Case Report: A Series of Three Meningoencephalitis Cases Caused by Acanthamoeba spp. from Eastern India

Acanthamoeba spp. are rare etiological agents of meningoencephalitis with high mortality. We present three cases of Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis in immunocompetent individuals from Eastern India. The first patient presented with fever and headache; the second with headache, visual disturbance, and squint; and the third presented in a drowsy state. The cases presented on March 3, 18, and 21, 2023 respectively. The first two patients had concomitant tubercular meningitis for which they received antitubercular therapy and steroid. Their cerebrospinal fluid showed slight lymphocytic pleocytosis and increased protein. The diagnosis was done by microscopy, culture, and polymerase chain reaction. They received a combination therapy comprising rifampicin, fluconazole, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. The first patient additionally received miltefosine. She responded well to therapy and survived, but the other two patients died despite intensive care. Detection of three cases within a period of 1 month from Eastern India is unusual. It is imperative to sensitize healthcare providers about Acanthamoeba meningoencephalitis to facilitate timely diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

A General Assessment of India's Extremely Low Number of Transgender Cancer Patients

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S)

Physiological transgender (TJ) is one of the most marginalized and oppressed community in the Indian subcontinent. The observable percentage of physiological transgender (TJ) cancer patients is extremely low. This concise report aims to assess the factors that contribute to the scarcity of transgender cancer patients.

MATERIALS/METHODS

The hospital database (2012-2021) of 2 centers in New Delhi (population 32 million) & 1 in Kolkata (15 million) were evaluated. In addition, 28 senior oncologists (ONC) and 17 trans women (TWs) completed a six-point questionnaire. ONC was asked how many TJ patients they had seen in their career, as well as histopathology/site. Furthermore, the data was extrapolated to account for all clinicians' cumulative years of experience. The questions for TWs were age and where they go if you have a disease or illness. And, do they know any TJ cancer patients?

RESULTS

India's last census (2011) revealed a half-million TJ population. TJ density must be at least 1 million to be comparable to the rest of the world. Hospital databases counted 10,486 patients, with no patient identified as TJ. A total of 37 TJ cancer patients were reported by 28 ONC with an average and collective years of their medical service of 23.1±4.1 and 646 years; distributed in 3 metropolis of 67 million (combined) population (Kolkata, New Delhi, and Mumbai). The average lifetime number of TJ cancer patients/oncologist was 1.3±1.1. Total 12 cases were head neck cancers, with 4 caused by human papillomavirus. The remaining 25 patients have 5 lung, 5 gynecological, 4 breast, 3 brain cancers, 2 soft tissue sarcomas, and 6 cases of unknown origin. The density of 5-year prevalent cancer cases in India is 0.2%, with an estimated 0.007% of TJ cancer patients. TW could not identify any cancer patients in their community.

CONCLUSION

Being transgender is a social taboo in this part of the world. Their legal rights and classification as the third gender are uncommon. TJs are denied access to standard education, mainstream occupations, and social respect. Although the exact number has never been determined, it is estimated that a large proportion (≈90%) of TJ people are forced to choose roadside begging and working as cheap sex workers. There is no clinical reason why TJs should have fewer cancer incidents, they should be more susceptible to cancer due to unhealthy living conditions, unprotected sex, lack of medical care, proper nutrition, and all other factors associated with their very low socioeconomic status. Nonetheless, it's difficult to find single TJ cancer patients in both public and private hospital OPD. They may be unable to access a traditional clinic due to social discrimination, financial constraints, or they may be unwilling to disclose their true sex. Even TJ's do not show up at free public clinics. The disclosure of true sex may be beneficial in obtaining better treatment, but the more prevalent reason is social unacceptability, which can be overcome through proper education and community economic growth.

Multiple protozoal infections in a single immunocompromised patient: A case report

Immunocompromised patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are prone to multiple infections, of which parasitic infections are an important cause. Parasitic protozoal infections - both by common and rare protozoa are documented in such patients. Here, we report a rare and interesting case of five protozoal infections affecting a single HIV-infected person at the same time of initial presentation. A 64-years-male came to us with complaints of chronic diarrhea for 6 months. He was investigated and found to be positive for HIV I. His stool examination revealed cysts of Entameba histolytica and Giardia lamblia and oocysts of Cryptosporidium species and Cystoisospora species. His toxoplasma IgG was also positive in high titer. The patient was medically diagnosed and was treated with medications as clinically prescribed - antiretroviral therapy was initiated and he was discharged in due course. A total of five protozoal infections were documented affecting a single person - newly diagnosed immunocompromised male, which by sheer qualitative count of patient case histories, indeed is a rare case reported in the medical literature.

Advancements in Gold-Catalyzed Cascade Reactions to Access Carbocycles and Heterocycles: An Overview

This review summarizes recent developments (from 2006 to 2022) in numerous important and efficient carbo- and heterocycle generations using gold-catalyzed cascade protocols. Herein, methodologies involve selectivity, cost-effectiveness, and ease of product formation being controlled by the ligand as well as the counter anion, catalyst, substrate, and reaction conditions. Gold-catalyzed cascade reactions covered different strategies through the compilation of various approaches such as cyclization, hydroarylation, intermolecular and intramolecular cascade reactions, etc. This entitled reaction is also useful for the synthesis of spiro, fused, bridged carbo- and heterocycles.

Rare presentations of ocular enterobiasis - Case reports

Enterobius vermicularis, also known as pinworm or threadworm, is a large intestinal nematode which has a high prevalence among children and peripubertal age in our country. Transmission usually occurs by autoinfection like finger contamination of the embryonated eggs deposited by the gravid female worm on the perianal and perineal region. Globally, only a few reports are there regarding the isolation of the parasite from extra-intestinal sites. These are two rare case reports of ocular enterobiasis. The first case was a middle-aged female and the second one was a 14-year-old girl, both of whom were referred from other tertiary care hospitals to Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and who presented with discharge of live motile worms from their eyes (conjunctiva). In both the cases, identification was done by saline wet mount and direct microscopy of a gravid female worm. Plano-convex embryonated eggs were also observed. The oval embryonated eggs, plano-convex in shape, and the gravid female, with its cervical alae near the anterior end and straight thin pointed tail, were identified under the microscope. Although E. vermicularis is a very common large intestinal parasitic infestation of children and adolescents, it can also rarely be isolated from unusual sites, which should be taken into account for effective diagnosis and treatment.

Early prognosis of respiratory virus shedding in humans

This paper addresses the development of predictive models for distinguishing pre-symptomatic infections from uninfected individuals. Our machine learning experiments are conducted on publicly available challenge studies that collected whole-blood transcriptomics data from individuals infected with HRV, RSV, H1N1, and H3N2. We address the problem of identifying discriminatory biomarkers between controls and eventual shedders in the first 32 h post-infection. Our exploratory analysis shows that the most discriminatory biomarkers exhibit a strong dependence on time over the course of the human response to infection. We visualize the feature sets to provide evidence of the rapid evolution of the gene expression profiles. To quantify this observation, we partition the data in the first 32 h into four equal time windows of 8 h each and identify all discriminatory biomarkers using sparsity-promoting classifiers and Iterated Feature Removal. We then perform a comparative machine learning classification analysis using linear support vector machines, artificial neural networks and Centroid-Encoder. We present a range of experiments on different groupings of the diseases to demonstrate the robustness of the resulting models.

Assessment of Prescribing Pattern and Safety Profile of Drugs Used in Intranasal Route in Paediatric Age Group of Patients in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background Recently there has been an increased preference for intranasal delivery of drugs due to highly vascular nasal mucosa, bypassing first pass metabolism and the blood brain barrier (BBB) lead in quick drug absorption to the systemic circulation and direct access to brain from olfactory region. For pediatric patients this route offers significant benefits over injections or oral routes, like increased compliance, easy administration, and minimal side effects. Objective Assessment of prescription pattern of drugs and safety profile of drugs used by intranasal route in paediatric age group. Method Our study was a prospective observational study paediatric age group of patients conducted in the departments of Pharmacology, Paediatrics and Otorhinolaryngology of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital, Burdwan. Data were collected in CRF and frequency distribution of collected data done. Microsoft Excel 2010 was used for analysis. Result Common age group was infants. Males were more in number. Most common indication was epistaxis. Intranasal drugs per prescription were 1.05. Most commonly prescribed intranasal drug was nasal saline. Nasal decongestant was the most common prescribed medication. Nasal drops were the most common dose formulation. Conclusion Intranasal drug prescribing in our study was mainly aimed for treating local problems, very few being for systemic action. Some prescribing indicators like prescribing by generic name and prescribing from national essential drug lists were acceptable with scope for improvement. Average number of drugs per prescription and antibiotic use was high. Adverse events after intranasal drug use were primarily local and nose related.

Alterations in sperm long RNA contribute to the epigenetic inheritance of the effects of postnatal trauma

Psychiatric diseases have a strong heritable component known to not be restricted to DNA sequence-based genetic inheritance alone but to also involve epigenetic factors in germ cells. Initial evidence suggested that sperm RNA is causally linked to the transmission of symptoms induced by traumatic experiences. Here, we show that alterations in long RNA in sperm contribute to the inheritance of specific trauma symptoms. Injection of long RNA fraction from sperm of males exposed to postnatal trauma recapitulates the effects on food intake, glucose response to insulin and risk-taking in adulthood whereas the small RNA fraction alters body weight and behavioural despair. Alterations in long RNA are maintained after fertilization, suggesting a direct link between sperm and embryo RNA.

Coexistent malaria and filaria among the febrile patients attending for malaria diagnosis: A clinic-based study

CONTEXT

Both malaria and lymphatic filariasis (LF) are mosquito-borne diseases caused by protozoal and nematode parasites, respectively, and are serious public health problem in India. Although the vectors of the diseases are different, they can coexist in favorable conditions. Fever is the common symptom for both the diseases, but the emphasis is given for diagnosis and treatment of malaria due to its life-threatening severity, LF remained neglected. Detection and management of microfilaria are equally important. During the diagnosis of malaria, a few microfilaria were detected, which prompted us to undertake this study with following objectives.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the study was to determine the incidence of microfilaremia among the febrile patients attending for malaria diagnosis.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Thick and thin peripheral blood smears from all patients attended were examined following Giemsa staining. Different malarial indexes were analyzed.

RESULTS

Out of 8681 patients examined, 1778 were positive for Plasmodium vivax and 328 for Plasmodium falciparum with a slide positivity rate 20.48%. Twenty-six patients were positive for microfilaria of Wuchereria bancroftii among which five were coinfected with P. vivax and one with P. falciparum. Most of the microfilaria-positive patients were adult and originally from northern districts of Bihar.

CONCLUSIONS

High incidence of microfilaria among febrile patients attending for malaria is alarming for urban Kolkata. Although the patients were originally from Bihar, they are staying in Kolkata for a long time, might be a source for transmission. Epidemiological study by collecting night blood samples and entomological survey is highly suggestive to explore local transmission if any.

Pediatric Otolaryngological Emergency: An Experience from a Tertiary Care Teaching Institution at Kolkata, India

Otolaryngological conditions constitute a major share of emergency medical problem among children. The present study was conducted to assess the patient profiles, incidences morbidities, mode of presentation and managements of different otolaryngological emergencies among pediatric patients presented in a tertiary care hospital. Descriptive cross-sectional study by analysing retrospectively collected information pertaining to the patients attended ENT emergency service department of a tertiary care hospital, Kolkata. Data were collected using predesigned proforma and were analysed with the help of SPSS version 20. About 39.0% of total ENT emergency attendance was contributed by pediatric age group. The male female ratio was 1:1.33 with average age of 58.95 ± 34.42 (mean ± SD) months. Half of the attendees had ear problem and almost one-third reported complaints related to nose. The major complaints at the time of presentation were earache (32.3%), nasal foreign body (24.0%) and aural foreign body (13.3%) closely followed by aero-digestive tract foreign body (12.0%). Inflammatory conditions affected the ears more, foreign bodies found most commonly in nose and miscellaneous condition such as impacted wax was found to be related to ear in significantly higher proportion. Conservative management was provided to 96.25% of patients. Foreign body insertion was found to be associated with lower age group. Most of the emergencies were managed conservatively which might be done at subdivision or district level to reduce the undesirable burden on the tertiary care medical colleges.

Lightweight Smart Autofocusing Eyeglasses

More than 100 million people in the United States of America alone suffer from age-related presbyopia caused by a loss of focal accommodation of the eye crystalline lens as the lens stiffens with age. The resulting accommodative error or lag produces blurred images of objects placed at different distances. Conventional fixed uniform or graded power eyeglasses cannot provide accommodation thus resulting in significant visual impairment. In this paper we will discuss the implementation of lightweight auto-focusing eyeglasses that augment the accommodative range thus partially or fully restoring normal vision function. The paper discusses some aspects of the construction of tunable power eyepieces and the implementation of accommodation correction algorithms.

Sensing textile seam-line for wearable multimodal physiological monitoring

This paper investigates a novel multimodal sensing method by forming seam-lines of conductive textile fibers into commercially available fabrics. The proposed ultra-low cost micro-electro-mechanical sensor would provide, wearable, flexible, textile based biopotential signal recording, wetness detection and tactile sensing simultaneously. Three types of fibers are evaluated for their array-based sensing capability, including a 3D printed conductive fiber, a multiwall carbon nanotube based fiber, and a commercially available stainless steel conductive thread. The sensors were shown to have a correlation between capacitance and pressure; impedance and wetness; and recorded potential and ECG waveforms.

Measurement of the Neutrino Mixing Angle θ_{23} in NOvA

This Letter reports new results on muon neutrino disappearance from NOvA, using a 14 kton detector equivalent exposure of 6.05×10^{20} protons on target from the NuMI beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The measurement probes the muon-tau symmetry hypothesis that requires maximal θ_{23} mixing (θ_{23}=π/4). Assuming the normal mass hierarchy, we find Δm_{32}^{2}=(2.67±0.11)×10^{-3}  eV^{2} and sin^{2}θ_{23} at the two statistically degenerate values 0.404_{-0.022}^{+0.030} and 0.624_{-0.030}^{+0.022}, both at the 68% confidence level. Our data disfavor the maximal mixing scenario with 2.6σ significance.

First Measurement of Electron Neutrino Appearance in NOvA

We report results from the first search for ν_{μ}→ν_{e} transitions by the NOvA experiment. In an exposure equivalent to 2.74×10^{20} protons on target in the upgraded NuMI beam at Fermilab, we observe 6 events in the Far Detector, compared to a background expectation of 0.99±0.11(syst) events based on the Near Detector measurement. A secondary analysis observes 11 events with a background of 1.07±0.14(syst). The 3.3σ excess of events observed in the primary analysis disfavors 0.1π<δ_{CP}<0.5π in the inverted mass hierarchy at the 90% C.L.

An automatic bleeding detection scheme in wireless capsule endoscopy based on histogram of an RGB-indexed image

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is one of the most effective technologies to diagnose gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, such as bleeding in GI tract. Because of long duration of WCE video containing large number images, it is a burden for clinician to detect diseases in real time. In this paper, an automatic bleeding image detection method is proposed utilizing construction of an index image incorporating certain level of information from each plane of RGB color space. Distinguishable color texture feature is developed from index image by histogram. Support vector machine (SVM) classifier is employed to detect bleeding and non-bleeding images from WCE videos. From extensive experimentation on real time WCE video recordings, it is found that the proposed method can accurately detect bleeding images with high sensitivity and specificity.

Synthesis and electronic properties of π-extended flavins

Flavin derivatives with an extended π-conjugation were synthesized in moderate to good yields from aryl bromides via a Buchwald-Hartwig palladium catalyzed amination protocol, followed by condensation of the corresponding aromatic amines with violuric acid. The electronic properties of the new compounds were investigated by absorption and emission spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The compounds absorb up to 550 nm and show strong luminescence. The photoluminescence quantum yields ϕPL measured in dichloromethane reach 80% and in PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)) 77%, respectively, at ambient temperature. The electrochemical redox behaviour of π-extended flavins follows the mechanism previously described for the parent flavin.

Joint analysis of BICEP2/keck array and Planck Data

We report the results of a joint analysis of data from BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck. BICEP2 and Keck Array have observed the same approximately 400  deg^{2} patch of sky centered on RA 0 h, Dec. -57.5°. The combined maps reach a depth of 57 nK deg in Stokes Q and U in a band centered at 150 GHz. Planck has observed the full sky in polarization at seven frequencies from 30 to 353 GHz, but much less deeply in any given region (1.2  μK deg in Q and U at 143 GHz). We detect 150×353 cross-correlation in B modes at high significance. We fit the single- and cross-frequency power spectra at frequencies ≥150  GHz to a lensed-ΛCDM model that includes dust and a possible contribution from inflationary gravitational waves (as parametrized by the tensor-to-scalar ratio r), using a prior on the frequency spectral behavior of polarized dust emission from previous Planck analysis of other regions of the sky. We find strong evidence for dust and no statistically significant evidence for tensor modes. We probe various model variations and extensions, including adding a synchrotron component in combination with lower frequency data, and find that these make little difference to the r constraint. Finally, we present an alternative analysis which is similar to a map-based cleaning of the dust contribution, and show that this gives similar constraints. The final result is expressed as a likelihood curve for r, and yields an upper limit r_{0.05}<0.12 at 95% confidence. Marginalizing over dust and r, lensing B modes are detected at 7.0σ significance.

Visible light C-H amidation of heteroarenes with benzoyl azides

Benzoyl azides were used for the direct and atom economic C-H amidation of electron rich heteroarenes in the presence of phosphoric acid, a photocatalyst and visible light. Hetero-aromatic amides are obtained in good yields at very mild reaction conditions with dinitrogen as the only by-product. The reaction allows the use of aryl-, heteroaryl- or alkenyl acyl azides and has a wide scope for heteroarenes, including pyrroles, indole, furan, benzofuran and thiophene giving good regio-selectivities and yields.

Visible light photocatalytic reduction of aldehydes by Rh(iii)-H: a detailed mechanistic study

The slow visible light mediated generation of a rhodium hydride allows the chemoselective reduction of aldehydes in the presence of ketones. Electron transfer from the chromophore to the metal complex proceeds via a radical anion intermediate or a solvated electron as two competing reaction pathways.

The chemoselective photoreduction of aldehydes in the presence of ketones was achieved using triethanolamine (TEOA) as sacrificial electron donor, proflavine (PF) as photocatalyst and [Cp*Rh(iii)(bpy)Cl]Cl (Rh_cat) as mediator. The reducing agent, which reacts with the carbonyl group was found to be [Cp*Rh(iii)(bpy)H]Cl (Rh(iii)–H). Contrary to formate-based reduction, its slow photochemical in situ generation enables to kinetically distinguish aldehydes from ketones. The inherent reactivity difference of the carbonyl compounds is transferred by the method into synthetically useful reaction selectivities. The substrate scope is broad with excellent yields. A detailed study of the reaction mechanism reveals that the photoreduction of the PF triplet and the subsequent reduction of the Rh_cat leading to Rh(iii)–H represents the major reaction pathway, which is highly oxygen sensitive. The oxidative quenching of the PF singlet state by Rh_cat is a competing mechanism, which prevails in non-degassed systems.

Tigecycline activity against metallo-β-lactamase-producing bacteria

Backgound:

Treatment of serious life-threatening multi-drug-resistant organisms poses a serious problem due to the limited therapeutic options. Tigecycline has been recently marketed as a broad-spectrum antibiotic with activity against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Even though many studies have demonstrated the activity of tigecycline against ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae, its activity is not well-defined against micro-organisms producing metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), as there are only a few reports and the number of isolates tested is limited.

Aims:

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the activity of tigecycline against MBL-producing bacterial isolates.

Materials and Methods:

The isolates were tested for MBL production by (i) combined-disk test, (ii) double disc synergy test (DDST), (iii) susceptibility to aztreonam (30 μg) disk. Minimum inhibitory concentration to tigecycline was determined according to agar dilution method as per Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Disc diffusion susceptibility testing was also performed for all these isolates using tigecycline (15 μg) discs.

Results:

Among the total 308 isolates included in the study, 99 were found to be MBL producers. MBL production was observed mostly in isolates from pus samples (40.47%) followed by urine (27.4%) and blood (13.09%). MBL production was observed in E. coli (41.48%), K. pneumoniae (26.67%), Proteus mirabilis (27.78%), Citrobacter spp. (41.67%), Enterobacter spp. (25.08%), and Acinetobacter spp. (27.27%). The result showed that tigecycline activity was unaffected by MBL production and it was showed almost 100% activity against all MBL-producing isolates, with most of the isolates exhibiting an MIC ranging from 0.25-8 μg/ml, except 2 MBL-producing E. coli isolates who had an MIC of 8 μg/ml.

Conclusion:

To conclude, tigecycline was found to be highly effective against MBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae and acinetobacter isolates, but the presence of resistance among organisms, even before the mass usage of the drug, warrants the need of its usage as a reserve drug. The study also found that the interpretative criteria for the disc diffusion method, recommended by the FDA, correlates well with the MIC detection methods. So, the microbiology laboratories might use the relatively easier method of disc diffusion, as compared to the comparatively tedious method of MIC determination.

Effects of potassium iodide on low avid immunological reactions: probable mechanism of action on selective fungal infections

Background:

Selective in-vivo anti-fungal action of potassium iodide (KI) is an enigma, but circumstantial evidences strongly indicate some immune mechanism.

Aim:

Study was to demonstrate in-vitro immune-modulating role of KI.

Materials and Methods:

In identical test conditions keeping appropriate control, different immunological tests were performed with and without 0.1% effective concentration of KI. i) Sera from Coombs positive mothers were treated with O, Rh-positive erythrocyte suspensions along with Coombs’ sera (CS)/Bovine albumin (BA)/KI. ii) Amboceptor and complement (C) mixtures were titrated for hemolysis with or without KI. iii) Suspension of Salmonella Typhi with positive sera from enteric cases and C + KI was incubated at 37°C for 30 minutes, then sub-cultured on MacConkey Agar. iv) Positive serum from chronic muco-cutaneous candidiasis patient was treated with suspension of candida isolate and C + KI at 37°C for 30 minutes then sub-cultured to note variations in colony counts. The data was analyzed by Fishers exact test using Graphpad Prism 5 version 5.00 (California USA)

Results:

i) KI like BA or CS showed hemagglutination. ii) C-mediated hemolysis was inhibited in presence of KI. iii) C-mediated lysis of S. typhi was partially enhanced by KI showing reduced number of colonies; iv) while lysis of candida was reduced.

Conclusions:

KI increases avidity of some immune reactions including C-mediated cell lysis. An increase or decrease of cell-lysis resulted by KI probably mediates by altered access of C-binding receptors. Thus, hypothetically, a non-protective Splendore Hoeppli-like deposit around fungus may turn into protective immune mechanism by influence of KI.

Necrotizing fasciitis caused by Aeromonas caviae

Aeromonads are rarely associated with human intestinal and extra-intestinal diseases and syndromes, ranging from relatively mild illnesses such as acute gastroenteritis to life-threatening conditions, including septicemia, necrotizing fasciitis, and myonecrosis. Among the aeromonas species known to cause human infection, Aeromonas caviae has been associated with septicemia and only one reported case of human soft tissue infection. Most of the infections due to aeromonas occur in immunocompromised patients. Herein we describe a successfully treated case of post-traumatic skin and soft-tissue infections due to A. caviae in an otherwise immunocompetent individual.

Effect of Some Non Functional Surfactants and Electrolytes on the Hexavalent Chromium Reduction by Glycerol: A Mechanistic Study

Hexavalent chromium is a widespread environmental contaminant and a known human carcinogen. Kinetics of reduction of hexavalent chromium by bio-molecule glycerol in micellar media have been studied spectrophotometrically. The cytoplasmic reduction of hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium occurs in micro-heterogeneous systems. In vitro, the micelles are considered to mimic the cellular membranes. The electron transfer processes occurring in the micellar systems is considered as model to obtain insight into the electron transport process prevailing in biological systems. Micellar media is also a probe to establish the mechanistic paths of reduction of hexavalent chromium to trivalent chromium. Effects of electrolytes common to biological system are studied to establish the proposed reaction mechanism strongly.

A Bioinformatics Approach for Homology Modeling and Binding Site Identification of Triosephosphate Isomerase from Plasmodium falciparum 3D7

Malaria is a major public health concern, and malarial parasites have developed resistance against the commonly available drugs. So now a days it is a major concern to find out a new target for drug therapy. Plasmodium falciparum 3D7, one of the strains of plasmodium species also lacks in a functional tricarboxylic acid cycle and solely dependent on glycolysis for its energy supply like other plasmodium species. Although enzymes of malarial parasite have been considered as potential antimalarial drug targets, a little is known about their structural biology. The tertiary structure of triose phosphate isomerase of P. falciparum 3D7 was determined by means of homology modeling through multiple alignment followed by intensive optimization and validation. The modeling was done by Swiss-Model Workspace. The obtained model was verified with the structure validation programs such as, PROCHECK, Verify3D, and QMEAN for reliability. The verify3D value of 0.69 indicates that the environment profile of the model is good. A self-optimized prediction method with alignment or SOPMA is employed for calculation of the secondary structural features of triose phosphate isomerase. The secondary structure indicates that the predicted 3D structure of triosephosphate isomerase of P. falciparum 3D7 contains 48.37% α-helix, 29.27% random coil, and 16.67% extended strand. Active site determination through CASTp suggests that this protein can be utilized as a potential drug target. However, these will further be tested by wet lab studies for a targeted vaccine design against P. falciparum 3D7.

A droplet-based novel approach for viable and low volume consumption surface plasmon resonance bio-sensing inside a polydimethylsiloxane microchip

Over the course of last two decades, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) has emerged as a viable candidate for label-free detection and characterization for a large pool of biological interactions, ranging from hybridization of oligonucleotides to high throughput drug-screening. Conventional SPR bio-sensing involves a step-response method where the SPR sensorgram in response to a switched sequential flow of analyte and buffer is plotted in real-time and fitted to an exponential curve to extract the associative and dissociative reaction rates. Such measurement schemes involve continuous flow conditions where a substantial reagent volume is consumed and is subject to dispersive mixing at flow switching zones. In this paper, we demonstrate a new plug-train SPR technique in a microfluidic chip that separates and singulates solvent plugs in analyte and buffer by an immiscible air phase. Bio-samples are first discretized within plug droplets with volumes in order of few hundred nanoliters or less followed by pressure-driven transport onto SPR sensing sites of this hydrophobically modified SPR microdevise. The kinetic constants ka and kd for a model protein-small molecule interaction pair are extracted from a plug-train signal and are shown to be in reasonable agreement with our previous reports.

The levels of zinc and molybdenum in hair and food grain in areas of high and low incidence of esophageal cancer: a comparative study

The outcome of different studies on the role of Zn & Mo in esophageal cancer (EC) is conflicting. Here, the levels of those elements in hair as well as food grain of two different ethnic populations across two continents have been studied to explore their role in EC. Two different ethnic populations are taken from (i) Eastern Cape, South Africa (RSA), an area of very high incidence of EC and (ii) West Bengal, India, an area of low incidence of that disease. Each ethnic population is divided into two groups: case and control (n=30 for all groups). Hair samples from all groups and food grains from RSA and India are analyzed for Zn & Mo content. This study shows a strong correlation between reduced levels of those elements in hair and the development of EC in RSA (both Zn & Mo: p<0.0001), though it is only suggestive in Indian context (both Zn & Mo: p≥0.05). Interestingly, control group of RSA shows significantly reduced level of those elements in hair even with respect to Indian case group (Zn: p<0.001 & Mo: p<0.00001). Food grain from RSA has significantly reduced level of those elements with respect to India (both Zn & Mo: p<0.0001). This deficiency of Zn & Mo in food grains can be correlated to the deficiency of those elements in hair of RSA population. The deficiency of Zn & Mo can be correlated to the development of EC.

A Rare Case of Pancreatic Abscess due to Candida Tropicalis

Candida albicans is found frequently as a commensal organism in the gastrointestinal tract. Despite this, it is rarely found in pancreatic abscesses, there being only a few cases in the literature and in most of these cases the significance of Candida spp. as a pathogen was not initially recognized at the time of diagnosis. In most of the earlier reported pancreatitis associated with candida, C. albicans was the commonest isolate. We report the case of a patient in whom computed tomography was used initially to diagnose a pancreatic abscess, aspiration of which showed growth of Candida tropicalis and Escherichia coli on culture. The patient was started on amphotericin B and imipenem, but the condition of the patient deteriorated, for which the patient underwent surgical necrosectomy and continued treatment with imipenem and amphotericin B led to the satisfactory recovery of the patient.

Preparation and Evaluation of Silymarin β-cyclodextrin Molecular Inclusion Complexes

Silymarin is a hepatoprotective agent, having poor water solubility and oral absorption of about 23 – 47%, leading to low bioavailability of the drug. The aim of the present study is to improve the solubility and dissolution rate and in turn the hepatoprotective activity of the drug, by formulating its inclusion complex with beta (β)-cyclodextrin, using different methods. The phase solubility analysis indicates the formation of 1:1 molar inclusion complex of the drug with beta cyclodextrin. Apparent stability constant for Silymarin (K_c) was 722 K^-1 with β-cyclodextrin complex. The inclusion complexes were prepared by four different methods, namely, physical mixing, kneading, co-precipitation, and solvent evaporation. The prepared complexes were characterized using differential scanning colorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffractometry. The inclusion complex prepared by the co-precipitation methods exhibits an overall best result, with respect to the formulation of sustained release formulations.

Review article: methods of measuring gastric acid secretion

BACKGROUND

Gastric acid has an important pathophysiological role in human beings. Numerous methods have been evaluated over the years in an attempt to measure gastric acid and stomach acidity, to study the role of gastric acid in gastrointestinal diseases in humans and to evaluate the effects of acid suppressing drugs.

AIM

To review methods that have been used to measure gastric acid and gastric acidity.

METHODS

Searches of the electronic databases PUBMED, MEDLINE and EMBASE, were performed with articles restricted to English language and human subjects. References were also identified from the bibliographies of selected articles.

RESULTS

Methods for measuring gastric acid include both invasive and non-invasive techniques. Invasive tests include the conventional gastric acid aspiration tests, gastric pH measurement techniques and endoscopic methods. Non-invasive methods use urinary analysis, breath analysis, serum pepsinogens assay, scintigraphic techniques, impedence tomography and alkaline tide for measurement of gastric acid.

CONCLUSIONS

Several methods of measuring gastric acid exist. Invasive tube tests are uncomfortable and time consuming, whereas most of the non-invasive methods are at best semiquantitative and useful in detecting low or absent acid secretion. Further attempts to explore new methods for measuring gastric acid are therefore warranted.

Aspergillus hypersensitivity and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis among asthma patients in eastern India

To find out the clinicoradiomycopathological profile of allergic bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA) and incidences of aspergillus hypersensitivity (AH) among asthma patients, 215 consecutive extrinsic asthma patients were screened with aspergillus intradermal test and those found positive for AH were investigated further for ABPA. Out of 215 asthma patients (124 males and 91 females), 54 were hypersensitive to AH and 15 of them fulfilled criteria for ABPA. On repeated culture of sputum and/or broncho-alveolar lavage fluid, A flavuswas the most common isolate (40%), followed by A fumigatus (26.67%). No species was isolated in 4 cases (26.6%). AH/ABPA is not very uncommon in this part of the country. Diseases similar to ABPA caused by other fungus might be diagnosed if allergen tests for other fungal antigens are made widely available. A strong clinical suspicion and proper laboratory backup is essential for diagnosing ABPA and related diseases.

Probing protein binding spectra with Fourier microfluidics

New developments in microfluidic chip technology enable the construction of chemical spectrum analyzers that can probe the binding interactions between chemical entities. In this paper we report the implementation of a microfluidic chip suitable for Fourier transform measurements of biochemical interactions. The chip consists of a chemical signal generator, a flow cell and a binding sensor surface. The microfluidic signal generator produces a periodic stream of protein plugs in solution flowing at constant velocity through the cell. This flow produces periodic association and dissociation cycles of the protein to a functionalized gold sensing surface placed inside the cell. The sensor activity corresponding to the phasor response of the chemical interaction at the excitation frequency is measured optically using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) imaging. We demonstrated the feasibility of the technique using a model system of carbonic anhydrase-II (CA-II) and immobilized 4-(2-Aminoethyl) benzenesulfonamide (ABS) ligand. The observed transfer function showed a dominant pole at 10.2 mHz corresponding to association and dissociation constants of 4.8 × 10(3) M(-1)·s(-1), and 3.5 × 10(-2) s(-1) respectively.

Enhanced photoluminescence and photoconductivity of ZnO nanowires with sputtered Zn

We have sputtered Zn onto quasi-one-dimensional ZnO nanowires (NWs) in order to investigate the effect of Zn diffusion on the photoluminescence and photoconduction properties of ZnO NWs. Elemental mapping clearly indicates higher Zn concentration in the NWs due to diffusion of Zn. The Zn-sputtered NWs show an enhanced ultraviolet emission with 7 nm red shift. Since the ionization energy of Zni is 51 meV, the enhanced PL emission with a red shift is correlated to the coupling between free exciton and zinc interstitials (Zni) defects. The photocurrent transients show almost 20 times more photocurrent generation in Zn/ZnO NWs compared to the as-grown NWs. In contrast, the thin film shows no significant change in the photoluminescence and photoconductivity. Based on the photoconductivity and photoluminescence results, we predict that Zn diffusion in the NWs occurs easily compared to the films because of the smaller dimensions of the NWs.

Highly efficient ultraviolet photodetection in nanocolumnar RF sputtered ZnO films: a comparison between sputtered, sol-gel and aqueous chemically grown nanostructures

Highly efficient ultraviolet (UV) photodetection has been realized in nanocolumnar radio frequency (RF) sputtered ZnO thin films as compared to sol-gel nanocrystalline films and aqueous chemically grown nanowire (NW) arrays. The photo-to-dark current ratio in the columnar films reaches a value as high as 10(6) which is at least 2-4 orders of magnitude higher than that of the sol-gel films and NWs. Such a high value is attributed to a dense compact columnar morphology of the sputtered films with higher surface-related trap states. Within 2 s of UV illumination, five orders of change in the photocurrent have occurred in the sputtered film in contrast to three orders of change in the NWs. The photocurrent decay under steady UV illumination in the sputtered films is only 23%, compared to 50% in the NWs. However, the fall in current under the UV 'off' condition in the sputtered film takes a longer time than in the NWs. These changes are correlated to the deep defect levels of the nanocolumnar films.