Publications by authors named "Abdul R Shakoori"

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a multistep process involving structural and functional alterations that are required for cancer metastasis, as well as loss of epithelial markers (e.g., E-cadherin/CDH1) and gain of mesenchymal markers (e.

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Employing microbial systems for the bioremediation of contaminated waters represent a potential option, however, limited understanding of the underlying mechanisms hampers the implication of microbial-mediated bioremediation. The omics tools offer a promising approach to explore the molecular basis of the bioremediation process. Here, a mass spectrometry-based quantitative proteome profiling approach was conducted to explore the differential protein levels in cadmium-treated Paramecium multimicronucleatum.

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Cancer is one of the biggest leading causes of death worldwide. With increased accumulation of environmental factors like radiation and mutagens, causative mutation in the gene pool is increasing day by day in the human population. Metastasis and its resistance to a wide variety of treatments are the reasons which make cancer difficult to treat.

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Neuroinflammation, the inflammatory process of the brain or peripheral nervous system, is mediated by various chemokines, cytokines, and other secondary messengers. Just like any other physiological process, transcription factors (TFs) lie at the core of neuroinflammatory process too due to their direct effects on the control of gene expression. Although targeted studies are being done on some of the already known TFs involved in neuroinflammation, still the gap exists in profiling the whole repertoire from transcriptomics data which was the main aim of this study.

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Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IRGM are reported to affect Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) degradation pathway. Here, we aim to screen promoter-region regulatory SNPs of IRGM in Pakistani population.

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Being the second major cause of death worldwide, lung cancer poses a significant threat to the health of patients. This worsened during the era of pandemic since lung cancer is found to be more prone to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Many recent studies imply a high frequency of COVID-19 infection associated severe outcome.

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The chromate resistant Gram-positive strain b-525k was isolated from tannery effluents, demonstrating optimal propagation at 37 °C and pH 8. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test showed that b-525k can tolerate up to 32 mM Cr, and also exhibit the ability to resist other toxic metal ions including Pb (23 mM), As (21 mM), Zn (17 mM), Cd (5 mM), Cu (2 mM), and Ni (3 mM) with the resistance order as Cr > Pb > As >Zn >Cd >Ni >Cu. b-525k showed maximum biosorption efficiency () of 51 mM Cr/g after 6 days.

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Glucose metabolism has significant impact on cancer cell survival and proliferation. Our previous studies have shown that level of glucose in the medium affects the cell attachment to and detachment from the substratum. Control of glucose metabolism in cancer cells has potential to serve as an anti-cancer therapy.

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Cell adhesion is the backbone of many events in the cancer cell life cycle, including proliferation, metastasis, migration, invasion and even cell survival. In a tumor, usually the cells in the core have high migratory potential though they constantly suffer from glucose starvation. Our study was aimed at understanding events such as attachment to the surfaces at one site and then mobility to the secondary sites during progression of cancer in the hormone sensitive breast cancer cells MCF7, following their exposure to different concentrations of glucose in the environment.

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Sphingomonas sp. Shah is a bacterium that was first isolated from mammalian cell cultures. According to ribotyping data it is very much homologous to the clinically important pathogen Sphingomonas paucimobilis, which has generated pseudo-outbreaks.

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Obesity is marked by the buildup of fat in adipose tissue that increases body weight and the risk of many associated health problems, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Treatment options for obesity are limited, and available medications have many side effects. Thus there is a great need to find alternative medicines for treating obesity.

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Despite the continued global spread of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the nonavailability of a vaccine or targeted drug against this disease is still prevailing. The most established mechanism of viral entry into the body is considered to be via angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) acting as a receptor for viral spike protein thereby facilitating its entry in the cell. However, ACE2 is also involved in providing the protection from severe pathological changes.

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Breast cancer (BC) is the foremost cause of cancer related deaths in women globally. Currently there is a scarcity of reliable biomarkers for its early stage diagnosis and theranostics monitoring. Altered DNA methylation patterns leading to the silencing of tumor suppressor genes are considered as an important mechanism underlying tumor development and progression in various cancer types, including BC.

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The ongoing episode of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has imposed a serious threat to global health and the world economy. The disease has rapidly acquired a pandemic status affecting almost all populated areas of the planet. The causative agent of COVID-19 is a novel coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2.

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Among ciliates, Paramecium has become a privileged model for the study of "species problem" particularly in the case of the "Paramecium aurelia complex" that has been intensely investigated. Despite extensive studies, the taxonomy of Paramecium is still challenging. The major problem is an uneven sampling of Paramecium with relatively few representatives of each species.

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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.

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In continuation of the investigation of osteogenic potential of solvent fractions of ethanolic extract of Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), an ancient medicinal plant, most notably known for its bone-healing properties, to isolate and identify antiosteoporotic compounds. In the current study, we report the effect of hexane fraction (CQ-H) and dichloromethane fraction (CQ-D) of CQ on the differentiation and mineralization of mouse preosteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 (subclone 4). Growth, viability, and proliferation assays revealed that low concentrations (0.

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Studying the metabolic pathways of cancer cells is considered as a key to control cancer malignancies and open windows for effective drug discovery against cancer. Of all the properties of a tumor, metastasis potential is a defining characteristic. Metastasis is controlled by a variety of factors that directly control the expression of cell adhesion proteins.

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Radioactive gold-198 is a useful diagnostic and therapeutic agent. Gold in the form of nanoparticles possesses even more exciting properties. This work aimed at arabinoxylan-mediated synthesis and biodistribution study of radioactive gold nanoparticles (AuNPs).

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Resistance to grain protectants in Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) is a serious threat to international grain trade. Frequent and overdose application of chemical insecticides is becoming a serious health hazard and cause environmental pollution. Resistance management approaches by using various synergists along with novel compounds has become more imperative to increase efficacy of environmentally safe insecticides.

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In a sequel to investigate osteogenic potential of ethanolic extract of Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), the present study reports the osteoblast differentiation and mineralization potential of ethyl acetate (CQ-EA) and butanol (CQ-B) extracts of CQ on mouse pre-osteoblast cell line MC3T3-E1 (sub-clone 4) with an objective to isolate an antiosteoporotic compound. Growth curve, proliferation, and viability assays showed that both the extracts were nontoxic to the cells even at high concentration (100 µg/ml). The cell proliferation was enhanced at low concentrations (0.

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Cry2Ac11, a 65 kDa insecticidal protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, shows toxicity against dipteran and lepidopteran larvae. It is encoded by cry2Ac11 gene ( orf3), which is part of an operon comprising orf1, orf2, and orf3. Orf2, a helper protein, helps in proper folding and prevents aberrant aggregation of newly produced molecules.

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Variations in mitochondrial genes have an established link with myoclonic epilepsy. In the present study we evaluated the nucleotide sequence of MT-TK gene of 52 individuals from 12 unrelated families and reported three variations in 2 of the 13 epileptic patients. The DNA sequences coding for MT-TK gene were sequenced and mutations were detected in all participants.

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Insecticidal proteins Cry1Ac and Cry2Ac7 from the bacterium (Bt) belong to the three-domain family of Bt toxins. Commercial transgenic soybean hybrids produce Cry1Ac to control the larvae of the soybean looper () and the velvet bean caterpillar (). The specificity of Cry1Ac is determined by loops extending from domain II and regions of domain III in the three-dimensional structure of the toxin.

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