Clinical Advances in Molecular Biomarkers for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

Cancer diagnosis is currently undergoing a paradigm shift with the incorporation of molecular biomarkers as part of routine diagnostic panel. The molecular alteration ranges from those involving the DNA, RNA, microRNAs (miRNAs) and proteins. The miRNAs are recently discovered small non-coding endogenous single-stranded RNAs that critically regulates the development, invasion and metastasis of cancers. They are altered in cancers and have the potential to serve as diagnostic markers for cancer. Moreover, deregulating their activity offers novel cancer therapeutic approaches. The availability of high throughput techniques for the identification of altered cellular molecules allowed their use in cancer diagnosis. Their application to a variety of body specimens from blood to tissues has been helpful for appreciating their use in the clinical context. The development of innovative antibodies for immunohistochemical detection of proteins also assists in diagnosis and risk stratification. Overall, the novel cancer diagnostic tools have extended their application as prognostic risk factors and can be used as targets for personalized medicine.     

Development of whey‐fruit‐based energy drink mixes using D‐optimal mixture design

The study deals with two whey‐fruit‐based energy drink mixes developed using freeze drying. D‐optimal mixture design with 2 factors at 5 levels was used for the optimisation of ingredients. The responses studied were overall acceptability and acidity of the formulations. The whey/grape juice and whey/pomegranate juice ratios selected on the basis of response analysis was 49:51 and 40:60, respectively. The energy drinks were freeze‐dried and packed in paper/Al foil/polythene (PFP) pouches were stored at ambient temperature as well as 37 ^○C. Periodic evaluation revealed that whey‐grape and whey‐pomegranate energy drink mixes had a shelf life of 9 and 8 months, respectively. The addition of caffeine at 200 ppm level did not impart any adverse change in sensory quality.     

Use of electrospinning technique for biomedical applications

The electrospinning technique provides non-wovens to the order of few nanometers with large surface areas, ease of functionalisation for various purposes and superior mechanical properties. Also, the possibility of large scale productions combined with the simplicity of the process makes this technique very attractive for many different applications. Biomedical field is one of the important application areas among others utilising the technique of electrospinning like filtration and protective material, electrical and optical applications, sensors, nanofiber reinforced composites etc. Electrospinning assembly can be modified in different ways for combining materials properties with different morphological structures for these applications. The importance of electrospinning, in general, for biomedical applications like tissue engineering drug release, wound dressing, enzyme immobilization etc. is highlighted in this feature article. The focus is also on the types of materials that have been electrospun and the modifications that have been carried out in conventional electrospinning apparatus keeping in view the specific needs for various biomedical applications.     

Characterisation of honey produced from different fruit plants of northern India

Studies were carried out to determine the affect of different fruit plant sources viz., Litche chinensis (litchi), Citrus sinensis (sweet orange), Ziziphus mauritiana (ber) and Prunus persica (peach) on moisture content, pH, free acidity, reducing sugars and sucrose contents, fructose/glucose ratio, ash and proline content, invertase and diastase activities, hydroxymethylfurfural and mineral (sodium, potassium, iron, calcium, zinc, and copper) contents as well as on rheological properties of honey. The source of honey had a significant (P < 0.05) effect on moisture content, free acidity, reducing sugar, fructose/glucose ratio, hydroxymethylfurfural content, invertase and diastase activities, sucrose content, proline content, ash content, pH and mineral content. The honey from various sources exhibited Newtonian behaviour and the activation energy ranged from 63.63 to 81.48 kJ mol^?1. Pattern recognition methods such as principal component analysis andlinear discriminate analysis were performed to classify honey on the basis of physico‐chemical properties and mineral content. The variables proline, potassium and free acidity exhibited higher discrimination power.     

Development of shelf stable pepper based appetizers by response surface methodology (RSM)

The paper deals with three pepper-based appetizers developed in the form of convenient beverage mixes. The optimization of ingredients in the formulations of spiced drink mix, spiced tomato mix and chakota soup mix was achieved using response surface methodology with statistical design software. The active ingredient pepper was 1.5 and 2.8/100 g as black pepper and 9/100 g as white pepper with total pungency (expressed as piperine, g/100 g) of 0.08, 0.155, 0.155 in spiced drink mix, chakota soup mix and spiced tomato mix, respectively. The appetizer mixes packed in paper/Al foil/ polythene (PFP) and polypropylene (PP) pouches were stored at ambient temperature as well as 37 °C. Periodic evaluation (2-months interval) revealed that spice drink mix and spiced tomato mix had a shelf life of 6 months, while it was 8 months for chakota soup mix packed in PFP pouches under ambient conditions (18-33 °C).     

DRYING CHARACTERISTICS AND PRODUCT QUALITY OF OKRA

ABSTRACT

Effects of size (whole and sliced), pre-treatment (blanching in water and 0.5% NaCl solution at 95° C) and temperature of drying air (40, 55 and 70° C) on the drying characteristics and quality of okra were studied. Estimation of the drying rate established that the drying of okra takes place under the falling rate period. Page's model was found to adequately describe the drying behavior of okra over a wide range of drying conditions used in the study. The coefficients of Page's model were correlated with air temperature and it was found that the dependence of the rate constant on the drying air temperature can be described using the Arrhenius law. The quality of the dried product was found to be best when okra was sliced and blanched at 95° C in 0.5% NaCl solution for 5 min and then dried at 55° C.     

Vinyl-functionalized gold nanoparticles as artificial monomers for the free radical copolymerization with methyl methacrylate

Vinyl-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNP) were prepared by surface polymerization of vinyl-functionalized ligands induced by carboxy-functionalized radical initiators followed by vinyl-transformation of the carboxy-group. These AuNP were regarded as artificial molecules as they were used as comonomers for the free radical copolymerization with methyl methacrylate (MMA). Successful copolymerization was proven by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and by thermogravimetrical analysis (TGA). Further analysis of the novel hybrid material was carried out by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to proof the presence of AuNP and their arrangement.     

Attenuation Characteristics and Sensitivity Analysis for Coplanar Waveguide

The behaviour of attenuation losses in Coplanar waveguides (CPW) is studied for quasi-planar transmission lines with constant characteristic impedance (Z₀) and resistivity, having different geometry's. This behavior helps in making a suitable choice of the type of structure and its dimensional parameters depending upon the application. Minimization of loss for a chosen substrate thickness, conductivity and impedance is analyzed. Dispersion characteristics of CPW have been plotted for various metallization thicknesses. A sensitivity analysis for effective dielectric constant with respect to various dimensional parameters of CPW is presented.     

Single‐Molecule Imaging Reveals that Small Amyloid‐β1–42 Oligomers Interact with the Cellular Prion Protein (PrPC)

Oligomers of the amyloid‐β peptide (Aβ) play a central role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and have been suggested to induce neurotoxicity by binding to a plethora of cell‐surface receptors. However, the heterogeneous mixtures of oligomers of varying sizes and conformations formed by Aβ42 have obscured the nature of the oligomeric species that bind to a given receptor. Here, we have used single‐molecule imaging to characterize Aβ42 oligomers (oAβ42) and to confirm the controversial interaction of oAβ42 with the cellular prion protein (PrP^C) on live neuronal cells. Our results show that, at nanomolar concentrations, oAβ42 interacts with PrP^C and that the species bound to PrP^C are predominantly small oligomers (dimers and trimers). Single‐molecule biophysical studies can thus aid in deciphering the mechanisms that underlie receptor‐mediated oAβ‐induced neurotoxicity, and ultimately facilitate the discovery of novel inhibitors of these pathways.