Abstract. The causative agent of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).Since its discovery before 30 years, a number of drugs known as highly active antiretroviral therapy have been developed to suppress the life cycle of the virus at different stages. With the current therapeutic approaches, ending AIDS means providing treatment to 35 million individuals living with HIV for the rest of their lives or until a cure is developed. Additionally, therapy is associated with various other challenges such as potential of drug resistance, toxicity and presence of latent viral reservoir. Therefore, it is imperative to search for treatments and to identify new therapeutic approaches against HIV infection to avoid daily intake of drugs. The aim of the current review was to summarize different therapeutic strategies against HIV infection, including stem cell therapy, RNA interference, CRISPR/Cas9 pathways, antibodies, intrabodies and nanotechnology. Silencing RNA against chemokine receptor 5 and other HIV RNAs have been tested and found to elicit homology-based, post-transcriptional silencing. The CRISPR/Cas9 is a gene editing technology that produces a double-stranded nick in the virus DNA, which is repaired by the host machinery either by non-homology end joining mechanism or via homology recombination leading to insertion, deletion mutation which further leads to frame shift mutation and non-functional products. Intrabodies are intracellular-expressed antibodies that are directed towards the targets inside the cell unlike the naturally expressed antibodies which target outside the cell. Different nanotechnology-based therapeutic approaches are also in progress against HIV. HIV eradication is not feasible without deploying a cure or vaccine alongside the treatment.

ObjectivesFrom the first description by Leo Kanner [1], autism has been an enigmatic neurobehavioral phenomenon. The new genetic/genomic technologies of the past decade have not been as productive as originally anticipated in unveiling the mysteries of autism. The specific etiology of the majority of cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is unknown, although numerous genetic/genomic variants and alterations of diverse cellular functions have been reported. Prompted by this failure, we have investigated whether the metabolomics approach might yield results which could simultaneously lead to a blood-based screening/diagnostic test and to treatment options. Methods Plasma samples from a clinically well-defined cohort of 100 male individuals, ages 2-16+ years, with ASD and 32 age-matched typically developing (TD) controls were subjected to global metabolomic analysis. ResultsWe have identified more than 25 plasma metabolites among the approximately 650 metabolites analyzed, representing over 70 biochemical pathways, that can discriminate children with ASD as young as 2 years from children that are developing typically. The discriminating power was greatest in the 2-10 year age group and weaker in older age groups. The initial findings were validated in a second cohort of 83 children, males and females, ages 2-10 years, with ASD and 76 age and gender-matched TD children. The discriminant metabolites were associated with several key biochemical pathways suggestive of potential contributions of increased oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation and immune dysregulation in ASD. Further, targeted quantitative analysis of a subset of discriminating metabolites using tandem mass spectrometry provided a reliable laboratory method to detect children with ASD. Conclusion Metabolic profiling appears to be a robust technique to identify children with ASD ages 2-10 years and provides insights into the altered metabolic pathways in ASD, which could lead to treatment strategies. ObjectivesTo uncover novel traits associated with nicotine and alcohol use genetics, we performed a phenome-wide association study in a large multi-ethnic cohort. Methods We investigated 7,688 African-Americans (AFR), 1,133 Asian-Americans (ASN), 14,081 European-Americans (EUR), and 3,492 Hispanic-Americans (HISP) from the Women's Health Initiative, analyzing risk alleles located in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3 locus (rs8034191, rs1051730, rs12914385, rs2036527, and rs16969968) for nicotine-related traits and ADH1B (rs1229984 and rs2066702) and ALDH2 (rs671) for alcohol-related traits with respect to anthropometric characteristics, dietary habits, social status, psychological circumstances, reproductive history, health conditions, and nicotine-and alcohol-related traits. ResultsThe investigated loci resulted associated with novel traits: rs1229984 were associated with family income (p=4.1*10 −12 ), having a pet (p=6.5*10 −11 ), partner education (p=1.8*10 −10 ), "usually expect the best" (p=2.4*10 −7), "felt calm and peaceful" (p=2.6*10 ), and num...

ABSTRACT: Background: Failure of treatment with antibiotics occurs due to increase in number of Multidrug resistant gram negative bacteria, worldwide. The objective of this study was to find out the antimicrobial activity of crude ethanolic extract and its further three fractions by Ocimum basilicum leaves against multi drug resistant gram negative rods. Material and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Microbiology, University of Health Sciences, Lahore from 1st july 2016 to 30th june 2017. Total 80 multidrug resistant gram negative rods were included in this study. Agar dilution method was performed to determine MIC of crude ethanolic extract and different fractions i-e n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate of Ocimum basilicum leaves against multidrug resistant gram negative rods i-e ESBLs and carbapenemase producers. Muti-inoculater was used for inoculation. Results: The mean MICs of crude ethanolic extract, n-hexane fraction, chloroform fraction, and ethyl acetate fraction of Ocimum basilicum against ESBLs were 100.0±8.00, 168.13±8.00, 176.88±8.00 41.75±8.00 respectively. Similarly, the mean MICs of crude ethanolic extract, n-hexane fraction, chloroform fraction, and ethyl acetate fraction of Ocimum basilicum against carbapenemase producers were 77.50±8.00, 113.75±8.00, 132.50±8.00 and 29.50±8.00 respectively. Conclusions: Ethyl acetate fraction and crude ethanolic extract from leaves of Ocimum basilicum showed good antibacterial effectiveness against ESBLs and carbapenem resistant organisms than other fractions. This finding may also promote the effective use of O. basilicum herb and its components in modern medicine.

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