Complete Genome Sequence and In Vitro Probiotic Assessment of Bacillus subtilis DC-11 Isolated from Traditionally Fermented Idli Batter.

In this study, we reported in vitro probiotic assessment and complete genome sequence of Bacillus subtilis DC-11 isolated from traditionally fermented Idli Batter. The strain was evaluated for probiotic properties, biofilm formation, and antimicrobial compound production. The phenotypic safety was determined by accessing the strain's ability to produce enterotoxins, degrade mucin, and antibiotic sensitivity.

Does enamel deproteinisation with 10% papain affect shear bond strength of orthodontic adhesives: a randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of 10% papain as an enamel deproteinising agent on the shear bond strength (SBS) of three orthodontic adhesives: Transbond XT, resin-modified glass ionomer cement (RMGIC) and Biofix.

Design: Single-centre, double-blinded, split-mouth randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopaedics, Nair Hospital Dental College, Mumbai, India.

A rare case of spontaneous heterotopic pregnancy with intrauterine gestational trophoblastic neoplasia and tubal ectopic pregnancy at a remote secondary care hospital.

A simultaneous presence of intrauterine and extrauterine gestation is called as heterotopic pregnancy (HP). The incidence of spontaneous HP is 1: 30000, which is very rare. In this case report, we are reporting a rare case of spontaneous HP in a 40-year-old lady with intrauterine gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN) and ruptured tubal ectopic pregnancy in a remotely located secondary care hospital.

Knowledge and practices of bioethics - Need for periodic assessment and reinstatement for budding family physicians.

Objective: The study has been designed to assess the knowledge of ethics amongst young students and professionals, and practices of health care ethics among medical professionals in a government teaching hospital in India.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out at one of the teaching hospitals in Southern India with a sample size of 84 among fresh medical graduates, post-graduate trainees, and young consultants with work experience of 6 months to 8 years. The data were collected by means of a structured and validated questionnaire, and the questionnaire was administered before and after a lecture/seminar on ethical principles, and results were analyzed using SPSS software.

Intussusception - A common entity but seldom diagnosed (lesson learnt from case series for family physicians).

Intussusception is one of the common causes of acute abdomen in paediatric age bracket with ileocolic type being the most prevalent. This happens when a proximal segment of bowel (intussusceptum) telescopes into the lumen of the adjacent distal segment (intussuscepiens). Here we report six cases of intussusception in which five were in paediatric age group and one was adult.

Adjunctive use of a surgical splint for leveling the curve of Spee following mandibular advancement.

Deep curve of Spee is a very common problem among Class II malocclusion patients associated with mandibular deficiency. The curve of Spee is maintained and leveled following surgical mandibular advancement. The same surgical splint which is used to guide the mandibular advancement can also be used for the leveling of deep curve of Spee.

Comparison of nutritional status of HIV positive children with homecare and institutional care/ orphanage - An eye opener cross sectional study.

Background: Nutrition has an important bearing on the health of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive children. Ascertaining the nutritional demands correctly and provisioning the nutritional needs to HIV positive/ Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) children will go a long way in maximizing the therapeutic benefits reaped through ever improving pharmaceutical initiatives, and thus, contribute to prolonging the longevity of these children who have a whole life ahead of them.

Objectives: To study the nutritional status, including dietary assessment and anemia status of HIV-positive children, and compare the outcomes among children under homecare (staying with families) and orphanages/institutional care.

Nasal Glucagon Is Easier to Use and More Preferred and Needs Less Effort to Administer Than Injectable Glucagon: User Perceptions of Glucagon Administration During Severe Hypoglycemia Simulation.

Objective: To evaluate ease of use, user preference, and effort required to use nasal glucagon (NG) versus injectable glucagon needing reconstitution (IG) in simulations of severe hypoglycemia (SH)-a challenge for caregivers of a person with diabetes (PWD) in real-life.

Methods: In this randomized, crossover study, high-fidelity manikins placed in mock representative high-stress environments were used to simulate an SH rescue. Thirty-two trained (by PWDs) and 33 untrained participants attempted NG and IG administrations and then completed questionnaires regarding ease of use, preference, and workload for each device.

Efficiency calculation of proton recoil neutron telescope with relativistic correction for neutron energy 4 to 20 MeV.

The efficiencies of a proton recoil neutron telescope for neutron energies ranging from 4 MeV to 20 MeV were calculated for different geometries given by Bame et al., for the case of an isotropic point neutron source colinear with the radiator and charge particle detector that are parallel & coaxial to each other. An analytical expression for the efficiency was obtained as a function of the radiator size, detector aperture, source-radiator & radiator-detector distances and n-p differential scattering cross section.

Differential Cost-Sharing Undermines Treatment Adherence to Combination Therapy: Evidence from Diabetes Treatment.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to measure the influence of differences in out-of-pocket (OOP) costs for type 2 diabetes (T2D) medications on within-patient adherence behavior towards combination drug therapy regimens.

Methods: This was an observational, retrospective, paired sample study in patients with T2D using longitudinal pharmacy data from the 2009-2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) augmented with socio-demographic factors. We took a within-patient approach to minimize confounding effects by including patients who maintained the same number of diabetes drug classes over 2 years of MEPS.

Structure-Activity Relationship of Polyester-Based Cationic Polyrotaxane Vector-Mediated In Vitro siRNA Delivery: Effect on Gene Silencing Efficiency.

A series of linear polyester-based, α-cyclodextrin (CD)-threaded polyrotaxanes (PRTx) were synthesized for siRNA delivery. The investigation into the effect of the presence of polyester linkages in polyrotaxane established the structural-activity relationship between polyrotaxane and siRNA transfection efficiency. The ester-based polyrotaxane exhibited higher threading efficiency than poly(ethylene glycol)-based polyrotaxane.

Synthesis, characterization and properties of novel polyamides derived from 4 4' bis(4-carboxy methylene) biphenyl and various diamines.

Novel aromatic aliphatic diacid monomer, 4 4' bis(4-carboxy methylene) biphenyl was synthesized via friedel craft acylation with acetic anhydride followed by willgerodot reaction and used in the preparation of polyamides by direct polycondensation using the Yamazaki phosphorylation reaction with commercial aromatic diamines. These polyamides were obtained in good yield with moderate-to-high-molecular-weight build up as evidenced by inherent viscosities in the range of 0.52-0.

Synthesis and characterization of semi-aromatic polyamides containing heterocyclic 1,3,5 s-triazine and methylene spacer group for thermally stable and colloidal property.

A new aromatic diacid (II) was synthesized and Characterized by Spectroscopic techniques namely, FT-IR,  H and  C NMR, etc. A series of aromatic aliphatic polyamides containing phenoxy s-triazine ring with methylene spacer group was synthesized from diacid (II) and various aromatic diamines by using Yamazaki Phosphorylation method. These polyamides were obtained in good yields and characterized by solubility in common organic solvent, inherent viscosity, FT-IR, X-ray diffraction analysis.

ABSOLUTE MEASUREMENT OF 14.57 MeV NEUTRON FLUENCE RATE USING PROTON RECOIL NEUTRON TELESCOPE.

A single stage vacuum-type proton recoil neutron telescope (PRT) was used for accurate measurement of 14.57 MeV neutron fluence rate from an indigenously developed D-T neutron generator at Purnima, BARC. The telescope consists of a polyethylene radiator having 4 cm diameter and CsI (Tl) scintillation crystal having thickness 1.

Nanodiamonds as a state-of-the-art material for enhancing the gamma radiation resistance properties of polymeric membranes.

We report, for the first time, the development of gamma radiation resistant polysulfone (Psf)-nanodiamond (ND) composite membranes with varying concentrations of NDs, ranging up to 2 wt% of Psf. Radiation stability of the synthesized membranes was tested up to a dose of 1000 kGy. To understand the structure-property correlationship of these membranes, multiple characterization techniques were used, including field-emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, drop shape analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, positron annihilation spectroscopy, and small angle X-ray scattering.

Biodegradable Polyester of Poly (Ethylene glycol)-sebacic Acid as a Backbone for β -Cyclodextrin-polyrotaxane: A Promising Gene Silencing Vector.

Background: Polyrotaxane, a macromolecular interlocked assembly, consisting of cyclodextrin has excellent inclusion capabilities and functionalization capacity, which makes it a versatile material as a vector for gene delivery applications.

Objective: A biodegradable linear aliphatic polyester axle composed of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) and Sebacic Acid (SA) was used to fabricate the β-Cyclodextrin (β-CD) based polyrotaxane as a cationic polymeric vector and evaluated for its potential gene silencing efficiency.

Methods: The water-soluble aliphatic polyester was synthesized by the solvent esterification process and characterized using viscometry, GPC, FT-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy.

Improved Thermoelectric Properties of Re-Substituted Higher Manganese Silicides by Inducing Phonon Scattering and an Energy-Filtering Effect at Grain Boundary Interfaces.

In this study, the effect of the grain boundary density on the transport properties of the Re-substituted higher manganese silicide MnReSi has been investigated. The efficiency of electrical energy conversion from waste heat, mainly in thermoelectric generators, depends on how the thermal conduction is reduced, while the charge-carrier electrons/holes contribute to possess a large magnitude of both the electrical conductivity σ and Seebeck coefficient . In this work, we tried to obtain such a condition with a novel approach of merging the energy-filtering effect at the grain boundaries to improve the power factor (PF) = σ.

Contraceptive use and its determinants amongst armed forces personnel.

Background: Nearly 1.5 billion adolescent girls are entering into child bearing age groups without effective knowledge regarding family planning practices which are essential to maintain their reproductive health. Timely and effective knowledge regarding family planning norms and practices among the young women during their initial married days are vital.

Osteoporosis among household women: A growing but neglected phenomenon.

Background: Osteoporosis is associated with variable morbidity and socio-economic burden and referred as a "silent epidemic" with increasing risk among Indian women. The present study was conducted to find prevalence of osteoporosis.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Ranchi city with household women as participants.

RNA interference-based therapeutics: molecular platforms for infectious diseases.

The potential uses and therapeutic benefits of RNA interference (RNAi) are enormous. Recent insights into RNAi technologies have highlighted their role in analyzing the functions and regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes and further utilizing this information for identification and amelioration of many diseases. These studies have also established the role of RNAi mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) mechanism in mammals by several endogenous, gene regulation systems including small interfering RNAs (siRNA), micro RNA (miRNA) and small hairpin RNAs (shRNA).

Effects of twin-block appliance on the anatomy of pharyngeal airway passage (PAP) in class II malocclusion subjects.

Background: The use of functional appliances for the correction of retrognathic mandible is very common in orthodontics. Similar appliances known as oral appliances are also frequently used in adults for the treatment of mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Many studies have reported improvement of pharyngeal airway passage (PAP) dimensions following functional appliance therapy in children and oral appliance therapy in adults.

Hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry as an analytical tool for the analysis of amyloid fibrillogenesis.

In this study, we have used glucagon as a model system for analyzing amyloid fibrillogenesis by hydrogen exchange MALDI mass spectrometry (HXMS). The hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry data correlated well with the traditional method based on Thioflavin T fluorescence and provided quantitative information by measuring the fibrillating molecules directly. The hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry data collected during fibrillogenesis revealed that glucagon fibrillation was a two component system showing an on/off type of interaction where only monomeric and fibrils were present without any substantial amount of intermediate species.

Mapping out the multistage fibrillation of glucagon.

The 29-residue peptide hormone glucagon forms many different morphological types of amyloid-like fibrils, depending on solvent conditions. Here, we combine time-series far-UV CD with singular value decomposition analysis to reveal six different conformational states populated during fibrillation at 25 °C and pH 2.5.

Study of neutron spectra emitted by moderated 241Am-Be source for various moderating materials by using simulation technique.

A study was done on the tailored neutron energy spectra of (241)Am-Be neutron source due to the effect of moderators. The (241)Am-Be laboratory neutron source was used as the basic source and the emitted spectrum was modified using various neutron moderators. The various moderators used are high-density polythene, light water, heavy water, graphite, (56)Fe, BeO, Be, (6)Li and (7)Li.

Standardisation of water-moderated 241Am-Be neutron source using De Pangher neutron long counter: experimental and Monte Carlo modelling.

A convenient neutron source is made for calibration of neutron survey instruments and personal dosimeters that are used in various nuclear installations such as fuel reprocessing, waste management, fuel fabrication and oil and well logging facilities, etc. This source consists of a bare (241)Am-Be neutron source placed at the centre of a 15-cm radius stainless steel spherical shell filled with distilled water. This paper describes the standardisation of the source at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, using De Pangher neutron long counter both experimentally and using the Monte Carlo simulation.