Search

Purpose: Seroepidemiology and genomic surveillance are valuable tools to investigate infection transmission during a pandemic. North East (NE) India is a strategically important region being the gateway connecting the country with Southeast Asia. Here, we examined the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in NE India during the first and second waves of COVID-19 using serological and whole genome sequencing approaches., Methods: qRT-PCR analysis was performed on a selected population (n ​= ​16,295) from June 2020 to July 2021, and metadata was collected. Immunoassays were studied (n ​= ​2026) at three-time points (August 2020, February 2021, and June 2021) and in a cohort (n ​= ​35) for a year. SARS-CoV-2 whole genomes (n ​= ​914) were sequenced and analyzed with those obtained from the databases., Results: Test positivity rates (TPR) in the first and second waves were 6.34% and 6.64% in Assam, respectively, and a similar pattern was observed in other NE states. Seropositivity in the three time points was 10.63%, 40.3%, and 46.33%, respectively, and neutralizing antibody prevalence was 90.91%, 52.14%, and 69.30%, respectively. Persistence of pan-IgG-N SARS-CoV-2 antibody for over a year was observed among three subjects in the cohort group. Normal variants dominated the first wave, while B.1.617.2 and AY-sublineages dominated the second wave in the region. The prevalence of the variants co-related well with high TPR and seropositivity rate in the region and identified mostly among vaccinated individuals., Conclusion: The COVID-19 first wave in the region witnessed low transmission with the evolution of diverse variants. Seropositivity increased during the study period with over half of the individuals carrying neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. High infection and seroprevalence in NE India during the second wave were associated with the dominant emergence of variants of concern., (Copyright © 2022 Indian Association of Medical Microbiologists. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Data science has been an invaluable part of the COVID-19 pandemic response with multiple applications, ranging from tracking viral evolution to understanding the vaccine effectiveness. Asymptomatic breakthrough infections have been a major problem in assessing vaccine effectiveness in populations globally. Serological discrimination of vaccine response from infection has so far been limited to Spike protein vaccines since whole virion vaccines generate antibodies against all the viral proteins. Here, we show how a statistical and machine learning (ML) based approach can be used to discriminate between SARS-CoV-2 infection and immune response to an inactivated whole virion vaccine (BBV152, Covaxin). For this, we assessed serial data on antibodies against Spike and Nucleocapsid antigens, along with age, sex, number of doses taken, and days since last dose, for 1823 Covaxin recipients. An ensemble ML model, incorporating a consensus clustering approach alongside the support vector machine model, was built on 1063 samples where reliable qualifying data existed, and then applied to the entire dataset. Of 1448 self-reported negative subjects, our ensemble ML model classified 724 to be infected. For method validation, we determined the relative ability of a random subset of samples to neutralize Delta versus wild-type strain using a surrogate neutralization assay. We worked on the premise that antibodies generated by a whole virion vaccine would neutralize wild type more efficiently than delta strain. In 100 of 156 samples, where ML prediction differed from self-reported uninfected status, neutralization against Delta strain was more effective, indicating infection. We found 71.8% subjects predicted to be infected during the surge, which is concordant with the percentage of sequences classified as Delta (75.6%-80.2%) over the same period. Our approach will help in real-world vaccine effectiveness assessments where whole virion vaccines are commonly used., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

<b>Introduction:</b> Central vein stenosis has been reported in patients of end stage renal disease with subclavian vein being more commonly affected than brachiocephalic vein. <br><b>Case report:</b> We present a case of young female with bilateral brachiocephalic vein obstruction following arteriovenous fistula creation for hemodialysis.

Objective: It is a well-established fact that colonization of S. mutans occurs early in life. The purpose of this study is to determine the correlation between mode of delivery and other associating factors with colonization of oral S. mutans in the infants., Methods: The newborns were divided into two groups according to the mode of delivery: Infants who were delivered by either caesarean section (Group-C) or vaginally (Group-V). A total number of 60 mother-infant pairs were included and followed for 1 year. The swab samples were collected for the detection of S. mutans., Results: Analysis of data demonstrated the possible influence of prolonged bottle feeding (P = 0.007), socioeconomic status (P = 0.00030) and tasting of food by the mothers (P = 0.0065) on the initial acquisition of S. mutans in the oral cavity of infants., Conclusion: The causes for initial acquisition of oral S. mutans in infants were postnatal factors like feeding and oral hygiene practices., (© 2011 The Authors. International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry © 2011 BSPD, IAPD and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Esthetic improvement is highly valued by patients seeking orthodontic treatment. Subjects with a class II malocclusion are a good example of patients who seek treatment primarily for esthetic improvement. A young growing child with convex profile due to a small, retropositioned mandible, normal midface and lower tip trap is more suitable for functional appliance treatment. Functional appliances encourage adaptive skeletal growth by maintaining the mandible in a corrected forward position for a sufficient period of time to allow adaptive skeletal changes to occur in response to a functional stimulus. The aim of this article is to describe two cases of class II malocclusion in late mixed dentition period treated with twin-block. The cephalometric and facial profile changes have been discussed.

With appropriate planning and preparation, a modified leprosy elimination campaign (MLEC) was undertaken in Brihan Mumbai (Bombay), which has a population of around 11 million. For the campaign, 4879 non-leprosy paramedical and non-medical personnel were trained and utilized as searchers. The MLEC revealed 1410 new leprosy cases, with a new case detection rate of 1.83/10,000. Over 80% of all cases detected were either single-lesion or paucibacillary (PB), and thus of limited significance with regard to transmission. Further efforts are required to detect and treat cases of consequence (those with more than five lesions and those with positive skin smears) and to identify reservoirs of infection.

This paper presents a relationship between membership functions and approximation accuracy in fuzzy systems. This relationship suggests an idea to design membership functions such that the approximation accuracy of fuzzy systems is improved.

This paper discusses the approximation properties of fuzzy systems generated by the min inference. Firstly, the paper analyzes the properties of fuzzy basis functions (FBFs); Then based on the properties of FBPs, several basic approximation properties concerning approximation mechanisms, uniform approximation bounds, uniform convergency, and universal approximation are obtained. Further, the similarity and difference between the fuzzy systems generated by the product inference and by the min inference are discussed.