Prevalence and Correlates of Malnutrition in Nuh District, Haryana State, India.

India has a substantial burden of undernutrition coupled with overweight and obesity at the other end of the spectrum of malnutrition. Nuh district, in the Haryana State in northern India, is an impoverished district in India. With an aim to investigate the problem of malnutrition in the community, a cross-sectional study was conducted in four villages of the Nuh district. Height/length, weight, and age data of children under 5 years were used to calculate three indices: weight-for-age, height-for-age, and weight-for-height. The body mass index was calculated for individuals older than 6 years. Associations between malnutrition and other factors were assessed using simple and multiple logistic regression to get adjusted coefficients. The total surveyed population comprised 11,496 individuals. Over 51% were female, and 13.2% of the surveyed population were children under 5 years. Almost half of the population was illiterate and unemployed. The prevalences of underweight, stunting, and wasting in children under 5 years were 37%, 53%, and 21%, respectively. The prevalences of underweight and stunting in the 6- to 19-year-old age group were 29% and 38%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight was 36% in the 20- to 40-year-old and > 60-year-old age groups, and 44% in the 41- to 60-year-old age group. Our findings reveal a considerable burden of undernutrition among children under 5 years and a dual burden of undernutrition and overnutrition in adults, highlighting the need to map these areas and sharpen our responses to mitigate the overwhelming and long-term consequences of malnutrition in the Nuh district.

Supervised administration of primaquine may enhance adherence to radical cure for P. vivax malaria in India.

The Plasmodium vivax lifecycle encompasses a dormant liver-stage known as 'hypnozoite' which serves as silent reservoirs of malaria, reactivation of which results in recurring episodes of relapse with varying periodicity. This contributes to continuous transmission of malaria unamenable to control methods. The prevention of relapse requires a "radical cure" by a hypnozoitcidal drug. Primaquine (PQ) has been the recommended radical cure for this malaria. However, adherence to 14 days PQ treatment remains poor. India accounts for majority of P. vivax burden globally. However, PQ administration is not supervised in the current national programme. Supervised administration of drugs ensures compliance and improves drug regime success rate. Trials across different countries have established the effectiveness of directly observed therapy (DOT) for prevention of relapses. As India aims to eliminate malaria by 2030, it is prudent to consider DOT to ensure complete treatment of the malaria affected populations. Therefore, we recommend that the Indian malaria control programme may consider DOT of primaquine for treatment of vivax malaria. The supervised administration would entail additional direct and indirect costs but will ensure complete treatment and hence minimize the probability of relapses. This will help the country in achieving the goal of malaria elimination.

Multiple epitope-based vaccine prediction against SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein.

The global emergence of novel coronavirus disease and its rapid global expansion over a short span of time require effective countermeasures to combat it. Development of a specific vaccine can induce an optimal antibody response, thus providing immunity against it. Our study proposes a detailed and comprehensive immunoinformatic approach that can be applied to the currently available coronavirus protein data in the online server for vaccine candidate development. We have identified the receptor binding domain (RBD) of structural spike protein (S1) as a potential target for immunity against COVID- 19 infection. Epitope prediction illustrated cytotoxic T-cell epitopes, helper T-cell epitopes, and B-cell epitopes associated with the target protein. These were joined through specific linkers along with adjuvant beta-defensin located at the N-terminal to create a multi epitope subunit vaccine (MESV). The specificity in the binding of the devised vaccine candidate to the TLR-3 immune cell receptor was evaluated via molecular docking interaction studies. Good docking score combined with robust interactions in the binding cavity certified the stringency of the engineered vaccine. Molecular dynamics simulation data showed minimal variation of the root-mean square deviations (RMSDs) and root-mean-square fluctuations (RMSFs) which confirmed the interaction stability. These results obtained from various in-silico experiments indicate the potency of this vaccine candidate as a probable therapeutic agent against COVID-19. Vaccination strategies targeting conserved epitope-based immune response would be beneficial in providing cross protection across beta-coronaviruses, and such vaccines would be resistant to the ever-evolving viruses.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

The polyphenolic phytoalexin polydatin inhibits amyloid aggregation of recombinant human prion protein.

Prion diseases involve misfolded and highly infectious aggregates of prion protein (PrPSc) which forms amyloid plaques leading to fatal neurodegeneration. The absence of clinically proven therapeutics makes the discovery of effective remedial interventions a prime concern. Herein, we report novel prion intervention by the polyphenolic phytoalexin, polydatin which binds with moderate affinity to the recombinant protease resistant core of human prion protein, encompassing the sequence 90-231 (rPrPres) and inhibits its conversion into the highly neurotoxic forms. An extensive evaluation using biophysical techniques revealed that polydatin incubated rPrPres samples generate off-pathway oligomers having reduced cross-ß sheet signature, and relatively smaller in size than the native rPrPres oligomers. The detailed structural analysis using molecular dynamics simulations elucidated the induction of antagonistic mobilities in the ß2-α2 loop, α3 helix and the N-terminal amyloidogenic region of prions. This study puts forward novel prion fibrillogenesis inhibitory potential of polydatin, specifically by stabilizing the N-terminal amyloidogenic region. Collectively our results affirm the importance of polydatin in crippling the prion pathogenesis and may serve as a structural scaffold for designing novel therapeutic agents targeting amyloidogenic transition in prions.