Effect of solar activity on the morphology of 7320 Å dayglow emission

A comprehensive model is developed to study the 7320 Å dayglow emission. The emission profiles are obtained with the help of the recently developed Solar2000 EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) flux model. These emission profiles are used to construct the morphology of this emission between equator and 45° N in the Northern Hemisphere. A span of five years (2001–2005) is chosen to study the effect of solar activity on the morphology of this emission. The morphology is studied on 3 April which lies under the equinox conditions. In 2001, the solar F10.7 index on the chosen date was as high as 223.1 which is the case of solar maximum. It is found that the intensity of this emission does not vary linearly with the F10.7 solar index. The morphology shows that the region of maximum emission expands towards the higher latitudes as the F10.7 index increases

Reactive nodular fibrous pseudotumor: A rare mesenchymal tumor

Reactive nodular fibrous pseudotumor (RNFP) is a recently described non-neoplastic mesenchymal lesion arising from thegastrointestinal tract, mesentery, or retroperitoneum. It is a rare entity with only a few cases reported in literature so far and is lessaggressive when compared to other mesenchymal lesions such as gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) or fibromatosis. Here, wepresent the case of a 20-year-old female who presented with a huge abdominal mass. Contrast-enhanced computed tomographywas suggestive of pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas. The patient underwent exploratory laparotomy and excision of the massin toto along with sleeve gastrectomy and splenectomy. Post-operative histopathology confirmed the entity to be RNFP. This caseillustrates the need for keeping RNFP in mind as a differential diagnosis in a case of large abdominal mass as it has a fairly goodprognosis with no reported recurrence after surgical excision

PROFILE OF MICROORGANISM AND ANTIBIOTIC SENSITIVITY PATTERN IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING EMERGENCY LAPAROTOMY FOR PERITONITIS

BACKGROUND: Peritonitis is one of the common emergencies and multiple organisms have been implicated in the pathogenesis. Inappropriate and prolonged use of antibiotics have been attributed to the emergence of antibiotic resistance. METHODS: Retrospective observational study, from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2019(Two years). Patients with secondary peritonitis undergoing surgery are included in this study. Common pathogens and its antibiotic sensitivity pattern from peritoneal fluid, blood and surgical site were studied. RESULTS: Perforation peritonitis is the most common cause of peritonitis. Cefaperazone-sulbactum and Piperacillin-tazobactum were the common empirical antibiotics prescribed. Escherichia coli followed by Klebsiella pneumonia were the commonest microorganism isolated from the peritoneal fluid and found to have adequate sensitivity for the empirical antibiotics. Enterococus and candida were the common organism isolated in blood culture. E-coli and Klebsiella from wound swab showed higher resistance to the empirical antibiotics. Large intestine perforation has higher percentage of surgical site infection. CONCLUSION: E-coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the common cause of secondary peritonitis. The empirical antibiotic is shown to be sensitive to the common organism isolated from peritoneal cavity. Wound swab isolates have shown higher resistance to antibiotics hence isolating the organism and assessing the sensitivity might be prudent. Due to geographical variation of antibiotic resistance trends to microorganism, it is prudent to have antibiotic surveillance on a local basis that can recommend appropriate antibiotics

Evidence for the In‐Situ Generation of Plasma Depletion Structures Over the Transition Region of Geomagnetic Low‐Mid Latitude

On a geomagnetic quiet night of October 29, 2018, we captured an observational evidence of the onset of dark band structures within the field-of-view of an all-sky airglow imager operating at 630.0 nm over a geomagnetic low-mid latitude transition region, Hanle, Leh Ladakh. Simultaneous ionosonde observations over New Delhi shows the occurrence of spread-F in the ionograms. Additionally, virtual and peak height indicate vertical upliftment in the F layer altitude and reduction in the ionospheric peak frequency were also observed when the dark band pass through the ionosonde location. All these results confirmed that the observed depletions are indeed associated with ionospheric F region plasma irregularities. The rate of total electron content index (ROTI) indicates the absence of plasma bubble activities over the equatorial/low latitude region which confirms that the observed event is a mid-latitude plasma depletion. Our calculations reveal that the growth time of the plasma depletion is ∼2 h if one considers only the Perkins instability mechanism. This is not consistent with the present observations as the plasma depletion developed within ∼25 min. By invoking possible Es layer instabilities and associated E-F region coupling, we show that the growth rate increases roughly by an order of magnitude. This strongly suggests that the Cosgrove and Tsunoda mechanism may be simultaneously operational in this case. Furthermore, it is also suggested that reduced F region flux-tube integrated conductivity in the southern part of onset region created conducive background conditions for the growth of the plasma depletion on this night

IPS-1 Is Essential for the Control of West Nile Virus Infection and Immunity

The innate immune response is essential for controlling West Nile virus (WNV) infection but how this response is propagated and regulates adaptive immunity in vivo are not defined. Herein, we show that IPS-1, the central adaptor protein to RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) signaling, is essential for triggering of innate immunity and for effective development and regulation of adaptive immunity against pathogenic WNV. IPS-1−/− mice exhibited increased susceptibility to WNV infection marked by enhanced viral replication and dissemination with early viral entry into the CNS. Infection of cultured bone-marrow (BM) derived dendritic cells (DCs), macrophages (Macs), and primary cortical neurons showed that the IPS-1-dependent RLR signaling was essential for triggering IFN defenses and controlling virus replication in these key target cells of infection. Intriguingly, infected IPS-1−/− mice displayed uncontrolled inflammation that included elevated systemic type I IFN, proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine responses, increased numbers of inflammatory DCs, enhanced humoral responses marked by complete loss of virus neutralization activity, and increased numbers of virus-specific CD8+ T cells and non-specific immune cell proliferation in the periphery and in the CNS. This uncontrolled inflammatory response was associated with a lack of regulatory T cell expansion that normally occurs during acute WNV infection. Thus, the enhanced inflammatory response in the absence of IPS-1 was coupled with a failure to protect against WNV infection. Our data define an innate/adaptive immune interface mediated through IPS-1-dependent RLR signaling that regulates the quantity, quality, and balance of the immune response to WNV infection

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF BILAYERED FLOATING TABLET OF DILTIAZEM DRUG

Aim of study was to develop bilayered floating drug delivery for treatment of hypertension by delivering loading and maintenance dose for fast achievement of peak plasma concentration and maintaining the same respectively. The prepared drug loaded bilayered floating tablets were evaluated for pre and post compression parameters. Stability study of the promising formulation was also performed. The tablets were prepared by direct compression method. The loading dose was delivered in the form of immediate release layer prepared by different super-disintegrations and maintenance dose was delivered through sustained release layer prepared by using polymers like HPMC K15M and Carbopol 934P. Both the immediate release layer and sustained release layers were separately optimized and then combined to optimize the bilayered floating tablets. No interactions were found between drug and excipients. Formulation containing crosscarmellose sodium shows immediate drug release. Formulation Containing HPMC K15M shows sustained release action and bilayered formulations FB7 shows releases up to 12 hours with good buoyancy and total floating time. All the Bilayered floating formulations buoyant up to 12 hrs. Bilayered floating tablets with release characteristics offer critical advantages such as, site specificity with improved absorption and efficacy. This technology can be inculcated to various medicaments which have stomach as the major site of absorption. Key words: Diltiazem, Bilayered floating tablet, sustain release table

Signature of Y-forking in ionogram traces observed at low-mid latitude Indian station, New Delhi, during the earthquake events of 2020: ionosonde observations

We have examined ionospheric response to eleven earthquake events measuring less than four on the Richter scale during the year 2020 that occurred in the vicinity of New Delhi (28.6°N, 77.2°E, 42.4°N dip). We have used ionogram traces, manually scaled critical ionospheric layer parameters using SAO explorer obtained from Digisonde along with the O(1D) airglow observations from a multi-wavelength all-sky airglow imager installed at Hanle, Ladakh, India (32.7°N, 78.9°E, 24.1°N dip). Perceptible ionospheric perturbations 2–9 days prior to these earthquake events resulting in more than 250% variation in electron density are observed. We found distortion of ionogram trace in the form of Y forking majorly at New Delhi on the precursor day and after the earthquake event. Traces of Y forked ionograms were also observed at Ahmedabad (23°N, 72°E, 15°N dip) and Trivandrum (8.5°N, 76.9°E, 0.5°N dip). These Y-forked ionograms are one of the first observations during any earthquake events and are looked at as a signature of Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs)

Safety, immunogenicity, and reactogenicity of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccines given as fourth-dose boosters following two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 or BNT162b2 and a third dose of BNT162b2 (COV-BOOST): a multicentre, blinded, phase 2, randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Some high-income countries have deployed fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccines, but the clinical need, effectiveness, timing, and dose of a fourth dose remain uncertain. We aimed to investigate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of fourth-dose boosters against COVID-19. METHODS: The COV-BOOST trial is a multicentre, blinded, phase 2, randomised controlled trial of seven COVID-19 vaccines given as third-dose boosters at 18 sites in the UK. This sub-study enrolled participants who had received BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) as their third dose in COV-BOOST and randomly assigned them (1:1) to receive a fourth dose of either BNT162b2 (30 μg in 0·30 mL; full dose) or mRNA-1273 (Moderna; 50 μg in 0·25 mL; half dose) via intramuscular injection into the upper arm. The computer-generated randomisation list was created by the study statisticians with random block sizes of two or four. Participants and all study staff not delivering the vaccines were masked to treatment allocation. The coprimary outcomes were safety and reactogenicity, and immunogenicity (anti-spike protein IgG titres by ELISA and cellular immune response by ELISpot). We compared immunogenicity at 28 days after the third dose versus 14 days after the fourth dose and at day 0 versus day 14 relative to the fourth dose. Safety and reactogenicity were assessed in the per-protocol population, which comprised all participants who received a fourth-dose booster regardless of their SARS-CoV-2 serostatus. Immunogenicity was primarily analysed in a modified intention-to-treat population comprising seronegative participants who had received a fourth-dose booster and had available endpoint data. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, 73765130, and is ongoing. FINDINGS: Between Jan 11 and Jan 25, 2022, 166 participants were screened, randomly assigned, and received either full-dose BNT162b2 (n=83) or half-dose mRNA-1273 (n=83) as a fourth dose. The median age of these participants was 70·1 years (IQR 51·6-77·5) and 86 (52%) of 166 participants were female and 80 (48%) were male. The median interval between the third and fourth doses was 208·5 days (IQR 203·3-214·8). Pain was the most common local solicited adverse event and fatigue was the most common systemic solicited adverse event after BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 booster doses. None of three serious adverse events reported after a fourth dose with BNT162b2 were related to the study vaccine. In the BNT162b2 group, geometric mean anti-spike protein IgG concentration at day 28 after the third dose was 23 325 ELISA laboratory units (ELU)/mL (95% CI 20 030-27 162), which increased to 37 460 ELU/mL (31 996-43 857) at day 14 after the fourth dose, representing a significant fold change (geometric mean 1·59, 95% CI 1·41-1·78). There was a significant increase in geometric mean anti-spike protein IgG concentration from 28 days after the third dose (25 317 ELU/mL, 95% CI 20 996-30 528) to 14 days after a fourth dose of mRNA-1273 (54 936 ELU/mL, 46 826-64 452), with a geometric mean fold change of 2·19 (1·90-2·52). The fold changes in anti-spike protein IgG titres from before (day 0) to after (day 14) the fourth dose were 12·19 (95% CI 10·37-14·32) and 15·90 (12·92-19·58) in the BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 groups, respectively. T-cell responses were also boosted after the fourth dose (eg, the fold changes for the wild-type variant from before to after the fourth dose were 7·32 [95% CI 3·24-16·54] in the BNT162b2 group and 6·22 [3·90-9·92] in the mRNA-1273 group). INTERPRETATION: Fourth-dose COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccines are well tolerated and boost cellular and humoral immunity. Peak responses after the fourth dose were similar to, and possibly better than, peak responses after the third dose. FUNDING: UK Vaccine Task Force and National Institute for Health Research