Herbs and Botanical Ingredients with Beneficial Effects on Blood Sugar Levels in Pre-diabetes

Pre-diabetes is a condition with ‘impaired glucose tolerance’. Majority of the cases suffering from pre-diabetes, if not attended, develop type-2 diabetes and type-1 diabetes over time. However, it is possible to halt or reverse the progression of pre-diabetes, or at least delay the development of diabetes by the use of herbs and botanical ingredients which regulate blood sugar levels. Active lifestyle and intake of diabetes preventing herbs can offer pre-diabetics a healthy life. This review summarizes diabetes preventing herbs and botanical ingredients which helps to prevent progression to diabetes without having the side effects to the body unlike the chemicals

Survey on understanding of socio-demographic factors responsible for unmet need of family planning from the selected locality in Agra

Despite the progress that has been recorded in area of family planning, an increasing number of women reporting the need for the contraceptives tells the urgency of the situation. Data collected from both developing and developed world put forth a whooping number as 120 million women who have reported that they are willing to delay the pregnancy but are not using any method of contraception. According to world health organization (WHO) Unmet need for family planning is defined as the percentage of women of reproductive age, either married or in a union, who have an unmet need for family planning. The concept of unmet need has already been defined through many studies, as it is the percentage of the women who wish to delay the childbirth but are not using any form of contraception. Since reporting of the unmet need of family planning depends upon the desire of the women to report such an issue which is still considered a taboo in Indian families. It is for this reason; unmet need is called as an inconsistent and fluid indicator of the reproductive potential of the women. It is postulated that, if the unmet need of the selected population is met through interventions, it could help in reducing the population and also help in bringing down child mortality in addition to maternal mortality and morbidity. This study from the selected location from Agra in Uttar Pradesh has brought in light certain observations among the women who were not using any method of contraception. We have through this study have reported that more than 73 percent of the women wanted to stop childbearing. Women who were using any of the choicest method of contraception, among them 34 percent of the women were reporting desire to become pregnant. 67 percent of the women wanted to delay the pregnancy for one to two years, 48 percent of the women from among the selected population in this category did not want to have any more children. The aim of this study was to establish a co-relation between various factors that exerts their affects on presence of unmet need for family planning and use of family planning methods with a reported decrease in pregnancy among the women who did not want any more children

REV1 and DNA polymerase zeta in DNA interstrand crosslink repair

DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) are covalent linkages between two strands of DNA, and their presence interferes with essential metabolic processes such as transcription and replication. These lesions are extremely toxic, and their repair is essential for genome stability and cell survival. In this review, we will discuss how the removal of ICLs requires interplay between multiple genome maintenance pathways and can occur in the absence of replication (replication‐independent ICL repair) or during S phase (replication‐coupled ICL repair), the latter being the predominant pathway used in mammalian cells. It is now well recognized that translesion DNA synthesis (TLS), especially through the activities of REV1 and DNA polymerase zeta (Polζ), is necessary for both ICL repair pathways operating throughout the cell cycle. Recent studies suggest that the convergence of two replication forks upon an ICL initiates a cascade of events including unhooking of the lesion through the actions of structure‐specific endonucleases, thereby creating a DNA double‐stranded break (DSB). TLS across the unhooked lesion is necessary for restoring the sister chromatid before homologous recombination repair. Biochemical and genetic studies implicate REV1 and Polζ as being essential for performing lesion bypass across the unhooked crosslink, and this step appears to be important for subsequent events to repair the intermediate DSB. The potential role of Fanconi anemia pathway in the regulation of REV1 and Polζ‐dependent TLS and the involvement of additional polymerases, including DNA polymerases kappa, nu, and theta, in the repair of ICLs is also discussed in this review. Environ. Mol. Mutagen. 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/94500/1/21736_ftp.pd

Screening of anti-nematode potential through inhibition of egg hatching in plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne javanica

Plant-parasitic nematodes have emerged as nature’s most successful among all parasites known till today. These animals have been reported from all terrains of all ecosystems. Their capability to survive on a wide diversity of the host plants, circumvent host plant defence is a few of several of their secrets making them most successful of all known parasites. Among various groups of plant-parasitic nematodes, endo-parasitic nematodes are the most damaging one and also difficult to control. Meloidogyne sps. are commonly known as root-knot nematodes. Our inability to control them is primarily due to our poor understanding of the biology of these plant parasites. Due to the availability of the complete genome sequence of few Meloidogyne species, biotechnological interventions are used to unravel the secrets of their success. Chemical controls of these nematodes are extensively reported in the literature. Due to the environmental toxicity associated with these chemicals, and restrictions on the use of chemicals against nematodes led to screening and development of eco-friendly management strategies. The present study was conducted to screen nematotoxic properties of Neem (Azadirachta indica), Jatropha (Jatropha curcas), Kachnar (Bauhinia variegate), Bel (Aegle marmelos) and Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globules) leaf extracts against root-knot nematode Meloidogyne javanica in vitro. The aqueous extracts were used against the hatching of the nematode eggs, movement of second stage juveniles (J2) and the viability of the J2 in increasing concentration of the bioactive compound. The eggs were treated with various concentrations of the selected extracts for different time periods ranging from 24h to 6 days. A significant inhibition of egg hatching and increase in the mortality of the nematode juvenile in few of the aqueous extracts were recorded. Reduced egg hatching and increased mortality of the nematode juveniles could be maybe the indicators of the presence of anti-nematode potential in the selected plant leaves. The results from the study can pave the way for the development of eco-friendly management strategies for plant-parasitic nematodes

Genetics of asthma: current research paving the way for development of personalized drugs

Asthma is a complex genetic disorder involving the interplay between various environmental and genetic factors. In this review, efforts have been made to provide information on the recent advances in these areas and to discuss the future perspective of research in the area of developing personalized drugs using pharmacogenomic approach. Atopic asthma is found to be strongly familial, however the mode of inheritance is controversial. A large number of studies have been carried out and a number of candidate genes have been identified. In addition, a number of chromosomal regions have been identified using genome-wide scans, which might contain important unknown genes. It has been shown in studies carried out in different populations that the genetic predisposition varies with ethnicity. In other words, genes that are associated with asthma in one population may not be associated with asthma in another population. In addition to the involvement of multiple genes, gene-gene interactions play a significant role in asthma. The importance of environmental factors in asthma is beyond doubt. However, it remains controversial whether a cleaner environment or increased pollution is a trigger for asthma. Despite the increasing prevalence of the disorder, only a limited number of therapeutic modalities are available for the treatment. A number of novel therapeutic targets have been identified and drugs are being developed for better efficacy with less side-effects. With the rapid progress in the identification of genes involved in various ethnic populations combined with the availability in future of well-targeted drugs, it will be possible to have appropriate medicine as per the genetic make-up of an individual

Primary colonic liposarcomatosis: report of a case with review of literature

LiposarcomaThe colon is a rare site of occurrence of liposarcoma, as either the primary site or by secondary involvement from a retroperitoneal liposarcoma. Liposarcomatosis denotes simultaneous occurrence of multiple liposarcomas. There are only 17 cases of primary colonic liposarcoma reported in the English literature—one of which was primary colonic liposarcomatosis. We depict the second case of primary colonic liposarcomatosis in a 57-year-old female who presented with abdominal swelling and pain. On exploratory laparotomy, two large masses were seen arising from the wall of the right colon along with multiple smaller masses attached to the colon. Right hemicolectomy with en bloc excision of the masses was performed along with hysterectomy and pelvic floor repair. Macroscopically, multiple exophytic masses and one endophytic mass were identified. The exophytic masses were of variable size and were found to hang from the colon by a thin pedicle simulating variable-sized appendices epiploicae. Histopathologically, the lesions showed the morphology of well-differentiated liposarcoma. This appears to be a case of primary colonic liposarcomatosis. There is only one other similar case reported in the English literature, to the best of our knowledge

HaptenDB: a comprehensive database of haptens, carrier proteins and anti-hapten antibodies

The key requirement for successful immunochemical assay is the availability of antibodies with high specificity and desired affinity. Small molecules, when used as haptens, are not immunogenic. However, on conjugating with carrier molecule they elicit antibody response. The production of anti-hapten antibodies of desired specificity largely depends on the hapten design (preserving greatly the chemical structure and spatial conformation of target compound), selection of the appropriate carrier protein and the conjugation method. This manuscript describes a curated database HaptenDB, where information is collected from published literature and web resources. The current version of the database has 2021 entries for 1087 haptens and 25 carrier proteins, where each entry provides comprehensive details about (1) nature of the hapten, (2) 2D and 3D structures of haptens, (3) carrier proteins, (4) coupling method, (5) method of anti-hapten antibody production, (6) assay method (used for characterization) and (7) specificities of antibodies. The current version of HaptenDB covers a wide array of haptens including pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, drugs, vitamins, steroids, hormones, toxins, dyes, explosives, etc. It provides internal and external links to various databases/resources to obtain further information about the nature of haptens, carriers and respective antibodies. For structure similarity comparison of haptens, the database also integrates tools like JME Editor and JMOL for sketching, displaying and manipulating hapten 2D/3D structures online. So the database would be of great help in identifying functional group(s) in smaller molecules using antibodies as well as for the development of immunodiagnostics/therapeutics by providing data and procedures available so far for the generation of specific or cross-reactive antibodies. Availability: HaptenDB is available on http://www.imtech.res.in/raghava/haptendb/ and http://bioinformatics.uams.edu/raghava/haptendb/ (Mirror site)

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome in an Indian child: a case report

Ellis-van Creveld syndrome is a rare congenital genetic disorder having autosomal recessive inheritance. It is a syndrome affecting the Amish population of Pennsylvania in USA with prevalence rate of 1/5,000 live at birth. In non-Amish population, the birth prevalence is 7/1,000,000. The syndrome is characterized by bilateral postaxial polydactyly of the hands, chondrodysplasia of long bones resulting in acromesomelic dwarfism, ectodermal dysplasia affecting nails as well as teeth and congenital heart malformation. There were very rare reports of this syndrome in dentistry. The present case focuses on the striking and constant oral findings of these patients, which are the main diagnostic features of this syndrome. Since the oral manifestations affect the esthetic, speech, and jaw growth of the child, the dentists have an important role to play in proper management of such case

A YY1-dependent increase in aerobic metabolism is indispensable for intestinal organogenesis

During late gestation, villi extend into the intestinal lumen to dramatically increase the surface area of the intestinal epithelium, preparing the gut for the neonatal diet. Incomplete development of the intestine is the most common gastrointestinal complication in neonates, but the causes are unclear. We provide evidence in mice that Yin Yang 1 (Yy1) is crucial for intestinal villus development. YY1 loss in the developing endoderm had no apparent consequences until late gestation, after which the intestine differentiated poorly and exhibited severely stunted villi. Transcriptome analysis revealed that YY1 is required for mitochondrial gene expression, and ultrastructural analysis confirmed compromised mitochondrial integrity in the mutant intestine. We found increased oxidative phosphorylation gene expression at the onset of villus elongation, suggesting that aerobic respiration might function as a regulator of villus growth. Mitochondrial inhibitors blocked villus growth in a fashion similar to Yy1 loss, thus further linking oxidative phosphorylation with late-gestation intestinal development. Interestingly, we find that necrotizing enterocolitis patients also exhibit decreased expression of oxidative phosphorylation genes. Our study highlights the still unappreciated role of metabolic regulation during organogenesis, and suggests that it might contribute to neonatal gastrointestinal disorders