Novel insights from sputum inflammometry to manage COPD exacerbations

( Parameswaran Nair ) 대한결핵 및 호흡기학회 2019 대한결핵 및 호흡기학회 추계학술대회 초록집 Vol.127 No.-

Quantitative sputum cytometry helps to assess the nature of bronchitis associated with exacerbations of COPD. This is not assessed in most clinical trials that evaluate the effectiveness of strategies to prevent or to treat exacerbations. While up to a quarter of exacerbations may be associated with raised eosinophil numbers, vast majority of exacerbations are associated with neutrophilic bronchitis that may indicate airway infections. While eosinophilia may be a predictor of response to corticosteroids (both oral and inhaled), the limited efficacy of anti-IL5 therapies would suggest that eosinophils may not directly contribute to those exacerbations. However, they may contribute to airspace enlargement in patients with COPD through various mechanisms involving IL-13 and MMP pathways. The absence of eosinophils may help to limit the unnecessary use of corticosteroids. The presence of neutrophiia could prompt an investigation for the specific pathogens in the airway. In addition, sputum measurements may also provide insights into mechanisms of susceptibility to airway infections. Iron within sputum macrophages, identified by hemosiderin staining (and by more direct quantification) may impair macrophage functions while low levels of immunoglobulins in sputum may also contribute to airway infections. Assessment of sputum at the time of exacerbations thus would help to customize treatment and treat current exacerbations and reduce the future risk of exacerbations.

Optical stimulation of cardiac cells with a polymer-supported silicon nanowire matrix

Parameswaran, Ramya,Koehler, Kelliann,Rotenberg, Menahem Y.,Burke, Michael J.,Kim, Jungkil,Jeong, Kwang-Yong,Hissa, Barbara,Paul, Michael D.,Moreno, Kiela,Sarma, Nivedina,Hayes, Thomas,Sudzilovsky, Ed National Academy of Sciences 2019 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF Vol.116 No.2

<P><B>Significance</B></P><P>Cardiac conduction disorders are potentially fatal illnesses caused by abnormalities in the heart’s electrical conduction system. Current treatments for these disorders, such as pacemakers, are effective but are bulky, rigid, and invasive. Here we develop a method to optically modulate cardiac beating frequency in primary cultured cardiomyocytes and adult rat hearts ex vivo, to a specified target frequency. Specifically, we use a low-irradiance moving laser stimulus and a biocompatible polymer–silicon nanowire composite material to achieve this modulation. This work has implications for future bioelectric studies of the cardiac conduction system as well as therapeutics for cardiac conduction disorders in the clinic.</P><P>Electronic pacemakers can treat electrical conduction disorders in hearts; however, they are invasive, bulky, and linked to increased incidence of infection at the tissue–device interface. Thus, researchers have looked to other more biocompatible methods for cardiac pacing or resynchronization, such as femtosecond infrared light pulsing, optogenetics, and polymer-based cardiac patches integrated with metal electrodes. Here we develop a biocompatible nongenetic approach for the optical modulation of cardiac cells and tissues. We demonstrate that a polymer–silicon nanowire composite mesh can be used to convert fast moving, low-radiance optical inputs into stimulatory signals in target cardiac cells. Our method allows for the stimulation of the cultured cardiomyocytes or ex vivo heart to beat at a higher target frequency.</P>

Biomarkers, biologics, and bio-imaging to manage severe asthma

( Parameswaran Nair ) 대한결핵 및 호흡기학회 2019 대한결핵 및 호흡기학회 추계학술대회 초록집 Vol.127 No.-

A fundamental principle in the management of severe asthma is to identify the components of the airway disease that contribute to the severity. The airway luminal inflammatory (ie bronchitic) component can be identified by applying new “omics” platforms such as proteomics, transcriptomics, or metabolomics. Simple sputum quantitative cytometry provides just as useful information that can be applied to clinical practice. The lecture will focus on the utility of biomarkers of airway inflammation (sputum cytometry and omics technology, FeNO, novel imaging including functional MRI and airway CT) to identify the inflammatory component in the airways of patients with severe asthma and how this could be applied in routine clinical practice to choose the appropriate monoclonal antibody therapy, particularly against IL-5 and IL4. The lecture will address the various predictors of success and failures of anti-IL5 therapies, including issues with inadequate dosing, the relevance of airway autoimmune responses, and the modulating effect of innate immune cells such as NK cells and macrophages on IL-5R-targeted ADCC. The utility of measurement of airway hyper-responsiveness and the assessment of the so-called non-T2 inflammation will also be discussed, and illustrated using clinical case scenarios.

ACUTE INTERMITTENT PORPHYRIA AND HYPER THYROIDISM : A CASE REPORT

Parameswaran, Ramachandran Nair,Pradeep,Nair, Krishnan 대한핵의학회 1984 핵의학 분자영상 Vol.18 No.1

Series D : Individual Strategies for Problem Solving

( Revathy Parameswaran ) 한국수학교육학회 2005 수학교육연구 Vol.9 No.1

THYROID ULTRASOUND : A REVIEW OF 405 CASES

Ramachandran Nair Parameswaran,Pradeep,Nair, Krishnan 대한핵의학회 1984 핵의학 분자영상 Vol.18 No.1

Autoimmune Responses in Severe Asthma

Manali Mukherjee,Parameswaran Nair 대한천식알레르기학회 2018 Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research Vol.10 No.5

Asthma and autoimmune diseases both result from a dysregulated immune system, and have been conventionally considered to have mutually exclusive pathogenesis. Autoimmunity is believed to be an exaggerated Th1 response, while asthma with a Th2 underpinning is congruent with the well-accepted Th1/Th2 paradigm. The hypothesis of autoimmune involvement in asthma has received much recent interest, particularly in the adult late-onset non-atopic patients (the “intrinsic asthma”). Over the past decades, circulating autoantibodies against diverse self-targets (beta-2-adrenergic receptors, epithelial antigens, nuclear antigens, etc.) have been reported and subsequently dismissed to be epiphenomena resulting from a chronic inflammatory condition, primarily due to lack of evidence of causality/pathomechanism. Recent evidence of ‘granulomas’ in the lung biopsies of severe asthmatics, detection of pathogenic sputum autoantibodies against autologous eosinophil proteins (e.g., eosinophil peroxidase) and inadequate response to monoclonal antibody therapies (e.g., subcutaneous mepolizumab) in patients with evidence of airway autoantibodies suggest that the role of autoimmune mechanisms be revisited. In this review, we have gathered available reports of autoimmune responses in the lungs, reviewed the evidence in the context of immunogenic tissue-response and danger-associated molecular patterns, and constructed the possibility of an autoimmune-associated pathomechanism that may contribute to the severity of asthma.

Adolescent civic engagement education centered in antiracist praxis

Arias Laura,Parameswaran Gowri 한국다문화교육학회 2021 Multicultural Education Review Vol.13 No.3

US youth have demonstrated a deeper involvement in social and political issues today than in earlier decades. This trend is reflected in more active voting behaviours as well as more protest and general activism efforts. This paper offers teachers ways to engage students in facilitating and infusing antiracism thought and behaviour into their civic engagement learning. One of the most significant social and political issues today is racial injustice and its deep connection to other forms of injustice sought to be remedied through political participation. Thus, understanding the relationship between antiracist action and civic and political involvement should be central to civic engagement education. Based on Freire’s discussions on praxis as well as his conceptualization of critical consciousness, which has been expanded on by more recent scholars, along with the scholarship on the necessity of antiracism in our society and schools, we formulate and present a conceptual framework, consisting of four major pillars, for antiracist civic engagement adolescent education. The pillars can be incorporated by antiracist educators with ease and can be scaffolded into their teaching. Each pillar is accompanied by practical exercises that instructors could use in their own antiracist teaching.

Dietary Antioxidant Activities in Different Germplasms of Mucuna

Sundaram Uma,Parameswaran Gurumoorthi 한국식품영양과학회 2013 Journal of medicinal food Vol.16 No.7

Mucuna pruriens, an underutilized native legume of South India has been reported to have high levels of L-Dopa, and used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. Cellular damage arising from reactive oxygen and nitrogen species is said to cause neurodegenerative disorders. Antioxidants could assuage this oxidative damage of tissue directly and/or indirectly by enhancing natural defenses and also scavenging the free radicals. In this context, the antioxidative potential of different germplasm of Mucuna species was analyzed. Assays were performed to evaluate the enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidants in the extracts. Methanolic extracts of Mucuna (black germplasm) yielded high levels dietary antioxidants viz., flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, steroids and phlobotannins qualitatively. Tannins, total phenols, flavanoids, and steroids accounted for 13.60 – 1.8 tannic acid equivalents, 58.47 – 3.19 gallic acid equivalents, 23.7 – 3.12 quercetin equivalents, and 20.3 – 1.01 mg per 100 mg b-sitosterol equivalents, respectively. Percentage of scavenging activity against hydroxyl, superoxide anion, nitric oxide, and hydrogen peroxide radicals were 39.12%; 57.1%; 41.26%, and 25.68%, respectively. Reducing capacity (17.74%) was seen to concurrently increase with extract concentration. Catalase, glutathione reductase, and polyphenol oxidase activities were found to be 30.15; 26.6 and 42.5 lmol/mg of protein, respectively. The methanolic extract yielded the most potent levels of dietary antioxidants and exhibited high free-radical–scavenging activity.

In vitro Antioxidant Activities of Methanol and Aqueous Extract of Annona squamosa (L.) Fruit Pulp

Elumalai Nandhakumar,Parameswaran Indumathi 사단법인약침학회 2013 Journal of Acupuncture & Meridian Studies Vol.6 No.3

The present study evaluated the antioxidant activity of the fruit of Annona squamosa by means of in vitro studies involving two different solvent extracts: methanol and aqueous. The antioxidant properties of the extract were determined by scavenging 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH), lipid peroxidation (LPO), nitric oxide (NO), superoxide anion (O₂-), hydroxyl radical (OHㆍ), reducing power and total antioxidant. The results showed that, compared to aqueous extract, a methanolic fruit extract of A squamosa has a higher percentage of inhibition of DPPH radical scavenging activity (97.99%), LPO (94.15%), NO scavenging activity (70.96%), O₂- scavenging activity and OHㆍ scavenging activity (78.68% and 85.25%, respectively), total antioxidant activity (206 µg α-tocopherol/g) and reducing power (56.0 µg of ascorbic acid/g). The results obtained in the in vitro models clearly suggest that methanol extract has higher antioxidant activity than the aqueous extract due to a higher presence of phenolic and flavonodal constituents in the methanol extract.