CALPAIN 5: A NON-CLASSICAL CALPAIN HIGHLY EXPRESSED IN THE CNS AND LOCALIZED TO MITOCHONDRIA AND NUCLEAR PML BODIES

Calpain 5 (CAPN5) is a non-classical member of the calpain family. It lacks the EF-hand motif characteristic of the classical calpains, calpain 1 and 2, but retains catalytic and Ca2+ binding non EF domains. Tra-3, an ortholog of CAPN5, is involved in necrotic cell death in C.elegans; although specific role of CAPN5 has not been investigated in the mammalian CNS. I compared relative mRNA levels of calpains in rat CNS, which revealed that CAPN5 is the second most highly expressed calpain. We examined relative levels of CAPN5 from late embryonic day 18 to postnatal day 90 and found lower mRNA but higher protein levels during CNS development. Using X –gal staining in Capn5 +/- mice, immunostaining of rat brain sections and SH-SY5Y cells, and subcellular fractionation of rat brain cortex, we found that CAPN5 is a non-cytoplasmic calpain localized in the nucleus and enriched in synaptic mitochondria. Proteinase K treatment of mitochondria and mitoplasts from B35 rat neuroblastoma cells and rat synaptic mitochondria revealed CAPN5 was localized on the inner mitochondrial membrane and released from mitochondria on membrane permeabilization with alamethicin. We used immunolabelling, confocal imaging, nuclear subfractionation and transient transfections to evaluate the subnuclear localization of CAPN5. CAPN5 was detected in punctate domains and associated with promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein, a tumor suppressor protein. We further demonstrated that CAPN5 carries a nonconventional bipartite nuclear localization signal. Together, these findings demonstrate that CAPN5 is a non-cytosolic calpain, abundant in the CNS and localized to the mitochondria inner membrane and nuclear PML bodies

Seven Species of Curvularia Isolated from Three Lakes of Bhopal

A water borne Conidial fungi Curvularia were isolated from Sarangpani lake, Shahpura lake and Lower lake of Bhopal. Seven species were isolated during investigation period. They are Curvularia clavata, C. intermedia, C. lunata, C. pallescens, C. prasadii, C. robusta and C. senegalensis

Diversity and Seasonal Variation of Soil Fungi Isolated from Surrounding Area of Upper Lake, Bhopal Madhya Pradesh.

Diversity and seasonal variation of soil fungi isolated from surrounding area of Upper Lake were studied for a period of twenty four months by using baiting and plating technique. A total of 55 genera and 94 species were recorded from surrounding area of Upper Lake. Out of the total  64 and 56 fungi in the summer season, 54 and 38 in winter and 42 and 32 in rainy season  recorded in the year 2008-09 to 2009-2010 respectively. A marked seasonal variation in mycoflora has been found. Fungi have been divided in to Summer, Rainy and Winter types based on their occurance.Seasonality in the fungal flora was also correlated with varying ecologic factor viz. tem. Rainfall and relative humidity. In the present investigation mycoflora recorded was not much differ from previously reported soil fungi in different habitat. Keywords- Diversity / Seasonal variations/ Soil fungi /surrounding area of Upper Lake/Bhopal

Drechslera Species Firstly Reported from Some Water Bodies of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

During the investigation period (2007-2008) study of fungal diversity has been taken first time in three lakes of Bhopal. Eleven species of Drechslera viz. D. australiensis, D. halodes, D. hawaiiensis, D. rostrata, D. sacchari, D. state of Cochliobolus bicolor, D. state of Cochliobolus miyabeanus, D. state of Cochliobolus sativus, D. state of Cochliobolus setariae, D. state of Cochliobolus spicifer and D. state of Trichometaspheria turcica belonging to order Moniliales and group Deuteromycotina were isolated from lentic environment of Shahpura lake, Sarangpani lake and Lower Lake of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Practice of self-medication among medical students in a region of northern state of India

Background: Self-medication usually leads to irrational drug utilization pattern leading to various issues like economic burden, incomplete treatment and antibiotic resistance. Self-medication is a common practice in developing countries and prevalent among medical students, influencing their future decision making as medical professional. The current study was carried out to determine the prevalence of self-medication among medical students and their attitude towards the same.Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital from July 2015 to Oct 2015. Structured and validated questions were used to collect information about knowledge, attitude and practice of self-medication among undergraduate medical students. The study included total of 328 participants. Data were collected from each participant and analyzed statistically by using SPSS version 20 for count and percentages.Results: A total of 328 subjects studying at a medical school were assessed regarding their practice, attitude and perception of self-medication behavior. Out of total recruited subjects, 53% were males and 47% were females. The prevalence of self-medication among recruited subjects was 89.9%. Symptoms like fever, Headache and weakness were the most common reasons of self-medication. The most commonly used drugs were antipyretic, analgesics (81.7%), antibiotics (51.2%). Approximately 15% subjects were not aware about the completion of the course of antibiotic treatment. Subjects obtained information and procured drugs from their family members, friends and pharmacist and the reasons for this were cited as lack of time, minor ailments and quick relief. Only 32.6% students opined that self-medication should be encouraged in future.Conclusions: Current study reveals that practice of self-medication is highly prevalent among medical students without adequate knowledge of drugs used. Students should be educated regarding advantages and disadvantages of self-medication

The maze of a map

My students have passed the second grade and are in third grade this year. I have been working with them since they were in the final term of grade one. Government schools of Delhi follow NCERT textbooks in classes 1 and 2 for Mathematics, English and Hindi. In class 3, two more text books are added as a part of curriculum which are ‘Aas- Paas’ for EVS and ‘Meri Dilli’ for social studies. Since we live in Delhi region it is understandable that we should know about our state, therefore ‘Meri Dilli’, which is prepared by SCERT, plays an important role in the curriculum

Short Communication: Effects of temperature on growth, pigment composition and protein content of an Antarctic Cyanobacterium Nostoc commune

Tripathi R, Dhuldhaj UP, Singh S. 2012. Short Communication: Effects of temperature on growth, pigment composition and protein content of an Antarctic Cyanobacterium Nostoc commune. Nusantara Bioscience 4: 134-137. Effect of temperature variation on biomass accumulation, pigment composition and protein content were studied for the cyanobacterium Nostoc commune, isolated from Antarctica. Results confirmed the psychrotrophic behavior (optimum growth temperature 25◦C) of the cyanobacterium. Low temperature increased the duration of lag phase and exponential growth phase. Maximum increase in biomass was recorded on 24th day at 25◦C and on 12th day at 50C. The downshift from 25 to 5◦C had almost negligible effect on chl a content. Maximal protein content was recorded for cultures growing at 50C on 12th day. The carotenoids/chl a ratio was maximum (2.48) at 50C on 9th day. It remained almost constant for cultures growing at 5 and 350C. There was an induction in protein synthesis following downshift in temperature from 25 to 5◦C

A Brief Review of Analytical Methods for the Estimation of Brivaracetam in Pharmaceutical Formulation and Biological Matrices

Partial-onset seizures are treated with Brivaracetam, which is a chemical butanamide derivative. Brivaracetam (BRV) in pharmaceutical and biological samples can be determined using various analytical techniques, including HPLC, UV-visible, and hybrid techniques including LC-MS, LC-MS/MS, UPLC-MS/MS, & other techniques, all of which are discussed in this review article. The review will analyze BRV determination using a variety of analytical approaches in comparison with each other. The findings of this review paper can be used as a starting point for future analysis of BRV