Emergence of Recombinant Forms of HIV: Dynamics and Scaling

The ability to accelerate the accumulation of favorable combinations of mutations renders recombination a potent force underlying the emergence of forms of HIV that escape multi-drug therapy and specific host immune responses. We present a mathematical model that describes the dynamics of the emergence of recombinant forms of HIV following infection with diverse viral genomes. Mimicking recent in vitro experiments, we consider target cells simultaneously exposed to two distinct, homozygous viral populations and construct dynamical equations that predict the time evolution of populations of uninfected, singly infected, and doubly infected cells, and homozygous, heterozygous, and recombinant viruses. Model predictions capture several recent experimental observations quantitatively and provide insights into the role of recombination in HIV dynamics. From analyses of data from single-round infection experiments with our description of the probability with which recombination accumulates distinct mutations present on the two genomic strands in a virion, we estimate that ∼8 recombinational strand transfer events occur on average (95% confidence interval: 6–10) during reverse transcription of HIV in T cells. Model predictions of virus and cell dynamics describe the time evolution and the relative prevalence of various infected cell subpopulations following the onset of infection observed experimentally. Remarkably, model predictions are in quantitative agreement with the experimental scaling relationship that the percentage of cells infected with recombinant genomes is proportional to the percentage of cells coinfected with the two genomes employed at the onset of infection. Our model thus presents an accurate description of the influence of recombination on HIV dynamics in vitro. When distinctions between different viral genomes are ignored, our model reduces to the standard model of viral dynamics, which successfully predicts viral load changes in HIV patients undergoing therapy. Our model may thus serve as a useful framework to predict the emergence of multi-drug-resistant forms of HIV in infected individuals

Clinical evaluation of Ayurvedic drug regime after Shodhana in Vicharchika - A case study

Now a days we can see a considerable rise in the incidence of skin problems due to various reasons like poor sanitation, unhygienic lifestyle, unhealthy food habits. Due to recurrence and cosmetic disfigurement all skin diseases needs a potent t/t option which will not give symptomatic relief but cure from roots of disease.In the Ayurveda text all skin diseases were included under the Kustharoga, so included under the Raktapradoshaja Vikara and treated as Kustha. Selected Panchakarma procedures for Kustha along with Shamana Chikitsa have been proved valuable in these manifestation. Here a case of 32 yrs old female patient presented with symptoms of Vicharchika, which was treated with combination of Panchakarma procedures and Shamana Aushadhi. Patients condition assessed before and after treatment

A rare case of synovial sarcoma of the prostate

Prostatic synovial sarcomas are exceedingly rare. To our knowledge, only six primary cases have been reported so far. We herein describe a primary synovial sarcoma of the prostate seen in a 25- year-old male patient, the youngest patient seen with this disease to date. He was referred to our department with the diagnosis of high-grade sarcoma of the prostate revealed by TRUS-guided biopsy. On admission he had a transurethral catheter for acute retention of urine. MRI revealed a solid prostatic tumor of 9.5 x 8 cm involving the rectum without any evidence of lymphatic or distant metastases. The patient underwent total pelvic exenteration and sigmoid end colostomy with ileal conduit. Histopathology revealed a synovial sarcoma of the prostate, immunoreactive to vimentin, Bcl–2 and cytokeratin. The patient is doing well at 18 months follow-up.Key Words: Prostatic sarcoma, prostatic malignancy, prostate, synovial sarcom

Contralateral Fracture of the Penis with Concomitant Urethral Injury – Report of a Rare Case

Penile refracture is a rare urological emergency, more so on the side contralateral to the previous fracture. A 55-year-old male was referred 70 hours after sudden detumescence during sexual intercourse, with a history of blood at the urethral meatus. The patient had had a fracture of the penis four years previously. Examination revealed ecchymosis and swelling of the proximal shaft and purulent discharge from a laceration in the penile skin over the proximal corpora. Ultrasonography revealed laceration of the right tunica albuginea and corpus cavernosum. Exploration revealed scar tissue at the site of the previous operation on the left side and a fresh laceration, 1cm in size, in the right corpus cavernosum in the mid shaft, and a urethral defect of 0.5 cm. The patient had normal erections post-operatively and no complications at 6 months followup. On literature review, anecdotal cases of contralateral refracture of the penis were found. High suspicion, prompt diagnosis and expedient surgical management are essential for a good outcome with minimal complication

Titanium lag screw osteosynthesis in the management of mandibular fractures

Aims and objectives: To evaluate the efficiency of titanium lag screws in the management of oblique and sagittally displaced mandibular fractures. Also to analyze various complications encountered through this technique. Materials and methods: Twenty cases presenting with mandibular oblique, sagittaly displaced mandibular fractures requiring were selected in our study. Titanium lag screws were placed such that their axes bisect the angle between a perpendicular drawn to the fracture line and perpendicular to the bone surface. Postoperative follow up was done for 3to 9 months Results: Majority of the fractures (10) were parasymphysis fractures, 3 with associated fractures. Intermaxillary fixation was used in two of these cases as the fracture fragments were severely displaced (Table1). In two patients, a single lag screw combined with a small conventional miniplate and a bone graft was used, due to loss of bone along the inferior border of the mandible in the fractured site. Two lag screws were used in severely displaced symphysis fractures and when two fracture sites were seen. Adequate rigidity and stability of fractured segments was achieved in all the cases. Conclusion : Titanium lag screw fixation was found to have good rigidity, stability, economic and less time consuming in certain type of mandibular fractures, though there exists few contraindications regarding its usage. It is definitely a technique sensitive procedure, requiring strict adherence to the principle if lag screw placement and adequate knowledge about internal anatomy of the mandible

Caregiver Willingness to Give TPT to Children Living with Drug-Resistant TB Patients

Pediatric household contacts (HHCs) of patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) are at high risk of infection and active disease. Evidence of caregiver willingness to give MDR-TB preventive therapy (TPT) to children is limited.METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of HHCs of patients with MDR-TB to assess caregiver willingness to give TPT to children aged \u3c13 years.RESULTS Of 743 adult and adolescent HHCs, 299 reported caring for children aged \u3c13 years of age. The median caregiver age was 35 years (IQR 27-48); 75% were women. Among caregivers, 89% were willing to give children MDR TPT. In unadjusted analyses, increased willingness was associated with TB-related knowledge (OR 5.1, 95% CI 2.3-11.3), belief that one can die of MDR-TB (OR 5.2, 95% CI 1.2-23.4), concern for MDR-TB transmission to child (OR 4.5, 95% CI 1.6-12.4), confidence in properly taking TPT (OR 4.5, 95% CI 1.6-12.6), comfort telling family about TPT (OR 5.5, 95% CI 2.1-14.3), and willingness to take TPT oneself (OR 35.1, 95% CI 11.0-112.8).CONCLUSIONS A high percentage of caregivers living with MDR- or rifampicin-resistant TB patients were willing to give children a hypothetical MDR TPT. These results provide important evidence for the potential uptake of effective MDR TPT when implemented

Universal Non-Polar Switching in Carbon-doped Transition Metal Oxides (TMOs) and Post TMOs

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) and post-TMOs (PTMOs), when doped with Carbon, show non-volatile current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, which are both universal and repeatable. We have shown spectroscopic evidence of the introduction of carbon-based impurity states inside the existing larger bandgap effectively creating a smaller bandgap which we suggest could enable Mott-like correlation effect. Our findings indicate new insights for yet to be understood unipolar and nonpolar resistive switching in the TMOs and PTMOs. We have shown that device switching is not thermal-energy dependent and have developed an electronic-dominated switching model that allows for the extreme temperature operation (from 1.5 K to 423 K) and state retention up to 673 K for a 1-hour bake. Importantly, we have optimized the technology in an industrial process and demonstrated integrated 1-transistor/1-resistor (1T1R) arrays up to 1 kbit with 47 nm devices on 300 mm wafers for advanced node CMOS-compatible correlated electron RAM (CeRAM). These devices are shown to operate with 2 ns write pulses and retain the memory states up to 200 C for 24 hours. The collection of attributes shown, including scalability to state-of-the-art dimensions, non-volatile operation to extreme low and high temperatures, fast write, and reduced stochasticity as compared to filamentary memories such as ReRAMs show the potential for a highly capable two-terminal back-end-of-line non-volatile memory.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figures, accepted in APL Material

Influence of mesoscale eddies on a commercial fishery in the coastal waters of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India

Mesoscale eddies enhance the productivity in a stratified coastal environment by upwelling. The seas around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been found to have frequent mesoscale eddy activity. Commercial fishing grounds coincide with upwelling areas associated with cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies and also with areas between two adjacent eddies. There are different eddy zones supporting different types of fishing gears and fish. The current study aims at identifying the different zones of mesoscale eddies in the Andaman Sea and compares the productivity and fishing activity in each of them. Data collected from 454 commercial fishing trips in the Andaman Sea along with maps of sea level anomaly and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) global level 3 mapped thermal infrared (IR) daytime sea surface temperature (SST) from the Aqua and Terra satellites were used for the study. Known upwelling areas such as the periphery of anticyclonic and the core of cyclonic eddies showed higher catches in longlines, ring seines among the fishing gears, and among all the fish species groups. Downwelling areas such as the periphery of cyclonic and the core of anticyclonic eddies showed lower catches with ring seines and the fish species groups. Areas in between adjacent eddies were explored in this study and the fish captures in such areas were found to be different with types of fishing and the target fish group. The study shows results that link eddy activity with the performance of a fishery