Identification and characterization of genes for drought tolerance in upland rice cultivar 'Banglami' of North East India.

INTRODUCTION: Rice is a major crop in Assam, North East (NE) India. The rice accessions belonging to NE India possess unique traits of breeder's interest, i.e., tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present research programme, the stress responsive genes were identified within the QTLs associated with drought tolerance. The differential expression profiling of genes were performed under drought stress and control conditions. Thus, the 'candidate genes' associated with drought tolerance were recognised and may be deployed in a breeding programme. METHODS AND RESULTS: A drought-tolerant traditional rice cultivar, Banglami, was crossed with a high-yielding, drought-susceptible variety, Ranjit. The mapping population (F4) was raised through the single seed descent (SSD) method and used in QTL analysis. Under drought stress, a total of 4752 genes were identified through in-silico mining of QTLs. Among these, only 21 genes primarily associated with the stress response. The maximum of four stress-responsive genes were located within the QTLs, qNOG12.1 and qGY1.1. However, under control conditions, 2088 genes were identified, out of which, only 15 were categorised as the major stress responsive genes. The functional characterization of genes recognized 24 different types of proteins. Among these, peroxidase and heat shock proteins (Hsp) are the principal proteins encoded during stress. In addition to that, OsbZIP23, inorganic pyrophosphatase, universal stress protein, serine threonine kinase, NADPH oxidoreductase, and proteins belonging to the ABC1 family were also produced during stress condition. The differential expression profiling showed a profound expression pattern of three candidate genes under drought stress condition, i.e., OsI_32199 (Ascorbate peroxidase), OsI_37694 (Universal stress protein) and OsI_32167 (Heat shock protein 81 - 1). CONCLUSION: The novel candidate genes identified for drought tolerance, may be used in the breeding programme for the development of 'climate smart rice varieties'.

Changing clinico-epidemiology of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) in India: Results of a survey in four endemic states.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Detection and treatment of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) cases is considered important for kala-azar elimination. The objective of our study was to find out the proportion of different forms of lesions, interruption of treatment and rate of treatment completion, cure rates of PKDL, risk factors for developing severe forms of PKDL and utilization of services offered by the kala-azar elimination program. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of PKDL patients registered for treatment at all levels of care during 2015 and 2016 was done. RESULTS: 576 PKDL patients who had started treatment in 2015 and 2016 were studied. Three-fourths of all patients were found to be clinically cured after a year of follow-up. Around 90% lesions were of macular type. Interruption of treatment was observed in one-fourth of PKDL patients. Median duration between kala-azar treatment and development of PKDL was 4.5 years. Around 79% patients had past history of kala-azar treatment. Discontinuation of treatment during earlier kala-azar episode was significantly associated with the development of papular and nodular forms of lesion. 43% of patients had received the incentive of INR 2000 after completion of treatment. Around three-fourths women in the reproductive age group were found not to use any contraceptive method during PKDL treatment. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: PKDL treatment interruption should be reduced through ensuring drug supply and timely retrieval of patients. Directly observed treatment should be implemented and combination regimen should be explored to improve final cure rate. Delivery of financial incentive to PKDL patients and counselling and contraception to women of reproductive age group should be improved.

Mechanical Strength and Broadband Transparency Improvement of Glass Wafers via Surface Nanostructures.

In this study, we mechanically strengthened a borosilicate glass wafer by doubling its bending strength and simultaneously enhancing its transparency using surface nanostructures for different applications including sensors, displays and panels. A fabrication method that combines dry and wet etching is used for surface nanostructure fabrication. Specifically, we improved the bending strength of plain borosilicate glass by 96% using these surface nanostructures on both sides. Besides bending strength improvement, a limited optical transmittance enhancement of 3% was also observed in the visible light wavelength region (400-800 nm). Both strength and transparency were improved by using surface nanostructures of 500 nm depth on both sides of the borosilicate glass without affecting its bulk properties or the glass manufacturing process. Moreover, we observed comparatively smaller fragments during the breaking of the nanostructured glass, which is indicative of strengthening. The range for the nanostructure depth is defined for different applications with which improvements of the strength and transparency of borosilicate glass substrate are obtained.

End-to-Side Ileo-Sigmoid Anastomosis and Late Onset Gangrenous Diverticulitis: A Case Report.

End-to-side ileo-sigmoid anastomosis converts the proximal colon into a blind intestinal segment which is excised during the surgery. If we do not resect the proximal colon, it is expected to behave like a colonic diverticulum, but direct evidence of this assumption is lacking. During an exploratory laparotomy, we detected an end-to-side ileo-sigmoid anastomosis and found that the proximal colon was gangrenous. The patient passed away during the postoperative period, yet their remarkably long period of symptom-free survival remained intriguing.

Defense Inducer Compounds Up-regulated the Peroxidase, Polyphenol Oxidase, and Total Phenol Activities against Spot Blotch Disease of Wheat.

Spot blotch disease of wheat caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana (Sacc.) Shoem is considered as an economically important disease which affects all the growing stages of wheat crop. Therefore, it is important to search some effective management strategies against the spot blotch pathogen. Some synthetic elicitor compounds (salicylic acid, isonicotinic acid, and chitosan) and nano-particles (silver and aluminum) were tested against the pathogen to observe the change in biochemical activity and defense action of wheat plant against spot blotch disease. All the tested elicitor compounds and nano-particles showed a significant increase in activity of peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and total phenol over control. The highest increase in activity of peroxidase was recorded at 72 h from chitosan at 2 mM and 96 h from silver nano-particle at 100 ppm. Maximum PPO and total phenol activity were recorded from chitosan at 2 mM and silver nano-particle at 100 ppm as compared to pathogen-treated and healthy control. The lowest percent disease index, lowest no. of spots/leaf, and no. of infected leaves/plant were found in silver nano-particle at 100 ppm and chitosan at 2 mM, respectively. The use of defense inducer compounds results in significantly up-regulated enzymatic activity and reduced spot blotch disease. Therefore, chitosan and silver nano-particle could be used as alternative methods for the management of spot blotch disease.

Understanding the phases of vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vaccine hesitancy is an important feature of every vaccination and COVID-19 vaccination is not an exception. During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy has exhibited different phases and has shown both temporal and spatial variation in these phases. This has likely arisen due to varied socio-behavioural characteristics of humans and their response towards COVID 19 pandemic and its vaccination strategies. This commentary highlights that there are multiple phases of vaccine hesitancy: Vaccine Eagerness, Vaccine Ignorance, Vaccine Resistance, Vaccine Confidence, Vaccine Complacency and Vaccine Apathy. Though the phases seem to be sequential, they may co-exist at the same time in different regions and at different times in the same region. This may be attributed to several factors influencing the phases of vaccine hesitancy. The complexities of the societal reactions need to be understood in full to be addressed better. There is a dire need of different strategies of communication to deal with the various nuances of all of the phases. To address of vaccine hesitancy, an understanding of the societal reactions leading to various phases of vaccine hesitancy is of utmost importance.

Baseline serum cystatin C as a marker of acute kidney injury in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure.

BACKGROUND: A creatinine-based estimation of the renal function lags behind the onset of disease process. Cystatin C is a new marker for acute kidney injury (AKI). However, data are limited in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). We evaluated serum cystatin C as an early predictor of AKI in patients with ACLF. METHODS: In a prospective observational study, patients with ACLF and normal serum creatinine level were included in the study. Serum cystatin C was analyzed with the development of AKI and the disease outcome. RESULT: Forty-seven patients (mean age: 43.26±16.34 years; male:female: 2.35:1) were included in the study. AKI developed in 34% of patients during the hospital stay. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that the best cutoff for baseline cystatin C was 1.47 mg/L with a sensitivity of 0.94 and specificity of 0.68. The cystatin C ((area under the curve [AUC]=0.853) performance was better than that of the creatinine (AUC=0.699), Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) (AUC=0.661), and model for end-stage liver disease-sodium (MELD-Na) (AUC=0.641). In the univariate analysis, age, platelet count, creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)-modification of diet in renal disease (MDRD), cystatin C, and estimated glomerular filtration rate-serum cystatin C (eGFRcysC) were significantly associated with AKI in ACLF patients. Cystatin C was an independent positive predictor of AKI. Cystatin C was positively correlated with the MELD-Na scores (r=0.374 and p=0.009). CONCLUSION: Our study supports previous studies reporting that serum cystatin C is a better predictor for AKI development compared to serum creatinine. Cystatin C may be used as an early marker for new-onset AKI in hospitalized patients with ACLF.

Molecular mapping reveals two independent loci conferring resistance to Albugo candida in the east European germplasm of oilseed mustard Brassica juncea.

White rust caused by Albugo candida (Pers.) Kuntze is a major disease of the oilseed mustard Brassica juncea. Almost all the released varieties of B. juncea in India are highly susceptible to the disease. This causes major yield losses. Hence, there is an urgent need to identify genes for resistance to white rust and transfer these to the existing commercial varieties through marker-assisted breeding. While the germplasm belonging to the Indian gene pool is highly susceptible to the disease, the east European germplasm of B. juncea is highly resistant. In the present study, we have tagged two independent loci governing resistance to A. candida race 2V in two east European lines, Heera and Donskaja-IV. Two doubled haploid populations were used; the first population was derived from a cross between Varuna (susceptible Indian type) and Heera (partially resistant east European line) and the second from a cross between TM-4 (susceptible Indian type) and Donskaja-IV (fully resistant east European line). In both the resistant lines, a single major locus was identified to confer resistance to white rust. In Heera, the resistance locus AcB1-A4.1 was mapped to linkage group A4, while in Donskaja-IV, the resistant locus AcB1-A5.1 was mapped to linkage group A5. In both the cases, closely linked flanking markers were developed based on synteny between Arabidopsis and B. juncea. These flanking markers will assist introgression of resistance-conferring loci in the susceptible varieties.

Short-term mortality in patients with cirrhosis of the liver and acute kidney injury: A prospective observational study.

INTRODUCTION: Renal failure is a common and severe complication of cirrhosis and confers poor prognosis. Serum creatinine is the most practical biomarker of renal function. Serum creatinine estimation in cirrhosis of the liver is affected by decreased formation, increased tubular secretion, increased volume of distribution, and interference by elevated bilirubin. Studies on the prognosis of cirrhotic patients using creatinine kinetics as a definition of acute kidney injury (AKI) proposed by the International Ascites Club are limited. METHODS: In this single-center prospective observational study, decompensated cirrhotics with AKI defined by the International Ascites Club as the rise of serum creatinine ≥ 0.3 mg/dL within 48 h of admission or increase of serum creatinine ≥ 50% from stable baseline creatinine over the previous 3 months were followed and assessed for the development of complications during hospital course and in-hospital and 30-day mortality. RESULTS: AKI developed in 142 out of 499 (28.45%) patients with cirrhosis. Twenty patients were excluded. The most common etiology of cirrhosis was alcohol (n = 64, 52%), and ascites was present in 115 (94%) patients. Eighty-two (67.21%) patients presented with AKI at the time of admission. Thirty-day mortality was 46.72% (57/122 patients). Hepatorenal syndrome had the highest mortality followed by AKI related to infection. Presence of jaundice and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) was associated with poor survival with adjusted hazard ratio of 3.54 and 2.17, respectively. On bivariate logistic regression analysis, jaundice, HE, type of AKI, AKI stage at maximum creatinine, bilirubin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), international normalized ratio (INR), and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) scores were predictors of mortality (p < 0.05). Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of MELD > 29 and CTP score > 11 were 75.44%, 82%, and 78.70% and 66.67%, 81.54%, and 74.60%, respectively for predicting 30-day mortality. CONCLUSION: Development of AKI as defined by the International Ascites Club in cirrhosis confers high short-term mortality. Jaundice, HE, AKI stage, creatinine at enrollment, bilirubin, CTP, and MELD score were the predictors of mortality. Bullet points of the study highlights What is already known? • Renal failure is a common and severe complication of cirrhosis. • Serum creatinine is the most practical biomarker of renal function but it has many limitations in cirrhotic patients. • Creatinine kinetics-based definition of acute kidney injury (AKI) was proposed by the International Ascites Club. What is new in this study? • Short-term mortality (30 days) in decompensated cirrhotic patients with AKI as defined by the International Ascites Club using creatinine kinetics was high. • AKI due to hepatorenal syndrome (HRS) has the highest short-term (30 days) mortality followed by AKI due to infection in decompensated cirrhosis. • Detection of AKI using creatinine kinetics-based definition may prompt an early appropriate intervention. What are the future clinical and research implications of study findings? • Creatinine kinetics-based definition of AKI diagnose renal injury at an earlier stage; an appropriate intervention should be initiated at the earliest in these patients to improve patient survival.

Optimal cut-off value of fecal calprotectin for the evaluation of ulcerative colitis: An unsolved issue?

INTRODUCTION: There is variability in the fecal calprotectin (FCP) cut-off level for the prediction of ulcerative colitis (UC) disease activity and differentiation from irritable bowel disease (IBS-D). The FCP cut-off levels vary from country to country. AIMS: We aimed to assess FCP as a marker of disease activity in patients with UC. We determined the optimal FCP cut-off value for differentiating UC and IBS-D. METHODS: In a prospective study, we enrolled 76 UC and 30 IBS-D patients. We studied the correlation of FCP with disease activity/extent as well as its role in differentiating UC from IBS-D. We also reviewed literature regarding the optimal FCP cut-off level for the prediction of disease activity and differentiation from IBS-D patients. RESULTS: Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of FCP (cut-off level, 158 µg/g) for the prediction of complete mucosal healing (using Mayo endoscopic subscore) were 90, 85, 94.7, and 73.3%, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of FCP (cut-off level, 425 µg/g) for the prediction of inactive disease (Mayo Score ≤ 2) were 94.3, 88.7, 86.2, and 95.4%, respectively. We also found a FCP cut-off value of 188 µg/g for the differentiation of UC from IBS-D. CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals the large quantitative differences in FCP cut-off levels in different study populations. This study demonstrates a wide variation in FCP cut-off levels in the initial diagnosis of UC as well as in follow-up post-treatment. Therefore, this test requires validation of the available test kits and finding of appropriate cut-off levels for different study populations.

Effect of replenishment of vitamin D on survival in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis: A prospective study.

AIM: To assess the vitamin D (VD) deficiency as a prognostic factor and effect of replenishment of VD on mortality in decompensated cirrhosis. METHODS: Patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis were screened for serum VD levels. A total of 101 VD deficient patients (< 20 ng/mL) were randomly enrolled in two groups: Treatment group (n = 51) and control group (n = 50). Treatment group received VD treatment in the form of intramuscular cholecalciferol 300000 IU as loading dose and 800 IU/d oral as maintenance dose along with 1000 mg oral calcium supplementation. The VD level, clinical parameters and survival of both the groups were compared for 6-mo. RESULTS: Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) in decompensated CLD was 84.31%. The mean (SD) age of the patients in the treatment group (M:F: 40:11) and control group (M:F: 37:13) were 46.2 (± 14.93) years and 43.28 (± 12.53) years, respectively. Baseline mean (CI) VD (ng/mL) in control group and treatment group were 9.15 (8.35-9.94) and 9.65 (8.63-10.7), respectively. Mean (CI) serum VD level (ng/mL) at 6-mo in control group and treatment group were 9.02 (6.88-11.17) and 29 (23-35), respectively. Over the period of time the VD, calcium and phosphorus level was improved in treatment group compared to control group. There was non-significant trend seen in greater survival (69% vs 64%; P > 0.05) and longer survival (155 d vs 141 d; P > 0.05) in treatment group compared to control group. VD level had no significant association with mortality (P > 0.05). In multivariate analysis, treatment with VD supplement was found significantly (P < 0.05; adjusted hazard ratio: 0.48) associated with survival of the patients over 6-mo. CONCLUSION: VD deficiency is very common in patients of decompensated CLD. Replenishment of VD may improve survival in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis.

Genetic Architecture of Resistance to Alternaria brassicae in Arabidopsis thaliana: QTL Mapping Reveals Two Major Resistance-Conferring Loci.

Alternaria brassicae, a necrotrophic fungal pathogen, causes Alternaria blight, one of the most important diseases of oleiferous Brassica crops. The current study utilized Arabidopsis as a model to decipher the genetic architecture of defense against A. brassicae. Significant phenotypic variation that was largely genetically determined was observed among Arabidopsis accessions in response to pathogen challenge. Three biparental mapping populations were developed from three resistant accessions viz. CIBC-5, Ei-2, and Cvi-0 and two susceptible accessions - Gre-0 and Zdr-1 (commonly crossed to CIBC-5 and Ei-2). A total of six quantitative trait locus (QTLs) governing resistance to A. brassicae were identified, five of which were population-specific while one QTL was common between all the three mapping populations. Interestingly, the common QTL had varying phenotypic contributions in different populations, which can be attributed to the genetic background of the parental accessions. The presence of both common and population-specific QTLs indicate that resistance to A. brassicae is quantitative, and that different genes may mediate resistance to the pathogen in different accessions. Two of the QTLs had moderate-to-large effects, one of which explained nearly 50% of the variation. The large effect QTLs may therefore contain genes that could play a significant role in conferring resistance even in heterologous hosts.

Strength Improvement of Glass Substrates by Using Surface Nanostructures.

Defects and heterogeneities degrade the strength of glass with different surface and subsurface properties. This study uses surface nanostructures to improve the bending strength of glass and investigates the effect of defects on three glass types. Borosilicate and aluminosilicate glasses with a higher defect density than fused silica exhibited 118 and 48 % improvement, respectively, in bending strength after surface nanostructure fabrication. Fused silica, exhibited limited strength improvement. Therefore, a 4-µm-deep square notch was fabricated to study the effect of a dominant defect in low defect density glass. The reduced bending strength of fused silica caused by artificial defect increased 65 % in the presence of 2-µm-deep nanostructures, and the fused silica regained its original strength when the nanostructures were 4 µm deep. In fragmentation tests, the fused silica specimen broke into two major portions because of the creation of artificial defects. The number of fragments increased when nanostructures were fabricated on the fused silica surface. Bending strength improvement and fragmentation test confirm the usability of this method for glasses with low defect densities when a dominant defect is present on the surface. Our findings indicate that nanostructure-based strengthening is suitable for all types of glasses irrespective of defect density, and the observed Weibull modulus enhancement confirms the reliability of this method.

Management of a 3-year-old child with ambiguous genitalia.

True hermaphrodites have characteristics tissue both sex in the form of presence of vagina uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries as in female and presence of testis seminiferous tubules but penis as in penoscrotal hypospadias and bifid scrotal sac confuses as well developed labia majora. Determination of sex as per parents view in our social set up. The case was provisionally diagnosed as intersex. Total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salphingo-oophorectomy and colpectomy were conducted. A 3-year-old child referred by a pediatrician to Nalanda Medical College, child surgical department for investigation and management of his ambiguous genitalia having following features like, urine was not passing from the tip of penis; penis along with apparently looking female genitalia was taken under treatment. Examination under general anesthesia showed a presence of both male/female internal genitalia and gonads with features of external genitalia of both sexes. After total abdominal hysterectomy and human chorionic gonadotrophin treatment growth of phallus and testicle was noted. The child was made male after extirpation of female genitals. This case illustrates that gender correction can be made as per patients consent in adult but at this stage social customs and parents consent dictated the treatment.

Elimination of strength degrading effects caused by surface microdefect: A prevention achieved by silicon nanotexturing to avoid catastrophic brittle fracture.

The unavoidable occurrence of microdefects in silicon wafers increase the probability of catastrophic fracture of silicon-based devices, thus highlighting the need for a strengthening mechanism to minimize fractures resulting from defects. In this study, a novel mechanism for manufacturing silicon wafers was engineered based on nanoscale reinforcement through surface nanotexturing. Because of nanotexturing, different defect depths synthetically emulated as V-notches, demonstrated a bending strength enhancement by factors of 2.5, 3.2, and 6 for 2-, 7-, and 14-µm-deep V-notches, respectively. A very large increase in the number of fragments observed during silicon fracturing was also indicative of the strengthening effect. Nanotextures surrounding the V-notch reduced the stress concentration factor at the notch tip and saturated as the nanotexture depth approached 1.5 times the V-notch depth. The stress reduction at the V-notch tip measured by micro-Raman spectroscopy revealed that nanotextures reduced the effective depth of the defect. Therefore, the nanotextured samples were able to sustain a larger fracture force. The enhancement in Weibull modulus, along with an increase in bending strength in the nanotextured samples compared to polished single-crystal silicon samples, demonstrated the reliability of the strengthening method. These results suggest that this method may be suitable for industrial implementation.

Lead-induced cell signaling cascades in GT1-7 cells.

The effects of lead on the signal transduction pathways that may be involved in the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from neurons in the hypothalamus have not been well defined. Using the GT1-7 cell line, an in vitro model for GnRH-secreting neurons, we examined signal transduction pathways directly affected by lead. We found that lead-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (ERK1 and ERK2), as well as p90RSK and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), but did not induce IkappaB degradation. MEK1/2 inhibitor (PD98059) suppressed lead-induced ERK and p90RSK activation. Neither PKC inhibitors (Go6983, Go6976) nor CaMKII inhibitor (KN-62) had a pronounced effect on lead-induced ERK1 and ERK2 phosphorylation. However, MEK1/2 inhibitor, CaMKII inhibitor, and PKC inhibitor significantly suppressed lead-induced CREB phosphorylation. These results indicate that lead-activated PKC, CaMKII and MEK/ERK/p90RSK pathways simultaneously, all of which contributed to CREB phosphorylation. Our results also indicate that lead-induced p90RSK and CREB activation does not alter expression of early response genes like c-fos. We conclude that lead activates PKC, CaMKII or MEK-ERK-p90RSK pathways in GT1-7 cells, leading to CREB phosphorylation and modulation of gene expression.

Spectroscopic (FT-IR, FT-Raman, and UV-visible) and quantum chemical studies on molecular geometry, Frontier molecular orbitals, NBO, NLO and thermodynamic properties of 1-acetylindole.

Quantum chemical calculations of ground state energy, geometrical structure and vibrational wavenumbers of 1-acetylindole were carried out using density functional (DFT/B3LYP) method with 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. The FT-IR and FT-Raman spectra were recorded in the condensed state. The fundamental vibrational wavenumbers were calculated and a good correlation between experimental and scaled calculated wavenumbers has been accomplished. Electric dipole moment, polarizability and first static hyperpolarizability values of 1-acetylindole have been calculated at the same level of theory and basis set. The results show that the 1-acetylindole molecule possesses nonlinear optical (NLO) behavior with non-zero values. Stability of the molecule arising from hyper-conjugative interactions and charge delocalization has been analyzed using natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis. UV-Visible spectrum of the molecule was recorded in the region 200-500nm and the electronic properties like HOMO and LUMO energies and composition were obtained using TD-DFT method. The calculated energies and oscillator strengths are in good correspondence with the experimental data. The thermodynamic properties of the compound under investigation were calculated at different temperatures.