Guru Nanak Dev University

Phenolic compounds are an important class of plant secondary metabolites which play crucial physiological roles throughout the plant life cycle. Phenolics are produced under optimal and suboptimal conditions in plants and play key roles in developmental processes like cell division, hormonal regulation, photosynthetic activity, nutrient mineralization, and reproduction. Plants exhibit increased synthesis of polyphenols such as phenolic acids and flavonoids under abiotic stress conditions, which help the plant to cope with environmental constraints. Phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway is activated under abiotic stress conditions (drought, heavy metal, salinity, high/low temperature, and ultraviolet radiations) resulting in accumulation of various phenolic compounds which, among other roles, have the potential to scavenge harmful reactive oxygen species. Deepening the research focuses on the phenolic responses to abiotic stress is of great interest for the scientific community. In the present article, we discuss the biochemical and molecular mechanisms related to the activation of phenylpropanoid metabolism and we describe phenolic-mediated stress tolerance in plants. An attempt has been made to provide updated and brand-new information about the response of phenolics under a challenging environment.

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have their performance limited by the number of emissive singlet states created upon charge recombination (25%). Recently, a novel strategy has been proposed, based on thermally activated up-conversion of triplet to singlet states, yielding delayed fluorescence (TADF), which greatly enhances electroluminescence. The energy barrier for this reverse intersystem crossing mechanism is proportional to the exchange energy (ΔEST ) between the singlet and triplet states; therefore, materials with intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) states, where it is known that the exchange energy is small, are perfect candidates. However, here it is shown that triplet states can be harvested with 100% efficiency via TADF, even in materials with ΔEST of more than 20 kT (where k is the Boltzmann constant and T is the temperature) at room temperature. The key role played by lone pair electrons in achieving this high efficiency in a series of ICT molecules is elucidated. The results show the complex photophysics of efficient TADF materials and give clear guidelines for designing new emitters.

The incidence and prevalence of diabetes mellitus is rapidly increasing worldwide at an alarming rate. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is the most prevalent form of diabetes, accounting for approximately 90-95% of the total diabetes cases worldwide. Besides affecting the ability of body to use glucose, it is associated with micro-vascular and macro-vascular complications. Augmented atherosclerosis is documented to be the key factor leading to vascular complications in T2DM patients. The metabolic milieu of T2DM, including insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and release of excess free fatty acids, along with other metabolic abnormalities affects vascular wall by a series of events including endothelial dysfunction, platelet hyperactivity, oxidative stress and low-grade inflammation. Activation of these events further enhances vasoconstriction and promotes thrombus formation, ultimately resulting in the development of atherosclerosis. All these evidences are supported by the clinical trials reporting the importance of endothelial dysfunction and platelet hyperactivity in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic vascular complications. In this review, an attempt has been made to comprehensively compile updated information available in context of endothelial and platelet dysfunction in T2DM.

Plants face a variety of abiotic stresses, which generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), and ultimately obstruct normal growth and development of plants. To prevent cellular damage caused by oxidative stress, plants accumulate certain compatible solutes known as osmolytes to safeguard the cellular machinery. The most common osmolytes that play crucial role in osmoregulation are proline, glycine-betaine, polyamines, and sugars. These compounds stabilize the osmotic differences between surroundings of cell and the cytosol. Besides, they also protect the plant cells from oxidative stress by inhibiting the production of harmful ROS like hydroxyl ions, superoxide ions, hydrogen peroxide, and other free radicals. The accumulation of osmolytes is further modulated by phytohormones like abscisic acid, brassinosteroids, cytokinins, ethylene, jasmonates, and salicylic acid. It is thus important to understand the mechanisms regulating the phytohormone-mediated accumulation of osmolytes in plants during abiotic stresses. In this review, we have discussed the underlying mechanisms of phytohormone-regulated osmolyte accumulation along with their various functions in plants under stress conditions.

Azo dyes represent the largest class of industrial colorants. These are no longer used only for the coloration of textiles, plastics, paints, inks, and lacquers, but rather serve as key components in high-tech applications such as optical data storage, reprographics, display devices, dye-sensitized solar cells, energy transfer cascades, light-emitting diodes, laser welding processes, or heat management systems. Azo dyes are also of growing importance in the medical and biomedical fields. In most of these applications, the color is largely irrelevant and it is the ability of the colorants to absorb visible electromagnetic radiation with high efficiency, or other functional property, that is exploited. With the growing awareness and environmental concerns, it is imperative that the hierarchy of reduce, reuse, and degrade be adopted and measures be taken to remove color from the industrial discharge. The present review (a) embodies a comparison of the present decolorization/degradation techniques for water-soluble and insoluble dyes, (b) describes their advantages and limitations, (c) discusses various mechanisms, and (d) focuses on the present literature on microbial decolorization of textile dyes specifically by using bacteria, fungus, yeast, and algae. Also, for the first time an attempt has been made to comprehensively compile chemical and biological decolorization/degradation of disperse dyes. The research on the decolorization of textile dyes has mainly been focused on water-soluble dyes, while decolorization of disperse dyes that are water insoluble have received only scant attention and constitutes a topical area of concern as these dyes persist for a longer duration in textile effluents. Given the limitations (vide infra) of the chemical treatment methods, decolorization using biological means is an interesting option.

Chromium (Cr) is an element naturally occurring in rocky soils and volcanic dust. It has been classified as a carcinogen agent according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Therefore, this metal needs an accurate understanding and thorough investigation in soil-plant systems. Due to its high solubility, Cr (VI) is regarded as a hazardous ion, which contaminates groundwater and can be transferred through the food chain. Cr also negatively impacts the growth of plants by impairing their essential metabolic processes. The toxic effects of Cr are correlated with the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which cause oxidative stress in plants. The current review summarizes the understanding of Cr toxicity in plants via discussing the possible mechanisms involved in its uptake, translocation and sub-cellular distribution, along with its interference with the other plant metabolic processes such as chlorophyll biosynthesis, photosynthesis and plant defensive system.

Internet of Things (IoT) technology provides a competent and structured approach to handle service deliverance aspects of healthcare in terms of mobile health and remote patient monitoring. IoT generates an unprecedented amount of data that can be processed using cloud computing. But for realtime remote health monitoring applications, the delay caused by transferring data to the cloud and back to the application is unacceptable. Relative to this context, we proposed the remote patient health monitoring in smart homes by using the concept of fog computing at the smart gateway. The proposed model uses advanced techniques and services, such as embedded data mining, distributed storage, and notification services at the edge of the network. Event triggering-based data transmission methodology is adopted to process the patient's real-time data at fog layer. Temporal mining concept is used to analyze the events adversity by calculating the temporal health index of the patient. In order to determine the validity of the system, health data of 67 patients in IoT-based smart home environment was systematically generated for 30 days. Results depict that the proposed Bayesian belief network classifier-based model has high accuracy and response time in determining the state of an event when compared with other classification algorithms. Moreover, decision making based on real-time healthcare data further enhances the utility of the proposed system.

Machining operation optimization improves the quality of the product, reduces cost, enhances overall efficiency by reducing human error, and enables consistent and efficient operation. It is a vital decision-making process and achieves the best solution within constraints. It reduces reliance on machine-tool technicians and handbooks to identify cutting parameters, as a lack of awareness of the optimal combination of machining parameters leads to several machining inefficiencies. Subsequently, the optimization of the machining process is more useful for units of production, particularly machining units. In multi-objective optimization (MOO) problems, weights of importance are assigned, mostly identical. But, nowadays, the weights assignment techniques have received a lot of consideration from the professionals and researchers in MOO problems. Various techniques are developed to assign weights of significance to responses in MOO. The Entropy weights method (EWM) continues to work pleasingly across diverse machining operations to allocate objective weights. In this paper, a literature review is conducted to classify the articles on EWM applications in machining operations. The categorization proposal for the EWM reviews included 65 academic articles from different journals, books, and conferences since the year 2009. The EWM applications were separated into 18 categories of conventional and non-conventional machining operations. The implementation procedure of EWM is presented with an example along with method development. Scholarly articles in the EWM applications are further inferred based on (1) implementation of EWM in different machining operations, (2) MOO methods used with entropy weights in machining operations, (3) application of entropy weights by citation index and publication year, and (4) entropy weights applications in other fields. The review paper provided constructive insight into the EWM applications and ended with suggestions for further research in machining and different areas.

Cancer, one of the leading illnesses, accounts for about 10 million deaths worldwide. The treatment of cancer includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and drug therapy, along with others, which not only put a tremendous economic effect on patients but also develop drug resistance in patients with time. A significant number of cancer cases can be prevented/treated by implementing evidence-based preventive strategies. Plant-based drugs have evolved as promising preventive chemo options both in developing and developed nations. The secondary plant metabolites such as alkaloids have proven efficacy and acceptability for cancer treatment. Apropos, this review deals with a spectrum of promising alkaloids such as colchicine, vinblastine, vincristine, vindesine, vinorelbine, and vincamine within different domains of comprehensive information on these molecules such as their medical applications (contemporary/traditional), mechanism of antitumor action, and potential scale-up biotechnological studies on an in-vitro scale. The comprehensive information provided in the review will be a valuable resource to develop an effective, affordable, and cost effective cancer management program using these alkaloids.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) are produced in all aerobic life forms under both physiological and adverse conditions. Unregulated ROS/NO generation causes nitro-oxidative damage, which has a detrimental impact on the function of essential macromolecules. ROS/NO production is also involved in signaling processes as secondary messengers in plant cells under physiological conditions. ROS/NO generation takes place in different subcellular compartments including chloroplasts, mitochondria, peroxisomes, vacuoles, and a diverse range of plant membranes. This compartmentalization has been identified as an additional cellular strategy for regulating these molecules. This assessment of subcellular ROS/NO metabolisms includes the following processes: ROS/NO generation in different plant cell sites; ROS interactions with other signaling molecules, such as mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), phosphatase, calcium (Ca2+), and activator proteins; redox-sensitive genes regulated by the iron-responsive element/iron regulatory protein (IRE-IRP) system and iron regulatory transporter 1(IRT1); and ROS/NO crosstalk during signal transduction. All these processes highlight the complex relationship between ROS and NO metabolism which needs to be evaluated from a broad perspective.

Menstruation and menstrual practices still face many social, cultural, and religious restrictions which are a big barrier in the path of menstrual hygiene management. In many parts of the country especially in rural areas girls are not prepared and aware about menstruation so they face many difficulties and challenges at home, schools, and work places. While reviewing literature, we found that little, inaccurate, or incomplete knowledge about menstruation is a great hindrance in the path of personal and menstrual hygiene management. Girls and women have very less or no knowledge about reproductive tract infections caused due to ignorance of personal hygiene during menstruation time. In rural areas, women do not have access to sanitary products or they know very little about the types and method of using them or are unable to afford such products due to high cost. So, they mostly rely on reusable cloth pads which they wash and use again. Needs and requirements of the adolescent girls and women are ignored despite the fact that there are major developments in the area of water and sanitation. Women manage menstruation differently when they are at home or outside; at homes, they dispose of menstrual products in domestic wastes and in public toilets and they flush them in the toilets without knowing the consequences of choking. So, there should be a need to educate and make them aware about the environmental pollution and health hazards associated with them. Implementation of modern techniques like incineration can help to reduce the waste. Also, awareness should be created to emphasize the use of reusable sanitary products or the natural sanitary products made from materials like banana fibre, bamboo fibre, sea sponges, water hyacinth, and so on.

BACKGROUND: Anethum graveolens Linn., Foeniculum vulgare Mill. and Trachyspermum ammi L. are widely used traditional medicinal plants to treat various ailments. To provide a scientific basis to traditional uses of these plants, their aqueous and organic seed extracts, as well as isolated phytoconstituents were evaluated for their antibacterial potential. METHODS: Antibacterial activity of aqueous and organic seed extracts was assessed using agar diffusion assay, minimum inhibitory concentration and viable cell count studies; and their antibacterial effect was compared with some standard antibiotics. The presence of major phytoconstituents was detected qualitatively and quantitatively. The isolated phytoconstituents were subjected to disc diffusion assay to ascertain their antibacterial effect. RESULTS: Hot water and acetone seed extracts showed considerably good antibacterial activity against all the bacteria except Klebsiella pneumoniae and one strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Minimum inhibitory concentration for aqueous and acetone seed extracts ranged from 20-80 mg/ml and 5-15 mg/ml respectively. Viable cell count studies revealed the bactericidal nature of the seed extracts. Statistical analysis proved the better/equal efficacy of some of these seed extracts as compared to standard antibiotics. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of 2.80 - 4.23% alkaloids, 8.58 - 15.06% flavonoids, 19.71 - 27.77% tannins, 0.55-0.70% saponins and cardiac glycosides. CONCLUSION: Antibacterial efficacy shown by these plants provides a scientific basis and thus, validates their traditional uses as homemade remedies. Isolation and purification of different phytochemicals may further yield significant antibacterial agents.

BACKGROUND: For more than three decades, the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) has provided a framework to quantify health loss due to diseases, injuries, and associated risk factors. This paper presents GBD 2023 findings on disease and injury burden and risk-attributable health loss, offering a global audit of the state of world health to inform public health priorities. This work captures the evolving landscape of health metrics across age groups, sexes, and locations, while reflecting on the remaining post-COVID-19 challenges to achieving our collective global health ambitions. METHODS: The GBD 2023 combined analysis estimated years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 375 diseases and injuries, and risk-attributable burden associated with 88 modifiable risk factors. Of the more than 310 000 total data sources used for all GBD 2023 (about 30% of which were new to this estimation round), more than 120 000 sources were used for estimation of disease and injury burden and 59 000 for risk factor estimation, and included vital registration systems, surveys, disease registries, and published scientific literature. Data were analysed using previously established modelling approaches, such as disease modelling meta-regression version 2.1 (DisMod-MR 2.1) and comparative risk assessment methods. Diseases and injuries were categorised into four levels on the basis of the established GBD cause hierarchy, as were risk factors using the GBD risk hierarchy. Estimates stratified by age, sex, location, and year from 1990 to 2023 were focused on disease-specific time trends over the 2010-23 period and presented as counts (to three significant figures) and age-standardised rates per 100 000 person-years (to one decimal place). For each measure, 95% uncertainty intervals [UIs] were calculated with the 2·5th and 97·5th percentile ordered values from a 250-draw distribution. FINDINGS: Total numbers of global DALYs grew 6·1% (95% UI 4·0-8·1), from 2·64 billion (2·46-2·86) in 2010 to 2·80 billion (2·57-3·08) in 2023, but age-standardised DALY rates, which account for population growth and ageing, decreased by 12·6% (11·0-14·1), revealing large long-term health improvements. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) contributed 1·45 billion (1·31-1·61) global DALYs in 2010, increasing to 1·80 billion (1·63-2·03) in 2023, alongside a concurrent 4·1% (1·9-6·3) reduction in age-standardised rates. Based on DALY counts, the leading level 3 NCDs in 2023 were ischaemic heart disease (193 million [176-209] DALYs), stroke (157 million [141-172]), and diabetes (90·2 million [75·2-107]), with the largest increases in age-standardised rates since 2010 occurring for anxiety disorders (62·8% [34·0-107·5]), depressive disorders (26·3% [11·6-42·9]), and diabetes (14·9% [7·5-25·6]). Remarkable health gains were made for communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) diseases, with DALYs falling from 874 million (837-917) in 2010 to 681 million (642-736) in 2023, and a 25·8% (22·6-28·7) reduction in age-standardised DALY rates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, DALYs due to CMNN diseases rose but returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023. From 2010 to 2023, decreases in age-standardised rates for CMNN diseases were led by rate decreases of 49·1% (32·7-61·0) for diarrhoeal diseases, 42·9% (38·0-48·0) for HIV/AIDS, and 42·2% (23·6-56·6) for tuberculosis. Neonatal disorders and lower respiratory infections remained the leading level 3 CMNN causes globally in 2023, although both showed notable rate decreases from 2010, declining by 16·5% (10·6-22·0) and 24·8% (7·4-36·7), respectively. Injury-related age-standardised DALY rates decreased by 15·6% (10·7-19·8) over the same period. Differences in burden due to NCDs, CMNN diseases, and injuries persisted across age, sex, time, and location. Based on our risk analysis, nearly 50% (1·27 billion [1·18-1·38]) of the roughly 2·80 billion total global DALYs in 2023 were attributable to the 88 risk factors analysed in GBD. Globally, the five level 3 risk factors contributing the highest proportion of risk-attributable DALYs were high systolic blood pressure (SBP), particulate matter pollution, high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), smoking, and low birthweight and short gestation-with high SBP accounting for 8·4% (6·9-10·0) of total DALYs. Of the three overarching level 1 GBD risk factor categories-behavioural, metabolic, and environmental and occupational-risk-attributable DALYs rose between 2010 and 2023 only for metabolic risks, increasing by 30·7% (24·8-37·3); however, age-standardised DALY rates attributable to metabolic risks decreased by 6·7% (2·0-11·0) over the same period. For all but three of the 25 leading level 3 risk factors, age-standardised rates dropped between 2010 and 2023-eg, declining by 54·4% (38·7-65·3) for unsafe sanitation, 50·5% (33·3-63·1) for unsafe water source, and 45·2% (25·6-72·0) for no access to handwashing facility, and by 44·9% (37·3-53·5) for child growth failure. The three leading level 3 risk factors for which age-standardised attributable DALY rates rose were high BMI (10·5% [0·1 to 20·9]), drug use (8·4% [2·6 to 15·3]), and high FPG (6·2% [-2·7 to 15·6]; non-significant). INTERPRETATION: Our findings underscore the complex and dynamic nature of global health challenges. Since 2010, there have been large decreases in burden due to CMNN diseases and many environmental and behavioural risk factors, juxtaposed with sizeable increases in DALYs attributable to metabolic risk factors and NCDs in growing and ageing populations. This long-observed consequence of the global epidemiological transition was only temporarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The substantially decreasing CMNN disease burden, despite the 2008 global financial crisis and pandemic-related disruptions, is one of the greatest collective public health successes known. However, these achievements are at risk of being reversed due to major cuts to development assistance for health globally, the effects of which will hit low-income countries with high burden the hardest. Without sustained investment in evidence-based interventions and policies, progress could stall or reverse, leading to widespread human costs and geopolitical instability. Moreover, the rising NCD burden necessitates intensified efforts to mitigate exposure to leading risk factors-eg, air pollution, smoking, and metabolic risks, such as high SBP, BMI, and FPG-including policies that promote food security, healthier diets, physical activity, and equitable and expanded access to potential treatments, such as GLP-1 receptor agonists. Decisive, coordinated action is needed to address long-standing yet growing health challenges, including depressive and anxiety disorders. Yet this can be only part of the solution. Our response to the NCD syndemic-the complex interaction of multiple health risks, social determinants, and systemic challenges-will define the future landscape of global health. To ensure human wellbeing, economic stability, and social equity, global action to sustain and advance health gains must prioritise reducing disparities by addressing socioeconomic and demographic determinants, ensuring equitable health-care access, tackling malnutrition, strengthening health systems, and improving vaccination coverage. We live in times of great opportunity. FUNDING: Gates Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Wheat constitutes pivotal position for ensuring food and nutritional security; however, rapidly rising soil and water salinity pose a serious threat to its production globally. Salinity stress negatively affects the growth and development of wheat leading to diminished grain yield and quality. Wheat plants utilize a range of physiological biochemical and molecular mechanisms to adapt under salinity stress at the cell, tissue as well as whole plant levels to optimize the growth, and yield by off-setting the adverse effects of saline environment. Recently, various adaptation and management strategies have been developed to reduce the deleterious effects of salinity stress to maximize the production and nutritional quality of wheat. This review emphasizes and synthesizes the deleterious effects of salinity stress on wheat yield and quality along with highlighting the adaptation and mitigation strategies for sustainable wheat production to ensure food security of skyrocketing population under changing climate.

Light has profoundly impacted modern medicine and healthcare, with numerous luminescent agents and imaging techniques currently being used to assess health and treat diseases. As an emerging concept in luminescence, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) has shown great potential in biological applications due to its advantages in terms of brightness, biocompatibility, photostability, and positive correlation with concentration. This review provides a comprehensive summary of AIE luminogens applied in imaging of biological structure and dynamic physiological processes, disease diagnosis and treatment, and detection and monitoring of specific analytes, followed by representative works. Discussions on critical issues and perspectives on future directions are also included. This review aims to stimulate the interest of researchers from different fields, including chemistry, biology, materials science, medicine, etc., thus promoting the development of AIE in the fields of life and health.

Phytohormones (PHs) play crucial role in regulation of various physiological and biochemical processes that govern plant growth and yield under optimal and stress conditions. The interaction of these PHs is crucial for plant survival under stressful environments as they trigger signaling pathways. Hormonal cross regulation initiate a cascade of reactions which finely tune the physiological processes in plant architecture that help plant to grow under suboptimal growth conditions. Recently, various studies have highlighted the role of PHs such as abscisic acid, salicylic acid, ethylene, and jasmonates in the plant responses toward environmental stresses. The involvement of cytokinins, gibberellins, auxin, and relatively novel PHs such as strigolactones and brassinosteroids in plant growth and development has been documented under normal and stress conditions. The recent identification of the first plant melatonin receptor opened the door to this regulatory molecule being considered a new plant hormone. However, polyamines, which are not considered PHs, have been included in this chapter. Various microbes produce and secrete hormones which helped the plants in nutrient uptake such as N, P, and Fe. Exogenous use of such microbes help plants in correcting nutrient deficiency under abiotic stresses. This chapter focused on the recent developments in the knowledge related to PHs and their involvement in abiotic stresses of anticipation, signaling, cross-talk, and activation of response mechanisms. In view of role of hormones and capability of microbes in producing hormones, we propose the use of hormones and microbes as potential strategy for crop stress management.

Summary Starch is the main component of wheat having a number of food and industrial applications. Thousands of cultivars/varieties of different wheat types and species differing in starch functionality (thermal, retrogradation, pasting and nutritional properties) are grown throughout the world. These properties are related to starch composition, morphology and structure, which vary with genetics, agronomic and environmental conditions. Starches from soft wheat contain high amounts of surface lipids and proteins and exhibit lower paste viscosity, whereas that from hard cultivars contain high proportion of small granules and amylose content but lower gelatinization temperature and enthalpy. Waxy starches exhibit higher‐percentage crystallinity, gelatinization temperatures, swelling power, paste viscosities and digestibility, but lower‐setback viscosity, rate of retrogradation and levels of starch lipids and proteins than normal and high‐amylose starches. Starches with high levels of lipids are less susceptible towards gelatinization, swelling and retrogradation and are good source of resistant starch, while that with high proportion of long amylopectin chains are more crystalline, gelatinize at high temperatures, increase paste viscosity, retrograde to a greater extent and decrease starch digestibility (high resistant and slowly digestible starch and low rapidly digestible starch).

Arsenic is an environmental pollutant and its contamination in the drinking water is considered as a serious worldwide environmental health threat. The chronic arsenic exposure is a cause of immense health distress as it accounts for the increased risk of various disorders such as cardiovascular abnormalities, diabetes mellitus, neurotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity. In addition, the exposure to arsenic has been suggested to affect the liver function and to induce hepatotoxicity. Moreover, few studies demonstrated the induction of carcinogenicity especially cancer of the skin, bladder, and lungs after the chronic exposure to arsenic. The present review addresses diverse mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of arsenic-induced toxicity and end-organ damage.

Starches separated from 18 Indian wheat varieties were evaluated to see relationship of granule size distribution and amylopectin structure with pasting, thermal, and retrogradation properties. Average diameter of A-, B-, and C-granules among different starches varied between 23.0 and 28.5, 10.0 and 12.0, and 2.3 and 2.7 mum, respectively. Amylopectin chain length distribution varied significantly, short length chains (DP 6-12) and long length chains (DP > 24) ranged between 44.5 and 52.4% and 3.7 and 6.5%, respectively, whereas amylose content ranged between 18.2 and 28.8%. Short length chains of amylopectin had inverse relationship with starch gelatinization temperatures T(o), T(p), and T(c). Starches with higher crystallinity had higher enthalpy of gelatinization and lower swelling power. Paste characteristics were mainly dependent upon granule type and all pasting parameters except pasting temperature, showed significant positive correlations with A-granules and negative with the proportion of B- and C-granule.

BACKGROUND: Recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified several unsuspected genes associated with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with previously unknown functions. In this investigation, we have examined the role of 9 most significant SNPs reported in GWA studies: [peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 2 (PPARG2; rs 1801282); insulin-like growth factor two binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2; rs 4402960); cyclin-dependent kinase 5, a regulatory subunit-associated protein1-like 1 (CDK5; rs7754840); a zinc transporter and member of solute carrier family 30 (SLC30A8; rs13266634); a variant found near cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A; rs10811661); hematopoietically expressed homeobox (HHEX; rs 1111875); transcription factor-7-like 2 (TCF7L2; rs 10885409); potassium inwardly rectifying channel subfamily J member 11(KCNJ11; rs 5219); and fat mass obesity-associated gene (FTO; rs 9939609)]. METHODS: We genotyped these SNPs in a case-control sample of 918 individuals consisting of 532 T2D cases and 386 normal glucose tolerant (NGT) subjects of an Asian Sikh community from North India. We tested the association between T2D and each SNP using unconditional logistic regression before and after adjusting for age, gender, and other covariates. We also examined the impact of these variants on body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), fasting insulin, and glucose and lipid levels using multiple linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Four of the nine SNPs revealed a significant association with T2D; PPARG2 (Pro12Ala) [odds ratio (OR) 0.12; 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.03-0.52); p = 0.005], IGF2BP2 [OR 1.37; 95% CI (1.04-1.82); p = 0.027], TCF7L2 [OR 1.64; 95% CI (1.20-2.24); p = 0.001] and FTO [OR 1.46; 95% CI (1.11-1.93); p = 0.007] after adjusting for age, sex and BMI. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed significant association of two of nine investigated loci with diabetes-related quantitative traits. The 'C' (risk) allele of CDK5 (rs 7754840) was significantly associated with decreased HDL-cholesterol levels in both NGT (p = 0.005) and combined (NGT and T2D) (0.005) groups. The less common 'C' (risk) allele of TCF7L2 (rs 10885409) was associated with increased LDL-cholesterol (p = 0.010) in NGT and total and LDL-cholesterol levels (p = 0.008; p = 0.003, respectively) in combined cohort. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is first study reporting the role of some recently emerged loci with T2D in a high risk population of Asian Indian origin. Further investigations are warranted to understand the pathway-based functional implications of these important loci in T2D pathophysiology in different ethnicities.