RELAXIN: A MAGICAL THERAPY FOR HEALTHY HEART

Relaxin (a peptide hormone) has emerged as a cardioprotective agent and plays a vital role in normal cardiac function. By activation a complex network of signaling cascade, relaxin is responsible for creating a healthy environment for heart functioning. Under pathological conditions, such as cardiomyopathy and heart failure, expression level of relaxin is increased dramatically to protect heart. By promoting angiogenesis, vasodilatation, improving ischemia/reperfusion injury and remodeling, relaxin has emerged as a magical agent to address cardiac abnormalities. Over the past 3 decades, various cardioprotection strategies are in use to deal with cardiac diseases, however till date no effective therapy is in clinical practice. Relaxin has emerged as a novel therapeutic agent to have beneficial action during various pathological conditions. In this review, we have discussed different cardioprotective roles of relaxin that marks it, as an effective agent to tackle heart related diseases.Â

THE WARBURG EFFECT: A POSSIBLE ROLE OF CAP INDEPENDENT TRANSLATION

Cancer is a complex multistep process involving tremendous changes at molecular and cellular properties of a cancerous cell. One of the main characteristics associated with the tumor cells include preferential use of glycolysis over oxidative phosphorylation to meet the high energy needs. This process is observed even in the presence of ample oxygen to fuel mitochondrial respiration and is considered to be the root cause of tumor growth and a potential hallmark of cancer. It has been found that tumor cells shows increased glycolytic capacity than normal cells and produce lactate rather than pyruvate in the process. During cancers, the expression levels of glycolytic enzymes are increased and different mechanisms like increased transcription or altered post-translational regulation has been proposed. Since hypoxia is a well known model in cancers and therefore role of capindependent translation cannot be ignored. Furthermore, elucidation of the underlying reasons behind the increased expression of glycolytic enzymes in cancer will help us to better understand and cure cancer. This review focuses on the possible role of cap independent translation in mediating increased expression of glycolytic enzymes in cancers. Key word: Cancer, Warburg Effect, glycolytic enzymes, Cap independent translation, hypoxi

Ultrasonography (USG) as an adjuvant diagnostic aid in fascial space infections

The aim: to evaluate the efficiency of USG as an adjuvant diagnostic aid in fascial space infections and help draw a treatment plan as per the diagnosis made by USG examination Materials and methods: 60 patients having odontogenic superficial fascial space infection of the maxillofacial region were included. All of the patients included in our study were properly examined clinically with proper work up done, ordering different radiographs necessary to ascertain odontogenic cause most patients diagnosed with cellulitis were given medical line of treatment, and those with abscess were subjected to incision and drainage. Informed consent was obtained from all the participants involved in the study. Results: in this study, total of 60 patients were studied. Out of 60 patients of odontogenic facial space infections, 24 were male and 36 were female. Buccal space was the most common space involved (24;40 %) followed by submandibular space (9;15.0 %) than Canine space (6;10 %). In a total of 60 cases, clinical diagnosis of cellulitis was made in 18 cases (30 %) and that of abscess in 42 patients (70.0 %). All patients were subjected to the USG examination in which cellulitis was diagnosed in 24 cases (40 %) and abscess in 36 cases (60 %). Conclusion: USG could be considered to be a valuable adjuvant to clinical examination in patients with fascial space infection and help in delivering better treatment, after intervention 34 cases were found to be abscess while USG found 36 cases hence clearly proving the superiority of USG in diagnosis of abscess than clinical examination. It has its own advantages like minimal cost, repeated examinations, and readily available in especially in developing countries where people could not easily afford better imaging modalitie

TARGETING HIF-1 PATHWAY: A THERAPEUTIC APPROACH TO KILL CANCER CELLS

Tumorous growth often faces hypoxic (low oxygen tension) conditions and the adaptations of these cells to hypoxic conditions determine their survival. The cancer cells respond to hypoxia by altering the expression of different genes and Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (HIF)-1 is one of it. HIF-1 is a transcriptional factor that response to hypoxia (low oxygen tension) conditions quickly. Expression of HIF-1 gene is essential for increase in vascularization of hypoxic region such as tumor and thus aid in proliferation and survival of cancerous cells. Moreover, HIF-1 signaling in cancer cells has a diverse influence on the metastatic cascade. Targeting HIF-1 is therefore one of the most promising approach to treat cancer. In this review, we have focused on the potential of targeting HIF-1 pathway as therapeutic intervention to treat cancer. Key words: HIF-1 Pathway, Cancer, Hypoxia-Inducibl

On-Board Oxygen Generation Using High Performance Molecular Sieve

The majority of high performance combat aircrafts presently being operated by Indian air Force are fitted with conventional oxygen systems in which a replenishable store of oxygen is carried, most often as liquid oxygen and the flow of gas to each crew member is controlled by an individual pressure demand regulator in which the oxygen is diluted with cabin air to provide breathing gas.Moreover, in-flight refueling capability of present generation fighter aircraft has made it possible to fly for long durations (6 to 8 hours). In such case, the oxygen source becomes one of the limiting factors. In order to meet this requirement, a large supply of Gaseous Oxygen (GASOX) or Liquid Oxygen (LOX) have proven to be a costly affair and the Onboard Oxygen Generating System (OBOGS) has become a very convenient and attractive proposal. The OBOGS employs molecular sieves to adsorb nitrogen from engine bleed air using pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technique, wherein two molecular sieve beds are continuously cycled between steps of pressurization (adsorption) and depressurization (desorption) to generate oxygen enriched breathing gas for aircrew. This paper describes the design of OBOGS using high performance Lithium based Low Silica X-type (Li-LSX) molecular sieves and its performance characteristics. It consists of two Zeolite beds filled with Li-LSX material which adsorbs nitrogen fromengine bleed air tapped from Environmental Control System pipe line. The two beds are cycled by a 5/2 way solenoid valve. The input air is supplied to the solenoid valve through a coalescent filter to reduce moisture from it and a pressure regulator is fitted at the upstream of solenoid valve to regulate the system pressure. The experimental setup for evaluation of OBOGS is also discussed. The OBOGS, presented in this paper, meets all the performance requirements as specified in MIL-C-85521 (AS).

Pathogenic variability in Exserohilum turcicum and identification of resistant sources to turcicum leaf blight of maize (Zea mays L.)

Turcicum leaf blight of maize incited by Exserohilum turcicum (Pass.) Leonard and Suggs is the major limiting factor of maize production in temperate agro-ecologies. Disease management through host plant resistance is the most effective strategy. In the present study among 26 maize genotypes which were initially screened for resistance against E. turcicum under field conditions, 8 genotypes viz., PS 39, CML 451, CML 470, CML 472, VL 1030, VL 1018140, VL1018527 and SMI178-1 were found resistant when screened against twelve isolates of E. turcicum under artificial epiphytotic conditions. Eight genotypes viz., PS45, CML165, CML459, VL1249, VL0536, SMC-5, SMC-3 and KDL 211 were found moderately resistant with disease grade ranged from 2.1-2.5. These maize genotypes possess resistance to turcicum leaf blight can be used successfully in developing high yielding early maturing varieties for high altitude temperate agro-ecologies. The fungus E. turcicum is highly variable in nature. Variability studies on pathogenicity were conducted on twelve isolates of E. turcicum on eleven putative differential maize lines. During the present study a wide pathogenic variation was observed among the twelve isolates of E. turcicum. Cluster analysis on the basis of similarity or dissimilarity in reaction types exhibited by the differential hosts, clustered the isolates into 6 pathogenic groups. The isolates belonged to higher altitudes (Kti 10, Kti11, Kti5) were found to be more aggressive as compared to the isolates of low altitude areas

Role of RAS signaling in ovarian cancer

The RAS family of proteins is among the most frequently mutated genes in human malignancies. In ovarian cancer (OC), the most lethal gynecological malignancy, RAS, especially KRAS mutational status at codons 12, 13, and 61, ranges from 6-65% spanning different histo-types. Normally RAS regulates several signaling pathways involved in a myriad of cellular signaling cascades mediating numerous cellular processes like cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion, and death. Aberrant activation of RAS leads to uncontrolled induction of several downstream signaling pathways such as RAF-1/MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase), PI3K phosphoinositide-3 kinase (PI3K)/AKT, RalGEFs, Rac/Rho, BRAF (v-Raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B), MEK1 (mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1), ERK (extracellular signal-regulated kinase), PKB (protein kinase B) and PKC (protein kinase C) involved in cell proliferation as well as maintenance pathways thereby driving tumorigenesis and cancer cell propagation. KRAS mutation is also known to be a biomarker for poor outcome and chemoresistance in OC. As a malignancy with several histotypes showing varying histopathological characteristics, we focus on reviewing recent literature showcasing the involvement of oncogenic RAS in mediating carcinogenesis and chemoresistance in OC and its subtypes