Homeopathic Medicines Used as Prophylaxis in Kolkata during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Community-Based, Cluster-Randomized Trial.

INTRODUCTION: There is some evidence that homeopathic treatment has been used successfully in previous epidemics, and currently some countries are testing homeoprophylaxis for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is a strong tradition of homeopathic treatment in India: therefore, we decided to compare three different homeopathic medicines against placebo in prevention of COVID-19 infections. METHODS: In this double-blind, cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled, four parallel arms, community-based, clinical trial, a 20,000-person sample of the population residing in Ward Number 57 of the Tangra area, Kolkata, was randomized in a 1:1:1:1 ratio of clusters to receive one of three homeopathic medicines (Bryonia alba 30cH, Gelsemium sempervirens 30cH, Phosphorus 30cH) or identical-looking placebo, for 3 (children) or 6 (adults) days. All the participants, who were aged 5 to 75 years, received ascorbic acid (vitamin C) tablets of 500 mg, once per day for 6 days. In addition, instructions on healthy diet and general hygienic measures, including hand washing, social distancing and proper use of mask and gloves, were given to all the participants. RESULTS: No new confirmed COVID-19 cases were diagnosed in the target population during the follow-up timeframe of 1 month-December 20, 2020 to January 19, 2021-thus making the trial inconclusive. The Phosphorus group had the least exposure to COVID-19 compared with the other groups. In comparison with placebo, the occurrence of unconfirmed COVID-19 cases was significantly less in the Phosphorus group (week 1: odds ratio [OR], 0.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06 to 0.16; week 2: OR, 0.004; 95% CI, 0.0002 to 0.06; week 3: OR, 0.007; 95% CI, 0.0004 to 0.11; week 4: OR, 0.009; 95% CI, 0.0006 to 0.14), but not in the Bryonia or Gelsemium groups. CONCLUSION: Overall, the trial was inconclusive. The possible effect exerted by Phosphorus necessitates further investigation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: CTRI/2020/11/029265.

Molecular detection and characterization of African swine fever virus from field outbreaks in domestic pigs, Mizoram, India.

African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating haemorrhagic disease of domestic pigs, which can cause mortality up to 100%. Sudden mortality in pigs following an acute course of systemic disease was investigated in Mizoram state of India and confirmed the outbreak as ASF. Affected pigs suffered from severe depression, high fever, bloody diarrhoea, cutaneous haemorrhages and showed haemorrhagic lesions in visceral organs. The outbreak was confirmed by detection of p72, p54 and the central variable region of B602L genes by PCR in representative tissue samples collected from dead pigs. The nucleotide and phylogenetic analyses of p72, p54 and B602L characterized the ASFV as genotype II. Interestingly, the analysis of B602L gene has revealed that the ASFV from Mizoram state of India is more closely linked to the Eurasian ASFV strains isolated prior to 2014 and discriminated the Indian strains in two separate groups indicating that the source of origin for the Mizoram outbreak could be different from that of the other states of India.

Identification of genomic region(s) responsible for high iron and zinc content in rice.

Micronutrient especially iron and zinc-enriched rice hold immense promise for sustainable and cost-effective solutions to overcome malnutrition. In this context, BC2F5 population derived from cross between RP-Bio226 and Sampada was used to localize genomic region(s)/QTL(s) for grain Fe (iron) and Zn (zinc) content together with yield and yield-related traits. Genotyping of mapping population with 108 SSR markers resulted in a genetic map of 2317.5 cM with an average marker distance of 21.5 cM. Mean grain mineral content in the mapping population across the two seasons ranged from 10.5-17.5 ppm for Fe and 11.3-22.1 ppm for Zn. Based on the multi-season phenotypic data together with genotypic data, a total of two major QTLs for Fe (PVE upto 17.1%) and three for Zn (PVE upto 34.2%) were identified. Comparative analysis across the two seasons has revealed four consistent QTLs for Fe (qFe1.1, qFe1.2, qFe6.1 and qFe6.2) and two QTL for Zn content (qZn1.1 and qZn6.2). Additionally, based on the previous and current studies three meta-QTLs for grain Fe and two for grain Zn have been identified. In-silico analysis of the identified QTL regions revealed the presence of potential candidate gene(s) such as, OsPOT, OsZIP4, OsFDR3, OsIAA5 etc., that were previously reported to influence grain Fe and Zn content. The identified QTLs could be utilized in developing high yielding, Fe and Zn denser varieties by marker assisted selection (MAS).