Characterization and functional regulation of bioactive peptides in avian macrophages and heterophils

Oligopeptides and low molecular weight polypeptides play central roles as effectors and signal transducers acting as hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors, toxins, and antimicrobial factors that are important for the survival of the organism. Owing to the ubiquitous involvement of peptides in many key regulatory processes, we have been interested to identify native peptides in different cells and tissues and understand their functions. To conduct our studies, we used avian macrophages and heterophils as models of specialized cells which constitute central components of innate immunity. These studies involved (a) qualitative identification and characterization of the peptides associated with high intensity mass spectral peaks in macrophage and heterophil and (b) the quantitative changes in those peptides under immunomodulating effects of toll-like receptor (TLR) activators. The work presented here describes the identification of thymosin beta 4, an actin binding peptide, in macrophages and its modulation under TLR activation. This dissertation also includes identification of mature avian beta defensin 2 (AvBD2), an antimicrobial peptide in heterophils of 4 different avian species (chicken, turkey, pheasant and quail) and its modulation in chicken heterophils under similar conditions

IMPACT OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST PROVIDED EDUCATION ON MEDICATION KNOWLEDGE AND ADHERENCE OF HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS IN A SOUTH INDIAN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Objective: To evaluate the medication knowledge of the patients on maintenance hemodialysis, their adherence to drug therapy and to assess the effect of patient counselling in improving their medication knowledge and adherence.   Methods: Data was obtained from the patients by medical history interview and review of their medical records. The medication knowledge was assessed using Medication knowledge assessment questionnaire (MKAQ) and their medication adherence behaviour using Brief Medication questionnaire (BMQ). Patients were counseled both verbally and by distribution of education leaflets regarding their disease, dialysis procedure, the drugs, diet and fluid restrictions on regular dialysis days and the effect of patient counselling in improving their medication knowledge and adherence was assessed using the respective questionnaires at the baseline, after 6and 12 weeks. The mean scores were subjected to statistical analysis.   Results: 85 patients (57 males and 28 females; mean age 50.52±13.28years) were included and 79% were on twice weekly and 21% were on thrice weekly dialysis. The average number of drugs prescribed for a patient was found to be 6.47±1.57. Hypertension was found to be the major co-morbidity in 52.94% patients and antihypertensives were the most prescribed drugs (75.3%). Based on the mean MKAQ score, there was a significant increase in the medication knowledge from baseline of 14.30±6.97 to 19.32±6.61 at the end of sixth week (p=0.000) and to 33.62±7.76 at the end of twelfth week of counseling (p= 0.000). The mean BMQ score was 4.26±0.95 at the baseline, 2.99±0.82 on the sixth week and 1.73±0.94 on the twelfth week of counseling, indicating a significant improvement in medication adherence with continuous patient counseling (p=0.000).   Conclusion: The study emphasized that provision of constant patient education to hemodialysis patients would increase the medication knowledge of the patients and improve their adherence. Â&nbsp

Evaluation of Local Feature Detectors for the Comparison of Thermal and Visual Low Altitude Aerial Images

Local features are key regions of an image suitable for applications such as image matching, and fusion. Detection of targets under varying atmospheric conditions, via aerial images is a typical defence application where multi spectral correlation is essential. Focuses on local features for the comparison of thermal and visual aerial images in this study. The state of the art differential and intensity comparison based features are evaluated over the dataset. An improved affine invariant feature is proposed with a new saliency measure. The performances of the existing and the proposed features are measured with a ground truth transformation estimated for each of the image pairs. Among the state of the art local features, Speeded Up Robust Feature exhibited the highest average repeatability of 57 per cent. The proposed detector produces features with average repeatability of 64 per cent. Future works include design of techniques for retrieval of corresponding regions

Cerebello-cortical functional connectivity may regulate reactive balance control in older adults with mild cognitive impairment

BackgroundOlder adults with mild cognitive impairment (OAwMCI) experience a two-fold increased risk of falling compared to their cognitively intact counterparts. This increased risk could be attributed to impairments in balance control mechanisms (both volitional and reactive), however, the exact neural substrates contributing to the balance impairments remain unclear. While changes in functional connectivity (FC) networks in volitional balance control tasks have been well highlighted, the relationship between these changes and reactive balance control has not been examined. Therefore, this study aims to explore the relationship between FC networks of the brain obtained during resting state fMRI (no visualization or active task performed) and behavioral measures on a reactive balance task in OAwMCI.MethodsEleven OAwMCI (< 25/30 on MoCA, > 55 years) underwent fMRI and were exposed to slip-like perturbations on the Activestep treadmill. Postural stability, i.e., dynamic center of mass motion state (i.e., its position and velocity) was computed to determine reactive balance control performance. The relationship between reactive stability and FC networks was explored using the CONN software.ResultsOAwMCI with greater FC in default mode network-cerebellum (r2 = 0.43, p < 0.05), and sensorimotor-cerebellum (r2 = 0.41, p < 0.05) network exhibited lower reactive stability. Further, people with lower FC in middle frontal gyrus-cerebellum (r2 = 0.37, p < 0.05), frontoparietal-cerebellum (r2 = 0.79, p < 0.05) and cerebellar network-brainstem (r2 = 0.49, p < 0.05) exhibited lower reactive stability.ConclusionOlder adults with mild cognitive impairment demonstrate significant associations between reactive balance control and cortico-subcortical regions involved in cognitive-motor control. Results indicate that the cerebellum and its communications with higher cortical centers could be potential substrates contributing to impaired reactive responses in OAwMCI

Coupling effect of fertigation and foliar application of micronutrients on growth, yield and quality of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) cv Bizet

Investigation was undertaken to study the effect of fertigation and foliar application of micronutrients on growth, yield and flower quality of carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) cv Bizet under naturally ventilated polyhouse at Nilgiris (Ooty) in Tamil Nadu during April 2012 to May 2013. The experiment consisted of nine micronutrient treatments and it was laid out in randomized block design with three replications. ZnSO4, FeSO4, CuSO4, Borax and chelated micronutrient EDTA mix (MN-EDTA) were given in different combinations through fertigation and/or foliar application. The effect of these micronutrients on vegetative growth, yield, quality was evaluated at critical crop growth stages. Results revealed that fertigation of 0.4% MN-EDTA+ foliar application of 0.2% MN-EDTA at fortnightly intervals, beginning from one month after planting up to harvesting stage significantly improved plant height (94.89 and 85.94 cm), number of leaves (184.62 and 215.98), number of laterals (6.8 and 9.4), earliness in flower bud appearance (94.75 and 80.20 days), stalk length (81.23 and 76.31 cm), yield (243.57 and 323.73 flowers/m2) and vaselife (16.20 and 16 days) during the two consecutive flushes, respectively

An interesting case of metastatic brain abscess

Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative, non-motile, lactose fermenting, aerobic rod-shaped bacterium with three different subspecies, K. pneumoniae, Klebsiella ozaenae, and Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis. Here, we report the case of a 32-year-old male, chronic alcoholic presented with fever, hemoptysis, and headache of 20 days duration. Over a period of 4 days, the patient worsened with the development of altered sensorium and respiratory distress, connected to a mechanical ventilator. Computed tomography and chest X-ray showed consolidation involving the left lower lobe with an air-fluid level. Magnetic resonance imaging brain showed multiple metastatic brain abscess involving cerebrum and cerebellum and culture reports of sputum and blood showed K. pneumoniae. The patient was started on antibiotics along with anti-tubercular drugs. In spite of effective management, the patient developed recurrent episodes of hemoptysis and died of respiratory failure. For the concomitant involvement of both cerebrum and cerebellum for the first time

Vanishing headache in a young female: An interesting case report

Headache is one of the most common neurological symptom occurring worldwide. Here, we present a unique case of secondary headache in a young female which got reversed with appropriate treatment. A young female who presented with a severe subacute unilateral left-sided intractable headache with papilledema and obstructive hydrocephalus was found to have 4th ventricular neurocysticercosis causing obstruction of the foramen of Magendi and Luschka, relieved on timely surgical excision and with medical management. This case is reported to highlight the rare causes of secondary headache and various presentations of neurocysticercosis, in endemic areas like India as it causes neurological morbidity which can be alleviated on appropriate treatment, thereby preventing economic hardship and improving the quality of life

The Role of Platelet Factor 4 in Local and Remote Tissue Damage in a Mouse Model of Mesenteric Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

The robust inflammatory response that occurs during ischemia reperfusion (IR) injury recruits factors from both the innate and adaptive immune systems. However the contribution of platelets and their products such as Platelet Factor 4 (PF4; CXCL4), during the pathogenesis of IR injury has not been thoroughly investigated. We show that a deficiency in PF4 protects mice from local and remote tissue damage after 30 minutes of mesenteric ischemia and 3 hours of reperfusion in PF4-/- mice compared to control B6 mice. This protection was independent from Ig or complement deposition in the tissues. However, neutrophil and monocyte infiltration were decreased in the lungs of PF4-/- mice compared with B6 control mice. Platelet-depleted B6 mice transfused with platelets from PF4-/- mice displayed reduced tissue damage compared with controls. In contrast, transfusion of B6 platelets into platelet depleted PF4-/- mice reconstituted damage in both intestine and lung tissues. We also show that PF4 may modulate the release of IgA. Interestingly, we show that PF4 expression on intestinal epithelial cells is increased after IR at both the mRNA and protein levels. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that may PF4 represent an important mediator of local and remote tissue damage

(Z)-3-(4-Fluoro­phen­yl)-1-[4-(methyl­sulfon­yl)phen­yl]-2-tosyl­prop-2-en-1-one

In the title compound, C23H19FO5S2, two of the phenyl ring C atoms and a sulfonyl O atom of the phenyl(methylsulfonyl) group are disordered over two positions with occupancies 0.522 (17):0.478 (17). The methyl­phenyl and fluoro­phenyl rings are essentially planar, with maximum deviations of 0.0059 (8) and 0.0047 (9) Å, respectively. The crystal packing is stabilized by C—H⋯F inter­actions