Integrated application of target-based and ligand-based drug-designing approaches for the identification of novel caspase-6 inhibitors.

Caspase-6 (CASP6) is an effector caspase that has been marked to possess various pathological attributes associated with neurodegeneration. It is widely expressed in the neurodegenerative brain and peripheral tissues. It plays a vital role in apoptotic cell death and also performs non-apoptotic functions like axon pruning which contribute to the degeneration of neurons.

Multiscale attention-over-attention network for retinal disease recognition in OCT radiology images.

Retinal disease recognition using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images plays a pivotal role in the early diagnosis and treatment of conditions. However, the previous attempts relied on extracting single-scale features often refined by stacked layered attentions. This paper presents a novel deep learning-based Multiscale Feature Enhancement via a Dual Attention Network specifically designed for retinal disease recognition in OCT images.

Current Updates on Pathogenesis, Systemic Therapy, and Treatment of Invasive Fungal Infections.

Numerous health hazards are associated with fungal infections, ranging from asymptomatic cases to potentially fatal invasive diseases that are especially dangerous for those with impaired immune systems. The main causes behind these diseases are opportunistic fungi, namely Aspergillus, Candida, and Cryptococcus. Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) require a global response that includes the development of vaccines, standardized protocols for diagnosis, potent antifungal medications, and strategies to stop drug-resistant strains.

Early Mortality in Cardiac Surgery - Is Lactate Significant?

Introduction: Serum lactate is a consequence of tissue hypoperfusion and has been used routinely for patient management following cardiac surgery. This study aims to determine the association of lactate with early mortality and postoperative morbidity.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study carried out in the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, King George's Medical University (India), from January 2020 to December 2022.

Role of Posaconazole Drug in the Treatment of Invasive Fungal Disease: A Review.

Posaconazole is an antifungal medication used primarily to treat invasive fungal in-fections caused by various organisms, such as Aspergillus, Candida, and certain molds. It be-longs to the class of drugs known as triazole antifungals. Clinical studies have reported posaconazole to be effective in treating various invasive fungal infections, especially in patients who are immunocompromised, such as those with weakened immune systems due to conditions like HIV/AIDS, undergoing chemotherapy, or having received an organ transplant.

An Open-Label, Investigator-Initiated, Single-Centre Pilot Study to Determine the Safety and Efficacy of Tofacitinib in Resistant Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria.

Background: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a distressing skin condition characterized by the recurrent appearance of itchy hives. A subset of CSU patients remains resistant to conventional treatment with high-dose antihistamines. Tofacitinib, a Janus kinase inhibitor, has shown promise in various inflammatory skin diseases.

A Cross-Sectional Study to Evaluate the Role of the Nuclear Factor Kappa B (Nf-κB) Pathway in Regulating the Cytokine Cascade and as a Potential Therapeutic Target in Leprosy.

Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which are found in microorganisms but not in hosts, allow Leprae bacilli to be recognized as foreign. Several kinds of pattern recognition receptors, such as toll-like receptors (TLRs), NOD-like receptors (NLRs) and RIG-1-like receptors (RLRs), are present in the innate immune system. Sen and Baltimore (1986) discovered the transcription factor nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-B), employed by eukaryotic cells to regulate immunity, cell differentiation and proliferation.

Bilastine in Refractory Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria: Disease Control and Cytokine Modulation in an Open-label Prospective Study.

Introduction: The treatment options for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) primarily include second generation non-sedative antihistamine (SGAHs). Bilastine is a newer, nonsedating SGAH approved for urticaria in February 2019 by the Drugs Controller General of India. Its major advantages are in terms of superior efficacy, lack of drug interactions and adverse effects, including sedation, compared to conventional SGAHs.

Detection and molecular characterization of ' Phytoplasma australasiaticum' in : a fruit of high medicinal values in India.

In surveys conducted from 2020 to 2022, five leaf samples each from symptomatic trees and seedlings, along with five samples from asymptomatic trees and seedlings, were collected in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, India. The DNA extraction from all the samples was subjected to nested PCR assays, using the universal phytoplasma-specific primers set (P1/P7 followed by R16F2n/R16R2). The resulting 1.

Identification of novel potential cathepsin-B inhibitors through pharmacophore-based virtual screening, molecular docking, and dynamics simulation studies for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Cathepsin B is a cysteine protease lysosomal enzyme involved in several physiological functions. Overexpression of the enzyme enhances its proteolytic activity and causes the breakdown of amyloid precursor protein (APP) into neurotoxic amyloid β (Aβ), a characteristic hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Therefore, inhibition of the enzyme is a crucial therapeutic aspect for treating the disease.

Viscoelastic behavior, gelation properties and structural characterization of Deccan hemp seed (Hibiscus cannabinus) protein: Influence of protein and ionic concentrations, pH, and temperature.

This study investigates the viscoelastic behavior, gelling properties, and structural characteristics of Deccan hemp seed protein (DHSP) to overcome limitations in its application in food formulations. Small amplitude oscillatory shear measurements were employed to investigate the impact of protein concentration, pH, ionic concentration, and temperature on DHSP's rheological features. The study revealed that the 20 % protein dispersion had the highest storage modulus (G') and yield stress at 63.

Centella asiatica improves memory and executive function in middle-aged rats by controlling oxidative stress and cholinergic transmission.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, is a medicinal herb with rich history of traditional use in Indian subcontinent. This herb has been valued for its diverse range of medicinal properties including memory booster, and also as a folk treatment for skin diseases, wound healing and mild diuretic.

Development of multi-targetable chalcone derivatives bearing N-aryl piperazine moiety for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

The multi-target directed ligand (MTDL) discovery has been gaining immense attention in the development of therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The strategy has been evolved as an auspicious approach suitable to combat the heterogeneity and the multifactorial nature of AD. Therefore, multi-targetable chalcone derivatives bearing N-aryl piperazine moiety were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for the treatment of AD.

A New Era of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated Protein 9 Gene Editing Technology in Cardiovascular Diseases: Opportunities, Challenges, and Perspectives.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain major causes of global mortality in the world. Genetic approaches have succeeded in the discovery of the molecular basis of an increasing number of cardiac diseases. Genome-editing strategies are one of the most effective methods for assisting therapeutic approaches.

Isolated cardiac cysticercosis of the right ventricle.

Cardiac cysticercosis is a rarely encountered form of cysticercosis, caused by the larval cyst of tapeworm (). It commonly affects the central nervous system; however, systematic involvement has been reported as well. We describe a case of isolated cardiac cysticercosis incidentally discovered in a 16-year-old female undergoing surgical closure of a ventricular septal defect (VSD), with no prior history of parasitic infestation.

Computational screening of coumarin derivatives as inhibitors of the NACHT domain of NLRP3 inflammasome for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor (NLR), leucine-rich-repeat (LRR), and pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) is one of the key players in neuroinflammation, which is a major pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Activated NLRP3 causes release of pro-inflammatory molecules that aggravate neurodegeneration. Thus, pharmacologically inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome has the potential to alleviate the inflammatory injury to the neurons.

Physical, optoelectronic and thermoelectric characteristics of double perovskite (SrScBiO) for green energy technology using computations.

This work presents the investigation of physical characteristics including structural, electronic, elastic, optical and thermoelectric, of the double perovskite (DP) oxide SrScBiO with the aid of the FP-LAPW method, dependent on DFT combined with BoltzTraP code. To incorporate the inclusion of exchange as well as correlation effects, approximations like LDA and three different forms of GGA [PBE-GGA, WC-GGA & PBEsol-GGA] are applied. The mBJ-GGA method including spin-orbital coupling (SOC) & not including SOC was utilised in this investigation and it was carried out in the WIEN2k code.

Survival Analysis for Cohort of Bhopal Gas Disaster Victims during 1985-2015.

Context: After the gas tragedy on the night of December 2/3, 1984, at Bhopal, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) started following up on four population cohorts with different levels of post-disaster mortality from December 3-6, 1984.

Aims: The present study was undertaken to estimate the survival time of the cohort, and investigate the risk of mortality based on exposure, gender, and median age.

Settings And Design: Survival analysis is generally used to evaluate factors associated with the time to an event of failure or death among any covered population.

Effect of sulfonamide derivatives of on scopolamine-induced amnesia in rats.

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease responsible for dementia and other neuropsychiatric symptoms. In the present study, compounds and , developed earlier in our laboratory as selective butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors, were tested against scopolamine-induced amnesia to evaluate their pharmacodynamic effect. The efficacy of the compounds was determined by behavioral experiments using the Y-maze and the Barnes maze and neurochemical testing.

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease among severely gas-exposed survivors in Bhopal, India.

Background The survivors of the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster frequently express concern of them being at higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) as a consequence of the long-term health effects of gas exposure. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of CKD among the survivors of severely gas-exposed cohort assembled in 1985 after the Bhopal gas disaster to study the long-term health consequences of gas exposure. Methods We did this cross-sectional study with a sample size of 215 systematically selected participants among the severely gas-exposed survivors in Bhopal to estimate the prevalence of CKD.

Preparation, Characterization, in-vitro and in-vivo Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of Thermostable Dimethyl Fumarate Cocrystals.

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) is an FDA-approved drug for treating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis; but it is susceptible to sublimation leading to its loss during processing. Cocrystals can protect against thermal energy via the interaction of DMF with a coformer via weak forces of interaction. With this hypothesis, we have, for the first time, prepared DMF cocrystals using the solvent evaporation method using coformers like citric acid and succinic acid screened by in-silico predictions and hydrogen bonding properties.

Recent Advances in the Development of Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probes for the Brain Imaging of Amyloid-β Species in Alzheimer's Disease.

The deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in the parenchymal and cortical regions of the brain of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients is considered the foremost pathological hallmark of the disease. The early diagnosis of AD is paramount in order to effective management and treatment of the disease. Developing near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) probes targeting Aβ species is a potential and attractive approach suitable for the early and timely diagnosis of AD.

Novel Gastroprotective and Thermostable Cocrystal of Dimethyl Fumarate: Its Preparation, Characterization, and and Evaluation.

Crystallization has revolutionized the field of solid-state formulations by modulating the physiochemical and release profile of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Dimethyl fumarate (DF), an FDA-approved first-line drug for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, has a sublimation problem, leading to loss of the drug during its processing. To tackle this problem, DF cocrystal has been prepared by using solvent evaporation technique using nicotinamide as a coformer, which has been chosen based on predictions and their ability to participate in hydrogen bonding.

Discovery of triazole-bridged aryl adamantane analogs as an intriguing class of multifunctional agents for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder associated with slow loss of brain functions leading to memory failure and modest changes in behavior. The multifactorial neuropathological condition is due to a depletion of cholinergic neurons and accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques. Recently, a multi-target-directed ligand (MTDL) strategy has emerged as a robust drug discovery tool to overcome current challenges.