Antimicrobial peptides as novel anti-tuberculosis therapeutics

"Available online 24 May 2016"Tuberculosis (TB), a disease caused by the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has recently joined HIV/AIDS as the world's deadliest infectious disease, affecting around 9.6 million people worldwide in 2014. Of those, about 1.2 million died from the disease. Resistance acquisition to existing antibiotics, with the subsequent emergence of Multi-Drug Resistant mycobacteria strains, together with an increasing economic burden, has urged the development of new anti-TB drugs. In this scope, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), which are small, cationic and amphipathic peptides that make part of the innate immune system, now arise as promising candidates for TB treatment. In this review, we analyze the potential of AMPs for this application. We address the mechanisms of action, advantages and disadvantages over conventional antibiotics and how problems associated with its use may be overcome to boost their therapeutic potential. Additionally, we address the challenges of translational development from benchside to bedside, evaluate the current development pipeline and analyze the expected global impact from a socio-economic standpoint. The quest for more efficient and more compliant anti-TB drugs, associated with the great therapeutic potential of emerging AMPs and the rising peptide market, provide an optimal environment for the emergence of AMPs as promising therapies. Still, their pharmacological properties need to be enhanced and manufacturing-associated issues need to be addressed.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) - UID/ BIO/04469/2013 unit ; COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER- 006684) ; SFRH/BPD/64958/2010Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462

An optimal voltage stability enhancement in the power systems by locating optimal place with more contingency risk

The electrical components of a power system network take advantage to supply, transmission and service electrical power. Abnormal flow of voltage through the transmission lines might lead to big causes. Thyristor controlled series compensator (TCSC) devices are most frequently used device in the power to maintain the voltage stability. However, this device is costlier and cannot be fixed on every transmission line which would lead to more processing cost. Thus, the maintaining voltage stability of transmission lines with reduced production cost attracts a various researcher to find the novel approaches. In the existing system, to improve the stability of power system and minimize the losses by include the reactive power through TCSC device at applicable location by the algorithm of particle swarm optimization is available with the help of line stability index value. The PSO is constrained to poor exploitation problem which might generate inaccurate results. In the proposed research work, Biogeography Based Krill Herd (BBKH) method is used for optimal identification of TCSC's, STATCOM and UPFC size and location. Voltage collapse proximity indicator (VCPI) value is used in this work for the finding of the voltage instability measurement by finding the critical lines among the entire transmission lines. The proposed research effort is implemented in IEEE 39 test bus system using MATLAB software and verified, it furnishes improved outcome than other investigation methodologies

Intelligent Car

Abstract INTELLIGENT CAR (ICAR) is a car, developed on eye-tracking software using a camera. The ICAR the first Intelligent car that works with eye control and automatic driving. You can ride a car and move around where ever you want. The car drives Right, left, forward and stop using your eyes with the help of camera and coding. You need to sit facing the camera to control it. The main advantage is the car drives without any hassle in the roadways because of sensors i.e without any accidents/hitting any objects. It requires some hardware along with software along with a camera. Roads are easy and cost-effective for travelling through vehicles and walking people. Physically challenged people can also travel easily by I-Car, they need not call any person for help on the roads or depend on anyone to move from one place to another.</jats:p

Induction of defense-mechanisms in mungbean suspension cultured cells by an elicitor from macrophomina phaseolina

An elicitor molecule has been separated from Macrophomina phaseolina, the root rot pathogen of mungbean (Vigna radiata). Cell cultures of mung­bean cultivars one resistant and another susceptible to the pathogen, which responded to the elicitor have been established. The elicitor treatment induced rapid increases in phenolic synthesis, activation of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and peroxidase in the cultured cells. Relative increases in phenolic synthesis and peroxidase activity were observed in suspension-cultured cells of the resistant cultivar compared to that of the susceptible one due to elicitor treatment