Unraveling the Genetic Architecture of Obesity: A Path to Personalized Medicine.

Obesity is a global health challenge characterized by significant heterogeneity in causes and treatment responses, complicating sustainable management. This narrative review explores the genomic architecture of obesity and its implications for personalized interventions, focusing on how genetic variations influence key biological pathways and treatment outcomes. A comprehensive literature search, guided by the authors' expertise, was conducted to identify key publications on the genomics of obesity and personalized approaches.

Harnessing Probiotics: Exploring the Role of the Gut Microbiome in Combating Obesity.

Obesity has become a global health crisis driven by genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, often linked to gut microbiome imbalances. Probiotics, particularly Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, have shown promise in clinical trials by promoting weight loss, improving lipid profiles, and addressing gut dysbiosis associated with obesity. This review surveys the literature on the microbiome and obesity, emphasizing the clinical relevance of probiotics in treatment strategies.

Novel circular antimicrobial peptides to combat a critical listed bacterial pathogen multi drug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.

Acinetobacter baumannii, acritical nosocomial pathogen, is one of the leading causes of human mortality, globally. The extraordinary genetic plasticity of A. baumannii leads to a high propensity antimicrobial resistance trait that demands urgent attention for alternative therapeutics.

Phytomolecules as Alzheimer's therapeutics: A comprehensive review.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading neurodegenerative disorder recognized by progressive cognitive decline and behavioral changes. The pathology of AD is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and the hyperphosphorylation of tau protein, which leads to synaptic loss and subsequent neurodegeneration. Additional contributors to disease progression include metabolic, vascular, and inflammatory factors.

Harnessing Artificial Intelligence in Obesity Research and Management: A Comprehensive Review.

This review aims to explore the clinical and research applications of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL), in understanding, predicting, and managing obesity. It assesses the use of AI tools to identify obesity-related risk factors, predict outcomes, personalize treatments, and improve healthcare interventions for obesity. A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar, with keywords including "artificial intelligence", "machine learning", "deep learning", "obesity", "obesity management", and related terms.

An Overview of Indian Biomedical Research on the Chikungunya Virus with Particular Reference to Its Vaccine, an Unmet Medical Need.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an infectious agent spread by mosquitos, that has engendered endemic or epidemic outbreaks of Chikungunya fever (CHIKF) in Africa, South-East Asia, America, and a few European countries. Like most tropical infections, CHIKV is frequently misdiagnosed, underreported, and underestimated; it primarily affects areas with limited resources, like developing nations. Due to its high transmission rate and lack of a preventive vaccine or effective treatments, this virus poses a serious threat to humanity.

An Attention towards the Prophylactic and Therapeutic Options of Phytochemicals for SARS-CoV-2: A Molecular Insight.

The novel pathogenic virus was discovered in Wuhan, China (December 2019), and quickly spread throughout the world. Further analysis revealed that the pathogenic strain of virus was corona but it was distinct from other coronavirus strains, and thus it was renamed 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2. This coronavirus shares many characteristics with other coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.

The Role of Environmental Toxicant-Induced Oxidative Stress in Male Infertility.

Infertility is a serious public health issue affecting around 15% of couples globally. Of the 60-80 million people of reproductive age affected by infertility, 40-50% are due to male factor while 30-40% of cases are still idiopathic. The recent global deterioration in sperm quality raises apprehensions regarding the toxic effects of environmental pollutants on reproductive health of males.

Bio-safety and bio-security: A major global concern for ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides its impacts on governance, economics, human culture, geostrategic partnership and environment, globalization greatly exerted control over science and security policies. Biosecurity is the critical job of efforts, policy and preparation to protect health of human, animal and environmental against any biological threats. With the transition into a global village, the possibility of biosecurity breaches has significantly increased.

Ovalbumin self-assembles into amyloid nanosheets that elicit immune responses and facilitate sustained drug release.

Amyloids are associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, motivating investigations into their structure and function. Although not linked to a specific disease, albumins have been reported to form many structural aggregates. We were interested in investigating host immune responses to amyloid fibrils assembled from the model protein ovalbumin.

Spermicidal efficacy of VRP, a synthetic cationic antimicrobial peptide, inducing apoptosis and membrane disruption.

Presently available contraceptives are mostly hormonal or detergent in nature with numerous side effects like irritation, lesion, inflammation in vagina, alteration of body homeostasis, etc. Antimicrobial peptides with spermicidal activity but without adverse effects may be suitable alternatives. In the present study, spermicidal activity of a cationic antimicrobial peptide VRP on human spermatozoa has been elucidated.

Characterization of a highly potent antimicrobial peptide microcin N from uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Microcin N is a low-molecular weight, highly active antimicrobial peptide produced by uropathogenic Escherichia coli In this study, the native peptide was expressed and purified from pGOB18 plasmid carrying E. coli in low yield. The pure peptide was characterized using mass spectrometry, N-terminal sequencing by Edman degradation as well as trypsin digestion.

Real-time Detection of Breast Cancer Cells Using Peptide-functionalized Microcantilever Arrays.

Ligand-directed targeting and capturing of cancer cells is a new approach for detecting circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Ligands such as antibodies have been successfully used for capturing cancer cells and an antibody based system (CellSearch(®)) is currently used clinically to enumerate CTCs. Here we report the use of a peptide moiety in conjunction with a microcantilever array system to selectively detect CTCs resulting from cancer, specifically breast cancer.

Peptide Bacteriocins--Structure Activity Relationships.

With the growing concerns in the scientific and health communities over increasing levels of antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial peptide bacteriocins have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional small molecule antibiotics. A substantial attention has recently focused on the utilization of bacteriocins in food preservation and health safety. Despite the fact that a large number of bacteriocins have been reported, only a few have been fully characterized and structurally elucidated.

Screening peptide array library for the identification of cancer cell-binding peptides.

The identification of cancer cell-specific ligands is a key requirement for the targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic agents. Usually phage display system is employed to discover cancer-specific peptides through a biopanning process. Synthetic peptide array libraries can be used as a complementary method to phage display for screening and identifying cancer cell-specific ligands.

Detection of Listeria monocytogenes with short peptide fragments from class IIa bacteriocins as recognition elements.

We employed a direct peptide-bacteria binding assay to screen peptide fragments for high and specific binding to Listeria monocytogenes. Peptides were screened from a peptide array library synthesized on cellulose membrane. Twenty four peptide fragments (each a 14-mer) were derived from three potent anti-listerial peptides, Leucocin A, Pediocin PA1, and Curvacin A, that belong to class IIa bacteriocins.

Design and characterization of short antimicrobial peptides using leucine zipper templates with selectivity towards microorganisms.

Design of antimicrobial peptides with selective activity towards microorganisms is an important step towards the development of new antimicrobial agents. Leucine zipper sequence has been implicated in cytotoxic activity of naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides; moreover, this motif has been utilized for the design of novel antimicrobial peptides with modulated cytotoxicity. To understand further the impact of substitution of amino acids at 'a' and/or 'd' position of a leucine zipper sequence of an antimicrobial peptides on its antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties four short peptides (14-residue) were designed on the basis of a leucine zipper sequence without or with replacement of leucine residues in its 'a' and 'd' positions with D-leucine or alanine or proline residue.

Characterization of antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and antiendotoxin properties of short peptides with different hydrophobic amino acids at "a" and "d" positions of a heptad repeat sequence.

To understand the influence of different hydrophobic amino acids at "a" and "d" positions of a heptad repeat sequence on antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and antiendotoxin properties, four 15-residue peptides with leucine (LRP), phenylalanine (FRP), valine (VRP), and alanine (ARP) residues at these positions were designed, synthesized, and characterized. Although valine is similarly hydrophobic to leucine and phenylalanine, VRP showed significantly lesser cytotoxicity than LRP and FRP; further, the replacement of leucines with valines at "a" and "d" positions of melittin-heptads drastically reduced its cytotoxicity. However, all four peptides exhibited significant antimicrobial activities that correlate well with their interactions with mammalian and bacterial cell membranes and the corresponding lipid vesicles.

A synthetic S6 segment derived from KvAP channel self-assembles, permeabilizes lipid vesicles, and exhibits ion channel activity in bilayer lipid membrane.

KvAP is a voltage-gated tetrameric K(+) channel with six transmembrane (S1-S6) segments in each monomer from the archaeon Aeropyrum pernix. The objective of the present investigation was to understand the plausible role of the S6 segment, which has been proposed to form the inner lining of the pore, in the membrane assembly and functional properties of KvAP channel. For this purpose, a 22-residue peptide, corresponding to the S6 transmembrane segment of KvAP (amino acids 218-239), and a scrambled peptide (S6-SCR) with rearrangement of only hydrophobic amino acids but without changing its composition were synthesized and characterized structurally and functionally.

Towards the synthesis of sugar amino acid containing antimicrobial noncytotoxic CAP conjugates with gold nanoparticles and a mechanistic study of cell disruption.

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are potent inhibitors of growth of a broad spectrum of micro-organisms but often have large cytotoxic effects. We prepared some novel sugar amino acid containing cyclic cationic peptides and their Au nanoparticle attached counterparts and studied their antimicrobial activities and cytotoxic behaviour, including an investigation of the mechanism of the cytotoxicity.

Studies on the assembly of a leucine zipper antibacterial peptide and its analogs onto mammalian cells and bacteria.

Membrane-interaction and assembly of a leucine zipper peptide (LZP), and its single (SASA) and double (DASA) alanine-substituted analog onto mammalian, hRBCs and 3T3 cells and bacteria, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were studied as a model system to understand the plausible role of assembly on their contrasting cytotoxic but similar bactericidal activities. Peptides' ability to depolarize and damage the membrane organization of hRBC and 3T3 cells decreased from LZP to SASA and to DASA which may be related to their decrease in assembly onto these mammalian live cells and oligomerization states in the presence of these cell membranes or zwitterionic PC/Chol lipid vesicles. However, LZP and its analogs showed appreciable similarities in damaging or depolarizing the E.

Cell-selective lysis by novel analogues of melittin against human red blood cells and Escherichia coli.

Melittin is a good model antimicrobial peptide to understand the basis of its lytic activities against bacteria and mammalian cells. Novel analogues of melittin were designed by substituting the leucine residue(s) at the "d" and "a" positions of its previously identified leucine zipper motif. A scrambled peptide having the same composition of melittin with altered leucine zipper sequence was also designed.

Design of nontoxic analogues of cathelicidin-derived bovine antimicrobial peptide BMAP-27: the role of leucine as well as phenylalanine zipper sequences in determining its toxicity.

BMAP-27 is a cathelicidin-derived bovine antimicrobial peptide, which shows moderate cytotoxicity and potent antibacterial activity against a wide variety of microorganisms. Despite a number of studies, very little is known about the amino acid sequences of this peptide that controls its antibacterial and cytotoxic activities. Small stretches of phenylalanine and leucine zipper sequences were identified at the N- and C-termini of the molecule, respectively.

Structure-function study of cathelicidin-derived bovine antimicrobial peptide BMAP-28: design of its cell-selective analogs by amino acid substitutions in the heptad repeat sequences.

Although BMAP-28 is a potent cathelicidin-derived bovine antimicrobial peptide, its cytotoxic activity against the human and other mammalian cells is of concern for converting it into a novel antimicrobial drug. We have identified a short leucine and isoleucine zipper sequences at the N- and C-terminals of BMAP-28, respectively. To understand the possible role of these structural elements in BMAP-28, a number of alanine-substituted analogs were designed, synthesized and characterized along with the wild-type peptide.