Extension of potential predictability of Indian summer monsoon dry and wet spells in recent decades

An understanding of the limit on potential predictability is crucial for developing appropriate tools for extended-range prediction of active/break spells of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). The global low-frequency changes in climate modulate the annual cycle of the ISM and can influence the intrinsic predictability limit of the ISM intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs). Using 104-year (1901-2004) long daily rainfall data, the change in potential predictability of active and break spells are estimated by an empirical method. It is found that the potential predictability of both active and break spells have undergone a rapid increase during the recent three decades. The potential predictability of active spells has shown an increase from one week to two weeks while that for break spells increased from two weeks to three weeks. This result is interesting and intriguing in the backdrop of recent finding that the potential predictability of monsoon weather has decreased substantially over the same period compared to earlier decades due to increased potential instability of the atmosphere. The possible role of internal dynamics and external forcing in producing this change has been explored. The changes in energy exchange between the synoptic and ISO scale and the different ISO modes as evidenced by energetics computations in frequency domain also support the increased potential predictability of ISO. Our finding provides optimism for improved and useful extended-range prediction of monsoon active and break spells

Predicting and explaining behavioral intention and hand sanitizer use among US Army soldiers

Citation: Naiqing Lin, Kevin R. Roberts, (2017) Predicting and explaining behavioral intention and hand sanitizer use among US Army soldiers, In American Journal of Infection Control, 45(4),396-400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2016.11.008.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, simple hand washing is one of the most effective methods to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.1,2,3 The literature shows a strong and consistent association between personal hand hygiene and reduced gastrointestinal disease, respiratory illness, and absenteeism in the work force.1,4,5 Hands are the primary mode of transmission for many infectious diseases, particularly among military personnel.6 Hand hygiene is a proven measure of controlling infection in military settings

Patterned Neuroprotection in the Inpp4awbl Mutant Mouse Cerebellum Correlates with the Expression of Eaat4

The weeble mutant mouse has a frame shift mutation in inositol polyphosphate 4-phosphatase type I (Inpp4a). The phenotype is characterized by an early onset cerebellar ataxia and neurodegeneration, especially apparent in the Purkinje cells. Purkinje cell loss is a common pathological finding in many human and mouse ataxic disorders. Here we show that in the Inpp4awbl mutant, Purkinje cells are lost in a specific temporal and spatial pattern. Loss occurs early in postnatal development; however, prior to the appearance of climbing fibers in the developing molecular layer, the mutant has a normal complement of Purkinje cells and they are properly positioned. Degeneration and reactive gliosis are present at postnatal day 5 and progress rapidly in a defined pattern of patches; however, Inpp4a is expressed uniformly across Purkinje cells. In late stage mutants, patches of surviving Purkinje cells appear remarkably normal with the exception that the climbing fibers have been excessively eliminated. Surviving Purkinje cells express Eaat4, a glutamate transporter that is differentially expressed in subsets of Purkinje cells during development and into adult stages. Prior to Purkinje cell loss, reactive gliosis and dendritic atrophy can be seen in Eaat4 negative stripes. Our data suggest that Purkinje cell loss in the Inpp4awbl mutant is due to glutamate excitotoxicity initiated by the climbing fiber, and that Eaat4 may exert a protective effect

Novel 2,5-disubstituted-1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives induce apoptosis in HepG2 cells through p53 mediated intrinsic pathway

AbstractA series of novel 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives (OSD, OCOD, ONOD, OPD, COD, PMOD, and PCOD) were synthesized and characterized. Their structures were confirmed on the basis of IR, NMR and mass spectroscopy and molecular weights were found in the range 300–325g/mol. Cancerous cell lines (MCF-7, HepG2) and non-cancerous cell lines (Chang liver cells) were treated with these compounds for 48h, which caused dose dependent decrease in the cell viability. From the seven derivatives, OSD was found to be most potent with IC50 value close to 50μM on all tested cell lines. Hence, this compound was selected for mechanistic study on HepG2 cell lines. Fluorescent cell staining and DNA fragmentation study of 50μM OSD on HepG2 cells, showed events marked by apoptosis such as nuclear fragmentation, cytoplasm shrinkage and DNA damage. Further, the cells with same treatment were quantified for apoptosis using annexin V-PI flow cytometric technique. The percentage of apoptotic cells was significantly higher (p<0.05) after OSD treatment compared to control cells. OSD induced a significant increase (p<0.05) in the expression of the tumor suppressor p53 in HepG2 cells. The constitutive expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 significantly decreased (p<0.05) after treatment, while the expression of proapoptotic protein Bax significantly increased (p<0.05). The change in Bax to Bcl-2 ratio suggested involvement of Bcl-2 family in induction of apoptosis. Furthermore, the levels of caspase-9 and caspase-3 were significantly (p<0.05) up regulated in HepG2 cells after OSD treatment. The data suggest that 1,3,4-oxadiazole derivatives induce apoptosis mediated by intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. The findings strengthen the potential of the 1,3,4-oxadiazole scaffold OSD, as an agent with chemotherapeutic and cytostatic activity in human hepatocellular carcinoma in vitro

Awareness regarding eye donation among stakeholders in Srikakulam district in South India

Background There is a huge need for the availability of transplantable donor corneas worldwide to reduce the burden of corneal blindness due to corneal opacity. Voluntary eye donation depends on the awareness levels of various stakeholders in the community. This study aimed to assess the awareness level regarding eye donation among various stakeholders in Srikakulam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Methods 355 subjects were selected from the district using multi stage random sampling. A pre tested semi structured questionnaire was used to collect information regarding each individual’s awareness, knowledge, and perception regarding eye donation. Each response was scored individually and a total score was calculated. Univariate and multivariate regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with willingness towards eye donation and increased awareness levels. Results Of the 355 subjects interviewed, 192 (54%) were male and 163 (46%) were female. The mean age of the stakeholders was 35.9 years (SD ±16.1) and all the study subjects were literate. Ninety-three percent of subjects were aware of the concept of eye donation. Knowledge levels were similar among the teaching community and persons engaged in social service, but lower among students (p < 0.05). Among the stakeholders, there was considerable ambiguity regarding whether persons currently wearing spectacles or suffering from a chronic illnesses could donate their eyes. Older age group (p < 0.001), female gender (p < 0.001) and education (p < 0.001) were associated with increased knowledge levels. 82% of the subjects were willing to donate their eyes and this was unaffected by gender or geographical location (rural vs urban). Conclusions Awareness levels and willingness to donate eyes are high among the stakeholders in Srikakulam district in India. The services of stakeholders could be utilized, in conjunction with other community based eye donation counselors, to promote awareness regarding eye donation among the general population

Risk factors for hospital admission with RSV bronchiolitis in England: a population-based birth cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the timing and duration of RSV bronchiolitis hospital admission among term and preterm infants in England and to identify risk factors for bronchiolitis admission. DESIGN: A population-based birth cohort with follow-up to age 1 year, using the Hospital Episode Statistics database. SETTING: 71 hospitals across England. PARTICIPANTS: We identified 296618 individual birth records from 2007/08 and linked to subsequent hospital admission records during the first year of life. RESULTS: In our cohort there were 7189 hospital admissions with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis, 24.2 admissions per 1000 infants under 1 year (95%CI 23.7-24.8), of which 15% (1050/7189) were born preterm (47.3 bronchiolitis admissions per 1000 preterm infants (95% CI 44.4-50.2)). The peak age group for bronchiolitis admissions was infants aged 1 month and the median was age 120 days (IQR = 61-209 days). The median length of stay was 1 day (IQR = 0-3). The relative risk (RR) of a bronchiolitis admission was higher among infants with known risk factors for severe RSV infection, including those born preterm (RR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.8-2.0) compared with infants born at term. Other conditions also significantly increased risk of bronchiolitis admission, including Down's syndrome (RR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.7-3.7) and cerebral palsy (RR = 2.4, 95% CI 1.5-4.0). CONCLUSIONS: Most (85%) of the infants who are admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis in England are born at term, with no known predisposing risk factors for severe RSV infection, although risk of admission is higher in known risk groups. The early age of bronchiolitis admissions has important implications for the potential impact and timing of future active and passive immunisations. More research is needed to explain why babies born with Down's syndrome and cerebral palsy are also at higher risk of hospital admission with RSV bronchiolitis

Exogenous double-stranded RNA inhibits the infection physiology of rust fungi to reduce symptoms in planta

Rust fungi (Pucciniales) are a diverse group of plant pathogens in natural and agricultural systems. They pose ongoing threats to the diversity of native flora and cause annual crop yield losses. Agricultural rusts are predominantly managed with fungicides and breeding for resistance, but new control strategies are needed on non-agricultural plants and in fragile ecosystems. RNA interference (RNAi) induced by exogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) has promise as a sustainable approach for managing plant-pathogenic fungi, including rust fungi. We investigated the mechanisms and impact of exogenous dsRNA on rust fungi through in vitro and whole-plant assays using two species as models, Austropuccinia psidii (the cause of myrtle rust) and Coleosporium plumeriae (the cause of frangipani rust). In vitro, dsRNA either associates externally or is internalized by urediniospores during the early stages of germination. The impact of dsRNA on rust infection architecture was examined on artificial leaf surfaces. dsRNA targeting predicted essential genes significantly reduced germination and inhibited development of infection structures, namely appressoria and penetration pegs. Exogenous dsRNA sprayed onto 1-year-old trees significantly reduced myrtle rust symptoms. Furthermore, we used comparative genomics to assess the wide-scale amenability of dsRNA to control rust fungi. We sequenced genomes of six species of rust fungi, including three new families (Araucariomyceaceae, Phragmidiaceae, and Skierkaceae) and identified key genes of the RNAi pathway across 15 species in eight families of Pucciniales. Together, these findings indicate that dsRNA targeting essential genes has potential for broad-use management of rust fungi across natural and agricultural systems

Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients With Primary Immune Regulatory Disorders (PIRD): A Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium (PIDTC) Survey.

Primary Immune Regulatory Disorders (PIRD) are an expanding group of diseases caused by gene defects in several different immune pathways, such as regulatory T cell function. Patients with PIRD develop clinical manifestations associated with diminished and exaggerated immune responses. Management of these patients is complicated; oftentimes immunosuppressive therapies are insufficient, and patients may require hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) for treatment. Analysis of HCT data in PIRD patients have previously focused on a single gene defect. This study surveyed transplanted patients with a phenotypic clinical picture consistent with PIRD treated in 33 Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium centers and European centers. Our data showed that PIRD patients often had immunodeficient and autoimmune features affecting multiple organ systems. Transplantation resulted in resolution of disease manifestations in more than half of the patients with an overall 5-years survival of 67%. This study, the first to encompass disorders across the PIRD spectrum, highlights the need for further research in PIRD management

Sustainable optimizing WMN performance through meta-heuristic TDMA link scheduling and routing

Wireless mesh networks (WMNs) have become a popular solution for expanding internet service and communication in both urban and rural areas. However, the performance of WMNs depends on generating optimized time-division multiple access (TDMA) schedules, which distribute time into a list of slots called superframes. This study proposes novel meta-heuristic algorithms to generate TDMA link schedules in WMNs using two different interference/constraint models: multi-transmit-receive (MTR) and full-duplex (FD). The objectives of this study are to optimize the TDMA frame for packet transmission, satisfy the constraints, and minimize the end-to-end delay. The significant contributions of this study are: (1) proposing effective and efficient heuristic solutions to solve the NP-complete problem of generating optimal TDMA link schedules in WMNs; (2) investigating the new FD interference model to improve the network capacity above the physical layer. To achieve these objectives and contributions, the study uses two popular meta-heuristics, the artificial bee colony (ABC) and/or genetic algorithm (GA), to solve the known NP-complete problems of joint scheduling, power control, and rate control. The results of this study show that the proposed algorithms can generate optimized TDMA link schedules for both MTR and FD models. The joint routing and scheduling approach further minimizes end-to-end delay while maintaining the schedule's minimum length and/or maximum capacity. The proposed solution outperforms the existing solutions in terms of the number of active links, end-to-end delay, and network capacity. The research aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of WMNs in most applications that require high throughput and fast response time