Short Description: "Biology and Medicine" (also referred to as BLM or BAM) is a peer-reviewed, ONLINE HYBRID OPEN ACCESS journal, efficiently publishing original and relevant articles in thrust areas of research in Biological and Medical Sciences.
E-ISSN: 0974-8369
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Publisher: Walsh Medical Media
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City: London
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Country: United Kingdom
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Email: [email protected]
Research Article
Nov 10, 2023
In this report, we assessed the accuracy of our previously developed method for simultaneous diagnosis of the four female cancers of the Breast, Endometrium, Cervix, and Ovary, in a clinical set-up with blinded protocol. Our test protocol combined global serum metabolome profiling wherein data was analyzed with machine learning algorithms to extract metabolite signatures that correlated with early-stage cancers. High-resolution mass spectrometry was employed to profile the serum metabolome and the resulting data were subjected to a pre-processing pipeline to obtain the data set. The data was then analyzed using artificial intelligence algorithms to identify early-stage cancer metabolic signatures. Overall, a total of 1000 blinded samples were analyzed by generating the serum metabolome profiles, followed by sequential algorithms for cancer detection and multiclass cancer type identification. Of these 1000 samples, 797 were identified as cancer positive, while, 203 samples were identified as cancer-negative. The multiclass algorithm was then applied to the 797 cancer-positive samples, to distinguish between samples that were from patients with either endometrial, breast, cervical, or ovarian cancer. After completion of the analysis, the sample code was broken to estimate the accuracy of the results. Concerning the identification of samples that were cancer-positive, the sensitivity obtained was 99.6% whereas the specificity was 100%. For the second stage of analysis which involves ‘tissue of origin’, all 107 breast cancer samples were correctly identified without any false calls. The accuracy for identification of cervical and ovarian cancers was between 95%- 96% for each, whereas 91% for endometrial cancer. Our present study validates the performance of our method for the early-stage detection of female-specific cancers in a clinical setting. Importantly, the algorithms for cancer detection and ‘tissue of origin’ prediction, which were initially trained using samples from Caucasian patients, retained the accuracy on samples from Indian women patients. This suggests that the performance of these algorithms was minimally influenced by variables such as ethnicity and race. Present results, therefore, also underscore the potential clinical utility of our method for early-stage diagnosis of cancers that are specific to females.
Research Article
Sep 14, 2023
TNT (Trinitrotoluene) based buried landmines are explosive devices consisting of mainly 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (2,4,6-TNT), but also a 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) impurity. It is reported that some 2,4-DNT impurity vapors slowly leak through land mine covers and into the soil above them, making this compound a potential indicator for the presence of buried landmines. There are several approaches to identify the presence of chemicals in the environment, one of which is based on a microbial detection system. This approach was previously used to address the challenge of remotely identifying buried landmines by applying genetically engineered microbial whole cell biosensors capable of sensing trace signatures of the explosive compound 2,4,6-TNT and its degradation product, 2,4-DNT. Upon exposure to 2,4-DNT, the genetically engineered bacterial reporter strains, containing a genetic fusion between a sensing element for 2,4-DNT (yqjF gene promoter) and a fluorescence/ bioluminescence reporting element (GFP/luxCDABE genes), generate a measurable dose-dependent signal within the whole cell biosensor system. This biological component of a comprehensive remote sensing solution was significantly improved after several rounds of random mutagenesis to the yqjF promoter region using a prone-to-error PCR and selection of the best mutants. In the present project further significant improvements were obtained in signal intensity, response time, and in the limit of detection, following an additional round of random mutagenesis. Two new mutants, named A10 and C5, were identified. The new mutant’s present high induction levels both in terms of Ratio (sample/control) and delta (sample- control), making these strains more amenable to remote detection. To isolate a more sensitive mutant, the 3rd round of random mutagenesis library (about 1000 strains) was re-exposed to lower concentration of 2,4-DNT, but no better candidate was isolated. Possible alternative approaches to lower the detection threshold of the system, such as the use of permeability mutants, are now being tested.
Research Article
Sep 08, 2023
The efficacy of human Amniotic Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hAMSCs) ovarian injection for improving ovarian function of POI (Premature ovarian failure) patients has been showed in some reports. However, the safety and efficacy of the hAMSCs vein injection remains unclear. In this study, we evaluate the safety and efficacy of hAMSCs intravenous injection in and SD rats, and to provide the evidence for clinical trials. The hAMSCs were transplanted three times in SD rats at low, medium and high doses, respectively. The animal behavior, biochemical and biophysical parameters were routinely monitored on a 2-month period posttransplantation, and the histopathologic examinations were also performed. Experiments on the acute toxicity, allergy test and hemolysis test showed that hAMSCs possesses good biocompatibility. Our results showed that maximum tolerated dose of hAMSCs in SD rats was 4.0 × 107 cells/kg. The maximum safe dose with three injections of hAMSCs in SD rats was 5.0 ×10 6 cells/kg. In addition, the results demonstrated that hAMSCs could restore the POI rat’s ovarian function after twice injected with 2.5 × 106 cells/kg or 5.0 × 10 6 cells/kg dose, which through improving the disturbed estrous cycle, hormone levels and ovarian lesion induced by pZP3. In conclusion, the preclinical results suggested that the transplantation of hAMSCs is safe and efficacious for SD rats at 5.0 × 10 6 cells/kg and lower doses.