Multipurpose medical assistant robot (Docto-Bot) based on internet of things

The world's population is growing every day, and so is the number of patients. People's life expectancy is increasing due to technology's welfare, but the problem is that the health sector has always faced a shortage of inadequate doctors. This research main objective was to design and implement a biomedical-based medical assistant robot named "Docto-Bot" to deal with this problem. This research concerns this medical assistant robot's design and development for the disabled and the patients in need. Such a robot's prime utilization is to minimize person-to-person contact and ensure the cleaning, sterilization, and support in hospitals and similar facilities such as quarantine. This prototype robot consists of a medicine reminding and medicine providing system, Automatic hand sanitizer and IoT based physiological monitoring system (body temperature, pulse rate, ECG, Oxygen saturation level). A direct one-to-one server-based communication method and user-end android app maintaining system designed. It also included the controlling part, which control automatically and manually by users. Docto-Bot will play a very significant factor in bio-medical robot applications. Though the achievements described in the paper look fruitful and advanced, shortcomings still exist

Glycemic Index Values of Rice Varieties that are Commonly Available in Markets in Bangladesh

Glycemic Index (GI) of six common rice varieties in the local markets of Bangladesh was assessed and categorized in this study to investigate manipulative varietal performance for the time being. After overnight fasting, each of ten selected healthy non-diabetic volunteers (males and females in ratio of 1:1) was fed with reference food (50 g glucose) and test foods (50 g carbohydrate-containing different rice varieties) in every two days intervals. After feeding, glucose levels (mmol/l) were measured at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes. Incremental Area Under Curve (IAUC) of reference food and test food (avoiding the area beneath the baseline of reference food) was calculated to measure GI values. Amylose content (%) of different test foods was measured from the standard curve obtained from the spectrophotometric analysis after alcoholic-alkaline gelatinization that was followed by acidification and iodine mixing. The result showed that the GI values were 59.7±3.4; 50.5±2.6; 57.8±2.8; 51.3±2.3; 56.9±3.9 and 44.6±2.1, while the amylose content (%) were 23.6±0.6; 26.7±0.9; 21.3±0.7; 28.3±1.1; 22.2±2.3 and 29.8±1.5 for Nizershail, BRRI Dhan 29, Chinigura, Kalijira, Hybrid Hera Dhan 12 and Sworna, respectively. Moreover, the existing inverse relationship between the GI values and amylose content in this study was similar to other researchers’ findings. Categorization of the test foods based on the observed GI values ranked Sworna, BRRI Dhan 29 and Kalijira as low GI rice varieties that could be beneficial for consumption by diabetics as well as healthy individuals

Microbiota that affect risk for shigellosis in children in low-income countries

Pathogens in the gastrointestinal tract exist within a vast population of microbes. We examined associations between pathogens and composition of gut microbiota as they relate to Shigella spp./enteroinvasive Escherichia coli infection. We analyzed 3,035 stool specimens (1,735 nondiarrheal and 1,300 moderate-to-severe diarrheal) from the Global Enteric Multicenter Study for 9 enteropathogens. Diarrheal specimens had a higher number of enteropathogens (diarrheal mean 1.4, nondiarrheal mean 0.95; p<0.0001). Rotavirus showed a negative association with Shigella spp. in cases of diarrhea (odds ratio 0.31, 95% CI 0.17–0.55) and had a large combined effect on moderate-to-severe diarrhea (odds ratio 29, 95% CI 3.8–220). In 4 Lactobacillus taxa identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the association between pathogen and disease was decreased, which is consistent with the possibility that Lactobacillus spp. are protective against Shigella spp.–induced diarrhea. Bacterial diversity of gut microbiota was associated with diarrhea status, not high levels of the Shigella spp. ipaH gene.publishedVersio

A Multicentre Study of Shigella Diarrhoea in Six Asian Countries: Disease Burden, Clinical Manifestations, and Microbiology

BACKGROUND: The burden of shigellosis is greatest in resource-poor countries. Although this diarrheal disease has been thought to cause considerable morbidity and mortality in excess of 1,000,000 deaths globally per year, little recent data are available to guide intervention strategies in Asia. We conducted a prospective, population-based study in six Asian countries to gain a better understanding of the current disease burden, clinical manifestations, and microbiology of shigellosis in Asia. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Over 600,000 persons of all ages residing in Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand were included in the surveillance. Shigella was isolated from 2,927 (5%) of 56,958 diarrhoea episodes detected between 2000 and 2004. The overall incidence of treated shigellosis was 2.1 episodes per 1,000 residents per year in all ages and 13.2/1,000/y in children under 60 months old. Shigellosis incidence increased after age 40 years. S. flexneri was the most frequently isolated Shigella species (1,976/2,927 [68%]) in all sites except in Thailand, where S. sonnei was most frequently detected (124/146 [85%]). S. flexneri serotypes were highly heterogeneous in their distribution from site to site, and even from year to year. PCR detected ipaH, the gene encoding invasion plasmid antigen H in 33% of a sample of culture-negative stool specimens. The majority of S. flexneri isolates in each site were resistant to amoxicillin and cotrimoxazole. Ciprofloxacin-resistant S. flexneri isolates were identified in China (18/305 [6%]), Pakistan (8/242 [3%]), and Vietnam (5/282 [2%]). CONCLUSIONS: Shigella appears to be more ubiquitous in Asian impoverished populations than previously thought, and antibiotic-resistant strains of different species and serotypes have emerged. Focusing on prevention of shigellosis could exert an immediate benefit first by substantially reducing the overall diarrhoea burden in the region and second by preventing the spread of panresistant Shigella strains. The heterogeneous distribution of Shigella species and serotypes suggest that multivalent or cross-protective Shigella vaccines will be needed to prevent shigellosis in Asia

Mg-chelatase H subunit affects ABA signaling in stomatal guard cells, but is not an ABA receptor in Arabidopsis thaliana

Mg-chelatase H subunit (CHLH) is a multifunctional protein involved in chlorophyll synthesis, plastid-to-nucleus retrograde signaling, and ABA perception. However, whether CHLH acts as an actual ABA receptor remains controversial. Here we present evidence that CHLH affects ABA signaling in stomatal guard cells but is not itself an ABA receptor. We screened ethyl methanesulfonate-treated Arabidopsis thaliana plants with a focus on stomatal aperture-dependent water loss in detached leaves and isolated a rapid transpiration in detached leaves 1 (rtl1) mutant that we identified as a novel missense mutant of CHLH. The rtl1 and CHLH RNAi plants showed phenotypes in which stomatal movements were insensitive to ABA, while the rtl1 phenotype showed normal sensitivity to ABA with respect to seed germination and root growth. ABA-binding analyses using 3H-labeled ABA revealed that recombinant CHLH did not bind ABA, but recombinant pyrabactin resistance 1, a reliable ABA receptor used as a control, showed specific binding. Moreover, we found that the rtl1 mutant showed ABA-induced stomatal closure when a high concentration of extracellular Ca2+ was present and that a knockout mutant of Mg-chelatase I subunit (chli1) showed the same ABA-insensitive phenotype as rtl1. These results suggest that the Mg-chelatase complex as a whole affects the ABA-signaling pathway for stomatal movements

B- and T-cell epitope mapping of human sapovirus capsid protein : an immunomics approach

Human sapovirus is one of the major causes of viral gastroenteritis. Although the capsid protein (VP1) confers antigenic cross-reactivity, immunity against sapovirus is still unclear. Using immunoinformatics approach, we defined putative T- and B-cell epitopes of VP1 and mapped on to its predicted three-dimensional structure. Identified five putative T-cell epitopes also occupied the putative B-cell epitope region. These putative epitopes were conserved in all existing serotypes. Predicted epitopes can be generated through proteasome cleavage and may be useful in designing peptide-based subunit vaccine to confer both humoral and cell-mediated immunity.12 page(s

The growing complexity of COVID-19 drug and vaccine candidates: challenges and critical transitions

COVID-19 has nowadays affected almost all our societies and global health systems. The latest deadly pandemic has heavily influenced both life and livelihood worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 is the causative organism of COVID-19, that is spreading and infecting significantly higher compared to other coronavirus, due to its constant mutation characteristics. At present although several extensive clinical trials are ongoing, neither approved drug therapy nor any vaccine are available to safely fight SARS-CoV-2. However, a progressive race among numerous research groups to discover a radical cure for the COVID-19 is under way. This review aims to provide an updated insight of the current research, development and trials on repurposing existing drugs and preventive intervention for COVID-19, along with the related issues, complexities and challenges, especially after the observed high transmissibility lately