Universal to nonuniversal transition of the statistics of rare events during the spread of random walks

Through numerous experiments that analyzed rare event statistics in heterogeneous media, it was discovered that in many cases the probability density function for particle position, P(X,t), exhibits a slower decay rate than the Gaussian function. Typically, the decay behavior is exponential, referred to as Laplace tails. However, many systems exhibit an even slower decay rate, such as power-law, log-normal, or stretched exponential. In this study, we utilize the continuous-time random walk method to investigate the rare events in particle hopping dynamics and find that the properties of the hop size distribution induce a critical transition between the Laplace universality of rare events and a more specific, slower decay of P(X,t). Specifically, when the hop size distribution decays slower than exponential, such as e^{-|x|^{β}} (β>1), the Laplace universality no longer applies, and the decay is specific, influenced by a few large events, rather than by the accumulation of many smaller events that give rise to Laplace tails.

Automated bidirectional coupling of multiscale models of aerosol dosimetry: validation with subject-specific deposition data

Assessing the toxicity of airborne particulate matter or the efficacy of inhaled drug depends upon accurate estimates of deposited fraction of inhaled materials. In silico approaches can provide important insights into site- or airway-specific deposition of inhaled aerosols in the respiratory system. In this study, we improved on our recently developed 3D/1D model that simulate aerosol transport and deposition in the whole lung over multiple breath cycles (J. Aerosol Sci 151:105647). A subject-specific multiscale lung model of a healthy male subject using computational fluid-particle dynamics (CFPD) in a 3D model of the oral cavity through the large bronchial airways entering each lobe was bidirectionally coupled with a recently improved Multiple Path Particle Dosimetry (MPPD) model to predict aerosol deposition over the entire respiratory tract over multiple breaths for four conditions matching experimental aerosol exposures in the same subject from which the model was developed. These include two particle sizes (1 and 2.9 μm) and two subject-specific breathing rates of ~300 ml/s (slow breathing) and ~750 ml/s (fast breathing) at a target tidal volume of 1 L. In silico predictions of retained fraction were 0.31 and 0.29 for 1 μm and 0.66 and 0.62 for 2.9 μm during slow and fast breathing, respectively, and compared well with experimental data (1 μm: 0.31±0.01 (slow) and 0.27±0.01 (fast), 2.9 μm: 0.63±0.03 (slow) and 0.68±0.02 (fast)). These results provide a great deal of confidence in the validity and reliability of our approach.

Bernoulli trial under restarts: A comparative study of resetting transitions

A Bernoulli trial describing the escape behavior of a lamb to a safe haven in pursuit by a lion is studied under restarts. The process ends in two ways: either the lamb makes it to the safe haven (success) or is captured by the lion (failure). We study the first passage properties of this Bernoulli trial and find that only mean first passage time exists. Considering Poisson and sharp resetting, we find that the success probability is a monotonically decreasing function of the restart rate. The mean time, however, exhibits a nonmonotonic dependence on the restart rate taking a minimal value at an optimal restart rate. Furthermore, for sharp restart, the mean time possesses a local and a global minima. As a result, the optimal restart rate exhibits a continuous transition for Poisson resetting while it exhibits a discontinuous transition for sharp resetting as a function of the relative separation of the lion and the lamb. We also find that the distribution of first passage times under sharp resetting exhibits a periodic behavior.

Activation cross section for the (n,2n) and (n,p) reactions on 103Rh, 48Ti and 52Cr from reaction threshold up to 25 MeV energy region

Activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometric methods were used to measure the ground and isomeric state (n,2n) reaction cross section for 103Rh at two different neutron energies. The standard 27Al (n,α)24Na reference reaction was used to normalise neutron flux. The proton beam from the 14UD BARC-TIFR Pelletron facility in Mumbai, India, was utilised to create high-energy quasi-monoenergetic neutrons via the 7Li (p,n) reaction. Statistical model calculations including the level density, pre-equilibrium and optical potential model were performed using the TALYS (ver. 1.95) and EMPIRE (ver. 3.2.3) reaction codes. In addition, because of considerable discrepancies in measured data, the literature (n,p) reaction cross section of 52Cr and 48Ti targets were examined theoretically in the present work. The measured cross sections are discussed and compared with the latest evaluated data of the FENDL-3.2b, CENDL-3.2, TENDL-2019, JENDL-5.0, and ENDF/B-VIII.0 libraries, and experimental data based on the EXFOR compilation. The theoretical investigation of the (n,2n) reaction cross section was performed for the ground and isomeric state for the first time from reaction threshold to 25 MeV energies. The experimental data corresponding to the ground, isomeric state and isomeric ratio were reproduced consistently by the theoretical calculations. The present experimental results are good with certain literature data and theoretical values.

Glucometrics in the first week of critical illness and its association with mortality

OBJECTIVE

Evaluation of glucometrics in the first week of ICU stay and its association with outcomes.

DESIGN

Prospective observational study.

SETTING

Mixed ICU of teaching hospital.

PATIENTS

Adults initiated on insulin infusion for 2 consecutive blood glucose (BG) readings ≥180mg/dL.

MAIN VARIABLES OF INTEREST

Glucometrics calculated from the BG of first week of admission: hyperglycemia (BG>180mg/dL) and hypoglycemia (BG<70mg/dL) episodes; median, standard deviation (SD) and coefficient of variation (CV) of BG, glycemic lability index (GLI), time in target BG range (TIR). Factors influencing glucometrics and the association of glucometrics to patient outcomes analyzed.

RESULTS

A total of 5762 BG measurements in 100 patients of median age 55 years included. Glucometrics: hyperglycemia: 2253 (39%), hypoglycemia: 28 (0.48%), median BG: 169mg/dL (162-178.75), SD 31mg/dL (26-38.75), CV 18.6% (17.1-22.5), GLI: 718.5 [(mg/dL)²/h]/week (540.5-1131.5) and TIR 57% (50-67). Diabetes and higher APACHE II score were associated with higher SD and CV, and lower TIR. On multivariate regression, diabetes (p=0.009) and APACHE II score (p=0.016) were independently associated with higher SD. Higher SD and CV were associated with less vasopressor-free days; lower TIR with more blood-stream infections (BSI). Patients with higher SD, CV and GLI had a higher 28-day mortality. On multivariate analysis, GLI alone was associated with a higher mortality (OR 2.99, p=0.04).

CONCLUSIONS

Glycemic lability in the first week in ICU patients receiving insulin infusion is associated with higher mortality. Lower TIR is associated with more blood stream infections.

Knowledge and Information Resources about Child Abuse among Government and Private Dental Practitioner in Uttar Pradesh, India

Background and Aim

To evaluate knowledge, attitude, and information sources about child abuse and neglect (CAN) among dentists in Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh state, India.

Subjects and Methods

A cross-sectional online survey was carried out of dentist working in government and private hospitals in the Varanasi district, Uttar Pradesh State, India (n = 674). The structured questionnaire was sent through electronic mail that contained the consent form, instructions for filling, and returning the questionnaire. The data obtained were systematically compiled and the Chi-square test was applied to test the association. The significance level of P ≤ 0.05 was applied.

Results

A maximum number of dental practitioners from the government (81.97%) and private sector (85.98%) were aware of the child protection law. A significant number of government and private dental practitioners were satisfied with their knowledge (p = 0.0092); however, 83.79% suggested that the continuing education programs/courses were important tool to update their knowledge. The girl child was maximum sufferer (p = 0.0056) of CAN. Only 14.08% of practitioners acted on the suspected cases, and a statistical significant relation was observed between the government and private dental practitioners for not taking any action on child abuse and neglect (p = 0.0010).

Conclusions

Data from this study may provide a useful contribution to the current limited knowledge about the familiarity of dental practitioners with child maltreatment and their skills to recognize and manage CAN cases in their practice. The majority of dental practitioners knew about the child protection law in India, but they were reluctant to report such cases due to the fear of anger from the parents and family of the child. Continuing education programs/courses were the most preferred method for increasing the knowledge regarding CAN. They should report the CAN cases to local legislators and health authorities so to prevent child abuse and neglect from ever occurring.

Adverse Events Following Immunization Among Children Under Two Years of Age: A Prospective Observational Study From North India

BACKGROUND

Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective child survival health interventions. A single serious adverse event following immunization (AEFI) or a cluster of events may lead to a loss of public confidence in the program and a major setback to immunization coverage. This study was conducted to assess the incidence of AEFIs in children less than two years of age.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A prospective community-based observational study was conducted in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand from October 2017 to February 2018. A total of 255 children who attended the selected sub-centres for immunization were finally included in the study. Follow-up home visits on the 8th and 30th day of vaccination were carried out to identify any occurrences of AEFIs.

RESULTS

Among 255 children, 212 AEFIs from 152 vaccinated subjects were reported. The majority of the AEFIs were reported in the age group 0-1 years. The incidence of AEFIs was 33.0 per 100 doses of vaccines administered. The most common AEFI reported was fever (101, 47.6%), followed by swelling (53, 25.0%). Among the vaccines, Pentavalent + oral polio vaccine (OPV) (48.8 per 100 doses) was majorly responsible for AEFIs, followed by diphtheria pertussis tetanus (DPT) + measles and rubella (MR) + OPV (46.6 per 100 doses).

CONCLUSION

Our findings revealed that although the incidence of AEFI reported was high, all of them were minor and no serious AEFIs were identified. The awareness among health professionals and the public regarding the reporting of AEFIs should be continued to increase the safety profile of vaccines.

Genomic characterization of Lumpy Skin Disease virus (LSDV) from India: Circulation of Kenyan-like LSDV strains with unique kelch-like proteins

Lumpy skin disease (LSD) is an economically important poxviral disease endemic to Asia, Europe, and Africa. Recently, LSD has spread to naïve countries, including India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. Here, we describe the complete genomic characterization of LSDV from India, LSDV-WB/IND/19 isolated from an LSD affected calf in 2019 determined by Illumina next-generation sequencing (NGS). The LSDV-WB/IND/19 has a genome size of 150,969 bp encoding 156 putative ORFs. Phylogenetic analysis based on complete genome sequence suggested that LSDV-WB/IND/19 is closely related to Kenyan LSDV strains with 10-12 variants with non-synonymous changes confined to LSD_019, LSD_049, LSD_089, LSD_094, LSD_096, LSD_140, and LSD_144 genes. In contrast to complete kelch-like proteins in Kenyan LSDV strains, LSDV-WB/IND/19 LSD_019 and LSD_144 genes were found to encode truncated versions (019a, 019b, and 144a, 144b). LSD_019a and LSD_019b proteins of LSDV-WB/IND/19 resemble that of wild-type LSDV strains based on SNPs and the C-terminal part of LSD_019b except for deletion at K229, whereas the LSD_144a and LSD_144b proteins resemble that of Kenyan LSDV strains based on SNPs, however, C-terminal part of LSD_144a resembles that of vaccine-associated LSDV strains due to premature truncation. The NGS findings were confirmed by Sanger sequencing of these genes in Vero cell isolate as well as in the original skin scab along with similar findings in another Indian LSDV from scab specimen. LSD_019 and LSD_144 genes are thought to modulate virulence and host range in capripoxviruses. This study demonstrates the circulation of unique LSDV strains in India and highlights the importance of constant monitoring of the molecular evolution of LSDV and associated factors in the region in light of the emergence of recombinant LSDV strains.

Vaccination coverage and breakthrough infections of COVID-19 during the second wave among staff of selected medical institutions in India

India experienced the second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infection from April 3 to June 10, 2021. During the second wave, Delta variant B.1617.2 emerged as the predominant strain, spiking cases from 12.5 million to 29.3 million (cumulative) by the end of the surge in India. Vaccines against COVID-19 are a potent tool to control and end the pandemic in addition to other control measures. India rolled out its vaccination programme on January 16, 2021, initially with two vaccines that were given emergency authorization-Covaxin (BBV152) and Covishield (ChAdOx1 nCoV- 19). Vaccination was initially started for the elderly (60+) and front-line workers and then gradually opened to different age groups. The second wave hit when vaccination was picking up pace in India. There were instances of vaccinated people (fully and partially) getting infected, and reinfections were also reported. We undertook a survey of staff (front line health care workers and supporting) of 15 medical colleges and research institutes across India to assess the vaccination coverage, incidence of breakthrough infections, and reinfections among them from June 2 to July 10, 2021. A total of 1876 staff participated, and 1484 forms were selected for analysis after removing duplicates and erroneous entries (n = 392). We found that among the respondents at the time of response, 17.6% were unvaccinated, 19.8% were partially vaccinated (received the first dose), and 62.5% were fully vaccinated (received both doses). Incidence of breakthrough infections was 8.7% among the 801 individuals (70/801) tested at least 14 days after the 2nd dose of vaccine. Eight participants reported reinfection in the overall infected group and reinfection incidence rate was 5.1%. Out of (N = 349) infected individuals 243 (69.6%) were unvaccinated and 106 (30.3%) were vaccinated. Our findings reveal the protective effect of vaccination and its role as an essential tool in the struggle against this pandemic.

Attenuation of equine herpesvirus 1 through deletion of gE gene and its pathological evaluation in murine model

Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV1) infection is a global health problem in equines and the virus is responsible for abortions, respiratory disease and myeloencephalitis in horses. Disease management requires proper biosecurity and immunoprophylactic measures. Vaccines strengthening both arms of immunity are essential for proper control and there has been a continuous focus in this area for generation of better vaccines. Here we report construction of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) clone of EHV-1 strain Tohana for mutagenesis of the virus and generation of gE gene deletion mutant EHV1. The BAC clone was generated by inserting the mini-F plasmid replacing ORF71 of EHV1 and transforming into E. coli for generation of EHV1-BAC. The infectious virus was regenerated from EHV-1 BAC DNA in RK13 cells. To check utility of EHV1-BAC, we have generated mutant EHV1 by deleting the virulence-associated gE gene. The mutant virus (vToHΔgE) showed significantly reduced plaque size without affecting replication efficiency. Pathological evaluation of lesions in BALB/c mice infected with vToHΔgE revealed reduction in clinical signs and pathology in comparison to the wild-type virus. Generation of infectious BAC of EHV1 and its usage in construction of attenuated viruses shows potential of the technology for development of indigenous modified live vaccine for EHV1. Keywords: quine herpesvirus 1; bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC); mutation; glycoprotein E; vaccine.

Capture of a diffusing lamb by a diffusing lion when both return home

A diffusing lion pursues a diffusing lamb when both of them are allowed to get back to their homes intermittently. Identifying the system with a pair of vicious random walkers, we study their dynamics under Poissonian and sharp resetting. In the absence of any resets, the location of intersection of the two walkers follows a Cauchy distribution. In the presence of resetting, the distribution of the location of annihilation is composed of two parts: one in which the trajectories cross without being reset (center) and the other where trajectories are reset at least once before they cross each other (tails). We find that the tail part decays exponentially for both the resetting protocols. The central part of the distribution, on the other hand, depends on the nature of the restart protocol, with Cauchy for Poisson resetting and Gaussian for sharp resetting. We find good agreement of the analytical results with numerical calculations.

A single amino acid substitution in the VP2 protein of Indian foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype O vaccine strain confers thermostability and protective immunity in cattle

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a significant threat to animal health globally. Prophylactic vaccination using inactivated FMD virus (FMDV) antigen is being practised for the control in endemic countries. A major limitation of the current vaccine is its susceptibility to high environmental temperature causing loss of immunogenicity, thus necessitating the cold chain for maintenance of its efficacy. Hence, the FMD vaccine with thermostable virus particles will be highly useful in sustaining the integrity of whole virus particle (146S) during storage at 4°C. In this study, 12 recombinant mutants of Indian vaccine strain of FMDV serotype O (O/IND/R2/1975) were generated through reverse genetics approach and evaluated for thermostability. One of the mutant viruses, VP2_Y98F was more thermostable than other mutants and the parent FMDV. The oil-adjuvanted vaccine formulated with the inactivated VP2_Y98F mutant FMDV was stable up to 8 months when stored at 4°C and induced protective antibody response till dpv 180 after primary vaccination. It is concluded that the VP2_Y98F mutant FMDV was thermostable and has the potential to replace the parent vaccine strain.

Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a free ranging leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) in India

We report an incidence of natural infection of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca). The case was detected during routine screening. Post-mortem and laboratory examination suggested virus-induced interstitial pneumonia. Viral genome could be detected in various organs including brain, lung, spleen, and lymph nodes by real-time PCR. Whole-genome sequence analysis confirmed infection of Pango lineage B.1.617.2 of SARS-CoV-2. Till now, only Asiatic lions have been reported to be infected by SARS-CoV-2 in India. Infections in animals were detected during peak phase of pandemic and all the cases were captive with close contacts with humans, whereas the present case was observed when human cases were significantly low. No tangible evidence linked to widespread infection in the wild population and the incidence seems to be isolated case. High nucleotide sequence homology with prevailing viruses in humans suggested spillover infection to the animal. This report underlines the need for intensive screening of wild animals for keeping track of the virus evolution and development of carrier status of SARS-CoV-2 among wildlife species.

Prospective Comparison of Facial Soft Tissue Changes Using 2D Photographs and 3D Scanning After En Masse Dentoalveolar Maxillary Distalization Using Tads

Introduction: This prospective clinical study was undertaken to analyse the three-dimensional facial soft tissue changes after en-masse maxillary distalization using 3D structured light-based scanner and facial photographs and to compare the two diagnostic aids. Materials and Method: 12 Indian adult patients of 17- 23 years of age with unilateral or bilateral class II molar relationship and those indicated for en-masse distalization. A pre-operative and post-operative extra oral 3D scan and 2D photographs were obtained for each subject. A prospective comparative evaluation of 10 lateral and 20 frontal soft tissue parameters was done. Result: When pre to post comparison was made in different study parameters using paired t test, none of the study parameter showed significant difference. Conclusion: The laser facial scanning can be considered as a useful and reliable tool to analyze the circumoral region for orthodontic and orthognathic surgical diagnosis and treatment planning. The difference in facial soft tissue changes evaluated using 3D scans and 2D photographs was also not statistically significant.

Long-term protective immunity to goatpox in goats after a single immunization with a live attenuated goatpox vaccine

In this study, the duration of immunity following a single-dose vaccination using an attenuated live goatpox vaccine (GTPV/Uttarkashi/1978 strain) was evaluated in goatpox-seronegative goats for 52 months. Long-term immunity was evaluated by clinical protection upon virulent virus challenge and serum neutralization assay applied to serum samples. The rise in the level of GTPV-specific antibodies was found to reach a maximum at 21 days post-vaccination, and these antibodies were maintained for 1 to 2 years after immunization, with a steady decline. Upon virulent virus challenge at 12, 24, 42, and 52 months post-vaccination, protection in all the vaccinated animals was evident (100%), whereas, the control animals developed severe clinical disease. This is the first time that the long-term immunity of a live goatpox vaccine has been investigated up to 52 months after vaccination in goats by virulent virus challenge and demonstration of serum neutralization titres. This vaccine has immense potential for controlling and eradicating goatpox from an enzootic region.

General approach to stochastic resetting

We address the effect of stochastic resetting on diffusion and subdiffusion process. For diffusion we find that mean square displacement relaxes to a constant only when the distribution of reset times possess finite mean and variance. In this case, the leading order contribution to the probability density function (PDF) of a Gaussian propagator under resetting exhibits a cusp independent of the specific details of the reset time distribution. For subdiffusion we derive the PDF in Laplace space for arbitrary resetting protocol. Resetting at constant rate allows evaluation of the PDF in terms of H function. We analyze the steady state and derive the rate function governing the relaxation behavior. For a subdiffusive process the steady state could exist even if the distribution of reset times possesses only finite mean.

Coordination issues in managing the reverse supply chain: a systematic literature review and future research directions

Purpose

Reverse supply chain (RSC) is one of the ways to handle product returns efficiently. Recovery of residual value from product returns also helps in achieving sustainability. Its successful implementation requires coordination among all the channel members involved in the activities, from the acquisition to collection to the disposition of returned products. This article aims to review the literature about coordination issues in the RSC.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review of 151 articles published during 2004–2021 is carried out. Theory, context and methodology (TCM) framework of the literature review is used to identify the research gaps for future research directions.

Findings

This study identifies the characteristics of RSC coordination. It includes channel structures; coordination mechanisms; performance measuring parameters; the methodology applied and explored industries. The review shows that game-theoretical modeling in RSC coordination is the most commonly used method to coordinate the channels. It was found that issues like disruption, fairness and corporate social responsibility are not explored in-depth and offer much potential for future research.

Originality/value

There are very limited studies on coordination issues in the RSC. The proposed articles add value by considering RSC issues from different strategic, government, consumers' behavior and functionality decision-making point of view.

SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein and ACE2 Interaction Reveals Modulation of Viral Entry in Wild and Domestic Animals

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a viral pathogen causing life-threatening diseases in humans. Interaction between the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a potential factor in the infectivity of a host. In this study, the interaction of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with its receptor, ACE2, in different hosts was evaluated to predict the probability of viral entry. Phylogeny and alignment comparison of the ACE2 sequences did not lead to any meaningful conclusion on viral entry in different hosts. The binding ability between ACE2 and the spike protein was assessed to delineate several spike binding parameters of ACE2. A significant difference between the known infected and uninfected species was observed for six parameters. However, these parameters did not specifically categorize the Orders into infected or uninfected. Finally, a logistic regression model constructed using spike binding parameters of ACE2, revealed that in the mammalian class, most of the species of Carnivores, Artiodactyls, Perissodactyls, Pholidota, and Primates had a high probability of viral entry. However, among the Proboscidea, African elephants had a low probability of viral entry. Among rodents, hamsters were highly probable for viral entry with rats and mice having a medium to low probability. Rabbits have a high probability of viral entry. In Birds, ducks have a very low probability, while chickens seemed to have medium probability and turkey showed the highest probability of viral entry. The findings prompt us to closely follow certain species of animals for determining pathogenic insult by SARS-CoV-2 and for determining their ability to act as a carrier and/or disseminator.

Differential expression of long non-coding RNAs under Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) infection in goats

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) characterized by fever, sore mouth, conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia, is an acute, highly contagious viral disease of sheep and goats. The role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in PPRV infection has not been explored to date. In this study, the transcriptome profiles of virulent Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) infected goat tissues – lung and spleen were analyzed to identify the role of lncRNAs in PPRV infection. A total of 13,928 lncRNA transcripts were identified, out of which 170 were known lncRNAs. Intergenic lncRNAs (7625) formed the major chunk of the novel lncRNA transcripts. Differential expression analysis revealed that 15 lncRNAs (11 downregulated and 4 upregulated) in the PPRV infected spleen samples and 16 lncRNAs (13 downregulated and 3 upregulated) in PPRV infected lung samples were differentially expressed as compared to control. The differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs) possibly regulate various immunological processes related to natural killer cell activation, antigen processing and presentation, and B cell activity, by regulating the expression of mRNAs through the cis- or trans-regulatory mechanism. Functional enrichment analysis of differentially expressed mRNAs (DEmRNAs) revealed enrichment of immune pathways and biological processes in concordance with the pathways in which correlated lncRNA-neighboring genes were enriched. The results suggest that a coordinated immune response is raised in both lung and spleen tissues of the goat through mRNA-lncRNA crosstalk.

The complete genome sequence of Indian sheeppox vaccine virus and comparative analysis with other capripoxviruses

Sheeppox virus (SPPV) is responsible for a significant economic loss to sheep husbandry in enzootic regions of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia including the Indian subcontinent. In this study, we present the complete genome sequence of SPPV vaccine strain SPPV-Srin38/00 from India determined by next-generation sequencing (NGS) using Illumina technology. The attenuated Srinagar vaccine strain of SPPV (SPPV-Srin38/00) was developed by serial passaging the virus initially in lamb testes (LT) cells followed by Vero cell line. The SPPV-Srin38/00 virus has a genome size of 150, 103 bp, which encodes for 147 functional putative genes and consists of a central coding region flanked by two identical 2353 bp inverted terminal repeats (ITRs). Comparative phylogenetic analysis based on complete genome sequences of Capripoxviruses formed three distinct groups each for SPPV, GTPV, and LSDV with clustering of SPPV-Srin38/00 strain with SPPV-A strain. Nine ORFs of SPPV-Srin38/00 namely SPPV-Srin_002/SPPV-Srin_155, SPPV-Srin_004/SPPV-Srin_153, SPPV-Srin_009, SPPV-Srin_013, SPPV-Srin_026, SPPV-Srin_132, and SPPV-Srin_136 were found to be fragmented as compared to LSDV, whereas only one ORF (such as SPPV-Srin_136) was found to be fragmented as compared to GTPV. SPPV genomes, including the SPPV-Srin38/00 strain, shared 99.78-99.98% intraspecies nucleotide identity, indicating that SPPV strains have extremely low genetic diversity. The strain shared 96.80-97.08% and 97.11-97.61% nt identity with GTPV and LSDV strains, respectively. Its ORFs 016, 021, 022, 130 and 138 are the least identical ORFs among three species of the genus Capripoxvirus with 72.5-93% aa identity to GTPV and LSDV strains and may be potentially used for differentiation of CaPV species. This study may contribute to a better understanding of the epidemiology and evolution of capripoxviruses as well as the development of specific detection methods, better expression vectors, and vaccines with improved safety and efficacy.

Isolation and genetic characterization of canine adenovirus type 2 from a domestic dog showing neurological symptoms

Canine adenoviruses (CAVs) are of two types: canine adenovirus type 1 (CAV-1), which causes infectious canine hepatitis, and canine adenovirus type 2 (CAV-2), which is mainly associated with the respiratory type of disease in dogs. Due to the widespread use of modified live vaccines to control canine adenoviral infections and subsequently reduced disease incidence, CAVs are often neglected by clinicians. Although a number of studies are available about CAV-1 prevalence in India, only meagre information is available about CAV-2. This study reports the CAV-2 infection in a vaccinated dog with neurological and respiratory symptoms which was found negative for other canine pathogens like canine distemper virus and canine parvovirus. The virus was successfully isolated from rectal swab in MDCK cells and characterized by immunofluorescence assay and virus neutralization test. On phylogenetic analysis of partial E3 region, the Indian CAV-2 grouped in a separate clade different from established subgroups. An insertion of "G" nucleotide was reported at nucleotide (nt.) position 1077 in the E3 gene of Indian CAV-2 isolates which led to a frameshift in the coding region of E3 gene thereby imparting additional eleven amino acids to its C-terminal end in comparison to isolates from other parts of the world. This may have an implication on the functional role of E3 protein inside the cell. This study reinforces the unique signature insertion in the E3 gene of Indian CAV-2 and is the second study in the world to report the association of CAV-2 with neurological disease in dogs.

The Profile of Infantile Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis in a Tertiary Children's Hospital in Nepal

Introduction: Infantile Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis (IHPS) is the most common surgical cause of non-bilious vomiting in infancy and in the developed world. It is more common among male infants with a peak age at presentation of 4 weeks. This study aims to review the mean age at the time of diagnosis, serum electrolyte changes, ultrasonographic pyloric dimensions and surgical outcomes in IHPS at a tertiary children’s hospital in Nepal. Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients with IHPS who presented to Kanti Children’s Hospital between June 2016 and June 2020 was performed. Data on age, sex, laboratory and ultrasonographic dimensions, treatment and outcomes of treatment were collected and analysed. Results: The clinical record of 150 infants were retrieved and analysed who were diagnosed according to the clinical manifestations, laboratory and ultrasound examination from 2016 to 2020. The mean age at presentation was 46.57 ± 27.3 days with male preponderance of 84%. The proportion of IHPS cases with hyponatremia and hypokalemia was 31.3% and 18.0% respectively. The mean pyloric muscle thickness and pyloric length was 5.4 mm and 20.28 mm respectively. All cases were managed with Ramstedt pyloromyotomy with an average length of hospital stay of 5.03 days. There was no mortality and also no significant major complications. Conclusions: This study has shown that IHPS is a common condition in our setting. More attention should be paid to diagnose early. Paediatricians and general surgeons should have high index of suspicion in infants with non-bilious vomiting to avoid delay in diagnosis.

Identification and characterization of DNA aptamers specific to VP2 protein of canine parvovirus

Abstract

Canine parvovirus‐2 (CPV‐2) is ubiquitously distributed in dog population worldwide causing a severe and often fatal gastroenteritis. Owing to its highly contagious nature, rapid detection of CPV is crucial in effective control of the disease. Aptamers have emerged as potential alternative to antibodies as affinity reagents in diagnostic field. Present study was aimed to select and validate ssDNA aptamers specific to CPV. Systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment (SELEX) method was employed for selection of CPV structural protein (VP2) specific DNA aptamers. SELEX was performed using a pool of ssDNA library comprising 30 random nucleotide region. A total of seven rounds of SELEX were performed using VP2 protein as target antigen which yielded ten aptamers (1A-10A) with distinct sequences. Target binding of all ten aptamers was assessed by dot blot and enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assay (ELONA) which revealed that 5A, 6A, 9A, and 10A were superior binders. In silico analysis of the aptamers revealed the existence of binding site on VP2 protein, and binding pattern was similar to in vitro findings. The affinity (K_D) of all these four binders against CPV was evaluated by ELONA indicating relatively higher affinity of 6A and 10A than remaining two DNA sequences. Out of which, aptamer 6A displayed cross-reactivity with canine distemper virus and canine corona virus. Hence, aptamer 10A was considered as better binding sequence having high specificity and affinity for CPV. The study confirms the future utility of selected aptamers in development of a reliable diagnostic for rapid detection of CPV.

Key points

• Canine parvovirus-specific ssDNA aptamers were identified with nanomolar affinity (100–150 nM).

• Three aptamers displayed negligible cross-reactivity with other related viruses.

• Aptamer 10A displayed high binding affinity and specificity to CPV.

Graphical abstract

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00253-021-11651-x.

Deep-AFPpred: identifying novel antifungal peptides using pretrained embeddings from seq2vec with 1DCNN-BiLSTM

Fungal infections or mycosis cause a wide range of diseases in humans and animals. The incidences of community acquired; nosocomial fungal infections have increased dramatically after the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in number of patients with immunodeficiency / immunosuppression related diseases, resistance to existing antifungal compounds and availability of limited therapeutic options has triggered the search for alternative antifungal molecules. In this direction, antifungal peptides (AFPs) have received a lot of interest as an alternative to currently available antifungal drugs. Although the AFPs are produced by diverse population of living organisms, identifying effective AFPs from natural sources is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, there is a need to develop a robust in silico model capable of identifying novel AFPs in protein sequences. In this paper, we propose Deep-AFPpred, a deep learning classifier that can identify AFPs in protein sequences. We developed Deep-AFPpred using the concept of transfer learning with 1DCNN-BiLSTM deep learning algorithm. The findings reveal that Deep-AFPpred beats other state-of-the-art AFP classifiers by a wide margin and achieved approximately 96% and 94% precision on validation and test data, respectively. Based on the proposed approach, an online prediction server is created and made publicly available at https://afppred.anvil.app/. Using this server, one can identify novel AFPs in protein sequences and the results are provided as a report that includes predicted peptides, their physicochemical properties and motifs. By utilizing this model, we identified AFPs in different proteins, which can be chemically synthesized in lab and experimentally validated for their antifungal activity.

Proteome Modulation in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Peste des Petits Ruminants Vaccinated Goats and Sheep

In the present study, healthy goats and sheep (n = 5) that were confirmed negative for peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) antibodies by monoclonal antibody-based competitive ELISA and by serum neutralization test and for PPRV antigen by s-ELISA were vaccinated with Sungri/96. A quantitative study was carried out to compare the proteome of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of vaccinated goat and sheep [5 days post-vaccination (dpv) and 14 dpv] vs. unvaccinated (0 day) to divulge the alteration in protein expression following vaccination. A total of 232 and 915 proteins were differentially expressed at 5 and 14 dpv, respectively, in goats. Similarly, 167 and 207 proteins were differentially expressed at 5 and 14 dpv, respectively, in sheep. Network generated by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was “infectious diseases, antimicrobial response, and inflammatory response,” which includes the highest number of focus molecules. The bio functions, cell-mediated immune response, and humoral immune response were highly enriched in goats at 5 dpv and at 14 dpv. At the molecular level, the immune response produced by the PPRV vaccine virus in goats is effectively coordinated and stronger than that in sheep, though the vaccine provides protection from virulent virus challenge in both. The altered expression of certain PBMC proteins especially ISG15 and IRF7 induces marked changes in cellular signaling pathways to coordinate host immune responses.

An updated review on bluetongue virus: epidemiology, pathobiology, and advances in diagnosis and control with special reference to India

Bluetongue (BT) is an economically important, non-contagious viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants. BT is caused by BT virus (BTV) and it belongs to the genus Orbivirus and family Reoviridae. BTV is transmitted by Culicoides midges and causes clinical disease in sheep, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, and subclinical manifestation in cattle, goats and camelids. BT is a World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) listed multispecies disease and causes great socio-economic losses. To date, 28 serotypes of BTV have been reported worldwide and 23 serotypes have been reported from India. Transplacental transmission (TPT) and fetal abnormalities in ruminants had been reported with cell culture adopted live-attenuated vaccine strains of BTV. However, emergence of BTV-8 in Europe during 2006, confirmed TPT of wild-type/field strains of BTV. Diagnosis of BT is more important for control of disease and to ensure BTV-free trade of animals and their products. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, agar gel immunodiffusion assay and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay are found to be sensitive and OIE recommended tests for diagnosis of BTV for international trade. Control measures include mass vaccination (most effective method), serological and entomological surveillance, forming restriction zones and sentinel programs. Major hindrances with control of BT in India are the presence of multiple BTV serotypes, high density of ruminant and vector populations. A pentavalent inactivated, adjuvanted vaccine is administered currently in India to control BT. Recombinant vaccines with DIVA strategies are urgently needed to combat this disease. This review is the first to summarise the seroprevalence of BTV in India for 40 years, economic impact and pathobiology.

Skeletal Expansion with GSR Expander

This article reports two cases treated with a modified Miniscrew Assisted Rapid Palatal Expander (MARPE) that was fabricated in-office. Two female patients aged 15 years and 18 years were treated for maxillary expansion. An in-office modified GSR Expander was used. The appliance was secured in the patient’s maxillary arch using four miniscrews. Expansion was carried out for 4 weeks and 2 weeks respectively. Considerable opening of mid palatal suture with skeletal expansion was observed. An economical and effective alternative to stock made MARPE with better adaptability and clinical modifiability.

AniAMPpred: artificial intelligence guided discovery of novel antimicrobial peptides in animal kingdom

With advancements in genomics, there has been substantial reduction in the cost and time of genome sequencing and has resulted in lot of data in genome databases. Antimicrobial host defense proteins provide protection against invading microbes. But confirming the antimicrobial function of host proteins by wet-lab experiments is expensive and time consuming. Therefore, there is a need to develop an in silico tool to identify the antimicrobial function of proteins. In the current study, we developed a model AniAMPpred by considering all the available antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) of length $\in $[10 200] from the animal kingdom. The model utilizes a support vector machine algorithm with deep learning-based features and identifies probable antimicrobial proteins (PAPs) in the genome of animals. The results show that our proposed model outperforms other state-of-the-art classifiers, has very high confidence in its predictions, is not biased and can classify both AMPs and non-AMPs for a diverse peptide length with high accuracy. By utilizing AniAMPpred, we identified 436 PAPs in the genome of Helobdella robusta. To further confirm the functional activity of PAPs, we performed BLAST analysis against known AMPs. On detailed analysis of five selected PAPs, we could observe their similarity with antimicrobial proteins of several animal species. Thus, our proposed model can help the researchers identify PAPs in the genome of animals and provide insight into the functional identity of different proteins. An online prediction server is also developed based on the proposed approach, which is freely accessible at https://aniamppred.anvil.app/.

Genome-wide detection of copy number variations in Tharparkar cattle

Copy number variations (CNVs) are major forms of genetic variation with an increasing importance in animal genomics. This study used the Illumina BovineSNP 50 K BeadChip to detect the genome-wide CNVs in the Tharparkar cattle. With the aid of PennCNV software, we noticed a total of 447 copy number variation regions (CNVRs) across the autosomal genome, occupying nearly 2.17% of the bovine genome. The average size of detected CNVRs was found to be 122.2 kb, the smallest CNVR being 50.02 kb in size, to the largest being 1,232.87 Kb. Enrichment analyses of the genes in these CNVRs gave significant associations with molecular adaptation-related Gene Ontology (GO) terms. Most CNVR genes were significantly enriched for specific biological functions; signaling pathways, sensory responses to stimuli, and various cellular processes. In addition, QTL analysis of CNVRs described them to be linked with economically essential traits in cattle. The findings here provide crucial information for constructing a more comprehensive CNVR map for the indigenous cattle genome.

Assessment of fitness of foot-and-mouth disease virus A IND 27/2011 as candidate vaccine strain

Antigenic profiling of recent field outbreak strains of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype A in India has revealed considerable antigenic drift from the vaccine strain, A IND 40/2000, necessitating the selection of a new strain. The complete genome sequence of A IND 27/2011 was analysed. Vaccine quality attributes of the new candidate strain including potency as an inactivated vaccine in cattle were evaluated. The capsid coding region of A IND 27/2011 showed variation at eight antigenically critical amino acid positions from that of A IND 40/2000. The strain suited well with traits required by a vaccine in terms of its adaptability to adherent and suspension cell line, its immunogenicity, and potency as an inactivated vaccine formulation in cattle. Complete protection was observed upon homologous virus challenge at 4 weeks post-vaccination. Taken together, these data demonstrate the suitability of A IND 27/2011 as an effective vaccine strain of FMDV serotype A.

Fugitive dust emission control study for a developed smart dry fog system

Air pollution due to dust emission is continuously increasing day by day in mining and allied industrial areas. Mining operations contribute a substantial amount of dust emission at the crushing, screening, and bulk material handling in loading areas. The ambient suspended dust particles create a severe nuisance to workers and local dwellers. For effective controlling of positive dust emission, an innovative automated dry fog dust suppression system (DFDSS) has been developed using hybrid nozzles, sensors, actuators, controllers, screw compressors, air receivers, pumps, motors, and water arrangement with filtration facility. The DFDSS was installed in a crushing and screening plant of an iron ore mine in India. Performance study indicted fugitive dust emission concentration values ranged from 354 to 7040 μg m^-3, which was reduced to 91-300 μg m^-3 after installation of DFDSS. The reduced values were within the permissible limit of 1200 μg m^-3 at a distance of 25 ± 2 m in the predominant downwind direction. The installed DFDSS added a meager addition of moisture content of 0.032% in the handling iron ore material, which was below the acceptable limit of 0.1%. The DFDSS precisely regulated fugitive dust emission from various mining activities without affecting the minerals processing performance. Thus, the DFDSS can be implemented effectively in different mining and allied industries where there is a dust emission problem.

A comprehensive review on the applications of functionalized chitosan in petroleum industry

The biomaterials have gained the attention for utilization as sustainable alternatives for petroleum-derived products due to the rapid depletion of petroleum resources and environmental issues. Chitosan is an economical, renewable and abundant polysaccharide having unique molecular characteristics. Chitosan is derived by deacetylation of chitin, a natural polysaccharide existing in insects' exoskeleton, outer shells of crustaceans, and some fungi cell walls. Chitosan is widely used in numerous domains like agriculture, food, water treatment, medicine, cosmetics, fisheries, packaging, and chemical industry. This review aims to account for all the efforts made towards chitosan and its derivatives for utilization in the petroleum industry and related processes including exploration, extraction, refining, transporting oil spillages, and wastewater treatment. This review includes a compilation of various chemical modifications of chitosan to enhance the petroleum field's performance and applicability.

Deep-ABPpred: identifying antibacterial peptides in protein sequences using bidirectional LSTM with word2vec

The overuse of antibiotics has led to emergence of antimicrobial resistance, and as a result, antibacterial peptides (ABPs) are receiving significant attention as an alternative. Identification of effective ABPs in lab from natural sources is a cost-intensive and time-consuming process. Therefore, there is a need for the development of in silico models, which can identify novel ABPs in protein sequences for chemical synthesis and testing. In this study, we propose a deep learning classifier named Deep-ABPpred that can identify ABPs in protein sequences. We developed Deep-ABPpred using bidirectional long short-term memory algorithm with amino acid level features from word2vec. The results show that Deep-ABPpred outperforms other state-of-the-art ABP classifiers on both test and independent datasets. Our proposed model achieved the precision of approximately 97 and 94% on test dataset and independent dataset, respectively. The high precision suggests applicability of Deep-ABPpred in proposing novel ABPs for synthesis and experimentation. By utilizing Deep-ABPpred, we identified ABPs in the tail protein sequences of Streptococcus bacteriophages, chemically synthesized identified peptides in lab and tested their activity in vitro. These ABPs showed potent antibacterial activity against selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, which confirms the capability of Deep-ABPpred in identifying novel ABPs in protein sequences. Based on the proposed approach, an online prediction server is also developed, which is freely accessible at https://abppred.anvil.app/. This web server takes the protein sequence as input and provides ABPs with high probability (>0.95) as output.

Helmet shielding effect in mandibular fractures during road traffic accident

Objective:

The objectives of this study are to evaluate the proportion of helmeted and nonhelmeted patients sustaining mandibular fractures.

Materials and Methods:

A retrospective study was conducted on 200 patients reporting to oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMFS) unit, trauma center, and department of OMFS. A predesigned questionnaire was used to collect the necessary data. Patients were evaluated for age, gender, mode of transport (2/4 wheeler), presence of safety measure at the time of accident (helmet/seatbelt), maxillofacial injury in two wheeler (with helmet and without helmet), type of impact, and its association to maxillofacial fractures, particularly site of maxillofacial fractures. The association between mode of injury, presence of safety measures, impact type, and site of maxillofacial injuries was assessed using the Chi-square test. P < 0.5 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

The mean age of patients was 30 years, and approximately 92.5% of accidents patients were male. In this study, 35% nonhelmeted riders were reported head injury and 5% of the helmeted rider reported head injury. 54.5% of the patients suffered frontal impact, 28% collision, and 17.5% lateral slide collision. Head injuries are the main cause of death among the riders of all two wheelers. Lateral sliding collision injuries (17.5%) resulted 60.6% of the fractures mandible, 24.2% midface injury, and associated injury (15.15%).

Conclusion:

The use of helmet is strongly recommended to prevent head injuries and facial injuries. In the nonhelmeted riders in motorcycle accidents, the incidence of mandible fractures increases proportionally.

Genomic scans for selection signatures revealed candidate genes for adaptation and production traits in a variety of cattle breeds

Domestication and selection are the major driving forces responsible for the determinative genetic variability in livestock. These selection patterns create unique genetic signatures within the genome. BovineSNP50 chip data from 236 animals (seven indicine and five taurine cattle breeds) were analyzed in the present study. We implemented three complementary approaches viz. iHS (Integrated haplotype score), ROH (Runs of homozygosity), and F_ST, to detect selection signatures. A total of 179, 56, and 231 regions revealed 518, 277, and 267 candidate genes identified by iHS, ROH, and F_ST methods, respectively. We found several candidate genes (e.g., NCR3, ARID5A, HIST1H2BN, DEFB4, DEFB7, HSPA1L, HSPA1B, and DNAJB4) related to production traits and the adaptation of indigenous breeds to local environmental constraints such as heat stress and disease susceptibility. However, further studies are warranted to refine the findings using a larger sample size, whole-genome sequencing, and/or high density genotyping.

SNPs with intermediate minor allele frequencies facilitate accurate breed assignment of Indian Tharparkar cattle

Tharparkar cattle breed is widely known for its superior milch quality and hardiness attributes. This study aimed to develop an ultra-low density breed-specific single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotype panel to accurately quantify Tharparkar populations in biological samples. In this study, we selected and genotyped 72 Tharparkar animals randomly from Cattle & Buffalo Farm of IVRI, India. This Bovine SNP50 BeadChip genotypic datum was merged with the online data from six indigenous cattle breeds and five taurine breeds. Here, we used a combination of pre-selection statistics and the MAF-LD method developed in our laboratory to analyze the genotypic data obtained from 317 individuals of 12 distinct breeds to identify breed-informative SNPs for the selection of Tharparkar cattle. This methodology identified 63 unique Tharparkar-specific SNPs near intermediate gene frequencies. We report several informative SNPs in genes/QTL regions affecting phenotypes or production traits that might differentiate the Tharparkar breed.

Production of compost with biopesticide property from toxic weed Lantana: Quantification of alkaloids in compost and bacterial pathogen suppression

Toxic weed Lantana camara foliage was composted with cow dung in 2:1 and 1:1 ratio (v/v) and changes in physicochemical characteristics, and faecal coliform bacterial population (Escherichia coli and Salmonella) was estimated for 35 d. Results showed a significant increase in total N (1.48-1.69-folds), Paval (6.87-9.19-folds), and total K (1.08-1.23-folds) content, while a decrease in C/N ratio (1.87-2.13-folds) and total organic carbon (1.12-1.46-folds) after composting process. Germination index (GI) results (> 70 %) suggested the non-toxic property of Lantana compost against tested rapeseed mustard seeds. E. coli and Salmonella population reduced to the safe limit after 35 d composting. Compost extract (sterilized and non-sterilized) (from 2:1 setup) showed about 0.88 - 1.08-, 0.88 - 0.96-, 0.83 - 0.94-, and 0.79-1.08-folds higher inhibition in Xanthomonas citrus, Xanthomonas campestris, Erwinia carotovora, and Pseudomonas aerogenosa, respectively, indicating strong pathogen-inhibiting substances in Lantanacompost. GC-MS analysis of compost extract indicated the presence of isomers of several compounds of biocidal property - hexadecane (9-hexyl and 9-octyl); 2-tridecyl ester; eicosane; tetradecane, heptacosane (1-chloro- and 9-hexyl); heptadecane, octadecane, 3-ethyl-5-(2-ethylbutyl)-, heptacosane, tetradecane, 2,6,10-trimethyl-, etc.). Result revealed that Lantana compost could be used as biomanure with biopesticide properties for sustainable organic farming system.

Efficient bi-directional coupling of 3D Computational Fluid-Particle Dynamics and 1D Multiple Path Particle Dosimetry lung models for multiscale modeling of aerosol dosimetry

The development of predictive aerosol dosimetry models has been a major focus of environmental toxicology and pharmaceutical health research for decades. One-dimensional (1D) models successfully predict overall deposition averages but fail to accurately predict local deposition. Computational fluid-particle dynamics (CFPD) models provide site-specific predictions but at a computational cost that prohibits whole lung predictions. Thus, there is a need for developing multiscale strategies to provide a realistic subject-specific picture of the fate of inhaled aerosol in the lungs. CT-based 3D/CFPD models of the large airways were bidirectionally coupled with individualized 1D Navier-Stokes airflow and particle transport based upon the widely used Multiple Path Particle Dosimetry Model (MPPD). Distribution of airflows among lobes was adjusted by measured lobar volume changes observed in CT images between FRC and FRC + 1.5 L. As a test of the effectiveness of the coupling procedures, deposition modeling of previous 1 μm aerosol exposure studies was performed. The complete coupled model was run for 3 breaths, with the computation-intense portion being the 3D CFPD Lagrangian particle tracking calculation. The average deposition per breath was 11% in the combined multiscale model with site-specific doses available in the CFPD portion of the model and airway- or region-specific deposition available for the MPPD portion. In conclusion, the key methods developed in this study enable predictions of ventilation heterogeneities and aerosol deposition across the lungs that are not captured by 3D or 1D models alone. These methods can be used as the foundation for multi-scale modeling of the full respiratory system.

Effect of duloxetine in temporomandibular joint disorders: A comparison with arthrocentesis

Purpose

This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) arthrocentesis, duloxetine therapy alone, and duloxetine in combination with TMJ arthrocentesis in the treatment of painful TMJ.

Materials and Methods

Thirty patients with TMJ pain were included in the study who were divided into three groups with ten patients in each group. Group A included patients having only TMJ arthrocentesis; in Group B, only duloxetine therapy (30 mg) was given twice a day orally for 3 months; and in Group C, a combination of TMJ arthrocentesis with duloxetine therapy (30 mg) was given twice a day orally for 3 months. Patients were followed at regular interval of the 1^st day, 5^th day, 7^th day, 4^th week, 6^th week, and 12^th week and assessed in terms of pain, maximum mouth opening (mm), clicking, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Rating Scale and estimation of interleukin-6 (IL-6). The data collected were compiled and statistically analyzed.

Results

The pain was found to be significantly lower in Group C than other groups at weeks 4, 6, and 12. In Group C, mouth opening increased significantly than Groups A and B on subsequent follow-ups. On biochemical analysis of IL-6 levels in lavage fluid, a significant decrease was observed in levels of IL-6 in lavage fluid in Groups A and C postoperatively.

Conclusion

The present study states that pain was observed to be much less after arthrocentesis along with duloxetine therapy. This combination therapy leads to much better and faster outcome, but still, long-term follow-ups with larger number of patients are required.

Genetic characterization of foot-and-mouth disease virus serotype O isolates collected during 2014-2018 revealed dominance of O/ME-SA/Ind2001e and the emergence of a novel lineage in India

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in India with a preponderance of outbreaks caused by FMD virus (FMDV) serotype O. Out of the 11 global topotypes of serotype O, only ME-SA topotype has been reported in the country so far. Lineage O/ME-SA/Ind2001 and O/ME-SA/PanAsia are documented as the most dominant ones in terms of the number of outbreaks caused by them. To understand the distribution of topotype/lineages in India and their antigenic behaviour during the year 2014-2018, a total of 286 FMDV serotype O viral isolates were sequence determined at the VP1 region, and 109 isolates were characterized antigenically. All the isolates grouped in the ME-SA topotype, being distributed in lineage O/ME-SA/Ind2001 (within sub-lineages O/ME-SA/Ind2001d and O/ME-SA/Ind2001e), and a new group designated here as O/ME-SA/2018 cluster. The sub-lineage O/ME-SA/Ind2001e reported for the first time in India during the year 2015, replaced sub-lineage O/ME-SA/Ind2001d gradually, which was dominating since 2008. During the years 2014-2018, the sub-lineage O/ME-SA/Ind2001e was found to be the most predominant one whose mean evolutionary rate was observed to be faster than that of the sub-lineage O/ME-SA/Ind2001d. The codon sites 45 and 85 of VP1 were found to be under diversifying selection in a large proportion of trees. The common ancestor predicted for sub-lineages O/ME-SA/Ind2001e and O/ME-SA/2018 dates back to 2012 and 2016, respectively. The sustenance and spread of the new O/ME-SA/2018 cluster need to be assessed by continued surveillance. The Indian vaccine strain O/INDR2/1975 was found to provide adequate antigenic coverage to the emerging and prevalent serotype O lineages. The trait association tests showed frequent virus exchange among different states, which could be an important confounder in the region-specific assessment of effectiveness of FMD control programme.

A Case Report of Pycnodysostosis Associated with Multiple Pituitary Hormone Deficiencies and Response to Treatment

Pycnodysostosis is a rare autosomal recessive osteosclerotic bone disorder associated with short stature and multiple bony abnormalities. Growth hormone (GH) deficiency may contribute to short stature in about 50% of patients. Available literature has rarely reported other pituitary hormone deficiencies in pyknodysostosis. Though the management remains conservative, recombinant human GH (rhGH) has been tried in selected patients. Here we present a case of pycnodysostosis which was evaluated for associated co-morbidities and found to have multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies. A 7-year-old girl was referred to our centre for evaluation of short stature. On examination, she had frontal and occipital bossing, limited mouth opening, hyperdontia with multiple carries, short and stubby digits and short stature. Investigation revealed dense sclerotic bones with frontal and occipital bossing, non-fusion of sutures with obtuse mandibular angle, non-pneumatised sinuses, small ‘J’ shaped sella turcica, acro-osteolysis of digits and absent medullary cavities. Cathepsin-K gene mutation analysis confirmed the diagnosis of pycnodysostosis. She was screened for associated co-morbidities and was found to have concomitant GH deficiency. Treatment with rhGH brought about an increase of 1 standard deviation score in height over 2 years and also unmasked central hypothyroidism at three months necessitating thyroxine replacement.

Emergence of Primary Teeth in Children of Sunsari District of Eastern Nepal

ABSTRACT: This study assessed the timing and eruption sequence of primary teeth in children of Sunsari district of Eastern Nepal and compared the eruption pattern of males & females between various, ethnic groups. Method: This cross-sectional study, included 501 subjects, aged 3 months to 60 months selected by simple random sampling method. The determinant variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, and eruption of teeth were recorded. Results: This study provides a model data on emergence of primary teeth and number of deciduous teeth in these children. This is a first study of its kind in Nepal. The findings of this study will help as a reference data for optimal use in clinical, academic, and research activities, especially for children of Eastern Nepal.

Physicochemical, functional and rheological properties of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) flour as influenced by particle size

Different properties of grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.) flour passed through 60, 72, 85, 100, 150 and 200 mesh sieves and in the size range of 249-74 μm were studied. The protein content reduced while fat content improved significantly with diminution in particle size. Flowability, capacities to absorb water and form foam as well as stability of foam decreased while increase in swelling capacity, swelling index, oil absorption capacity was observed with decrease in flour particle size. Bimodal curve patterns were obtained for coarse flour samples of 249 μm and 211 μm using light scattering analysis. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that starch granules were of variable shape embedded in protein and fibre matrix. The flour with fine particle size exhibited greater values for peak, final, break down and set back viscosities and the dough from fine particles showed highest values for storage modulus (G′), loss modulus (G″),|G^∗| and |η^∗|.

Water-soluble chlorophyll-binding proteins from Brassica oleracea allow for stable photobiocatalytic oxidation of cellulose by a lytic polysaccharide monooxygenase

BACKGROUND

Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are indispensable redox enzymes used in industry for the saccharification of plant biomass. LPMO-driven cellulose oxidation can be enhanced considerably through photobiocatalysis using chlorophyll derivatives and light. Water soluble chlorophyll binding proteins (WSCPs) make it is possible to stabilize and solubilize chlorophyll in aqueous solution, allowing for in vitro studies on photostability and ROS production. Here we aim to apply WSCP-Chl a as a photosensitizing complex for photobiocatalysis with the LPMO, TtAA9.

RESULTS

We have in this study demonstrated how WSCP reconstituted with chlorophyll a (WSCP-Chl a) can create a stable photosensitizing complex which produces controlled amounts of H2O2 in the presence of ascorbic acid and light. WSCP-Chl a is highly reactive and allows for tightly controlled formation of H2O2 by regulating light intensity. TtAA9 together with WSCP-Chl a shows increased cellulose oxidation under low light conditions, and the WSCP-Chl a complex remains stable after 24 h of light exposure. Additionally, the WSCP-Chl a complex demonstrates stability over a range of temperatures and pH conditions relevant for enzyme activity in industrial settings.

CONCLUSION

With WSCP-Chl a as the photosensitizer, the need to replenish Chl is greatly reduced, enhancing the catalytic lifetime of light-driven LPMOs and increasing the efficiency of cellulose depolymerization. WSCP-Chl a allows for stable photobiocatalysis providing a sustainable solution for biomass processing.

CRISPR-Cas System: An Approach With Potentials for COVID-19 Diagnosis and Therapeutics

COVID-19, the human coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, was reported for the first time in Wuhan, China in late 2019. COVID-19 has no preventive vaccine or proven standard pharmacological treatment, and consequently, the outbreak swiftly became a pandemic affecting more than 215 countries around the world. For the diagnosis of COVID-19, the only reliable diagnostics is a qPCR assay. Among other diagnostic tools, the CRISPR-Cas system is being investigated for rapid and specific diagnosis of COVID-19. The CRISPR-Cas-based methods diagnose the SARS-CoV-2 infections within an hour. Apart from its diagnostic ability, CRISPR-Cas system is also being assessed for antiviral therapy development; however, till date, no CRISPR-based therapy has been approved for human use. The Prophylactic Antiviral CRISPR in huMAN cells (PAC-MAN), which is Cas 13 based strategy, has been developed against coronavirus. Although this strategy has the potential to be developed as a therapeutic modality, it may face significant challenges for approval in human clinical trials. This review is focused on describing potential use and challenges of CRISPR-Cas based approaches for the development of rapid and accurate diagnostic technique and/or a possible therapeutic alternative for combating COVID-19. The assessment of potential risks associated with use of CRISPR will be important for future clinical advancements.