Development of a Cholera Toxin CTA\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e/B Based \u3cem\u3eStaphylococcus aureus\u3c/em\u3e Vaccine to Prevent Bovine Mastitis

Staphylococcus aureus is an important pathogen causing chronic and invasive disease worldwide. This bacterium is a leading cause of community and hospital acquired infections in humans, and is also known to infect wild and domestic animals. Bovine mastitis, or inflammation of the udder, is one of the most economically relevant diseases of the dairy industry, with a high incidence worldwide. S. aureus is a major etiological agent causing this disease. S. aureus mastitis is highly contagious and difficult or impossible to treat. Management practices at dairy farms, that include good sanitation and antibiotic use, have been partially successful in reducing the occurrence of this disease, however, a complete prevention or elimination is still to be achieved. Despite efforts over more than two decades, an effective vaccine for S. aureus mastitis, that can protect against heterologous strains of this bacterium, is not yet available. These efforts however, have improved our understanding of the pathogenicity, virulence factor expression and immune responses to this bacterium. Studies have indicated that there is significant intraspecies variability, and an effective vaccine against S. aureus will require the incorporation of multiple conserved and relevant antigens. Additionally, the route of vaccine administration and use of adjuvants to aid in antigen delivery and enhancement of immune responses will also be critical. S. aureus contains a broad array of virulence factors required for colonization and disease, including: adhesins, toxins, a polysaccharide capsule, enzymes and immune evasion molecules, that are required for adhesion, invasion and colonization. Some virulence factors are highly conserved and centrally important for bacterial survival and sustenance, making them good vaccine targets. The iron-regulated surface determinant A (IsdA) and clumping factor A (ClfA) are two such conserved S. aureus extracellular-matrix adhesins that are promising vaccine antigens. However, an effective S. aureus vaccine for the prevention or reduction of mastitis will need to induce mucosal and systemic, as well as cellular and humoral, immune responses to these antigens. Bacterial enterotoxins are well characterized vaccine adjuvants that act by enhancing the mucosal delivery of antigens and promoting both systemic and mucosal humoral responses. Cholera toxin (CT), from Vibrio cholerae is a gold-standard vaccine adjuvant that can promote both humoral and cellular immune responses to co-administered antigens when delivered to mucosal surfaces. The work presented here is based upon the overarching hypothesis that a mucosal, enterotoxin-based vaccine containing multiple relevant antigens will protect cows against S. aureus mastitis. To construct this vaccine, three immediate aims were developed. First, to ensure the incorporation of relevant antigens, the variability, genetic conservation and immunogenicity of the IsdA protein during bovine infection was determined. Second, a cholera toxin adjuvant based vaccine containing IsdA and a second antigen, ClfA (IsdA-CTA2/B +ClfA-CTA2/B) was used to vaccinate cows to determine immunogenicity. Lastly, a new immunoproteomics approach was used to identify immunogenic antigens for future incorporation into a multivalent vaccine. The results from these studies, as presented in chapters 2-4, indicate that: 1) the IsdA adhesin is expressed and conserved in bovine strains of S. aureus, 2) IsdA-CTA2/B + ClfA-CTA2/B can stimulate significant immune responses in vaccinated animals after intranasal administration and 3) immunoproteomics using milk antibodies can be used to identify new potential S. aureus vaccine antigens. The studies presented here will contribute to the advancement and understanding of staphylococcal vaccines in general, and specifically to those that will prevent bovine mastitis

An earth-friendly herbal pesticide from Pongamia pinnata L.

Today use of hazardous chemical pesticides is a major environmental problem in global agriculture. The large scale use of these pesticides is degrading soil quality, underground and surface water quality, food quality of products. Herbal pesticides are a potential option for their chemical counterparts. It was observed that the crop fields where Pongamia pinnata trees are planted, there is less or no infestation of various insect-pests round the year.The trees of Pongamia pinnata are found allover India and the use of Pongamia as pesticide is cost effective, environment friendly and is in the reach of common villagers and farmers of India

Diagnostic accuracy of an integrated approach using conventional ultrasonography, and Doppler and strain elastography in the evaluation of superficial soft tissue lesions

Introduction: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of an integrated approach using conventional ultrasonography, colour Doppler ultrasonography, and elastography strain ratios in tandem in the evaluation of superficial soft tissue lesions. Material and methods: Sixty-five subjects were included in this prospective cross-sectional study. Greyscale features and Doppler parameters were recorded. Strain elastography of the non-vascular and non-cystic lesions was performed and strain ratios were calculated. Fine-needle aspiration or biopsy of all the lesions was performed depending on their site and condition. Inter-rater k agreement was used to determine the strength of agreement between imaging-based diagnosis and histopathological diagnosis. A diagnostic test was used to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Multiple superficial soft tissue lesions were studied, the majority of which were lipomas, vascular anomalies, and epidermoid cysts. The diagnostic accuracy was very high and varied from 92.31% to 100% for various masses. The imaging-based diagnosis was in agreement with the histopathological diagnosis in 86.15% (n = 56) and disagreement in 13.85% (n = 9) of the cases (p < 0.007). There was very good inter-rater agreement between the imaging-based diagnosis and histopathological diagnosis (κ = 0.818). Conclusions: The combined use of conventional ultrasonography, colour Doppler, and elastography strain ratios provides a very effective non-invasive tool for the diagnosis of superficial soft tissue lesions and may negate the need for unnecessary biopsies. The advantage of this integrated approach using various ultrasound techniques needs no further emphasis

Equation of Craft in India

Description ‘Equation of Craft in India’ is a design research project of Craft Future Lab, NID Ahmedabad, India under the collaborative effort of the International Centre for Indian Craft (ICIC), Dept. of Lifestyle Accessory Design (LAD), and Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab (NID DESIS Lab). The project was initiated and led by Prof. Amresh Panigrahi with his fellow 16 Master level Design students of the Department of LAD batch 2018 with the prime objective of attempting to understand the current dynamics in the Indian craft sector. The origin of crafts goes a long way back, to the Indus Valley civilization. It had its fair share of evolution through the centuries that followed from the Vedic, Mauryan, Mughal periods to the British colonization and the onset of industrialization. The crafts of India have gone through several impactful events with our relatively newfound Independent democratic country and its political and economic development. The current context of craft in the 20th century takes into account the social, economic and geopolitical setting of India with the presence of various global developments in technology, import-export scenario, travel and popular mass ideas. Here the System mapping is an attempt to represent the identified components and variables and interrelationship within the current system understanding of the craft sector in India. Craft in its essence Craft is a vital source of identity for the craftsman as it derived its meaning by its local acceptance in its socio-cultural fabric. It has developed through a long line of rich cultural heritage. The function of crafts varies from being utilitarian, ornamental to finding purposes in religious, ritualistic, and festival purposes. Crafts now are much more susceptible to cross-cultural influences of the increasing spread of media, the internet, and education. The Development Commissioner of Handicrafts (DCH), India defined crafts as ‘items made by hand, often with the use of simple tools and generally artistic and traditional. They include objects of utility and objects of decoration’. The three main confluence for the creation of a craft comes with (a) an artisan along with his ability working on (b) the raw materials with a little help from the (c) simple tools that aids where human abilities limit him. The craftsmen and the craft dynamics The four significant divisions of craftsmen based on their ability are – Master-craftsmen, Craftsmen, Apprentice, and newly joined. Master-craftsmen display the highest skill and bring novelty in the craft. Apart from the newly joined category of artisans, all other craftsmen majorly learn the craft from the master craftsperson or from within the family itself, passed down through the generations. It is a labour-intensive sector where artisans get less return in terms of money, recognition, value for craft for the much more investment they put into it. The investment may be in terms of effort, time, and the number of workforces. The real success of a craft is no more confined to the ability of the craftsperson’s skills, raw material and tools. It is the time that demands the market knowledge to make the craft a success. However, the craftsman abilities are currently limited with less market knowledge and mostly restricted to the boundaries of his craft understanding. Lack of knowledge, their struggle with the craft practices and its continuity became much more complicated, which forced them to switch to other jobs or to want a different life for their children. Initiatives at organising the sector The craft & cottage industry is the most significant non-agricultural decentralized sector of the Indian economy. In the wake of the government’s attempt to organize the sector and tap into its full potential, it works on multiple value chains of the craft sector. The government provides market platforms through multiple exhibitions, Haats, fairs and emporiums, wherein efforts are put into making the customer realize the cultural context of the craft. One of the major competitors in the market remains to be the mass-produced industrialized products flooding in domestically and also via imports from other neighbouring countries. Domestically, authentic craft loses its market to mass-produced fake craft due to its comfortable, cheaper availability. Protection of crafts ingenuity The fake market affected the craftsmen and the identity of the craft which led to government initiatives aimed at creating protection and preservation of craft’s ingenuity owing to the craftsmen and its community through the creation of geographical indication (GI) tag, Craftmark logo and also through handicraft census. With over 200 crafts GI tagged, it is beneficial to the owners as they can safeguard their products from unauthorized commercial use. Presence of the GI tag has still left some room for improvements for craftsman’s awareness and fight for their rights. The Craftmark logo is an initiative to provide a mark for genuine handicraft for the consumers to authenticate their purchase. Private exhibitions and museums purposefully created for documentation and preservation of the handicrafts. Role of design in craft innovation With above systematic study, the working groups further discovered various gaps as an opportunity for design-driven strategic intervention. Practice-based Design research facilitates the application of design strategies at various levels to imagine a craft social innovation and its sustainable future

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead