Interaction between FTO gene variants and lifestyle factors on metabolic traits in an Asian Indian population

Background Lifestyle factors such as diet and physical activity have been shown to modify the association between fat mass and obesity–associated (FTO) gene variants and metabolic traits in several populations; however, there are no gene-lifestyle interaction studies, to date, among Asian Indians living in India. In this study, we examined whether dietary factors and physical activity modified the association between two FTO single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs8050136 and rs11076023) (SNPs) and obesity traits and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Methods The study included 734 unrelated T2D and 884 normal glucose-tolerant (NGT) participants randomly selected from the urban component of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES). Dietary intakes were assessed using a validated interviewer administered semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Physical activity was based upon the self-report. Interaction analyses were performed by including the interaction terms in the linear/logistic regression model. Results There was a significant interaction between SNP rs8050136 and carbohydrate intake (% energy) (Pinteraction = 0.04), where the ‘A’ allele carriers had 2.46 times increased risk of obesity than those with ‘CC’ genotype (P = 3.0 × 10−5) among individuals in the highest tertile of carbohydrate intake (% energy, 71 %). A significant interaction was also observed between SNP rs11076023 and dietary fibre intake (Pinteraction = 0.0008), where individuals with AA genotype who are in the 3rd tertile of dietary fibre intake had 1.62 cm lower waist circumference than those with ‘T’ allele carriers (P = 0.02). Furthermore, among those who were physically inactive, the ‘A’ allele carriers of the SNP rs8050136 had 1.89 times increased risk of obesity than those with ‘CC’ genotype (P = 4.0 × 10−5). Conclusions This is the first study to provide evidence for a gene-diet and gene-physical activity interaction on obesity and T2D in an Asian Indian population. Our findings suggest that the association between FTO SNPs and obesity might be influenced by carbohydrate and dietary fibre intake and physical inactivity. Further understanding of how FTO gene influences obesity and T2D through dietary and exercise interventions is warranted to advance the development of behavioral intervention and personalised lifestyle strategies, which could reduce the risk of metabolic diseases in this Asian Indian population

Analysis of spatial eye gaze data for aiding gender identification

The aim of this paper is to identify the gender of a person using eye gaze data. Based on the eye gaze data we will generate heat map with the help of voronoi algorithm. Heat map serve as an excellent method to visualize which element of the stimulus were able to draw attention. By following this easy to read color coded scheme we will generate two templates one is to identify male and the other is to identify female. There are number of areas where eye tracking is being used. Some of the most leading application areas of eye tracking are psychology, product development, training simulators, computer usability and medical research field. The method that we are used is based on spatial eye gaze data. The technique behind our proposed system is to establish a relationship between stimulus and users eye movement behavior. The major finding of our study is how knowledge in stimulus effects eye movement

Smart Locomotive Engine using GPS system

Rail  tracking  system  (RTS) is  an  advanced method used to track and monitor any train equipped with a  sensing  unit  that  receives  and  transfers signals  through GPS  satellite. RTS is a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) that provides actual geographic real time position of each train. The entire transmission mechanism of RTS setup depends on GPS satellite, a receiver on the train, a GSM system and  controller based  tracking  for dispatch. The GSM communication system is generally the same as cellular phone network. In the existing system passenger cant able to identify the train location. In this project we are identifying the train speed, location and providing message via SMS by applying GPS technique. It is very useful to the passenger those who are sleeping while travelling. In case of emergency when passenger using emergency chain, we can also indicate that in which compartment the chain is pulled

Non-protein coding RNA sequences mediate specific colorimetric detection of Staphylococcus aureus on unmodified gold nanoparticles

Abstract Nonprotein coding RNA (npcRNA) is a transcribed gene sequence that is not able to translate into protein, yet it executes a specific function in modulation and regulation mechanisms. As npcRNA is highly resistant to the mutation, the Sau-02 npcRNA gene and its probe oligonucleotide, which are specifically present in Staphylococcus aureus and in methicillin-resistant S. aureus only, used to develop a highly specific and sensitive colorimetric assay on unmodified gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Hybridization between the npcRNA Sau-02 gene sequences was detected through noncrosslinking AuNP aggregation in salt solution in the presence of probe-target gene sequences. AuNPs of 10 and 15 nm in sizes with monovalent ion salt (NaCl) solution were optimized as the ideal tool for investigating the stability of AuNPs upon the addition of gene sequences. The state dispersed and aggregated forms of 10 nm AuNPs with the presented colorimetric assay were justified through field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The particle distribution of two different AuNP states was evaluated through particle distribution analysis. The lowest detection amount of S. aureus npcRNA from the colorimetric assay performed was 6 pg/µL, as the color of AuNPs turned blue with the presence of probe oligonucleotides and target gene sequences

Prevalence of Stress among First Year Medical Students and Factors Influencing It: A Single Centre Questionnaire Based Study

Background: Prevalence of stress in medical students is very high at about 30 to 50 % as per available literature. They need to acquire a huge amount of knowledge and skills. This study intends to find out the prevalence of stress in first year medical students in a medical college in Kerala.Methods:After obtaining Institutional ethical clearance, the study was conducted in 2018 among first year medical students of a medical college in Kerala.The students were asked to fill a predesigned and validated questionnaire, Medical Student Stress Questionnaire (MSSQ-40). There are a total of 40 questions. The students were asked to mark their response along the Likertscale from 0 to 4. To find out whether there is any significant difference in stress between genders, blood groups, mode of accommodation, sleep and diet, Chi- square test was used.Results:A total of 150 first year medical students filled up the questionnaire, of which 61 were males and 89 were females. High degree of stress was recorded in 47%, moderate in 11% and severe in 4% of students. Next most affected domain was the social related stress, which was present in 46% of students. Sleep of 7 to 9 hours was taken as adequate and less than 7 hours as inadequate. A significant difference in the academic stress was found in the two groups (P= 0.019).Conclusion:Prevalence of stress among first year medical students is high in our setting. The most important domain of stress was academic stressors. Difficulty in understanding the content, heavy workload, large amount of content and lack of time to revise the topics are the major factors contributing to academic stress

Biotechnological Processes in Microbial Amylase Production

Amylase is an important and indispensable enzyme that plays a pivotal role in the field of biotechnology. It is produced mainly from microbial sources and is used in many industries. Industrial sectors with top-down and bottom-up approaches are currently focusing on improving microbial amylase production levels by implementing bioengineering technologies. The further support of energy consumption studies, such as those on thermodynamics, pinch technology, and environment-friendly technologies, has hastened the large-scale production of the enzyme. Herein, the importance of microbial (bacteria and fungi) amylase is discussed along with its production methods from the laboratory to industrial scales

Glycaemic index of three Indian rice varieties

Three commonly consumed Indian rice varieties (Sona Masuri, Ponni and Surti Kolam) were tested for their glycaemic index (GI). Healthy volunteers were recruited and after an overnight fast were given a 50 g available carbohydrate portion of glucose (reference food) or different varieties of cooked rice (test foods) on separate occasions. The fasting as well as postprandial capillary blood glucose response was determined over 2 h, and the incremental area under the curve (IAUC) was calculated. The GI was calculated as the IAUC of the test food/IAUC of the reference food (glucose) × 100. The differences between the GI values for Sona Masuri (72.0 ± 4.5), Ponni (70.2 ± 3.6) and Surti Kolam (77.0 ± 4.0) rice varieties were non-significant (p = 0.606) and are all classified as high GI varieties of rice. There is an urgent need to study the GI of other commonly consumed rice varieties and to develop rice of a lower GI value

Aptamer-based impedimetric determination of the human blood clotting factor IX in serum using an interdigitated electrode modified with a ZnO nanolayer

This article describes a sensitive impedimetric method for the determination of human blood coagulation factor IX protein (FIX) which is present in extremely low concentration in serum. An interdigitated electrode (IDE) whose surface was layered with zinc oxide was modified with two kinds of probes. One is an antibody, the other an aptamer against FIX. A comparative study between anti-FIX aptamer and anti-FIX antibody showed the aptamer to possess higher affinity for FIX. A sandwich aptamer assay was worked out by using the FIX-binding aptamer on the surface of the IDE. It has a detection limit as low as 10 pM which makes it 4 to 30-fold more sensitive than any other method reported for FIX. Moreover, to practice detection in clinical samples, FIX was detected from the human blood serum by spiking. In our perception, the sensitivity of the ZnO-modified IDE presented here makes it a promising tool for sensing clinically relevant analytes that are present in very low (sub-pM) concentrations