Construction, electroporatic transfer and expression of ZpβypGH and ZpβrtGH in zebrafish

Recombinant transformation vectors (ZPβypGH and ZpβrtGH) consisting of fish growth hormone cDNA, and a reporter gene β-galactosidase driven by fish promoter (Zp) were constructed. Freshly fertilized eggs of zebrafish (Brachydanio rerio) were electroporated at optimum conditions (0.07 kV voltage; 25 μF capacitance; ∞ ohm resistance and 2 pulses) in the presence of one of these transformation vectors (100 μg circular DNA/ml). In either cases 72% of the electroporated eggs successfully hatched, in comparison to the 85% hatchability of the control eggs. Genomic DNA extracted from fins of randomly chosen F0 individuals was screened (by Southern blot hybridization); the transgenes were retained in the host genome of all the randomly chosen adult transformants. Fin-positive presumptive founder parents were crossed with control counterparts and the DNA of randomly chosen F1 progenies was screened for germline transformation. Southern analysis of chosen F1 progenies revealed the persistence of ZPβypGH or ZpβrtGH in 53% of the F1 progenies. Southern analyses of chosen F1 progenies and the frequency (53% of F1 ZpβrtGH and 53% of F1 ZP{β}ypGH) of transmission revealed the degree of mosaicism in F0 transformants. Expression was confirmed from the 3-4 times elevated levels of activity of the reporter gene and 30-40% accelerated growth of transgenic F0 and F1 progenies

Phosphorylation of PRH/HHEX by Protein Kinase CK2 Regulates Cell Proliferation and Cell Migration in Diverse Cell Types

Disruption of the regulatory mechanisms that control cell proliferation and cell migration results in multiple disease states including cancer and leukemia. The Proline-Rich Homeodomain protein (PRH)/haematopoietically expressed homeobox protein (HHEX) is a transcription factor that controls cell proliferation and cell migration in a variety of tissues in the adult and in the embryo. Phosphorylation of PRH by Protein Kinase CK2 (Casein Kinase II) stops PRH from binding to DNA and regulating the transcription of its direct target genes. In leukaemic cells phosphorylation also results in the production of a transdominant-negative truncated PRH phosphoprotein by the proteasome. Phosphorylation of PRH is increased in breast and prostate cancer cells and the consequent loss of PRH activity increases cell proliferation and migration. PRH also regulates the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and CK2-dependent phosphorylation of PRH in these cells accompanies increased cell proliferation during intimal thickening. Thus the ability of PRH to regulate cell behaviour and the control of PRH by CK2 is not limited to a specific cell type or tissue. This raises the possibility that the PRH-CK2 axis could be targeted in a variety of disease states ranging from multiple cancers to the intimal thickening that occurs in vein bypass graft failure and restenosis

Increasing Engagement for Breast Cancer Screening and Treatment : The "ICANTREAT" Community of Expertise Initiative

Funding The workshop and the travel for four researchers – AP, SN, RS and SJM was enabled through the Scottish Funding Council (grant number SF10192) grant.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Seasonal incidence, population dynamics and morphometric traits of exotic coconut whiteflies in southern Tamil Nadu

Survey was conducted at fortnightly intervals to assess the intensity of damage caused by the invasive whiteflies in coconut in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu viz., Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanyakumari from December 2020 to August 2021. Among the four districts, Kanyakumari recorded the highest whitefly incidence (56.30%), whereas, Tenkasi showed the lowest infestation (48.83%). Two whitefly species viz., rugose spiralling whitefly, Aleurodicus rugioperculatus Martin and bondars nesting whitefly (BNW), Paraleyrodes bondari Peracchi were observed in all the surveyed districts. The rugose spiralling whitefly nymphs and adult populations were found to be highest in Kanyakumari (49.46 nymphs/leaflet; 36.99 adults/leaflet) and lowest in Tenkasi (32.76 nymphs/leaflet; 26.71 adults/leaflet). Similarly, the population of bondars nesting whitefly nymphs and adults were highest in Kanyakumari (35.31 nymphs/leaflet; 34.84 adults/leaflet), whereas, the lowest nymphal population was observed in Tenkasi (22.79 nymphs/leaflet) and adult population in Thoothukudi (24.19 adults/leaflet). In morphometric analysis, length and breadth of egg (0.24 ± 0.03 mm and 0.13± 0.02 mm), nymphal (0.83 ± 0.08 mm and 0.38 ± 0.04 mm), pupal (1.08 ± 0.09 mm and 0.70 ± 0.09 mm), adult (female: 2.59 ± 0.09mm, 1.71 ± 0.14 mm; male: 2.27 ± 0.21 mm, 1.30 ± 0.05 mm) was recorded for A. rugioperculatus and egg (0.15 ± 0.02 mm and 0.08 ± 0.01 mm), nymphal (0.46 ± 0.02 mm and 0.36 ± 0.02 mm), pupal (0.59 ± 0.16 mm and 0.41 ± 0.09 mm), adult (1.09 ± 0.08 mm and 0.73 ± 0.07 mm) for P. bondari

BANDGAP ANALYSIS OF NANO CRYSTALLINE L0.1ZY0.9BCCO CERAMICS

Crystalline Ceramic Lanthanum Zirconium Yttrium barium Calcium Copper oxide(L0.1ZY0.9BCCO)  was prepared by a high-energy ball milling process through mechanically assisted synthesis at a high temperature to acquire the desired homogeneity and phase formation. Inorder to study the optical properties like reflectivity, absorptivity, refractive index, the UV-VIS analysis of the above nonstochiometric sample was carried out. The dispersion of refractive index was analyzed by the Wemple-DiDomenico single-oscillator model.The band gap energy of the sample was elucidated from the Tauc plot. The refractive index n was calculated and  the results obtained are plotted  with the wavelength.Â

Birthing practices of traditional birth attendants in South Asia in the context of training programmes

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training has been an important component of public health policy interventions to improve maternal and child health in developing countries since the 1970s. More recently, since the 1990s, the TBA training strategy has been increasingly seen as irrelevant, ineffective or, on the whole, a failure due to evidence that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in developing countries had not reduced. Although, worldwide data show that, by choice or out of necessity, 47 percent of births in the developing world are assisted by TBAs and/or family members, funding for TBA training has been reduced and moved to providing skilled birth attendants for all births. Any shift in policy needs to be supported by appropriate evidence on TBA roles in providing maternal and infant health care service and effectiveness of the training programmes. This article reviews literature on the characteristics and role of TBAs in South Asia with an emphasis on India. The aim was to assess the contribution of TBAs in providing maternal and infant health care service at different stages of pregnancy and after-delivery and birthing practices adopted in home births. The review of role revealed that apart from TBAs, there are various other people in the community also involved in making decisions about the welfare and health of the birthing mother and new born baby. However, TBAs have changing, localised but nonetheless significant roles in delivery, postnatal and infant care in India. Certain traditional birthing practices such as bathing babies immediately after birth, not weighing babies after birth and not feeding with colostrum are adopted in home births as well as health institutions in India. There is therefore a thin precarious balance between the application of biomedical and traditional knowledge. Customary rituals and perceptions essentially affect practices in home and institutional births and hence training of TBAs need to be implemented in conjunction with community awareness programmes

Fatty Acid Composition in the Mature Milk of Bolivian Forager-Horticulturalists: Controlled Comparisons With a US Sample

Breast milk fatty acid (FA) composition varies greatly among individual women, including in percentages of the long-chain polyunsaturated FAs (LCPUFA) 20:4n-6 (arachidonic acid, AA) and 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA), which are important for infant neurological development. It has been suggested that owing to wide variation in milk LCPUFA and low DHA in Western diets, standards of milk FA composition should be derived from populations consuming traditional diets. We collected breast milk samples from Tsimane women at varying lactational stages (6–82 weeks). The Tsimane are an indigenous, natural fertility, subsistence-level population living in Amazonia Bolivia. Tsimane samples were matched by lactational stage to samples from a US milk bank, and analysed concurrently for FA composition by gas-liquid chromatography. We compared milk FA composition between Tsimane (n = 35) and US (n = 35) mothers, focusing on differences in LCPUFA percentages that may be due to population-typical dietary patterns. Per total FAs, the percentages of AA, DHA, total n-3 and total n-6 LCPUFA were significantly higher among Tsimane mothers. Mean percentages of 18:2n-6 (linoleic acid) and trans FAs were significantly higher among US mothers. Tsimane mothers’ higher milk n-3 and n-6 LCPUFA percentages may be due to their regular consumption of wild game and freshwater fish, as well as comparatively lower intakes of processed foods and oils that may interfere with LCPUFA synthesis

<i>In Vitro</i> Activity of Two Cefepime-Based Novel Combinations, Cefepime/Taniborbactam and Cefepime/Zidebactam, against Carbapenemase-Expressing <i>Enterobacterales </i>Collected in India

In recent times, discovery efforts for novel antibiotics have mostly targeted carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative organisms. Two different combination approaches are pertinent: b-lactam-b-lactamase inhibitor (BL/BLI) or b-lactam-b-lactam enhancer (BL/ BLE). Cefepime combined with a BLI, taniborbactam, or with a BLE, zidebactam, has been shown to be promising. In this study, we determined the in vitro activity of both these agents along with comparators against multicentric carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE). Nonduplicate CPE isolates of Escherichia coli (n = 270) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 300), collected from nine different tertiary-care hospitals across India during 2019 to 2021, were included in the study. Carbapenemases in these isolates were detected by PCR. E. coli isolates were also screened for the presence of the 4-Amino-Acid insert in penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3). MICs were determined by reference broth microdilution. Higher MICs of cefepime/taniborbactam (.8 mg/L) were linked to NDM, both in K. pneumoniae and in E. coli. In particular, such higher MICs were observed in 88 to 90% of E. coli isolates producing NDM and OXA-48-like or NDM alone. On the other hand, OXA-48-like-producing E. coli or K. pneumoniae isolates were nearly 100% susceptible to cefepime/taniborbactam. Regardless of the carbapenemase types and the pathogens, cefepime/ zidebactam showed potent activity (.99% inhibited at#8mg/L). It seems that the 4-amino-Acid insert in PBP3 (present universally in the study E. coli isolates) along with NDM adversely impact the activity of cefepime/taniborbactam. Thus, the limitations of the BL/BLI approach in tackling the complex interplay of enzymatic and nonenzymatic resistance mechanisms were better revealed in whole-cell studies where the activity observed was a net effect of b-lactamase inhibition, cellular uptake, and target affinity of the combination. IMPORTANCE The study revealed the differential ability of cefepime/taniborbactam and cefepime/zidebactam in tackling carbapenemase-producing Indian clinical isolates that also harbored additional mechanisms of resistance. NDM-expressing E. coli with 4-Amino-Acid insert in PBP3 are predominately resistant to cefepime/taniborbactam, while the b-lactam enhancer mechanism-based cefepime/zidebactam showed consistent activity against single-or dual-carbapenemase-producing isolates including E. coli with PBP3 inserts.</p

Impact of the roll out of comprehensive emergency obstetric care on institutional birth rate in rural Nepal

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Increasing institutional births rates and improving access to comprehensive emergency obstetric care are central strategies for reducing maternal and neonatal deaths globally. While some studies show women consider service availability when determining where to deliver, the dynamics of how and why institutional birth rates change as comprehensive emergency obstetric care availability increases are unclear. Methods: In this pre-post intervention study, we surveyed two exhaustive samples of postpartum women before and after comprehensive emergency obstetric care implementation at a hospital in rural Nepal. We developed a logistic regression model of institutional birth factors through manual backward selection of all significant covariates within and across periods. Qualitatively, we analyzed birth stories through immersion crystallization. Results: Institutional birth rates increased after comprehensive emergency obstetric care implementation (from 30 to 77%, OR 7.7) at both hospital (OR 2.5) and low-level facilities (OR 4.6, p < 0.01 for all). The logistic regression indicated that comprehensive emergency obstetric care availability (OR 5.6), belief that the hospital is the safest birth location (OR 44.8), safety prioritization in decision-making (OR 7.7), and higher income (OR 1.1) predict institutional birth (p ≤ 0.01 for all). Qualitative analysis revealed comprehensive emergency obstetric care awareness, increased social expectation for institutional birth, and birth planning as important factors. Conclusion: Comprehensive emergency obstetric care expansion appears to have generated significant demand for institutional births through increased safety perceptions and birth planning. Increasing comprehensive emergency obstetric care availability increases birth safety, but it may also be a mechanism for increasing the institutional birth rate in areas of under-utilization