Fluorescent probe studies of biomembranes and model systems. The design and use of anionic site reporters

The fluorescence properties of a homologous series of fluorescent alkylamines are described. The binding of the probes to crythrocyte membranes increases with the length of the alkyl chain. The probes are shown to interact more strongly with membranes than with protein and lipid model systems. The binding of the probes to the membrane is sensitive to the cation concentration of the medium.

Load Balancing with Availability Checker and Load Reporters (LB-ACLRs) for improved Performance in Distributed Systems

Distributed system has quite a lot of servers to attain increased availability of service and for fault tolerance. Balancing the load among these servers is an important task to achieve better performance. There are various hardware and software based load balancing solutions available. However there is always an overhead on Servers and the Load Balancer while communicating with each other and sharing their availability and the current load status information. Load balancer is always busy in listening to clients' request and redirecting them. It also needs to collect the servers' availability status frequently, to keep itself up-to-date. Servers are busy in not only providing service to clients but also sharing their current load information with load balancing algorithms. In this paper we have proposed and discussed the concept and system model for software based load balancer along with Availability-Checker and Load Reporters (LB-ACLRs) which reduces the overhead on server and the load balancer. We have also described the architectural components with their roles and responsibilities. We have presented a detailed analysis to show how our proposed Availability Checker significantly increases the performance of the system.

Translational Up-Regulation and High-Level Protein Expression from Plasmid Vectors by mTOR Activation via Different Pathways in PC3 and 293T Cells

Background: Though 293T cells are widely used for expression of proteins from transfected plasmid vectors, the molecular basis for the high-level expression is yet to be understood. We recently identified the prostate carcinoma cell line PC3 to be as efficient as 293T in protein expression. This study was undertaken to decipher the molecular basis of high-level expression in these two cell lines. Methodology/Principal Findings: In a survey of different cell lines for efficient expression of platelet-derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B), beta-galactosidase (beta-gal) and green fluorescent protein (GFP) from plasmid vectors, PC3 was found to express at 5-50-fold higher levels compared to the bone metastatic prostate carcinoma cell line PC3BM and many other cell lines. Further, the efficiency of transfection and level of expression of the reporters in PC3 were comparable to that in 293T. Comparative analyses revealed that the high level expression of the reporters in the two cell lines was due to increased translational efficiency. While phosphatidic acid (PA)-mediated activation of mTOR, as revealed by drastic reduction in reporter expression by n-butanol, primarily contributed to the high level expression in PC3, multiple pathways involving PA, PI3K/Akt and ERK1/2 appear to contribute to the abundant reporter expression in 293T. Thus the extent of translational upregulation attained through the concerted activation of mTOR by multiple pathways in 293T could be achieved through its activation primarily by the PA pathway in PC3. Conclusions/Significance: Our studies reveal that the high-level expression of proteins from plasmid vectors is effected by translational up-regulation through mTOR activation via different signaling pathways in the two cell lines and that PC3 is as efficient as 293T for recombinant protein expression. Further, PC3 offers an advantage in that the level of expression of the protein can be regulated by simple addition of n-butanol to the culture medium.

Corporate social responsibilities of Indian public sector enterprises-a case study of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)

The high level of public accountability attached to Public Sector Enterprises as a result of public ownership makes them socially responsible. The Committee of Public Undertakings in 1992 examined the issue relating to social obligations of Central Public Sector Enterprises and observed that ``being part of the `State', every Public Sector enterprise has a moral responsibility to play an active role in discharging the social obligations endowed on a welfare state, subject to the financial health of the enterprise''. It issued the Corporate Social Responsibility Guidelines in 2010 where all Central Public Enterprises, through a Board Resolution, are mandated to create a CSR budget as a specified percentage of net profit of the previous year. This paper examines the CSR activities of the biggest engineering public sector organization in India, Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited. The objectives are twofold, one, to develop a case study of the organization about the funds allocated and utilized for various CSR activities, and two, to examine its status with regard to other organizations, the 2010 guidelines, and the local socio-economic development. Secondary data analysis results show three interesting trends. One, it reveals increasing organizational social orientation with the formal guidelines in place. Two, Firms can no longer continue to exploit environmental resources and escape from their responsibilities by acting separate entities regardless of the interest of the society and Three the thrust of CSR in public sector is on inclusive growth, sustainable development and capacity building with due attention to the socio-economic needs of the neglected and marginalized sections of the society.

Understanding Medical Device Patenting and Clinical Trials for Product Leadership

Unmet clinical needs remain the primary driving force for innovations in medical devices. While appropriate mechanisms to protect these innovative outcomes are essential, the performance of clinical trials to ensure safety is also mandated before the invention is ready for public use. Literature explaining the relationship between patenting activities and clinical trials of medical devices is scarce. Linking patent ownership to clinical trials may imply product leadership and value chain control. In this paper, we use patent data from Indian Patent Office (IPO), PCT, and data from Clinical Trials Registry of India (CTRI) to identify whether patent assignees have any role in leading as primary sponsors of clinical trials. A total of 42 primary sponsors are identified from the CTRI database in India. Number of patents awarded to these primary sponsors in the particular medical device, total number of patents awarded to the primary sponsor in all technologies, total number of patents in the specific medical device technology provides an indication of leadership and control in the value chain.

Halogen bonds in some dihalogenated phenols: applications to crystal engineering

3,4-Dichlorophenol (1) crystallizes in the tetragonal space group I4(1)/a with a short axis of 3.7926 (9) angstrom. The structure is unique in that both type I and type II Cl.....Cl interactions are present, these contact types being distinguished by the angle ranges of the respective C-Cl....Cl angles. The present study shows that these two types of contacts are utterly different. The crystal structures of 4-bromo-3-chlorophenol (2) and 3-bromo-4-chlorophenol (3) have been determined. The crystal structure of (2) is isomorphous to that of (1) with the Br atom in the 4-position participating in a type II interaction. However, the monoclinic P2(1)/c packing of compound (3) is different; while the structure still has O-H....O hydrogen bonds, the tetramer O-H.....O synthon seen in (1) and (2) is not seen. Rather than a type I Br....Br interaction which would have been mandated if (3) were isomorphous to (1) and (2), Br forms a Br....O contact wherein its electrophilic character is clearly evident. Crystal structures of the related compounds 4-chloro-3-iodophenol (4) and 3,5-dibromophenol (5) were also determined. A computational survey of the structural landscape was undertaken for (1), (2) and (3), using a crystal structure prediction protocol in space groups P2(1)/c and I4(1)/a with the COMPASS26 force field. While both tetragonal and monoclinic structures are energetically reasonable for all compounds, the fact that (3) takes the latter structure indicates that Br prefers type II over type I contacts. In order to differentiate further between type I and type II halogen contacts, which being chemically distinct are expected to have different distance fall-off properties, a variable-temperature crystallography study was performed on compounds (1), (2) and (4). Length variations with temperature are greater for type II contacts compared with type I. The type II Br....Br interaction in (2) is stronger than the corresponding type II Cl....Cl interaction in (1), leading to elastic bending of the former upon application of mechanical stress, which contrasts with the plastic deformation of (1). The observation of elastic deformation in (2) is noteworthy; in that it finds an explanation based on the strengths of the respective halogen bonds, it could also be taken as a good starting model for future property design. Cl/Br isostructurality is studied with the Cambridge Structural Database and it is indicated that this isostructurality is based on shape and size similarity of Cl and Br, rather than arising from any chemical resemblance.