82 research outputs found
Immunocytochemical staining of Drosophila larval body-wall muscles
No full textFirst author Preethi Ramachandran is a doctoral student in the Neuroscience Program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at UMass Medical School.Over the last two decades, the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) has gained immense popularity as a model system for the study of synaptic development, function, and plasticity. With this model, it is easy to visualize synapses and manipulate the system genetically with a high degree of temporal and spatial control, which makes it ideal for resolving problems in synaptic physiology and development. This article describes a procedure for labeling various proteins with antibodies in dissected larval body-wall muscles and visualizing their localization and distribution in the brain, NMJ, and muscle.Neuroscienc
Dissection of Drosophila larval body-wall muscles
No full textFirst author Preethi Ramachandran is a doctoral student in the Neuroscience Program in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at UMass Medical School.Over the last two decades, the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction has gained immense popularity as a model system for the study of synaptic development, function, and plasticity. With this model, it is easy to visualize synapses and manipulate the system genetically with a high degree of temporal and spatial control, which makes it ideal for resolving problems in synaptic physiology and development. A number of different techniques have been used to dissect third-instar larval preparations to expose the body-wall muscles. Here, we describe a procedure that uses magnetic chambers and pins to allow for fine control in spreading the larval body wall.Neuroscienc
Star poly(ε-caprolactone)-based electrospun fibers as biocompatible scaffold for doxorubicin with prolonged drug release activity
No full textIn this work, a novel drug delivery system consisting of poly(-caprolactone) (PCL) electrospun fibers
containing an ad-hoc-synthesized star polymer made up of a poly(amido-amine) (PAMAM) core and PCL
branches (PAMAM-PCL) was developed. The latter system which was synthesized via the ring opening
polymerization of -caprolactone, starting from a hydroxyl-terminated PAMAM dendrimer and characterized
by means of 1H NMR, IR and DSC, was found to be compatible with both the polymer matrix and a
hydrophilic chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin (DOXO), the model drug used in this work. The preparation
of the dendritic PCL star product with an average arm length of 2000 g/mol was characterized using
IR and 1H NMR measurements. The prepared star polymer possessed a higher crystallinity and a lower
melting temperature than that of the used linear PCL. Electrospun fibers were prepared starting from
solutions containing the neat PCL as well as the PCL/PAMAM-PCL mixture. Electrospinning conditions
were optimized in order to obtain defect free fibers, which was proven by the structural FE-SEM study.
PAMAM moieties enhanced the hydrophilicity of the fibers, as proved by comparing the water
absorption for the PCL/PAMAM-PCL fibers to that neat PCL fibers. The drug-loaded system PCL/PAMAMPCL
was prepared by directly introducing DOXO into the electrospinning solutions. The DOXO-loaded
PCL/PAMAM-PCL showed a prolonged release of the drug with respect to the DOXO-loaded PCL fibers
and elicited effective controlled toxicity over A431 epidermoid carcinoma, HeLa cervical cancer cells and
drug resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells. On the contrary, the drug-free PCL/PAMAM-PCL scaffold demonstrated
no toxic effects on human dermal fibroblasts, suggesting the biocompatibility of the proposed
system which can be used in cellular scaffold applications
Non-covalent functionalization of carbon nano-onions with pyrene–BODIPY dyads for biological imaging
No full textWe report a novel approach based on non-covalent interactions for the functionalization of carbon nano-onions (CNOs) with fluorophores. The assembly of pyrene-BODIPY conjugates on the CNO surface by means of pi-pi-stacking results in fluorescent carbon nanoparticles that are successfully uptaken by HeLa cancer cells with no cytotoxicity observed. The ability to functionalize carbon-based nanomaterials by using mild conditions will pave the way for future clinical application of these versatile nanomaterials
Representation of Women Characters in Preethi Shenoy’s ‘It’s All in the Planets’
No full text \u27It’s all in the Planets\u27 is a charismatic love story written by Preethi Shenoy. It was published in September 2016. The author of the novel, Preethi Shenoy is an Indian author, Speaker and famous blogger. In this paper, I am analysing this novel from the perspective of feminism, especially how the author presented her female characters. Feminism originated as an offshoot of the women\u27s suffrage movement. The major feminist theorist is Toril Moi, Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter etc. It is a movement against men’s ideologies and society’s certain representations. Their main concern was the representations of women in literature. Traditionally females are represented in literature as passive characters. Though the feminists broke all such representations, our literary works do not completely get rid of such representations. Many of the authors still present women as passive in their works. In this novel too there are such representations. Superficially it is a love story between two persons who are living in two different worlds. They have their tastes, opinions and attitudes. Even they have two life partners (living relationships). But ultimately fate joins them
Magnetic Nanoparticle-Based Hyperthermia Mediates Drug Delivery and Impairs the Tumorigenic Capacity of Quiescent Colorectal Cancer Stem Cells
No full textCancer stem cells (CSCs) are the tumor cell subpopulation responsible for resistance to chemotherapy, tumor recurrence, and metastasis. An efficient therapy must act on low proliferating quiescent-CSCs (q-CSCs). We here investigate the effect of magnetic hyperthermia (MHT) in combination with local chemotherapy as a dual therapy to inhibit patient-derived colorectal qCR-CSCs. We apply iron oxide nanocubes as MHT heat mediators, coated with a thermoresponsive polymer (TR-Cubes) and loaded with DOXO (TR-DOXO) as a chemotherapeutic agent. The thermoresponsive polymer releases DOXO only at a temperature above 44 °C. In colony-forming assays, the cells exposed to TR-Cubes with MHT reveal that qCR-CSCs struggle to survive the heat damage and, with a due delay, restart the division of dormant cells. The eradication of qCR-CSCs with a complete stop of the colony formation was achieved only with TR-DOXO when exposed to MHT. The in vivo tumor formation study confirms the combined effects of MHT with heat-mediated drug release: only the group of animals that received the CR-CSCs pretreated, in vitro, with TR-DOXO and MHT lacked the formation of tumor even after several months. For DOXO-resistant CR-CSCs cells, the same results were shown, in vitro, when choosing the drug oxaliplatin rather than DOXO and applying MHT. These findings emphasize the potential of our nanoplatforms as an effective patient-personalized cancer treatment against qCR-CSCs
A study on the impact of Artificial Intelligence in Human Resource Management
No full textThe primary aim of the study is to evaluate the role of AI in Human Resource Management while the secondary aim is to analyse the obstacles faced by organisations due to the implementation of AI in Human Resource Management practices. Positivism philosophy, deductive approach, mono-quantitative choice, descriptive design, and primary quantitative strategy has been included to conduct the analysis. Purposive sampling has been used to manage samples while implementing a cross-sectional time horizon in the study for time management. AI has emerged as a powerful tool that enhances efficiency and decision-making in talent management, recruitment, and workforce planning. Data privacy concerns robust measures to comply with regulations and secure sensitive employee information with employee resistance, job displacement, transparent communication, and training programs. The development of AI technological practices is significant in reducing errors via declining manual labourers that enhances the speed of working procedures intensifying organisational performance. AI has a significant impact on improving the work efficiency of the HRM process through involving organisational performance quality
Physiological roles and regulation of the cryptic prophage-encoded small protein DicB and small RNA DicF in Escherichia coli
No full textBacterial adaptation to stress conditions is vital for their survival in different environments. In the past decade, the important roles that small RNAs (sRNAs) and small proteins perform in regulating the stress response in bacteria has become evident. While the roles of numerous sRNAs and small proteins encoded on the bacterial core genome have been characterized, very few that are phage or prophage-encoded have been studied. This dissertation describes the roles and regulation of the sRNA DicF and small protein DicB encoded on the Qin cryptic prophage of Escherichia coli K12. Bacterial genomes harbor cryptic prophages that have lost genes required for induction, excision from host chromosomes, or production of phage progeny. DicB and DicF are encoded on the dicBF operon, which is located in the immunity region of the cryptic prophage Qin. DicB and DicF have previously been implicated in inhibiting cell division of the host bacterium. In this study, we show that the small protein DicB protects the host cells from phage infection. DicB specifically inhibits infection by λ and other phages that use ManYZ inner membrane proteins to inject their DNA into the host cell. DicB also inhibits the canonical function of ManYZ, which is mannose sugar transport. We demonstrated that the previously known interaction between DicB and MinC, a host protein involved in proper positioning of the Z ring during cell division, is necessary for the DicB-dependent phenotypes involving ManYZ identified in this study. The sRNA DicF is widely conserved is many E. coli strains and inhibits ftsZ mRNA translation in E. coli. In this study, we establish the mechanism of this regulation by characterizing the base pairing interaction between DicF and ftsZ, and delineate the roles of other host factors involved in this regulation. Additionally, we identify new mRNA targets of the sRNA DicF, that are primarily involved in host cell metabolism. The final part of this thesis work describes the genetic mechanisms defining the regulation of the dicBF operon. The dicBF operon is constantly repressed under laboratory conditions by the repressor DicA. In this work, we identified that the protein Rem impairs DicA repression of the dicBF operon and is the antirepressor of DicA. We show that Rem induces expression of dicB and dicF, which leads to the concomitant cell filamentation phenotype as DicB and DicF are cell division inhibitors. In the absence of the dicBF gene products, the promoter of the dicBF operon was found to undergo spontaneous induction in a subset of cells, reminiscent of the λ phage bistable genetic switch. Lastly, urea and high temperature were identified as strong inducers of the dicBF promoter in strains deleted for the dicBF operon. Our results suggest that expression of the dicBF operon is regulated in multiple ways in E. coli K12, indicative of the complex relationship that exists between the host cell and cryptic prophages.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-05-01The student, Preethi Narayani Thattai Ragunathan, accepted the attached license on 2020-12-22 at 15:01.The student, Preethi Narayani Thattai Ragunathan, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-12-22 at 16:38.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-12-23 at 13:10.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16136 on 2021-09-16 at 17:01:29Made available in DSpace on 2021-09-17T02:34:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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Previous issue date: 2020-12-23Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 118462
Lift date: 2023-09-17T02:34:57Z
Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemAuthor requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Onl
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