Identification and characterization of psychrotrophic strain of Planococcus maritimus for glucosylated C30 carotenoid production

190-197Cold-adapted bacteria produce various pigments as their adaptive strategy. Here, we studied an aerobic, gram-positive motile coccoid bacterial strain KK21, isolated from the Siachen, Himalayas and characterized the major pigments present in it. The KK21 strain is capable of growth in a broad range of temperature (-4 to 37°C), pH (6.0-13.0) and salinity (0.5-8%). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that it belongs to the genus Planococcus and closely related to P. maritimus. Total pigment extraction was best found in polar methanol. Alanine among amino acids, NaCl among inorganic salts and evening primrose amongst oils best supported the pigment production at 10°C after 6 days in BHI at neutral pH of 7.0. Maximum pigment production was recorded at 3% of NaCl concentration. In photoprotection activity, radiation exposed plates showed increased colony forming units and more than 3.5 times of total carotenoid production after 15 min exposure compared to the control group. Detailed characterization of orange pigment was done systematically by TLC, HPLC and MALDI-TOF. Chromatographic and MALDI-TOF data have revealed the exclusive presence of glycosylated C30-carotenoid in P. maritimus KK21 with m/z of 655.871

Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome as sequelae of typhoid encephalitis?

Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome (DDMS) is characterized by cerebral hemiatrophy with homolateral hypertrophy ofthe skull and sinuses in association with contralateral hemiplegia, seizures, mental retardation, difficulty, and impairmentof speech development. Among the various complications of typhoid fever, neuropsychiatric manifestations constitutea major portion. However, DDMS post typhoid encephalitis has not been reported in the literature. We report a case ofDDMS in an 8-year-old boy who presented with multiple seizures, impaired speech, behavioral changes, and mentalretardation following typhoid encephalitis

Anxiety among people living with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral treatment attending tertiary care hospitals in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: One of the major health challenges faced by India is the rapid growth of HIV/AIDS and its impact upon human life. Co-morbidities like anxiety are often overlooked while providing ART services to HIV/AIDS patients. Therefore the present study was conducted to assess the anxiety and associated factors among PLHA (People Living with HIV/AIDS) on antiretroviral treatment attending tertiary care hospitals in Lucknow.Methods: Hospital‑based cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2013 to March 2014 among 170 patients on treatment attending antiretroviral therapy (ART) centre of two tertiary care hospitals of Lucknow. Systematic random sampling was used to recruit patients. The anxiety level of all included patients was scored as per Hamilton anxiety rating scale. Results: The mean HAM-A score of 179 patients was 10.74±6.04. Majority (92.1%) of the patients had HAM-A score less than 17 indicating mild severity, 5.0% of the patient had mild to moderate severity while only 2.7% had moderate to severe level of anxiety symptoms. None of the patient had very severe level of anxiety. Significant association was found between level of anxiety symptoms with educational status (0.03), perception of side-effects during last one month (0.03) and duration of treatment (0.04).Conclusions: People living with HIV/AIDS need to be periodically educated and informed about various issues associated with the disease severity and antiretroviral treatment along with its side-effects so that they could better cope with disease and its treatment outcomes over time and be able to seek early treatment accordingly.

Analysis of Stutterers Characteristics in Association with Age of Onset and Family History of Stuttering

Introduction Stuttering is a common occurrence in children which is also known as stammering, dysfluency or clutching of words. Aims of present study was to study association of age of onset and family history of stuttering with stutterers characteristics.  Materials and Methods Total 136 stutterers were included in the study.  All stutterers were subjected to complete ear nose and throat examination. All stutterers were evaluated by speech language therapist for diagnosis of speech disorder. Results Out of 136 stutterers 124 (91%) were male while 12 (9%) were female ranging from 6 years to 56 years, 15 (11%) had age of onset below 3 years, 98 (72%) had 3 years to 6 years while 23 (17%) had onset after age of 6 years, 44 (36.4%) male and 1 (8.3%) female patient had first degree family history of stuttering, 15 (11%) had mild stuttering, 98 (72%) had moderate stuttering while 23 (17%) had severe stuttering, 102 (75%) had secondary stuttering characteristics including 94 (75.8%) male and 8 (67%) female stutterers. Conclusion Present study concluded that there is definite association of between age of onset and severity of stuttering, between duration of stuttering and secondary characteristics and between severity and number of secondary characteristics of stuttering. We couldn’t find significant association between positive family history of stuttering among first degree relatives and age of onset, severity and secondary characteristics of stuttering.  

Canagliflozin and renal outcomes in type 2 diabetes and nephropathy

BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes mellitus is the leading cause of kidney failure worldwide, but few effective long-term treatments are available. In cardiovascular trials of inhibitors of sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2), exploratory results have suggested that such drugs may improve renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS In this double-blind, randomized trial, we assigned patients with type 2 diabetes and albuminuric chronic kidney disease to receive canagliflozin, an oral SGLT2 inhibitor, at a dose of 100 mg daily or placebo. All the patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of 30 to <90 ml per minute per 1.73 m2 of body-surface area and albuminuria (ratio of albumin [mg] to creatinine [g], >300 to 5000) and were treated with renin–angiotensin system blockade. The primary outcome was a composite of end-stage kidney disease (dialysis, transplantation, or a sustained estimated GFR of <15 ml per minute per 1.73 m2), a doubling of the serum creatinine level, or death from renal or cardiovascular causes. Prespecified secondary outcomes were tested hierarchically. RESULTS The trial was stopped early after a planned interim analysis on the recommendation of the data and safety monitoring committee. At that time, 4401 patients had undergone randomization, with a median follow-up of 2.62 years. The relative risk of the primary outcome was 30% lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group, with event rates of 43.2 and 61.2 per 1000 patient-years, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.59 to 0.82; P=0.00001). The relative risk of the renal-specific composite of end-stage kidney disease, a doubling of the creatinine level, or death from renal causes was lower by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001), and the relative risk of end-stage kidney disease was lower by 32% (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54 to 0.86; P=0.002). The canagliflozin group also had a lower risk of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (hazard ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.95; P=0.01) and hospitalization for heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.47 to 0.80; P<0.001). There were no significant differences in rates of amputation or fracture. CONCLUSIONS In patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, the risk of kidney failure and cardiovascular events was lower in the canagliflozin group than in the placebo group at a median follow-up of 2.62 years

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level