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At present, multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria have become widespread worldwide, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates in bacterial infections. Again, as there is practically no new antimicrobial agent in the pipeline, this will create a threat to humanity for their survival. In this study, we explored the possible antimicrobial action of ethanolic extract of a typical plant of West Bengal, Nardostachys jatamansi, against MDR and American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) strain bacteria. Antimicrobial activities of Nardostachys jatamansi ethanol extract were studied by disc diffusion technique, and then minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination was done by serial dilution in Mueller Hinton broth. Ethanolic extract of Nardostachys jatamansi showed antimicrobial activities with MIC varied between 2.77- 5.82 mg/mL in both MDR and ATCC bacteria. Ethanolic extract of Nardostachys jatamansi is an effective antimicrobial agent on MDR bacteria and may help save the lives of many critically ill patients.

Introduction: Globally, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is considered as highly precise and accurate method of radiotherapy planning. This technique amplifies spatial dose distribution conformity by modulating the intensity of radiation beams in each sub-volume. Additionally, it can reduces the dose to surrounding critical organs and deliver the planned dose to targets with the nominal risk of side effects. Material and Methods: In this study, 13 patients with head and neck cancer were randomly taken for analysis. The IMRT and Rapid Arc plans were generated for each case in the Eclipse treatment planning system, version 11.0. There were seven to nine beams deployed in IMRT plan, while Rapid Arc plans were performed using two arcs with opposite direction of rotation. Portal dosimetry plans were created and analyzed before executing the plan on the patient. Results: The mean of V95%(Target’s volume covered by 95% isodose line)was 97.89% and 97.47% for Rapid Arc and IMRT plans, respectively. Moreover, mean standard deviations were found 1.93 and 1.70 in Rapid Arc and IMRT plans, respectively. The mean gamma index was97.55% and 98.43% in Rapid Arc and IMRT, respectively. Conclusion: IMRT technique was slightly better in the treatment of head and neck cancer compared to the Rapid Arc method. The only advantage of Rapid Arc was saving the treatment time by two to three times on an average compared with IMRT. It is prudent to use IMRT technique in head and neck cancer treatment.

The present article reports the complete draft genome annotation of earthworm Eisenia fetida, obtained from the manuscript entitled “Timing and Scope of Genomic Expansion within Annelida: Evidence from Homeoboxes in the Genome of the Earthworm E. fetida” (Zwarycz et al., 2015) and provides the data on the repetitive elements, protein coding genes and noncoding RNAs present in the genome dataset of the species. The E. fetida protein coding genes were predicted from AUGUSTUS gene prediction and subsequently annotated based on their sequence similarity, Gene Ontology (GO) functional terms, InterPro domains, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COGs) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathways information. The genome wide comparison of orthologous clusters and phylogenomic analysis of the core genes were performed to understand the events of genome evolution and genomic diversity between E. fetida and its related metazoans. In addition, the genome dataset was screened to identify the crucial stem cell markers, regeneration specific genes and immune-related genes and their functionally enriched GO terms were predicted from Fisher׳s enrichment analysis. The E. fetida genome annotation data containing the GFF (general feature format) annotation file, predicted coding gene sequences and translated protein sequences were deposited to the figshare repository under the DOI: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6142322.v1. Keywords: Eisenia fetida, Genome annotation, Orthologous groups, Regeneration

Bacillus species 062011 msu is a harmful pathogenic strain responsible for causing abscessation in sheep and goat population studied by Mariappan et al. (2012) [1]. The organism specifically targets the female sheep and goat population and results in the reduction of milk and meat production. In the present study, we have performed the whole genome sequencing of the pathogenic isolate using the Ion Torrent sequencing platform and generated 458,944 raw reads with an average length of 198.2 bp. The genome sequence was assembled, annotated and analysed for the genetic islands, metabolic pathways, orthologous groups, virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes associated with the pathogen. Simultaneously the 16S rRNA sequencing study and genome sequence comparison data confirmed that the strain belongs to the species Bacillus cereus and exhibits 99% sequence homo;logy with the genomes of B. cereus ATCC 10987 and B. cereus FRI-35. Hence, we have renamed the organism as Bacillus cereus 062011msu. The Whole Genome Shotgun (WGS) project has been deposited at DDBJ/ENA/GenBank under the accession NTMF00000000 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA404036(SAMN07629099)). Keywords: Bacillus cereus, Genome sequencing, Abscessation, Virulence factors

Cardiac glycosides are natural sterols and constitute a group of secondary metabolites isolated from plants and animals. These cardiotonic agents are well recognized and accepted in the treatment of various cardiac diseases as they can increase the rate of cardiac contractions by acting on the cellular sodium potassium ATPase pump. However, a growing number of recent efforts were focused on exploring the antitumor and antiviral potential of these compounds. Several reports suggest their antitumor properties and hence, today cardiac glycosides (CG) represent the most diversified naturally derived compounds strongly recommended for the treatment of various cancers. Mutated or dysregulated transcription factors have also gained prominence as potential therapeutic targets that can be selectively targeted. Thus, we have explored the recent advances in CGs mediated cancer scope and have considered various signaling pathways, molecular aberration, transcription factors (TFs), and oncogenic genes to highlight potential therapeutic targets in cancer management.

In annelid worms, the nerve cord serves as a crucial organ to control the sensory and behavioral physiology. The inadequate genome resource of earthworms has prioritized the comprehensive analysis of their transcriptome dataset to monitor the genes express in the nerve cord and predict their role in the neurotransmission and sensory perception of the species. The present study focuses on identifying the potential transcripts and predicting their functional features by annotating the transcriptome dataset of nerve cord tissues prepared by Gong et al., 2010 from the earthworm Eisenia fetida. Totally 9762 transcripts were successfully annotated against the NCBI nr database using the BLASTX algorithm and among them 7680 transcripts were assigned to a total of 44,354 GO terms. The conserve domain analysis indicated the over representation of P-loop NTPase domain and calcium binding EF-hand domain. The COG functional annotation classified 5860 transcript sequences into 25 functional categories. Further, 4502 contig sequences were found to map with 124 KEGG pathways. The annotated contig dataset exhibited 22 crucial neuropeptides having considerable matches to the marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii, suggesting their possible role in neurotransmission and neuromodulation. In addition, 108 human stem cell marker homologs were identified including the crucial epigenetic regulators, transcriptional repressors and cell cycle regulators, which may contribute to the neuronal and segmental regeneration. The complete functional annotation of this nerve cord transcriptome can be further utilized to interpret genetic and molecular mechanisms associated with neuronal development, nervous system regeneration and nerve cord function.

Aims: The aim of the present study is to investigate the association between polymorphism of cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) enzyme with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and response in patients receiving cisplatin-based radical chemoradiation (CT-RT). Materials and Methods: Four hundred and sixty patients suffering from locally advanced HNSCC and an equal number of healthy controls were genotyped for CYP2C9FNx012 and CYP2C9FNx013, leading to poor metabolizers (PMs) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Each case was assessed thoroughly for treatment response as per the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Results and Analysis: The frequency of heterozygous genotypes of both CYP2C9FNx012 (27.8%) and CYP2C9FNx013 (25%) were found to be significantly higher in the HNSCC cases as compared to the healthy controls. Tobacco intake in the form of chewing or smoking and alcohol intake resulted in several folds increase in the risk to HNSCC in the cases carrying variant genotypes of CYP2C9FNx012 or CYP2C9FNx013. Further, majority of the cases assessed for response (n = 436) carrying variant alleles of CYP2C9FNx012 (69.6%) or CYP2C9FNx013 (65.2%) were found to respond poorly to cisplatin-based radical CT-RT. Conclusion: The data suggests a significant association of the CYP2C9 polymorphism with HNSCC and treatment outcome underlining the importance of pretherapeutic genotyping in determining the treatment protocol.

Malignant astrocytomas of the brain carry a poor prognosis. This article traces the evolution of radiotherapy and chemotherapy practice including the development of concurrent chemo-radiation schedules in the context of these tumors.

The liquified natural gas (LNG) is currently considered an attractive marine fuel in the short- to medium-terms that can lead to the reduction of the shipping industry carbon emissions. LNG fuelled ocean-going ships have been designed by employing either low-pressure or high-pressure fuel systems. This study aims at enhancing the safety of a high-pressure fuel gas supply system (FGSS) designed for ocean-going LNG fuelled vessels. A model-based safety analysis is performed by employing the MADe™ software. The functional model of the baseline design of the investigated system is developed and subsequently employed to carry out the Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), as well as the quantitative Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). FMECA provided the risk priority number (RPN) for the identified system failure scenarios, the analysis of which leads to the identification of the FGSS critical components. The FTA results, which include the probabilities of the selected top events and appropriate importance metrics, are used for the FMECA results verification. This study results demonstrate that the FGSS critical components include the process valves responsible for supplying either LNG or natural gas to the gas treatment system and consumers respectively, as well as the pressure feedback controllers. Recommendations for design alterations pertain to the addition of pressure sensors and redundancy of the identified critical system components. The derived results demonstrate that impact of these design alterations on the calculated safety metrics are quite considerable, thus enhancing the safety of the baseline design. This study contributes to the safety analysis of FGGS and supports decisions for the designer and operator of LNG fuelled ships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immense pressure to decarbonise the maritime industry has led to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) uptake as a marine fuel and the LNG fuelled ships design. As LNG is stored in cryogenic conditions, the heat ingress from the ambient causes the boil-off gas (BOG) production, which, if not controlled, results in the tank overpressure with implications on the fuel storage system safe operation. This study aims at investigating an LNG storage tank behaviour for realistic operating conditions of an LNG fuelled ocean-going ship, targeting to identify the recommended control actions for avoiding tank overpressure. A dynamic model is developed by considering the mass and energy conservation in the liquid and vapour subsystems, the energy conservation in the tank walls, the vapour to liquid equilibrium (VLE), and real gas properties. Following the model validation for a holding test, simulation runs were performed for various operating conditions corresponding to typical long and short voyages of the investigated ship. The simulation results demonstrate that a boil-off gas (BOG) compressor capacity of 450 kg/h along with its on/off control setting the upper and lower limits of the tank absolute pressure at 5.5 and 4 bar leads to tank overpressure avoidance and the minimum number of BOG compressor activations. • Dynamic modelling of storage tanks of LNG fuelled ships. • Scenarios representing realistic conditions of typical voyages are investigated. • To prevent overpressure, boil-off compressor capacity of 450 kg/h is required. • Tank pressure on/off control upper/lower limits were found 5.5/4 bar (abs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]