Evaluation of the versatility of tannases produced from Aspergillus niger and Penicillium variable with respect to gallic acid production, gallate ester synthesis, animal feed improvement, tannery effluent degradation and tannin stain removal

The potentiality of tannases produced from A. niger and P. variable were investigated with respect to gallic acid production, synthesis of gallate esters, animal feed improvement, tannery effluent degradation and tannin stain removal. Titrimetry results showed significant gallic acid production with 92 % conversion of 8 % tannic acid catalyzed by lyophilized A. niger tannase and 60 % conversion of 3 % tannic acid by lyophilized P. variable tannase in 8h. In gallate ester synthesis, esterfication rate was observed to be affected by the substrate molar ratio and temperature with maximum at 50◦C. Amongst the various organic solvents evaluated, n-hexane (log P 2.0) promoted maximum synthesis of both methyl  gallate (MG) and propyl gallate (PG). Also low initial water activity (aw) of 0.11 – 0.33 obtained with LiCl2 and MgCl2.2H2O gave better yields for both MG and PG and by both tannases. Furthermore, addition of molecular sieves at 0h in esterification reaction resulted in enhanced conversion of gallic acid and methanol into methyl gallate (90.7 % and 83 %) by A. niger and P. variable tannase respectively. Similarly, 94.8 % and 89.6 % conversion of gallic acid and propanol into propyl gallate was achieved by A. niger and P. variable tannase after addition of molecular sieves at 0h. In the hydrolysis of xylan and pectin, A. niger tannase showed outstanding result by efficiently degrading them and producing ferulic acid at retention  time of 75.90 min. Besides this, both A. niger and P. variable tannases showed considerable degradation of 15 X diluted tannery effluent i.e. 45 and 36 % in 48 h respectively. In the removal of tea / tannin stains, the increase in temperature from 37◦C to 50◦C showed 15 % increase in reflectance for A. niger tannase and 21 % for P. variable tannase indicating its potential use in tannin stain remover (Tannosol)

Altered Lipid Composition and Enhanced Lipid Production in Green Microalga by Introduction of Brassica Diacylglycerol Acyltransferase 2

Higher lipid biosynthesis and accumulation are important to achieve economic viability of biofuel production via microalgae. To enhance lipid content, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was genetically engineered with a key enzyme diacylglycerol acyltransferase (BnDGAT2) from Brassica napus,responsible for neutral lipid biosynthesis. The transformed colonies harbouring aph7 gene, screened on hygromycin-supplemented medium, achieved transformation frequency of ~120 ± 10 colonies/1 × 106cells. Transgene integration and expression were confirmed by PCR, Southern blots, staining lipid droplets, proteins and spectro-fluorometric analysis of Nile red-stained cells. The neutral lipid is a major class (over 80% of total lipids) and most significant requirement for biodiesel production; this was remarkably higher in the transformed alga than the untransformed control. The levels of saturated fatty acids in the transformed alga decreased to about 7% while unsaturated fatty acids increased proportionately when compared to wild type cells. Polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially α-linolenic acid, an essential omega-3 fatty acid, were enhanced up to 12% in the transformed line. Nile red staining confirmed formation of a large number of lipid globules in the transformed alga. Evaluation of long-term stability and vitality of the transgenic alga revealed that cryopreservation produced significantly higher quantity of lipid than those maintained continuously over 128 generations on solid medium. The overexpression of BnDGAT2significantly altered the fatty acids profile in the transformed alga. Results of this study offer a valuable strategy of genetic manipulation for enhancing polyunsaturated fatty acids and neutral lipids for biofuel production in algae

Study of microalbuminuria as early risk marker of nephropathy in type 2 diabetic subjects

 Background: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus that lead to end-stage of kidney disease (ESKD). Detection of early-stage can slow loss of kidney function and improve patient outcomes with use of diagnostic biomarker detection of DN. Aims and objectives of this study is to evaluate the possible association between glycated hemoglobin and urinary microalbumin as a predictor of diabetic nephropathy in type 2 diabetic patients.Methods: Total 162 subjects were included in this study comprises uncontrolled diabetes 54 cases, controlled diabetes 54 cases and healthy controlled 54 controls. Micro albumin was measured by urinary microalbumin (turbidimetric immunoassay), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measured by ion exchange resin method and fasting blood glucose estimated by GOD-POD method. The inclusion of age group was between 35 to 74 years. Statistical analysis was done by using SPSS, version 16.0. p values were calculated by ANOVA unpaired t-test. The p<0.05 was considered a statistically significant.Results: Urinary microalbumin levels were statistically significant increase in type 2 diabetes mellitus with nephropathy in comparison to uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and controlled diabetes mellitus (138.9±13.7 mg/l vs 67.7±14.1 mg/l and p<0.005**).  HbA1c, which acts as a biomarker of diabetes was significant higher diabetic nephropathy, in comparison to uncontrolled diabetes mellitus, controlled diabetes mellitus and healthy control (8.0±1.1% vs 7.1±0.9% and 5.7±0.4%).Conclusions: The present study was demonstrated impaired glycaemic control is associated with elevations in urinary micro albumin levels and it may be considered as risk marker of diabetic nephropathy

Prevalence and fungal profile of pulmonary aspergillosis in immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients of a tertiary care hospital

Background: Aspergillus is a fungus which may present an array of pulmonary manifestations, depending on the patient’s immunological and physiological state. Although the incidence of pulmonary aspergillosis occurs primarily in immunocompromised patients but the incidence is also rising in immunocompetent individuals, especially in developing countries. Aim: The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and predisposing factors of pulmonary aspergillosis along with species identification. Materials and Methods: One hundred and three patients admitted to the Department of Chest and Tuberculosis and in the Department of Medicine from Jan 2012 to Jan 2013 were included in this study. The patients were epitomized on the basis of clinical signs and symptoms, physical examination, chest radiography, CT scans, histopathological examination, bronchoscopy and fungal examination including potassium hydroxide mount, fungal culture of sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage. Species identification was done by colony characteristics, slide culture and Lactophenol Cotton blue mount. Results: Out of the 103 patients, (63 males and 40 females) Aspergillus species has been isolated from 17 (16.5%) males and 07 (6.79%) females. Various predisposing factors of pulmonary aspergillosis have been identified in which pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic smoking and environmental exposure to asbestos, cement its tops the list. Many of the patients had multiple predisposing factors. Aspergillus species were isolated in 24 (23.3%) cases. Aspergillus fumigatus was the predominant species isolated in 13 (54.16%) cases followed by Aspergillus flavus in 07 (29.16%) cases, Aspergillus niger in 03 (12.5 %) and Aspergillus terrus in 1 (4.16%) cases. Conclusion: It is concluded that the prevalence of pulmonary Aspergillosis is quite high in immunocompromised individuals and low in immunocompetent individuals. An adequate and efficient evaluation of the etiological agents has a crucial role in the management of such patients

Observational constraint from the heaviest pulsar PSR J0952-0607 on the equation of state of dense matter in relativistic mean field model

In the present work, we constrain the equation of the state of dense matter in the context of heaviest observed neutron star mass M$_{max}$ = 2.35$\pm 0.17$ M$_{\odot}$ for the black widow pulsar PSR J0952-0607. We propose three interactions HPU1, HPU2 and HPU3 (named after Himachal Pradesh University)for the relativistic mean field model which include different combinations of non-linear, self and cross-couplings among isoscalar-scalar $\sigma$, isoscalar-vector $\omega$ and isovector-vector $\rho$ meson fields up to the quartic order. These interactions are in harmony with the finite nuclei and bulk nuclear matter properties. The equations of state computed by using newly generated interactions for the $\beta$-equilibrated nucleonic matter satisfy the heaviest observed neutron star mass M$_{max}$ = 2.35$\pm 0.17$ M$_{\odot}$ for the black widow pulsar PSR J0952-0607. The results for the radius ($R_{1.4}$) and dimensionless tidal deformability (${\Lambda_{1.4}}$) corresponding to the canonical mass are also presented and agree well with the GW170817 event and astrophysical observations. The radius of $2.08M_{\odot}$ neutron star mass is predicted to be in the range $R_{2.08}$ = 12.98 -13.09 Km which also satisfies the NICER observations by Miller et al. (2021) and Riley et al.(2021). A covariance analysis is also performed to assess the theoretical uncertainties of model parameters and to determine their correlations with nuclear matter observables.Comment: 19 pages, 12 Figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2305.06667, arXiv:2305.0593

Tale of GRB 171010A/SN 2017htp and GRB 171205A/SN 2017iuk: Magnetar origin?

We present late-time optical follow-up observations of GRB 171010A/SN 2017htp ($z$ = 0.33) and low-luminosity GRB 171205A/SN 2017iuk ($z$ = 0.037) acquired using the 4K$\times$4K CCD Imager mounted at the 3.6m Devasthal Optical Telescope (3.6m DOT) along with the prompt emission data analysis of these two interesting bursts. The prompt characteristics (other than brightness) such as spectral hardness, T$_{90}$, and minimum variability time-scale are comparable for both the bursts. The isotropic $X$-ray and kinetic energies of the plateau phase of GRB 171205A are found to be less than the maximum energy budget of magnetars, supporting magnetar as a central engine powering source. The new optical data of SN 2017htp and SN 2017iuk presented here, along with published ones, indicate that SN 2017htp is one of the brightest and SN 21017iuk is among the faintest GRB associated SNe (GRB-SNe). Semi-analytical light-curve modelling of SN 2017htp, SN 2017iuk and only known GRB associated superluminous supernova (SLSN 2011kl) are performed using the $\texttt{MINIM}$ code. The model with a spin-down millisecond magnetar as a central engine powering source nicely reproduced the bolometric light curves of all three GRB-SNe mentioned above. The magnetar central engines for SN 2017htp, SN 2017iuk, and SLSN 2011kl exhibit values of initial spin periods higher and magnetic fields closer to those observed for long GRBs and H-deficient SLSNe. Detection of these rare events at such late epochs also demonstrates the capabilities of the 3.6m DOT for deep imaging considering longitudinal advantage in the era of time-domain astronomy.Comment: Accepted for publication in New Astronomy; Received 21 April 2022, Revised 13 June 2022, Accepted 1 July 202

Rhabdomyosarcoma of the posterior chest wall in a newborn: a case report

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue malignancy of childhood, but may occur extremely rarely in the neonatal period. There are only a few reports of rhabdomyosarcoma in neonates. Although, it may arise anywhere in the body, the head and neck, and genitourinary regions are the most frequent sites. Truncal and chest wall rhabdomyosarcoma is relatively rare occurrence. We report a neonate with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma arising from the posterior chest wall muscles at birth. Computer Tomography scan raised the possibility of rhabdomyosarcoma or neurofibroma, fine-needle aspiration cytology was inconclusive. Total excision was done and chemotherapy given. At 6 months child is without recurrence