Evaluating the neutralizing antibody response to HIV-1 membrane proximal external regional; Implications for vaccine design

Includes bibliographical references.Inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies targeting the HIV-1 envelope is thought to be crucial for developing an effective vaccine. The Membrane Proximal External Region (MPER) within the HIV- 1 gp41 envelope is a promising vaccine target. The MPER is highly conserved, functionally constrained, facilitates virus fusion and is targeted by broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies. The objectives of this research were 1) To evaluate the neutralization breadth of antibodies induced by epitopes within the MPER compared to the PG9/16-site in chronically HIV-1-infected individuals, 2) to identify neutralization resistant HIV-1 isolates (using plasma samples infected with the same subtype) and to characterize their sensitivity to anti-MPER antibodies and 3) to determine the accessibility of the MPER to HIV-1 induced polyclonal anti-MPER antibodies in a highly neutralization resistant virus (253-11; CRF02_AG subtype)

A Study on the Prospects and Potential Threats to the Hospitality Industry in India

The hospitality sector in India plays a vital role in terms of contributions to the economy of the country as an employment generator. The much wanted growth in the tourism sector of the country is in fact dependent on the growth and development of the hospitality sector. However, the ability of the hospitality sector to remain viable, profitable and competitive in the years to come will depend on its ability to foresee emerging trends and then capitalize on them. This is most essential, given that India, despite having high tourist potential, attracts far lesser foreign tourists as compared to smaller countries like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. This paper examines the key trends that are set to emerge in the hospitality sector in the country over the next decade. An exploratory methodology was used in this research including both theoretical and empirical methods. From the theoretical studies, it was found that these key trends include the growth of domestic tourism, the emergence of medical tourism as the key attraction in India, the development of tier 2 and tier 3 cities as important tourist hubs and the shift in tourist traffic away from luxury formats which have hitherto dominated the hotel industry and towards economically priced mid – level and budget hotels

HIV reverse transcriptase: Structural interpretation of drug resistant genetic variants from India

The reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme is the prime target of nucleoside/ nucleotide (NRTI) and non-nucleoside (NNRTI) reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Here we investigate the structural basis of effects of drug-resistance mutations in clade C RT using three-dimensional structural modeling. Apropos the expectation was for unique mechanisms in clade C based on interactions with amino acids of p66 subunit in RT molecule. 3-D structures of RT with mutations found in sequences from 2 treatment naïve, 8 failed and one reference clade C have been modeled and analyzed. Models were generated by computational mutation of available crystal structures of drug bound homologous RT. Energy minimization of the models and the structural analyses were carried out using standard methods. Mutations at positions 75,101,118,190,230,238 and 318 known to confer drug resistance were investigated. Different mutations produced different effects such as alteration of geometry of the drugbinding pocket, structural changes at the site of entry of the drug (into the active site), repositioning the template bases or by discriminating the inhibitors from their natural substrates. For the mutations analyzed, NRTI resistance was mediated mainly by the ability to discriminate between inhibitors and natural substrate, whereas, NNRTI resistance affected either the drug entry or the geometry of the active site. Our analysis suggests that different mutations result in different structural effects affecting the ability of a given drug to bind to the RT. Our studies will help in the development of newer drugs taking into account the presence of these mutations and the structural basis of drug resistance

Nutritional status and various morbidities among school children of a coastal area in South India

Background: Malnutrition and poor health among school children is the common cause of low school enrolment, high absenteeism, early dropout and poor classroom performance. This study was conducted to assess the various morbidities and nutritional status among school children.Methods: This descriptive study was conducted during year 2013 in a higher secondary school located in a coastal area of Puducherry. A total of 714 students were interviewed and examined. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to interview and examine all the participated students. Body weight and height were measured using standardized procedures. WHO criteria for classification of nutritional status was used. Visual acuity and colour vision was assessed using Snellen’s chart and Ishihara’s pseudo isochromatic chart respectively. Mean scores and proportions were calculated and chi-square test was applied. P value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: Among 714 student, 369 (51.4%) were males and 345 (48.6%) were females. The mean age of children was 10.2 ± 3.1 years. Among all age groups and both sexes, the observed BMI was lower as compared to the reference values. The prevalence of underweight among children of 5-9 years was (30.7%) and (1.1%) were severely underweight. The prevalence of stunting was 10.4%, including 0.1% of severely stunted children. A total of 30.7% children were thin (low BMI for age). Pallor (39.5%), myopia (34.9%) and dental caries (14.7%) were the common morbidities observed among children. The pallor was observed more commonly among girls and this difference was statistically significant (p value <0.05).Conclusion: Under-nutrition is a prevalent condition among school children. Apart from various nutritional programmes, health education to parents, community and school teachers are quite important to address this problem.

Compassionate use of convalescent plasma for the management of severe pneumonia in critically ill COVID-19 patients-a single center experience, Kerala, India

We assessed treatment effectiveness with convalescent plasma in critically ill COVID-19 pneumonia patients and their association with reduction in C reactive protein level as a sensitive inflammatory marker to the ongoing cytokine storm. Retrospective cohort study based on the detailed electronic medical chart review. The primary outcome was a clinical improvement on day 14, defined as the reduction in cytokine storm as demonstrated by a drop in acute phase reactant C reactive protein; de-escalation from the prior mode of oxygen delivery or not on mechanical ventilation in critically ill COVID-19 patients. C reactive protein was measured by using immunoturbidimetry. IgG antibody against spike protein S1 was measured by chemiluminescent immunoassay. Of 14 patients, all had severe COVID-19 pneumonia [category C], and 9 (64%) were mechanically ventilated soon after the admission into the medical intensive care unit. De-escalation of the oxygenation strategy mode was noted in 11 (79%) patients after convalescent plasma infusion. All patients showed a significant drop in C reactive protein when compared to pre-infusion and post-infusion day 5.  Early compassionate use of convalescent plasma with higher titters of IgG antibodies against S1may positively benefit the overall outcome in critically ill COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia

A novel approach to frequency support in a wind integrated power system

This paper discusses the impact of wind penetration on frequency control of a thermal dominated system considering Generation Rate Constraints (GRC) and dead band non-linearities. The hidden inertia emulation and coordinated operation of conventional power generation systems with wind energy can effectively alleviate the frequency excursions during sudden load disturbances. Conventional energy storage device like Flywheel Energy Storage (FES) system can be used in conjunction with wind integrated power system to overcome the intermittent nature of power generation. Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator (TCSC) is found to be effective in damping low frequency oscillations in weak tie-lines and supplement the frequency regulation. A stochastic population based evolutionary computation technique - Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is used to tune the controller gains. A strategy comprising inertia control, coordinated operation of conventional generation units with wind energy and TCSC-FES has been proposed to enhance the frequency regulation which is effective in controlling low frequency oscillations as established by the simulation results

Gene Transfer into the Lung by Nanoparticle Dextran-Spermine/Plasmid DNA Complexes

A novel cationic polymer, dextran-spermine (D-SPM), has been found to mediate gene expression in a wide variety of cell lines and in vivo through systemic delivery. Here, we extended the observations by determining the optimal conditions for gene expression of D-SPM/plasmid DNA (D-SPM/pDNA) in cell lines and in the lungs of BALB/c mice via instillation delivery. In vitro studies showed that D-SPM could partially protect pDNA from degradation by nuclease and exhibited optimal gene transfer efficiency at D-SPM to pDNA weight-mixing ratio of 12. In the lungs of mice, the levels of gene expression generated by D-SPM/pDNA are highly dependent on the weight-mixing ratio of D-SPM to pDNA, amount of pDNA in the complex, and the assay time postdelivery. Readministration of the complex at day 1 following the first dosing showed no significant effect on the retention and duration of gene expression. The study also showed that there was a clear trend of increasing size of the complexes as the amount of pDNA was increased, where the sizes of the D-SPM/pDNA complexes were within the nanometer range