Is Low Alveolar Type II Cell SOD3 in the Lungs of Elderly Linked to the Observed Severity of COVID-19?

Human lungs single cell RNA sequencing data from healthy donors (elderly and young; GEO accession number GSE122960) were analyzed to isolate and specifically study gene expression in alveolar type II cells. Co-localization of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 enables SARS-CoV 2 to enter the cells. Expression of these genes in the alveolar type II cells of elderly and young patients were comparable and therefore do not seem to be responsible for worse outcomes observed in COVID-19 affected elderly. In cells from the elderly, 263 genes were downregulated and 95 upregulated. SOD3 was identified as the top-ranked gene that was most down-regulated in the elderly. Other redox-active genes that were also downregulated in cells from the elderly included ATF4 and M2TA. ATF4, an ER stress sensor that defends lungs via induction of heme oxygenase 1. The study of downstream factors known to be induced by ATF4, according to Ingenuity Pathway AnalysisTM, identified 24 candidates. Twenty-one of these were significantly downregulated in the cells from the elderly. These downregulated candidates were subjected to enrichment using the Reactome Database identifying that in the elderly, the ability to respond to heme deficiency and the ATF4-dependent ability to respond to endoplasmic reticulum stress is significantly compromised. SOD3-based therapeutic strategies have provided beneficial results in treating lung disorders including fibrosis. The findings of this work propose the hypotheses that lung-specific delivery of SOD3/ATF4 related antioxidants may work in synergy with promising anti-viral drugs such as remdesivir to further improve COVID-19 outcomes in the elderly

Hydrodynamics of superfluids confined in blocked rings and wedges

Motivated by many recent experimental studies of non-classical rotational inertia (NCRI) in superfluid and supersolid samples, we present a study of the hydrodynamics of a superfluid confined in the two-dimensional region (equivalent to a long cylinder) between two concentric arcs of radii $b$ and $a$ ($b<a$) subtending an angle $\beta$, with $0 \le \beta \le 2\pi$. The case $\beta= 2 \pi$ corresponds to a blocked ring. We discuss the methodology to compute the NCRI effects, and calculate these effects both for small angular velocities, when no vortices are present, and in the presence of a vortex. We find that, for a blocked ring, the NCRI effect is small, and that therefore there will be a large discontinuity in the moment of inertia associated with blocking or unblocking circular paths. For blocked wedges ($b=0$) with $\beta > \pi$, we find an unexpected divergence of the velocity at the origin, which implies the presence of either a region of normal fluid or a vortex for {\it any} nonzero value of the angular velocity. Implications of our results for experiments on "supersolid" behavior in solid $^4{\rm He}$ are discussed. A number of mathematical issues are pointed out and resolved.Comment: 15 pages, including figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Modeling of Energy Amplification Recorded within Greater Los Angeles Using Irregular Structure

We have investigated energy amplification observed within Greater Los Angeles basin by analyzing regional waveforms recorded from several Nevada Test Site (NTS) nuclear explosions. Although the stations are located nearly at the same azimuth (distances ranging from 350 to 400 km), the seismograms recorded in Compton (the central part of the basin), Long Beach (the southern edge of the basin), and downtown Los Angeles are remarkably different, even for a common explosion. Following the onset of L_g waves, the Long Beach sites have recorded surface waves for more than 100 sec. From one explosion, the sites within downtown Los Angeles have recorded seismograms with strong 3-sec surface waves. These waves are not observed on the seismograms recorded in the neighboring hard-rock site California Institute of Technology (CIT) station. Thus, they must have been generated by local wave guides. Numerically, we modeled these 3-sec waves by convolving the CIT seismogram with the response of a sedimentary strata dipping gently (about 6°) from CIT toward downtown. We also examined the irregular basin effect by analyzing the variation of cumulative temporal energy across the basin relative to the energy recorded at CIT from the same explosion. Variation up to a factor of 30 was observed. To model the energy variation that is caused by extended surface waves in the Long Beach area, we used numerically simulated site transfer functions (STF) from a NNE-SSW oriented two-dimensional basin structure extending from Montebello to Palos Verdes that included low-velocity sedimentary material in the uppermost layers. These STFs were convolved with the CIT seismogram recorded from the MAST explosion. To simulate elongated duration of surface waves, we introduced in the upper sedimentary structure some discontinuous microbasin structures of varying size, each microbasin delaying the seismic waves propagating through them. Consequently, the surface-reflected phases through these structures are delayed and reflected into the upper medium by the underlying interfaces. This mechanism helps delayed energy to appear at a later time and result in a longer time duration at sites located at southern edge of the basin

Residual Limb Health and Prosthetics

The residual limb of individuals with lower limb loss is dynamic tissue that is susceptible to both acute and chronic changes to limb volume and health over time. Changes in residual limb volume that affect socket fit may contribute to maladaptive gait patterns and deleterious changes to the socket/limb interface that increase harmful shear stress and contributes to residual limb skin injury. Current socket systems are static and lack the ability to provide end-users and prosthetists with patient-centric data about changes in socket fit over time. There is a need for objective clinical decision-making that results in greater prosthesis usage, improved residual limb health, and better comfort ratings for end-users. Among the socket systems available in the market, the elevated vacuum suspension system improves residual limb skin oxygenation, attenuates socket-induced reactive hyperemia and preserves skin barrier function. This suggests that such a system is compatible with imparting physiological benefits to the residual limb in people with lower limb amputations

Factors Affecting the Productivity of Coffee in Gulmi and Arghakhanchi Districts of Nepal

Coffee is one of the major potential cash crops with lucrative export value grown in mid-hills of Nepal. Nepalese coffee production has suffered long by low productivity. Research was conducted from February to May, 2019 to analyze the factors affecting the productivity of coffee in Arghakhanchi and Gulmi districts of Nepal. These two districts were, purposively selected for this study taking account of comparative advantage and past studies recommendations for coffee sector. Altogether, 100 coffee growing households 50 from each, Arghakhanchi and Gulmi, were sampled by using multistage sampling technique. A pre-tested semi-structured interview schedule was used to collect the primary information while secondary information was collected reviewing the relevant publications. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression model was used to determine the factors affecting the productivity of coffee. The study revealed that the number of active family members involved in coffee production (0.000), adoption of income diversification through intercropping (0.005), training (0.072) and technical assistance (0.021) had positive and significant effect on coffee productivity. Encouraging the household to have coffee production as their primary occupation, providing technical assistance on rational land utilization and intercropping and strengthening the skill and knowledge of farmers through trainings could significantly support in increasing the productivity of coffee

A comparative study between plating versus titanium elastic nail system in mid-shaft clavicle fracture management

Background: Clavicle fracture is one of most common bony injuries. Despite of high frequency, choice of proper treatment is still a challenge. So a comparative randomized study was planned to compare Plating verses TENS for clavicle fractures management.Methods: Study was conducted in Department of Orthopedics, M.K.C.G Medical College, Berhampur from November 2015 to October 2017.Patients aged from 20-55 years with closed displaced were included in study. Patients were randomized in two groups- One group (25 pateints) treated with TENS and second group (25) with plate. Outcome assessed by pain VAS score, Constant &amp; Murley score, DASH score, cosmetic result, radiological fracture healing time.Results: Mean fracture union time in TENS group was 11.4±2.12 weeks and in plate group 13.4±3.46 weeks (difference was significant p=0.016). Mean pain VAS score in TENS group was 2.56±0.91 and in plating group 3.12±0.8 (p=0.023). Tens group were cosmetically more satisfied (mean score 4.48±0.7) than plate group (mean score 3.8±1.0, p=0.009). Mean DASH and Constant Shoulder Score in TENS group were 1.87±3.4, 9.36±7.04 and plate group 4.8±9.0 and 15.08±9.4 respectively. Both were significant (p=0.039, p=0.000).Conclusions: Our study found that patients treated with TENS showed excellent outcome in 84% cases while 60% in plating group for displaces mid-shaft clavicle fracture. Patients in TENS group better in terms of Constant &amp; Murley score and DASH score than treated with plate

Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis: A retrospective Study at a tertiary care hospital in Palpa, Nepal

Background: Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is a significant global health problem. Related studies to it in different places and diff erent durations are indicated by many previous research findings. Findings of this study could be beneficial for its preventive and control strategies. Methodology: Retrospective analysis of clinical specimens submitted to Central laboratory of Lumbini Medical College and Teaching Hospital (LMCTH) for extrapulmonary tuberculosis was performed. Total 261 samples submitted from April 2011 to February 2013 were included for analysis in this study. Results: Total 20.7% (54/261) prevalence of EPTB was reported. Based on sites involved; lymph node 87.03%, pleural effusion7.40%, peritoneal5.55% were found. Genderwise equal prevalence was seen among male and females. Age-wise prevalence among patients between 21-40 years was reported. Conclusion: Our finding indicates great necessity for further large scale study on prevalence of EPTB in this location for its prevention and control

Predicting interval time for reciprocal link creation using survival analysis

The majority of directed social networks, such as Twitter, Flickr and Google+, exhibit reciprocal altruism, a social psychology phenomenon, which drives a vertex to create a reciprocal link with another vertex which has created a directed link toward the former. In existing works, scientists have already predicted the possibility of the creation of reciprocal link—a task known as “reciprocal link prediction”. However, an equally important problem is determining the interval time between the creation of the first link (also called parasocial link) and its corresponding reciprocal link. No existing works have considered solving this problem, which is the focus of this paper. Predicting the reciprocal link interval time is a challenging problem for two reasons: First, there is a lack of effective features, since well-known link prediction features are designed for undirected networks and for the binary classification task; hence, they do not work well for the interval time prediction; Second, the presence of ever-waiting links (i.e., parasocial links for which a reciprocal link is not formed within the observation period) makes the traditional supervised regression methods unsuitable for such data. In this paper, we propose a solution for the reciprocal link interval time prediction task. We map this problem to a survival analysis task and show through extensive experiments on real-world datasets that survival analysis methods perform better than traditional regression, neural network-based models and support vector regression for solving reciprocal interval time prediction

DETERMINATION OF OCTANOL-WATER PARTITION COEFFICIENT OF NOVEL COUMARIN BASED ANTICANCER COMPOUNDS BY REVERSED-PHASE ULTRA-FAST LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY

Objective: The present study aims at the development of a reversed phase ultra-fast liquid chromatography (RP-UFLC) method for measurement of the lipophilicity (log P) between n-octanol and water for the newly synthesized coumarin derivatives in our laboratory.Methods: The synthesized compounds were dissolved in methanol and analyzed using XTerra RP18 column as the stationary phase and a mixture of methanol (0.25% v/v octanol) and buffer as the mobile phase with isocratic elution.Results: In this study we concentrated on the relationship between a reversed-phase ultra-fast liquid chromatography (RP-UFLC) retention parameters and log P of our synthesized compounds. Furthermore, a good correlation and very close values were obtained between the experimentally determined log P values and values obtained from Chemdraw.Conclusion: The developed method was found to be insensitive to any of the impurities present and moreover it requires very little sample for analysis