Impact of maternal antibodies and microbiota development on the immunogenicity of oral rotavirus vaccine in African, Indian, and European infants.

Identifying risk factors for impaired oral rotavirus vaccine (ORV) efficacy in low-income countries may lead to improvements in vaccine design and delivery. In this prospective cohort study, we measure maternal rotavirus antibodies, environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), and bacterial gut microbiota development among infants receiving two doses of Rotarix in India (n = 307), Malawi (n = 119), and the UK (n = 60), using standardised methods across cohorts. We observe ORV shedding and seroconversion rates to be significantly lower in Malawi and India than the UK.

Rapid and Sensitive Direct Detection and Identification of Poliovirus from Stool and Environmental Surveillance Samples by Use of Nanopore Sequencing.

Global poliovirus surveillance involves virus isolation from stool and environmental samples, intratypic differential (ITD) by PCR, and sequencing of the VP1 region to distinguish vaccine (Sabin), vaccine-derived, and wild-type polioviruses and to ensure an appropriate response. This cell culture algorithm takes 2 to 3 weeks on average between sample receipt and sequencing. Direct detection of viral RNA using PCR allows faster detection but has traditionally faced challenges related to poor sensitivity and difficulties in sequencing common samples containing poliovirus and enterovirus mixtures.

Use of quantitative molecular diagnostic methods to assess the aetiology, burden, and clinical characteristics of diarrhoea in children in low-resource settings: a reanalysis of the MAL-ED cohort study.

Background: Optimum management of childhood diarrhoea in low-resource settings has been hampered by insufficient data on aetiology, burden, and associated clinical characteristics. We used quantitative diagnostic methods to reassess and refine estimates of diarrhoea aetiology from the Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) cohort study.

Methods: We re-analysed stool specimens from the multisite MAL-ED cohort study of children aged 0-2 years done at eight locations (Dhaka, Bangladesh; Vellore, India; Bhaktapur, Nepal; Naushero Feroze, Pakistan; Venda, South Africa; Haydom, Tanzania; Fortaleza, Brazil; and Loreto, Peru), which included active surveillance for diarrhoea and routine non-diarrhoeal stool collection.

Use of quantitative molecular diagnostic methods to investigate the effect of enteropathogen infections on linear growth in children in low-resource settings: longitudinal analysis of results from the MAL-ED cohort study.

Background: Enteropathogen infections in early childhood not only cause diarrhoea but contribute to poor growth. We used molecular diagnostics to assess whether particular enteropathogens were associated with linear growth across seven low-resource settings.

Methods: We used quantitative PCR to detect 29 enteropathogens in diarrhoeal and non-diarrhoeal stools collected from children in the first 2 years of life obtained during the Etiology, Risk Factors, and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) multisite cohort study.

Enteropathogens and Gut Inflammation in Asymptomatic Infants and Children in Different Environments in Southern India.

Children in poor environmental conditions are exposed early and often to enteric pathogens, but within developing countries, heterogeneity in enteropathogen exposure in different settings and communities is rarely addressed. We tested fecal samples from healthy infants and children from two different environments in the same Indian town for gut enteropathogens and biomarkers of gut inflammation. A significantly higher proportion of infants and children from a poor semi-urban neighborhood (93%) had one or more enteropathogens than those from a medical college campus (71.

Assessing reproductive toxicity and antioxidant enzymes on beta asarone induced male Wistar albino rats: In vivo and computational analysis.

Aim: Beta asarone is the major constituent of oil obtained from Acorus calamus, the Indian traditional medicine plant. Several studies have shown that beta asarone causes liver and cardiac damages but the reproductive toxicity is not well understood. The present study was initiated to investigate whether beta asarone has the potential to cause reproductive toxicity by inducing oxidative stress in the testis of male Wistar albino rats.