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Bivitellobilharzia nairi is a poorly understood trematode belonging to the family Schistosomatidae that has a profound impact on its host species, the elephant. The pernicious effects of the different life stages of this parasite can often be fatal. The first reports of schistosomosis in African and Asian elephants were published by Vogel and Minning (1940) and Mudaliar and Ramanujachari (1945), respectively. The morphologies of ova and adult helminths of B.nairi, the schistosome affecting Indian elephants (Elephas maximus indicus) have been described in detail by Rao and Hiregaudar (1935), Sundaram et al. (1972), Chandrasekharan (1989), Islam (1994) and Vimalraj et al. (2012). According to Bhoyar et al. (2014), the infection remains subclinical in most cases and is only discovered upon post-mortem examination. More recently, Devkota(2015) found that Bivitellobilharzia spp. infects both, captive and wild Asian elephants. Karawita et al. (2015) claimed to report the first death of an Asian elephant due to caecocolic intussusception on account of schistosomosis

The present experimental study considers, to partially/fully replace all three components namely, 30% replacement of ordinary portland cement (OPC) by ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), 100% replacement of natural fine aggregate (NFA) by granulated blast furnace slag (GBS) and 0-20-40-60-80-100% replacement of natural coarse aggregate (NCA) by recycled concrete aggregates (RCA). Here, the influences of GGBS, GBS and RCA on the compressive strength of M30 grade of concrete with the constant water cement ratio of 0.50 at 7, 14 and 28 days along with Split Tensile Strengths at 28 day are presented. The observed results show higher strengths in the replacement of 100% NFA, 30% OPC and 0% RCA as compared to the conventional concrete. On further study observes in reducing the concrete strengths owing to the replacement of NCA by RCA. The optimum replacement of RCA at 28 day, was obtained as 80%.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is brain disease which gradually develops over years. It progressively damages the reasoning capability and memory of the affected. There is no current treatment to cure AD. But early diagnosis can prevent the severity of the disease and can improve the quality of life. The identification of discriminative features in brain images leads to accurate diagnosis of AD. This paper presents an analysis of related works done for the classification of AD using different feature extraction, feature selection and classification techniques. The methods used for the classification of AD, their accuracy levels and their advantages are consolidated. Based on the analysis, a new model has been proposed for classification of AD.

Background: Oral cancer is said to be the 6th most common cancer in men and 12th in women. Potentially malignant disorders/potentially premalignant oral epithelial lesion (PMDs/PPOELs) have shown an increased risk of progressing to cancer. In this regard, lack of awareness about identification of oral PMDs among healthcare providers in general and oral pathologists in particular is said to be responsible for the diagnostic delay. Oral cancer is said to be the most common cancer in men and 3rd most common in women in the Indian subcontinent. PMDs have shown an increased risk of progressing to cancer. The various rates of conversion include 14%–51% for erythroplakia, 60%–100% for proliferative verrucous leukoplakia and 7%–26% for oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF). In this regard, early detection at PPOEL level will lead to prevention of malignant transformation. Aims and Objectives: The purpose of this survey was: 1. To determine if awareness among professionals is essential/key to challenge the progression of PMDs of the oral cavity. 2. To examine and/ordiscern if oral pathologists felt enough was being done to address the issue of early detection and prevention and how the scenario could be improved further. Materials and Methods: A survey was designed to assess the interest, zeal, knowledge and skill of healthcare providers in general and oral pathologists in particular in careful examination of the oral cavity and early detection of PMDs. A questionnaire with 18 questions was designed to address these issues/points and distributed among post-graduate students and practicing oral pathologists on online platforms. Results: The results of the esurvey were collected, analyzed and the results discussed question wise. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was assessed and confirmed with Aiken's index for validity and Cronbach's alpha for reliability. Inferential statistical analysis was performed using Chi square test with P = 0.05 being statistically significant. Conclusion: On evaluation of the survey, we found that 85% of the surveyees are on agreement that PPOELs should be registered in a standard format and should be included in the list of recognizable diseases. 89.2% and 87.8% of the respondents would like to be part of an active body for early detection and diagnosis and for Cancer screening in our country respectively. In conclusion, the oral pathology fraternity is eager to work for and tackle these PPOELs head on, provided the right opportunities and training are meted out to them.

Context: DNA methylation (DNAm) age can be used to evaluate the chronological age of individuals often called “epigenetic age.” In this study, buccal scrape samples were used for the determination of epigenetic age. Aims: To examine if epigenetic age could be determined using neuronal pentraxin 2 (NPTX2) gene in buccal cells. Setting and Design: This cohort study was designed to validate the use of buccal cells for epigenetic age estimation. Sanger sequencing was used to determine the genetic sequence of the gene of interest postamplification. Nucleotide base sequence for NPTX2 gene was obtained for each case using this protocol. Subjects and Methods: The study was conducted on buccal scrapes obtained from 26 subjects of both genders, whose age varied from 1 to 65 years. The samples, collected by wooden spatulas, were placed in cell suspension buffer and stored at 4°C until transported to the laboratory. Results: Methylation levels of 5'-C-phosphate-G-3' located in the gene NPTX2 of 26 subjects were studied and analyzed by bisulfate sequencing. The percentage of methylation in this study falls in the range between 15% and 51%. Conclusion: In this study, a sufficient amount of gDNA was retrieved from the buccal cells, thus confirming that buccal scrape was a feasible technique to obtain ample DNA. This study also showed that DNAm-polymerase chain reaction method was a feasible method for the evaluation of methylation pattern of NPTX2 gene.

Parasitic biodiversity is focussed as a key component of conservation targets based on their ecological roles in the present review. Arthropods adopt parasitism as one of the common strategies for survival. However, some parasites are threatened by not only direct factors such as environmental conditions but also by indirect ones such as the effect on their hosts/prey. Conservation of parasites would help to sustain evenness in arthropod communities. Diptera, Hymenoptera, and Siphonaptera are orders of insects, mites, and ticks implicated as vectors in transmission of diseases in human populations and agricultural ecosystem of tropics and subtropics. Recently, outbreak of Zika viral disease has been reported in over 12 countries. This comprehensive review will be of value to scientists, students, and policy makers for biodiversity management.