Changes in phosphatases and lipids following scrotal gamma irradiation in adult rat testis.

Effects of localized low (2.5 Gy) and high (10 Gy) levels of gamma irradiation on the testis of albino rats were studied. A marked increase in the testicular total lipid, phospholipid and cholesterol content was observed at all post-treatment intervals except at 16 weeks where the contents decreased. A significant decrease in the activity of acid phosphatase/g of testis was seen at both the doses, the minimum value being at 4 weeks. The decrease in acid phosphatase activity is correlated with the state of germ cell population in seminiferous tubule which is found to be depleted at 4 week interval. The alkaline phosphatase activity/g testis however, showed a significant increase, the maximum being at 4 weeks post-treatment. Thereafter, the values of the enzyme activity showed a slight recovery at 16 weeks post-irradiation. ATPase activity increased initially followed by a significant decrease at all post-treatment intervals.     

Alterations in the hepatic enzymes following experimental lead poisoning

An investigation on the influence of lead toxicity on some of the hepatic enzymes was studied in rats both after a shorter interval of 15 d and after longer intervals of 60 and 90 d. Three different doses of lead as 5, 10, and 50 mg/kg body wt were administered orally on every alternate day. Whereas significant inhibition of succinic dehydrogenase was seen following lead poisoning, the activity acid and alkaline phosphatase increased with lead intoxication. The histoarchitecture of the liver was grossly intact. Liver accumulated less lead compared to kidney at 60 and 90 d.     

Biosynthesis of AgNPs in Plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) (P-AgNPs) Using the Endophytic Fungus Fusarium solani Isolated from an Endangered Medicinal Plant Plumbago rosea and Their Anti Bacterial and Anticancer Activity on Human Breast Cancer Cells (MCF-7)

Biophysics - Abstract—Among the most hopeful biomaterials, metallic nanoparticles with antibacterial and anticancer properties are expected to open new avenues to fight and prevent various...     

Effect of centrophenoxine against rotenone-induced oxidative stress in an animal model of Parkinson's disease

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). The important biochemical features of PD, being profound deficit in dopamine (DA) content, reduced glutathione (GSH), and enhanced lipid peroxidation (LPO) in dopaminergic (DA-ergic) neurons resulting in oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis. Rotenone-induced neurotoxicity is a well acknowledged preclinical model for studying PD in rodents as it produces selective DA-ergic neuronal degeneration. In our previous study, we have shown that chronic administration of rotenone to rats is able to produce motor dysfunction, which increases progressively with rotenone treatment and centrophenoxine (CPH) co-treatment is able to attenuate these motor defects. The present study was carried out to evaluate the antioxidant potential of CPH against rotenone-induced oxidative stress. Chronic administration of rotenone to SD rats resulted in marked oxidative damage in the midbrain region compared to other regions of the brain and CPH co-treatment successfully attenuated most of these changes. CPH significantly attenuated rotenone-induced depletion in DA, GSH and increase in LPO levels. In addition, the drug prevented the increase in nitric oxide (NO) and citrulline levels and also enhanced the activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Histological analysis carried out using hematoxylin and eosin staining has indicated severe damage to mid brain in comparison to cortex and cerebellum and this damage is attenuated by CPH co-treatment. Our results strongly indicate the possible therapeutic potential of centrophenoxine as an antioxidant in Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders where oxidative stress is a key player in the disease process.     

MOLS sampling and its applications in structural biophysics

This review describes the MOLS method and its applications. This computational method has been developed in our laboratory primarily to explore the conformational space of small peptides and identify features of interest, particularly the minima, i.e., the low energy conformations. A systematic “brute-force” search through the vast conformational space for such features faces the insurmountable problem of combinatorial explosion, whilst other techniques, e.g., Monte Carlo searches, are somewhat limited in their region of exploration and may be considered inexhaustive. The MOLS method, on the other hand, uses a sampling technique commonly employed in experimental design theory to identify a small sample of the conformational space that nevertheless retains information about the entire space. The information is extracted using a technique that is a variant of the self-consistent mean field technique, which has been used to identify, for example, the optimal set of side-chain conformations in a protein. Applications of the MOLS method to understand peptide structure, predict the structures of loops in proteins, predict three-dimensional structures of small proteins, and arrive at the best conformation, orientation, and positions of a small molecule ligand in a protein receptor site have all yielded satisfactory results.     

Eucalyptus urograndis and Pinus taeda enhance removal of chlorobenzene and benzene in sand culture: A greenhouse study

Contamination of soils and groundwater by chlorobenzene and benzene is a common problem at industrial sites worldwide. Since chemical remediation techniques are rarely completely effective, remnants of these contaminants often persist at levels that can still influence ecosystem health. We evaluated the potential of Pinus taeda and Eucalyptus urograndis to accelerate the removal of these compounds from sand/water systems using a completely randomized block greenhouse experiment with a no-plant control. At 2-day intervals, we added a solution containing both chlorobenzene and benzene with the same concentration of 50 mg L^?1 (25 mg pot^?1), and we monitored leachate concentrations daily. The planted treatments showed greater decrease of contaminants over time. In the absence of plants, the contaminant mass decreased 50–60% during each 2-day cycle; whereas, in the planted treatments the contaminant mass decreased 91–98%. At the end of the experiment the plant roots, leaves, and the sand-substrate each contained less than 1 mg kg^?1 of contaminants, which is ～1% of the total contaminant mass added. In addition, we observed no tree mortality even at concentrations exceeding the aqueous solubility limit of both compounds. Our results suggest both trees are good candidates for remediating chlorobenzene and benzene in soils and groundwater.     

Incidence of parasites ofLymantria obfuscata [Lymantriidae: Lepidoptera] in Kashmir

Incidence of parasites ofLymantria obfuscata Walker [Lymantriidae: Lepidoptera] was studied in Kashmir during 1983 and 1984. The only egg parasite reared wasAnastatus kashmirensis Mathur parasitising between 4.49 to 11.92 percent of eggs. From 15 study sites as many as 10475 larvae of different stages and pupae were collected and reared in laboratory.Exorista rossica [Tachinidae: Diptera] was recorded to parasitize upto 8.42 per cent of larvae compared to 0.89 percent byCompsilura sp.Tetrastichus sp. [Eulophidae: Hymenoptera] was observed to be most dominant of the 6 pupal parasites, accounting for 33.41 percent of the measured parasitism, followed byPimpla sp. [Ichneumonidae: Hymenoptera] andTheronia atalantae atalantae [Ichneumonidae: Hymenoptera] which parasitized 6.84 and 4.03 per cent of pupae respectively.Brachymeria intermedia Nees [Chalcididae: Hymenoptera] was recorded to parasitize upto 2.98 per cent whereasBrachymeria lasus Walker recorded for the first time in Kashmir was found to parasitize up to 2.01 per cent, but was not widely distributed in the State.