Epigallocatechin-3-gallate therapeutic potential in human diseases: molecular mechanisms and clinical studies.

Green tea has garnered increasing attention across age groups due to its numerous health benefits, largely attributed to Epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG), its key polyphenol. EGCG exhibits a wide spectrum of biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer, and neuroprotective properties, as well as benefits for cardiovascular and oral health. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent findings on the therapeutic potential of EGCG in various human diseases.

Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology (THRIFT): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of vision interventions and online banking among the elderly in Kurigram.

Introduction: Presbyopia, difficulty in seeing close-ups, affects a billion people globally. Mobile financial services (MFS) have been mandated since January 2021 for Bangladesh government social safety net payments, including old age allowance (OAA) and widow allowance (WA). We report the protocol for the Transforming Households with Refraction and Innovative Financial Technology randomised trial assessing the impact on the use of online banking of providing presbyopic safety net beneficiaries with reading glasses, and brief smartphone and mobile banking app training.

Molecular features and expression kinetics of interleukin-10 gene from the marine teleost, Snubnose pompano (Trachinotus blochii).

Background: Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is uniquely positioned in the immune regulation of teleosts. Modifying the IL-10 pathway changes the teleost's disease susceptibility; however, there is no data on its post-transcriptional regulation. Trachinotus blochii is a high-value mariculture species.

Building global collaborative research networks in paediatric critical care: a roadmap.

Paediatric critical care units are designed for children at a vulnerable stage of development, yet the evidence base for practice and policy in paediatric critical care remains scarce. In this Health Policy, we present a roadmap providing strategic guidance for international paediatric critical care trials. We convened a multidisciplinary group of 32 paediatric critical care experts from six continents representing paediatric critical care research networks and groups.

Origin of the Suppression of Magnetic Order in MnSi under Hydrostatic Pressure.

We experimentally study the evolution of the magnetic moment m and exchange interaction J as a function of hydrostatic pressure in the zero-field helimagnetic phase of the strongly correlated electron system MnSi. The suppression of magnetic order at ≈1.5  GPa is shown to arise from the J collapse and not from a quantum fluctuations induced reduction of m.

Fabrication and characterization of ConA-conjugated curcumin-loaded solid lipid nanoparticles for theranostic applications in lung cancer treatment.

The main issues with current and traditional cancer therapy delivery systems include a lack of selectivity towards tumors, causing harm to healthy cells, low efficiency in loading drugs, and the inability to visually track the drug's localization after administration. These limitations negatively impact the effectiveness of therapy and result in increased treatment costs. Furthermore, conventional cancer therapies typically target tumor cells through a single mechanism, which eventually leads to the emergence of drug resistance.

Unveiling the Synergy of Serum Lipoprotein-Associated Phospholipase A2 and PLA2G7 Gene Polymorphism (rs1805017) as Key Determinants of Coronary Artery Disease Risk and Severity: Implications for Early Intervention.

Background Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a key enzyme selectively expressed in unstable, rupture-prone atherosclerotic plaques. Previous research has established a strong link between the gene and the development of coronary artery disease (CAD). While traditional risk factors like cholesterol levels and blood pressure are valuable, there remains a need for more specific biomarkers to identify individuals at heightened risk of atherosclerosis before the onset of clinical symptoms.

"The COVID-19 pandemic in BRICS: Milestones, interventions, and molecular epidemiology".

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are a group of developing countries with shared economic, healthcare, and scientific interests. These countries navigate multiple syndemics, and the COVID-19 pandemic placed severe strain on already burdened BRICS' healthcare systems, hampering effective pandemic interventions. Genomic surveillance and molecular epidemiology remain indispensable tools for facilitating informed pandemic intervention.

AlphaMut: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Model to Suggest Helix-Disrupting Mutations.

Helices are important secondary structural motifs within proteins and are pivotal in numerous physiological processes. While amino acids (AA) such as alanine and leucine are known to promote helix formation, proline and glycine disfavor it. Helical structure formation, however, also depends on its environment, and hence, prior prediction of a mutational effect on a helical structure is difficult.

Genetic association between Class II division 1 and division 2 malocclusions with PAX9 (rs8004560) gene polymorphism in a tertiary care hospital.

Objective: To assess whether there is any difference in the genetic association between Class II division 1 (div. 1) and division 2 (div. 2) malocclusions using PAX9 (rs8004560) gene single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP).

Covered Stent Correction for Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defects, an Emerging Alternative to Surgical Repair: Results of an International Registry.

Background: Covered stent correction for a sinus venosus atrial septal defect (SVASD) was first performed in 2009. This innovative approach was initially viewed as experimental and was reserved for highly selected patients with unusual anatomic variants. In 2016, increasing numbers of procedures began to be performed, and in several centers, it is now offered as a standard of care option alongside surgical repair.

Validation of prognostic models predicting mortality or ICU admission in patients with COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries: a global individual participant data meta-analysis.

Background: We evaluated the performance of prognostic models for predicting mortality or ICU admission in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Clinical Platform, a repository of individual-level clinical data of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, including in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Methods: We identified eligible multivariable prognostic models for predicting overall mortality and ICU admission during hospital stay in patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 from a living review of COVID-19 prediction models. These models were evaluated using data contributed to the WHO Global Clinical Platform for COVID-19 from nine LMICs (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, India, Niger, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

An integrated machine learning approach delineates an entropic expansion mechanism for the binding of a small molecule to α-synuclein.

The mis-folding and aggregation of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) such as α-synuclein (αS) underlie the pathogenesis of various neurodegenerative disorders. However, targeting αS with small molecules faces challenges due to the lack of defined ligand-binding pockets in its disordered structure. Here, we implement a deep artificial neural network-based machine learning approach, which is able to statistically distinguish the fuzzy ensemble of conformational substates of αS in neat water from those in aqueous fasudil (small molecule of interest) solution.

Conformational dynamics of a nicotinic receptor neurotransmitter site.

Agonists enhance receptor activity by providing net-favorable binding energy to active over resting conformations, with efficiency (η) linking binding energy to gating. Previously, we showed that in nicotinic receptors, η-values are grouped into five structural pairs, correlating efficacy and affinity within each class, uniting binding with allosteric activation (Indurthi and Auerbach, 2023). Here, we use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the low-to-high affinity transition (L→H) at the Torpedo α-δ nicotinic acetylcholine receptor neurotransmitter site.

Exploring the antidiabetic activity of potential probiotic bacteria isolated from traditional fermented beverage.

Type 2 Diabetes continues to be one of the major public health issues worldwide without any sustainable cure. The modulation of gut microbiota is believed to be caused by probiotic bacteria and several probiotic strains have previously shown antidiabetic activity. The present study aims to isolate potential probiotic bacteria from traditionally used fermented rice beer of Assam, India and to investigate its anti-hyperglycemic effect.

Insights of Zinc Ion Storage in Chilli-Stem Derived Porous Carbon Enabling Ultrastability and High Energy Density of Zinc-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitors.

Aqueous zinc ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZIHSCs) are promising as low-cost and safe energy storage devices for next-generation applications. Still, their energy-power performance and durability are far from satisfactory. Here, we present an energy-dense, and ultrastable ZIHSC realized using activated porous carbons derived from chilli-stems.

Vulval Aggressive Angiomyxoma: A Giant Tumour Arising from Hidradenitis Suppurativa Scars.

Aggressive angiomyxoma (AA) is a very rare tumour arising from the vulvovaginal mesenchymal tissue. The literature has not reported its co-existence with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). A 30-year-old female presented with a giant pedunculated mass arising from a scarred and disfigured perineum for 3 years.

New thiourea derivatives that target the episomal silencing SMC5 protein to inhibit HBx-dependent viral DNA replication and gene transcription.

Unlabelled: Antivirals such as nucleotide analogs (NAs) are potent inhibitors of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication. However, NAs fail to diminish the signaling and mitogenic activities of the transactivator HBx protein. Earlier we have shown that thiourea derivative IR-415 (DSA-00) targeted HBx to down-regulate its target viral and host genes.

Lifitegrast, a Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 Antagonist Demonstrates Beneficial Effect in Psoriasis.

Lifitegrast is a lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) antagonist, which is approved for treatment of dry eye disease. In this work we explored the effect of lifitegrast in imiquimod induced psoriasis model in mice. Lifitegrast (5% solution) was tested in imiquimod-induced psoriasis model in C57 mice.

Comprehensive virome profiling of sugarcane and simplified duplex OneStep RT-PCR assay reveals the prevalence of sugarcane streak mosaic virus along with sugarcane yellow leaf virus in India.

Background: Sugarcane is host of many viral pathogens that affects its growth and productivity. High-throughput sequencing (HTS) is comprehensive diagnostic platform that permit the precise detection of viral pathogens to resolve the disease epidemiology of the crop, thus providing the phytosanitary status of plants. The current work was designed to comprehend the virome profiling of sugarcane belonging to five varieties collected from the major crop producing states in India.

Optimal adaptive SMART designs with binary outcomes.

In a sequential multiple-assignment randomized trial (SMART), a sequence of treatments is given to a patient over multiple stages. In each stage, randomization may be done to allocate patients to different treatment groups. Even though SMART designs are getting popular among clinical researchers, the methodologies for adaptive randomization at different stages of a SMART are few and not sophisticated enough to handle the complexity of optimal allocation of treatments at every stage of a trial.

Comparing the efficacy of oral apremilast, intralesional corticosteroids, and their combination in patients with patchy alopecia areata: a randomized clinical controlled trial.

Introduction: Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory disorder characterized by nonscarring hair loss. The management of AA poses challenges due to its unpredictable course and variable response to treatment. In this comparative study, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of oral apremilast, intralesional corticosteroids (ILC) and a combination of both in patients with patchy AA.

Exploring the DPP IV inhibitory potential: molecular docking and dynamic simulations of pyridine-3-carboxylic acid and pyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid analogs.

Diabetes mellitus remains a global challenge, with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) prevalence increasing from 4% to 6.4% in the past 30 years. Presently oral hypoglycaemic agents like GLP-1 agonists, biguanides, sulphonylureas, glinides, and thiazolidinediones are employed in clinical practice.

Ecophysiological status of copepods in the oxygen minimum zone of Eastern Arabian Sea.

Eutrophication of marine ecosystems is a global problem, particularly in a changing climate and the spreading of Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs). The eastern Arabian Sea has both seasonal and permanent/perennial OMZs, but our understanding of the fauna there is extremely poor. So, this study investigated the composition and physiological status (alive or dead) of zooplankton (copepods) in the two OMZs.

Comparison of Modified NeoPutty MTA, Biodentine, and Calcium Hydroxide in Indirect Pulp Therapy in Deciduous Teeth: An Clinical Study.

Background: Pulp capping is a vital dental procedure used to preserve the vitality of teeth affected by deep caries lesions without irreversible pulpitis. The use of modern bioceramic materials has enhanced the predictability of vital pulp therapy (VPT).

Aim: This study aimed to assess the clinical success of Biodentine, modified NeoPutty mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) as pulp capping materials for indirect pulp capping in carious primary teeth.