Understanding the epidemiology of COVID-19

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 was reported in December, 2019 in Wuhan city of Hubei province, China, in people who had visited seafood market. Its symptoms were similar to pneumonia but its infectivity was very high. The main modes of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 were identified as spread by nasal droplets and oral-fecal route and COVID-19 was found to be infectious in incubation and asymptomatic period. Hence, by the time real potential of its pathogenicity was realized, it had spread to many regions of China, other Asian countries, European countries, United States etc. and by April 20, 2020, it had spread to 185 countries all over the world. By this time, China had contained the virus, due to strict social distancing measures, and there was decline in the number of positive cases but in many other countries, especially U.S. and European countries, the cases continued to rise. United States showed the sharpest rise in COVID-19 cases in April, 2020 and also reported the highest number of deaths from the disease. As most of the countries are facing first-wave of COVID-19 by April, 2020, there are fears of second-wave of COVID-19 as China plans to relax social distancing norms to resume business, other work etc. to combat economic losses. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.382211

Sodium fluoride: suggestive role in wound healing and cell proliferation with respect to regeneration

Sodium fluoride is a naturally occurring toxicant. The most common sources of sodium fluoride are municipal water, toothpastes etc. The ever increasing exposure to sodium fluoride may affect various physiological processes including regenerative capabilities. The characteristic events of regeneration include wound healing followed by cell proliferation and differentiation to replace the lost structure or tissue. Lower levels of sodium fluoride may be enhancing wound healing and cell proliferation but higher levels are detrimental for both these processes. Sodium fluoride affects wound healing by altering the expression of various proteins like fibroblast growth factors 2 and 7, Twist1 protein, matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 7, bone morphogenetic protein 7, Bcl-2, p53 etc. Sodium fluoride also influences cell division, migration and matrix synthesis by regulating the expression of bone morphogenetic proteins 2 and 3, alkaline phosphatases etc. which are markers of cell proliferation. Excessive fluoride produces oxidative stress in the cells and leads to conditions like apoptosis, cell cycle arrest and even necrosis. Thus, high levels of sodium fluoride hamper the process of cell proliferation and induce apoptosis via caspase and JNK-mediated pathway. The aim of this review is to understand the role sodium fluoride plays during wound healing and cell proliferation and its correlation with regenerative capabilities in organisms. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.131239

Obstetric outcome of twin pregnancies at tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: Twin Pregnancy is considered as a high risk pregnancy. According to Hellin’s rule one in about 89 natural pregnancies ends in birth of twins, one in 892 birth is triplet and one in 893 birth is Quadruplets. Maternal obstetric complications includes preterm labour, anaemia, pregnancy induced hypertension, eclampsia, complication of labour and postpartum haemorrage. Foetal complications include prematurity, low birth weight, perinatal mortality. The perinatal mortality rate associated with twin pregnancy is 4 time greater than with singleton pregnancy.Methods: It was one year observational study from 2011 to 2012. All women admitted to the labour ward with twin pregnancy after 28 weeks gestation were included in this study. Data obtained at the time of delivery included maternal age, parity, gestational age at the time of delivery & foetal weight.Results: A total of 18666 deliveries conducted, there were 206 cases of twin deliveries constituting incidence of 1.1% (1:90). Majority of cases were 20-25 year age group (58%). Mean age of cases was 24.94 year. Majority of cases were primigravidas (45%). Majority of women were unbooked (62%). Only 28% were registered, 43% were presented with preterm labour, PIH noted in 18%, anemia in 15% and APH in 3%. Most common cause of neonatal morbidity was preterm birth (41.5%). Perinatal mortality was maximum 100% in babies with birth weight < 1000gm & 76.92% in 1000-1499gm weight. Most common cause of neonatal death was very low birth weight.Conclusions: Twin pregnancies are associated with increasing with morbidity of mother and foetus. Most of babies head respiratory distress or had developed neonatal sepsis. These death can be prevented by averting preterm birth by combined measures like good rest, cervical encirclage, administration of steroid in preterm labour, by institutional delivery and provision of level 3 neonatal care

Clairaut Riemannian maps

In this paper, first we define Clairaut Riemannian map between Riemannian manifolds by using a geodesic curve on the base space and find necessary and sufficient conditions for a Riemannian map to be Clairaut with a non-trivial example. We also obtain necessary and sufficient condition for a Clairaut Riemannian map to be harmonic. Thereafter, we study Clairaut Riemannian map from Riemannian manifold to Ricci soliton with a non-trivial example. We obtain scalar curvatures of $rangeF_\ast$ and $(rangeF_\ast)^\bot$ by using Ricci soliton. Further, we obtain necessary conditions for the leaves of $rangeF_\ast$ to be almost Ricci soliton and Einstein. We also obtain necessary condition for the vector field $\dot{\beta}$ to be conformal on $rangeF_\ast$ and necessary and sufficient condition for the vector field $\dot{\beta}$ to be Killing on $(rangeF_\ast)^\bot$, where $\beta$ is a geodesic curve on the base space of Clairaut Riemannian map. Also, we obtain necessary condition for the mean curvature vector field of $rangeF_\ast$ to be constant. Finally, we introduce Clairaut anti-invariant Riemannian map from Riemannian manifold to K\"ahler manifold, and obtain necessary and sufficient condition for an anti-invariant Riemannian map to be Clairaut with a non-trivial example. Further, we find necessary condition for $rangeF_\ast$ to be minimal and totally geodesic. We also obtain necessary and sufficient condition for Clairaut anti-invariant Riemannian maps to be harmonic.Comment: 22 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2107.0104

Riemannian Maps whose Base Manifolds admit a Ricci Soliton and their Harmonicity

In this paper, we study Riemannian maps whose base manifolds admit a Ricci soliton and give a non-trivial example of such Riemannian maps. First, we find Riemannian curvature tensor of base manifolds for Riemannian map $F$. Further, we obtain Ricci tensors and calculate scalar curvature of base manifolds. Moreover, we obtain necessary conditions for $rangeF_\ast$ to be Ricci soliton, almost Ricci soliton and Einstein. We also obtain necessary conditions for $(rangeF_\ast)^\bot$ to be Ricci soliton and Einstein. Also, we calculate scalar curvatures of $rangeF_\ast$ and $(rangeF_\ast)^\bot$ by using Ricci soliton. Finally, we study harmonicity and biharmonicity of such Riemannian maps and obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for Riemannian map between Riemannian manifolds whose base manifold admits a Ricci soliton to be harmonic. We also obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for Riemannian map from Riemannian manifold to space form which admits Ricci soliton to be harmonic and biharmonic. Finally, some applications are presented for further studies on base manifolds of Riemannian maps

A comparative study in soil plasticity of hall area and lecture complex area of nit rourkela

The aim of this study is to classify and compare between soil samples from two areas of NIT Rourkela campus using plasticity tests. The two areas chosen are- (i) area near site of Vikram Sarabhai Hall of Residence and (ii) area near site of new Lecture Complex building. Along with plasticity tests other tests such as specific gravity test and soil gradation test were also done to find respective geotechnical properties. On the basis of these experiments the conclusions are drawn

Pros and cons of vitamin D measurements: essential component of quality health care

Accuracy in vitamin D measurement is very important because methods used by various laboratories have no uniformities; of course it is choice of individuals but quality in care matters.  There are five different types of Vitamin D but D2 and D3 are the only types that human can use. Earlier researchers have documented that vitamin D3 is better absorbed and utilized than D2. Studies have showed that vitamin D promoting normal blood glycation, immunity, mood swing and other unusual clinical conditions. It is observed from many reports that the effectiveness of D3 provides the most benefit for the human body but there is quite variations in predictive values of different methods

Phenological performance of groundnut varieties under sowing environments in hyper arid zone of Rajasthan, India

An experimental trial was conducted on groundnut during kharif seasons of 2009 and 2010. The experimental soil was loamy sand in texture. The experiment was laid out in split-plot design with three replications, assigning 32 treatments consisting of four date of sowing (20th April, 15th May, 9th June and 4th July) and two varieties (HNG-10 and TG-37A) as main-plot treatments and four fertility levels of nitrogen and phosphorus application (0, 20 N-40 P2O5, 30-60 P2O5 and 40 N-80 P2O5 kg/ha) as sub-plot treatments. The results showed that significantly higher plant stand was observed in 9th June and 4th July sowing date of the groundnut at harvest. 20th April sowing had significantly higher dry matter accumulation, CGR of 30-60 and 60-90 DAS of HNG-10 variety. Further delays in sowing significantly reduce growth parameters. However, growth parameters viz. dry matter accumulation, CGR, RGR etc. in all the sowing dates in TG-37A was statistically at par with each other. All the fertility treatments produced significantly higher dry matter, CGR, RGR etc. Application of 30 kg N-60 kg P2O5 / ha significantly enhanced the dry matter accumulation over 20 kgN-40kg P2O5/ha but statistically at par with 40 kg N- 80 kg P2O5/ ha

Understanding the genetic, molecular, and cellular basis of ageing as the biggest risk factor of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the leading causes of dementia. The disease is characterized by atrophy of brain tissue, with major physiological, molecular, and anatomical changes being observed in the hippocampus and entorhinal region of the temporal lobe. The risk of developing this disease increases with advancing age. Ageing is a chronological phenomenon wherein a considerable decline is observed in physiological functions due to the complex interplay of various exogenous and endogenous factors such as genetic construction, elevated levels of ROS, decrease in the telomerase activity, and epigenetic factors such as methylation of DNA, histone modification etc. The physiological and molecular changes in an ageing person especially in neurons overlap considerably with those observed during the progression of AD. This article highlights various factors responsible for ageing as well as AD with the latest review of literature. Understanding the factors that bring about the fated changes and how they are associated with the progression of disease can open new doors to bring about better treatment options and help cure an otherwise incurable disease. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.632379

Effects of leaf extracts of selected medicinal plants on blood against hypotonic solution by measuring optical density: An in vitro study

420-425The medicinal plant leaf extracts alter the morphology of the cellular components of blood, especially RBCs. However, information on biochemical changes occurring during these events in vitro is lacking. Here, we studied the effect of medicinal plant [Azadirachta indica A. Juss (Neem), Emblica officinalis Gaertn. (Indian Gooseberry or Amla) and Ocimum tenuiflorum L. (Holi basil or Tulsi)] leaf extracts as against the hypotonic solution by measuring the optical density of blood at various wavelengths at 0 and 30 min. The blood, exposed to hypotonic solution, showed cellular degradation and higher protein metabolism; higher glucose metabolism and oxidative cellular damage as well as higher oxygen absorption as compared to test samples. Among the three leaf extracts studied, the Amla extract treatment had comparatively more protective role for cellular components of the blood as against hypotonic solution. However, Tulsi extract significantly reduced hemolysis, heme catabolism and redox stress in RBCs. Tulsi also increased glucose metabolism indicating its antidiabetic property. To conclude, Amla leaf extract significantly reversed the effects of the hypotonic solution on the cellular components while Tulsi extract exhibited therapeutic role in maintaining homeostasis of cellular components in blood