Publications by authors named "Pema"

Article Synopsis
  • - The study assessed the prevalence of drug resistance mutations (DRMs) to integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) just before Botswana switched to dolutegravir (DTG) for first-line HIV treatment in 2016, analyzing over 5,000 HIV-1 sequences from various individuals.
  • - Results indicated that the overall prevalence of significant INSTI DRMs was 1.11%, with higher rates found in those who had not received antiretroviral treatment (ART-naïve individuals) compared to those who had (ART-experienced individuals).
  • - Notable mutations associated with INSTI resistance included E138K and G140R, but high-level resistance to newer drugs like dolutegravir
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has advanced our understanding of cellular heterogeneity by characterizing cell types across tissues and species. While several mouse retinal scRNA-seq datasets exist, each dataset is either limited in cell numbers or focused on specific cell classes, thereby hindering comprehensive gene expression analysis across all retina types. To fill the gap, we generated the largest retinal scRNA-seq dataset to date, comprising approximately 190,000 single cells from C57BL/6J mouse retinas, enriched for rare population cells via antibody-based magnetic cell sorting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Screening of cancers is an important intervention in reducing the incidence and mortality related to cancers. Bhutan is one small country that is witnessing an increasing incidence and mortality related to cancers. The government implemented a time-bound population-level screening for gastric, cervical and breast cancers from 2020 to 2023 with an overall coverage of 91.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has advanced our understanding of cellular heterogeneity at the single-cell resolution by classifying and characterizing cell types in multiple tissues and species. While several mouse retinal scRNA-seq reference datasets have been published, each dataset either has a relatively small number of cells or is focused on specific cell classes, and thus is suboptimal for assessing gene expression patterns across all retina types at the same time. To establish a unified and comprehensive reference for the mouse retina, we first generated the largest retinal scRNA-seq dataset to date, comprising approximately 190,000 single cells from C57BL/6J mouse whole retinas.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We used HIV-1C sequences to predict (in silico) resistance to 33 known broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) and evaluate the different HIV-1 Env characteristics that may affect virus neutralization. We analyzed proviral sequences from adults with documented HIV-1 seroconversion (N = 140) in Botswana (2013-2018). HIV-1 env sequences were used to predict bnAb resistance using bNAb-ReP, to determine the number of potential N-linked glycosylation sites (PNGS) and evaluate Env variable region characteristics (VC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We used HIV-1C sequences to predict (in silico) resistance to 33 known broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) and evaluate the different HIV-1 env characteristics that may affect virus neutralization. We analyzed proviral sequences from adults with documented HIV-1 seroconversion (N=140) in Botswana (2013-2018). HIV-1 env sequences were used to predict bnAb resistance using bNAb-ReP, to determine the number of potential N-linked glycosylation sites (PNGS) and evaluate env variable region characteristics (VC).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Epilepsy is an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in low- and middle-income countries. People with epilepsy (PWE) face difficulties in access to healthcare, appropriate diagnostic tests and anti-seizure medications (ASM). Bhutan is one such country in the Himalayas that has reported doubling of the prevalence of epilepsy from 155.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - CIViC is a public, crowd-sourced database that compiles peer-reviewed research on the clinical significance of cancer variants to aid in cancer management.
  • - It offers structured data in real-time to facilitate global access and is designed to keep up with evolving variant interpretation guidelines and enhance collaboration with other resources.
  • - The platform has successfully expanded to include new Evidence Types related to cancer variants and now features contributions from over 300 experts, covering more than 3200 variants across 470 genes from over 3100 published studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As guidelines, therapies, and literature on cancer variants expand, the lack of consensus variant interpretations impedes clinical applications. CIViC is a public domain, crowd-sourced, and adaptable knowledgebase of evidence for the Clinical Interpretation of Variants in Cancer, designed to reduce barriers to knowledge sharing and alleviate the variant interpretation bottleneck.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

subsp. is a commonly used and endangered herb in Tibetan medicine. The chloroplast genome was determined to be 187,634 bp in length and contained a large single-copy and a small single-copy region of 102,174 bp and 8552 bp, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pulmonary cystic echinococcosis remains a serious threat to public health. A standardized, imaging-based classification method for pulmonary echinococcosis has not yet been developed despite the existence of a standardized ultrasound classification method and treatment plan for hepatic cystic echinococcosis. Chest computed tomography (CT) images from 34 cases of pulmonary cystic echinococcosis with 46 lesions were used for classification based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standardized ultrasound classification of hepatic cystic echinococcosis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) can be an initial presentation of cerebral venous thrombosis. Eclampsia and postpartum onset of SAH should prompt physicians to identify possible causes and institute prompt management to avert irreversible cerebrovascular sequelae.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, flagellated, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, named B2R-29, was isolated from water collected from a crater lake on Da Hinggan mountain, PR China. Strain B2R-29 was oxidase- and catalase-positive. On the basis of the results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses, strain B2R-29 clearly belonged to the family , class and showed the highest similarity to EM1 (97.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The present study focuses on the sonochemical synthesis of graphitic carbon nitride-manganese oxide (GCN/MnO) nanocomposite for photocatalytic degradation of an environmentally hazardous pharmaceutical compound, tetracycline hydrochloride (TcH). The sonochemical synthesis aided in tailoring the morphology of GCN/MnO. The characterization results of SEM/FESEM, XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis spectra, EIS, CV, etc.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Manually curated variant knowledgebases are crucial for understanding and sharing information about cancer-related genetic variants, with varying degrees of public access and complexity.
  • CIViC is a comprehensive, free cancer variant interpretation database containing over 6,300 curated pieces of evidence for more than 2,300 variants from over 400 genes, promoting wide use in research.
  • To improve its clinical application, CIViC emphasizes the need for formal curation guidelines and aims to regularly submit data to ClinVar and seek regulatory approvals for enhanced credibility.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Previous studies have documented improvement in erectile function after bilateral cavernous nerve injury (BCNI) in rats with the use of pioglitazone. Our group determined this improvement to be mediated by the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) pathway.

Aim: To eliminate the systemic effects of pioglitazone and evaluate the local delivery of IGF-1 by polymeric microspheres after BCNI in the rat.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Pin site infections are a very common complication of external fixation, and unfortunately, no standard of care exists to effectively minimize the risk of infection. Various pin site care regimens with different methods of cleaning and dressing orthopedic percutaneous pin sites can be found. Little evidence exists as to which pin site care regimen best reduces infection rates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A novel, Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated YH5, was isolated from the YonghuCo wetland on the Tibetan Plateau. The strain was able to grow optimally with 1 % (w/v) NaCl and tolerated up to 3 % NaCl. Growth occurred at pH 6-9 (optimum pH 7) and 10-37 °C (optimum 30 °C).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A novel Gram-stain-negative, motile and rod-shaped bacterium, designated xg18, was isolated from Lake XuguoCo on the Tibetan Plateau. The strain was able to grow optimally at 0-2 % NaCl and tolerate up to 6 % NaCl. Growth occurred at pH 7.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Following automated variant calling, manual review of aligned read sequences is required to identify a high-quality list of somatic variants. Despite widespread use in analyzing sequence data, methods to standardize manual review have not been described, resulting in high inter- and intralab variability.

Methods: This manual review standard operating procedure (SOP) consists of methods to annotate variants with four different calls and 19 tags.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) are common cancers diagnosed in more than 350,000 people each year worldwide. Several pathways are de-regulated in RCCs, including mTORC1. However, how mTOR drives tumorigenesis in this context is unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background Healthcare budgets face constraints, and laboratories have developed strategies to adapt to the concomitant increase in workload. Some of the tests (7.4%) may be attributed to unnecessary repeat testing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lentiviral vectors (LVs) are a highly valuable tool for gene transfer currently exploited in basic, applied, and clinical studies. Their optimization is therefore very important for the field of vectorology and gene therapy. A key molecule for LV function is the envelope because it guides cell entry.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF