration

Research Advisory Board of the Barts and the London Charity (Grant DERG1D8R

Substrate Cooperativity in Marine Luciferases

Marine luciferases are increasingly used as reporters to study gene regulation. These luciferases have utility in bioluminescent assay development, although little has been reported on their catalytic properties in response to substrate concentration. Here, we report that the two marine luciferases from the copepods, Gaussia princeps (GLuc) and Metridia longa (MLuc) were found, surprisingly, to produce light in a cooperative manner with respect to their luciferin substrate concentration; as the substrate concentration was decreased 10 fold the rate of light production decreased 1000 fold. This positive cooperative effect is likely a result of allostery between the two proposed catalytic domains found in Gaussia and Metridia. In contrast, the marine luciferases from Renilla reniformis (RLuc) and Cypridina noctiluca (CLuc) demonstrate a linear relationship between the concentration of their respective luciferin and the rate of light produced. The consequences of these enzyme responses are discussed

The Effect of Rural-to-Urban Migration on Obesity and Diabetes in India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Shah Ebrahim and colleagues examine the distribution of obesity, diabetes, and other cardiovascular risk factors among urban migrant factory workers in India, together with their rural siblings. The investigators identify patterns of change of cardiovascular risk factors associated with urban migration

New approaches to measuring anthelminthic drug efficacy: parasitological responses of childhood schistosome infections to treatment with praziquantel

By 2020, the global health community aims to control and eliminate human helminthiases, including schistosomiasis in selected African countries, principally by preventive chemotherapy (PCT) through mass drug administration (MDA) of anthelminthics. Quantitative monitoring of anthelminthic responses is crucial for promptly detecting changes in efficacy, potentially indicative of emerging drug resistance. Statistical models offer a powerful means to delineate and compare efficacy among individuals, among groups of individuals and among populations.; We illustrate a variety of statistical frameworks that offer different levels of inference by analysing data from nine previous studies on egg counts collected from African children before and after administration of praziquantel.; We quantify responses to praziquantel as egg reduction rates (ERRs), using different frameworks to estimate ERRs among population strata, as average responses, and within strata, as individual responses. We compare our model-based average ERRs to corresponding model-free estimates, using as reference the World Health Organization (WHO) 90 % threshold of optimal efficacy. We estimate distributions of individual responses and summarize the variation among these responses as the fraction of ERRs falling below the WHO threshold.; Generic models for evaluating responses to anthelminthics deepen our understanding of variation among populations, sub-populations and individuals. We discuss the future application of statistical modelling approaches for monitoring and evaluation of PCT programmes targeting human helminthiases in the context of the WHO 2020 control and elimination goals