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Intro: Emergence of multi-drug resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a big public health challenge in controlling sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) has been widely used by increasing countries in North America, Europe, and Pacific to determine the decreased susceptible or resistance determinants of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, track the spread of these determinants throughout the gonococcal population at national or regional level. However, no studies to date have examined the genomic epidemiology of gonorrhea in India, where the burden of antimicrobial resistant strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is high. Methods: Eight clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae collected from 2017 – 2020 in Bangalore region of India were sequenced on Illumina platform. MLST type, virulence genes and AMR genotypes were determined. Findings: The prevalent MLST STs were ST1579(n = 3), ST7363(n = 3), ST1599(n = 1), ST13266(n = 1). All isolates were resistant to penicillin, Sulfonamides, and Tetracyclines. 87.5% of isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin, 50% to Cefixime and 25% to azithromycin. It was found that all strains were susceptible to spectinomycin and ceftriaxone. ST7363 isolates contained showed resistance to Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin, Penicillin and Tetracycline. The variant GyrA_S91F was associated with all CIPR. Other GyrA or ParC variants were GyrA95, or ParC86,87,88. penA mosaic alleles detected were ins346D,G545S,V316T,A501T. R228S mutation in folP was detected among sulfonamide resistant isolates. Cefixime resistance was driven by penA mosaic alleles-G545S,V316T,I312M and G45D_mtr mutation, while Azithromycin resistance was mainly driven by c2597t mutation in 23S_rDNA. Mutations in porB gene(A121N) and ponA(L421P) were observed in ST1579 lineage which showed resistance to Cefixime Conclusion: India harbours different predominant clones associated with decreased susceptibility to antibiotics from those clones circulated in other regions. The findings underscore the importance of maintaining continued surveillance on antibiotic resistance to gonorrhoea and a potential need for a strategic guideline. The data can be used as baseline data and also contributes to our understanding on spread of N. gonorrhoeae and its resistant strains at regional and global levels

Intro: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen and is associated with serious infections, and treatment can be challenging. Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections are increasing. Our objective was to characterize the epidemiology and AMR mechanisms of this pathogen circulating in India using whole genome sequencing. Methods: 312 P.aeruginosa isolates recovered from 21 hospital sites in India between 2017–2022 were seqeunced. Isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing by Vitek-2 automated system, and their genomes were assembled from Illumina sequencing data. MLST type, virulence genes, AMR determinants, and relatedness between isolates were derived; and determined concordance between phenotypic and genotypic resistance. Findings: β-lactam resistance was high (99.6%), with 99.6%to Cephalosporins, 98.3%to Aminoglycosides, 96.4%to Phenicols, 54.8% to Fluroquinolones, 36% to carbapenem and 17.6% to Macrolides. Carbapenem resistance was associated mainly with acquisition of the MBLs-blaOXA genes and blaNDM1 gene. Loss of function of the OprD-porin was observed in 4 isolates. KPC-2 was detected in 5 isolates and blaVIM gene was not detected. Concordance between phenotypic and genotypic resistance was 99.5% overall. Virulence genes, toxA (94.8%), plcH (98.3%), lasA/B/I (99.6%), exoS (51.6%), exoT (97.1%), exoU (48%), exoX (90%) were detected. Genotyping by MLST revealed 80 different sequence types. The population of P.aeruginosa was diverse, with MLSTs ST357, ST308, ST235, ST244 and ST654 predominant. About 13.7%of STs were of novel types and were found to emerge from the high-risk clones, having 100% resistance to Beta lactams and Cephalosporins, 90% resistance to Aminoglycosides and harbouring diverse virulence genes. Most of the ST357 and Novel ST genomes formed a distinct lineage from global genomes, thus raising the possibility that they may be unique to the India. Conclusion: The survey bridges the gap in genomic data from India. The association of resistance determinants with phylogenetic background displays the utility of WGS-monitoring AMR in P.aeruginosa. The presence of resistance and virulence determinants throughout phylogenetic tree shows that knowledge of local epidemiology is crucial for guiding potential treatment of MDR P. aeruginosa infections.

Intro: K.pneumoniae is an urgent health concern due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains for which vaccination offers potential remedy. Vaccines based on surface polysaccharides are highly promising but need to address high diversity of surface-exposed polysaccharides. For the success of K/O-antigenbased vaccine strategies, knowledge of serotype distribution and diversity among clinical isolates are mandatory. The study aimed to elucidate the genetic diveristy of K.pneumoniae capsular types in India. Methods: 1072 K.pneumoniae isolates collected during 2013-2022 from 38 hospitals were sequenced. The assembled data was uploaded to pathogen watch for analysis, using kleborate for typing K.pneumoniae Findings: The study defines the genetic diversity of O-and K-loci bearing isolates in India. 71 different K-loci were identified in the study. KL64 (25.5%), KL51 (23.2%) and K2 (8.2%) were predominant and 18 isolates had novel cps loci. Prevalence of internationally known KL-types K1 and K2 was 1.3% and 8.2% respectively. 37.2% of KL-64 strains and 85.1% of KL-51 strains belong to clonal lineage ST147 and ST231 respectively. Strikingly, virulence and antibiotic resistance genes were present in high proportion (70.3% virulence, 90.8% resistance) among KL51 strains where as their presence was 31.4% and 90.9% in KL64 strains. Serotypes-O1/O2v1 and-O1/O2v2 were most prevalent accounting for 43.9% and 32.9% respectively. 67% of O1/O2v2 strains harboured KL51 loci and were associated with ST231 clonal lineage, which is a predominant lineage in India. The distribution of virulence and resistance genes was 22.7% and 79.8% among O1/O2v1 strains where as their presence was 58.6% and 69.6% in O1/O2v2 strains Conclusion: The study reveals the existence of diverse population pool of Kantigens among the Indian circulating strains of K.pneumoniae which is different from other parts of the world. The study isolates in addition, displayed a high diverse STs, virulome and resistome. On the contrary, O-antigens were less diverse. The diversity of circulating population has to be considered while developing vaccines.

The current research was carried out to assess the effect of various bedding material on thermal image analysis and yield of milk in dairy cows. Twenty four crossbred cows at the Cattle farm of the Instructional Livestock Farm Complex, Pookode, Wayanad District in Kerala state formed the group in the present research for one lactation period including three seasons viz., summer (February to May), monsoon (June to September) and post monsoon (October to January). T1 was the control group in which the cows were maintained on concrete floor with no bedding material. Rubber mats (T2 ) and coir pith (T3 ) were provided on concrete floor. In T4 Dried solid manure (DSM) on concrete floor was provided at the rate of 7.5 cm thickness as bedding. Thermal image analysis of the heat generated from the animal body, surface of the floor and roof was recorded. The cows maintained on concrete floors (37.79 ± 0.21 oC) and rubber mats (37.56 ± 0.28 oC) generated significantly higher (P

The biomolecule-coated nanotitania catalysts were synthesised using rhizome extract of Gloriosa superba and the characteristics of the synthesised nanocatalysts were investigated by using various physiochemical methodologies. The antibacterial activity of the biomolecule coated nanotitania catalysts was tested against harmful microbial human pathogens. Nanotitania catalysts were found to be the most potential agent against gram negative bacterium i.e. Staphylococcus epidermidis. An efficient anti-biofilm activity was also observed against biofilm developing bacteria namely S. epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of nanotitania catalysts noticed was 46.64 and 61.81 µg/mL for MCF-7 (cancer) L929 (normal) cell lines, respectively. Bioengineered nanotitania catalysts exhibited potential anticancer activity against breast cancer cell line. AO/EtBr staining results show distinct morphological variations such as orange and red coloured apoptotic bodies were identified in cancer cells that were treated with nanotitania catalysts. Further, the nuclear changes, mitochondrial depolarization and increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) level were also detected in nanotitania catalysts treated MCF-7 cells by Hoechst, rhodamine and DCFH-DA probe staining techniques. COMET assay confirmed the DNA destruction in the nanotitania treated cancer cells. In addition, the nanotitania catalysts exhibited potential photocatalytic activity against inorganic toxic dyes and the maximum rate of dye degradation was observed for crystal violet. The present results strongly suggest that the biomolecule coated nanotitania catalysts could be used as potential and novel compound towards biomedical as well as photocatalytic applications.

A simple hydrothermal method is utilized to synthesize iron-doped tin oxide nanoparticles (Fe-SnO2 NPs) at various doping concentrations. The structural characterization using XRD, Raman, and FTIR measurements confirmed the incorporation of Fe ions into the SnO2 lattice without any deviation in the tetragonal crystal system of SnO2 nanoparticles. SEM and HRTEM images show the spherical-shaped nanoparticles with agglomeration. The values of interplanar spacing (d-value) calculated from the HRTEM lattice are consistent with the XRD results. Further, optical analysis revealed a red shift in the optical absorption band and a decrease in the band gap energy with an increase in Fe-dopant concentration. The decrease of PL emission peak intensity with Fe doping revealed the generation of singly charged oxygen vacancies. The H2O2-assisted photocatalytic degradation efficiency of Fe-SnO2 NPs investigated against crystal violet dye indicated an efficiency of 98% for 0.05 M Fe-SnO2 NPs within 30 minutes under visible light illumination. In addition, the effects of pH, scavengers, and reusability of the catalyst are tested. The antibacterial behavior of Fe-SnO2 NPs against Escherichia coli is examined by using the colony count method, and the inhibition rate was found to be 49, 65, 70, and 78% for pure, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05 M Fe-SnO2 NPs, respectively.

A systematic intervention was made in the present study in the subject of selection criteria, housing and feeding strategies followed in pet bird rearing by their owners. A detailed questionnaire was prepared and data was collected from 35 aviculturists to operationalise the study. General appearance, type, breeds, active nature, coat, nature of droppings and eyes which were the physical indications of health and pedigree of the bird were checked by the owners while selecting the birds. Pigeons were the birds of preference due to the monetary gain from bird rearing but difficulty in treatment of birds were experienced. Most of the owners constructed comfortable aviaries instead of cages for the birds. The roof was made of aluminum sheets. No bedding materials were used but sand with shell grit was practiced by few rearers. In feeding pet birds, owners adopted advice from sources like internet, television, magazines etc. and followed their own feeding schedule for birds.

Ewing's sarcoma /Primitive neuroectodermal tumours (ES/PNET) are categorized as small round cell tumours which commonly occur in bone and soft-tissue. Primary renal ES/PNET are uncommon with less than 150 cases reported till date. We received 1575 tumour nephrectomy specimens (radical and partial) from the year 2014 to 2020 in our department, out of which 4 cases were diagnosed as ES/PNET (frequency of 0.25%). In this case report, we discuss the clinical course and the pathological findings of these cases. We had three young adults and one paediatric case ,with mean age of 21 years and with male:female ratio of 1:1. The size of the tumour in our series ranged from 7 cm to 16 cm with a mean of 12 cm. Three of the four tumours were limited to kidney. Therefore, they underwent radical nephrectomy followed by chemotherapy. One patient had an advanced stage disease with local invasion and distant metastasis. She was treated with pre-surgical neoadjuvant chemotherapy and subsequent cytoreductive surgery in view of the extensive nature of the disease. However, the patient succumbed to the disease 3 months post-surgery. In view of the aggressive nature and poor prognosis of this disease, a multidisciplinary approach is recommended for early diagnosis and timely treatment.

Three commonly used entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) in sugarcane ecosystem, namely Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo) Vuillemin, Beauveria brongniartii (Saccardo) Petch and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin were assessed for their ability to sustain themselves in the rhizosphere in the presence or absence of competition with other fungi, either native or inoculated. In the first of two studies, the inoculated EPFs applied singly were recovered from rhizosphere of five dicots and five monocot crops from sterilized soil as well as unsterilized soil. In the second study, the efficacy of the EPF to survive in the rhizosphere of sugarcane with or without competition from either of the other two EPF or two nematophilic fungi or two antagonistic fungi or two soil saprophytes or sugarcane wilt pathogen Fusarium sp. in sterilized or unsterilized soil was estimated. Results of the first study indicated that in sterilized soil medium, the rhizosphere of okra (82.2%) was the most favourable for survival of EPF which was comparable with most monocots tested. Beauveria bassiana (75.0%) and M. anisopliae (79.0%) were more efficient than B. brongniartii (66.3%) regardless of plant species. The lowest spore harvest was from larvae rapped in rhizosphere of brinjal (3.88 x 107/larva) followed by that from cotton rhizosphere (5.55x107/larva). In the second study, in sugarcane rhizosphere in sterilized medium, the mortality of the larvae caused by B. bassiana was synergized by M. anisopliae (96.7%) and significantly higher than all other treatments. In case of B. brongniartii, mortality rates were most affected by fungal antagonists and Fusarium sp. (50.0-53.3%) while M. anisopliae was affected by Trichoderma harzianum (53.3%). Sporulation of Beauveria spp. was consistently affected by Penicillium sp./Aspergillus sp. while most species were competitive with M. anisopliae. In both the studies, only M. anisopliae spores could be recovered from unsterilized soil.

In this paper, a numerical method based on Shishkin mesh for a singularly perturbed fourth order differential equation with a turning point exhibiting boundary layers is presented. In this method the problem is transformed into a weakly coupled system of two second order equations, one without the parameter ε and the other with the parameter ε multiplying the highest derivative with suitable boundary conditions. We apply classical finite difference scheme on an appropriate piecewise uniform (Shishkin) mesh. Parameter uniform error bounds for the numerical solution are established. Numerical results are provided to illustrate the theoretical results. Keywords: Singularly perturbed turning point problems, Finite difference scheme, Shishkin mesh

The most promising anti-tumor agent developed in the past three decades is Taxol. It is proven to be effective against many cancers. It is necessary to isolate pharmacologically potent endophytic microbial strains from medicinal plants with special reference to Taxol production. In the current study, endophytic fungi were isolated from the bark of the medicinal plant, Salacia oblonga. The isolated endophytes were identified morphologically, and further characterized by ITS-PCR using genomic DNA samples, later the products were sequenced for identification and phylogenetic linkage mapping. The samples were screened for the potential to produce Taxol or taxanes, employing PCR. The resulted data have been sequenced to confirm the presence of the two genes implicated in Taxol biosynthesis, 10-deacetylbaccatin III-10-O-acetyl transferase (DBAT) and C-13 phenylpropanoid side chain-CoA acyltransferase (BAPT). Seven samples showed the amplicons of DBAT gene and one showed the amplicons of BAPT gene. Sequencing of these products was carried out, of which one sample has revealed sequence homology to the original DBAT gene from Taxus. The present work confirms and substantiates the potential of genomic mining approach to discover novel Taxol-producing endophytic fungi.

This work deals with the vibrational spectroscopy of O-Anisic acid (OAA) and Anisic acid (AA). The fundamental vibrational frequencies and intensity of vibrational bands were evaluated using density functional theory (DFT) with standard B3LYP/6-31G** method and basis set combinations. The vibrational spectra were interpreted, with the aid of normal coordinate analysis based on a scaled quantum mechanical force field. The infrared and Raman spectra were also predicted from the calculated intensities. The effects of carbonyl and methyl substitutions on the structure and vibrational frequencies have been investigated. Comparison of simulated spectra with the experimental spectra provides important information about the ability of the computational method to describe the vibrational modes. The 13C and 1H NMR chemical shifts of the DFA and CA molecules were calculated using the gauge-invariant-atomic orbital (GIAO) method in DMSO solution using IEF-PCM model and compared with experimental data.

For successful innovations, identifying and facilitating goal-orientations of the workforce is of vital importance in the present day competitive organizational scenario. This study deepens the understanding that innovative work behavior (IWB) of an employee is facilitated by both promotion and prevention foci. Drawing insights from the regulatory focus (RF) theory we have developed and tested a model involving the motivational dynamics of work engagement (WE) in the relationship between regulatory focus (RF) and IWB. Structural equation modeling analysis of responses from 603 information technology (IT) employees in India confirmed the partial mediation effect of WE between promotion focus and IWB. A full mediation effect of WE between prevention focus and IWB was also established. The data model exhibited a good fit. The results help in establishing the role of WE in contributing to IWB of employees who are either promotion or prevention focused. Scope for future research and implications of the results are discussed., Author(s): Vasanthi Jason [sup.1] , Geetha S. N. [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.252262.3, 0000 0001 0613 6919, Department of Management Studies, Anna University, , Chennai, India Introduction Information Technology (IT) [...]

This article examines a study conducted in a rural area of Andhra Pradesh, India, to investigate breastfeeding practices among mothers. The study found that while the majority of children were breastfed, only a small percentage were exclusively breastfed for the recommended duration. The study also identified factors associated with the introduction of prelacteal feeds. The findings emphasize the need for education and support to improve breastfeeding practices in rural areas. [Extracted from the article]

Background: The objective of this anatomical study was to perform the morphometry of dried lumbar vertebrae in human cadavers. The vertebral column is composed of Vertebrae and intervertebral discs. It stretches right from the skull extending upto coccyx. It is comprised of cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral class. Major functions of the vertebra include spinal cord protection, protection of spinal nerves branching, thorax and abdominal support and allow flexibility. At the same time, it also permits mobility of the body. Role of the intervertebral discs includes mobility without surrendering the supportive power of the vertebra. Since the surgical techniques of the vertebral column involve the utilization of bony anatomical landmarks, the morphometric data of the various parts of the vertebrae are essential. The accurate anatomical dimensional knowledge is important to understand the etiopathogenesis of the lower backache. Materials and Methods: This was an observational study on 47 dry macerated adult human lumbar vertebral sets. All sets were taken from Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College, Ongole, Prakasam. An Institutional Ethics Committee approval as well as prior permission of the concerned authorities were obtained. It was ensured that all selected vertebrae were apparently normal, fully ossified without any congenital or degenerative. Each vertebra was marked for both segments (body and arch) followed by measurements. Linear measurements were done by 'Digital Vernier Caliper' with precision 0.01mm and 'Digital Planimeter'. Various parameters of body measured. All the measurements were taken twice on both right and left side with the help of sliding vernier caliper, Result: The pedicle height of the lumbar vertebrae on right side ranged from 22.07 mm to 12.38 mm with mean 15.89 ± 3.09mm. However, mean of the pedicle height on left side was estimated to be 15.75± 3.08 mm with range falling between 22.03mm (maximum) - 12.28 mm (minimum). The total average of pedicular height ranged from 22.05 mm to 12.33 mm with a mean of 15.83 ±4.09 mm. These observations were statistically significant with p value of 0.031. The observations summarized that pedicle width of lumbar vertebrae on right side ranged from 19.75 to 7.44 mm with a mean of 12.9 ± 3.79 mm. However, the pedicular width on left side ranged from 19.61 to 7.43 mm with mean of 11.83 and ± 3.63 mm with statistically significant p-value of 0.043. The total average width of pedicle ranged from 19.9 to 7.43 mm with mean of 12.38 ±3.71mm (Table 4). Conclusion: The study reported significant differences in several dimensions of pedicles of typical as well as atypical lumbar vertebrae. These differences should be considered by neurosurgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]