Background: microRNAs are known to regulate various protein-coding gene expression posttranscriptionally. Fatty acids are cell membrane constituents and are also known to influence the biological activities of the cells like signal transduction, growth and differentiation of the cells, apoptosis induction, and other physiological functions. In our experiments, we used lauric acid to analyse its effects on human cancerous cell lines. Objective: Our objective was to speculate the miRNA expression profile in lauric acid treated and untreated cancerous cell lines and further study the metabolic pathways of the targeted tumour suppressor and oncogenes. Methods: The KB cells and HepG2 cells were treated with lauric acid and miRNA was isolated and the expression of tumour suppressor and oncogenic miRNA was measured by quantitative PCR. The untreated cells were used as control. The metabolic pathways of the target tumour suppressor and oncogenes were examined by GeneMANIA software. Results: Interestingly, the lauric acid treatment suppresses the expression of oncogenic miRNA and significantly upregulated the expression of some tumour suppressor miRNAs. GeneMANIA metabolic pathway revealed that the upregulated tumour suppressor miRNAs regulate several cancer-associated pathways such as DNA damage, signal transduction p53 class mediator, stem cell differentiation, cell growth, cell cycle phase transition, apoptotic signalling pathway, cellular response to stress and radiation, etc. whereas oncogenic miRNAs regulate the cancer-associated pathway like cell cycle phase transition, apoptotic signalling pathway, cell growth, response to oxidative stress, immune response activating cell surface protein signalling pathway, cyclin-dependent protein kinase activity, epidermal growth factor receptor signalling pathways, etc. Conclusion: In our study, we found that lauric acid works as an anticancer agent by altering the expression of miRNAs.

The coronavirus disease 2019 is a contagious disease and had caused havoc throughout the world by creating widespread mortality and morbidity. The unavailability of vaccines and proper antiviral drugs encourages the researchers to identify potential antiviral drugs to be used against the virus. The presence of RNA binding domain in the nucleocapsid (N) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could be a potential drug target, which serves multiple critical functions during the viral life cycle, especially the viral replication. Since vaccine development might take some time, the identification of a drug compound targeting viral replication might offer a solution for treatment. The study analyzed the phylogenetic relationship of N protein sequence divergence with other 49 coronavirus species and also identified the conserved regions according to protein families through conserved domain search. Good structural binding affinities of a few natural and/or synthetic phytocompounds or drugs against N protein were determined using the molecular docking approaches. The analyzed compounds presented the higher numbers of hydrogen bonds of selected chemicals supporting the drug-ability of these compounds. Among them, the established antiviral drug glycyrrhizic acid and the phytochemical theaflavin can be considered as possible drug compounds against target N protein of SARS-CoV-2 as they showed lower binding affinities. The findings of this study might lead to the development of a drug for the SARS-Cov-2 mediated disease and offer solution to treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has posed a new challenge for medical educators worldwide. While teaching and learning shifted online, assessment posed a roadblock. A pilot study was performed to check the feasibility and acceptability of online open-book examination.Methods: A pilot study was carried out on sixth semester (fourth year) students. An online open-book examination was conducted on an ENT topic, and feedback was obtained using a pre-validated questionnaire. Two teachers scored and collated the answers, and the marks were averaged for each candidate.Results: Ninety-eight students appeared for the examination: 21.4 per cent failed and 78.6 per cent passed. Eight students scored above 75 per cent correct. Only 55 students volunteered to give feedback; most agreed that the best advantage of this assessment was that it was stress-free. The disadvantage most complained of was network connectivity issues.Conclusion: Online open-book examination has the potential to be the new normal in the present circumstances and beyond.

In recurrent tonsillitis, the pathogenic bacteria are harbored in the tonsil core, and therefore cultures of superficial swab samples are not particularly accurate in identifying specific types of core bacteria. On the other hand, the results of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cultures of core samples have been closely correlated with the findings of core cultures in excised tonsils, and both methods are far superior to surface swabbing. We conducted a prospective study to compare the accuracy of culture findings from tonsillar tissue obtained by surface swabbing, FNA sampling of the tonsil core in situ, and core sampling of the excised tonsil in children with recurrent tonsillitis. Our patient population was made up of 54 children—22 boys and 32 girls, aged 4 to 14 years (mean: 10.7)—who were undergoing elective tonsillectomy during a 1-year period. On the day of surgery, a surface swab, core FNA sample, and dissected core sample were obtained from each patient and sent for culture. Culture showed that the three methods were in agreement in 34 cases (63.0%). In 9 cases (16.7%) the surface swab culture grew different pathogens from those of the two core cultures, and in 3 other cases (5.6%) the surface swab culture was negative while the two core cultures were positive for the same pathogens. In all, the results of core FNA culture and dissected core culture were in agreement in 46 cases (85.2%); in only 4 cases (7.4%) did the core FNA culture fail to accurately identify the causative pathogens. Overall, the sensitivity and specificity of core FNA sampling were 100 and 50% respectively, compared with 82.9 and 30.8% for the superficial tonsillar swab. We conclude that routine culture of surface swab specimens in patients with chronic or recurrent tonsillitis is neither reliable nor valid. We recommend that core FNA sampling be considered the diagnostic method of choice since it can be done on an outpatient basis, it would reliably allow for culture-directed antibiotic therapy, and it could obviate the need for elective tonsillectomy in many cases. However, its feasibility as an office procedure in children remains to be determined.