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The effect of persistence length on the intermolecular binding of DNA (200 bp, persistence length l(p) = 50 nm, polyanion) with three proteins, gelatin B (GB) (l(p) = 2 nm, polyampholyte chain), bovine serum albumin (BSA) (l(p) = 7 nm, polyampholyte colloid), gelatin A (GA) (l(p) = 10 nm, polyampholyte chain), and a polysaccharide chitosan (l(p) = 17 nm, polycation), was investigated in aqueous and in 1-methyl-3-octyl imidazolium chloride ionic liquid ([C8mim][Cl]) solutions. In DNA-GB and DNA-BSA solutions complexation primarily arises from surface patch binding whereas DNA-chitosan and DNA-GA binding was predominantly governed by electrostatic forces. These occurred at well defined pH values: (i) at pHc associative interactions ensued and soluble complexes were formed, (ii) at pHΦ soluble complexes coalesced to give rise to liquid-liquid phase separation (coacervation) and (iii) at pH(prep) formation of large insoluble complexes drove the solution towards liquid-solid phase separation. A universal phase diagram encapsulating the aforesaid interactions can be made using the persistence length of polyion as an independent variable. DNA formed overcharged intermolecular complexes with all these polyions when the polyion concentration was more than the concentration required to produce charge neutralized complexes (disproportionate binding). In IL solutions maximum binding occurred when 0.075 < [IL] < 0.10% (w/v) and the effect of overcharging was substantially screened. The extent of overcharge was a monotonous increasing function of the polyion persistence length. Results clearly revealed that DNA-polyion binding was hierarchical in polyion concentration and persistence length. Overcharging of the DNA-polyion complex was found to be ubiquitous for the polyions used in the present study.

Hyperdontia is the condition of having supernumerary teeth, or teeth which appear in addition to the regular number of teeth. It is a developmental anomaly and has been argued to arise from multiple aetiologies. The most common site is the maxillary incisor region; but the prevalence of more than three teeth supernumerary tooth is less than 1%. A case of 13 year male patient is reported with a multiple impacted supernumerary tooth in maxillary anterior region hindering the eruption of right permanent central incisor. The supernumerary tooth was treated via surgical approach followed by an interim prosthesis for permanent central incisor which later on erupted in due course of time. Background Supernumerary teeth may be defined as any teeth or tooth substance in excess of the usual configuration of 20 deciduous and 32 permanent teeth. The presence of supernumerary teeth in the premaxillary region often poses unique diagnostic and managerial concerns for the practitioner. Rarely is the surplus number compensated by an absence or deficiency of other teeth. Therefore, the dysfunctional nature of supernumerary teeth and their ability to create a variety of pathological disturbances in the normal eruption and position of adjacent teeth warrants their early detection and prudent management. Approximately 76-86% of cases represent single-tooth hyperdontia, with two supernumerary teeth noted in 12-23% and three or more extra teeth noted in less than 1% of cases. Multiple supernumerary teeth are also associated with many syndromes like cleidocranial dysplasia and Gardner’s syndrome etc. However, it is rare to find multiple supernumeraries in individuals with no other associated disease or syndrome. In such cases, the maxillary anterior region is the common site of occurrence. The exact aetiology is not clearly understood. The supernumerary teeth result from any disturbance in the initiation and proliferation stages of odontogenesis. There are several theories regarding the development of a supernumerary tooth-phylogenetic reversion (atavism) theory, dichotomy of tooth germ theory and hyperactivity of the dental lamina. The latter being the most accepted theory, states that the remnants of dental lamina or palatal offshoots of active dental lamina are induced to develop into an extra tooth bud, which results in the formation of a supernumerary tooth. Genetics is also considered to contribute to the development of supernumerary teeth, as these have been diagnosed in twins, siblings and sequential generations of a family. Classification of supernumerary teeth may be on the basis of position or form. Positional variations include mesiodens, paramolars, distomolars and parapremolars. Variations in form consist of conical types, tuberculate types, supplemental teeth and odontomes. Supernumerary teeth may, therefore, vary from a simple odontome, through a conical or tuberculate tooth to a supplemental tooth which closely resembles a normal tooth. Also, the site and number of supernumeraries can vary greatly. This report presents a case of a non-syndromic male patient with multiple supernumerary teeth and a permanent impacted tooth in the maxillary anterior region.

Coronary artery anomalies may involve the origin, course, and structure of epicardial coronary arteries and occur in less than 1% of the general population. Clinical presentation ranges from being completely asymptomatic to sudden death. Multi-detector computed tomography has come a long way in the diagnosis of coronary artery anomalies since the introduction of 4 rows of detectors in scanners, considering its non invasive nature and the benefits of 3D reconstruction. Defining the coronary anatomy helps in clinical decision making and timely intervention. Since repeated angiographies may be required, low dose CT is an excellent investigation for diagnosis and post interventional follow up rather than repeated invasive catheter angiographies or high dose CT examination. We report two cases of clinically significant single coronary artery anomalies; a case of single Right coronary artery and another case of single Left coronary artery (Anomaly of origin & course).

The traditional biological aerobic treatment of domestic wastewater only reduces the pathogen load, biological oxygen demand (BOD), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) to some extent. Irradiation with electrons to 1kGy alone was found to be sufficient to eliminate all the pathogens, but no significant reduction in COD and BOD was observed. However, electron irradiation to 1kGy followed by the biological treatment resulted in more complete and faster reduction in the pathogen count, COD, and BOD than the biological treatment alone., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Study of kinetics of complex coacervation occurring in aqueous 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ionic liquid solution of low charge density polypeptide (gelatin A) and 200 base pair DNA, and thermally activated coacervate into anisotropic gel transition, is reported here. Associative interaction between DNA and gelatin A (GA) having charge ratio (DNA:GA = 16:1) and persistence length ratio (5:1) was studied at fixed DNA (0.005% (w/v)) and varying GA concentration (C(GA) = 0-0.25% (w/v)). The interaction profile was found to be strongly hierarchical and revealed three distinct binding regions: (i) Region I showed DNA-condensation (primary binding) for C(GA) < 0.10% (w/v), the DNA ζ potential decrease from -80 to -5 mV (95%) (partial charge neutralization), and a size decrease by ≈60%. (ii) Region II (0.10 < C(GA) < 0.15% (w/v)) indicated secondary binding, a 4-fold turbidity increase, a ζ potential decrease from -5 to 0 mV (complete charge neutralization), which resulted in the appearance of soluble complexes and initiation of coacervation. (iii) Region III (0.15 < C(GA) < 0.25% (w/v)) revealed growth of insoluble complexes followed by precipitation. The hydration of coacervate was found to be protein concentration specific in Raman studies. The binding profile of DNA-GA complex with IL concentration revealed optimum IL concentration (=0.05% (w/v)) was required to maximize the interactions. Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) data of coacervates gave static structure factor profiles, I(q) versus wave vector q, that were remarkably similar and invariant of protein concentration. This data could be split into two distinct regions: (i) for 0.0173 < q < 0.0353 Å(-1), I(q) ~ q(-α) with α = 1.35-1.67, and (ii) for 0.0353 < q < 0.35 Å(-1), I(q) = I(0)/(1 + q(2)ξ(2)). The correlation length found was ξ = 2 ± 0.1 nm independent of protein concentration. The viscoelastic length (≈8 nm) was found to have value close to the persistence length of the protein (≈10 nm). Rheology data indicated that the coacervate phase resided close to the gelation state of the protein. Thus, on a heating-cooling cycle (heating to 50 °C followed by cooling to 20 °C), the heterogeneous coacervate exhibited an irreversible first-order phase transition to an anisotropic ion gel. This established a coacervate-ion gel phase diagram having a well-defined UCST.

This study reports pH dependent stability of protein dispersions of five common proteins, bovine serum albumin (BSA), human serum albumin (HSA), immunoglobulin (IgG), β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg), and gelatin-B (Gel-B), all having isoelectric pH, pI ≈ 5, in room temperature ionic liquid solutions of 1-methyl-3-alkyl (hexyl/octyl) imidazolium chloride (concentration 0-0.2% w/v). Molecular hydrophobicity index, (H-index = hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity) of these molecules spanned the range 0.43-0.87. Electrophoretic characteristics, surface tension data and hydrodynamic size information revealed that IL solutions provide dispersion stability owing to specific protein-IL binding which did not alter their pI values though their surface charge was considerably screened. Change in maximum (ζ(max)) and minimum (ζ(min)) zeta potential values observed at pH ~3 (maximum protonated state) and pH ~8 (maximum deprotonated state) could be described universally as function of IL concentration, c as Δζ(x) = [1 - exp(-ac)] where Δζ(x) is either |(ζ(max) - ζ(w))|/ζ(w) or |(ζ(min) - ζ(w))|/ζ(w), and ζ(w) is the corresponding value in water. Tensiometry data showed two major stages of protein-IL interactions: (i) for c < cmc of IL, the IL molecules selectively bind with imidazolium cation through electrostatic forces forming protein-IL (complex) and (ii) for c> cmc free IL-aggregates begin to form. Similarly, we can define Δγ(x) as either |(γ(max) - γ(w))|/γ(w) at pH 3 or |(γ(min) - γ(w))|/γ(w) at pH 8. Both Δζ(x) and Δγ(x) showed linear dependence with c, Δγ(min, max) (or Δζ(min, max)) = (1 - K(γ) (or K(ζ)) H-index), where the slopes K(ζ) and K(γ) defined intermolecular interactions. Hydrodynamic radii data revealed protein stabilization, circular dichroism spectra implied retention of secondary structures, and Raman spectra confirmed a marginal increase in water structure. Results concluded that selective binding of IL molecules to protein surface in the form of bilayer screen protein surface charge, thereby, contributing to its dispersion stability.

The decoloration and degradation of aqueous solution of the reactive azo dye viz. Reactive Red-120 (RR-120) was carried out by electron beam irradiation. The change in decoloration percentage, removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC), solution pH and five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD(5)) were investigated with respect to the applied dose. However, the concentration of the dye in the solution showed a great influence on all these observables. During the radiolysis process, it was found that the decoloration of dye was caused by the destruction of the chromophore group of the dye molecule, whereas COD and TOC removal were depended on the extent of mineralization of the dye. The decrease in pH during the radiolysis process indicated the fragmentation of the large dye molecule into smaller organic components mostly like smaller organic acids. The BOD(5)/COD ratio of the unirradiated dye solution was in the range of 0.1-0.2, which could be classified as non-biodegradable wastewater. However, the BOD(5)/COD ratio increased upon irradiation and it indicated the transformation of non-biodegradable dye solution into biodegradable solution. This study showed that electron beam irradiation could be a promising method for treatment of textile wastewater containing RR-120 dye., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

When mammalian cells experience DNA damaging stress, they block DNA replication to avoid erroneous replication of the damaged template. The cells that are unable to respond to DNA damage continue faulty DNA replication that results in incorporation of genomic lesions. To understand the regulation of replication machinery during stress, systemic studies have been carried out but they have been restricted to the evaluation of the mRNA levels and therefore have not been able to identify post-transcriptional changes, vital for immediate blocking of the progressing DNA replication. We have recently discovered that an essential replication factor is downregulated by radiation stress. In this study, we have carried out a systematic evaluation of protein levels of entire replication apparatus after different types of DNA damage. We report that, independent of the status of p53 and retinoblastoma protein, mammalian cells choose targets that are essential for prereplication, preinitiation, and elongation phases of replication. We imposed different kinds of stress to discern whether similar or unique responses are invoked, and we propose a model for inhibition of replication machinery in which mammalian cells target specific essential replication factors based on the experienced stress.

Objective: To compare the incidence and detect the volume of fetomaternal hemorrhage (FMH) during first-trimester abortion with the Kleihauer-Betke test (KBT) and rise in maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)., Study Design: Blood samples were drawn immediately before and after first-trimester termination of pregnancy in 48 women. AFP was estimated using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technique. Fetal cells were counted using the acid elution technique described by Kleihauer. Volume of FMH with both techniques was calculated using standard formulae. Significant FMH was reported when there was a > 40% rise in AFP or > 0.25 mL bleed detected by KBT., Results: Of the 48 cases studied, 18 (37.5%) showed no indication of FMH by either AFP or KBT. In 30 (62.5%) cases there was evidence of FMH; in 7 (14.6%) this was shown by both AFP and KBT. Another 10 (21%) showed significant changes in AFP concentration only, and 13 (27%) showed abnormal KBT results with stable AFP levels. The incidence of detectable FMH after first-trimester abortion in this series was 35% when assessed by AFP and 42% when assessed by KBT (P > .05). The mean volume of FMH detected by KBT was 0.5+/-0.05 mL and by AFP was 0.01+/-0.02 mL., Conclusion: This study showed that AFP and KBT are equally sensitive methods of detecting the incidence of FMH in first-trimester abortion, but concordance between the 2 tests is poor. The volume of FMH detected by KBT and FMH is also significantly different.