Salivary microbiomes: a potent evidence in forensic investigations.

Saliva components combine with oral cavity microorganisms, blood cells, and airway secretions after entering the oral cavity via salivary ducts; these factors provide relevant information about persons' health state, quality of life, and lifestyle, in addition to their age and gender due to which salivary microbiome has emerged as a subject of significant interest in the forensic domain. This study aims to provide an extensive review of the possible applications of the salivary microbiome in characterizing the habit-specific microbiomes. Thirty-three relevant articles were selected for inclusion in this study. The study highlighted the influence of habits on the salivary microbiome suggesting smokers have distinct bacteria like Synergistetes, Streptococcus, Prevotella, and Veillonella in relation to age; people of higher age have more Prevotella; further, dental plaque can be corelated with Streptococci and Actinomycetes. Likewise, dietary habits, alcoholism, and consumption of coffee also affect bacteria types in oral cavities. The study underscores the added benefits of salivary microbiome profiling in forensics, as it is evident that microbial DNA profiling holds substantial promise for enhancing forensic investigations; it enables the characterization of an individual's habits, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and dietary preferences; bacteria specific to these habits can be identified, thereby helping to narrow down the pool of potential suspects. In conclusion, the salivary microbiome presents a valuable avenue for forensic science, offering a novel approach which not only enhances the prospects of solving complex cases but also underscores the rich potential of microbiome analysis in the realm of forensic investigation.

Identification of habit specific bacteria in human saliva through Next-Generation Sequencing.

Characterization of human saliva through Next-Generation Sequencing has emerged as a valuable tool for understanding the complex microbial communities residing in the oral cavity. This study aims to investigate the habit-based variations in the salivary microbiome using Next-Generation Sequencing technology. Saliva samples were collected from a diverse population representing different habits, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and vegan diet. The DNA from the samples was extracted, and the V3-V4 region of the 16 S rRNA gene was amplified for Next-Generation Sequencing analysis. The obtained sequences were processed and analysed using bioinformatics tools to determine the microbial composition and diversity. Preliminary results revealed distinct microbial profiles associated with different habits, indicating the potential influence of different habits on the salivary microbiome. Smokers exhibited a higher abundance of certain pathogenic bacteria, while alcohol consumers showed alterations in microbial diversity compared to non-consumers. Furthermore, individuals with vegan diet demonstrated an increased prevalence of specific bacteria. These findings highlight the significance of habit-based characterization of the salivary microbiome and its potential implications in the presence of certain bacteria. Understanding the relationship between habits and the salivary microbiome could contribute to developing personalized approaches for estimating and identifying any particular individual. Further research is warranted to explore additional factors and expand the scope of habit-based analysis in saliva-based microbial characterization through Next-Generation Sequencing.

Fighting Cancer around the World: A Framework for Action.

Tackling cancer is a major challenge right on the global level. Europe is only the tip of an iceberg of cancer around the world. Prosperous developed countries share the same problems besetting Europe-and the countries and regions with fewer resources and less propitious conditions are in many cases struggling often heroically against a growing tide of disease. This paper offers a view on these geographically wider, but essentially similar, challenges, and on the prospects for and barriers to better results in this ceaseless battle. A series of panels have been organized by the European Alliance for Personalised Medicine (EAPM) to identify different aspects of cancer care around the globe. There is significant diversity in key issues such as NGS, RWE, molecular diagnostics, and reimbursement in different regions. In all, it leads to disparities in access and diagnostics, patients' engagement, and efforts for a better understanding of cancer.

Pharmacological properties, therapeutic potential, and legal status of Cannabis sativa L.: An overview.

Marijuana, or Cannabis sativa L., is a common psychoactive plant used for both recreational and medicinal purposes. In many countries, cannabis-based medicines have been legalized under certain conditions because of their immense prospects in medicinal applications. With a comprehensive insight into the prospects and challenges associated with the pharmacological use and global trade of C. sativa, this mini-review focuses on the medicinal importance of the plant and its legal status worldwide; the pharmacological compounds and its therapeutic potential along with the underlying public health concerns and future perspective are herein discussed. The existence of major compounds including Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9 -THC), cannabidiol, cannabinol, and cannabichromene contributes to the medicinal effects of the cannabis plant. These compounds are also involved in the treatment of various types of cancer, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease displaying several mechanisms of action. Cannabis sativa is a plant with significant pharmacological potential. However, several aspects of the plant need an in-depth understanding of the drug mechanism and its interaction with other drugs. Only after addressing these health concerns, legalization of cannabis could be utilized to its full potential as a future medicine.

Bacosides from Bacopa monnieri extract: An overview of the effects on neurological disorders.

From ancient history, complementary and alternative medicines have played a significant role as holistic therapeutic treatments of various human diseases including cancer, diabetes, neurological diseases, and skin problems. One Indian medicinal plant (herb), Bacopa monnieri has been used in many parts of the world as such medicine, particularly for the treatment of various neurological disorders. It is well known as a potent "tonic for the human brain," which serves as a memory enhancer. Multiple studies proved that this herb contains a plethora of potential bioactive, phytochemical compounds with synergistic properties. The main purpose of the present review is to shed light on the use of Bacopa monnieri and its active principles (bacosides) in the management of neurological disorders. Furthermore, the signaling pathways modulated by bacosides have been critically discussed in this review. Moreover, we have critically summarized the present knowledge of this perennial creeping herb based upon the literature mining from different scientific engines.

Novel CRISPR-Cas Systems: An Updated Review of the Current Achievements, Applications, and Future Research Perspectives.

According to Darwin's theory, endless evolution leads to a revolution. One such example is the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas system, an adaptive immunity system in most archaea and many bacteria. Gene editing technology possesses a crucial potential to dramatically impact miscellaneous areas of life, and CRISPR-Cas represents the most suitable strategy. The system has ignited a revolution in the field of genetic engineering. The ease, precision, affordability of this system is akin to a Midas touch for researchers editing genomes. Undoubtedly, the applications of this system are endless. The CRISPR-Cas system is extensively employed in the treatment of infectious and genetic diseases, in metabolic disorders, in curing cancer, in developing sustainable methods for fuel production and chemicals, in improving the quality and quantity of food crops, and thus in catering to global food demands. Future applications of CRISPR-Cas will provide benefits for everyone and will save countless lives. The technology is evolving rapidly; therefore, an overview of continuous improvement is important. In this review, we aim to elucidate the current state of the CRISPR-Cas revolution in a tailor-made format from its discovery to exciting breakthroughs at the application level and further upcoming trends related to opportunities and challenges including ethical concerns.

Photoluminescence with Peaked Structure: Inherent to Nanoparticles or Resulting From Impurities in Sample Vial Caps?

We show that fluorescence emission in the visible spectral range reported in the case of many nanoparticles, polymers, complexes and liquid crystals with molecular type signatures could originate from the organic impurities leaching from the caps of glass vials.

Phytotherapy and food applications from Brassica genus.

Plants of the genus Brassica occupy the top place among vegetables in the world. This genus, which contains a group of six related species of a global economic significance, three of which are diploid: Brassica nigra (L.) K. Koch, Brassica oleracea L., and Brassica rapa L. and three are amphidiploid species: Brassica carinata A. Braun, Brassica juncea (L.) Czern., and Brassica napus L. These varieties are divided into oily, fodder, spice, and vegetable based on their morphological structure, chemical composition, and usefulness of plant organs. The present review provides information about habitat, phytochemical composition, and the bioactive potential of Brassica plants, mainly antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer activities, and clinical studies in human. Brassica vegetables are of great economic importance around the world. At present, Brassica plants are grown together with cereals and form the basis of global food supplies. They are distinguished by high nutritional properties from other vegetable plants, such as low fat and protein content and high value of vitamins, fibers along with minerals. In addition, they possess several phenolic compounds and have a unique type of compounds namely glucosinolates that differentiate these crops from other vegetables. These compounds are also responsible for numerous biological activities to the genus Brassica as described in this review.

Next-Generation Sequencing: An Emerging Tool for Drug Designing.

BACKGROUND: With the outbreak of high throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS), the biological research of drug discovery has been directed towards the oncology and infectious disease therapeutic areas, with extensive use in biopharmaceutical development and vaccine production. METHOD: In this review, an effort was made to address the basic background of NGS technologies, potential applications of NGS in drug designing. Our purpose is also to provide a brief introduction of various Nextgeneration sequencing techniques. DISCUSSIONS: The high-throughput methods execute Large-scale Unbiased Sequencing (LUS) which comprises of Massively Parallel Sequencing (MPS) or NGS technologies. The Next geneinvolved necessarily executes Largescale Unbiased Sequencing (LUS) which comprises of MPS or NGS technologies. These are related terms that describe a DNA sequencing technology which has revolutionized genomic research. Using NGS, an entire human genome can be sequenced within a single day. CONCLUSION: Analysis of NGS data unravels important clues in the quest for the treatment of various lifethreatening diseases and other related scientific problems related to human welfare.

Distribution of cyanobacteria and their interactions with pesticides in paddy field: A comprehensive review.

Cyanobacteria, also known as blue green algae are one of the important ubiquitous oxygen evolving photosynthetic prokaryotes and ultimate source of nitrogen for paddy fields since decades. In past two decades, indiscriminated use of pesticides led to biomagnification that intensively harm the structure and soil functions of soil microbes including cyanobacteria. Cyanobacterial abundance biomass, short generation, water holding capacity, mineralizing capacity and more importantly nitrogen fixing have enormous potential to abate the negative effects of pesticides. Therefore, investigation of the ecotoxicological effects of pesticides on the structure and function of the tropical paddy field associated cyanobacteria is urgent and need to estimate the fate of interaction of pesticides over nitrogen fixations and other attributes. In this regard, comprehensive survey over cyanobacterial distribution patterns and their interaction with pesticides in Indian context has been deeply reviewed. In addition, the present paper also deals the molecular docking pattern of pesticides with the nitrogen fixing proteins, which helps in revealing the functional interpretation over nitrogen fixation process.

Molecular Characterization and In-Silico Analysis of the Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-3 (TIMP-3) Gene of Canine Mammary Tumor.

BACKGROUND: Mammary tumors are the second most common tumors (after skin tumors) in female dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Tissue Inhibitor of Metlloproteinases-3 (TIMP-3) is a matrix associated endogenous inhibitor of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs). Cancer metastasis occurs as a result of imbalance between MMPs and TIMPs. TIMP-3 is involved significantly in regulation of MMPs as well as progression of canine mammary tumor. OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to identify the structural and functional relationship between TIMP-3 and MMP which can aid in identifying the role of these proteins in canine mammary tumor. METHODS: Molecular characterization of TIMP-3 protein was done by molecular biology techniques such as gene cloning and sequencing. The homology based model of TIMP-3 protein was created and verified with a variety of available computational techniques as well as molecular dynamics simulation. RESULTS: The results indicated that predicted TIMP-3 protein structure of Canis lupus familiaris was reliable and more stable. The docking of TIMP-3 protein with MMP-2 and MMP-9 represents conformational structure of these two proteins which interact with each other but if misled canresult in the progression of tumor in canine. CONCLUSIONS: The three dimensional structure of TIMP-3 was generated and its interactions with MMP-2 and MMP-9, demonstrates the role of key binding residues. Until now, no structural details were available for canine TIMP-3 proteins, hence this study will broaden the horizon towards understanding the structural and functional aspects of this proteins in canine.

Visible periodicity of strong nucleosome DNA sequences.

Fifteen years ago, Lowary and Widom assembled nucleosomes on synthetic random sequence DNA molecules, selected the strongest nucleosomes and discovered that the TA dinucleotides in these strong nucleosome sequences often appear at 10-11 bases from one another or at distances which are multiples of this period. We repeated this experiment computationally, on large ensembles of natural genomic sequences, by selecting the strongest nucleosomes--i.e. those with such distances between like-named dinucleotides, multiples of 10.4 bases, the structural and sequence period of nucleosome DNA. The analysis confirmed the periodicity of TA dinucleotides in the strong nucleosomes, and revealed as well other periodic sequence elements, notably classical AA and TT dinucleotides. The matrices of DNA bendability and their simple linear forms--nucleosome positioning motifs--are calculated from the strong nucleosome DNA sequences. The motifs are in full accord with nucleosome positioning sequences derived earlier, thus confirming that the new technique, indeed, detects strong nucleosomes. Species- and isochore-specific variations of the matrices and of the positioning motifs are demonstrated. The strong nucleosome DNA sequences manifest the highest hitherto nucleosome positioning sequence signals, showing the dinucleotide periodicities in directly observable rather than in hidden form.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel isoxazoles and triazoles linked 6-hydroxycoumarin as potent cytotoxic agents.

A new series of diverse isoxazoles and triazoles linked 6-hydroxycoumarin (1) were synthesized using click chemistry approach. All the derivatives were subjected to 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-yl)-diphenyl tetrazoliumbromide (MTT) cytotoxicity screening against a panel of five different human cancer cell lines viz. prostate (PC-3), colon (HCT-116 and Colo-205), leukemia (HL-60) and lung (A-549) to check their cytotoxic potential. Interestingly, among the tested molecules, some of the analogs displayed better cytotoxic activity than the parent 6-hydroxycoumarin (1). Of the synthesized isoxazoles, compounds 10 and 13 showed the best activity with IC50 of 8.2 and 13.6 µM against PC-3 cancer cell line, while as, among the triazoles, compounds 23 and 25 were the most active with the IC50 of 10.2 and 12.6 µM against A-549 cancer cell line. The other derivatives showed almost comparable activity with that of the parent molecule. The present study resulted in identification of ortho substituted isoxazole and triazole derivatives of 6-hydroxycoumarin as effective cytotoxic agents against prostate (PC-3) and lung (A-549) cancer cell lines, respectively.