Challenges in culture-negative cases of Madurella mycetomatis: A case report re-accentuating PCR as an essential diagnostic tool.

Identification of dematiaceous fungi responsible for black-grain mycetoma has remained cumbersome and time consuming for years leading to delayed diagnosis and thereby increased agony to patients. Moreover, difficult morphology of some of these fungi demanding enough expertise for species identification in addition to culture-negativity has often led to misdiagnosis and hence inapt treatment to the patients. We report the identification of Madurella mycetomatis from culture-negative black granules discharged from foot nodular lesions of a 27 years old male using PCR followed by sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region.

Constructed wetlands and solar-driven disinfection technologies for sustainable wastewater treatment and reclamation in rural India: SWINGS project.

SWINGS was a cooperation project between the European Union and India, aiming at implementing state of the art low-cost technologies for the treatment and reuse of domestic wastewater in rural areas of India. The largest wastewater treatment plant consists of a high-rate anaerobic system, followed by vertical and horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands with a treatment area of around 1,900 m and a final step consisting of solar-driven anodic oxidation (AO) and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection units allowing direct reuse of the treated water. The implementation and operation of two pilot plants in north (Aligarh Muslim University, AMU) and central India (Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, IGNTU) are shown in this study.

Controllable Moderate Heating Enhances the Therapeutic Efficacy of Irreversible Electroporation for Pancreatic Cancer.

Irreversible electroporation (IRE) as a non-thermal tumor ablation technology has been studied for the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma and has shown a significant survival benefit. We discovered that moderate heating (MH) at 43 °C for 1-2 minutes significantly enhanced ex vivo IRE tumor ablation of Pan02 cells by 5.67-fold at 750 V/cm and by 1.

Evidence of vanillin binding to CAMKIV explains the anti-cancer mechanism in human hepatic carcinoma and neuroblastoma cells.

Human calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CAMKIV) is a member of Ser/Thr kinase family, and is associated with different types of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Vanillin is a natural compound, a primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean which possesses varieties of pharmacological features including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-tumor. Here, we have investigated the binding mechanism and affinity of vanillin to the CAMKIV which is being considered as a potential drug target for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

Evolutionary Insights Based on SNP Haplotypes of Red Pericarp, Grain Size and Starch Synthase Genes in Wild and Cultivated Rice.

The origin and domestication of rice has been a subject of considerable debate in the post-genomic era. Rice varieties have been categorized based on isozyme and DNA markers into two broad cultivar groups, Indica and Japonica. Among other well-known cultivar groups Aus varieties are closer to Indica and Aromatic varieties including Basmati are closer to Japonica, while deep-water rice varieties share kinship to both Indica and Japonica cultivar groups.

Influence of polymethyl acrylate additive on the formation of particulate matter and NO emission of a biodiesel-diesel-fueled engine.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the polymethyl acrylate (PMA) additive on the formation of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxide (NO) emission from a diesel coconut and/or Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel-fueled engine. The physicochemical properties of 20% of coconut and/or C. inophyllum biodiesel-diesel blend (B20), 0.

Recent insights into synthetic β-carbolines with anti-cancer activities.

Cancer, an uncontrolled and rapid proliferation of abnormal cells, has become one of the leading cause of death worldwide. The development of resistance among the numerous drugs in clinical use has provided strong impetus for the identification and development of novel cancer therapeutics. β-carbolines constitute an important class of pharmacologically active scaffolds known to exert their anticancer activities via diverse mechanisms.

Sliding mode controller with modified sliding function for DC-DC Buck Converter.

This article presents design of Sliding Mode Controller with proportional integral type sliding function for DC-DC Buck Converter for the controlled power supply. The converter with conventional sliding mode controller results in a steady state error in load voltage. The proposed modified sliding function improves the steady state and dynamic performance of the Convertor and facilitates better choices of controller tuning parameters.

Insight Mechanism of the Selective Lanosterol Synthase Inhibitor: Molecular Modeling, Docking and Density Functional Theory Approaches.

Background: Lanosterol synthase (Oxidosqualene cyclase) is an enzyme, which plays a central role in cholesterol and sterols biosynthesis. Lanosterol synthase drugs are used to lower the level of cholesterol in the blood and treat wide variety of diseases like atherosclerosis, coronary heart diseases etc.

Objective: There is a great interest in the identification of drugs that target this enzyme for anticholesteraemic agent using in silico tools.

Bioinformatics analysis of the prognostic value of Tripartite Motif 28 in breast cancer.

Tripartite motif containing 28 (TRIM28) is a transcriptional regulator acting as an essential corepressor for Krüppel-associated box zinc finger domain-containing proteins in multiple tissue and cell types. An increasing number of studies have investigated the function of TRIM28; however, its prognostic value in breast cancer (BC) remains unclear. In the present study, the expression of TRIM28 was identified to be significantly higher in cancerous compared with healthy tissue samples.

Implications of molecular diversity of chitin and its derivatives.

Chitin is a long unbranched polysaccharide, made up of β-1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine which forms crystalline fiber-like structure. It is present in the fungal cell walls, insect and crustacean cuticles, nematode eggshells, and protozoa cyst. We provide a critical appraisal on the chemical modifications of chitin and its derivatives in the context of their improved efficacy in medical applications without any side effect.

Binding studies and biological evaluation of β-carotene as a potential inhibitor of human calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV.

Human calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (CAMKIV), a member of Ser/Thr kinase family, is associated with cancer, cerebral hypoxia and neurodegenerative diseases. β-carotene is a colored organic compound, abundant in plants and fruits and is used in cancer prevention. Here, we report a strong binding affinity of β-carotene with CAMKIV using molecular docking, fluorescence binding and isothermal titration calorimetry methods.

Halochromic Isoquinoline with Mechanochromic Triphenylamine: Smart Fluorescent Material for Rewritable and Self-Erasable Fluorescent Platform.

Halochromic isoquinoline attached mechanochromic triphenylamine, N-phenyl-N-(4-(quinolin-2-yl)phenyl)benzenamine (PQPBA) and tris(4-(quinolin-2-yl)phenyl)amine (TQPA), smart fluorescent materials exhibit thermo/mechanochromism and tunable solid state fluorescence and their unusual halochromic response in PMMA matrix have been used for fabricating rewritable and self-erasable fluorescent platforms. PQPBA and TQPA showed strong fluorescence in solution (Φ = 0.9290 (PQPBA) and 0.

Part-2: Analytical Expressions of Concentrations of Glucose, Oxygen, and Gluconic Acid in a Composite Membrane for Closed-Loop Insulin Delivery for the Non-steady State Conditions.

A mathematical model developed by Abdekhodaie and Wu (J Membr Sci 335:21-31, 2009), which describes a dynamic process involving an enzymatic reaction and diffusion of reactants and product inside glucose-sensitive composite membrane has been discussed. This theoretical model depicts a system of non-linear non-steady state reaction diffusion equations. These equations have been solved using new approach of homotopy perturbation method and analytical solutions pertaining to the concentrations of glucose, oxygen, and gluconic acid are derived.

A review on the biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles (gold and silver) using bio-components of microalgae: Formation mechanism and applications.

The synthesis of nanoparticles (NP) using algae has been underexploited and even unexplored. In recent times, there are few reports on the synthesis of NP using algae, which are being used as a bio-factory for the synthesis. Moreover, the algae are a renewable source, so that it could be effectively explored in the green synthesis of NP.

From ZikV genome to vaccine: in silico approach for the epitope-based peptide vaccine against Zika virus envelope glycoprotein.

Zika virus (ZikV) has emerged as a potential threat to human health worldwide. A member of the Flaviviridae, ZikV is transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. It is related to other pathogenic vector-borne flaviviruses including dengue, West Nile and Japanese encephalitis viruses, but produces a comparatively mild disease in humans.

1H-1,2,3-Triazolyl-substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives containing structural features of ibuprofen/naproxen: Their synthesis and antibacterial evaluation.

1H-1,2,3-Triazolyl-substituted 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives containing structural features of ibuprofen/naproxen were synthesized for the first time using a Cu catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) strategy. An optimized reaction condition was established for this purpose and twenty new compounds were synthesized using this methodology. Several of these compounds showed good to reasonable antibacterial activities when tested against three gram-positive and three gram-negative species.

Data on Heavy metal in coastal sediments from South East Coast of Tamilnadu, India using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) Technique.

This article contains the chemical and geographical data and figures for the chemical data in sediments of East Coast (Pattipulam to Dhevanampattinam) of Tamilnadu. The obtained data are related to the research article "Heavy Metal Assessment in Sediment Samples Collected From Pattipulam to Dhevanampattinam along the East Coast of Tamil Nadu Using EDXRF Technique" (Chandramohan et al., 2016) [1].

Ergonomics for enhancing detection of machine abnormalities.

Background: Detecting abnormal machine conditions is of great importance in an autonomous maintenance environment. Ergonomic aspects can be invaluable when detection of machine abnormalities using human senses is examined.

Objectives: This research outlines the ergonomic issues involved in detecting machine abnormalities and suggests how ergonomics would improve such detections.

Groundwater fluoride contamination and its possible health implications in Indi taluk of Vijayapura District (Karnataka State), India.

Groundwater fluoride concentration and fluoride-related health problems were studied in twenty-two villages of Indi taluk of Vijayapura district, Karnataka, India. Present study (2015) was also used to compare groundwater fluoride concentration in same 22 villages with previous government report (2000). Groundwater fluoride concentrations of 62 bore wells of 22 villages were analyzed by using an ion-sensitive electrode.

Control Strategies for the DAB Based PV Interface System.

This paper presents an interface system based on the Dual Active Bridge (DAB) converter for Photovoltaic (PV) arrays. Two control strategies are proposed for the DAB converter to harvest the maximum power from the PV array. The first strategy is based on a simple PI controller to regulate the terminal PV voltage through the phase shift angle of the DAB converter.

Sol-gel synthesis of thorn-like ZnO nanoparticles endorsing mechanical stirring effect and their antimicrobial activities: Potential role as nano-antibiotics.

The effect of mechanical stirring on sol-gel synthesis of thorn-like ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) and antimicrobial activities is successfully reported in this study. The in-house synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, TGA, DSC and UV-visible spectroscopy. The X-Ray Diffraction analysis revealed the wurtzite crystal lattice for ZnO-NPs with no impurities present.

Laser capture microdissection tailored to type 1 diabetes mellitus research.

RNA isolation from pancreatic islets poses unique challenges. Here, we present a reproducible means of obtaining high-quality RNA from juvenile rodent islets in sufficient quantities for use in ex vivo expression studies. Tissue was extracted from female non-obese diabetic (NOD) toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3)(+/+) and (TLR3)(-/-) mice in the pre-diabetic stage.

INVESTIGATION OF THERMOLUMINESCENCE CHARACTERISTICS OF Y2O3:Er3+ NANOPHOSPHORS.

Thermoluminescence (TL) characteristics of Y2O3:Er3+ nanophosphor exposed to UV radiations were investigated. Combustion synthesis method was employed to synthesise the nanophosphors. The confirmation for the pure cubic phase was done by powder X-ray diffraction.