Significance of antibody numbering systems in the development of antibody engineering.

Immunotherapy has become increasingly popular in recent years for treating a variety of diseases including inflammatory, neurological, oncological, and auto-immune disorders. The significant interest in antibody development is due to the high binding affinity and specificity of an antibody against a specific antigen. Recent advances in antibody engineering have provided a different view on how to engineer antibodies in silico for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

In-silico identification and prioritization of therapeutic targets of asthma.

Asthma is a "common chronic disorder that affects the lungs causing variable and recurring symptoms like repeated episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness and underlying inflammation. The interaction of these features of asthma determines the clinical manifestations and severity of asthma and the response to treatment" [cited from: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Expert Panel 3 Report.

Clinical outcome, functional outcome and patient satisfaction after cruciate retaining total knee arthroplasty for stiff arthritic knee - A short term outcome study.

Background: Various authors have shown that Cruciate Retaining (CR) Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) has better long-term survivorship compared to Posterior Stabilized (PS), however most arthroplasty surgeons tend to use PS knees in patients with severe deformity and stiffness. There is limited data correlating stiffness and CR versus PS design. The aim of our study was to assess the outcome of CR TKA for patients with stiff arthritic knee.

Unexpected positive intraoperative cultures (UPIC) in revision Hip and knee arthroplasty- A review of the literature.

Unexpected positive intraoperative culture (UPIC) in revision hip and knee arthroplasty has a prevalence of 10.5%, there is no consensus in the literature on how to interpret them and how to treat them. Our literature review showed that most authors would consider two or more positive cultures as significant and usually treat them with culture specific antibiotics for 4-6 weeks.

Impact of Process Parameters on Particle Size Involved in Media Milling Technique Used for Preparing Clotrimazole Nanocrystals for the Management of Cutaneous Candidiasis.

Clotrimazole is widely used for the management of cutaneous candidiasis infection. The low solubility of clotrimazole and excipient-related topical side effects (of currently available marketed products) cause the compromised efficacy of the therapy with poor patient compliance. In the present investigation, a clotrimazole nanocrystal-based nanogel was developed.

Nanocrystal: a novel approach to overcome skin barriers for improved topical drug delivery.

Introduction: Skin is an important route of drug delivery for the treatment of various dermatological conditions. The advent of nanotechnology is paving the roadmaps for topical drug delivery by providing sustained release as well as maintaining a localized effect, outweighing the toxicity concern.

Areas Covered: This review highlighted the morphology of skin, its barrier nature as well as drug penetration pathways after topical application of formulations.

Total Knee Arthroplasty In Patients With Parkinson's Disease- A Critical Analysis of Available Evidence.

Background: In this era of modern medicine, there is an increase in life expectancy and thereby an ageing population. Among this group one of the most common neurological disorder is Parkinson disease and one of the most common operation done in elderly population is a total joint arthroplasty. But total joint arthroplasty in Parkinson disease is a relatively uncommon entity.

Rationale of Cruciate Retaining Design in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Review of Clinical Analysis and its Role in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background: Over the years, proponents of total knee designs (cruciate retaining and posterior stabilised) have conducted several long-term studies to claim the potential of these designs in several subsets of patients. Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis has also been one such domain where numerous studies were conducted in the past. A general perception among majority of arthroplasty surgeons is that, posterior stabilised (PS) is the implanted design of choice among patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Assessing the feasibility of integrating ecosystem-based with engineered water resource governance and management for water security in semi-arid landscapes: A case study in the Banas catchment, Rajasthan, India.

Much of the developing world and areas of the developed world suffer water vulnerability. Engineering solutions enable technically efficient extraction and diversion of water towards areas of demand but, without rebalancing resource regeneration, can generate multiple adverse ecological and human consequences. The Banas River, Rajasthan (India), has been extensively developed for water diversion, particularly from the Bisalpur Dam from which water is appropriated by powerful urban constituencies dispossessing local people.

Insight into the intermolecular recognition mechanism involved in complement component 4 activation through serine protease-trypsin.

Serine protease cleaved-complement component 4 (C4) at sessile loop, which is significant for completion of lectin and classical complement pathways at the time of infections. The co-crystalized structure of C4 with Mannose-binding protein-associated serine protease 2 (MASP2) provided the structural and functional aspects of its interaction and underlined the C4 activation by MASP2. The same study also revealed the significance of complement control protein (CCP) domain through mutational study, where mutated CCP domain led to the inhibition of C4 activation.

Nanocrystal for ocular drug delivery: hope or hype.

The complexity of the structure and nature of the eye emanates a challenge for drug delivery to formulation scientists. Lower bioavailability concern of conventional ocular formulation provokes the interest of researchers in the development of novel drug delivery system. Nanotechnology-based formulations have been extensively investigated and found propitious in improving bioavailability of drugs by overcoming ocular barriers prevailing in the eye.

Design of experiment approach for formulating multi-unit colon-targeted drug delivery system: in vitro and in vivo studies.

Objective: The objective of the present investigation was to develop systematically optimized multiunit formulation for colon targeted delivery of metronidazole (MTZ) by employing design of experiment (DoE) and evaluate it for in vitro as well as in vivo drug release study.

Methods: Core of mini-tablets of MTZ was prepared using drug along with suitable swelling agents to provide pH sensitive pulsatile drug delivery. Eudragit® S 100 (ES) and ethyl cellulose (EC) were used as coating polymers to prevent initial drug release in gastric region.

Essential proteins and possible therapeutic targets of Wolbachia endosymbiont and development of FiloBase--a comprehensive drug target database for Lymphatic filariasis.

Lymphatic filariasis (Lf) is one of the oldest and most debilitating tropical diseases. Millions of people are suffering from this prevalent disease. It is estimated to infect over 120 million people in at least 80 nations of the world through the tropical and subtropical regions.

Current approaches for in vitro drug release study of long acting parenteral formulations.

Long acting parenteral formulations are preferred over conventional formulations for the treatment of chronic diseases. Prevalence of such diseases provoked the interest of researchers and pharmaceutical industries in the development of long acting parenteral formulations. The regulatory guidelines and pharmacopoeia have remained silent on dissolution methods for long acting parenteral formulations due to their diverse nature.

Formulation optimization of gastroretentive drug delivery system for allopurinol using experimental design.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to develop gastroretentive dosage form (GRDF) for allopurinol (ALP) using combined approaches of mucoadhesion and floating systems. GRDF was systematically optimized using 3(2)-full factorial design.

Methods: Concentrations of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (X1) and concentration of polyoxyethylene oxide WSR 303 (X2) were selected as independent variables, whereas gastroretentive parameters like total floating time (TFT) (Y1), mucoadhesive force (MF) (Y2), time required for 10% drug release (Y3) and time required for 80% drug release (Y4) were selected as dependent variables in development of robust GRDF of ALP.

Identification of novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors for drug resistant T315I mutant BCR-ABL: a virtual screening and molecular dynamics simulations study.

BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase plays a major role in the pathogenesis of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and is a proven target for drug development. Currently available drugs in the market are effective against CML; however, side-effects and drug-resistant mutations in BCR-ABL limit their full potential. Using high throughput virtual screening approach, we have screened several small molecule databases and docked against wild-type and drug resistant T315I mutant BCR-ABL.

Subclavian artery- internal jugular vein fistula and heart failure: complication of internal jugular vein catheterization.

Hemodialysis in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requires vascular access which can be either temporary or permanent. However, these procedures are not without complications. Arterial puncture is the most common immediate complication and pseudoaneurysm formation is the most common late sequel of internal jugular venous catheterization (IJVC).

Physicochemical properties of the modeled structure of astacin metalloprotease moulting enzyme NAS-36 and mapping the druggable allosteric space of Heamonchus contortus, Brugia malayi and Ceanorhabditis elegans via molecular dynamics simulation.

Nematodes represent the second largest phylum in the animal kingdom. It is the most abundant species (500,000) in the planet. It causes chronic, debilitating infections worldwide such as ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm, enterobiasis, strongyloidiasis, filariasis and trichinosis, among others.

Cloning, expression of b-1,3-1,4 glucanase from Bacillus subtilis SU40 and the effect of calcium ion on the stability of recombinant enzyme: in vitro and in silico analysis.

A new glucanolytic bacterial strain, SU40 was isolated, and identified as Bacillus subtilis on the basis of 16S rRNA sequence homology and phylogenetic tree analysis. The gene encoding β-1,3-1,4-glucanase was delineated, cloned into pET 28a+ vector and heterologously overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3). The purified recombinant enzyme was about 24 kDa.

Drug targets for lymphatic filariasis: a bioinformatics approach.

This review article discusses the current scenario of the national and international burden due to lymphatic filariasis (LF) and describes the active elimination programmes for LF and their achievements to eradicate this most debilitating disease from the earth. Since, bioinformatics is a rapidly growing field of biological study, and it has an increasingly significant role in various fields of biology. We have reviewed its leading involvement in the filarial research using different approaches of bioinformatics and have summarized available existing drugs and their targets to re-examine and to keep away from the resisting conditions.

PepBind: a comprehensive database and computational tool for analysis of protein-peptide interactions.

Protein-peptide interactions, where one partner is a globular protein (domain) and the other is a flexible linear peptide, are key components of cellular processes predominantly in signaling and regulatory networks, hence are prime targets for drug design. To derive the details of the protein-peptide interaction mechanism is often a cumbersome task, though it can be made easier with the availability of specific databases and tools. The Peptide Binding Protein Database (PepBind) is a curated and searchable repository of the structures, sequences and experimental observations of 3100 protein-peptide complexes.

Virological response and antiviral resistance mutations in chronic hepatitis B subjects experiencing entecavir therapy: an Indian subcontinent perspective.

Entecavir is one of the therapeutic options currently available for the management of chronic hepatitis B. In this study, we aimed to analyse the virological response and antiviral resistance mutations in chronic hepatitis B subjects experiencing entecavir therapy from the Indian subcontinent. A total of 45 chronic hepatitis B subjects were studied at baseline and were followed up on entecavir treatment.

Impact of rtI233V mutation in hepatitis B virus polymerase protein and adefovir efficacy: Homology modeling and molecular docking studies.

Adefovir is an adenosine analogue approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. Mutations occurring in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) reverse transcriptase (rt) domains are shown to confer resistance to antiviral drugs. The role of the rtI233V mutation and adefovir resistance remains contradictory.

Clostridium-DT(DB): a comprehensive database for potential drug targets of Clostridium difficile.

Clostridium difficile is considered to be one of the most important causes of health care-associated infections currently. The prevalence and severity of C. difficile infection have increased significantly worldwide in the past decade which has led to the increased research interest.