Background: Visceral Fat (VF) is the underlying culprit for cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, etc. VF can be estimated at present only by using expensive instruments as Bio Impedance Analyzer (BIA), DEXA scanner, etc. Measurement of Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) can be used as a proxy for VF. Hence, the present study was done to assess the role of WHR as appropriate technology for assessment of VF. The aim of this study was to find correlation of Visceral Fat Area (VFA) with (WHR), Waist Circumference (WC) and Body Mass Index (BMI) in young healthy adults.Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 215 healthy adults over one year in Western Maharashtra. Biospace 720 was used to assess VF. Data was analyzed by using software SPSS version 20.0. In body 720 was used to assess VF of subjects.Results: Majority 155 (73%) were males and 57 (27%) were females. Nearly half (42% of males, 49% of females) had VFA above cut off value (i.e. 100 cm 2 ) and 42% of males had WHR >0.9 and 56% of females had WHR >0.8. We found a very strong correlation between VFA and WHR (r = 0.936, p < 0.05) among males and females (r = 0.920, p < 0.05) and correlation between WC and BMI with VFA (r = 0.739, r = 0.758) for males, (r = 0.774, r = 0.605) for females was modest. Conclusion:There is a strong correlation between VF and WHR. Measurement of WHR is simple, handy, and inexpensive tool which can be used as a surrogate to measure VF.

Interactions of cholera toxin (CT) with membrane are associated with the massive secretory diarrhea seen in Asiatic cholera. Ganglioside GM1 has been shown to be responsible for the binding of the B subunit of cholera toxin (CT-B), which then helps CT to pass through the membrane, but the exact mechanism remains to be explored. In this work, we have carried out atomistic scale molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the structural changes of CT upon membrane binding and alteration in membrane structure and dynamics. Starting from the initial structure where the five units of B subunit bind with five GM1, only three of five units remain bound and the whole CT is tilted such that the three binding units are deeper in the membrane. The lipids that are in contact with those units of the CT-B behave differently from the rest of the lipids. Altogether, our results demonstrate the atomistic interaction of CT with GM1 containing lipid membrane and provide a probable mechanism of the early stage alteration of lipid structure and dynamics, which can make a passage for penetration of CT on membrane surface.

The maintenance of machinery requires its operational understanding and a toolbox for repair. The methods for the precision engineering of native proteins meet a similar requirement in biosystems. Its success hinges on the principles regulating chemical reactions with a protein. Here, we report a technology that delivers high-level control over reactivity, chemoselectivity, site-selectivity, modularity, dual-probe installation, and protein-selectivity. It utilizes cysteine-based chemoselective Linchpin-Directed site-selective Modification of lysine residue in a protein (LDMC-K). The efficiency of the end-user-friendly protocol is evident in quantitative conversions within an hour. A chemically orthogonal C-S bond-formation and bond-dissociation are essential among multiple regulatory attributes. The method offers protein selectivity by targeting a single lysine residue of a single protein in a complex biomolecular mixture. The protocol renders analytically pure single-site probe-engineered protein bioconjugate. Also, it provides access to homogeneous antibody conjugates (AFC and ADC). The LDMC-K-ADC exhibits highly selective anti-proliferative activity towards breast cancer cells.

Cell membranes are multi-component mixtures with structural and compositional heterogeneity exhibiting a complex phase behavior. Domains formed in cell membranes often known as "Rafts" are of immense importance. Using coarse grained molecular dynamics simulations, we have studied the spontaneous phase separation of the ternary (POPC [1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine]/cholesterol/GM1) and quaternary (POPC/PSM[palmitoyl sphingomyelin]/cholesterol/GM1) lipid bilayers into liquid ordered (Lo) and liquid disordered (Ld) domains due to self-aggregation of GM1 molecules and co-localization of cholesterol with GM1 in accordance with experiments. It is found that GM1 molecules have the ability to associate strongly with each other which leads to the formation of ordered domains in the lipid mixture and the interactions are through the head group and unsaturated tails present in GM1. Preference of cholesterol for association with GM1 over PSM is observed, the domains consisting of GM1 and cholesterol are formed even in the presence of PSM. PSM also forms small domains with cholesterol that are randomly distributed in the Ld phase. Estimation of dynamic quantities like diffusion coefficient also shows that cholesterol has the highest diffusion rate in the Ld phase which is further attributed to its flip flop ability. It is found that in the presence of PSM, cholesterol can undergo flip flop even in the Lo phase. This is accredited to the interaction of cholesterol with PSM from which it can be concluded that in the presence of PSM, the domains formed by GM1 are less tightly packed and less stable than that in the ternary mixture.

Hydrophobic mismatch which is defined as the difference between the lipid hydrophobic thickness and the peptide hydrophobic length is known to be responsible in altering the lipid/protein dynamics. Gramicidin A (gA), a 15 residue β helical peptide which is well recognized to form ion conducting channels in lipid bilayer, may change its structure and function in a hydrophobic mismatched condition. We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of gA dimer in phospholipid bilayers to investigate whether or not the conversion from channel to non-channel form of gA dimer would occur under extreme negative hydrophobic mismatch. By varying the length of lipid bilayers from DLPC (1, 2-Dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) to DAPC (1, 2-Diarachidoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine), a broad range of mismatch was considered from nearly matching to extremely negative. Our simulations revealed that though the ion-channel conformation is retained by gA under a lesser mismatched situation, in extremely negative mismatched situation, in addition to bilayer thinning, the conformation of gA is changed and converted to a non-channel one. Our results demonstrate that although the channel conformation of Gramicidin A is the most stable structure, it is possible for gA to change its conformation from channel to non-channel depending upon the local environment of host bilayers.

The effective translocation of small interfering RNA (siRNA) across cell membranes has become one of the main challenges in gene silencing therapy. In this study, we have carried out molecular dynamics simulations to investigate a systematic procedure with different carriers that could be convenient for efficient siRNA delivery into the cell. Starting with poly-amidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers and cholesterol molecules as carriers, we have found cholesterol as the most efficient carrier for siRNA when it is covalently attached with the siRNA terminal group. Our simulations show that binding of this complex in the lipid membrane alters the structure and dynamics of the nearby lipids to initiate the translocation process. Potential of mean force (PMF) was computed for siRNA with the carriers along the bilayer normal to understand the spontaneity of the process. Though all the PMF profiles show repulsive interaction inside the bilayer, the siRNA with cholesterol shows a comparative attractive interaction (∼27 kcal/mol) with respect to the siRNA−PAMAM complex. Altogether, our results demonstrate the binding interaction of the siRNA−carrier complex in the lipid membrane and propose a theoretical model for the efficient carrier by comparative study of the binding. The probable mechanism of the translocation process is also provided by the alteration of the lipid structure and dynamics for specifically siRNA−cholesterol binding.

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Edited by A. ChattopadhyayKeywords: GM1 Rough surface Behavioral difference of water Structure Dynamic Delayed convergence of interfacial property to bulk property a b s t r a c t Studies on the structure and dynamics of interfacial water, emphasizing on the properties of water near the surface of biomolecules, are well reported, but there is a lack of evidence on the behavior of water near a comparatively rough surface containing molecules with a bulky head group like GM1.In this report we comparatively analyze the structure and dynamics of water as a function of distance from the lipid head group in GM1 containing lipid bilayers, with the lipid bilayers where GM1 is not present. This approach effectively demonstrates the behavioral difference and hence delayed convergence from bound water to bulk water in the presence of GM1 compared to a relatively smooth surface.