Body mass index and chronic energy deficiency of adult males of Central Indian populations

Data on body weight, height, and sitting height from 11,496 adult males, age 18-62 years, belonging to 38 different populations of five major social groups (scheduled tribes, scheduled castes, "other backward castes," general castes, and Muslims) of Central India were taken for our analysis to assess the nutritional status of these groups. Cormic index and body mass index (BMI) were computed, and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried out among different populations as well as among social groups separately on Cormic index and BMI. Shape, size, and generalized distances among the different social groups were computed and dendrograms were drawn. The level of malnutrition is the lowest among the general castes. The opposite is the case with the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Comparison of the coefficient of variation shows that there is variation in weight and BMI but that there is no marked variation in the other anthropometric variables. The ANOVA on Cormic index and BMI suggests that the people within a population are more homogeneous than the people between populations. There is a positive but statistically insignificant correlation between Cormic index and BMI. The five social groups differ more in size distance than in shape distance. According to the dendrogram of generalized distance values, the Muslims and the general castes can be grouped into one cluster and the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward castes can be grouped into another cluster.     

The tethering arm of the EGF receptor is required for negative cooperativity and signal transduction

The EGF receptor is a classical receptor-tyrosine kinase. In the absence of ligand, the receptor adopts a closed conformation in which the dimerization arm of subdomain II interacts with the tethering arm in subdomain IV. Following the binding of EGF, the receptor opens to form a symmetric, back-to-back dimer. Although it is clear that the dimerization arm of subdomain II is central to the formation of receptor dimers, the role of the tethering arm of subdomain IV (residues 561-585) in this configuration is not known. Here we use (125)I-EGF binding studies to assess the functional role of the tethering arm in the EGF receptor dimer. Mutation of the three major residues that contribute to tethering (D563A,H566A,K585A-EGF receptor) did not significantly alter either the ligand binding properties or the signaling properties of the EGF receptor. By contrast, breaking the Cys(558)-Cys(567) disulfide bond through double alanine replacements or deleting the loop entirely led to a decrease in the negative cooperativity in EGF binding and was associated with small changes in downstream signaling. Deletion of the Cys(571)-Cys(593) disulfide bond abrogated cooperativity, resulting in a high affinity receptor and increased sensitivity of downstream signaling pathways to EGF. Releasing the Cys(571)-Cys(593) disulfide bond resulted in extreme negative cooperativity, ligand-independent kinase activity, and impaired downstream signaling. These data demonstrate that the tethering arm plays an important role in supporting cooperativity in ligand binding. Because cooperativity implies subunit-subunit interactions, these results also suggest that the tethering arm contributes to intersubunit interactions within the EGF receptor dimer.     

Bracelet creases among twins

Bracelet creases among the twins were examined. A total of 42 pairs of twins (monozygotic twins-16 pairs, dizygotic like sex twins-20 pairs and dizygotic unlike sex twins-6 pairs) from the states of West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh of India were studied for this purpose. High discordance value in dizygotic twins in various types of bracelet creases is found to be sufficient to account for the high estimates of heritability. Estimated value of heritability (0.80), however, corroborates this finding. This is indicative of major role played by genetic factors in the expression of the trait as compared to environmental factors.     

2,4-D Hyper Accumulation Induced Cellular Responses of <i>Azolla pinnata</i> R. Br. to Sustain Herbicidal Stress

In the present experiment with ongoing concentration (0 µM, 100 µM, 250 µM, 500 µM and 1000 µM) of 2,4-D, the responses of Azolla pinnata R.Br. was evaluated based on cellular functions. Initially, plants were significantly tolerated up to 1000 µM of 2,4-D with its survival. This was accompanied by a steady decline of indole acetic acid (IAA) concentration in tissues with 78.8% over the control. Membrane bound H⁺ -ATPase activity was over expressed within a range of 1.14 to 1.25 folds with activator (KCl) and decreased within a range of 57.3 to 74.6% in response to inhibitor (Vanadate) application. With regards to IAA metabolism, plants recorded a linear increase with wall bound oxidase activity up to maximum concentration of 2,4-D. The variations were more moderated when wall bound IAA-oxidase recorded a linear increase proportionate to the 2,4-D concentrations. This was more extended with the presence of different isoforms of IAA-oxidase which was much more pronounced with distinct polymorphisms of expressed proteins, however, not independent to the 2,4-D concentrations. Polyamines like spermine, spermidine and putrescine (spm, spd and put) were not consistent in concentration with the dosages of 2,4-D. Besides these, plants were induced to apoplastic NAD(P)H oxidase activity maximally by 1.6 folds under 500 µM 2,4-D over control. Still, putrescine responded more or less consistently and recorded maximally 11.9 folds at 500 µM 2,4-D as compared to the control. NAD(P)H oxidase activity recorded maximally 1.6 folds against control and remain consistent throughout the concentrations of 2,4-D. GPX along with APX were more linear in responses through the concentration of 2,4-D except CAT as compared to control. On enzymatic antioxidative activity, peroxidases (GPX and APX) were overexpresed in a similar manner except for catalase with a non-significant rise. In stabilization of cellular redox, glutathione reductase attended maximum value by 2.45 folds at 1000 µM evidenced with significant variations in protein polymorphism. The sensitivity of 2,4- D also appeared in Azolla with a maximum loss of nucleic acids as documented by the comet assay. Moreover, the Azolla might have some DNA damage protective activity as evident using frond extract with plasmid nick assay. Therefore, Azolla plants with its cellular responses is evident to sustain against the 2,4-D herbicidal stress and may be granted in bio remediation process for the contaminated soil.     

Controlling tungiasis in an impoverished community: an intervention study

Background

In Brazil, tungiasis is endemic in some resource-poor communities where various domestic and sylvatic animals act as reservoirs for this zoonosis. To determine the effect of control measures on the prevalence and intensity of infestation of human and animal tungiasis, a repeated cross-sectional survey with intervention was carried out.

Methodology/Principal Findings

In a traditional fishing community in Northeast Brazil, humans and reservoir animals were treated, and premise-spraying using an insecticide was done, while a second fishing community served as a control. Both communities were followed up 10 times during a 12-month period. At baseline, prevalence of tungiasis was 43% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 35%–51%) and 37% (95% CI: 31%–43%) in control and intervention villages, respectively. During the study, prevalence of tungiasis dropped to 10% (95% CI: 8%–13%; p<0.001) in the intervention village, while the prevalence remained at a high level in the control village. However, after one year, at the end of the study, in both communities the prevalence of the infestation had reached pre-intervention levels. Whereas the intensity of infestation was significantly reduced in the intervention community (p<0.001), and remained low at the end of the study (p<0.001), it did not change in the control village.

Conclusion/Significance

Our study shows that a reduction of prevalence and intensity of infestation is possible, but in impoverished communities a long-lasting reduction of disease occurrence can only be achieved by the regular treatment of infested humans, the elimination of animal reservoirs, and, likely, through environmental changes.

Trial Registration

Controlled-Trials.com ISRCTN27670575     

Pattern of adolescent growth among the Brahmin girls--rural-urban variation

A cross-sectional study of adolescent growth was undertaken among the Brahmin girls residing in rural and urban areas of Sagar districts, Madhya Pradesh to evaluate the urban-rural differences. Six anthropometric measurements, such as weight, stature, sitting height, head circumference, upper arm circumference and chest girth are taken into consideration. Though the urban girls show consistently higher values of weight, stature, sitting height and chest girth than the rural girls, but in case of head circumference and upper arm circumference they show consistently lower values. The maximum increment occurs between the ages 13 and 14 years in all the six measurements in both rural and urban girls.     

Midgut antibodies reduce the reproductive capacity of Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae)

Rabbits immunized with polypeptides of midgut of glucose fed A. stephensi resulted in high titer of antibodies (10(4)-10(6)) as detected by ELISA. Effect of antisera on fecundity, hatchability and engorgement was investigated. Fecundity was reduced drastically (62.4%). Eight polypeptides were recognized by the antisera raised against midgut tissues viz., 92, 85, 55, 52, 45, 38, 29 and 13 kDa. Cross reactivity of these antibodies with different tissues of A. stephensi as well as different species of Anopheles was also analyzed. The results indicated that anti-mosquito midgut antibodies had the potential to disrupt the reproductive physiology of mosquitoes in view of the present study, there is a need for further investigation with target antigens.     

An essential role of active site arginine residue in iodide binding and histidine residue in electron transfer for iodide oxidation by horseradish peroxidase

The objective of the present study is to delineate the role of active site arginine and histidine residues of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) in controlling iodide oxidation using chemical modification technique. The arginine specific reagent, phenylglyoxal (PGO) irreversibly blocks iodide oxidation following pseudofirst order kinetics with second order rate constant of 25.12 min^-1 M^-1. Radiolabelled PGO incorporation studies indicate an essential role of a single arginine residue in enzyme inactivation. The enzyme can be protected both by iodide and an aromatic donor such as guaiacol. Moreover, guaiacol-protected enzyme can oxidise iodide and iodide-protected enzyme can oxidise guaiacol suggesting the regulatory role of the same active site arginine residue in both iodide and guaiacol binding. The protection constant (K_p) for iodide and guaiacol are 500 and 10 M respectively indicating higher affinity of guaiacol than iodide at this site. Donor binding studies indicate that guaiacol competitively inhibits iodide binding suggesting their interaction at the same binding site. Arginine-modified enzyme shows significant loss of iodide binding as shown by increased K_d value to 571 mM from the native enzyme (K_d = 150 mM). Although arginine-modified enzyme reacts with H₂O₂ to form compound II presumably at a slow rate, the latter is not reduced by iodide presumably due to low affinity binding.The role of the active site histidine residue in iodide oxidation was also studied after disubstitution reaction of the histidine imidazole nitrogens with diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC), a histidine specific reagent. DEPC blocks iodide oxidation following pseudofirst order kinetics with second order rate constant of 0.66 min^-1 M^-1. Both the nitrogens (, ) of histidine imidazole were modified as evidenced by the characteristic peak at 222 nm. The enzyme is not protected by iodide suggesting that imidazolium ion is not involved in iodide binding. Moreover, DEPC-modified enzyme binds iodide similar to the native enzyme. However, the modified enzyme does not form compound II but forms compound I only with higher concentration of H₂O₂ suggesting the catalytic role of this histidine in the formation and autoreduction of compound I. Interestingly, compound I thus formed is not reduced by iodide indicating block of electron transport from the donor to the compound I. We suggest that an active site arginine residue regulates iodide binding while the histidine residue controls the electron transfer to the heme ferryl group during oxidation.