Heavy metal exposure to a migratory waterfowl, Northern Pintail (Anas acuta), in two peri-urban wetlands.

In this study, the heavy metal exposure risk model was employed to assess the exposure risk to a predominantly herbivore waterfowl, Northern Pintail, wintering in two wetland habitats in the Purulia district of West Bengal, located on overlapping Central Asian Flyway (CAF) and East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). Both wetlands were important staging and roosting grounds for migratory waterfowl for ages. The exposure model was used to quantify the risk of exposure to metals through oral ingestion.

TLR2 dimer-specific ligands selectively activate protein kinase C isoforms in Leishmania infection.

Of the thirteen Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in mice, TLR2 has a unique ability of forming heterodimers with TLR1 and TLR6. Such associations lead to selective cellular signalling and cellular responses such as cytokine expression. One of the signalling intermediates is protein kinase C (PKC); of which, eight isoforms are expressed in macrophages.

Role of thrombopoiesis in leishmaniasis.

The blood vascular system of mammals is unique in nature; inhabited with a pool of tiny small cell fragments called platelets; attributed with the most important patrolling tasks to check integrity of the entire endothelial landscape. Their production is tightly coupled with hematopoietic system where everything starts from self renewable multipotent hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) which eventually undergo dual step (megakaryopoiesis-thrombopoiesis) thrombocytes production. Several cytokines tune the fate of every progenitor cells during hematopoiesis through temporal activation of specific transcription factors.

Cytokines and metabolic regulation: A framework of bidirectional influences affecting Leishmania infection.

Leishmania, a protozoan parasite inflicting the complex of diseases called Leishmaniases, resides and replicates as amastigotes within mammalian macrophages. As macrophages are metabolically highly active and can generate free radicals that can destroy this parasite, Leishmania also devise strategies to modulate the host cell metabolism. However, the metabolic changes can also be influenced by the anti-leishmanial immune response mediated by cytokines.

Type-1 interferons prolong the lifespan of neutrophils by interfering with members of the apoptotic cascade.

Polymorphonuclear Neutrophils (PMNs) are metabolically highly active phagocytes, present in abundant numbers in the circulation. These active cells take the onus of clearing invading pathogens by crowding at inflammatory sites in huge numbers. Though PMNs are extremely short living and die upon spontaneous apoptosis, extended lifespan has been observed among those cells arrive at the inflammation sites or tackle intracellular infections or face any microbial challenges.

Pro-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) controls Leishmania infection.

Leishmania is an obligate intracellular parasite uses low pH phagolysosomal compartments of host macrophages as their final abode. IL-1β is a pro inflammatory cytokine, which is secreted by immune cells to trigger inflammation and this has been found profoundly in the lesions caused by Leishmania pathogens. But the specific role of this cytokine on host cell macrophages during infection has not been fully explored.