Awareness and Attitude towards Breastfeeding among Two Generations of Indian Women: A Comparative Study

IntroductionPresent study was aimed to analyze the impact of education, employment and financial independence in breastfeeding practices among Indian women.MethodologyPresent explorative questionnaire based survey included 256 women (128 pairs) in the final analysis. A pair means – a) pregnant lady (in her third trimester) representing younger generation and b) her mother/mother in law representing the elder generation.ResultsWe found that the overall awareness regarding ‘breast milk’ being the best food for baby was excellent (overall 97.3%; younger generation: 96.9%; elder generation: 97.7%). Overall knowledge regarding the correct technique (28.9% younger generation and 21.9% elder generation) and frequency of breastfeeding (20.3% of younger generation and 34.4% of elder generation) was very poor. Less than 60% (younger generation: 57.8%; elder generation: 58.6%) were aware that the only major contraindication for breastfeeding is a mother infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). On comparing responses obtained from the two generations of women, difference was not statistically significant among most of the issues related to breastfeeding. With regards to the attitude, despite better awareness, only 94.5% women in younger generation and 89.1% women in elder generation were planning to give mother’s milk as the first feed to the newborn. Similarly, less than 75% of women were ready to breast-feed the newborn immediately after birth. This was contradictory to the fact that 86% of pregnant women were aware that the baby should be breast-fed within an hour of birth.ConclusionAwareness with regards to breastfeeding issues had not changed significantly with the educational progress of Indian women. Despite the good level of awareness in the society regarding breastfeeding, attitude to practice the same is lacking.     

The Arabidopsis repressor of light signaling SPA1 acts in the phloem to regulate seedling de-etiolation, leaf expansion and flowering time

Plants adjust their growth and development in response to the ambient light environment. These light responses involve systemic signals that coordinate differentiation of different tissues and organs. Here, we have investigated the function of the key repressor of photomorphogenesis SPA1 in different tissues of the plant by expressing GUS-SPA1 under the control of tissue-specific promoters in a spa mutant background. We show that SPA1 expression in the phloem vasculature is sufficient to rescue the spa1 mutant phenotype in dark-grown spa mutant seedlings. Expression of SPA1 in mesophyll, epidermis or root tissues of the seedling, by contrast, has no or only slight effects. In the leaf, SPA1 expression in both the phloem and the mesophyll is required for full complementation of the defect in leaf expansion. SPA1 in phloem and mesophyll tissues affected division and expansion of cells in the epidermal layer, indicating that SPA1 induces non-cell-autonomous responses also in the leaf. Photoperiodic flowering is exclusively controlled by SPA1 expression in the phloem, which is consistent with previous results showing that the direct substrate of the COP1/SPA complex, CONSTANS, also acts in the phloem. Taken together, our results highlight the importance of phloem vascular tissue in coordinating growth and development. Because the SPA1 protein itself is incapable of moving from cell to cell, we suggest that SPA1 regulates the activity of downstream component(s) of light signaling that subsequently act in a non-cell-autonomous manner. SPA1 action in the phloem may also result in mechanical stimuli that affect cell elongation and cell division in other tissues.     

Modeling large regions in proteins: applications to loops, termini, and folding

Template-based methods for predicting protein structure provide models for a significant portion of the protein but often contain insertions or chain ends (InsEnds) of indeterminate conformation. The local structure prediction "problem" entails modeling the InsEnds onto the rest of the protein. A well-known limit involves predicting loops of ≤12 residues in crystal structures. However, InsEnds may contain as many as ~50 amino acids, and the template-based model of the protein itself may be imperfect. To address these challenges, we present a free modeling method for predicting the local structure of loops and large InsEnds in both crystal structures and template-based models. The approach uses single amino acid torsional angle "pivot" moves of the protein backbone with a C(β) level representation. Nevertheless, our accuracy for loops is comparable to existing methods. We also apply a more stringent test, the blind structure prediction and refinement categories of the CASP9 tournament, where we improve the quality of several homology based models by modeling InsEnds as long as 45 amino acids, sizes generally inaccessible to existing loop prediction methods. Our approach ranks as one of the best in the CASP9 refinement category that involves improving template-based models so that they can function as molecular replacement models to solve the phase problem for crystallographic structure determination.     

Laser Refractive Surgery: Technological Advance and Tissue Response

Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), using an excimer laser, are the currently popular techniques of correcting refractive errors. Since these techniques work by selective ablation of corneal stroma, the tissue healing response plays a great role in the ultimate outcome of surgery. Also, various methods of wound healing modulation can be used to achieve better results. While these procedures do lead to a decrease in dioptric power and increase in unaided visual acuity, higher visual functions like contrast sensitivity can sometimes be compromised after the surgery.     

New target for inhibition of bacterial RNA polymerase: 'switch region'

A new drug target - the 'switch region' - has been identified within bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP), the enzyme that mediates bacterial RNA synthesis. The new target serves as the binding site for compounds that inhibit bacterial RNA synthesis and kill bacteria. Since the new target is present in most bacterial species, compounds that bind to the new target are active against a broad spectrum of bacterial species. Since the new target is different from targets of other antibacterial agents, compounds that bind to the new target are not cross-resistant with other antibacterial agents. Four antibiotics that function through the new target have been identified: myxopyronin, corallopyronin, ripostatin, and lipiarmycin. This review summarizes the switch region, switch-region inhibitors, and implications for antibacterial drug discovery.     

The antibacterial threaded-lasso peptide capistruin inhibits bacterial RNA polymerase

Capistruin, a ribosomally synthesized, post-translationally modified peptide produced by Burkholderia thailandensis E264, efficiently inhibits growth of Burkholderia and closely related Pseudomonas strains. The functional target of capistruin is not known. Capistruin is a threaded-lasso peptide (lariat peptide) consisting of an N-terminal ring of nine amino acids and a C-terminal tail of 10 amino acids threaded through the ring. The structure of capistruin is similar to that of microcin J25 (MccJ25), a threaded-lasso antibacterial peptide that is produced by some strains of Escherichia coli and targets DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RNAP). Here, we show that capistruin, like MccJ25, inhibits wild type E. coli RNAP but not mutant, MccJ25-resistant, E. coli RNAP. We show further that an E. coli strain resistant to MccJ25, as a result of a mutation in an RNAP subunit gene, exhibits resistance to capistruin. The results indicate that the structural similarity of capistruin and MccJ25 reflects functional similarity and suggest that the functional target of capistruin, and possibly other threaded-lasso peptides, is bacterial RNAP.