COVID-19 SAFETY MEASURES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON GAMBLING HABITS: AN INVESTIGATIVE STUDY.

This study looked at the way COVID-19 was starting to affect gambling during first six weeks of emergency actions. The following factors were evaluated: the economic effect of COVID-19 on internet gambling, according to COVID-19, psychological issues, addiction to drugs, and risky gambling habits and intentions. Online survey with cross-sectional data of 2015 gamblers was conducted, with a subsample of 1048 people who gambled online (age 18 and older). Numerous metrics of correlation and probability ratio analyses were performed. The Issue of Gambling Intensity Index's extremely dangerous gamblers and those who have gambled online are more likely to engage in gambling online, according to the outcomes, even though there was an obvious transition toward physical gaming. The most predicted indicators for high-risk gamblers on the internet were moderate to severe depression and anxiety, reduced work weeks, convincing themselves to gamble by COVID-19, gambling under the effects of alcohol or cannabis, and dangerous gambling motivations related to psychological disorders, such as gambling to relieve anxiety and depressive disorders, chasing gambling damages, and trying to make money from gambling. This research has validated numerous risk connections associated with gambling risk, psychological issues, and substance use reported in previous studies on the worldwide recession and upcoming COVID-19-related investigations. In contrast to many other inquiries, the current research considers each component comprehensively. It offers more information on the risk factors associated with online gambling throughout the epidemic.

Development and validation of simultaneous quantification method for gemcitabine and betulinic acid: augmenting industrial application.

Combinatorial treatment utilizing a nucleoside analogue gemcitabine (GEM), with a characteristic pentacyclic triterpenoid betulinic acid (BET), has exhibited empowering adequacy in the therapy of cancer. It lessens the advancement of collagen and upgrades the saturation of tumour medicines. With the advancement in nanotechnology, the co-loaded formulation urges for a validated method of estimation. The purposed work entails a robust, simple, and economical analytical method for the simultaneous estimation of GEM and BET through RP-HPLC. Orthophosphoric acid (0.1%)-acetonitrile was considered as the mobile phase for the detection of GEM and BET at 248 nm and 210 nm with retention times of 5 min and 13 min, respectively. The method was further validated as per the regulatory guidelines with all the parameters found within the limit. The developed method with adequate resolution and quantification was found to be linear, accurate, precise, robust, and stable with an intra- and inter-day variability of less than 2%. The method was found specific for GEM and BET with no matrix interference of drug-spiked FBS samples. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed method, a nano-formulation containing GEM and BET was prepared and assessed for various parameters including encapsulation efficiency, loading efficiency, drug release, and drug stability. The method developed can be a possible tool for the simultaneous quantification of GEM-BET in analytical and biological samples.

Adding to her woes: child bride's higher risk of hypertension at young adulthood.

BACKGROUND: Child marriage is associated with various adverse socio-economic and pregnancy outcomes. However, there remains a dearth of research on the long-term health implications of child marriage. As such, this study sought to expand upon the growing literature on child marriage, specifically examining the associations between child marriage and hypertension during young adult age. METHODS: We obtained data of 5369 women aged 20-34 from the Tajikistan Demographic and Health Survey 2017. Using multivariable logistic regression framework, we estimated the adjusted odds in favor of being hypertensive for women who were married before the age of 18. We also explored the presence of several stressors to understand the role of probable medication factors. RESULTS: We found that the odds of being hypertensive for young adult women married before the age of 18 were 1.6 (95% confidence interval: 1.1-2.4) times that of those who were not. Likelihood of having stressors, such as pregnancy loss or child death, marital control and spousal violence, was found higher among child brides compared to their peers. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that child marriage may increase the risk of hypertension among young adult women. This work reinforces recommendations by the United Nations to the end child marriage.

A multicenter prospective observational study on the use of type and screen method versus conventional type and crossmatch policy for pre-transfusion testing in the Indian population.

Despite knowing the benefits of the type and screen (TS) method in pre-transfusion testing (PTT), most transfusion centers in developing countries continue to be reluctant to adopt a TS strategy over the conventional type and antihuman globulin (AHG) crossmatch (TX) policy in their routine laboratory practice because of the cost of obtaining antibody screening reagents. To generate strong evidence, this multicenter, observational study was conducted in which we collected data prospectively over a 1-year period from six major blood centers in India. The primary objective of this study was to identify the discordance between TS and TX results. A secondary objective was to identify the allo-antibody specificity in patients with positive antibody detection tests. All patients with orders for red blood cell transfusion who met patient selection criteria were subjected to parallel testing by column agglutination technology (CAT) for both the antibody detection test (screen) using a commercial three-cell panel and for the AHG crossmatch. A total of 21,842 patients were tested. In 148 patients with incompatible crossmatches, samples from six patients gave negative results with the antibody detection test, whereas the antibody detection test was positive in samples from 118 patients among the 21,694 crossmatch-compatible cases. The TS approach achieved a positive percent agreement of 95.95 and was found to be significantly effective in preventing the transfusion of serologically incompatible blood. The risk associated with abbreviating the AHG crossmatch was found to be 0.009 percent. Most of the identified clinically significant alloantibodies were directed to Rh antigens (D>E>c>C>e), followed by anti-K and anti-M. This study has generated sufficient robust data for the Indian population by including patients from all major geographical areas of the country and concluded a satisfactory agreement level as well as non-inferiority to the current PTT policy. Therefore, TS policy can be implemented in developing countries with no compromise on blood safety, provided sufficient technical and infrastructural support are available.

Molecular detection of Salmonella isolated from commercial chicken.

Background: Salmonella in chicken, specially, the motile salmonellae, causes the food chain unsafe from farm to table and is considered a significant global threat to public health. Aims: The present study was carried out for molecular detection of Salmonellae in commercial poultry using PCR. Methods: The study was conducted for eight months, from July 2019 to February 2020, and a total of 26 poultry farms, including 15 broiler and 11-layer farms, were visited individually. Pooled faecal samples were obtained from the sheds. A total of 189 necropsy cases were examined for gastrointestinal lesions. Isolation and identification of the organism were done using microbe culture method, and the molecular characterization was performed via PCR targeting invA and ent genes. Results: The prevalence of salmonellosis in the broiler and layer farms was recorded at 20.0% and 45.4%, respectively, through the traditional gold standard culture method. From 189 necropsy birds, salmonellosis was recorded at 1.58% dead cases. Molecular detection of Salmonella isolates by PCR targeting invA gene was confirmed in 13.33% of the broiler farms and 36.3% of the layer farms. Further detection of Salmonella enteritidis was performed by PCR targeting ent gene by which 11.11% positivity was determined. Conclusion: This study, focused on the Salmonella prevalence, highlighted the zoonotic importance of the bacterium in the commercial poultry farms, which can subsequently be dispersed into the human food chain causing harmful health effects.

Single-step antibiotic-mediated synthesis of kanamycin-conjugated gold nanoparticles for broad-spectrum antibacterial applications.

Widespread and irrational use of antibiotics results in the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Thus, there is a need to develop novel antibacterial agents in order to replace conventional antibiotics and to increase the efficacy of already existing antibiotics by combining them with other materials. Herein, a single-step antibiotic-mediated synthesis of antibiotic-conjugated gold nanoparticles is reported. In this single-step method antibiotic Kanamycin, an aminoglycoside itself plays the role of reducing as well as capping agent by reducing gold salt into gold nanoparticles. The kanamycin-conjugated gold nanoparticles (Kan-AuNPs) were confirmed by UV-Visible spectroscopy and further physico-chemically characterized by various instrumental techniques. Synthesized Kan-AuNPs showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity against Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus as well as Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacterial strains. They are also found to be effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and pathogenic E. coli isolated from urinary tract infections (UTIs) patients, which are responsible to cause hospital-acquired infections like nosocomial, burn wound and UTIs. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Kan-AuNPs is 50 µg ml-1 for S. aureus and E. coli, 125 µg ml-1 for P. aeruginosa and 100 µg ml-1 for E. coli isolated from UTIs patients. It is also evident that the MIC of Kan-AuNPs for antibacterial activity is lower as compared to antibiotic kanamycin alone for all bacterial strains. Hence, the one-step strategy of synthesis for Kan-AuNPs is a suitable strategy for fighting infectious bacterial strains in hospitals, healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry.

Decellularized xenogenic bone graft for repair of segmental bone defect in rabbits.

Background: Bone grafting is a preferred treatment option for the healing of large diaphyseal bone defects and is useful in the management of nonunion, delayed union, and tumor resection. Aims: To investigate a decellularization protocol of bovine cancellous bone for xenogenic implantation in radial bone defects in rabbits. Methods: Bovine bone scaffolds fabricated with various decellularization protocols viz phosphate buffer saline (PBS), 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and rapid freeze and thaw technique. The manufactured scaffolds were characterized by biomechanical testing, histological staining, and scanning electron microscopy. A 10 mm rabbit radius bone defect was repaired with autograft and SDS treated and rapid freeze and thaw in groups A, B, and C respectively. Healing was evaluated by radiography and histopathology at 0, 30, 60, and 90 days. The grafts were also checked for host tissue reaction and incorporation into the defect. Results: The freeze and thaw group showed complete elimination of all cellular nuclei, regular arrangement of collagen fiber, and no significant difference in tensile strength compared to 1% SDS treated and native groups. The in vivo radiographic and histopathological study showed that the rapid freeze and thaw group had complete bridging of the bone gap defect with new bone formation and they were immunologically less reactive compared to group B. Conclusion: The in vitro and in vivo evaluation of the grafts suggested that freeze and thaw technique was most superior to all other techniques for effective decellularization and augmentation of bone healing with better integration of the graft into the host.

Deep Transfer Learning Based Classification Model for COVID-19 Disease.

The COVID-19 infection is increasing at a rapid rate, with the availability of limited number of testing kits. Therefore, the development of COVID-19 testing kits is still an open area of research. Recently, many studies have shown that chest Computed Tomography (CT) images can be used for COVID-19 testing, as chest CT images show a bilateral change in COVID-19 infected patients. However, the classification of COVID-19 patients from chest CT images is not an easy task as predicting the bilateral change is defined as an ill-posed problem. Therefore, in this paper, a deep transfer learning technique is used to classify COVID-19 infected patients. Additionally, a top-2 smooth loss function with cost-sensitive attributes is also utilized to handle noisy and imbalanced COVID-19 dataset kind of problems. Experimental results reveal that the proposed deep transfer learning-based COVID-19 classification model provides efficient results as compared to the other supervised learning models.

Malaria, COVID-19 and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2: what does the available population data say?

The etiopathogenesis of COVID-19 and its differential geographic spread suggest some populations are apparently 'less affected' through many host-related factors that involve angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) protein, which is also the entry receptor for SARS-CoV-2. The role of ACE2 has been well studied in COVID-19 but not in the context of malaria and COVID-19. We have previously suggested how malaria might intersect with COVID-19 through ACE2 mutation and here we evaluate the currently available data that could provide a link between the two diseases. Based on the existing global and Indian data on malaria, COVID-19 and the suggested ACE2 mutation, the association could not be examined robustly, neither accepting nor refuting the suggested hypothesis. We strongly recommend targeted evaluation of this hypothesis through carefully designed robust molecular epidemiological studies.

Cerebral Venous Thrombosis in COVID-19: A New York Metropolitan Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is associated with hypercoagulability. We sought to evaluate the demographic and clinical characteristics of cerebral venous thrombosis among patients hospitalized for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at 6 tertiary care centers in the New York City metropolitan area. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective multicenter cohort study of 13,500 consecutive patients with COVID-19 who were hospitalized between March 1 and May 30, 2020. RESULTS: Of 13,500 patients with COVID-19, twelve had imaging-proved cerebral venous thrombosis with an incidence of 8.8 per 10,000 during 3 months, which is considerably higher than the reported incidence of cerebral venous thrombosis in the general population of 5 per million annually. There was a male preponderance (8 men, 4 women) and an average age of 49 years (95% CI, 36-62 years; range, 17-95 years). Only 1 patient (8%) had a history of thromboembolic disease. Neurologic symptoms secondary to cerebral venous thrombosis occurred within 24 hours of the onset of the respiratory and constitutional symptoms in 58% of cases, and 75% had venous infarction, hemorrhage, or both on brain imaging. Management consisted of anticoagulation, endovascular thrombectomy, and surgical hematoma evacuation. The mortality rate was 25%. CONCLUSIONS: Early evidence suggests a higher-than-expected frequency of cerebral venous thrombosis among patients hospitalized for COVID-19. Cerebral venous thrombosis should be included in the differential diagnosis of neurologic syndromes associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Plastid-mediated singlet oxygen in regulated cell death.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation within a cell is a natural process of specific subcellular components involved in redox reactions. Within a plant cell, chloroplasts are one of the major sources of ROS generation. Plastid-generated ROS molecules include singlet oxygen (1 O2 ), superoxide radical (O2 - ), hydroxyl radical (OH• ) and hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ), which are produced mainly during photochemical reactions of photosynthesis and chlorophyll biosynthetic process. Under normal growth and developmental, generated ROS molecules act as a secondary messenger controlling several metabolic reactions; however, perturbed environmental conditions lead to multi-fold amplification of cellular ROS that eventually kill the target cell. To maintain homeostasis between production and scavenging of ROS, the cell has instituted several enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant machineries to maintain ROS at a physiological level. Among chloroplastic ROS molecules, excess generation of singlet oxygen (1 O2 ) is highly deleterious to the cell metabolic functions and survival. Interestingly, within cellular antioxidant machinery, enzymes involved in detoxification of 1 O2 are lacking. Recent studies suggest that under optimal concentrations, 1 O2 acts as a signalling molecule and drives the cell to either the acclimation pathway or regulated cell death (RCD). Stress-induced RCD is a survival mechanism for the whole plant, while the involvement of chloroplasts and chloroplast-localized molecules that execute RCD are not well understood. In this review, we advocate for participation of chloroplasts-generated 1 O2 in signalling and RCD in plants.

Unconventional Transverse Transport above and below the Magnetic Transition Temperature in Weyl Semimetal EuCd_{2}As_{2}.

As exemplified by the growing interest in the quantum anomalous Hall effect, the research on topology as an organizing principle of quantum matter is greatly enriched from the interplay with magnetism. In this vein, we present a combined electrical and thermoelectrical transport study on the magnetic Weyl semimetal EuCd_{2}As_{2}. Unconventional contribution to the anomalous Hall and anomalous Nernst effects were observed both above and below the magnetic transition temperature of EuCd_{2}As_{2}, indicating the existence of significant Berry curvature. EuCd_{2}As_{2} represents a rare case in which this unconventional transverse transport emerges both above and below the magnetic transition temperature in the same material. The transport properties evolve with temperature and field in the antiferromagnetic phase in a different manner than in the paramagnetic phase, suggesting different mechanisms to their origin. Our results indicate EuCd_{2}As_{2} is a fertile playground for investigating the interplay between magnetism and topology, and potentially a plethora of topologically nontrivial phases rooted in this interplay.

Should COVID-19 patients >75 years be Ventilated? An Outcome Study.

BACKGROUND: Elderly patients with COVID-19 disease are at increased risk for adverse outcomes. Current data regarding disease characteristics and outcomes in this population are limited. AIM: To delineate the adverse factors associated with outcomes of COVID-19 patients ≥75 years of age. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Patients were classified into mild/moderate, severe/very severe and critical disease (intubated) based on oxygen requirements. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. RESULTS: A total of 355 patients aged ≥75 years hospitalized with COVID-19 between 19 March and 25 April 2020 were included.Mean age was 84.3 years. One-third of the patients developed critical disease. Mean length of stay was 7.10 days. Vasopressors were required in 27%, with the highest frequency in the critical disease group (74.1%). Overall mortality was 57.2%, with a significant difference between severity groups (mild/moderate disease: 17.4%, severe/very severe disease: 71.3%, critical disease: 94.9%, P < 0.001).Increased age, dementia, and severe/very severe and critical disease groups were independently associated with increased odds for mortality while diarrhea was associated with decreased odds for mortality (OR: 0.12, 95% CI: 0.02-0.60, P < 0.05). None of the cardiovascular comorbidities were significantly associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: Age and dementia are associated with increased odds for mortality in patients ≥75 years of age hospitalized with COVID-19. Those who require intubation have the greatest odds for mortality. Diarrhea as a presenting symptom was associated with lower odds for mortality.

The Prevalence and Negative Effects of Thoracic Hyperkyphosis on Chinese Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Globally, 20% to 50% older adults have been found to have thoracic hyperkyphosis. Negative effects on physical performance have been reported. However, there has been a lack of research on the prevalence and negative effects of thoracic hyperkyphosis among Chinese community-dwelling elderly. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTING: The communities in Wuhan, China. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred and ninety-five Chinese community-dwelling older adults with thoracic hyperkyphosis. MEASURES: Chinese community-dwelling older adults aged 60 or above lived in Wuhan, China from August to December 2018 were recruited for spine and physical performance assessments. The primary outcome was the prevalence of thoracic hyperkyphosis estimated according to the angle of kyphosis which was measured by manual inclinometers. The secondary outcomes were the effects of thoracic hyperkyphosis on physical performance measured by One-leg Standing Test (OLS), Timed Up AND Go Test (TUG), Chest Expansion Test (CE), Six Minutes Walking Test (6MWT), and Farsi Version of Functional Gait Assessment (FGA). The socio-demographic and health-related information were collected by a questionnaire. RESULTS: Among 395 participants, the mean angle of kyphosis was 49.0° ± 10.5°, 75.2% of participants had the angle of kyphosis >40° (i.e., having thoracic kyperkyphosis). Compared with older adults having no thoracic hyperkyphosis, older adults with thoracic hyperkyphosis had increased risks performing impaired in OLS (OR=4.55, 95% CI 2.18-9.53, p<0.001), TUG (OR=6.08, 95% CI 2.57-14.40, p<0.001), CE (OR=3.23, 95% CI 1.63-6.38, p=0.001), 6MWT (OR=4.64, 95% CI 1.98-10.86, p<0.001), and FGA (OR=5.18, 95% CI 2.25-11.89, p<0.001) after controlling socio-demographic and health-related factors. CONCLUSION: The thoracic hyperkyphosis had high prevalence and associated with impaired performance in balance, gait, and cardiopulmonary function tests among Chinese community-dwelling older adults, which calls for the future intervention.