DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND HEALTH ADVOCACY ON COVID-19: A CASE STUDY OF TWITTER HANDLES OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND MINISTRY OF HEALTH OF INDIA

The article has intended to study the action of Twitter-based media advocacy promoted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) of the Government of India, and World Health Organization (WHO) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its goal was to assess the degree of the WHO and MOH's media campaigning for Covid-19, as well as the public's perception of this advocacy. In this regard, mixed methods have been used for data collection where a survey has been conducted with 125 respondents, who use Twitter, from Kolkata (India) with the help of random sampling. A content analysis of two well-known Twitter accounts was conducted, which helped to reflect the current trends that they follow. The findings of this research have reflected the choice of medium preferred by the respondents for receiving news and information during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has also helped to identify the Twitter handles and tweets they mostly follow and thereby the major factors influencing their choice. The outcome of this research has helped to study whether Twitter can be used for institutionalized health communication or not in the future

SCOPE OF MEDIA ADVOCACY DURING COVID-19: A SELECTED CASE STUDY IN KOLKATA

The spread of the Covid-19 has presented an unparalleled challenge for media management as well as for the media content. The pattern of daily life changed due to the excessive use of media. India, as a nation has been in the third position worldwide, many deaths during a pandemic are concerned. Kolkata being one of the metro cities of the country has not been exempted. The regional media content perceived a knowledge gap with the highest circulated national daily of the country. The changed media content, and audience perception towards the change, and the need for media advocacy during any health crisis in general and Covid-19 in particular, is studied in this paper using a mixed approach of both quantitative and qualitative. The discourse analysis of the newspapers in a constructed week format, representing a six months study during the pandemic, and the primary data from the audience suggested the behavior change and attitude formation through media, in this unique study

Prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases producing isolates obtained from patients of pediatric critical care unit in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Over the past decades, antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria commonly Enterobacteriaceae such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae have increased significantly. These microorganisms have great clinical importance because they increase hospital stay of the patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) leading to high morbidity and mortality. Because of their role in increasing morbidity and mortality, this study was performed to isolate extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Gram-negative bacilli screened by phenotypical method and further projected into molecular characterization by polymerase chain reaction. Aims and Objectives: The aims and objectives are to isolate the Gram-negative multidrug-resistant strains from clinically suspected bacterial infections in patients of neonatal, sick newborn, and pediatric ICU and to study antibiotic sensitivity pattern of isolated Gram-negative multidrug-resistant strains with special reference to molecular characterization. Materials and Methods: A total of 100 Gram-negative bacilli were isolated. Screening of ESBL positivity was done by double-disk synergy test (combined disc test method). Their antibiogram profile was interpreted. With the use of designed primers, 26 ESBL isolates each of E. coli and Klebsiella spp. were processed for molecular analysis of beta-lactamase family genes TEM and CTX-M. Results: Within the 100 samples, majority of the isolates (45%) were Klebsiella spp. and 40% was E. coli isolates. Highest ESBL-producing organisms were observed within E. coli (65%). Prevalence bla-TEM gene was highest followed by bla-CTX-M. These ESBL-producing organisms were found to be resistant to multiple classes of antibiotics. With extensive ESBL surveillance and proper usage of antibiotics, this threatening rise of antibiotic resistance can be mitigated. Conclusion: Gram-negative isolates showed high resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Significant proportions of them were MDR strains. Such high antibiotic resistance is associated with significant morbidity and mortality among pediatric population. MDR along with possession of ESBL associated resistance genes among Gram-negative bacilli pose a serious problem in therapeutic management of patients. Our study signifies that there is a high probability of Gram- negative bacilli to be multi-drug resistant and ESBL positive and earliest detection of such cases should be made

Supersymmetry, Localization and Quantum Entropy Function

AdS_2/CFT_1 correspondence leads to a prescription for computing the degeneracy of black hole states in terms of path integral over string fields living on the near horizon geometry of the black hole. In this paper we make use of the enhanced supersymmetries of the near horizon geometry and localization techniques to argue that the path integral receives contribution only from a special class of string field configurations which are invariant under a subgroup of the supersymmetry transformations. We identify saddle points which are invariant under this subgroup. We also use our analysis to show that the integration over infinite number of zero modes generated by the asymptotic symmetries of AdS_2 generate a finite contribution to the path integral.Comment: LaTeX file, 31 pages; v2: minor correction; v3: typos correcte

Population Based Model of Human Embryonic Stem Cell (hESC) Differentiation during Endoderm Induction

The mechanisms by which human embryonic stem cells (hESC) differentiate to endodermal lineage have not been extensively studied. Mathematical models can aid in the identification of mechanistic information. In this work we use a population-based modeling approach to understand the mechanism of endoderm induction in hESC, performed experimentally with exposure to Activin A and Activin A supplemented with growth factors (basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) and bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4)). The differentiating cell population is analyzed daily for cellular growth, cell death, and expression of the endoderm proteins Sox17 and CXCR4. The stochastic model starts with a population of undifferentiated cells, wherefrom it evolves in time by assigning each cell a propensity to proliferate, die and differentiate using certain user defined rules. Twelve alternate mechanisms which might describe the observed dynamics were simulated, and an ensemble parameter estimation was performed on each mechanism. A comparison of the quality of agreement of experimental data with simulations for several competing mechanisms led to the identification of one which adequately describes the observed dynamics under both induction conditions. The results indicate that hESC commitment to endoderm occurs through an intermediate mesendoderm germ layer which further differentiates into mesoderm and endoderm, and that during induction proliferation of the endoderm germ layer is promoted. Furthermore, our model suggests that CXCR4 is expressed in mesendoderm and endoderm, but is not expressed in mesoderm. Comparison between the two induction conditions indicates that supplementing FGF2 and BMP4 to Activin A enhances the kinetics of differentiation than Activin A alone. This mechanistic information can aid in the derivation of functional, mature cells from their progenitors. While applied to initial endoderm commitment of hESC, the model is general enough to be applicable either to a system of adult stem cells or later stages of ESC differentiation

Extracellular Matrix Aggregates from Differentiating Embryoid Bodies as a Scaffold to Support ESC Proliferation and Differentiation

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have emerged as potential cell sources for tissue engineering and regeneration owing to its virtually unlimited replicative capacity and the potential to differentiate into a variety of cell types. Current differentiation strategies primarily involve various growth factor/inducer/repressor concoctions with less emphasis on the substrate. Developing biomaterials to promote stem cell proliferation and differentiation could aid in the realization of this goal. Extracellular matrix (ECM) components are important physiological regulators, and can provide cues to direct ESC expansion and differentiation. ECM undergoes constant remodeling with surrounding cells to accommodate specific developmental event. In this study, using ESC derived aggregates called embryoid bodies (EB) as a model, we characterized the biological nature of ECM in EB after exposure to different treatments: spontaneously differentiated and retinoic acid treated (denoted as SPT and RA, respectively). Next, we extracted this treatment-specific ECM by detergent decellularization methods (Triton X-100, DOC and SDS are compared). The resulting EB ECM scaffolds were seeded with undifferentiated ESCs using a novel cell seeding strategy, and the behavior of ESCs was studied. Our results showed that the optimized protocol efficiently removes cells while retaining crucial ECM and biochemical components. Decellularized ECM from SPT EB gave rise to a more favorable microenvironment for promoting ESC attachment, proliferation, and early differentiation, compared to native EB and decellularized ECM from RA EB. These findings suggest that various treatment conditions allow the formulation of unique ESC-ECM derived scaffolds to enhance ESC bioactivities, including proliferation and differentiation for tissue regeneration applications. © 2013 Goh et al

Bioengineering thymus organoids to restore thymic function and induce donor-specific immune tolerance to allografts

One of the major obstacles in organ transplantation is to establish immune tolerance of allografts. Although immunosuppressive drugs can prevent graft rejection to a certain degree, their efficacies are limited, transient, and associated with severe side effects. Induction of thymic central tolerance to allografts remains challenging, largely because of the difficulty of maintaining donor thymic epithelial cells in vitro to allow successful bioengineering. Here, the authors show that three-dimensional scaffolds generated from decellularized mouse thymus can support thymic epithelial cell survival in culture and maintain their unique molecular properties. When transplanted into athymic nude mice, the bioengineered thymus organoids effectively promoted homing of lymphocyte progenitors and supported thymopoiesis. Nude mice transplanted with thymus organoids promptly rejected skin allografts and were able to mount antigen-specific humoral responses against ovalbumin on immunization. Notably, tolerance to skin allografts was achieved by transplanting thymus organoids constructed with either thymic epithelial cells coexpressing both syngeneic and allogenic major histocompatibility complexes, or mixtures of donor and recipient thymic epithelial cells. Our results demonstrate the technical feasibility of restoring thymic function with bioengineered thymus organoids and highlight the clinical implications of this thymus reconstruction technique in organ transplantation and regenerative medicine

Potential for pancreatic maturation of differentiating human embryonic stem cells is sensitive to the specific pathway of definitive endoderm commitment

This study provides a detailed experimental and mathematical analysis of the impact of the initial pathway of definitive endoderm (DE) induction on later stages of pancreatic maturation. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were induced to insulin-producing cells following a directed-differentiation approach. DE was induced following four alternative pathway modulations. DE derivatives obtained from these alternate pathways were subjected to pancreatic progenitor (PP) induction and maturation and analyzed at each stage. Results indicate that late stage maturation is influenced by the initial pathway of DE commitment. Detailed quantitative analysis revealed WNT3A and FGF2 induced DE cells showed highest expression of insulin, are closely aligned in gene expression patterning and have a closer resemblance to pancreatic organogenesis. Conversely, BMP4 at DE induction gave most divergent differentiation dynamics with lowest insulin upregulation, but highest glucagon upregulation. Additionally, we have concluded that early analysis of PP markers is indicative of its potential for pancreatic maturation. © 2014 Jaramillo et al

Measurement of Angular Coefficients of Bˉ→D∗ℓνˉℓ\bar{B} \to D^* \ell \bar{\nu}_\ell: Implications for ∣Vcb∣|V_{cb}| and Tests of Lepton Flavor Universality

We measure the complete set of angular coefficients $J_i$ for exclusive $\bar{B} \to D^* \ell \bar{\nu}_\ell$ decays ($\ell = e, \mu$). Our analysis uses the full $711\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ Belle data set with hadronic tag-side reconstruction. The results allow us to extract the form factors describing the $B \to D^*$ transition and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|V_{\rm cb}|$. Using recent lattice QCD calculations for the hadronic form factors, we find $|V_{\rm cb}| = (41.0 \pm 0.7) \times 10^3$ using the BGL parameterization, compatible with determinations from inclusive semileptonic decays. We search for lepton flavor universality violation as a function of the hadronic recoil parameter $w$, and investigate the differences of the electron and muon angular distributions. We find no deviation from Standard Model expectations