Diversity, structure and sources of bacterial communities in earthworm cocoons.

Animals start interactions with the bacteria that will constitute their microbiomes at embryonic stage. After mating, earthworms produce cocoons externally which will be colonized with bacteria from their parents and the environment. Due to the key role bacterial symbionts play on earthworm fitness, it is important to study bacterial colonization during cocoon formation. Here we describe the cocoon microbiome of the earthworms Eisenia andrei and E. fetida, which included 275 and 176 bacterial species, respectively. They were dominated by three vertically-transmitted symbionts, Microbacteriaceae, Verminephrobacter and Ca. Nephrothrix, which accounted for 88% and 66% of the sequences respectively. Verminephrobacter and Ca. Nephrothrix showed a high rate of sequence variation, suggesting that they could be biparentally acquired during mating. The other bacterial species inhabiting the cocoons came from the bedding, where they accounted for a small fraction of the diversity (27% and 7% of bacterial species for E. andrei and E. fetida bedding). Hence, earthworm cocoon microbiome includes a large fraction of the vertically-transmitted symbionts and a minor fraction, but more diverse, horizontally and non-randomly acquired from the environment. These data suggest that horizontally-transmitted bacteria to cocoons may play an important role in the adaptation of earthworms to new environments or diets

Ankyrin is the major oxidised protein in erythrocyte membranes from end-stage renal disease patients on chronic haemodialysis and oxidation is decreased by dialysis and vitamin C supplementation

Chronically haemodialysed end-stage renal disease patients are at high risk of morbidity arising from complications of dialysis, the underlying pathology that has led to renal disease and the complex pathology of chronic kidney disease. Anaemia is commonplace and its origins are multifactorial, involving reduced renal erythropoietin production, accumulation of uremic toxins and an increase in erythrocyte fragility. Oxidative damage is a common risk factor in renal disease and its co-morbidities and is known to cause erythrocyte fragility. Therefore, we have investigated the hypothesis that specific erythrocyte membrane proteins are more oxidised in end-stage renal disease patients and that vitamin C supplementation can ameliorate membrane protein oxidation. Eleven patients and 15 control subjects were recruited to the study. Patients were supplemented with 2 × 500 mg vitamin C per day for 4 weeks. Erythrocyte membrane proteins were prepared pre- and post-vitamin C supplementation for determination of protein oxidation. Total protein carbonyls were reduced by vitamin C supplementation but not by dialysis when investigated by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Using a western blot to detect oxidised proteins, one protein band, later identified as containing ankyrin, was found to be oxidised in patients but not controls and was reduced significantly by 60% in all patients after dialysis and by 20% after vitamin C treatment pre-dialysis. Ankyrin oxidation analysis may be useful in a stratified medicines approach as a possible marker to identify requirements for intervention in dialysis patients

Hyperimmune immunoglobulin for hospitalised patients with COVID-19 (ITAC): a double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3, randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Passive immunotherapy using hyperimmune intravenous immunoglobulin (hIVIG) to SARS-CoV-2, derived from recovered donors, is a potential rapidly available, specific therapy for an outbreak infection such as SARS-CoV-2. Findings from randomised clinical trials of hIVIG for the treatment of COVID-19 are limited. METHODS: In this international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who had been symptomatic for up to 12 days and did not have acute end-organ failure were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either hIVIG or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo, in addition to remdesivir, when not contraindicated, and other standard clinical care. Randomisation was stratified by site pharmacy; schedules were prepared using a mass-weighted urn design. Infusions were prepared and masked by trial pharmacists; all other investigators, research staff, and trial participants were masked to group allocation. Follow-up was for 28 days. The primary outcome was measured at day 7 by a seven-category ordinal endpoint that considered pulmonary status and extrapulmonary complications and ranged from no limiting symptoms to death. Deaths and adverse events, including organ failure and serious infections, were used to define composite safety outcomes at days 7 and 28. Prespecified subgroup analyses were carried out for efficacy and safety outcomes by duration of symptoms, the presence of anti-spike neutralising antibodies, and other baseline factors. Analyses were done on a modified intention-to-treat (mITT) population, which included all randomly assigned participants who met eligibility criteria and received all or part of the assigned study product infusion. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04546581. FINDINGS: From Oct 8, 2020, to Feb 10, 2021, 593 participants (n=301 hIVIG, n=292 placebo) were enrolled at 63 sites in 11 countries; 579 patients were included in the mITT analysis. Compared with placebo, the hIVIG group did not have significantly greater odds of a more favourable outcome at day 7; the adjusted OR was 1·06 (95% CI 0·77–1·45; p=0·72). Infusions were well tolerated, although infusion reactions were more common in the hIVIG group (18·6% vs 9·5% for placebo; p=0·002). The percentage with the composite safety outcome at day 7 was similar for the hIVIG (24%) and placebo groups (25%; OR 0·98, 95% CI 0·66–1·46; p=0·91). The ORs for the day 7 ordinal outcome did not vary for subgroups considered, but there was evidence of heterogeneity of the treatment effect for the day 7 composite safety outcome: risk was greater for hIVIG compared with placebo for patients who were antibody positive (OR 2·21, 95% CI 1·14–4·29); for patients who were antibody negative, the OR was 0·51 (0·29–0·90; pinteraction=0·001). INTERPRETATION: When administered with standard of care including remdesivir, SARS-CoV-2 hIVIG did not demonstrate efficacy among patients hospitalised with COVID-19 without end-organ failure. The safety of hIVIG might vary by the presence of endogenous neutralising antibodies at entry. FUNDING: US National Institutes of Health

The genomic landscape of balanced cytogenetic abnormalities associated with human congenital anomalies

Despite the clinical significance of balanced chromosomal abnormalities (BCAs), their characterization has largely been restricted to cytogenetic resolution. We explored the landscape of BCAs at nucleotide resolution in 273 subjects with a spectrum of congenital anomalies. Whole-genome sequencing revised 93% of karyotypes and demonstrated complexity that was cryptic to karyotyping in 21% of BCAs, highlighting the limitations of conventional cytogenetic approaches. At least 33.9% of BCAs resulted in gene disruption that likely contributed to the developmental phenotype, 5.2% were associated with pathogenic genomic imbalances, and 7.3% disrupted topologically associated domains (TADs) encompassing known syndromic loci. Remarkably, BCA breakpoints in eight subjects altered a single TAD encompassing MEF2C, a known driver of 5q14.3 microdeletion syndrome, resulting in decreased MEF2C expression. We propose that sequence-level resolution dramatically improves prediction of clinical outcomes for balanced rearrangements and provides insight into new pathogenic mechanisms, such as altered regulation due to changes in chromosome topology

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Not AvailableA major portion of the national economy of India is contributed by pig industry. Keeping the pace with other part of India, the North Eastern region of India specially Assam has also made a significant progress in pig industry in the recent years. A vast majority of the population being of tribal origin, pig rearing and consumption of pork have been traditionally popular in this region. In recent times the popularity of pork among the non-tribal particularly in urban areas is also increasing steadily. Among various infectious agents associated with diseases of pig is the virus. Out of these viral agents, Classical Swine Fever Virus (CSFV)is responsible for the most devastating disease that causes stillbirth, abortion, persistent infection [1] .Also compared to any other infectious disease CSF causes more number of deaths in pigs. Therefore, it is a cause of fear or threat to pig industry. The etiological agent of CSF is the Classical Swine Fever Virus (CSFV), a member of the genus Pestivirus, of the family Flaviviridae. The genome of the CSFV is single stranded RNA. The RNA is positive sense, the number of nucleotides in the RNA is approximately 12300bp and GC content is 46%.The CSFV measures approximately 40±3 nm in diameter and the inner core or nucleocapsid alone is about 29±3nm.The virus has an envelope with glycosylated membrane proteins and icosahedral symmetry [2].The virus has a nontranslated region at either end (5´ NTR and 3´ NTR), encompassing a single open reading frame encoding a large protein that is cleaved into smaller fragments. The genes encoding the structural proteins (Cprotein, Erns, E1 and E2) are found towards the 5´ end of the genome, and include the major envelope glycoprotein gene E2.The genes encoding non-structural proteins (Npro, P7 , NS2, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A and NS5B) are located mainly in the 3´ two thirds of the genome, and include the polymerase gene NS5B .The glycoprotein E2 is most immunogenic protein and neutralizing antibodies are directed to it during CSFV infection [3, 4]. For detection of CSF viral nucleic acid, the highly conserved E2 gene fragment of CSFV (Lowing et al., 1996) was used in the present study. Specific primers were used to amplify E2 gene fragment of CSFV isolates from Assam using nRT-PCR.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe present study was conducted in the water bodies of East Kolkata Wetlands to generate a primary database on fish diversity of West Bengal, India. 71 indigenous fish species belonging to 27 families were identified. The family Cyprinidae represented the largest diversity accommodating 14 genera and 23 species. According to IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and CAMP (Conservation Assessment and Management Plan), the conservation status of the fishes are listed as 1 (1%) species as Critically Endangered, 4(6%) species as Endangered, 16 (22%) species as Vulnerable, 21 (30%) species as at Lower Risk Near Threatened, 21 (30%) species as Lower Risk Least Concerned, 1(1%) species as Data Deficient and 7 (10 %) species as Not Evaluated. About 59% fish species are near threats, vulnerable and endangered in this region. Among the fish diversity of East Kolkata Wetlands58 species were indigenous species and 13 species were exotic. It is concluded, that anthropogenic pressure arising out of alterations of wetland habitats to agricultural lands, habitat destruction, over exploitation, wanton destruction, aquatic pollution, disease, exotic species introduce and overall lack of awareness of biodiversity importance, absence of proper policy are contributing much to such alarming vulnerability of the rich fish diversity in their natural habitat. Awareness programmes amongst the fisherman, strict ban on dividing of big-water bodies into fragmented small ponds, repeated drying of maturation pond, loss of natural breeding ground for endangered species, use of insecticides and pesticides in ponds to control unwanted species.Not Availabl