Natural carotenoids are well known for their anti-oxidant property and also shown to have antimicrobial and anticancer efficacy. Production of carotenoids from microbial resources mainly from yeast ...has attracted commercial interest. Breast cancer has the highest incidence among women, and therapy resistance and lack of effective therapeutic strategies are major treatment bottlenecks, particularly for triple-negative subtypes. Yeast carotenoids are recently being evaluated for affordable, non-toxic, natural product-based therapies. In the present study, we have shown an environment-friendly and inexpensive method for carotenoid production from yeasts, utilizing "mandi" wastes, and investigated the biomedical properties of carotenoids, particularly antineoplastic properties.
Vegetable "mandi" waste was used to prepare waste hydrolysate, a culture medium, in which oleaginous red yeast
sp. was grown. Carotenoid pigments were extracted using the solvent extraction method and analyzed by UV spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticancer activities of the extract were evaluated, followed by in silico docking and absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion/toxicity (ADME/T) studies.
Carotenoid extract was found to be composed of three main pigments-β-carotene, torulene, and torularhodin. Extract exhibited significant antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-breast cancer activities
while being biocompatible. Interestingly, carotenoids have shown better efficacy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells than ER+PR+ cells.
evaluation predicted binding with breast cancer-specific molecular targets, specifically the three components showed good binding energy toward VEGF receptors and good drug likeliness properties, as well as less toxicity.
This is the first report on anti-breast cancer activities, particularly targeting TNBC cells by red yeast carotenoids (β-carotene, torulene, and torularhodin) produced via a sustainable environment-friendly bioprocess utilizing waste hydrolysate.
The concept of Fuzzy Logic (FL) has gained momentum in areas of artificial intelligence and allied researches because of its absolute ability to present efficient solutions to real life problems. ...Contrary to the paradigmatic approach to the solutions of being either absolutely true or false 0 or 1 the fuzzy sets provide a range of possible outputs with error prone inputs which are vague and inaccurate using linguistic objects instead of mere mathematical numbers. A multilingual situation poses a similar challenge for a language teacher/learner where languages exist in continuum. Learners with heavy mother tongue influence tend to use their natural languages instinctively in a way that can create their own fuzzy rules to encounter the situation of being taught an entirely new language. A typical Indian language classroom is highly multilingual where scope of errors is numerous though they are ignored. This leads to stress both for the teachers as well as the learners making the classroom ambience more mechanistic than human. To combat such situations FL based Three-Phase Model of language teaching has been proposed which derives its basis on the presumption that the language instructor is aware of general rules of linguistics. An empirical longitudinal study on 150 undergraduate technical students designed on the proposed framework has been conducted to establish the efficiency and the success of the model. Observing language pedagogy through the lens of fuzzy logic and fuzzy thinking will not only make the classroom more real-like but it will also tap the pre-existing linguistic knowledge of the learners. Language interference will be more of a resource than a challenge.
Vegetable 'mandi' (road-side vegetable market) waste was converted to a suitable fermentation medium for cultivation of oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides by steaming under pressure. This ...cultivation medium derived from waste was found to be a comparatively better source of nutrients than standard culture media because it provided more than one type of usable carbon source(s) to yeast.
HPLC results showed that the extract contained glucose, xylose and glycerol along with other carbon sources, allowing triauxic growth pattern with preferably usage of glucose, xylose and glycerol resulting in enhanced growth, lipid and carotenoid production. Presence of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) (C
) in the lipid profile showed that the lipid may be transesterified for biodiesel production.
Upscaling these experiments to fermenter scale for the production of lipids and biodiesel and other industrially useful products would lead to waste management along with the production of value added commodities. The technique is thus environment friendly and gives good return upon investment.
Purpose
Microbial synthesis of carotenoids has gained interest as an alternative to synthetic carotenoid production due to its easy extraction and high yield. The current study investigates the ...usability of fruit and vegetable waste- ‘mandi’ waste and agricultural waste as growth medium for carotenoid production by different isolated yeast strains.
Methods
In this study, five isolated yeast strains were identified which were able to utilize C5 and C6 sugars. These yeast strains were compared for their carotenoid production and growth properties when cultivated in inexpensive growth media such as, vegetable ‘mandi’-waste and paddy straw hydrolysate (agricultural waste). During the cultivation, optical density (600 nm), cell weight (wet biomass and dry biomass), total sugar and reducing sugar in selected culture media were determined at different time intervals. The microbial carotenoids were extracted in DMSO (Dimethyl sulfoxide) and were finally transferred to hexane for separation by liquid–liquid extraction.
Results
Using ‘mandi’-waste hydrolysate (waste extract), the strains gave best results with biomass ranging from 29 ± 0.18 to 54 ± 0.14 g/L and the maximum carotenoid produced ranged between 38 ± 0.8 and 62 ± 0.93 mg/L.
Conclusion
Based on our results, ‘Mandi’ waste hydrolysate was found to be the most potent source for carotenoid production. This report provides a suitable bioprocess for the production of yeast-carotenoids, using vegetable ‘mandi’ waste (waste extract) and agricultural waste hydrolysates (paddy straw hydrolysate) via sustainable and cost-effective strategy that may be scaled up in future.
Graphic Abstract
The study objective is to examine the impact of obesity on frontline carboplatin dosing in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings and to evaluate the association of dosing with survival among ...epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients.
We selected 1527 women diagnosed with EOC from January 1, 2011 to October 20, 2021 from a nationwide electronic health record-derived de-identified database. The dose reduction of frontline carboplatin was defined as a relative dose intensity (RDI) < 0.85. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of RDI with survival overall and by histology.
Women with a BMI ≥ 30 kg/m
versus <30 kg/m
were more likely to be underdosed (RDI < 0.85) with frontline carboplatin. Underdosing of carboplatin in the neoadjuvant setting was associated with worse survival among women with serous tumours (HR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.15, 3.42). Underdosing of carboplatin in the adjuvant setting was not associated with survival.
In the real-world setting, underdosing of carboplatin in the neoadjuvant setting was associated with inferior survival among women with serous tumours. With the increasing utilisation of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in EOC, actual weight-based dosing of carboplatin may be important to improve outcomes in this patient population.
In this article, the behaviour of tumour growth and its interaction with the immune system have been studied using a mathematical model in the form of partial differential equations. However, the ...development of tumours and how they interact with the immune system make up an extremely complex and little-understood system. A new mathematical model has been proposed to gain insight into the role of immune response in the tumour microenvironment when no treatment is applied. The resulting model is a set of partial differential equations made up of four variables: the population density of tumour cells, two different types of immune cells (CD4+ helper T cells and CD8+ cytotoxic T cells), and nutrition content. Such kinds of systems also occur frequently in science and engineering. The interaction of tumour and immune cells is exemplified by predator-prey models in ecology, in which tumour cells act as prey and immune cells act as predators. The tumour-immune cell interaction is expressed via Holling’s Type-III and Beddington-DeAngelis functional responses. The combination of finite volume and finite element method is used to approximate the system numerically because these approximations are more suitable for time-dependent systems having diffusion. Finally, numerical simulations show that the methods perform well and depict the behaviour of the model.
The onset of labor prior to 37 weeks of gestation is preterm labor. Incidence ranges from 5% to 7% of live births in developed countries, but higher in developing countries (10-13%). Preterm birth is ...a major threat in perinatal health care, as well as a risk factor for neurological impairment and disability. Considering that infection is the major risk factor for preterm labor in rural areas, this study was performed to assess the cytological changes in the cervical mucus of normal-term and preterm labor cases.
A hospital-based cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at a tertiary care center in western Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. The sample size calculated was 90. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in cervical mucus, along with serum inflammatory biomarkers such as CRP and serum alkaline phosphatase, were compared in both groups.
The incidence of preterm labor increased with an increase in parity, and progression to preterm delivery is faster in the higher parity group. C-reactive protein (CRP) (p value = < 0.001) and serum alkaline phosphatases (taking 220IU/L as the cutoff value), as well as the NLR (p value < 0.001) in cervical mucus in preterm labor, are significantly higher than those in term labor cases, which can be used to predict preterm labor.
Higher levels of serum alkaline phosphatase (> 220 IU/L) and CRP positivity can be used as prognostic markers. Using a cutoff value of 5 for the NLR in the cervical mucus of preterm labor patients proved to be a highly accurate predictor (82.2%) for preterm labor diagnosis.
Background
The increase in drug abuse a major global issue. Clandestine laboratories along with illegal drug trafficking and trade increase the menace. Increased confiscation of illicit drugs not ...only indicates the manifold rise in drug abuse in Delhi and its neighboring region but also signifies an escalation and proliferation in other drug-related criminal activities. Investigating agencies around the world are working hard to combat and eradicate this problem. The samples seized by these agencies are subsequently sent for forensic examination to rule out the presence of any illicit drugs. Few such seized crystalline samples such as “methamphetamine” were submitted for examination with a query for the identification of any scheduled substance. The analysis outline followed was physical, chemical, Fourier transform infrared spectrometer analysis for detection, identification, and confirmation of seized drug samples. The purpose of a detailed investigation regarding the identification of the crystalline sample was also to understand the criminal activities involved in the consistent seizures and the forensics behind it.
Results
The comprehensive examination identified the sample as an inorganic salt of sodium thiosulfate with the absence of contraband methamphetamine. The study on salt-imitating methamphetamine underlines its diverse uses as in adulteration, trafficking to camouflage narcotics drug and its involvement in numerous other illegal purposes which on the other hand has a very crucial impact on society and its well-being.
Conclusions
The novel findings will update the investigating agencies and other experts regarding the importance of the detection of sodium thiosulfate salt in seized samples and will well establish the foul play behind large seizures to justify the role of forensic science. This unique finding deals with a very sensitive issue that has immense social impact and needs exceptional thoughtfulness.
This study aimed to examine dietary nutrient intake and parental perspectives on nutrition in a diverse sample (e.g., age, ethnicity) of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the U.S. state ...of Florida. Forty-one parents of children with ASD (ages 2–17 years) completed a food record, and 25 of these parents participated in semi-structured focus groups. Children with ASD were significantly less likely to meet the recommendation for calcium compared with children in the general population (66.7% vs. 53.1%, odds ratio OR = 3.1; p = .002). Riboflavin and vitamin B12 intakes were significantly lower among children with ASD (p < .001). Focus group results indicated parental concerns on children’s diet and mealtime behaviors. Parents discussed the quality of existing nutrition information to be a concern, reported wanting intervention content on effective feeding strategies and healthy eating specific to children with ASD, and wanted to receive a nutrition intervention in multiple delivery formats. These findings will be utilized in developing a nutrition education intervention.
Sorghum is the important cereal crop around the world and hence understanding and utilizing the genetic variation in sorghum accessions are essential for improving the crop. A good understanding of ...genetic variability among the accessions will enable precision breeding. So profiling the genetic diversity of sorghum is imminent. In the present investigation, forty sorghum accessions consisting of sweet sorghum, grain sorghum, forage sorghum, mutant lines, maintainer lines, and restorer lines were screened for genetic diversity using quantitative traits. Observations were recorded on 14 quantitative traits, out of which 9 diverse traits contributing to maximum variability were selected for genetic diversity analysis. The principle component analysis revealed that the panicle width, stem girth, and leaf breadth contributed maximum towards divergence. By using hierarchical cluster analysis, the 40 accessions were grouped under 6 clusters. Cluster I contained maximum number of accessions and cluster VI contained the minimum. The maximum intercluster distance was observed between cluster VI and cluster IV. Cluster III had the highest mean value for hundred-seed weight and yield. Hence the selection of parents must be based on the wider intercluster distance and superior mean performance for yield and yield components. Thus in the present investigation quantitative data were able to reveal the existence of a wide genetic diversity among the sorghum accessions used providing scope for further genetic improvement.
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