Oligomers of carrageenan regulate functional activities and artemisinin production in Artemisia annua L. exposed to arsenic stress

Protoplasma - Recently, a promising technique has come forward in field of radiation-agriculture in which the natural polysaccharides are modified into useful oligomers after depolymerization....     

Massive Fluid Requirements and an Unusual BUN/Creatinine Ratio for Pre-Renal Failure in Patients with Cholera

Background

Cholera is an important infectious cause of secretory diarrhea. The primary symptom of infection is the sudden onset of watery diarrhea with subsequent volume depletion causing renal insufficiency. The objective of this research is to study the level of dehydration at presentation and subsequent fluid management in patients with cholera.

Methods

This study was conducted on 191 patients of Cholera admitted at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan during the period of 5 years. Medical charts were evaluated retrospectively for initial hydration status, baseline lab investigations on admission and discharge and fluid therapy given to all the patients while their stay in the hospital and the data was analyzed on SPSS 15.0.

Results

Out of the 191 patients, 83(43%) were males and 108 (57%) were females with mean age of 42.3 years (SD±18.34). The average duration of symptoms was 3.75 days (SD±2.04). Of 191 patients, 175 (92.1%) presented with dehydration, 80 (42.3%) were given Ringer''s Lactate (R/L) + Normal Saline (N/S), 45 (24%) patients were given R/L + N/S + Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORS), 27 (14.3%) of the patients were kept on R/L only and remaining were given various combinations of R/L, N/S, ORS and Dextrose Saline (D/S). On admission mean Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) was 24.54 (SD±16.6), mean creatinine was 2.47 (SD±2.35) and mean BUN/Creatinine ratio was 11.63 (SD±5.7).

Conclusion

Aggressive fluid rehydration remains the cornerstone of management of cholera. Instead of presenting with a classical BUN/Creatinine ratio of >20∶1, patients with pre-renal failure in cholera may present with a BUN/Creatinine ratio of <15∶1.     

LC-MS/MS-based metabolic profiling of Escherichia coli under heterologous gene expression stress

Escherichia coli is frequently exploited for genetic manipulations and heterologous gene expression studies. We have evaluated the metabolic profile of E. coli strain BL21 (DE3) RIL CodonPlus after genetic modifications and subjecting to the production of recombinant protein. Three genetically variable E. coli cell types were studied, normal cells (susceptible to antibiotics) cultured in simple LB medium, cells harboring ampicillin-resistant plasmid pET21a (+), grown under antibiotic stress, and cells having recombinant plasmid pET21a (+) ligated with bacterial lactate dehydrogenase gene grown under ampicillin and standard isopropyl thiogalactoside (IPTG)-induced gene expression conditions. A total of 592 metabolites were identified through liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry analysis, feature and peak detection using XCMS and CAMERA followed by precursor identification by METLIN-based procedures. Overall, 107 metabolites were found differentially regulated among genetically modified cells. Quantitative analysis has shown a significant modulation in DHNA-CoA, p-aminobenzoic acid, and citrulline levels, indicating an alteration in vitamin K, folic acid biosynthesis, and urea cycle of E. coli cells during heterologous gene expression. Modulations in energy metabolites including NADH, AMP, ADP, ATP, carbohydrate, terpenoids, fatty acid metabolites, diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A), and l -carnitine advocate major metabolic rearrangements. Our study provides a broader insight into the metabolic adaptations of bacterial cells during gene manipulation experiments that can be prolonged to improve the yield of heterologous gene products and concomitant production of valuable biomolecules.     

Rutin as promising drug for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease: an assessment of MAO-B inhibitory potential by docking,molecular dynamics and DFT studies

ABSTRACT

Inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (MAO)-B have been used for many years in the therapy of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Owing to the safety concerns of the currently used agents, the discovery of novel scaffolds is of considerable interest. MAO-B inhibitory potential of rutin, a flavonoid derived from natural sources, has been established in experimental findings. Hence, the current study seeks to examine the interactions between rutin and crystal structure of human MAO-B enzyme. Molecular docking calculations, as well as molecular dynamics simulations, were employed to investigate the binding mode and the stability of the rutin/MAO-B complex. Energies of highest occupied/lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals were computed through DFT studies and used to calculate electron affinity, hardness, chemical potential, electronegativity, and electrophilicity index in order to investigate the capability of these parameters to influence the ligand–receptor interactions. It was found that rutin traverses both the entrance cavity and the substrate cavity, forcing the Ile-199 ‘gate’ to rotate into its open conformation. It results in the fusion of the two cavities of the MAO-B binding site and directly leads to better binding interactions. Results of the current study can be used for lead modification and development of novel drugs for the treatment of PD.     

Augmentation of Autoantibodies by Helicobacter pylori in Parkinson’s Disease Patients May Be Linked to Greater Severity

Parkinson''s disease (PD) is the second most common chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Its etiology remains elusive and at present only symptomatic treatments exists. Helicobacter pylori chronically colonizes the gastric mucosa of more than half of the global human population. Interestingly, H. pylori positivity has been found to be associated with greater of PD motor severity. In order to investigate the underlying cause of this association, the Sengenics Immunome protein array, which enables simultaneous screening for autoantibodies against 1636 human proteins, was used to screen the serum of 30 H. pylori-seropositive PD patients (case) and 30 age- and gender-matched H. pylori-seronegative PD patients (control) in this study. In total, 13 significant autoantibodies were identified and ranked, with 8 up-regulated and 5 down-regulated in the case group. Among autoantibodies found to be elevated in H. pylori-seropositive PD were included antibodies that recognize Nuclear factor I subtype A (NFIA), Platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGFB) and Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A3 (eIFA3). The presence of elevated autoantibodies against proteins essential for normal neurological functions suggest that immunomodulatory properties of H. pylori may explain the association between H. pylori positivity and greater PD motor severity.     

In vivo lung morphometry with hyperpolarized 3He diffusion MRI in canines with induced emphysema: disease progression and comparison with computed tomography.

Despite a long history of development, diagnostic tools for in vivo regional assessment of lungs in patients with pulmonary emphysema are not yet readily available. Recently, a new imaging technique, in vivo lung morphometry, was introduced by our group. This technique is based on MRI measurements of diffusion of hyperpolarized (3)He gas in lung air spaces and provides quantitative in vivo tomographic information on lung microstructure at the level of the acinar airways. Compared with standard diffusivity measurements that strongly depend on pulse sequence parameters (mainly diffusion time), our approach evaluates a "hard number," the average acinar airway radius. For healthy dogs, we find here a mean acinar airway radius of approximately 0.3 mm compared with 0.36 mm in healthy humans. The purpose of the present study is the application of this technique for quantification of emphysema progression in dogs with experimentally induced disease. The diffusivity measurements and resulting acinar airway geometrical characteristics were correlated with the local lung density and local lung-specific air volume calculated from quantitative computed tomography data obtained on the same dogs. The results establish an important association between the two modalities. The observed sensitivity of our method to emphysema progression suggests that this technique has potential for the diagnosis of emphysema and tracking of disease progression or improvement via a pharmaceutical intervention.