Next Generation DNA Led Technologies

Any case to be analysed depends on remnants of deceased or samples found at crime scene. Hair, beer bottles, cigarette butts or bidi butts are most common evidences that can be left behind by accused. Finding culprits using these evidences becomes most challenging exercise. Extraction of DNA is a very important task in forensic analysis. Chances of obtaining contaminated DNA from saliva detected on bidi butts are higher. Bidi butts contain PCR inhibitors like tars and phenolics from the smoke. So it is a challenge to extract good quality DNA in one stroke. In present case two bidi butts found at scene of crime was the only evidence to detect the accused. Amplifiable DNA was extracted from saliva detected on bidi butt with the use of optimized and validated DNA extraction protocol.

DNA profiling is a technique by which an individual can be identified at molecular level [1]. The use of DNA evidence in criminal investigation has grown in recent years. DNA testing has helped law enforcement agencies to identify criminals and solve difficult crimes such as rape, murder, murder with rape, paternity cases etc. The potential of DNA typing has made possible the resolution of immigration problems and complicated paternity testing. Rapid identification of individuals in mass-disaster (man- made such as-explosions or natural such as- earthquake, land sliding) using DNA typing has also been made possible. Computerized DNA database for the identification of criminal offenders have been created in some countries. DNA profiling is a powerful investigative tool because, with the exception of identical twins, no two people have the same DNA [2]. In other words, the sequence or order of the DNA building blocks is different in particular region of the DNA, making each person’s DNA unique. DNA has great importance in criminal investigation cases such as-murder, rape, disputed paternity, man-made disaster etc. This paper examines the science of DNA identification in rape case. It describes the main benefits and costs of the increasing role of DNA identification in the criminal justice system. The present work is to find out whether the accused is involved in the rape case scenario falling under protection of children against sexual offences Act 2012 with a minor victim. The case study was performed using the DNA isolation technique by the automated process and run on the instrument Genetic Analyzer 3500. The technique and results are discussed in the case study.

Allele frequencies for 8 autosomal Short Tandem Repeat loci namely D18S51, D21S11, FGA, CSF1PO, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, D2S1338 and Amelogenin, were studied in 50 unrelated individuals from the Jat Sikh population of M.P. PCR amplification was performed with the AmpFlSTR^® Minifiler^TM PCR Amplification system and the amplified products were separated by ABI 3100 DNA genetic analyzer. No significant departure from Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) expectations were observed for 8 STR loci analyzed (P-value > 0.05). None of the P-values could be considered significant. No linkage disequilibrium was found between the loci as all loci are located on the different chromosome, and thus they are statistically independent. The F _IS value for Jat Sikh population has been calculated as 0.005. This low F _IS value indicates that the population is in random mating with high level of heterozygosity. The power of discrimination of the microsatellite markers used was found to be high for the studied populations. The data thereof is of significance for forensic result interpretation and is an addition to the existing autosomal STR database on the Indian population.

India is a country of variety of populations which include various caste and tribes. In order to decipher the genetic portrait of Bhil, the highest populated tribe of Central India, we undertook a study on 183 healthy unrelated individuals from Bhil tribe and assessed the intra and inter population genetic variation using 15 biparental autosomal and 12 sex linked X STR markers. Besides finding the genetic portrait an attempt was also made to establish relation if at all any, between these two set of markers. For comparison, only those populations were selected from the world vide published data on which population data was reported on the same 15 autosomal and 12 X STR markers and from the same province. The genotyping work used in this study was done with the financial support from Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology and Biotechnology Council of Madhya Pradesh.

Aim: To analyse the association between polymorphisms of CYP genes and the risk for head and neck cancer susceptibility. Materials and Methods: A case-control study using molecular epidemiological method was conducted. Various polymorphism of CYP1A1 gene from DNA samples of 105 cases and 110 controls were detected by PCR method. Results: All sites of CYP1A1 in HNC cases showed no significant results in relation to the three genotypes i.e., Ile/Ile, Ile/Val and Val/Val. Larynx is significant in relation to CYP2E1 I/I genotype whereas oral cavity and pharynx showed no significant results. In CYP1A1, except for Ile/Val, the other two Ile/Ile and Val/Val showed no significant results and in CYP2E1 all the genotypes i.e., I/I, I/I and i/I shows significant results. Together, all the three genotypes of CYP1A1(Ile/Ile, Ile/Val and Val/Val) were statistically significant whereas in CYP2E1 except I/I, the remaining two genotypes (I/I and i/i) were statistically significant. When combination of both the genes are considered, Ile/Val in CYP1A1 and I/i and i/I in CYP2E1 show high significance. Conclusion: CYP1A1 Ile/Val and CYP2E1 I/i and i/i genotypes showed genetic susceptibility biomarkers for head and neck cancers. Risk increases when the metabolic enzymes as products of these genes seem to interact with tobacco carcinogens, the mechanism of which is still not understood.

A brain–computer interface (BCI), often called a mind-machine interface (MMI), is a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device. BCIs are often directed at assisting, augmenting, repairing human cognitives or sensory-motor functions. BCI systems measure specific features of brain activity and translate them into control signals that drive an output. Most studies use electroencephalography (EEG) and magneto encephalography (MEG) to record all electrical and magnetic activities respectively, occurring with the ionic current that flows within the neurons of the brain. Each of the brain’s hemispheres is segmented into four lobes with different functions. These lobes are separated by fissures (sulcus). Signal generation initially occurs at the outer surface containing Grey Cortex (Grey Matter). The Primary Somatic Sensory Cortex (Parietal Lobe) and the primary Motor Cortex (Temporal Lobe) are the most important regions for BCI research.

Wound healing is a complex multifactorial process that results in the contraction and closure of the wound and restoration of functional barrier. Hamiltonia Suaveolens roots are widely used in Indian medicine to cure wounds, burns. However, complete evaluation of these activities is absent. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the wound healing activity of Hamiltonia Suaveolens roots in topical ointments formulation. The gel formulation containing extracts of the above mentioned herb were formulated, the gel formulation containing extracts evaluated and their wound healing activity was studied on experimentally induced excision open wounds in albino rats. The effect of the formulation on wound healing was assessed by the rate of wound closure, periods of epithelialization and histopathology. The aqueous extract of Hamiltonia suaveolens roots was incorporated into Carbopol 934-water mixture. The pH, viscosity, spreadability, stability studies, acute oral toxicity, and skin irritation test were determined. The measurement of the wound areas were taken up-to 18th days and the percentages of the wound closures were calculated. Blank ointment base and Gentamycin ointment (1 % w/w) served as the control and standard treatments. The prepared ointments passed all the physical parameters. There were no changes in pH, viscosity, spreadability and consistency when the ointments were kept at different temperatures for 90 days. These formulations did not produce any skin irritation. Topical applications of the prepared ointment on the excision wound in rats caused a significantly higher rate of wound healing and reduced the epithelialization period in a dose-related manner. The tissue histology of gel treated group showed complete epithelialization with increased collagenation, compared to the (1 %) Gentamycin ointment. The formulated gel was evaluated and effective in wound care and should be explored in harnessing the potentials of the plant in the treatment of topical diseases.

The high performance and modelling ability of a Neural Network has enabled it to be used extensively in most domains, specifically in medical domain. Inspite of its excellent modelling performance, NN acts as a black-box because of its inability to provide a simple interpretation of the model. Analysing the network model is a challenging task. Several studies have been carried in this direction. In this paper we would like to propose a method for extracting knowledge from the model obtained by a multi layer perceptron. The rules extracted are precise and accurate. This method has been applied on cervical cancer data for its performance and found to produce accurate results. This technique is simple, efficient and comparable to the traditional rule based algorithms like J48. The results would be most valuable to the medical practitioners in diagnosing the disease at a very early stage.

Fruits and vegetables are the food sources that serve as healthy food to provide additional physiological benefit, beyond the basic nutrition due to their richness in bioactive phytochemicals such as polyphenols and carotenoids that serve both nutrients as well as protection against maladies. Psidium guajava L. plant belongs to the family Myrtaceae, commonly known as guava is cultivated as flora in tropical and sub tropical region. The fruits of this plant are consumed daily and known for its medicinal value from folk medicine. The aim of present study was to analyze the phytochemical constituents in extracts of guava fruit. The extracts under study were made from fruit peel, pulp, and seeds of guava fruit by employing solvents like ethanol, ethyl acetate, methanol, sterile distilled water. The parameters studied are organoleptic characters, extractive values, phytochemical constituents [alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, glycosides, and amino acids] were analyzed in the variety of fruit extracts. The total phenolic content of fruit extracts was evaluated spectrophotmetrically according to Folin-Ciocalteu phenol method and expressed in gallic acid equivalents [GAE]. Results showed that organoleptic characters were the color for fruit peel was green, pulp was white and seeds were creamy and the taste was bitter and palatable. The odor was leafy and aroma and the texture were rough. The extractive values, phytochemical screening and phenol content for extracts from peel, pulp and seeds was in better alcoholic solvents like ethanol and methanol. This study reveals the P. guajava fruit extracts are moderate potential sources of natural antioxidants.

FMR1 gene contains a stretch of CGG repeat that usually remains less than 45 in healthy subjects. However when goes beyond 200, it results in developmental delay or mental retardation called fragile X syndrome (FXS). The repeat number between 56 and 200 are reported to be associated with fragile X associated tremor/ataxia syndrome and primary ovarian failure. Therefore the number of CGG repeat at FMR1 gene (5’UTR) determines the nature of disease. Though, there are multiple molecular methods are available for FXS diagnosis, TP-PCR is more rapid and straightforward in providing diagnosis. Thus, present study was aimed to assess the diagnostic applicability of TP-PCR optimized in our lab. The diagnosis was made on 20 samples and results of the present study were found to be concordant with diagnosis made from other lab. Our method can differentiate normal, premutation and full mutation alleles. Accurate sizing is possible for normal and premutation range. We conclude that our method is cost effective, rapid and accurate in diagnosis of FXS cases as well as premutation carriers.

Molybdenum complexes were synthesized and characterized for their purity by various physico-chemical methods like IR, Electronic, NMR Spectral studies. The interaction of complex with calf Thymus DNA (CT-DNA) was studied by using absorption, emission, Spectral methods, thermal denaturation and viscometry studies. The results suggest that the Mo(V) complex intercalates into DNA base pairs via the dithiophosphamate ligand Antimicrobial activity of complexes against certain microbial species has been carried out by serial dilution method to evaluate the MIC (Minimum inhibitory concentration) value. Results showed that Metal complexes are most active as compared to ligand fragments.

Despite advances made in micropropagation technology acclimatization/hardening continues to be the bottleneck for commercializing tissue culture plants. When invitro grown plants are transferred and exposed to ex-vitro conditions they suffer a huge loss due to environmental changes. The abiotic and biotic stress takes a toll on these tissue cultured plants. “Biotization” is a technique analogous to vaccination where physiological changes are induced in the plants by plant growth promoting bacteria. Thereby, enhancing the tolerance to the abiotic and biotic stress. The present study evaluates the efficacy of bacterial and fungal consortium on improving ex vitro primary hardening in banana variety “Grand Naine”. The beneficial bacteria were Azotobacter, Azospirullum, Rhizobium, Pseudomonas, Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria and VAM. 64 treatments were given (T0–T64) as single, dual, triple quadruple and consortium of all six micro-organisms. Commercial formulations of bacteria were mixed with the potting medium used for hardening the banana plants at a concentration of 10⁷ CFU per gram of soil. The parameters studied were survival rate, root length, shoot length, fresh weight, dry weight, total proteins, micro and macronutrients- N, P, K, Phenols. Our results suggest that all treatments enhanced the survival and growth over the control. Best growth was however obtained in t-64 which contained all the 5 bacteria and VAM. Consortium enhanced root growth by 30 %, shoot growth by 50 %, fresh weight and dry weight by 20 %, protein by 20 %, Micro and Macronutrients by 30 %, Phenols by 20 %, Survival rate by 80 % over the control. Enhanced mineral uptake probably lead to extensive root and shoot growth. Increased phenol content presumably induced resistance to wilt infection. “Biotization” is a potential technique which can induce systemic resistance to abiotic and biotic stress in plants leading to better survival during hardening. Routine implementation of this technique in commercial micropropagated units can reduce the mortality rate of invitro propagated plants during hardening.

Plants prone to high mortality rate and rapid disease exposure lead to a huge agricultural loss. This loss is minimized by various techniques adopted by the modern technological world. Micropropagation is one such technique that has the potential to provide huge growth rates of a particular plant genotype. It not only helps for the rapid increment in plant growth but also a longer life span for the modified plants, hence, contributing to the world wide agricultural advancement. When these plants are transferred exposed to ex-vitro conditions they suffer a huge loss due to environmental changes. The abiotic and biotic stress takes a toll on these tissue cultured plants. Biohardening is a rescue method for such plants. Biohardening also known as biopriming is a technique that involves inoculation of various bacterial strains that help the plants against ex-vitro conditions. Plants when grown in vitro are provided with ideal conditions necessary for their growth, these plants are delicate with undergrown dermal covering hence, and they are highly susceptible to diseases and growth hindrance when removed from the in vitro environment. Thus, hardening and acclimatization of in vitro grown plantlets is a necessary phase in micro propagation. The plantlets inoculated with the beneficial bacterial strains not only become resistant to the adverse environmental conditions but also attain a higher growth rate due to the fixation of minerals and nutrients by the bacteria. The manipulated conditions contradict the previous fragile nature, strengthening the plant and increasing the growth output. This paper will enlighten you about the effects of various growth promoting bacteria that have been used in acclimatizing the tissue cultured plants. These bacteria’s were previously experimented using single, dual, triple and quadruple combinations which showed humongous success in plant growth manipulation. In the present experiment, the same bacteria’s were combined in sets of 5 bacteria’s and consortium. These bacteria’s involve themselves in a mutually beneficial relationship with the plants. They help the plants acquire the required minerals and nutrients which otherwise wouldn’t have been consumed. The growth rate regarding the morphological and physiological characteristics were recorded and documented. Further, the plant manipulation and growth factors were observed.

Despite of many trials conducted in the feed for the commercial broiler farm, it is always a challenge to meet the demand for the feed. Worldwide consumption of poultry has been increased rapidly since 1995–2005. Hence, production of poultry products increased globally, among them India (217 %), Brazil (112 %) and china (67 %) were the largest poultry producing countries [1]. Poultry products are inexpensive and have high quality of nutrients [2]. Micronutrients are given in the feed much absorbed by the bird which enhances the body metabolism and in turn gives the maximum production of proteins and vitamins. Our experimental effort is to incorporate the micronutrients in the feed by the process of chelation. Chelation is a process of incorporating an inorganic metal ion into a protein or an amino acid molecule with co-ordination covalent bonds to form organic micronutrients [3]. Effect of micronutrients like Cu, Zn, Mn has major role in poultry which increases body metabolism, enzyme system, various physiological functions, reproduction and growth. However, these micronutrients cannot be synthesized by the bird itself and should be supplemented through the diet. Our work included producing a chelated micronutrient with protein mix i.e., gelatine. Gelatine is a mixture of peptides and proteins, mixed with inorganic minerals to form a chelated micronutrient feed. After the chelate was done it was tested for the amount of the trace elements present in the chelate. Treatments in trail 1 consisted of 30 ppm of Zn as chelated Zn and 100 ppm of Zn as ZnSo4. In Trail 2 treatments consisted of 30, 8, and 32 ppm from Zn-Cu-Mn respectively and 100, 125, and 90 ppm of Zn, Cu and Mn respectively. Trail 1 and 2 were compared for a period of 52 days along with the control. Birds performance was significant improvement was seen in the bird in body mass and reduction of trace elements in the litter. Our results suggests that usage of chelated micronutrient feed gives maximum benefit to the bird, Implementation of this technique would gradually increase the body mass and protein value which would be demanding in the market.