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Identifying and interrogating novel immune-mediated mechanisms of tumor rejection is a major clinical opportunity. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) induces tumor rejection primarily via cytolytic CD8+ T cells, but many patients have primary or acquired resistance to CD8+ T cell immunity. Reduced major histocompatibility complex I (MHC I) expression is a contributing factor to resistance, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is historically treatment-refractory due to, among other features, low MHC expression and a dearth of T cells in the tumor. Interrogating interventions in the context of the PDAC tumor microenvironment will reveal novel mechanisms regulating sensitivity to immune-mediated destruction. Using a genetically engineered mouse model of PDAC, we previously reported that combination immunotherapy (agonistic anti-CD40 and dual ICB, anti-PD-1/CTLA-4) induced both a CD8+ and a CD4+ T cell response sufficient to mediate tumor rejection and long-lived protection. Here, we utilized CRISPR-Cas9 to disrupt the dominant MHC I (H-2Kb allele) expression in PDAC cell lines, precluding direct antigen presentation to CD8+ T cells via this molecule. Subcutaneous injection of MHC I-deficient tumor clones into wild-type mice revealed normal tumor growth at baseline, and significantly delayed tumor growth kinetics in response to combination immunotherapy (CD40/ICB) in a CD4+ T cell-dependent manner (p < 0.0001 vs. vehicle-treated mice). These findings were observed in parental PDAC clones lacking H-2Kb expression, as well as in an ovalbumin (OVA)-expressing PDAC clone. CD4+ T cells mediated tumor rejection including in OVA-tolerized mice, excluding the role of tumor-neoantigens as a major determinant of response. There was no direct contribution of tumor rejection by CD8+ T cells, despite the generation of an activated, tumor-specific CD8+ T cell response in the tumor site (24.5% vs. 1.98% in vehicle-treated mice, p < 0.003). CD4+ T cells upregulated IFN-γ production (52.3% vs. 11.9% in vehicle-treated mice, p < 0.0001), and host IFN-γ and IFN-γ receptor expression were required for response. No changes were observed in the expression of cytotoxic molecules (Granzyme A or B) by CD4+ T cells after CD40/ICB, and perforin was not required for tumor rejection. Furthermore, depletion of macrophage and myeloid cells or genetic knockout of inducible nitric oxide synthase did not dampen CD4+ T cell immunity against established PDAC tumors. Thus, CD4+ T cells mediated PDAC tumor rejection via non-canonical mechanisms, excluding cytotoxic molecules and re-direction of anti-tumor macrophage effector functions after treatment with anti-CD40/ICB. This study provides critical insight into novel mechanisms of tumor clearance beyond direct CD8+ T cell:tumor cell interactions, and opportunities to exploit CD4 T+ cells as regulators of tumor immunity. Citation Format: Samuel I. Kim, Charu Arora, Ioannis I. Verginadis, Christopher R. Cassella, Nune Markosyan, Constantinos Koumenis, Robert H. Vonderheide, Katelyn T. Byrne. CD4+ T cells mediate non-canonical rejection of major histocompatibility class-I deficient pancreatic tumors independently of CD8+ T cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 4188.

Artificial intelligence (AI) renders cutting-edge applications in diverse sectors of society. Due to substantial progress in high-performance computing, the development of superior algorithms, and the accumulation of huge biological and chemical data, computer-assisted drug design technology is playing a key role in drug discovery with its advantages of high efficiency, fast speed, and low cost. Over recent years, due to continuous progress in machine learning (ML) algorithms, AI has been extensively employed in various drug discovery stages. Very recently, drug design and discovery have entered the big data era. ML algorithms have progressively developed into a deep learning technique with potent generalization capability and more effectual big data handling, which further promotes the integration of AI technology and computer-assisted drug discovery technology, hence accelerating the design and discovery of the newest drugs. This review mainly summarizes the application progression of AI technology in the drug discovery process, and explores and compares its advantages over conventional methods. The challenges and limitations of AI in drug design and discovery have also been discussed.

Background and aims This study aims to identify the barriers and facilitators faced by obese patients with NAFLD from north India, while undergoing lifestyle-modification. Methods 30 obese patients with NAFLD were interviewed regarding the barriers and facilitators to lifestyle change and responses were noted. Inductive thematic analysis was used. Results Eight themes under barriers (lack of family support, difficult intervention, work-related, financial, psychological, social, physical and infrastructure related) and four themes under facilitators (family support, intensive nature of intervention, psychological and physiological) were identified from the reponses. Conclusions Personalized and socio-culturally appropriate counseling strategies may promote successful treatment outcomes among these patients.

Lifestyle modification is the mainstay of treatment in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Published Indian data on the diet and lifestyle of Indian NAFLD patients is scarce. This study explored variation in lifestyle-related behavior among obese patients with NAFLD. Ultrasonography (USG) diagnosed obese NAFLD patients (n = 140) were assessed for dietary intake [1-day 24 hours recall, food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ)] and physical activity (PA) [Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ)]. Diet quality score (0–30) and physical activity (PA) levels were used to study variation in lifestyle and assess the effect of lifestyle on the severity of NAFLD. Compared to the recommendation, calorie consumption was 25.2% higher in nearly half (53.6%) of the subjects and mean macronutrient intake was imbalanced (60.3% carbohydrates, 12.4% protein, 25.5% fats). Variation was seen in terms of diet quality—good (3%), moderate (54.3%), or poor (43.5%) and intensity of PA—high (15%), moderate (47.9%), or low (37.1%). No patient had a combination of high PA and good diet quality within all grades of NAFLD. Our study suggests wide variation in lifestyles of obese patients with NAFLD and need for a more flexible and individualized modification of their diet and PA.

In this chapter, role of plant-based pesticidal products has been discussed, as these are ecofriendly. Plant possesses various active ingredients, which can be used as fungicides, herbicides, antibacterial, and antiviral agents. Detailed applications of plant and plant products as fungicides, herbicides, antibacterial, and antiviral agents have been described. Challenges and proposed solutions to enhance the application of biopesticides have also been discussed. Climatic conditions are known to affect the concentration of bioactive ingredients of plant species. Investigations on effect of climatic conditions on active ingredients of different plant species have also been reviewed in this chapter. These studies will be helpful to select suitable climatic and geographical conditions to grow raw plant material to be used for production of pesticidal formulations.

The paper deals with a delayed version of prey predator model with the incorporation of modified Holling-Tanner functional response in predator population. The model highlights the loss in prey population via migration and the natural death rate due to age factor and other reasons such as prenatal death, infection etc. The model also considers the significance of delay in the predator population which is taken as a parameter of bifurcation. Local stability analysis is done in the paper and it is examined that delay is important in attaining system’s stability. Hopf bifurcation is discussed in brief along with the stability of bifurcated type of periodic solutions stability by considering normal form and central manifold theories is applied. Numerical simulations asserts the theory and concludes the paper.

Pesticides are extensively used in agriculture and are known to provoke major environmental problems in the world. It not only pollutes the natural resources such as air, soil, and water but also contaminates the food chain. Its application in agriculture has highly increased during the past 60 years after the Green Revolution in India although the developed countries have banned some invented alternatives. Pesticides may affect respiratory, reproductive, nervous, hormone and endocrine, and circulatory systems and cause many health-related issues. Because of its unfavorable aptitude to cause a massive damage to health and environment, its secondary effects can be an important environmental health risk factor. Therefore, there is an emerging need for a move toward a sustainable and ecological approach in reforming agriculture and increasing food production to come up with more innovative ideas, to implement sustainable practice that evolves food sovereignty. We should focus more on natural biopesticides with other substitutes for sustainable agriculture practices. Applications of green chemistry in agriculture sector as well as occupational will help at greater extent. This chapter broadly focuses on characteristics of different pesticides, its classifications, and the effects of pesticides on different terrestrial ecosystems including aquatic and human health–related issues.

Cytolytic CD8+ T cells are a major mediator of immune-induced tumor rejection, but many patients have primary or acquired resistance to CD8+ T cell immunity. Reduced major histocompatibility complex I (MHC I) expression contributes to resistance, including treatment-refractory pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Interrogating interventions in PDAC will reveal novel mechanisms regulating sensitivity to immunotherapy. Using a genetically engineered mouse model of PDAC, we previously reported that agonistic anti-CD40 and dual immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) induces CD8+ and a CD4+ T cell responses mediating tumor rejection. Here, we utilized CRISPR− Cas9 to disrupt the dominant MHC I (H-2Kb) allele expression in PDAC cell lines, precluding direct antigen presentation to CD8+ T cells. Injection of MHC I-deficient tumor clones revealed normal tumor growth at baseline, and significantly delayed tumor growth in response to CD40/ICB in a CD4+ T cell-dependent manner (p < 0.0001 vs. vehicle-treated mice). There was no direct contribution of tumor rejection by CD8+ T cells, despite the generation of a tumor-specific response (24.5% vs. 1.98% in vehicle-treated mice, p Funded by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

Pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) based distance measurements using the recently developed Cu2+-DPA label present a promising strategy for measuring DNA backbone distance constraints. Herein we develop force field parameters for Cu2+-DPA in order to understand the features of this label at an atomic level. We perform molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the force field parameters of Cu2+-DPA on four different DNA duplexes. The distance between the Cu2+ centers, extracted from the 2 μs MD trajectories, agrees well with the experimental distance for all the duplexes. Further analyses of the trajectory provide insight into the orientation of the Cu2+-DPA inside the duplex that leads to such agreement with experiments. The MD results also illustrate the ability of the Cu2+-DPA to report on the DNA backbone distance constraints. Furthermore, measurement of fluctuations of individual residues showed that the flexibility of Cu2+-DPA in a DNA depends on the position of the label in the duplex, and a 2 μs MD simulation is not sufficient to fully capture the experimental distribution in some cases. Finally, the MD trajectories were utilized to understand the key aspects of the double electron electron resonance (DEER) results. The lack of orientational selectivity effects of the Cu2+-DPA at Q-band frequency is rationalized in terms of fluctuations in the Cu2+ coordination environment and rotameric fluctuations of the label linker. Overall, a combination of EPR and MD simulations based on the Cu2+-DPA labelling strategy can contribute towards understanding changes in DNA backbone conformations during protein-DNA interactions.

We propose a delayed prey–predator model involving the occurrence of infection in the interacting populations along with migration in prey population. In our model system, the interacting populations are categorized according to their health states as healthy prey, prey with infection, healthy predator and predators with infection. To study the dynamics of the model system, we analyze the boundedness of the solutions, existence of non negative equilibria and the stability of the proposed model. Our findings show that the time delay parameter is a leading bifurcation parameter to examine the Hopf-bifurcation existence around the positive equilibrium. We further investigate the direction of Hopf-bifurcation and stability of bifurcated periodic solutions employing the normal form theory, Riesz representation theorem and central manifold theorem. Finally, the numerical simulations for validating our theoretical findings are performed.

In this paper, a simple but effective methodology is proposed for human activity recognition. Major focus of the work is on the design of descriptor for the video sequence. Frames are first represented by commonly used histogram of oriented gradients and histogram of flows. Using these histograms, a semi-detailed frame level descriptor is formed. It is further augmented by incorporating contextual information. Frame level descriptors are then summarized to obtain the sequence level features that are utilized in activity recognition. SVM classifier is used for recognition. Proposed methodology is simple enough and free from any tracking and intensive details. Experiment is done on the KTH dataset. Performance of the proposed descriptors and their combinations are studied. Result indicates the potential of proposed features along with the contextual information. Comparison with a number of existing systems show that the performance of the proposed methodology is comparable.

Role of additional food to predators is significant to retain biological balance for an improved ecosystem. Much attempts have been performed from the aspects of biological control and its consequences on global warming is investigated. Work has been done exhibiting the implication of mutual interference in stabilising the prey predator system which has a phenomenal impact on the dynamics of the system. In the proposed model, dynamics of additional food to predators on one-prey and two-predator system with Beddington–DeAngelis functional response is investigated. The proposed system also throws light on the role of mutual interference in predators and it differentiates the predators on the basis of the characteristic of consuming the additional food or to be solely dependent on preys for survival. Both local and global stability analysis of the system has been performed and at the end, numerical simulation is carried out which signifies the effect of changing the additional food parameters on the dynamics.

In this paper, dynamics of a high dimensional stage structured model with linear functional response in which stage structure for both prey and predator is considered depicting the relationship between the juvenile prey, adult prey, juvenile predator and adult predator. The stage structured system removes the assumption that all individuals have the same capabilities to execute an action and the system has been analysed to derive global stability conditions using geometric approach. At the end, numerical simulation is carried out which highlights the feasibility of the proposed system.

Purpose Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), is recognized as a health care burden worldwide. Lifestyle modification remains the first line of treatment. However, the real challenge is ensuring the patient's adherence to lifestyle modification measures, especially in hospitals with resource-limited settings. Methods We developed a six-month-long, dietitian-led, hospital-based, lifestyle intervention framework for obese NAFLD patients and evaluated its content. Literature review, interviews, and discussions with 10 health experts (general physicians, dietitians/nutritionists, gastroenterologists, and a clinical psychologist) and 45 NAFLD patients (35 in Phase I and 10 in Phase II) in a tertiary hospital of India were carried out. Results The lifestyle intervention framework has unique features, such as an intensive nature to ensure adherence, a comprehensive educational format with clear guidelines, the customization of a prescription as per individual patient requirements, and a holistic approach to inculcate self-monitoring and behavioral change in NAFLD patients. Conclusion Health professionals worldwide can use this lifestyle intervention framework to develop counseling interventions for better adherence among obese NAFLD patients.

Uranyl oxalate and strontium oxalate were synthesized and characterized. Reaction of strontium oxalate with uranyl oxalate was studied by employing simultaneous TG/DTA. It has been observed that uranyl oxalate decomposes into mixture of U3O8 and UO2.13 with the evolution of carbon monoxide, oxygen and carbon dioxide in the temperature range of 573–673 K, but beyond this temperature U3O8 and UO2.13 appeared as intermediates and the final product has been found to be UO2.12. Oxalates of strontium and uranium were taken in the mole ratio of 1:1 to study the solid-state reaction. The products of the reactions have been identified. In the presence of uranium oxide, strontium oxalate first decomposes to strontium carbonate followed by the reaction of the carbonate with uranium oxide at a relatively high temperature during the next step in TG. XRD characterization of the intermediates and end products indicated that SrUO4 is formed, which gets partially reduced to SrUO3 at elevated temperature.

Metal organic framework is a class of hybrid network of supramolecular solid materials comprised of a large number of inorganic and organic linkers all bounded to metal ions in a well-organized fashion. This type of compounds possess a greater surface area with an advantage of changing pore sizes, diversified and beautiful structure which withdrew an intense interest in this field. In the present review articles, the structural aspects, classification, methods of synthesis, various factors affecting the synthesis and stability, properties and applications have been discussed. Recent advances in the field and new directions to explore the future scope and applications of MOFs have been incorporated in this article to provide current status of the field.

In this paper, a new stage structured prey–predator model with Monod–Haldane functional response is proposed and the stages for predator have been considered. The proposed mathematical model consists of three nonlinear delay differential equations to describe the interaction among prey, immature predator and mature predator populations. Two time delays viz. feedback delay and gestation delay have been used as the bifurcation parameter. A rigorous mathematical analysis has been carried out by considering all possible cases for both the delays. Conditions for local stability and Hopf bifurcation have been investigated in all cases. Furthermore, by using normal form method, Riesz representing theory and central manifold theorem, formulae are derived for the direction of Hopf bifurcation and stability of bifurcating periodic solutions. Global stability analysis is carried out and the numerical simulation to validate the theory is also executed at the end.

Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is now being recognised as a healthcare burden in India and abroad. An inevitable increase in its incidence is expected in future, presenting before the physicians a larger number of NAFLD patients to manage. The NAFLD patients are prescribed calorie restricted diets for weight loss, along with increased physical activity as the first line of treatment. However, the real challenge lies in making the patients adhere to this prescription. NAFLD, being asymptomatic, is often overlooked by the patients as well as the physicians. Many patients do not perceive it as a serious problem, unless it reaches an advanced stage. Poor awareness, lack of seriousness towards the disease and unwillingness to change behaviour are the major hurdles in the success of NAFLD treatment. Correct perception about this growing epidemic and adoption of an interdisciplinary and multifaceted approach for its effective treatment can go a long way in controlling NAFLD. Initiatives that encourage healthy lifestyle, using the component of behaviour therapy for sustained results, may be a promising solution to this liver condition.

Lifestyle related diseases continue to be a significant burden on the health care system. Health education is a combination of educational strategies that promote voluntary adoption of healthy lifestyle choices and dietary behaviour. The use of simple and validated education and evaluation tools is now increasing in routine clinical practice to aid health status evaluation and communication between the patient, dietitian and the health care provider. Development of effective health education materials is a systematic process which starts with setting up the goals for education, followed by literature review and focus group discussion, content selection, designing the rough draft, seeking expert comments and validation. Questionnaire development should follow a logical and structured approach. Item generation should be based on extensive literature search and target group participation. Validation by the experts makes the questionnaire more meaningful, trustworthy and applicable. Considerable effort goes into designing and testing of these tools in order to ensure that they are effective. For enhancing clinical, dietetic and educational practice, it is pertinent to learn the process of developing these tools scientifically.

This paper deals with a delayed modified Holling-Tanner predator-prey model with refuge. The proposed model highlights the impact of delay and refuge on the dynamics of the system wherein analysis of the model in terms of local stability is performed. Both theoretical and experimental works point out that delay and refuge play an important role in the stability of the model and also it has been observed that due to delay, bifurcation occurred which results in considering delay as a bifurcation parameter. For some specific values of delay, Hopf bifurcation is investigated for the proposed model and direction of Hopf bifurcation with the stability of bifurcated periodic solutions by using normal form theory and central manifold reduction is also included in the domain of this study. At the end, few numerical simulations based on hypothetical set of parameters for the support of theoretical formulation are also carried out.

Bacteriophages Phinally and Vivi2 were isolated from soil from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, using host Gordonia terrae 3612. The Phinally and Vivi2 genomes are 59,265 bp and 59,337 bp, respectively, and share sequence similarity with each other and with GTE6. Fewer than 25% of the 87 to 89 putative genes have predictable functions.

In the present work we used a system consisting of a molecular wire of multiple thiophene rings bridged between gold electrodes to study the charge transport mechanism, the effect of the tilt angle, the temperature dependence, the atomic configuration of the gold electrodes, the molecule–electrode interaction and the effect of rotation of the molecular wire on the conductance of the studied system. We found that, for shorter molecular lengths, the charge transport can be explained by tunneling, but, as the molecular length increases, it changes to hopping, which is supported by modeling the conductance of the molecular wire with a change in the temperature of the system. The results show that shorter molecular wires exhibit temperature-invariant behavior, and longer molecular wires exhibit highly temperature-variant behavior. The geometrically optimized symmetries of thiophene molecules with even and odd orientation are different, which leads to a difference in the contact configurations between the molec...

Ferrocyanides of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) were synthesized and characterized by IR spectra, magnetic susceptibility, thermal gravimetric analysis, elemental analysis and X ray diffraction studies. Antimicrobial potential of these complexes have been evaluated. Antifungal screening of these complexes has been carried out against Mycogone perniciosa and Verticillium fungicola causing wet and dry bubble diseases of button mushroom respectively. Nickel ferrocyanide has been found to be most effective against Mycogone perniciosa with 60% inhibitory effect while cadmium ferrocyanide has exhibited significant potential of 85% against Verticillium fungicola.

GEL combustion technique was applied to obtain oxides of thorium and cerium from their respective nitrate solutions using citric acid as the gelating agent. The dried samples were characterized by IR and TG studies. Intermediate and final products during TG studies have been isolated and characterized by XRD studies. All the TG runs during heating of thorium and cerium nitrate with citric acid dried Gels showed a two step process. The weight loss at each step and the X-ray data of the product at each step, helped in suggesting a possible mechanism. Kinetic study was carried out independently for each step. The reaction mechanism as observed during interactive procedure was found to be diffusion controlled. The kinetic parameters (activation energy and pre-exponential factor) for each step in all reactions have been calculated. Observations from XRD studies show that with increase in cerium concentration in the oxides, the lattice parameter values have shown a decreasing trend for all the five compositions studied. It was observed that in TG studies with increase in cerium concentration, the final temperature of the reactions have shown a decreasing trend. SEM studies of the powders reveal that synthesized oxides have a tendency to form agglomerate of varying size ranging from 50 to 100 μm in case of mixed oxides but the size of thorium oxide powder so synthesized have pore size 10–100 μm. SEM images shows that GEL combustion may result in agglomeration, if the temperature is not properly controlled to the desired value. SEM studies also reveal that each agglomerate contains approximately 10–100 individual particles. Surface area of the mixed oxide powders were determined using Gas adsorption technique. The surface area was found to be in the range of 3–17 m2/g in all cases. Specific surface area of thorium oxide was found to be lesser than cerium oxide but in case of mixed oxides surface area decreases with increase in cerium content. Majority of pores, indicating the particle size are in the range of 0.01–0.04 cm3/g.

Emblica officinalis has great importance in herbal, Ayurvedic, Chinese and traditional medicinal systems in various countries. Emblica officinalis has been believed to increase defense against various diseases. In this article, phytoconstituents separated from Emblica officinalis and application of Emblica officinalis in various diseases like, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, diarrhea, ulcer, pyria, snake bite, analgesic, antioxidant, antitussive, antimicrobial, hypoprotective, and cytoprotective etc., have been reviewed. E. officinalis is also used as ingredient of various preparations used to enhance memory, treat ophthalmic disorders and lowering cholesterol level.

Gmelina arborea (G. arborea) is a bio-prospective plant belonging to family verbenaceae. It is widely used for it’s medicinal properties from ancient times. The present paper comprehensively reviewed the traditional uses, medicinal properties and chemical constituents isolated from G. arborea based on literature reported as well as critical analysis of the research. The present article is aimed to provide information on recent advances and new foundations and direction for further exploring G. arborea for its applications. Pharmacological research reviewed that G. arborea possess various medicinal properties and biological activities including antidiuretic, antidiarrhoeal, antipyretic, antianalgesic, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antihelmintic, antibacterial, antifungal, cardiopotective, insecticidal, antiulcer, gastro-protective, anticancer, antihyperlipidemic and immunomodulatory activity. It has been reported for its applications in treatment of bone fracture, hypertension and regeneration of β-cells. The main chemical constituents of G. arborea include lignans, iridoid glycoside, flavonoids, flavons, flavone glycoside and sterols. The present review provides all the references and beneficial directions to explore further application of G. arborea.

Traditional medicine has remained as the most affordable and easily accessible source of treatment in the primary health care system of resource for poor communities. Plants are reservoir of bioactive constituents which are used for treatment of various diseases The secondary metabolites like alkaloids, tannins, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phlobatanin and cardiac glycosides have been reported for anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammantory and various other medicinal properties. The present study involves the screening of phytoconstituents of fourteen plant species, commonly used as vegitable in Chhattisgarh region. The plant species investigated were Chenopodium album L., Merremia emarginta (Burm. f.), Ipomoea aquatic Forssk., Amranthus viridis L., Moringa ptery-gosperma, Hibiscus sabdariffa L., Leucas cephalotes Spreng., Oxalis corniculata L., Portulaca oleracea L. Faya, Cordia myxa Roxb., Cicer arietinum L., Cassia tora L., Ipomoea batats L. (Lam), and Basella rubra L. The presence of tannins, saponins, steroids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phlobatanin and cardiac glycosides was observed in selected samples. Screening of phytochemicals is an important research for isolation and identification of novel bioactive compounds, beneficial for the cure of many diseases. The significance of selected plant species has been discussed in view of their role in ethno medicine.

Background: The knowledge, attitude of physicians about any interventions has effect on the practices while the perceptions about such intervention by caregivers have impact on the acceptance in community. Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of physicians and perception of the caregivers about new vaccines, and to identify the solutions to address the knowledge gap, if any. Materials and methods: A cross sectional study was conducted a major city of India from Sept 2006-Jan 2007. 107 physicians and 298 caregivers were interviewed using a pre-tested semi structured interview schedule. The data so collected was analyzed using chi square test and proportions. P value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: It was found that only 3/5th physicians were aware that typhoid vaccination was part of the immunisation program. The knowledge about all the aspects of typhoid was poor amongst physicians in comparison of other vaccine (Hepatitis B) in the immunisation program. Physicians at private health facilities had poor knowledge than those working at government health facilities. However, majority of the physicians had positive attitude towards typhoid vaccination. All the caregivers had heard about typhoid disease and 39.8% about the vaccine also. Almost 80% of them were ready to pay for typhoid vaccination. Conclusions: The study underlines the need for special efforts to increase the awareness about typhoid vaccination amongst these groups to increase the uptake of the vaccine. Key words: Child Health; Hepatitis B, India; Newer vaccines; Typhoid DOI: 10.3126/kumj.v8i1.3222 Kathmandu University Medical Journal (2010), Vol. 8, No. 1, Issue 29, 51-56

The work focuses on a theoretical approach to investigating the electric field (EF) dependence of bond-length alternation, the geometric and electronic structures of molecular wires used in the design of molecular electronic devices, the EF dependence of SCF energy, and the spatial distribution of the frontier orbitals of the molecular wires. Just as the bond length is an important influence on the conductance of the molecular wire, the dependence of the conductance on the chain length was also studied. We have also investigated how the current–voltage (I-V) characteristics change with bond length, as the bond length plays an important role in determining the conductance of molecular wires.