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As pregnancy can adversely affect the immune response of vaccination against foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) due to physiological immunosuppressive milieu, we tested the effect of FMDV vaccination during mid-gestation on the antibody response. Pregnant and non-pregnant cows of crossbred and indigenous breed (n = 28/group) were vaccinated with inactivated FMD vaccine covering O, A, and Asia1 serotypes and the sera were harvested at weekly interval till day 42 post-vaccination. Virus neutralization test (VNT) was done and the analysis of log 10 VN 50 antibody titer by mixed model ANOVA indicated that pregnancy did not significantly affect the log 10 VN 50 titer for FMDV serotype O and Asia1. Though pregnancy significantly decreased the titer for FMDV serotype A, the effect size was small. The experiment was repeated in purebred HF cows (n = 10/group) and the results were reproducible. It was concluded that mid-pregnancy would not hamper the herd immunity to FMD vaccination in the cow., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Narayanan Krishnaswamy reports financial support was provided by India Ministry of Science & Technology Department of Science and Technology. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Oral ulcers induce acute weight loss due to anorexia in foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) infected cattle. We hypothesized that providing a palatable form of a therapeutic diet (TD) in different physical forms would increase the feed intake, digestibility and restoration of body weight. A TD was formulated with 19% CP and 2.9 Mcal ME/kg on dry matter basis. Bull calves of 10-12 months with mean body weight of 123 ± 1.3 kg were experimentally infected with FMDV (n = 18) and offered one of the following three forms of the TD (n = 6/group) for 6 weeks post-FMDV infection (WPI): (i) TD in mash form (TD M ) (ii) TD in cooked form (TD C ) and (iii) TD C + customised nutrient supplement (TD CNS ) such as Zn, Cu, Cr, Mn, and Se. The CNS was fed before the TD C. A group of uninfected control (n = 4) was fed TD M. Green fodder was offered in the afternoon. Dry matter intake (DMI) of TD and green fodder were recorded at 24 h interval till WPI 6. Body weight (BW) was recorded at weekly interval. Digestibility trial was conducted at WPI 6. The palatability of the TD was scored from 1- 4 and healing of tongue ulcers was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier survival curve. The results indicated that the physical form of TD increased the total DMI by WPI 3, which was supported by the restoration of BW and higher palatability score. The digestibility of all the proximate principles except EE was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the groups that were fed TD C . It was concluded that feeding TD irrespective of the physical form, restored the ADG and DMI in the calves by WPI 3. Further, feeding cooked form of TD increased the digestibility in the FMDV infected calves and supplementation of CNS hastened the healing of glossal ulcers., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Outbreaks of the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) have major economic impact on the global livestock industry by affecting the animal health and product safety. L-protease, a non-structural protein of FMDV, is a papain-like cysteine proteinase involved in viral protein processing as well as cleavage of host proteins for promoting the virus growth. FMDV synthesizes two forms of leader proteinase, L pro (Lab pro and Lb pro ), where the deletion of Lab pro is lethal and Lb pro deletion is reported to be attenuated. Defective replicons have been used by trans-complementing the deleted gene to produce one time replicating virus; thus, the bio-safety procedure can be compromised in the production units. Attempts are made to rescue of ΔLb pro FMDV Asia1 virus by co-expressing the Lb pro protein carried in pcDNA plasmid. Mutant FMDV cDNA, pAsia-ΔLb pro , was constructed by PCR mediated mutagenesis using inverse primers. Transfection of BHK-21 cells with in-vitro transcribed RNA from the constructs failed to produce an infective mutant FMDV. Genetic trans-complementation of the Lb pro , which was done by co-transfecting the pcDNALb pro plasmid DNA along with the pAsia-ΔLb pro RNA in BHK-21 cells also failed to produce viable virus. Expression experiments of reporter genes and indirect immune-fluorescence confirmed the production of the viral proteins in wild type FMDV pAsia WT ; however, it was absent in the pAsia-ΔLb pro indicating that the leaderless virus was unable to produce infectious progeny and infect the cells. Failure to produce virus either by Lb pro deleted mutant clone or by genetic complementation suggests little chance of reversion of the disabled virus with large deletions of FMDV genome., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: Cranial base flexure is an overlooked topic in craniofacial research. The aim of this retrospective observational study was to compare a new parameter, the planum clival angle (PCA), which represents cranial base flexure, in skeletal class I, II, and III malocclusions using cone beam computed tomographic images (CBCT) and correlate PCA with the stages of the fusion of the spheno-occipital synchondrosis (SOS)., Materials and Methods: A total of 125 CBCTs were divided into two groups based on chronological age (19-25 years and 12-18 years). The CBCT images from 57 subjects (19-25 years old) were categorized into three groups based on their skeletal malocclusion for measuring PCA and cranial base angles (CBA). In the second group, comprising 68 CBCT data sets of individuals in the age group of 12-18 years, the PCA angle was correlated with stages of fusion of the SOS. Data were statistically analyzed using independent samples t test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, intergroup), Pearson correlation, and χ 2 test., Results: There was a statistically significant linear correlation (P < 0.001) between the two parameters PCA and CBA but no significant difference was found in PCAs between the three groups. One-way ANOVA to compare the PCA values in the three stages of fusion of the SOS revealed a highly significant relationship in male subjects (p < 0.001), thereby, suggesting that as fusion progresses, the planum clival angle increases. The χ 2 test to compare the planum clival angle in males and females revealed that SOS fusion occurred earlier in females., Conclusion: There is a constant dynamic change in the value of the parameter PCA that progresses until completion of SOS fusion. The SOS fuses earlier in females. Assessment of the stage of fusion of the SOS can be used in deciding whether growth modification of the craniofacial complex is still possible during orthodontic therapy., (© 2023. Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

In Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) enzootic countries, periodic vaccination is the key tool in controlling the disease incidence. Active seromonitoring of the vaccinated population is critical to assess the impact of vaccination. Virus neutralization test (VNT) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are commonly used for antibody detection. Assays like liquid phase blocking ELISA (LPBE) or solid phase competition ELISA (SPCE) are preferred as they do not require handling of live FMDV and are routinely used for seromonitoring or for vaccine potency testing; however, false positives are high in LPBE. Here we report, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) based SPCE as a potential alternate assay for antibody titration. From a panel of 12 mAbs against FMDV serotype A, two mAbs were chosen for the development of SPCE. Based on a set of 453 sera, it was demonstrated that mAb 2C4G11, mAb 6E8D11and polyclonal antibody (pAb) based SPCE had a relative sensitivity of 86.1, 86.1 and 80.3 %; and specificity of 99.6, 99.1 and 99.1 %, respectively. The correlation, repeatability, and level of agreement of the assays were high demonstrating the potential use of mAb in large scale surveillance studies and regular vaccine potency testing., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest This is to declare that the authors do not have any conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The presence of Kisspeptin (Kp) and its receptors in the corpus luteum (CL) of buffalo has recently been demonstrated. In this study, we investigated the role of Kp in the modulation of progesterone (P 4 ) synthesis in vitro. The primary culture of bubaline luteal cells (LCs) was treated with 10, 50, and 100 nM of Kp and Kp antagonist (KpA) alongside a vehicle control. The combined effect of Kp and KpA was assessed at 100 nM concentration. Intracellular response to Kp treatment in the LCs was assessed by examining transcript profiles (LHR, STAR, CYP11A1, HSD3B1, and ERK1/2) using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). In addition, the immunolocalization of ERK1/2 and phosphorylated ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2) in the LCs was studied using immunocytochemistry. Accumulation of P 4 from the culture supernatant was determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results indicated that LCs had a greater p-ERK1/2 expression in the Kp treatment groups. A significant increase in the P 4 concentration was recorded at 50 nM and 100 nM Kp, while KpA did not affect the basal concentration of P 4 . However, the addition of KpA to the Kp-treated group at 100 nM concentration suppressed the Kp-induced P 4 accumulation into a concentration similar to the control. There was significant upregulation of ERK1/2 and CYP11A1 expressions in the Kp-treated LCs at 100 nM (18.1 and 37fold, respectively, p < 0.01). However, the addition of KpA to Kp-treated LCs modulated ERK1/2, LHR, STAR, CYP11A1, and HSD3B1 at 100 nM concentration. It can be concluded that Kp at 100 nM stimulated P 4 production, while the addition of KpA suppressed Kp-induced P 4 production in the buffalo LCs culture. Furthermore, an increment in p-ERK1/2 expression in the LCs indicated activation of the Kp signaling pathway was associated with luteal steroidogenesis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors do not have any conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Chronic elevation in the systolic blood pressure (SBP) adversely affects the lifespan in the dog by causing injury to the eye, heart, kidney and brain. Understanding the association between SBP and target organ damage (TOD) helps in risk categorization and treatment planning. Therefore, a prospective study was undertaken to find the association between SBP and renal resistive index (RI) in naturally occurring cases of canine systemic hypertension. Based on the ACVIM guidelines 2018, dogs (n=135) were categorized into four risk groups of SBP, viz., A (minimal), B (low), C (moderate), and D (high). Ophthalmoscopy and echocardiography were used to assess ocular and cardiac changes, respectively. Nephrosonography, urinalysis, and RI were used to assess kidney damage. Odds ratio (OR) was used to quantify the risk of TOD for different categories of SBP. One-way Anova with Tukey's post-hoc test was used to test the effect of different SBP risk groups on urine protein creatinine ratio (UPC) and RI as well as the effect of number of TOD on the RI. Pearson's correlation test was done to see the relation of SBP with UPC and RI. Tortuous retinal vessels were common in group B with an OR of 11 (95% CI: 0.59-207). Retinal hemorrhage and left ventricular hypertrophy were common in group D with an OR of 13 (95% CI: 0.67-234) and 11 (95% CI: 0.61-207), respectively. A significant strong positive correlation of SBP with UPC (R 2 =0.65) and RI (R 2 =0.58) was observed. The renal RI significantly increased when the number of TOD was ≥ 2. It was concluded that SBP and RI are associated with the number and severity of TOD and might be valuable in risk classification in hypertensive dogs., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they do not have any relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Kisspeptin (Kp), an upstream regulator of GnRH release, is essential for the development and function of reproductive axis. Previously, we demonstrated the localization of Kp and its receptor (Kiss1r) in the active follicle in the bubaline ovary. Present study aimed to determine the effect of Kp on granulosa cell (GCs) functions, especially oestradiol (E 2 ) and progesterone (P 4 ) production, and differential expression of genes regulating the proliferation, apoptosis and steroidogenesis in the buffalo. The ovaries with 6-10 mm size follicles obtained from the cyclic buffaloes after slaughtering were used for isolation of GCs for in vitro study. The primary GCs culture was treated with Kp (0, 10, 50 and 100 nM) and incubated for 48 h. Production of E 2 and P 4 was estimated in the culture supernatant by ELISA. The expression of gonadotropin receptors (FSHR and LHR), steroidogenic genes (STAR, 3β-HSD, CYP19A1), proliferation marker (PCNA), apoptotic factors (CASP3 and BCL2) and Kp signalling molecule (extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2, ERK1/2 and p-ERK1/2) was studied in the GCs by qPCR. Significant E 2 production was found in the Kp 50 and 100 nM groups (p < .05), whereas P 4 production was reduced in Kp 100 nM group (p < .05). There was concomitant upregulation of FSHR, ERK1/2, STAR and CYP19A1 in the Kp 100 nM treated GCs. In addition, Kp at 100 nM stimulated the proliferation of GCs by upregulating the expression of BCL2 (5.0 fold) and PCNA (94.9 fold). Further, high immunoreactivity of p-ERK1/2 was observed in the Kp-treated GCs. It was concluded that Kp at 100 nM concentration stimulated E 2 production by upregulating the steroidogenic pathway through ERK1/2, STAR and CYP19A1 and modulating PCNA and BCL2 expressions in the GCs. Further experiments are warranted using Kp antagonist in different combinations to establish the signalling pathway in Kp-mediated steroidogenesis in the GCs for developing strategies to control ovarian functions., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Viperin, also known as radical S-adenosyl methionine domain-containing protein (RSAD2) is a multifunctional interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) that is activated during the viral infections. Viperin belongs to S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) superfamily of enzymes known to catalyze radical-mediated reactions and viperin inhibits a wide range of DNA and RNA viruses through its broad range of activity. The present study reports cloning and expression of bovine viperin in a bacterial expression system. PCR-based site-directed mutagenesis was carried out for deletion of N-terminal 1-70 amino acid containing amphipathic helix of viperin that interferes in protein expression and purification. The resultant truncated viperin protein was expressed in Escherichia coli , BL-21(DE3) competent cells and purified using nickel charged affinity column. The truncated 54 kDa protein was confirmed by western blot using human RSAD2 as a probe. Further, in house, hyperimmune serum was raised against the truncated viperin in the rabbit and the reactivity was confirmed by western blot using mammalian expression vector construct of viperin transfected in Baby Hamster kidney (BHK) cells and in MDBK cells infected with Foot and Mouth disease Asia I virus.

The relative overexpression of Coxsackie and adenoviral receptor (CAR) predisposes children to viral myocarditis. As the foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV) causes fatal myocarditis in calves, lambs, and piglets and belongs to the same family as the Coxsackie virus, we investigated the role of CAR in FMDV induced myocarditis in the suckling mice model. Swiss albino suckling mice of 5 days (n = 24) were divided into two equal groups. One group was inoculated with suckling mice adapted FMDV serotype O at 10 LD 50 , while the other group served as uninfected control. In addition, adult mice (n = 12) served as the control for age related CAR expression and lack of pathogenicity to FMDV. The establishment of myocarditis was confirmed by histopathological changes typical of myocarditis along with immunolocalization of FMDV antigens in the heart of suckling mice. The FMDV inoculated suckling mice group showed a significant upregulation of CAR transcripts by 2.5 folds, overexpression of CAR protein by densitometric analysis of immunoblots, and intense immunolocalization of CAR in the sarcolemma and intercalated discs of cardiomyocytes as compared to the uninfected suckling mice group and adult mice. It was concluded that FMDV infection induced overexpression of CAR in the myocardium of suckling mice., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Pyometra is a potentially life-threatening condition that affects intact female dogs in their middle to advance age. Timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment are critical for the survival of patients, especially when pyometra advances to sepsis. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic potential of certain haematology, serum biochemical and inflammatory biomarker, secretory leucocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) for pyometra in bitches (n = 41). Blood samples were collected after clinical diagnosis of pyometra for haematology and serum biochemistry. Based on the prognosis following medical/surgical treatment, animals were retrospectively categorized into survivor (n = 29) and dead (n = 12). Endometrial tissue sections were obtained from the bitches undergoing ovariohysterectomy (n = 21). Serum concentration of SLPI was quantified using sandwich ELISA and its expression in the endometrium was investigated using RT-qPCR. A marked increase in the total leucocyte count (TLC), neutrophils, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine was observed in the female dogs that did not survive. Significant elevation in the serum SLPI concentration (3.49 ± 0.44 vs. 2.38 ± 0.13 ng/mL) was observed in the bitches those died after the treatment, in comparison to those survived (p < .01). Additionally, there was a notable upregulation of SLPI in the endometrium in the bitches those died due to pyometra. Based on the ROC analysis results, it was observed that a cut-off concentration of 2.93 ng/mL for SLPI, 27.77 mg/dL for BUN and 16.3 × 10 3 /μL for TLC could effectively distinguish the prognosis of pyometra-affected dogs. From this study, it can be concluded that upregulation of SLPI in the endometrium and its elevated concentration in peripheral circulation along with TLC and BUN concentration could serve as valuable indicators for predicting the prognosis of pyometra in bitches., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Cognitive science has evolved since early disputes between radical empiricism and radical nativism. The authors are reacting to the revival of radical empiricism spurred by recent successes in deep neural network (NN) models. We agree that language-like mental representations (language-of-thoughts [LoTs]) are part of the best game in town, but they cannot be understood independent of the other players.

Quantifiable decline in the maternal body temperature during the pre-calving offers the possibilities for predicting the calving that can improve the calving management. As infrared thermography (IRT) is a simple non-contact tool for precise measurement of surface temperature, we investigated the use of IRT to establish thermal signatures around calving in the Murrah buffalo. The IRT of eye, right lateral, left lateral and rear side of udder skin surface temperature (USST) were recorded at 6 h interval from 96 h before the expected date of calving, at the time of calving and 24 h post-calving in Murrah buffaloes (n = 28). In parallel, blood samples were collected for progesterone (P 4 ) assay. The results revealed that the IRT of the eye, right and left lateral and rear side of USST showed a significant decrease in the temperature from 48 h pre-calving till the onset of calving with a ΔT (°C) of 0.56, 0.91, 0.70, and 0.90, respectively. Mean USST significantly declined from 48 h pre-calving with a ΔT of 0.85 °C. The residual temperature of both eye and various ROI of the udder also followed a similar and significant declining trend from 48 to 0 h of calving indicating that circadian influence on the USST was minimum. Plasma P 4 concentration significantly decreased from 72 h pre-calving till calving. It is concluded that a marked reduction in the IRT of the USST at 6-12 h pre-calving would be useful in predicting the onset of calving in the Murrah buffalo., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

This research focuses on enhancing the optical efficacy of organic photovoltaic cells, specifically their optical absorbance and electrical parameters. The absorbance of photons in organic solar cells (OSCs) was studied by incorporating an optical space layer and triple core-shell square-lattice nanostructures. For better chemical and thermal stability, a dielectric-metal-dielectric nanoparticle can be replaced for embedded metallic nanoparticles in the absorption layer. The 3D (finite-difference time-domain) FDTD method was used to analyze the absorption and field distribution in OSCs using 3D model morphology. Firstly, an optimization of thickness of the optical spacer layer was analyzed and secondly, the impact of adding triple core-shell nanostructures at different levels of an OSC were studied. The photovoltaic properties such as short circuit current density, power conversion efficiency, fill factor, V oc were investigated. The proposed design has demonstrated an improvement of up to 80% in the absorption of light radiation in the photoactive region (donor or acceptor) of OSCs in the wavelength range of 400 nm to 900 nm when compared with that of nanostructures proposed at various layers of OSC.

As onset of sepsis adversely affects the prognosis of canine pyometra, finding biomarkers that would distinguish sepsis status would be useful in the clinical management. Accordingly, we hypothesized that differential expression of endometrial transcripts and circulating concentration of certain inflammatory mediators would discriminate pyometra-led sepsis (P-sepsis+) from those of pyometra without sepsis (P-sepsis-). Bitches with pyometra (n = 52) were classified into P-sepsis+ (n = 28) and P-sepsis- (n = 24) based on vital clinical score and total leukocyte count. A group of non-pyometra bitches (n = 12) served as control. The relative fold changes in the transcripts of IL6, IL8, TNFα, IL10, PTGS2, mPGES1 and PGFS, SLPI, S100A8, S100A12 and eNOS were determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, the serum concentrations of IL6, IL8, IL10, SLPI and prostaglandin F 2α metabolite (PGFM) were assayed by ELISA. The relative fold changes in S100A12 and SLPI and mean concentrations of IL6 and SLPI were significantly (p < .05) higher in P-sepsis+ than that of P-sepsis- group. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that serum IL6 had a diagnostic sensitivity of 78.6% and a positive likelihood ratio (LR+) of 2.09, at a cut-off value of 15.7 pg/mL to diagnose P-sepsis+ cases. Similarly, serum SLPI had a sensitivity of 84.6% and an LR+ of 2.23, at a cut-off value of 2.0 pg/mL. It was concluded that SLPI and IL6 would serve as putative biomarkers for pyometra-led sepsis in bitches. Monitoring SLPI and IL6 would be a useful adjunct to the established haemato-biochemical parameters in customizing the treatment strategies and arriving at the decision for management of pyometra bitches with critical illness., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The oral lesions associated with foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) negatively affect animal behavior, which can adversely impact animal production and welfare. Physical form of a therapeutic diet (TD) can improve the feed intake and wellbeing during the acute phase of FMD. Accordingly, we tested the effect of two physical forms of a previously developed TD on the behavior of calves experimentally infected with FMD virus (FMDV). Crossbred Holstein Friesian male calves of 10-12 months (n = 12) were experimentally infected with a virulent strain of FMDV and were offered a TD enriched with 19% CP and 2.9 Mcal ME/kg for 11 days post-FMDV infection. One group received the TD in mash form (TD M ) while the other (n = 6/group) received it in cooked form (TD C ). A group of four calves served as uninfected control and were fed TD M. The time spent by the calves on certain behaviours was recorded in a pre-set form from 06:00-18:00 h for 10 days from day 2-11 post-FMDV infection. The data was divided into two sessions. Session 1 (06:00-13:00 h) represented after the offering of TD, while session 2 (13:01-18:00 h) represented the data after offering green fodder. Based on exploratory data analysis, data recorded from day 2-7 post-FMDV infection was included in the final analysis. Linear mixed model was used by fitting treatment, day and their interaction as fixed effects while calf as random effect. Orthogonal contrast was applied by comparing the infected TD M with other two groups. The results revealed that the cooked form of TD improved the ingestion time, resting time, sleeping time and licking time from day 2-7 post-FMDV infection as compared with the infected TD M group. Ingestive behaviour was better in the infected TD C than that of TD M group (p < 0.01). The sleeping time was significantly high in the infected groups as compared to the uninfected TD M group (p < 0.01) till day 6 post-FMDV infection. Daily activities such as licking, standing and resting differed significantly between the infected TD M and TD C groups in session 1, but not in session 2. Urination and defecation did not differ significantly between the infected TD M and TD C groups. It was concluded that cooked form of TD remediated the effects of infection with FMDV as evidenced by improvement in the behaviour of the calves., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

While affordance detection and Human-Object interaction (HOI) detection tasks are related, the theoretical foundation of affordances makes it clear that the two are distinct. In particular, researchers in affordances make distinctions between J. J. Gibson's traditional definition of an affordance, "the action possibilities" of the object within the environment, and the definition of a telic affordance, or one defined by conventionalized purpose or use. We augment the HICO-DET dataset with annotations for Gibsonian and telic affordances and a subset of the dataset with annotations for the orientation of the humans and objects involved. We then train an adapted Human-Object Interaction (HOI) model and evaluate a pre-trained viewpoint estimation system on this augmented dataset. Our model, AffordanceUPT, is based on a two-stage adaptation of the Unary-Pairwise Transformer (UPT), which we modularize to make affordance detection independent of object detection. Our approach exhibits generalization to new objects and actions, can effectively make the Gibsonian/telic distinction, and shows that this distinction is correlated with features in the data that are not captured by the HOI annotations of the HICO-DET dataset., 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., (Copyright © 2023 Henlein, Gopinath, Krishnaswamy, Mehler and Pustejovsky.)

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a significant threat to animal health globally. Prophylactic vaccination using inactivated FMD virus (FMDV) antigen is being practised for the control in endemic countries. A major limitation of the current vaccine is its susceptibility to high environmental temperature causing loss of immunogenicity, thus necessitating the cold chain for maintenance of its efficacy. Hence, the FMD vaccine with thermostable virus particles will be highly useful in sustaining the integrity of whole virus particle (146S) during storage at 4°C. In this study, 12 recombinant mutants of Indian vaccine strain of FMDV serotype O (O/IND/R2/1975) were generated through reverse genetics approach and evaluated for thermostability. One of the mutant viruses, VP2&#95;Y98F was more thermostable than other mutants and the parent FMDV. The oil-adjuvanted vaccine formulated with the inactivated VP2&#95;Y98F mutant FMDV was stable up to 8 months when stored at 4°C and induced protective antibody response till dpv 180 after primary vaccination. It is concluded that the VP2&#95;Y98F mutant FMDV was thermostable and has the potential to replace the parent vaccine strain., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Much progress in AI over the last decade has been driven by advances in natural language processing technology, in turn facilitated by large datasets and increased computation power used to train large neural language models. These systems demonstrate apparently sophisticated linguistic understanding or generation capabilities, but often fail to transfer their skills to situations they have not encountered before. We argue that computational situated grounding of linguistic information to real or simulated scenarios provide a solution to some of these learning challenges by creating situational representations that both serve as a formal model of the salient phenomena, and contain rich amounts of exploitable, task-appropriate data for training new, flexible computational models. We approach this problem from a neurosymbolic perspective, using multimodal contextual modeling of interactive situations, events, and object properties, particularly afforded behaviors, and habitats , the situations that condition them. These properties are tightly coupled to processes of situated grounding, and herein we discuss we combine neural and symbolic methods with multimodal simulations to create a platform, VoxWorld, for modeling communication in context, and we demonstrate how neural embedding vectors of symbolically-encoded object affordances facilitate transferring knowledge of objects and situations to novel entities, and learning how to recognize and generate linguistic and gestural denotations., 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., (Copyright © 2022 Krishnaswamy and Pustejovsky.)

Recently, we reported the differential expression of kisspeptinergic system in the bubaline hypothalamus and corpus luteum. Here, we document the expression of kisspeptin (Kp) and its receptor (Kiss1r) in the ovarian follicles of the buffalo with respect to the functional status. Follicles of ≥10 to ≤13 mm diameter (n = 45) were retrospectively categorized into active (n = 18), intermediate (n = 16) and atretic (n = 11) follicles based on the concentrations of intrafollicular progesterone (P 4 ) and estradiol (E 2 ). The P 4 :E 2 ratio was significantly lower in the active follicle (0.43 ± 0.08) than that of the intermediate (3.46 ± 0.53) and atretic (28.4 ± 10.6) follicles (P < 0.05). Relative fold change in the transcripts of kisspeptin (Kiss1), Kiss1r, gonadotrophin receptors, steroid acute regulatory protein (StAR), cytochrome P450 family 11 subfamily A member 1 (CYP11A1), cytochrome P450 Family 19 subfamily A member 1 (CYP19A1), insulin like growth factor -1 (IGF-1), apoptotic factors (caspase 3 and B-cell lymphoma 2, BCL2) was calculated using qPCR in the follicular wall of the three categories of follicle (n = 8/group). In another experiment, histological sections of the ovary (n = 41) were used to group the follicles as described above and immunostaining of Kp, Kiss1r and aromatase was done. A significant upregulation of StAR, CYP11A1 and CYP19A1 in the active follicles supported the endocrine basis of follicular classification. The transcripts of Kiss1 and Kiss1r were upregulated by 19.45 fold and 4.25 fold, respectively in the active follicle as compared to other groups. Immunolocalization studies revealed that Kp and Kiss1r were localized to the basal and antral granulosa cells (GC) of the active and intermediate follicles; however, the staining intensity was stronger in the former group. Strong expression of CYP19A1 in the GC layer of active follicle supported the histological basis of defining the functional status of the follicle. It is concluded that the follicular compartment of the bubaline ovary expressed the constituents of kisspeptinergic system. The expression of Kp and Kiss1r was influenced by the functional status of the follicle with intense localization in the GC layer of the active follicles., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors do not have any conflict of interests to declare. MKP: conceptualization of the work, supervised the experiments. NK: conceptualized the work, edited the manuscript, RTR: performed the experiment, PAS: performed the experiment, AKS: performed the experiment, SKS:assisted in manuscript preparation, GKM: assisted in manuscript preparation, MK: performed the histology and IHC study. HK: Edited the manuscript, GKG: Edited the manuscript, (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The development of a negative marker vaccine against the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) will enhance the capabilities to differentiate vaccinated from infected animals and move forward in the progressive control pathway for the control of FMD. Here, we report the development of mutant FMDV of Asia1 with partial deletion of non-structural proteins 3A and 3B and characterization of their infectivity and protection response in the guinea pig model. The deleted FMDV Asia1/IND/63/1972 mutants, pAsia Δ3A and pAsia Δ3A3B1 were constructed from the full-length infectious clone pAsia WT , the viable virus was rescued, and the genetic stability of the mutants was confirmed by 20 monolayer passages in BHK21 cells. The mutant Asia1 viruses showed comparable growth pattern and infectivity with that of Asia WT in the cell culture. However, the Asia Δ3A3B1 virus showed smaller plaque and lower virus titer with reduced infectivity in the suckling mice. In guinea pigs, the Asia Δ3A3B1 virus failed to induce the disease, whereas the Asia Δ3A virus induced typical secondary lesions of FMD. Vaccination with inactivated Asia1 mutant viruses induced neutralizing antibody response that was significantly lower than that of the parent virus on day 28 post-vaccination (dpv) in guinea pigs (P < 0.05). Furthermore, challenging the vaccinated guinea pigs with the homologous vaccine strain of FMDV Asia1 conferred complete protection. It is concluded that the mutant Asia Δ3A3B1 virus has the potential to replace the wild-type virus for use as a negative marker vaccine after assessing the vaccine worth attributes in suspension cell and protective efficacy study in cattle.Key points• Deletion mutant viruses of FMDV Asia1, developed by PCR-mediated mutagenesis of NSP 3A and 3B1, were genetically stable.• The growth kinetics and antigenic relatedness of the mutant viruses were comparable with that of the wild-type virus.• Vaccination of guinea pigs with the deletion mutant viruses conferred complete protection upon challenge with the homologous virus., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Terminally differentiated mammalian sperm are exposed to gradients of viscosity, pH, and osmolality both in the male and female reproductive tract during their perilous journey to quest the ovum. The complex physicochemical factors play an integral role in preparing sperm for the fertilization process., Objectives: To elucidate the influence of the reproductive tract microenvironment especially viscosity, pH, and osmolality in regulating sperm functional and fertilization competence., Materials and Methods: The data used in this review were collected from the research papers and online databases focusing on the influence of viscosity, pH, and osmolality on sperm function., Discussion: The gradients of viscosity, pH, and osmolality exist across various segments of the male and female reproductive tract. The changes in the viscosity create a physical barrier, pH aid in capacitation and hyperactivation, and the osmotic stress selects a progressive sperm subpopulation for accomplishing fertilization. The sperm function tests are developed based on the concept that the male genotype is the major contributor to the reproductive outcome. However, recent studies demonstrate the significance of sperm genotype-environment interactions that are essentially contributing to reproductive success. Hence, it is imperative to assess the impact of physicochemical stresses and the adaptive ability of the terminally differentiated sperm, which in turn would improve the outcome of the assisted reproductive technologies and male fertility assessment., Conclusion: Elucidating the influence of the reproductive tract microenvironment on sperm function provides newer insights into the procedures that need to be adopted for selecting fertile males for breeding, and ejaculates for the assisted reproductive technologies., (© 2021 American Society of Andrology and European Academy of Andrology.)