Morphological and functional alterations of female reproduction after regular exposure of bamboo shoots of North East India

Objective:To evaluate the effect of daily consumption of bamboo shoots (BS) on the morphological features and functional status of the female reproductive system in adult with respect to thyroid.Methods: Adult female rats were divided into control and experimental groups of six each. Control group was given normal diet while experimental group was fed BS by 1/3rd replacement of 180 g of their foodi.e.60 g of BS containing 35 g of goitrogens of cyanogenic origin such that each rat likely consumed 6 mg/100 g of body weight per day for a period of 45 d. Morphological features like changes in body weight and organ weight were noted. Key steroidogenic enzyme levels viz?53β hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSD) and 17β HSD along with serum estradiol, estriol and progesterone levels were measured. Estrous cyclicity of the animals monitored regularly followed by histological analysis of thyroid, ovary and uterus at the end of experimentation.Results:Increase in body weight, thyroid gland weight and thyroid stimulating hormone, decrease in serum triiodothyronine and thyroxine, a decrease in ovarian as well as uterine weight and the activity of steroidogenic enzymes?53β HSD andβ17β HSD along with diminished serum estradiol, estriol and progesterone levels were noted;while histological plates showed prominent degenerative changes in both the ovary and uterus. Estrous cyclicity of the treated animals were irregular and almost stopped at diestrous stage of the cycle in the latter stage of the treatment as compared to control.Conclusions: Overall results indicates that BS rich in cyanogenic constituents induces biochemical hypothyroidism in the experimental animals that acts in corroboration to cause morphological and functional alteration of reproductive organs indicating its likely impact in fertility on continued use.

Excess iodine exposure:An emerging area of concern for male reproductive physiology in the post-salt iodization era

To prevent iodine deficiency disorders,the universal salt iodization programme has been introduced all over the globe,including environmentally iodine sufficient regions irrespective of their iodine status.As a result,iodine-induced thyroid dysfunctions namely hyperthyroidism,hypothyroidism,autoimmune thyroid diseases,endemic goiter and even thyroid cancer including infertility,still births,abortions and embryo toxicity have emerged as a major public health problem.In other words,the consequence of iodine deficiency and excess is almost‘U’-shaped.Hypothyroidism caused by iodine deficiency affects reproductive functions of organisms;however,such undesirable effects of iodine overload on male gonadal physiology together with hormonal profiles are yet to be adequately explored.The discovery of iodide transporter in the testis justifies an independent role of iodine in male reproductive function,which is not entirely known.Recent studies on human subjects and animal models are now revealing further perceptions into the effect of excess iodine on male infertility with euthyroid status.Excess iodine exposure has been linked with deterioration of structural and functional changes of testis leading to compromised spermatogenesis by affecting various cellular and molecular signaling pathways culminating into disrupted the blood-testis barrier and cytoskeleton.This review provides an update and summarizes various novel insights of excess iodine exposure on reproduction by establishing the independent role of iodine on male reproductive endocrinology,which might help in formulating future strategies to prevent iodine-induced male infertility,an emerging global concern,especially in the post-salt iodization era.

Excess iodine supplementation aggravates the toxic effects induced by perchlorate on the male reproductive system in rats

Objective:To investigate the toxicity of excess iodine and perchlorate co-exposure on male reproductive system in rats.Methods:Eighteen male Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups.Group 1 received no treatment and served as the control group.Group 2 received perchlorate alone(130 mg/kg body weight),and group 3 received perchlorate(130 mg/kg body weight)plus excess iodine(0.7 mg potassium iodine/100 g body weight)for 45 days.Urinary perchlorate and iodine excretion pattern,testicular iodine concentration,serum testosterone levels,epididymal sperm count,key enzymes of steroidogenic pathway,reactive oxygen and nitrogen species including total antioxidant profiles in testis with electron microscopic ultrastructure analysis of spermatozoa were evaluated.Results:Co-exposure of perchlorate and excess iodine reduced their excretion pattern,reflecting accumulation with reactive oxygen species generation.It was accompanied by higher lipid peroxidation level with imbalance in the pro-/antioxidant status,inhibiting the activities ofΔ^(5)3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase(HSD)and 17β-HSD rate limiting enzyme activities,and causing reduced synthesis of testosterone,parallel to reduction in testicular and accessory sex organs weight,epididymal sperm-count with deformed ultrastructure of sperm.Perchlorate alone was not a reproductive toxicant;however,in combination with excess-iodine,acute effects were noticed,resulting in a severe deterioration of testicular and spermatozoal structure and function.Conclusions:This study provides a novel insight on the augmentation of the relatively moderate repro-toxic effects of perchlorate to a more severe form in presence of excess iodine on male reproductive physiology,which justifies further investigations.

Determining human-coronavirus protein-protein interaction using machine intelligence

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)virus spread the novel CoronaVirus−19(nCoV-19)pandemic,resulting in millions of fatalities globally.Recent research demonstrated that the Protein-Protein Interaction(PPI)between SARS-CoV-2 and human proteins is accountable for viral pathogenesis.However,many of these PPIs are poorly understood and unexplored,necessitating a more in-depth investigation to find latent yet critical interactions.This article elucidates the host-viral PPI through Machine Learning(ML)lenses and validates the biological significance of the same using web-based tools.ML classifiers are designed based on comprehensive datasets with five sequence-based features of human proteins,namely Amino Acid Composition,Pseudo Amino Acid Composition,Conjoint Triad,Dipeptide Composition,and Normalized Auto Correlation.A majority voting rule-based ensemble method composed of the Random Forest Model(RFM),AdaBoost,and Bagging technique is proposed that delivers encouraging statistical performance compared to other models employed in this work.The proposed ensemble model predicted a total of 111 possible SARS-CoV-2 human target proteins with a high likelihood factor≥70%,validated by utilizing Gene Ontology(GO)and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis.Consequently,this research can aid in a deeper understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying viral pathogenesis and provide clues for developing more efficient anti-COVID medications.