Jadavpur University

About: Jadavpur University is a education organization based out in Kolkata, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Fuzzy logic. The organization has 10856 authors who have published 27678 publications receiving 422069 citations. The organization is also known as: JU & Jadabpur University.

Understanding the pathway of antibacterial activity of copper oxide nanoparticles

Abstract: This work investigates the role of oxidation state in the antibacterial activity of copper oxide nanoparticles (NPs). The findings add strong support to a contact killing mechanism of copper oxides (CuO and Cu2O) through which bacteria initially suffer severe damage to the cell envelope. Then further damage ensues by an independent pathway of each copper oxide nanoparticle. Formation of copper(I)–peptide complex from cuprous oxide (Cu2O) and free radical generation from cupric oxide (CuO) were identified as key sources of toxicity towards E.coli. Cu2O rapidly inactivated Fumarase A, an iron sulphur cluster enzyme suggesting the cuprous state of copper binding to the proteins. This inactivation was not noticed in CuO. The percentage of biocidal/bacteriostatic activity is closely related to the oxidation state of the copper oxides. In the case of E.coli, Cu2O nanoparticles showed more efficient antibacterial activity and higher affinity to the bacterial cells. CuO nanoparticles produced significant ROS in terms of super oxides while Cu2O did not. The diminishing defective emission peaks of Cu2O after incubation with microbes strongly suggest the formation of protein complexes. This work is carried out to enable better understanding of the mechanistic pathways of copper oxide nanoparticles.

Garlic as an antioxidant: the good, the bad and the ugly

Abstract: Garlic has played an important dietary and medicinal role throughout the history of mankind. In some Western countries, the sale of garlic preparations ranks with those of leading prescription drugs. The therapeutic efficacy of garlic encompasses a wide variety of ailments, including cardiovascular, cancer, hepatic and microbial infections to name but a few. However, the elucidation of its mechanism for therapeutic action has proved to be more elusive and a unifying theory, which could account for its reported multifarious activities, is yet to emerge. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) seem to be at the core of many disease processes and it is an attractive and convenient hypothesis that garlic might exert its activities through modulatory effects on ROS. A literature search on garlic and its antioxidant potential churned up a surprisingly large amount of data, some of it good, some bad and some of its definitely ugly. Various preparations of garlic, mainly aged garlic extract (AGE), have been shown to have promising antioxidant potential. However, the presence of more than one compounds in garlic, with apparently opposite biological effects, has added to the complexity of the subject. Raw garlic homogenate has been reported to exert antioxidant potential but higher doses have been shown to be toxic to the heart, liver and kidney. So where do we stand today on this issue of garlic? Is garlic always good for health? How safe is it? Is it necessary to isolate the antioxidant compounds for its medicinal use in a more effective way? These issues are addressed in this review.

Comparative Studies on Some Metrics for External Validation of QSPR Models

Abstract: Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models used for prediction of property of untested chemicals can be utilized for prioritization plan of synthesis and experimental testing of new compounds. Validation of QSPR models plays a crucial role for judgment of the reliability of predictions of such models. In the QSPR literature, serious attention is now given to external validation for checking reliability of QSPR models, and predictive quality is in the most cases judged based on the quality of predictions of property of a single test set as reflected in one or more external validation metrics. Here, we have shown that a single QSPR model may show a variable degree of prediction quality as reflected in some variants of external validation metrics like Q²(F1), Q²(F2), Q²(F3), CCC, and r²(m) (all of which are differently modified forms of predicted variance, which theoretically may attain a maximum value of 1), depending on the test set composition and test set size. Thus, this report questions the appropriateness of the common practice of the "classic" approach of external validation based on a single test set and thereby derives a conclusion about predictive quality of a model on the basis of a particular validation metric. The present work further demonstrates that among the considered external validation metrics, r²(m) shows statistically significantly different numerical values from others among which CCC is the most optimistic or less stringent. Furthermore, at a given level of threshold value of acceptance for external validation metrics, r²(m) provides the most stringent criterion (especially with Δr²(m) at highest tolerated value of 0.2) of external validation, which may be adopted in the case of regulatory decision support processes.

Hybrid Differential Evolution With Biogeography-Based Optimization for Solution of Economic Load Dispatch

Abstract: This paper presents a hybrid technique combining differential evolution with biogeography-based optimization (DE/BBO) algorithm to solve both convex and nonconvex economic load dispatch (ELD) problems of thermal power units considering transmission losses, and constraints such as ramp rate limits, valve-point loading and prohibited operating zones. Differential evolution (DE) is one of the very fast and robust evolutionary algorithms for global optimization. Biogeography-based optimization (BBO) is a relatively new optimization. Mathematical models of biogeography describe how a species arises, migrates from one habitat (Island) to another, or gets extinct. This algorithm searches for the global optimum mainly through two steps: migration and mutation. This paper presents combination of DE and BBO (DE/BBO) to improve the quality of solution and convergence speed. DE/BBO improves the searching ability of DE utilizing BBO algorithm effectively and can generate the promising candidate solutions. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been verified on four different test systems, both small and large. Considering the quality of the solution and convergence speed obtained, this method seems to be a promising alternative approach for solving the ELD problems in practical power system.

Circ2Traits: a comprehensive database for circular RNA potentially associated with disease and traits.

Abstract: Circular RNAs are new players in regulation of post transcriptional gene expression. Animal genomes express many circular RNAs from diverse genomic locations. A recent study has validated a fairly large number of circular RNAs in human, mouse and nematode. Circular RNAs play a crucial role in fine tuning the level of miRNA mediated regulation of gene expression by sequestering the miRNAs. Their interaction with disease associated miRNAs indicates that circular RNAs are important for disease regulation. We studied the potential association of circular RNAs (circRNA) with human diseases in two different ways. First, the interactions of circRNAs with disease associated miRNAs were identified, following which the likelihood of a circRNA being associated with a disease was calculated. For the miRNAs associated with individual diseases, we constructed a network of predicted interactions between the miRNAs and protein coding, long noncoding and circular RNA genes. We carried out gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis on the set of protein coding genes in the miRNA- circRNA interactome of individual diseases to check the enrichment of genes associated with particular biological processes. Second, disease associated SNPs were mapped on circRNA loci, and Argonaute (Ago) interaction sites on circular RNAs were identified. We compiled a database of disease-circRNA association in Circ2Traits ( http://gyanxet-beta.com/circdb/ ), the first comprehensive knowledgebase of potential association of circular RNAs with diseases in human.