Elevated CO2 ameliorates the high temperature stress effects on physio-biochemical, growth, yield traits of maize hybrids

The rising temperatures and levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are anticipated to have a significant impact on the productivity of agricultural crops. Although, the individual effects of elevated CO2 and temperature have been extensively studied in C3 and C4 crops, there remains a scarcity of research investigating their interactive effects specifically on maize hybrids. The impact of elevated temperature and its interaction with elevated CO2 on phenology, physiology, biomass, and grain yield of maize hybrids was assessed in a field experiment using Free Air Temperature Elevation (FATE) facility. The results showed that elevated temperature (eT) increased the anthesis silking interval (ASI), while the presence of elevated CO2 along with elevated temperature (eT + eCO2) mitigated this effect. The differential expression were observed between hybrids depending on their genetic potential. Furthermore, the net photosynthetic rate (Anet), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration rate (Tr) of hybrids decreased under elevated temperature but eT + eCO2 condition helped in reverting its impact to some extent. In term of leaf composition, the highest level of total soluble sugars (TSS) and starch was observed under eT + eCO2 conditions, possibly due to improved Anet in the presence of elevated eCO2. The negative impact of eT was also evident through increased proline and MDA content, but eT + eCO2 ameliorated the adverse effect of eT. The biomass and grain yield also responded similarly, among the hybrids 900M GOLD recorded superior performance for grain yield at eT condition exceeding 35 °C. On the other hand, DHM117 experienced a significant reduction in grain yield under eT, but performed better under eT + eCO2 due to its improved physiological response to eCO2. The study indicated that elevated levels of carbon dioxide can actually mitigate the detrimental effects of elevated temperature on maize crop. This positive impact on maize crop can be attributed to an enhanced physiological performance in the presence of eCO2 which enables the plants to maintain satisfactory yield levels despite the challenging environmental conditions.

Carbon quantum dot-nanocomposite hydrogel as Denovo Nexus in rapid chondrogenesis

The incapability of cartilage to naturally regenerate and repair chronic muscular injuries urges the development of competent bionic rostrums. There is a need to explore faster strategies for chondrogenic engineering using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Along these lines, rapid chondrocyte differentiation would benefit the transplantation demand affecting osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. In this report, a de novo nanocomposite was constructed by integrating biogenic carbon quantum dot (CQD) filler into synthetic hydrogel prepared from dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA) and acrylic acid (AAc). The dominant structural integrity of synthetic hydrogel along with the chondrogenic differentiation potential of garlic peel derived CQDs led to faster chondrogenesis within 14 days. By means of extensive chemical and morphological characterization techniques, we illustrate that the hydrogel nanocomposite possesses lucrative features to influence rapid chondrogenesis. These results were further corroborated by bright field imaging, Alcian blue staining and Masson trichome staining. Thus, this stratagem of chondrogenic engineering conceptualizes to be a paragon in clinical wound care for the rapid manufacturing of chondrocytes.

Acute Kidney Injury among Neonates with Perinatal Asphyxia in a Tertiary Care Centre

Introduction

Perinatal asphyxia is a very common cause of morbidity and mortality in both term and preterm neonates and ranks the second most important cause of neonatal death. The incidence and importance of acute kidney injury in the neonatal period are becoming increasingly apparent. Early diagnosis and timely management of acute kidney injury is very important in these newborns to avoid other long-term adverse events. This study aimed to find out the prevalence of acute kidney injury among neonates with perinatal asphyxia in a tertiary care centre.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the neonatal intensive care unit and nursery in a tertiary care hospital of Eastern Nepal from 1 November 2021 to 31 October 2022 after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee. A convenience sampling method was used. The point estimate was calculated at a 95% Confidence Interval.

Results

Among 97 neonates, the prevalence of acute kidney injury was seen among 60 (61.86%) (50.25-69.75, 95% Confidence Interval) neonates. Out of which 42 (70%) were males and 18 (30%) were female.

Conclusions

The prevalence of acute kidney injury among neonates with perinatal asphyxia was found to be higher than other studies done in a similar setting.

Keywords

acute kidney injury; neonates; prevalence.

A prophage tail-like protein facilitates the endophytic growth of Burkholderia gladioli and mounting immunity in tomato

A prophage tail-like protein (Bg_9562) of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 possesses broad-spectrum antifungal activity, and it is required for the bacterial ability to forage over fungi. Here, we analyzed whether heterologous overexpression of Bg_9562 or exogenous treatment with purified protein can impart disease tolerance in tomato. The physiological relevance of Bg_9562 during endophytic growth of NGJ1 was also investigated. Bg_9562 overexpressing lines demonstrate fungal and bacterial disease tolerance. They exhibit enhanced expression of defense genes and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases. Treatment with Bg_9562 protein induces defense responses and imparts immunity in wild-type tomato. The defense-inducing ability lies within 18-51 aa region of Bg_9562 and is due to sequence homology with the bacterial flagellin epitope. Interaction studies suggest that Bg_9562 is perceived by FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 homologs in tomato. The silencing of SlSERK3s (BAK1 homologs) prevents Bg_9562-triggered immunity. Moreover, type III secretion system-dependent translocation of Bg_9562 into host apoplast is important for elicitation of immune responses during colonization of NGJ1. Our study emphasizes that Bg_9562 is important for the endophytic growth of B. gladioli, while the plant perceives it as an indirect indicator of the presence of bacteria to mount immune responses. The findings have practical implications for controlling plant diseases.

Orthopedic Scaffolds: Evaluation of Structural Strength and Permeability of Fluid Flow via an Open Cell Neovius Structure for Bone Tissue Engineering

The ability of bone to regenerate itself through mechanobiological responses is its dynamic property. Mechanical cues from a neighboring environment produce the structural strain to promote blood flow and bone marrow mobility that in turn aids the bone regeneration process. Occurrences of these phenomena are crucial for the success of metallic scaffolds implanted in the host bone tissue. Thus, permeability and fluid flow-induced wall shear stress (WSS) are two parameters that directly influence cell bioactivities inside a scaffold and are crucial for effective bone tissue regeneration. Given that the scaffolds shall be implanted in the body, permeability assessment was carried out using non-Newtonian fluid. In this work, the triply periodic minimal surface scaffolds with Neovius architectures were fabricated by using selective laser melting technology. The estimation of fluid flow was carried out using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis with a non-Newtonian blood fluid model. Further, the structural strength of various open cell Neovius lattices was evaluated using a static compression test, and in vitro cell culture using Alamar blue assay was evaluated. Results revealed that the values of intrinsic blood flow permeability of the three-dimensional (3D)-printed open cell porous scaffold with Neovius architecture were of the same order of magnitude as those of human bone, ranging from 0.0025 × 10-9 to 0.0152 × 10-9 m2. The structural elastic modulus and compressive strength of NOCL40, NOCL50, and NOCL60 lattices range from 3.27 to 3.71 GPa and 194 to 205 MPa, respectively. All of the values are comparable to the human bone, thus making these lattices a suitable alternative for orthopedic applications.

Nicotinic Acid Catabolism Modulates Bacterial Mycophagy in Burkholderia gladioli Strain NGJ1

Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 exhibits mycophagous activity on a broad range of fungi, including Rhizoctonia solani, a devastating plant pathogen. Here, we demonstrate that the nicotinic acid (NA) catabolic pathway in NGJ1 is required for mycophagy. NGJ1 is auxotrophic to NA and it potentially senses R. solani as a NA source. Mutation in the nicC and nicX genes involved in NA catabolism renders defects in mycophagy and the mutant bacteria are unable to utilize R. solani extract as the sole nutrient source. As supplementation of NA, but not FA (fumaric acid, the end product of NA catabolism) restores the mycophagous ability of ΔnicC/ΔnicX mutants, we anticipate that NA is not required as a carbon source for the bacterium during mycophagy. Notably, nicR, a MarR-type of transcriptional regulator that functions as a negative regulator of the NA catabolic pathway is upregulated in ΔnicC/ΔnicX mutant and upon NA supplementation the nicR expression is reduced to the basal level in both the mutants. The ΔnicR mutant produces excessive biofilm and is completely defective in swimming motility. On the other hand, ΔnicC/ΔnicX mutants are compromised in swimming motility as well as biofilm formation, potentially due to the upregulation of nicR. Our data suggest that a defect in NA catabolism alters the NA pool in the bacterium and upregulates nicR which in turn suppresses bacterial motility as well as biofilm formation, leading to mycophagy defects. IMPORTANCE Mycophagy is an important trait through which certain bacteria forage over fungal mycelia and utilize fungal biomass as a nutrient source to thrive in hostile environments. The present study emphasizes that nicotinic acid (NA) is important for bacterial motility and biofilm formation during mycophagy by Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1. Defects in NA catabolism potentially alter the cellular NA pool, upregulate the expression of nicR, a negative regulator of biofilm, and therefore suppress bacterial motility as well as biofilm formation, leading to mycophagy defects.

Pest scenario of Helicoverpa armigera (Hub.) on pigeonpea during future climate change periods under RCP based projections in India

Gram pod borer, Helicoverpa armigera (Hub.) is the major insect pest of pigeonpea and prediction of number of generations (no. of gen.) and generation time (gen. time) using growing degree days (GDD) approach during three future climate change periods viz., Near (NP), Distant (DP) and Far Distant (FDP) periods at eleven major pigeonpea growing locations of India was attempted. Multi-model ensemble of Maximum (Tmax) and Minimum (Tmin) temperature data of four Representative Concentration Pathways viz., RCP 2.6, 4.5, 6.0 and 8.5 of Coupled Model Inter comparison Project 5 (CMIP5) models was adopted here. The increase in projected Tmax and Tmin are significant during 3 climate change periods (CCPs) viz., the NP, DP and FDP over base line (BL) period under four RCP scenarios at all locations and would be higher (4.7-5.1 °C) in RCP 8.5 and in FDP. More number of annual (10-17) and seasonal (5-8) gens. are expected to occur with greater percent increase in FDP (8 to 38%) over base line followed by DP (7 to 22%) and NP (5to 10%) periods with shortened annual gen. time (4 to 27%) across 4 RCPs. The reduction of crop duration was substantial in short, medium and long duration pigeonpeas at all locations across 4 RCPs and 3 CCPs. The seasonal no.of gen. is expected to increase (5 to 35%) with shortened gen. time (4 to 26%) even with reduced crop duration across DP and FDP climate periods of 6.0 and 8.5 RCPs in LD pigeonpea. More no. of gen. of H. armigera with reduced gen. time are expected to occur at Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Mohanpur, Warangal and Akola locations over BL period in 4 RCPs when normal duration of pigeonpeas is considered. Geographical location (66 to 72%), climate period (11 to 19%), RCPs (5-7%) and their interaction (0.04-1%) is vital and together explained more than 90% of the total variation in future pest scenario. The findings indicate that the incidence of H. armigera would be higher on pigeonpea during ensuing CCPs in India under global warming context.

Evaluation of CNS depressant and anti-anxiety activities of leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis

BACKGROUND

Convolvulus pluricaulis is a native plant that is commonly mentioned in Ayurveda as a Rasayana and is primarily recommended for use in mental stimulation and rejuvenation therapy. Convolvulus pluricaulis is used as a brain tonic. The plant is reported to be a prominent memory-improving drug. It is used as a psychostimulant and tranquilizer. It is reported to reduce mental tension.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to explore the protective effect of hydroalcoholic extract from the leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis, along with CNS depressant and anti-anxiety activities, in models of mice.

METHODS

The extract from leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis were sequentially isolated with a mixture of water and alcohol solution in the soxhlet apparatus. An acute toxicity study was conducted as per OECD guidelines no. 423, in which 18 Albino male mice were treated with different doses (1, 10, 100, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg) of hydroalcoholic extract of Convolvulus pluricaulis and assessed for toxicity parameters for 14 days. Various psychomotor activities of hydroalcoholic extract from leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis for 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg doses were performed in mice by using various tests like actophotometer, open field, rota-rod, grip strength tests, elevated plus maze, hole board test, inclined plane, chimney test.

RESULTS

The hydroalcoholic extract from leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis was found to fall under category 4 in the acute toxicity study. Therefore, 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg doses of hydroalcoholic extract of leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis were selected for the further pharmacological study. The results of psychomotor tests (actophotometer, open field, rota-rod, grip strength, hole board test, inclined plane, chimney test, elevated plus maze, light-dark model) for test doses 100, 200, and 300 in mice showed CNS depressant and anti-anxiety effects.

CONCLUSION

Hydroalcoholic extract from leaves of Convolvulus pluricaulis at the 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg doses has shown CNS depressant and anti-anxiety effects in mice models.

A Comprehensive Review on PCSK9 as Mechanistic Target Approach in Cancer Therapy

PCSK9 is a strongly expressed protein in the liver and brain that binds to the LDLR and regulates cholesterol in the liver effectively. Other receptors with which it interacts include VLDLR, LRP1, ApoER2, and OLR1. PCSK9 gain-of-function results in lysosomal degradation of these receptors, which may result in hyperlipidemia. PCSK9 deficiency results in a lower amount of cholesterol, which reduces cholesterol's accessibility to cancer cells. PCSK9 regulates several proteins and signaling pathways in cancer, including JNK, NF-κВ, and the mitochondrial-mediated apoptotic pathway. In the liver, breast, lungs, and colon tissue, PCSK9 initiates and facilitates cancer development, while in prostate cancer cells, it induces apoptosis. PCSK9 has a significant impact on brain cancer, promoting cancer cell survival by manipulating the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway and exhibiting apoptotic activity in neurons by influencing the NF-κВ, JNK, and caspase-dependent pathways. The PCSK9 impact in cancer at different organs is explored in this study, as well as the targeted signaling mechanisms involved in cancer growth. As a result, these signaling mechanisms may be aimed for the development and exploration of anti-cancer drugs in the immediate future.

Sepsis Screen Parameters in Blood Culture Positive Neonatal Sepsis

Background: Neonatal sepsis is a clinical syndrome of bacteremia characterized by systemic signs and symptoms of infection in the first 28 days of life. Although, Positive blood culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis of neonatal septicemia, definitive culture results take at least 48–72 h, resulting in treatment delay. Hence certain rapid diagnostic tests such as C-reactive protein, micro erythrocyte sedimentation rate, total white blood cell count, absolute neutrophil count, and immature/total neutrophil count ratio collectively termed as the “Sepsis Screen” is used. The aim of this research is to study the relation between sepsis screen parameters and blood culture proven neonatal sepsis and to assess the clinical profile of neonates with culture-proven sepsis. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive observational study conducted on 97 clinically suspected neonatal sepsis cases in the neonatal intensive care unit.. Sepsis screen tests were evaluated for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value. The culture results were correlated with sepsis screen tests and p-value<0.05 was considered significant.  Results: Early-onset sepsis was seen in 47.4% cases, while late-onset sepsis accounted for 52.6% cases. Immature to total neutrophil ratio was the single best reliable sepsis screen test with a high specificity, PPV, and negative predictive values of 93.8%, 85.7%, and 88.4% respectively. Conclusion: Most of the individual sepsis screen parameters showed statistical correlation with blood culture status, yet Immature to total neutrophil ratio had highest sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and proved to be a sensitive and responsive indicator of neonatal sepsis.

Restoring soil carbon in marginal land of Indian Himalayas: Impact of crop intensification and conservation tillage

Soil carbon (C) loss is the prime sign of land degradation, and C pools have a great impact on soil quality and climate change mitigation. Hence, a field experiment was conducted for three consecutive years to assess the impact of crop intensification and conservation tillage practices on changes in the C pool at different soil depths of marginal land of the Indian Himalayas. The experiment consisted of two intensified cropping systems viz., CS1-Summer maize (Zea mays L.) -rainy season maize-lentil (Lens esculenta L.) and CS2-Summer maize-rainy season maize-mustard (Brassica juncea (L.) Czern) and five tillage practices viz., No-till (NT); NT + live mulch of cowpea (NT + LMC); reduced tillage (RT); RT + LMC and conventional tillage (CT). Results revealed that CS2 produced significantly higher biomass, C retention efficiency (9.85%), and sequestrated greater C (0.42 Mg ha^-1 yr^-1) in the soil system than CS1. Of the various tillage practices, RT + LMC registered higher biomass and recycled greater biomass and C than those under other tillage practices. However, the highest soil organic carbon (SOC) content (7.03 g kg^-1) and pool (9.62 Mg ha^-1) in 0-10 cm depth were observed under NT + LMC. The non-labile C pool size under NT in 0-10 cm and 10-20 cm depths was significantly greater than those under CT. The NT + LMC sequestrated significantly higher SOC (0.57 Mg ha^-1 yr^-1) than other tillage practices. Thus, the study indicated that the adoption of an intensified maize-based system under RT + LMC or NT + LMC would increase SOC storage and C sequestration in marginal lands of the Indian Himalayas.

Exploring agricultural waste biomass for energy, food and feed production and pollution mitigation: A review

Globally agricultural production system generates a huge amount of solid waste. Improper agri-waste management causes environmental pollution which resulted in economic losses and human health-related problems. Hence, there is an urgent need to design and develop eco-friendly, cost-effective, and socially acceptable agri-waste management technologies. Agri-waste has high energy conversion efficiency as compared to fossil fuel-based energy generation materials. Agri-waste can potentially be exploited for the production of second-generation biofuels. However, composted agri-waste can be an alternative to energy-intensive chemical fertilizers in organic production systems. Furthermore, value-added agri-waste can be a potential feedstock for livestock and industrial products. But comprehensive information concerning agri-waste management is lacking in the literature. Therefore, the present study reviewed the latest advancements in efficient agri-waste management technologies. This latest review will help the researchers and policy planners to formulate environmentally robust residue management practices for achieving a green economy in the agricultural production sector.

Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein correlates with retinal structural damage in aquaporin-4 antibody positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder

BACKGROUND

Aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin-G positive (AQP4-IgG⁺) neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is an autoimmune astrocytopathy associated with optic neuritis (ON). Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) is an oligodendrocytopathy with a similar phenotype. Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein (sGFAP), an astrocyte-derived protein, is associated with disease severity in AQP4-IgG⁺ NMOSD. Serum neurofilament light (sNfL) indicates neuroaxonal damage. The objective was to investigate the association of sGFAP and sNfL with subclinical afferent visual system damage in clinically stable AQP4-IgG⁺ NMOSD and MOGAD patients.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, clinically stable patients with AQP4-IgG⁺ NMOSD (N = 33) and MOGAD (N = 16), as diseased controls, underwent sGFAP and sNfL measurements by single molecule array, retinal optical coherence tomography and visually evoked potentials.

RESULTS

Higher sGFAP concentrations were associated with thinner ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (β (95% confidence interval (CI)) = -0.75 (-1.23 to -0.27), p = 0.007) and shallower fovea (average pit depth: β (95%CI) = -0.59 (-0.63 to -0.55), p = 0.020) in NMOSD non-ON eyes. Participants with pathological P100 latency had higher sGFAP (median [interquartile range]: 131.32 [81.10-179.34] vs. 89.50 [53.46-121.91] pg/ml, p = 0.024). In MOGAD, sGFAP was not associated with retinal structural or visual functional measures.

CONCLUSIONS

The association of sGFAP with structural and functional markers of afferent visual system damage in absence of ON suggests that sGFAP may be a sensitive biomarker for chronic disease severity in clinically stable AQP4-IgG⁺ NMOSD.

Intraretinal Layer Segmentation Using Cascaded Compressed U-Nets

Reliable biomarkers quantifying neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in central nervous system disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's dementia or Parkinson's disease are an unmet clinical need. Intraretinal layer thicknesses on macular optical coherence tomography (OCT) images are promising noninvasive biomarkers querying neuroretinal structures with near cellular resolution. However, changes are typically subtle, while tissue gradients can be weak, making intraretinal segmentation a challenging task. A robust and efficient method that requires no or minimal manual correction is an unmet need to foster reliable and reproducible research as well as clinical application. Here, we propose and validate a cascaded two-stage network for intraretinal layer segmentation, with both networks being compressed versions of U-Net (CCU-INSEG). The first network is responsible for retinal tissue segmentation from OCT B-scans. The second network segments eight intraretinal layers with high fidelity. At the post-processing stage, we introduce Laplacian-based outlier detection with layer surface hole filling by adaptive non-linear interpolation. Additionally, we propose a weighted version of focal loss to minimize the foreground-background pixel imbalance in the training data. We train our method using 17,458 B-scans from patients with autoimmune optic neuropathies, i.e., multiple sclerosis, and healthy controls. Voxel-wise comparison against manual segmentation produces a mean absolute error of 2.3 μm, outperforming current state-of-the-art methods on the same data set. Voxel-wise comparison against external glaucoma data leads to a mean absolute error of 2.6 μm when using the same gold standard segmentation approach, and 3.7 μm mean absolute error in an externally segmented data set. In scans from patients with severe optic atrophy, 3.5% of B-scan segmentation results were rejected by an experienced grader, whereas this was the case in 41.4% of B-scans segmented with a graph-based reference method. The validation results suggest that the proposed method can robustly segment macular scans from eyes with even severe neuroretinal changes.

Nanofertilizers for agricultural and environmental sustainability

Indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers in the agricultural production systems to keep pace with the food and nutritional demand of the galloping population had an adverse impact on ecosystem services and environmental quality. Hence, an alternative mechanism is to be developed to enhance farm production and environmental sustainability. A nanohybrid construct like nanofertilizers (NFs) is an excellent alternative to overcome the negative impact of traditional chemical fertilizers. The NFs provide smart nutrient delivery to the plants and proves their efficacy in terms of crop productivity and environmental sustainability over bulky chemical fertilizers. Plants can absorb NFs by foliage or roots depending upon the application methods and properties of the particles. NFs enhance the biotic and abiotic stresses tolerance in plants. It reduces the production cost and mitigates the environmental footprint. Multitude benefits of the NFs open new vistas towards sustainable agriculture and climate change mitigation. Although supra-optimal doses of NFs have a detrimental effect on crop growth, soil health, and environmental outcomes. The extensive release of NFs into the environment and food chain may pose a risk to human health, hence, need careful assessment. Thus, a thorough review on the role of different NFs and their impact on crop growth, productivity, soil, and environmental quality is required, which would be helpful for the research of sustainable agriculture.

Adverse events and Breakthrough infections associated with COVID-19 vaccination in the Indian population

Vaccines against COVID‐19 provide immunity to deter severe morbidities associated with the infection. However, it does not prevent infection altogether in all exposed individuals. Furthermore, emerging variants of SARS‐CoV‐2 impose a threat concerning the competency of the vaccines in combating the infection. This study aims to determine the variability in adverse events and the extent of breakthrough infections in the Indian population. A retrospective study was conducted using a pre‐validated questionnaire encompassing social, demographic, general health, the status of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, vaccination, associated adverse events, and breakthrough infections in the Indian population. Informed consent and ethical approval were obtained as per Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines. Participants, who provided the complete information, were Indian citizens, above 18 years, and if vaccinated, administered with either Covishield or Covaxin, were considered for the study. Data have been compiled in Microsoft Excel and analyzed for statistical differences using STATA 11. The responses from 2051 individuals fulfilling the inclusion criteria were analyzed. Among 2051, 1119 respondents were vaccinated and 932 respondents were non‐vaccinated. Among 1119 vaccinated respondents, 7 were excluded because of missing data. Therefore, out of 1112 vaccinated, 413 experienced adverse events with a major fraction of younger individuals, age 18–40 years, getting affected (74.82%; 309/413). Furthermore, considerably more females than males encountered adverse consequences to vaccination (p < 0.05). Among vaccinated participants, breakthrough infections were observed in 7.91% (88/1112; 57.96% males and 42.04% females) with the older age group, 61 years and above (odds ratio, 3.25 [1.32–8.03]; p = 0.011), and males were found to be at higher risk. Further research is needed to find the age and sex‐related factors in determining vaccine effectiveness and adverse events.

Significant higher adverse events following COVID‐19 vaccination in females in comparison to males.

Breakthrough infections among Indian population was found to be 7.91%.

Older people and males were found to be at high risk for getting breakthrough infections.

Profile of Nosocomial Sepsis in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Tertiary Care Hospital in Eastern Part of Nepal

Introduction: Nosocomial sepsis constitutes a global health problem. They lead to significant morbidity and mortality in both developed and resource-limited countries. The objective of the study was to describe the profile of nosocomial sepsis in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).  Methods: This was a prospective descriptive study conducted in a teaching and referral NICU. All neonates in NICU who did not have any sign of infection at admission and remained hospitalized for at least 48 hours were observed. Profile of nosocomial infection was analyzed with descriptive statistics. P value of < 0.05 was considered significant wherever applicable.  Results: The incidence rate and density of nosocomial sepsis were 47.3% and 39.3 infections per 1000 patient-days respectively. Blood stream infection was the commonest nosocomial infection. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most commonly isolated agent in blood cultures of patients with nosocomial sepsis.  Conclusions: This study revealed a high incidence of nosocomial sepsis. Hence, there is urgent need to adopt policies to prevent these infections.

The alternative sigma factors, rpoN1 and rpoN2 are required for mycophagous activity of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1

Bacteria utilize RpoN, an alternative sigma factor (σ54) to grow in diverse habitats, including nitrogen-limiting conditions. Here, we report that a rice-associated mycophagous bacterium Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 encodes two paralogues of rpoN viz. rpoN1 and rpoN2. Both of them are upregulated during 24 h of mycophagous interaction with Rhizoctonia solani, a polyphagous fungal pathogen. Disruption of either one of rpoNs renders the mutant NGJ1 bacterium defective in mycophagy, whereas ectopic expression of respective rpoN genes restores mycophagy in the complementing strains. NGJ1 requires rpoN1 and rpoN2 for efficient biocontrol to prevent R. solani to establish disease in rice and tomato. Further, we have identified 17 genes having RpoN regulatory motif in NGJ1, majority of them encode potential type III secretion system (T3SS) effectors, nitrogen assimilation, and cellular transport-related functions. Several of these RpoN regulated genes as well as certain previously reported T3SS apparatus (hrcC and hrcN) and effector (Bg_9562 and endo-β-1,3-glucanase) encoding genes are upregulated in NGJ1 but not in ΔrpoN1 or ΔrpoN2 mutant bacterium, during mycophagous interaction with R. solani. This highlights that RpoN1 and RpoN2 modulate T3SS, nitrogen assimilation as well as cellular transport systems in NGJ1 and thereby promote bacterial mycophagy.

Antimicrobial resistance in neonates with suspected sepsis

SETTING

Nobel Medical College and Teaching Hospital, Biratnagar, Nepal.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the pattern of antimicrobial resistance and hospital exit outcomes in neonates with suspected sepsis in a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

DESIGN

This hospital-based cohort study was conducted to follow patients from January to December 2019. All identified cases of suspected sepsis were enlisted from hospital records.

RESULTS

Sepsis was suspected in 177 (88%) of the 200 cases admitted in the NICU; 52 (29%) were culture-positive. Pseudomonas was the predominant organism isolated (n = 40; 78%), followed by coagulase negative staphylococcus (n = 12, 23%). Nine (17%) of the 52 isolates were resistant to the Access and Watch group of antibiotics, including some resistance to Reserve group drugs such as imipenem and linezolid. Most treated cases (n = 170, 96%) improved, although 7 (4%) left against medical advice.

CONCLUSION

Most of the pathogens were resistant to WHO Access and Watch antibiotics and occasional resistance was observed to Reserve group drugs. Most sepsis was caused by Gram-negative bacilli. Improving turnaround times for antibiotic sensitivity testing using point-of-care testing, and a greater yield of culture-positive results are needed to enhance the management of neonatal sepsis.

Immunity proteins of dual nuclease T6SS effectors function as transcriptional repressors

Bacteria utilize type VI secretion system (T6SS) to deliver antibacterial toxins to target co-habiting bacteria. Here, we report that Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 deploys certain T6SS effectors (TseTBg), having both DNase and RNase activities to kill target bacteria. RNase activity is prominent on NGJ1 as well as other bacterial RNA while DNase activity is pertinent to only other bacteria. The associated immunity (TsiTBg) proteins harbor non-canonical helix-turn-helix motifs and demonstrate transcriptional repression activity, similar to the antitoxins of type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems. Genome analysis reveals that homologs of TseTBg are either encoded as TA or T6SS effectors in diverse bacteria. Our results indicate that a new ORF (encoding a hypothetical protein) has evolved as a result of operonic fusion of TA type TseTBg homolog with certain T6SS-related genes by the action of IS3 transposable elements. This has potentially led to the conversion of a TA into T6SS effector in Burkholderia. Our study exemplifies that bacteria can recruit toxins of TA systems as T6SS weapons to diversify its arsenal to dominate during inter-bacterial competitions.

Evaluation of Risk Factors for Exchange Range Hyperbilirubinemia in Neonates from Eastern Part of Nepal

Introduction: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia continues to be the commonest cause of nursery and NICU admissions and readmissions in the neonatal period worldwide. Although most cases are physiological, toxic levels of un-conjugated bilirubin can lead to acute and chronic bilirubin encephalopathy. Hence, this study aimed to study the risk factors for exchange range hyperbilirubinemia in neonates. Methods: This was a hospital-based prospective observational study conducted in a teaching and referral NICU over a period of one year from July 2019 to August 2020. All neonates with diagnosis of hyperbilirubinemia requiring double volume exchange transfusion were included in the study. Risk factors for significant hyperbilirubinemia were analysed with descriptive statistics. P-value of < 0.05 was considered significant wherever applicable. Results: The mean gestational age and birth weight were 38.06 ± 2.13wks and 2611.72 ± 389.39 gm respectively. Fifteen percent of the babies (162) developed hyperbilirubinemia and 28 (17.3%) required double volume exchange transfusion. Among neonates requiring exchange transfusion, 17 were females and 11 were males. Among 28 babies who required DVET, 20 (71.4%) were SGA. ABO incompatibility was present in 14 (50.0%) neonates and Rh incompatibility in 13 (46.4%) neonates. ABO along with Rh incompatibility was present in eight (28.6%) neonates. DCT was positive in six neonates with ABO incompatibility and nine neonates in Rh incompatibility. G6PD deficiency was present in four (14.3%) neonates. Conclusions: The most important risk factors identified were small for gestational age, ABO and Rh incompatibility followed by oxytocin use and sibling treated for jaundice.

Study of artifacts in thermodynamic and structural properties of Li-Mg alloy in liquid state using linear and exponential models

Temperature-dependent interaction parameters of Redlich-Kister (R–K) polynomials for Li–Mg alloy in liquid phase have been optimized using experimental data in the framework of linear and exponential models. These parameters have then been used to compute the thermodynamic properties (excess Gibbs free energy of mixing, enthalpy of mixing and activity) and structural property (concentration fluctuations in the long-wavelength limit) of the alloy at temperatures 1000 K, 1300 K, 1600 K, 1900 K, and 2200 K. The negative values of excess Gibbs free energy of mixing computed using linear T-dependent parameters increases with the rise in the temperature of the system beyond 1000 K while the same physical quantity computed using the exponential T-dependent interaction parameters decreases with the rise in temperatures and does not show any unusual trends up to 2200 K. Similar behavior has been found in the case of other thermodynamic and structural functions. The unusual behavior that appears in the thermodynamic and structural functions computed using linear T-dependent parameters can be eliminated if these functions are computed using exponential T-dependent parameters.

Enzymatic and non-enzymatic functional attributes of plant microbiome

Microbiome plays an important role in plant growth and adaptation to various environmental conditions. The cross-talk between host plant and microbes (including microbe-microbe interactions) plays a crucial role in shaping the microbiome. Recent studies have highlighted that plant microbiome is enriched in genes encoding enzymes and natural products. Several novel antimicrobial compounds, bioactive natural products and lytic/degrading enzymes with industrial implications are being identified from the microbiome. Moreover, advancements in metagenomics and culture techniques are facilitating the development of synthetic microbial communities to promote sustainable agriculture. We discuss the recent advancements, opportunities and challenges in harnessing the full potential of plant microbiome.

Emission characteristics of ultrafine particles from bare and Al2O3 coated graphite for high temperature applications

Owing to its exceptional properties at high temperature, graphite is used in several applications such as structural material and fuel block in high temperature nuclear reactors. Air ingress is one of the serious safety concerns in these reactors. Oxidation of graphite leading to increased porosity affects its mechanical strength and may lead to core collapse resulting in a severe accident. During such a scenario, generation of graphite particles could be the main hazard. Once generated, these particles often in fine and ultrafine sizes, may carry radioactivity to large distances and/or for long times. These particles owing to their higher surface to volume ratio possess an additional inhalation hazard. Ultrafine particles have the potential to enter into respiratory tract and cause damage to body organs. Coating of graphite components is preferred to reduce the oxidation induced damages at high temperatures. In the present work, effect of alumina (Al2O3) coating on the emission characteristics of particles from graphite under high temperature conditions has been investigated. Bare and Al2O3 coated graphite specimens were heated within a closed chamber at varying temperatures during these experiments. Temporal evolution of concentrations of gases (CO and CO2) and particles were measured. The results reveal that Al2O3 coating on the graphite delayed the oxidation behavior and the structure of graphite remained largely intact at high temperatures. A significant reduction in aerosol formation and CO emission was also noticed for the coated specimens.

Calcium regulates the mycophagous ability of Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 in a type III secretion system-dependent manner

BACKGROUND

A rice associated bacterium Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 demonstrates mycophagy, a phenomenon wherein bacteria feed on fungi. Previously, we have reported that NGJ1 utilizes type III secretion system (T3SS) to deliver a prophage tail-like protein (Bg_9562) into fungal cells to establish mycophagy.

RESULTS

In this study, we report that calcium ion concentration influences the mycophagous ability of NGJ1 on Rhizoctonia solani, an important fungal pathogen. The calcium limiting condition promotes mycophagy while high calcium environment prevents it. The expression of various T3SS apparatus encoding genes of NGJ1 was induced and secretion of several potential T3SS effector proteins (including Bg_9562) into extracellular milieu was triggered under calcium limiting condition. Using LC-MS/MS proteome analysis, we identified several calcium regulated T3SS effector proteins of NGJ1. The expression of genes encoding some of these effector proteins was upregulated during mycophagous interaction of NGJ1 with R. solani. Further, mutation of one of these genes (endo-β-1, 3- glucanase) rendered the mutant NGJ1 bacterium defective in mycophagy while complementation with full length copy of the gene restored its mycophagous activity.

CONCLUSION

Our study provides evidence that low calcium environment triggers secretion of various T3SS effectors proteins into the extracellular milieu and suggests the importance of cocktail of these proteins in promoting mycophagy.

Safety of Early Rescue Surfactant Replacement Therapy for Preterm Neonates with Respiratory Distress Syndrome at Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Hospital

Introduction: Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is an acute disease of preterm neonates and is caused by the deficiency of pulmonary surfactant. Surfactant deficiency can lead to alveolar collapse, atelectasis, impaired gas exchange, severe hypoxia and acidosis. Surfactant replacement therapy (SRT) is an integral part of management of preterm neonates with respiratory distress syndrome. The objective of the study was to evaluate the safety of early rescue surfactant replacement therapy in RDS. Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted in a 17 bedded teaching and referral NICU of Eastern Nepal over a period of seven months. All preterm neonates with clinical and radiological features of RDS were enrolled in the study. The safety of early rescue SRT was evaluated by measuring the outcomes: incidence of pulmonary haemorrhage, apnea, hypoxia and cardiac arrest. All data were entered into the worksheet of SPSS software version (19.0) and descriptive statistics including percentages and frequencies was analysed. The level of statistical significance adopted was p-value < 0.05. Results: The survival rate of preterm babies with SRT was 64.7% (22 babies). The incidence / prevalence of pulmonary haemorrhage, apnea, hypoxia, and cardiac arrest during or immediately after SRT was 14.7%, 5.9%, 5.9% and 2.9% respectively. Conclusions: This study suggests that SRT is an effective, safe and feasible intervention in level-3 neonatal units and has the potential to reduce neonatal mortality. The study also emphasises on the fact that SRT should be provided in settings where there is adequate manpower, professional skills and desired infrastructure to administer surfactant.

Bacteriological Profile of Neonatal Sepsis in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital of Eastern Nepal

Background: Neonatal sepsis is a common and serious problem of neonates who are admitted for intensive care. It is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The objective of the study was to detect the common causative microorganisms of neonatal sepsis and their antibiotic susceptibility patterns in NICU of Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital (NMCTH). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a 17- bedded teaching and referral NICU of NMCTH from March to August, 2018. All neonates of clinical sepsis were enrolled in the study, blood cultures taken and were followed up till final outcome, which was discharge or death, irrespective of culture report. Descriptive statistics including percentages and frequencies was used.complications. Results: Among the 55 neonates with diagnosis of clinical sepsis, 13(23.6%) had shown bacteria in the culture. The predominant organisms were Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae and most of them were resistant to Ampicillin and Amikacin. Conclusions: The culture positivity rate among the neonates with clinical sepsis in the study was 23.6%. Pathogens isolated were resistant to the first line drugs for management of neonatal sepsis. Hence, the need for a review of first line drug for empirical treatment of neonatal sepsis.

Evaluation of Crofton, Horne, Miller Scoring as Diagnostic Tool for Tuberculosis in Children

Background: Tuberculosis which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis a chronic infectious disease is considered the second most common infectious cause of mortality and morbidity in children around the world. This study was carried out to test the validity of Crofton, Horne and Miller scoring system for the diagnosis of children suffering from tuberculosis. Materials and Methods: It was done in an inpatient ward of a pediatric tertiary referral centre, from Feb 2018 to Jan 2019as a prospective case control study, including 92 children aged 2 years to 12 years admitted with clinical differential diagnosis of tuberculosis. Among them 46 children meeting the case definition were taken as cases and 46 were age, sex and disease presentation matched controls. Results: Sensitivity of the score was low (50%) but the specificity was high (95%) with 92% positive predictive value and a negative predictive value of 65.67%. Contact with an adult suffering from tuberculosis, positive Mantoux test (>10mm in duration) were found to be the most important indicators of TB in children. Males were found to be affected twice as much as the females. Conclusion: From the findings of the study, it can be concluded that the Crofton, Horne, Miller score chart is a simple and cost-effective tool, which can be applied to improve the diagnosis of TB in children due to financial constraints faced by patients in resource limited countries like Nepal.

Robust and High Fidelity Mesh Denoising

This paper presents a simple and effective two-stage mesh denoising algorithm, where in the first stage, face normal filtering is done by using bilateral normal filtering in a robust statistics framework. Tukey's bi-weight function is used as similarity function in the bilateral weighting, which is a robust estimator and stops the diffusion at sharp edges to retain features and removes noise from flat regions effectively. In the second stage, an edge-weighted Laplace operator is introduced to compute a differential coordinate. This differential coordinate helps the algorithm to produce a high-quality mesh without any face normal flips and makes the method robust against high-intensity noise.

Interplay of oxidative stress and antioxidant bio markers in oil adjuvant Brucella melitensis vaccinated and challenged mice

The intracellular nature of Brucella leads to rise in oxidative stress due to bacterial invasion, particularly at the site of predilection spleen and lymph nodes. The present study aimed to evaluate the erythrocytic and tissue specific oxidative stress responses induced during oil adjuvant killed Brucella melitensis vaccination. The results of the study clearly implicated a significant increase in level of catalase, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and lipid peroxidation (LPO), and total protein content in erythrocytes after vaccination. The activity of glutathione-S-transferase (GST) was unaltered during the period of experiment. The catalase activity and GSH content was significantly increased in lung and spleen tissues. The tissues GST levels increased significantly in all tissues, while tissue SOD level increased significantly only in lung tissues. Thus, it can be inferred that oil adjuvant based Brucella vaccine induces negligible signs of inflammatory pathophysiology and supports the development of significant level of protection against virulent Brucella challenge.

Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome- Clinical Profile, Associations and Outcome in Critically ill Children Aged 1 Month to 14 Years Admitted to PICU in Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital in Biratnagar

Introduction: Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), characterized by a progressive physiologic dysfunction involving two or more organ systems after an acute threat to systemic homeostasis, is not a rare entity among patients admitted to the pediatric intensive care units. Despite recent advances made in the medical technology and newer treatment strategies, large numbers of deaths in the PICU are attributable to MODS. Objective: To describe the clinical profile of MODS among children admitted in PICU and to observe its associations and outcome. Methodology: A hospital based prospective observational study was conducted in PICU of Nobel medical college teaching hospital, Biratnagar, Nepal from June 2017- May 2018. Children aged 1 month to 14 years admitted in the PICU with various medical and surgical illnesses were included in the study. All variables defining MODS and the data showing the presence or absence of sepsis were collected within 1 hour of admission (day 0) and then every day until transfer or discharge from PICU or until patient's death. Results: Out of 150 admissions in the PICU, 103 fulfilled the inclusion criteria, and were enrolled in the study. A total of 53 patients (51%) developed MODS at some time during their stay at PICU and 88.7% of them had it at the time of admission. Of 103 cases under study, 26 died (mortality rate = 25.2%) and 92.3% of deaths were attributable to MODS. Children with neurological involvement had the highest risk of death [odds ratio (OR), 19.8; 95% confidence interval (95%CI), 4.37-90.30]. 75.5% of children with MODS had some sort of infection and 49% of them had sepsis. Conditions like SIRS, Sepsis, Severe sepsis, Septic shock and ARDS in the study patients were found significantly associated with MODS. Conclusion: A MODS is a common clinical entity among patients admitted to the PICU and are associated with significant mortality and morbidity. In children, MODS usually seem to develop early and in a simultaneous way. In developing countries like ours, morbidity and mortality associated with MODS in the PICUs is higher than that in the developed countries. Prevalence of sepsis in children with or without MODS is greater in the developing countries. Sepsis is further responsible for larger number of deaths in PICU.

Assessment of Hand Hygiene Knowledge among Residents and Nursing staffs at Nobel Medical College Teaching Hospital, Biratnagar

Introduction: Hand hygiene is a very simple and cost-effective procedure to prevent cross-transmission of microorganisms. The compliance of residents and nursing staffs with hand hygiene guidelines seems to be vital in preventing disease transmission among patients. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge of residents and nursing staffs with regard to hand hygiene. Material and Methods: This was an institution based descriptive cross-sectional study conducted among 55 respondents (29 nursing staffs and 26 resident doctors) of department of paediatrics, Nobel Medical College in Biratnagar, Nepal. Knowledge was assessed using WHO hand hygiene questionnaire for health care workers. Chi square test was used to compare the percentage of correct responses between resident doctors and nursing staffs. A p value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Among 26 resident doctors and 29 nursing staffs who participated in the study, 30.7% of resident doctors and 55.1% of nursing staffs had received formal training in hand hygiene in the last three years. Only 9% of participants (5 out of 55) had good knowledge regarding hand hygiene. Conclusions: The knowledge regarding hand hygiene is limited among the study population. The study recommends the need for emphasizing hand hygiene component in the preservice as well as in-service training programs of doctors and nurses.  

Emerging contaminants in a river receiving untreated wastewater from an Indian urban centre

Research over the last decade on emerging trace organic contaminants in aquatic systems has largely focused on sources such as treated wastewaters in high income countries, with relatively few studies relating to wastewater sources of these contaminants in low and middle income countries. We undertook a longitudinal survey of the Ahar River for a number of emerging organic contaminants (including pharmaceuticals, hormones, personal care products and industrial chemicals) which flows through the city of Udaipur, India. Udaipur is a city of approximately 450,000 people with no wastewater treatment occurring at the time of this survey. We found the concentrations of many of the contaminants within the river water were similar to those commonly reported in untreated wastewater in high income countries. For example, concentrations of pharmaceuticals, such as carbamazepine, antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ranged up to 1900 ng/L. Other organic contaminants, such as steroid estrogens (up to 124 ng/L), steroid androgens (up to 1560 ng/L), benzotriazoles (up to 11 μg/L), DEET (up to 390 ng/L), BPA (up to 300 ng/L) and caffeine (up to 37.5 μg/L), were all similar to previously reported concentrations in wastewaters in high income countries. An assessment of the population densities in the watersheds feeding into the river showed increasing population density of a watershed led to a corresponding downstream increase in the concentrations of the organic contaminants, with quantifiable concentrations still present up to 10 km downstream of the areas directly adjacent to the highest population densities. Overall, this study highlights how a relatively clean river can be contaminated by untreated wastewater released from an urban centre.

Effect of Tris-egg Yolk, Soya Milk, and Liposome-based Extenders on Sahiwal (Bos indicus) Sperm Quality during Pre- and Post-Cryopreservation Stages

BACKGROUND

Even though there are plenty of semen cryopreservation extenders available, their adoption is limited. Although normal tris-based egg yolk (EYC) extender is widely used, it leads to compromised post-thaw sperm quality.

OBJECTIVE

To find a standard semen extender, six different semen extenders were validated.

METHODS

In a split study, six aliquots of zebu cattle fresh semen ejaculate were cryopreserved in extenders containing egg yolk obtained from hen which was reared either in 1) normal, 2) omega-3 enriched, and 3) herbal enriched diet supplementation, and egg yolk free extenders such as 4) soya lecithin, 5) Bioxcell and 6) Optixcell.

RESULT

Significantly poor sperm quality and kinematics were observed in extender containing herbal egg yolk. However, omega-3 enriched egg yolk extender was on par with EYC. Among all extenders, soya lecithin and bioxcell have shown better sperm quality. Sperm motility was significantly higher in semen extended in liposome-based extender Optixcell.

CONCULSION

Optixcell can be considered as a standard extender for cattle semen cryopreservation to maintain adequate sperm quality required for artificial insemination.

Cyclopia: A Rare Congenital Malformation

Cyclopia is a rare and lethal congenital anomaly of the forebrain system, resulting from incomplete cleavage of prosencephalon into right and left hemispheres occurring between the 18th and the 28th day of gestation. Approximately 1.05 in 100,000 births are identified as infants with cyclopia, including stillbirths. Many teratogenic factors are identified as the causative factors for this anomaly which include irregular cholesterol biosynthesis, radiation exposure, viruses, alcohol intake and maternal diabetes. Many authors also suggest genetic etiology of this illness. We report a case of 35 year old lady G7P6L5 with previous history of normal vaginal delivery who presented to us in second stage of labor. She delivered a male baby with a large head, a median single eye and absent nose with intact mouth. The baby died soon after the birth. This case is presented because of its rarity. Early ultrasound diagnostics and proper management of this anomaly must be emphasized most strongly to prevent complication associated with this condition.

Optic nerve head three-dimensional shape analysis

We present a method for optic nerve head (ONH) 3-D shape analysis from retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT). The possibility to noninvasively acquire in vivo high-resolution 3-D volumes of the ONH using spectral domain OCT drives the need to develop tools that quantify the shape of this structure and extract information for clinical applications. The presented method automatically generates a 3-D ONH model and then allows the computation of several 3-D parameters describing the ONH. The method starts with a high-resolution OCT volume scan as input. From this scan, the model-defining inner limiting membrane (ILM) as inner surface and the retinal pigment epithelium as outer surface are segmented, and the Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) as the model origin is detected. Based on the generated ONH model by triangulated 3-D surface reconstruction, different parameters (areas, volumes, annular surface ring, minimum distances) of different ONH regions can then be computed. Additionally, the bending energy (roughness) in the BMO region on the ILM surface and 3-D BMO-MRW surface area are computed. We show that our method is reliable and robust across a large variety of ONH topologies (specific to this structure) and present a first clinical application.

Mesh Denoising Based on Normal Voting Tensor and Binary Optimization

This paper presents a two-stage mesh denoising algorithm. Unlike other traditional averaging approaches, our approach uses an element-based normal voting tensor to compute smooth surfaces. By introducing a binary optimization on the proposed tensor together with a local binary neighborhood concept, our algorithm better retains sharp features and produces smoother umbilical regions than previous approaches. On top of that, we provide a stochastic analysis on the different kinds of noise based on the average edge length. The quantitative results demonstrate that the performance of our method is better compared to state-of-the-art smoothing approaches.

Fluctuating nonlinear hydrodynamics of flocking

Starting from a microscopic model, the continuum field theoretic description of the dynamics of a system of active ingredients or "particles" is presented. The equations of motion for the respective collective densities of mass and momentum follow exactly from that of a single element in the flock. The single-particle dynamics has noise and anomalous momentum dependence in its frictional terms. The equations for the collective densities are averaged over a local equilibrium distribution to obtain the corresponding coarse grained equations of fluctuating nonlinear hydrodynamics (FNH). The latter are the equations used frequently for describing active systems on the basis of intuitive arguments. The transport coefficients which appear in the macroscopic FNH equations are determined in terms of the parameters of the microscopic dynamics.

Bacteria-fungal Confrontation and Fungal Growth Prevention Assay

There are some bacteria which can grow and multiply at the cost of living fungal biomass. They can potentially utilize fungi as a source of nutrients to forage over them. Such phenomenon is known as bacterial mycophagy, however, its mechanistic insights need to be explored to identify the molecules involved in mycophagy for potential utilization in controlling various fungal diseases. Recently we have demonstrated that a rice-associated bacteria Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 exhibits mycophagous ability on several fungi, including Rhizoctonia solani, the necrotrophic fungal pathogen causing sheath blight disease in rice. We hereby describe our validated and efficient methods used to study B. gladioli strain NGJ1-R. solani interactions. These methodologies would be useful for designing assays to study the confrontation between bacteria and fungi which in turn enable discovery of novel antifungal molecules from such bacteria.

Ethnic Variations of Blood Groups in a Medical College of Eastern Nepal

Background Red blood cells contain antigens in its membrane which are inherited according to Mendelian law. ABO and Rhesus blood group systems are considered the most important blood group systems for clinical procedures, blood transfusion, organ transplantation, anthropological study and medico-legal purposes. Determination of ABO and Rhesus blood groups and its frequency distribution in a multiethnic country like Nepal is important for effective management of blood banks, safe blood transfusion services. The trend of blood groups and its ethnic distributions in the eastern part of Nepal is still unknown. Objective To find the distribution of blood groups among the subjects of different ethnic groups of eastern Nepal. Method A cross-sectional perspective study was carried out among the subjects visited in the laboratory of Nobel Medical College, Biratnagar, Nepal for a period of one year from August 1, 2015 to July 30, 2016. Result The 11,960 subjects were included in the present study, among which 5012 were males and 6948 were females. The study revealed that in ABO system, blood group distribution was 34.80% O, 28.66% A, 27.66% B and 6.89% AB. With regard to Rh blood group system, Rhesus +ve was 96.79% and Rhesus -ve was 3.21%. O blood group dominant ethnic groups were Brahmin, Bhujel, Biswakarma, Shah, Gurung, Marwari, Magar, Mahato, Mandal, Newar, Sanyasi, Tamang, Terai Brahmin and Yadav. Similarly, blood group A dominant ethnic groups were Chhetri, Dhimal, Limbu, Rai and Muslim. Howerver, blood group B was dominant in ethnic groups, namely Biswakarma, Rajput, Satar and Tharu. Conclusion The frequency distribution pattern of ABO blood group was observed as O > A> B > AB and in Rhesus system, Rhesus +ve > Rhesus -ve. Variation in blood groups distribution was observed in various ethnic groups.

Gastric lavage in babies born through meconium stained amniotic fluid in prevention of early feed intolerance: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy of gastric lavage (GL) in preventing feed intolerance in babies born through Meconium stained amniotic fluid (MSAF).

STUDY DESIGN

In this randomized trial conducted at a tertiary care hospital, neonates born of MSAF after 34 weeks period of gestation requiring routine care were randomly allocated to GL with 10 ml/kg of normal saline. The control group did not receive GL. The subjects were monitored for first 24 hours in predefined time epochs. The primary outcome was incidence of feed intolerance which was defined as vomiting or abdominal distension more than 2 cm from baseline measure. Babies were also monitored for potential adverse events due to GL and total duration of hospital stay.

RESULTS

Baseline parameters were comparable. The incidence of feed intolerance was not significant in the GL group [4.6% vs 9.2%; RR 0.92 (0.29-3)]. There were no adverse events secondary to GL. The duration of hospital stay was comparable between groups.

CONCLUSION

GL in neonates born of MSAF does not reduce feed intolerance.

Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 deploys a prophage tail-like protein for mycophagy

Fungal pathogens are responsible for approximately two third of the infectious plant diseases. Historically they have been associated with several devastating famines, causing death and disabilities in humans. Mostly fungal diseases are being controlled by using fungicides which otherwise have adverse side effects on the health of consumers as well as environment. Due to extensive usages, pathogens have evolved resistance against most of the commonly used fungicides and rendered them ineffective. Controlling fungal disease in a sustainable and eco-friendly fashion remains a challenge. The antifungal biocontrol agents are being considered as potent, alternative and ecofriendly approach to manage fungal diseases. In our recent work, we have identified a rice associated bacterium; Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 which demonstrates broad spectrum fungal eating (mycophagous) property. We determined that the bacterium utilizes its type III secretion system (Injectisome) machinery to deploy a prophage tail-like protein (Bg_9562) into fungal cells to devour them. The purified Bg_9562 protein from over-expressing recombinant E. coli strain demonstrates broad spectrum antifungal activity. Overall our study opens up a new opportunity to exploit prophage tail-like protein as potent antifungal compound to control plant as well as animal fungal diseases.

A prophage tail-like protein is deployed by Burkholderia bacteria to feed on fungi

Some bacteria can feed on fungi, a phenomenon known as mycophagy. Here we show that a prophage tail-like protein (Bg_9562) is essential for mycophagy in Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1. The purified protein causes hyphal disintegration and inhibits growth of several fungal species. Disruption of the Bg_9562 gene abolishes mycophagy. Bg_9562 is a potential effector secreted by a type III secretion system (T3SS) and is translocated into fungal mycelia during confrontation. Heterologous expression of Bg_9562 in another bacterial species, Ralstonia solanacearum, confers mycophagous ability in a T3SS-dependent manner. We propose that the ability to feed on fungi conferred by Bg_9562 may help the bacteria to survive in certain ecological niches. Furthermore, considering its broad-spectrum antifungal activity, the protein may be potentially useful in biotechnological applications to control fungal diseases.Some bacteria can feed on live fungi through unclear mechanisms. Here, the authors show that a T3SS-secreted protein, which is homologous to phage tail proteins, allows a Burkholderia gladioli strain to kill and feed on various fungal species.

CuBe: parametric modeling of 3D foveal shape using cubic Bézier

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) allows three-dimensional (3D) imaging of the retina, and is commonly used for assessing pathological changes of fovea and macula in many diseases. Many neuroinflammatory conditions are known to cause modifications to the fovea shape. In this paper, we propose a method for parametric modeling of the foveal shape. Our method exploits invariant features of the macula from OCT data and applies a cubic Bézier polynomial along with a least square optimization to produce a best fit parametric model of the fovea. Additionally, we provide several parameters of the foveal shape based on the proposed 3D parametric modeling. Our quantitative and visual results show that the proposed model is not only able to reconstruct important features from the foveal shape, but also produces less error compared to the state-of-the-art methods. Finally, we apply the model in a comparison of healthy control eyes and eyes from patients with neuroinflammatory central nervous system disorders and optic neuritis, and show that several derived model parameters show significant differences between the two groups.

Waugh's Syndrome: Report of Two Children with Intussusception

Waugh's syndrome (WS) is the rare association of intussusception and intestinal malrotation. We present two such cases in a 5-month-old infant and a 9-year-old girl. Both patients presented with intussusception and were diagnosed with malrotation during workup and surgical exploration. We conclude that the possibility of intestinal malrotation must be taken into consideration while managing children with intussusception.

Poor Prognostic Indicators of Scrub Typhus

Scrub typhus is an emerging disease in the eastern part of Nepal. Varied clinical presentation and lack of laboratory resources make diagnosis difficult. As this was the first known epidemic in this part of Nepal, unawareness resulted in late presentation with multiple complications and mortality. Hence this cases series alerts the clinician to be speculative for early diagnosis and management.J Nepal Paediatr Soc 2016;36(3):314-316