Hunting the quicksilver: Using textual news and causality analysis to predict market volatility

This paper proposes that the dynamics of bond volatility may be understood by studying textual news sentiments. In this new approach, a modified framework is used to understand the atypical characteristics of bond market news. The paper proceeds in two steps. First, a word list of sentiment terms is generated using three sentiment word lists to determine negative and positive news sentiment scores. Second, four measures of volatility are estimated and combined with a nonlinear technique adapted from information theory to understand the correlation and direction of causality between sentiment scores and measures of volatility. This paper shows that sentiments extracted from textual news published in the newspapers can explain bond returns volatility or the quicksilver. The empirical results support that news sentiment is highly correlated with the measures of volatility and that information flows unidirectionally from news to volatility. This study, perhaps the earliest work in text mining to examine the run of causality between news signals and bond return volatility, adapts a nonlinear technique from information theory to describe the nonlinear behavior of Indian debt markets and understand the volatility dynamics of the benchmark bond

In vitro Adoption and Propagation of High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Virus Subtype H5N1 in non-avian Host System

The paradigmatic, fatal and devastating ailment called avian influenza or bird flu is a highly contagious viral disease caused by type A influenza virus, It primarily affects the respiratory, digestive and/or nervous system of chickens, turkeys, guinea fowls and other avian species and less commonly pigs and other species of mammals including human. In India, The first pandemic outbreak of Avian Influenza was reported during 2006. In this study, we selected an isolate of high pathogenic avian influenza (A/Ck/Jalgaon/India/12419/2006) H5N1 virus and propagated in chicken embryo fibroblast. Later this virus was adopted and propagated in Madin-Darby canine kidney cells (MDCK) and Vero cells. Infected non-avian cells with an avian virus shown cytopathic effects like rounding, cytoplasmic elongation, syncytia formation and later stages fluffing from the attached surface. The harvested virus suspension shown increased haemagglutination titre (HA) than viral suspension from chicken embryo fibroblast culture and the presence of virus was confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The obtained result reveals that virus had capacity to adopt for the invitro culture and propagate in non avian host cells with higher titre. This infers the chance of virus to cross the host barrier and probable chance of infection in human being

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

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Not AvailableSingle chain fragment variable (ScFv) antibodies specific to the nucleoprotein (NP) of avian influenza virus (AIV) were developed using a phage display system. The variable heavy (VH) and the variable light (VL) chain gene fragments were derived from spleen cells of Balb/c mouse immunized with a recombinant NP (rNP) antigen (∼63 kDa) of H5N1 influenza virus. The VH and the VL DNA fragments were assembled through a flexible linker DNA to generate ScFv DNA that was cloned subsequently in a phagemid to express ScFv protein in Escherichia coli cells. The specific reactivity of the ScFv with the rNP antigen and viral antigen (H5N1) was confirmed by Western blot and ELISA. A competitive inhibition ELISA (CI-ELISA) was developed using the rNP and the anti-NP ScFv for detection of type-specific antibodies to AIV in chicken sera. The ScFv based CI-ELISA was compared with hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) test over 850 sera. Sensitivity of the CI-ELISA was 100% with HI and AGID and specificity was 98.7% with HI and 100% with AGID. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableBacillus anthracis secretes three secretary proteins; lethal factor (LF), protective antigen (PA) and edema factor (EF). The LF has ability to check proliferation of mammary tumors, chiefly depending on mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Evaluation of therapeutic potential of recombinant LF (rLF), recombinant PA (rPA) and lethal toxin (rLF + rPA = LeTx) on the primary mammary ductal carcinoma cells revealed significant (p < 0.01) reduction in proliferation of tumor cells with mean inhibition indices of 28.0 ± 1.37% and 19.6 ± 1.47% respectively. However, treatment with rPA alone had no significant anti-proliferative effect as evident by low mean inhibition index of 3.4 ± 3.87%. The higher inhibition index observed for rLF alone as compared to LeTx is contrary to the existing knowledge on LF, which explains the requirement of PA dependent endocytosis for its enzymatic activity. Therefore, the plausible existence of PA independent mode of action of LF including direct receptor mediated endocytosis or modulation of signal transduction cascade via unknown means is hypothesized. In silico protein docking analysis of other cellular receptors for any plausibility to play the role of receptor for LF revealed c-Met receptor showing strongest affinity for LF (H bond = 19; Free energy = -773.96), followed by nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)-1. The study summarizes the use of rLF or LeTx as therapeutic molecule against primary mammary ductal carcinoma cells and also the c-Met as potential alternative receptor for LF to mediate and modulate PA independent signal transduction.Not Availabl