Automated Teller Machine (ATM)- A “Pathogen City” – A surveillance Report from Locations in and around Madurai City, Tamil Nadu, India

ATM is used by millions of people in a day. It is meant to be a public utility device.Hence the microorganism’s plays a major role in accommodating the safer place, ATM.Hence to this account an elaborate survey was taken for complete assessment of microbiology in and around Madurai city. Swabs were collected from each ATM screen, buttons, floor, user’s hand, exposure of plates and also extended the work in relation with microorganisms prevalent in ladies toilet the samples collected from ATM were plated in nutrient agar plates. The results showed the presence of increased bacterial count subsequently, most pathogens on characterization extended revealed the genus of the particular organism E-coli, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aures, Klebsiella, Micrococcus, Salmonella, Serratia and fungal species included Aspergillus sp, Mucor sp and Fusarium. Antibiogram study of bacteria also provides us information about the antibiotic resistance pattern of the bacterial isolates.

Automated Teller Machine (ATM)- a Pathogen City a Surveillance Report From Locations in and Around Madurai City, Tamil Nadu, India

ATM is used by millions of people in a day. It is meant to be a public utility device. Hence the microorganisms plays a major role in accommodating the safer place, ATM. Hence to this account an elaborate survey was taken for complete assessment of microbiology in and around Madurai city. Swabs were collected from each ATM screen, buttons, floor, users hand, exposure of plates and also extended the work in relation with microorganisms prevalent in ladies toilet the samples collected from ATM were plated in nutrient agar plates. The results showed the presence of increased bacterial count subsequently, most pathogens on characterization extended revealed the genus of the particular organism E-coli, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aures, Klebsiella, Micrococcus, Salmonella, Serratia and fungal species included Aspergillus sp, Mucor sp and Fusarium. Antibiogram study of bacteria also provides us information about the antibiotic resistance pattern of the bacterial isolates

A High Gain DC-DC Converter with Grey Wolf Optimizer Based MPPT Algorithm for PV Fed BLDC Motor Drive

Photovoltaic (PV) water pumping systems are becoming popular these days. In PV water pumping, the role of the converter is most important, especially in the renewable energy-based PV systems case. This study focuses on one such application. In this proposed work, direct current (DC) based intermediate DC-DC power converter, i.e., a modified LUO (M-LUO) converter is used to extricate the availability of power in the high range from the PV array. The M-LUO converter is controlled efficiently by utilizing the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO)-based maximum power point tracking algorithm, which aids the smooth starting of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor. The voltage source inverter’s (VSI) fundamental switching frequency is achieved in the BLDC motor by electronic commutation. Hence, the occurrence of VSI losses due to a high switching frequency is eliminated. The GWO optimized algorithm is compared with the perturb and observe (P&O) and fuzzy logic based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms. However, by sensing the position of the rotor and comparing the reference speed with the actual speed, the speed of the BLDC motor is controlled by the proportional-integral (PI) controller. The recent advancement in motor drives based on distributed sources generates more demand for highly efficient permanent magnet (PM) motor drives, and this was the beginning of interest in BLDC motors. Thus, in this paper, the design of a high-gain boost converter optimized by a GWO algorithm is proposed to drive the BLDC-based pumping motor. The proposed work is simulated in MATLAB-SIMULINK, and the experimental results are verified using the dsPIC30F2010 controller

No difference in clinical outcomes for African American and White patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in Louisville, Kentucky

Introduction: Current literature indicates that African American individuals are at increased risk of becoming infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus and suffer higher SARS-CoV-2-related mortality rates. However, there is a lack of consensus as to how the clinical outcomes of African American patients differ from those of other groups. The objective of this study was to define the clinical outcomes of African American and White hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in Louisville, Kentucky. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 CAP at eight hospitals in Louisville, Kentucky. Severity of CAP at time of hospitalization was evaluated using the pneumonia severity index (PSI), CURB-65 score and SARS-CoV-2 viral load. The following thirteen clinical outcomes were compared: discharge alive to home, time to home discharge, admission to the ICU, length of ICU stay, need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), duration of IMV, development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), development of septic shock, need for vasopressors, development of cardiovascular events, time to cardiovascular events, in-hospital mortality, and time to death. Results: A total of 541 patients were eligible for this study, 343 White (63%) and 198 African American (37%). None of the thirteen clinical outcomes were statistically significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions: This study indicates that African American and White patients do not have different clinical outcomes after the point of hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2 CAP

Sphingomyelin Synthases Regulate Protein Trafficking and Secretion

Sphingomyelin synthases (SMS1 and 2) represent a class of enzymes that transfer a phosphocholine moiety from phosphatidylcholine onto ceramide thus producing sphingomyelin and diacylglycerol (DAG). SMS1 localizes at the Golgi while SMS2 localizes both at the Golgi and the plasma membrane. Previous studies from our laboratory showed that modulation of SMS1 and, to a lesser extent, of SMS2 affected the formation of DAG at the Golgi apparatus. As a consequence, down-regulation of SMS1 and SMS2 reduced the localization of the DAG-binding protein, protein kinase D (PKD), to the Golgi. Since PKD recruitment to the Golgi has been implicated in cellular secretion through the trans golgi network (TGN), the effect of down-regulation of SMSs on TGN-to-plasma membrane trafficking was studied. Down regulation of either SMS1 or SMS2 significantly retarded trafficking of the reporter protein vesicular stomatitis virus G protein tagged with GFP (VSVG-GFP) from the TGN to the cell surface. Inhibition of SMSs also induced tubular protrusions from the trans Golgi network reminiscent of inhibited TGN membrane fission. Since a recent study demonstrated the requirement of PKD activity for insulin secretion in beta cells, we tested the function of SMS in this model. Inhibition of SMS significantly reduced insulin secretion in rat INS-1 cells. Taken together these results provide the first direct evidence that both enzymes (SMS1 and 2) are capable of regulating TGN-mediated protein trafficking and secretion, functions that are compatible with PKD being a down-stream target for SMSs in the Golgi

Role of Sphingomyelin Synthase in Controlling the Antimicrobial Activity of Neutrophils against Cryptococcus neoformans

The key host cellular pathway(s) necessary to control the infection caused by inhalation of the environmental fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans are still largely unknown. Here we have identified that the sphingolipid pathway in neutrophils is required for them to exert their killing activity on the fungus. In particular, using both pharmacological and genetic approaches, we show that inhibition of sphingomyelin synthase (SMS) activity profoundly impairs the killing ability of neutrophils by preventing the extracellular release of an antifungal factor(s). We next found that inhibition of protein kinase D (PKD), which controls vesicular sorting and secretion and is regulated by diacylglycerol (DAG) produced by SMS, totally blocks the extracellular killing activity of neutrophils against C. neoformans. The expression of SMS genes, SMS activity and the levels of the lipids regulated by SMS (namely sphingomyelin (SM) and DAG) are up-regulated during neutrophil differentiation. Finally, tissue imaging of lungs infected with C. neoformans using matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), revealed that specific SM species are associated with neutrophil infiltration at the site of the infection. This study establishes a key role for SMS in the regulation of the killing activity of neutrophils against C. neoformans through a DAG-PKD dependent mechanism, and provides, for the first time, new insights into the protective role of host sphingolipids against a fungal infection

Automated Teller Machine (ATM)- A “Pathogen City” – A surveillance Report from Locations in and around Madurai City, Tamil Nadu, India

ATM is used by millions of people in a day. It is meant to be a public utility device.Hence the microorganism’s plays a major role in accommodating the safer place, ATM.Hence to this account an elaborate survey was taken for complete assessment of microbiology in and around Madurai city. Swabs were collected from each ATM screen, buttons, floor, user’s hand, exposure of plates and also extended the work in relation with microorganisms prevalent in ladies toilet the samples collected from ATM were plated in nutrient agar plates. The results showed the presence of increased bacterial count subsequently, most pathogens on characterization extended revealed the genus of the particular organism E-coli, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aures, Klebsiella, Micrococcus, Salmonella, Serratia and fungal species included Aspergillus sp, Mucor sp and Fusarium. Antibiogram study of bacteria also provides us information about the antibiotic resistance pattern of the bacterial isolates.