Relationships Between Wetland Fragmentation and Recent Hydrologic Changes in a Deltaic Coast

Patterns in coastal wetland loss in the northern Gulf of Mexico were examined using aerial imagery from 1955–56 and 1978. Five qualitative types of wetland changes are evident: (1) spoil bank-parallel pond formation, (2) pond formation with apparent random distribution for the smallest ponds, but very clumped distribution for larger ponds, (3) semi- or complete impoundment resulting in open water formation, (4) cutting off of stream channels upstream of where a spoil bank crosses a natural channel, and (5) erosion at the land-water interface. Only pondsinterval, and it is clear that wetland breakup, not erosion at the pond-lake edge, is the dominant form of wetland-to-open water conversion. Canals and their spoil banks are spatially related to wetland-to-water conversion which is evident up to 2 km away from those man-made features. The indirect impacts of canals and spoil banks vary regionally, for example, with sediment compaction rates that increase with increasing sediment deposition. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that canals and spoil banks are a major factor driving wetland loss rates because they change wetland hydrology

Tissue-Specific Bioink from Xenogeneic Sources for 3D Bioprinting of Tissue Constructs

3D bioprinting brings new aspirations to the tissue engineering and regenerative medicine research community. However, despite its huge potential, its growth towards translation is severely impeded due to lack of suitable materials, technological barrier, and appropriate validation models. Recently, the use of decellularized extracellular matrices (dECM) from animal sources is gaining attention as printable bioink as it can provide a microenvironment close to the native tissue. Hence, it is worth exploring the use of xenogeneic dECM and its translation potential for human application. However, extensive studies on immunogenicity, safety-related issues, and animal welfare-related ethics are yet to be streamlined. In addition, the regulatory concerns need to be addressed with utmost priority in order to expedite the use of xenogeneic dECM bioink for 3D bioprinted implantable tissues for human welfare

Precipitation and temperature extremes and association with large-scale climate indices: An observational evidence over India

Climate change exposes more frequent natural hazards and physical vulnerabilities to the built and natural environments. Extreme precipitation and temperature events will have a significant impact on both the natural environment and human society. However, it is unclear whether precipitation and temperature extremes increase physical vulnerabilities across scales and their links with large-scale climate indices. This study investigates the relationship between precipitation and temperature extremes, as recommended by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI), and large scale climatological phenomenon indices (Indian Summer Monsoon Index (ISMI), Arctic Oscillation (AO), and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)), using India as a case study. Our findings show that extreme warm indices were primarily negatively related to ISMI and positively related to extreme cold indices. According to Pearson’s correlation coefficients and Wavelet Transform Coherence (WTC), extreme warm indices were negatively related to ISMI and positively related to extreme cold indices. The extreme precipitation indices had a significant positive relationship, primarily with AO. Furthermore, from 1951 to 2018, India experienced an increase in warm extremes over western, central, and peninsular India, while cold indices increased over northwest India. Precipitation extremes of more than one day, more than one days, very wet and extremely wet days have increased across India except in the Indo-Gangetic plains, while heavy and very heavy precipitation days, consecutive wet days, and consecutive dry days have decreased

Development of Invitro 3D Bronchi Model Using Novel Decellularized Smooth Muscle Matrix

Oxygen is the most important necessity for keeping us all alive. Lungs, in our body allows oxygen into our body. Any damage to this vital organ could be fatal. Incidences of tracheal and bronchial injuries are at a rise with increase in the number of road traffic accidents. Apart from traffic accidents, accidents that involve chest crashing, gun wounds, knife penetrations on chest area also damages the respiratory tract causing either blunt or penetrating injuries. Most of the injuries due to blunt trauma encompasses damage or rupture of trachea and mainstem bronchi. Not only injuries, several other conditions like tumors in the airway or congenital malformations like severe respiratory stenosis, bronchomalacia and bronchial atresia etc. also cause tracheobronchial damages. The theraupeutic approaches for all the cases are not well defined and may vary based on the site, extent of lesion and the severity of damage. There are problems associated with the traditional surgical approches and hence researchers are finding and developing new ways to overcome the complications and also to minimize the organ- demand and supply curve. In this thesis, we made an attempt to develop smooth muscle layer of the bronchi which is the part of the major project lab engineered bronchi which structurally and functionally mimics the native bronchi. Herein, we designed and fabricated a bioreactor using 3D printing technology and used this construct for development of smooth muscle layer of the bronchi model. To support the cells in the construct, we decellularized caprine smooth muscle and prepared its hydogel. Mesenchymal stem cells were embedded into the pre-gel and was incorporated into the printed bioreactor. In this process, we also tried to study the differentiation of MSC into smooth muscle cells in the decellularized smooth muscle matrix which stands as novelty in this project

Unique properties of Plasmodium falciparum porphobilinogen deaminase

The hybrid pathway for heme biosynthesis in the malarial parasite proposes the involvement of parasite genome-coded enzymes of the pathway localized in different compartments such as apicoplast, mitochondria, and cytosol. However, knowledge on the functionality and localization of many of these enzymes is not available. In this study, we demonstrate that porphobilinogen deaminase encoded by the Plasmodium falciparum genome (PfPBGD) has several unique biochemical properties. Studies carried out with PfPBGD partially purified from parasite membrane fraction, as well as recombinant PfPBGD lacking N-terminal 64 amino acids expressed and purified from Escherichia coli cells (ΔPfPBGD), indicate that both the proteins are catalytically active. Surprisingly, PfPBGD catalyzes the conversion of porphobilinogen to uroporphyrinogen III (UROGEN III), indicating that it also possesses uroporphyrinogen III synthase (UROS) activity, catalyzing the next step. This obviates the necessity to have a separate gene for UROS that has not been so far annotated in the parasite genome. Interestingly, ΔPfP-BGD gives rise to UROGEN III even after heat treatment, although UROS from other sources is known to be heat-sensitive. Based on the analysis of active site residues, a ΔPfPBGDL116K mutant enzyme was created and the specific activity of this recombinant mutant enzyme is 5-fold higher than ΔPfPBGD. More interestingly, ΔPfPBGDL116K catalyzes the formation of uroporphyrinogen I (UROGEN I) in addition to UROGEN III, indicating that with increased PBGD activity the UROS activity of PBGD may perhaps become rate-limiting, thus leading to non-enzymatic cyclization of preuroporphyrinogen to UROGEN I. PfPBGD is localized to the apicoplast and is catalytically very inefficient compared with the host red cell enzyme

Factors influencing feeding practices of extreme poor infants and young children in families of working mothers in Dhaka slums: A qualitative study

BackgroundNutritional status differs between infants and young children living in slum and non-slum conditions—infants and young children living in City Corporation slums are likely to have worse nutritional status compared to those from non-slums. Furthermore, families in slums tend to engage female labor in cash-earning activities as a survival strategy; hence, a higher percentage of mothers stay at work. However, little is known about feeding practices for infants and young children in families with working mothers in slums. This study aims to understand the factors that determine feeding practices for infants and young children living in families with working mothers in Dhaka slums.MethodsThis study adopted a qualitative approach. Sixteen In-depth Interviews, five Key Informant Interviews, and Focused Group Discussions were conducted with family members, community leaders, and program staff. Method triangulation and thematic analyses were conducted.ResultsFeeding practices for infants and young children in families with working mothers are broadly determined by mothers’ occupation, basis civic facilities, and limited family buying capacity. Although mothers have good nutritional knowledge, they negotiate between work and feeding their infants and young children. Household composition, access to cooking facilities, and poverty level were also found to be significant determining factors.ConclusionThe results suggest a trade-off between mothers’ work and childcare. The absence of alternative care support in homes and/or work places along with societal factors outweighs full benefits of project interventions. Improving alternative childcare support could reduce the burden of feeding practice experienced by working mothers and may improve nutritional outcomes

Systematic review on the prevalence, frequency and comparative value of adverse events data in social media

Aim: The aim of this review was to summarize the prevalence, frequency and comparative value of information on the adverse events of healthcare interventions from user comments and videos in social media. Methods: A systematic review of assessments of the prevalence or type of information on adverse events in social media was undertaken. Sixteen databases and two internet search engines were searched in addition to handsearching, reference checking and contacting experts. The results were sifted independently by two researchers. Data extraction and quality assessment were carried out by one researcher and checked by a second. The quality assessment tool was devised in-house and a narrative synthesis of the results followed. Results: From 3064 records, 51 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies assessed over 174 social media sites with discussion forums (71%) being the most popular. The overall prevalence of adverse events reports in social media varied from 0.2% to 8% of posts. Twenty-nine studies compared the results from searching social media with using other data sources to identify adverse events. There was general agreement that a higher frequency of adverse events was found in social media and that this was particularly true for ‘symptom’ related and ‘mild’ adverse events. Those adverse events that were under-represented in social media were laboratory-based and serious adverse events. Conclusions: Reports of adverse events are identifiable within social media. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in the frequency and type of events reported, and the reliability or validity of the data has not been thoroughly evaluated