Association between biomass cooking fuels and prevalence of tuberculosis among households: a cross-sectional study from 2019 - 2021 in India.

Background: Indoor air pollution (IAP) is the major contributor (26%) to TB, in addition to other socioeconomic and environmental factors. It occurs in most developing countries like India, where people rely on the combustion of biomass-based solid fuels (low combustion efficiency and high pollution emissions) due to the prevailing socio-economic conditions. However, this cause-and-effect relationship between TB and IAP has not been studied much.

Time Series Modeling of Tuberculosis Cases in India from 2017 to 2022 Based on the SARIMA-NNAR Hybrid Model.

Tuberculosis (TB) is still one of the severe progressive threats in developing countries. There are some limitations to social and economic development among developing nations. The present study forecasts the notified prevalence of TB based on seasonality and trend by applying the SARIMA-NNAR hybrid model.

US Physicians' Perspective on the Sudden Shift to Telehealth: Survey Study.

Background: Given the sudden shift to telemedicine during the early COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a survey of practicing physicians' experience with telehealth during the prepandemic and early pandemic periods. Our survey estimates that most patient visits in the United States during the early COVID-19 pandemic period were conducted via telehealth. Given this magnitude and the potential benefits and challenges of telehealth for the US health care system, in this paper, we obtain, summarize, and analyze telehealth views and experiences of US-based practicing-physicians.

Association of HLA-A, -B, -C, -DRB1 and -DQB1 alleles at amino acid level in individuals with schizophrenia: A study from South India.

Background: Schizophrenia, a chronic severe psychiatric illness of unknown aetiology, has been shown to be associated with HLA alleles but at varied degree in different population. The present study has focussed on analysing the frequency of HLA class I and class II alleles in persons with schizophrenia from South India.

Methods: Ninety seven individuals with schizophrenia and 103 age- and gender-matched controls were typed for HLA- A, B, C, DRB1 and DQB1 loci by next-generation sequencing in Illumina MiniSeq using MIA FORA NGS FLEX HLA typing kit.

Modified plastic optical fiber with CNT and graphene oxide nanostructured coatings for ethanol liquid sensing.

A high sensitivity and simple ethanol sensor based on an un-cladded multimode plastic optical fiber (UCPOF) coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) for the detection of different concentrations of ethanol in de-ionized water is developed and demonstrated. The UCPOF probe is fabricated by chemically removing the fiber cladding and integrated with CNT as a sensing layer. The effect of surface morphology on the sensor performance is investigated by characterizing another UCPOF coated with GO nanomaterial.

Dynamic response of tapered optical multimode fiber coated with carbon nanotubes for ethanol sensing application.

Ethanol is a highly combustible chemical universally designed for biomedical applications. In this paper, optical sensing performance of tapered multimode fiber tip coated with carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film towards aqueous ethanol with different concentrations is investigated. The tapered optical multimode fiber tip is coated with CNT using drop-casting technique and is annealed at 70 °C to enhance the binding of the nanomaterial to the silica fiber tip.

A novel gene from Brugia sp. that encodes a cytotoxic fatty acid binding protein allergen recognized by canine monoclonal IgE and serum IgE from infected dogs.

Brugia pahangi infection of dogs is a well characterized model of human lymphatic filariasis in which sera consistently show IgG or IgE reactivity to a 35-kDa antigen. Using dog lymph node B cells, we previously established a heterohybridoma cell line producing canine monoclonal IgE (cmAb 2.39) that activates and degranulates canine mast cells, and specifically recognizes a 35-kDa B.

Impact of population structure on genetic diversity of a potential vaccine target in the canine hookworm (Ancylostoma caninum).

Ancylostoma caninum is a globally distributed canine parasitic nematode. To test whether positive selection, population structure, or both affect genetic variation at the candidate vaccine target Ancylostoma secreted protein 1 (asp-1), we have quantified the genetic variation in A. caninum at asp-1 and a mitochondrial gene, cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox-1), using the statistical population analysis tools found in the SNAP Workbench.

Cloning and characterisation of genes encoding two transforming growth factor-beta-like ligands from the hookworm, Ancylostoma caninum.

To elucidate the role of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) signalling in the arrest/reactivation pathway of the Ancylostoma caninum hookworm, two parasite-encoded TGF-beta-like ligands were cloned and characterised. Ac-dbl-1 showed 60% amino acid identity to the Caenorhabditis elegansdbl-1 gene, which regulates growth while Ac-daf-7 showed 46% amino acid identity to Ce-daf-7 which regulates arrested development. Exon/intron organisation of the genes for Ac-dbl-1 and Ac-daf-7 were different from that of the corresponding C.

Gene expression profiles associated with the transition to parasitism in Ancylostoma caninum larvae.

Ancylostoma caninum is a common canine parasite responsible for anemia and death in infected dogs. Gene expression profiling was used to investigate molecular differences between two different forms of the third larval stage (L3s): infective free-living larvae and in vitro serum-stimulated larvae that mimic the initial stages of parasitism of a host. We developed an A.

Investigating hookworm genomes by comparative analysis of two Ancylostoma species.

Background: Hookworms, infecting over one billion people, are the mostly closely related major human parasites to the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Applying genomics techniques to these species, we analyzed 3,840 and 3,149 genes from Ancylostoma caninum and A. ceylanicum.

A putative serine protease among the excretory-secretory glycoproteins of L1 Trichinella spiralis.

Trichinella spiralis first-stage larvae infect susceptible hosts by invading epithelial cells that line the small intestine. During this process the larva disgorges several glycoproteins that bear an unusual, highly antigenic sugar moiety, tyvelose (3,6-dideoxy arabinohexose). Monoclonal antibodies specific for tyvelose protect the intestine against infection, implicating tyvelose-bearing glycoproteins as mediators of invasion and niche establishment in the intestinal epithelium.

In vitro reactivation of Ancylostoma caninum tissue-arrested third-stage larvae by transforming growth factor-beta.

Developmental arrest in Ancylostoma caninum is associated with preparasitic, free-living third-stage (L3) larvae, as well as anthelmintic-resilient hypobiotic L3 larvae within the tissues of an infected dog. With the tissue-arrested larvae, pregnancy and, more specifically, the hormonal effects of estrogen and prolactin mediate reactivation resulting in transmammary transmission of infection to nursing puppies. Estrogen and prolactin have been shown to be critically involved in upregulation of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta2 during pregnancy, and studies on the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans further implicate TGF-beta and insulin-like signaling pathways with larval arrest and reactivation.

Developmental arrest and pregnancy-induced transmammary transmission of Ancylostoma caninum larvae in the murine model.

Pregnancy is associated with reactivation of latent infections of many protozoal and helminthic parasites. To facilitate in vivo studies on the process of transmammary transmission of hookworm infection to nursing newborns, we established an experimental model of infection of BALB/c mice with infective larvae of the canine nematode Ancylostoma caninum. To establish latency with a significant reservoir of tissue larvae and achieve acceptable pregnancy success rates, mice were subcutaneously infected at day 5 postimpregnation; similar larval distribution profiles were observed at the end of the gestational period for bred compared to correspondingly infected unbred animals.

Antibody responses in pregnancy-induced transmammary transmission of Ancylostoma caninum hookworm larvae.

Third stage larvae of the Ancylostoma caninum hookworm nematode have the capacity to infect a dog, abort the normal maturation pathway to become blood-feeding intestinal worms, and instead distribute throughout the body in a developmentally arrested state that is relatively resilient to most chemotherapeutic agents. During pregnancy, a percentage of the arrested larvae reactivate and transmit via the mammary glands to infect the nursing puppies with resulting iron-deficiency anemia and potential mortality. To determine if the suppression of parasite-specific antibody responses during pregnancy facilitates the reactivation and transmammary transfer of hookworm larvae, a murine model of A.

Anthelmintic efficacy against tissue-arrested larvae of Ancylostoma caninum in murine hosts.

Third-stage larvae of the major human and canine Ancylostoma hookworm species have the capacity to undergo developmental arrest in the somatic tissues of an infected host. Arrested larvae reactivate at opportune periods such as pregnancy, which results in the transmammary transmission of infection to the nursing neonates. Using murine paratenic hosts to focus specifically on tissue-arrested stages of Ancylostoma caninum, the present study found that neither recommended nor elevated doses of commonly used anthelmintics were effective in eliminating latent infections at the accepted standard of greater than 90% reduction in parasite burden.

Molecular analysis of antigens targeted by protective antibodies in rapid expulsion of Trichinella spiralis.

Rapid expulsion is a protective immune mechanism which eliminates as much as 99% of a challenge infection of Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae from the gastrointestinal tract of suckling rats. Protective monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) generated against larval excretory-secretory antigens (ESA) specifically recognize a 45-kDa glycoprotein, gp45, in addition to a distinct profile of other cross-reactive antigens that are also recognized by non-protective mAbs. Recent data indicate that protective mAbs recognize carbohydrate epitopes.

Mixed ligand complexes involving sulphur containing ligands--Part II. Ternary complexes of Zn(II) involving L-cysteine/D-penicillamine/L-cysteic acid and imidazoles.

The chemical equilibria involved in nine mixed ligand systems Zn(II)-L-cysteine (Cys)/D-penicillamine(Pen)/L-cysteic acid(Cya)(A)-imidazole(Him), histamine(Hist) and L-histidine(His)(B) have been investigated in aqueous perchlorate medium by pH titrimetry at 37 degrees and ionic strength, I = 0.15M (NaClO(4)). The mixed ligand complex species of the types ZnABH(2), ZnABH, ZnAB or ZnAB(2) have been detected in addition to various binary species due to ligands A and B.

Temporal regulation of lin-14 by the antagonistic action of two other heterochronic genes, lin-4 and lin-28.

Heterochronic genes form a regulatory pathway that controls the temporal sequence of the Caenorhabditis elegans postembryonic cell lineage. One of these genes, lin-14, encodes a nuclear protein that constitutes a temporal developmental switch. During wild-type development, lin-14 protein is abundant during early larval stage 1 (L1) to specific L1-specific cell lineages but is nearly undetectable at L2 and later stages to specify L2-specific and later cell lineages.

Negative regulatory sequences in the lin-14 3'-untranslated region are necessary to generate a temporal switch during Caenorhabditis elegans development.

The heterchronic gene lin-14 controls the temporal sequence of developmental events in the Caenorhabditis elegans postembryonic cell lineage. It encodes a nuclear protein that normally is present in most somatic cells of late embryos and L1 larvae but is absent at later stages. Two lin-14 gain-of-function mutations delete 3'-untranslated sequences causing an inappropriately high level of the lin-14 nuclear protein late in development.