University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University or CU) is a collegiate public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.&nbsp;Within India it is recognized as a &quot;Five-Star University&quot; and accredited &quot;A&quot; Grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

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The University of Calcutta has secured the Fifth position among the Universities of India in the prestigious &quot;Indian University Ranking 2019&quot; list, released by the NIRF of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

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It was established on 24 January 1857, and was one of the first institutions in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and Western-style university. Its alumni and faculty include several heads of state, heads of government, social reformers, prominent artists, only academy award winner and Dirac medal winner in India, many Fellows of the Royal Society and five Nobel laureates as of 2019 which is highest in South Asia.

University Of Calcutta

Chemical Technology

The success of gene therapy is enormously dependent on an efficient gene carrier, and in this context, cationic polymers still continue to play a major role particularly with respect to the safety issue compared to viral vectors. Developing an efficient gene carrier system having promising gene transfection efficiency with low toxicity is the foremost impediment associated with a nonviral carrier. Here, we explored amino acid based biocompatible polymers synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization where glycine (Gly), leucine (Leu), and phenyl alanine (Phe) amino acids were used as the pendent groups of the polymeric brushes. The presence of both a hydrophobic group (long chain aliphatic group associated with the RAFT agent) and hydrophilic amino groups was associated with the supramolecular assembly of the polymeric chain having hydrodynamic sizes within the range of 150-300 nm with a positive zeta potential of 30 ± 5 mV. All polymers showed very low toxicity and possessed &gt;80% cell viability even at a very high concentration of 1000 μg/mL against both normal and cancerous cells. In addition to this, the polymers also showed excellent blood compatibility, and negligible hemolysis was observed at the concentration of 500 μg/mL. All polymers showed efficient DNA complexation capability as well as excellent protection of DNA against highly negatively charged surfactant and enzymatic digestion, although the efficiency was dependent on the N/P ratio of polymer/DNA complexes. Interestingly, the phenyl alanine moiety containing polymer brush P(HEMA-Phe-NH2) showed a hexagonal shaped nanoparticle after complexation with pDNA and consequently showed higher cellular uptake, resulting in a higher transfection efficiency in a triple negative breast cancer cell, the MDA-MB-231 cell. Therefore, the synthesized polymer containing an amino acid pendent group, especially the phenyl alanine moiety, may be a promising nonviral gene carrier system in gene therapy application in the future. © 2019 American Chemical Society.

World University root node

Polymer Science and Technology

ACS Applied Bio Materials

Supramolecular Assembly of Amino Acid Based Cationic Polymer for Efficient Gene Transfection Efficiency in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

International Journal of Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships {\ldots}

Identification of Selective Receptor Modulators Using Pharmacoinformatics Approaches for Therapeutic Application in Estrogen Therapy

The present contribution focused mainly on the fundamental understanding of the influence of surface-modified graphite on rheology of the matrix of a castable slurry in comparison to the same containing the uncoated one. A special observation on the rheology of a graphite-free matrix of similar high alumina castable has been described. The change in rheological behavior due to the presence of other microfine constituents has also been noticed with a particular attention to the refractory cement bond. The variation in viscosity and shear stresses with shear rate of castable matrices containing as-received and surface-modified graphites has been compared. The ‘ball-in-hand’ consistency test of respective castables had also been differentiated. The effect of coated and uncoated graphites on the loss and storage moduli of the respective suspensions has been explored. Zeta potential values of individual constituents as well as the slurries have also been measured and correlated with the flow characteristics of castable matrices. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), SEM (scanning electron microscope) and EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) studies of the coated graphite have been observed to substantiate the flow pattern of the slurry. The physical properties of refractory castables at different temperatures have been estimated to supplement the rheological pattern. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

Ceramics International

The influence of surface-modified graphites on the rheological pattern of alumina-carbon cementitious refractory castable matrix

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) process utilizes reservoir microorganisms (in situ) or specially selected bacteria to use their metabolic products (ex-situ) for extra oil recovery from depleted oil reservoirs. Biodegradation of crude oil and simultaneous production of bioemulsifiers by a mixed culture consisting of Ochrobactrum pseudintermedium C1 and Bacillus cereus K1 have been investigated in this study along with the potential ex-situ application of bioemulsifier in MEOR process. The culture parameters namely pH, temperature, aeration rate and agitation rate have been optimized in a lab scale bioreactor using Taguchi's L9 orthogonal array approach to increase the rate of biodegradation of crude oil. At optimized culture condition (pH 8.0, temperature 35 °C, aeration rate 1.5Nl/min and agitation rate 150 rpm), the bacterial consortium degrade up to 70.54% of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) after 72 h incubation using crude oil (4% v/v) as the sole source of carbon and produced two different exopolysaccharides (EPS), which showed very good emulsification activity (EI) towards crude oil up to 80.5% and also reduced the interfacial tension of crude-oil water system from 46 mN/m to 14.5 mN/m. FT-IR, NMR and chemical analyses revealed that EPS formed by C1 contained 61.5% (w/w) carbohydrates, 29.2% protein and 9.3% lipid whereas, the EPS formed by K1 comprises of 43.6% (w/w) carbohydrates, 51.7% lipids and 6.3% protein. The crude bioemulsifier mixture was found to be pseudoplastic, Non-Newtonian in nature and was stable at a wide range of pH (2−10), temperature (40–121 °C) and salinity (0–15% w/v), hence signifies its applicability in MEOR process. The results of the sand pack column flooding tests at simulated reservoir conditions demonstrated that the additional oil recovery efficiency due to the ex-situ injection of the cell-free bioemulsifier solution was 40.93% and 46.85% at 40 °C and 70 °C temperatures respectively. The mixed culture presented a great potential application in bioremediation of oil polluted sites owing to its degradation ability to crude oil and also in enhanced oil recovery process using the crude bioemulsifier having combined surface and emulsification activity. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

GENERAL

Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology

Evaluation of a microbial consortium for crude oil spill bioremediation and its potential uses in enhanced oil recovery

During production and characterization of exopolysaccharides (EPS) of Ochrobactrum pseudintermedium C1, it was observed that an experimental change in the basic hydrocarbon type of substrate for bacterial utilization led to elicitation of different surface-active properties in the EPS produced. In the sugar substrate, it elicited surfactant property, while in oil substrates it elicited emulsifying property, which indicated that the EPS might be different. Consequently, attention was focused on a detailed analysis of this substrate-specific EPS. Utilizing waste sugar, edible, and mineral oil substrates, EPS produced in each situation was characterized. Besides estimating surface activity and thermostability, each substrate-specific EPS was analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization—time of flight mass spectroscopy to find any structural difference. The results were significantly contrasting although the similarity in molecular mass suggested a basic similarity in polysaccharide structure. Morphological differences were also evident both macroscopically and microscopically with scanning electron microscopy. As the surface-active property of EPS was dependent on the substrate utilized, their structural differences might account for it. These diverse surface activities of EPS produced by a single bacterial strain simply by changing the nature of substrate would also augment their bioapplications. Moreover, utilization of waste and easily available substrates should make such applications convenient, ecofriendly, and cost-worthy. © 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Journal of basic microbiology

Exploring two contrasting surface-active exopolysaccharides from a single strain of Ochrobactrum utilizing different hydrocarbon substrates

CuO/γ-Al2O3 promoted partial oxidation of methane to methanol was carried out in a non-thermal plasma DBD reactor operating under ambient conditions. The catalysts were synthesized by wet impregnation method, characterized systematically and tested for a single step methane partial oxidation to methanol under ambient conditions. Typical results highlighted the complementary effect of plasma and catalyst, where integration of catalyst in plasma zone improved both conversion of methane and selectivity to methanol. The influence of specific input energy and feed gas composition was studied and the intermediate species formed in plasma catalytic reaction was monitored by an optical emission spectroscopy. The best CH3OH selectivity of ˜37% was achieved over 5 CA catalyst against the ˜27% CH3OH selectivity with plasma system. The improved performance of the hybridized system was asserted due to high charge deposition and modified gas phase chemistry due to catalyst integration. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.

Catalysis Today

Catalytic DBD plasma approach for methane partial oxidation to methanol under ambient conditions

The partial oxidation of methane to methanol was performed in a non-thermal dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. The influence of various parameters on the conversion of methane, product selectivity and energy efficiency has been studied. Typical results indicate that the discharge gap has a marked influence on methane conversion and product distribution. The best selectivity to CH3OH and HCHO was ∼25% and ∼17% at a discharge gap of 4.5 and 5 mm, respectively, and the highest corresponding energy efficiency was ∼0.9 mmol kJ-1. At a later state, the DBD reactor was operated under a packed-bed configuration by integrating the discharge gap with zero surface glass materials having different geometry: glass beads (spherical), glass capillary (hollow cylindrical) and glass wool (spongy honeycomb) to understand the influence of material geometry on the plasma discharge and finally on the formation of products such as CH3OH, HCHO, CO, CO2, H2, C2H6. Typical results indicated that the morphology of the packing materials affects the discharge characteristics, and hence the product distribution. It is concluded that the better performance of the packed-bed plasma reactor is due to the improved electrical field strength. Among the geometries studied, glass wool showed the highest CH4 conversion due to the improved field strength/surface corona, whereas glass-bead packing improved the CH3OH selectivity to ∼32%. © 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

NTP-assisted partial oxidation of methane to methanol: Effect of plasma parameters on glass-packed DBD

Elevated serum interleukins (IL-6, IL-1β) over baseline concentration help in blastocyst adhesion to the uterine endometrium in the early phase of pregnancy. A nano PLA (Piperolactam A)-HPBCD (2-hydroxy-propyl-β-cyclodextrin) inclusion complex was developed as an interleukin down-regulator that exhibited 100% anti-implantation activity in rodents at a dose as low as 2.5-5.0 mg/kg. On metabolomics study, among major glyco-lipo-protein metabolites, only serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) levels revealed alteration by the formulation. Administration of PLA-HPBCD did not cause changes in serum estrogen and progesterone levels. However, IL-6 and IL-1β failed to increase post PLA-HPBCD administration; hence, it is assumed to be the mode of the drug's abortifacient action. In addition, absence of signs of either acute or chronic toxicity suggests the formulation was considerably non-toxic. Therefore, the nano-PLA conjugate promises as a non-steroidal contraceptive lead apart from ormeloxifene, the only non-steroidal anti-fertility agent currently available globally. © 2018 Elsevier Inc.

Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine

Discovery of nano-piperolactam A: A nonsteroidal contraceptive lead acting through down-regulation of interleukins

The present investigation was executed to reveal the protective mechanism of rosmarinic acid (RA) against cadmium (Cd)-induced nephrotoxicity. RA exhibited a concentration-dependent anti-apoptotic effect against CdCl2 in isolated mouse proximal tubular epithelial cells. Cd treatment significantly (p &lt; 0.01) imparted oxidative stress to the renal cells via excessive ROS production, triggering NO level, NADPH oxidase activation, and impairment of cellular redox defense system. Cd-mediated oxidative stress significantly (p &lt; 0.01) endorsed apoptosis to the murine kidney cells by triggering NF-κB/PKC-δ/TNFR2 activation. In addition, CdCl2 induced renal fibrosis by triggering TGF-β1/SMAD3/α-SMA/collagen signaling within renal cells. On the other hand, RA significantly (p &lt; 0.05–0.01) attenuated Cd-provoked oxidative stress and associated pathological signal transduction in murine renal cells. RA treatment also could significantly (p &lt; 0.05–0.01) reciprocate Cd-mediated pathological changes in blood and urine parameters in mice. In addition, histological data supported the pharmacological findings. In silico chemometric analyses predicted the possible interactions between RA and different signal proteins and anticipated drug-likeness characteristics of RA. Hence, RA can potentially be applied as a therapeutic agent to treat Cd-mediated nephrotoxicity in future. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Fulltext

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Rosmarinic acid attenuates cadmium-induced nephrotoxicity via inhibition of oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammation and fibrosis

Background: Many of present chemotherapeutics are inadequate and also resistant against visceral leishmaniasis (VL), an immunosuppressive ailment caused by Leishmania donovani. Despite the interest in plant-based drug development, no antileishmanial drugs from plant source are currently available. Glinus oppositifolius had been reported in favor of being immune modulators along with other traditional uses. Novel anti-VL therapies can rely on host immune-modulation with associated leishmanicidal action. Objective: Discovery of novel plant-based antileishmanial compound from G. oppositifolius having permissible side effects. Methods: With this rationale, an n-BuOH fraction of the methanolic extract of the plant and obtained triterpenoid saponin Spergulin-A were evaluated against acellular and intracellular L. donovani. Immunostimulatory activity of them was confirmed by elevated TNF-α and extracellular NO production from treated MФs and was found nontoxic to the host cells. Identification and structure confirmation for isolated Spergulin-A was performed by ESI-MS,13C, and1H NMR. Results: Spergulin-A was found ineffective against the acellular forms while, against the intracellular parasites at 30 μg/mL, the reduction was 92.6% after 72 hrs. Spergulin-A enhanced ROS and nitric oxide (NO) release and changes in Gp91-phox, i-NOS, and pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines elaborated its intracellular anti-leishmanial activity. Conclusion: The results supported that G. oppositifolius and Spergulin-A can potentiate new lead molecules for the development of alternative drugs against VL. © 2019 Banerjee et al.