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Using the psoriasis regimen, administration of secukinumab 150 mg led to a significant reduction in inflammation and some reduction in scaling in four paediatric cases of autosomal recessive congenital ichthyosis.

Although the impairment of quality of life (QoL) in individuals with keloids is profound, it has neither been well quantified nor correlated with severity in people with skin of colour. This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study comprised 110 patients with keloid(s). A physician measured the severity of keloids using the Vancouver Scar scale and impairment of QoL using the patient-filled Hindi version of Dermatology Life Quality Index questionnaire. The relationship among QoL and severity score as well as with components of demographic data was analysed using SPSS. Our study found the severity of keloid(s) to be moderately but significantly correlated with the QoL of its sufferers. Individuals with multiple keloids were found to be significantly younger than those with solitary ones. Itching, pain, along with restricted mobility significantly impacted the QoL as well as severity of keloids. Individuals who had undergone prior treatment were found to have a worse QoL than the treatment naive. Recurrence was found to be associated with lower scar severity, multiple keloids, and younger age. Increasing age, though associated with greater scar severity, lacked any relationship with the QoL. Our study also found that individuals with bigger keloids sought treatment earlier and more often. Hyperpigmented keloid(s), more common in individuals with skin of colour, were associated with a significantly worse QoL and a higher scar severity.

India is a nation with a rich cultural legacy, and the country's diverse cultures produce a wide variety of exquisite arts and crafts. Instead of using cutting- edge technology, the handicraft sector uses traditional manual processes to create a variety of goods. With the introduction of E-commerce efforts at the government level as well as at the private or individual level, this situation is changing. Ecommerce has made it simpler for people to eliminate physical work and to save time, in contrast to conventional commerce, which is carried out physically with a person's effort to travel and collect items. The goal of this project is to emphasize the contribution of e-commerce to the growth of rural artisans in India by showcasing some of the initiatives taken by government and non-government organizations, groups, and individuals to improve their socioeconomic standing.

Numerous speculations have continually emerged, trying to explore the association between COVID-19 infection and a varied range of demographic and clinical factors. Frontline healthcare workers have been at the forefront of this illness exposure. However, there is a paucity of large cohort-based association studies, performed among Indian health care professionals, exploring their potential risk and predisposing factors. This study aims to systematically utilize the demographic and clinical data of over 3000 healthcare workers from a tertiary hospital in India to gain significant insights on the associations between disease prevalence, severity, and post-infection symptoms.Article SummaryPotential associations between various demographic and clinical factors with disease severity and post COVID syndromes among a large cohort of healthcare workers in India suggest that Smokers were discovered to be more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection because of their immunocompromised lung health and Blood group B, like previous studies, was found to possess an increased risk of predisposition to long COVIDs

The concept of Natural Language Processing that deals with problems of identifying the sentiment from the voice or text of a speaker or writer and then use that analysis further for making predictions, market survey, customer service, product satisfaction, precision targeting etc. is called Sentiment analysis. From one viewpoint, it is an abstract evaluation of something dependent on close to home observational experience. It Is mostly established in target realities and incompletely governed by feelings. Then again, a sentiment can be deciphered as a kind of measurement in the information in regards to a specific subject. It is a lot of markers that mix present a point of view, i.e., perspective for the specific issue. So as to enhance the accuracy of sentiment analysis/classification, it is imperative to appropriately recognize the semantic connections between the various words and phrases that are describing the subject or aspect. This can be done by applying semantic analysis with a syntactic parser and supposition vocabulary. This research will discuss different sets of approaches for application or domain specific problems and then compare them to obtain the best possible approaches to the problem of sentiment analysis.

Considering the present situation of exploitation of TiO2 as a photocatalyst, optimization of its polymorphs (anatase, brookite, and rutile) becomes critical. In the present study, TiO2 nanoparticles have been synthesized using the sol-gel technique to understand the effect of heat treatment-induced anatase-brookite composition on photocatalytic diethyl phthalate removal. The influence of heat treatment on structural characteristics of TiO2 is investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Bot, XRD and Raman results indicated the coexistence of brookite and anatase. At the same time, UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) revealed the optical modifications caused by the presence of brookite in the anatase network to alter the photo absorption and photoemission characteristics. The photocatalytic degradation of diethyl phthalate was observed as 95 % under UV–visible illumination (for 225 min) in the presence of the sample, calcined at 200 °C.

The loss of melanocytes in vitiligo is associated with architectural, transcriptional, and cellular perturbations of keratinocytes and manifests as a reduced proliferation potential in vitro and delayed re-epithelialization in vivo. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this delay, microRNA (miRNA) profiling was performed on split skin biopsies collected on Day 1 (basal level) and Day 14 (wound re-epithelialization) from nonlesional (NL) and lesional (L) skin of five subjects with stable nonsegmental vitiligo and 129 miRNAs were found to be differentially regulated between the NL and L healed epidermis. miR-21-5p, expressed at comparable levels on NL and L Day 1 samples, demonstrated significant upregulation during re-epithelialization. However, the extent of its upregulation was relatively lower in L (10 times compared to Day 1) as compared to NL skin (17 times compared to Day 1). The overexpression of miR-21 in keratinocytes led to a significant increase in the expression of proliferation markers (Ki67 and MCM6 messenger RNA, Ki67 positivity), along with an increase in keratinocyte migration. Using a small interfering RNA mediated knockdown approach, we further demonstrated that miR-21-5p mediates its effects by suppressing the expression of programmed cell death 4 (PDCD4) and mammary serine protease inhibitor (Maspin), both tumor-suppressor genes. Investigation of clinical samples corroborated the lower miR-21 levels and a higher expression of PDCD4 and Maspin in L Day 14 compared to the NL Day 14 epidermis. In conclusion, this study revealed that a relatively lower upregulation of miR-21-5p in L skin leads to significantly higher levels of PDCD4 and Maspin, delaying wound re-epithelialization by reducing the proliferation and migration of keratinocytes.

Present work provides a detailed study of enhanced photocatalytic performance of CeO2 coupled Mn-doped ZnS nanoparticles. In a systematic study, undoped and Mn− doped (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 mol%) ZnS nanoparticles were synthesized using co-precipitation method. Then, using synthesized samples, heterostructure samples (ZnS/CeO2) were prepared by hydrothermal route. Successful incorporation of Mn ions in ZnS lattice was determined by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Optical spectroscopies revealed the associated optical modifications because of Mn-doping and confirmed CeO2 attachment. The specific surface area calculated from N2 sorption isotherms suggested the mesoporous structure of the samples. Rhodamine B (RhB) dye was used to understand the structural modifications of both components for the photocatalytic performance under different radiations. It was observed that hydroxyl radicals ( O H ∙ ) were responsible for photo-oxidation of RhB molecule with excellent photostability of synthesized heterostructure sample under UV–visible illumination. To prove photocatalytic activity of catalysts under visible light, additional experiments with the use of vancomycin antibiotic, which do not absorb visible light, were performed. Though Mn doping improves the recombination rate of charge carriers of host ZnS, the attachment of CeO2, not even reduces the optical bandgap (red shift) but contributes to better separation of the photo-excited charge carriers in heterostructure catalysts.

Mapping of somatic variations has enabled understanding the progression of clonal variations from healthy skin to cutaneous malignancies. Highlighting, the adaptive nature of pigmentation, germline mutations in albinism amplify skin cancer susceptibility. However, lower incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer among subjects with acquired depigmenting skin disorder vitiligo is enigmatic and a matter of longstanding debate. To address this, we performed high-coverage exome sequencing of matched non-lesional and lesional vitiligo skin along with whole blood to account for germline variations. Our analysis suggests lower burden of somatic cancer-associated variations in exposed depigmented lesional skin compared to the non-lesional skin. A detailed investigation of vitiligo skin transcriptome reveals elevation of DNA repair and cell-proliferation pathways. Validation by comet-assay for DNA damage and cell cycle analysis of epidermal cells suggest undamaged DNA in vitiligo lesions that could be attributed to higher proliferation-coupled repair. Endorsing this, UV-signature variations are not prominent, instead SBS5 associated with endogenous mutational processes is conspicuous in both the vitiligo tissues. Our systematic pilot study indicates lower somatic mutation burden in vitiligo skin and supports the earlier demographic observation on lower risk of non-melanoma skin cancer in vitiligo subjects, providing an opportunity to learn strategies for cancer prevention from vitiligo.Brief SummaryVitiligo skin harbors decreased somatic variation burden in cancer-associated genes and a concomitant augmentation in DNA repair response, explaining the lower incidence of cutaneous malignancies.

The prescription of antibiotics empirically without confirmation of an infective etiology is on the rise. Administration of appropriate antibiotics can be guided by real-time fluorescence imaging using a point-of-care device. These composite images show the presence, type and the burden of infection. The time saved by this method over microbiological testing, especially in resource-poor settings, can lead to a paradigm shift in treatment by facilitating prompt and adequate antimicrobial therapy, surgical debridement as well as follow-up. Thumbnail sketches of a series of four cases highlighting different scenarios in which a fluorescent imaging device utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning was found useful is presented in this report.

A facile chemical route was adopted to synthesize doped CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) with group V elements (V, Nb and Ta) as dopants. Successful incorporation of dopants was confirmed with higher angle shift of diffraction peaks in X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. As a result of doping, a red shift in the absorption edge has also been observed with significant decrement in optical band gap (3.3 → 2.7 eV). Surface chemical composition was also determined with the help of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in which presence of dopants supported the XRD results. The associated structural modifications (O-defects) has also been determined by Raman spectroscopy in order to understand the structure-optical co-relationship. Here, the detailed photodegradation of methylene blue dye revealed the effect of individual chemical characteristics of dopants on optical and electronic transitions between valence and conduction band edges of prepared CeO2. Further, the prepared Nb-doped CeO2 exhibited better photocatalytic efficiency (96.8%) as compared to other samples with excellent reusability upto 4 continuous cycles.

The present study presents the preparation of Nb-based perovskite with different cationic dopants (potassium and vanadium) for the catalytic photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. For the preparation of powder samples, chemical route followed by heat treatment (at 800 °C) was adopted and X-ray diffraction confirmed the phase formation. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy supported the successful incorporation of dopants in NaNbO3 lattice. Furthermore, the induced lattice distortion and resulted optical modification were determined by uniform strain model and UV–visible spectroscopy, respectively. As a result of inclusion of dopants, photodegradation of MB dye under household CFL exposure has been studied in detail by considering the different dye concentrations (1, 5, and 10 mg/L). Doping at both sites (A and B) in NaNbO3 exhibited better photocatalytic efficiency (34%) in 5 h of illumination as compared to single cation-doped systems which can be associated to the higher content of lattice defects (as charge trap centers), reduced optical band gap and oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, intraparticle diffusion model suggested that low concentration of dye solution exhibited surface diffusion mechanism, while higher concentration followed boundary layer diffusion mechanism for the photodegradation of MB dye.

Artificial intelligence recently achieved the breakthrough of predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins. The next frontier is presented by intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which, representing 30% to 50% of proteomes, readily access vast conformational space. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are promising in sampling IDP conformations, but only at extremely high computational cost. Here, we developed generative autoencoders that learn from short MD simulations and generate full conformational ensembles. An encoder represents IDP conformations as vectors in a reduced-dimensional latent space. The mean vector and covariance matrix of the training dataset are calculated to define a multivariate Gaussian distribution, from which vectors are sampled and fed to a decoder to generate new conformations. The ensembles of generated conformations cover those sampled by long MD simulations and are validated by small-angle X-ray scattering profile and NMR chemical shifts. This work illustrates the vast potential of artificial intelligence in conformational mining of IDPs.

Background Acute or hot cholecystectomy (AC) has been established as a safe and efficacious modality of managing acute biliary pathology. However, it has been performed with caution in the elderly (defined by the world health organisation as patients over the age of 65). The NICE guidance in this area does not preclude this practise on elderly patients. Our acute cholecystectomy service treats patients of all ages according to performance status and fitness for surgery rather than age we audited our results in this age group. Methods All patients over the age of 65 who underwent acute cholecystectomy in the dedicated emergency cholecystectomy lists were audited from the period starting 31st December 2019 to 31st June 2021. Patient demographics, co-morbidies and surgical factors were recorded. The primary outcomes measure was in hospital stay and re-admission, secondary outcome were complications and perioperative mortality. Results 41 elderly patients underwent AC during the audit period, (male 18: female 23). Majority of patients had acute cholecystitis 30(73%). The median inpatient stay following surgery was 2 days(range 2-5 days) and the median admission to surgery time was 6 days (range 5-12 days). Only 3(7%) patients had a subtotal cholecystectomy. There was only 3 complications from surgery which were all between a clavien-dindo score of 2 and 3. There were 3 readmission in the immediate post-operative period. There was one 30-day mortality which was from necrotising pancreatitis as a result of ERCP and not from the operation. Conclusions Acute cholecystectomy in this age group appears to be safe and effective way to treat acute biliary pathology and compares similarly to the outcomes in the younger groups.

Artificial intelligence recently achieved the breakthrough of predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins. The next frontier is presented by intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), which, representing 30% to 50% of proteomes, readily access vast conformational space. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are promising in sampling IDP conformations, but only at extremely high computational cost. Here, we developed generative autoencoders that learn from short MD simulations and generate full conformational ensembles. An encoder represents IDP conformations as vectors in a reduced-dimensional latent space. The mean vector and covariance matrix of the training dataset are calculated to define a multivariate Gaussian distribution, from which vectors are sampled and fed to a decoder to generate new conformations. The ensembles of generated conformations cover those sampled by long MD simulations and are validated by small-angle X-ray scattering profile and NMR chemical shifts. This work illustrates the vast potential of artificial intelligence in conformational mining of IDPs.

Vitiligo, a common skin disorder, is characterized by the loss of functional melanocytes resulting in the depigmentation of skin. Previous studies have demonstrated molecular and architectural alterations in the epidermal keratinocytes upon loss of melanocytes. The physiological implications of these "altered" keratinocytes are yet not known. We investigated the wound healing efficiency of lesional vs nonlesional skin in 12 subjects with stable nonsegmental vitiligo using histological and ultrastructural evaluation of partial-thickness wounds. The wounds were examined 12 days postinjury, coinciding with the reepithelialization phase of healing marked primarily by keratinocyte migration and proliferation. This study demonstrated a significant difference in the reepithelialization potential between the lesional and nonlesional skin. While all 12 nonlesional wounds demonstrated considerable neoepidermis formation on the 12th day post wound, only four of the corresponding lesional samples showed comparable reepithelialization; the rest remaining in the inflammatory phase. Ultrastructural studies using transmission electron microscopy as well as immunohistochemical staining revealed a reduced number of desmosomes, shorter keratin tonofilaments and an increase in myofibroblast population in the dermis of lesional reepithelialized tissue compared to the nonlesional reepithelialized samples. This study implicates gross functional perturbations in the lesional skin during physiological wound healing in vitiligo, suggesting that the breakdown of keratinocyte-melanocyte network results in delayed wound repair kinetics in the lesional skin when compared to patient-matched nonlesional skin.

In the present study, a heterostructure of Ni doped M-type hexaferrite i.e., BaNi0.2Fe11.8O19 (BNFO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has been prepared to understand its effect on the optical and magnetic properties of BNFO. Here, the preparation of both the components was carried out through sol–gel (followed by heat treatment) and modified Hummer’s method, respectively. The confirmation of phase formation was confirmed with XRD results and spectroscopic techniques (FTIR and Raman) were used to monitor the structural variation occurred as a result of attachment of BNFO and RGO. Further, vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) and absorbance spectroscopy (UV–visible) were carried out to understand the effect of attachment. VSM study suggested the decrement of saturation magnetization, coercivity, and retentivity as a result of RGO addition in BNFO which might be associated to the soft magnetic characteristics of RGO. While, such synergistic heterojunction induced excellent visible absorption of prepared samples enabling its applicability in optical devices.

Home to a culturally heterogeneous population, India is also a melting pot of genetic diversity. The population architecture characterized by multiple endogamous groups with specific marriage patterns, including the widely prevalent practice of consanguinity, not only makes the Indian population distinct from rest of the world but also provides a unique advantage and niche to understand genetic diseases. Centuries of genetic isolation of population groups have amplified the founder effects, contributing to high prevalence of recessive alleles, which translates into genetic diseases, including rare genetic diseases in India.Rare genetic diseases are becoming a public health concern in India because a large population size of close to a billion people would essentially translate to a huge disease burden for even the rarest of the rare diseases. Genomics-based approaches have been demonstrated to accelerate the diagnosis of rare genetic diseases and reduce the socio-economic burden. The Genomics for Understanding Rare Diseases: India Alliance Network (GUaRDIAN) stands for providing genomic solutions for rare diseases in India. The consortium aims to establish a unique collaborative framework in health care planning, implementation, and delivery in the specific area of rare genetic diseases. It is a nation-wide collaborative research initiative catering to rare diseases across multiple cohorts, with over 240 clinician/scientist collaborators across 70 major medical/research centers. Within the GUaRDIAN framework, clinicians refer rare disease patients, generate whole genome or exome datasets followed by computational analysis of the data for identifying the causal pathogenic variations. The outcomes of GUaRDIAN are being translated as community services through a suitable platform providing low-cost diagnostic assays in India. In addition to GUaRDIAN, several genomic investigations for diseased and healthy population are being undertaken in the country to solve the rare disease dilemma.In summary, rare diseases contribute to a significant disease burden in India. Genomics-based solutions can enable accelerated diagnosis and management of rare diseases. We discuss how a collaborative research initiative such as GUaRDIAN can provide a nation-wide framework to cater to the rare disease community of India.

A facile single step chemical method is reported for the synthesis of Zr doped ZnS nanopowder and its photocatalytic performance has been studied. The average crystallite size of the synthesized powder estimated from X-ray diffraction (XRD) is nearly 1.1 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study shows that nanoparticles are agglomerated having a particle size of nearly 10 nm. The optical band gap of ZnS and Zr-doped ZnS, estimated with the help of UV–visible spectroscopy, is 3.7 and 2.9 eV, respectively. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy indicated the role of lattice defects (vacancy, interstitial defects) on optical emission characteristics of doped ZnS samples. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized samples has also been investigated by degrading methylene blue (MB) dye under UV–visible illumination. The degradation quenching has been observed beyond 0.4 mol% doping of Zr in ZnS with maximum efficiency i.e. 80% in 4 h. Thereafter, the effect of aging is monitored for 1.5 months in which the modified emission properties of defect sites modulated the photocatalytic performance of Zr-doped ZnS sample. Further, with the help of various spectroscopic techniques (absorbance, PL and XPS), a mechanism for the photodegradation of MB dye by using Zr-doped ZnS nanopowder has been proposed.

In this reported work, the potential application of MnO2 nanopowder for photocatalytic and the electrocatalytic applications is explored. The MnO2 nanopowder has been synthesized through sonochemical route using KMnO4 and poly-ethylene glycol as the reducing agent. Structural and optical analysis (XRD, TEM, FTIR, XPS and UV–visible) confirmed the formation of nanocrystalline MnO2 network. The adsorption and photocatalytic performance of synthesized MnO2 was tested for degradation of methylene blue dye and p-nitrophenol (2 mg/L) under dark chamber and household CFL lamp exposure, respectively. The electrochemical studies in alkaline (0.5 M KOH) medium shows the electric double layer capacitance of 7.4 mFcm−2 suggesting its potential application for energy storage devices. The synthesized compound exhibited excellent stability after 1000 CV cycles (∼4% current loss) where Volmer reaction was observed as the rate determining step for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction.

Undoped, Ca-doped NaNbO3 and its heterostructure with g-C3N4 have been successfully prepared through chemical route followed by heat treatment. All the prepared samples were analysed using XRD, FESEM, TEM and XPS spectroscopy for various structural and surface features. Further, absorbance (UV–visible) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy revealed the bandgap narrowing and emission quenching, respectively as a result of doping and formation of heterojunction. Ca doped NaNbO3-C3N4 sample exhibited almost 100% photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in 4 h. Here, the superoxide anion radical has been found as the active reactive oxidative species (ROS). Further, being a visible active catalyst, photocatalytic H2 evolution has also been studied through water splitting under solar irradiations in which H2 yield of 0.01, 0.03, 0.09 and 0.29 mmol (in 1 h) was observed using bare NaNbO3, Ca-NaNbO3, and their respective heterostructures, respectively. Modified oxygen vacancies and synergistic interracial interaction have induced such a noteworthy photocatalytic H2 evolution ability of as-prepared heterostructure with 3.45 mmol H2 yield 4 h of exposure.

Photocatalysis has emerged as a vital tool for purification of waste water and also to obtain alternate fuels (H2) through water splitting. TiO2, ZnO and other non-carbide systems (ZnS, metallic nanoparticles (NPs), etc.) have been studied thoroughly to enhance their photocatalytic performances through doping and the formation of heterojunctions. But, niobium carbide (NbC) is gaining interest of researchers due to its ability to catalyze electrochemical reactions (hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen reduction reaction) along with excellent thermal and chemical stability. In the present work, NbC has been synthesized using conventional oxide precursor (Nb2O5), Mg metal powder and parthenium hysterophorous (PH; carrot grass, an agricultural hazardous weed) as carbon source at relatively low temperature (800 °C) as compared to conventional synthesis temperature (1200 °C). For the phase confirmation and morphological studies, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy have been done. It has been observed that the presence of NbCxOy/NbOz inside NbC nanoparticles induced the optical active sites resulting photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under visible irradiation. With the help of various techniques (UV–visible, PL, XPS, RAMAN spectroscopies and scavenger tests), degradation mechanism has been established for the observed photocatalytic performance of synthesized NbCxOy/NbOz/NbCx/g-C heterostructure under optimized conditions. Further, for the confirmation of photodegradation of MB dye, mass spectrometry and TOC have also been carried out.

Nano transition metal carbides (TMCs) have emerged as materials of great interest for different catalytic applications in fuel cells and also as catalysts for photo-treatment of organic effluents in industrial waste water. For both the catalytic phenomenon, the charge transfer pathways between the TMC and the surrounding carbon are of significant importance. In present work, well characterized nano powders of Tantalum Carbide (TaC) have been used as a model system to understand the effect and relative importance of powder parameters such as phase purity, particle size and amount of graphitic carbon (g-C) present (in the powder sample) in determining the performance for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and photodegradation of Methylene Blue (MB) dye. For both the applications, TaC particle size and specific surface area (SSA) of the powder emerged as a key parameter. Larger SSA results in better performance even for powder with incomplete TaC phase formation. For same sized TaC, single phase powders give better performance. The SSA of the powders depends on the size of the carbide particles and the g-C present in the powders. The nature of synergistic interface between TaC and g-C emerges as an important parameter controlling the catalytic activity. This synergistic interface ensures that not only does the presence of g-C results in higher SSA but also, higher electron mobility by efficient charge transfer. The study of TaC powders with variable g-C content brought to fore the difference in the reaction pathways of the two catalytic systems in spite of the common requirement of charge transfer from TaC to g-C. As a consequence of the synergistic interface, dye adsorption properties of the g-C are modified by the presence of TaC and can be tailored. XPS, PL and UV data has been used to propose a possible degradation mechanism for the photo-oxidation of MB dye under visible irradiation.