An evaluation of risk factors of leprosy and how it affects treatment outcome in a low endemic state of India

Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. India achieved elimination at the national level in 2005. But it still had world’s leprosy burden in 2015 and currently has a prevalence rate of 0.81 per 10,000. The aim of our study was thus to identify the risk factors associated with the development of leprosy and assess their effect on the treatment outcome of the disease, especially in a low endemic state like Punjab.Methods: A retrospective study conducted across Punjab by assessing the medical records of 55 leprosy admissions that were diagnosed, treated, and monitored at a tertiary hospital and those living in leprosy homes, from a time period of 2015 to 2018. Data was analysed using SPSS 25 software and presented in the form of figures and percentages.Results: Maximum number of leprosy patients under study belonged to upper lower socioeconomic class (46.2%) according to The Modified Kuppuswamy Scale. 48.7% of the patients were migrants to the state of Punjab. Overall, 24 patients (61.5%) were successfully treated. 20.5% were relapse cases while 7.7% default and 2.6% failure cases were seen.Conclusions: This study shows the current status of disease in an otherwise low endemic state. Leprosy is associated with a lower socioeconomic status due to lesser access to health services and lower levels of education. The high rate of disease, lower case reporting and treatment outcomes, as compared to the national averages is a cause for alarm thus more health seeking practices need to be encouraged

Chitosan nanoparticles as Carrier of Immunorestoratory plant extract: synthesis, characterization and Immunorestoratory efficacy

Various medicinal plants are rich in certain bioactive compounds that can help in restoration of immune system but these compounds may be unstable in gastro intestinal tract due to elevated pH and harsh conditions that render the biotherapeutic compound ineffective in GI tract. Various particulate systems such as nanoparticles had been used to improve the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of various drugs. In our present research we have used chitosan, a biodegradable polymer as carrier of plant extract (i.e Ethanolic extract of leaves of Ziziphus mauritiana) having immunomodulatory property and checked its immunorestorative efficacy in immunosuppressed hostIt was found that the oral administration of leaf extract of plant loaded in chitosan nanoparticles is an efficient immunorestorer in Swiss albino mice whose immune system had been suppressed by giving intraperitoneal injection of hydrocortisone(10mg/Kg body weight).The nanoparticles system enhances stability in harsh conditions in GI tract and may be a better vehicle in future for efficient drug delivery.Keywords: Chitosan, nanoparticles, immunorestoration, Ziziphus mauritiana, Hydrocortisone, Immunosuppressio

WebFlow - A Visual Programming Paradigm for Web/Java Based Coarse Grain Distributed Computing

We present here the recent work at NPAC aimed at developing WebFlow---a general purpose Web based visual interactive programming environment for coarse grain distributed computing. We follow the 3-tier architecture with the central control and integration WebVM layer in tier-2, interacting with the visual graph editor applets in tier-1 (front-end) and the legacy systems in tier-3. WebVM is given by a mesh of Java Web servers such as Jeeves from JavaSoft or Jigsaw from MIT/W3C. All system control structures are implemented as URL-addressable servlets which enable Web browser-based authoring, monitoring, publication, documentation and software distribution tools for distributed computing. We view WebFlow/WEbVM as a promising programming paradigm and coordination model for the exploding volume of Web/Java software, and we illustrate it in a set of ongoing application development activities

HYPOGLYCEMIC POTENTIAL OF PROBIOTIC DNA LOADED CHITOSAN NANOPARTICLES: AN IN VIVO STUDY

The rise in infectious diseases as well as noninfectious immune related disorders causes millions of premature deaths worldwide and demands the need for the development of efficient immunomodulators. Consumer awareness about the harmful effects of chemical drugs raised a need to search for natural/ alternative therapies for the treatment of diseases. Immunotherapy is one of the alternative ways of modification of diseases. Some bacterial cell components such as peptidoglycans, lipoteichoic acid, secreted soluble substances, genomic DNA, etc, play role in immunomodulation responses. Structural difference between bacterial and eukaryotic DNA apparently account for the ability of bacterial DNA to serve as an immune activating agent, because of its high content of unmethylated CpG dinucleotides. Probiotic DNA’s efficacy could be further enhanced by loading it onto nanoparticles. Nanoparticle-assisted delivery may be a promising approach to alleviate the problem of instability and degradation of DNA. The present study was conducted to prepare and characterize the probiotic DNA loaded chitosan nanoparticles (DLCNP) and to find out the anti-diabetic potential of probiotic bacterial DNA Lactobacillus acidophilus NCDC 343 (LA DNA). Therapeutic efficacy of Probiotic DNA loaded with Chitosan Nanoparticles was evaluated in treating diabetic Balb/c mice. DNA loaded Chitosan Nanoparticles proved as effective anti-diabetic agents and in addition, the bioactivity of probiotic DNA was improved through nano delivery. Keywords: Probiotics, Probiotic DNA, Chitosan-DNA Nanoparticles, Immunotherapy, Anti-diabetic/ Hypoglycemic activity Â

WebFlow - A Visual Programming Paradigm for Web/Java Based Coarse Grain Distributed Computing

We present here the recent work at NPAC aimed at developing WebFlow---a general purpose Web based visual interactive programming environment for coarse grain distributed computing. We follow the 3-tier architecture with the central control and integration WebVM layer in tier-2, interacting with the visual graph editor applets in tier-1 (front-end) and the legacy systems in tier-3. WebVM is given by a mesh of Java Web servers such as Jeeves from JavaSoft or Jigsaw from MIT/W3C. All system control structures are implemented as URL-addressable servlets which enable Web browser-based authoring, monitoring, publication, documentation and software distribution tools for distributed computing. We view WebFlow/WEbVM as a promising programming paradigm and coordination model for the exploding volume of Web/Java software, and we illustrate it in a set of ongoing application development activities. 1 Introduction As anticipated in our WebWindows ansatz [WebHPCC96], current Web systems, fueled by..

Anticancer activity of Ophiobolin A, isolated from the endophytic fungus <i>Bipolaris setariae</i>

<p>The present work describes the anticancer activity of Ophiobolin A isolated from the endophytic fungus <i>Bipolaris setariae.</i> Ophiobolin A was isolated using preparative HPLC and its structure was confirmed by HRMS, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, COSY, DEPT, HSQC and HMBC. It inhibited solid and haematological cancer cell proliferation with IC₅₀ of 0.4–4.3 μM. In comparison, IC₅₀ against normal cells was 20.9 μM. It was found to inhibit the phosphorylation of S6 (IC₅₀ = 1.9 ± 0.2 μM), ERK (IC₅₀ = 0.28 ± 0.02 μM) and RB (IC₅₀ = 1.42 ± 0.1 μM), the effector proteins of PI3K/mTOR, Ras/Raf/ERK and CDK/RB pathways, respectively. It induced apoptosis and inhibited cell cycle progression in MDA-MB-231 cancer cells with concomitant inhibition of signalling proteins. Thus, this study reveals that anticancer activity of Ophiobolin A is associated with simultaneous inhibition of multiple oncogenic signalling pathways namely PI3K/mTOR, Ras/Raf/ERK and CDK/RB.</p