Impaired Autophagy Flux is Associated with Proinflammatory Microglia Activation Following Japanese Encephalitis Virus Infection

Neurochemical Research - Role of autophagy in Japanese encephalitis viral (JEV) infection is not well known. In the present study, we reported the role of autophagy flux in microglia activation,...     

Preventive strategies for frequent outbreaks of Japanese encephalitis in Northern India

Japanese encephalitis (JE) remains the most important cause of acute viral encephalitis and continues to spread to hitherto unaffected regions like Indonesia, Pakistan and Australia. Approximately 60% of the world population inhabits JE endemic areas. Despite its restricted range mostly in the developing countries, a high annual incidence of 50,000 cases and about 10,000 deaths has been reported. Disease can be fatal in 25% cases. Magnitude of the problem is even more alarming since the survivors are left with serious long-term neuropsychiatric sequelae. Almost every two years, epidemics of JE occur in Indian subcontinent with a high mortality. JE virus infection results in different disease manifestations in host from mild subclinical febrile illness to clinical infections leading to encephalitis. No antiviral treatment is so far available for JE. The prevention of JE can be achieved by controlling the vector or by immunization regime. The vector control in the rural areas, which are the worst affected ones, is practically almost impossible. Three vaccines that have been implicated against JE include inactivated mouse brain derived, inactivated cell culture derived and cell culture derived live attenuated JE vaccine. But each has its own limitation. Currently, attempts to synthesize recombinant DNA vaccine are being made. New therapeutics are on the way of development like use of minocycline, short interfering RNA, arctigenin, rosmarinic acid, DNAzymes etc. However, the immune mechanisms that lead to JE are complex and need to be elucidated further for the development of therapeutics as well as safe and efficacious JE vaccines.     

Direct detection of male quality can facilitate the evolution of female choosiness and indicators of good genes: Evolution across a continuum of indicator mechanisms

The evolution of mating displays as indicators of male quality has been the subject of extensive theoretical and empirical research for over four decades. Research has also addressed the evolution of female mate choice favoring such indicators. Yet, much debate still exists about whether displays can evolve through the indirect benefits of female mate choice. Here, we use a population genetic model to investigate how the extent to which females can directly detect male quality influences the evolution of female choosiness and male displays. We use a continuum framework that incorporates indicator mechanisms that are traditionally modeled separately. Counter to intuition, we find that intermediate levels of direct detection of male quality can facilitate, rather than impede, the evolution of female choosiness and male displays in broad regions of this continuum. We examine how this evolution is driven by selective forces on genetic quality and on the display, and find that direct detection of male quality results in stronger indirect selection favoring female choosiness. Our results imply that displays maybe more likely to evolve when female choosiness has already evolved to discriminate perceptible forms of male quality. They also highlight the importance of considering general female choosiness, as well as preference, in studies of “good genes.”     

Purification and some catalytic properties of phosphoglucomutase from maize leaves

Phosphoglucomutase (EC 2.7.5.1, PGM) was purified to homogeneity from maize (Zea mays L.) leaves. The enzyme had specific activity 11. 7 U/mg protein and molecular mass (determined by gel-chromatography) of 133 +/- 4 kD. The molecular mass of PGM subunits determined by SDS-electrophoresis was 66 +/- 3 kD. The enzyme had Km for glucose-1-phosphate and glucose-1,6-diphosphate of 20.0 +/- 0.9 and 16.0 +/- 0.8 &mgr;M, respectively. Concentrations of glucose-1-phosphate and glucose-1,6-diphosphate above 3 and 0.4 mM, respectively, cause substrate inhibition. The enzyme activity was maximal at pH 8.0 and temperature 35 degreesC. Magnesium ions activate the enzyme and manganese ions inhibit it. 3-Phosphoglycerate is an uncompetitive inhibitor of the enzyme (Ki = 1.22 +/- 0.05 mM). Fructose-6-phosphate, 6-phosphogluconate, and ADP activate PGM, whereas ATP, UTP, and AMP inhibit the enzyme. Citrate was also a potent inhibitor, inhibitory effects of isocitrate and cis-aconitate being less pronounced.     

Polymerase chain reaction vs. conventional diagnosis in fine needle aspirates of tuberculous lymph nodes

OBJECTIVE: To compare four conventional methods of diagnosing tuberculous lymphadenophathy (TL)--namely fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), Zeihl-Neelsen staining of smears for acid-fast bacilli (AFB), culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and lymph node biopsies--with the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in order to assess the practicability and advantage of its use in routine diagnosis in a developing country. STUDY DESIGN: Fine needle aspirates from 142 consecutive patients presenting with lymphadenopathy (mainly cervical) without any known systemic involvement underwent cytomorphologic diagnosis, AFB smears, culture for MTB, confirmatory biopsy and PCR for MTB. The aspirates from cases other than TL served as controls for PCR. RESULTS: Correct diagnosis of tuberculosis could be made in 94.87% of cases by a combination of the four methods. PCR was done in 52 cases, 39 confirmed TL and 13 controls. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value of PCR were 94.44%, 38.23%, 44.73% and 92.85%, respectively, when culture alone was considered the gold standard. However, specificity (38.23-92.30%) and PPV (44.73-97.36%) of PCR increased remarkably when response to treatment was taken as the final arbiter. CONCLUSION: The four conventional tests were found to be the methods of choice for the diagnosis of TL in developing countries. PCR should be reserved for problem cases.     

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in young Maine Coon cats caused by the p.A31P cMyBP-C mutation - the clinical significance of having the mutation

Background  

In Maine Coon (MC) cats the c.91G > C mutation in the gene MYBPC3, coding for cardiac myosin binding protein C (cMyBP-C), is associated with feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (fHCM). The mutation causes a substitution of an alanine for a proline at residue 31 (p.A31P) of cMyBP-C. The pattern of inheritance has been considered autosomal dominant based on a single pedigree. However, larger studies are needed to establish the significance of cats being heterozygous or homozygous for the mutation with respect to echocardiographic indices and the probability of developing fHCM. The objective of the present study was to establish the clinical significance of being homozygous or heterozygous for the p.A31P cMyBP-C mutation in young to middle-aged cats.     

高温油藏内源微生物及其提高采收率潜力研究

大港孔店油田油藏特征、流体和微生物性质分析结果表明,属于高温生态环境,地层水矿化度较低,氮、磷浓度低,而且缺乏电子受体,主要的有机物来源是油气.油田采用经过除油处理的油藏产出水回注方式开发,油层中存在的微生物类型主要是厌氧嗜热菌,包括发酵菌(102个/mL～105个/mL),产甲烷菌(103个/mL);好氧菌主要存在于注水井周围.硫酸盐还原菌(SRB)还原速率0.002 μg S2-/(L·d)～18.9 μg S2-/(L·d),产甲烷菌产甲烷速率0.012 μgCH4/(L·d)～16.2 μgCH4/(L·d).好氧菌能够氧化油形成生物质,部分氧化产物为挥发性脂肪酸和表面活性荆.产甲烷菌在油氧化菌液体培养基中产生CH4,CO2为好氧微生物和厌氧微生物的共同代谢产物.这些产物具有提高原油流动性的作用.用示踪剂研究了注入水渗流方向.通过综合分析,油藏微生物具有较大的潜力,基于激活油层茵的提高采收率方法在该油田是可行的.     

Absence of H186R polymorphism in exon 4 of the APOBEC3G gene among North Indian individuals

AIDS restriction genes have been defined in which allelic variations have been shown to influence infection or disease progression. Members of the APOBEC family of cellular polynucleotide cytidine deaminases (e.g., APOBEC3G) have been identified as a host factor that inhibits HIV-1 replication. It deaminates cytidine to uridine in nascent minus-strand viral DNA, inducing G-to-A hypermutation in the plus-strand viral DNA. The impact of codon-changing variant APOBEC3G H186R polymorphism on HIV-1 susceptibility and progression is not clear. We conducted genetic risk association study in HIV-1-exposed seronegative (HES; n = 50) individuals, HIV-1 seronegative (HSN; n = 320) healthy control, and HIV-1 seropositive patients (HSP; n = 190). The APOBEC3G H186R genotypes were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method in DNA extracted from peripheral blood and confirmed by direct sequencing the randomly selected 58 samples. Frequency of rare homozygous RR (mutant type) and HR (heterozygous mutant) genotype was 0% while HH (wild type) was 100% among North Indians. In conclusion, we demonstrated that no genetic H186R polymorphism in exon 4 of APOBEC3G gene is found and therefore neither associated with differential susceptibility to HIV-1 infection/progression among North Indians.