Manipulation and exploitation of host immune system by pathogenic Mycobacterium tuberculosis for its advantage.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) can become a long-term infection by evading the host immune response. Coevolution of Mtb with humans has resulted in its ability to hijack the host's immune systems in a variety of ways. So far, every Mtb defense strategy is essentially dependent on a subtle balance that, if shifted, can promote Mtb proliferation in the host, resulting in disease progression. In this review, the authors summarize many important and previously unknown mechanisms by which Mtb evades the host immune response. Besides recently found strategies by which Mtb manipulates the host molecular regulatory machinery of innate and adaptive immunity, including the intranuclear regulatory machinery, costimulatory molecules, the ubiquitin system and cellular intrinsic immune components will be discussed. A holistic understanding of these immune-evasion mechanisms is of foremost importance for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis and will lead to new insights into tuberculosis pathogenesis and the development of more effective vaccines and treatment regimens.

Characterization of cookies made from wheat flour blended with buckwheat flour and effect on antioxidant properties.

Buckwheat flour was incorporated into wheat flour at different levels (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 %) and the physicochemical, functional and antioxidant properties of the blended flour were studied. This study also investigated the effect of buckwheat on the retention of antioxidant properties of cookies during baking. The results showed significant variation in physicochemical and functional properties of the blended flour. The addition of buckwheat flour into wheat flour also increased the antioxidant properties of blended flour proportionally, but metal chelating properties decreased. The incorporation of buckwheat in wheat flour helped in better retention of antioxidant potential of cookies during baking process as buckwheat cookies (100 % buckwheat) showed greater percentage increase in antioxidant properties than control (100 % wheat). Quality characteristics of cookies such as hardness and spread ratio decreased, while as non-enzymatic browning (NEB) increased significantly with increase in the proportion of buckwheat flour in wheat flour. The Overall acceptability of cookies by sensory analysis was highest at 40 % level of blending. This study concluded that addition of buckwheat in wheat flour, may not only improve the physico-chemical and functional properties of the blended flour but may also enhance the nutraceutical potential of the product prepared from it.

Variation of lipid and carbohydrate content in Schizothorax esocinus from Dal Lake of Kashmir Valley.

The present study was designed to measure the monthly and seasonal variation in the lipid and carbohydrate content of Schizothorax esocinus. Total lipid content of the fish was measured by Folch's method and the carbohydrate content was evaluated by Dubois method. The lipid content of Schizothorax esocinus varied seasonally, with maxima and minima in a year. The highest lipid content (0.45 g g(-1)) was measured in the July and the lowest lipid content (0.25 g g(-1)) in November. Evaluating the proximate composition of fish is important aspect in fish nutrition. The carbohydrate does not vary so much with a slight increase in spring (0.18%) and a slight decrease in autumn season (0.10%) with an average value of 0.14%. Total protein profile was also carried out in different organs of the fish by using SDS PAGE. The fish is a good source of lipid, carbohydrate and proteins, required for the balanced diet of human consumption.

Preparation of a highly stable, very active and high-yield multilayered assembly of glucose oxidase using carbohydrate-specific polyclonal antibodies.

The purified oligosaccharide chains of Aspergillus niger glucose oxidase were coupled to BSA with the help of the cross-linking reagent glutaraldehyde. The neoglycoconjugate thus obtained was purified by concanavalin A-Sepharose chromatography and characterized by SDS/PAGE. Immunization of rabbits with the neoglycoprotein raised the glycosyl-specific anti-(glucose oxidase) polyclonal antibodies. Antibodies were purified by (NH(4))(2)SO(4) precipitation, followed by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The IgG-Sepharose was prepared by covalently coupling the purified polyclonal antibodies to the CNBr-activated Sepharose 4B. The large assembly of glucose oxidase was made on the IgG-Sepharose by alternate incubation of glucose oxidase and glycosyl-specific anti-(glucose oxidase) polyclonal IgG. The immunoaffinity-layered assembled preparations were highly active and, after six alternate binding cycles with enzyme and glycosyl-specific IgG, the amount of enzyme immobilized could be raised 30-fold. The K (m) value of immunoaffinity-layered glucose oxidase preparations remained unaltered, while the V (max) slightly decreased as compared with the soluble enzyme. A layer-by-layer immobilization of glucose oxidase resulted in significant improvement in stability against high temperature, 4.0 M urea and very high concentrations of water-miscible organic solvents such as acetone, dimethylformamide, dioxan and tetrahydrofuran.