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Chandrashekar Srinivasa,1,* SR Santosh Kumar,2 Sushma Pradeep,3 Shashanka K Prasad,3 Ravindra Veerapur,4 Mohammad Azam Ansari,5 Mohammad N Alomary,6 Saad Alghamdi,7 Mazen Almehmadi,8 Kavitha GC,1 Azharuddin B Daphedar,9 Siddappa B Kakkalameli,10 Chandan Shivamallu,3,* Shiva Prasad Kollur11,12,* 1Department of Studies in Biotechnology, Davangere University, Davangere, 577 007, Karnataka, India; 2Department of Studies in Food Technology, Davangere University, Davangere, 577 007, Karnataka, India; 3Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysuru, Karnataka, 570 015, India; 4Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Malawi Institute of Technology, Malawi University of Science and Technology, Limbe, Malawi; 5Department of Epidemic Disease Research, Institute for Research and Medical Consultations (IRMC), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 31441, Saudi Arabia; 6National Centre for Biotechnology, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, 11442, Saudi Arabia; 7Laboratory Medicine Department, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, 24231, Saudi Arabia; 8Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Taif University, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia; 9Department of Studies in Botany, Anjuman Arts, Science and Commerce College, Vijayapura, Karnataka, 586 101, India; 10Department of Studies in Botany, Davangere University, Davangere, 577 007, Karnataka, India; 11Department of Sciences, Amrita School of Arts and Sciences, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Mysuru Campus, Mysuru, Karnataka, 570 026, India; 12School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Ocean and Natural Sciences (SAGEONS), The University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Shiva Prasad Kollur; Siddappa B Kakkalameli, Email shivachemist@gmail.com; dubotsiddu@gmail.comIntroduction: Cancer disease is known due to its unregulated proliferation of cells that have evolved from the body’s regular cells. The disease develops as a result of epigenetic and genetic modifications, tumor suppressor gene inactivation, and oncogene activation. The present work describes an environmentally benign approach for the synthesis of manganese oxide nanoparticles (MnO2 NPs) using Gmelina arborea fruit extract (GAE) in an aqueous medium.Methods: The study evaluated the formation of MnO2 NPs and their anticancer efficacy against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.Results: The formation of MnO2 NPs was confirmed through powder X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The crystalline nature of as-prepared MnO2 NPs was evident from XRD pattern. The morphology of the material was studied using SEM analysis, which suggested a rod-like nature with an average diameter of 50 nm. Further, the TEM and HR-TEM images confirmed the rod shape of the as-prepared MnO2 NPs with an interplanar distance of 0.271 nm. In addition, the concentric rings from selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis show the crystalline nature of the as-prepared material, which further supports the obtained XRD pattern. The anticancer efficacy of MnO2 NPs was evaluated against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, which showed up to 96% inhibition of the cells at 400 μg/mL concentration.Conclusion: Bio-conjugation of MnO2 NPs can provide enough scope for the therapeutic use of Gmelina arborea, assuming appropriate mechanistic evaluations are conducted.Keywords: Gmelina arborea, MnO2 NPs, HR-TEM, MCF-7

The present work emphasizes the determination of the fundamental frequency of skew sandwich plates with orthotropic core and laminated facings using different design parameters. Finite elements CQUAD4 and CQUAD8 of MSC/NASTRAN are used for obtaining fundamental frequencies, which are validated against available literature results. The influence of the skew angle, the ratio of the length-to total thickness (a/h) of the sandwich plate, and the ratio of the thickness of the core to face sheet (tc/th) on the fundamental frequency of skew sandwich plates are studied. Also, the influence of parameters such as the number of layers in the face sheet, laminate sequence, and fiber orientation angle on the fundamental frequency of laminated skew sandwich plates have been studied. It is found that the CQUAD8 element yields better results than the CQUAD4 element in the present study. The fundamental frequencies are found to increase with the increasing skew angle. The variation in fundamental frequency is negligible when the number of layers is large in the face sheet.

In South Africa, traditional medicine remains the first point of call for a significant proportion of the population seeking primary healthcare needs. This is particularly important for treating common conditions including pain and inflammation which are often associated with many disease conditions. This review focuses on the analysis of the trend and pattern of plants used for mitigating pain and inflammatory-related conditions in South African folk medicine. An extensive search was conducted using various scientific databases and popular ethnobotanical literature focusing on South African ethnobotany. Based on the systematic analysis, 38 sources were selected to generate the inventory of 495 plants from 99 families that are considered as remedies for pain and inflammatory-related conditions (e.g., headache, toothache, backache, menstrual pain, and rheumatism) among different ethnic groups in South Africa. The majority (55%) of the 38 studies were recorded in three provinces, namely, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, and Western Cape. In terms of the number of mentions, the most popular plants used for pain and inflammatory-related conditions in South Africa were Ricinus communis L. (10), Aloe ferox Mill. (8), Pentanisia prunelloides subsp. latifolia (Hochst.) Verdc. (8), Dodonaea viscosa Jacq var. angustifolia (L.f) Benth. (8), (L.) W.T.Aiton. (7) Ruta graveolens L. (7), and Solanum aculeastrum Dunal. (7). The top five plant families represented were Asteraceae (13%), Fabaceae (8%), Apocynaceae (4.3%), Asparagaceae (4%), and Lamiaceae (4%). An estimated 54% of the recorded plants were woody (trees and shrubs) in nature, while the leaves (27%) and roots (25%) were the most dominant plant parts. The use of plants for alleviating pain and inflammatory-related conditions remains popular in South African folk medicine. The lagging ethnobotanical information from provinces such as North West, Gauteng, and Free State remains a gap that needs to be pursued meticulously in order to have a complete country-wide database.

Objective: To compare differences across food groups for food cost, energy, and nutrient profiles of 100 items from a cross-sectional survey of 225 stores in 18 counties across the Lower Mississippi Delta of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Methods: Energy, nutrient, and cost profiles for food items were calculated by using Naturally Nutrient Rich methodology and converting price per 100 g edible portion to price per serving. Foods were grouped into 6 food groups. Mean differences were compared with ANOVA. Results: Significant differences existed by food group for each measure. Energy density was highest for fats/oils/sweets, whereas nutrient density was highest for vegetables. Price per serving was lowest for fats/oils/sweets and highest for meats. Conclusions and Implications: Educational messages focusing on a complete diet should consider the role of food costs and provide specific recommendations for increasing nutrient-dense foods by replacing a portion of the meat serving at meals with culturally acceptable lower-cost nutrient-dense foods. (Contains 2 tables.)

Background: Clinical patterns and disease activity burden of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) varies in different parts of the world. There are limited studies from the Indian subcontinent. Aims: To study the cutaneous and articular profile of PsA and describe their disease activity with validated outcome measures. Methods: Karnataka psoriatic arthritis cohort study is a multicenter, prospective, cross-sectional, observational study which included all consecutive PsA patients defined by Classification criteria for psoriatic arthritis (CASPAR) from 18 rheumatology centers. Results: A total of 549 PsA patients (M: F: 6:5), mean age 38.4 (±14) years were included. PsA preceded psoriasis in 81 (14.7%) while simultaneous onset was noted in 117 (21.5%). Plaque lesions (330 [78.8%]) and scalp (210 [49.2%]) were the most common type and site. Mild, moderate, and severe skin disease was noted in 480 (80%), 50 (9.3%), and 57 (10.6%) patients, respectively. Mean disease activity in PsA (DAPSA) was 18.8 (16.6); 100 (19.9%) were in remission. Low, moderate, and high joint disease activity was found in 145 (28.8%), 137 (27.2%), and 123 (24.5%), respectively. There was no correlation between skin and joint disease. Polyarthritis (216 [40.7%]) and oligoarthritis (202 [38.1%]) were the most frequent PsA subtypes. Those with a higher DAPSA (>28) were older (P = 0.02), had a shorter duration of psoriasis (P = 0.02) and higher psoriatic area and severity index scores (P = 0.0001). Conclusions: We report high articular disease activity in half while cutaneous disease activity was minimal in majority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Approximately half of all stroke survivors have persistent upper extremity functional impairment, leading to reduced self-care, independence and quality of life. High-intensity, task-oriented virtual reality rehabilitation improves motor recovery. However, its clinical efficacy over standard rehabilitation remains uncertain. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of a virtual reality-based comprehensive rehabilitation gaming system (VR-cRGS) in stroke survivors with upper extremity impairment and to characterise the structural and functional plasticity of the affected regions in the brain due to the proposed rehabilitation.Methods and analysis This study is a multicentric, open-label, randomised controlled trial with an intention-to-treat analysis. A total of 162 patients will be enrolled in two academic institutes in India that specialise in stroke care. Patients with a first-ever ischaemic stroke (18–70 years and 1–6 months of stroke onset) with upper extremity impairment with 1 and 1+ grades of spasticity as per the modified Ashworth Scale and 3, 4 or 5 stages on Brunnstrom recovery staging will be enrolled. They will be randomised (1:1) into two treatment groups to receive 12 weeks of training either on VR-cRGS or on conventional physiotherapy. The primary feasibility outcome is compliance with the treatment. The primary efficacy outcome is the functional recovery of the upper extremity assessed by the Fugl-Meyer Assessment-Upper Extremity and Wolf Motor Function Test. The secondary outcomes are the Barthel Index and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey. Multimodal brain imaging will be done in all enrolled patients at baseline and post-treatment to evaluate the structural and functional connectivity changes. The outcome measures will be analysed using paired t-tests or non-parametric tests.Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Institutional Ethics Review Board of the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, Kerala, India (SCT/IEC/1415/AUGUST-2019) and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (NIMHANS/IEC (BS and NS DIV.)/32nd Meeting/21). All participants will sign an informed consent form prior to participation. The study results will be disseminated through scholarly publication.Trial registration number CTRI/2021/11/038339.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder that is typically characterized by a range of motor dysfunctions, and its impact extends beyond physical abnormalities into emotional well-being and cognitive symptoms. The loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) leads to an array of dysfunctions in the functioning of the basal ganglia (BG) circuitry that manifests into PD. While active research is being carried out to find the root cause of SNc cell death, various therapeutic techniques are used to manage the symptoms of PD. The most common approach in managing the symptoms is replenishing the lost dopamine in the form of taking dopaminergic medications such as levodopa, despite its long-term complications. Another commonly used intervention for PD is deep brain stimulation (DBS). DBS is most commonly used when levodopa medication efficacy is reduced, and, in combination with levodopa medication, it helps reduce the required dosage of medication, prolonging the therapeutic effect. DBS is also a first choice option when motor complications such as dyskinesia emerge as a side effect of medication. Several studies have also reported that though DBS is found to be effective in suppressing severe motor symptoms such as tremors and rigidity, it has an adverse effect on cognitive capabilities. Henceforth, it is important to understand the exact mechanism of DBS in alleviating motor symptoms. A computational model of DBS stimulation for motor symptoms will offer great insights into understanding the mechanisms underlying DBS, and, along this line, in our current study, we modeled a cortico-basal ganglia circuitry of arm reaching, where we simulated healthy control (HC) and PD symptoms as well as the DBS effect on PD tremor and bradykinesia. Our modeling results reveal that PD tremors are more correlated with the theta band, while bradykinesia is more correlated with the beta band of the frequency spectrum of the local field potential (LFP) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons. With a DBS current of 220 pA, 130 Hz, and a 100 microsecond pulse-width, we could found the maximum therapeutic effect for the pathological dynamics simulated using our model using a set of parameter values. However, the exact DBS characteristics vary from patient to patient, and this can be further studied by exploring the model parameter space. This model can be extended to study different DBS targets and accommodate cognitive dynamics in the future to study the impact of DBS on cognitive symptoms and thereby optimize the parameters to produce optimal performance effects across modalities. Combining DBS with rehabilitation is another frontier where DBS can reduce symptoms such as tremors and rigidity, enabling patients to participate in their therapy. With DBS providing instant relief to patients, a combination of DBS and rehabilitation can enhance neural plasticity. One of the key motivations behind combining DBS with rehabilitation is to expect comparable results in motor performance even with milder DBS currents.

Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are important post-transcriptional regulators involved in the control of a range of processes, including symbiotic interactions in plants. MiRNA involvement in arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) symbiosis has been mainly studied in model species, and our study is the first to analyze global miRNA expression in the roots of AM colonized switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), an emerging biofuel feedstock. AM symbiosis helps plants gain mineral nutrition from the soil and may enhance switchgrass biomass production on marginal lands. Our goals were to identify miRNAs and their corresponding target genes that are controlling AM symbiosis in switchgrass. Results Through genome-wide analysis of next-generation miRNA sequencing reads generated from switchgrass roots, we identified 122 mature miRNAs, including 28 novel miRNAs. By comparing miRNA expression profiles of AM-inoculated and control switchgrass roots, we identified 15 AM-responsive miRNAs across lowland accession “Alamo”, upland accession “Dacotah”, and two upland/lowland F1 hybrids. We used degradome sequencing to identify target genes of the AM-responsive miRNAs revealing targets of miRNAs residing on both K and N subgenomes. Notably, genes involved in copper ion binding were targeted by downregulated miRNAs, while upregulated miRNAs mainly targeted GRAS family transcription factors. Conclusion Through miRNA analysis and degradome sequencing, we revealed that both upland and lowland switchgrass genotypes as well as upland-lowland hybrids respond to AM by altering miRNA expression. We demonstrated complex GRAS transcription factor regulation by the miR171 family, with some miR171 family members being AM responsive while others remained static. Copper miRNA downregulation was common amongst the genotypes tested and we identified superoxide dismutases and laccases as targets, suggesting that these Cu-miRNAs are likely involved in ROS detoxification and lignin deposition, respectively. Other prominent targets of the Cu miRNAs were blue copper proteins. Overall, the potential effect of AM colonization on lignin deposition pathways in this biofuel crop highlights the importance of considering AM and miRNA in future biofuel crop development strategies.