Research options for controlling Zoonotic disease in India, 2010-2015

BACKGROUND: Zoonotic infections pose a significant public health challenge for low- and middle-income countries and have traditionally been a neglected area of research. The Roadmap to Combat Zoonoses in India (RCZI) initiative conducted an exercise to systematically identify and prioritize research options needed to control zoonoses in India. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Priority setting methods developed by the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative were adapted for the diversity of sectors, disciplines, diseases and populations relevant for zoonoses in India. A multidisciplinary group of experts identified priority zoonotic diseases and knowledge gaps and proposed research options to address key knowledge gaps within the next five years. Each option was scored using predefined criteria by another group of experts. The scores were weighted using relative ranks among the criteria based upon the feedback of a larger reference group. We categorized each research option by type of research, disease targeted, factorials, and level of collaboration required. We analysed the research options by tabulating them along these categories. Seventeen experts generated four universal research themes and 103 specific research options, the majority of which required a high to medium level of collaboration across sectors. Research options designated as pertaining to 'social, political and economic' factorials predominated and scored higher than options focussing on ecological, genetic and biological, or environmental factors. Research options related to 'health policy and systems' scored highest while those related to 'research for development of new interventions' scored the lowest. CONCLUSIONS: We methodically identified research themes and specific research options incorporating perspectives of a diverse group of stakeholders. These outputs reflect the diverse nature of challenges posed by zoonoses and should be acceptable across diseases, disciplines, and sectors. The identified research options capture the need for 'actionable research' for advancing the prevention and control of zoonoses in India

Dynamics of a continuous distillation column using a non-ideal multicomponent mixture

1. A STEADY-STATE MODEL has been developed which characterises the Steady State profile of a continuous distillation column with a total condenser. It takes into account the non-ideality of the system under investigation, the system being acetone, methanol, and isopropyl alcohol. Experimental results have been obtained and compared with the numerical experimentation. 2. A DYNAMIC MODEL has been developed. 3. ANALYTICAL EXPRESSIONS AND SOLUTIONS to characterise the dynamics have been obtained making use of matrix techniques. The analytical solution works equally well for both distinct and complex conjugate eigenvalues. 4. NUMERICAL METHOD determining the transients of a continuous distillation column is based on Markov's probabilistic technique. Numerical and Analytical results compare very well. 5. TWO TECHNIQUES, namely Sargent's and Wood's formulations of dynamic equations, have been investigated. It was found that Wood's formulation due to more interactions in its equations, represents a multi-component distillation system better, as compared to Sargent's. 6. A METHOD OF ANALYSIS to investigate the effect of non-linearity on a change in feed composition is suggested as further work

Severe Anaphylaxis to Volplex, a Colloid Solution during Cesarean Section: A Case Report and Review

Anaphylaxis is a life-threatening event that can occur anytime during pregnancy. It has been reported following administration of various substances with adverse maternal and neonatal consequences. It should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intrapartum collapse. We encountered a case of severe anaphylactic reaction following a routine cesarean section. It is very important that all members of the perinatal team are aware of early recognition and management of anaphylactic reaction. We think that it is important to highlight this as a further case report of severe anaphylactic reaction to a colloid solution and discuss the pathophysiology and management

Cytoplasmic localization of the ORF2 protein of hepatitis E virus is dependent on its ability to undergo retrotranslocation from the endoplasmic reticulum

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a positive-strand RNA virus that is prevalent in much of the developing world. ORF2 is the major capsid protein of HEV. Although ORF2 is an N-linked glycoprotein, it is abundantly located in the cytoplasm in addition to having membrane and surface localization. The mechanism by which ORF2 protein obtains access to the cytoplasm is unknown. In this report, we prove that initially all ORF2 protein is present in the endoplasmic reticulum and a fraction of it becomes retrotranslocated to the cytoplasm. The ability of ORF2 to be retrotranslocated is dependent on its glycosylation status and follows the canonical dislocation pathway. However, in contrast to general substrates of the dislocation pathway, retrotranslocated ORF2 protein is not a substrate of the 26S proteasome complex and is readily detectable in the cytoplasm in the absence of any protease inhibitor, suggesting that the retrotranslocated protein is stable in the cytoplasm. This study thus defines the pathway by which ORF2 obtains access to the cytoplasm

A novel compliant surgical robot: Preliminary design analysis

A robotic surgical system capable of performing minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is proposed in this paper. Based on the requirements of MIS, a compliant, seven- degrees of freedom (7-DOF) pneumatically actuated mechanism is designed. A remote center of motion (RCM) as a parallelogram mechanism for holding the laparoscopic camera is also developed. The operating workspace of robotic surgical system is determined considering the physical constraints imposed by mechanical joints. The simulation results show that the robotic system meets the design requirement. This research will lay a good foundation for the development of a compliant surgical robot to assist in MIS

A cytogenic monitoring approach of hospital workers occuptionally exposed to ionizing radiations using micronucleus assay

Background: The objective of this study was to determine chromosomal damage in occupational workers of the radiation department from three different hospitals, Faisalabad, Pakistan exposed for a long term to ionizing radiations using micronucles (MN) assay. A comparison between exposed and non-exposed subjects (controlled) of same age exhibited a significant an increase in the number of micronuclei in occupational workers. MN frequency increases with an increase in age and duration of exposure in both sexes but higher in females.Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at the District Head Quarter Hospital (DHQ), Punjab Institute of Nuclear Medicine (PINUM) and Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The total 145 subjects were selected from these hospitals. The subjects were divided into two groups. The control group (N= 40) (20 males and 20 females) of healthy subjects (no exposure) and the second group of subjects (N=105) (68 males and 37 females) subjects of occupational workers who were indirectly exposed to radiation. Blood samples (2ml) were collected in sodium heparinised vaccutainer tubes through venipuncture from both the groups. Disposable syringes were used for this purpose. For the evaluation of MN yield, slides were prepared by following the method of Jorge et al. (2004).Results: A significant difference in micro nuclear induction was observed between the occupational subjects and the control subjects and as well as in females and in males (P < 0.01). Females are more vulnerable to ionizing radiation than males. In females, MN yield was two times higher than males. MN frequency was increased with an increase in age and duration of exposure in both sexes, but higher in females and may be due to an increase in chromosomal loss in hospital workers. There is an individual response to the physical noxa, depending on sex, age and exposure. Smoking and drinking habits do not have a significant effect in increasing the number of MN in occupationally exposed workers.Conclusion: It was concluded that females are more vulnerable to ionizing radiations than males. MN test can be used as a biomarker with a predictive value for the estimation in occupationally exposed subjects.Key Words: Radiations; Hospital workers; Sex; Micronucleus assay; Chromosomal damag

The flower mites of Trinidad III: The genus Rhinoseius (Acari: Ascidae)

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/56428/1/MP184.pd

Dynamics of Ideological Biases of Social Media Users

Humanity for centuries has perfected skills of interpersonal interactions and evolved patterns that enable people to detect lies and deceiving behavior of others in face-to-face settings. Unprecedented growth of people's access to mobile phones and social media raises an important question: How does this new technology influence people's interactions and support the use of traditional patterns? In this paper, we answer this question for homophily driven patterns in social media. In our previous studies, we found that, on a university campus, changes in student opinions were driven by the desire to hold popular opinions. Here, we demonstrate that the evolution of online platform-wide opinion groups is driven by the same desire. We focus on two social media: Twitter and Parler, on which we tracked the political biases of their users. On Parler, an initially stable group of right-biased users evolved into a permanent right-leaning echo chamber dominating weaker, transient groups of members with opposing political biases. In contrast, on Twitter, the initial presence of two large opposing bias groups led to the evolution of a bimodal bias distribution, with a high degree of polarization. We capture the movement of users from the initial to final bias groups during the tracking period. We also show that user choices are influenced by side-effects of homophily. The users entering the platform attempt to find a sufficiently large group whose members hold political bias within the range sufficiently close to the new user's bias. If successful, they stabilize their bias and become a permanent member of the group. Otherwise, they leave the platform. We believe that the dynamics of users uncovered in this paper create a foundation for technical solutions supporting social groups on social media and socially aware networks.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to IEEE Communications Magazin