Clinical and neuropsychological characterization of SuperAgers residing in Delhi and National Capital Region of India-A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: SuperAgers (SA) are older adults who exhibit cognitive capacities comparable to individuals who are three or more decades younger than them. The current study aimed to identify the characteristics of Indian SA by categorizing 55 older adults into SA and Typical Older Adults (TOA) and comparing their performance with a group of 50 younger participants (YP) (aged 25-50). Methods: A total of 105 participants were recruited after obtaining informed written consent. The cognitive abilities of the participants were assessed using Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)-IVINDIA, Color Trails Test, Boston Naming Test (BNT), and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Results: SA outperformed TOA in all cognitive assessments (P < 0.001) and surpassed YP in BNT and WAIS-IV. SA's delayed recall scores were notably higher (12.29 ± 1.51) than TOA (6.32 ± 1.44). Conclusion: SA excelled in all cognitive domains demonstrating resilience to age-related cognitive decline. This study highlights Indian SuperAgers' exceptional cognitive prowess.

Carotenoid from marine Bacillus infantis: production, extraction, partial characterization, and its biological activity.

Marine bacteria could serve as a potential source of natural carotenoids. Bacillus infantis, (Accession number OP601610), a bacterium with the ability to synthesize carotenoids, was isolated from the marine environment and used in this investigation to produce an orange pigment. Additionally, the production, extraction, partial characterization, and biological activity of orange pigment are reported in the current work. The orange pigment was identified as a carotenoid group of pigment by UV-Visible spectrophotometry, FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy), and TLC (Thin-layer chromatography) characterization of the methanolic extract of the pigment. The pigment showed antimicrobial activity against four Gram-negative strains (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella dysenteriae, Salmonella enterica ser. typhi MTCC 733, and Serratia marcescens MTCC 86), three Gram-positive strains (Bacillus megaterium MTCC 3353, Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 96, and Staphylococcus epidermis MTCC 3382), and antioxidant potential by ABTS [2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)], DPPH (2,2-diphenyl 1-picrylhydrazyl), H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide), FRAP (Ferric reducing antioxidant power), and phospho-molybdate methods. These findings demonstrate that the carotenoids of the strains under research provide intriguing possibilities for biotechnological applications.

Association of geriatric syndromes in older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Geriatric syndromes (GS) are multi-factorial conditions that make older adults vulnerable to morbidities and poor outcomes. The main objective was to observe the frequency of GS in older patients with COPD. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in the Geriatric department of a tertiary care hospital in India to evaluate geriatric syndromes including falls, cognitive impairment, frailty, functional impairment, urinary incontinence, malnutrition, and depression in patients with COPD and controls without COPD. The factors having a significant association with the occurrence of these GS in COPD patients were observed. Results: In this study, 150 cases and 150 controls were included. The mean age of the participant was 65.85±5.54, with 76% males. Functional impairment, cognitive impairment, frailty, urinary incontinence, and malnutrition were significantly higher in COPD patients. The independent variables which increased the odds of geriatric syndromes were dyspnoea (≥2 mMRC grade) (AOR:3.54,95% CI:1.06-11.8) and low socioeconomic status (AOR: 4.14, 95% CI: 1.03-16.54), while male gender showed inverse association (AOR: 0.08,95% CI: 0.01-0.99). Conclusion: Geriatric syndromes are common in older COPD patients, and assessment for them should be done routinely in these patients.

Structural characterization and mutational assessment of podocin - a novel drug target to nephrotic syndrome - an in silico approach.

Non-synonymous single nucleotide changes (nSNC) are coding variants that introduce amino acid changes in their corresponding proteins. They can affect protein function; they are believed to have the largest impact on human health compared with SNCs in other regions of the genome. Such a sequence alteration directly affects their structural stability through conformational changes. Presence of these conformational changes near catalytic site or active site may alter protein function and as a consequence receptor-ligand complex interactions. The present investigation includes assessment of human podocin mutations (G92C, P118L, R138Q, and D160G) on its structure. Podocin is an important glomerular integral membrane protein thought to play a key role in steroid resistant nephrotic syndrome. Podocin has a hairpin like structure with 383 amino acids, it is an integral protein homologous to stomatin, and acts as a molecular link in a stretch-sensitive system. We modeled 3D structure of podocin by means of Modeller and validated via PROCHECK to get a Ramachandran plot (88.5% in most favored region), main chain, side chain, bad contacts, gauche and pooled standard deviation. Further, a protein engineering tool Triton was used to induce mutagenesis corresponding to four variants G92C, P118L, R138Q and D160G in the wild type. Perusal of energies of wild and mutated type of podocin structures confirmed that mutated structures were thermodynamically more stable than wild type and therefore biological events favored synthesis of mutated forms of podocin than wild type. As a conclusive part, two mutations G92C (-8179.272 kJ/mol) and P118L (-8136.685 kJ/mol) are more stable and probable to take place in podocin structure over wild podocin structure (-8105.622 kJ/mol). Though there is lesser difference in mutated and wild type (approximately, 74 and 35 kJ/mol), it may play a crucial role in deciding why mutations are favored and occur at the genetic level.