Clinical pattern of superficial mycosis in rural type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Background: Diabetic foot infections are a major cause of amputations and mortality. There is heterogeneity in type of superficial fungal infections because of change in climatic conditions and lifestyles across world. There is paucity of reports on etiology of superficial fungal infections in rural type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in India, so the present study was undertaken to find out the clinical pattern of superficial fungal infections in rural type 2 diabetes mellitus patients.Methods: Rural type 2 diabetes mellitus patients clinically diagnosed to have superficial fungal infection were enrolled and were subjected to direct microscopy in KOH stain and fungal culture.Results: 100 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were enrolled (58 males and 42 females). 45 were either KOH or culture positive. 73.1% were dermatophytes and rest nondermatophytes. Trichophyton rubrum was the commonest (48.8%) dermatophyte.Conclusions: Trichophyton rubrum was the commonest dermatophyte causing superficial infection. Besides dermatophytes non-dermatophytic fungi are also emerging as important cause of superfiicial mycosis

Nonprofessional Phagocytosis Can Facilitate Herpesvirus Entry into Ocular Cells

Phagocytosis is a major mechanism by which the mediators of innate immunity thwart microbial infections. Here we demonstrate that human herpesviruses may have evolved a common mechanism to exploit a phagocytosis-like entrapment to gain entry into ocular cells. While herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) causes corneal keratitis, cytomegalovirus (CMV) is associated with retinitis in immunocompromised individuals. A third herpesvirus, human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), is crucial for the pathogenesis of Kaposi's sarcoma, a common AIDS-related tumor of eyelid and conjunctiva. Using laser scanning confocal microscopy, we show that successful infection of ocular cell types by all the three viruses, belonging to three divergent subfamilies of herpesviruses, is facilitated by induction of F-actin rich membrane protrusions. Inhibitors of F-actin polymerization and membrane protrusion formation, cytochalasin D and latrunculin B, were able to block infection by all three viruses. Similar inhibition was seen by blocking phosphoinositide 3 kinase signaling, which is required for microbial phagocytosis. Transmission electron microscopy data using human corneal fibroblasts for HSV-1, human retinal pigment epithelial cells for CMV, and human conjunctival epithelial cells for HHV-8 are consistent with the possibility that pseudopod-like membrane protrusions facilitate virus uptake by the ocular cells. Our findings suggest a novel mechanism by which the nonprofessional mediators of phagocytosis can be infected by human herpesviruses

Prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriurea and Importance of Antibiotic with Its Resistant Pattern in Pregnant Females Attending OPD in Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: An observational study was done on asymptomatic bacteriurea (ASB) in pregnant females attending OPD’S in Era’s Lucknow Medical College & Hospital, Lucknow (ELMC&H) from December 2013 to November 2014.Objective: This study was to investigate the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriurea (ASB) in pregnant females, to determine the uropathogens responsible for ASB and to know the importance of antibiotic and its resistant pattern for safe motherhood and newborn health.Materials and Methods: Urine samples were collected from pregnant women at 16th week of gestation (Group A, n=150) and between 32 and 34 week (Group B, n=150). Cultures were performed using standard microbiological technique. ASB was determined as presence of >105 cfu/mL in culture of urine sample.Results: The prevalence of ASB among pregnant females was 15.33% at 16th week of gestation and 8% in women between 32 to 34th week of gestation, thus the occurrence of ASB was 7.2%. The most common bacterial isolate was Escherichia coli (42.85%).Conclusion: The study shows necessity of regular urine culture to detect asymptomatic bacteriurea in all the three trimesters to avoid the complications and treated, if positive

Different RDB to RDF mapping languages

Abstract:This document deals with the different techniques, mapping languages ,tools ,applications used for mapping Relational Databastes and Resource Description Framework.This document will serve as a guide for selecting a particular language for mapping .For the development of semantic web we need to map Relational Database to Resource Description Framework.Since most of the data on web is stored on RelationalDatabase and a conceptual gap is to be bridged between the Relational Database model and RDF to make this data available on web semantic.Many mapping languages and approaches have been found leading to the ongoing standardization of the World WideWeb Consortium(W3C) carried out in the RDB2RDF Working Group(WG).This paper would provide help and recommendations for selecting a mapping language

Intrinsic structural dynamics dictate enzymatic activity and inhibition

Enzymes are known to sample various conformations, many of which are critical for their biological function. However, structural characterizations of enzymes predominantly focus on the most populated conformation. As a result, single-point mutations often produce structures that are similar or essentially identical to those of the wild-type enzyme despite large changes in enzymatic activity. Here, we show for mutants of a histone deacetylase enzyme (HDAC8) that reduced enzymatic activities, reduced inhibitor affinities, and reduced residence times are all captured by the rate constants between intrinsically sampled conformations that, in turn, can be obtained independently by solution NMR spectroscopy. Thus, for the HDAC8 enzyme, the dynamic sampling of conformations dictates both enzymatic activity and inhibitor potency. Our analysis also dissects the functional role of the conformations sampled, where specific conformations distinct from those in available structures are responsible for substrate and inhibitor binding, catalysis, and product dissociation. Precise structures alone often do not adequately explain the effect of missense mutations on enzymatic activity and drug potency. Our findings not only assign functional roles to several conformational states of HDAC8 but they also underscore the paramount role of dynamics, which will have general implications for characterizing missense mutations and designing inhibitors

Cellular expression of gH confers resistance to herpes simplex virus type-1 entry

AbstractEntry of herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) into cells requires a concerted action of four viral glycoproteins gB, gD, and gH–gL. Previously, cell surface expression of gD had been shown to confer resistance to HSV-1 entry. To investigate any similar effects caused by other entry glycoproteins, gB and gH–gL were coexpressed with Nectin-1 in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Interestingly, cellular expression of gB had no effect on HSV-1(KOS) entry. In contrast, entry was significantly reduced in cells expressing gH–gL. This effect was further analyzed by expressing gH and gL separately. Cells expressing gL were normally susceptible, whereas gH-expressing cells were significantly resistant. Further experiments suggested that the gH-mediated interference phenomenon was not specific to any particular gD receptor and was also observed in gH-expressing HeLa cells. Moreover, contrary to a previous report, gL-independent cell surface expression of gH was detected in stably transfected CHO cells, possibly implicating cell surface gH in the interference phenomenon. Thus, taken together these findings indicate that cellular expression of gH interferes with HSV-1 entry

Biomolecular NMR spectroscopy in the era of artificial intelligence

Biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and artificial intelligence (AI) have a burgeoning synergy. Deep learning-based structural predictors have forever changed structural biology, yet these tools currently face limitations in accurately characterizing protein dynamics, allostery, and conformational heterogeneity. We begin by highlighting the unique abilities of biomolecular NMR spectroscopy to complement AI-based structural predictions toward addressing these knowledge gaps. We then highlight the direct integration of deep learning approaches into biomolecular NMR methods. AI-based tools can dramatically improve the acquisition and analysis of NMR spectra, enhancing the accuracy and reliability of NMR measurements, thus streamlining experimental processes. Additionally, deep learning enables the development of novel types of NMR experiments that were previously unattainable, expanding the scope and potential of biomolecular NMR spectroscopy. Ultimately, a combination of AI and NMR promises to further revolutionize structural biology on several levels, advance our understanding of complex biomolecular systems, and accelerate drug discovery efforts

A study on the limitations of evolutionary computation and other bio-inspired approaches for integer factorization

Integer Factorization is a vital number theoretic problem frequently finding application in public-key cryptography like RSA encryption systems, and other areas like Fourier transform algorithm. The problem is computationally intractable because it is a one-way mathematical function. Due to its computational infeasibility, it is extremely hard to find the prime factors of a semi prime number generated from two randomly chosen similar sized prime numbers. There has been a recently growing interest in the community with regards to evolutionary computation and other alternative approaches to solving this problem as an optimization task. However, the results still seem to be very rudimentary in nature and there\u27s much work to be done. This paper emphasizes on such approaches and presents a critic study in details. The paper puts forth criticism and ideas in this aspect