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This study was conducted at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad (U.P.) during the rabi season of 2016 to 2017 to find out the optimum time of sowing and planting spacing for broccoli varieties as Palam Samridhi, Pusa Kanchan and Lufa F1 Hybrid. Seedlings were raised by sowing on three different dates viz. 20th October, 04 November and 19 November were transplanted at spacing viz. 45 cm x 45 cm. Economic return and biochemical traits of broccoli were significantly influenced by the treatments. In view of experimental results obtained during the present investigation, treatment T4 D2 V1 04 November + V1 Palam Samridhi emerged as superior over all other treatments, in relation to economic return, cost benefit ratio and biochemical traits of broccoli under the agro-climatic condition of Allahabad.

Increasing interest has recently focused on determining whether quercetin may exert anti-aging properties or not? The objective of this study was determination of Na+, K+ -ATPase activity in quercetin-treated red blood cells during human aging. The study was carried out on human blood samples. The subjects were divided into different age groups, young, middle, and old. The effects of quercetin were evaluated by determining Na+, K+ -ATPase activity by co-incubating the red blood cells in presence of quercetin (10−6 M to 10−3 M final concentration). Quercetin causes 15% increase in Na+, K+ -ATPase activity at 10−4 M and 17% at 10−3 M as compared to the young control age group. The effect was insignificant at 10−5 M (7%) and 10−6 M (5%) in the young age group. Quercetin showed significant increase at 10−6 M to 10−3 M in Na+, K+ -ATPase activity as compared to the middle control age group. A significant increase in Na+, K+ -ATPase activity was observed at all concentrations [10−6 M (31%), 10−5 M (39%), 10−4 M (51%), and 10−3 M (61%)] in elderly population. We believe that these findings will help in further research against oxidative stress in red blood cells.

The disparity in the free radical generation and the production of antioxidants to counteract its effect is known as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress causes damage to the macromolecules such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, and DNA and RNA. The oxidative damage to the cellular components leads to a process of aging and various age-associated disorders. The literature survey for this review was done using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. The papers showing the studies related to aging and age-associated disorders have been selected for reviewing this paper. Ellagic acid has been used as the keyword, and more emphasis has been put on papers from the last 10 years. However, some papers with significant studies prior to 10 years have also been considered. Almost 250 papers have been studied for reviewing this paper, and about 135 papers have been cited. Ellagic acid (EA) is present in high quantities in pomegranate and various types of berries. It is known to possess the antioxidant potential and protects from the harmful effects of free radicals. Various studies have shown its effect to protect cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, cancer, and diabetes. The present review focuses on the protective effect of ellagic acid in age-associated disorders. The effect of EA has been studied in various chronic disorders but the scope of this review is limited to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders. All the disease aspects have not been addressed in this particular review.

Background Endometriosis is defined as a condition in which a formation of abnormal endometrial tissue outside the uterus takes place. Irrespective of any ethnic and socioeconomic class, the prevalence of the diseases has been seen among women of reproductive age. Endometriosis has been seen adversely affect the physical, psychological, social, and career of women. Summary This paper aims to identify and describe the experiences and outcomes of endometriosis healthcare by reviewing the existing literature on social and psychological effects of endometriosis. The study serves the purpose of providing insights on women’s dual suffering (mental and social health) and critical comments on the present state of knowledge in order to make future recommendations for psycho-social research. The review included systematic search of the articles from various disciplines like, biology, psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc. A structured process of screening with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria was used to select the articles. The analysis of the articles resulted that woman diagnosed with endometriosis reported poor quality of life and the following symptoms such as anxiety, stress, Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP), anxiety, dyspareunia, and dysmenorrhea. However, depression appears prominent among women diagnosed with endometriosis. There are few strategies mentioned that can be used to deal with endometriosis. Key Message The most promising causes of endometriosis include abnormality in immune functioning, atypical endometriotic growth, genetics, epigenetic, embryogenetic theory, and endocrine disruptors. The ill effects have been noted in the following domains of women’s life such as work, close relationships, social well-being, and education, deteriorating their quality-of-life manifold. Psychological intervention is required to deal with the disorder as only medical treatment with pain may not be sufficient. Though, the condition can be improved by providing awareness regarding the severity of the disorder at the school and community levels.

Bundelkhand region is rich in biodiversity for wood apple but less harnessed. The agro-climatic conditions of Bundelkhand have great potential for its commercial cultivation. Keeping these points in view, twenty-five genotypes of wood apple, fruit sample with shoot were collected from diverse areas of Bundelkhand region of utter Pradesh and analysed for various physic-chemical attributes and results of study revealed wide range of variability in morphological quantitative qualitative and biochemical etc. The quantitative variability of different genotypes in wood apple viz for fruit length (4.22 cm to 7.46 cm), fruit width (3.06 cm to 6.41 cm), shell thickness (0.10 cm to 0.31 cm), fruit weight (65.9 g to 238.7 g), leaf length (2 cm to 4.3 cm), leaf width (.97 cm to 2.3 cm), seed length (4.7 mm to 8.0 mm), seed width (2.97 mm to 4.77 mm), seed weight (23.76 g to 30.4 g), and No. of seed per fruit (102 to 614). The bio-chemical parameters also showed wide range of variation i.e. TSS (10.87 0Brix to18.09 0Brix), acidity (2.3% to 6.25%), total sugar (1.55% to 2.38%), reducing sugar (0.86% to 1.28%), non-reducing sugar (0.69% to 1.25%), ascorbic acid (12.63 mg/100g to 35.56 mg/100g). Therefore, on the basis of morphological quantitative and bio-chemical quality attributes, genotypes FS/WA-3, FS/WA-4, FS/WA-5, FS/WA-6, FS/WA-8, FS/WA-10 and FS/WA-25 were screened as promising genotypes. These promising genotypes can be recommended for commercial multiplication, growing at farmer’s field and conservation in the field gene bank for further evaluation and crop improvement.

Polyphenols are the known group of phytochemicals that essentially consists of phenolic rings. These are the plant product present in varied fruits and vegetables. These secondary metabolites perform a protective function in plants from environmental and biological stress. When consumed as a human diet these are also known to prevent various age-associated diseases. Polyphenols are known to possess antioxidant properties and protect against oxidative stress. The literature survey was carried out using databases such as PubMed, Science direct and Springer. The research articles from last 10–12 years were selected for this review based on its relevancy with the topic. The articles selected was mainly focused on quercetin and its health benefits. The present review highlights the main functions of a flavonoid, quercetin. Quercetin is among the widely occurring polyphenol, found abundantly in nature. It is commonly present in different plant products. Onion is known to have the highest quantity of quercetin. This plant compound is possessed antioxidant properties and is considered to have a protective function against aging. It is known to be present in both free and conjugated forms. Quercetin has anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-proliferative, anti-carcinogenic, anti-diabetic, and anti-viral properties. The molecule is lipophilic and can easily cross the BBB (Blood-Brain Barrier) and hence protects from neurodegenerative diseases. Various in vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated the role of quercetin and here a detailed review of quercetin as a curative agent in neurodegeneration, diabetes, cancer, and inflammation has been carried out. Studies have proved that quercetin plays a crucial role in the prevention of age-related disorders. Quercetin is a potent antioxidant which is currently being used in various pharmaceuticals. Properties of quercetin can be further explored in various other disorders. Nanoformulations and liposomal formulations of quercetin can be made to treat other age associated diseases.

Mucoadhesive based pulmonary drug delivery is an advanced novel intervention against several pulmonary diseases including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, etc. Mucoadhesive polymers are required to prolong the residence time of the drug to promote drug absorption via mucosa at a controlled rate in order to enhance the therapeutic effect. The drug interacts with the mucus layer and mucin molecules to prolong the residence time. Such a drug delivery system has low enzymatic degradation with improved patient compliance as its formulation depends on the use of a mucoadhesive and biocompatible polymer. Therefore, in this chapter, we have discussed the novel dosage formulations i.e. nanoparticles, liposomes, and microparticles for delivery via inhalation. However, there is an urgent need to study novel bioadhesive formulations with different polymeric materials and to identify many new drug molecules for pulmonary drug delivery.

The telomere length (TL) has increasingly been used as a biomarker of human aging because it has been shown to predict the chances of survival and longevity. Oxidative stress is presumed to be a major cause of telomere shortening, but the importance of oxidative stress as a determinant of telomere shortening remains less clear and has recently been questioned. We analyzed 105 healthy subjects of both sexes between the ages of 20-77 years. The TL and biomarkers of oxidative stress were estimated as per standard protocols. A significant (

The interaction of nanoparticles with the biological system has increased with the increasing popularity of nanomedicines. Red blood cells (RBCs) are very sensitive, and abundant cells in the blood. They are highly prone to oxidative damage due to constant interaction with oxygen itself, foreign particles in the blood, and the lack of repair mechanism. The cell membrane of RBCs undergoes lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation, and heme degradation which results in altered membrane permeability, changes in the morphology, and functioning of RBCs. The nanoparticles induce oxidative stress, hemolysis, morphological changes, membrane deformability, and alterations in hemoglobin structure in RBCs. In this review, the effects of metallic nanoparticles and their modifications on the physiology, and life span of RBCs are discussed. The detailed analysis of the antioxidant enzymes-like activity of metal nanoparticles is expected to highlight the beneficial use of these metal nanoparticles in RBCs against oxidative stress and the development of new biosafe nanodrugs.

Increasing interest has recently focused on determining whether quercetin may exert anti-aging properties or not? The objective of this study was determination of Na

Metal oxide nanoparticles are known to exhibit unique properties such as catalyzing the neutralization of superoxide anions, hydroxyl radicals, hydrogen peroxides and behave as antioxidant enzymes. Oxidative stress, damage and chronic inflammation are major causes and consequences of aging and age-associated disorders. With the increasing popularity of metal oxide nanoparticles, they have been applied in various age-related pathologies using their antioxidant property. Metal oxide nanoparticles have been used as diagnostic, therapeutic, and as theranostics. This review summarizes the applications of metal oxide nanoparticles in aging and age-associated disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders. Oxidative stress plays a central role in the activation of inflammatory pathways, disturbing the mitochondrial function, decreasing the telomere length and leading the cell towards senescence or death. Oxidative damage is the common pathway in the progression of aging and related diseases. Metal oxide nanoparticles scavenge or precisely detect the generated reactive oxygen species, hence applied in both diagnostics and therapeutics.

No one questions the existence of presumptive knowledge of invisible organisms causing disease, decay and destruction mentioned before the discovery of the microbial world by Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, who was the first to describe the invisible world as per literature available today. However, the knowledge about microbial world by Indian Rishis presented in Sanskrit shlokas or suktas of our traditional manuscripts such as Vedas remained unseen, where the Rishis had predicted the role of microorganisms known as Krimi or Jeevanu years before Leeuwenhoek. This note is an attempt to bring an emphasis to revisit our traditional Vedic knowledge and establish them through research based facts for wider acceptance globally.

Lung diseases are the leading cause of mortality worldwide. The currently available therapies are not sufficient, leading to the urgent need for new therapies with sustained anti-inflammatory effects. Small/short or silencing interfering RNA (siRNA) has potential therapeutic implications through post-transcriptional downregulation of the target gene expression. siRNA is essential in gene regulation, so is more favorable over other gene therapies due to its small size, high specificity, potency, and no or low immune response. In chronic respiratory diseases, local and targeted delivery of siRNA is achieved via inhalation. The effectual delivery can be attained by the generation of aerosols via inhalers and nebulizers, which overcomes anatomical barriers, alveolar macrophage clearance and mucociliary clearance. In this review, we discuss the different siRNA nanocarrier systems for chronic respiratory diseases, for safe and effective delivery. siRNA mediated pro-inflammatory gene or miRNA targeting approach can be a useful approach in combating chronic respiratory inflammatory conditions and thus providing sustained drug delivery, reduced therapeutic dose, and improved patient compliance. This review will be of high relevance to the formulation, biological and translational scientists working in the area of respiratory diseases.

Oxidative stress is intensely involved in enhancing the severity of various chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), infections and lung cancer. Even though there are various existing anti-inflammatory therapies, which are not enough to control the inflammation caused due to various contributing factors such as anti-inflammatory genes and antioxidant enzymes. This leads to an urgent need of novel drug delivery systems to combat the oxidative stress. This review gives a brief insight into the biological factors involved in causing oxidative stress, one of the emerging hallmark feature in CRDs and particularly, highlighting recent trends in various novel drug delivery carriers including microparticles, microemulsions, microspheres, nanoparticles, liposomes, dendrimers, solid lipid nanocarriers etc which can help in combating the oxidative stress in CRDs and ultimately reducing the disease burden and improving the quality of life with CRDs patients. These carriers improve the pharmacokinetics and bioavailability to the target site. However, there is an urgent need for translational studies to validate the drug delivery carriers for clinical administration in the pulmonary clinic.

We aimed to determine the association between short telomere length, sleep parameters, and sleep disorders in an adult general population sample.As part of the EPISONO cohort (São Paulo, Brazil), 925 individuals answered questionnaires, underwent a full-night polysomnography and clinical assessment, and had peripheral blood collected for DNA extraction. Insomnia was diagnosed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition; and obstructive sleep apnea was defined according to apnea-hypopnea index. For the objective insomnia phenotype, we combined insomnia diagnosis with total sleep time from polysomnography with a cutoff of 360 minutes, allowing the classification of six groups. Self-reported sleep duration was used to classify the individuals as short (6 hours), average (6 to 8 hours) and long (8 hours) sleepers. The leukocyte telomere length was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Based on its distribution, we considered leukocyte telomere length10th percentile as short telomere and leukocyte telomere length ≥ 10th percentile as non-short telomere.After adjusting for sex, age, and body mass index, only insomnia disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 2.654, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.025-6.873,Our findings support the existence of an association among insomnia, insomnia phenotype, and self-reported long sleep duration with the maintenance of telomere length.A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 1975.

Schizophrenia is a severe and multifactorial disorder with an unknown causative pathophysiology. Abnormalities in neurodevelopmental and aging processes have been reported. Relative telomere length (RTL) and DNA methylation age (DMA), well-known biomarkers for estimating biological age, are both commonly altered in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls. However, few studies investigated these aging biomarkers in first-episode psychosis (FEP) and in antipsychotic-naive patients. To cover the existing gap regarding DMA and RTL in FEP and antipsychotic treatment, we aimed to verify whether those aging markers could be associated with psychosis and treatment response. Thus, we evaluated these measures in the blood of FEP antipsychotic-naive patients and healthy controls (HC), as well as the response to antipsychotics after 10 weeks of treatment with risperidone. RTL was measured in 392 subjects, being 80 FEP and 312 HC using qPCR, while DMA was analyzed in a subset of 60 HC, 60 FEP patients (antipsychotic-naive) and 59 FEP-10W (after treatment) using the "Multi-tissue Predictor"and the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip Kit. We observed diminished DMA and longer RTL in FEP patients before treatment compared to healthy controls, indicating a decelerated aging process in those patients. We found no statistical difference between responder and non-responder patients at baseline for both markers. An increased DMA was observed in patients after 10 weeks of treatment, however, after adjusting for blood cell composition, no significant association remained. Our findings indicate a decelerated aging process in the early phases of the disease.

Research for novel drug delivery carriers is being explored competitively so that maximum therapeutic impact while minimizing the detrimental effects can be obtained. Despite numerous pharmaceutical advancements in drug formulations, one of the fundamental challenges nevertheless persisting is controlled drug release. Microparticle (MP)-based carriers enacts as a smart approach with a substantial therapeutic effect and is in global demand for targeted deliveries because of its specific and attractive features, which includes biocompatibility, stability, specificity for target, even encapsulation, higher compliance, and managed and sustained release styles, which might be responsible for diminishing the toxicity and dosage frequency. MPs are efficacious delivery carriers that can encapsulate water-insoluble and partially water-soluble ingredients to prompt their efficacy with an incredible ability attributed to their unique features: particle diameter, form, shape, drug encapsulation, entrapment efficiency, porosity, and drug release profile. The present chapter focuses on the detailed therapeutic usage of MPs with advances from the past decade to deal with diverse disease situations, which include cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurological disorders. The future of MP-based therapies might also grow to be broadly researched in targeted drug deliveries.