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A thrust on insurance‐financed health systems may reduce Out‐of‐pocket health spending. But health insurance penetration among Indian elderly is abysmally low. In this context, the paper intends to examine the factors affecting demand for various types of insurances among Indian elderly. Data were drawn from 71st round (2014–15) "Key Consumption: Health" household survey data collected by National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), Government of India. A total number of 27,245 older adults were selected for this study. In addition to basic descriptive statistics, we employ logistic regression models to conduct the econometric analysis. Socioeconomic, health‐related and contextual predictors are considered in this study. The results show that the probability of health insurance coverage among elderly significantly depends on income, education, disease types, caste, family size, and most importantly, social relationships. The underprivileged groups have higher likelihood to be covered by government‐funded insurance, while the older people with higher income and education, having spouses and less number of children, and residing in urban areas have a higher likelihood of purchasing private health insurance. The study identified the factors responsible for low demand for health insurance among elderly. The study suggests the expansion of private insurance network, especially, in the underserved rural areas, along with generating financial awareness among the elderly. The study also suggests an inclusive model of health insurance demand, which may be adopted by future empirical studies to find out the significant factors affecting health insurance demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of colemanite (Ca2B6O11.5H2O) at room temperature, at a high temperature of 400°F and under the influence of near ultraviolet light. We demonstrate that all three I-V plots exhibit hysteresis effects, and these new results shed new light on the resistance of colemanite, which have not been investigated before. These novel properties are explained on the basis of its microstructure indicating potential applications in devices with negative resistance, as well as in photovoltaic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: proving causality between an exposure and outcome can be difficult in humans. Here, we utilize the Bradford Hill (BH) criteria to summarize the causal relationship between Campylobacter infection and the development of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Methods: we utilized the BH criteria to assess the strength, consistency, specificity, temporality, biological gradient, plausibility, coherence, experiment, and analogy of the current evidence linking Campylobacter to IBS. Through a consensus amongst all authors, the confidence of each criterion was graded as high, moderate, low, or very low. Results: a total of four criteria (strength, temporality, plausibility, and analogy) were graded as high; four criteria (consistency, biological gradient, coherence, and experiment) were graded as moderate; and one criterion (specificity) was graded as low. Large-scale epidemiological studies report a risk ratio of 2.7–5.6 for developing IBS after campylobacter. In rodent models, Campylobacter jejuni 81–176 can cause loose stool months after the infection is cleared and share common pathophysiology as IBS patients such as elevated intestinal TLR-4 and IL-8, antibodies to CdtB and vinculin, increased intraepithelial lymphocytes, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Conclusions: Campylobacter infection appear to cause IBS in a subset of patients. This may hold implication in risk factor identification, public health policy, and possibly treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• No systematic review on antivirals in human monkeypox virus infection is available. • Monkeypox treatments include tecovirimat, cidofovir, brincidofovir, trifluridine, and vaccinia immune globulin. • Tecovirimat improves progressive monkeypox virus infection. • No signal for major safety concerns has been generated for tecovirimat. • Three patients put on brincidofovir had to discontinue treatment. Human monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection is a recently declared public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. Besides, there is scant literature available on the use of antivirals in MPXV infection. This systematic review compiles all evidence of various antivirals used on their efficacy and safety and summarizes their mechanisms of action. A review was done of all original studies mentioning individual patient data on the use of antivirals in patients with MPXV infection. Of the total 487 non-duplicate studies, 18 studies with 71 individuals were included. Tecovirimat was used in 61 individuals, followed by cidofovir in seven and brincidofovir (BCV) in three individuals. Topical trifluridine was used in four ophthalmic cases in addition to tecovirimat. Of the total, 59 (83.1%) were reported to have complete resolution of symptoms; one was experiencing waxing and waning of symptoms, only one (1.8%) had died, and the others were having a resolution of symptoms. The death was thought unrelated to tecovirimat. Elevated hepatic panels were reported among all individuals treated with BCV (leading to treatment discontinuation) and five treated with tecovirimat. Tecovirimat is the most used and has proven beneficial in several aggravating cases. No major safety concerns were detected upon its use. Topical trifluridine was used as an adjuvant treatment option along with tecovirimat. BCV and cidofovir were seldom used, with the latter often being used due to the unavailability of tecovirimat. BCV was associated with treatment discontinuation due to adverse events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During spermatogenesis, cells coordinate differentiation with the meiotic cell cycle to generate functional gametes. We identified a novel gene, which we named off-schedule (ofs), as being essential for this coordinated control. During the meiotic G2 phase, Drosophila ofs mutant germ cells do not reach their proper size and fail to execute meiosis or significant differentiation. The accumulation of four cell cycle regulators-Cyclin A, Boule, Twine and Roughex-is altered in these mutants, indicating that ofs reveals a novel branch of the pathway controlling meiosis and differentiation. Ofs is homologous to eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF4G. The level of ofs expression in spermatocytes is much higher than for the known eIF4G ortholog (known as eIF-4G or eIF4G), suggesting that Ofs substitutes for this protein. Consistent with this, assays for association with mRNA cap complexes, as well as RNA-interference and phenotypic-rescue experiments, demonstrate that Ofs has eIF4G activity. Based on these studies, we speculate that spermatocytes monitor G2 growth as one means to coordinate the initiation of meiotic division and differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Various quantum chemical methods, including Hartree–Fock (HF), density functional (DFT/B3LYP), Møller–Plesset perturbation (MP2), and coupled-cluster [CCSD, CCSD(T), CC3] schemes, have been exploited with correlation-consistent basis sets in an attempt to resolve controversies surrounding the equilibrium structure of ground-state acetylacetone. Geometry optimizations performed at the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory predict a global minimum-energy configuration of Cs symmetry that exhibits an interoxygen distance of 2.575Å, with the symmetric (C2v) transition state for proton transfer presenting a potential barrier of 1276.7cm−1 height. The resulting theoretical description of acetylacetone is in excellent agreement with recent electron diffraction experiments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We report the observations of nonstructural acousto-injection luminescence from metallized LiNbO3wafers. The samples under study are the X- or Y-cut wafers with the silver paste electrodes on opposite surfaces. The thickness is 1–2 mm and other linear dimensions are in the range of 2 to 25 mm. Experiments are done at room temperature in the MHz-frequency range. Mainly the fundamental shear ultrasound modes are excited in the samples. Experimentally are measured the spectra of nonstructural acousto-injection luminescence, photo-luminescence spectra, acousto-electric properties, X-Ray diffraction under NAIL. The nonstructural acousto-injection luminescence and other effects appear above certain threshold amplitude of the acoustical strain that is about 10−5. The involvement of the microstructural non-uniformities in the effects observed is experimentally identified by the photo-luminescence of point defects taken from different micro-regions of the samples. The data are explained in terms of the considerable acoustic stresses and piezoelectric fields that are capable injecting charge carriers from the metal contacts into a crystal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The c-MYC oncoprotein functions as a sequence-specific transcription factor. The ability of c-MYC to activate transcription relies in part on the recruitment of cofactor complexes containing the histone acetyltransferases mammalian GCN5 (mGCN5)/PCAF and TIP60. In addition to acetylating histones, these enzymes have been shown to acetylate other proteins involved in transcription, including sequence-specific transcription factors. This study was initiated in order to determine whether c-MYC is a direct substrate of mGCN5 and TIP60. We report here that mGCN5/PCAF and TIP60 acetylate c-MYC in vivo, By using nanoelectrospray tandem mass spectrometry to examine c-MYC purified from human cells, the major mGCN5-induced acetylation sites have been mapped. Acetylation of c-MYC by either mGCN5/PCAF or TIP60 results in a dramatic increase in protein stability. The data reported here suggest a conserved mechanism by which acetyltransferases regulate c-MYC function by altering its rate of degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive carcinomas survive and evade apoptosis despite the absence of an exogenous basement membrane. How epithelial tumors acquire anchorage independence for survival remains poorly defined. Epithelial tumors often secrete abundant amounts of the extra cellular matrix protein laminin 5 (LM-5) and frequently express α6β4 integrin. Here, we show that autocrine LM-5 mediates anchorage- independent survival in breast tumors through ligation of a wild-type, but not a cytoplasmic tail-truncated α6β4 integrin. α6β4 integrin does not mediate tumor survival through activation of ERK or AKT. Instead, the cytoplasmic tail of integrin is necessary for basal and epidermal growth factor-induced RAC activity, and RAC mediates tumor survival. Indeed, a constitutively active RAC sustains the viability of mammary tumors lacking functional β1 and &beta4; integrin through activation of NFκB, and over expression of NFκB p65 mediates anchorage-independent survival of nonmalignant mammary epithelial cells. Therefore, epithelial tumors could survive in the absence of exogenous basement membrane through autocrine LM-5--α6β4 integrin-RAC- NFκB signaling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]