Biofortification: an approach to eradicate micronutrient deficiency.

Micronutrient deficiency also known as "hidden hunger" refers to a condition that occurs when the body lacks essential vitamins and minerals that are required in small amounts for proper growth, development and overall health. These deficiencies are particularly common in developing countries, where a lack of access to a varied and nutritious diet makes it difficult for people to get the micronutrients they need. Micronutrient supplementation has been a topic of interest, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, due to its potential role in supporting immune function and overall health. Iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), iodine (I), and selenium (Se) deficiency in humans are significant food-related issues worldwide. Biofortification is a sustainable strategy that has been developed to address micronutrient deficiencies by increasing the levels of essential vitamins and minerals in staple crops that are widely consumed by people in affected communities. There are a number of agricultural techniques for biofortification, including selective breeding of crops to have higher levels of specific nutrients, agronomic approach using fertilizers and other inputs to increase nutrient uptake by crops and transgenic approach. The agronomic approach offers a temporary but speedy solution while the genetic approach (breeding and transgenic) is the long-term solution but requires time to develop a nutrient-rich variety.

A machine learning-based approach to determine infection status in recipients of BBV152 whole virion inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for serological surveys

Data science has been an invaluable part of the COVID-19 pandemic response with multiple applications, ranging from tracking viral evolution to understanding the effectiveness of interventions. Asymptomatic breakthrough infections have been a major problem during the ongoing surge of Delta variant globally. Serological discrimination of vaccine response from infection has so far been limited to Spike protein vaccines used in the higher-income regions. Here, we show for the first time how statistical and machine learning (ML) approaches can discriminate SARS-CoV-2 infection from immune response to an inactivated whole virion vaccine (BBV152, Covaxin, India), thereby permitting real-world vaccine effectiveness assessments from cohort-based serosurveys in Asia and Africa where such vaccines are commonly used. Briefly, we accessed serial data on Anti-S and Anti-NC antibody concentration values, along with age, sex, number of doses, and number of days since the last vaccine dose for 1823 Covaxin recipients. An ensemble ML model, incorporating a consensus clustering approach alongside the support vector machine (SVM) model, was built on 1063 samples where reliable qualifying data existed, and then applied to the entire dataset. Of 1448 self-reported negative subjects, 724 were classified as infected. Since the vaccine contains wild-type virus and the antibodies induced will neutralize wild type much better than Delta variant, we determined the relative ability of a random subset of such samples to neutralize Delta versus wild type strain. In 100 of 156 samples, where ML prediction differed from self-reported uninfected status, Delta variant, was neutralized more effectively than the wild type, which cannot happen without infection. The fraction rose to 71.8% (28 of 39) in subjects predicted to be infected during the surge, which is concordant with the percentage of sequences classified as Delta (75.6%-80.2%) over the same period.

Antegrade Unreamed Locked Intramedullary Nailing in Open Fractures of Shaft of Humerus.

INTRODUCTION: Open fractures of shaft of humerus have been treated conservatively as well as operatively. Plate osteosynthesis has been considered as the gold standard treatment. Intramedullary nailing also has same success rate in closed fractures. The results of 30 open fractures of shaft humerus fixed with locked unreamed antegrade intramedullary nailing were evaluated. AIM: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the role of locked intramedullary nailing in open fractures of shaft humerus in terms of bone union, secondary procedure required, complication, shoulder dysfunction and infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Of consecutive 365 humeral shaft fractures, 63 fractures were open. Thirty-two patients were operated with plate osteosynthesis, while 31 patients who were treated with locked unreamed intramedullary nails fulfilling the inclusion criteria entered the study. RESULTS: Twenty eight of thirty patients united in mean duration of 10.5 weeks. There were two non-unions both of them united with bone grafting and plate osteosynthesis. Seven patients had superficial infection which healed with antibiotic course, while two patients had deep infection, which healed with repeat debridement. Eleven patients had preoperative radial nerve palsy, nine of which healed completely in average of six months. Twenty eight patients had excellent functional outcome at final follow-up while two patients had good outcome. CONCLUSION: Antegrade nailing is associated with good union rates and low infection rates and is a good option in open fractures and in polytrauma patients.