Biodecolourisation of some industrial dyes by white-rot fungi

Eight white-rot fungal strains were screened for biodecolourisation of eight dyes commercially employed in various industries. Decolourisation of Poly R 478 was used as a standard to ascertain the dye-decolourisation potential of various fungi. All the fungi tested significantly decolourised Poly R 478 on solid agar medium. When tested in a nitrogen-limited broth medium, Dichomitus squalens, Irpex flavus, Phlebia spp. and Polyporus sanguineus were better industrial dye decolourisers than Phanerochaete chrysosporium.     

Otomycosis — a clinico-mycological study and efficacy of mercurochrome in its treatment

A total of 110 patients of symptomatic otomycosis was investigated, prospectively. Aural swabs were collected on 1st, 7th and 14th day and examined by direct microscopy and culture for fungi. Of these, 80 patients found to be having pure fungal infection, were taken up for mycological and therapeutic study. Fungi belonging to genus Aspergillus were isolated in 76 (95.0%) patients of which Aspergillus niger was the commonest isolate in 46 (57.5%), followed by A. flavus in 27 (33.7%), A. fumigatus in 3 (3.7%), Candida species in 3 (3.7%) and Mucor in 1 (1.2%). The patients were of all age groups but majority were between 21 and 30 years and the male-female ratio was equal. Of the total of 40 male patients, twenty-one were Sikhs using turban. Before developing the symptoms, forty five patients used oil, mixture of oil and garlic juice, antibiotics, steroids, antiseptics or wax solvent as ear drops. Only two patients were diabetic! No patient had fungal infection elsewhere in the body. The patients were called for regular follow-up for three weeks. In forty cases mercurochrome was applied as the antifungal agent after cleaning the external auditory canal, in twenty-three clotrimazole and in rest of the seventeen patients miconazole was used. On 7th day, only 11 (13.7%) patients grew different fungi in culture. They became symptom-free on 14th day and no fungal material could be seen on otoscopy, direct microscopy or culture. Mercurochrome was found to be most effective in these patients.     

Impact of <Emphasis Type="Italic">ERCC2</Emphasis> gene polymorphism on HIV-1 disease progression to AIDS among North Indian HIV patients

HIV/AIDS remains to be one of the killing diseases of mankind. Host genetic response is one of the factor which determine susceptibility to HIV and disease progression to AIDS. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of ERCC2 Lyc ⁷⁵¹ Gln (excision repair cross complementing rodent repair deficiency, complementation group 2) polymorphism on HIV-1 susceptibility and disease progression to AIDS, as this gene has been reported to intervene in degrading retroviral cDNA before it integrates with the host DNA. This case control study included 300 HIV seropositive cases and an equal number of HIV seronegative controls. DNA was isolated from the blood samples of study subjects and genotyping of ERCC2 was conducted by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. The Gln/Gln genotype showed a significant variation between cases and controls (P = 0.047, OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.00–2.93), indicating a possible role of susceptibility in reference to controls and disease progression when compared within cases.     

Associative growth behavior of dahi and yoghurt starter cultures with Bifidobacterium bifidum and Lactobacillus acidophilus in buffalo skim milk

We report here for the first time variations in the viability and biochemical activity of dahi and yoghurt cultures, when grown together with therapeutic cultures, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus I and Bifidobacterium bifidum R, in buffalo skim milk. Nearly one log reduction in mesophilic lactic count was observed in dahi supplemented with probiotic cultures after 18 h of incubation at 30 °C. Associative growth increased the titratable acidity (TA) of dahi marginally (from 0.93 to 1.18 % lactic acid) but reduced the TA in yoghurt (from 1.68 to 1.44 % lactic acid). Probiotic culture supplementation reduced volatile acidity (VA) (from 36.0 to 15.8 ml) and diacetyl (from 4.05 to 2.80 ppm) and tyrosine (from 0.46 to 0.36 μg tyrosine/g curd ) content in dahi, whereas it increased VA (from 8.2 to 8.6 ml of 0.01 % NaoH/50 g) and acetaldehyde (from 28.4 to 34.6 ppm) production in yoghurt. Based on these results, the associative growth had no effect on proteolytic activity of probiotic yoghurt.     

Hyperglycaemia Enhances Nitric Oxide Production in Diabetes: A Study from South Indian Patients

Background

We have previously reported that increased glucose levels were associated with higher serum nitric oxide (NO) levels in fructose-fed insulin resistant rats. However, the relationship between hyperglycemia and serum NO level was not clear. Therefore, the present study was designed to find the association between hyperglycemia and serum NO levels in Type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients and T2DM with cardiovascular complication.

Methods

Endothelial cells (HUVEC) were treated with of D-glucose (10-100mM), and NO levels and NOS gene expression was measured. Hyperglycaemia was induced in Sprague-Dawley rats, and serum NO levels were measured after 8 weeks. For clinical evaluation, five groups of patients were recruited: Control (CT, n=48), Type 2 diabetes (T2DM, n=26), T2DM with hypertension (DMHT, n=46), Coronary artery diseases (CAD, n=29) and T2DM with coronary artery diseases (DMCD, n=38). NO (nitrite + nitrate) levels were measured from human serum.

Results

We found a significant (p<0.05) and dose-dependent increase in NO levels in HUVEC cells after 4 hours of high glucose exposure. eNOS and iNOS gene expression was increased in HUVEC cells after different concentrations and time periods of glucose treatment. We also observed significant (149.1±25μM, p<0.01) increase in serum NO levels in hyperglycaemic rats compared to control (76.6±13.2μM). Serum NO level was significantly higher in T2DM (111.8 μM (81.7-122.4), p<0.001) and DMCD patients ((129.4 μM (121.2-143.5), p <0.001) but not in CAD patients (76.4 μM (70.5-87)), as compared to control (68.2 μM (56.4-82.3)). We found significantly lower NO levels (83.5 μM (60.5-122.9)) in subjects suffering from diabetes since more than 5 years, compared to subjects (115.3 μM (75.2-127.1), p<0.001) with less than 5 years.

Conclusion

In conclusion, high NO levels were observed in South Indian diabetic patients. Higher glucose levels in serum might be responsible for activation of endothelial cells to enhance NO levels.     

Security Analysis and Improvement of ‘a More Secure Anonymous User Authentication Scheme for the Integrated EPR Information System’

Over the past few years, secure and privacy-preserving user authentication scheme has become an integral part of the applications of the healthcare systems. Recently, Wen has designed an improved user authentication system over the Lee et al.’s scheme for integrated electronic patient record (EPR) information system, which has been analyzed in this study. We have found that Wen’s scheme still has the following inefficiencies: (1) the correctness of identity and password are not verified during the login and password change phases; (2) it is vulnerable to impersonation attack and privileged-insider attack; (3) it is designed without the revocation of lost/stolen smart card; (4) the explicit key confirmation and the no key control properties are absent, and (5) user cannot update his/her password without the help of server and secure channel. Then we aimed to propose an enhanced two-factor user authentication system based on the intractable assumption of the quadratic residue problem (QRP) in the multiplicative group. Our scheme bears more securities and functionalities than other schemes found in the literature.     

Green tea: a new option for the prevention or control of osteoarthritis

IL-1β is a major cytokine driving the inflammatory processes leading to the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis and other inflammatory diseases. Blockade of IL-1β activity using substances such as the naturally occurring IL-1 receptor antagonist or anti-IL-1β monoclonal antibody are currently being used or tested as therapy. However, such treatments are ineffective in osteoarthritis. In a recent study, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, a green tea polyphenol, was found to be effective in reducing IL-1β-induced inflammatory cytokines, TNFα, IL-6, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and several chemokines from human chondrocytes. The use of green tea polyphenols may be beneficial as a therapeutic addition to biologics that control IL-1β activity by increasing effectiveness and/or reducing dosage.     

Thiazolidin-4-one and hydrazone derivatives of capric acid as possible anti-inflammatory, analgesic and hydrogen peroxide-scavenging agents

Starting from capric acid, hydrazone and thiazolidin-4-one derivatives have been synthesized in the present investigation. Decanoic acid hydrazide was reacted appropriately to yield hydrazones, which were then cyclized to yield the corresponding thiazolidin-4-ones. The structures of the newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by analytical and spectral methods. Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and hydrogen peroxide-scavenging activity of the title compounds were evaluated. Among synthesized compounds, 2-hydroxyphenyl thiazolidinone with 44.90% inhibition of inflammation was the most potent anti-inflammatory agent. Similarly, 4-methoxybenzylidine hydrazide with 64.90% inhibition of writhing was observed to be the most potent analgesic agent of the synthesized compounds. All the synthesized compounds exhibited potent hydrogen peroxide-scavenging activity.