“The story of 1.5 million soldiers that served in WW1 has been forgotten over the years” – Shrabani Basu

commemorate the role of more than 1 million Indian soldiers who served in the British Army in World War 1, Shrabani Basu talks to Chris Finnigan about her book For King and Another Country (2015) and the role that Indian soldiers played 100 years ago

“The Indian soldiers were desperately homesick, they longed to go home and who can blame them?” – Shrabani Basu

Journalist Shrabani Basu has authored multiple books on the shared histories of India and Britain. Ahead of her recent talk in the South Asia Centre’s Colony as Empire series, she spoke to Sonali Campion about her research on the largely forgotten Indian soldiers who fought in World War I, and on Noor Inayat Khan, the first female radio operator in Nazi-occupied France in World War II

The life of Noor Inayat Khan

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ACAD10 protein expression and Neurobehavioral assessment of Acad10-deficient mice.

Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase 10 (Acad10)-deficient mice develop impaired glucose tolerance, peripheral insulin resistance, and abnormal weight gain. In addition, they exhibit biochemical features of deficiencies of fatty acid oxidation, such as accumulation of metabolites consistent with abnormal mitochondrial energy metabolism and fasting induced rhabdomyolysis. ACAD10 has significant expression in mouse brain, unlike other acyl-CoA dehydrogenases (ACADs) involved in fatty acid oxidation. The presence of ACAD10 in human tissues was determined using immunohistochemical staining. To characterize the effect of ACAD10 deficiency on the brain, micro-MRI and neurobehavioral evaluations were performed. Acad10-deficient mouse behavior was examined using open field testing and DigiGait analysis for changes in general activity as well as indices of gait, respectively. ACAD10 protein was shown to colocalize to mitochondria and peroxisomes in lung, muscle, kidney, and pancreas human tissue. Acad10-deficient mice demonstrated subtle behavioral abnormalities, which included reduced activity and increased time in the arena perimeter in the open field test. Mutant animals exhibited brake and propulsion metrics similar to those of control animals, which indicates normal balance, stability of gait, and the absence of significant motor impairment. The lack of evidence for motor impairment combined with avoidance of the center of an open field arena and reduced vertical and horizontal exploration are consistent with a phenotype characterized by elevated anxiety. These results implicate ACAD10 function in normal mouse behavior, which suggests a novel role for ACAD10 in brain metabolism

TiO₂ Nanoparticles Incorporated Peptide Appended Perylene Bisimide-Based Nanohybrid System: Enhancement of Photo-Switching Behavior

A peptide appended perylene bisimide (PBI)-based new hydrogel has been discovered in phosphate buffer medium having the pH ranging from 7.00 to 9.00. This peptide appended PBI-derivative shows interesting photoswitching property in the aggregated state. This gel is thoroughly characterized by UV–visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and rheological studies. TiO₂ nanoparticles are also prepared by using a protein amino acid, glutamic acid, in water medium. The as-synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles exhibit usual photoswitching behavior. An organic–inorganic hybrid nanomaterial is prepared by incorporating the as-synthesized TiO₂ nanoparticles into the fibrillar gel network of the native gel. This TiO₂–PBI-based hybrid soft material shows a characteristic of nanofiber and nanoparticle combination in their nanoscale coassembled state as it is evident from the respective TEM images of the hybrid material. Interestingly, this nanohybrid shows improved photoswitching properties (photocurrent gain) compared to that of its individual constituents (TiO₂ nanoparticles and PBI-based xerogel). The increase in photoswitching property holds a future promise for making a new organic–inorganic hybrid material for the optoelectronic device application with a high photocurrent conversion efficiency

Increased expression of interferon-inducible genes in macaque lung tissues during simian immunodeficiency virus infection

Pulmonary infections and dysfunction are frequent outcomes during the development of immunodeficiency associated with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, and obtaining a better understanding of the immunologic changes that occur in lungs following HIV-1 infection will provide a foundation for the development of further intervention strategies. We sought here to identify changes in the pulmonary immune environment that arise during simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection of rhesus macaques, which serves as an excellent model system for HIV-1 infection and disease. To examine the gene expression profiles of macaque lung tissues following infection with the pathogenic SIV/DeltaB670 isolate, we performed cDNA microarray hybridizations with lung total RNAs using two commercially available cDNA arrays and a custom-fabricated, immunologically focused macaque cDNA microarray. In situ hybridization and real-time RT-PCR were performed to provide additional analyses of gene expression. Among the genes exhibiting the highest level of induction in lung tissues were the IFN-gamma-inducible chemokines, CXCL10/IP-10 and CXCL9/Mig. In situ hybridization and real-time RT-PCR strongly supported these findings. Correlation analyses revealed that the levels of expression of IFN-gamma, CXCL9/Mig, and CXCL10/IP-10 mRNAs were all strongly positively correlated, and that CXCL10/IP-10 mRNA and Pneumocystis carinii rRNA were positively correlated. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that inflammatory chemokines are among the most differentially expressed mRNAs in macaque lung tissues during systemic SIV infection of rhesus macaques, and provide insight into the complicated events occurring in the lung tissues during HIV-1 infection in humans.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83357/1/Schaefer-et-al.2006.pd

Systematic mutagenesis of TFIIH subunit p52/Tfb2 identifies residues required for XPB/Ssl2 subunit function and genetic interactions with TFB6.

TFIIH is an evolutionarily conserved complex that plays central roles in both RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcription and DNA repair. As an integral component of the pol II preinitiation complex, TFIIH regulates pol II enzyme activity in numerous ways. The TFIIH subunit XPB/Ssl2 is an ATP-dependent DNA translocase that stimulates promoter opening prior to transcription initiation. Crosslinking-mass spectrometry and cryo-EM results have shown a conserved interaction network involving XPB/Ssl2 and the C-terminal Hub region of the TFIIH p52/Tfb2 subunit, but the functional significance of specific residues is unclear. Here, we systematically mutagenized the HubA region of Tfb2 and screened for growth phenotypes in a TFB6 deletion background in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We identified six lethal and 12 conditional mutants. Slow growth phenotypes of all but three conditional mutants were relieved in the presence of TFB6, thus identifying a functional interaction between Tfb2 HubA mutants and Tfb6, a protein that dissociates Ssl2 from TFIIH. Our biochemical analysis of Tfb2 mutants with severe growth phenotypes revealed defects in Ssl2 association, with similar results in human cells. Further characterization of these tfb2 mutant cells revealed defects in GAL gene induction, and reduced occupancy of TFIIH and pol II at GAL gene promoters, suggesting that functionally competent TFIIH is required for proper pol II recruitment to preinitiation complexes in vivo. Consistent with recent structural models of TFIIH, our results identify key residues in the p52/Tfb2 HubA domain that are required for stable incorporation of XPB/Ssl2 into TFIIH and for pol II transcription