A rare presentation of disseminated invasive aspergillosis

Here’s presenting a case of disseminated invasive aspergillosis in a young female patient with pulmonary and CNS complications and the difficulty one faces while diagnosing such a case due to variable presentation of symptoms with no prior history of any underlying immunodeficiency. It also focuses on how diagnosing such a case can be further delayed due to clinical and radiological miss-match. Thus, it is important to have a high index of suspicion in such patients as prolonged antibiotics and systemic steroids worsens the course of illness.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia – An unwanted terror and a loathsome burden on the health-care cost in the recent era

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is defined as infection of lung parenchyma in patients exposed to invasive mechanical ventilation for at least 48 h. VAP is the second most common hospital-acquired infection with a mortality rate up to 40%. Aims and Objectives: To determine the microbiological profile of VAP-related samples, the demographic profile of patients, and associated risk factors. Materials and Methods: VAP-related samples including endotracheal tube tip, tracheal secretions, and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid were collected from 73 patients during the study period from January 2023 to November 2023. Their blood samples were also collected for automated blood culture. Samples were processed as per standard protocol. Results: Out of the total patients, 60.31% were male and 39.68% were female. 61–80 years was the most commonly affected age group. The most commonly isolated micro-organism was Acinetobacter baumannii with the highest sensitivity to polymixin B and tigecycline. Associated blood culture positivity was maximum in patients whose samples of ET tube tip, tracheal secretions, and BAL fluid had isolated A. baumannii and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Two Candida albicans were isolated with sensitivities to voriconazole and amphotericin B. Many patients had associated septicemia. Endotracheal intubation and tracheal suction were the most common risk factors associated. Conclusion: As associated septicemia may increase the mortality rate manifold blood samples should also be collected in suspected VAP patients along with VAP-related samples for early detection of sepsis leading to better patient management

Application of Enoki Mushroom (Flammulina Velutipes) Stem Wastes as Functional Ingredients in Goat Meat Nuggets

The impact of different amounts (2%, 4% and 6%) of enoki (Flammulina velutipes) mushroom stem waste (MSW) powder on the physicochemical quality, color and textural, oxidative stability, sensory attributes and shelf-life of goat meat nuggets was evaluated. These mushroom by-products (MSW powder) contained a good source of protein (13.5%), ash (8.2%), total phenolics content (6.3 mg GAE/g), and dietary fiber (32.3%) and also exhibited the potential to be strong antioxidants, due to their good metal chelating ability (41.3%), reducing power (60.1%), and free radical scavenging activity (84.2%). Mushroom stem waste improved (p \u3c 0.05) the emulsion stability, dietary fiber, ash and phenolics content of nuggets compared to control. Although no significant differences (p \u3e 0.05) in expressible water and textural properties were observed among the formulations, but MSW powder improved the water holding capacity and slightly decreased the hardness. Further, the inclusion of MSW significantly (p \u3c 0.05) improved the oxidative stability and shelf-life of treated nuggets by reducing lipid oxidation during the nine-day storage period. Again, the inclusion of MSW did not negatively affect the color and sensory attributes of treated meat nuggets. Overall, our results suggest that enoki mushroom stem waste (4%) can be used as a value-added functional ingredient to produce nutritionally improved and healthier meat products

Deciphering proteome changes and meat texture of traditional halal slaughtered spent sheep subjected to low-voltage electrical stimulation and ageing

The present study evaluated the effect of low-voltage electrical stimulation (LVES, 42 V peak, 0.6 Amp, 50 Hz) and ageing in traditional halal slaughtered Nellore crossbred spent-sheep (Ovis aries). The LVES accelerated the post-mortem glycolysis with a significant decline in pH and shear force values and improvement in water-holding capacity, cooking yield, protein extractability, and an early onset of rigor-mortis relative to non-stimulated control. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis coupled with tandem mass spectrometry identified myosin regulatory light chain 2, NADH dehydrogenase, myoglobin, and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from traditional halal slaughtered sheep meat. PANTHER analysis of differentially expressed proteins indicated their involvement in structural (50%), catalytic (25%), and binding (25%) activities. The current study provides a novel insight into the contribution of different proteins in orchestrating meat texture from traditional halal slaughtered spent sheep meat subjected to LVES and ageing

Investigating the Health of a Rice Field Ecosystem Using Thermodynamic Extremal Principles

This study investigates the dynamic behaviour of a rice field ecosystem and aims to define its integral features using the stability concept of an ecological goal function. This function is based on the extremal principles of thermodynamics, which assume that certain energetic processes of ecosystems—such as the rate of exergy destruction—are directed by the self-organizing informatics of the systems towards maxima or minima.  In our study, we exploit the availability of substantially long time-series data relating to a rice field ecosystem to gain an evocative understanding of its growth trajectory in light of the thermodynamic principles. We accomplished this by constructing a model based on the STELLA 9.0 software and calculating the extremal values of growth rates (storage) and those of exergy destruction and entropy creation. The results showed that the values of both maximum dissipation and maximum exergy progressed apace with that of maximum storage till the maturation of rice and became stable thereafter, whereas maximum residence time and maximum specific dissipation values initially decreased before their asymptotic rise. A similar pattern was also observed for the maximum specific exergy. However, the maximum power dissipation curve followed a highly fluctuated course before becoming stable on the maturation of rice

Exploring Women's Economic Empowerment in Three Villages of West Bengal: A Gender-Related Study

This study presents the findings of a gender-related investigation conducted in three rural villages of West Bengal: Sarati in Nadia district, Dumurdaha Nityanandapur II in Hooghly district, and Baidyanathpur in Bankura district. The research explores key dimensions of women’s economic empowerment, including social participation and the impact of educational initiatives on gender roles. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach involving both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, the study sheds light on the socioeconomic conditions of women in these communities. The data, though randomly generated for illustrative purposes, indicate a moderate level of economic engagement among women. Significant barriers remain in accessing formal employment and community-level decision-making. The report concludes with actionable policy recommendations to foster greater gender equity through training, financial inclusion, awareness programs, and infrastructure development

Information Crises: the EU’s response and the South Asian digital media landscape

These are difficult days for democratic countries. Among other challenges, advances in technology have allowed the seamless dissemination of manipulated or fabricated text, video and audio. The pervasiveness of social media has facilitated false information to be rapidly amplified to receptive audiences, and geopolitical contexts like that of South Asia are no exception. Within this scenario, with the whole world currently trying to battle an ‘information crisis’, this paper focuses on the efforts displayed by Europe in recent years so as to combat disinformation. It critically reflects upon what South Asia’s approach could be to fight this eminent information crisis. It suggests that for an effective, long-term solution, it is imperative to move beyond tactical approaches that target the "supply” side of the problem. This paper argues that in order to succeed, regulatory policies must be accompanied by offline measures of socio-political inclusivity and transparency: healthy debates, education and knowledge dispersion and socio-cultural conscientiousness

journal.kommunikation-medien / Populism and the impact of technology in persuasive propaganda

The recent years have exceedingly witnessed an ascent of leaders and movements world-wide that ostensibly reflect a certain ‘populist sentiment. In this connection, the worlds transforming political landscape has, in the past two decades, seen populist parties constitute parliaments based on an anti-elite, anti-corruption rhetoric a new form of what is supposedly democracy. The rush towards energetic authoritarian ‘solutions, purportedly people-centric, demonstrate wide ranging consequences from war (Russia, Turkey); ethno-religious ‘purification (India, Hungary, Myanmar); magnification of presidential powers and the corresponding abandonment of civil rights and rule of law in China, Rwanda, Venezuela, Thailand and the Philippines. These only constitute some of the telling examples. This paper intends to examine the evolution of populism vis-a-vis the ways in which it is increasingly being impacted by digital technology. One way in which I will approach this is through a brief study of the history of populism to explore its specific order or pattern of communication. This can inform ways in which digital technologies are shaping new structures and bringing hitherto absent dimensions to this age-old political/social phenomenon. I am motivated to explore the relationship between network society and political manipulation and investigate, if such a relationship at all exists, whether it is veiled in a garb of ‘populist inclusivity. This study has three interrelated steps. In the first, I would attempt to formulate a working definition of populism. Secondly, I shall trace the evolution of populist propaganda and investigate if it is underscored historically by a common rhetoric. Finally, I attempt to demonstrate how digital technologies shape popular politics in recent times and impact the nature and content of publics discourses, foregrounding a complicated nexus in performing propaganda politics.(VLID)370118

Current Proteomics

Not AvailableProteomic tools were extensively used to understand the relationship between muscle proteome and conversion of muscle to meat, post-mortem proteolysis, meat texture, and variation in meat color. Developments in proteomic tools have also resulted in their application for addressing the safety and authenticity issues including meat species identification, detection of animal by-products, non-meat ingredients and tissues in meat products, traceability, identification of genetically modified ingredients, chemical residues and other harmful substances. Proteomic tools are also being used in some of the potential areas viz, understanding the effect of animal transportation, stunning, slaughter stress, halal authentication and issues related to animal welfare. Emerging advances in proteomic and peptidomic technologies and their application in traceability, meat microbiology, safety and authentication is taking a major stride as an interesting and complementary alternative to DNA based methods currently in use. Future research in meat science need to be linked to emerging metabolomic, lipidomic and other omic technologies for ensuring integrated meat quality and safety management. In this paper, a comprehensive overview of the use of proteomics for the assessment of quality and safety in meat value chain and their potential application is discussed

Climate smart livestock production and processing: an approach for sustainable food security

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