Re-emergence of Neglected Tropical Diseases amid the COVID-19 Pandemic : Epidemiology, Transmission, Mitigation Strategies, and Recent Advances in Chemotherapy and Vaccines

The current re-emergence of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) amid the global COVID-19 pandemic requires increased attention. These include communicable and vector-borne diseases caused by various fungi, bacteria (e.g. tuberculosis), viruses (e.g. dengue, Chikungunya fever, monkeypox, Marburg and Ebola virus disease, poliomyelitis, rabies), and parasites (e.g. filariasis, malaria, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis). Whilst the vast majority of such diseases remain endemic to specific regions of the world (e.g. tropical Africa), some - like those caused by the Ebola virus, the Marburg virus, and more recently the Monkeypox virus - have been reported elsewhere (e.g. Europe and America), forcing public health boards in various countries to take all necessary precautions to control such a spread. The Department for Control of Neglected Tropical Disease was created in 2005 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to tackle NTD. In 2021, the 74th World Health Assembly proposed a 9-year plan (2021-2030) intended to eradicate neglected diseases. Over the past three years, COVID-19 has had a significant impact on socio-economic activities and healthcare systems worldwide. With the WHO recently declaring the global monkeypox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, a coordinated effort among high-income and low/middle-income countries is now more than ever recommended to address the threat posed by the worldwide re-emergence of some NTD. There is currently a lack of knowledge on understanding how such diseases are transmitted and what mitigation strategies should be put in place to control their spread. Better availability of diagnostic tests, vaccines, and drugs in affected countries is also required. In this Research Topic, we wish to address how to best tackle the re-emergence of NTD in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This collection welcomes a range of articles including opinion, commentary, systematic reviews, and original research articles on epidemiology, transmission, mitigation strategies, and recent advances in chemotherapy and vaccines for these NTD

Optimization of bioethanol production from saccharified sweet potato root flour by co-fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia sp. using OVAT and response surface methodologies

In recent years with the increase in price of fossil fuels, the demand of biofuel production from tuber crops such as sweet potato has become very important to meet the future energy crisis in developing countries. In the present study, fermentation of saccharified sweet potato root flour (SPRF) was carried out using co-culture of cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia sp. in immobilized condition for bioethanol production. Various growth parameters like incubation time, fermentation medium pH, incubation temperature and inoculum size were initially optimized using one variable at a time (OVAT) methodology. Then, temperature, pH and incubation time were found to be the most favorable variables for the maximum ethanol production with Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology (RSM). The maximum ethanol yield of 127.2 ± 2 g/kg of SPRF was obtained at pH 5 with an incubation period of 72 h at 30 °C by OVAT methodology. RSM further enhanced the bioethanol yield to 138.6 ± 3 g/kg of SPRF with an overall increase of 8.22% as compared to the OVAT method

Anisotropy dissipation in brane-world inflation

We examine the behavior of an anisotropic brane-world in the presence of inflationary scalar fields. We show that, contrary to naive expectations, a large anisotropy does not adversely affect inflation. On the contrary, a large initial anisotropy introduces more damping into the scalar field equation of motion, resulting in greater inflation. The rapid decay of anisotropy in the brane-world significantly increases the class of initial conditions from which the observed universe could have originated. This generalizes a similar result in general relativity. A unique feature of Bianchi I brane-world cosmology appears to be that for scalar fields with a large kinetic term the initial expansion of the universe is quasi-isotropic. The universe grows more anisotropic during an intermediate transient regime until anisotropy finally disappears during inflationary expansion.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; minor typo corrected in Eq. (16); matches version to appear in Phy Rev

Usability, acceptability, and feasibility of the World Health Organization Labour Care Guide: A mixed-methods, multicountry evaluation.

Introduction The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Labour Care Guide (LCG) is a “next-generation” partograph based on WHO’s latest intrapartum care recommendations. It aims to optimize clinical care provided to women and their experience of care. We evaluated the LCG’s usability, feasibility, and acceptability among maternity care practitioners in clinical settings. Methods Mixed-methods evaluation with doctors, midwives, and nurses in 12 health facilities across Argentina, India, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Purposively sampled and trained practitioners applied the LCG in low-risk women during labor and rated experiences, satisfaction, and usability. Practitioners were invited to focus group discussions (FGDs) to share experiences and perceptions of the LCG, which were subjected to framework analysis. Results One hundred and thirty-six practitioners applied the LCG in managing labor and birth of 1,226 low-risk women. The majority of women had a spontaneous vaginal birth (91.6%); two cases of intrapartum stillbirths (1.63 per 1000 births) occurred. Practitioner satisfaction with the LCG was high, and median usability score was 67.5%. Practitioners described the LCG as supporting precise and meticulous monitoring during labor, encouraging critical thinking in labor management, and improving the provision of woman-centered care. Conclusions The LCG is feasible and acceptable to use across different clinical settings and can promote woman-centered care, though some design improvements would benefit usability. Implementing the LCG needs to be accompanied by training and supportive supervision, and strategies to promote an enabling environment (including updated policies on supportive care interventions, and ensuring essential equipment is available)

Physicochemical characterization of Ayurvedic bhasma (Swarna makshika bhasma): An approach to standardization

Swarna makshika [SM], a mineral having various therapeutic uses, has been used since long in Ayurveda. The present study was conducted to generate a fingerprint for raw and processed SM using techniques which can be used by pharmacies. Powdered SM was heated in an iron pan by adding lemon juice for 3 days, till liberation of sulfur fumes stopped. Bhasma of this shuddha SM was obtained by triturating it withit with shuddha gandhaka and lemon juice. It was then subjected to heat in 09* putas, and for firing in each puta, 4 kg cow dung cakes were used. To assure the quality of bhasma, rasa shastra quality control tests like nischandratva, varitara, amla pariksha, etc., were used. After the bhasma complied with these tests, the bhasma was analyzed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis of raw SM and SM bhasma revealed that raw SM contains CuFeS2, and SM bhasma contains Fe2O3, FeS2, CuS and SiO2. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) studies showed that the grains in SM bhasma were uniformly arranged in agglomerates of size 1-2 microns as compared to the raw SM which showed a scattered arrangement of grains of size 6-8 microns. It may be concluded that raw SM is a complex compound which gets converted into a mixture of simple compounds having very small particle size after the particular process of marana. This is the first report of fingerprinting of SM bhasma prepared using this particular method

An Approximate Method For Solving Fractional Delay Differential Equations

This paper presents an approximate method for solving a kind of fractional delay differential equations defined in terms of Caputo fractional derivatives. The approximate method is based on the application of the Bernstein’s operational matrix of fractional differentiation. First, Bernstein operational matrix of fractional differentiation is presented generalizing the idea of Bernstein’s operational matrix of derivative for integer orders, and then applied to solve the nonlinear fractional delay differential equations. The operational matrix method combined with the typical tau method reduces the fractional delay differential equation into system of nonlinear equations. Solving these nonlinear equations the desired solution is achieved. Two different cases of the fractional delay differential equations are illustrated and solved using the presented method. Numerical results and discussions demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method

Juvenile abundance and post-larval incursion of mud crabs (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Scylla </i>spp.) in Chilika lagoon

834-840was carried out on the juvenile abundance and post-larval incursion of two species of Scylla into the lagoon for period of two years from August, 2005-July, 2007.<span style="color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> Occurrence of juvenile, <span style="color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">S. serrata<span style="color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold; mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> were throughout the year, while in <span style="color:black; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">S. tranquebarica<span style="color:black; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">, juveniles were not encountered during December-February. December-May register higher median CPUE values with peak in March for S. serrata. In <span style="color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">S. tranquebarica<span style="color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">, the peak juvenile abundance period was restricted to June-September with peak in July. The CPUE values for juveniles indicted that the recruitment was intense for S. serrata during post-winter (January-April) and for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">S. tranquebarica during monsoon (June-September). The crab seeds were available throughout the year which gave a clear evidence for the year round recruitment with the peak during the months of November-March for Scylla species from the Bay of Bengal to the Chilika lagoon. During the study period, the megalopa and first crab instar recruitment per net-hour collection was significantly higher during spring tides than neap tide phase (p&lt; 0.05) and also higher incursion was observed in the night hours than day hours (p&lt; 0.05).<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;mso-bidi-font-style: italic"> Significantly higher night collections of mud crab juveniles (mixed population of both species) from net box traps (khandas) were obtained during new moon phases (t=3.88; d.f.=11; P&lt; 0.01). </span

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Not AvailableSkin diseases among farmers is usually under reported and it is ignored by farmers as most of them consider it as "part of their job". Skin being the most exposed organ while farming, the farmers are predisposed to skin diseases among other health hazards. Objective: This study aims at finding out the prevalence of skin disease and associated risk factors among farmers. Methodology: Multistage cluster random sampling using PPS (Probability Proportional to Size) was used to select farmers in a coastal block of Odisha. A total of 200 farmers were selected for the study. Complete dermatological examination was conducted in a well lit area. Results: The prevalence of skin diseases was found to be 63% among farmers in rural settings. The common skin diseases reported among pesticide handlers were hyperkeratosis, paronychia, fungal infections, nail dystrophy, dermatitis, melasma, freckles, PLE and others. Lower socioeconomic status, illiteracy, longer exposure to pesticides, non usage of PPE were found to be risk factors for skin diseases among farmers. Conclusion: Health education among the farmers along with appropriate PPE should be encouraged to prevent skin diseases in this group of population. An integrated approach and further research is required to find out a casual association between different risk factors and skin diseases among farmers.Not Availabl