Analyzing customer behavior and retention strategies in the edible vegetable oil e-commerce industry

The research article explores consumer behaviour on e-commerce platform and proposes strategies to enhance customer retention within the edible vegetable oil industry. The growing adoption of e-commerce presents a crucial opportunity to understand purchasing patterns and consumer preferences compared to traditional retail models. The study is based on data collected from 200 respondents, providing valuable insights into customer behaviour regarding edible oils like soybean oil, palm oil, and sunflower oil, which dominate both the Indian and global markets. The research examines factors influencing customer loyalty, including brand awareness, online promotions, pricing, and product quality. The findings are expected to offer significant insights for companies seeking to optimize operations in the edible oil industry while refining e-commerce strategies. Additionally, the study aims to support the development of long-term customer relationships in a highly competitive market

The chemopreventive polyphenol Curcumin prevents hematogenous breast cancer metastases in immunodeficient mice

Dissemination of metastatic cells probably occurs long before diagnosis of the primary tumor. Metastasis during early phases of carcinogenesis in high risk patients is therefore a potential prevention target. The plant polyphenol Curcumin has been proposed for dietary prevention of cancer. We therefore examined its effects on the human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 in vitro and in a mouse metastasis model. Curcumin strongly induces apoptosis in MDA- MB- 231 cells in correlation with reduced activation of the survival pathway NF kappa B, as a consequence of diminished I kappa B and p65 phosphorylation. Curcumin also reduces the expression of major matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) due to reduced NF kappa B activity and transcriptional downregulation of AP-1. NF kappa B/p65 silencing is sufficient to downregulate c-jun and MMP expression. Reduced NF kappa B/AP-1 activity and MMP expression lead to diminished invasion through a reconstituted basement membrane and to a significantly lower number of lung metastases in immunodeficient mice after intercardiac injection of 231 cells (p=0.0035). 68% of Curcumin treated but only 17% of untreated animals showed no or very few lung metastases, most likely as a consequence of down-regulation of NF kappa B/AP-1 dependent MMP expression and direct apoptotic effects on circulating tumor cells but not on established metastases. Dietary chemoprevention of metastases appears therefore feasible. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

PLAS-5k: Dataset of Protein-Ligand Affinities from Molecular Dynamics for Machine Learning Applications

Computational methods and recently modern machine learning methods have played a key role in structure-based drug design. Though several benchmarking datasets are available for machine learning applications in virtual screening, accurate prediction of binding affinity for a protein-ligand complex remains a major challenge. New datasets that allow for the development of models for predicting binding affinities better than the state-of-the-art scoring functions are important. For the first time, we have developed a dataset, PLAS-5k comprised of 5000 protein-ligand complexes chosen from PDB database. The dataset consists of binding affinities along with energy components like electrostatic, van der Waals, polar and non-polar solvation energy calculated from molecular dynamics simulations using MMPBSA (Molecular Mechanics Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area) method. The calculated binding affinities outperformed docking scores and showed a good correlation with the available experimental values. The availability of energy components may enable optimization of desired components during machine learning-based drug design. Further, OnionNet model has been retrained on PLAS-5k dataset and is provided as a baseline for the prediction of binding affinities

How participatory is parental consent in low literacy rural settings in low income countries? Lessons learned from a community based study of infants in South India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A requisite for ethical human subjects research is that participation should be informed and voluntary. Participation during the informed consent process by way of asking questions is an indicator of the extent to which consent is informed.</p> <p>Aims</p> <p>The aims of this study were to assess the extent to which parents providing consent for children's participation in an observational tuberculosis (TB) research study in India actively participated during the informed consent discussion, and to identify correlates of that participation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In an observational cohort study of tuberculosis in infants in South India, field supervisors who were responsible for obtaining informed consent noted down questions asked during the informed consent discussions for 4,382 infants who were enrolled in the study. These questions were post-coded by topic. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was conducted to examine factors associated with asking at least one question during the informed consent process.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total, 590 out of 4,382 (13.4%) parents/guardians asked any question during the informed consent process. We found that the likelihood of parents asking questions during the informed consent process was significantly associated with education level of either parent both parents being present, and location.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The findings have implications for planning the informed consent process in a largely rural setting with low levels of literacy. Greater effort needs to be directed towards developing simple participatory communication materials for the informed consent process. Furthermore, including both parents in a discussion about a child's participation in a research study may increase the extent to which consent is truly informed. Finally, continuing efforts need to be made to improve the communication skills of research workers with regard to explaining research processes and putting potential research participants at ease.</p

Bioinformatics and Functional Analysis of an Entamoeba histolytica Mannosyltransferase Necessary for Parasite Complement Resistance and Hepatical Infection

The glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) moiety is one of the ways by which many cell surface proteins, such as Gal/GalNAc lectin and proteophosphoglycans (PPGs) attach to the surface of Entamoeba histolytica, the agent of human amoebiasis. It is believed that these GPI-anchored molecules are involved in parasite adhesion to cells, mucus and the extracellular matrix. We identified an E. histolytica homolog of PIG-M, which is a mannosyltransferase required for synthesis of GPI. The sequence and structural analysis led to the conclusion that EhPIG-M1 is composed of one signal peptide and 11 transmembrane domains with two large intra luminal loops, one of which contains the DXD motif, involved in the enzymatic catalysis and conserved in most glycosyltransferases. Expressing a fragment of the EhPIG-M1 encoding gene in antisense orientation generated parasite lines diminished in EhPIG-M1 levels; these lines displayed reduced GPI production, were highly sensitive to complement and were dramatically inhibited for amoebic abscess formation. The data suggest a role for GPI surface anchored molecules in the survival of E. histolytica during pathogenesis

Suppression of MMP-2 Attenuates TNF-α Induced NF-κB Activation and Leads to JNK Mediated Cell Death in Glioma

BACKGROUND: Abrogation of apoptosis for prolonged cell survival is essential in cancer progression. In our previous studies, we showed the MMP-2 downregulation induced apoptosis in cancer cell lines. Here, we attempt to investigate the exact molecular mechanism of how MMP-2 depletion leads to apoptosis in glioma xenograft cell lines. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: MMP-2 transcriptional suppression by MMP-2siRNA (pM) induces apoptosis associated with PARP, caspase-8 and -3 cleavage in human glioma xenograft cells 4910 and 5310. Western blotting and cytokine array showed significant decrease in the cellular and secreted levels of TNF-α with concomitant reduction in TNFR1, TRADD, TRAF2, RIP, IKKβ and pIκBα expression levels resulting in inhibition of p65 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation in pM-treated cells when compared to mock and pSV controls. In addition MMP-2 suppression led to elevated Fas-L, Fas and FADD expression levels along with increased p38 and JNK phosphorylation. The JNK-activity assay showed prolonged JNK activation in pM-transfected cells. Specific inhibition of p38 with SB203580 did not show any effect whereas inhibition of JNK phosphorylation with SP600125 notably reversed pM-induced cleavage of PARP, caspase-8 and -3, demonstrating a significant role of JNK in pM-induced cell death. Supplementation of rhMMP-2 counteracted the effect of pM by remarkably elevating TNF-α, TRADD, IKKβ and pIκBα expression and decreasing FADD, Fas-L, and phospho-JNK levels. The EMSA analysis indicated significant reversal of pM-inhibited NF-κB activity by rhMMP-2 treatment which rescued cells from pM-induced cell death. In vivo studies indicated that pM treatment diminished intracranial tumor growth and the immuno histochemical analysis showed decreased phospho-p65 and enhanced phospho-JNK levels that correlated with increased TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells in pM-treated tumor sections. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: In summary, our study implies a role of MMP-2 in the regulation of TNF-α mediated constitutive NF-κB activation and Fas-mediated JNK mediated apoptosis in glioma xenograft cells in vitro and in vivo

Inhibition of nuclear factor kappa-B signaling reduces growth in medulloblastoma in vivo

Abstract Background Medulloblastoma is a highly malignant pediatric brain tumor that requires surgery, whole brain and spine irradiation, and intense chemotherapy for treatment. A more sophisticated understanding of the pathophysiology of medulloblastoma is needed to successfully reduce the intensity of treatment and improve outcomes. Nuclear factor kappa-B (NFκB) is a signaling pathway that controls transcriptional activation of genes important for tight regulation of many cellular processes and is aberrantly expressed in many types of cancer. Methods To test the importance of NFκB to medulloblastoma cell growth, the effects of multiple drugs that inhibit NFκB, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, diethyldithiocarbamate, sulfasalazine, curcumin and bortezomib, were studied in medulloblastoma cell lines compared to a malignant glioma cell line and normal neurons. Expression of endogenous NFκB was investigated in cultured cells, xenograft flank tumors, and primary human tumor samples. A dominant negative construct for the endogenous inhibitor of NFκB, IκB, was prepared from medulloblastoma cell lines and flank tumors were established to allow specific pathway inhibition. Results We report high constitutive activity of the canonical NFκB pathway, as seen by Western analysis of the NFκB subunit p65, in medulloblastoma tumors compared to normal brain. The p65 subunit of NFκB is extremely highly expressed in xenograft tumors from human medulloblastoma cell lines; though, conversely, the same cells in culture have minimal expression without specific stimulation. We demonstrate that pharmacological inhibition of NFκB in cell lines halts proliferation and leads to apoptosis. We show by immunohistochemical stain that phosphorylated p65 is found in the majority of primary tumor cells examined. Finally, expression of a dominant negative form of the endogenous inhibitor of NFκB, dnIκB, resulted in poor xenograft tumor growth, with average tumor volumes 40% smaller than controls. Conclusions These data collectively demonstrate that NFκB signaling is important for medulloblastoma tumor growth, and that inhibition can reduce tumor size and viability in vivo. We discuss the implications of NFκB signaling on the approach to managing patients with medulloblastoma in order to improve clinical outcomes.</p

Comprehensive Assessment and Validation of an Integrated Premenopausal Symptom Questionnaire

Pre-menopause indicates a period before menopause where a woman undergoes a transitional period where several symptoms come into existence due to the fluctuating ovarian hormones. The symptoms are quite complex with the involvement of different systems, making it difficult for health providers to diagnose and advise management aptly. The study aims to develop an integrated pre-menopausal questionnaire to assess premenopausal symptoms. The integrated pre-menopausal questionnaire was developed by including confounding factors and symptoms available in Ayurvedic literature, contemporary textbooks, and clinical observations by Prasoothi Tantra and Stree roga (Obstetrics and Gynaecology) experts. Premenopausal symptoms and confounding factors were incorporated into the questionnaire in the form of 36 questions under five sections and were assigned a score from 0 to 4 based on the strength of literature evidence and expert opinion. The questionnaire was subjected to validation i.e. face validation, content validation; and construct validation followed by factor analysis and reliability statistics. This tool is believed to be an important landmark in diagnosing pre-menopausal symptoms in pre-menopausal women so that an early intervention can be implemented. The questionnaire, finalized after expert committee review and recommendations, was also validated for its sensitivity and specificity to detect pre-menopausal symptoms in Palakkad District through a pilot study.

Successful treatment of biofilm infections using shock waves combined with antibiotic therapy

Many bacteria secrete a highly hydrated framework of extracellular polymer matrix on suitable substrates and embed within the matrix to form a biofilm. Bacterial biofilms are observed on many medical devices, endocarditis, periodontitis and lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. Bacteria in biofilm are protected from antibiotics and >1,000 times of the minimum inhibitory concentration may be required to treat biofilm infections. Here, we demonstrated that shock waves could be used to remove Salmonella, Pseudomonas and Staphylococcus biofilms in urinary catheters. The studies were extended to a Pseudomonas chronic pneumonia lung infection and Staphylococcus skin suture infection model in mice. The biofilm infections in mice, treated with shock waves became susceptible to antibiotics, unlike untreated biofilms. Mice exposed to shock waves responded to ciprofloxacin treatment, while ciprofloxacin alone was ineffective in treating the infection. These results demonstrate for the first time that, shock waves, combined with antibiotic treatment can be used to treat biofilm infection on medical devices as well as in situ infections