Circumscription of Fulbrightiella gen. nov. and Sherwoodiella gen. nov., Two Novel Genera in the Calotrichaceae (Nostocales,Cyanobacteria)

Three novel strains in Calotrichaceae from tropical habitats were isolated and characterized with regard to their morphology, phylogenetic placement, and secondary structures of conserved domains in the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS). The strains fell into two clades formerly identified as Calothrix from freshwater and brackish habitats. Based on both morphology and ecology, they differed from the type species of Calothrix, C. confervicola, which is marine, has wide trichomes with short cells, and narrows abruptly to a hyaline hair. The first clade grouped species with heteropolar filaments widened at the base and narrowed gradually toward the apex but not ending in a hair, with basal heterocytes that are formed in series as the apically placed heterocytes senesce; this clade is being named Fulbrightiella gen. nov., with two named species, F. bharadwajae sp. nov. and F. oahuensis sp. nov. The second clade was comprised of a single species with isopolar trichomes that are untapering as hormogonia, but which widen midfilament and taper toward both ends following growth. These trichomes develop pairs of heterocyte mid-filament, causing fragmentation into heteropolar trichomes with basal heterocytes and ends that taper, but not to a hair. This clade consists of a single species at present, Sherwoodiella mauiensis. With this action, four clades in the Calotrichaceae have been named: Macrochaete, Dulcicalothrix, Fulbrightiella, and Sherwoodiella. Calothrix sensu stricto is truly marine, morphologically distinct, and unsequenced; finding and sequencing the generitype for Calothrix remains as the most important and unfinished task in the revision of the Calotrichaceae.     

In vitro and in silico molecular interaction of multiphase nanoparticles containing inositol hexaphosphate and jacalin: Therapeutic potential against colon cancer cells (HCT-15)

Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) is a natural constituent found in almost all cereals and legumes. It is known to cause numerous antiangiogenic manifestations. Notwithstanding its great potential, it is underutilized due to the chelation and rapid excretion from the body. Jacalin is another natural constituent obtained from seeds of jackfruit and can target disaccharides overexpressed in tumor cells. The current study was in-quested to develop and evaluate a surface-modified gold nanoparticulate system containing IP6 and jacalin which may maximize the apoptotic effect of IP6 against HCT-15 cell lines. IP6 loaded jacalin-pectin-gold nanoparticles (IJP-GNPs) were developed through reduction followed by incubation method. The developed formulation was tested for various in vitro and in silico studies to investigate its potential. HCT-15 cells when exposed to IJP-GNP resulted in significant apoptotic effects in dose as well as time-dependent manner, as measured using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, micronucleus, and reactive oxygen species assay. IJP-GNP displayed cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. To further explore the mechanism of chemoprevention, in silico studies were performed. The docking results revealed that the interactive behavior of IP6, P-GNP, and jacalin could target and inhibit the tumor formation activity, supported by in vitro studies. Taken together, all the findings suggested that IP6 loaded nanoparticles may increase the hope of future drug delivery strategy for targeting colon cancer.     

Using multiple sequence correlation analysis to characterize functionally important protein regions

Protein co-evolution under structural and functional constraints necessitates the preservation of important interactions. Identifying functionally important regions poses many obstacles in protein engineering efforts. In this paper, we present a bioinformatics-inspired approach (residue correlation analysis, RCA) for predicting functionally important domains from protein family sequence data. RCA is comprised of two major steps: (i) identifying pairs of residue positions that mutate in a coordinated manner, and (ii) using these results to identify protein regions that interact with an uncommonly high number of other residues. We hypothesize that strongly correlated pairs result not only from contacting pairs, but also from residues that participate in conformational changes involved during catalysis or important interactions necessary for retaining functionality. The results show that highly mobile loops that assist in ligand association/dissociation tend to exhibit high correlation. RCA results exhibit good agreement with the findings of experimental and molecular dynamics studies for the three protein families that are analyzed: (i) DHFR (dihydrofolate reductase), (ii) cyclophilin, and (iii) formyl-transferase. Specifically, the specificity (percentage of correct predictions) in all three cases is substantially higher than those obtained by entropic measures or contacting residue pairs. In addition, we use our approach in a predictive fashion to identify important regions of a transmembrane amino acid transporter protein for which there is limited structural and functional information available.     

Mechanical properties of soft human tissues under dynamic loading

The dynamic response of soft human tissues in hydrostatic compression and simple shear is studied using the Kolsky bar technique. We have made modifications to the technique that allow loading of a soft tissue specimen in hydrostatic compression or simple shear. The dynamic response of human tissues (from stomach, heart, liver, and lung of cadavers) is obtained, and analyzed to provide measures of dynamic bulk modulus and shear response for each tissue type. The dynamic bulk response of these tissues is easily described by a linear fit for the bulk modulus in this pressure range, whereas the dynamic shearing response of these tissues is strongly non-linear, showing a near exponential growth of the shear stress.     

Effect of simvastatin on fracture healing--an experimental study

Left femur was osteotomized and fixed with K wire in 21 rabbits. One group was fed simvastatin (120 mg/kg body wt/day) orally, whereas another group without medication served as control. Both groups were assessed radiologically, morphologically, histologically and biomechanically at 4, 8 and 12 weeks. An analysis of various parameters of study showed that simvastatin treated group had improved bone healing at 4 and 8 weeks of follow up, however, the difference was not significant statistically at 12 weeks. So it is concluded that Simvastatin favourably hastened the process of fracture healing in the rabbits at earlier phases.