ABSTRACT
Hypodermosis is a parasitic disease of cattle. The pathogenicity of the disease is attributed to Hypodermin proteins [Hypodermin A, Hypodermin B and Hypodermin C]. Studies suggest that Hypodermin proteins may be defined as Serine proteases and collagenases. The structure of both proteases Hypodermin A and Hypodermin B were modeled using the Swiss-model server followed by its validation using Procheck, Errat and Verify-3D. Afterwards, both Hypodermin A and Hypodermin B were docked against collagen in order to study its interaction with respective Hypodermin proteins. The structure of both Hypodermin A and Hypodermin B showed more bent towards hydrophobic nature, as more beta sheets were present in them. Both structures were also superimposed to check out similarities and differences present between them. Serine, Aspartic acid, Histidine, Glutamic acid and Lysine are found as interacting residues that are involved in hydrogen bonding with collagen. The interactions are found in the active domain region of Hypodermin proteins. The interacting residues were present in the active region of the hypodermin proteins thus validating the docking studies. This study may help in the drug development against hypodermosis with least side effects
ABSTRACT
Excess sodium intake can lead to hypertension, the primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the sodium and potassium contents of foodstuff used by infants and children of Pakistan. We analyzed the sodium and potassium contents of infant milk formula [<6 months], follow up milk formula [>6 months], baby food [cereals], biscuits, fruit juices, potato chips [crisps], cheese puffs, roasted cereals [salty], ice cream cones [kulfi] all of which are the processed food extensively used by the children. The amount of sodium and potassium contents in drinking water of few cities of Pakistan were also considered to assess the additional sodium/potassium in the preparation of milk using infant milk formula. Na to K ratio [Na:K] was determined 0.3-1.23, 0.3-1.16, 0.33-0.82, 0.54-2.68, 0.51-0.85, 2.86 and 1.02 for infant milk formula [<6 months], follow up milk formula [>6 months], baby food [cereals], biscuits, fruit juices, potato chips [crisps, cheese puffs, roasted cereals], ice cream cones [kulfi], respectively. The higher sodium content is present than most of the quoted values; whereas lower potassium is present than the recommended values. The higher Na:K ratio indicates the severity of the situation where it is commonly stated that "higher an individual's salt intake, the higher an individual's blood pressure". Present study indicates that nearly all Pakistani children consume substantially more salt than they need which will affect health status in later life