Bridging drug discovery through hierarchical subtractive genomics against asd, trpG, and secY of pneumonia causing MDR Staphylococcus aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an opportunistic gram-positive, non-motile, and non-sporulating bacteria that induces pneumonia, a provocative lung infection affecting mainly the terminal bronchioles and the small air sacs known as alveoli. Recently, it has developed antibiotic resistance to the available consortium as per the WHO reports; thereby, novel remedial targets and resilient medications to forestall and cure this illness are desperately needed. Here, using pan-genomics, a total of 1,387 core proteins were identified. Subtractive proteome analyses further identified 12 proteins that are vital for bacteria. One membrane protein (secY) and two cytoplasmic proteins (asd and trpG) were chosen as possible therapeutic targets concerning minimum % host identity, essentiality, and other cutoff values, such as high resistance in the MDR S. aureus. The UniProt AA sequences of the selected targets were modelled and docked against 3 drug-like chemical libraries. The top-ranked compounds i.e., ZINC82049692, ZINC85492658 and 3a of Isosteviol derivative for Aspartate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase (asd); ZINC38222743, ZINC70455378, and 5 m Isosteviol derivative for Anthranilate synthase component II (trpG); and finally, ZINC72292296, ZINC85632684, and 7 m Isosteviol derivative for Protein translocase subunit secY (secY), were further subjected to molecular dynamics studies for thermodynamic stability and energy calculation. Our study proposes new therapeutic targets in S. aureus, some of which have previously been reported in other pathogenic microorganisms. Owing to further experimental validation, we anticipate that the adapted methodology and the predicted results in this work could make major contributions towards novel drug discovery and their targets in S. aureus caused pneumonia.

A Systematic Investigation of Tobacco Industry Sourced Data Relating to Illicit Tobacco Trade Featured in Pakistan's Media Coverage (2015-2020).

INTRODUCTION: Previous evidence suggests the tobacco industry uses media to disseminate misleading narratives relating to illicit tobacco trade (ITT) as part of efforts to influence policy outcomes. Such evidence is largely high-income countries (HIC) focused, resulting in a literature gap for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Pakistan and its annual budget cycle are used as a case study for addressing this gap. AIMS AND METHODS: Electronic English-language articles from newspapers in Pakistan (328) were sourced from LexisNexis and a sub-sample of Urdu-language electronic articles (12) were identified through internet searches. The articles were published between 2015 and 2020 and included claims/estimates relating to ITT, which were coded to identify cited data sources. Changes in media coverage before and after Pakistan's annual budget announcements were explored via Wilcoxon signed rank and Poisson regression tests. RESULTS: Of the 357 claims/estimates analyzed, 66 (20%) were industry-funded. The most prevalent sources were national government bodies (36.6%) and tobacco companies or their representatives (15.1%). Wilcoxon signed-rank and Poisson regression tests on the frequency of English-language articles both created a p-value of < .05 for the frequency of relevant articles between the months of April and May, compared to the other months, indicating statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: There was a statistically significant increase in the number of English-language articles featuring claims/estimates relating to Pakistan's ITT in the months leading up to the annual budget each year. The government should consider measures to improve transparency standards within media coverage and promote factcheck journalism to safeguard against industry tactics to manipulate public discourses. IMPLICATIONS: This paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the largest exploration of the use of data sourced from the tobacco industry within a country's media that has been undertaken to date, utilizing a team of seven coders across the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Our findings reveal weaknesses within media coverage of ITT in Pakistan, both in English and Urdu language publications. We encourage the government to consider new standards to enhance transparency and promote factcheck journalism within media coverage in the country.

Association analysis of miRNA-146a and miRNA-196a polymorphism with breast cancer risk in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: a preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: microRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNA molecules, functioning either as oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. SNPs in miRNAs might modify the expression of genes associated with miRNAs, enhancing susceptibility to breast cancer. Both miRNA-146a (rs2910164) and miRNA-196a (rs11614913) are identified and significantly associated with breast cancer risk in several ethnicities, but remains unexplored in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa population of Pakistan. METHODS: This study was aimed to check the relation of selected SNPs with breast cancer risk. The research cohort included 100 breast cancer patients and 100 healthy controls. All the participants were subjected for DNA extraction followed by T-ARMS PCR and gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: The results revealed a strong association between risk allele (G) of miRNA-146a and increased risk of breast cancer (OR = 2.04, P = 0.0006). Similarly, heterozygous and mutant genotypes also indicated high risk and significant association with breast cancer risk (CG; OR = 0.51, 9 P = 0.0001) (GG; OR = 3.76, P = 0.04). However, risk allele (T) of miRNA-196a (rs11614913) failed to exhibit significant association with breast cancer risk (OR = 0.92 P = 0.68). Similarly, the heterozygous and mutant genotype did not show significant association with breast cancer risk (CT; OR = 0.52, P = 0.125 (TT; OR = 0.88, P = 0.84). Furthermore, miRNA-146a (rs2910164) and miRNA-196a (rs11614913) polymorphisms exhibited non-significant associations with family history (P = 0.34, P = 0.77), PR status (P = 0.310, P = 0.397), ER status (P = 0.992, P = 0.981), nodal status (P = 0.86, P = 0.90), and menstrual status (P = 0.97, P = 0.09). Notably, miRNA-196a showed a significant association with the metastasis group (P = 0.010) and cancer stages (P = 0.047). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, this study highlights the association of miRNA-146a (rs2910164) polymorphism with breast cancer risk but suggested non-significant association of miRNA-196a (rs11614913) with breast cancer risk. However, these findings need to be confirmed through larger data set for more accurate result.

Emerging trends and demographic disparities in anal cancer mortality across the United States census regions: An analysis of National Center for Health Statistics mortality data.

AIMS: Anal cancer, despite its rarity, is a matter of serious concern in the United States, with an uptrend in recent years and marked racial disparities in mortality rates. The aim of this work was to investigate anal cancer mortality trends and sex race disparities in the United States from 1999 to 2020. METHOD: This is a retrospective study using data from the CDC WONDER database (1999-2020). We investigated deaths attributed to anal cancer, identified by the ICD-10 code C21.1, and excluded individuals aged 14 years and under. The Mann-Kendall trend test was used to investigate temporal trends and a t-test was used to compare continuous variables. RESULTS: Both male and female age-adjusted mortality attributed to anal cancer increased significantly during the study period across all subgroups, including race (Black and White), US Census region (Northeast, Midwest, South and West) and age (15-64 and ≥65 years) (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). For each subgroup, women demonstrated significantly higher rates of mortality than men, except in the Black population, where Black men had higher rates than Black women (0.40 vs. 0.29, p < 0.001). Additionally, Black men had significantly higher mean mortality rates than White men (0.40 vs. 0.27, p < 0.001). The highest rates of anal cancer mortality were among geriatric individuals, especially women aged ≥65 years, at 1.18 per 100 000. CONCLUSION: The rise in anal cancer mortality and racial and sex disparities present a significant challenge for healthcare providers and policy makers. Further studies are required to devise evidence-based strategies to effectively tackle this challenge.

Potential of Capparis decidua plant and eggshell composite adsorbent for effective removal of anionic dyes from aqueous medium.

The presence of hazardous dyes in wastewater poses significant threats to both ecosystems and the natural environment. Conventional methods for treating dye-contaminated water have several limitations, including high costs and complex operational processes. This study investigated a sustainable bio-sorbent composite derived from the Capparis decidua plant and eggshells, and evaluated its effectiveness in removing anionic dyes namely tartrazine (E-102), methyl orange (MO), and their mixed system. The research examines the influence of initial concentration, contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage, and temperature on the adsorption properties of anionic dyes. Optimal removal of tartrazine (E-102), methyl orange (MO), and their mixed system was achieved at a pH of 3. The equilibrium was achieved at 80 min for MO and mixed systems, and 100 min for E-102. The adsorption process showed an exothermic nature, indicating reduced capacity with increasing temperature, consistent with heat release during adsorption. Positive entropy values indicated increased disorder at the solid-liquid interface, attributed to molecular rearrangements and interactions between dye molecules and the adsorbent. Isotherm analysis using Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Redlich-Peterson models revealed that the Langmuir model best fit the experimental data. The maximum adsorption capacities of 50.97 mg/g, 52.24 mg/g, and 56.23 mg/g were achieved for E-102, MO, and the mixed system under optimized conditions, respectively. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model demonstrated the best fit, indicating that adsorption occurs through physical and chemical interactions such as electrostatic attraction, pore filling, and hydrogen bonding. Hence, the developed bio-sorbent could be a sustainable and cost-effective solution for the treatment of anionic dyes from industrial effluents.

Study of selenium enrichment metabolomics in Bacillus subtilis BSN313 via transcriptome analysis.

In this study, the transcriptome analysis was practiced to identify potential genes of probiotic Bacillus subtilis BSN313 involved in selenium (Se) enrichment metabolism. The transcriptomic variation of the strain was deliberated in presence of three different sodium selenite concentrations (0, 3, and 20 µg/mL). The samples were taken at 1 and 13 h subsequent to inoculation of selenite and gene expression profiles in Se metabolism were analyzed through RNA sequencing. The gene expression levels of the pre log phase were lower than the stationary phase. It is because, the bacteria has maximum grown with high concentration of Se (enriched with organic Se), at stationary phase. Bacterial culture containing 3 µg/mL concentration of inorganic Se (sodium selenite) has shown highest gene expression as compared to no or high concentration of Se. This concentration (3 µg/mL) of sodium selenite (as Se) in the medium promoted the upregulation of thioredoxin reductase expression, whereas its higher Se concentration inhibited the formation of selenomethionine (SeMet). The result of 5 L bioreactor fermentation showed that SeMet was also detected in the fermentation supernatant as the growth entered in the late stationary phase and reached up to 857.3 ng/mL. The overall intracellular SeMet enriched content in BSN313 was extended up to 23.4 µg/g dry cell weight. The other two selenoamino acids (Se-AAs), methyl-selenocysteine, and selenocysteine were hardly detected in medium supernatant. From this study, it was concluded that SeMet was the highest content of organic Se byproduct biosynthesized by B. subtilis BSN313 strain in Se-enriched medium during stationary phase. Thus, B. subtilis BSN313 can be considered a commercial probiotic strain that can be used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. This is because it can meet the commercial demand for Se-AAs (SeMet) in both industries.

Salivary gland adenoid cystic carcinoma in the U.S population: Importance of grade, site of metastases, and adjuvant radiation for survival.

BACKGROUND: Adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) is a rare and relatively heterogenous salivary gland malignancy, for which there is debate regarding grading, and clinical prognostic factors, including the role of adjuvant radiotherapy. METHODS: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) data were reviewed for AdCC cases from 2000 to 2018. RESULTS: A total of 1978 patients with AdCC were identified. Most patients were between 50 and 59 years of age (21.4 %), female (59.9 %), and Caucasian (76.8 %). Most tumors were localized at presentation (44.3 %), and moderately differentiated (or grade II) (43.7 %). Overall and DSS 5-year survival rates were 70.7 % (95 % CI, 69.9-78.8), and 78.6 % (95 % CI, 77.6-79.6). The best overall 5-year survival rate was observed for those treated with surgery plus radiation, 76.8 % (95 % CI, 75.5-78.1). Multivariate analysis revealed male sex, age > 65 (H.R. 2.659 (95 % CI,2.291-3.098), p < .001), grade III/IV (H.R.5.172 (95 % CI, 3.418-7.824), p < .001), nodal metastasis, distant metastasis (H.R. 2.400 (95 % CI, 2.178-2.645), p < .001), chemotherapy only, and combination therapy as negative prognostic factors, and receiving surgery plus radiation therapy (H.R.0.586 (95 % CI, 0.505-0.679), p < .001) as a positive prognostic factor. When limited just to the lungs, had much better survival than those patients with distant metastases to other sites such as the bones and liver (p < .001). CONCLUSION: This SEER study identifies grade, particularly III and IV, to be the strongest single predictor of worse survival. Patients did best when treated with surgery and postoperative radiotherapy. These results can inform future management of patients with this challenging cancer type.

An empirical analysis to examine the role of institutions in bridging the gap between environmental policy stringency and energy poverty.

The findings related to strict environmental policies and energy poverty have been found contradictory. Strict environmental regulations may protect the environment by enhancing renewable energy resources but at the same time, major dependent sectors and consumers reliance on non-renewable energy resources face the problem of energy poverty. Moreover, environmental policies either soft are strict and depend on stakeholders' preferences, and such policies are implemented through institutions. Considering these aspects, the current study examines the impact of environmental policy stringency on energy poverty and further examines the role of institutions in bridging the gap between environmental policy stringency and energy poverty for the selected 31 countries from 1996 to 2020. For empirical analysis, Pooled OLS, random effect model, and system generalized methods of moments (GMM) are applied. To check the robustness of baseline models, spatial lag, spatial error, and feasible generalized methods of moments are applied. Furthermore, to examine the mediating role of institutions, we applied the structural equation modeling technique. Empirical analysis shows that an increase in environmental policy stringency significantly increases energy poverty, while institutional proxies significantly decrease energy poverty. The interactive effects of institutional proxies indicate declining effects on energy poverty. More importantly, institutions act as important mediators between environmental policies and energy poverty. Based on the findings, this study recommends soft environmental policies to maintain a balance between a sustainable environment and minimum energy poverty. This study further recommends authorizing and strengthening the institutions to formulate and regulate balanced environmental policies for environmental safety along with reduced energy poverty. This study further recommends increases in urbanization, personal remittances, and enhanced energy efficiency to minimize energy poverty.

Ethnoveterinary uses of forage plants for domesticated ruminants in Malakand agency, Pakistan.

Plant ethnoveterinary uses are evident in various studies around the world, but the ethnoveterinary practices of forage species are not widely reported. Traditional knowledge is rapidly disappearing because of urbanization and commercial activities. The purpose of this study was to document plant species used by the local communities in Malakand Agency, Pakistan for foraging and ethnoveterinary purposes. Twenty different localities in the study area were surveyed for documentation of forage species and related traditional ethnoveterinary knowledge used for livestock. Semistructured questionnaires and field walks were used to conduct 67 interviews with local farmers and herdsmen. A total of 91 forage species from 26 families were documented, as well as their ethnoveterinary applications. Poaceae and Fabaceae were dominant families with 45% and 15% of species respectively. Among the forage species documented, 62 were highly palatable, 26 were moderately palatable and 12 were less palatable. The region's major veterinary diseases are flu, ringworms, inflammations, low milk production, constipation, bloat, mastitis, pneumonia and wounds. The 62 forage species were reported for the first time for various veterinary uses. This study revealed that local communities commonly use a diverse range of forage species in conjunction with indigenous knowledge of ethnoveterinary uses. These forage species have the potential to overcome the recent fodder shortage. Such studies will be beneficial to the commercial production of such forage species.

Epigenetics regulation during virus-host interaction and their effects on the virus and host cell.

Epigenetics, a field of study focused on cellular gene regulation independent of DNA sequence alterations, encompasses DNA methylation, histone modification and microRNA modification. Epigenetics processes play a pivotal role in governing the life cycles of viruses, enabling their transmission, persistence, and maintenance with in host organisms. This review examines the epigenetics regulation of diverse virus including orthomoxyviruses, coronavirus, retroviridae, mononegavirales, and poxviruses among others. The investigation encompasses ten representative viruses from these families. Detailed exploration of the epigenetic mechanisms underlying each virus type, involving miRNA modification, histone modification and DNA methylation, sheds light on the intricate and multifaceted epigenetic interplay between viruses and their hosts. Furthermore, this review investigates the influence of these epigenetic processes on infection cycles, emphasizing the utilization of epigenetics by viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus and Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to regulate gene expression during chronic or latent infections, control latency, and transition to lytic infection. Finally, the paper explores the novel treatments possibilities stemming from this epigenetic understanding.

Assessment of HER1 (rs11543848) and HER2 (rs1136201) polymorphism and their association with colorectal cancer susceptibility in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a widespread malignancy characterized by uncontrolled growth in the colon or rectum and remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Various genes polymorphisms have been linked with the risk of CRC, but our study aimed to investigate the association between HER1 (rs11543848) and HER2 (rs1136201) polymorphisms with the risk of CRC in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) population of Pakistan. The association of the selected polymorphisms (rs11543848 and rs1136201) with CRC risk has been investigated in various ethnic groups, but their impact remains unexplored in Pakistan, particularly within the KPK population, highlighting the need of the study in this region. METHODS: In this study 120 CRC patients and 120 healthy controls were enrolled. The DNA was extracted from the blood by salting-out method and genotyping was done using ARMS-PCR. RESULTS: Our investigations provided convincing evidence of a strong association between HER1 (rs11543848) and the risk of CRC. Both the genotypes heterozygous GA (OR = 2.07, CI = 1.18 to 3.64, P = 0.01) and homozygous AA (OR = 6.22, CI = 2.56 to 15.08, P = 0.0001) showed higher risk and significant association with the CRC risk. Similarly, heterozygous genotype AG of HER2 (rs1136201) was significantly associated (OR = 3.16, 95% CI = 1.78 to 5.58, P = 0.0001) while mutant genotype GG showed higher risk but non-significant association (OR = 3.23, 95% CI = 0.84 to 12.43, P = 0.08) with CRC patients. HER1 (rs11543848) demonstrated a significant association (P = 0.003) with the age at diagnosis in CRC patients, while HER2 (rs1136201) showed a non-significant association (P = 0.434). Both the SNPs were non-significantly associated with gender (P = 0.793 and 0.117), metastasis (P = 0.582 and 0.129), location of the tumor (P = 0.555 and 0.993), tumor grade (P = 0.290 and 0.920), tumor size (P = 0.535 and 0.289) and stages of cancer (P = 0.892 and 0.352). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, both the polymorphisms rs11543848 and rs1136201 displayed susceptibility with CRC in the KPK population. However, further investigations are recommended while using whole exome sequencing on a larger sample size for more precise results.

Structural modeling and topological characterization of three kinds of dendrimer networks.

Dendrimers, also known as dendritic polymers, have various applications due to their unique properties, such as their monodisperse structure and their ability to be synthesized with precise control over their size, shape, and surface functionality. Dendrimers are used in drug delivery systems to improve drug solubility, bioavailability, and targeting. They can carry drugs to specific sites, such as cancer cells, and release them in a controlled manner, reducing side effects. Dendrimers can be used as gene delivery vehicles to deliver genetic material to cells in a controlled and targeted manner. Mathematical chemistry is useful to model chemical reactions and predict the behavior of chemical systems. It provides a quantitative understanding of chemical phenomena, which can aid in the design of new molecules and materials. It is used to develop molecular descriptors, which are mathematical representations of molecular structures that can be used to quantify the properties of molecules. These descriptors can be useful in structure-activity relationship studies to predict the biological activity of compounds. The topological descriptors are parameters of any molecular structure that gives a mathematical formula to model such molecular structures. In the current study, our concern is to calculate some useful topological indices for three kinds of dendrimer networks and derive closed mathematical formulas for them. The comparisons of these calculated topological indices are also investigated. Our obtained results will be helpful in investigating QSPRs/QSARs of such molecules in many fields of science, such as chemistry, physics and biochemistry. The dendrimer structure (left). From first (G0) to third (G3) generation, the dendrimer's increasing generations are shown schematically (right).

On the construction of some bioconjugate networks and their structural modeling via irregularity topological indices.

Bioconjugate networks refer to networks that are formed by connecting different molecules or particles (such as proteins, enzymes, or nanoparticles) through covalent or non-covalent interactions. These networks are often used in various biological and biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, biosensors, and tissue engineering. The specific properties and behavior of these networks depend on the types of molecules used and the nature of their interactions, which can be studied using various computational and experimental techniques. Farnesyl and geranyl groups are types of isoprenoid chains that are commonly found in various biological molecules such as proteins, lipids, and pigments. The addition of these groups to penicillin molecules may alter their physical and chemical properties, such as solubility, stability, and bioavailability. To gain a better understanding of the structure-property relationships of these antibiotics, this study computes various irregularity indices such as the Albertson index, irregularity index, total irregularity index, Randic irregularity index, and other degree-based indices for two types of sensitive bonds of bioconjugate networks. Numerical results and graphical representations are used to illustrate these findings. The obtained results provide valuable insights into the structure-property relationships of penicillins, which will aid in a better understanding of their behavior and developing more effective antibiotics.

Simultaneous adsorption of methylene blue and amoxicillin by starch-impregnated MgAl layered double hydroxide: Parametric optimization, isothermal studies and thermo-kinetic analysis.

Textile and pharmaceutical effluents contain significant amounts of dyes and antibiotics, which pose a serious threat to the ecosystem when discharged directly. Therefore, they should be treated by facile treatment techniques using low-cost materials. Layered double hydroxide (LDH) and its hybrids have emerged as robust and economic adsorbents for water treatment. Herein, magnesium/aluminum LDH and its starch-based composite were synthesized by a co-precipitation technique. The physicochemical features of the developed adsorbents were thoroughly characterized using various analytical tools. The developed materials were tested for the eradication of methylene blue (MB) and amoxicillin (AMX) in batch mode adsorption by varying operating conditions. Adsorption performance depends on the solution's pH. Under optimum adsorption conditions of pH 11, adsorbent dosage of 50 mg/L, and treatment time of 120 min, starch-impregnated MgAl-LDH exhibited maximum MB and AMX adsorption capacities of 114.94 and 48.08 mg/g, respectively. The adsorption mechanism states that hydrogen bonds and weak van der Waals forces are responsible for the removal of pollutants by the developed materials. Moreover, equilibrium and kinetic studies revealed that the removal of dye and antibiotic followed the Freundlich and Langmuir models with the pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics, respectively. The spent adsorbents were regenerated using 0.1 M HCl (for MB) and methanol (for AMX) eluent, and reusability studies ensured that the developed adsorbents retained their performance for up to four consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles. MgAl-LDH and its starch-based hybrid could thus be used to effectively remove organic contaminants from wastewater streams on a commercial scale.

Subtractive sequence analysis aided druggable targets mining in Burkholderia cepacia complex and finding inhibitors through bioinformatics approach.

Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) is a group of gram-negative bacteria composed of at least 20 different species that cause diseases in plants, animals as well as humans (cystic fibrosis and airway infection). Here, we analyzed the proteomic data of 47 BCC strains by classifying them in three groups. Phylogenetic analyses were performed followed by individual core region identification for each group. Comparative analysis of the three individual core protein fractions resulted in 1766 ortholog/proteins. Non-human homologous proteins from the core region gave 1680 proteins. Essential protein analyses reduced the target list to 37 proteins, which were further compared to a closely related out-group, Burkholderia gladioli ATCC 10,248 strain, resulting in 21 proteins. 3D structure modeling, validation, and druggability step gave six targets that were subjected to further target prioritization parameters which ultimately resulted in two BCC targets. A library of 12,000 ZINC drug-like compounds was screened, where only the top hits were selected for docking orientations. These included ZINC01405842 (against Chorismate synthase aroC) and ZINC06055530 (against Bifunctional N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate uridyltransferase/Glucosamine-1-phosphate acetyltransferase glmU). Finally, dynamics simulation (200 ns) was performed for each ligand-receptor complex, followed by ADMET profiling. Of these targets, details of their applicability as drug targets have not yet been elucidated experimentally, hence making our predictions novel and it is suggested that further wet-lab experimentations should be conducted to test the identified BCC targets and ZINC scaffolds to inhibit them.

Fusion-Based Body-Worn IoT Sensor Platform for Gesture Recognition of Autism Spectrum Disorder Children.

The last decade's developments in sensor technologies and artificial intelligence applications have received extensive attention for daily life activity recognition. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children is a neurological development disorder that causes significant impairments in social interaction, communication, and sensory action deficiency. Children with ASD have deficits in memory, emotion, cognition, and social skills. ASD affects children's communication skills and speaking abilities. ASD children have restricted interests and repetitive behavior. They can communicate in sign language but have difficulties communicating with others as not everyone knows sign language. This paper proposes a body-worn multi-sensor-based Internet of Things (IoT) platform using machine learning to recognize the complex sign language of speech-impaired children. Optimal sensor location is essential in extracting the features, as variations in placement result in an interpretation of recognition accuracy. We acquire the time-series data of sensors, extract various time-domain and frequency-domain features, and evaluate different classifiers for recognizing ASD children's gestures. We compare in terms of accuracy the decision tree (DT), random forest, artificial neural network (ANN), and k-nearest neighbour (KNN) classifiers to recognize ASD children's gestures, and the results showed more than 96% recognition accuracy.

Purification, Characterization and Bactericidal Action of Lysozyme, Isolated from Bacillus subtillis BSN314: A Disintegrating Effect of Lysozyme on Gram-Positive and Gram-Negative Bacteria.

In the present study, lysozyme was purified by the following multi-step methodology: salt (ammonium sulfate) precipitation, dialysis, and ultrafiltration. The lysozyme potential was measured by enzymatic activity after each purification step. However, after ultrafiltration, the resulting material was considered extra purified. It was concentrated in an ultrafiltration centrifuge tube, and the resulting protein/lysozyme was used to determine its bactericidal potential against five bacterial strains, including three gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis 168, Micrococcus luteus, and Bacillus cereus) and two gram-negative (Salmonella typhimurium and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) strains. The results of ZOI and MIC/MBC showed that lysozyme had a higher antimicrobial activity against gram-positive than gram-negative bacterial strains. The results of the antibacterial activity of lysozyme were compared with those of ciprofloxacin (antibiotic). For this purpose, two indices were applied in the present study: antimicrobial index (AMI) and percent activity index (PAI). It was found that the purified lysozyme had a higher antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus (AMI/PAI; 1.01/101) and Bacillus subtilis 168 (AMI/PAI; 1.03/103), compared to the antibiotic (ciprofloxacin) used in this study. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to determine the bactericidal action of the lysozyme on the bacterial cell. The purified protein was further processed by gel column chromatography and the eluate was collected, its enzymatic activity was 21.93 U/mL, while the eluate was processed by native-PAGE. By this analysis, the un-denatured protein with enzymatic activity of 40.9 U/mL was obtained. This step shows that the protein (lysozyme) has an even higher enzymatic potential. To determine the specific peptides (in lysozyme) that may cause the bactericidal potential and cell lytic/enzymatic activity, the isolated protein (lysozyme) was further processed by the SDS-PAGE technique. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed different bands with sizes of 34 kDa, 24 kDa, and 10 kDa, respectively. To determine the chemical composition of the peptides, the bands (from SDS-PAGE) were cut, enzymatically digested, desalted, and analyzed by LC-MS (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry). LC-MS analysis showed that the purified lysozyme had the following composition: the number of proteins in the sample was 56, the number of peptides was 124, and the number of PSMs (peptide spectrum matches) was 309. Among them, two peptides related to lysozyme and bactericidal activities were identified as: A0A1Q9G213 (N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase) and A0A1Q9FRD3 (D-alanyl-D-alanine carboxypeptidase). The corresponding protein sequence and nucleic acid sequence were determined by comparison with the database.

A Computational First Principle Examination of the Elastic, Optical, Structural and Electronic Properties of AlRF3 (R = N, P) Fluoroperovskites Compounds.

This work describes an ab initio principle computational examination of the optical, structural, elastic, electronic and mechanical characteristics of aluminum-based compounds AlRF3 (R = N, P) halide-perovskites. For optimization purposes, we used the Birch-Murnaghan equation of state and discovered that the compounds AlNF3 and AlPF3 are both structurally stable. The IRelast software was used to compute elastic constants (ECs) of the elastic properties. The aforementioned compounds are stable mechanically. They exhibit strong resistance to plastic strain, possess ductile nature and anisotropic behavior and are scratch-resistant. The modified Becke-Johnson (Tb-mBJ) approximation was adopted to compute various physical properties, revealing that AlNF3 and AlPF3 are both metals in nature. From the density of states, the support of various electronic states in the band structures are explained. Other various optical characteristics have been calculated from the investigations of the band gap energy of the aforementioned compounds. These compounds absorb a significant amount of energy at high levels. At low energy levels, the compound AlNF3 is transparent to incoming photons, whereas the compound AlPF3 is somewhat opaque. The examination of the visual details led us to the deduction that the compounds AlNF3 and AlPF3 may be used in making ultraviolet devices based on high frequency. This computational effort is being made for the first time in order to investigate the aforementioned properties of these chemicals, which have yet to be confirmed experimentally.

Characterization of proteome wide antigenic epitopes to design proteins specific and proteome-wide ensemble vaccines against heartland virus using structural vaccinology and immune simulation approaches.

Heartland virus is a single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus that infects humans and causes lethargy, myalgia, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, weight loss, arthralgia, loss of appetite, leukopenia, and easy bruising due thrombocytopenia. The unavailability of antiviral drugs for HRTV infection is a major obstacle to treat this infection, therefore supportive care management is adopted in the case of a severe ailment. In this scientific study, proteins specific and proteome-wide Helper T-cell (HTL), linear B cell, and cytotoxic T-cell (CTL) epitopes mapping joined together with suitable linkers to design multi-epitopes subunit vaccine (MEVC). The constructed four vaccines from nucleocapsid protein, replicase, glycoprotein and finally whole proteome-wide constructs demonstrated stronger antigenic and non-allergenic behavior. Physiochemical properties evaluation also reported easy and efficient expression and downstream analysis of the constructs. Molecular docking of these constructs with toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) revealed good binding and further validation based on MM/GBSA also demonstrated stronger interaction between the vaccine constructs and TLR7. Moreover, in silico cloning reported CAI value of 0.96 for each construct and excellent GC contents percentage required for experimental analysis. Furthermore, immune simulation-based immune response surveillance revealed that upon the injection of antigen the primary and secondary antibodies were produced between 5 and 15 days, and a more robust neutralization of the antigen by the proteome-wide vaccine construct was observed. This research could pave the way for the development of dynamic and efficient vaccines that contain a unique mix of numerous HRTV derived antigenic peptides to control HRTV infection.

Endoscopic full-thickness resection of polyps involving the appendiceal orifice: a multicenter international experience.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic resection of lesions involving the appendiceal orifice remains a challenge. We aimed to report outcomes with the full-thickness resection device (FTRD) for the resection of appendiceal lesions and identify factors associated with the occurrence of appendicitis. METHODS: This was a retrospective study at 18 tertiary-care centers (USA 12, Canada 1, Europe 5) between November 2016 and August 2020. Consecutive patients who underwent resection of an appendiceal orifice lesion using the FTRD were included. The primary outcome was the rate of R0 resection in neoplastic lesions, defined as negative lateral and deep margins on post-resection histologic evaluation. Secondary outcomes included the rates of: technical success (en bloc resection), clinical success (technical success without need for further surgical intervention), post-resection appendicitis, and polyp recurrence. RESULTS: 66 patients (32 women; mean age 64) underwent resection of colonic lesions involving the appendiceal orifice (mean [standard deviation] size, 14.5 (6.2) mm), with 40 (61 %) being deep, extending into the appendiceal lumen. Technical success was achieved in 59/66 patients (89 %), of which, 56 were found to be neoplastic lesions on post-resection pathology. Clinical success was achieved in 53/66 (80 %). R0 resection was achieved in 52/56 (93 %). Of the 58 patients in whom EFTR was completed who had no prior history of appendectomy, appendicitis was reported in 10 (17 %), with six (60 %) requiring surgical appendectomy. Follow-up colonoscopy was completed in 41 patients, with evidence of recurrence in five (12 %). CONCLUSIONS: The FTRD is a promising non-surgical alternative for resecting appendiceal lesions, but appendicitis occurs in 1/6 cases.