In vitro and in vivo antimicrobial action of tea: the commonest beverage of Asia

The methanolic extract of leaves of Camellia sinensis (L) O. KUNTZE was screened for antimicrobial property against 111 bacteria comprising 2 genera of Gram positive and 7 genera of Gram negative bacteria. Most of these strains were inhibited by the compound at 10-50 microg/ml level and few strains were sensitive even at lower concentrations (5 microg/ml). The bacteria could be arranged in the decreasing order of sensitivity towards the compound in the following manner: Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Bacillus spp., Klebsiella spp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibacterial activity of compound could also be confirmed in vivo. When it was given to Swiss strain of white mice at different dosages (30, 60 microg/mouse), it could significantly protect the animals challenged with 50 MLD of Salmonella typhimurium NCTC 74. According to Chi square test the in vivo data were highly significant (p<0.001).     

Involvement of novel PKC isoforms in FFA induced defects in insulin signaling

Involvement of novel PKCs (nPKCs) in the negative regulation of insulin-signaling pathway is a current interest of many workers investigating the cause for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Free fatty acids (FFAs) are recently shown to be the major players in inducing insulin resistance in insulin target cells. They are also found to be involved in activating nPKCs associated with the impairment of insulin sensitivity. In this overview, we describe PKC delta, theta and epsilon linked to the FFA induced damage of insulin-signaling molecules.     

Idiopathic chylopericardium: an unusual cause of cardiac tamponade

Chylous pericardial effusion is an uncommon condition, and the treatment is difficult. We report a case of massive chylous pericardial effusion with tamponade in a 22-year-old man, managed successfully. Lymphoscintigraphy confirmed the communication between the lymphatic trunk and the pericardial space, which was surgically ligated. There are relatively few published reports of idiopathic chylopericardium, and its pathogenesis remains unknown. The most effective treatment is surgical ligation of the thoracic duct and creation of a pericardial window.     

Re-engineering primary epithelial cells from rhesus monkey parotid glands for use in developing an artificial salivary gland

There is no satisfactory conventional treatment for patients who experience irreversible salivary gland damage after therapeutic radiation for head and neck cancer or because of Sj?gren's syndrome. Additionally, if most parenchyma is lost, these patients also are not candidates for evolving gene transfer strategies. To help such patients, several years ago we began to develop an artificial salivary gland. In the present study, we used a non-human primate tissue source, parotid glands from rhesus monkeys, to obtain potential autologous graft cells for development of a prototype device for in situ testing. Herein, we present 3 major findings. First, we show that primary cultures of rhesus parotid gland (RPG) cells are capable of attaining a polarized orientation, with Na(+)/K(+)-adenosine triphosphatase, zonula occludens-1, and claudin-1 distributed in specific domains appropriate for epithelial cells. Second, we show that RPG cells exhibit 2 essential epithelial functions required for graft cells in an artificial salivary gland device (i.e., an effective barrier to paracellular water flow and the generation of a moderate transepithelial electrical resistance). Third, we show that RPG cells can express functional water channels, capable of mediating directional fluid movement, after transduction by adenoviral and adeno-associated virus type 2 vectors. Together these results demonstrate that it is feasible to individually prepare RPG cells for eventual use in a prototype artificial salivary gland.     

Systematic identification of functional orthologs based on protein network comparison

Annotating protein function across species is an important task that is often complicated by the presence of large paralogous gene families. Here, we report a novel strategy for identifying functionally related proteins that supplements sequence-based comparisons with information on conserved protein-protein interactions. First, the protein interaction networks of two species are aligned by assigning proteins to sequence homology clusters using the Inparanoid algorithm. Next, probabilistic inference is performed on the aligned networks to identify pairs of proteins, one from each species, that are likely to retain the same function based on conservation of their interacting partners. Applying this method to Drosophila melanogaster and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we analyze 121 cases for which functional orthology assignment is ambiguous when sequence similarity is used alone. In 61 of these cases, the network supports a different protein pair than that favored by sequence comparisons. These results suggest that network analysis can be used to provide a key source of information for refining sequence-based homology searches.     

Kindler'S syndrome: a case series of three Indian children

Kindler's syndrome is a very rare genodermatosis characterized by acral blistering starting in infancy, photosensitivity, progressive poikiloderma, cutaneous atrophy, and various forms of mucosal involvement. A large number of other cutaneous and extracutaneous features have also been described. We report here three cases of Kindler's syndrome from eastern India for the rarity of the syndrome and to emphasize the importance of considering this condition in the differential diagnosis of disorders that can cause blistering, cutaneous atrophy, and/or poikilodermatous skin changes.     

Oral Hypoglycemic Effect of Caesalpinia bonducella

The blood sugar lowering efficacy of the aqueous extract of Caesalpinia bonducella F. (seed shell) was evaluated in fasted, fed, glucose loaded, streptozotocin diabetic, and alloxan diabetic rat models. The extract was administered orally at a dose of 250 mg/kg of rat body weight. It produced very significant blood sugar lowering (at least P &lt; 0.005) in glucose loaded, streptozotocin diabetic, and alloxan diabetic models. However, effects were not so pronounced in fasted and fed models. As a whole, Caesalpinia bonducella can be regarded as a good oral hypoglycemic agent in rat.     

Harmine: Evaluation of its Antileishmanial Properties in Various Vesicular Delivery Systems

Harmine, a beta-carboline amine alkaloid isolated from Peganum harmala, was tested for its antileishmanial properties both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro antileishmanial activity of harmine was encouraging and prompted us to confirm the activity in vivo in hamster models. Harmine was tested both in free form and in different vesicular forms viz. liposomes, niosomes and nanoparticles. The different vesicles were prepared by the published protocols. The percent intercalation of harmine in liposomes, niosomes and nanoparticles was found to be 65, 60 and 20, respectively, when determined at 325 nm (∈_M=2.33 × 10₄ M_-1 cm_-1). At an equivalent dose of 1.5 mg/kg body weight, injected subcutaneously (SC) for a total of six doses in 15 days, harmine was found to reduce spleen parasite load by approximately 40, 60, 70 and 80%, respectively in free, liposomal, niosomal and nanoparticular forms. An inverse relationship could be established between the efficacy in the lowering of spleen parasite load and the size of the vesicles. Specific biochemical tests related to normal liver and kidney functions revealed that the toxicity of the drug was reduced in the vesicular forms in the same order as their efficacy and the same was confirmed by the histopathological studies of splenic sections. Cell cycle analysis studies using flow cytometry suggested that although harmine interferes in the cell division stage, it does not induce apoptosis in Leishmania donovani promastigotes. The results using Confocal Microscopy supported that the cell death could be attributed to necrosis due to non-specific membrane damage. Even then, because of its appreciable efficacy in destroying intracellular parasites as well as non-hepatotoxic and non-nephrotoxic nature, harmine, in the vesicular forms, may be considered for clinical application in humans.