Allograft sterilization and processing: impact on biomechanical strength

The allograft used for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) must posses good biomechanical properties and it should have similar properties to the original tendon. During reconstruction the allograft must undergo proper sterilization and several sterilization methods have been used in the clinical practice. There are varations in the sterilization process and it has significant impact on the allograft tissue performance during ACL reconstruction. It is advisable to refrain from utilising grafts that have been exposed to radiation doses exceeding 15 kGy, as well as grafts that have undergone more than eight freeze-thaw cycles. Gamma radiation has disadvantages when compared to electron beam radiation in term of loss of mechanical strength

Standardization of Spacing and Soil Volume Wetting for Drip Irrigationin Papaya (Carica papaya L.)

Field experiments in two crops of papaya were conducted at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research for four years during 2016-19 to standardise spacing with optimum soil volume wetting for drip irrigation. Narrowing the plant rows drastically reduced the plant height while leaf production affected significantly due to reduction in intra row spacing. The height at first fruiting was significantly lower with a spacing of 1.8 m x 1.5 m (56.4 cm) significantly differing from both 1.5 m x 1.5 m (60.9 cm) or 1.8 m x 1.8 m (66.8 cm). Significantly higher mean fruit yield (42.2 t/ha) was recorded with the spacing of 1.5 m x 1.5m as compared to either 1.8m x 1.5m (23.4 t/ha) or 1.8m x 1.8m (22.1 t/ha). Significantly higher water use efficiency (71.3 kg/ha.mm) was recorded in papaya by following closer spacing of 1.5 m x 1.5 m. Among the interactions, higher papaya yield (48.0 t/ha) was recorded with normal drip irrigation (80% soil volume wetting) under closer spacing (1.5 m. x 1.5 m). Further, higher water use efficiency (129 kg/ha. mm) could be obtained by scheduling the irrigation at 30% soil volume wetting especially by planting at 1.5 m. x 1.5 m. spacing suggesting its suitability for water scarcity areas

Partial root zone drying irrigation in papaya (Carica papaya L.) for enhanced water use efficiency under limited water situations

Field experiments were conducted during 2015-17 at ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta, Bengaluru, to standardize the partial root zone drying irrigation in papaya with 12 treatments in RBD design. The results indicated that better soil moisture in the root zone could be maintained under drip irrigation by shifting laterals on either side at fortnightly intervals as compared to fixed laterals with thesame amount of water. Significantly more primary roots (16.5/plant) were observed when irrigation was scheduled on one side with single emitter meeting 60% of the evaporative demand. PRD irrigation through shifting of laterals recorded significantly higher transpiration rate especially at 50% of ER (8.05 m mol m-2 s-1) as compared to the control (3.95m mol m-2 s-1). Further, the same treatment recorded significantly lower fruit cavity index (0.26) with relatively higher fruit volume (1388 cm3). Irrigating papaya only on one side with single emitter resulted in significantly higher T.S.S (13.0%). Higher water productivity (23.7 kg/m3) could be obtained by scheduling the irrigation at 40% evaporation replenishment through shifting of laterals with saving of substantial water (1285m3/ha) resulting in higher water use efficiency (237.4 kg/ha.mm)

Derivation of an eigenvalue probability density function relating to the Poincare disk

A result of Zyczkowski and Sommers [J.Phys.A, 33, 2045--2057 (2000)] gives the eigenvalue probability density function for the top N x N sub-block of a Haar distributed matrix from U(N+n). In the case n \ge N, we rederive this result, starting from knowledge of the distribution of the sub-blocks, introducing the Schur decomposition, and integrating over all variables except the eigenvalues. The integration is done by identifying a recursive structure which reduces the dimension. This approach is inspired by an analogous approach which has been recently applied to determine the eigenvalue probability density function for random matrices A^{-1} B, where A and B are random matrices with entries standard complex normals. We relate the eigenvalue distribution of the sub-blocks to a many body quantum state, and to the one-component plasma, on the pseudosphere.Comment: 11 pages; To appear in J.Phys

A prospective, open label, randomized-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of MyVir tablets in mildly symptomatic COVID-19 patients

Background: Coronavirus can cause pneumonia, respiratory failure and death. The emergence of novel coronavirus has posed a challenging situation that warrants urgent global attention. Currently there was no effective therapy available for COVID-19 and hence antiviral and immune modulators are most sought after medicines to manage complications of COVID-19.Methods: In this study involving mild COVID-19 we randomized 42 patients to receive a MyVir tablets twice daily along with standard of care (SOC) or SOC alone in 1:1 ratio for 14 days. We evaluated the benefits of MyVir tablets by assessing clinical outcomes and improvement in immune markers (LDH, CRP, D-dimer, TLC).Results: At the end of the study the immune markers in MyVir group improved significantly compared to control group. In patients who received MyVir, CRP decreased from 3.3 mg/l to 1.7 mg/l (p=0.0171). D-dimer decreased from 0.589 on day 0 to 0.368 on day 14 (p=0.03) and LDH decreased from 224 U/l on day 0 to 158 U/l on day 14 in test group (p=0.05). TLC showed favorable improvement in study group compared to control group. Early recovery from COVID-19 symptoms was observed in patients on MyVir treated group. Patients treated with MyVir tablets reduced the duration of hospitalization when given along with standard of care.Conclusions: MyVir accelerated recovery of COVID-19 patients by early improvement in clinical symptoms and immune markers in this study and results clearly indicates that MyVir tablets has antiviral, immune booster activity. Hence this study provides evidence that MyVir has definitive role in the management of mild COVID-19 patients along with standard of care (funded by Mi Lab Life Sciences(P) Ltd. CTRI no. CTRI/2020/05/024967)

Low-dose aspirin for the prevention of preterm delivery in nulliparous women with a singleton pregnancy (ASPIRIN): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth remains a common cause of neonatal mortality, with a disproportionately high burden in low-income and middle-income countries. Meta-analyses of low-dose aspirin to prevent pre-eclampsia suggest that the incidence of preterm birth might also be decreased, particularly if initiated before 16 weeks of gestation. METHODS: ASPIRIN was a randomised, multicountry, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial of low-dose aspirin (81 mg daily) initiated between 6 weeks and 0 days of pregnancy, and 13 weeks and 6 days of pregnancy, in nulliparous women with an ultrasound confirming gestational age and a singleton viable pregnancy. Participants were enrolled at seven community sites in six countries (two sites in India and one site each in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Kenya, Pakistan, and Zambia). Participants were randomly assigned (1:1, stratified by site) to receive aspirin or placebo tablets of identical appearance, via a sequence generated centrally by the data coordinating centre at Research Triangle Institute International (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA). Treatment was masked to research staff, health providers, and patients, and continued until 36 weeks and 7 days of gestation or delivery. The primary outcome of incidence of preterm birth, defined as the number of deliveries before 37 weeks\u27 gestational age, was analysed in randomly assigned women with pregnancy outcomes at or after 20 weeks, according to a modified intention-to-treat (mITT) protocol. Analyses of our binary primary outcome involved a Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test stratified by site, and generalised linear models to obtain relative risk (RR) estimates and associated confidence intervals. Serious adverse events were assessed in all women who received at least one dose of drug or placebo. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02409680, and the Clinical Trial Registry-India, CTRI/2016/05/006970. FINDINGS: From March 23, 2016 to June 30, 2018, 14 361 women were screened for inclusion and 11 976 women aged 14-40 years were randomly assigned to receive low-dose aspirin (5990 women) or placebo (5986 women). 5780 women in the aspirin group and 5764 in the placebo group were evaluable for the primary outcome. Preterm birth before 37 weeks occurred in 668 (11·6%) of the women who took aspirin and 754 (13·1%) of those who took placebo (RR 0·89 [95% CI 0·81 to 0·98], p=0·012). In women taking aspirin, we also observed significant reductions in perinatal mortality (0·86 [0·73-1·00], p=0·048), fetal loss (infant death after 16 weeks\u27 gestation and before 7 days post partum; 0·86 [0·74-1·00], p=0·039), early preterm delivery (\u3c34 \u3eweeks; 0·75 [0·61-0·93], p=0·039), and the incidence of women who delivered before 34 weeks with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (0·38 [0·17-0·85], p=0·015). Other adverse maternal and neonatal events were similar between the two groups. INTERPRETATION: In populations of nulliparous women with singleton pregnancies from low-income and middle-income countries, low-dose aspirin initiated between 6 weeks and 0 days of gestation and 13 weeks and 6 days of gestation resulted in a reduced incidence of preterm delivery before 37 weeks, and reduced perinatal mortality. FUNDING: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Sexuality generates diversity in the Aflatoxin Gene cluster: evidence on a global scale

Aflatoxins are produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus in oil-rich seed and grain crops and are a serious problem in agriculture, with aflatoxin B1 being the most carcinogenic natural compound known. Sexual reproduction in these species occurs between individuals belonging to different vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs). We examined natural genetic variation in 758 isolates of A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. minisclerotigenes sampled from single peanut fields in the United States (Georgia), Africa (Benin), Argentina (Co´rdoba), Australia (Queensland) and India (Karnataka). Analysis of DNA sequence variation across multiple intergenic regions in the aflatoxin gene clusters of A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. minisclerotigenes revealed significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) organized into distinct blocks that are conserved across different localities, suggesting that genetic recombination is nonrandom and a global occurrence. To assess the contributions of asexual and sexual reproduction to fixation and maintenance of toxin chemotype diversity in populations from each locality/species, we tested the null hypothesis of an equal number of MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 mating-type individuals, which is indicative of a sexually recombining population. All samples were clone-corrected using multi-locus sequence typing which associates closely with VCG. For both A. flavus and A. parasiticus, when the proportions of MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 were significantly different, there was more extensive LD in the aflatoxin cluster and populations were fixed for specific toxin chemotype classes, either the non-aflatoxigenic class in A. flavus or the B1-dominant and G1-dominant classes in A. parasiticus. A mating type ratio close to 1:1 in A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. minisclerotigenes was associated with higher recombination rates in the aflatoxin cluster and less pronounced chemotype differences in populations. This work shows that the reproductive nature of the population (more sexual versus more asexual) is predictive of aflatoxin chemotype diversity in these agriculturally important fungi.Fil: Moore, Geromy G.. United States Department of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Elliott, Jacalyn L.. University Of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Singh, Rakhi. University Of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Horn, Bruce W.. United States Department Of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Dorner, Jeo W.. United States Department Of Agriculture; Estados UnidosFil: Stone, Eric A.. University Of North Carolina; Estados UnidosFil: Chulze, Sofia Noemi. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Microbiología E Inmunología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Barros, Germán Gustavo. Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicoquímicas y Naturales. Departamento de Microbiología E Inmunología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Naik, Manjunath K.. College of Agriculture. Department of Plant Pathology; IndiaFil: Wright, Graeme C.. Department of Primary Industries; AustraliaFil: Hell, Kerstin. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; BenínFil: Carbone, Ignazio. University Of North Carolina; Estados Unido

Sexuality Generates Diversity in the Aflatoxin Gene Cluster: Evidence on a Global Scale

Aflatoxins are produced by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus in oil-rich seed and grain crops and are a serious problem in agriculture, with aflatoxin B₁ being the most carcinogenic natural compound known. Sexual reproduction in these species occurs between individuals belonging to different vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs). We examined natural genetic variation in 758 isolates of A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. minisclerotigenes sampled from single peanut fields in the United States (Georgia), Africa (Benin), Argentina (Córdoba), Australia (Queensland) and India (Karnataka). Analysis of DNA sequence variation across multiple intergenic regions in the aflatoxin gene clusters of A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. minisclerotigenes revealed significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) organized into distinct blocks that are conserved across different localities, suggesting that genetic recombination is nonrandom and a global occurrence. To assess the contributions of asexual and sexual reproduction to fixation and maintenance of toxin chemotype diversity in populations from each locality/species, we tested the null hypothesis of an equal number of MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 mating-type individuals, which is indicative of a sexually recombining population. All samples were clone-corrected using multi-locus sequence typing which associates closely with VCG. For both A. flavus and A. parasiticus, when the proportions of MAT1-1 and MAT1-2 were significantly different, there was more extensive LD in the aflatoxin cluster and populations were fixed for specific toxin chemotype classes, either the non-aflatoxigenic class in A. flavus or the B₁-dominant and G₁-dominant classes in A. parasiticus. A mating type ratio close to 1∶1 in A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. minisclerotigenes was associated with higher recombination rates in the aflatoxin cluster and less pronounced chemotype differences in populations. This work shows that the reproductive nature of the population (more sexual versus more asexual) is predictive of aflatoxin chemotype diversity in these agriculturally important fungi

Novel insights into the cardio-protective effects of FGF21 in lean and obese rat hearts

Aims: Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) is a hepatic metabolic regulator with pleotropic actions. Its plasma concentrations are increased in obesity and diabetes; states associated with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. We therefore investigated the direct effect of FGF21 on cardio-protection in obese and lean hearts in response to ischemia. Methods and Results: FGF21, FGF21-receptor 1 (FGFR1) and beta-Klotho (βKlotho) were expressed in rodent, human hearts and primary rat cardiomyocytes. Cardiac FGF21 was expressed and secreted (real time RT-PCR/western blot and ELISA) in an autocrine-paracrine manner, in response to obesity and hypoxia, involving FGFR1-βKlotho components. Cardiac-FGF21 expression and secretion were increased in response to global ischemia. In contrast βKlotho was reduced in obese hearts. In isolated adult rat cardiomyocytes, FGF21 activated PI3K/Akt (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt), ERK1/2(extracellular signal-regulated kinase) and AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) pathways. In Langendorff perfused rat [adult male wild-type wistar] hearts, FGF21 administration induced significant cardio-protection and restoration of function following global ischemia. Inhibition of PI3K/Akt, AMPK, ERK1/2 and ROR-α (retinoic-acid receptor alpha) pathway led to significant decrease of FGF21 induced cardio-protection and restoration of cardiac function in response to global ischemia. More importantly, this cardio-protective response induced by FGF21 was reduced in obesity, although the cardiac expression profiles and circulating FGF21 levels were increased. Conclusion: In an ex vivo Langendorff system, we show that FGF21 induced cardiac protection and restoration of cardiac function involving autocrine-paracrine pathways, with reduced effect in obesity. Collectively, our findings provide novel insights into FGF21-induced cardiac effects in obesity and ischemia