Structural,luminescent and in vitro studies of europium-doped soda lime phosphate glasses

In this article, we have reported the effect of varying concentration of europium (Eu) in (50 − x)% P₂O₅–25% Na₂O–24% CaO–% Eu₂O₃, where x = 1, 3, 5. The glass samples were synthesised via conventional melt-quench method. The impact of europium ion (Eu³⁺) on the structural, optical and luminescent properties of phosphate soda lime glasses has been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive spectroscopy and photoluminescent techniques. The amorphous nature of glass samples was confirmed by XRD patterns. FTIR confirmed the presence of various functional groups. The emission spectra of synthesised samples exhibited intense emission peaks corresponding to Eu³⁺ under excitation at 393 nm. Among all the peaks, the maximum intensity was observed for ⁵D₀ → ⁷F₂ transition. Judd–Ofelt (J–O) parameters (Ω₂, Ω₄) and other radiative parameters such as band width, radiative transition probabilities, stimulated emission cross-sections and branching ratio were determined from emission spectra. The other photometric parameters such as CIE coordinates and colour purity were also determined. Furthermore, cytotoxic studies were carried out on normal cell line human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293) using MTT assay. Results showed that the prepared samples significantly enhanced growth in glass sample-treated cells as compared to control cells. These findings suggest that synthesised glass samples are biocompatible in nature and have potential for applications in display devices and biomedical research area.     

Moving towards the detection of frailty with biomarkers: A population health study

Aging adults experience increased health vulnerability and compromised abilities to cope with stressors, which are the clinical manifestations of frailty. Frailty is complex, and efforts to identify biomarkers to detect frailty and pre-frailty in the clinical setting are rarely reproduced across cohorts. We developed a predictive model incorporating biological and clinical frailty measures to identify robust biomarkers across data sets. Data were from two large cohorts of older adults: “Invecchiare in Chianti (Aging in Chianti, InCHIANTI Study”) (n = 1453) from two small towns in Tuscany, Italy, and replicated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) (n = 6508) from four U.S. communities. A complex systems approach to biomarker selection with a tree-boosting machine learning (ML) technique for supervised learning analysis was used to examine biomarker population differences across both datasets. Our approach compared predictors with robust, pre-frail, and frail participants and examined the ability to detect frailty status by race. Unique biomarker features identified in the InCHIANTI study allowed us to predict frailty with a model accuracy of 0.72 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66–0.80). Replication models in ARIC maintained a model accuracy of 0.64 (95% CI 0.66–0.72). Frail and pre-frail Black participant models maintained a lower model accuracy. The predictive panel of biomarkers identified in this study may improve the ability to detect frailty as a complex aging syndrome in the clinical setting. We propose several concrete next steps to keep research moving toward detecting frailty with biomarker-based detection methods.     

ALT-FISH quantifies alternative lengthening of telomeres activity by imaging of single-stranded repeats

Alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT) occurs in ∼10% of cancer entities. However, little is known about the heterogeneity of ALT activity since robust ALT detection assays with high-throughput in situ readouts are lacking. Here, we introduce ALT-FISH, a method to quantitate ALT activity in single cells from the accumulation of single-stranded telomeric DNA and RNA. It involves a one-step fluorescent in situ hybridization approach followed by fluorescence microscopy imaging. Our method reliably identified ALT in cancer cell lines from different tumor entities and was validated in three established models of ALT induction and suppression. Furthermore, we successfully applied ALT-FISH to spatially resolve ALT activity in primary tissue sections from leiomyosarcoma and neuroblastoma tumors. Thus, our assay provides insights into the heterogeneity of ALT tumors and is suited for high-throughput applications, which will facilitate screening for ALT-specific drugs.     

Reactive oxygen species play a role in P2X7 receptor-mediated IL-6 production in spinal astrocytes

Purinergic Signalling - Astrocytes mediate a remarkable variety of cellular functions, including gliotransmitter release. Under pathological conditions, high concentrations of the purinergic...     

Connecting species’ geographical distributions to environmental variables: range maps versus observed points of occurrence

Connecting the geographical occurrence of a species with underlying environmental variables is fundamental for many analyses of life history evolution and for modeling species distributions for both basic and practical ends. However, raw distributional information comes principally in two forms: points of occurrence (specific geographical coordinates where a species has been observed), and expert-prepared range maps. Each form has potential short-comings: range maps tend to overestimate the true occurrence of a species, whereas occurrence points (because of their frequent non-random spatial distribution) tend to underestimate it. Whereas previous comparisons of the two forms have focused on how they may differ when estimating species richness, less attention has been paid to the extent to which the two forms actually differ in their representation of a species’ environmental associations. We assess such differences using the globally distributed avian order Galliformes (294 species). For each species we overlaid range maps obtained from IUCN and point-of-occurrence data obtained from GBIF on global maps of four climate variables and elevation. Over all species, the median difference in distribution centroids was 234 km, and median values of all five environmental variables were highly correlated, although there were a few species outliers for each variable. We also acquired species’ elevational distribution mid-points (mid-point between minimum and maximum elevational extent) from the literature; median elevations from point occurrences and ranges were consistently lower (median −420 m) than mid-points. We concluded that in most cases occurrence points were likely to produce better estimates of underlying environmental variables than range maps, although differences were often slight. We also concluded that elevational range mid-points were biased high, and that elevation distributions based on either points or range maps provided better estimates.     

Long-chain base kinase1 promotes salicylic acid-mediated stomatal immunity in Arabidopsis thaliana

Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology - Stomatal closure is an inducible form of defense that plants exert upon activation of pattern-triggered immunity (PTI). Arabidopsis long-chain base...     

Correction to: Expression of the entomotoxic Cocculus hirsutus trypsin inhibitor (ChTI) gene in transgenic chickpea enhances its underlying resistance against the infestation of Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-021-02054-x     

TP53 codon 72 polymorphism and type 2 diabetes: a case–control study in South Indian population

Molecular Biology Reports - TP53 functions primarily as a tumor suppressor, controlling a myriad of signalling pathways that prevent a cell from undergoing malignant transformation. This tumor...     

Identification of novel dysregulated circular RNAs in early-stage breast cancer

Breast cancer is a major cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Non-coding RNAs are a potential resource to be used as an early diagnostic biomarker for breast cancer. Circular RNAs are a recently identified group of non-coding RNA with a significant role in disease development with potential utility in diagnosis/prognosis in cancer. In this study, we identified 26 differentially expressed circular RNAs associated with early-stage breast cancer. RNA sequencing and two circRNA detection tools (find_circ and DCC) were used to understand the circRNA expression signature in breast cancer. We identified hsa_circ_0006743 (circJMJD1C) and hsa_circ_0002496 (circAPPBP1) to be significantly up-regulated in early-stage breast cancer tissues. Co-expression analysis identified four pairs of circRNA-miRNA (hsa_circ_0023990 : hsa-miR-548b-3p, hsa_circ_0016601 : hsa_miR-1246, hsa_circ_0001946 : hsa-miR-1299 and hsa_circ_0000117:hsa-miR-502-5p) having potential interaction. The miRNA target prediction and network analysis revealed mRNA possibly regulated by circRNAs. We have thus identified circRNAs of diagnostic implications in breast cancer and also observed circRNA-miRNA interaction which could be involved in breast cancer development.     

A New Insight into Structural and Functional Impact of Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in PTEN Gene

Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) plays essential roles in cellular processes including survival, proliferation, energy metabolism, and cellular architecture. Activating the mutations of PTEN has long been known to produce a variety of disorders, mainly diabetes and cancer in humans. Owing to the importance of PTEN gene, a functional analysis using different in silico approaches was undertaken to explore the possible associations between genetic mutations and phenotypic variation. SIFT, PolyPhen, I-Mutant 3.0, SNP&GO, and PHD-SNP were used for initial screening of functional nsSNPs. From the observed results, three mutations R47G, H61D, and V343E were selected based on their surface accessibility and total energy change. By molecular dynamics approach, H61D showed increase in flexibility, radius of gyration, solvent accessibility, and deviated more from the native structure which was supported by the decrease in the number of hydrogen bonds. Further from principal component analysis and interaction analysis, we identified significant structural changes that can reasonably explain the involvement of deviations in stability caused by mutations. Our analysis also predicts the involvement of SNPs that could potentially influence post-translational modifications in PTEN gene. These in silico predictions could provide a new insight into structural and functional impact of PTEN polymorphisms.