Correlation of serum cornitine levels with bone mineral density among Indian male tobacco users.

It is of interest to assess levels of serum cornitine in male tobacco users and also find its correlation with bone mineral density. Assessment for serum cotinine levels was done using commercially available Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA Kit). While bone mineral density was measured using bone densitometry through ultrasound in the wrist region. Karl Pearson's coefficient was used to assess correlation between BMD values and serum cotinine (ng/ml) levels. Inter group BMD association was measured using Chi square test. The present study showed that the first 3 groups had a low BMD level compared to control group, indicative of osteopenia. BMD values were lesser for chewers from group II as compared to smokers from group I and individuals using both smoked and smokeless form of tobacco from Group III. In group III (both forms of tobacco), osteopenic individuals were more. Thus, data shows effect of tobacco usage on bone mineral density. Smokeless form of tobacco has relatively serious effects on bone density.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders in Indian Population.

BACKGROUND: The present study was conducted to assess risk factors and prevalence of potentially malignant disorders (PMDs) among Indian population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 1280 Indian population of both genders were enrolled. Habits such as smoking bidi, cigarette, consumption of tobacco such as in the form of zarda, chaini khaini, pan masala, arecanut, and alcohol were recorded. Risk factors and prevalence rate of disorders were recorded. RESULTS: There were 750 (58.6%) males and 530 (41.4%) females. Speckled leukoplakia was seen among 470 (36.7%), oral lichen planus (OLP) in 246 (19.2%), oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) in 274 (21.4%), erythroplakia in 120 (9.3%), and oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in 107 (8.3%) participants. Maximum cases of speckled leukoplakia (162) was seen in the age group of 31-40 years, OLP (99) in 41-50 years, OSMF (95) in 31-40 years, erythroplakia (48) in 21-30 years, OSCC (44) in 41-50 years. CONCLUSION: Risks factors associated with PMDs were found to be tobacco and arecanut. There was higher prevalence of leukoplakia. Age group of 31-40 years had higher cases and most common site was buccal mucosa and vestibule.

Protein-protein interaction and molecular dynamics analysis for identification of novel inhibitors in Burkholderia cepacia GG4.

The lack of complete treatments and appearance of multiple drug-resistance strains of Burkholderia cepacia complex (Bcc) are causing an increased risk of lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Bcc infection is a big risk to human health and demands an urgent need to identify new therapeutics against these bacteria. Network biology has emerged as one of the prospective hope in identifying novel drug targets and hits. We have applied protein-protein interaction methodology to identify new drug-target candidates (orthologs) in Burkhloderia cepacia GG4, which is an important strain for studying the quorum-sensing phenomena. An evolutionary based ortholog mapping approach has been applied for generating the large scale protein-protein interactions in B. Cepacia. As a case study, one of the identified drug targets; GEM_3202, a NH (3)-dependent NAD synthetase protein has been studied and the potential ligand molecules were screened using the ZINC database. The three dimensional structure (NH (3)-dependent NAD synthetase protein) has been predicted from MODELLERv9.11 tool using multiple PDB templates such as 3DPI, 2PZ8 and 1NSY with sequence identity of 76%, 50% and 50% respectively. The structure has been validated with Ramachandaran plot having 100% residues of NadE in allowed region and overall quality factor of 81.75 using ERRAT tool. High throughput screening and Vina resulted in two potential hits against NadE such as ZINC83103551 and ZINC38008121. These molecules showed lowest binding energy of -5.7kcalmol-1 and high stability in the binding pockets during molecular dynamics simulation analysis. The similar approach for target identification could be applied for clinical strains of other pathogenic microbes.

Current developments in therapeutic and diagnostic strategies for Q fever: glimpses of patent analysis.

Coxiella burnetii is an infectious and etiological agent responsible for causing Q fever. There are mainly two forms of the Q fever that are chronic and acute. Though the acute type is usually linked with symptoms like pneumonia and hepatitis, the chronic form is shown to have mortality rate of 5%. Percentage of mortality rate might increases from 5% to 25% if left untreated. The present treatments of disease include the recommended dose of drugs and vaccine. Presently, extensive attempt is in progress to find novel therapies to combat the disease. This review is projected to provide a brief introduction of C. burnetii and Q fever while emphasizing therapeutics, prophylactic measures and diagnostic applications based on recent patents prospects.

Patent prospects toward therapeutics and diagnostics of anthrax.

Anthrax is one of the deadly infectious disease as documented in the CDC website. In spite of the availability of appropriate antimicrobial agents, the mortality related with the anthrax remains high. The pathogenicity of B. anthracis is mainly accredited to the two foremost components: toxins and capsule. Virulence component of B. anthracis includes protective antigen (PA) which plays a vital role in pathogenesis, virulence protein edema factor (EF) and lethal factor (LF). This search for novel therapeutic strategies that attack the proteins involved in the pathogenesis of anthrax and may potentially supplement antimicrobials being investigated. Currently, extensive attempts are in progress to develop novel helpful therapies to all of the virulence components: lethal factor, protective antigen, edema factor and the capsule of B. anthracis. This review discusses the potential anthrax therapeutic, prophylactic measures and diagnostic applications based on recent patents' prospects.

Docking and molecular dynamics studies of peptide inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase: a rate-limiting enzyme for the metabolism of Fusarium solani.

Fusarium solani causes a wide variety of diseases in plants. Polyamine biosynthesis is responsible for the growth and pathogenicity of the fungus. The initial step of this pathway involves the decarboxylation of ornithine to putrescine, and is catalyzed by the enzyme ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). Inhibiting this process may be a promising approach for the management of fungal disease in various crops. Therefore, there is a need to develop inhibitors of ODC that have higher binding capacity than ornithine. Fifteen peptides were designed and modeled based on physicochemical properties of residues in the active site of ODC. The peptide GLIWGNGPF showed the highest dock score. It is assumed that the de novo design of peptides could be a potential approach to inhibit polyamine biosynthesis. Molecular dynamics studies make an important contribution to understanding the effect of the binding of peptides and the stability of an ODC-peptide complex system. An animated Interactive 3D Complement (I3DC) is available in Proteopedia at http://proteopedia.org/w/Journal:JBSD:8 .

Structure prediction and functional characterization of secondary metabolite proteins of Ocimum.

Various species of Ocimum have acquired special attention due to their medicinal properties. Different parts of the plant (root, stem, flower, leaves) are used in the treatment of a wide range of disorders from centuries. Experimental structures (X-ray and NMR) of proteins from different Ocimum species, are not yet available in the Protein Databank (PDB). These proteins play a key role in various metabolic pathways in Ocimum. 3D structures of the proteins are essential to determine most of their functions. Homology modeling approach was employed in order to derive structures for these proteins. A program meant for comparative modeling- Modeller 9v7 was utilized for the purpose. The modeled proteins were further validated by Prochek and Verify-3d and Errat servers. Amino acid composition and polarity of these proteins was determined by CLC-Protein Workbench tool. Expasy's Prot-param server and Cys_rec tool were used for physico-chemical and functional characterization of these proteins. Studies of secondary structure of these proteins were carried out by computational program, Profunc. Swiss-pdb viewer was used to visualize and analyze these homology derived structures. The structures are finally submitted in Protein Model Database, PMDB so that they become accessible to other users for further studies.