Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance(mRMR) Based Feature Selection Technique for Pattern Classification System

Feature Selection is an important hurdle in classification systems. We study how to select good features by making the covariance matrix of each sample data set and extracting the features from it .Then, we try to find out the length of each sample by finding the error rate .We perform experimental comparison of our algorithm and other methods using two data sets(binary and functional) and three different classifiers(support vector machine, linear discriminant analysis and naïve Bayes).The results show that the MRMR features are less correlated with each other as compared to other methods and hence improves the classification accuracy

MOLECULAR DETECTION OF HUMAN RHINOVIRUS IN RESPIRATORY SAMPLES OF SWINE FLU NEGATIVE NORTH INDIAN CHILDREN WITH FLU-LIKE ILLNESS

Objectives: Flu-like illness may also be caused by different respiratory viruses other than influenza. Human rhinovirus (HRV) shows almost flu-likesymptoms. The purpose of this study is the molecular detection of HRV in throat swab of swine flu negative North Indian children during the years2012 and 2013. Reverse transcriptase (RT) - polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of 5'non-coding region (NCR) was used for HRV detectionfollowed by cell culture isolation of HRV.Methods: PCR confirmed swine flu negative throat swab samples were collected from the Department of Microbiology, Sanjay Gandhi Post GraduateInstitute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The RNA isolation of samples was done using the QIAampViral RNA Mini Kit (Qiagen),followed by single step RT-PCR amplification (AgPath-ID, Life Technologies). All PCR positive HRV samples were cell cultured in HeLa and HEp-2 celllines for viral isolation.®Results: 135 swine flu negative throat swab samples were examined. Out of which 34 samples (25.2%) were found HRV positive by RT-PCR, while onlyfour samples (11.8%) were culture positive on HeLa cell line. Younger children (0-4 year) were found more susceptible to HRV infection. This studyindicated the highest prevalence of HRV (37.0%) during the months (September-October) of the Autumn season in 2012 and 57% in Winter-springseason (February-March) during 2013.Conclusion: HRV may be a cause of flu-like symptoms in swine flu suspected North Indian children with a higher rate during Autumn and Springseason. Molecular detection of HRV using RT-PCR is more sensitive than cell culture assay.Keywords: Human rhinovirus, Swine flu, Influenza-like illness, Lower respiratory tract infections

Making type and screen policy an essential component of pretransfusion testing: Need of the hour in India

Introduction: “Type and screen” policy involves the prior determination of patient blood group and antibody screening at the time of admission irrespective of the need of the blood transfusion to the patient. Materials and Methods: As a part of our retrospective analysis, we have evaluated our data from January 2014 to June 2016. Blood grouping was done by column agglutination technology (CAT) using DiaClon ABO/D+ Reverse Grouping cards (BIO-RAD, Switzerland). Antibody screening and identification were done using three cell panels (ID-DiaCell I-II-III Asia panel by BIO-RAD, Switzerland) and 11 cell panels (ID-DiaPanel-P by BIO-RAD, Switzerland) on CAT with LISS/Coombs cards. Results: A total of 17,896 patients requests for “type and screen” were received by the department during the study. Out of which 201 (1.12%; 1 in 89 patients) patients were found to have positive antibody screen. Out of 201 patients (132 females; 69 males); mean age group of 45.6 years (range: 1 day–85 years). Out of 201, 145 patients developed single antibody, 15 patients had double antibody, and in 41 positive antibody screens the specificity of alloantibodies were not identified either due to an interfering autoantibody (n = 10) or the specificity was not resolved on extended panels (n = 31) even with enzymes. Conclusion: “Type and screen” policy helps in timely blood group typing of the patients and providing enough time for the blood bank to arrange for blood. Our analysis shows the presence of an alloantibody in every 89 requests received for “type and screen.

Immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis membrane-associated antigens including alpha crystallin can potentially discriminate between latent infection and active tuberculosis disease.

Changes in expression of membrane antigens may accompany the transition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) from 'dormant' to 'active' states. We have determined whether antibody and T cell responses to Mtb membrane (MtM)-associated antigens, especially the latency-induced protein alpha crystallin (Acr), can discriminate between latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and active TB (ATB) disease. Study subjects comprised a previously described cohort of healthcare workers (HCWs, n = 43) and smear-positive ATB patients (n = 10). HCWs were further categorized as occupational contacts (OC, n = 30), household contacts of TB (HC, n = 8) and cured TB (CTB, n = 5). Levels (ΔOD) of serum antibody isotypes (IgG, IgA and IgM) were determined by ELISA and blood T cell proliferative responses were determined by flow cytometry using Ki67 protein as marker for DNA synthesis. Antibodies to MtM and Acr were predominantly IgG and their levels in HCWs and ATB did not differ significantly. However, HCWs showed a significantly higher level of anti-MtM IgM and a significantly lower level of anti-Acr IgA antibodies than the ATB patients. Also, a larger proportion of HCWs showed a high (>1) ΔODAcr/ΔODMtM ratio for IgG. HCWs also showed a higher, though not significantly different from ATB, avidity of anti-MtM (IgG) antibodies. A higher proportion of HCWs (35% of OC, 62.5% of HC and 20% of CTB), compared with ATB (10%) showed a positive T cell response to Acr along with significant difference (P <0.05) between HC and ATB. A significant correlation (r = 0.60, P <0.0001) was noted between T cell responses of HCWs towards Acr and MtM (reported earlier by us) and both responses tended to decline with rising exposure to the infection. Even so, positive responses to Acr (38.5%) were significantly lower than to MtM (92%). Neither antibody nor T cell responses to either antigen appeared affected by BCG vaccination or reactivity to tuberculin. Results of the study suggest that the levels of IgM antibodies to MtM, IgA antibodies to Acr and proliferative T cell responses to both the antigens can potentially discriminate between LTBI and active TB disease. They also underscore the necessity of SOPs for antibody assays

Synergy between tuberculin skin test and proliferative T cell responses to PPD or cell-membrane antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis for detection of latent TB infection in a high disease-burden setting.

Tuberculin skin test (TST) is used most widely for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), even though evidences suggest that it could be underreporting the prevalence of LTBI particularly in high disease-burden settings. We have explored whether in vivo (TST) and in vitro (cell-proliferative) T cell responses to PPD can serve as complementary measures. In addition, we also probed whether in vitro T cell response to cell-membrane antigens (Mem) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) can serve as a biomarker for LTBI. Study subjects comprised 43 healthcare workers (HCWs), and 9 smear-positive TB patients served as 'disease control'. To measure proliferative T cell responses, 0.1 ml blood (diluted 1:10) was incubated (5 days) with test or control antigen. Cells were stained with fluorescent antibodies to T cell (CD3+/CD4+/CD8+) surface markers and, after fixation and permeabilization, to nuclear proliferation marker Ki67. Data was acquired on a flow cytometer. HCWs who had an intimate exposure to MTB showed significantly higher TST positivity (85%) than the rest (43%), notwithstanding their BCG vaccination status. The proliferative responses of CD4+ and CD8+ subsets of T cells were comparable. Sixty seven and 100% TST-negative HCWs, respectively, were positive for proliferative T cell response to PPD and MTBMem. Cumulative positivity (TST or in vitro) was 86% with PPD and 100% with MTBMem indicating complementarity of the two responses. As standalone in vitro assay, MTBMem provided a significantly higher positivity (95%) than PPD (67%). T cell responses of TB patients were 'generally' depressed, having implications for the development of immunological assays for 'progressive' LTBI. Altogether, these results demonstrate that in vivo and in vitro T cell responses to PPD are complementary and in vitro response to MTBMem can be developed as a highly sensitive biomarker for LTBI

MCPIP1 Endoribonuclease Activity Negatively Regulates Interleukin-17-Mediated Signaling and Inflammation.

Interleukin-17 (IL-17) induces pathology in autoimmunity and infections; therefore, constraint of this pathway is an essential component of its regulation. We demonstrate that the signaling intermediate MCPIP1 (also termed Regnase-1, encoded by Zc3h12a) is a feedback inhibitor of IL-17 receptor signal transduction. MCPIP1 knockdown enhanced IL-17-mediated signaling, requiring MCPIP1's endoribonuclease but not deubiquitinase domain. MCPIP1 haploinsufficient mice showed enhanced resistance to disseminated Candida albicans infection, which was reversed in an Il17ra(-/-) background. Conversely, IL-17-dependent pathology in Zc3h12a(+/-) mice was exacerbated in both EAE and pulmonary inflammation. MCPIP1 degraded Il6 mRNA directly but only modestly downregulated the IL-6 promoter. However, MCPIP1 strongly inhibited the Lcn2 promoter by regulating the mRNA stability of Nfkbiz, encoding the IκBζ transcription factor. Unexpectedly, MCPIP1 degraded Il17ra and Il17rc mRNA, independently of the 3' UTR. The cumulative impact of MCPIP1 on IL-6, IκBζ, and possibly IL-17R subunits results in a biologically relevant inhibition of IL-17 signaling