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Bioethics are usually associated with ethical issues that emerge from advances in medical sciences and practices. These basically include the ethical guidelines that should be followed during any research or medical procedure or practice that is to be conducted. The genetic material present in the form of DNA, which encodes guidelines for cellular life, is termed as genome. Genome of many organisms has been sequenced completely and with this genetic manipulation is possible. To characterize and manipulate the genome many techniques and procedures have been developed like Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) and genome editing respectively. Some other techniques that come under the umbrella of functional genomics generate huge amount of data that can be characterized and manipulated according to the requirement. These new procedures and approaches have raised many ethical concerns and issues that are being addressed in this review.

Progression of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is facilitated by an intricate cellular network comprising host genetics and viral factors. Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-6 are the components of host i...

Changes in the climate have dramatically increased the incidence of abiotic stress in plants, thus limiting their optimum growth, production, and metabolism. Plants have numerous adaptive tolerance or resistant mechanisms to acclimatize with the changes in the environment like drought, salinity, heat, flood, cold/freeze, ultraviolet (UV), and heavy metal stress. Plant adaptation to stress is strictly attributed to a paragon of biochemical and molecular crossroads. Moreover, it mainly relies on molecular stress signaling network involving stress perception, signal transduction, modulation of stress-related gene expression, and change in the metabolite profile. Adaptive stress tolerance mechanisms involve adjustment of hormonal balance, synthesis of stress proteins, activation of antioxidant defense mechanism, reconfiguration of the metabolite accumulation, and restructuring of cellular membrane. Apart from innate adaptive responses, several advance strategies including breeding and bioengineering are being used to combat abiotic stresses in the plants. In the given chapter, plant molecular and biochemical responses have been reviewed and discussed with respect to various crop plants to impart better understanding of tolerance mechanisms under abiotic stress.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a multifactorial disease which is complicated by apoptosis resistance. Autophagy is one of the key mechanisms which are involved in the development of resistance to apoptosis as well as to the standard therapies against RA. Aberration in autophagy and apoptosis homeostasis results in the development of oxidative stress thus complicates the pathogenesis of RA. In the given study, tomorou, an indigenous herb of Hunza-Nagar Valley, has been evaluated for its pro-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory, and anti-rheumatic activity. Several major classes of bioactive phytochemicals including steroids, terpenoids, phenols, flavonoids, and essential oils have been detected in the aqueous and ethyl acetate extracts of tomorou through phytochemical analysis. Plant extracts depicted enhanced free radical scavenging activity through di-phenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) assay and ameliorated the symptoms of arthritis in collagen induced arthritic (CIA) mice model. Moreover, the 6 week extract treatment resulted in the reduction of IL-6 serum levels thus making it an effective anti-inflammatory agent. Upregulation of microtubule-associated proteins light chain 3b (LC3b) and downregulation of UNC51-like kinase 1 (ULK-1) in arthritic mice proposed a ULK-1 independent non-canonical autophagy pathway. Treatment with extracts upregulated the expression of caspase 3 which in turn inhibited the activity of LC3b thus altering the autophagy pathway. However, ULK-1 expression was restored to normal in aqueous extract treated group whereas it was upregulated in ethyl acetate extract treated group. On the other hand, a novel LC3b-independent autophagy pathway was observed in mice treated with ethyl acetate extract due to ULK-1 upregulation. Despite of significantly high IL-6 levels, the arthritic symptoms waned off which suggested the participation of IL-6 in LC3b-independent autophagy pathway in the extract prepared in ethyl acetate. Conclusively, the study established pro-apoptotic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic activity of tomorou and suggested an intricate autophagy pathway shift.

Hypersensitivity of the immune system is caused by elevated immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in the serum, in response to a discrete allergen leading to allergic reactions. IgE-mediated inflammation is regulated by the cascade of defense related signaling molecules including interleukin-6 (IL-6) that plays pivotal role in the survival and maturation of mast cells during an allergic reaction. IL-6 mediated defense responses are tightly regulated by Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 (SOCS3), an inhibitory molecules of Janus Kinase-Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (JAK-STAT) signaling, in a negative feedback mechanism. The given study focuses on the assessment of crosstalk between SOCS3 and IL-6 to unravel the molecular significance of SOCS3 and IL-6 in the diagnosis and prognosis of allergy. The expression study of SOCS3 through real-time PCR analysis revealed, a 5.9 mean fold increase in SOCS3 expression in atopic cases in comparison to control cases. Moreover, IL-6 has, also, been found significantly enhanced in the serum level of atopic cases (26.4 pg/ml) as compared to control cases (3.686 pg/ml). Female population was found to be at a higher risk to develop atopic condition than male population as females exhibited higher expression of both SOCS3 and IL-6 than males. Furthermore, the polymorphic study of IL-6 promoter region (IL-6 174-G/C) in atopic population has reasserted the importance of SOCS3 and IL-6 in the diagnosis and prognosis of allergy. Expression of SOCS3 and IL-6 serum levels were found to be highly correlated. Therefore establishing the role of IL-6 (-174-G/C) polymorphism on the expression of SOCS3 and IL-6 in atopic cases. Notably, the study established SOCS3 and IL-6 as potential targets for the diagnosis/prognosis of allergy and for the development of reliable therapeutic strategies to control atopic conditions in the near future.