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Data on production (lactation milk yield, lactation length, dry period) and reproduction performance traits (service period and calving interval) of Rathi cattle maintained at Livestock Research Station (LRS) Nohar, District Hanumangarh (Rajasthan) during the period 1979-2002 were analyzed to study the effect of non-genetic factors on these traits. The overall least square means for lactation milk yield (LMY), lactation length (LL), dry period (DP), service period (SP) and calving interval (CI) were 1589.49± 75.55 kg, 267.09± 08.04 days 155.28± 09.65 days, 153.03± 22.80 days and 427.44± 12.30 days, respectively. The analysis of variance revealed that effects of parity, season and period on the overall lactations production and reproduction traits was significant (P< 0.01) except the effects of parity and season on LMY, season on SP and effect of parity and periods on DP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nucleocapsid (N) protein of Chandipura virus (CHPV) plays a crucial role in viral life cycle, besides being an important structural component of the virion through proper organization of its interactions with other viral proteins. In a recent study, the authors had mapped the associations among CHPV proteins and shown that N protein interacts with four of the viral proteins: N, phosphor protein (P), matrix protein (M), and glycoprotein (G). The present study aimed to distinguish the regions of CHPV N protein responsible for its interactions with other viral proteins. In this direction, we have generated the structure of CHPV N protein by homology modeling using SWISS-MODEL workspace and Accelrys Discovery Studio client 2.55 and mapped the domains of N protein using PiSQRD. The interactions of N protein fragments with other proteins were determined by ZDOCK rigid-body docking method and validated by yeast two-hybrid and ELISA. The study revealed a unique binding site, comprising of amino acids 1-30 at the N terminus of the nucleocapsid protein (N1) that is instrumental in its interactions with N, P, M, and G proteins. It was also observed that N2 associates with N and G proteins while N3 interacts with N, P, and M proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maximum speed provides high production but reduces the quality yarn, however by achieving optimum speed a better quality of yarn is obtained with increased production [1]. Results and discussion The carded sliver produced on the carding machine as per the trials and processed through yarn spinning process for the formation of 40s yarn. The fiber rupture and fiber damage lead to variation in yarn which is why the imperfections increase as the speed of licker-in is increased. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Availability of accurate diagnostic tests has been helpful in curtailing the spread of HIV infection. Among these, simple, point of care, inexpensive tests which require only a drop of blood from finger-prick and give reliable results within minutes are a must for expansion of testing services and for reaching mobile and marginalised populations. Such tests will not only be a boon for the infrastructure-starved developing and underdeveloped countries but will also be extremely useful in developed countries where post-testing compliance is a major problem. Our laboratory has been involved in developing reagents for heamagglutination-based rapid detection of antibodies to HIV in whole blood using recombinant molecules specific for either HIV-1 or HIV-2. Since it is not required of a screening test to differentially detect HIV and HIV-2, it would useful to create a single molecule capable of simultaneous detection of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 in a drop of blood. Results: The present paper describes designing, high-level expression and large-scale purification of new molecules comprising recombinant anti-RBC Fab fused to immunodominant regions of envelope sequences from both gp41 of HIV-1 and gp36 of HIV-2. These immunodominant regions of HIV envelope contain cysteine residues, which make disulfide bond and can interfere with the assembly of light chain and heavy chain fragment to make Fab molecule in vitro. To circumvent this problem, a series of fusion proteins having different combinations of native and mutant envelope sequences were constructed, purified and evaluated for their efficacy in detecting antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2. A chimeric molecule comprising native envelope sequence of gp41 of HIV-1 and modified envelope sequence of gp36 of HIV-2 gave good production yield and also detected both HIV-1 and HIV-2 samples with high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion: The new bifunctional antibody fusion protein identified in this study detects both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infected samples efficiently and can be used in place of molecules that detect only HIV-1 or HIV-2. This will make reagent production more economical as only one molecule has to be produced in place of two molecules. Also, it will simplify the testing procedure allowing detection of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections in a single drop of blood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• TOPAS Based Porous Core Photonic Crystal Fiber is proposed for chemical sensor in terahertz frequency regime. • The proposed sensor has been analyzed using COMSOL Multiphysics software. • The relative sensitivity of the proposed sensor is 70 %, 68.59 % and 67.62 % for benzene, ethanol, and water, respectively. • Confinement loss of the proposed sensor is dB/m, and convenient for practical applications in chemical sensor. • In addition, V-parameter, Marcuse spot size and Beam divergence are also carefully examined from 0.2 THz to 1.3 THz. This paper contributes a novel design of photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with a combination of porous core structure and TOPAS as background material is proposed for chemical sensor in terahertz regime. A finite element method (FEM) has been used for investigation of the optical properties such as relative sensitivity, power fraction (PF), effective area, numerical aperture (NA) and confinement loss of the proposed structure. The findings of the simulations show that the proposed structure provides high relative sensitivity with low confinement loss for sensing different chemical substances like ethanol, benzene, and water. The relative sensitivity of the proposed sensor is 70 %, 68.59 % and 67.62 % for benzene, ethanol, and water, respectively at a frequency of 1.14 THz. Confinement loss of the proposed sensor has the order of 10−11 dB/m, which is very low and therefore convenient for practical applications as chemical sensor. In addition, V-parameter, Marcuse spot size (MSS) and Beam divergence (BD) are also carefully examined from 0.2 THz to 1.3 THz. The proposed sensor is mainly used to detect toxic chemicals for commercial purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent past years, utilization of synthetic materials has become a matter of immense concern due to increasing environmental awareness in terms of safety, sustainability and maintaining ecological balance. A substantial amount of work has been carried out on various aspects of plant based natural fiber reinforced thermoset polymer composite materials due to their numerous inherent properties like high specific strength, low cost and degradability. Current issues and challenges associated with mechanical and tribological properties of only plant based natural fiber reinforced thermoset composites have been highlighted in the present study. Various factors influencing mechanical and tribological characteristics have been discussed keeping the focus on plant fiber reinforced thermoset composites. A detailed discussion on mechanical (tensile, compressive, flexural, impact strength) and tribological properties (friction and specific wear rate) have been reported. Interfacial adhesion was found to be a dominating factor with respect to mechanical and tribological properties. Wear and frictional characteristics of plant fiber based thermoset composites can be controlled using suitable fillers and reinforcement orientation. A discussion on interfacial adhesion and its effect on composite performance have also been included. • Natural fiber reinforced thermoset polymer composites offers comparable mechanical properties along with high degree of sustainability. • Current issues and challenges associated with processing and characterization of only plant based natural fiber reinforced thermoset composites have been highlighted in the study. • A detailed discussion on mechanical (tensile, compressive, flexural, impact strength) and tribological properties (friction and specific wear rate) have been reported. • A discussion on interfacial adhesion and its effect on composite performance have also been included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For pressure sensing, a novel hybrid-dual core photonic crystal fiber (H-DCPCF) is proposed with elliptical and circular air holes based on coupling of modes between the two cores of H-DCPCF. Under different applied hydrostatic pressure, the mode coupling between two cores of H-DCPCF is numerically analyzed. The transmission spectrum of the sensor is very sensitive to the applied hydrostatic pressure on the H-DCPCF. It is observed that the hydrostatic pressure given to the H-DCPCF is linearly related to the peak wavelength shift of the output transmission spectrum of sensor. Numerical simulation shows that the 6 cm long hydrostatic pressure sensor based on H-DCPCF has a sensing range from 0 to1000 Mpa and a sensitivity of -11.6 pm/Mpa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the effect of incorporating Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) and copper (Cu) in the development of Titanium-Based Metal Matrix Composites (TMCs) using the Friction Stir Processing (FSP) technique. The macrostructure of the TMCs, after adding 5% YSZ and 2% Cu, displayed a defect-free, crack-free, and porosity-free surface, indicating the precision of the FSP method. Microstructure analysis revealed a uniform distribution of reinforcement particles and proper dispersion of grains, key for enhancing mechanical properties. The interfacial bonding between titanium and YSZ was exceptionally strong, devoid of cracks and porosity, attributed to the copper additive's role. The increase in the number of grains per square inch for the Ti/5% YSZ/2% Cu composite (1176.26 grains per square inch at 500×) signified finer grain structure, contributing to a remarkable 48.04% improvement in tensile strength compared to pure titanium. The uniform distribution of reinforcement and strong bonding between titanium and YSZ are the driving forces behind the 46.34% increased in hardness. Additionally, the wear resistance of the composite improved by approximately 76.66%, a vital characteristic for applications facing abrasive conditions. The corrosion testing demonstrated an 8.33% enhancement in corrosion resistance with the Ti/5% YSZ/2% Cu composite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) with two cores as refractive index sensor that was built using COMSOL Multiphysics software by considering elliptical shaped air holes within the cladding. The two cores of the PCF are formed by an elliptical air hole at center, which represents two independent waveguides. The approach is intrinsically suited to investigate the sensor's performance, a full-vector Finite Element Method technique is employed. According to mathematical evidence, the proposed PCF based sensor has maximum sensitivities 9000 nm/RIU and 10,000 nm/RIU for x-polarized and y-polarized respectively. The sensing range of analyte is 1.35–1.39. The proposed sensor that has excellent sensitivity reveals an unmatched capacity for detecting chemicals, agents that cause cancer, biomolecules, and other analytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides a comprehensive overview of the current and future advances of Photonic crystal fiber (PCF) based biosensors, the research explores the impact of structural parameter variations on phase matching conditions, by investigating pitch, air hole diameter, and gold layer thickness. Currently, these surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors demonstrate the ability to detect a range of biological substances such as glucose, pH, serum proteins, and similar chemicals. They have the capacity to directly identify bio-components in urine, blood, and saliva, as well as pathogens, bacteria, and contaminants in food, water, and air. The study investigates by presenting the fundamental principles of PCF biosensors, highlighting their comparative benefits over conventional biosensors. Recent studies utilizing PCF biosensors for various application are reviewed, the findings of the review suggest that the integration of SPR enhances the sensing capabilities of these biosensors, making them promising tools for diverse applications in the field of biosensing.

Alnus nepalensis and Schima wallichii are native tree species accompanying succession in abandoned agricultural land in the middle mountainous region of central Nepal. To understand how root fungi recover during spontaneous succession, we analyzed the diversity and composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM), ectomycorrhizal (ECM), and total fungi in tree fine roots from three land use types, short-term abandoned land (SA), long-term abandoned land (LA), and regenerated forest (RF) as a reference. Additionally, ECM morphotypes were examined. The results showed different speeds of succession in the studied fungal groups. While the change in the AM fungal community appears to be rapid and LA resembles the composition of RF, the total fungi in the abandoned land types are similar to each other but differed significantly from RF. Interestingly, the relative abundance of Archaeosporaceae followed a trend differing between the tree species (SA < LA in A. nepalensis, but SA > LA in S. wallichii). Unlike AM and total fungi, there was no significant difference in the ECM community of A. nepalensis between land use types, probably due to their low species diversity (9 ECM morphotypes, 31 ECM operational taxonomic units). However, Cortinarius sp. was significantly more abundant in RF than in the other land use types, whereas Alnicola, Tomentella, and Russula preferred young stages. Our results suggest that for both studied tree species the AM fungal succession could reach the stage of regenerated forest relatively fast. In the case of total fungi, because of hyperdiversity and composed of species specialized to a variety of environments and substrates, the transition was expected to be delayed in abandoned land where the vegetation was still developing and the ecosystem was not as complex as that found in mature forests., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) is a rare pregnancy complication characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia and consumption thrombocytopenia. We herein describe the case report of a 32-year-old woman who was six weeks pregnant with twins and developed thrombotic thrombocytic purpura (TTP). The patient had a history of sickle cell trait, migraines, and preeclampsia. She presented with complaints of nausea, fatigue, sore throat, and cough and was found to be anemic with a hemoglobin of 7 g/dl and thrombocytopenic with a platelet count of 8 x 10 3 /μL. The patient was promptly initiated on steroids and plasmapheresis with an excellent initial response. However, after three days, she developed a sudden onset headache and shortness of breath, and repeat labs showed worsening anemia (7.3 g/dl) and thrombocytopenia (8 x 10 3 /μL). ADAMTS13 activity was significantly low at 2%. Plasmapheresis was continued, and caplacizumab and rituximab treatment was initiated. The fetal ultrasound showed no cardiac activity in the fetal poles, and the patient had a dilation and curettage   (D&C) for a missed abortion. She was discharged with a prednisone taper, daily caplacizumab, and weekly rituximab. This case report underscores the criticality of the prompt identification of TTP in its early stages, and appropriate management strategies for patients with refractory TTP (rTTP), including plasmapheresis, caplacizumab, and rituximab., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2023, Jacob et al.)

Objective  To evaluate the risk factors and outcomes in patients surgically treated for subaxial cervical spine injuries with respect of the timing of surgery and preoperative physiological parameters of the patient. Methods  26 patients with sub-axial cervical spine fractures and dislocations were enrolled. Demographic data of patients, appropriate radiological investigation, and physiological parameters like respiratory rate, blood pressure, heart rate, PaO2 and ASIA impairment scale were documented. They were divided pre-operatively into 2 groups. Group U with patients having abnormal physiological parameters and Group S including patients having physiological parameters within normal range. They were further subdivided into early and late groups according to the timing of surgery as U early , U late, S early and S late . All the patients were called for follow-up at 1, 6 and 12 months. Results  56 percent of patients in Group S had neurological improvement by one ASIA grade and a good outcome irrespective of the timing of surgery. Patients in Group U having unstable physiological parameters and undergoing early surgical intervention had poor outcomes. Conclusion  This study concludes that early surgical intervention in physiologically unstable patients had a strong association as a risk factor in the final outcome of the patients in terms of mortality and morbidity. Also, no positive association of improvement in physiologically stable patients with respect to the timing of surgery could be established., Competing Interests: Conflito de Interesses Os autores não têm conflito de interesses a declarar., (Sociedade Brasileira de Ortopedia e Traumatologia. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).)

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR) refractometric sensor based on gold (Au) and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) coated Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) is presented for the quick detection of various types of cancerous cells. The cancerous cells and their corresponding normal cells are both considered to be liquid cells each with their unique refractive index (RI). Normally these cells are found in liquid form in the suitable media (food) required to live the cancerous/normal cell lines. Also in our detection case, liquid samples are easy to pump into the sensing channel of the proposed PCF by employing either pressure or capillary forces.The proposed PCF sensor works on the SPR principle, with the Au coating serving as the plasmonic material. This sensor is investigated using the COMSOL Multiphysics software computational tool that is based on the full-vector finite element method (FEM). A TiO 2 coating has been applied to enhance adhesion between the Au layer and the PCF surface. Above the Au coating, cancerous cells samples are filled into the PCF. When the core mode of the PCF is coupled with the surface plasmon polariton (SPP) mode under the specific resonance circumstances, SPR will occur on the interface of the gold-sample cell, and in the core mode, the loss peak is observed at the resonance wavelength. Cancerous cells samples have a distinct loss peak than normal cells samples therefore the cancerous cells can be diagnosed by measuring the shift in resonance wavelength corresponding to the loss peak of cancerous and their normal cells samples. The proposed sensor may identify various cancerous cells such as MDAMB-231, MCF-7, PC12, HeLa, and Jurkat for the diagnosis of breast cancer type-1, breast cancer type-2, adrenal glands, cervical, and blood cancer respectively. The computed wavelengths sensitivities of the proposed PCF are 9428.57nm/RIU, 10714.28nm/RIU, 7571.43nm/RIU, 5500nm/RIU, and 6000nm/RIU for the MDAMB-231, MCF-7, PC12, HeLa, and Jurkat cancerous cells, respectively. However, for various cancerous cells, the maximum amplitude sensitivity varies from -1387 RIU -1 to -1599 RIU -1 . Moreover, the sensor resolution ranges between 0.93 ×10 -5 RIU and 1.82 ×10 -5 RIU with a 0.024 maximum detection limit. Because of its improved sensing capability, the presented SPR refractometric sensor is appropriate for the early detection of cancerous cells.

Despite patients having increased access to their own electronic health record (EHR) in recent times, patients are often still not considered a primary audience of pathology reports. An alternative to in-person patient education is the use of multimedia programming to enhance health literacy. Curated video presentations designed to explain diagnosis-specific pathology terms were reviewed by a board-certified pathologist and oncologist team and then shown to patients with a primary diagnosis of either pancreatic, colorectal, or prostate cancer in-clinic; these patients then completed a secure electronic survey immediately afterwards. Seventy patients were surveyed, with 91% agreeing or strongly agreeing that the video they watched increased their understanding of the medical terms used in their pathology reports, with a corresponding average Likert score (ALS) of 4.21 (SD = 0.77, CI = ± 0.18). Furthermore, 95% agreed or strongly agreed that the video they watched both enhanced their understanding of the role of the pathologist in diagnosing cancer (ALS = 4.27; SD = 0.65, CI = ± 0.15) and reported they found the video useful (ALS = 4.27; SD = 0.53, CI = ± 0.13). Curated videos such as those utilized in this study have the potential to increase patient health literacy and inform patients of the multidisciplinary nature of cancer diagnosis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

Objective: Nepalis have benefited from helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) since 2013. Helicopters are coordinated from private companies for medical transport. There are no helicopters dedicated solely for emergency medical services. Private helicopter companies and hospitals collaborate to transfer patients. Mountainous terrain, traffic infrastructure problems, and distance to rural facilities designate HEMS as the preferred method for transferring patients in Nepal. This article discusses the 2 methods used to fly patients between facilities and from scene calls. The first and preferred method is when patients received medical support from trained personnel en route to the appropriate facility. This method allows for quicker access to a physician with appropriate care throughout a transfer. The second method used occurs when patients were flown with no medical team or trained care onboard the helicopter. Regardless of the method used, HEMS has proven to be beneficial because it limits out-of-hospital time, alleviates patient load from overwhelmed hospitals, and delivers patients to critical care facilities out of reach by ground emergency medical services. The aim of this study was to interpret the current system of helicopter emergency medical services in Nepal and to determine the difference in patient outcomes when transferred with care onboard and without., Methods: This was a retrospective study of patients who were transferred by helicopter to Mediciti Hospital in Nepal from November 2017 to December 15, 2019., Results: During the study, a total of 425 patients were transferred by helicopter. Two hundred forty-three (57.18%) patients were moved with the support of the medical team onboard. One hundred eighty-two (42.82%) were flown without medical support. Of the 243 patients, 173 (71.19%) were medical, and 70 (28.81%) had suffered traumatic injuries. From the 182 nonsupported patients, 115 (63.19%) were medical, and 67 (36.81%) were traumatic. One hundred eighty (74.07%) of the patients with medical support went to the intensive care unit (ICU). Forty-two (23.07%) without medical support went to the ICU. Ninety-one (50.55%) patients who received support went to the ICU and stayed for 1 to 5 days. Thirty-eight (90.48%) patients with no medical support en route stayed 1 to 5 days in the ICU. Of the 243 patients who received medical support en route, 69 died (28.4%) during the course of treatment in the hospital. Of the 182 who were flown without medical care during transport, 6 (3.33%) died., Conclusion: HEMS effectiveness and usefulness are rapidly growing in Nepal. Having trained medics onboard delivering care can be beneficial. When patients are critically ill, it is preferred to fly them via helicopter with a medical crew onboard., (Copyright © 2021 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Despite their limitations, unfractionated heparin (UFH) and bivalirudin remain standard-of-care parenteral anticoagulants for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We discovered novel direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs) from tick salivary transcriptomes and optimised their pharmacologic activity. The most potent, ultravariegin, inhibits thrombin with a K i of 4.0 pM, 445-fold better than bivalirudin. Unexpectedly, despite their greater antithrombotic effect, variegin/ultravariegin demonstrated less bleeding, achieving a 3-to-7-fold wider therapeutic index in rodent thrombosis and bleeding models. When used in combination with aspirin and ticagrelor in a porcine model, variegin/ultravariegin reduced stent thrombosis compared with antiplatelet therapy alone but achieved a 5-to-7-fold lower bleeding time than UFH/bivalirudin. Moreover, two antibodies screened from a naïve human antibody library effectively reversed the anticoagulant activity of ultravariegin, demonstrating proof-of-principle for antidote reversal. Variegin and ultravariegin are promising translational candidates for next-generation DTIs that may reduce peri-PCI bleeding in the presence of antiplatelet therapy., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) a re-emerging mosquito-borne alpha virus causes significant distress which is further accentuated in the lack of specific therapeutics or a preventive vaccine, mandating accelerated research for anti-CHIKV therapeutics. In recent years, drug repositioning has gained recognition for the curative interventions for its cost and time efficacy. CHIKV envelope proteins are considered to be the promising targets for drug discovery because of their essential role in viral attachment and entry in the host cells. In the current study, we propose structure-based virtual screening of drug molecule on the crystal structure of mature Chikungunya envelope protein (PDB 3N41) using a library of FDA approved drug molecules. Several cephalosporin drugs docked successfully within two binding sites prepared at E1-E2 interface of CHIKV envelop protein complex with significantly low binding energies. Cefmenoxime, ceforanide, cefotetan, cefonicid sodium and cefpiramide were identified as top leads with a cumulative score of -67.67, -64.90, -63.78, -61.99, and - 61.77, forming electrostatic, hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds within both the binding sites. These shortlisted leads could be potential inhibitors of E1-E2 hetero dimer in CHIKV, hence might disrupt the integrity of envelope glycoprotein leading to loss of its ability to form mature viral particles and gain entry into the host.

Background: Carmustine (BCNU), 1, 3-bis (2-chloroethyl)-1-nitosourea, is an alkylating agent which is commonly used as a part of conditioning regimen for autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Despite the widespread use of BCNU therapy in adults, cardiopulmonary toxicity presenting with cardiac tamponade has not been reported., Case Report: We present a patient who received BCNU as part of her conditioning regimen followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. This patient subsequently developed bilateral upper lobe pulmonary infiltrates with bilateral pleural effusions and a large pericardial effusion which was a result of BCNU toxicity., Conclusions: Early institution of glucocorticoids for patients receiving high dose BCNU containing chemotherapeutic regimens has shown to significantly reduce BCNU induced cardio-pulmonary toxicity.