Banana plants (
) and banana peels (
) two of same genus Musa are grown in worldwide and consumed as ripe fruit or used for culinary purpose. All parts of the banana plants have medicinal ...applications. The aim of the present study was detection of phytochemicals from this two types of samples and find out some viable phytochemicals which might be used as food additives after commercial purification. These two types of samples banana plants and banana peels were collected from local area of sobhanbagh near Daffodil International University. Samples were washed and dried in room temperature and grinded in pestle. Then 25 gm of grinded samples were soaked in 75 ml of 70% methanol, ethanol, acetone and 0.9% NaCl solution for 72 hours. Then all the extracts of banana peels and banana plants were detected by standard protocol. Flavonoids, carbohydrates, reducing sugar, tannins, saponins, anthraquinones, steroids, glycosides, phytosterols, phenols, terpenoids, were detected from those extracts. Negative and positive result of presence of phytochemicals were detected by the observing of color change. Banana peels and banana plant extracts were showed maximum result in ethanolic extracts. The present study showed qualitative analysis of phytochemicals content existence in banana peels and banana plants extracts. The study also discussed the application of some phytochemicals in food industry.
Since 1995, the WU-BLAST programs (http://blast.wustl.edu) have provided a fast, flexible and reliable method for similarity searching of biological sequence databases. The software is in use at many ...locales and web sites. The European Bioinformatics Institute's WU-Blast2 (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/blast2/) server has been providing free access to these search services since 1997 and today supports many features that both enhance the usability and expand on the scope of the software.
The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) provides numerous free-of-charge, publicly available bioinformatics services that can be divided into the following categories: ftp downloads; data ...submissions processing and biological database production; access to query; analysis and retrieval systems and tools; user support; training and education and industry support through EBI's SME program. These services are all available at the website. It is imperative that EBI's data as well as the tools to analyse it efficiently are made available in a free and unambiguous way to the scientific community. An important part of the EBI's mission is to make this happen in a fast, reliable and efficient manner. This paper serves as a brief introduction to each of these services.
The European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), and outstation of the European Molecular Biology laboratory, has revamped its web site for the second time since 1997 in order to address increased user ...demand as well as establishing better uniformity and easier accessibility for the ever growing number of users and services it offers to the community. A GRID-like hardware infrastructure has been put in place to provide round the clock services in a redundant and reliable fashion. Availability: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ Contact: rls@ebi.ac.uk * To whom correspondence should be addressed. † EBI’s Systems group.
Protein secretion is an essential process in all eukaryotes including organisms belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa, which includes many intracellular parasites. The apicomplexan parasites possess a ...specialized collection of secretory organelles that release a number of proteins to facilitate the invasion of host cells and some of these proteins also participate in immune evasion. Like in other eukaryotes, these parasites possess a series of membrane-bound compartments, namely the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), the intermediate compartments (IC) or vesicular tubular clusters (VTS) and Golgi complex through which proteins pass in a sequential and vectorial fashion. Two sets of proteins; COPI and COPII are important for directing the sequential transfer of material between the ER and Golgi complex.
Here, using in silico approaches, we identify the components of COPI and COPII complexes in the genome of apicomplexan organisms. The results showed that the COPI and COPII protein complexes are conserved in most apicomplexan genomes with few exceptions. Diversity among the components of COPI and COPII complexes in apicomplexan is either due to the absence of a subunit or due to the difference in the number of protein domains. For example, the COPI epsilon subunit and COPII sec13 subunit is absent in Babesia bovis, Theileria parva, and Theileria annulata genomes. Phylogenetic and domain analyses for all the proteins of COPI and COPII complexes was performed to predict their evolutionary relationship and functional significance.
The study thus provides insights into the apicomplexan COPI and COPII coating machinery, which is crucial for parasites secretory network needed for the invasion of host cells.
Purpose
Ultraviolet radiation causes skin cancer, but the exact mechanism by which it occurs and the most effective methods of intervention to prevent it are yet unknown. For this purpose, our study ...will use bioinformatics and systems biology approaches to discover potential biomarkers of skin cancer for early diagnosis and prevention of disease with applicable clinical treatments.
Methods
This study compared gene expression and protein levels in ultraviolet-mediated cultured keratinocytes and adjacent normal skin tissue using RNA sequencing data from the National Center for Biotechnology Information-Gene Expression Omnibus (NCBI-GEO) database. Then, pathway analysis was employed with a selection of hub genes from the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network and the survival and expression profiles. Finally, potential clinical biomarkers were validated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.
Results
We identified 32 shared differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by analyzing three different subsets of the GSE85443 dataset. Skin cancer development is related to the control of several DEGs through cyclin-dependent protein serine/threonine kinase activity, cell cycle regulation, and activation of the NIMA kinase pathways. The cytoHubba plugin in Cytoscape identified 12 hub genes from PPI; among these 3 DEGs, namely, AURKA, CDK4, and PLK1 were significantly associated with survival (P < 0.05) and highly expressed in skin cancer tissues. For validation purposes, ROC curve analysis indicated two biomarkers: AURKA (area under the curve (AUC) value = 0.8) and PLK1 (AUC value = 0.7), which were in an acceptable range.
Conclusions
Further translational research, including clinical experiments, teratogenicity tests, and in-vitro or in-vivo studies, will be performed to evaluate the expression of these identified biomarkers regarding the prognosis of skin cancer patients.
The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum possesses sophisticated systems of protein secretion to modulate host cell invasion and remodeling. In the present study, we provide insights into the ...function of the AP-1 complex in P. falciparum. We utilized GFP fusion constructs for live cell imaging, as well as fixed parasites in immunofluorescence analysis, to study adaptor protein mu1 (Pfμ1) mediated protein trafficking in P. falciparum. In trophozoites Pfμ1 showed similar dynamic localization to that of several Golgi/ER markers, indicating Golgi/ER localization. Treatment of transgenic parasites with Brefeldin A altered the localization of Golgi-associated Pfμ1, supporting the localization studies. Co-localization studies showed considerable overlap of Pfμ1 with the resident rhoptry proteins, rhoptry associated protein 1 (RAP1) and Cytoadherence linked asexual gene 3.1 (Clag3.1) in schizont stage. Immunoprecipitation experiments with Pfμ1 and PfRAP1 revealed an interaction, which may be mediated through an intermediate transmembrane cargo receptor. A specific role for Pfμ1 in trafficking was suggested by treatment with AlF4, which resulted in a shift to a predominantly ER-associated compartment and consequent decrease in co-localization with the Golgi marker GRASP. Together, these results suggest a role for the AP-1 complex in rhoptry protein trafficking in P. falciparum.
•In Plasmodium falciparum four complexes (AP 1–4) have been identified by in-silico studies•Transgenic line was generated expressing Pfμ1–GFP fusion protein•Pfμ1 is associated with the ER–Golgi region and with rhoptries in developing merozoites.•Proteomic analysis suggests the role of PfAP-1 complex in protein targeting to rhoptry.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection continues to be a major global challenge. All patients with pulmonary tuberculosis are treated with a standard 6-month treatment regimen. Historical data suggest ...that even with shortened treatment, most patients achieve long-term remission. Risk stratification is a goal for reducing potentially toxic prolonged treatment. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with the early clearance of sputum acid-fast bacilli (AFB). A total of 297 freshly diagnosed patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were included and enrolled in this study. Information related to their ethno-demographic and anthropometric characteristics was collected. We also assessed their complete blood counts, and blood iron, folate, and vitamin B12 levels. We found that the presence of higher levels of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) in diagnostic sputum microscopy was the single most significant prognostic factor associated with early clearance of sputum AFB after 2 months of treatment. All of our patients achieved treatment success after 6 months of treatment and were disease free. Our results support the data obtained from previous studies indicating that AFB clearance at 2 months is unlikely to be a clinically useful biomarker or indicator for therapeutic stratification. Furthermore, demographic, anthropometric, and nutritional factors are not clinically useful biomarkers.
In this research, the effectiveness of treated domestic wastewater in the production of plain cement concrete with the addition of commonly used admixtures, was the main aspect under consideration. ...For this purpose, three different samples: bore water along with treated wastewater and polished wastewater, were collected and prepared from domestic wastewater treatment plant. These were then individually used in the production of plain cement concrete for observing and analysing the variations in the strength properties of concrete. Furthermore, this research focuses on finding suitable alternatives which satisfy all required quality checks for mixing water. An in-depth analysis reflects upon the cost and energy efficiency of using treated wastewater for construction purposes. Fresh and hardened properties of concrete were evaluated as per standards. To study the effectiveness of admixtures while using treated domestic wastewater as mixing water, the amount and type of admixtures to be added in concrete produced; were varied using three different water/wastewater samples, keeping all other variables constant; including the type of materials used, environmental conditions, production and testing methodologies etc. For this purpose, CaCl2 and Chemrite 520 BA were used in this research as admixtures. The research exposed that plain cement concrete produced using treated wastewater was as good as concrete made with fresh water in terms of desired strength (compressive, tensile and flexure). Treated wastewater showed better tensile and compressive strength results as compared to bore water. Using a super-plasticizer like Chemrite 520 BA, the strength achieved by all water/wastewater samples, with or without admixtures, is approximately the same without any negative impact on mechanical properties of concrete. Results reinforce that treated/filtered wastewater tested in this research qualifies to be used as a viable alternative to fresh water in concrete production, with or without use of admixtures which of course play their potential role enhancing the strength of concrete.
•Reuse of treated domestic wastewater for mixing in concrete along with admixtures have been investigated.•Investigation of the effect of treated water on fresh and hardened properties of concrete is explained.•Investigation of wastewater characteristics and comparison with national and international standards is presented.•Treated wastewater is found suitable to use in plain cement concrete production incorporating admixtures, and without any negative impact on its compressive, tensile and flexure strength.•Concrete made with treated wastewater was less porous due to presence of bacteria, which improves binding and reduces porosity.
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