Low Potential CO2 Reduction by Inert Fe(II)-Macrobicyclic Complex: A New Concept of Cavity Assisted CO2 Activation.

The advantage of a pre-organized π-cavity of Fe(II) complex of a newly developed macrobicycle cryptand is explored for CO2 reduction by overcoming the problem of high overpotential associated with the inert nature of the cryptate. Thus, a bipyridine-centered tritopic macrobicycle having a molecular π-cavity capable of forming Fe(II) complex as well as potential for CO2 encapsulation is synthesized. The inert Fe(II)-cryptate shows much lower potential in cyclic voltammetry than the Fe(II)-tris-dimethylbipyridine (Fe-MBP) core. Interestingly, this cryptate shows electrochemical CO2 reduction at a considerably lower potential than the Fe-MBP inert core. Therefore, this study represents that a well-structured π-cavity may generate a new series of molecular catalysts for the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2 RR), even with the inert metal complexes.

A macrocycle-based new organometallic nano-vessel towards sustainable C2-selective arylation of free indole in water.

C2-selectivity of unsubstituted indole over facile C3-substitution is attempted by utilizing the π-cavity of a nano-vessel made up of a palladium complex of an amino-ether heteroditopic macrocycle. Functional group tolerance (cyano, nitro, halo, ester, etc.), a broad substrate scope and outstanding selectivities with excellent yields (80-93%) of the desired products have been achieved in 12 h by maintaining all sustainable conditions like aqueous medium, recyclable catalyst, one-pot reaction, no external additives, mild temperature, etc. Interestingly, we observed that electron-deficient indole derivatives underwent the present transformation with marginally superior reactivity in comparison with electron-rich indole derivatives. This approach establishes a green pathway for selective C-C coupling employing a π-cavitand as a nano-reactor.

Evaluation of Pre- and Post-loading Peri-implant Crestal Bone Levels Using Cone-beam Computed Tomography: An In Vivo Study.

AIM: To evaluate the buccal, lingual, mesial, and distal crestal bone around implant using CBCT analysis having buccal crestal bone width of 1 mm after placement of implant and after 3 months of loading. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-five patients between 18 and 60 years of age with adequate bone width and height were selected for this in-vivo study with single or multiple missing teeth. Surgical stent was fabricated for all of them by using self-cure acrylic resin for selection of implant according to the availability of bone, and gutta-percha was used as radio-opaque marker to locate the implant site. After proper analysis, in the first stage surgery, implants were placed. After 3 months to this, the second stage surgery was performed followed by elastomeric impression for porcelain fused to metal prosthesis fabrication. The buccal, lingual, mesial, and distal bone width and height were evaluated by using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). CBCT was standardized in terms of FOV (field of vision), slice thickness, and interval. After 3 months of loading, CBCT was taken to evaluate the alteration in the crestal bone around implants. Pre- and post-loading, crestal bone on four locations was measured by using CBCT software. RESULTS: There is significant bone loss at all the locations, buccal, lingual, mesial, and distal, at the time of placement and after 3 months of loading of implant (p <0.05). The mean difference of 0.840, 0.933, 0.840, and 0.380 at buccal, lingual, mesial, and distal locations, respectively, shows statistically significant difference in pre- and post-values of mean bone loss at buccal, lingual, mesial, and distal positions. Pre-loading bone loss was maximum in the distal surface, while post-loading bone loss was maximum in the buccal surface. CONCLUSION: From this study, it is concluded that although crestal bone loss was higher before implant placement, there was significant alteration in crestal bone even after loading of implant. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: It is widely accepted that the bone loss around the implant crest module is multidisciplinary in nature. Long-term preservation of the crestal bone is a paramount for successfully functioning of dental implants. Preserving crestal bone will help in dissipating the functional load. With proper treatment planning by the practitioner, this technical contribution to the crestal bone loss can be minimized and long-term survival of dental implants can be achieved.

One-Pot Dual C-C Coupling Reaction via Site Selective Cascade Formation by PdII -Cryptate of an Amino-Ether Heteroditopic Macrobicycle.

Selectivity of aryl iodo over ethynyl iodo toward the Suzuki cross coupling reaction is explored by utilizing a palladium complex of amino-ether heteroditopic macrobicycle. Subsequently, unreacted ethynyl iodide undergoes homocoupling reaction in the same catalytic atmosphere, thereby representing a cascade dual C-C coupling reaction. Furthermore, this approach is extended for novel one-pot synthesis of unsymmetrical 1,3-diynes.

Heteroditopic Macrobicyclic Molecular Vessels for Single Step Aerial Oxidative Transformation of Primary Alcohol Appended Cross Azobenzenes.

A series of oxy-ether tris-amino heteroditopic macrobicycles (L1-L4) with various cavity dimensions have been synthesized and explored for their Cu(II) catalyzed selective single step aerial oxidative cross-coupling of primary alcohol based anilines with several aromatic amines toward the formation of primary alcohol appended cross azobenzenes (POCABs). The beauty of this transformation is that the easily oxidizable benzyl/primary alcohol group remains unhampered during the course of this oxidation due to the protective oxy-ether pocket of this series of macrobicyclic vessels. Various dimensionalities of the molecular vessels have shown specific size complementary selection for substrates toward efficient syntheses of regioselective POCAB products. To establish the requirement of the three-dimensional cavity based additives, a particular catalytic reaction has been examined in the presence of macrobicycles (L2 and L3) versus macrocycles (MC1 and MC2) and tripodal acyclic (AC1 and AC2) analogous components, respectively. Subsequently, L1-L4 have been extensively utilized toward the syntheses of as many as 44 POCABs and are characterized by different spectroscopic techniques and single crystal X-ray diffraction studies.

Comparison of tumour and serum specific microRNA changes dissecting their role in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is considered as one of the most aggressive cancers lacking efficient early detection biomarkers. Circulating miRNAs are now being considered to have potency to be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in different diseases as well as cancers. In case of cancer, a fraction of the circulating miRNAs is actually derived from the tumour tissue. This fraction would function as stable biomarker for the disease and also would contribute to the understanding of the disease development. There are not many studies exploring this aspect in pancreatic cancer and even there is not much overlap of results between existing studies. METHODS: In order to address that gap, we performed a miRNA microarray analysis to identify differentially expressed circulating miRNAs between PDAC patients and normal healthy individuals and also found two more similar datasets to perform a meta-analysis using a total of 182 PDAC patients and 170 normal, identifying a set of miRNAs significantly altered in patient serum. Next, we found five datasets studying miRNA expression profile in tumour tissues of PDAC patients as compared to normal pancreas and performed a second meta-analysis using data from a total of 183 pancreatic tumour and 47 normal pancreas to detect significantly deregulated miRNAs in pancreatic carcinoma. Comparison of these two lists and subsequent search for their target genes which were also deregulated in PDAC in inverse direction to miRNAs was done followed by investigation of their role in disease development. RESULTS: We identified 21 miRNAs altered in both pancreatic tumour tissue and serum. While deciphering the functions of their target genes, we characterized key miR-Gene interactions perturbing the biological pathways. We identified important cancer related pathways, pancreas specific pathways, AGE-RAGE signaling, prolactin signaling and insulin resistance signaling pathways among the most affected ones. We also reported the possible involvement of crucial transcription factors in the process. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified a unique meta-signature of 21 miRNAs capable of explaining pancreatic carcinogenesis and possibly holding the potential to act as biomarker for the disease detection which could be explored further.

A heteroditopic macrocycle as organocatalytic nanoreactor for pyrroloacridinone synthesis in water.

A heteroditopic macrocycle is reported as an efficient organocatalytic nanoreactor for the synthesis of diversely functionalized pyrroloacridinones in aqueous medium. A library of compounds was synthesized in a one-step pathway utilizing 10 mol % of the nanoreactor following a sustainable methodology in water with high yields.

Performance of Co/Ti multilayers in a water window soft x-ray regime.

The DC magnetron sputter grown Co/Ti multilayers, with ultra-low bi-layer thicknesses and with Co layers deposited under mixed ambience of argon and dry air, have been investigated for use in the water window soft x-ray regime of 23-44 Å. Initially, deposition parameters have been optimized for obtaining smooth and continuous low thickness Co and Ti single-layer films, and, then, multilayers with five bi-layers of various bi-layer thicknesses were deposited. The samples have been primarily characterized by the grazing incidence x-ray reflectivity (GIXR) measurements with a hard x-ray laboratory source. Subsequently, a set of multilayers with an increasing number of bi-layers has been deposited with a constant bi-layer thickness of 42 Å. GIXR results show that hard x-ray reflectivity at the first Bragg peak is maximum for the 20 bi-layer sample, beyond which the reflectivity decreases. Finally, the samples with the most promising hard x-ray GIXR have been used for soft x-ray reflectivity measurement with synchrotron radiation, and ∼2.5% peak reflectivity has been obtained in the multilayer sample at a 30.7 Å wavelength for a 21.5° grazing angle of incidence. The fitting results for both hard and soft x-ray reflectivities have been thoroughly investigated to find out the cause of the saturation of reflectivity with the increase in the number of bi-layers.

Phylogeny and synonymous codon usage pattern of Papaya ringspot virus coat protein gene in the sub-Himalayan region of north-east India.

Sub-Himalayan West Bengal is favorable for the production of several fruits and vegetables. Papaya is one of the common plants cultivated in the area. Most of the papaya plants of the area are susceptible to Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV). Coat protein genes of 6 PRSV isolates of the area were sequenced following RT-PCR. Phylogenetic study of the PRSV isolates showed about 80%-90% similarity with Cuban isolates. The codon usage pattern of our isolates was also analyzed, along with several other isolates. PRSV isolates of our study showed a preference for 8 putative optimal codons. Correspondence analysis of the genes of different isolates along the first 2 major axes were done, as the first 2 axes contributed more in shaping codon usage pattern. In the phylogenetic tree constructed by the neighbour-joining method, our isolates clustered together with the east Indian, north Indian, and Bangladeshi isolates. The diversity and codon usage pattern of the PRSV isolates of different regions were studied, and it was observed that the codon usage pattern of PRSV isolates is probably influenced by translational selection along with mutational bias.

Is it Safe to Be Transplanted From Living Donors Who Recovered From COVID-19? Experience of 31 Kidney Transplants in a Multicenter Cohort Study From India.

BACKGROUND: There is lack of data on feasibility and safety of kidney transplants from living donors who recovered from COVID-19. METHODS: Here, we present a retrospective cohort study of 31 kidney transplant recipients (KTR) from living donors who recovered from polymerase chain reaction confirmed COVID-19 across 19 transplant centers in India from July 3, 2020, to December 5, 2020. We detailed demographics, clinical manifestations, immunosuppression regimen, treatment, and outcomes. Donors with a previous diagnosis of COVID-19 were accepted after documenting 2 negative polymerase chain reaction tests with complete symptom resolution for at least 28 days and significant social distancing for 14 days before surgery. RESULTS: COVID-19 clinical severity in donors ranged from completely asymptomatic (71%, n = 22) to mild infection (29%, n = 9). None progressed to moderate or severe stages of the disease in the entire clinical course of home treatment. Patient and graft survival was 100%, respectively, with acute cellular rejection being reported in 6.4% (n = 2) recipient. All recipients and donors were asymptomatic with normal creatinine at median follow-up of 44 days after surgery without any complications relating to surgery and COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: Our data support safety of proceeding with living donation for asymptomatic individuals with comprehensive donor, recipients screening before surgery, using a combination of clinical, radiologic, and laboratory criteria. It could provide new insights into the management of KTR from living donors who have recovered from COVID-19 in India. To the best of our knowledge, this remains the largest cohort of KTR from living donors who recovered from COVID-19.

Pilot study identifying circulating miRNA signature specific to alcoholic chronic pancreatitis and its implication on alcohol-mediated pancreatic tissue injury.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Alcohol exerts its effects on organs in multiple ways. Alcoholic chronic pancreatitis (ACP) is a disease in which alcohol triggers the pathological changes in pancreas, leading to chronic inflammation and fibrosis. The molecular mechanism behind these changes is not clear. Identification of key circulating miRNA changes in ACP patients and determination of the fraction that is secreted from diseased pancreas not only could serve as potential biomarker for assessing disease severity, but also could help identifying the molecular alterations prevailing in the organ precipitating the disease, to some extent. METHODS: We performed microRNA microarray using the Affymetrix miRNA 4.0 platform to identify differentially expressed miRNAs in serum of ACP patients as compared to alcoholic control individuals and then found out how many of them could be pancreas-specific and exosomally secreted. We further analyzed a pancreatitis-specific gene expression data set to find out the differentially expressed genes in diseased pancreas and explored the possible role of those selected miRNAs in regulation of gene expression in ACP. RESULTS: We identified 14 miRNAs differentially expressed in both serum and pancreas and also identified their experimentally validated targets. Transcription factors modulating the miRNA expression in an alcohol-dependent manner were also identified and characterized to derive the miRNA-gene-TF interaction network responsible for progression of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: Differentially expressed miRNA signature demonstrated significant changes in both pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways probably balancing the chronic inflammation in the pancreas. Our findings also suggested possible involvement of pancreatic stellate cells in disease progression.

Selective Single-Step Oxidation of Amine to Cross-Azo Compounds with an Unhampered Primary Benzyl Alcohol Functionality.

This is the first report of a single-step synthesis of primary benzyl alcohol containing different cross-azo compounds (14 examples) by Cu(II) in the presence of a newly synthesized amino-ether heteroditopic macrobicycle cage. Interestingly, even with extreme conditions, the benzyl alcohol remains unoxidized by the Cu(II) catalyst due to the protective etherial pocket of the cage.

Exocytosis-Mediated Urinary Full-Length Megalin Excretion Is Linked With the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Nephropathy.

Efficient biomarkers for diabetic nephropathy (DN) have not been established. Using ELISA, we found previously that urinary levels of full-length megalin (C-megalin), a multiligand endocytic receptor in proximal tubules, was positively correlated with DN progression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Here, we found that urinary extracellular vesicle (UEV) excretion and C-megalin content in UEVs or in their exosomal fraction increased along with the progression of the albuminuric stages in patients with T2DM. Cultured immortalized rat proximal tubule cells (IRPTCs) treated with fatty acid-free BSA or advanced glycation end product-modified BSA (AGE-BSA), endocytic ligands of megalin, increased EV excretion, and their C-megalin content. C-megalin excretion from IRPTCs via extracellular vesicles was significantly blocked by an exosome-specific inhibitor, GW4869, indicating that this excretion is mainly exocytosis-mediated. AGE-BSA treatment of IRPTCs caused apparent lysosomal dysfunction, which stimulated multivesicular body formation, resulting in increased exosomal C-megalin excretion. In a high-fat diet-induced, megalin-mediated kidney injury model in mice, urinary C-megalin excretion also increased via UEVs. Collectively, exocytosis-mediated urinary C-megalin excretion is associated with the development and progression of DN in patients with T2DM, particularly due to megalin-mediated lysosomal dysfunction in proximal tubules, and hence it could be a candidate biomarker linked with DN pathogenesis.

Dental Practice Scenario in a Government Homeopathic Hospital in West Bengal, India.

This pilot investigation initiated a research-targeted systematic dental homeopathy data collection in the dental outpatient section in a government homeopathic hospital in West Bengal, India. One conventionally trained dentist and 3 homeopathic doctors collected data from 949 appointments of 411 patients over 3 months. A specifically designed Excel spreadsheet enabled recording of consecutive dental appointments that was subjected to data synthesis and analysis in the end. A total of 87.3% conditions were chronic, and chronic periodontitis was most frequent (27.5%). Positive outcome was observed in 72.3% appointments. Strongly positive outcomes (scores of +2 or +3) were achieved most notably in toothache (84.6%). Single medicines were prescribed in 83.5% encounters, and mostly in tincture form (29.9%). Arnica montana constituted of 17.8% prescriptions. Considerable insight was gained into the homeopathic dental practice scenario in West Bengal, India. Positive findings suggest that dental homeopathy is a promising area for research in near future.

Endoscopic Dacryocystorhinostomy: A Study at IPGMER, Kolkata.

Endoscopic sinus surgery has developed a new era in the treatment of chronic dacryocystitis. A prospective study was conducted by taking 67 patients having epiphora. Endo DCR was performed under local anaesthesia. Post operative care was given by means of alkaline nasal douching, lacrimal sac massage and endoscopic examination on 1st, 3rd, 6th week. Success rate was found to be 95.5 % which is comparable to external DCR and with added advantages.

Ocular manifestations in children with cerebral palsy.

To evaluate the prevalence of ocular abnormalities among children with cerebral palsy, 140 patients with age between 6 months and 16 years were selected and the overall incidence of ocular abnormalities in this study was 42.1%. Two major ocular abnormalities identified in these cases were strabismus in 36.4%. Myopia was detected in 12.9% children while hypermetropia in 8.6% and astigmatism in 3.6% cases. Non-glaucomatous optic atrophy was present in 10.7% cases and nystagmus in 9.3% cases. Raised intra-ocular pressure was detected in 2.1% cases. Cortical visual impairment was seen in 20.7% children. Ocular abnormalities are frequent manifestations in cerebral palsy patients. Therefore, evaluation of all cerebral palsy cases emphasises the need for a full ophthalmological examination in order to detect ocular problems and to institute necessary therapy of the abnormalities for better livelihood of these physically challenged patients.

Rare association of retinitis pigmentosa and Marfan's syndrome--a case report.

A 25 years old male patient presented with long stature with disproportionately long limbs and digits (arachnodactyly). Examination of cardiovascular system showed mitral regurgitation and dilatation of aortic root. Slit lamp examination showed bilateral superotemporal dislocation of lens. Ophthalmoscopy revealed waxy pallor of optic disc, arteriolar attenuation and bone-spicule like pigments in the retina. The diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa was confirmed by electroretinogram.

Assessment of Anti-inflammatory Activity of Taxus Baccata Linn. Bark Extract.

Taxus baccata (L) known as Sthauneyaka in Sanskrit(1) has wide range of biological activities including analgesic, anti-malarial, anti-rheumatic, sedative, anti-spasmodic, aphrodisiac and anti-asthmatic. In the present study, the dried and powdered bark of Taxus baccata (L) was extracted with 95% ethanol and ether at room temperature and screened for their anti--inflammatory activity by Carrageenan-induced paw edema method in rat. 95% ethanol extract exhibits potent anti-inflammatory activity at 200mg/kg four hours after administration in comparison with ether extract, as well reference standard, Aspirin. The observed pharmacological activities provide a scientific basis for the folklore use of the plant in treating acute inflammation.