Utilization of unsaponifiable matter from rice bran oil fatty acid distillate for preparing an antioxidant-rich oleogel and evaluation of its properties

Rice bran oil fatty acid distillate (RBOFAD) is an important by-product obtained from the physical refining process. This fatty acid distillate contains high a amount of Unsaponifiable Matter (γ-oryzanol 3.27 gm/100gm UM; total tocopherol 10.93 mg/100 g UM; total phytosterol 21.81 g/100g UM; squalene 1.15 g/100 g UM and total fatty alcohol 73.34 g/100 g UM) and free fatty acids. Antioxidant-rich Oleogels were obtained from rice bran wax (RBW), rice bran oil fatty acid distillate (RBOFAD) and refined rice bran oil. The main objective of this study was to utilize the antioxidant-rich unsaponifiable matter of RBOFAD (UMRBOFAD) as an organogelator along with rice bran wax, which also acts as a good organogelator. Antioxidant-rich oleogel was prepared using UMRBFAD, ethylcellulose (EC) and RBW at 2%, 2%, 3% on weight basis, respectively, in refined rice bran oil and this antioxidant-rich oleogel was compared with rice bran oil oleogel using RBW at 7% on weight basis of rice bran oil. These oleogels were evaluated using a combination of techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized light microscopy (PLM), Viscosity, synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) and FTIR Spectroscopy. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measured the thermal properties of rice bran oil oleogel and high antioxidant-rich oleogel. Polarized light microscopy images revealed needle-like crystals for RBW. SR-XRD measurements were used for clarification of the crystal structures of the building blocks of these oleogels. The antioxidant activities of oleogels were evaluated involving DPPH and ABTS assays.

Bluetongue virus vaccine: conventional to modern approach

Bluetongue (BT) is an economically important, infectious and non-contagious disease of ruminant animals. BT disease is caused by bluetongue virus (BTV) of the genus Orbivirus (the family Reoviridae). BTV is transmitted by certain species of biting midges of the genus Culicoides. Although originally BT was restricted to African continent, now it is present in all the continents except Antarctica. Conventional BT vaccines such as live attenuated and inactivated vaccines showed different degree of success in BT control. However, conventional vaccines have certain disadvantages of reversion to virulent strain and frequent booster dose requirement. Several BT outbreaks in India and the rest of the world open a new insight for development of better vaccines. The development in molecular biology techniques allowed the development and validation of several modern vaccines such as subunit vaccine, recombinant vector vaccine, disabled infections single cycle (DISC) vaccine, differentiating infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) approach etc. Most of these vaccines are considered as safer, having better protective immune response and provided cross-protective immunization against more than one serotype. Keywords: bluetongue virus; live vaccine; inactivated vaccine; DISC; recombinant vaccine.

A Novel Selective Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Activator, MGV354, Lowers Intraocular Pressure in Preclinical Models, Following Topical Ocular Dosing

Purpose

The nitric oxide/soluble guanylate cyclase/protein kinase G (NO/sGC/PKG) is known to be involved in the regulation of intraocular pressure (IOP) and may be dysregulated in glaucoma. The purpose is to demonstrate that the sGC activator MGV354 lowers IOP in a monkey model of glaucoma and could be considered as a possible new clinical drug candidate.

Methods

Changes to cGMP were assessed in primary human trabecular meshwork (hNTM) cells and binding studies were conducted using human sGC full-length protein. Ocular safety tolerability, exposure, and efficacy studies were conducted in rabbit and monkey models following topical ocular dosing of MGV354.

Results

sGC was highly expressed in the human and cynomolgus monkey outflow pathways. MGV354 had a 7-fold greater Bmax to oxidized sGC compared to that of reduced sGC and generated an 8- to 10-fold greater cGMP compared to that of a reduced condition in hTM cells. A single topical ocular dose with MGV354 caused a significant dose-dependent reduction of 20% to 40% (versus vehicle), lasting up to 6 hours in pigmented rabbits and 24 hours postdose in a cynomolgus monkey model of glaucoma. The MGV354-induced IOP lowering was sustained up to 7 days following once-daily dosing in a monkey model of glaucoma and was greater in magnitude compared to Travatan (travoprost)-induced IOP reduction. Mild to moderate ocular hyperemia was the main adverse effect noted.

Conclusions

MGV354 represents a novel class of sGC activators that can lower IOP in preclinical models of glaucoma. The potential for sGC activators to be used as effective IOP-lowering drugs in glaucoma patients could be further determined in clinical studies.

Effect of metformin and flutamide on insulin, lipogenic and androgen-estrogen signaling, and cardiometabolic risk in a PCOS-prone metabolic syndrome rodent model

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is highly associated with cardiometabolic risk and the metabolic syndrome (MetS), predisposing women to increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Metformin is commonly used to treat insulin resistance-glucose intolerance, and flutamide, an androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, is used to target hyperandrogenemia and dyslipidemia. Currently, the physiological mechanism of action of these treatments on androgen, lipidogenic, and insulin signaling pathways remains unclear in PCOS. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects and mechanisms of action of metformin and flutamide on plasma lipid-apolipoprotein (Apo)B-lipoprotein and insulin-glucose metabolism, and endocrine-reproductive indices in a PCOS-prone MetS rodent model. PCOS-prone rodents were treated with metformin (300 mg/kg body wt), flutamide (30 mg/kg body wt), or metformin + flutamide combination treatment for 6 wk. Metformin was shown to improve fasting insulin and HOMA-IR, whereas flutamide and combination treatment were shown to reduce plasma triglycerides, ApoB48, and ApoB100, and this was associated with decreased intestinal secretion of ApoB48/triglyceride. Flutamide and metformin were shown to reduce plasma androgen indices and to improve ovarian primary and preovulatory follicle frequency. Metformin treatment increased hepatic estrogen receptor (ER)α, and metformin-flutamide decreased intestinal AR and increased ERα mRNA expression. Metformin-flutamide treatment upregulated hepatic and intestinal insulin signaling, including insulin receptor, MAPK1, and AKT2. In conclusion, cardiometabolic risk factors, in particular ApoB-hypertriglyceridemia, are independently modulated via the AR, and understanding the contribution of AR and insulin-signaling pathways further may facilitate the development of targeted interventions in high-risk women with PCOS and MetS.

A Blockwise Consistency Method for Parameter Estimation of Complex Models

The drastic improvement in data collection and acquisition technologies has enabled scientists to collect a great amount of data. With the growing dataset size, typically comes a growing complexity of data structures and of complex models to account for the data structures. How to estimate the parameters of complex models has put a great challenge on current statistical methods. This paper proposes a blockwise consistency approach as a potential solution to the problem, which works by iteratively finding consistent estimates for each block of parameters conditional on the current estimates of the parameters in other blocks. The blockwise consistency approach decomposes the high-dimensional parameter estimation problem into a series of lower-dimensional parameter estimation problems, which often have much simpler structures than the original problem and thus can be easily solved. Moreover, under the framework provided by the blockwise consistency approach, a variety of methods, such as Bayesian and frequentist methods, can be jointly used to achieve a consistent estimator for the original high-dimensional complex model. The blockwise consistency approach is illustrated using two high-dimensional problems, variable selection and multivariate regression. The results of both problems show that the blockwise consistency approach can provide drastic improvements over the existing methods. Extension of the blockwise consistency approach to many other complex models is straightforward.