Identification of cold-shock protein RBM3 as a possible regulator of skeletal muscle size through expression profiling

Changes in gene expression associated with skeletal muscle atrophy due to aging are distinct from those due to disuse, suggesting that the response of old muscle to inactivity may be altered. The goal of this study was to identify changes in muscle gene expression that may contribute to loss of adaptability of old muscle. Muscle atrophy was induced in young adult (6-mo) and old (32-mo) male Brown Norway/F344 rats by 2 wk of hindlimb suspension (HS), and soleus muscles were analyzed by cDNA microarrays. Overall, similar changes in gene expression with HS were observed in young and old muscles for genes encoding proteins involved in protein folding (heat shock proteins), muscle structure, and contraction, extracellular matrix, and nucleic acid binding. More genes encoding transport and receptor proteins were differentially expressed in the soleus muscle from young rats, while in soleus muscle from old rats more genes that encoded ribosomal proteins were upregulated. The gene encoding the cold-shock protein RNA-binding motif protein-3 (RBM3) was induced most highly with HS in muscle from old rats, verified by real-time RT-PCR, while no difference with age was observed. The cold-inducible RNA-binding protein (Cirp) gene was also overexpressed with HS, whereas cold-shock protein Y-box-binding protein-1 was not. A time course analysis of RBM3 mRNA abundance during HS showed that upregulation occurred after apoptotic nuclei and markers of protein degradation increased. We conclude that a cold-shock response may be part of a compensatory mechanism in muscles undergoing atrophy to preserve remaining muscle mass and that RBM3 may be a therapeutic target to prevent muscle loss.     

Non-linear control of continuous bioreactors

Control of bioreactors has achieved importance in the recent years. This may be due to the fact that they are difficult to control which may be attributed to its nonlinear dynamic behavior. The model parameters of the bioreactor also vary in an unpredictable manner. The complexity of the biochemical processes inhibits the accurate modeling and also the lack of suitable sensors make the process state difficult to characterize. Considerable emphasis has been placed on the control of fed-batch fermentors because of their prevalence in industries. However, when production of biomass is to be optimized, continuous operation is desirable. Several procedures are available for the nonlinear control of processes, viz., differential geometric approach, internal model control approach, reference synthesis technique, predictive control design, etc., but the major disadvantage of these approaches is the computational time required to perform the prediction optimization. In this study, a nonlinear controller based on a polynomial discrete time model (NARMAX) is evaluated for its performance on a fermentor. It can be shown that a nonlinear self-tuning controller based on NARMAX model can be extended to the control of fermentors. The response is smooth for both load and setpoint changes even when process parameters are assumed to be zero and uncertainty in parameters are present and in the presence of controller constraints. The control action can be made more or less robust by changing the design parameters appropriately. Therefore, nonlinear self-tuning controller is suitable for control of industrial processes.     

A Neural Network Model to Translate Brain Developmental Events across Mammalian Species

Translating the timing of brain developmental events across mammalian species using suitable models has provided unprecedented insights into neural development and evolution. More importantly, these models can prove to be useful abstractions and predict unknown events across species from known empirical event timing data retrieved from published literature. Such predictions can be especially useful since the distribution of the event timing data is skewed with a majority of events documented only across a few selected species. The present study investigates the choice of single hidden layer feed-forward neural networks (FFNN) for predicting the unknown events from the empirical data. A leave-one-out cross-validation approach is used to determine the optimal number of units in the hidden layer and the decay parameter for the FFNN. It is shown that unlike the present Finlay-Darlington (FD) model, FFNN does not impose any constraints on the functional form of the model and falls under the class of semiparametric regression models that can approximate any continuous function. The results from FFNN as well as FD model also indicate that a majority of events with large absolute prediction errors correspond to those of primates and late events comprising the tail of event timing data distribution with minimal representation in the empirical data. These results also indicate that accurate prediction of primate events may be challenging.     

Seed pretreatment with magnetic field alters the storage proteins and lipid profiles in harvested soybean seeds

The increase in crop productivity is an urgent need of the time to reduce scarcity of food in underdeveloped countries. Several biological, chemical and physical methods have been applied to promote crop yield. Application of magnetic field (MF) is an emerging physical method used to increase plant growth and yield. The reports on MF pretreatment-induced nutritional changes in harvested seeds are scarce. We previously identified the optimal frequency of MF to improve plant growth and yield as 1500 nT at 10.0 Hz. This study was aimed to investigate the effect of MF treatment on storage proteins and fatty acids in harvested soybean seeds. The results showed that MF triggered globulin production and suppressed prolamin production. However, lipid content in seeds increased, because MF exposure caused an elevation of several fatty acids including caprylic acid, palmitic acid, heptadecanoic acid, linoleic acid, lignoceric acid and eicosapentaenoic acid. This is the first report to reveal the seed pretreated MF on nutritional values of harvested seeds. This study suggests that MF treatment improves seed quality by regulating the metabolism of storage proteins and fatty acids.     

Pest management services through conservation of biological control agents: review,case studies and field experiences

ABSTRACT

Conservation biological control is an approach to enhance the efficacy of natural enemies by ensuring their availability in an agro-ecosystem on a long temporal scale. An increased survival often leads to better fecundity and improved behaviour of the natural enemies, which in turn ensures sustainable pest management. This paper, apart from being a concise review of conservation biological control, deals with selected India-specific case studies and field experiences on habitat manipulation and refugia. Results from a Bengaluru-based study during 2012–2015 on conservation biological control in an organic mango ecosystem are also presented. It also dwells briefly on conservation of insectivorous birds and touches upon conservation biocontrol with respect to entomopathogenic microorganisms and plant disease antagonists.     

Antimicrobial,anticoagulant, and cytotoxic evaluation of multidrug resistance of new 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives

A new series of 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives (2a–h, 3a–e, and 4a–e) were systematically designed and synthesized via ultrasound irradiation methods with easy work-up and good yields. Compounds structures were confirmed by IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and mass spectra. The synthesized compounds were screened for both antimicrobial and anticoagulant activities. Compound 2e (MIC: 0.25?μg/mL) was highly active against Escherichia coli and compound 2c (MIC: 0.5?μg/mL) was also highly active against Pseudomonas aeruginosa compared with ciprofloxacin. (MIC: 1?μg/mL) The antifungal activity of 2c (MIC: 0.5?μg/mL) against Candida albicans was high relative to that of clotrimazole (MIC: 1?μg/mL). Anticoagulant activity was determined by activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT) coagulation assays. Compound 4-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-2,6-dimethyl-N³,N⁵-bis(5-phenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxamide 3d (>1000?s in APTT assays) was highly active in anticoagulant screening compared with the reference of heparin.Cytotoxicity was evaluated using HepG2 (liver), HeLa (cervical), and MCF-7 (breast) cancer cell lines, with high toxicities observed for 2c (GI₅₀?=?0.02?μm) against HeLa cell line and 2e (GI₅₀?=?0.03?μm) equipotant against MCF-7 cell line. Therefore, the compounds 2e, 2c and 3d can serve as lead molecules for the development of new classes of antimicrobial and anticoagulant agent.