An exonuclease I-sensitive DNA repair pathway in Deinococcus radiodurans: a major determinant of radiation resistance

Deinococcus radiodurans R1 recovering from acute dose of γ radiation shows a biphasic mechanism of DNA double-strand break repair. The possible involvement of microsequence homology-dependent, or non-homologous end joining type mechanisms during initial period followed by RecA-dependent homologous recombination pathways has been suggested for the reconstruction of complete genomes in this microbe. We have exploited the known roles of exonuclease I in DNA recombination to elucidate the nature of recombination involved in DNA double-strand break repair during post-irradiation recovery of D. radiodurans. Transgenic Deinococcus cells expressing exonuclease I functions of Escherichia coli showed significant reduction in γ radiation radioresistance, while the resistance to far-UV and hydrogen peroxide remained unaffected. The overexpression of E. coli exonuclease I in Deinococcus inhibited DNA double-strand break repair. Such cells exhibited normal post-irradiation expression kinetics of RecA, PprA and single-stranded DNA-binding proteins but lacked the divalent cation manganese [(Mn(II)]-dependent protection from γ radiation. The results strongly suggest that 3' (ρ) 5' single-stranded DNA ends constitute an important component in recombination pathway involved in DNA double-strand break repair and that absence of sbcB from deinococcal genome may significantly aid its extreme radioresistance phenotype

Morphological richness offsets resource demand – experiences in constructing a POS tagger for Hindi

In this paper we report our work on building a POS tagger for a morphologically rich language- Hindi. The theme of the research is to vindicate the stand that- if morphology is strong and harnessable, then lack of training corpora is not debilitating. We establish a methodology of POS tagging which the resource disadvantaged (lacking annotated corpora) languages can make use of. The methodology makes use of locally annotated modestly-sized corpora (15,562 words), exhaustive morpohological analysis backed by high-coverage lexicon and a decision tree based learning algorithm (CN2). The evaluation of the system was done with 4-fold cross validation of the corpora in the news domain (www.bbc.co.uk/hindi). The current accuracy of POS tagging is 93.45 % and can be further improved.

Randomized Control Trial for Reduction of Body Weight, Body Fat Patterning, and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors in Overweight Worksite Employees in Delhi, India

Background. We studied the impact of the multicomponent interventions on body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight individuals working in corporate worksites. Methods. Overweight (BMI ≥ 23 kg/m2) subjects were recruited from four randomised worksites [two active intervention (n, recruited, 180, completed 156) and two control (n, recruited 130, completed 111)]. Intensive intervention was given at intervention worksite. Results. High prevalence (%) of obesity (90.9, 80.2), abdominal obesity (93.5, 84.3), excess skinfold thickness (70.3, 75.9), and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) levels (56.8, 63.7) were seen in the intervention and the control group, respectively. At the end of intervention, the following significant changes were observed in the intervention group: decrease in weight, BMI, waist circumference, serum triglycerides, and increase in HDL-c. Weight loss of more than 5% was seen in 12% and 4% individuals in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Most importantly, the sum of all the skinfold measurements (mm) in the intervention group decreased significantly more than the control group (12.51 ± 10.38 versus 3.50 ± 8.18, resp.). Conclusion. This multicomponent worksite trial showed a reduction in weight, excess subcutaneous fat, and cardiometabolic risk factors after 6 months of active intervention in overweight Asian Indians. Trial Registration. This trial is registered with NCT03249610

Does help structures play a role in reducing the variation of dwell time in IPSA planning for gynaecological brachytherapy application?

Purpose: To report our experience of dosimetric comparison of IPSA and manual plans, with a focus on the use ofhelp structures (HS) during optimization. Material and methods: 33 patients who underwent MR image-based HDR intracavitary-brachytherapy for cervixcancer based on GYN-ESTRO recommendations were selected for evaluation. Tandem/ovoid (T/O) and Vienna applicatorswere used. HS of diameter of 5 mm were drawn around the tandem/needles/ovoid and ring. Three plans weregenerated: manual optimized plan (MOPT), IPSA without help structures (IPSA_woHS) and IPSA with help structures(IPSA_wHS). Dose-volume parameters and the loading pattern were evaluated. Results: For T/O, the use of HS did not make significant impact in the dose-volume parameters and in the loadingof tandem and ovoids, however steep variation was found in the individual dwell time. In case of Vienna applicator,inclusion of HS in the optimization made a significant impact in loading of needles. The percentage ratio oftotal time of needles to the tandem (TN/T%) was found to be 14 ± 2.5, 53 ± 9, 22 ± 6 for MOPT, IPSA_woHS andIPSA_wHS, respectively, which implies that in IPSA_woHS the dwell time in needles were half of the dwell time inthe tandem, while in MOPT the needles were loaded only in 14%, and in IPSA_wHS it was 22% of the dwell timeof tandem. Inclusion of HS in the optimization has reduced the contribution of dwell time of needle in IPSA_wHS.The individual variation of dwell time was also reduced in IPSA_wHS, however drawing of HS is a time consumingprocedure and may not be practical for a routine practice. Conclusion: The role of HS was evaluated for IPSA for T/O and Vienna-applicator, the use of HS may be beneficialin case of combined intracavitary – interstitial approach

Development of Tomato and Pumpkin Blended Puree for Value Addition and Shelf Life with Different Levels of Preservatives

The lab experiment was conducted in the year 2021-2022 at Post Harvest Lab, Department of Horticulture, Nani Agriculture Institute, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh to analyse the physico-chemical properties and shelf life of the puree during storage at refrigerated condition and overall acceptability with different treatment combinations of preservatives. The Experiment was laid out in Completely randomized design (CRD) with 9 treatments

Antibacterial activity of actinomycetes isolated from different soil samples of Sheopur (A city of central India)

The main objective of the present study was isolation, purification, and characterization of actinomycetes from soil samples, having antimicrobial activity against 12 selected pathogenic strains. Soils samples were taken from different niche habitats of Sheopur district, Madhya Pradesh, India. These samples were serially diluted and plated on actinomycete isolation agar media. Potential colonies were screened, purified, and stored in glycerol stock. Isolates were morphologically and biochemically characterized. These isolates were subjected to extraction for production of the antibacterial compound. Antibacterial activity and Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the purified extract of isolates were evaluated. Totally 31 actinomycete isolates were tested for antagonistic activity against 12 pathogenic microorganisms. Isolates AS14, AS27, and AS28 were highly active, while AS1 showed less activity against the pathogenic microorganisms. Isolate AS7 exhibited the highest antagonistic activity against Bacillus cereus (24 mm) and AS16 showed the highest activity against Enterococcus faecalis (21 mm). MIC was also determined for actinomycete isolates against all the tested microorganisms. MIC of actinomycete isolates was found to be 2.5 mg/ml against Shigella dysenteriae, Vancomycin-resistant enterococci, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and was 1.25 mg/ml for Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus xylosus, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Staphylococcus aureus. All actinomycetes isolates showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus, while they showed less activity against S. dysenteriae. These isolates had antibacterial activity and could be used in the development of new antibiotics for pharmaceutical or agricultural purposes