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The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been a scientific, medical and social challenge. Since clinical course of this disease is largely unpredictable and can develop rapidly causing severe complications, it is important to identify laboratory biomarkers which may help to classify patient’s severity during initial stage. Previous studies have suggested C - reactive protein (inflammatory) and D-dimer (biochemical) as an effective biomarker. The differential severity in patients across the world and our limited understanding in the progression of the disease calls for a multi-country analysis for biomarkers. Therefore, we have analyzed these biomarkers among 228 Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients. We show significant association of COVID-19 severity with these two biomarkers. Thus, we suggest using these biomarkers for Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients for disease monitoring. Such validated preventive measures may decrease the case fatality ratio substantially.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been a scientific, medical and social challenge. Since clinical course of this disease is largely unpredictable and can develop rapidly causing severe complications, it is important to identify laboratory biomarkers which may help to classify patient’s severity during initial stage. Previous studies have suggested C - reactive protein (inflammatory) and D-dimer (biochemical) as an effective biomarker. The differential severity in patients across the world and our limited understanding in the progression of the disease calls for a multi-country analysis for biomarkers. Therefore, we have analyzed these biomarkers among 228 Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients. We show significant association of COVID-19 severity with these two biomarkers. Thus, we suggest using these biomarkers for Bangladeshi COVID-19 patients for disease monitoring. Such validated preventive measures may decrease the case fatality ratio substantially.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted several waves of infection in many countries worldwide. The large variations in case fatality ratio among different geographical regions suggests that the human susceptibility against this virus varies substantially. Several studies from different parts of the world showed a significant association of ABO blood group and COVID-19 susceptibility. It was shown that individuals with blood group O are at the lower risk of coronavirus infection. To establish the association of ABO blood group in SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility, we for the first time analysed SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies as well as blood groups among 509 random individuals from three major districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh region of India.. Interestingly, we found neutralising antibodies in significantly higher percentage of people with blood group AB (0.36) followed by B (0.31), A (0.22) and lowest in people with blood group O (0.11). This indicates that people with blood group AB are at comparatively higher risk of infection than other blood groups. Further, in line to previous reports we too observed that people with blood group O have significantly decreased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, among the asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals with blood group AB has highest, whilst blood group O has lowest risk of infection.

With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is evident that some genetic loci modulate the severity of the infection. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with greater severity. More recently, a study has identified a 50kb segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding a risk for COVID-19, and this trait is present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian origin respectively. Contrary to this finding, our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations respectively, which appears to be responsible for the low case fatality ratio among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the realtime infection rate and case fatality ratio among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the realtime infection rates and case fatality ratio in India. We found out that the polymorphism present in the 50kb introgressed segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the realtime infection and case fatality ratio in India.

With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is clear that there are some genetic loci modulating the severity. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with the higher severity. More recently, a study has identified 50kb segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding risk for COVID-19, and is present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian origin respectively. Contrary to that, our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations respectively, was probably responsible for the low case fatality ratio among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the realtime infection rate and case fatality ratio among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the realtime infection rates and case fatality ratio in India. We found out that that the polymorphism present in 50kb introgressed segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the realtime infection and case fatality ratio in India.With the growing evidence on the variable human susceptibility against COVID-19, it is clear that there are some genetic loci modulating the severity. Recent studies have identified several loci associated with the higher severity. More recently, a study has identified 50kb segment introgressed from Neanderthal adding risk for COVID-19, and is present among 16% and 50% people of European and South Asian origin respectively. Contrary to that, our studies on ACE2 identified a haplotype present among 20% and 60% of European and South Asian populations respectively, was probably responsible for the low case fatality ratio among South Asian populations. This result was also consistent with the realtime infection rate and case fatality ratio among various states of India. We readdressed this issue using both of the contrasting datasets and compared them with the realtime infection rates and case fatality ratio in India. We found out that that the polymorphism present in 50kb introgressed segment (rs10490770) did not show any significant correlation with the realtime infection and case fatality ratio in India.

Objective To examine the association between hemoglobin A 1c (HbA 1c ) and the presence, severity, and complexity of angiographically proven coronary artery disease (CAD) in nondiabetic patients. Patients and Methods We performed a single-center, observational, cross-sectional study of 1141 consecutive nondiabetic patients who underwent coronary angiography from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2011. The study population was divided into 4 interquartiles according to HbA 1c levels ( 6.1%). Results Patients with higher HbA 1c levels tended to be older, overweight, and hypertensive, had higher blood glucose levels, and had lower glomerular filtration rates. Higher HbA 1c levels were associated in a graded fashion with the presence of CAD, disease severity (higher number of diseased vessels and presence of left main and/or triple vessel disease), and disease complexity (higher SYNTAX score, higher number of patients in intermediate or high SYNTAX tertiles, coronary calcium, and chronic total occlusions). After adjustment for major conventional cardiovascular risk factors, compared with patients with HbA 1c levels less than 5.5%, the odds ratios of occurrence of CAD in the HbA 1c quartiles of 5.5% to 5.7%, 5.8% to 6.1%, and greater than 6.1% were 1.8 (95% CI, 1.2-2.7), 3.5 (95% CI, 2.3-5.3), and 4.9 (95% CI, 3.0-8.1), respectively. Conclusion The HbA 1c level has a linear incremental association with CAD in nondiabetic individuals. The HbA 1c level is also independently correlated with disease severity and higher SYNTAX scores. Thus, HbA 1c measurement could be used to improve cardiovascular risk assessment in nondiabetic individuals.

Mass distributions of the fragments in the fission of $^{206}$Po and the N=126 neutron shell closed nucleus $^{210}$Po have been measured. No significant deviation of mass distributions has been found between $^{206}$Po and $^{210}$Po, indicating the absence of shell correction at the saddle point in both the nuclei, contrary to the reported angular anisotropy and pre-scission neutron multiplicity results. This new result provides benchmark data to test the new fission dynamical models to study the effect of shell correction on the potential energy surface at saddle point.

The enzyme nitrogenase complex is a key component conferring nitrogen fixation in all known diazotrophs. This study for the first time examines the impact of As, Na, Cd, Cu and butachlor on component II (dinitrogenase reductase, nifH1) of nitrogenase from diazotrophic cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. PCC7120 using in silico and wet lab approaches. The nifH1 of Anabaena is a glycine-rich stable protein having DNA-binding properties and shows close similarity with free living compared with symbiotic diazotrophs. Phylogenetic tree revealed an adverse effect of the selected stresses on close homologs across the diazotroph community. The protein interaction network demonstrated the presence of nirA, glnA, glnB, alr4255 and alr2485 proteins besides nif proteins, suggesting their involvement in nitrogen fixation along with nifH1. Homology modelling and docking under As, Na, Cd, Cu and butachlor revealed an interaction between stressors and nifH1 protein which was further validated by a transcript of the gene through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Presence of binding sites for As, Na, Cd and Cu on oxyR promoter attested their adverse affects on nifH1. Maximum down-regulation of nifH1 in Cd and As followed by salt, copper and butachlor revealed that arsenic and cadmium were most potential inhibitors of nitrogenase of diazotrophic community, which might negatively affect crop yield.