There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

http://dns2.asia.edu.tw/~ysho/YSHO-English/1000%20WC/PDF/Pro%20Bio34,%20451.pdf

Pseudo-second order model for sorption processes

Peptides or proteins convert under some conditions from their soluble forms into highly ordered fibrillar aggregates. Such transitions can give rise to pathological conditions ranging from neurodegenerative disorders to systemic amyloidoses. In this review, we identify the diseases known to be associated with formation of fibrillar aggregates and the specific peptides and proteins involved in each case. We describe, in addition, that living organisms can take advantage of the inherent ability of proteins to form such structures to generate novel and diverse biological functions. We review recent advances toward the elucidation of the structures of amyloid fibrils and the mechanisms of their formation at a molecular level. Finally, we discuss the relative importance of the common main-chain and side-chain interactions in determining the propensities of proteins to aggregate and describe some of the evidence that the oligomeric fibril precursors are the primary origins of pathological behavior.

/pdf/protein-misfolding-functional-amyloid-and-human-disease-2w386pwb7k.pdf

Protein Misfolding, Functional Amyloid, and Human Disease

Throughout the biological world, a 30 A hydrophobic film typically delimits the environments that serve as the margin between life and death for individual cells. Biochemical and biophysical findings have provided a detailed model of the composition and structure of membranes, which includes levels of dynamic organization both across the lipid bilayer (lipid asymmetry) and in the lateral dimension (lipid domains) of membranes. How do cells apply anabolic and catabolic enzymes, translocases and transporters, plus the intrinsic physical phase behaviour of lipids and their interactions with membrane proteins, to create the unique compositions and multiple functionalities of their individual membranes?

/pdf/membrane-lipids-where-they-are-and-how-they-behave-1rycz1l7v8.pdf

Membrane lipids: where they are and how they behave.

Assay for lipid peroxides in animal tissues by thiobarbituric acid reaction

Various soil and sludge samples collected from the vicinity of textile dyeing industries and waste disposal sites were used for enrichment of microbial population in the presence of triphenylmethane (TPM) dye Acid Violet-17 (AV-17). Twenty-five (25) isolates were screened for their ability to decolorize AV-17 dye added at a rate of 10 mgl(-1) in mineral salts medium (MSM) agar plates. Five bacterial isolates belonging to Bacillus sp., Alcaligenes sp. and Aeromonas sp. were selected on the basis of their higher decolorization ability and were used to develop a bacterial consortium. The consortium was able to efficiently decolorize various TPM dyes viz. Acid Violet-17 (86%), Acid Blue-15 (85%), Crystal Violet (82%), Malachite Green (82%) and Brilliant Green (85%). The consortium will be further used for designing efficient and cost effective treatment system for effluents of textile processing industries (TPI).

Isolation and characterization of microorganisms capable of decolorizing various triphenylmethane dyes.

The term “sustained release” is known to have existed in the medical and pharmaceutical literature for many decades. It has been constantly used to describe a pharmaceutical dosage form formulated to retard the release of therapeutic agent such that its appearance in the systemic circulation is delayed and/or prolonged and its plasma profile is sustained in duration. Presently pharmaceutical industries are focusing on development of sustained release formulations due to its inherent boons. Sustained release dosage forms are designed to release a drug at a predetermined rate by maintaining a constant drug level for a specific period of time with minimum side effects. The basic rationale of sustained release drug delivery system optimizes the biopharmaceutical, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics properties of a drug in such a way that its utility is maximized, side-effects are reduced and cure of the disease is achieved. There are several advantages of sustained release (matrix) drug delivery over conventional dosage forms like improved patient compliance due to less frequent drug administration, reduction of fluctuation in steady-state drug levels, maximum utilisation of the drug, increased safety margin of potent drug, reduction in healthcare costs through improved therapy and shorter treatment period. The basic goal of sustained release is provide promising way to decrease the side effect of drug by preventing the fluctuation of the therapeutic concentration of the drug in the body and increase patient compliance by reducing frequency of dose. Keywords Sustained-release, Matrix tablet, Patient compliance.

Sustained release matrix technology and recent advance in matrix drug delivery system: a review

This study investigated the effect of curcumin on aluminium-induced alterations in ageing-related parameters: lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione-s-transferase (GST), protein kinase C (PKC), Na(+), K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase (Na(+), K(+)-ATPase) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of the brain of 10- and 24-month-old rats. Measurements taken from aluminium-fed rats were compared with those from rats in which curcumin and aluminium were co-administered. In aluminium-treated rats the levels of lipid peroxidation, PKC and AChE were enhanced while the activities of SOD, GPx, GST and Na(+), K(+)-ATPase were significantly decreased in both the brain regions of both age-groups. In animals co-administered with curcumin and aluminium, the levels of lipid peroxidation, activities of PKC and AChE were significantly lowered while the activities of SOD, GPx, GST and Na(+), K(+)-ATPase were significantly enhanced in the two brain regions studied indicating curcumin's protective effects against aluminium toxicity. Though the magnitudes of curcumin-induced alterations varied in young and old animals, the results of the present study also demonstrated that curcumin exerts a protective effect against aluminium-induced elevation of ageing-related changes by modulating the extent of oxidative stress (by upregulating the activities of antioxidant enzymes) and by regulating the activities of Na(+), K(+) ATPase, PKC and AChE. Therefore, it is suggested that curcumin counters aluminium-induced enhancement in ageing-related processes.

Curcumin counteracts the aluminium-induced ageing-related alterations in oxidative stress, Na+, K+ ATPase and protein kinase C in adult and old rat brain regions.

Organisms encode multiple homologous heat shock protein (Hsp)-70s, which are essential protein chaperones that play the major role in cellular protein “quality control.” Although Hsp70s are functionally redundant and highly homologous, many possess distinct functions. A regulatory motif underlying such distinctions, however, is unknown. The 98% identical cytoplasmic Hsp70s Ssa1p and Ssa2p function differently with regard to propagation of yeast [URE3] prions and in the vacuolar-mediated degradation of gluconeogenesis enzymes, such as FBPase. Here, we show that the Hsp70 nucleotide binding domain (NBD) regulates these functional specificities. We find little difference in ATPase, protein refolding, and amyloid inhibiting activities of purified Ssa1p and Ssa2p, but show that interchanging NBD residue alanine 83 (Ssa1p) and glycine 83 (Ssa2p) switched functions of Ssa1p and Ssa2p in [URE3] propagation and FBPase degradation. Disrupting the degradation pathway did not affect prion propagation, however, indicating these are two distinct processes where Ssa1/2p chaperones function differently. Our results suggest that the primary evolutionary pressure for Hsp70 functional distinctions is not to specify interactions of Hsp70 with substrate, but to specify the regulation of this activity. Our data suggest a rationale for maintaining multiple Hsp70s and suggest that subtle differences among Hsp70s evolved to provide functional specificity without affecting overall enzymatic activity.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/108/33/13665.full.pdf

Deepak Sharma

Papers

Isolation and characterization of microorganisms capable of decolorizing various triphenylmethane dyes.

Sustained release matrix technology and recent advance in matrix drug delivery system: a review

Curcumin counteracts the aluminium-induced ageing-related alterations in oxidative stress, Na+, K+ ATPase and protein kinase C in adult and old rat brain regions.

Single methyl group determines prion propagation and protein degradation activities of yeast heat shock protein (Hsp)-70 chaperones Ssa1p and Ssa2p.

Amelioration of collagen-induced arthritis by Salix nigra bark extract via suppression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress.