Mechanical Perturbation of Filamin A Immunoglobulin Repeats 20-21 Reveals Potential Non-equilibrium Mechanochemical Partner Binding Function

The actin crosslinking protein filamin A (FLNa) mediates mechanotransduction, a conversion of mechanical forces into cellular biochemical signals to regulate cell growth and survival. To provide more quantitative insight into this process, we report results using magnetic tweezers that relate mechanical force to conformational changes of FLNa immunoglobulin-like repeats (IgFLNa) 20–21, previously identified as a mechanosensing domain. We determined the force magnitudes required to unfold previously identified structural organizations of the β-strands in the two domains: IgFLNa 20 unfolds at ~15 pN and IgFLNa 21 unfolding requires significantly larger forces. Unfolded domain IgFLNa 20 can exist in two different conformational states, which lead to different refolding kinetics of the IgFLNa 20 and imply a significant impact on the reformation of the domain pair at reduced force values. We discuss the relevance of the findings to force bearing and mechanosensing functions of FLNa

On-line monitoring and control algorithm for brain tissue deformation during non-invasive surgery

The image-guided neurosurgery has revolutionized conventional surgical techniques by assisting surgeons to locate the target using 3D images as their source for surgery. This technology aids in shortening the surgery time, reducing the incision size which can lead to faster recovery. It’s always been a tricky task as brain is made up of soft tissue which deforms/dislocates easily during surgery. Moreover, it’s a challenging work for intra- modality registration to decrease the computational time which is normally prevailing in minutes which leads to opening of the skull and do surgery manually. Time constraints during surgery limit the intra-operative image registration, hence accurate registration is necessary.Master of Science (Biomedical Engineering

EVALUATION OF ANTI ULCER ACTIVITY OF HYDROALCOHOLIC EXTRACTS OF GYMNEMA SYLVESTRE ON ALBINO WISTAR RATS

Objective: The present research is designed to evaluate the anti-ulcer activity of HAGS (Hydroalcoholic extract of Gymnema sylvestre) in NSAIDs and pylorus ligation-induced rat models. Methods: The antiulcer activity of the hydroalcoholic extracts of Gymnema sylvestre (100 and 200 mg/kg, p. o.) was evaluated in ethanol, indomethacin, pylorus ligation and acetic acid-induced ulcer models in rats. Parameters such as mean ulcer indices and percentage ulcer inhibition were assessed in ethanol, indomethacin and acetic acid-induced ulcer models, while the gastric volume, pH, and titratable acidity were evaluated in the pylorus ligation ulcer model. Results: Hydroalcoholic extract of Gymnema sylvestre (100 mg/kg) and (200 mg/kg) could significantly (P<0.001) reduce the ulcer index, ulcerated area and total acidity compared to standard drug and thereby significantly (P<0.001) increase percentage inhibition of ulcers and protected area which was evident by the significant rise in pH of gastric content. A significant increase was observed in pH, NP-SH, GSH, enzymic antioxidants and protein with a significant decrease in volume of gastric juice, free and total acidity, acid output and LPO levels activities in 100 mg/kg and 200 mg/kg of HAGS treated rats compared to disease control rats. The effect of extracts was dose-dependent and results were comparable to that of the standard drug Cimetidine. Conclusion: It is concluded that the Hydroalcoholic extract of Gymnema sylvestre shows a significant effect on NSAIDs and Pylorus ligation-induced rat models. It shows a significant reduction in the lesion index

Assessment of Oxidative Stress by the Estimation of Lipid Peroxidation Marker Malondialdehyde (MDA) in Patients with Chronic Periodontitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the oxidative stress-mediated lipid peroxidation end product malondialdehyde (MDA) in periodontitis using the available literature. Materials and Methods. An electronic literature search was performed for the published articles from 2000 to 2022 in PubMed (MeSH), Science Direct, Wiley Online library, and cross-reference using specific keywords. Results. The literature search identified 1,166 articles. After analyzing the abstracts of the obtained articles, the articles were excluded for the following reasons: duplicate studies (n = 395) and not relevant to the research question (n = 726). The remaining 45 articles were chosen for full-text evaluation. Finally, the present qualitative synthesis selected 34 articles that met the inclusion criteria for evaluation and removed the articles which did not meet the required criteria (n = 11). Out of these, 16 articles had coherent data for quantitative synthesis. The meta-analysis used the standardized mean differences method at a 95% confidence interval by random-effects model. The periodontitis group displayed significantly higher MDA levels (P<0.001) in gingival crevicular fluid, saliva, and serum samples of the studies analyzed than the healthy control. Conclusion. The analyzed studies showed significantly higher MDA levels in various biological samples of patients with periodontitis, supporting the role of elevated oxidative stress and consequent lipid peroxidation in periodontitis

RNA-Seq of Cyst Nematode Infestation of Potato (<i>Solanum tuberosum</i> L.): A Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Resistant and Susceptible Cultivars

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important food crop worldwide, and potato cyst nematodes (PCNs) are among the most serious pests. The identification of disease resistance genes and molecular markers for PCN infestation can aid in crop improvement research programs against PCN infestation. In the present study, we used high-throughput RNA sequencing to investigate the comprehensive resistance mechanisms induced by PCN infestation in the resistant cultivar Kufri Swarna and the susceptible cultivar Kufri Jyoti. PCN infestation induced 791 differentially expressed genes in resistant cultivar Kufri Swarna, comprising 438 upregulated and 353 downregulated genes. In susceptible cultivar Kufri Jyoti, 2225 differentially expressed genes were induced, comprising 1247 upregulated and 978 downregulated genes. We identified several disease resistance genes (KIN) and transcription factors (WRKY, HMG, and MYB) that were upregulated in resistant Kufri Swarna. The differentially expressed genes from several enriched KEGG pathways, including MAPK signaling, contributed to the disease resistance in Kufri Swarna. Functional network analysis showed that several cell wall biogenesis genes were induced in Kufri Swarna in response to infestation. This is the first study to identify underlying resistance mechanisms against PCN and host interaction in Indian potato varieties

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Not AvailableImprovement of edible bananas (a triploid and sterile crop) through conventional breeding is a challenging task owing to its recalcitrant nature for seed set, prolonged crop duration. In addition, the need of huge man power at different stages of progeny development and evaluation often leads to mislabeling, poor data management and loss of vital data. All this can be overcome by the application of advanced information technology source. This ensured secure and efficient data management such as storage, retrieval and data analysis and further could assist in tracking the breeding status in real time. Thus, a user-friendly web-based banana breeding tracker (BBT) has been developed using MySQL database with Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP). This BBT works on all operating systems with access to multiple users from anywhere at any time. Quick responsive (QR) code labels can be generated by the tracker, which can be decoded using QR scanner. Also for each and every updated progress in breeding stages, a new QR code can be generated, which in turn reduce labeling errors. Moreover, the tracker has additional tools to search, sort and filter the data from the data sets for efficient retrieval and analysis. This tracker is being upgraded with phenotypic and genotypic data that will be made available in the public domain for hastening the banana improvement program.ICAR-NRCB