Harnessing nature's arsenal: Ochrobactrum bacteria metabolites in the battle against root- knot nematode - Insights from in vitro and molecular docking studies

The productivity of agriculture and plant health are seriously threatened by the root-knot nematode. The use of biocontrol agents reduces the need for chemical nematodes and improves the general health of agricultural ecosystems by offering a more environmentally friendly and sustainable method of managing nematode infestations. Plant-parasitic nematodes can be efficiently managed with the use of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), which are thought to be very promising biocontrol agents. This study focused on the nematicidal activity of the secondary metabolites present in the bacteria Ochrobactrum sp. identified in the EPN, Heterorhabditisindica against Root-Knot Nematode (Meloidogyne incognita). Its effect on egg hatching and survival of juveniles of root- knot nematode (RKN) was examined. The ethyl acetate component of the cell-free culture (CFC) filtrate of the Ochrobactrum sp. bacteria was tested at four different concentrations (25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 %) along with broth and distilled water as control. The bioactive compounds of Ochrobactrum sp. bacteria showed the highest suppression of M. incognita egg hatching (100 %) and juvenile mortality (100 %) at 100 % concentration within 24 h of incubation. In this study, unique metabolite compounds were identified through the Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, which were found to have anti- nematicidal activity. In light of this, molecular docking studies were conducted to determine the impact of biomolecules from Ochrobactrum sp. using significant proteins of M. incognita, such as calreticulin, sterol carrier protein 2, flavin-containing monooxygenase, pectate lyase, candidate secreted effector, oesophageal gland cell secretory protein and venom allergen-like protein. The results also showed that the biomolecules from Ochrobactrum sp. had a significant inhibitory effect on the different protein targets of M. incognita. 3-Epimacronine and Heraclenin were found to inhibit most of the chosen target protein. Among the targets, the docking analysis revealed that Heraclenin exhibited the highest binding affinity of -8.6 Kcal/mol with the target flavin- containing monooxygenase. Further, the in vitro evaluation of 3- Epimacronine confirmed their nematicidal activity against M. incognita at different concentrations. In light of this, the present study has raised awareness of the unique biomolecules of the bacterial symbiont Ochrobactrum sp. isolated from H. indica that have nematicidal properties.

Proceedings of the 3rd Indian Cancer Genome Atlas Conference 2022: Biobanking to Omics: Collecting the Global Experience

On January 13th and 14th 2022, the Center for Translational Cancer Research organized the virtual third Indian Cancer Genome Atlas (ICGA) Conference 2022 "Biobanking to Omics - Collecting the Global Experience." This conference was planned as the steppingstone to help ICGA understand the road ahead and the probable roadblocks in its preparatory phase as ICGA begins to streamline the tumor tissue biobanking and multi-omics efforts in the Indian subcontinent. The first day of the conference was dedicated to updates on the current status of ICGA, the future prospect, and the global understanding of multi-omics efforts. The key highlights included two keynote speeches by Dr Wui Jin Koh, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Office, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and by Dr Christina Curtis, Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine. The first day ended with an intriguing panel discussion on "ICGA updates and Future Steps." The second day focused on biobanking practices across the globe and several aspects of biobank setup such as infrastructure, maintenance, quality control, patient consent, and lessons learned from established biobanking setups. The talk by Rosita Kammler, Head, Translational Research Coordination, International Breast Cancer Study Group, Switzerland, and Ruhul Amin, Director, Bangladesh Medical Research Council were the key highlights. The second day also ended with an engaging panel discussion on "Tumor tissue biobanking - national and international perspectives." Overall, the conference was well received and had good attendance from national and international students, researchers, and faculty from academia as well as industry.

Serial quantification of CRP and total leukocyte count as a complementary tool in neonatal sepsis

Early detection and appropriate treatment of newborn sepsis reduce mortality and morbidity. A rapid, inexpensive laboratory approach is needed to assess newborn sepsis, even though blood culture is the gold standard for diagnosis. To compare serial CRP and Total Leukocyte Count (WBC) with blood culture, this study aimed to evaluate the role of newborn sepsis. A total 148 neonates with clinical symptoms of sepsis were included .CRP was measured by quantitative immuno turbidimetric method andotal leukocyte count (WBC) was measured by automated cell counter. CRP1 and WBC1 were measured within 6 hours of clinical symptoms. CRP2 and WBC2 were measured after 48 hours of clinical symptoms. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV of CRP1 and CRP2,WBC 1and WBC 2 were compared with culture positive and negative sepsis.CRP 2 showed high sensitivity 96% and high NPV95% with significant p value <0.0001. WBC2 has high sensitivity (90.57%) and NPV (91%) with significant p value <0.0001. CRP 1 has sensitivity 83%and NPV 82.3%, with p value < 0.001.WBC1 has lowest sensitivity (62.2%) and NPV (71.4%) compared to all other parameters. Serial CRP and WBC measurements are useful in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Measurement of CRP and Total Leukocyte Count (WBC) after 48 hours of clinical symptoms were considered promptly for diagnose neonatal sepsis.

Lipid and renal profile in assessing the severity of alcoholic liver disease

Lipid and Renal dysfunction in Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) patients occurs either due to multi-organ involvement or secondary to alcoholism. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of lipid and renal parameters in assessing the severity of progression of ALD. Sixty cases of ALD (two groups based on compensated and decompensated features) and thirty healthy controls for comparison were included. Lipid profile (Total Cholesterol, LDL, HDL and Triglycerides) and renal parameters (serum urea, creatinine and uric acid), total and direct bilirubin, total protein and albumin were measured using automated chemistry analyzer. There was a significant decrease in Total cholesterol ,LDL and HDL levels and increased triglycerides when compared to controls (mean of 128.4 ± 59 vs 155 ± 27.2, 77 ± 44.3 vs 97.4 ± 27.2, 28.3 ± 18 vs 39.5 ± 14.1 and 115.8 ± 70.4 vs 91 ± 38 mg/dL respectively). Lipid profile showed a linear decrease while progressing from compensated to decompensated ALD. Renal parameters revealed a statistically significant decrease in serum urea ,increased creatinine and uric acid levels when compared to controls (17.57±2.96 vs23.73±4.94, 1.12±0.55 vs0.88±0.16,6.60±1.32 vs 4.68±1.40 mg/dL respectively).Total cholesterol and HDL showed a linear decrease when ALD progresses. Serum uric acid showed an early increase in compensated stage of ALD. This study inferred that Total cholesterol, TGL, HDL and uric acid can be used for assessing the severity of progression of ALD.

A unique approach of person reidentification using auto track regression framework

Automatic Person Re-identification by video surveillance is commonly used in different applications. Perhaps the human uniqueness criteria for tracking the presence of the same person across multiple camera views and a person’s growth identification is extremely challenging. To solve the above problem, we propose an efficient Auto Track Regression System (ATRF) based on a deep learning technique that uses an eminent representation strategy along with recognition. In this work, the Auto Wiley Detective (AWD) approach is proposed for the representation of features that can collect valuable information by monitoring individuals. After obtaining important information on the characteristics, it is possible to define the personal growth identity of the generation. The OPVC (Original Pick Virtual Classifier) is used for accurate classification of the queried person from a dense area by utilizing features of a person’s growth identity extracted from feature extraction by the Auto Wiley Detection Method. The proposed Originated Pick Virtual Classifier (OPVC) uses Platt scaling (originated pick) on probit regression (virtual) to train the featured data set for accurate person re-identification, which is boosted by the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions to reduce false re-identification. Since the gallery information is trained using the Backpropagation method and smoothened analysis through approximated output, the Auto Wiley Detection Method proficiently detects the required information automatically. This also helps to detect the person query image from the database, which contains a vast collection of video images based on the similarity features identified in the query image and the detailed features extracted from the query image. The classification is completed automatically, and then the Person Re-Identification from the databases is performed accurately and efficiently. Henceforth, the proposed work effectively extracts reliable height and age estimates with improved flexibility and individual re-identifying capabilities.

Synthesis, Structural Analysis and Antimicrobial Screening of Mn(II) Complexes of Schiff Bases

Abstract. Mn(II) complexes of Schiff bases 4-((3-ethoxy-2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino)-N-(pyridin-2-yl)benzenesulfonamide (HL2) and 4-((3-ethoxy-2-hydroxybenzylidene)amino)-N-(pyrimidin-2- yl)benzenesulfonamide (HL3) were synthesized. The Schiff bases HL2 and HL3 and their complexes were characterized by analytical, conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements, infrared, ultraviolet-visible, thermal analysis, and EI mass techniques. The spectral data of the complexes have revealed the bidentate complexing nature of the Schiff base ligand through phenoxide ion and azomethine nitrogen atoms. The antibacterial activities of complexes were tested against gram-positive bacterial species Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NCIM 2036) and fungal species Aspergillus niger (NCIM 105) and Mucor sp.  (NCIM 108) by disc diffusion method. Keywords: Schiff bases; Mn(II) complex; antibacterial; antifungal.   Resumen. Los complejos de Mn(II) de las bases de Schiff 4-((3-etoxi-2-hidroxibencilideno)amino)-N-(piridin-2-il)bencenosulfonamida (HL2) y 4-((3-etoxi-2-hidroxibencilideno)amino)-N-(pirimidin-2- il)bencenosulfonamida (HL3) fueron sintetizados. Las bases de Schiff HL2 and HL3 y sus complejos fueron caracterizados por métodos analíticos, conductancia, susceptibilidad magnética, espectroscopia infrarroja y UV-vis, termogravimetría, y espectrometría de masas por impacto enectrónico. Los datos espectroscópicos obtenidos para los complejos corroboraron la coordinación bidentada de los ligantes de base de Schiff a través del ion fenóxido y el átomo de nitrógeno del grupo azometino. La actividad antibacterial de los complejos se evaluó contra cepas bacterianas gram-positivas Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NCIM 2036) y contra especies fúngicas Aspergillus niger (NCIM 105) y Mucor sp.  (NCIM 108) utilizando el método de difusión en disco.

Inattentive Drowsiness Behavior Profile Detection with Heavy Eyed Interval Approach for Biomedical Applications in Health Monitoring System

The efficient tracking of vehicle drivers can be used to prevent collisions through visual human behaviour analysis. Many different methods have not been satisfactory enough such as iris-sklera research, driver’s approximation of gaze, and Hough transforming technological performance. Since these methods make it more difficult to spot drivers’ sleepiness and carelessness. This paper therefore suggested that it be careful to estimate the profile after finding the left eye, right eye, mouth and nose Absence of each of these traits marks a non-frontal approach. The Rectangular Face Classificatión control system monitors frontal faces by moving a rectangular filter on the image for testing the dullness of the face area. Once the facial regions are tracked, the Hybrid Balanced Networks separates the eye area from it depending on the greater axis and the smaller axis. Heavy Eyed Approach is often used to spot drowsiness and twitch of the brow. The intensity of the horizontal plot is measured and successive frames in the eye twitch are not counted as a closed eye for three seconds. The result of the proposed work therefore effectively improves accuracy efficiency.

Pichia kudriavzevii-a potential soil yeast candidate for improving soil physical, chemical and biological properties

Soil yeasts exhibit an array of beneficial effects to plants viz., plant growth promotion, phosphate solubilization, nitrogen and sulphur oxidation, etc. Yeasts remain as poorly investigated group of microorganisms that represent an abundant and dependable source of bioactive/chemically novel compounds and potential bioinoculants. Hence this study holds the key concept of assessing the performance of soil yeasts with potential plant growth promoting ability in soil quality improvement. Sixteen soil yeast isolates with plant growth promoting traits were assessed for biofilm forming potential and five potential soil yeast isolates were selected and identified through molecular technique. Soil incubation study was performed with these isolates to assess their impact on soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Due to inoculation of soil yeasts, notable changes were observed in soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Among the soil yeast isolates, Pichia kudriavzevii gave better results in soil incubation study.

Digital Hearing Aids Using Automated Varying Bandwidth Finite Impulse Response Filter Banks

A human auditory system is a highly complex sensitive system which transfers the acoustic sound into neuroelectrical signals toward the brain. Hearing difficulties or deafness are the outcomes of the problems occurred at any part of the auditory system. Assistive technologies such as hearing aids are developed to improve the quality of life of the hearing impaired people. Current digital hearing aids have fixed bandwidth filter banks which cannot provide enough flexibility to match with audiogram of different hearing loss. Recently, variable bandwidth filter banks have been introduced with different technologies to match more closely with the audiogram of a particular hearing loss. This research work proposes and implements a software controlled variable bandwidth FIR filter bank using Matlab GUI. In the Matlab GUI, in the filter bank, the bandwidth of every filter is adjusted dynamically in the Matlab GUI such that it fits more closely to the audiogram of a particular hearing loss. An experiment has been conducted in the developed Matlab GUI with various hearing loss, and the results show that the proposed system matches the filter bank magnitude response very closely to the audiogram of a particular hearing loss and reduces the matching error.

Revisiting FPGA Implementation of Digital Filters and Exploring Approximate Computing on Biomedical Signals

In recent years, the approximate computing becomes popular in the era of VLSI (very large scale integration) domain to arrive better power, area, and delay outcomes at the cost of lower precision loss. Also, the human beings are not so intelligent to see/observe/listen the processed digital data; means even if some of the data loss occurs human beings are unable to notice them. This behavior set the engineers to research on approximate computing which are very useful in the multimedia data processing, data communications, high-volume data storage, etc. In this study, the experiments such as hum-noise removal, filters on QRS detection are implemented on an Altera FPGA EP4CEF29C7 device using Quartus II 13.1 synthesis software tool and the simulation results on device utilization reports, the speed and the power are obtained. Simulation results reveal that the approximate computational filters offer better power, area, and speed results than the conventional ones. Also, Matlab 9.4 (R2018a) simulation was used to carry out the functional verification of the actual and approximate filters.

Penetration Testing and Security Assessment of Healthcare Records on Hospital Websites

At present, computer security is the flourishing field in the IT industry. Nowadays, the usage of computers and the Internet grows drastically, and hence, computers become vehicles for the attackers to spread viruses and worms, to distribute spam and spyware, and to perform denial-of-service attacks, etc. The IT engineers (even users) should know about network security threats, and at the same time, to some extent, they should know techniques to overcome the issues. The reliability and privacy of healthcare records of the patients are the most critical issue in the healthcare business industry sector. The security safeguards, such as physical, technical, and administrative safeguards, are crucial in protecting the information in all aspects. This article deals with the forty popular hospital portals in India related to the professional and network security related issues such as operating system guesses, number of open/closed/filtered ports, the name of the Web server, etc. The Nmap (network mapper) tool is used to analyze the results belong to the security perspective.

Supramolecular networks and Hirshfeld surfaces of oxydiacetic acid and iminodiacetic acid salts

Oxydiacetic acid (Oda) and iminodiacetic acid (Ida) have been combined with two diamines, namely ethylenediamine (en) and o-phenylenediamine (o-phen), to give three molecular crystals of compositions [(Oda^2-)(en²⁺)]·H₂O (Odaen), [(Ida^-)(0.5en⁺)] (Idaen) and [(Oda^-)(o-phen⁺)] (Odaophen). Single crystal X-ray structure determination of the three molecular salts revealed that the hydrogen bonding interactions form distinct supramolecular chains. In Odaen, water molecules and Oda^2- anions generate one-dimensional supramolecular chains where two chains overlap each other in zigzag form. In Odaophen, Oda^- anions generate a one-dimensional linear supramolecular chain. In Idaen, both intermolecular and intramolecular proton transfer occurs. Ida^- anions generate a one-dimensional zigzag chain. These one-dimensional supramolecular chains extend to form different two-dimensional supramolecular chains by the interaction of diaminium and monoaminium cations. Intermolecular close contacts are also examined using Hirshfeld analysis to reveal similarities and differences in the crystal structures.

Hydrogen-bonded assemblies in the molecular crystals of 2,2'-thiodiacetic acid with ethylenediamine and o-phenylenediamine

Carboxylate molecular crystals have been of interest due to the presence of hydrogen bonding, which plays a significant role in chemical and crystal engineering, as well as in supramolecular chemistry. Acid-base adducts possess hydrogen bonds which increase the thermal and mechanical stability of the crystal. 2,2'-Thiodiacetic acid (Tda) is a versatile ligand that has been widely explored, employing its multidendate and chelating coordination abilities with many metals; however, charge-transfer complexes of thiodiacetic acid have not been reported. Two salts, namely ethylenediaminium 2,2'-thiodiacetate, C₂H₁₀N₂²⁺·C₄H₄O₄S₂^2-, denoted Tdaen, and 2-aminoanilinium 2-(carboxymethylsulfanyl)acetate, C₆H₉N₂⁺·C₄H₅O₄S^-, denoted Tdaophen, were synthesized and characterized by IR, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In these salts, Tda reacts with the aliphatic (ethylenediamine) and aromatic (o-phenylenediamine) diamines, and deprotonates them to form anions with different valencies and different supramolecular networks. In Tdaen, the divalent Tda^2- anions form one-dimensional linear supramolecular chains and these are extended into a three-dimensional sandwich-type supramolecular network by interaction with the ethylenediaminium cations. However, in Tdaophen, the monovalent Tda^- anions form one-dimensional zigzag supramolecular chains, which are extended into a three-dimensional supramolecular network by interaction with the 2-aminoanilinium cations. Thus, both three-dimensional structures display different ring motifs. The structures of these diamines, which are influenced by hydrogen-bonded assemblies in the molecular crystals, are discussed in detail.