Confidence Intervals for the Scaled Half-Logistic Distribution under Progressive Type-II Censoring

Confidence interval construction for the scale parameter of the half-logistic distribution is considered using four different methods. The first two are based on the asymptotic distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and log-transformed MLE. The last two are based on pivotal quantity and generalized pivotal quantity, respectively. The MLE for the scale parameter is obtained using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. Performances are compared with the confidence intervals proposed by Balakrishnan and Asgharzadeh via coverage probabilities, length, and coverage-to-length ratio. Simulation results support the efficacy of the proposed approach

Molecular Diagnosis of Friedreich Ataxia Using Analysis of GAA Repeats and <i>FXN</i> Gene Exons in Population from Western India

The diagnosis of Friedreich ataxia is based on the clinical symptoms and GAA repeats expansions. In our experience, checking FXN gene exons for mutations along with GAA repeat analysis may give better clue for its diagnosis. In the present study, total 49 suspected Friedreich ataxia patients were analyzed for GAA repeat expansion. Eleven patients have normal number of GAA repeats, thereby termed as FRDA negative patients. Thirty-eight patients showed no amplification using GAA repeat analysis. Since no conclusion was possible based on these results, these patients were designated as uninformative. We have analyzed 5 exons of the FXN gene in FRDA negative and uninformative patients to check for possible mutations. It was observed that there were no mutations found in any of FRDA negative and most uninformative patients. We further used long range PCR to check for deletion of exon 5a. It was found that 18 patients showed expression for exon 5a PCR but none in long range PCR. Five patients showed no expression for exon 5a PCR as well as long range PCR indicating that these 5 patients may be positive FRDA patients. These findings need to be correlated with clinical history of these patients for confirmation.</jats:p

Differentiation of Human Dermal Mesenchymal Stem Cells into Cardiomyocytes by Treatment with 5-Azacytidine: Concept for Regenerative Therapy in Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Stem cells regenerative medicine offers a promising approach to cure such degenerative disorders. Mesenchymal stem cells are thought to be one of the important types of stem cells which can differentiate into various lineages such as neuron, hepatocytes, and cardiomyocytes. In the present study, human dermal mesenchymal stem cells (hDMSCs) have been developed from human scalp punch biopsy and characterized for their mesenchymal phenotype so that these cells can be useful for differentiating into cardiomyocytes. 5-Azacytidine induces cardiomyocyte differentiation in vitro and therefore it has been used to differentiate hDMSCs cells into cardiomyocytes. It was observed that hDMSCs differentiated into cardiomyocyte within a period of 4 days to 15 days after treatment with 10 μM and 20 μM of 5-azacytidine. The cardiomyocyte phenotype was confirmed by studying expression of α-cardiac actin, β-myosin heavy chain, and cardiac troponin T. Thus, this paper describes the differentiation of hDMSCs into cardiomyocytes which can be further be used for treatment of MI. This type of cell-based cardiac therapy will offer a new hope for millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from heart disease.</jats:p

A Comprehensive Review of Sentiment Analysis on Indian Regional Languages: Techniques, Challenges, and Trends

Sentiment&nbsp;analysis&nbsp;(SA) is the process of understanding&nbsp;emotion&nbsp;within&nbsp;a text. It helps identify the opinion, attitude, and tone of a text categorizing it into positive, negative, or neutral. SA is frequently used today as more and more people get a chance to put out their thoughts due to the advent of social media. Sentiment analysis benefits industries around the globe, like finance, advertising, marketing, travel, hospitality, etc. Although the majority of work done in this field is on global languages like English, in recent years, the importance of SA in local languages has also been widely recognized. This has led to considerable research in the analysis of Indian regional languages. This paper comprehensively reviews SA in the following major Indian Regional languages: Marathi, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Gujarati, and Urdu. Furthermore, this paper presents techniques, challenges, findings, recent research trends, and future scope for enhancing results accuracy

Global circulation patterns of seasonal influenza viruses vary with antigenic drift.

Understanding the spatiotemporal patterns of emergence and circulation of new human seasonal influenza virus variants is a key scientific and public health challenge. The global circulation patterns of influenza A/H3N2 viruses are well characterized, but the patterns of A/H1N1 and B viruses have remained largely unexplored. Here we show that the global circulation patterns of A/H1N1 (up to 2009), B/Victoria, and B/Yamagata viruses differ substantially from those of A/H3N2 viruses, on the basis of analyses of 9,604 haemagglutinin sequences of human seasonal influenza viruses from 2000 to 2012. Whereas genetic variants of A/H3N2 viruses did not persist locally between epidemics and were reseeded from East and Southeast Asia, genetic variants of A/H1N1 and B viruses persisted across several seasons and exhibited complex global dynamics with East and Southeast Asia playing a limited role in disseminating new variants. The less frequent global movement of influenza A/H1N1 and B viruses coincided with slower rates of antigenic evolution, lower ages of infection, and smaller, less frequent epidemics compared to A/H3N2 viruses. Detailed epidemic models support differences in age of infection, combined with the less frequent travel of children, as probable drivers of the differences in the patterns of global circulation, suggesting a complex interaction between virus evolution, epidemiology, and human behaviour.T.B. was supported by a Newton International Fellowship from the Royal Society and through NIH U54 GM111274. S.R. was supported by MRC (UK, Project MR/J008761/1), Wellcome Trust (UK, Project 093488/Z/10/Z), Fogarty International Centre (USA, R01 TW008246‐01), DHS (USA, RAPIDD program), NIGMS (USA, MIDAS U01 GM110721‐01) and NIHR (UK, Health Protection Research Unit funding). The Melbourne WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza was supported by the Australian Government Department of Health and thanks N. Komadina and Y.‐M. Deng. The Atlanta WHO Collaborating Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza was supported by the U.S. Department of 13 Health and Human Services. NIV thanks A.C. Mishra, M. Chawla‐Sarkar, A.M. Abraham, D. Biswas, S. Shrikhande, AnuKumar B, and A. Jain. Influenza surveillance in India was expanded, in part, through US Cooperative Agreements (5U50C1024407 and U51IP000333) and by the Indian Council of Medical Research. M.A.S. was supported through NSF DMS 1264153 and NIH R01 AI 107034. Work of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research was supported by U117512723. P.L., A.R. & M.A.S were supported by EU Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007‐2013] under Grant Agreement no. 278433-­‐PREDEMICS and ERC Grant agreement no. 260864. C.A.R. was supported by a University Research Fellowship from the Royal Society.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under infinite embargo pending publication of the final version

Exploring the views on total quality human resources management between public and private educational units

The aim of the present study is to identify the attitudes of the directors of different types of educational units regarding the practices of Total Quality of Human Resources Management (TQHRM) in Greece. The specific objectives of the survey are the exploration and analysis of the following issues: a) The philosophy applied by each director on the unit they manage and the position of the HR in it; b) the directors’ opinion about the TQHRM Practices; and c) the difference in the approach of these practices between the public and private educational unit directors.The data is collected using a questionnaire that was sent electronically to Greek schools of various levels in 2018 and the number of responses is 70, of which 53% are from the private and 47% from the public sector directors. To process responses and draw conclusions, both one-dimensional and multidimensional analysis were performed. The results of this survey show that the HRM practices followed by the directors do not have a clear orientation. This highlights the need for training those who run an educational institution on TQHRM and the understanding of the importance of Human Resources on achieving the goals of an organization

Pandemic influenza A(H1N1) 2009 outbreak in a residential school at Panchgani, Maharashtra, India

Background &amp; objectives: An outbreak of influenza was investigated between June 24 and July 30, 2009 in a residential school at Panchgani, Maharashtra, India. The objectives were to determine the aetiology, study the clinical features in the affected individuals and, important epidemiological and environmental factors. The nature of public health response and effectiveness of the control measures were also evaluated. Methods: Real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction was performed on throat swabs collected from 82 suspected cases to determine the influenza types (A or B) and sub-types [pandemic (H1N1) 2009, as well as seasonal influenza H1N1, H3N2]. Haemagglutination inhibition assay was performed on serum samples collected from entire school population (N = 415) to detect antibodies for pandemic (H1N1) 2009, seasonal H1N1, H3N2 and influenza B/Yamagata and B/Victoria lineages. Antibody titres ≥ 10 for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 and ≥ 20 for seasonal influenza A and B were considered as positive for these viruses. Results: Clinical attack rate for influenza-like illness was 71.1 per cent (295/415). The attack rate for pandemic (H1N1) 2009 cases was 42.4 per cent (176/415). Throat swabs were collected from 82 cases, of which pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus was detected in 15 (18.3%), influenza type A in (6) 7.4 per cent and influenza type B only in one case. A serosurvey carried out showed haemagglutination inhibition antibodies to pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in 52 per cent (216) subjects in the school and 9 per cent (22) in the community. Interpretation &amp; conclusion: Our findings confirmed an outbreak of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 due to local transmission among students in a residential school at Panchgani, Maharashtra, India

Effects of Wee1 inhibitor adavosertib on patient-derived high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells are multiple and independent of homologous recombination status

ObjectiveA major challenge in the treatment of platinum-resistant high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is lack of effective therapies. Much of ongoing research on drug candidates relies on HGSOC cell lines that are poorly documented. The goal of this study was to screen for effective, state-of-the-art drug candidates using primary HGSOC cells. In addition, our aim was to dissect the inhibitory activities of Wee1 inhibitor adavosertib on primary and conventional HGSOC cell lines. MethodsA comprehensive drug sensitivity and resistance testing (DSRT) on 306 drug compounds was performed on three patient-derived genetically unique HGSOC cell lines and two commonly used ovarian cancer cell lines. The effect of adavosertib on the cell lines was tested in several assays, including cell-cycle analysis, apoptosis induction, proliferation, wound healing, DNA damage, and effect on nuclear integrity. ResultsSeveral compounds exerted cytotoxic activity toward all cell lines, when tested in both adherent and spheroid conditions. In further cytotoxicity tests, adavosertib exerted the most consistent cytotoxic activity. Adavosertib affected cell-cycle control in patient-derived and conventional HGSOC cells, inducing G2/M accumulation and reducing cyclin B1 levels. It induced apoptosis and inhibited proliferation and migration in all cell lines. Furthermore, the DNA damage marker gamma H2AX and the number of abnormal cell nuclei were clearly increased following adavosertib treatment. Based on the homologous recombination (HR) signature and functional HR assays of the cell lines, the effects of adavosertib were independent of the cells' HR status. ConclusionOur study indicates that Wee1 inhibitor adavosertib affects several critical functions related to proliferation, cell cycle and division, apoptosis, and invasion. Importantly, the effects are consistent in all tested cell lines, including primary HGSOC cells, and independent of the HR status of the cells. Wee1 inhibition may thus provide treatment opportunities especially for patients, whose cancer has acquired resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy or PARP inhibitors.Peer reviewe

Moisture stress assessment in rabi maize through UAV-mounted multispectral sensor

IntroductionEarly detection of moisture stress in maize is vital for sustainable irrigation management, improved water-use efficiency, and stable yields under water-limited conditions. This study aimed to (i) evaluate the sensitivity of vegetation indices for detecting water stress, (ii) analyze their relationship with kernel yield, and (iii) assess their correlation with the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI).MethodsA field experiment was conducted during the 2021–22 rabi season at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, under nine irrigation regimes in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Multispectral imagery was acquired using a MicaSense RedEdge multispectral sensor mounted on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to derive the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Renormalized Difference Vegetation Index (RDVI), Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), Optimized Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (OSAVI), and Transformed Chlorophyll Absorption in Reflectance Index (TCARI).ResultsIrrigation limited to the knee-high stage or omitted at tasseling and silking significantly reduced vegetation indices and kernel yield (ANOVA, p ≤ 0.05). NDVI, RDVI, SAVI, and OSAVI exhibited strong positive correlations with yield, confirming their effectiveness in capturing reductions in canopy vigour, chlorophyll activity, and photosynthetic capacity under stress. By contrast, TCARI increased with stress, reflecting its sensitivity to pigment degradation. The Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI), derived from canopy temperature, supported these spectral responses and highlighted the high vulnerability of reproductive stages to water deficit.DiscussionUAV-based multispectral indices, when combined with ground-based CWSI, provide a robust framework for early stress detection and precision irrigation in maize. These results demonstrate the potential of remote sensing technologies to improve water-use efficiency and advance climate-smart agricultural practices in water-scarce regions