Why do Adolescents Initiate and Continue Using Tobacco and Areca Nut?: A Qualitative Study Tracing Pathways of Use Among School-Going Adolescents in Mumbai, India.

Background: Tobacco and areca-nut use among adolescents has been reported from different parts of India. Multiple factors influence initiation of tobacco use among adolescents. Initiation of one product gradually extends to multiple products.

Tobacco Use and Subsequent Cessation Among Hospitalized Patients in Mumbai, India: A Longitudinal Study.

Introduction: Hospitalization is an important setting to address tobacco use. Little is known about post-discharge cessation and treatment use in low- and middle-income countries. Our objective was to assess tobacco use after hospital discharge among patients in Mumbai, India.

Health for all in an unequal world: Obligations of global bioethics.

The theme of the joint 14th World Congress of Bioethics and 7th National Bioethics Conference Congress "Health for all in an unequal world: Obligations of global bioethics" is of critical relevance in the present global context. Although the world is better off in terms of improved health status of people by many measures than before, there exist colossal gaps across and within populations. Much needs to be done to respond to the lack of access to healthcare, poor quality of living and working conditions, and deteriorating quality of overall environment which affects more adversely the already deprived.

Integration of tobacco cessation and tuberculosis management by NGOs in urban India: a mixed-methods study.

Tobacco use compromises tuberculosis (TB) treatment outcomes. Tobacco cessation is beneficial to TB patients at the individual level and from the perspective of a larger spectrum of non-communicable diseases associated with tobacco use. We assessed feasibility, effectiveness and provider perceptions on integrating brief tobacco cessation advice into routine TB care by DOTS providers from 27 TB treatment centres run by three non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in urban India.

The Supreme Court of India on euthanasia: Too little, too late.

On Friday, March 9, 2018 the five-judge Constitution Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court of India (SCI) chaired by Dipak Misra, the Chief Justice of India, pronounced its judgment (1) (henceforth CC judgment) granting, for the first time in India, legal recognition to "advanced medical directives" or "living wills", ie, a person's decision communicated in advance on withdrawal of life-saving treatment under certain conditions, which should be respected by the treating doctor/s and the hospital. It also reiterates the legal recognition of the right to "passive euthanasia"; and draws upon Article 21 - the right to life - of the Constitution of India (henceforth Constitution) (2) interpreting robustly that the "right to life" includes the "right to die with dignity". Justices Misra and Khanwilkar disposed of the writ petition filed in 2005 by Common Cause (3) (henceforth CC petition) saying, "The directive and guidelines shall remain in force till the Parliament brings a legislation in the field" (1:p 192).

Chemotherapy can induce weight normalization of morbidly obese mice despite undiminished ingestion of high fat diet.

Morbidly obese patients who accomplish substantial weight loss often display a long-term decline in their resting metabolism, causing even relatively restrained caloric intake to trigger a relapse to the obese state. Paradoxically, we observed that morbidly obese mice receiving chemotherapy for cancer experienced spontaneous weight reduction despite unabated ingestion of their high fat diet (HFD). This response to chemotherapy could also be achieved in morbidly obese mice without cancer.

Uncoupling protein 2 regulates metabolic reprogramming and fate of antigen-stimulated CD8+ T cells.

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) employing ex vivo-generated tumor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells shows tumor efficacy when the transferred cells possess both effector and memory functions. New strategies based on understanding of mechanisms that balance CD8+ T cell differentiation toward effector and memory responses are highly desirable. Emerging information confirms a central role for antigen-induced metabolic reprogramming in CD8+ T cell differentiation and clonal expansion.

CHK1 and WEE1 inhibition combine synergistically to enhance therapeutic efficacy in acute myeloid leukemia ex vivo.

Novel combinations targeting new molecular vulnerabilities are needed to improve the outcome of patients with acute myeloid leukemia. We recently identified WEE1 kinase as a novel target in leukemias. To identify genes that are synthetically lethal with WEE1 inhibition, we performed a short interfering RNA screen directed against cell cycle and DNA repair genes during concurrent treatment with the WEE1 inhibitor MK1775.

Manganese superoxide dismutase regulates a metabolic switch during the mammalian cell cycle.

Proliferating cells consume more glucose to cope with the bioenergetics and biosynthetic demands of rapidly dividing cells as well as to counter a shift in cellular redox environment. This study investigates the hypothesis that manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) regulates cellular redox flux and glucose consumption during the cell cycle. A direct correlation was observed between glucose consumption and percentage of S-phase cells in MnSOD wild-type fibroblasts, which was absent in MnSOD homozygous knockout fibroblasts.

RNAi screening of the kinome with cytarabine in leukemias.

To identify rational therapeutic combinations with cytarabine (Ara-C), we developed a high-throughput, small-interference RNA (siRNA) platform for myeloid leukemia cells. Of 572 kinases individually silenced in combination with Ara-C, silencing of 10 (1.7%) and 8 (1.

Preferential selection of MnSOD transcripts in proliferating normal and cancer cells.

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) is a nuclear encoded and mitochondrial matrix-localized redox enzyme that is known to regulate the cellular redox environment. Cellular redox environment changes during transitions between quiescent and proliferative cycles. Human MnSOD has two poly(A) sites resulting in two transcripts: 1.

Polychlorinated biphenyl induced ROS signaling delays the entry of quiescent human breast epithelial cells into the proliferative cycle.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are environmental chemical contaminants that can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) by autoxidation of dihydroxy-PCBs and redox-cycling. We investigate the hypothesis that PCB induced perturbations in ROS signaling regulate the entry of quiescent cells into the proliferative cycle. Quiescent MCF-10A human breast epithelial cells were incubated with 0-3 micromolar of 2-(4-chlorophenyl)benzo-1,4-quinone (4-Cl-BQ), 2, 2', 4, 4', 5, 5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB 153), and Aroclor 1254 for 4 days.

2-(4-Chlorophenyl)benzo-1,4-quinone induced ROS-signaling inhibits proliferation in human non-malignant prostate epithelial cells.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and their metabolites are environmental chemical contaminants which can produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) by auto-oxidation of di-hydroxy PCBs as well as the reduction of quinones and redox-cycling. We investigate the hypothesis that 2-(4-chlorophenyl)benzo-1,4-quinone (4-Cl-BQ), a metabolite of 4-chlorobiphenyl (PCB3), induced ROS-signaling inhibits cellular proliferation. Monolayer cultures of exponentially growing asynchronous human non-malignant prostate epithelial cells (RWPE-1) were incubated with 0-6 μM of 4-Cl-BQ and harvested at the end of 72 h of incubation to assess antioxidant enzyme expression, cellular ROS levels, cell growth, and cell cycle phase distributions.

Mitochondrial ROS and radiation induced transformation in mouse embryonic fibroblasts.

Manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD2) is a nuclear encoded and mitochondria localized antioxidant enzyme that converts mitochondria derived superoxide to hydrogen peroxide. This study investigates the hypothesis that mitochondria derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) regulate ionizing radiation (IR) induced transformation in normal cells. Mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) with wild type SOD2 (+/+), heterozygous SOD2 (+/-), and homozygous SOD2 (-/-) genotypes were irradiated with equitoxic doses of IR, and assayed for transformation frequency, cellular redox environment, DNA damage, and cell cycle checkpoint activation.

Redox control of the cell cycle in health and disease.

The cellular oxidation and reduction (redox) environment is influenced by the production and removal of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In recent years, several reports support the hypothesis that cellular ROS levels could function as ''second messengers'' regulating numerous cellular processes, including proliferation. Periodic oscillations in the cellular redox environment, a redox cycle, regulate cell-cycle progression from quiescence (G(0)) to proliferation (G(1), S, G(2), and M) and back to quiescence.

Role of reduced glutathione and nitric oxide in the black tea extract-mediated protection against ulcerogen-induced changes in motility and gastric emptying in rats.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the underlying mechanism of the role of hot water extract of black tea [Camellia sinensis (L). O. Kuntze Theaceae] in normalizing the changes in intestinal transit and gastric emptying induced by various ulcerogenic agents in experimental rats.

Prokinetic effect of black tea on gastrointestinal motility.

The gastrokinetic effects of hot water extract of black tea [Camellia sinensis, (L) O. Kuntze (Theaceae)] on gastrointestinal motility were studied both in vivo and in vitro. The extract significantly accelerated the gastrointestinal transit (GIT) in vivo in mice.

Role of nitric oxide in gastrokinetic effects of the new benzoxepine derivative exepanol hydrochloride.

The gastrokinetic effects of exepanol hydrochloride (rac. 3,5-cis-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-3-methyl-amino-1-benzoxepine-5-ol hydrochloride, CAS 77416-65-0, KC 2450) on gastrointestinal motility were studied both in vivo and in vitro. Exepanol-HCl accelerated the gastrointestinal (GI) transit in vivo in mice.

Study of serum zinc in neonates and their mothers in Shimla hills (Himachal Pradesh).

Serum zinc level in cord blood of 159 neonates was estimated by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The cases were classified according to birth weight and gestation of babies as Term appropriate for date (TAFD), Term small for date (TSFD), Term large for date (TLFD), Preterm appropriate for date (PAFD), Preterm small for date (PSFD) and Preterm large for date (PLFD). The zinc level were also estimated in mothers of these groups at the time of delivery, and compared with cord blood levels of those in non-pregnant mothers.

Involvement of gamma-aminobutyric acid in the stimulatory effect of metoclopramide on gastrointestinal motility.

The involvement of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the mechanism of action of metoclopramide (MCP) on gastrointestinal (GI) tract was investigated employing guinea-pig myenteric plexus longitudinal muscle preparations. MCP induced a concentration dependent enhancement of electrically induced twitch responses of the myenteric plexus and this effect was further intensified by arecaidine and L-2, 4-diaminobutyric acid (L-DABA; GABA uptake inhibitors) and ethylenediamine (EDA; GABA releasing agent). The facilitatory effect of MCP was reduced by 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA; GABA synthesis and release inhibitor) and after GABA desensitization but remained unchanged after bicuculline methiodide, a specific GABA receptor antagonist.

Human alpha 2-macroglobulin and its biological significance.

The review deals with an important plasma protein viz. alpha 2-macroglobulin, which is a wide-spectrum proteinase-inhibitor and can bind covalently with certain growth factors. Unlike other plasma proteinase-inhibitors, the alpha 2M-proteinase complex remains active towards low mol.

Role of the mitochondrial bc1-complex in the cytotoxic action of diethylstilbestrol-diphosphate toward prostatic carcinoma cells.

In previous work (P. Schulz et al., Cancer Res.

Alpha 1-antitrypsin: a possible tool for diagnosis of cervical cancer.

The serum protease inhibitor alpha 1-AT was measured in patients with different types of cancer and compared with that of normal human serum. alpha 1-AT levels, as measured by its trypsin inhibitory capacity and the immunodiffusion technique, showed significant increase (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.