Cardioprotective effect of lycopene in the experimental model of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury

The continuous advancements in cancer research have contributed to the overwhelming evidence of the presence of telomerase in primary and secondary tumours together with hsp90 and c-Myc. This review will discuss the important role of telomerase together with hsp90 and c-Myc within the initiation and progression of gliomas. Also it will review the differential expression of these genes in the different grades of gliomas and the possibility of new treatments targeting these specific genes.     

Control of cellulose hydrolysis by fungi

Summary The extent of filter paper degradation by extracellular preparations fromT. reesei and its mutants with a decreasing level of -glucosidase and an increasing level of endoglucanase has been determined. The ability to degrade cellulose is restricted by the level of endoglucanase and not by -glucosidase.     

PSCA gene variants (rs2294008 and rs2978974) confer increased susceptibility of gallbladder carcinoma in females

Background and aim

PSCA is a tissue specific tumor suppressor or oncogene which has been found to be associated with several human tumors including gallbladder cancer. It is considered to be involved in the cell-proliferation inhibition and/or cell-death induction activity. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the role of PSCA gene polymorphisms in gallbladder cancer risk in North Indian population.

Methodology

A total of 405 gallbladder cancer patients and 247 healthy controls were included in the case–control study for risk prediction. We examined the association of two functional SNPs, rs2294008 and rs2978974 in PSCA gene by genotyping using Taqman allelic discrimination assays. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software, version 17. Linkage disequilibrium and haplotype analysis was done with the help of SNPstats software. FDR test was used to correct for multiple comparisons.

Results

No significant associations of rs2294008 and rs2978974 genetic variants of the PSCA gene were found with GBC risk at allele, genotype or haplotype levels. Stratifying the subjects on the basis of gallstone also did not show any significant result. However, on gender stratification, we found a significant association of T_rs2294008-G_rs2978974 haplotype with higher risk of GBC in females (FDR Pcorr = 0.021, OR = 1.6). In contrary, T_rs2294008-A _rs2978974 haplotype conferred significant lower risk in males (FDR Pcorr = 0.013; OR = 0.25).

Conclusions

These findings suggest that PSCA genetic variants may have a significant effect on GBC susceptibility in a gender specific manner.     

Estimation of Mineral and Trace Element Profile in Bubaline Milk Affected with Subclinical Mastitis

The milk samples from buffaloes of Murrah breed at mid lactation stage, reared at an organised dairy farm, were screened for subclinical mastitis based on bacteriological examination and somatic cell count following International Dairy Federation criteria. Milk samples from subclinical mastitis infected and healthy buffaloes were analysed to evaluate physicochemical alterations in terms of protein, fat, pH, electrical conductivity, chloride, minerals (sodium, potassium and calcium) and trace elements (iron, zinc, copper and selenium). In the present study, protein, fat, zinc, iron, calcium and selenium content was significantly lower (P < 0.001), while pH and electrical conductivity were significantly higher in mastitic milk as compared to normal milk. Concentration of electrolytes mainly sodium and chloride significantly increased with higher somatic cell count in mastitic milk and to maintain osmolality; potassium levels decreased proportionately. Correlation matrix revealed significantly positive interdependences of somatic cell count with pH, electrical conductivity, sodium and chloride. However, protein, fat, calcium and potassium were correlated negatively with elevated somatic cell count in mastitic milk. It is concluded that udder infections resulting in elevated somatic cells may alter the mineral and trace element profile of milk, and magnitude of changes may have diagnostic and prognostic value.     

Role of cervical dendritic cell subsets,co-stimulatory molecules,cytokine secretion profile and beta-estradiol in development of sequalae to Chlamydia trachomatis infection

Background  

Chlamydia trachomatis infection of the female genital tract can lead to serious sequelae resulting in fertility related disorders. Little is known about the mechanism leading to Chlamydia induced pathology and factors responsible for it. As only some of the women develops reproductive disorders while majority of the women clears infection without any severe sequalae, mucosal immune response in women with or without fertility disorders was studied to identify factors which may lead to final clinical outcome of chlamydial infection.     

Cooperative Recruitment of Dynamin and BIN/Amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) Domain-containing Proteins Leads to GTP-dependent Membrane Scission

Dynamin mediates various membrane fission events, including the scission of clathrin-coated vesicles. Here, we provide direct evidence for cooperative membrane recruitment of dynamin with the BIN/amphiphysin/Rvs (BAR) proteins, endophilin and amphiphysin. Surprisingly, endophilin and amphiphysin recruitment to membranes was also dependent on binding to dynamin due to auto-inhibition of BAR-membrane interactions. Consistent with reciprocal recruitment in vitro, dynamin recruitment to the plasma membrane in cells was strongly reduced by concomitant depletion of endophilin and amphiphysin, and conversely, depletion of dynamin dramatically reduced the recruitment of endophilin. In addition, amphiphysin depletion was observed to severely inhibit clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Furthermore, GTP-dependent membrane scission by dynamin was dramatically elevated by BAR domain proteins. Thus, BAR domain proteins and dynamin act in synergy in membrane recruitment and GTP-dependent vesicle scission.     

RetroPred: A tool for prediction, classification and extraction of non-LTR retrotransposons (LINEs & SINEs) from the genome by integrating PALS, PILER, MEME and ANN

The problem of predicting non-long terminal repeats (LTR) like long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) and short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) from the DNA sequence is still an open problem in bioinformatics. To elevate the quality of annotations of LINES and SINEs an automated tool "RetroPred" was developed. The pipeline allowed rapid and thorough annotation of non-LTR retrotransposons. The non-LTR retrotransposable elements were initially predicted by Pairwise Aligner for Long Sequences (PALS) and Parsimonious Inference of a Library of Elementary Repeats (PILER). Predicted non-LTR elements were automatically classified into LINEs and SINEs using ANN based on the position specific probability matrix (PSPM) generated by Multiple EM for Motif Elicitation (MEME). The ANN model revealed a superior model (accuracy = 78.79 +/- 6.86 %, Q(pred) = 74.734 +/- 17.08 %, sensitivity = 84.48 +/- 6.73 %, specificity = 77.13 +/- 13.39 %) using four-fold cross validation. As proof of principle, we have thoroughly annotated the location of LINEs and SINEs in rice and Arabidopsis genome using the tool and is proved to be very useful with good accuracy. Our tool is accessible at http://www.juit.ac.in/RepeatPred/home.html.