Antibody Response to SARS-COV-2 Vaccination in Healthcare Workers of Uttarakhand: A Prospective Follow-up Study

Background: Countries around the world are now racing to vaccinate people against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The Government of India also rolled out its vaccination drive from 16th January ‘2021. Aims: To estimate the antibody response of the COVID-19 vaccine in the form of SARS-COV-2 IgG antibodies in vaccinated healthcare workers. Methods: Prospective follow-up was study conducted on healthcare workers (HCWs) of a Medical college in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Healthcare workers who have been vaccinated for COVID-19 were tested for SARS-CoV-2-IgG antibodies at regular intervals i.e at 4 weeks after the 1st dose and then again at 4 weeks after the 2nd dose. The third sample was taken 6 months after the 2nd dose. Results: A total of 302 HCWs were enrolled in the study who gave their samples for IgG antibody estimation after the Covishield vaccine. After 4 weeks of completion of both doses, 96% HCWs formed SARS-COV-2 IgG antibodies, whereas 4% didn’t. Then after 6 months of follow-up, 14% HCWs have become negative for antibodies and better immunity is seen in people who also got infected with COVID-19 during this time. Conclusion: This study concludes that the immunity gained after vaccination is waning off in around 6 months and there is a need for a booster dose, especially for people at high risk. The infection control practices still play a crucial role in the prevention of this deadly disease

A hospital based retrospective study on hepatotropic viruses as a cause of acute viral hepatitis in children in Uttarakhand, India

Introduction: Acute viral hepatitis in children is a serious health problem throughout the world. Aims and Objective: To determine the profile of Hepatitis A, B, C and E as a cause of acute viral hepatitis in children in a tertiary care hospital of Uttarakhand, India. Material and Methods: In this retrospective study, data was collected from the records of paediatric patients who underwent testing for one or more of the hepatitis viruses. Serum samples were tested for Anti-HAV IgM and Anti-HEV IgM by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and Hepatitis B surface antigen and Anti HCV antibodies by enhanced chemiluminiscence.  Results: Among total of 252 patients suffering from Acute Viral Hepatitis (AVH), males predominated over females with 72.2 % vs. 27.8 %. Hepatitis A virus (72.6 %) was found to be the leading cause of AVH in our hospital followed by HBV (16.7 %), HEV (9.5 %) and the least common was HCV (1.1 %). Co-infection was seen in only 2 cases i.e one as HAV-HEV (0.4%) and other as HAV- HBV (0.4%). Out of all the cases of AVH, 9.5 % were suffering from Acute Hepatic Failure. Hepatitis A virus was found to be the most common cause of acute hepatic failure (50 %), followed by Hepatitis B (37.5 %) and Hepatitis E (12.5 %).  Conclusions: Hepatotropic viruses are quite prevalent in children in our country. Thus to control faeco-orally transmitted viruses i.e Hepatitis A and hepatitis E, awareness about healthy hygienic practices should be emphasized upon. Also hepatitis A vaccination can be recommended to be included in national immunization schedule. To prevent parenterally transmitted viruses like Hepatitis B and hepatitis C, use of sterile needles and syringes while tattooing, ear piercing and avoiding injections through unregistered medical practitioners should be done. Vaccination for hepatitis B should be routinely done

Prevalence of Sexually transmitted infections in females attending community health centres in the rural area of Dehradun, India

Background: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and reproductive tract infections (RTIs) are major public health concerns, particularly among women. Aims & Objectives: The primary aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the prevalence of laboratory-confirmed RTIs/STIs in a sample of 228 self-reported females aged 14-55 visiting community health centers. Additionally, the study sought to explore the correlation between these infections and clinical features. Material & Methods: The study included 228 females aged 14-55 visiting the STI clinic in Doiwala Block, Dehradun. Vaginal/cervical swab and blood specimens were collected after obtaining informed written consent. Specimens were processed at HIMS using standard microbiological methods to diagnose various STDs. Results: The study found that 50% of females attending community health centers had laboratory-confirmed RTIs/STIs. Bacterial vaginosis was the most prevalent infection (25.9%), followed by candidiasis (24.6%), Trichomonas vaginalis (2.6%), and syphilis (1.3%). Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis were not detected. Notably, there was a significant association between the prevalence of RTI/STI and the literacy status, occupation, and socioeconomic status of the respondents. Conclusion: This study highlights a high prevalence of RTIs/STIs among females in a rural area of Doiwala Block, Dehradun. Bacterial vaginosis and candidiasis were the most common infections. The findings underscore the importance of targeted interventions and education to address this public health issue, particularly among women with lower socioeconomic status and literacy levels

Changes in morphology of white blood cells on peripheral smear in COVID-19 infection

Background: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus, and has spread around the world in a deadly pandemic. The first case of COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan, China in December 2019. This is also called as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) because of its homology with SARS virus. The most common hematological manifestation of coronavirus is lymphopenia which is due to depletion of lymphocytes by coronavirus infection. Other manifestations are neutrophilia and mild thrombocytopenia. Literature is full of quantitative hematological parameters but the researches on morphology of white blood cells is still ongoing. We at our institute done study on 60 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19, and analyzed those peripheral smears in terms of morphology of white blood cells.Methods: The study was done using peripheral smear staining with methylene blue stain and was screened for various changes in white blood cells in peripheral smear.Results: Changes in the white blood cells were examined in the peripheral smear and findings were made in the tabular form.Conclusions: To conclude that all these changes are due to the virus infecting them or are secondary to pathogenesis of COVID disease, needs to be evaluated by larger studies

Fabrication of Modified MMT/Glass/Vinylester Multiscale Composites and Their Mechanical Properties

Montmorillonite (MMT) may become a preferred filler material for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites due to its high aspect ratio, large surface area, and low charge density. In the present paper, MMT/glass/vinylester multiscale composites are prepared with untreated and surface-treated MMT clay particles with an MMT content of 1.0 wt%. Effects of surface treatment on mechanical properties of MMT/glass/vinylester multiscale composites are investigated through tensile and bending tests, which revealed enhanced mechanical properties in the case of surface-treated MMT. Thermal properties are studied through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). X-Ray diffraction is performed to investigate the interaction between MMT and the matrix. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) is also performed for both untreated and surface-treated MMT. Furthermore, Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM) is conducted to investigate the path of fracture propagation within the composite surface, showing that the surface-treated MMT based multiscale composite has better interactions with the host matrix than the untreated MMT multiscale composites. These composites with enhanced mechanical strength can be used for various mechanical applications

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Sustainable Architecture in Terms of Building Materials

Building materials are the single unit cell of a building and thus are the essential part of construction techniques. It encloses the spaces in a building or acts as an envelope for spaces in architecture. In today’s scenario sustainable architecture is at its pace. Sustainable architecture does not only mean to plant trees or using vernacular materials, but it also means to use eco- friendly building materials since building materials are the first and most important part of a building. Life of a building is dependent on the material being used in that building. Therefore, selection of an eco-friendly material is a rapid step towards sustainable and eco-friendly built environment. Now what material could be ecofriendly? Truly saying materials that result in a more sustainable and affordable construction complying with the comfort standards required today can be termed as eco-friendly materials. So, rather making environment sustainable we could use materials that are sustainable, affordable, low energy consumption and can be recycled or reused easily. This paper deals with how green building materials can sustain our environment by reducing its impact on our mother earth, that could lessen the amount of environmental degradation, have consumes less energy, can be re-used in a building itself and the comparison between other man-made materials and their energy consumption that are presently in use

GLASS : AS A GREEN BUILDING MATERIAL

Glass is a versatile crystalline solid material having many uses in building industry. Silica is the main constituent of glass. But sometimes it is to be added with sodium potassium carbonate to bring down melting point. Green building material means a material that is eco-friendly and resource efficient. Hence glass acts as green building material due to its various properties such as transparency, insulating property, does not gets easily affected by atmosphere, it refracts or transmits light and is strong and durable. This paper deals with the justification that glass which produces non-renewable and harmful waste can still be a green building material i.e. it can be resource efficient and eco-friendly material

Antimicrobial efficacy of commercially available ozonated olive oil and sodium hypochlorite with and without ultrasonic activation in primary endodontic infections: A randomized clinical trial

Aim: This study compared the antimicrobial efficacy of commercially available ozonated olive oil and sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) with and without ultrasonic activation in primary endodontic infections. Materials and Methods: Fifty-six patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were selected and randomly assigned to four groups (n = 14) according to the irrigant and irrigation technique employed during biomechanical preparation. Group 1: NaOCl, Group 2: NaOCl with passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI), Group 3-Ozonated olive oil, and Group 4-Ozonated olive oil with PUI. Bacteriological samples were taken from the canals before (S1) and after (S2) preparation using sterile paper points. Microbiological samples (S1, S2) were incubated and plated on Brain Heart Infusion agar. Colonies were counted after 24 h using the classic bacterial counting method. Collected data were statistically analyzed. Results: Statistically significant reduction (P < 0.05) of bacterial counts was found from S1 to S2 in all four experimental groups. The mean percentage reduction of bacterial counts of Group 1 and Group 3 was found to be lower than that of Group 2 and Group 4. The highest mean percentage bacterial reduction was seen in Group 2 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: PUI significantly enhanced the antimicrobial activity of the experimental groups and ozonated olive oil can be used as an adjunctive irrigant in primary endodontic infections. The antibacterial activity of ozonated olive oil with PUI was found to be comparable with that of NaOCl with PUI