Anticonvulsant Effect of Asparagus racemosus Willd. in a Mouse Model of Catamenial Epilepsy

Neurochemical Research - Asparagus racemosus Willd. (Family Liliaceae), also known as female reproductive tonic, is traditionally used across the Sub-Himalayan region in Uttarakhand, India for...     

Europium Nanoparticle-Based High Performing Immunoassay for the Screening of Treponemal Antibodies

Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum (Tp) is the causative agent of syphilis which mainly spreads through sexual contact, blood transfusion and perinatal route. In order to curtail the spread of the infection and to clinically manage the disease, timely, accurate and reliable diagnosis is very important. We have developed an immunoassay for the detection of treponemal antibodies in human serum or plasma samples. In vivo biotinylated and non-biotinylated versions of the recombinant antigen were designed by the fusion of three Tp-specific antigens namely Tp15, Tp17 and Tp47. These fusion antigens were expressed in E. coli and purified using single-step metal affinity chromatography. Biotinylated fusion antigen immobilized on streptavidin coated plate was used to capture the treponemal antibodies and the non-biotinylated antigen coated on europium nanoparticles was used as tracer. Assays with two different incubation times of 10 min and 1 h were developed, and following the incubation the europium fluorescence was measured using time-resolved fluorometry. The developed time-resolved fluorometric (TRF) immunoassays were evaluated with in-house and commercial serum/plasma sample panels. For well-established treponemal antibodies positive or negative samples, the sensitivity of TRF immunoassay with 10 min incubation time was 97.4%, and of TRF immunoassay with 1 h incubation time was 98.7%, and the specificities of both the TRF immunoassays were 99.2%. For the samples with discordant results with the reference assays, both the TRF immunoassays showed better specificity than the Enzygnost syphilis enzyme immunoassay as a screening test. The two different incubation times did not have any significant effect on the signal to cutoff (S/Co) ratios obtained with the two immunoassays (p = 0.06). Our results indicate that the developed immunoassay with a short incubation time of 10 min has the potential to be used in clinical laboratories and in blood-bank settings as a screening test for treponemal antibodies.     

Evaluation of Salmonella Porins as a Broad Spectrum Vaccine Candidate

Porins were prepared from smooth strain of Salmonella typhi 0–901 and chemotype of rough mutant of S. typhimurium Ra-30. Mice were immunized with both the porin preparations in different groups and challenged with S. typhimurium LT2–71 and S. enteritidis SH-1269. Porin immunized mice showed significant protection (P <0.01) against challenge with homologous as well as heterologous strains. Hence, the use of porins may be attempted in future to protect against salmonellosis.     

Nucleotide sequence and distinctive characteristics of the env gene of endogenous feline leukemia provirus.

Nucleotide sequence analysis of the env gene of two different endogenous feline leukemia virus (FeLV) loci, CFE-6 and CFE-16, of domestic cats revealed the following characteristics. (i) Both proviruses contain an open reading frame in the env region; (ii) whereas the full complement of the exogenous FeLV env is generally present in CFE-6 DNA, it is truncated in CFE-16 DNA such that the 5' half of the gp70 domain and the untranslated region 3' to the p15E domain have been fused by an internal deletion, resulting in loss of the C-terminal half of the gp70- and all of the p15E-coding sequences; (iii) endogenous env is highly homologous to large sequence domains conserved in all three exogenous FeLV subgroups (A, B, and C) but is similar to FeLV-B sequence domains in the variable regions detected in these viruses; and (iv) there are four other sequence domains, one residing at the C terminus of gp70 and three scattered in p15E, which are unique for the endogenous env, thereby distinguishing it from the FeLV-B gene.     

Observation on a 65-kilodalton protein isolated from kanagawa positive strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Crude hemolysin from four KP+ strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus belonging to serotype 02:K3 exhibited a major protein band (molecular weight, 65 kilodaltons (kDa] in addition to a previously known thermostable direct hemolysin band (molecular weight, 21 kDa) in SDS - polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. These strains showed maximum virulence leading to 100% mouse lethality within 2-6 h. It is hypothesized that this 65-kDa protein may play a vital role in the pathogenesis of the disease caused by V. parahaemolyticus.     

Autophagy and senescence: A new insight in selected human diseases

Senescence and autophagy play important roles in homeostasis. Cellular senescence and autophagy commonly cause several degenerative processes, including oxidative stress, DNA damage, telomere shortening, and oncogenic stress; hence, both events are known to be interrelated. Autophagy is well known for its disruptive effect on human diseases, and it is currently proposed to have a direct effect on triggering senescence and quiescence. However, it is yet to be proven whether autophagy has a positive or negative impact on senescence. It is known that elevated levels of autophagy induce cell death, whereas inadequate autophagy can trigger cellular senescence. Both have important roles in human diseases such as aging, renal degeneration, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. Therefore, this review aims to highlight the relevance of senescence and autophagy in selected human ailments through a summary of recent findings on the connection and effects of autophagy and senescence in these diseases.     

Selection of suitable reference genes for quantitative real-time PCR gene expression analysis in Mulberry (Morus alba L.) under different abiotic stresses

Molecular Biology Reports - Mulberry (Morus alba L.) is the sole food source for the mulberry silkworm, Bombyx mori and therefore important for sericulture industry. Different abiotic stress...     

Evaluation of Corrosion Resistance and Characterization of Ni-Cr Coated Structure Using Plasma Spray Coating for Marine Hulls

Plasmonics - Corrosion is a natural process which gradually destructs the materials with their environment by chemical or electrochemical means. Mechanized boat hull structures used in fishing were...     

Bandwidth Enhancement of Planar Terahertz Metasurfaces via Overlapping of Dipolar Modes

Plasmonics - We present enhancement of operational bandwidths of planar terahertz metasurfaces by incorporating a complex unit cell that consists of a pair of concentric ring resonators. The inner...