Dynamics of Mycobacteriophage-Mycobacterial Host Interaction.

Mycobacterium sp. is exhibiting complex evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and can therefore be considered as a serious human pathogen. Many strategies were employed earlier to evade the pathogenesis but AMR became threatened.

Antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles synthesised by using microbial biosurfactant produced by a newly isolated MDU6 strain.

Microbial biosurfactants has evolved as green molecules and their chemical diversity has gained momentum in recent time not only in the field of environmental and industrial sectors but also in the pharmaceutical sector. In this study, an effort was made for the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticle (AgNPs) having antimicrobial and non-cytotoxic activities with the help of microbial biosurfactant extracted from a novel strain MDU6 (Genbank accession no. MH382951) from petroleum oil logged soil sample in Dibrugarh, Assam.

Alpinia nigra fruits mediated synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their antimicrobial and photocatalytic activities.

In the present systematic study, silver nanoparticles have been synthesized using the fruits of Alpinia nigra. Apart from the presence of saponins, glycosides, alkaloids, steroids, the extract of A. nigra fruits are rich in polyphenols.

Understanding Asymptomatic Infections: A Proposition for a Transcriptomic Approach.

Malaria is still a significant public health burden in the tropics. Infection with malaria causing parasites results in a wide range of clinical disease presentations, from severe to uncomplicated or mild, and in the poorly understood asymptomatic infections. The complexity of asymptomatic infections is due to the intricate interplay between factors derived from the human host, parasite, and environment.

No evidence of K13 artemisinin conferring mutations over a 24-year analysis in Coastal Kenya, but a near complete reversion to chloroquine wild type parasites.

Antimalarial drug resistance is a substantial impediment to malaria control. The spread of resistance has been described using genetic markers which are important epidemiological tools. We carried out a temporal analysis of changes in allele frequencies of 12 drug resistance markers over two decades of changing antimalarial drug policy in Kenya.

Infestation mechanisms of two woodborer species in the mangrove Sonneratia alba J. Smith in Kenya and co-occurring endophytic fungi.

Insect damage on trees can severely affect the quality of timber, reduce the fecundity of the host and render it susceptible to fungal infestation and disease. Such pathology weakens or eventually kills the host. Infestation by two insect woodborer species (a moth and a beetle) is causing mortality of Sonneratia alba, a wide-ranging pioneer mangrove species of the Indo-Pacific.

Beneficial role of insect-derived bioactive components against inflammation and its associated complications (colitis and arthritis) and cancer.

Insect-based bioactive components are emerging as novel sources of drugs, effective against various diseases. Inflammation is considered to be an innate immune response developed by different organisms against foreign pathogens and cellular stress. However, repetitive elevated inflammation is considered to be responsible for development of many other diseases including colitis and arthritis.

Long telomeres cooperate with p53, MDM2, and p21 polymorphisms to raise pediatric solid tumor risk.

Background: While leukocyte telomere length has been linked with altered risk in adult cancer, limited information is available on its association with risk in pediatric solid tumors. We investigated the association of telomeric alterations with risk of pediatric solid tumors. We also investigated whether altered telomeres cooperated with the TP53 rs1042522, MDM2 rs2279744 and CDKN1A (p21 ) rs1059234 single-nucleotide polymorphisms to modify cancer risk.

Disentanglement of the secrets of aluminium in acidophilic tea plant (Camellia sinensis L.) influenced by organic and inorganic amendments.

Field experiment was carried out for four years in mature tea (Camellia sinensis L.) growing plot to investigate the impacts of different doses of inorganic and organic fertilizers on aluminium (Al) distribution pattern in soil and different parts of tea plant, leaf pigment concentration, gas exchange parameters, as well as the yield of tea. Results indicated that application of 6 × 10 kg compost ha significantly increased the dry matter yields of tea.

Community-led data collection using Open Data Kit for surveillance of animal African trypanosomiasis in Shimba hills, Kenya.

Objective: In Sub-Saharan Africa, there is an increase in trypanosome non-susceptibility to multiple trypanocides, but limited information on judicious trypanocide use is accessible to smallholder farmers and agricultural stakeholders in disease endemic regions, resulting in widespread multi-drug resistance. Huge economic expenses and the laborious nature of extensive field studies have hindered collection of the requisite large-scale prospective datasets required to inform disease management. We examined the efficacy of community-led data collection strategies using smartphones by smallholder farmers to acquire robust datasets from the trypanosomiasis endemic Shimba hills region in Kenya.

Inside the plant: addressing bacterial endophytes in biotic stress alleviation.

Bacterial endophytes are the internal association of bacteria with the plants, cherished whole or any part of their life cycle inside the plant. They are reported to improve plant health against the biotic stresses via de novo synthesis of structural compounds and stimulation of plant immunity. They are found to be vital in development of host resistance against phytopathogens and capable in reducing and elimination of deleterious effects of plant pathogens.

Biocontrol of and Mycotoxins in Africa: Benefits and Limitations.

Fungal contamination and the consequent mycotoxin production is a hindrance to food and feed safety, international trade and human and animal health. In Africa, fungal contamination by and is heightened by tropical climatic conditions that create a suitable environment for pre- and postharvest mycotoxin production. The biocontrol of and its associated fusariotoxins has stagnated at laboratory and experimental levels with species of , and atoxigenic being tested as the most promising candidates.

Integrating pharmacophore mapping, virtual screening, density functional theory, molecular simulation towards the discovery of novel apolipoprotein (apoE ε4) inhibitors.

Aim: An integrated protocol of virtual screening involving molecular docking, pharmacophore probing, and simulations was established to identify small novel molecules targeting crucial residues involved in the variant apoE ε4 to mimic its behavior as apoE2 thereby eliminating the amyloid plaque accumulation and facilitating its clearance.

Materials And Methods: An excellent ligand-based and structure-based approach was made to identify common pharmacophoric features involving structure-based docking with respect to apoE ε4 leading to the development of apoE ε4 inhibitors possessing new scaffolds. An effort was made to design multiple-substituted triazine derivatives series bearing a novel scaffold.

Few Plasmodium falciparum merozoite ligand and erythrocyte receptor pairs show evidence of balancing selection.

Erythrocyte surface proteins have been identified as receptors of Plasmodium falciparum merozoite proteins. The ligand-receptor interactions enable the parasite to invade human erythrocytes, initiating the clinical symptoms of malaria. These interactions are likely to have had an evolutionary impact on the genes that encode the ligand and receptor proteins.

Modelling appropriate use of trypanocides to restrict wide-spread multi-drug resistance during chemotherapy of animal African trypanosomiasis.

Trypanocide resistance remains a huge challenge in the management of animal African trypanosomiasis. Paucity of data on the prevalence of multi-drug resistant trypanosomes has greatly hindered optimal veterinary management practices. We use mathematical model predictions to highlight appropriate drug regimens that impede trypanocide resistance development in cattle.

Importance of human demographic history knowledge in genetic studies involving multi-ethnic cohorts.

Paucity of data from African populations due to under-representation in human genetic studies has impeded detailed understanding of the heritable human genome variation. This is despite the fact that Africa has sizeable genetic, cultural and linguistic diversity. There are renewed efforts to understand health problems relevant to African populations using more comprehensive datasets, and by improving expertise in health-related genomics among African scientists.

Transmission and Age Impact the Risk of Developing Febrile Malaria in Children with Asymptomatic Plasmodium falciparum Parasitemia.

Background: Plasmodium falciparum infections lead to febrile illness unless the host has sufficient immunity, in which case infection may cause no immediate symptoms (ie, "asymptomatic parasitemia"). Previous studies are conflicting on the role of asymptomatic parasitemia in determining the risk of developing febrile malaria.

Methods: We monitored 2513 children (living in Kilifi, Kenyan Coast) by blood smears in 17 cross-sectional surveys to identify asymptomatic parasitemia and used active surveillance over 11325 child-years of follow-up to detect febrile malaria.

Proteases and Their Inhibitors in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

In the context of respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Despite much development in the area of drug development, currently there are no effective medicines available for the treatment of this disease. An imbalance in the protease: Antiprotease ratio in the COPD lung remains an important aspect of COPD pathophysiology and several studies have shown the efficacy of antiprotease therapy in both in vitro and in vivo COPD models.

Biogenic synthesis of gold nanoparticles and their application in photocatalytic degradation of toxic dyes.

Plants and their extracts play an important role in the green synthesis of nanoparticles mainly because of their environmental benignity. Based on plant extracts number of metal nanoparticles have been synthesized. In our study, we report a green technique for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles using the aqueous extracts of Alpinia nigra leaves and their photocatalytic activities.

Peripheral blood RNA gene expression in children with pneumococcal meningitis: a prospective case-control study.

Introduction: Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD), caused by is a leading cause of pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia worldwide, with increased morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected children.

Objectives: We aimed to compare peripheral blood expression profiles between HIV-infected and uninfected children with pneumococcal meningitis and controls, and between survivors and non-survivors, in order to provide insight into the host inflammatory response leading to poorer outcomes.

Design And Setting: Prospective case-control observational study in a tertiary hospital in Malawi.

Mining and comparative survey of EST-SSR markers among members of Euphorbiaceae family.

Euphorbiaceae represents flowering plants family of tropical and sub-tropical region rich in secondary metabolites of economic importance. To understand and assess the genetic makeup among the members, this study was undertaken to characterize and compare SSR markers from publicly available ESTs and GSSs of nine selected species of the family. Mining of SSRs was performed by MISA, primer designing by Primer3, while functional annotation, gene ontology (GO) and enrichment analysis were performed by Blast2GO.

Therapeutic potentials of Houttuynia cordata Thunb. against inflammation and oxidative stress: A review.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Houttuynia cordata Thunb. (Family: Saururaceae) is an herbaceous perennial plant that grows in moist and shady places. The plant is well known among the people of diverse cultures across Japan, Korea, China and North-East India for its medicinal properties.

Anti-Proliferative Activities of Vasicinone on Lung Carcinoma Cells Mediated via Activation of Both Mitochondria-Dependent and Independent Pathways.

Vasicinone, a quinazoline alkaloid from Nees. is well known for its bronchodilator activity. However its anti-proliferative activities is yet to be elucidated.

Evaluation of fimC and bdha based duplex PCR for specific identification and differentiation of Burkholderia pseudomallei from near-neighbor Burkholderia species.

Assays for the rapid detection and accurate differentiation of Burkholderia pseudomallei from near-neighbor species are urgently needed in melioidosis endemic regions due to the high associated mortality and biowarfare importance of the pathogen. PCR-based methods have revolutionized this field due to the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity that are achievable in a rapid way. In this study, a compound molecular detection system, consisting of a duplex PCR assay, was developed for the specific identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei and differentiation from other Burkholderia species.