Investigating the potential of Sodium Butyrate to Control Salmonella Enteritidis in Poultry

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is a major poultry associated food borne pathogen that causes enteric illnesses in humans. Despite using various pre-harvest and post-harvest intervention strategies to reduce Salmonellosis, SE infection is still an extensive problem in the poultry industry with increased incidences since SE has developed multiple strategies to adapt in the chicken intestinal tract particularly in the ceca. Therefore, reducing SE in the intestine of chickens would reduce contamination of poultry derived foods and minimize the risk of human infection. Short chain fatty acids such as butyrate are microbial metabolites known to modulate inflammatory response. In this dissertation, the effect of sodium butyrate on the colonization of SE in primary chicken enterocytes and chicken macrophages was investigated. In addition, the effect of sodium butyrate on the proteome of primary chicken enterocytes and chicken macrophages cells infected with SE was investigated. A primary chicken enterocytes culture model was developed and the effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations (SICs) of sodium butyrate on SE adhesion and invasion of primary chicken enterocytes and chicken macrophages was determined. The effect of sodium butyrate on the expression of SE virulence genes and selected inflammatory genes in chicken macrophages challenged with SE was studied using RT-qPCR. Also, the tryptic peptides of sodium butyrate treated primary chicken enterocytes and chicken macrophages in the presence or absence of SE infection were analyzed using tandem-mass spectrometry and the differentially regulated proteins were evaluated. The two SICs of sodium butyrate against SE were 22 mM and 45 mM respectively. The two SICs of sodium butyrate reduced SE adhesion by ∼1.7 Log colony forming unit (CFU)/mL and ∼1.8 Log CFU/mL and invasion by ∼2 Log CFU/mL and ∼2.93 Log CFU/mL respectively in primary chicken enterocytes (

Feasibility of supercritical carbon dioxide as a drilling fluid for deep underbalanced drilling operations

Feasibility of drilling with supercritical carbon dioxide to serve the needs of deep underbalanced drilling operations has been analyzed. A case study involving underbalanced drilling to access a depleted gas reservoir is used to illustrate the need for such a research. For this well, nitrogen was initially considered as the drilling fluid. Dry nitrogen, due to its low density, was unable to generate sufficient torque in the downhole motor. The mixture of nitrogen and water, stabilized as foam generated sufficient torque but made it difficult to maintain underbalanced conditions. This diminished the intended benefit of using nitrogen as the drilling fluid. CO2 is expected to be supercritical at downhole pressure and temperature conditions, with density similar to that of a liquid and viscosity comparable to a gas. A computational model was developed to calculate the variation of density and viscosity in the tubing and the annulus with pressure, temperature and depth. A circulation model was developed to calculate the frictional pressure losses in the tubing and the annulus, and important parameters such as the jet impact force and the cuttings transport ratio. An attempt was made to model the temperatures in the well using an analytical model. Corrosion aspects of a CO2 based drilling system are critical and were addressed in this study. The results show that the unique properties of CO2, which is supercritical in the tubing and changes to vapor phase in the annulus, are advantageous in its role as a drilling fluid. It has the necessary density in the tubing to turn the downhole motor and the necessary density and viscosity to maintain underbalanced conditions in the annulus. The role of a surface choke is crucial in controlling the annular pressures for this system. A carefully designed corrosion control program is essential for such a system. Results of this study may also be important for understanding the flow behavior of CO2 in CO2 sequestration and CO2 based enhanced oil recovery operations

GC-MS analysis of bioactive compounds present in leaves, stem, and roots extract of Tylophora indica (Burm.fil.) Merr.

Plants serve as a boundless source of raw materials for pharmaceuticals and have been used as an important source of medicine for several years. Identifying natural compounds from medicinal plants is useful for the discovery of novel therapeutic agents. Tylophora indica is perennial climber which possess many medicinal properties. Although it also contains many bioactive compounds which have role in various biological activity such as anti-inflammatory activity, anti-oxidant activity, and anti-cancer activity. The present study aimed to identify the bioactive compounds from methanolic and hexane extract of the leaves, stems, and roots of T. indica using GC-MS analysis. GC-MS analysis was performed by using standard protocols. Willey and NIST libraries were used in the identification of components, and their retention indices were compared. The GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of various prevailing compounds like Levomenthol, 2-Butanone, 3,3-dimethyl-1-(methylsulfonyl)-,O[(methylamino)carbonyl] oxime, Squalene, 5–methyl–2–(1–methylethyl)–(1α,2β,5β)– cyclohexanol, Oleic acid and 2-propyloxirane etc. These identified compounds play a vital role in various biological activities which were confirmed by Dr. Duke’s phytochemical and ethnobotanical databases (https://phytochem.nal.usda.gov/). The findings of this study demonstrate that T. indica is a rich source of numerous bioactive compounds that can be useful in halting the progression of several disorders

Machine Learning Methods for detection of bystanders: A Survey

The number of users on social media networks is increasing day by day as their popularity increases. The users are sharing their photos, videos, daily life, experiences, views, and status updates on different social networking sites. Social networking sites give great possibilities for young people to interact with others, but they also make them more subject to unpleasant phenomena such as online harassment and abusive language, which leads to cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is a prevalent social problem that inflicts detrimental consequences to the health and safety of victims such as psychological distress, anti-social behavior, and suicide. To minimize the impact of Cyberbullying, the Bystander role is very important. In this paper, a review of the cyberbullying content on the Internet, the classification of cyberbullying categories, classifying author roles (harasser, victim, bystander-defender, bystander-assistant), data sources containing cyberbullying data for research, and machine learning techniques for cyberbullying detection are overviewed.&nbsp

Based on mother and child protection card, awareness and practices among Mitanins and auxiliary nurse midwife workers about obstetric care: will repeated drilling be the game changer?

Background: More than 70,000 women community health volunteers called the ‘Mitanins’ and auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) are working for the improvement of the health care system in the state. The study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and practices among Mitanins and ANMs regarding antenatal care including risk identification , purely based on MCP card to help health professionals to make necessary changes in the MCP card, and revise maternal health policies and practices. Methods: It was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study, conducted from November 2020 to October 2021 in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at government medical college, Rajnandgaon. This was the only government tertiary care hospital in southwest Chhattisgarh of that time. A total of 22 ANMs and 166 Mitanins were included and assessed. Based on the MCP card predesigned, pretested questionnaires were made and used. ASPSS 21.0 version software was used to analyze the data. Results: Total 166 Mitanins and 22 ANMs were participated in the study. Overall knowledge of participants about antenatal, intra-natal and postnatal care services was poor. None of them were aware of what low-risk or high-risk pregnancy is. Mitanins were not familiar with any of the medical terms or obstetric complications mentioned on the MCP card while ANMs were quite aware of it, however the percentage was negligible (<10%). Moreover, knowledge about obstetrics examination and per vaginum examination was very poor (13.6%) among ANMs. Knowledge about danger signs related to obstetric emergencies which are not mentioned on the MCP card for example, ectopic pregnancy, vesicular mole, obstructed labor, impending scar rupture, and uterine rupture was also very low (<15%) among Mitanins and ANMs. Conclusions: The language and understandability of the MCP card need to be addressed. The gap between knowledge and practice can be bridged by proper ‘training’

Evaluation of the Performance of Nitrate Reductase Assay for Rapid Drug-susceptibility Testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in North India

The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of nitrate reductase assay (NRA) as a rapid, reliable and inexpensive method for drug-susceptibility testing (DST) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis against first-line antitubercular drugs, such as rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), streptomycin (STR), and ethambutol (EMB). In total, 286 isolates were subjected to test by proportion method (PM) and NRA. By comparing the results of NRA with those of the gold standard PM, sensitivities and specificities were 98.4%, 97%, 88.5%, and 94.2% and 100%, 100%, 94%, and 99% for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The positive predictive values were 100%, 100%, 95%, and 98% for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The negative values were 99%, 98%, 87%, and 96% for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The median time of obtaining results was shorter using NRA (10 days) compared to PM (28 days). An excellent agreement was observed between the two phenotypic tests with the κ values of 0.98, 0.97, 0.81, and 0.93 for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The results demonstrated that NRA is suitable for the early determination of INH and RIF resistance and has the potential to be a useful tool for rapid drug-sensitivity test of M. tuberculosis in resource-constrained settings

Evaluation of the Performance of Nitrate Reductase Assay for Rapid Drug-susceptibility Testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in North India

The objective of the study was to evaluate the performance of nitrate reductase assay (NRA) as a rapid, reliable and inexpensive method for drug-susceptibility testing (DST) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis against firstline antitubercular drugs, such as rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH), streptomycin (STR), and ethambutol (EMB). In total, 286 isolates were subjected to test by proportion method (PM) and NRA. By comparing the results of NRA with those of the gold standard PM, sensitivities and specificities were 98.4%, 97%, 88.5%, and 94.2% and 100%, 100%, 94%, and 99% for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The positive predictive values were 100%, 100%, 95%, and 98% for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The negative values were 99%, 98%, 87%, and 96% for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The median time of obtaining results was shorter using NRA (10 days) compared to PM (28 days). An excellent agreement was observed between the two phenotypic tests with the \u3ba values of 0.98, 0.97, 0.81, and 0.93 for RIF, INH, STR, and EMB respectively. The results demonstrated that NRA is suitable for the early determination of INH and RIF resistance and has the potential to be a useful tool for rapid drug-sensitivity test of M. tuberculosis in resource-constrained settings

Morphological and Topographical Study of the Degree of Angulation between Posterior Inferior Iliac Spine and Ischial Spine of the Human Hip Bone and its Role in Determination of Sex

ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to examine the degree of angulation between Posterior Inferior Iliac Spine and Ischial Spine (< PIIS

Antitubercular Drug Resistance in Four Healthcare Facilities in North India

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public-health problem in India, having the highest number of incident and multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB cases. The study was carried out to appraise the prevalence of first-line anti-TB drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and its patterns among different types of TB patients from different settings in a province of North India. Of 3,704 clinical specimens, 345 (9.3%) were culturepositive, and drug-susceptibility testing was carried out for 301 MTB strains. A high level of primary and acquired drug resistance of MTB was observed in the region studied, with weighted mean of 10.5% and 28.08%, 12.81% and 29.72%, 17.12% and 29.94%, 11.97% and 27.84%, and 10.74% and 23.54% for rifampicin, isoniazid, streptomycin, ethambutol-resistant and MDR cases respectively. Drug resistance was significantly higher in pulmonary (p=0.014) and acquired drug-resistant TB cases (p<0.001). Any drug resistance (p=0.002) and MDR TB were significantly (p=0.009) associated with HIV-seropositive cases. An urgent plan is needed to continuously monitor the transmission trends of drug-resistant strains, especially MDR-TB strains, in the region

Efficacy of Manjistha and Ginger Powder in Extending the Lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster

Ageing is a condition of deterioration of the physiological functions necessary for survival and fertility over time. It is found to be due to cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species produced during normal metabolism. Effect of manjistha and ginger were tested to see any effect on the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster. Significant upsurge in the life span of flies reared on manjistha and ginger supplemented media was observed. These plant powders were observed to thwart the oxidative stress caused by paraquat, a potent herbicide and model neurotoxicant. Upon paraquat treatment, mortality rate of 12% and 8% was observed in male and female flies respectively that were reared on manjistha supplemented media whereas mortality of 100% and 92% were observed in male and female flies respectively when reared on control media. The present study suggests potential benefits on the longevity of the flies by the dietary supplementation with ginger and manjistha, especially in the oxidative stress condition. These findings should be further examined to identify active components in these plant products that show its manifestation on the well-being of the fly