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Grafting of Antheraea assama silk fibre with vinyl monomer in aqueous medium using KMnO4-oxalic acid redox system as initiator has been carded out at different temperature and time and its effect on fibre properties studied by varying the concentrations of monomer (acrylamide), initiator (potassium permanganate), oxalic acid and sulphuric acid. The grafted samples have been characterized using their spectroscopic data and thermal properties as evaluated by thermogravimetric, differential thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry techniques in static air (heating rate 20 °C and 30 °C min-1) at 30° -800 °C. The kinetic parameters are also evaluated using Coats and Redfem method with computer programming in Fortran 77. It is observed that the grafted products are thermally more stable than the ungrafted one. The water staining, water retention capacity and tensile properties improve in case of the grafted fibres/fabrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dyes have been extracted from the barks of Mimusops elengi and Terminalia arjuna and the chemical constituents of the colour components responsible for dyeing identified. The dyeing behaviour of these colour components on wool has also been evaluated. Depending on the concentrations of dye (1-6%) in the dye bath, the dye absorption on the fibre varies from 21.943% to 27.462% and from 5.184% to 10.787% respectively for the dyes extracted from M. elengi and T. arjuna. The colour components isolated from the barks of the two plant varieties mainly contain flavonoid moiety. The dyed and post-mordanted wool exhibits better fastness properties and therefore these dyes might be an alternative to synthetic dyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiments were carried out to study dimensional stability, thermal degradation and termite (Odontotermes spp) resistant properties of thermosetting resin treated bamboo (Bambusa tulda Roxb.) in comparison to an untreated one. The dimensional stability of treated samples in terms of anti-shrink efficiency (ASE) was increased by 53.80-61.18% at levels of 29.73-30.14% weight percent gain (WPG) of the resins over the untreated one. The treated samples also retained bulking coefficient (BC; 7.56-8.74%) and moisture excluding efficiency (MEE; 23.51- 33.42%) after three cycles of repeated wetting and drying at these levels of WPG. The treatment also resulted in an improvement of static bending in terms of modulus of rupture (MOR) by 18.49% for PF (phenol formaldehyde), 14.21% for MF (melamine formaldehyde) and 10.34% for UF (urea formaldehyde) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) by 8.150% for PF, 7.18% for MF and 6.98% for UF at 29.73, 30.14 and 29.81 levels of WPG, respectively, over the untreated samples without any remarkable effect on specific gravity. The values of MOR and MOE of the treated samples showed negligible change after twelve months' exposure to termite attack under ambient environmental conditions, while the untreated sample was badly damaged by termite. The thermal behaviour of untreated and treated samples was studied using thermogravimetric (TG) and differential thermogravimetric (DTG) techniques at heating rate 20 and 30°C min[sup-1] in temperature range 30 650°C. The kinetic parameters of untreated and treated samples were evaluated using the Coats and Redfern method. The treated samples were found to be thermally more stable than the untreated one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The colour component in the roots of the plant Morinda angustifolia has been isolated and its chemical structure established on the basis of chemical and spectroscopic studies. The dyeing properties of colour component have been evaluated on cotton and silk fabrics with and without the use of mordants. The yield of colour component varies from 10% to 20.9% depending on duration of extraction (30-240 min). Fair to good fastness properties are obtained on fabrics when dyed with 3% of colour component at 2% concentration of mordants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the title compound, C16H17NO, the cyclo­hexa­none ring adopts an envelope conformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Head and neck cancers are considered to be the most common cancers in developing countries, especially in Southeast Asia. In India, it accounts for one-fourth of male cancers and one-tenth of female cancers. An attempt was made to study head and neck cancer trends in the Dibrugarh district of Assam, North-East India, India. All sites viz., oral cavity and mobile tongue, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, nasopharynx and others were considered separately for both the sexes to carry out the present analysis. Using the data from the Population-Based Cancer Registry, Upper Assam, Dibrugarh, annual crude incidence rate and age-specific rate were calculated for the period from 2003 to 2016. Mann-Kendall and Sen's Slope non-parametric analysis were applied to examine the trend in the percentages of Head and Neck cancers. The most frequent incidence site for HN cancers was the hypopharynx (33.50%). The disease was common among the males (78.87%) compared to the female (21.13%) population in Dibrugarh district. HN cancers are more prone to the age group 50-70 years (60.93%) compared to the individuals with less than 50 years (26.51%). Combining all the sites of HN cancers in male showed a significant decrease in incidence, whereas in female increasing trend was noted over a period of time. A slight decline in the percentage of head and neck cancer was documented in Dibrugarh when we combined both sexes. The results obtained from the current investigation will laid the scientific framework for proper planning and organization of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of HN cancers in Dibrugarh district, Assam., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Membrane proteins play critical physiological roles as receptors, channels, pumps, and transporters. Despite their importance, however, low expression levels often hamper the experimental characterization of membrane proteins. We present an automated and web-accessible design algorithm called mPROSS (https://mPROSS.weizmann.ac.il), which uses phylogenetic analysis and an atomistic potential, including an empirical lipophilicity scale, to improve native-state energy. As a stringent test, we apply mPROSS to the Kv1.2-Kv2.1 paddle chimera voltage-gated potassium channel. Four designs, encoding 9-26 mutations relative to the parental channel, were functional and maintained potassium-selective permeation and voltage dependence in Xenopus oocytes with up to 14-fold increase in whole-cell current densities. Additionally, single-channel recordings reveal no significant change in the channel-opening probability nor in unitary conductance, indicating that functional expression levels increase without impacting the activity profile of individual channels. Our results suggest that the expression levels of other dynamic channels and receptors may be enhanced through one-shot design calculations., (© 2024 The Authors. Protein Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Protein Society.)

The incidence of gallbladder cancer (GBC) is very high in India and it increases day by day due to population aging and changing of life style. The current study scrutinized the trend analysis of gallbladder cancer of Dibrugarh district. The registered gallbladder cancer data for the period of 14 years, i.e., 2003-2016, is collected from Population-Based Cancer Registry (PBCR), Upper Assam. The Mann Kendall and Sen's Slop test is performed to analyze the gallbladder cancer data. A total of 716 number of patients with gallbladder cancer were included and overall gallbladder cancer was found highest among patients of age 50-70 years, accounting for 56.84% ( n  = 407). The disease was most common in females (69.13%) in comparison to males (30.87%) and most of the patients were from urban areas (66.89%). Majority (29.19%) of the patients had completed their primary education whereas 22.07% were illiterate. Mean of age at the time of diagnosis was 54.51 ± 12.29 years which was 57.43 ± 12.19 for male and 53.21 ± 12.13 for female. The time trends and patterns of gallbladder cancer have striking differences within the country as well as in the state of Assam. Large, focussed, inclusive studies are required in India to assess early detection and diagnosis of gallbladder cancer in the country., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interest., (© Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2021.)

Many venomous organisms carry in their arsenal short polypeptides that block K + channels in a highly selective manner. These toxins may compete with the permeating ions directly via a "plug" mechanism or indirectly via a "pore-collapse" mechanism. An alternative "lid" mechanism was proposed but remained poorly defined. Here we study the Drosophila Shaker channel block by Conkunitzin-S1 and Conkunitzin-C3, two highly similar toxins derived from cone venom. Despite their similarity, the two peptides exhibited differences in their binding poses and biophysical assays, implying discrete action modes. We show that while Conkunitzin-S1 binds tightly to the channel turret and acts via a "pore-collapse" mechanism, Conkunitzin-C3 does not contact this region. Instead, Conk-C3 uses a non-conserved Arg to divert the permeant ions and trap them in off-axis cryptic sites above the SF, a mechanism we term a "molecular-lid". Our study provides an atomic description of the "lid" K + blocking mode and offers valuable insights for the design of therapeutics based on venom peptides., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Animal venom is a rich source for peptide toxins that bind and modulate the function of ion channels. Owing to their ability to bind receptor sites on the channel protein with high affinity and specificity, peptide neurotoxins have become an indispensable tool for ion channel research. Recent breakthroughs in structural biology and advances in computer simulations of biomolecules have sparked a new interest in animal toxins as probes of channel protein structure and function. Here, we focus on methods used to produce animal toxins for research purposes using recombinant expression. The specific challenges associated with heterologous production of venom peptides are discussed, and several methods targeting these issues are presented with an emphasis on E. coli based systems. An efficient protocol for the bacterial expression, folding, and purification of recombinant venom peptides is described., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

p16INK4a is a tumor-suppressor protein and cyclin-dependent kinase (cdk) inhibitor that blocks cdk4- and cdk6-mediated pRb phosphorylation to inhibit E2F-dependent transcription and cell-cycle progression. Because the E7 protein of high-risk HPVs inactivates pRB, the resulting overexpression of p16INK4a may be a good marker for infection with high risk HPV types. Immunostaining of p16INK4a allows precise identification of even small CIN or cervical cancer lesions in biopsy sections and can help reduce inter-observer variation in the histopathological interpretation of cervical biopsy specimens. The aims of the present study were to evaluate the expression of p16 INK4a in cervical biopsies and to compare the grade of cervical neoplasia with intensity of staining. The study covered 110 cervical biopsy tissue blocks over a period of 2 years, (85 cases of CIN of varying grade and invasive cervical cancers and 25 of non-neoplastic lesions). Immunostaining with p16INK4a antibodies followed standard operating procedures. The results showed an increasing trend for p16INK4a immunoreactivity from benign to higher grade lesions. Out of 25 cases of non dysplasia (15 cervicitis &10 immature squamous metaplasia), 8%(2/25) showed P16INK4a expression (grade 1). Among low grade lesions like CIN1, 32% (8/25) cases demonstrated P16INK4a expression (grade 1). Some 52.3% (11/21) of CIN2 cases proved positive. The intensity of p16INK4a expression in CIN 2 was grade 1 in 33%, grade 2 in 14% and grade 3 in 4.7% of cases. All the CIN3 lesions and cervical squamous cell carcinomas exhibited grade 3 anti p16INK4a antibody staining. The association of p16INK4a expression with histologic grade of cervical pathology was highly significant (χ2-value:51.81, p<0.0001). The staining intensity increase with higher grade disease was also statistically significant (χ2-value :133.95, p<0.0001)., (Creative Commons Attribution License)

The role of 'superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles' has gained considerable interest in various biomedical applications. However extensive researches are still going on to modify the nanoparticle size, surface properties etc. in order to get full benefit of the material. In this study, iron oxide nanoparticles have been modified with folic acid tagged aminated starch/ZnO coating to formulate a targeted drug delivery system. The nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy. Both the swelling and in vitro drug release was performed in both acidic and alkaline pH. The cytotoxicity of the drug loaded nanoparticles was analysed by MTT assay in human lymphocytes, HepG2 and MCF7 cell lines. The cell uptake efficiencies and Reactive Oxygen Species generation with the drug loaded nanoparticles was estimated in HepG2 cell lines. The uptake capacity of fluorescein isothiocyanate tagged nanoparticles was assessed by fluorescence microscope., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)