RESUMEN
Finger millet is an important crop in Maharashtra, Orissa, and Tamil Nadu. Millet production and consumption have been on the decline for some years. Finger millet samples were gathered from regional locations in Nashik and Kolhapur, Maharashtra. These were also taken as samples for chemical composition and proximate analysis. Standard analytical procedures were used to determine the results. The result of the chemical composition, Nashik (sample one) was found to be Ca mg (6.19), Mg (0.52), Fe (1.09), Zn (1.74± 0.96), Cu (0.10), P (8.90) These findings suggest that finger millet is a good source of calcium and phosphorus. These can be utilised as calcium supplement foods, and their composite flours can be used to preserve a variety of nutrient-dense recipes that can be employed as part of a supplement feeding regimen.
RESUMEN
Background & objectives: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality. The objective of this study was to find out the differential expression of apolipoproteins (ApoAI and ApoAIV) in HCC and cases of liver cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis (controls) without HCC and to compare ApoAI and ApoAIV expression with alpha-foetoprotein (AFP), the conventional marker in HCC. Methods: Fifty patients with HCC and 50 controls comprising patients with liver cirrhosis (n=25) and chronic hepatitis (n=25) without HCC were included in this study. Total proteins were precipitated using acetone precipitation method followed by albumin and IgG depletion of precipitated protein using depletion kit. Proteins were separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The expression changes of ApoAI and ApoAIV were confirmed by western blotting using specific primary and secondary polyclonal antibodies followed by densitometric protein semi-quantitative estimation. ApoAI, ApoAIV and AFP were measured in the plasma samples by ELISA method. Results: Semi-quantitative densitometric image analysis of the western blot images and the comparison between HCC patients with those without HCC (control) revealed differential expression of ApoAI and ApoAIV. Levels of ApoAI were significantly higher in patients with HCC compared to controls without HCC (0.279�216 vs 0.171�091 and 0.199�014; P <0.001). Levels of ApoAIV were significantly lower in patients of HCC compared to controls without HCC (0.119�061 vs 0.208�07 and 0.171�16; P <0.01). ELISA assays of apolipoproteins (ApoAI and ApoAIV) revealed similar results of expression of ApoAI and ApoAIV as detected in western blotting densitometric image analysis. Interpretation & conclusions: Increased expression of ApoAI and decreased expression of ApoAIV in HCC patients compared to controls without HCC revealed the abnormalities in HCC. These molecules need to be studied further for their use as potential biomarkers in the future diagnostic tools along with other conventional biomarkers for screening of HCC cases. It needs further analysis in higher number of patient population.