Osmania University

BACKGROUND: In recent decades, the prevalence of obesity in children has increased dramatically. This worldwide epidemic has important consequences, including psychiatric, psychological and psychosocial disorders in childhood and increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) later in life. Treatment of obesity is difficult and children with excess weight are likely to become adults with obesity. These trends have led member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) to endorse a target of no increase in obesity in childhood by 2025. MAIN BODY: Estimates of overweight in children aged under 5 years are available jointly from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), WHO and the World Bank. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has published country-level estimates of obesity in children aged 2-4 years. For children aged 5-19 years, obesity estimates are available from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration. The global prevalence of overweight in children aged 5 years or under has increased modestly, but with heterogeneous trends in low and middle-income regions, while the prevalence of obesity in children aged 2-4 years has increased moderately. In 1975, obesity in children aged 5-19 years was relatively rare, but was much more common in 2016. CONCLUSIONS: It is recognised that the key drivers of this epidemic form an obesogenic environment, which includes changing food systems and reduced physical activity. Although cost-effective interventions such as WHO 'best buys' have been identified, political will and implementation have so far been limited. There is therefore a need to implement effective programmes and policies in multiple sectors to address overnutrition, undernutrition, mobility and physical activity. To be successful, the obesity epidemic must be a political priority, with these issues addressed both locally and globally. Work by governments, civil society, private corporations and other key stakeholders must be coordinated.

The difficulties in synthesizing phase pure BiFeO3 are well known. In this letter we are reporting the optimized synthesis conditions for obtaining phase pure BiFeO3 ceramic. The oxide mixing technique followed by leaching with dilute nitric acid has been used for the synthesis. X-ray diffraction pattern indicated that the sample is phase pure. Scanning electron microscopy along with energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis confirmed the chemical homogeneity of the sample. No segregation of the impurity phase in the matrix was detected. Moreover, Bi/Fe atomic ratio is observed to be ∼1. The ferroelectric transition of the sample at 836 °C has been detected by differential thermal analysis.

High oil and protein content make tetraploid peanut a leading oil and food legume. Here we report a high-quality peanut genome sequence, comprising 2.54 Gb with 20 pseudomolecules and 83,709 protein-coding gene models. We characterize gene functional groups implicated in seed size evolution, seed oil content, disease resistance and symbiotic nitrogen fixation. The peanut B subgenome has more genes and general expression dominance, temporally associated with long-terminal-repeat expansion in the A subgenome that also raises questions about the A-genome progenitor. The polyploid genome provided insights into the evolution of Arachis hypogaea and other legume chromosomes. Resequencing of 52 accessions suggests that independent domestications formed peanut ecotypes. Whereas 0.42-0.47 million years ago (Ma) polyploidy constrained genetic variation, the peanut genome sequence aids mapping and candidate-gene discovery for traits such as seed size and color, foliar disease resistance and others, also providing a cornerstone for functional genomics and peanut improvement.

Proline has been recognized as a multi-functional molecule, accumulating in high concentrations in response to a variety of abiotic stresses. It is able to protect cells from damage by acting as both an osmotic agent and a radical scavenger. Proline accumulated during a stress episode is degraded to provide a supply of energy to drive growth once the stress is relieved. Proline homeostasis is important for actively dividing cells as it helps to maintain sustainable growth under long-term stress. It also underpins the importance of the expansion of the proline sink during the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth and the initiation of seed development. Its role in the reproductive tissue is to stabilize seed set and productivity. Thus, to cope with abiotic stress, it is important to develop strategies to increase the proline sink in the reproductive tissue. We give a holistic account of proline homeostasis, taking into account the regulation of proline synthesis, its catabolism, and intra- and intercellular transport, all of which are vital components of growth and development in plants challenged by stress.

In present study Bacillus spp. screened for drought tolerance could tolerate minimal water potential (-0.73 MPa) were evaluated for plant growth promoting properties at –0.73 MPa. Drought stress affected growth of isolates as indicated by increased intracellular free amino acids, proline, total soluble sugars, and exopolysaccharides. Drought-tolerant Bacillus spp. HYD-B17, HYTAPB18, HYDGRFB19, BKB30, RMPB44 identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus thuringiensis, Paenibacillus favisporus, Bacillus subtilis based on 16S rDNA gene sequence were used to study the effect of inoculation on growth, osmolytes, antioxidant status. Inoculation increased plant biomass, relative water content, leaf water potential, root adhering soil/root tissue ratio, aggregate stability, decreasing leaf water loss. Bacillus spp. effect on osmoregulation increased proline, sugars, free amino acids and decreased electrolyte leakage. Inoculation reduced the activity of antioxidant enzymes ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase. As a result, Bacillus spp. inoculated maize seedlings showed physiological response that could alleviate drought stress negative effects.

Carvacrol (CV) is a phenolic monoterpenoid found in essential oils of oregano (Origanum vulgare), thyme (Thymus vulgaris), pepperwort (Lepidium flavum), wild bergamot (Citrus aurantium bergamia), and other plants. Carvacrol possesses a wide range of bioactivities putatively useful for clinical applications such antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. Carvacrol antimicrobial activity is higher than that of other volatile compounds present in essential oils due to the presence of the free hydroxyl group, hydrophobicity, and the phenol moiety. The present review illustrates the state-of-the-art studies on the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer properties of CV. It is particularly effective against food-borne pathogens, including Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Bacillus cereus. Carvacrol has high antioxidant activity and has been successfully used, mainly associated with thymol, as dietary phytoadditive to improve animal antioxidant status. The anticancer properties of CV have been reported in preclinical models of breast, liver, and lung carcinomas, acting on proapoptotic processes. Besides the interesting properties of CV and the toxicological profile becoming definite, to date, human trials on CV are still lacking, and this largely impedes any conclusions of clinical relevance.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to determine the association between bilingualism and age at onset of dementia and its subtypes, taking into account potential confounding factors. METHODS: Case records of 648 patients with dementia (391 of them bilingual) diagnosed in a specialist clinic were reviewed. The age at onset of first symptoms was compared between monolingual and bilingual groups. The influence of number of languages spoken, education, occupation, and other potentially interacting variables was examined. RESULTS: Overall, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than the monolingual ones. A significant difference in age at onset was found across Alzheimer disease dementia as well as frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia, and was also observed in illiterate patients. There was no additional benefit to speaking more than 2 languages. The bilingual effect on age at dementia onset was shown independently of other potential confounding factors such as education, sex, occupation, and urban vs rural dwelling of subjects. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest study so far documenting a delayed onset of dementia in bilingual patients and the first one to show it separately in different dementia subtypes. It is the first study reporting a bilingual advantage in those who are illiterate, suggesting that education is not a sufficient explanation for the observed difference. The findings are interpreted in the context of the bilingual advantages in attention and executive functions.

BiFeO 3 , when forming a solid solution with BaTiO3, shows structural transformations over the entire compositional range. Above 70 mole % of BiFeO3 the structure is rhombohedral and below 4 mole %, it is tetragonal. In between the structure is cubic. The ferroelectric TC decreases with increasing composition of BaTiO3 and a relatively small relaxation is observed. Impedance measurements showed a structural dependence and analysis of which has clearly shown that the capacitance observed is from the bulk of the sample. Relaxation time (τ) of BiFeO3 was estimated using the relaxation times of the intermediate compositions. Magnetization measurements showed field induced ferromagnetism. As the structure becomes cubic with increasing concentration of BaTiO3, paramagnetism sets in, as evidenced by the electron spin resonance spectra.

Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems interact with the mucus layer covering the mucosal epithelial surface, and mucin molecules and increase the residence time of the dosage form at the site of absorption. The drugs which have local action or those which have maximum absorption in gastrointestinal tract (GIT) require increased duration of stay in GIT. Thus, mucoadhesive dosage forms are advantageous in increasing the drug plasma concentrations and also therapeutic activity. In this regard, this review covers the areas of mechanisms and theories of mucoadhesion, factors influencing the mucoadhesive devices and also various mucoadhesive dosage forms.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and this makes it an attractive disease to review and possibly improve therapeutic treatment options. Surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, targeted treatments, and immunotherapy separate or in combination are commonly used to treat lung cancer. However, these treatment types may cause different side effects, and chemotherapy-based regimens appear to have reached a therapeutic plateau. Hence, effective, better-tolerated treatments are needed to address and hopefully overcome this conundrum. Recent advances have enabled biologists to better investigate the potential use of natural compounds for the treatment or control of various cancerous diseases. For the past 30 years, natural compounds have been the pillar of chemotherapy. However, only a few compounds have been tested in cancerous patients and only partial evidence is available regarding their clinical effectiveness. Herein, we review the research on using current chemotherapy drugs and natural compounds (Wortmannin and Roscovitine, Cordyceps militaris, Resveratrol, OSU03013, Myricetin, Berberine, Antroquinonol) and the beneficial effects they have on various types of cancers including non-small cell lung cancer. Based on this literature review, we propose the use of these compounds along with chemotherapy drugs in patients with advanced and/or refractory solid tumours.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are emerging as novel nanomaterials for various biomedical applications. CNTs can be used to deliver a variety of therapeutic agents, including biomolecules, to the target disease sites. In addition, their unparalleled optical and electrical properties make them excellent candidates for bioimaging and other biomedical applications. However, the high cytotoxicity of CNTs limits their use in humans and many biological systems. The biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity of CNTs are attributed to size, dose, duration, testing systems, and surface functionalization. The functionalization of CNTs improves their solubility and biocompatibility and alters their cellular interaction pathways, resulting in much-reduced cytotoxic effects. Functionalized CNTs are promising novel materials for a variety of biomedical applications. These potential applications are particularly enhanced by their ability to penetrate biological membranes with relatively low cytotoxicity. This review is directed towards the overview of CNTs and their functionalization for biomedical applications with minimal cytotoxicity.

Proline is a proteogenic amino acid and accumulates both under stress and non-stress conditions as a beneficial solute in plants. Recent discoveries point out that proline plays an important role in plant growth and differentiation across life cycle. It is a key determinant of many cell wall proteins that plays important roles in plant development. The role of extensins, arabinogalactan proteins and hydroxyproline- and proline-rich proteins as important components of cell wall proteins that play pivotal roles in cell wall signal transduction cascades, plant development and stress tolerance is discussed in this review. Molecular insights are also provided here into the plausible roles of proline transporters modulating key events in plant development. In addition, the roles of proline during seed developmental transitions including storage protein synthesis are discussed.

The detection of coronavirus (COVID-19) is now a critical task for the medical practitioner. The coronavirus spread so quickly between people and approaches 100,000 people worldwide. In this consequence, it is very much essential to identify the infected people so that prevention of spread can be taken. In this paper, the deep feature plus support vector machine (SVM) based methodology is suggested for detection of coronavirus infected patient using X-ray images. For classification, SVM is used instead of deep learning based classifier, as the later one need a large dataset for training and validation. The deep features from the fully connected layer of CNN model are extracted and fed to SVM for classification purpose. The SVM classifies the corona affected X-ray images from others. The methodology consists of three categories of Xray images, i.e., COVID-19, pneumonia and normal. The method is beneficial for the medical practitioner to classify among the COVID-19 patient, pneumonia patient and healthy people. SVM is evaluated for detection of COVID-19 using the deep features of different 13 number of CNN models. The SVM produced the best results using the deep feature of ResNet50. The classification model, i.e. ResNet50 plus SVM achieved accuracy, sensitivity, FPR and F1 score of 95.33%,95.33%,2.33% and 95.34% respectively for detection of COVID-19 (ignoring SARS, MERS and ARDS). Again, the highest accuracy achieved by ResNet50 plus SVM is 98.66%. The result is based on the Xray images available in the repository of GitHub and Kaggle. As the data set is in hundreds, the classification based on SVM is more robust compared to the transfer learning approach. Also, a comparison analysis of other traditional classification method is carried out. The traditional methods are local binary patterns (LBP) plus SVM, histogram of oriented gradients (HOG) plus SVM and Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) plus SVM. In traditional image classification method, LBP plus SVM achieved 93.4% of accuracy.

RIPK1 kinase activity has been shown to be essential to driving pyroptosis, apoptosis, and necroptosis. However, here we show a kinase activity-independent role for RIPK1 in these processes using a model of TLR priming in a TAK1-deficient setting to mimic pathogen-induced priming and inhibition. TLR priming of TAK1-deficient macrophages triggered inflammasome activation, including the activation of caspase-8 and gasdermin D, and the recruitment of NLRP3 and ASC into a novel RIPK1 kinase activity-independent cell death complex to drive pyroptosis and apoptosis. Furthermore, we found fully functional RIPK1 kinase activity-independent necroptosis driven by the RIPK3-MLKL pathway in TAK1-deficient macrophages. In vivo, TAK1 inactivation resulted in RIPK3-caspase-8 signaling axis-driven myeloid proliferation and a severe sepsis-like syndrome. Overall, our study highlights a previously unknown mechanism for RIPK1 kinase activity-independent inflammasome activation and pyroptosis, apoptosis, and necroptosis (PANoptosis) that could be targeted for treatment of TAK1-associated myeloid proliferation and sepsis.

Stable gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were synthesized using salmalia malabarica gum as both reducing and capping agent. It is a simple and eco-friendly green synthesis. The successful formation of AuNPs was confirmed by UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The synthesized AuNPs were characterized by a peak at 520–535 nm in the UV–Vis spectrum. The X-ray diffraction studies indicated that the resulting AuNPs were highly crystalline with face-centred cubic geometry. TEM studies showed that the average particle size of the synthesized AuNPs was 12 ± 2 nm. FTIR analysis revealed that –OH groups present in the gum matrix might be responsible for the reduction of Au+3 into AuNPs. The synthesized AuNPs exhibited good catalytic properties in the reduction of methylene blue and Congo red.

BACKGROUND: Eradication of Helicobacter pylori is an important objective in overcoming gastric diseases. Many regimens are currently available but none of them could achieve 100% success in eradication. Eugenol and cinnamaldehyde that are commonly used in various food preparations are known to possess antimicrobial activity against a wide spectrum of bacteria. AIM: The present study was performed to assess the in vitro effects of eugenol and cinnamaldehyde against indigenous and standard H. pylori strains, their minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and time course lethal effects at various pH. METHODS: A total of 31 strains (29 indigenous and one standard strain of H. pylori ATCC 26695, one strain of E. coli NCIM 2089) were screened. Agar dilution method was used for the determination of drug sensitivity patterns of isolates to the commonly used antibiotics and broth dilution method for the test compounds. RESULTS: Eugenol and cinnamaldehyde inhibited the growth of all the 30 H. pylori strains tested, at a concentration of 2 mug/ml, in the 9th and 12th hours of incubation respectively. At acidic pH, increased activity was observed for both the compounds. Furthermore, the organism did not develop any resistance towards these compounds even after 10 passages grown at sub-inhibitory concentrations. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the two bioactive compounds we tested may prevent H. pylori growth in vitro, without acquiring any resistance.

Snowdrop lectin (Galanthus nivalis agglutinin; GNA) has been shown previously to be toxic towards rice brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens; BPH) when administered in artificial diet. BPH feeds by phloem abstraction, and causes 'hopper burn', as well as being an important virus vector. To evaluate the potential of the gna gene to confer resistance towards BPH, transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants were produced, containing the gna gene in constructs where its expression was driven by a phloem-specific promoter (from the rice sucrose synthase RSs1 gene) and by a constitutive promoter (from the maize ubiquitin ubi1 gene). PCR and Southern analyses on DNA from these plants confirmed their transgenic status, and that the transgenes were transmitted to progeny after self-fertilization. Western blot analyses revealed expression of GNA at levels of up to 2.0% of total protein in some of the transgenic plants. GNA expression driven by the RSs1 promoter was tissue-specific, as shown by immunohistochemical localization of the protein in the non-lignified vascular tissue of transgenic plants. Insect bioassays and feeding studies showed that GNA expressed in the transgenic rice plants decreased survival and overall fecundity (production of offspring) of the insects, retarded insect development, and had a deterrent effect on BPH feeding. gna is the first transgene to exhibit insecticidal activity towards sap-sucking insects in an important cereal crop plant.

A novel, green approach for the synthesis of highly fluorescent carbon dots with 28% quantum yield by utilizing onion waste as precursor and employing a simple autoclave is reported, and applied them as Fe³⁺ sensor & multi-coloured imaging agents.

Incorporation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) on the gas permeation properties of H2, CO2, O2, and N2 gases in poly(ether-block-amide) (Pebax-1657) membrane has been investigated. Pebax-1657 was dissolved in the ethanol−water mixture and cast on an ultraporous polyethersulfone substrate followed by complete solvent evaporation. Nanocomposite membranes were prepared by dispersion of MWNT in concentrations of 0−5% of polymer weight in the Pebax solutions with sonication for 2 h to ensure uniformity. Cross-linking was carried out in hexane medium using 2,4-toluylene diisocyanate (TDI). The permeabilities of pure gases were measured at room temperature, and the ideal selectivities were determined at pressures varying from 1−3 MPa using an indigenously built high-pressure gas separation manifold. For neat Pebax membrane, high permeabilities of 55.8 and 32.1 barrers were observed for CO2 and H2 gases, respectively, whereas that of N2 was as low as 1.4 barrers. The selectivity of cross-linked 2% MWNT Pebax membrane was enhanced from 83.2 to 162 with increasing feed pressure (1−3 MPa) for the CO2/N2 gas pair, whereas the corresponding values for H2/N2 and O2/N2 systems were found to be in the range 82.5−90 and 7.1−6.8, respectively. The membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study surface and cross-sectional morphologies. Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and ion exchange capacity (IEC) studies were carried out to determine the effect of MWNT incorporation on intermolecular interactions, degree of crystallinity, and extent of cross-linking, respectively. Fractional free volume (FFV) calculations based on density measurements were conducted along with water sorption studies to explain permeation behavior. The use of modified block copolymer membranes provides a means for separation of CO2 from N2 in power plants, H2 recycle from ammonia purge gas, O2 enrichment from air for medical applications, and CO2 removal from water-gas shift reaction to improve H2 yield.

Drought, one of the environmental stresses, plays crucial role in reduction in plant production on majority of agricultural fields of world, In order to evaluate drought stress on RNA content Relative water content (RWC), and chlorophyll content, Water deficit was induced by Polyethylene glycol (PEG) in peanut (Arachis hypogaea), accession number ICGV 91114. In this current study we evaluate RNA content and Relative water content (RWC) both in leaves and roots and chlorophyll content in leaf. The present study was undertaken with the aim to investigate the effect of water deficit imposed by PEG-6000, 40 old day seedlings were treated with varying concentrations of polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG-6000; w/v-5%, 10%, 15% & 20%) for 24 h. The results showed that RNA content and Relative water content (RWC) content was significantly reduced in both leaves and roots with increased concentration of PEG, In leaves, a concentration dependent decline in chlorophyll content with increasing concentration of polyethylene glycol-6000 (PEG-6000). Reduction in chlorophyll ‘a’ level was to a greater extent than the chlorophyll ‘b’. Thus, this attributes can be used as screening tool for drought tolerance in peanut.