Emerging functional similarities and divergences between Drosophila Spargel/dPGC-1 and mammalian PGC-1 protein

Peroxisome Proliferator Activated Receptor Gamma Co-activator-1 (PGC-1) is a well- conserved protein among all chordates. Entire Drosophila species subgroup carries a PGC-1 homolog in their genome called spargel/dPGC-1 showing very little divergence. Recent studies have reported that significant functional similarities are shared between vertebrate and invertebrate PGC-1’s based on their role in mitochondrial functions and biogenesis, gluconeogenesis, and most likely in transcription and RNA processing. With the help of genetic epistasis analysis, we established that Drosophila Spargel/dPGC-1 affects cell growth process as a terminal effector in the Insulin-TOR signaling pathway. The association between Spargel and Insulin signaling could also explain its role in the aging process. Here we provided a further comparison between Spargel/dPGC-1 and PGC-1 focusing on nuclear localization, oxidative stress resistance and a possible role of Spargel/dPGC-1 in oogenesis reminiscing the role of Spargel in reproductive aging like many Insulin signaling partners. This led us to hypothesize that the discovery of newer biological functions in Drosophila Spargel/dPGC-1 will pave the way to uncover novel functional equivalents in mammals

Histopatološko istraživanje šarana (Labeo rohita) izloženog heksaklorcikloheksanu.

Indian major carp (Labeo rohita) were exposed to 1/10 and 1/5 sub -lethal doses of hexachlorocyclohexane during a 45-day trial period. Fish were sacrificed at the end of the trial period to study light microscopic changes associated with toxicity. Organ tissues, viz., liver, kidney, gill, skin, muscle, heart and brain were examined for histopathological study. Swelling of the hepatocytes with diffuse necrosis and marked swelling of blood vessels were observed in the liver tissue. Tubules of the kidney were distended, with tubular cells of posterior kidney exhibiting marked necrotic changes. Gill tissue showed fusion of primary lamellae, congestion of blood vessels and hyperplasia of branchial plates. Pericardial sac was moderately thickened and extensively infiltrated with leucocytes. Marked neuronal cell degeneration with loss of Nissl substances and microgial nodules could be observed at the cerebrum.Indijski šarani (Labeo rohita) su bili izloženi 1/10 i 1/5 sub-letalnih doza heksaklorcikloheksana tijekom 45 dana pokusa. Na kraju pokusa ribe su bile žrtvovane da se pod svjetlosnim mikroskopom promatraju promjene zbog toksičnosti. Histopatološki su istraženi: jetra, bubreg, škrge, koža, mišić, srce i mozak. U jetri su uočeni nabreknuti hepatociti s difuznom nekrozom i nabreknuće krvnih žila. Lumeni bubrežnih kanalića su bili prošireni s izraženim nekrotičnim. U škrgama je nađeno spajanje primarnih lamela, punokrvnost krvnih žila, i hiperplazija škržnih ploča. Osrčje je bilo umjereno zadebljano i obilno infiltrirano leukocitima. U mozgu je nađena degeneracija neurona s gubitkom Nisslove tvari, te su nađeni mikroglijalni čvorići

An Eight-year Study Report on Arsenic Contamination in Groundwater and Health Effects in Eruani Village, Bangladesh and an Approach for Its Mitigation

Based on several surveys during 1997-2005 and visits of a medical team to Eruani village, Laksham upazila, Comilla district, Bangladesh, the arsenic contamination situation and consequent clinical manifestations of arsenicosis among the villagers, including dermatology, neuropathy, and obstetric outcome, are reported here. Analysis of biological samples from patients and non-patients showed high body burden of arsenic. Even after eight years of known exposure, village children were still drinking arsenic-contaminated water, and many of them had arsenical skin lesions. There were social problems due to the symptoms of arsenicosis. The last survey established that there is a lack of proper awareness among villagers about different aspects of arsenic toxicity. The viability of different options of safe water, such as dugwells, deep tubewells, rainwater harvesting, and surface water with watershed management in the village, was studied. Finally, based on 19 years of field experience, it was felt that, for any successful mitigation programme, emphasis should be given to creating awareness among villagers about the arsenic problem, role of arsenic-free water, better nutrition from local fruits and vegetables, and, above all, active participation of women along with others in the struggle against the arsenic menace

Spargel<i>/</i>dPGC-1 Is a New Downstream Effector in the Insulin–TOR Signaling Pathway in <i>Drosophila</i>

Abstract Insulin and target of rapamycin (TOR) signaling pathways converge to maintain growth so a proportionate body form is attained. Insufficiency in either insulin or TOR results in developmental growth defects due to low ATP level. Spargel is the Drosophila homolog of PGC-1, which is an omnipotent transcriptional coactivator in mammals. Like its mammalian counterpart, Spargel/dPGC-1 is recognized for its role in energy metabolism through mitochondrial biogenesis. An earlier study demonstrated that Spargel/dPGC-1 is involved in the insulin–TOR signaling, but a comprehensive analysis is needed to understand exactly which step of this pathway Spargel/PGC-1 is essential. Using genetic epistasis analysis, we demonstrated that a Spargel gain of function can overcome the TOR and S6K mediated cell size and cell growth defects in a cell autonomous manner. Moreover, the tissue-restricted phenotypes of TOR and S6k mutants are rescued by Spargel overexpression. We have further elucidated that Spargel gain of function sets back the mitochondrial numbers in growth-limited TOR mutant cell clones, which suggests a possible mechanism for Spargel action on cells and tissue to attain normal size. Finally, excess Spargel can ameliorate the negative effect of FoxO overexpression only to a limited extent, which suggests that Spargel does not share all of the FoxO functions and consequently cannot significantly rescue the FoxO phenotypes. Together, our observation established that Spargel/dPGC-1 is indeed a terminal effector in the insulin–TOR pathway operating below TOR, S6K, Tsc, and FoxO. This led us to conclude that Spargel should be incorporated as a new member of this growth-signaling pathway.</jats:p

Titanocene(III) chloride mediated radical induced synthesis of isobenzofuranones <em>via </em> allylation of aldehydes followed by <em>in situ</em> lactonization

85-90Titanocene(III) chloride mediated radical induced synthesis of isobenzofuranones has been accomplished via allylation of aldehydes followed by in&nbsp;situ lactonization in good yield. The radical initiator titanocene(III) chloride (Cp2TiCl) has been prepared from commercially available Cp2TiCl2 and Zn dust in THF under argon

Parsimonious use of indicators for evaluating sustainability systems with multivariate statistical analyses

Indicators are commonly used for evaluating relative sustainability for competing products and processes. When a set of indicators is chosen for a particular system of study, it is important to ensure that they vary independently of each other. Often, the number of indicators characterizing a chosen system may be large. It is essential to select the most important indicators from a large set so that a dependable bias-free analysis can be done using the reduced set of indicators. In this paper, we propose the use of principal component analysis (PCA) along with the partial least square-variable importance in projection (PLS-VIP) method to ensure that the explicit or tacit assumption of the independence of the chosen indicators is valid. We have used two case studies to demonstrate successful use of these two methods for parsimonious use of indicators for sustainability analysis of systems