Modelling Studies for a \u2018Whole of Society (WoS)\u2019 Framework to monitor Cardio-Metabolic Risk among Children (6 to 18 years)

In the World Health Assembly (WHA) 2013, India was among the first country to adapt global framework for monitoring non-communicable diseases (NCD) - Government of India (GOI) has set targets to halt the prevalence of diabetes and obesity by 2025. To halt the prevalence of major NCDs it is necessary to protect children from becoming obese or overweight. Childhood obesity is a precursor of adulthood obesity and attendant cardio-metabolic risk. In last 15 years the prevalence of overweight and obesity increased almost four times (4 to 15%). This translates in to approximately 58 million obese and 122 million overweight children in the country. Studies have reported at least one cardiovascular risk factor among 70 per cent of these children. It is frightening to know that, unit percentage rise in its prevalence in India shall add at least another five million children into the cardiovascular risk pool. Body Mass Index (BMI) [Weight (kg)/Height (m2)] is the most widely used definition for monitoring overweight and obesity; among children BMI-for-age based growth curves (centile values) are used. There are number of BMI-for age based guidelines with varying cut offs (like IOTF, WHO, CDC etc.) \u2013 in India, the growth curves published Indian Association of Pediatrics (IAP), 2015 is considered as the standard. Despite BMI\u2019s large scale application in clinical and public health programs it has many inherent problems. Firstly, BMI cannot distinguish between fat and fat free mass. Excess body fat is an independent risk factor for cardio vascular and metabolic diseases. In an individual with BMI of 20, body fat may range from 5%-40% whereas for body fat content of 20% BMI may vary from 15-30 points. Validity studies using BMI to identify children with excess adiposity have generally documented low to moderate sensitivities (6-46%). Secondly, BMI is not independent on height of the individuals. BMI may not be a sensitive measure in children at the extremes of the height due to unusual fat distribution or highly developed muscles. BMI preferentially classifies taller children and adolescents as overweight. Finally, the definition of childhood overweight and obesity is arbitrary as it is extrapolated from adult reference data and not based on its association with health outcomes. Considering these variations, there has been a growing concern about using single standard to define overweight and obesity which may be appropriate for many sub-populations in the world. Methods: Overall aim of this study was to develop a monitoring mechanism that correlates with cardio-metabolic risk factors among Indian children aged 6-18 yrs. Primary objective of the study was to relate health outcomes, i.e. measures of cardio-metabolic risk, to body fatness and to 4 measure its distribution. Under this overarching goal specific objectives were finalized as mentioned in section 1.4 (Page no.40). Quantitative data was collected from schools in 3 regions (New Delhi, Shillong and Hyderabad) from a representative sample of 3242 children between 6 to 18 years of age. Detailed assessments were done on; a) anthropometry; b) pubertal staging; c) blood biochemistry (fasting plasma insulin, fasting plasma glucose, lipid profile and sub-fractions uric acid) using semi-automated analyzer), d) body composition by bio impedance (BIA) (InBody 720, body composition analyzer, Biospace\ua9), e) body composition using DEXA (Hologic QDR 4500A) on selected sub samples, f) socio-economic status (standard of living index), g) media and market exposures, h) food frequency and dietary recalls, and i) physical activity recalls. The results are presented as: \uf0b7 Study 1: Assessment of whole-body composition using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) among children 6 to 18 years: Validation with Dual X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) \uf0b7 Study 2: Reference values and Percentile curves for cardio-metabolic risk factors among Indian children (6 to 18 years) \uf0b7 Study 3: Clustering of Bio-chemical Markers of Cardio-metabolic Risk among Indian Children: An Imperative for Continuous Monitoring of Risk Factors \uf0b7 Study 4: A multi-level framework for monitoring cardio-metabolic risk: proximal & distal factors associated with clustering of bio-chemical marker

Targeted isolation of alkaloid from Cyclea Peltata and determination of structural formula of Tetrandrine alkaloid based on NMR studies

Alkaloids are group of chemical entity with proven medicinal properties. This work consolidates the procedure in isolation and structural determination of a bisbenzyl isoquinoline alkaloid from Cyclea peltata with related NMR values and data. Dried routes of Cyclea peltata was extracted using chromatographic techniques monitored using TLC and proton NMR studies. The pure compound isolated was subjected for proton NMR, carbon NMR, HSQC, HMBC, NOESY and COSY spectral experiments. Goal is to document the methods of isolation and NMR experiments involved in structural determination. The compound isolated were bisbenzyl isoquinoline alkaloid with head to head ether bond connection and identified as “Tetrandrine”. Eventhough tetrandrine is a known compound and is reported from many other plants, this time it is isolated and reported from Cyclea peltata (H.f & T).Keywords:- Cyclea peltata; bisbenzyl isoquinoline; NMR; HSQ

Potential role of p21 Activated Kinase 1 (PAK1) in the invasion and motility of oral cancer cells.

Background Oral cancer malignancy consists of uncontrolled division of cells primarily in and around the floor of the oral cavity, gingiva, oropharynx, lower lip and base of the tongue. According to GLOBOCAN 2012 report, oral cancer is one of the most common cancers among males and females in India. Even though significant advancements have been made in the field of oral cancer treatment modalities, the overall prognosis for the patients has not improved in the past few decades and hence, this demands a new thrust for the identification of novel therapeutic targets in oral cancer. p21 Activated Kinases (PAKs) are potential therapeutic targets that are involved in numerous physiological functions. PAKs are serine-threonine kinases and they serve as important regulators of cytoskeletal dynamics and cell motility, transcription through MAP kinase cascades, death and survival signalling, and cell-cycle progression. Although PAKs are known to play crucial roles in cancer progression, the role and clinical significance of PAKs in oral cancer remains poorly understood. Results Our results suggest that PAK1 is over-expressed in oral cancer cell lines. Stimulation of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC) cells with serum growth factors leads to PAK1 re-localization and might cause a profound cytoskeletal remodelling. PAK1 was also found to be involved in the invasion, migration and cytoskeletal remodelling of OSCC cells. Conclusions Our study revealed that PAK1 may play a crucial role in the progression of OSCC. Studying the role of PAK1 and its substrates is likely to enhance our understanding of oral carcinogenesis and potential therapeutic value of PAKs in oral cancer

Swelling of Natural Soil Subjected to Acidic and Alkaline Contamination

This paper aims at establishing the influence of acidic and alkalinepore fluids on the swell behaviour of an expansive soil. Aseries of laboratory one dimensional free swell tests were performedto study the behaviour of soil in acidic and alkaline environment.Three different concentrations of sodium hydroxide andsulphuric acid solutions were used as pore fluids to understandthe influence of variable concentrations on the swell behaviourof soil. Results showed that, the swelling of soil that interactedwith sodium hydroxide solution initially increased at lower concentrationand then decreased with increase in concentration.In contrast, the swelling initially decreased at lower concentrationof sulphuric acid and then increased with increase inconcentration of solution. The complexity in the swell behaviourof contaminated soil was assessed by thoroughly investigatingthe mineralogy and microstructure alterations by carrying outX-ray diffraction analysis, Scanning electron microscopy andEnergy dispersive analysis of X-ray at the end of interaction

Flexibility from Electric Boiler and Thermal Storage for Multi Energy System Interaction

Active use of heat accumulators in the thermal system has the potential for achieving flexibility in district heating with the power to heat (P2H) units, such as electric boilers (EB) and heat pumps. Thermal storage tanks can decouple demand and generation, enhancing accommodation of sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind. The overview of flexibility, using EB and storage, supported by investigating the nature of thermal demand in a Danish residential area, is presented in this paper. Based on the analysis, curve-fitting tools, such as neural net and similar day method, are trained to estimate the residential thermal demand. Utilizing the estimated demand and hourly market spot price of electricity, the operation of the EB is scheduled for storing and fulfilling demand and minimizing energy cost simultaneously. This demonstrates flexibility and controlling the EB integrated into a multi-energy system framework. Results show that the curve fitting tool is effectively suitable to acknowledge thermal demands of residential area based on the environmental factor as well as user behaviour. The thermal storage has the capability of operating as a flexible load to support P2H system as well as minimize the effect of estimation error in fulfilling actual thermal demand simultaneously

Metastasis-Associated protein 1 is an upstream regulator of DNMT3a and stimulator of insulin-growth factor binding protein-3 in breast cancer.

Despite a recognized role of DNA methyltransferase 3a (DNMT3a) in human cancer, the nature of its upstream regulator(s) and relationship with the master chromatin remodeling factor MTA1, continues to be poorly understood. Here, we found an inverse relationship between the levels of MTA1 and DNMT3a in human cancer and that high levels of MTA1 in combination of low DNMT3a status correlates well with poor survival of breast cancer patients. We discovered that MTA1 represses DNMT3a expression via HDAC1/YY1 transcription factor complex. Because IGFBP3 is an established target of DNMT3a, we investigated the effect of MTA1 upon IGFBP3 expression, and found a coactivator role of MTA1/c-Jun/Pol II coactivator complex upon the IGFBP3 transcription. In addition, MTA1 overexpression correlates well with low levels of DNMT3a which, in turn also correlates with a high IGFBP3 status in breast cancer patients and predicts a poor clinical outcome for breast cancer patients. These findings suggest that MTA1 could regulate the expression of IGFBP3 in both DNMT3a-dependent and -independent manner. Together findings presented here recognize an inherent role of MTA1 as a modifier of DNMT3a and IGFBP3 expression, and consequently, the role of MTA1-DNMT3a-IGFBP3 axis in breast cancer progression

Delineation of pathogenomic insights of breast cancer in young women

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The prognosis of breast cancer (BC) in young women (BCYW) aged ≤40 years tends to be poorer than that in older patients due to aggressive phenotypes, late diagnosis, distinct biologic, and poorly understood genomic features of BCYW. Considering the estimated predisposition of only approximately 15% of the BC population to BC-promoting genes, the underlying reasons for an increased occurrence of BCYW, at large, cannot be completely explained based on general risk factors for BC. This underscores the need for the development of next-generation of tissue- and body fluid-based prognostic and predictive biomarkers for BCYW. Here, we identified the genes associated with BCYW with a particular focus on the age, intrinsic BC subtypes, matched normal or normal breast tissues, and BC laterality. In young women with BC, we observed dysregulation of age-associated cancer-relevant gene sets in both cancer and normal breast tissues, sub-sets of which substantially affected the overall survival (OS) or relapse-free survival (RFS) of patients with BC and exhibited statically significant correlations with several gene modules associated with cellular processes such as the stroma, immune responses, mitotic progression, early response, and steroid responses. For example, high expression of COL1A2, COL5A2, COL5A1, NPY1R, and KIAA1644 mRNAs in the BC and normal breast tissues from young women correlated with a substantial reduction in the OS and RFS of BC patients with increased levels of these exemplified genes. Many of the genes upregulated in BCYW were overexpressed or underexpressed in normal breast tissues, which might provide clues regarding the potential involvement of such genes in the development of BC later in life. Many of BCYW-associated gene products were also found in the extracellular microvesicles/exosomes secreted from breast and other cancer cell-types as well as in body fluids such as urine, saliva, breast milk, and plasma, raising the possibility of using such approaches in the development of non-invasive, predictive and prognostic biomarkers. In conclusion, the findings of this study delineated the pathogenomics of BCYW, providing clues for future exploration of the potential predictive and prognostic importance of candidate BCYW molecules and research strategies as well as a rationale to undertake a prospective clinical study to examine some of testable hypotheses presented here. In addition, the results presented here provide a framework to bring out the importance of geographical disparities, to overcome the current bottlenecks in BCYW, and to make the next quantum leap for sporadic BCYW research and treatment.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The global cancer genomics consortium\u27s third annual symposium: From oncogenomics to cancer care

The Global Cancer Genomics Consortium (GCGC) is a cohesive network of oncologists, cancer biologists and structural and genomics experts residing in six institutions from Lisbon, United Kingdom, Japan, India, and United States. The team is using its combined resources and infrastructures to address carefully selected, shared, burning questions in cancer medicine. The Third Annual Symposium was organized by the Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon Medical School, Lisbon, Portugal, from September 18 to 20, 2013. To highlight the benefits and limitations of recent advances in cancer genomics, the meeting focused on how to better translate our gains in oncogenomics to cancer patients while engaging our younger colleagues in cancer medicine at-large. Over two hundreds participants actively discussed some of the most recent advances in the areas cancer genomics, transcriptomics and cancer system biology and how to best apply such knowledge to cancer therapeutics, biomarkers discovery and drug development, and an essential role played by bio-banking throughout the process. In brief, the GCGC symposium provided a platform for students and translational cancer researchers to share their excitement and worries as we are beginning to translate the gains in oncogenomics to a better cancer patient treatment

The global cancer genomics consortium\u27s symposium: new era of molecular medicine and epigenetic cancer medicine - cross section of genomics and epigenetics

The Global Cancer Genomics Consortium (GCGC) colleagues continue to function together as an interactive multidisciplinary team of cancer biologists and oncologists with interests in genomics and building a bidirectional bridge between cancer clinics and laboratories while taking advantage of shared resources among its member scientists. The GCGC includes member scientists from six institutions in Lisbon, United Kingdom, Japan, India and United States, and was formed in December 2010 for a period of five years. Driven by valuable lessons learned from the previous symposiums, the fourth GCGC Symposium focused on a cross section of genomic and epigenetic cancer medicine and it\u27s for this reason we chose the conference theme - New Era of Molecular Medicine and Epigenetic Cancer Medicine: Cross Section of Genomics and Epigenetics. This year\u27s symposium was co-organized by the Organization for Oncology and Translational Research (OOTR) at the Shiran Hall, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, from November 14 and 15, 2014. The symposium attracted around 80 participants from 14 countries, and counted with 23 invited platform speakers. Scientific sessions included eight platform sessions and one poster session, and three plenary lectures. The symposium focused on cancer stem cells and self-renewal, cancer transcriptome, tumor heterogeneity, tumor biology, breast cancer genomics, targeted therapeutics and personalized medicine. The issues of cancer stem cells and tumor heterogeneity were echoed in most of the scientific presentations. The meeting concluded with an oral presentation by the best poster awardee and closing remarks by meeting co-chairs

Ghost Diffraction Holography: A Correlation Assisted Quantitative Tool for Complex Field Imaging and Characterization

The fascinating domain of ghost imaging has been a subject of interest in the fundamental and applied research for the last two decades with its promising applications in various imaging and characterization scenarios. In this chapter, we discuss the recently developed ghost diffraction holography (GDH) system with due emphasis on the capability of quantitative complex-field imaging in the ghost framework. The development of the unconventional correlation-assisted GDH technique by adopting the holography concept in ghost diffraction scheme is described, and the quantitative phase imaging capability is demonstrated in the microscopy. In addition, the technique exploits the spatial statistics of time-frozen recorded speckle intensity with snapshot detection in ghost framework, which could broaden the applications of the developed microscopy to real-time imaging of two- and three-dimensional biological samples with high resolution. Furthermore, we discuss demonstrated applications of the technique in the imaging various spatially varying complex-valued macroscopic and microscopic samples and the potential application of the technique in the recovery and characterization of orbital angular momentum modes encoded in spatially incoherent speckle field