Publications by authors named "Ramani S"

Oral vaccines have several advantages compared with parenteral administration: they can be relatively cheap to produce in high quantities, easier to administer, and induce intestinal mucosal immunity that can protect against infection. These characteristics have led to successful use of oral vaccines against rotavirus, polio, and cholera. Unfortunately, oral vaccines for all three diseases have demonstrated lower performance in the highest-burden settings where they are most needed.

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This article discusses conceptual frameworks in neurology education research. We provide practical case examples highlighting the conceptual framework development process for different research scenarios in neurology education. We explore the steps that shape the conceptual framework process, including defining the educational problem, exploring the scholarly conversation on the topic of study through understanding the literature and outlining its gaps, constructing research questions, selecting the theoretical frameworks that underpin the study, and choosing the appropriate methodology and methods for the research questions.

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Background: There is wide variation in how faculty development (FD) is practiced globally and described in the literature. This scoping review aims to clarify how FD is conceptualised and practiced in health professions education.

Methodology: Using a systematic search strategy, 418 papers, published between 2015-2023, were included for full text review.

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Background: In India, Non-Degree Allopathic Providers (NDAPs), who do not have formal training in allopathic medicine, play a prominent role in basic healthcare delivery in both rural areas and urban informal settlements. Often recognized as providers of 'first contact' care for minor acute ailments, there is little information regarding the roles they play in providing services for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In this study, we explore the roles played by NDAPs in diagnosing and managing two NCDs-diabetes and hypertension-in urban informal settlements of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

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Following recent reports of norovirus replication in salivary gland cells, we examined whether the prototype norovirus strain, Norwalk virus (GI.1), could be detected in the saliva of 21 experimentally infected persons. Viral RNA was not detected in saliva 2 and 7 days after challenge despite high levels being present in feces.

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Article Synopsis
  • Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are key contributors to diarrhea outbreaks worldwide, and studying them was difficult due to a lack of effective culture methods.
  • Recent advancements in cultivating various HuNoV strains in human intestinal enteroids (HIEs) have greatly improved research into their replication and disease mechanisms.
  • The research showed that different types of HIEs, particularly those from small intestines and genetically modified lines, have varying levels of susceptibility to HuNoV infection, revealing insights into how these viruses affect human health.
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Aim And Objective: The purpose of the study is to compare the effects of rocuronium priming with the combined technique of magnesium pretreatment and rocuronium priming and to investigate whether this pretreatment could further accelerate the onset of neuromuscular blockade during intubation.

Materials And Methods:  A double-blinded randomized controlled trial (RCT) clinical study was done on patients at a tertiary care center for six months after obtaining approval from the institutional ethical committee. A total of 150 patients were randomly allocated as Group MP (infusion of 50 mg/kg of MgSo4 over 10 min was given 10 mins prior to premedication and dose of rocuronium 0.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human noroviruses (HuNoV) are major pathogens that cause respiratory and gastrointestinal infections respectively, making it essential to generate full-length genome sequences for studying their diversity and tracking variants.
  • - The study developed oligonucleotide probe sets from numerous viral isolate sequences, which were utilized in a capture enrichment sequencing workflow to analyze samples, significantly improving the quality of viral genome recovery.
  • - The results showed that over 99% of RSV genomes and over 96% of HuNoV genomes were complete post-capture, demonstrating the effectiveness of this method for comprehensive genome sequencing and monitoring emerging variants.
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Human norovirus (HuNoV) infection is a global health and economic burden. Currently, there are no licensed HuNoV vaccines or antiviral drugs available. The protease encoded by the HuNoV genome plays a critical role in virus replication by cleaving the polyprotein and is, therefore, an excellent target for developing small molecule inhibitors.

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Clinical teachers do not acquire teaching skills through their traditional health professional education. Faculty development programmes are required to train these clinicians in essential educational theory and practical teaching skills. Such interventions are critical to successful clerkship experiences and preparedness for professional practice.

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Unlabelled: This series, "Primary health care in South Asia", is an effort to provide region-specific, evidence-based insights for reorienting health systems towards PHC. Led by regional thinkers, this series draws lessons from five countries in South Asia: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This is the last paper in the series that outlines points for future action.

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Building capacity for Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) is critical for advancing the field in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The India HPSR fellowship program is a home-grown capacity-building initiative, anchored at the Health Systems Transformation Platform (HSTP), New Delhi, and developed in collaboration with a network of institutes in India and abroad. In this practice-oriented commentary, we provide an overview of the fellowship program and critically reflect upon the learnings from working with three cohorts of fellows between 2020 and 2023.

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Background: Human noroviruses are a leading cause of acute and sporadic gastroenteritis worldwide. The evolution of human noroviruses in immunocompromised persons has been evaluated in many studies. Much less is known about the evolutionary dynamics of human norovirus in healthy adults.

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Article Synopsis
  • Rotavirus was a major cause of gastroenteritis in US children until the introduction of vaccines in 2006, which led to significant reductions in severe cases.
  • A study from 2009 to 2022 analyzed vaccine effectiveness (VE) using data from children with acute gastroenteritis, revealing a 78% effectiveness rate against severe rotavirus-related medical visits.
  • The effectiveness varied by severity of disease, showing 94% effectiveness against very severe cases, with younger children benefiting the most from vaccination.
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Background & Aims: The protection provided by rotavirus (RV) vaccines is highly heterogeneous among individuals. We hypothesized that microbiota composition might influence RV vaccine efficacy.

Methods: First, we examined the potential of segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) colonization to influence RV vaccine efficacy in mice.

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Background: Among the most common mucosal viral infections in infants are rotavirus, one of the main causes of severe gastroenteritis in infants and children up to 5 years, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), one of the leading causes of lower respiratory tract infections. Both human milk and bovine milk derived factors may provide protection against mucosal viral infections. More recently, a similar activity of milk derived proteins was suggested for SARS-CoV-2.

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Mechanistic investigation of host-microbe interactions in the human gut are hindered by difficulty of co-culturing microbes with intestinal epithelial cells. On one hand the gut bacteria are a mix of facultative, aerotolerant or obligate anaerobes, while the intestinal epithelium requires oxygen for growth and function. Thus, a coculture system that can recreate these contrasting oxygen requirements is critical step towards our understanding microbial-host interactions in the human gut.

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Recent research suggests that neurocognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia may increase the risk of developing cognitive biases. As such, we set out to determine this predictive relationship as it pertains to the development of a first-episode psychosis. We hypothesized that poorer performance in processing speed would be associated with jumping to conclusions and an externalizing bias.

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Unlabelled: Human intestinal enteroids (HIEs) are gaining recognition as physiologically relevant models of the intestinal epithelium. While HIEs from adults are used extensively in biomedical research, few studies have used HIEs from infants. Considering the dramatic developmental changes that occur during infancy, it is important to establish models that represent infant intestinal characteristics and physiological responses.

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Background & Aims: The extent to which live orally-administered rotavirus (RV) vaccines elicit protective immunity is highly heterogeneous. We hypothesized microbiota composition might influence vaccine efficacy.

Methods: We tested this concept by examining extent to which colonizing mice with segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) influenced RV vaccine efficacy.

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Background: The in vitro cultivation of human noroviruses allows a comparison of antibody levels measured in neutralization and histo-blood group antigen (HBGA)-blocking assays.

Methods: Serum samples collected during the evaluation of an investigational norovirus vaccine (HIL-214 [formerly TAK-214]) were assayed for neutralizing antibody levels against the vaccine's prototype Norwalk virus/genogroup I, genotype 1 (GI.1) (P1) virus strain.

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