Role of CD151, A tetraspanin, in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is a RNA virus causing respiratory and reproductive diseases in swine. The susceptibility for PRRSV varies between the different breeds of swine. In cell culture, PRRSV virus can be propagated in primary porcine alveolar macrophages and some African green monkey kidney cell lines, such as MARC-145 cells. Previous studies have shown that 3' untranslated region (UTR) RNAs of the arteriviruses play an important role in the replication of the virus through interactions with cellular proteins. To better understand the differences in the replication capability of PRRSV in different cell lines, we sought to identify the host cellular proteins interacting with PRRSV 3' UTR RNA. We constructed a cDNA library of MARC-145 cell line in lambda ZAP Express vector and screened the library with the positive sense 3' UTR RNA of PRRSV.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that CD151, a host cellular protein, interacting with PRRSV 3' UTR RNA. The specificity of the interaction between CD151 and PRRSV 3' UTR RNA was examined by gel shift assay as well as North-Western hybridization. The transfection of CD151 expression clone into BHK-21 rendered these cells susceptible to PRRSV infection, and the transfection of siRNA against CD151 into MARC-145 significantly reduced the level of PRRSV infection. Also, anti-CD151 antibody treatment to MARC-145 completely blocked PRRSV infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based on our results, we suggest that CD151 should cooperate in PRRSV infection <it>in vitro </it>in MARC-145 and BHK-21 cells.</p

Stuck in Limbo: Coping with an Unusual Circumstance as an International Medical Graduate from India

During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical students and graduates applying for higher education abroad face stress and anxiety. With countries under lockdown, the situation has left many wondering how they can use their time fruitfully. In this experience, I illustrate the methods I have used to gain maximum productivity in this period

Shot boundary detection in videos using Graph Cut Sets

The Shot Boundary Detection (SBD) is an early step for most of the video applications involving understanding, indexing, characterization, or categorization of video. The SBD is temporal video segmentation and it has been an active topic of research in the area of content based video analysis. The research efforts have resulted in a variety of algorithms. The major methods that have been used for shot boundary detection include pixel intensity based, histogram-based, edge-based, and motion vectors based, technique. Recently researchers have attempted use of graph theory based methods for shot boundary detection. The proposed algorithm is one such graph based model and employs graph partition mechanism for detection of shot boundaries. Graph partition model is one of the graph theoretic segmentation algorithms, which offers data clustering by using a graph model. Pair-wise similarities between all data objects are used to construct a weighted graph represented as an adjacency matrix (weighted similarity matrix) that contains all necessary information for clustering. Representing the data set in the form of an edge-weighted graph converts the data clustering problem into a graph partitioning problem. The algorithm is experimented on sports and movie videos and the results indicate the promising performance

Humic acids in sediments of North-Central Arabian Sea, west coast of India

Sediment samples (28) collected during the ORV Sagar Kanya cruise-29, were analysed for humic acid (HA) concentration from the North-Central Arabian Sea. Generally oceanic samples had more HA concentration than the continental shelf (< 200 m depth) samples. The photo-acoustic infrared spectra of shelf sediment HA indicated the presence of more C-H saturated aliphatic chains, while oceanic HA had few peaks for the above groups. Both the IR spectra indicated the absence of aromatic C = C, carbonyl, ketonic groups. Clayey-silt sediment generally had higher concentration of HA compared to sandy-silt type of sediment

A study on surgical management of undescended testis

Background: Cryptorchidism which is synonymous with Undescended testes. It is one of the most common congenital anomalies found in children. The aim is to study the surgical management of undescended testis in relation to age, position, side, symptoms, complications and management of undescended testis. This study will present an overview of the current understanding of this challenging problem, mainly concentrating on surgical management.Methods: About 30 cases of undescended testis were included in the study, which were diagnosed with regards to age of presentation, clinical features, inclusion and exclusion criteria and relevant investigations like ultrasonography, diagnostic laparoscopy, CT whereever required. Cases were managed accordingly in the course of study and sampling of cases was taken from Bapuji Hospital and C.G. Hospital, Davangere during the study period.Results: Undescended testis was found more common on right side and most of them presented with the age group of 1-15 years with absence of testis in the scrotum being the most common complaint and hernia was found to be most commonly associated with undescended testis. Most common position of undescended testis was found to be intra-canalicular with most of them being palpable. The only one case had torsion and few of the cases had post operative complications like, wound infection haematoma. Open and laparoscopic orchidopexy can be used as most common procedure in early age group.Conclusions: Undescended testes is eminently treatable in today’s practice with the surgical procedures, an early diagnosis, informed counselling of parents and optimal surgical management offer optimised opportunities for successful placement and function of the testes which lessen the burden of complications

Comparative toxicity of some detergents on an estuarine fish, Ambassis commersonii

The comparative toxicity was evaluated using four detergents, viz, linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS), branched alkylbenzene sulfonate (BAS), sodium sulfonate (SS) and alfa-olefin sulfonate (AOS) on an estuarine fish, Ambassis commersonii, abundant in Kali estuarine system. Standard toxicity bioassay method was followed as per APHA (1980). AOS concentration in "Mega" soap was determined by the standard MBAS method described in APHA (1980). The results indicate that LAS was the most toxic detergent to fish relative to the other types and the other of toxicity was LAS > AOS > SS > BAS. A significant correlation was seen between observed and calculated mortalities for all the detergents. Some behavioural responses of fishes to all detergents were also observed

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator supports liver repair independent of its cellular receptor

BACKGROUND: The urokinase-type (uPA) and tissue-type (tPA) plasminogen activators regulate liver matrix remodelling through the conversion of plasminogen (Plg) to the active protease plasmin. Based on the efficient activation of plasminogen when uPA is bound to its receptor (uPAR) and on the role of uPA in plasmin-mediated liver repair, we hypothesized that uPA requires uPAR for efficient liver repair. METHODS: To test this hypothesis, we administered one dose of carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) to mice with single or combined deficiencies of uPA, uPAR and tPA, and examined hepatic morphology, cellular proliferation, fibrin clearance, and hepatic proteolysis 2–14 days later. RESULTS: Absence of uPAR alone or the combined absence of uPAR and tPA had no impact on the resolution of centrilobular injury, but the loss of receptor-free uPA significantly impaired the clearance of necrotic hepatocytes up to 14 days after CCl(4). In response to the injury, hepatocyte proliferation was normal in mice of all genotypes, except for uPAR-deficient (uPAR°) mice, which had a reproducible but mild decrease by 33% at day 2, with an appropriate restoration of liver mass by 7 days similar to experimental controls. Immunostaining and zymographic analysis demonstrated that uPA alone promoted fibrin clearance from centrilobular regions and efficiently activated plasminogen. CONCLUSION: uPA activates plasminogen and promotes liver matrix proteolysis during repair via a process that neither requires its receptor uPAR nor requires a contribution from its functional counterpart tPA

Synthesis, spectral characterization and some biological studies of transition metal complexes with Schiff base ligand containing N,O and S as donor atoms

Transition metal complexes of Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Mn(II) have been synthesized with the Schiff base ligand 5-Sub-N-(2-mercaptophenyl)salicylideneimine. Elemental analysis of these complexes suggest that these metal ions forms complexes of type ML(H2O)stoichiometry for Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Mn(II). The ligand behaves as tridentate and forms coordinate bonds through O, S and N atoms. Magnetic susceptibility, IR, UV – Visible, Mass and ESR spectral studies suggest that Cu(II), Ni(II) complexes posses square planar geometry, whereas Co(II), Zn(II), Cd(II) and Mn(II) complexes posses tetrahedral geometry. The complexes were tested for their antimicrobial activity against the bacterial strains Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis.The Schiff base metal complexes evaluated for their antifungal activity against the fungi A. niger and C. oxysporum. The DNA cleavage studies of Schiff base complexes werestudied using Calf – Thymus DNA by agarose gel electrophoresis method

Thermoanalytical and spectral characterization of cadmium(II) complexes of propantheline bromide

Synthesis, structure and properties of Cd(II) complexes of propantheline bromide (PPB) have been studied. The isolated complexes are characterised by various physico-chemical methods. Based on the data, tetrahedral structure has been suggested for the new metal complexes. Thermogravimetric studies of the complexes have Seen performed in order to establish the mode of their thermal stability. The thermal degradation process was found to proceed in two steps. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters are evaluated on the basis of thermal degradation data. The values of activation energies are found to be in the range 8.5-33.5 kJ mol(-1)

Pericellular activation of hepatocyte growth factor by the transmembrane serine proteases matriptase and hepsin, but not by the membrane-associated protease uPA

HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) is a pleiotropic cytokine homologous to the serine protease zymogen plasminogen that requires canonical proteolytic cleavage to gain functional activity. The activating proteases are key components of its regulation, but controversy surrounds their identity. Using quantitative analysis we found no evidence for activation by uPA (urokinase plasminogen activator), despite reports that this is a principal activator of pro-HGF. This was unaffected by a wide range of experimental conditions, including the use of various molecular forms of both HGF and uPA, and the presence of uPAR (uPA receptor) or heparin. In contrast the catalytic domains of the TTSPs (type-II transmembrane serine proteases) matriptase and hepsin were highly efficient activators (50% activation at 0.1 and 3.4 nM respectively), at least four orders of magnitude more efficient than uPA. PS-SCL (positional-scanning synthetic combinatorial peptide libraries) were used to identify consensus sequences for the TTSPs, which in the case of hepsin corresponded to the pro-HGF activation sequence, demonstrating a high specificity for this reaction. Both TTSPs were also found to be efficient activators at the cell surface. Activation of pro-HGF by PC3 prostate carcinoma cells was abolished by both protease inhibition and matriptase-targeting siRNA (small interfering RNA), and scattering of MDCK (Madin–Darby canine kidney) cells in the presence of pro-HGF was abolished by inhibition of matriptase. Hepsin-transfected HEK (human embryonic kidney)-293 cells also activated pro-HGF. These observations demonstrate that, in contrast with the uPA/uPAR system, the TTSPs matriptase and hepsin are direct pericellular activators of pro-HGF, and that together these proteins may form a pathway contributing to their involvement in pathological situations, including cancer