Trace elemental analysis and antimicrobial activities of Elephantopus scaber L.

Screening of various Indian medicinal plants has various degrees of antimicrobial activities against pathogenic and opportunistic microorganisms.  Since the number of effective exogenous antibiotics is decreasing, concerted efforts are to be made to identify antimicrobial materials from natural products and traditional medicines. In the present study, we are reporting the antimicrobial activity of the traditionally used Ayurvedic medicinal plant Elephantopus scaber and its elemental composition analysis.  The antimicrobial activities are found to be higher in leaf extracts of Elephantopus scaber whereas no inhibition was found for root extracts. The elements such as Si, Ca, Cl, Mg, S, K and P are more abundant in the leaf than the root whereas heavy metals are higher in roots than in leaves. In the root, presence of Al, Fe, Ti, Sr, and V is more when compared to leaves whereas Zn, Cu, As, Rb and Sr are less available and are equally present in roots as well as leaf. The elements Cr, Co, Ni, Se, Br and Pb are not found in both leaves and roots

Recent Developments in Copper-Based Catalysts for Enhanced Electrochemical CO₂ Reduction

The drastic climate change imposing adverse environmental effects receives serious research attention for finding a suitable solution. The replacement of conventional fossil energy sources with renewable and sustainable energy sources is the potential route; and thus, manifests as a viable solution. Accordingly, the electrocatalytic carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction process coupled with the renewable energy source is an emerging strategy for adopting a sustainable approach. However, the existing challenges in designing suitable catalyst, support material, electrolyte, inadequate selectivity, and intermediate reactions of CO2 reduction demand substantial research advancement. Numerous studies reported for the CO2 reduction process highlight the importance of catalyst design and product selectivity. Importantly, the copper-based catalysts, capable in the output of multi-carbon products, are reported as a “star” material. This review; therefore, focuses on catalyst design strategies, unique structural/morphological features, and product selectivity of diverse copper-based catalysts. The outstanding findings of copper-based catalysts and the corresponding products are critically discussed with adequate figures of merits. The impact of structural/morphological features on product selectivity is discussed in detail. The future scope and author perspectives on copper-based catalysts for the feasible electrocatalytic CO2 reduction application are summarized.</p

Structural studies of a hyperthermophilic thymidylate kinase enzyme reveal conformational substates along the reaction coordinate

Thymidylate kinase (TMK) is a key enzyme which plays an important role in DNA synthesis. It belongs to the family of nucleoside monophosphate kinases, several of which undergo structure-encoded conformational changes to perform their function. However, the absence of three-dimensional structures for all the different reaction intermediates of a single TMK homolog hinders a clear understanding of its functional mechanism. We herein report the different conformational states along the reaction coordinate of a hyperthermophilic TMK from Aquifex aeolicus, determined via X-ray diffraction and further validated through normalmode studies. The analyses implicate an arginine residue in the Lid region in catalysis, which was confirmed through site-directed mutagenesis and subsequent enzyme assays on the wild-type protein and mutants. Furthermore, the enzyme was found to exhibit broad specificity toward phosphate group acceptor nucleotides. Our comprehensive analyses of the conformational landscape of TMK, together with associated biochemical experiments, provide insights into the mechanistic details of TMK-driven catalysis, for example, the order of substrate binding and the reaction mechanism for phosphate transfer. Such a study has utility in the design of potent inhibitors for these enzymes

Validation of a Genome-Wide Polygenic Score for Coronary Artery Disease in South Asians.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide polygenic scores (GPS) integrate information from many common DNA variants into a single number. Because rates of coronary artery disease (CAD) are substantially higher among South Asians, a GPS to identify high-risk individuals may be particularly useful in this population. OBJECTIVES: This analysis used summary statistics from a prior genome-wide association study to derive a new GPSCAD for South Asians. METHODS: This GPSCAD was validated in 7,244 South Asian UK Biobank participants and tested in 491 individuals from a case-control study in Bangladesh. Next, a static ancestry and GPSCAD reference distribution was built using whole-genome sequencing from 1,522 Indian individuals, and a framework was tested for projecting individuals onto this static ancestry and GPSCAD reference distribution using 1,800 CAD cases and 1,163 control subjects newly recruited in India. RESULTS: The GPSCAD, containing 6,630,150 common DNA variants, had an odds ratio (OR) per SD of 1.58 in South Asian UK Biobank participants and 1.60 in the Bangladeshi study (p < 0.001 for each). Next, individuals of the Indian case-control study were projected onto static reference distributions, observing an OR/SD of 1.66 (p < 0.001). Compared with the middle quintile, risk for CAD was most pronounced for those in the top 5% of the GPSCAD distribution-ORs of 4.16, 2.46, and 3.22 in the South Asian UK Biobank, Bangladeshi, and Indian studies, respectively (p < 0.05 for each). CONCLUSIONS: The new GPSCAD has been developed and tested using 3 distinct South Asian studies, and provides a generalizable framework for ancestry-specific GPS assessment.Dr. Patel is supported by grant T32HL007208 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Dr. Kathiresan is supported by the Ofer and Shelly Nemirovsky Research Scholar Award from Massachusetts General Hospital and the National Human Genome Research Institute under award number 5UM1HG008895; Dr. Khera is supported by an institutional grant from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (BroadIgnite), award numbers 1K08HG010155 and 5UM1HG008895 from the National Human Genome Research Institute, a Hassenfeld Scholar Award from Massachusetts General Hospital, and a sponsored research agreement from IBM Research

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the general population and healthcare workers in India, December 2020–January 2021

Background: Earlier serosurveys in India revealed seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) of 0.73% in May–June 2020 and 7.1% in August–September 2020. A third serosurvey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in India. Methods: The third serosurvey was conducted in the same 70 districts as the first and second serosurveys. For each district, at least 400 individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population and 100 HCWs from subdistrict-level health facilities were enrolled. Serum samples from the general population were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S1-RBD) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, whereas serum samples from HCWs were tested for anti-S1-RBD. Weighted seroprevalence adjusted for assay characteristics was estimated. Results: Of the 28,598 serum samples from the general population, 4585 (16%) had IgG antibodies against the N protein, 6647 (23.2%) had IgG antibodies against the S1-RBD protein, and 7436 (26%) had IgG antibodies against either the N protein or the S1-RBD protein. Weighted and assay-characteristic-adjusted seroprevalence against either of the antibodies was 24.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 23.0–25.3%]. Among 7385 HCWs, the seroprevalence of anti-S1-RBD IgG antibodies was 25.6% (95% CI 23.5–27.8%). Conclusions: Nearly one in four individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population as well as HCWs in India had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020