Publications by authors named "Shukla Varsha"

Background And Objectives: India has one of the world's highest proportions of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) payments. The low share of public health expenditure coupled with the double burden of disease (communicable and non-communicable) has a direct financial impact on individual OOPE and an indirect impact in the form of decreasing life expectancy, reduced productivity, and hence a negative impact on economic growth. This systematic review aims to compare and assess the estimated economic cost of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India and ascertain the methods used to derive these estimates.

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Background: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is an extra-articular rheumatological disease characterised by widespread chronic musculoskeletal pain. Metal-induced oxidative stress contributes to the severity of FMS.

Aims: First, this study evaluated the association between plasma levels of toxic heavy metals and essential metals with oxidative stress (OS) markers.

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Background: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is characterized by altered pain perception with chronic, widespread musculoskeletal pain. The relationship between nitric oxide, oxidative stress and the severity of FMS has not been studied. This study evaluated NO levels in plasma, LPO products and antioxidants in Red Cell lysate in patients of FMS and correlated it with disease severity.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects motor nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Etiological mechanisms underlying the disease remain poorly understood; recent studies suggest that deregulation of p25/Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) activity leads to the hyperphosphorylation of Tau and neurofilament (NF) proteins in ALS transgenic mouse model (SOD1G37R). A Cdk5 involvement in motor neuron degeneration is supported by analysis of three SOD1G37R mouse lines exhibiting perikaryal inclusions of NF proteins and hyperphosphorylation of Tau.

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Cotton crop is highly susceptible to attack by sucking pests. Being an important oilseed and feed crop, it is essential to monitor the pesticides and ensure health protection at consumer level. Therefore, a method was validated to estimate fipronil and flonicamid in various cotton samples and risk assessment was performed.

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It has been reported that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (cdk5), a critical neuronal kinase, is hyperactivated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may be, in part, responsible for the hallmark pathology of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). It has been proposed by several laboratories that hyperactive cdk5 results from the overexpression of p25 (a truncated fragment of p35, the normal cdk5 regulator), which, when complexed to cdk5, induces hyperactivity, hyperphosphorylated tau/NFTs, amyloid-β plaques, and neuronal death. It has previously been shown that intraperitoneal (i.

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In a series of studies, we have identified TFP5, a truncated fragment of p35, the Cdk5 kinase regulatory protein, which inhibits Cdk5/p35 and the hyperactive Cdk5/p25 activities in test tube experiments. In cortical neurons, however, and in vivo in Alzheimer's disease (AD) model mice, the peptide specifically inhibits the Cdk5/p25 complex and not the endogenous Cdk5/p35. To account for the selective inhibition of Cdk5/p25 activity, we propose that the "p10" N-terminal domain of p35, absent in p25, spares Cdk5/p35 because p10 binds to macromolecules (e.

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Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) is a multifunctional serine/threonine kinase that regulates a large number of neuronal processes essential for nervous system development and function with its activator p35 CDK5R1. Upon neuronal insults, p35 is proteolyzed and cleaved to p25 producing deregulation and hyperactivation of CDK5 (CDK5/p25), implicated in tau hyperphosphorylation, a pathology in some neurodegenerative diseases. A truncated, 24 amino acid peptide, p5, derived from p35 inhibits the deregulated CDK5 phosphotransferase activity and ameliorates Alzheimer's disease (AD) phenotypes in AD model mice.

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Podocytes are terminally differentiated glomerular epithelial cells. Podocyte loss has been found in many renal diseases. Cdk5 is a cyclin-dependent protein kinase which is predominantly regulated by p35.

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Quorum sensing (QS) mechanisms have been demonstrated to have significance in expression of pathogenicity in infectious bacteria. In Gram negative bacteria the autoinducer molecules that mediate QS are acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) and in Gram positive bacteria they are peptides called autoinducing peptides (AIP). A screening of tannin-rich medicinal plants was attempted to identify extracts that could interrupt the QS mechanisms in both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria over a wide range of concentrations and therefore potentially be potent agents that could act as broad spectrum QS inhibitors.

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Besides the hallmark pathology of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, it is well documented that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), a critical neuronal protein kinase in nervous system development, function, and survival, when deregulated and hyperactivated induces Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson's disease-like phenotypes in mice. In a recent study, we demonstrated that p5, a small, truncated fragment of 24 amino acid residues derived from the CDK5 activator protein 35 (NCK5A, p35), selectively inhibited deregulated CDK5 hyperactivity and ameliorated AD phenotypes in model mice. In this study, we identified the most inhibitory elements in the p5 peptide fragment.

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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, decreased striatal dopamine levels, and consequent extrapyramidal motor dysfunction. Recent evidence indicates that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is inappropriately activated in several neurodegenerative conditions, including PD. To date, strategies to specifically inhibit Cdk5 hyperactivity have not been successful without affecting normal Cdk5 activity.

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Although biofilms are formed on a variety of surfaces, of utmost significance are those formed on prosthetic devices used as implants. Such biofilms can lead to severe device-related infections that are difficult to treat. In a search for new antibiofilm agents that can be used as "active" implant coatings, purified fraction from a tannin-rich extract of Terminalia chebula was isolated and tested for its antibiofilm properties on a titanium implant material.

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Water quality of river Narmada was investigated employing the chemometric techniques and statistical analysis with a view to extract information about the variables responsible for spatial and temporal variation in physicochemical parameters. Analysis of Pearson's correlation revealed significant correlation among the physicochemical parameters while weak correlation with occurrence of enteropathogens. The multivariate statistics and principal component analysis applied to datasets indicated three to four components influencing the water to the extent of 78.

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Multiple lines of evidence link the incidence of diabetes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Patients with diabetes have a 50 to 75% increased risk of developing AD. Cyclin dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) is a serine/threonine protein kinase, which forms active complexes with p35 or p39, found principally in neurons and in pancreatic β cells.

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Cdk5/p25 hyperactivity has been demonstrated to lead to neuron apoptosis and degenerations. Chronic exposure to high glucose (HG) results in hyperactivity of Cdk5 and reduced insulin secretion. Here, we set out to determine whether abnormal upregulation of Cdk5/p25 activity may be induced in a pancreatic beta cell line, Min6 cells.

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The neuronal cytoskeleton is tightly regulated by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation reactions mediated by numerous associated kinases, phosphatases and their regulators. Defects in the relative kinase and phosphatase activities and/or deregulation of compartment-specific phosphorylation result in neurodegenerative disorders. The largest family of cytoskeletal proteins in mammalian cells is the superfamily of intermediate filaments (IFs).

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Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most devastating chronic neurodegenerative disease in adults, causes dementia and eventually, death of the affected individuals. Clinically, AD is characterized as late-onset, age-dependent cognitive decline due to loss of neurons in cortex and hippocampus. The pathologic corollary of these symptoms is the formation of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD), one of the leading neurodegenerative disorders of older adults, which causes major socioeconomic burdens globally, lacks effective therapeutics without significant side effects. Besides the hallmark pathology of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), it has been reported that cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), a critical neuronal kinase, is hyperactivated in AD brains and is, in part, responsible for the above pathology. Here we show that a modified truncated 24-aa peptide (TFP5), derived from the Cdk5 activator p35, penetrates the blood-brain barrier after intraperitoneal injections, inhibits abnormal Cdk5 hyperactivity, and significantly rescues AD pathology (up to 70-80%) in 5XFAD AD model mice.

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It has been demonstrated that oxidative stress has a ubiquitous role in neurodegenerative diseases. Major source of oxidative stress due to reactive oxygen species (ROS) is related to mitochondria as an endogenous source. Although there is ample evidence from tissues of patients with neurodegenerative disorders of morphological, biochemical, and molecular abnormalities in mitochondria, it is still not very clear whether the oxidative stress itself contributes to the onset of neurodegeneration or it is part of the neurodegenerative process as secondary manifestation.

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Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) plays a key role in the development of the mammalian nervous system; it phosphorylates a number of targeted proteins involved in neuronal migration during development to synaptic activity in the mature nervous system. Its role in the initial stages of neuronal commitment and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs), however, is poorly understood. In this study, we show that Cdk5 phosphorylation of p27(Kip1) at Thr187 is crucial to neural differentiation because 1) neurogenesis is specifically suppressed by transfection of p27(Kip1) siRNA into Cdk5(+/+) NSCs; 2) reduced neuronal differentiation in Cdk5(-/-) compared with Cdk5(+/+) NSCs; 3) Cdk5(+/+) NSCs, whose differentiation is inhibited by a nonphosphorylatable mutant, p27/Thr187A, are rescued by cotransfection of a phosphorylation-mimicking mutant, p27/Thr187D; and 4) transfection of mutant p27(Kip1) (p27/187A) into Cdk5(+/+) NSCs inhibits differentiation.

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The activity of Cdk5-p35 is tightly regulated in the developing and mature nervous system. Stress-induced cleavage of the activator p35 to p25 and a p10 N-terminal domain induces deregulated Cdk5 hyperactivity and perikaryal aggregations of hyperphosphorylated Tau and neurofilaments, pathogenic hallmarks in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, respectively. Previously, we identified a 125-residue truncated fragment of p35 called CIP that effectively and specifically inhibited Cdk5-p25 activity and Tau hyperphosphorylation induced by Aβ peptides in vitro, in HEK293 cells, and in neuronal cells.

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We have previously shown that the extracellular nucleoside triphosphate-hydrolyzing enzyme NTPDase2 is highly expressed in situ by stem/progenitor cells of the two neurogenic regions of the adult murine brain: the subventricular zone (type B cells) and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus (residual radial glia). We explored the possibility that adult multipotent neural stem cells express nucleotide receptors and investigated their functional properties in vitro. Neurospheres cultured from the adult mouse SVZ in the presence of epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor 2 expressed the ecto-nucleotidases NTPDase2 and the tissue non-specific isoform of alkaline phosphatase, hydrolyzing extracellular ATP to adenosine.

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An astrocyte-like cell population corresponding to residual radial glia represents the neuronal progenitors of the adult mammalian hippocampus. We show that radial glia-like cells of the dentate gyrus express surface-located ATP-hydrolyzing activity and are immunopositive for NTPDase2. This enzyme hydrolyzes extracellular nucleoside triphosphates such as ATP and UTP to their nucleoside diphosphates and is thus involved in the control of signaling via P2 receptors.

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