Quality improvement initiative approach to increase the duration of Kangaroo Mother Care in a neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary care institute in South India during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Kangaroo mother care (KMC) provided to stable babies in hospitals is associated with 40% relative risk reduction in death, 65% risk reduction in nosocomial infections. Despite clear existing evidence of advantages of KMC, its implementation remains limited.This study aimed to improve the median KMC practice hours in eligible preterm and low birth weight (LBW) neonates by 50% from the baseline practice.

Studies on Conducting Polymer Blends: Synthesis and Characterizations of PVA/PVP Doped with CaCl₂.

Calcium ion conducting polymer blend electrolyte films based on PVA/PVP complexed with CaCl2 have been prepared by solution casting technique. The structural changes of the polymer blends have been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. XRD and FT-IR studies confirmed the complex formation of polymer blends.

Analysis of Hybrid Buffering and Retransmission in OBS Networks.

Burst contention is a major problem in the Optical Burst Switching (OBS) networks. Due to inadequate contention resolution techniques, the burst loss is prominent in OBS. In order to resolve contention fiber delay lines, wavelength converters, deflection routing, burst segmentation, and retransmission are used.

Quantitative analysis of herpes simplex virus type 1-specific memory B cells generated by different routes of infection.

We compared the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV)-specific memory B cell (MBC) populations generated by footpad and intranasal infection in mice. Both routes of infection generated transient antibody-secreting cell responses in the draining lymph nodes and spleen, and sustained circulating IgG. HSV-specific IgG MBCs, analyzed by limiting dilution assay approximately 8 weeks after infection, were distributed in a range of lymph nodes and in the spleen and Peyer's patches.

A strategy for selective, CD4+ T cell-independent activation of virus-specific memory B cells for limiting dilution analysis.

Complete characterization of the B cell response to infection or vaccination is dependent on accurate quantitation of the memory B cell (MBC) pool. An established method for measuring MBC frequencies is limiting dilution analysis based on in vitro stimulation of MBCs to divide and differentiate into antibody-secreting cells (ASCs). The presence of specific antibody then serves to identify cultures positive for precursor MBCs.