Investigation of a Prolonged and Large Outbreak of Healthcare-Associated Mucormycosis Cases in an Acute Care Hospital-Arkansas, June 2019-May 2021.

Background: Outbreaks of healthcare-associated mucormycosis (HCM), a life-threatening fungal infection, have been attributed to multiple sources, including contaminated healthcare linens. In 2020, staff at Hospital A in Arkansas alerted public health officials of a potential HCM outbreak.

Methods: We collected data on patients at Hospital A who had invasive mucormycosis during January 2017-June 2021 and calculated annual incidence of HCM (defined as mucormycosis diagnosed within ≥7 days after hospital admission).

Infectious Period of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in 17 Nursing Home Residents-Arkansas, June-August 2020.

Background: To estimate the infectious period of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in older adults with underlying conditions, we assessed duration of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) symptoms, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positivity, and culture positivity among nursing home residents.

Methods: We enrolled residents within 15 days of their first positive SARS-CoV-2 test (diagnosis) at an Arkansas facility from July 7 to 15, 2020 and instead them for 42 days. Every 3 days for 21 days and then weekly, we assessed COVID-19 symptoms, collected specimens (oropharyngeal, anterior nares, and saliva), and reviewed medical charts.

Gender focused training and knowledge enhances the adoption of climate resilient seeds.

Adoption of any agricultural technology depends upon the way in which farmers are being informed about its benefits. Educational status, caste, gender and other social issues also play a significant role in the adoption process. To evaluate the impact of trainings on quality seed production, access to the climate resilient rice seeds, availability of information about seed sources and use of IRRI super bags, a randomized experimental research was carried out over a period of two years across five different states of India.

Prosthetic mitral valve endocarditis.

endocarditis is a fatal source of valvular infection with a near 100 % mortality rate if pharmacotherapy and valve-replacement surgery are not initiated swiftly after diagnosis. Complicating its diagnosis is the low yield for growth on standard blood culture and time requirements for molecular diagnostic tools to return a result. endocarditis of the mitral valve presents as valvular vegetations that reduce the caliber of the mitral valve and can cause syncope as in the case of mitral stenosis with subsequent valve failure, left atrial enlargement, and prospective cardiovascular failure.

A Dynamic Mathematical Modeling Revelation about the Impact of Vaccination on Hepatitis B Virus-induced Infection and Death Rate in Bangladesh.

Aim: Attainment of sustainable development goal (SDG) targets requires reducing the rate of new hepatitis B virus (HBV)-induced infection and mortality rate to 90% and 65%, respectively, by 2030. Therefore, it is important to investigate the feasibility of reducing the required rates of HBV-induced infection and death incidents at the current rate of vaccination coverage in Bangladesh. Moreover, factors influencing vaccination coverage like negative bias toward girls during immunization can affect the current vaccination program and ultimately hinder the efforts to reduce HBV-induced infection and death rates.

Transcatheter embolization of a giant coronary artery pseudoaneurysm.

A 53-year-old diabetic male with sternal dehiscence presented with recurrent staphylococcus bacteremia 2years after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). He was found to have a giant right coronary artery (RCA) pseudoaneurysm and a coronary cameral fistula on imaging. Due to excessive surgical risk, the patient underwent percutaneous treatment with a 5mm Amplatzer vascular plug 4 (St.

Dermatologist-like feature extraction from skin lesion for improved asymmetry classification in PH2 database.

Asymmetry is one of key characteristics for early diagnosis of melanoma according to medical algorithms such as (ABCD, CASH etc.). Besides shape information, cues such as irregular distribution of colors and structures within the lesion area are assessed by dermatologists to determine lesion asymmetry.

Multi-scale classification based lesion segmentation for dermoscopic images.

This paper presents a robust segmentation method based on multi-scale classification to identify the lesion boundary in dermoscopic images. Our proposed method leverages a collection of classifiers which are trained at various resolutions to categorize each pixel as "lesion" or "surrounding skin". In detection phase, trained classifiers are applied on new images.

Development of a registration framework to validate MRI with histology for prostate focal therapy.

Purpose: Focal therapy has been proposed as an alternative method to whole-gland treatment for prostate cancer when aiming to reduce treatment side effects. The authors recently validated a radiobiological model which takes into account tumor location and tumor characteristics including tumor cell density, Gleason score, and hypoxia in order to plan optimal dose distributions for focal therapy. The authors propose that this model can be informed using multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and in this study present a registration framework developed to map prostate mpMRI and histology data, where histology will provide the "ground truth" data regarding tumor location and biology.

A Cloud-Based Infrastructure for Feedback-Driven Training and Image Recognition.

Advanced techniques in machine learning combined with scalable "cloud" computing infrastructure are driving the creation of new and innovative health diagnostic applications. We describe a service and application for performing image training and recognition, tailored to dermatology and melanoma identification. The system implements new machine learning approaches to provide a feedback-driven training loop.

Improving Multiple Sclerosis Plaque Detection Using a Semiautomated Assistive Approach.

Background And Purpose: Treating MS with disease-modifying drugs relies on accurate MR imaging follow-up to determine the treatment effect. We aimed to develop and validate a semiautomated software platform to facilitate detection of new lesions and improved lesions.

Materials And Methods: We developed VisTarsier to assist manual comparison of volumetric FLAIR sequences by using interstudy registration, resectioning, and color-map overlays that highlight new lesions and improved lesions.

Effect of fitness on incident diabetes from statin use in primary prevention.

Objective: To assess the effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on the association between the initiation of statin therapy and incident diabetes.

Patients And Methods: In a prospective observational study, we studied 6519 generally healthy men and 2334 women with two preventive health examinations from December 15, 1998 through December 18, 2013 which included measurement of fitness levels, statin therapy, risk factors for diabetes, and incident diabetes.

Results: 93 cases of incident diabetes occurred during an average follow-up of 3.

A preliminary study on Oxya fuscovittata (Marschall) as an alternative nutrient supplement in the diets of Poecillia sphenops (Valenciennes).

Growth of the ornamental fish industry is being hindered by the scarcity of low cost feed; hence alternative protein supplements should be explored. In this context the present study aims to evaluate whether the grasshopper Oxya fuscovittata could be used as a supplement for fish meal in the diets of Poecillia sphenops, which is one of the most common ornamental fishes worldwide. The present work is divided into three phases: In the first phase proximate composition of the grasshopper is obtained and five diets are prepared where fish meal is gradually replaced by Oxya meal and named as control, D1, D2, D3 and D4.

In silico predicted mycobacterial epitope elicits in vitro T-cell responses.

Epitope-based vaccines permit the selection of only a specific subset of epitopes to induce the necessary immune response, thus providing a rational alternative to conventional design approaches. Using a range of immunoinformatics tools, we identified a novel, contiguous 28 amino acid multi-epitope cluster within the highly conserved secretory protein Ag85B of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of TB. This cluster, named Ep85B, is composed of epitopes which bind to three HLA Class I and 15 Class II molecules, and harbors the potential to generate 99% population coverage in TB-endemic regions.

Characterization of the Protective HIV-1 CTL Epitopes and the Corresponding HLA Class I Alleles: A Step towards Designing CTL Based HIV-1 Vaccine.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) possesses a major threat to the human life largely due to the unavailability of an efficacious vaccine and poor access to the antiretroviral drugs against this deadly virus. High mutation rate in the viral genome underlying the antigenic variability of the viral proteome is the major hindrance as far as the antibody based vaccine development is concerned. Although the exact mechanism by which CTL epitopes and the restricting HLA alleles mediate their action towards slow disease progression is still not clear, the important CTL restricted epitopes for controlling viral infections can be utilized in future vaccine design.

In silico QSAR analysis of quercetin reveals its potential as therapeutic drug for Alzheimer's disease.

Unlabelled: Acetylcholine-esterase (AchE) inhibitors are one of the most potent drug molecules against Alzheimer's disease (AD). But, patients treated with current AchE inhibitors often experience severe side effects. Quercetin is a plant flavonoid compound which can act as AchE inhibitor and it may be a better alternative to current AchE inhibitors in terms of effectiveness with no or fewer side effects.

Labour-efficient in vitro lymphocyte population tracking and fate prediction using automation and manual review.

Interest in cell heterogeneity and differentiation has recently led to increased use of time-lapse microscopy. Previous studies have shown that cell fate may be determined well in advance of the event. We used a mixture of automation and manual review of time-lapse live cell imaging to track the positions, contours, divisions, deaths and lineage of 44 B-lymphocyte founders and their 631 progeny in vitro over a period of 108 hours.

Genetic variation within native populations of endemic silkmoth Antheraea assamensis (Helfer) from Northeast India indicates need for in situ conservation.

A. assamensis is a phytophagous Lepidoptera from Northeast India reared on host trees of Lauraceae family for its characteristic cocoon silk. Source of these cocoons are domesticated farm stocks that crash frequently and/or wild insect populations that provide new cultures.

HLA supertypes contribute in HIV type 1 cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope clustering in Nef and Gag proteins.

Induction of HIV-1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses largely depends upon the presentation of CTL epitopes to the CD8(+) T cells aided by a large number of different HLA class I alleles. Although several studies showed the clustering pattern of HIV-1 CTL epitopes, the underlying reason for this tendency remains unresolved. Moreover, the hypothesis that the CTL epitope clusters tend to coincide with the conserved and hydrophobic regions of HIV-1 proteins has been challenged in recent times.

Automated and semi-automated cell tracking: addressing portability challenges.

Cell tracking is a key task in the high-throughput quantitative study of important biological processes, such as immune system regulation and neurogenesis. Variability in cell density and dynamics in different videos, hampers portability of existing trackers across videos. We address these potability challenges in order to develop a portable cell tracking algorithm.

Comparative network clustering of direct repeats (DRs) and cas genes confirms the possibility of the horizontal transfer of CRISPR locus among bacteria.

CRISPRs are a diverse family of DNA repeat sequences that are widely distributed among archaea and bacteria. The CRISPR locus is usually composed of three key elements; direct repeats (DRs), spacer sequences and the cas genes. Although recent studies have suggested that spacers may be of extrachromosomal origin, the evolutionary origin of the other two elements of the CRISPR locus has remained unresolved.

A computational approach for identification of epitopes in dengue virus envelope protein: a step towards designing a universal dengue vaccine targeting endemic regions.

A major problem in designing vaccine for the dengue virus has been the high antigenic variability in the envelope protein of different virus strains. In this study, a computational approach was adopted to identify a multi-epitope vaccine candidate against dengue virus that may be suitable for large populations in the dengue-endemic regions. Different bioinformatics tools were exploited that helped the identification of a conserved immunological hot-spot in the dengue envelope protein.

Community-based epidemiology of hepatitis B virus infection in West Bengal, India: prevalence of hepatitis B e antigen-negative infection and associated viral variants.

Background And Aims: There is a paucity of population-based epidemiological information regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in India. The present study was planned to outline the magnitude and pattern of HBV infection, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative infection and the associated viral mutants in India.

Methods: A community-based epidemiological study of HBV infection was carried out in West Bengal, India.