Aquaporins (AQPs) as a marker in the physiology of inflammation and its interaction studies with garcinol.

Aquaporins like AQP1, AQP3, and AQP4 are known to be involved in the pathophysiology of inflammation based on earlier reports. This study aimed to evaluate the involvement of Aquaporins as a potential target of inflammation. The study also investigates the efficacy of methanolic extract of Garcinia (GME) and its potent phytocompound (garcinol) against the Aquaporins involved in inflammation. siRNA silencing of AQP3 was carried out in RAW264.7 cells followed by LPS stimulation (1 µg/ml) and assessment of important markers of inflammation including NO, PGE2, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1ß, CCL20, iNOS and COX-2. To assess the anti-inflammatory potential of Garcinia extract and garcinol, cells were stimulated with 1 µg/ml LPS in the absence and presence of increasing concentrations of GME and garcinol. During the experimental period, extract concentrations (115 µg/ml and 230 µg/ml for RAW264.7; 118 µg/ml and 236 µg/ml for THP-1) and garcinol concentrations (6 µM and 12 µM for RAW264.7; 3 µM and 6 µM for THP-1) were selected based on the IC50. The anti-inflammatory effects were assessed by measuring the levels of TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, and CCL20 in LPS-stimulated cells. The AQP expression was studied at transcriptional and translational levels using qPCR and Western blot analysis respectively. AQP3 knockdown significantly decreased the NO, PGE2, TNF-α, IL-1ß levels along with iNOS and COX-2 mRNA expression. LPS stimulation led to a significant increase in the mRNA and protein level expression AQP1, AQP3, and AQP4 in RAW264.7 cells; and AQP1 and AQP3 in THP-1 cells indicating their role as markers of inflammation. GME and garcinol effectively suppressed the LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokine production in both cell lines. The results indicate that AQP1, AQP3, and AQP4 could play a crucial role as markers of inflammation. Anti-inflammatory agents like Garcinia could potentially decrease the expression of such AQPs, thus inhibiting the inflammatory process.

An overview on the prevalence and potential impact of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance in the aquatic environment of India.

India at present is one of the leading countries in antimicrobial drug production and use, leading to increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and public health problems. Attention has mainly been focused on the human and food animals' contribution to AMR neglecting the potential contribution of the perceptibly degraded aquatic environment in India. The paper reviews the available published literature in India on the prevalence of antimicrobial residues and their dissemination pathways in wastewater of pharmaceutical industries, sewage treatment plants, hospitals, riverine, community pond water, and groundwater. The prevalence of antimicrobial residue concentration, pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB), their drug resistance levels, and their specific antimicrobial resistant genes (ARGs) occurring in various water matrices of India have been comprehensively depicted from existing literature. The concentration of some widely used antimicrobials recorded from the sewage treatment plants and hospital wastewater and rivers in India has been compared with other countries. The ecotoxicological risk posed by these antimicrobials in the various water matrices in India indicated high hazard quotient (HQ) values for pharmaceutical effluents, hospital effluents, and river water. The degraded aquatic environment exhibited the selection of a wide array of co-existent resistant genes for antibiotics and metals. The review revealed improper use of antibiotics and inadequate wastewater treatment as major drivers of AMR contaminating water bodies in India and suggestion for containing the challenges posed by AMR in India has been proposed.

Post processing of low cost Aligners fabricated by additive manufacturing process to enhance the surface quality and functionality.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes have ample advantages compared to traditional manufacturing processes, including mass customization, material efficiency, bioprinting, and fabrication of complex geometries with reduced lead time. Despite such benefits, it suffers most from staircase effects that deteriorate the fabricated part's surface quality. Nowadays, additively manufactured aligners are suitable for treating malocclusion and temporomandibular defects of teeth. Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is one of the best substitutes for clear aligners production to reduce per-unit cost. Glycol-modified Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETG) is opted as the material to fabricate the clear aligners due to its biocompatibility and non-toxicity. However, the poor surface quality of the additively manufactured is a major challenge in developing clear aligners with the FDM. A novel experimental setup is designed and developed to enable Chemical Vapor Smoothing (CVS) to enhance the surface quality of the clear aligners. Furthermore, based on the Surface roughness, the comparison is made between the surface quality polished with various chemicals (namely methylethylketone (also known as 2-butanone), toluene and, cyclohexanone). Moreover, Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is used to analyze the impact of different process parameters (i.e., the chemical volume, exposure time, and workpiece orientation) on the surface quality of the clear aligners. Moreover, RSM shows that the impact of the clear aligners orientation on %ΔRa during the CVS is higher than other process parameters. Results demonstrate that cyclohexanone produces more uniform surface quality with a 92.73% reduction in surface roughness compared to methylethylketone and toluene on PETG, i.e., 89.66% and 88.63%, respectively. The developed surface finishing method is capable of producing uniform, smooth surfaces over the FDM-fabricated PETG clear aligners.

Deciphering the role of aquaporin 1 in the adaptation of the stinging catfish Heteropneustes fossilis to environmental hypertonicity by molecular dynamics simulation studies.

A thorough investigation of the water permeability of H. fossilis aquaporin 1 (hfAQP1) in a hypertonic environment can provide a useful insight into the understanding of the underlying molecular mechanism of its high tolerance to salinity. Here, we constructed a 3 D homology model of hfAQP1 by taking Bos taurus AQP1, AQP0, and human AQP2 as templates using I-TASSER. The model obtained has similar structural organizations with mammalian AQP1s in all aspects. We investigated the water permeability of the modeled hfAQP1 in a 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) membrane under neutral and 100 mM hypersalinity by subjecting each system to a 100 ns molecular dynamics simulation. Our results show that hypersalinity hinders water permeation across the membrane through the hfAQP1 channel. A change in the intermolecular distance between key residues of the ar/R selectivity filter along with charge redistribution resulted in the accommodation of only 2-6 water molecules inside the channel at once under hypersaline conditions. We investigated the mRNA expression pattern of hfaqp1 in osmoregulatory organs of H. fossilis in response to 100 mM hypertonicity by using qPCR analysis. The transcript was downregulated in kidney and GI tract, but upregulated in the Gills. Thus, the catfish survive in a hypertonic environment by reducing the transport of water in its cellular systems and downregulating the expression of the hfaqp1 gene. The results observed in our study can shed more light on the functionality of AQP1 in catfishes under salinity stress and aid in future researches on solving more gating mechanisms involved in its regulation.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Exploring the anti-inflammatory potential of Colocasia esculenta root extract in in-vitro and in-vivo models of inflammation.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Colocasia esculenta (CE) (L.) Schott is an annual herbaceous tropical plant from the family of Araceae which has been traditionally used for the healing of various ailments such as asthma, arthritis, internal hemorrhage, diarrhea, and neurological disorders. The plant is reported to have potential anti-microbial, anti-fungal, antimetastatic, anti-hepatotoxic, and anti-lipid peroxidative activities. AIM OF THE STUDY: The present study is designed to explore the potential anti-inflammatory property of Colocasia esculenta methanolic root extract (CEMRE) on carrageenan-induced rat paw edema and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated RAW264.7 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model was used to investigate the in vivo anti-inflammatory action of CEMRE. Adult male Wistar rats (180-220 g; n = 6) were pre-treated with CEMRE (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg BW) orally before 1 h of injection of 1% carrageenan. Indomethacin (10 mg/kg BW) was given orally as the standard drug. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandinE2 (PGE2), and cytokines levels were measured. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was done to identify the phytoconstituents present in CEMRE. The inhibitory activity of CEMRE was investigated against cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in in vitro assessment of LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. The RAW 264.7 cells were pre-treated with Indomethacin (5 µM and 10 µM) and CEMRE (17 µg/ml and 34 µg/ml) followed by induction of LPS (1 µg/ml) for 24 h. Docking analyses were also performed to explore the interaction of important phytoconstituents (Sinapic acid, Acetylsalicylic acid, L-fucose, Salicylic acid, Quinic acid, Zingerone, and Gingerol) of CEMRE with COX-2 and iNOS. RESULTS: Pre-treatment with CEMRE (400 mg/kg) could inhibit the paw inflammation significantly which was elevated due to carrageenan induction. The inhibition is comparable to that of the standard drug Indomethacin. The concentration of serum AST, ALT, ALP, NO, PGE2 and cytokines were also considerably lowered in the CEMRE-treated group as compared to the carrageenan-induced group. CEMRE (34 µg/ml) inhibited the LPS-stimulated relative expression of mRNA of COX-2 and iNOS and significantly reduced the expression of nitric oxide and prostaglandin E2. Docking analyses revealed promising interaction with low binding energies between Sinapic acid with both the target proteins COX-2 and iNOS. CONCLUSION: Collectively, our results suggested that CEMRE exhibited effective anti-inflammatory actions on carrageenan-induced rat paw edema and LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells by reducing the in vivo paw edema inhibition, inhibiting the serum NO, PGE2, cytokines and also reduced the in vitro production of NO, PGE2 along with expressions of mRNA COX-2 and iNOS. Molecular docking demonstrated good binding affinities among the target proteins and ligand Sinapic acid. Thus the bioactive compound from CE need to be isolated and purified.

Transcriptome analysis of gills reveals novel insights into the molecular response of stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis) to environmental hypertonicity.

The stinging catfish Heteropneustes fossilis is a champion survivor under hypertonic stress and is suggested to be a profitable candidate for culture in slightly saline water in coastal regions. Fish gills are an essential site of osmoregulation and other physiological processes. To investigate the stress responses and mechanisms of salinity tolerance in stinging catfish, we sampled gills tissues from control and hypertonicity (100 mM NaCl solution) treated adult catfish and assessed for transcriptomic profiling by high throughput sequencing. The raw data generated was filtered and assembled for de novo transcriptome assembly. The final contig assembly produced a total of 1,71,478 unigene transcripts with an average transcript length of 898 bp and a GC content of 45%. A total of 22,231 transcripts matched with Chordata with BLAST search and were functionally annotated, out of which 21,814 were best-hit transcripts aligned with the UniProt database. Comparative transcriptomic analysis revealed that a total of 1951 genes were differentially expressed in the gills of NaCl-treated fish compared to the control. Functional and enrichment analysis of the Differentially expressed genes demonstrated that several GO pathway terms were significantly over-represented, such as 'catalytic activity', 'hydrolase activity' in molecular function category, 'membrane', 'integral component of membrane' in cellular component category and 'metabolic process', 'regulation of transcription' in biological process category. The functional analysis study of DEGs demonstrated that tolerance to hypertonic stress by stinging catfish is associated with a few pathways related to stress response, immune response, biosynthesis, metabolism, molecular transport, cytoskeleton remodeling, apoptosis, cell signaling, transcriptional regulation, etc. The present study provides a novel insight into the molecular responses of the air-breathing stinging catfish against salinity stress, which could elucidate the underlying mechanisms of adaptation of this stenohaline species under various environmental constraints.

Spatial accessibility modeling to healthcare facilities in the case of health shocks of Midnapore municipality, India.

This research aims to identify the accessibility of the entire population, especially the slum population to existing healthcare facilities (HCF) as well as the slum neighborhoods having low geographic accessibility, and finally, to provide an analytical model for the people living in areas that are outside the coverage range of existing healthcare facilities (HCF) across the study area. Spatial data has been collected and used based on the road network, elevation, location of HCF, municipal boundary, slum point, and satellite images from various sources. Also, non-spatial data such as socioeconomic variables are collected from questionnaires survey within a particular period. The spatial analysis tool like as near, network analysis, and predictive analysis in the ArcGIS platform was used to examine geographic accessibility. The results of the spatial analysis show that the distribution of public healthcare facility centers in the study area has not been uniformly distributed. Across 84% of areas in the study area have sound spatial accessibility with traveling time coverage is about 12 min. However, 16% of areas have a traveling time of 12 to 30 min under low accessibility with existing slum neighborhoods. Therefore, the low spatial accessibility areas are demanding new healthcare facilities in the study area. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is employed to find the most optimal and efficient locational suitability for building new healthcare facility centers. The finding of AHP analysis for site suitability of healthcare facilities revealed five major classes as most suitable (2%), suitable (5%), moderate (35%), poor (54%), and very poor (4%) in the study area. Moreover, the realistic framework of this study helps to measure geographic accessibility and suitability in any geographical area.

Sensory evaluation of microwave-ultrasound treated bottle gourd juice using hybrid features of fuzzy logic and proportional odd modelling approach.

In the present investigation, sensory evaluation of bottle gourd juice (BGJ) samples, obtained from microwave-ultrasound based combined treatment was performed. The raw (sample-1) and conventionally treated (sample-2) alongside microwave-ultrasound treated (sample-3) were considered for the assessment of sensory evaluation. An innovative approach of hybrid fuzzy logic and proportional odd modelling (FL-POM) was implemented for the analysis of the sensory scores. The similarity values for the juice samples and their quality attributes were resolved from the results obtained by fuzzy logic. These values were considered as input for hybridization with the POM approach. The assessed coefficients obtained from the results of POM were considered for the ranking of the samples and quality traits. The ranking of the BGJ samples was observed in the order of sample-1 > sample-3 > sample-2, and their related quality attributes ranked in the order color > taste > aroma > mouth feel. The microwave-ultrasound treated BGJ evinced as the best sample in comparison to the raw one.

Differential expression of aquaporin genes and the influence of environmental hypertonicity on their expression in juveniles of air-breathing stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis).

Aquaporins (AQPs) are a superfamily of transmembrane channel proteins that are responsible for the transport of water and some other molecules to and from the cell, mainly for osmoregulation under anisotonicity. We investigated here the expression patterns of different AQP isoforms and also during exposure to hypertonicity (300 mOsmol/L) for 48 h in juvenile stages of air-breathing stinging catfish (Heteropneustes fossilis). A total of 8 mRNA transcripts for different isoforms of AQPs and their translated proteins could be detected in the anterior and posterior regions of S1, S2, and S3 stages of juveniles of stinging catfish at variable levels. In general, more expression of mRNAs for different aqp genes was seen in the S2 and S3 juveniles than in the S1 juveniles. Most interestingly, exposure to hypertonicity of S2 juveniles for a period of 48 h led to increased expression of most of the aqp genes both at transcriptional and translational levels, except for aqp3 in the anterior and posterior regions and aqp1 in the anterior region, showing maximum expression at later stages of hypertonic exposure. Thus, it is evident that AQPs play crucial roles in maintaining the water and ionic balances under anisotonic conditions even at the early developmental stages of stinging catfish as a biochemical adaptational strategy to survive and grow in anisotonic environment.

Ameliorative Potential of Rosuvastatin on Doxorubicin-induced Cardiotoxicity by Modulating Oxidative Damage in Rats

Objectives: The study aimed to explore the in vivo protective potential of rosuvastatin (ROSS), an oral antihyperlipidemic drug against doxorubicin (DOXO) induced cardio toxicity in rats. Materials and Methods: Cardiac toxicity was induced by DOXO injection (10 mg/kg, i.p.), once on the 20th day of the experiment. Except for the control rats, all were received DOXO and the study was continued for up to 21 days. The influence of ROSS on acute treatment was analyzed by quantification of cardiac marker enzymes such as creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and liver marker enzymes like aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) along with the measurement of in vivo antioxidants like superoxide dismutase and catalase. To observe histological changes of myocardial tissue hematoxylin and eosin staining were used. Results: Acute administration of DOXO resulted in a marked rise of cardiac marker enzymes that confirms the myocardial damage compared to control animals whereas administration of ROSS (10 mg/kg, p.o.) resulted in the significant reduction of CK-MB, LDH levels (p<0.05) and AST, ALT levels to a remarkable extent. Moreover, ROSS administration significantly increased the activities of various in vivo antioxidant levels. Conclusion: From the results, the acute administration of ROSS showed significant cardioprotective property, which was evidenced by a significant reduction of cardiac and liver marker enzymes along with significant improvement of in vivo antioxidant activities. Furthermore the results were supported with histopathological observations. Hence, it can be concluded that cardioprotective potential of ROSS may be through attenuation of oxidative stress by modulating oxidative damage in rats.

Deciphering the role of aquaporins in metabolic diseases: A mini review.

The expression of various isoforms of aquaporins (AQPs) in different tissues and organs of the body makes it a viable candidate for being responsible for maintaining cell stability and integrity as their involvement has been well documented in a number of pathophysiological conditions of the human body. Any alteration in the cellular environment brought about by these AQPs creates severe downstream effects like changes in cellular osmolality, volume, ionic composition, signaling pathways and even in the levels of intracellular second messengers and, as such, facilitates the occurrence of diseases like cancer. The altered equilibrium of water, extracellular ions and amino acid neurotransmitters caused by neuronal destruction and oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases proposed the role of these AQPs in these diseased conditions as well. The association of AQPs in a variety of inflammatory processes like lung injury, brain edema, neuromyelitis optica, and colitis as manifested through their dysregulation both in animal and human diseases is truly an eye opener for their role in protection and reaction to various noxious stimuli including bacterial infection. Renal diseases like nephrogenic diabetes inspidus, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and acute kidney injury are some of the pathophysiological conditions related to malfunctioning of aquaporins. Besides, the malfunctioning of aquaglyceroporins like AQP7 and AQP9 makes them responsible for disorders like obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. In this review article, we present our current understanding of the role of AQPs in the causation of these metabolic disorders and how targeting them holds promising therapeutic potential for most of these diseases like cancer, renal diseases and even cardiovascular disorders.

Spatial analysis and modelling for primary healthcare site selection in Midnapore town, West Bengal.

Unprecedented and chaotic growth of cities results in reducing open spaces and water bodies, worsening infrastructure facilities and changes in ecological morphology. This unregulated growth of the urban population led to uneven distribution of urban amenities, facilities and healthcare services. Considering this, the study aimed to draw attention to the existing spatial pattern of healthcare facility centres as well as to find out the possible sites for the provision of healthcare facility centres in the municipal ward (micro-scale) of Midnapore town. This prototype study was conducted using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) evaluation model based on various criteria through Arc GIS environment. The findings indicate that the spatial distribution patterns of existing public healthcare centres were significantly dispersed. Weights based on a set of criteria were calculated by AHP and OLS algorithm and generated suitability evaluation maps classified from 1 (poor suitable) to 4 (most suitable). According to the employed criteria in this study unveil those existing hospitals and primary healthcare centres have not been located in the appropriate locations. The model is found to be valid for the given study area and there is no significant difference between AHP and OLS results. Further, it can be used for preparing the suitability map for the other areas with similar geo-environmental conditions for the proviso of healthcare services as well as will be most effective in preventing disease progression and reducing healthcare inequality on a large scale. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10708-021-10528-w.

The role of Wnt pathway in obesity induced inflammation and diabetes: a review.

Diabetes has become a major killer worldwide and at present, millions are affected by it. Being a chronic disease it increases the risk of other diseases ranging from pulmonary disorders to soft tissue infections. The loss of insulin-producing capacity of the pancreatic ß-cells is the main reason for the development of the disease. Obesity is a major complication that can give rise to several other diseases such as cancer, diabetes, etc. Visceral adiposity is one of the major factors that play a role in the development of insulin resistance. Obesity causes a chronic low-grade inflammation in the tissues that further increases the chances of developing diabetes. Several pathways have been associated with the development of diabetes due to inflammation caused by obesity. The Wnt pathway is one such candidate pathway that is found to have a controlling effect on the development of insulin resistance. Moreover, the pathway has also been linked to obesity and inflammation. This review aims to find a connection between obesity, inflammation, and diabetes by taking the wnt pathway as the connecting link.

Effect of dual modification sequence on physicochemical, pasting, rheological and digestibility properties of cassava starch modified by acetic acid and ultrasound.

Dual modification of cassava starch was carried out using ultrasonication and acetylation by acetic acid by altering the sequence. The results revealed that the type of modification and sequence of modification for dual modified starches significantly affected the properties of starch. The swelling decreased for all the modified starches whereas solubility decreased for ultrasonicated starches but increased for acetylated starch and dual modified starch where acetylation was done after ultrasonication. The paste viscosities of all the modified starches were found to be significantly lower compared to native starch and the lowest viscosities were observed for dual modified starch where ultrasonication was done after acetylation. The resistant starch and slowly digestible starch content of the modified starches were significantly higher than in native starch, and the type of modification and sequence of modification for dual modified starches seemed to affect the digestibility of starches.

Exploring the role of Aquaporins (AQPs) in LPS induced systemic inflammation and the ameliorative effect of Garcinia in male Wistar rat.

The Aquaporins (AQPs) could prove to be striking targets of inflammation. The aim of this study was to study the involvement of AQPs and explore the anti-inflammatory activity of Garcinia extract in LPS induced acute systemic inflammation in Wistar rats. Adult male Wistar rats (n = 6) were pretreated with Garcinia orally twice for 7 days, followed by a single intraperitoneal dose (5.5 mg/kgbw) of LPS. Serum ALT, AST, ALP, Creatinine, Urea and BUN, nitric oxide, prostaglandin, cytokine and chemokine levels were measured. LC-MS analysis of Garcinia was performed to identify the phytoconstituents present. The iNOS and COX enzyme activity were determined in the target tissues. qPCR analysis of inos, cox-2 and aqps was performed. Relative protein expression of AQPs was studied by Western blot analysis. Molecular docking studies were performed to study the interaction of garcinol and hydroxycitric acid, the two important phytoconstituents of Garcinia with AQP. The qPCR analysis showed tissue-specific up-regulation of aqp1, aqp3, aqp4 and aqp8 in LPS induced rats. Garcinia extract treatment effectively lowered the mRNA expression of these AQPs. Garcinia extract significantly inhibited the LPS-induced NO, prostaglandin, cytokine and chemokine production in serum and also decreased tissue-specific transcript level of inos and cox-2, thus suggesting the anti-inflammatory role of Garcinia. Also, docking studies revealed interactions of garcinol and hydroxycitric acid with AQP1, 3, 4 and 8. Therefore, the present study suggests the possible involvement of AQP1, 3, 4 and 8 in inflammation and the efficacy of Garcinia extract as an anti-inflammatory agent. Therefore, AQPs can act as prognostic markers of inflammation and can be targeted with Garcinia extract.

Small-Molecule Probe for Sensing Serum Albumin with Consequential Self-Assembly as a Fluorescent Organic Nanoparticle for Bioimaging and Drug-Delivery Applications.

The recognition of a specific protein in blood serum amidst similar proteins is a challenging and vital endeavor in clinical diagnostics. Herein, we have described a small-molecule probe (DFPAC-OH) that can induce self-assembly of human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) to generate a highly sustainable fluorescent organic nanoparticle (NP), useful for imaging and in vitro drug-delivery applications. In the midst of similar proteins, DFPAC-OH selectively binds in a noncovalent manner to serum albumin. The specific binding tailors the fluorescence properties of DFPAC-OH. The lowest detection limit for BSA is 47 nM with a binding constant of 1.03 × 105 M-1. The probe can efficiently detect HSA in an artificial urine sample. Furthermore, the subsequent bovine albumin self-assembled nanoparticle (DFPAC-OH@BSA-NPs) displays a strong emission at 580 nm both in solution and in solid state. The nanoparticle is highly stable over a long pH range, covering the physiologic pH, and shows an excellent bioavailability to be used for sustainable cell imaging and drug-delivery applications. In addition, the cellular internalization and the pH-responsive drug-release behavior of a hydrophobic drug thymoquinone (TQ) encapsulated in DFPAC-OH@BSA-NPs (TQ-DFPAC-OH@BSA-NPs) have also been evaluated in A549 cell lines. The cytotoxic effect and quantification of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were further examined carefully to observe the anticancer property of TQ-DFPAC-OH@BSA-NPs. Therefore, the present system can simultaneously deliver drug molecules and image the event of delivery. The entire nanoparticles are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The specific binding of DFPAC-OH is well supported by the molecular docking study, fluorescence lifetime measurement, and circular dichroism analysis.

Optimization of ultrasound-assisted extraction of phenolic compounds from Sesamum indicum.

Effective extraction of phyto-biomolecules insures retaining maximum functionality along with higher recovery. In this study, ultrasound-solvent assisted extraction (USAE) was employed for optimal extraction of phyto-biomolecules from Sesamum indicum (sesame) leaves using the approach of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The optimized condition of 200 W power, 59% methanol concentration with 1:14 g/mL solid-liquid ratio and 15 min of extraction time yielded 367.39 ± 1.85 mg GAE/100 g of total phenolic content, 96.72 ± 3.27% of free radical scavenging activity and 81.20 ± 2.87% of iron chelating activity respectively. The extract consist of essential phytocomponents like gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, and quercetin with lipid peroxidation activities of >50% over incubation time of 48 h. Also, showed antimicrobial activity against various Gram's negative and positive food borne pathogens. The results of this study implied the importance of USAE for effective and optimum recovery of phyto-biomolecules from Sesame leaves with retained functional properties.

A Guide to Competencies, Educational Goals, and Learning Objectives for Teaching Medical Histology in an Undergraduate Medical Education Setting.

Horizontal and vertical integration within medical school curricula, truncated contact hours available to teach basic biomedical sciences, and diverse assessment methods have left histology educators searching for an answer to a fundamental question-what ensures competency for medical students in histology upon completion of medical school? The Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME) and the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) advocate faculty to provide medical students with a list of learning objectives prior to any educational activities, regardless of pedagogy. It is encouraged that the learning objectives are constructed using higher-order and measurable action verbs to ensure student-centered learning and assessment. A survey of the literature indicates that there is paucity of knowledge about competencies, goals, and learning objectives appropriate for histology education in preclinical years. To address this challenge, an interactive online taskforce, comprising faculty from across the United States, was assembled. The outcome of this project was a desired set of competencies for medical students in histology with educational goals and learning objectives to achieve them.

Growth and metabolic characterization of four lactic acid bacteria species isolated from rice beer prepared in Assam, India.

Isolation and identification of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from rice beer prepared in Assam, India was performed and their growth associated and functional properties were studied. LAB strains were identified as Lactobacillus casei , Pediococcus pentosaceus , Lactobacillus pentosus and Lactobacillus plantarum based on 16 s rRNA sequencing. Their growth characteristics at different pH, NaCl concentration, temperature and presence of carbohydrates were profiled. High tolerance against acid and bile salts was shown by all the strains, particularly L. pentosus TEZU174 and P. pentosaceus TEZU199 up to a pH of 1.5, and L. pentosus TEZU174 up to 14  % bile concentration. They were susceptible towards the common antibiotics, wherein erythromycin, chloramphenicol and linezolid were the most effective. The strains displayed antibiosis activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and antioxidant activity in terms of resistance to H2O2, scavenging of ·OH and DPPH free radicals was also displayed, wherein L. casei TEZU374 and P. pentosaceus TEZU482 were the most effective with above 70  % scavenging activity. The strains displayed cellular aggregation and L. casei TEZU262 and L. casei TEZU309 were highly aggregated, which attained 100  % autoaggregation within a period of 5 h. High cell surface hydrophobicity was shown by L. casei TEZU309 towards xylene and chloroform, and P. pentosaceus TEZU427 towards ethyl acetate. The strains evinced good gut tolerance capacity, antioxidant activity and adherence properties, which are characteristics of probiotic bacteria and thus are candidates for therapeutic uses and also to be used as starter cultures.

Synergistic Action of Copper Catalysts and Lewis Acids in Carbon-Carbon Bond Forming Reactions.

Combining Lewis acids with copper catalysis and highly reactive Grignard reagents allows fine tuning of the reactivity and selectivity of both inherently unreactive and highly reactive electrophilic substrates in asymmetric C-C bond forming reactions. In this review we will discuss various examples where the application of this strategy provides access to efficient catalytic processes for the synthesis of chiral molecules such as alcohols, amides and heteroarenes.