A Review on DNA Vaccines in Pre-Clinical Trials Against SARS-CoV-2

COVID 19 Pandemic is caused by the viral pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Scientific fraternity worldwide swiftly developed various types of vaccines for the prevention and as mitigation measures for curbing the pandemic. Traditional inactivated vaccines, mRNA vaccines (protein subunits such as spike proteins), and viral vector vaccines (non-replicating vectors with protein subunits) have been approved by World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use. The emergence of many mutated variants has been a worrying factor in the fight against the pandemic. There has been continuous research in the quest for more therapeutics, especially vaccines to curb and stop the pandemic. According to WHO, there are 194 vaccines in pre-clinical trials belonging to various types out of which sixteen is DNA vaccines. In this review, we have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the DNA vaccines for Covid - 19. This article tried to explore the available information on DNA vaccines and their current status against Covid – 19 which are in pre-clinical trials

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection

Influence of different organic solvents on degree of swelling of poly (dimethyl siloxane)-based sealer

The study evaluated the compatibility of chloroform, ether, and xylene with poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) based sealer. Freshly mixed sealer was placed in 90 glass molds with 5 mm diameter and 2 mm thickness. All samples were stored in 75% relative humidity at 37°C for 2 weeks. All the samples were divided into three groups: group A – chloroform; group B – ether, and group C – xylene and immersed in fresh solvent at room temperature. The specimens were weighed before and after immersion for each group at the end of 2, 5, and 10 min. The swelling ratio was calculated for all the groups. Intergroup comparison revealed no difference in the mean swelling ratio for 2, 5, and 10 min (P > 0.001; Tukey HSD Post Hoc). Intragroup comparison revealed significant difference in swelling ratio between 2 and 5 min for group B and group C (P < 0.001; Paired t test). Ether has the highest compatibility with PDMS-based sealer after 2 min followed by xylene after 5 min

Haemophilus influenzae Genome Database (HIGDB): A single point web resource for Haemophilus influenzae

Background: Haemophilus influenzae (H. Influenzae) is the causative agent of pneumonia, bacteraemia and meningitis. The organism is responsible for large number of deaths in both developed and developing countries. Even-though the first bacterial genome to be sequenced was that of H. Influenzae, there is no exclusive database dedicated for H. Influenzae. This prompted us to develop the Haemophilus influenzae Genome Database (HIGDB). Methods: All data of HIGDB are stored and managed in MySQL database. The HIGDB is hosted on Solaris server and developed using PERL modules. Ajax and JavaScript are used for the interface development. Results: The HIGDB contains detailed information on 42,741 proteins, 18,077 genes including 10 whole genome sequences and also 284 three dimensional structures of proteins of H. influenzae. In addition, the database provides ``Motif search'' and ``GBrowse''. The HIGDB is freely accessible through the URL:http://bioserverl.physicslisc.ernetin/HIGDB/. Discussion: The HIGDB will be a single point access for bacteriological, clinical, genomic and proteomic information of H. influenzae. The database can also be used to identify DNA motifs within H. influenzae genomes and to compare gene or protein sequences of a particular strain with other strains of H. influenzae. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

VISION ASSISTED PICK AND PLACE ROBOTIC ARM

This paper presents the design of a Vision assisted pick and place robotic Arm. The main objective of the paper is to pick and place an object from one place to other by 2 DOF robotic arm. USB camera is used as a vision sensor to measure the dimensions of the object to be picked. The USB camera collects the image of the object is transferred to the LabVIEW API with image processing toolkits and modules to process the image. The processed dimension of the object is transmitted via RS-232 serial communication to the microcontroller LPC2129. The appropriate PWM signal is generated by LPC2129 respectively to the servomotors. The robotic arm is designed with servomotors. Digital image processing algorithms are implemented to process the image captured by the USB camera to find the exact dimension of the object thereby to assist the robotic arm to finest. NI-IMAQ - Machine vision based functions are implemented and the results are presented

Mangrove-Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles with High HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitory Potential

Nowadays, the interactions of metal nanoparticles with microorganisms and parasites of public health importance receive increasing attention due to their functional versatility and multipurpose effectiveness. In this research, green biosynthesis of antiviral silver nanomaterials was achieved allowing the reduction of Ag+ ions by the aqueous leaf extract of mangrove Rhizophora lamarckii. The reduction of metal ions to metallic nanosilver occurred readily in the aqueous solution and resulted in high density of extremely stable and crystalline silver nanoparticles, with mean size ranging from 12 to 28 nm. Green-fabricated silver nanoparticles exhibit high HIV type 1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory activity, even when tested at low doses. In vitro, the mangrove-fabricated silver nanoparticles showed an IC50 of 0.4 μg/ml on the HIV-1 RTase. Overall, our results highlighted the promising potential of mangrove-synthesized metal nanoparticles in the fight against HIV and other viruses of public health importance

Aegiceras corniculatum-Mediated Green Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles: Biophysical Characterization and Cytotoxicity on Vero Cells

Nowadays, silver nanoparticles receive increasing attention in nanomedicine, due to their characteristics which allow numerous biological applications. In this study, a biofabrication protocol was formulated to synthesize silver nanoparticles using a mangrove extract of Aegiceras corniculatum. The bio-physical characterization of mangrove-fabricated silver nanoparticles were carried out using UV–vis spectrophotometry, FTIR spectroscopy, XRD analysis and HRTEM. In vitro cytotoxicity assays of mangrove fabricated silver nanoparticles was made in comparison with chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles on Vero cell lines. MTT assay was applied in order to investigate the cytotoxic nature of the mangrove fabricated and chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles. The concentration which caused 50 % cell death (CC50) was 18.79 ± 0.9 μg/mL in the cells treated with mangroves fabricated silver nanoparticles whereas chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles produced the same effect (i.e. 50 % cell death) at 8.96 ± 0.8 μg/mL. Results showed that the mangrove-fabricated silver nanoparticles was more biocompatible when compared with chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles, highlighting their promising potential as nanocarriers in pharmacology and nanomedicine

Streptococcus pneumoniae Genome Database (SPGDB): A database for strain specific comparative analysis of Streptococcus pneumoniae genes and proteins

Streptococcus pneumoniae causes pneumonia, septicemia and meningitis. S. pneumoniae is responsible for significant mortality both in children and in the elderly. In recent years, the whole genome sequencing of various S. pneumoniae strains have increased manifold and there is an urgent need to provide organism specific annotations to the scientific community. This prompted us to develop the Streptococcus pneumoniae Genome Database (SPGDB) to integrate and analyze the completely sequenced and available S. pneumoniae genome sequences. Further, links to several tools are provided to compare the pool of gene and protein sequences, and proteins structure across different strains of S. pneumoniae. SPGDB aids in the analysis of phenotypic variations as well as to perform extensive genomics and evolutionary studies with reference to S. pneumoniae. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved