Adenylyl cyclase-cyclicAMP signaling in mood disorders: Role of the crucial phosphorylating enzyme protein kinase A

Mood disorders are among the most prevalent and recurrent forms of psychiatric illnesses. In the last decade, there has been increased understanding of the biological basis of mood disorders. In fact, novel mechanistic concepts of the neurobiology of unipolar and bipolar disorders are evolving based on recent pre-clinical and clinical studies, most of which now focus on the role of signal transduction mechanisms in these psychiatric illnesses. Particular investigative emphasis has been given to the role of phosphorylating enzymes, which are crucial in regulating gene expression and neuronal and synaptic plasticity. Among the most important phosphorylating enzyme is protein kinase A (PKA), a component of adenylyl cyclase–cyclic adenosine monophosphate (AC–cAMP) signaling system. In this review, we critically and comprehensively discuss the role of various components of AC–cAMP signaling in mood disorders, with a special focus on PKA, because of the interesting observation that have been made about its involvement in unipolar and bipolar disorders. We also discuss the functional significance of the findings regarding PKA by discussing the role of important PKA substrates, namely, Rap-1, cyclicAMP-response element binding protein, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. These studies suggest the interesting possibility that PKA and related signaling molecules may serve as important neurobiological factors in mood disorders and may be relevant in target-specific therapeutic interventions for these disorders

Structured Review of Research Methodologies Applied in Internet Banking

Internet banking has been studied for about last two decades. This study conducts a review of the research techniques used in internet banking domain for last fifteen years (2002 to 2017). The research papers were selected from various reputed databases and subjected to content analysis before inclusion. The study will enable the researchers and bankers to understand the rigor of analysis, choose appropriate research technique and further develop methodologies for conducting research in the field of internet banking. Keywords: Internet banking, sampling methods, survey instrument, data analysis technique

A Semantic Safety Check System for Emergency Management

There has been an exponential growth and availability of both structured and unstructured data that can be leveraged to provide better emergency management in case of natural disasters and humanitarian crises. This paper is an extension of a semantics-based web application for safety check, which uses of semantic web technologies to extract different kinds of relevant data about a natural disaster and alerts its users. The goal of this work is to design and develop a knowledge intensive application that identifies those people that may have been affected due to natural disasters or man-made disasters at any geographical location and notify them with safety instructions. This involves extraction of data from various sources for emergency alerts, weather alerts, and contacts data. The extracted data is integrated using a semantic data model and transformed into semantic data. Semantic reasoning is done through rules and queries. This system is built using front-end web development technologies and at the back-end using semantic web technologies such as RDF, OWL, SPARQL, Apache Jena, TDB, and Apache Fuseki server. We present the details of the overall approach, process of data collection and transformation and the system built. This extended version includes a detailed discussion of the semantic reasoning module, research challenges in building this software system, related work in this area, and future research directions including the incorporation of geospatial components and standards

Enriched cell-free and cell-based native membrane derived vesicles (nMV) enabling rapid in-vitro electrophysiological analysis of the voltage-gated sodium channel 1.5

Here, we demonstrate the utility of native membrane derived vesicles (nMVs) as tools for expeditious electrophysiological analysis of membrane proteins. We used a cell-free (CF) and a cell-based (CB) approach for preparing protein-enriched nMVs. We utilized the Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) lysate-based cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) system to enrich ER-derived microsomes in the lysate with the primary human cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel 1.5 (hNaV1.5; SCN5A) in 3 h. Subsequently, CB-nMVs were isolated from fractions of nitrogen-cavitated CHO cells overexpressing the hNaV1.5. In an integrative approach, nMVs were micro-transplanted into Xenopus laevis oocytes. CB-nMVs expressed native lidocaine-sensitive hNaV1.5 currents within 24 h; CF-nMVs did not elicit any response. Both the CB- and CF-nMV preparations evoked single-channel activity on the planar lipid bilayer while retaining sensitivity to lidocaine application. Our findings suggest a high usability of the quick-synthesis CF-nMVs and maintenance-free CB-nMVs as ready-to-use tools for in-vitro analysis of electrogenic membrane proteins and large, voltage-gated ion channels

Comparative studies of removal of hazardous dyes, methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG) from solutions by low cost activated carbon

297-304The removal of two hazardous dyes, MB and MG newly synthesized economic activated carbon. The adsorbent was synthesized from an agro waste material. The activated carbon has been characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and surface area. A comparative study of the removal of selected dyes was reported. The process of removal for both the dyes is optimized for important parameters. It has been observed that removal of the dyes is maximum in alkaline range of pH. Both for MB and MG, the removal is controlled by first order kinetics. Mass transfer studies for both the dyes have been reported and the values of coefficient of mass transfer are found to be 2.25×10-5 cm/s and 1.92 cm/s respectively at 30°C. The rates of transfer of dyes onto the adsorbent surface were significant both the cases. The process of removal is endothermic and in both the cases higher temperature favoured the removal. Equilibrium data fitted Freundlich adsorption isotherm and the values of constants are found to be 0.59 and 3.01 mg/g for the removal of selected dyes. The results show suitability of the synthesized material for both the systems and can serve as baseline data for dyes removal

Understanding the Modus Operandi of Class II KNOX Transcription Factors in Secondary Cell Wall Biosynthesis

Lignocellulosic biomass from the secondary cell walls of plants has a veritable potential to provide some of the most appropriate raw materials for producing second-generation biofuels. Therefore, we must first understand how plants synthesize these complex secondary cell walls that consist of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in order to deconstruct them later on into simple sugars to produce bioethanol via fermentation. Knotted-like homeobox (KNOX) genes encode homeodomain-containing transcription factors (TFs) that modulate various important developmental processes in plants. While Class I KNOX TF genes are mainly expressed in the shoot apical meristems of both monocot and eudicot plants and are involved in meristem maintenance and/or formation, Class II KNOX TF genes exhibit diverse expression patterns and their precise functions have mostly remained unknown, until recently. The expression patterns of Class II KNOX TF genes in Arabidopsis, namely KNAT3, KNAT4, KNAT5, and KNAT7, suggest that TFs encoded by at least some of these genes, such as KNAT7 and KNAT3, may play a significant role in secondary cell wall formation. Specifically, the expression of the KNAT7 gene is regulated by upstream TFs, such as SND1 and MYB46, while KNAT7 interacts with other cell wall proteins, such as KNAT3, MYB75, OFPs, and BLHs, to regulate secondary cell wall formation. Moreover, KNAT7 directly regulates the expression of some xylan synthesis genes. In this review, we summarize the current mechanistic understanding of the roles of Class II KNOX TFs in secondary cell wall formation. Recent success with the genetic manipulation of Class II KNOX TFs suggests that this may be one of the biotechnological strategies to improve plant feedstocks for bioethanol production

Possible microlensing event in the direction of M31

The Cousin R and I band photometric observations of ~ 13' × 13' field in the direction of M31 galaxy have been carried out during 1999-2001 to search for microlensing events using pixel technique. Here we report a microlensing-like event, of which preliminary analysis indicates that it is a long duration (t1/2 ~ 66 days) event