Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is often associated with higher levels of LH, and arrested ovarian follicular growth. The direct impact of high LH on FSH mediated metabolic responses in PCOS ...patients is not clearly understood.
In order to investigate the impact of FSH and LH on glucose metabolism in preovulatory granulosa cells (GCs), we used U14C-2 deoxyglucose, D-U14C-glucose or 2-NBD glucose to analyse glucose uptake and its incorporation into glycogen. To reproduce the high androgenic potential in PCOS patients, we administered hCG both in vitro and in vivo. The role of IRS-2/PI3K/Akt2 pathway was studied after knockdown with specific siRNA. Immunoprecipitation and specific assays were used for the assessment of IRS-2, glycogen synthase and protein phosphatase 1. Furthermore, we examined the in vivo effects of hCG on FSH mediated glycogen increase in normal and PCOS rat model. HEK293 cells co-expressing FSHR and LHR were used to demonstrate glucose uptake and BRET change by FSH and hCG.
In normal human and rat granulosa cells, FSH is more potent than hCG in stimulating glucose uptake, however glycogen synthesis was significantly upregulated only by FSH through increase in activity of glycogen synthase via IRS-2/PI3K/Akt2 pathway. On the contrary, an impaired FSH-stimulated glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis in granulosa cells of PCOS-patients indicated a selective defect in FSHR activation. Further, in normal human granulosa cells, and in immature rat model, the impact of hCG on FSH responses was such that it inhibited the FSH-mediated glucose uptake as well as glycogen synthesis through inhibition of FSH-stimulated IRS-2 expression. These findings were further validated in HEK293 cells overexpressing Flag-LHR and HA-FSHR, where high hCG inhibited the FSH-stimulated glucose uptake. Notably, an increased BRET change was observed in HEK293 cells expressing FSHR-Rluc8 and LHR-Venus possibly suggesting increased heteromerization of LHR and FSHR in the presence of both hCG and FSH in comparison to FSH or hCG alone.
Our findings confirm a selective attenuation of metabolic responses to FSH such as glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis by high activation level of LHR leading to the inhibition of IRS-2 pathway, resulting in depleted glycogen stores and follicular growth arrest in PCOS patients.
•Gonadotropins have a direct role in glucose uptake, storage and utilization in preovulatory granulosa cells.•FSH and not hCG upregulates glycogen synthesis through IRS-2 pathway.•PCOS patients with or without insulin resistance have impaired FSH-stimulated glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis.•Attenuation of FSH-stimulated glucose uptake and storage results after co-treatments with FSH and hCG.•Defective glucose uptake in HEK293 cells in the presence of FSH+hCG is associated with increased proximity of FSHR and LHR.
Hydrogels with polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and alginate were synthesized and silver nanoparticles were incorporated in hydrogel network using gamma radiation. PVP (10 and 15 %) in combination with ...0.5 and 1 % alginate was gamma irradiated at different doses of 25 and 40 kGy. Maximum gel percent was obtained with 15 % PVP in combination with 0.5 % alginate. The fluid absorption capacity for the PVP/alginate hydrogels was about 1881–2361 % at 24 h. Moisture vapour transmission rate (MVTR) of hydrogels containing nanosilver at 24 h was 278.44 g/(m
2
h). The absorption capacity and moisture permeability of the PVP/alginate–nanosilver composite hydrogel dressings show the ability of the hydrogels to prevent fluid accumulation in exudating wound. The hydrogels containing nanosilver demonstrated strong antimicrobial effect and complete inhibition of microbial growth was observed with 70 ppm nanosilver dressings. PVP/alginate hydrogels containing nanosilver with efficient fluid handling capacity and antimicrobial activity was found suitable for use as wound dressing.
This study was undertaken to analyze the dietary pattern and nutritional status of preschool children and to check the association between diet and socio-demographic factors. Dietary Pattern of 390 ...preschool children from Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand state of India was assessed. 24-Hour dietary recall and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used for collecting information regarding dietary intake for three consecutive days. Nutritional indices (weight for age, height for age, weight for height, and BMI for age Z score) were studied using WHO Anthro software. Results indicated that the nutrient intake was inadequate, with major children consuming less than 60% of the recommended intake. Family income, community, type of family, birth order (ordinal position), and the number of siblings were associated with dietary insufficiency (p < 0.05). Stunting and wasting were commonly prevalent in more number of girls as compared to boys, on the contrary; more boys were underweight as compared to girls. A higher proportion of girls 18% (95% C.I. 10.8, 25.3) were thin as compared to boys 15% (95% C.I. 8.4, 21.6).
Research article abstracts often convince readers that the article is worth reading. Therefore, they rely not only on the quality of arguments or novelty of findings to persuade readers but also ...linguistic markers in the form of metadiscourse to assert a position on an issue, increase readability of a text, engage readers, and avoid objection to the writer's interpretations, thereby enhancing the credibility of the text. Given that research article abstracts are often published online and their newsworthiness would affect whether they would be ultimately read, Altmetric.com, which emerged in 2010, can help quantify the popularity of research article abstracts by counting views on social media and other platforms such as news and policy documents. Yet a study on how metadiscoursal devices are used to persuade readers, and how they are correlated with Altmetric Attention Score (AAS) provided by Altmetric.com, merits attention. In our study, we examined 241 abstracts from 50 top journals in 12 disciplines with the highest AAS from 2014-2018 and performed a quantitative analysis of the interactive and interactional metadiscourse markers exhibited in the abstracts. Overall, we found a positive correlation between the use of metadiscourse and AAS. Furthermore, we noticed that each discipline used distinct metadiscourse markers in abstracts with high AAS, which contributed to its respective discipline-specific conventions. It has been previously shown that the use of an array of interactive and interactional metadiscourse renders the abstract more worthy of attention. Being knowledgeable of rhetorical choices in relation to metadiscoursal devices will enable writers to construct more persuasive abstracts by making informed judgments about the appropriate use of metadiscourse to draw the attention of readers in their respective disciplines.
•Profilling India's energy status and CO2 emissions sector-wise.•Technology gaps across the CCUS chain.•Status of CCUS projects and technology landscape across India.•Technology maturity level and ...development across the CCUS value chain.•Future prospects and challenges associated with CCUS technology.
The energy and industrial sectors' most recent extraordinarily quick expansion has resulted in a substantial rise in stationary CO2 sources. As a result, many questions have been raised concerning how to stop global warming and implement methods to mitigate its effects by 2050 to create a low-carbon and sustainable future. Over the last three decades, India's CO2 emissions have increased at a growth rate of 3.1 % mainly consumption of fossil fuels. In this global and Indian situation, the best method, besides renewable energy sources, is Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), which will make it possible to achieve net-zero emissions targets within this century. Given this, a brief review and discussion that aims to study India's development in CCUS deployment and its importance for sustainable development were conducted. The review highlights the current energy scenario of India and the world, the CO2 increase trend, and its consequences globally. Furthermore, a brief discussion on the present status of several areas of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) technologies have been done. To clearly define the maturity of each important component of the CCUS system with a commercialization direction route, we focused on determining the technological readiness level (TRL) from India's perspective. Further, we identified important data of different sizes from the biggest R&D schemes, policies, regulations and initiatives taken by the government across the country. Lastly, our study seeks to provide a guide for the successful implementation of CCUS in India.
Communication is critical in a new health emergency because it motivates the public to take preventive actions. Prior research has shown that strategies including source credibility, information ...transparency and uncertainty reduction actions could enhance trust in health communication on social media. Yet research on how the government in China used these trust-building strategies to engage the public during the outbreak of COVID-19 is limited. Therefore, our exploratory study developed an integrated framework for conducting quantitative content analysis to examine how the most popular government-owned newspaper in China, People's Daily, utilized a major social media platform, to engage the public. Our findings showed that accessibility to external links, provision of emotional support, and information on skills and resources were associated with increased public engagement with government COVID-19 posts. Insights gained can enable public health organizations and governments to focus on specific strategies to enhance public engagement.
Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) plays a central role in growth and differentiation of ovarian follicles. A plethora of information exists on molecular aspects of FSH responses but little is known ...about the mechanisms involved in its cross-talk with insulin/IGF-1 pathways implicated in the coordination of energy homeostasis in preovulatory granulosa cells (GCs). In this study, we hypothesized that FSH may regulate IRS-2 expression and thereby maintain the energy balance in GCs. We demonstrate here that FSH specifically increases IRS-2 expression in human and rat GCs. FSH-stimulated IRS-2 expression was inhibited by actinomycin D or cycloheximide. Furthermore, FSH decreases IRS-2 mRNA degradation indicating post-transcriptional stabilization. Herein, we demonstrate a role of cAMP pathway in the activation of IRS-2 expression by FSH. Scan and activity analysis of IRS-2 promoter demonstrated that FSH regulates IRS-2 expression through SP1 binding sites. FSH stimulates SP1 translocation into nucleus and its binding to IRS-2 promoter. These results are corroborated by the fact that siRNA mediated knockdown of IRS-2 decreased the FSH-stimulated PI3K activity, p-Akt levels, GLUT4 translocation and glucose uptake. However, FSH was not able to increase IRS-2 expression in GCs from PCOS women undergoing IVF. Interestingly, IRS-2 mRNA expression was downregulated in GCs from the PCOS rat model. Taken together, our findings establish that FSH induces IRS-2 expression and thereby activates PI3K, Akt and glucose uptake. Crucially, our data confirms a molecular defect in FSH action in PCOS GCs which may cause deceleration of metabolism and follicular growth leading to infertility. These results lend support for a therapeutic potential of IRS-2 in the management of PCOS.
•FSH stimulates IRS-2 expression by cAMP-dependent increase in SP1 translocation into nucleus and binding to IRS-2 promoter.•We show for the first time a mechanism of cross-talk between FSH and insulin/IGF-1 pathways.•FSH-stimulated IRS-2 expression is impaired in GCs from women with polycystic ovary syndrome.•The prolonged decrease in FSH-stimulated IRS-2 levels may impair follicular growth and metabolism in PCOS patients.•Collectively, there may be a therapeutic potential of IRS-2 in the treatment of infertile PCOS women.
The emergence of ChatGPT, a Generative AI program, has sparked discussions about its teaching and learning value, and concerns about academic integrity in higher education (HE). An extant review of ...the literature indicates that a scarcity of research exists on GenAI, specifically a synthesis of the official views, guidelines and articles of top-ranked universities on the use, limitations, challenges, and opportunities brought by ChatGPT in the early phase when ChatGPT was released in 2022 until early May 2023, which can offer insights into the concerns and recommendations for educators. Using the corpus assisted discourse analysis approach, this study identified the key themes and emotions elicited by evaluations of the ChatGPT situation from a self-built corpus containing 151 articles from 47 top-ranked U.S. universities and 34 U.K. ones. Our findings indicated three prominent themes discussed on official websites, including ChatGPT as a text and content generator, use of ChatGPT in teaching and learning, and potential implications and opportunities of using ChatGPT in HE. Further examination revealed that bias, concern, worry, threat, fear, and trust were the prevailing emotions relating to ChatGPT. Illustrated with examples collected from our corpus, this paper offers an in-depth discussion of universities’ first responses to the use of ChatGPT. The insights gained have some pedagogical implications for academics, researchers and educators and may inform policy and practice in HE on the use of GenAI.
Waterlogging causes extensive damage to maize crops in tropical and subtropical regions. The identification of tolerance genes and their interactions at the molecular level will be helpful to ...engineer tolerant genotypes. A whole-genome transcriptome assay revealed the specific role of genes in response to waterlogging stress in susceptible and tolerant genotypes. Genes involved in the synthesis of ethylene and auxin, cell wall metabolism, activation of G-proteins and formation of aerenchyma and adventitious roots, were upregulated in the tolerant genotype. Many transcription factors, particularly ERFs, MYB, HSPs, MAPK, and LOB-domain protein were involved in regulation of these traits. Genes responsible for scavenging of ROS generated under stress were expressed along with those involved in carbohydrate metabolism. The physical locations of 21 genes expressed in the tolerant genotype were found to correspond with the marker intervals of known QTLs responsible for development of adaptive traits. Among the candidate genes, most showed synteny with genes of sorghum and foxtail millet. Co-expression analysis of 528 microarray samples including 16 samples from the present study generated seven functional modules each in the two genotypes, with differing characteristics. In the tolerant genotype, stress genes were co-expressed along with peroxidase and fermentation pathway genes.
Highly transparent, low resistive pure and Sb, Zn doped nanostructured SnO2 thin films have been successfully prepared on glass substrates at 400°C by spray pyrolysis method. Structural, electrical ...and optical properties of pure and Sb, Zn doped SnO2 thin films are studied in detail. Powder X-ray diffraction confirms the phase purity, increase in crystallinity, size of the grains (90–45nm), polycrystalline nature and tetragonal rutile structure of thin films. The scanning electron microscopy reveals the continuous change in surface morphology of thin films and size of the grains decrease due to Sb, Zn doping in to SnO2. The optical transmission spectra of SnO2 films as a function of wavelength confirm that the optical transmission increases with Sb, Zn doping remarkably. The optical band gap of undoped film is found to be 4.27eV and decreases with Sb, Zn doping to 4.19eV, 4.07eV respectively. The results of electrical measurements indicate that the sheet resistance of the deposited films improves with Sb, Zn doping. The Hall measurements confirm that the films are degenerate n-type semiconductors.
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