Chronic nail biting, orthodontic treatment and Enterobacteriaceae in the oral cavity

Chronic nail biting is common in children and young adults. Auto inoculation of environmental pathogens can manifest as infection in distant organs. Multi-drug resistance gram negative bacteria are on the rise globally. Several of the foodborne bacteria fall within the Enterobacteriaceae family but very few studies have explored these microbes in the oral cavity of children with chronic nail-biting habit or orthodontic treatment. The study aims to investigate oral load of Enterobacteriaceae in children with chronic nail-biting habit and or those undergoing orthodontic treatment. 150 children (no nail-biting n=30, nail biting n=60, fixed orthodontic treatment n =30 and a combination of fixed orthodontic appliance use and nail-biting habit n =30) were assessed for culture based microbiological investigation. The concentrated oral rinse technique was used. The rinse was inoculated in MacConkey?s and Blood Agar. The gram stained culture was subjected to biochemical tests for sub-species identification using Biomerieux Vitek 2 Compact Automated Microbiological Analyzer. Fisher?s exact and Kruskal Wallis with post hoc analysis using Dunn method was performed to test association and difference between groups. Enterobacteriaceae was positive for 72% of the children. Of them, nail biting or orthodontic treatment group comprised 89%. Those with a combination of nail biting and undergoing orthodontic treatment exhibited highest CFU/ml and those without nail biting or orthodontic treatment exhibited the lowest. Three of the four organisms isolated tested positive in the orthodontic treatment group. E. coli was positive in 38% of the children while Klebsiella and E. cloacae were isolated exclusively in the orthodontic treatment group. Chronic nail biting or the use of fixed orthodontic appliances is associated with higher incidence of Enterobacteriaceae in the oral cavity. Oral health professionals play an important role in preventing multi drug resistance infectious diseases

Integrated Prognostics Observer for Condition Monitoring of an Automated Manual Transmission Dry Clutch System

The closed loop feedback control system of an Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) electro-pneumatic clutch actuator is used for intelligent real time condition monitoring, enhanced diagnostics and prognostic health management of the dry clutch system, by integrating with the existing gearbox prognostics observer. The real-time sensor data of the clutch actuator piston position is analyzed for monitoring the condition of the clutch system. Original parameters of the new clutch are stored in the Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-only Memory (EEPROM) of the AMT controller and the real-time data is used by the observer for assessing the degradation/wear of the frictional clutch parts. Also, clutch slip during torque transmission is monitored, using the engine speed and the gearbox input shaft speed from Controller Area Network (CAN). Condition monitoring of clutch system provides enhanced prognostic functionality for AMT system which ensures consistent clutch performance, gear shift quality and timely warning for recalibration, repair and/or replacement of the critical wear and tear parts. Also, systematic analysis of the monitored data provides an accurate diagnosis of a developing fault. Thus, with the advanced control systems in place for AMT, a closed loop feedback based condition monitoring system is modelled for improved diagnostics and prognostics of AMT clutch system

Multiple ocean parameter-based potential fishing zone (PFZ) location generation and validation in the Western Bay of Bengal

A new conceptual framework based on satellite data, including chlorophyll (CHL), sea surface temperature (SST) fronts, relative winds, current vectors, Ekman transport, and eddies, has been developed to identify potential fishing zones (PFZ) in the Bay of Bengal (BoB). The framework aims to provide persistent forecasts, even under cloudy conditions, based on feature propagation. The validation of the PFZ was carried out using fish catch data collected by the Fishery Survey of India (FSI) between 2016 and 2018. Hooking rates (HR) from longlines and catch per unit effort (CPUE) from trawl nets were used to analyse the data points in hook rate categories (1.0–3.0 and > 3.0) and CPUE categories (50–100 kg and > 100 kg) and interpret them with the PFZ maps. The analysis showed that the high fish catch locations were consistent with persisting features in the BoB, such as high chlorophyll patches, SST fronts, and cyclonic eddies. The high fish catch locations based on hook rate and high CPUE were found to be collocated with the high chlorophyll persisting features and thermal gradients in the BoB. The regression analysis shows that availability of the food (CHL) had the strongest correlation with fish catch, followed by the comfort condition (fronts and eddies)

GBS-based SNP map pinpoints the QTL associated with sorghum downy mildew resistance in maize (Zea mays L.)

Sorghum downy mildew (SDM), caused by the biotrophic fungi Peronosclerospora sorghi, threatens maize production worldwide, including India. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to SDM, we used a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between resistant inbred line UMI936 (w) and susceptible inbred line UMI79. The RIL population was phenotyped for SDM resistance in three environments [E1-field (Coimbatore), E2-greenhouse (Coimbatore), and E3-field (Mandya)] and also utilized to construct the genetic linkage map by genotyping by sequencing (GBS) approach. The map comprises 1516 SNP markers in 10 linkage groups (LGs) with a total length of 6924.7 cM and an average marker distance of 4.57 cM. The QTL analysis with the phenotype and marker data detected nine QTL on chromosome 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7 across three environments. Of these, QTL namely qDMR1.2, qDMR3.1, qDMR5.1, and qDMR6.1 were notable due to their high phenotypic variance. qDMR3.1 from chromosome 3 was detected in more than one environment (E1 and E2), explaining the 10.3% and 13.1% phenotypic variance. Three QTL, qDMR1.2, qDMR5.1, and qDMR6.1 from chromosomes 1, 5, and 6 were identified in either E1 or E3, explaining 15.2%–18% phenotypic variance. Moreover, genome mining on three QTL (qDMR3.1, qDMR5.1, and qDMR6.1) reveals the putative candidate genes related to SDM resistance. The information generated in this study will be helpful for map-based cloning and marker-assisted selection in maize breeding programs

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Addressing Semantics Standards for Cloud Portability and Interoperability in Multi Cloud Environment

The increasing demand for cloud computing has shifted business toward a huge demand for cloud services, which offer platform, software, and infrastructure for the day-to-day use of cloud consumers. Numerous new cloud service providers have been introduced to the market with unique features that assist service developers collaborate and migrate services among multiple cloud service providers to address the varying requirements of cloud consumers. Many interfaces and proprietary application programming interfaces (API) are available for migration and collaboration services among cloud providers, but lack standardization efforts. The target of the research work was to summarize the issues involved in semantic cloud portability and interoperability in the multi-cloud environment and define the standardization effort imminently needed for migrating and collaborating services in the multi-cloud environment

Synthesis of Some Newer Nalidixic Acid Derivatives as Potent Antimicrobial Agents

ABSTRACT A molecular manipulation efforts were made at β carbon of α, β unsaturated site of nalidixic acid by Michael addition, in expectation to get newer chemimanipulated derivatives with potent/modified antimicrobial spectrum. At the ends of chemimanipulative work, totally 5 derivatives were synthesized and characterized by spectral data. All the derivatives were screened for its antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aureginosa, and Proteus vulgaris at a concentration of 100µg/disc with the same dose of nalidixic acid as control by agar plate disc diffusion method. The results revealed that hydrazine substituted tricyclic derivatives exhibited potent antibacterial activity gram +ve rather than against gram -ve, however, potentiation were found to be against gram +ve and gram -ve bacteria