A review on scope of immuno-modulatory drugs in Ayurveda for prevention and treatment of Covid-19

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) infection attacking mainly on the immune system of a body. It is a potentially fatal disease that is of public health and economy concern globally. In December 2019, COVID-19 outbreak occurred in Wuhan city, Hubei Province, China furthermore spread worldwide. Research is underway in many countries to develop effective vaccines and drugs for the COVID-19. In Ayurveda, Acharya Charaka explained the concept of an epidemic condition in Janapadodhwans Adhayay and combating of these diseases is to be done by Panchakarma (five procedures of purification), Rasayana Chikitsa (immune-modulators therapy) and Sadvritta (good conduct). Rasayan dravyas (immuno modulators drugs) of Ayurveda can be used for health promotion, immune-modulation, prevention and reduce disease burden from COVID-19. Drugs such as Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal), Guduchi (Tinospora cordifoloia (Willd.) Miers), Amalaki (Phyllanthus emblica L.), Mulethi (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.), Shatavari (Asparagus racemosus Willd), Chireta (Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f.) Nees), Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum L.) Punarnava (Boerhaavia diffusa L.) and Pippali ((Piper longum L.) For symptom management of COVID-19 like illness Agastya Haritaki, Anutaila, AYUSH–64 can be used. Scientific research on these drugs may reveal the new approach for the prevention and management of COVID-19. The main aim of this article is to review research which has already conducted and currently being carried out on the herbal plant for their immunomodulation property which have a possible application in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19

Structural and antigenic variance between novel influenza A/H1N1/2009 and influenza A/H1N1/2008 viruses

BACKGROUND: The emergence of influenza A/H1N1/2009 is alarming. The severity of previous epidemics suggests that the susceptibility of the human population to H1N1 is directly proportional to the degree of changes in hemagglutinin/HA and neuraminidase/NA; therefore, H1N1/2009 and H1N1/2008 were analyzed for their sequence as well as structural divergence. METHODOLOGY: The structural and sequence divergence of H1N1/2009 and H1N1/2008 strains were analyzed by aligning HA and NA amino acid sequences by using ClustalW and ESyPred3D software. To determine the variations in sites of viral attachment to host cells, a comparison between amino acid sequences of HA and NA glycosylation sites was performed with NetNGlyc software. The antigenic divergence was executed by CTL epitope prediction method. RESULTS: The amino acid homology levels of H1N1/2009 were 20.32% and 18.73% compared to H1N1/2008 for HA and NA genes, respectively. In spite of the high variation in HA and NA amino acid composition, there was no significant difference in their structures. Antigenic analysis proposes that great antigenic differences exist between both the viral strains, but no addition of a new site of glycosylation was observed. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first report suggesting that the circulating novel influenza virus A/H1N1/2009 attaches to the same glycosylation receptor sites as its predecessor influenza A/H1N1/2008 virus, but is antigenically different and may have the potential for initiating a significant pandemic. Our study may facilitate the development of better therapeutics and preventive strategies, as well as impart clues for novel H1N1 diagnostic and vaccine development

Baryogenesis from Primordial Blackholes after Electroweak Phase Transition

Incorporating a realistic model for accretion of ultra-relativistic particles by primordial blackholes (PBHs), we study the evolution of an Einstein-de Sitter universe consisting of PBHs embedded in a thermal bath from the epoch $\sim 10^{-33}$ sec to $\sim 5\times 10^{-9}$ sec. In this paper we use Barrow et al's ansatz to model blackhole evaporation in which the modified Hawking temperature goes to zero in the limit of the blackhole attaining a relic state with mass $\sim m_{pl}$. Both single mass PBH case as well as the case in which blackhole masses are distributed in the range $8\times 10^2 - 3\times 10^5$ gm have been considered in our analysis. Blackholes with mass larger than $\sim 10^5$ gm appear to survive beyond the electroweak phase transition and, therefore, successfully manage to create baryon excess via $X-\bar X$ emissions, averting the baryon number wash-out due to sphalerons. In this scenario, we find that the contribution to the baryon-to-entropy ratio by PBHs of initial mass $m$ is given by $\sim \epsilon \zeta (m/1 {gm})^{-1}$, where $\epsilon$ and $\zeta$ are the CP-violating parameter and the initial mass fraction of the PBHs, respectively. For $\epsilon$ larger than $\sim 10^{-4}$, the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe can be attributed to the evaporation of PBHs.Comment: Latex2e file with seven figures included as postscript file

Original Article Trend of Japanese encephalitis in North India: evidence from thirty-eight acute encephalitis cases and appraisal of niceties

Background: In the year 2005, an epidemic of Japanese encephalitis (JE) occurred in the northern states of India. The present study was planned to reconfirm the circulation of JE in the area and to assess the trend of the disease to slow down the burden of JE. Methodology: Surveillance was conducted to identify patients with acute encephalitis. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid specimens from suspected cases underwent pathological, serological, and demographic investigations. Viral testing for evidence of Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infection was also performed, either by IgM capture ELISA/RT-PCR or both. To identify circulating JEV strains, RT-PCR, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis was performed. Based on clinical cases reported between 1992 and 2008, the trend of JE infection in the state was analyzed to examine the dynamics of infection. Results: Our investigations (n = 38) revealed that only 55.3 % cases were positive for JE. Pathological examination revealed marked pleocytosis in CSF (90 76.9 cells/mm 3), and peripheral leucocytosis (64.7 8.86 % neutrophils) with mild anemia. Males were more susceptible than females with a ratio of 1.63:1 and significant gender difference (P 0.05) was observed in patients below six years. In the patient group younger than six years, the rate of infection per million was six-fold higher (P 0.005) in males as compared to females. Our phylogenetic study suggests that the circulating strain during the 2005 JE epidemic was close to GP78, and in the future a larger epidemic may occur. Conclusions: The 2005 JE epidemic was possibly caused by JEV GP78 and it is spreading into newer areas. The trend of JE suggests tha

Psychological behavior management techniques to alleviate dental fear and anxiety in 4–14-year-old children in pediatric dentistry: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Child's uncooperative behavior can impede the efficient delivery of dental care. Therefore, in spite of exceeding availability of behavior management techniques there is a need to search for a psychological behavior management technique that effectively reduces fear and anxiety during dental treatment and instill a change in child's attitude toward the treatment and is also acceptable by the parents. The aim of our systematic review is to determine the efficacy of various psychological behavior management techniques in managing a child's behavior in pediatric dentistry by assessing the fear and anxiety levels, ease of use by the clinician, application in various operative procedures, and parental acceptance. A systematic search was conducted by two reviewers in databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane for the studies published from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2020. Studies included were clinical studies which evaluated the efficacy of various psychological behavior management techniques by evaluating the fear and anxiety levels and the changes in behavior during dental treatment in children aged between 4 and 14 years. The studies selected were then assessed for quality with the help of predetermined criteria which categorized the studies into high, medium, and low. Through search strategy, 7147 articles were yielded. After screening through titles and abstracts, 60 nonduplicated articles were selected which were further screened for full text. At the end, 15 articles were included in systematic review and 3 articles for meta-analysis. It was concluded that all the psychological behavior management techniques aided in reduction of fear and anxiety. In noninvasive procedures, conventional psychological behavior management techniques can be effective but in invasive procedures other newer psychological behavior management techniques showed better results. The aspect of parental acceptance regarding various techniques was not discussed in any of the included studies