Functional characterization of the domains of the bovine binder of SPerm 5 (BSP5) protein

BACKGROUND: Bovine BSP5 is a multifunctional protein primarily involved in sperm capacitation. BSP5 consists of long N-terminal part followed by two similar and highly conserved fibronectin type II domains designated A and B. METHODS: In order to assess the role of these domains in the sperm binding and capacitation processes, we created recombinant individual domains (N, A, B), series of overlapping domains (NA and AB) and full-length BSP5 in an Escherichia coli expression system. The recombinant constructs were also tested for their ability to interact with ligands such as gelatine, heparin, chondroitin sulphate B and phosphatidylcholine liposomes by affinity chromatography and co-sedimentation studies. RESULTS: With the exception of the N domain, all recombinant constructs retained gelatine, phosphatidylcholine, heparin and chondroitin sulphate B binding activities. Domain-wise studies showed clearly that AB domain is capable of performing its biological functions as well as the full-length protein, as it was able to potentiate heparin-mediated sperm capacitation. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the C-terminal domain composed of two Fn2 domains is sufficient and crucial to maintain the biological functions of BSP proteins. The N-terminal part of the protein did not bind to any of known BSP5-ligands including epididymal sperm and did not seem to be required for either sperm binding or sperm capacitation. This study also confirmed that glycosylation is not required for BSP-mediated sperm capacitation or any of the binding characteristics displayed by BSP5

COMPARATIVE PHARMACOGNOSTIC STUDIES OF ROOTS OF ASHWAGANDHA (WILD, NAGORI AND POSHITHA VAR)

Background: Ashwagandha is a very well-known herb in Ayurveda. It is widely used in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, agricultural, food industries, and is a constituent of over 200 Ayurvedic formulations. The annual demand of Ashwagandha is 7000 tons but its actual availability is just 1500 tons, this demand is not met by using the wildly grown Ashwagandha. To meet this demand, it has been brought under cultivation many centuries ago, in India. Numerous cultivated varieties of Ashwagandha are developed for high yield and better quality roots. Amongst them, Nagori Ashwagandha is a popular variety, cultivated for its demand. Poshitha Ashwagandha is a high yielding and improved variety released by CSIR-CIMAPS. The current study aims at comparing the roots of wildly grown Ashwagandha, Nagori Ashwagandha and Poshitha Ashwagandha, pharmacognostically. Methodology: The study deals with macroscopic parameters, microscopic study of transverse sections physicochemical, phytochemical analysis and powder microscopy of roots of the three varieties of Ashwagandha. Results: Significant macroscopic differences were noted between the wild and the two cultivated varieties of Ashwagandha roots, there was no much variation in the physico-chemical and phyto-chemical parameters amongst the three, also there was no much difference found between the two cultivated varieties- morphologically and phyto-chemically

Scrotal Lipoma - A Case Study

Lipoma is one of the commonest benign mesenchymal tumor. It occurs with an incidence of 1% of the population. It is composed of fat cells of adult type. It may occur any where in the body, hence called Universal tumor or ubiquitous tumor. But lipomas with in the scrotum are rare and are included under para testicular or extra testicular tumors. To date, definite etiology of lipoma remains uncertain. One theory suggests cytokine release may trigger pre-adipocyte differentiation and maturation. Here we report a case of scrotal lipoma presented as a painless swelling in the scrotum

Clinical efficacy of Madhu Aschyotana in the management of Prathama Patalagata Timira w.s.r. to Simple Myopia - A Pilot Study

Sarvendriyanam Nayanam Pradhanam Netra (Eye) is a highly specialized sense organ serving the most important vision function. Almost 90% of knowledge is perceived only through the eyes. But in today’s era due to Excessive exposure to dust, smoke, and other pollutants like carbon dioxide emitted from vehicles, factories visual impairments have started. Ayurvedic classical texts have mentioned the eye and its diseases since Vedic and Samhita Kala, thus while explaining Nidana’s[1](Causes) of Netra Roga they said, as Sukshma Nireekshana, Durekshanat, Diva Swapna, and Prasakta Samrodhana, Vega Vinigraha, etc lead to the different types of Netra Roga. In Ayurveda, clinical features related to visual disturbances are generally seen in Dristigata Roga. The anatomical consideration of the Patala and symptoms of the vitiated Dosha situated in these Patala reveals that the word Timira, described as an ocular pathology in Ayurveda, is nothing but the error of refraction. The part of clinical features of Timira (Prathama Patalagata Timira) can be correlated to simple myopia. Honey is good for the eyes and hence considered under Chakshushya Dravya’s[2], and eliminates vitiated Kapha and Pitta Dosha. Honey has a long history of Ayurvedic use for various eye ailments. Administration of Madhu in the eyes improves vision or eyesight

Design and implementation of DA FIR filter for bio-inspired computing architecture

This paper elucidates the system construct of DA-FIR filter optimized for design of distributed arithmetic (DA) finite impulse response (FIR) filter and is based on architecture with tightly coupled co-processor based data processing units. With a series of look-up-table (LUT) accesses in order to emulate multiply and accumulate operations the constructed DA based FIR filter is implemented on FPGA. The very high speed integrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL) is used implement the proposed filter and the design is verified using simulation. This paper discusses two optimization algorithms and resulting optimizations are incorporated into LUT layer and architecture extractions. The proposed method offers an optimized design in the form of offers average miminimizations of the number of LUT, reduction in populated slices and gate minimization for DA-finite impulse response filter. This research paves a direction towards development of bio inspired computing architectures developed without logically intensive operations, obtaining the desired specifications with respect to performance, timing, and reliability

COMPARISON BETWEEN ROBOTIC ASSISTED LAPAROSCOPIC PYELOPLASTY AND LAPAROSCOPIC PYELOPLASTY AS STANDARD OF CARE FOR PELVI-URETERIC JUNCTION OBSTRUCTION: HOSPITAL-BASED COHORT STUDY.

Introduction Pelvi-Ureteric Junction Obstruction (PUJO) is a significant clinical difficulty that frequently necessitates surgical treatment. This study examines and contrasts the efficacy of Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Pyeloplasty (RALP) and Laparoscopic Pyeloplasty (LP) in treating this problem. The objective is to assess perioperative parameters and patient outcomes to identify the most effective technique for controlling PUJO.  Methods The study comprised individuals diagnosed with PUJO who were scheduled to undergo surgical intervention. The study included a total of 48 patients, with 32 of them undergoing LP and the remaining 16 getting RALP.  Results 48 patients (32 LP, 16 RALP) aged 10-70 years were studied, with mean ages of 34.28 (LP) and 39.38 (RALP), a male-to-female ratio of 2.2:1, and success rates of 90.63% (LP) and 93.75% (RALP) in transitioning from an obstructed (TYPE 2) to a normal (TYPE 1) O' The RALP group had a longer mean operative time (226.87 ± 32.39 minutes) than the LP group (186.53 ± 33.58 minutes). The RALP group had better patient outcomes, including faster drain removal time (1.69 ± 1.40 days vs. 3.75 ± 1.50 days), shorter hospital stay (2.88 ± 0.88 days vs. 4.06 ± 1.39 days), and somewhat higher success rate (93.75% vs. 90.63%). The success criteria were an obstructed (TYPE 2) to normal (TYPE 1) O'Reilly Curve within 3 months of surgery.  Conclusion Although RALP has a longer operational time, it has been shown to achieve better results than LP in terms of success rate, duration of drain usage, and total length of hospital stay.  Recommendations It is recommended that future studies include larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods to further evaluate the long-term effectiveness of RALP and LP in the management of PUJO

Sanskrit to Hindi language translation using multimodal neural machine translation

Machine translation (MT) is a subfield of computer features that focuses on the automatic translation from one natural language into another without any human involvement. Due to native people interacting in a variety of languages, there is a great need for translating information between languages to send and communicate thoughts. However, they disregard the significance of semantic data encoded in the text features. In this paper, multimodal neural machine translation (MNMT) is proposed for Sanskrit-Hindi translation. The main goal of the proposed method is to fully utilize semantic text features on NMT architecture and to minimize testing and training time. The MNMT is validated on two different NMT architectures: recurrent neural network (RNN) and self-attention network (SAN). The MNMT method’s efficacy is demonstrated by employing the dataset of Sanskrit-Hindi Corpora. Extensive experimental outcomes represent the proposed method’s enhancement over baselines on both architectures. The existing methods, namely, English-to-Indian MT system, Sanskrit-Hindi MT system, and hybrid MT system are used to justify the efficacy of the MNMT method. When compared to the above-mentioned existing methods, RA-RNN respectively achieves a superior BLEU and METEOR of 80.5% and 75.3%, while the RA-SAN respectively achieves a superior BLEU and METEOR of 78.2% and 77.1%