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Introduction: Patients scheduled to undergo elective surgeries should be assessed, well in advance, by anaesthetists with a view to plan optimal preparations and perioperative management regarding their anaesthetic requirements. Aim: To assess the knowledge of the role of anaesthetists during the perioperative period and the importance of preanesthetic check-up among patients undergoing elective surgery. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Khaja Bandanawaz Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalaburgi, Karnataka, India, from August 2019 to February 2020. The study involved 300 patients posted to the preanesthetic check-up clinic, over a span of six months for elective surgeries. Patients were asked to complete a questionnaire consisting of 17 questions. Statistical analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 16.0 for Microsoft Windows and Excel. Results: Out of total 300 patients, 198 (66%) were males with the mean age of 38.68±10.35 years. Graduates made up 28.6% of the participants, and 44.3% of them either had some schooling (primary or secondary) and the rest 27% did not have any education. Overall, 69 (23%) participants had a history of surgery and except one, all received both Preanaesthetic Check-up (PAC) and anaesthesia during their previous surgery. The mean awareness score was highest among the participants with a history of previous surgery (p-value

One-step hydrothermally synthesized over-oxidized Mo3Se4 with enriched selenium exhibited a specific capacity of 1006.75 mA h g−1 at 0.1C. It retained 71% of the initial value during the rate performance test. This novel electrode demonstrated a large specific capacity of 897.62 mA h g−1 at 0.4C at the end of 332 cycles. The exceptional results for mixed phase Mo3Se4 suggest its structural and chemical stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) has emerged as a potential regulator of plant defence against different abiotic stresses. As a climacteric fruit, banana undergoes oxidative stresses shortly after harvest, resulting in faster ripening and senescence. This work examines the effects of vacuum infiltrated H2S on ripening inhibition of banana.Banana fruits were vacuum infiltrated with 1 mm H2S. Effects on oxidative stress markers, physiological changes, bioactive compounds and antioxidant potentials were examined during storage at 25 °C and 75–80% RH.Results indicate that treated fruits were less affected by oxidative stress, as evident by lower accumulation of ROS (superoxide and peroxide ions), elevated phenols content and antioxidant capacity. The ripening inhibitory effects of H2S delayed chlorophyll loss and reduced ethylene and CO2 production. H2S infiltration also reduced MDA accumulation and electrolytic leakage, resulting in longer shelf life.Vacuum infiltration with H2S had a protective effect on postharvest banana through overcoming the deleterious effect of ROS and strengthening antioxidant potential. Thus, this method could be promising for enhanced preservation of banana during storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present investigation, process parameters were optimized in order to enhance the reduction of calcium oxide (CaO) from sugarcane molasses using acid centrifugation treatment. To predict the effects of process factors on CaO reduction efficiency, a response surface approach with a central composite design was selected. The polynomial quadratic equation was used to predict CaO removal efficiency, and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was utilized to assess the relevance of process factors. The appropriateness of the developed model was determined by regression analysis, which yielded a higher R-squared value of 0.99334 ± 0.01. At the optimum process parameters of 100°C temperature, 50°Bx, and 3.50 pH, the CaO clarification efficacy of 66.17 wt.% was achieved. The experimental results indicated that for acidic centrifugation treatment, the experimentally observed CaO reduction of 65.94 wt% is in close agreement with the model equation’s predicted maximum CaO reduction of 66.17 wt% with a t-test value of 0.497726. Under such conditions, 0.982 wt.% CaO sugarcane molasses was obtained, which is low when compared to the world average of 1.5% CaO content of sugarcane molasses. Furthermore, the implementation of an artificial neural network (ANN) provided a better prediction model for CaO reduction, with a substantial R-squared value of 0.99866. However, the genetic algorithm (GA) optimization resulted in an actual CaO reduction of 66.21 wt.% with a t-test value of 0.497726.

Workforce diversity literature highlights adverse effects of surface diversity on employee affect. We examine the applicability of surface diversity effects in the Indian social milieu. Since diversity effects are context-specific, in a first, we test the moderating impact of employee's perceived organisational politics on the inclusion mediated diversity-well-being link among 617 employees from Indian organisations. Post ascertaining the measurement model fit using AMOS 22, we used PROCESS to test for moderated-mediation effects. Perception of organisational politics moderated the surface diversity–inclusion–well-being link such that inclusion was found to be weaker for employees who perceived high politics. We discuss the implications for managers.

Fruit ripening is a natural, irreversible process crucial for developing luscious flavor and appealing appearance. Fruits are lauded for their health benefits, forming a key part of a balanced diet. Regrettably, the continued use of calcium carbide (CaC 2 ) to ripen fruit persists in various regions due to its low cost and perceived effectiveness. This method raises significant concerns about health, safety, and the resultant fruit quality and flavor. CaC 2 and CaC 2 -ripened fruits contain harmful substances like inorganic arsenic and phosphorus hydrides, posing considerable health risks including chronic toxicity upon consumption or exposure to acetylene released during CaC 2 application. Ensuring food safety requires adherence to regulatory standards governing harmful substances in food. Thus, understanding the risks of consuming CaC 2 -ripened fruit is crucial for crafting strategies to protect consumers' nutritional well-being and food safety. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of the impacts and apprehensions regarding use of CaC 2 as a ripening agent in fresh fruit., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The use of a helper plasmid to replace adenovirus infection for adeno-associated virus (AAV) manufacturing has been common practice for decades. Adenovirus E4, E2a, and VA RNA genes are sufficient to support efficient AAV replication. In an effort to ensure that all transfected DNA has a functional role in AAV production, deletions were introduced to the E4 and E2a genes to determine if any portions were dispensable. Although a 900 bp deletion in the E2a intron did not have an impact, the removal of open reading frames (orf) 1-4 from the E4 gene resulted in a doubling of AAV productivity. The E4Δorf1-4 deletion was associated with a reduction in E4orf6 transcripts, along with an increase in Rep and Cap transcripts and protein levels, which corresponded to increased AAV productivity in crude lysate. The final product of these studies was a helper plasmid, termed OXB-Helper_3, that is >3.4 kb smaller than the original control plasmid and resulted in ∼2× improvement in vector genome productivity across multiple capsid serotypes, genome designs, and transfection platforms.

Manufacturing of recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors produces three types of capsids: full, intermediate, and empty. While there are different opinions about the impact of intermediate and empty capsids on safety and efficacy of AAV products, they are generally considered impurities because they are not the intended fully intact vector product. The presence of these impurities could impact product efficacy due to potential competition with fully packaged AAVs for cellular transduction, as well as have potential implications to patient safety due to increased capsid load during dosing. To determine the impact of intermediate capsids on potency, an AAV preparation was separated into fractions enriched for full, intermediate, or empty capsids. Using a matrix of in vitro (infectivity, gene expression, biological activity) and in vivo potency assays to determine potency as a function of capsid content, our results indicate that while intermediate capsids contribute to the vector genome titer of the product and are equally as infectious as full capsids, they do not contribute to the potency of the AAV product. This study confirms the criticality of reducing and controlling the level of intermediate capsids to ensure a more efficacious AAV product., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Here, we report draft genomic sequences from three Paenibacillus larvae isolates, the causative agent of American Foulbrood (AFB), obtained from honeybee colonies of Apis mellifera in Fiji, which allow both enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus and multilocus sequence typing genotypes to be elucidated for Fijian AFB., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Tuberculous meningitis is the most serious complication of tuberculosis. Early diagnosis is crucial to start relevant treatment to prevent death and disability. Electronic databases PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library were used to find relevant articles from January 1980 to June 2022. The random-effect model in terms of pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) with 95% confidence interval was adopted to derive the diagnostic efficacy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) adenosine deaminase (ADA) for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in adult patients. A total of 22 studies (20 prospective and two retrospective data) have been included in this meta-analysis, having 1927 participants. We perceived acceptable pooled sensitivity, specificity, summary receiver operating characteristics (SROCs), and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.77-0.90), 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85-0.93), 0.94 (95% CI: 0.91-0.96) and 48 (95% CI: 26-86), respectively, for CSF-ADA for differentiating TBM from non-TBM in adult patients. To ascertain the certainty of evidence for CSF-ADA as a diagnostic marker for TBM, Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) analysis was used. CSF-ADA is an auspicious diagnostic test with a high degree of specificity and acceptable sensitivity for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis, however, with very low certainty of evidence., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Prasad et al.)

Background: Adaptations by arthropod pests to host plant defenses of crops determine their impacts on agricultural production. The larval host range of western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is restricted to maize and a few grasses. Resistance of D. v. virgifera to crop rotation practices and multiple insecticides contributes to its status as the most damaging pest of cultivated maize in North America and Europe. The extent to which adaptations by this pest contributes to host plant specialization remains unknown., Results: A 2.42 Gb draft D. v. virgifera genome, Dvir_v2.0, was assembled from short shotgun reads and scaffolded using long-insert mate-pair, transcriptome and linked read data. K-mer analysis predicted a repeat content of ≥ 61.5%. Ortholog assignments for Dvir_2.0 RefSeq models predict a greater number of species-specific gene duplications, including expansions in ATP binding cassette transporter and chemosensory gene families, than in other Coleoptera. A majority of annotated D. v. virgifera cytochrome P450s belong to CYP4, 6, and 9 clades. A total of 5,404 transcripts were differentially-expressed between D. v. virgifera larvae fed maize roots compared to alternative host (Miscanthus), a marginal host (Panicum virgatum), a poor host (Sorghum bicolor) and starvation treatments; Among differentially-expressed transcripts, 1,908 were shared across treatments and the least number were between Miscanthus compared to maize. Differentially-expressed transcripts were enriched for putative spliceosome, proteosome, and intracellular transport functions. General stress pathway functions were unique and enriched among up-regulated transcripts in marginal host, poor host, and starvation responses compared to responses on primary (maize) and alternate hosts., Conclusions: Manual annotation of D. v. virgifera Dvir_2.0 RefSeq models predicted expansion of paralogs with gene families putatively involved in insecticide resistance and chemosensory perception. Our study also suggests that adaptations of D. v. virgifera larvae to feeding on an alternate host plant invoke fewer transcriptional changes compared to marginal or poor hosts. The shared up-regulation of stress response pathways between marginal host and poor host, and starvation treatments may reflect nutrient deprivation. This study provides insight into transcriptomic responses of larval feeding on different host plants and resources for genomic research on this economically significant pest of maize., (© 2022. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Diabrocite corn rootworms are one of the most economically significant pests of maize in the United States and Europe and an emerging model for insect-plant interactions. Genome sizes of several species in the genus Diabrotica were estimated using flow cytometry along with that of Acalymma vittatum as an outgroup. Genome sizes ranged between 1.56 and 1.64 gigabase pairs and between 2.26 and 2.59 Gb, respectively, for the Diabrotica subgroups fucata and virgifera; the Acalymma vittatum genome size was around 1.65 Gb. This result indicated that a substantial increase in genome size occurred in the ancestor of the virgifera group. Further analysis of the fucata group and the virgifera group genome sequencing reads indicated that the genome size difference between the Diabrotica subgroups could be attributed to a higher content of transposable elements, mostly miniature inverted-transposable elements and gypsy-like long terminal repeat retroelements., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Genetics Society of America.)