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The infection caused by Nosema bombycis often known as pebrine, is a devastating sericulture disease. The infection can be transmitted to the next generation through eggs laid by infected female Bombyx mori moths (transovarial) as well as with N. bombycis contaminated food (horizontal). Most diagnoses were carried out in the advanced stages of infection until the time that infection might spread to other healthy insects. Hence, early diagnosis of pebrine is of utmost importance to quarantine infected larvae from uninfected silkworm batches and stop further spread of the infection. The findings of our study provide an insight into how the silkworm larval host defence system was activated against early N. bombycis transovarial infection. The results obtained from transcriptome analysis of infected 2 nd instar larvae revealed significant (adjusted P-value < 0.05) expression of 1888 genes of which 801 genes were found to be upregulated and 1087 genes were downregulated when compared with the control. Pathway analysis indicated activation of the immune deficiency (IMD) pathway, which shows a potential immune defence response against pebrine infection as well as suppression of the melanin synthesis pathway due to lower expression of prophenoloxidase activating enzyme (PPAE). Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis of haemolymph from infected larvae shows the secretion of serpin binding protein of N. bombycis which might be involved in the suppression of the melanization pathway. Moreover, among the differentially expressed genes, we found that LPMC-61, yellow-y, gasp and osiris 9 can be utilised as potential markers for early diagnosis of transovarial pebrine infection in B. mori. Physiological as well as biochemical roles and functions of many of the essential genes are yet to be established, and enlightened research will be required to characterize the products of these genes., 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 Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To compare efficacy of 'split hours part-time patching' and 'continuous hours part-time patching' for the treatment of anisometropic amblyopia., Methods: We designed a prospective, interventional, non-randomised, comparative pilot study involving children between 4 and 11 years of age with anisometropic amblyopia who were treated with either continuous wear (Group A) or split hours part-time patching (Group B) as per parents wish, after appropriate discussion with the parents. Children were followed-up for the improvement in visual acuity and the compliance at each follow-up visit., Results: 44 and 24 children were recruited in Group A and Group B, respectively (mean ± SD baseline BCVA of the amblyopic eye: 0.99 ± 0.32 and 0.95 ± 0.23 logMAR, respectively). BCVA (adjusted for baseline BCVA and age) at 3 months in Group A (0.59 ± 0.24) was comparable (p=0.08) with that in Group B (0.71 ± 0.24). This was same even at 6 months (0.51 ± 0.25 in Group A and 0.59 ± 0.25 in Group B, p=0.25). The improvement in BCVA at 3 months was also comparable (p=0.06) in Group A (0.39 ± 0.23) and Group B (0.26 ± 0.23). The improvement in BCVA at 6 months was also comparable (p=0.14) in Group A (0.47 ± 0.26) and Group B (0.37 ± 0.26)., Conclusions: Both patching regimens lead to significant and comparable improvement in BCVA in anisometropic amblyopia up to 6 months of follow-up.