Search

Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV), one common type of pemphigus, that affects the skin and mucous membranes, produce keratinocyte acantholysis by desmoglein-3 autoantibodies. Many medical conditions, including autoimmune illnesses, have been linked to vitamin D deficiency. Aim of study: To measure vitamin D level of Pemphigus Vulgaris patients and compare that with healthy controls& severity of disease. Material and Methods: Newly diagnosed PV patients (44) were compared to 50 healthy controls in this case-control study on vitamin D levels. At S.C.B. Medical College & Hospital, Odisha, the dermatology department chose all patients over a two-year period (2017-2019). Pemphigus vulgaris lesion severity ratings were used to measure the disease severity. The 25(OH) D levels in the blood were determined using the ECLIA method (Electro chemiluminescence immunoassay) in Cobas e411 analyzer. Analyses of the data included independent t-tests and pearson correlations. Results: Gender, age, and other characteristics of both groups were virtually identical. The study comprised 44 patients (27 females and 17 males) and 50 controls (including 19 men and 31 women). Eighty-six percent of patients had moderate to severe involvement, whereas 11% had minor lesions. Patients had Vitamin D levels of 14.44±9.03, compared to 32.88±15.66 for controls (p

This paper focuses on the effects of heat radiation and chemical reactions on naturally occurring convective MHD flow that conducts electricity when there is an induced magnetic field present between two vertical walls having a porous medium between them. An analytical method is adopted to investigate the impacts of all pertinent parameters concerning the presented multi-physics problem. With the aid of relevant conversions, the nonlinear PDEs are remodeled into nonlinear ODEs.The effects of radiation parameters, Hartmann number, Hall current, chemical reaction and porosity parameters are scrutinized on velocity components, induced magnetic field, and current density. The results predict that the temperature profile decreases as the radiation factor rises, whereas the induced magnetic field would exhibit the opposite pattern. The profiles of component velocity get more intense for high rates of the porosity parameter. Additionally, profiles of induced magnetic field surges with elevated chemical reaction parameter values have been noted. The presented approach is very promising for multi-physics phenomena like chemical reactors and solar thermal devices.

A uni-molecular layer of lipids at air-water interface mimicking one of the leaflets of the cellular membrane provides a simple model to understand the interaction of any foreign molecules with the membrane. Here, the interactions of protein Kalata B1 (KB1) of cyclotide family with the phospholipids 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC), 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-rac-(1-glycerol) sodium salt (DPPG), and 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-ethylphosphocholine chloride salt (DSEPC) have been investigated. The addition of KB1 induces a change in pressure of the lipid monolayers. The characteristic time of the change in pressure is found to be dependent on the electrostatic nature of the lipid. Even though the protein is weakly surface active, it is capable of modifying the phase behavior and elastic properties of lipid monolayers with differences in their strength and nature making the layers more floppy. The KB1-lipid interaction has been quantified by calculating the excess Gibb's free energy of interaction and the 1-anilino-8-naphthalenesulfonate (ANS) binding studies. The interaction with zwitterionic DPPC and negatively charged DPPG lipids are found to be thermodynamically favorable whereas the protein shows a weaker response to positively charged DSEPC lipid. Therefore, the long ranged electrostatic is the initial driving force for the KB1 to recognize and subsequently attach to a cellular membrane. Thereafter, the hydrophobic region of the protein may penetrate into the hydrophobic core of the membrane via specific amino acid residues.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged as a major threat to human, animal, and environment health in the developed as well as the developing nations. The usage of antibiotics outside of the prescribed parameters in both the healthcare and livestock sectors is directly tied to this resistance event. Additionally, several Escherichia coli strains harbor the AMR genes, which can be transferred to humans leading to public health problems. Depending on the type of antibiotics used, E. coli has evolved to prowess several resistance mechanisms. Resistance genes that are horizontally transmissible also encode this resistance mechanism. Different resistance genes for each class of antibiotics are encoded by resistant E. coli. In conclusion, the current chapter ushers light on the molecular evolution of resistance and the regulatory genes contributing to the development of MDR in E. coli. Moreover, we have also discussed about the inappropriate practices of prescribing the antibiotics leading to intensifying the MDR in bacteria envisaging the implementation of rigorous guidelines for proper use of antibiotics in human beings.

Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a disruptive innovation that not only promises to transform every aspect of human activity but is driving revolutions in many fields, including but not limited to: healthcare, finance, agriculture, quality control and retail. For communicating data between connected devices in IoT ecosystem, various data exchange formats are presently in use. Determining the appropriate data format for an application plays a pivotal role in order to ensure efficient communication and reducing overheads. The intent of this literature review is to document and analyse literature relating to data exchange formats. The paper contains a systematic review of several academic research papers focused on performance evaluation and comparison of data formats. We reviewed the predominant data formats used for the purpose of data interchange and discussed the strengths, weaknesses and suitable application areas for the same.

Old yellow enzymes (OYEs) play a critical role in antioxidation, detoxification and ergot alkaloid biosynthesis processes in various organisms. The yeast- and bacteria-like OYEs have been structurally characterized earlier, however, filamentous fungal pathogens possess a novel OYE class, that is, class III, whose biochemical and structural intricacies remain unexplored to date. Here, we present the 1.6 Å X-ray structure of a class III member, OYE 6 from necrotrophic fungus Ascochyta rabiei (ArOYE6), in flavin mononucleotide (FMN)-bound form (PDB ID-7FEV) and provide mechanistic insights into their catalytic capability. We demonstrate that ArOYE6 exists as a monomer in solution, forms (β/α)

Kunitz-type domains are ubiquitously found in natural systems as serine protease inhibitors or animal toxins in venomous animals. Kunitz motif is a cysteine-rich peptide chain of ~ 60 amino acid residues with alpha and beta fold, stabilized by three conserved disulfide bridges. An extensive dataset of amino acid variations is found on sequence analysis of various Kunitz peptides. Kunitz peptides show diverse biological activities like inhibition of proteases of other classes and/or adopting a new function of blocking or modulating the ion channels. Based on the amino acid residues at the functional site of various Kunitz-type inhibitors, it is inferred that this 'flexibility within the structural rigidity' is responsible for multiple biological activities. Accelerated evolution of functional sites in response to the co-evolving molecular targets of the hosts of venomous animals or parasites, gene sharing, and gene duplication have been discussed as the most likely mechanisms responsible for the functional heterogeneity of Kunitz-domain inhibitors.

Clan C1A or &lsquo, papain superfamily&rsquo, cysteine proteases are key players in many important physiological processes and diseases in most living systems. Novel approaches towards the development of their inhibitors can open new avenues in translational medicine. Here, we report a novel design of a re-engineered chimera inhibitor Mco-cysteine protease inhibitor (CPI) to inhibit the activity of C1A cysteine proteases. This was accomplished by grafting the cystatin first hairpin loop conserved motif (QVVAG) onto loop 1 of the ultrastable cyclic peptide scaffold McoTI-II. The recombinantly expressed Mco-CPI protein was able to bind with micromolar affinity to papain and showed remarkable thermostability owing to the formation of multi-disulphide bonds. Using an in silico approach based on homology modelling, protein&ndash, protein docking, the calculation of the free-energy of binding, the mechanism of inhibition of Mco-CPI against representative C1A cysteine proteases (papain and cathepsin L) was validated. Furthermore, molecular dynamics simulation of the Mco-CPI&ndash, papain complex validated the interaction as stable. To conclude, in this McoTI-II analogue, the specificity had been successfully redirected towards C1A cysteine proteases while retaining the moderate affinity. The outcomes of this study pave the way for further modifications of the Mco-CPI design for realizing its full potential in therapeutics. This study also demonstrates the relevance of ultrastable peptide-based scaffolds for the development of novel inhibitors via grafting.

Internet of things (IoT) systems are designed to monitor environmental parameters which are accessible either directly or indirectly through applications via Internet as a global platform. IoT devices are often equipped with limited resources requiring energy-efficient and bandwidth-efficient lightweight protocols for data transmission. Traditional protocols are not suitable for communication in IoT-based applications due to high overhead and complex architecture. The selection of effective messaging protocol highly depends on the type of application and its messaging requirements. This paper presents a broad comparison and practical assessment of the most prominent protocols such as HTTP, MQTT, CoAP, AMQP and WebSocket for IoT. A real test bed has been developed for the experimental evaluation of these protocols based on the major key performance metrics such as overhead and latency. The experimental results reveal that CoAP is the most suitable protocol for the applications having constrained resources as it introduces the least overhead. However, WebSocket is the most suitable for the time critical applications as it takes the least time for communication. The relative analysis of these protocols can help the user to choose an appropriate protocol for their application requirements and suitability.

Cystatins are classical competitive inhibitors of C1 family cysteine proteases (papain family). Phytocystatin superfamily shares high sequence homology and typical tertiary structure with conserved glutamine-valine-glycine (Q-X-V-X-G) loop blocking the active site of C1 proteases. Here, we develop a cysteine-bounded cyclic peptide (CYS-cIHL) and linear peptide (CYS-IHL), using the conserved inhibitory hairpin loop amino acid sequence. Using an in silico approach based on modeling, protein-peptide docking, molecular dynamics simulations and calculation of free energy of binding, we designed and validated inhibitory peptides against falcipain-2 (FP-2) and -3 (FP-3), cysteine proteases from the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Falcipains are critical hemoglobinases of P. falciparum that are validated targets for the development of antimalarial therapies. CYS-cIHL was able to bind with micromolar affinity to FP-2 and modulate its binding with its substrate, hemoglobin in in vitro and in vivo assays. CYS-cIHL could effectively block parasite growth and displayed antimalarial activity in culture assays with no cytotoxicity towards human cells. These results indicated that cyclization can substantially increase the peptide affinity to the target. Furthermore, this can be applied as an effective strategy for engineering peptide inhibitory potency against proteases.

Technology and businesses go hand in hand in this modern bustling work environment. The rapid change in the IT sector necessitates that corporations change accordingly. Industry 4.0 carries a plethora of vital, innovative systems that could optimise products and make services more efficient. Predictive Maintenance is one such instance where IIoT improves various industrial processes and the products generated using these processes. Therefore, this paper aims to present a literature review about the recent technologies available in predictive maintenance with Industry 4.0. The survey focuses on the technologies adopted by all kinds of industries, however, a special emphasis has been awarded to Small and Medium Enterprises. It has been organised based on industrial goals, architecture, and methodology which can help the stackholders to take informed decision for their business. This work aims to summarize the recent advancements in the IIoT with a corporative point-of-view.

Recent advancement in Internet of Things has enabled the development of low-cost internet accessible monitoring devices by combining multiple technologies. There are different technical issues for different application areas requiring a multidimensional research effort to address. Energy efficiency, Reliability and scalability are some major challenges and common requirements in the design of any application. This paper presents, an IoT based environmental monitoring system having custom designed energy efficient & configurable sensing device for resource constraint environment, Mobile application & a web application for data monitoring, storage & visualization. Light weight MQTT protocol & power-efficient hardware management strategies are used to address the issue of resource constraint environment. Results are encouraging as the system has been able to reduce transmission overhead upto 64% and improvement of battery life by 33%.

Malaria, caused by protozoan of genus Plasmodium, remains one of the highest mortality infectious diseases. Malaria parasites have a complex life cycle, easily adapt to their host’s immune system and have evolved with an arsenal of unique proteases which play crucial roles in proliferation and survival within the host cells. Owing to the existing knowledge of enzymatic mechanisms, 3D structures and active sites of proteases, they have been proven to be opportune for target based drug development. Here, we discuss in depth the crucial roles of essential proteases in Plasmodium life cycle and particularly focus on highlighting the atypical “structural signatures” of key parasite proteases which have been exploited for drug development. These features, on one hand aid parasites pathogenicity while on the other hand could be effective in designing targeted and very specific inhibitors for counteracting them. We conclude that Plasmodium proteases are suitable as multistage targets for designing novel drugs with new modes of action to combat malaria.

Speaking and hearing plays an important role in effective teaching, individuals who lack these abilities faces an uphill battle. Quantum of researches has focused on designing various approaches to teach deaf and mute students. However, assessing whether students are following the course materials by creating an active learning environment is very difficult in this context. Integrating IoT technologies into their classroom can add an immense value in this area by providing interactive low-cost solution which can solve the purpose and also improve the quality and efficiency of the education system thereby making education more appealing than ever before. This paper presents the review and case study of various existing solutions and design and development of one such system using low cost hardware and MQTT lightweight protocol for efficient device to device communication to encourage active learning environment in the classroom without much modifications in the existing academic infrastructure.

Pin-II protease inhibitors (PIs) are the focus of research interest because of their large structural–functional diversity and relevance in plant defense. Two representative Capsicum annuum PI genes (CanPI-15 and -7) comprising one and four inhibitory repeat domains, respectively, were expressed and recombinant proteins were characterized. β-Sheet and unordered structure was found predominant in CanPI-15 while -7 also displayed the signatures of polyproline fold, as revealed by circular dichroism studies. Inhibition kinetics against bovine trypsin indicated three times higher potency of CanPI-7 (Ki ∼ 57 μM) than -15 (∼184 μM). Activity and structural stability of these CanPIs were revealed under various conditions of pH, temperature and denaturing agent. Structure prediction, docking studies with proteases and mass spectroscopy revealed the organization of multiple reactive site loops of multi domain PIs in space as well as the steric hindrances imposed while binding to proteases due to their close proximity.

Main conclusion Available history manifests contemporary diversity that exists in plant-insect interactions. A radical thinking is necessary for developing strategies that can co-opt natural insect-plant mutualism, ecology and environmental safety for crop protection since current agricultural practices can reduce species richness and evenness. The global environmental changes, such as increased temperature, CO2 and ozone levels, biological invasions, land-use change and habitat fragmentation together play a significant role in re-shaping the plant-insect multi-trophic interactions. Diverse natural products need to be studied and explored for their biological functions as insect pest control agents. In order to assure the success of an integrated pest management strategy, human activities need to be harmonized to minimize the global climate changes. Plant–insect interaction is one of the most primitive and coevolved associations, often influenced by surrounding changes. In this review, we account the persistence and evolution of plant–insect interactions, with particular focus on the effect of climate change and human interference on these interactions. Plants and insects have been maintaining their existence through a mutual service-resource relationship while defending themselves. We provide a comprehensive catalog of various defense strategies employed by the plants and/or insects. Furthermore, several important factors such as accelerated diversification, imbalance in the mutualism, and chemical arms race between plants and insects as indirect consequences of human practices are highlighted. Inappropriate implementation of several modern agricultural practices has resulted in (i) endangered mutualisms, (ii) pest status and resistance in insects and (iii) ecological instability. Moreover, altered environmental conditions eventually triggered the resetting of plant–insect interactions. Hence, multitrophic approaches that can harmonize human activities and minimize their interference in native plant–insect interactions are needed to maintain natural balance between the existence of plants and insects.

Capsicum annuum (L.) expresses diverse potato type II family proteinase inhibitors comprising of inhibitory repeat domain (IRD) as basic functional unit. Most IRDs contain eight conserved cysteines forming four disulfide bonds, which are indispensible for their stability and activity. We investigated the functional significance of evolutionary variations in IRDs and their role in mediating interaction between the inhibitor and cognate proteinase. Among the 18 IRDs encoded by C. annuum, IRD-7, -9, and -12 were selected for further characterization on the basis of variation in their reactive site loop, number of conserved cysteine residues, and higher theoretical ΔGbind for interaction with Helicoverpa armigera trypsin. Moreover, inhibition kinetics showed that IRD-9, despite loss of some of the disulfide bonds, was a more potent proteinase inhibitor among the three selected IRDs. Molecular dynamic simulations revealed that serine residues in the place of cysteines at seventh and eighth positions of IRD-9 resulted in an increase in the density of intramolecular hydrogen bonds and reactive site loop flexibility. Results of the serine residues chemical modification also supported this observation and provided a possible explanation for the remarkable inhibitory potential of IRD-9. Furthermore, this natural variant among IRDs showed special attributes like stability to proteolysis and synergistic inhibitory effect on other IRDs. It is likely that IRDs have coevolved selective specialization of their structure and function as a response towards specific insect proteases they encountered. Understanding the molecular mechanism of pest protease–plant proteinaceous inhibitor interaction will help in developing effective pest control strategies. An animated interactive 3D complement (I3DC) is available in Proteopedia at http://proteopedia.org/w/Journal:JBSD:39

Main conclusion The proteinase inhibitor (PI) genes from Capsicum annuum were characterized with respect to their UTR, introns and promoter elements. The occurrence of PIs with circularly permuted domain organization was evident. Abstract Several potato inhibitor II (Pin-II) type pro- teinase inhibitor (PI) genes have been analyzed from Capsicum annuum (L.) with respect to their differential expression during plant defense response. However, com- plete gene characterization of any of these C. annuum PIs (CanPIs) has not been carried out so far. Complete gene architectures of a previously identified CanPI-7 (Beads-on- string, Type A) and a member of newly isolated Bracelet type B, CanPI-69 are reported in this study. The 5 0 UTR (untranslated region), 3 0 UTR, and intronic sequences of both the CanPI genes were obtained. The genomic sequence of CanPI-7 exhibited, exon 1 (49 base pair, bp) and exon 2 (740 bp) interrupted by a 294-bp long type I intron. We noted the occurrence of three multi-domain PIs (CanPI-69, 70, 71) with circularly permuted domain organization. CanPI-69 was found to possess exon 1 (49 bp), exon 2 (551 bp) and a 584-bp long type I intron. The upstream sequence analysis of CanPI-7 and CanPI-69 predicted various transcription factor-binding sites including TATA and CAAT boxes, hormone-responsive elements (ABRELATERD1, DOFCOREZM, ERELEE4), and a defense-responsive element (WRKY71OS). Binding of transcription factors such as zinc finger motif MADS- box and MYB to the promoter regions was confirmed using electrophoretic mobility shift assay followed by mass spectrometric identification. The 3 0 UTR analysis for 25 CanPI genes revealed unique/distinct 3 0 UTR sequence for each gene. Structures of three domain CanPIs of type A and B were predicted and further analyzed for their attributes. This investigation of CanPI gene architecture will enable the better understanding of the genetic elements present in CanPIs.

Herbivore attack induces defense responses in plants, activating several signaling cascades. As a result, molecules deterrent to the herbivores are produced and accumulated in plants. Expression of defense mechanism/traits requires reorganization of the plant metabolism, redirecting the resources otherwise meant for growth. In the present work, protein profile of Capsicum annuum leaves was examined after herbivore attack/induction. Majority of proteins identified as differentially accumulated, were having roles in redox metabolism and photosynthesis. For example, superoxide dismutase and NADP oxidoreductase were upregulated by 10- and 6-fold while carbonic anhydrase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase were downregulated by 9- and 4-fold, respectively. Also, superoxide dismutase, NADPH quinone oxidoreductase and NADP dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase transcripts showed a higher accumulation in induced leaf tissues at early time points. In general, proteins having role in defense and damage repair were upregulated while those involved in photosynthesis appeared downregulated. Thus metabolic reconfiguration to balance defense and tolerance was evident in the stress-induced leaves.

Background A multi-domain Pin-II type protease inhibitor from Capsicum annuum (CanPI-7) is known to be effective against the insect pest, Helicoverpa armigera. The present study is an attempt to investigate the optimal dose of recombinant CanPI-7 (rCanPI-7) for effective antibiosis to H. armigera and further to characterize the responses of digestive proteases upon rCanPI-7 ingestion. Methods The gut protease activity was assessed biochemically and transcript accumulation pattern for selected trypsin and chymotrypsin genes was analyzed by quantitative Real-Time PCR. Results The growth retardation upon exposure to rCanPI-7 was more prominent in neonates as compared to third instar larvae. Influence of stage and dosage of rCanPI-7 was conspicuous on the expression and regulation of candidate trypsin and chymotrypsin genes in H. armigera. The transcript accumulation pattern correlated with the protease activity in rCanPI-7 exposed larvae. Conclusions We conclude that early exposure and specific dose of protease inhibitor are essential for effective antibiosis despite the large diversity and plasticity in the expression of protease genes in H. armigera. Moreover, it is also evident that the regulation and expression of H. armigera gut proteases are specific to the stage of PI exposure. General significance These results highlight the requirement of optimal PI concentration for effective growth retardation and for inhibiting the major gut proteases of H. armigera.

Background Wound-inducible Pin-II Proteinase inhibitors (PIs) are one of the important plant serine PIs which have been studied extensively for their structural and functional diversity and relevance in plant defense against insect pests. To explore the functional specialization of an array of Capsicum annuum (L.) proteinase inhibitor (CanPIs) genes, we studied their expression, processing and tissue-specific distribution under steady-state and induced conditions. Inductions were performed by subjecting C. annuum leaves to various treatments, namely aphid infestation or mechanical wounding followed by treatment with either oral secretion (OS) of Helicoverpa armigera or water. Results The elicitation treatments regulated the accumulation of CanPIs corresponding to 4-, 3-, and 2-inhibitory repeat domains (IRDs). Fourty seven different CanPI genes composed of 28 unique IRDs were identified in total along with those reported earlier. The CanPI gene pool either from uninduced or induced leaves was dominated by 3-IRD PIs and trypsin inhibitory domains. Also a major contribution by 4-IRD CanPI genes possessing trypsin and chymotrypsin inhibitor domains was specifically revealed in wounded leaves treated with OS. Wounding displayed the highest number of unique CanPIs while wounding with OS treatment resulted in the high accumulation of specifically CanPI-4, -7 and −10. Characterization of the PI protein activity through two dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed tissue and induction specific patterns. Consistent with transcript abundance, wound plus OS or water treated C. annuum leaves exhibited significantly higher PI activity and isoform diversity contributed by 3- and 4-IRD CanPIs. CanPI accumulation and activity was weakly elicited by aphid infestation yet resulted in the higher expression of CanPI-26, -41 and −43. Conclusions Plants can differentially perceive various kinds of insect attacks and respond appropriately through activating plant defenses including regulation of PIs at transcriptional and post-translational levels. Based on the differentially elicited CanPI accumulation patterns, it is intriguing to speculate that generating sequence diversity in the form of multi-IRD PIs is a part of elaborative plant defense strategy to obtain a diverse pool of functional units to confine insect attack.

Six diverse representative Capsicum annuum (common name: hot pepper; Solanaceae) protease inhibitor genes, viz CanPI-5, -7, -13, -15, -19, and 22 comprising 1–4 inhibitory repeat domains (IRDs), were cloned and expressed in Pichia pastoris. The recombinant proteins were evaluated for their interactions with bovine trypsin, chymotrypsin, and Helicoverpa armigera gut proteases (HGP) using electrophoretic (native and denaturing) and mass spectrometric (MALDI-TOF-MS in combination with intensity fading assays) techniques. These techniques allow qualitative and semiquantitative analysis of multiple and processed IRDs of purified recombinant Capsicum annuum proteinase inhibitor (rCanPI) proteins. rCanPIs showed over 90% trypsin inhibition, varying chymotrypsin inhibition depending on the number of respective IRDs and over 60% inhibition of total HGP. rCanPI-15 that has only one IRD showed exceptionally low inhibition of these proteases. Interaction studies of rCanPIs with proteases using intensity fading-MALDI-TOF-MS revealed gradual processing of multi-IRD rCanPIs into single IRD forms by the action of HGP at the linker region, unlike their interactions with trypsin and chymotrypsin. Intensity fading-MALDI-TOF-MS assay showed that CanPI-13 and -15, possessing single IRD and expressed predominantly in stem tissue are degraded by HGP; indicating their function other than defense. In vitro and in vivo studies on rCanPI-5 and -7 showed maximum inhibition of HGP isoforms and their processed IRDs were also found to be stable in the presence of HGP. Even single amino acid variations in IRDs were found to change the HGP specificity like in the case of HGP-8 inhibited only by IRD-12. The presence of active PI in insect gut might be responsible for changed HGP profile. rCanPI-5 and -7 enhanced HGP-7, reduced HGP-4, -5, -10 expression and new protease isoforms were induced. These results signify isoform complexity in plant PIs and insect proteases.

The head and neck is the most common area for the presentation of lymphoproliferative disorders. Primary involvement of salivary glands is uncommon. Non-Hodgkin′s lymphoma constitutes a group of malignancies those arises from cellular components of lymphoid or extra nodal tissues. Here we report a case of a 70-year-old male patient who presented with left parotid gland enlargement with left facial nerve palsy and involvement of other nodal sites, which is rarely reported in the literature.