Residual blood specimens collected at health facilities may be a source of samples for serosurveys of adults, a population often neglected in community-based serosurveys. Anonymized residual blood specimens were collected from individuals 15 – 49 years of age attending two sub-district hospitals in Palghar District, Maharashtra, from November 2018 to March 2019. Specimens also were collected from women 15 – 49 years of age enrolled in a cross-sectional, community-based serosurvey representative at the district level that was conducted 2 – 7 months after the residual specimen collection. Specimens were tested for IgG antibodies to measles and rubella viruses. Measles and rubella seroprevalence estimates using facility-based specimens were 99% and 92%, respectively, with men having significantly lower rubella seropositivity than women. Age-specific measles and rubella seroprevalence estimates were similar between the two specimen sources. Although measles seropositivity was slightly higher among adults attending the facilities, both facility and community measles seroprevalence estimates were 95% or higher. The similarity in measles and rubella seroprevalence estimates between the community-based and facility serosurveys highlights the potential value of residual specimens to approximate community seroprevalence.

In order to recognize the best nutrient supply options for profitable and sustainable production systems, observations were recorded from 2001 to 2020 (20 years) in a long-term fertilizer experiment initiated in 1995–96 with soybean–wheat cropping systems (SWCSs) under irrigated conditions. The experiment comprised of seven treatments including control, organic, inorganic and their combinations. A combined use of 10 Mg farmyard manure (FYM)/ha (M) along with 120 kg N/ha provided statistically (P < 0.05) similar yield and economic benefits to the M + NPK and also provided a positive yield trend (30.0 and 16.2 kg/ha/year) and net return (14.7 and 5.81 US$/ha/year) over the year in both wheat and soybean, respectively. The combined use of organic and chemical fertilizers, provided 32–41% higher production efficiency than their individual use. In contrast, long-term chemical fertilization provided a negative yield trend in both the crops with the highest reduction in sole N-fertilized plots ranged from −39 to −42 kg/ha/year. Water-use efficiency ranged from 3.20 to 12.3 kg/ha/mm in soybean–wheat rotation and increased almost 1.74–3.15 times in wheat and 1.30–1.80 times in soybean due to fertilizer application. A similar trend was observed for water-expense efficiency and remain closely associated with fertilization practice. Long-term chemical fertilizers declined the yield potential of the studied crops while their conjoint application with FYM in the winter season considered as an input efficient approach to sustain the overall productivity and profitability of SWCSs.

Residual blood specimens provide a sample repository that could be analyzed to estimate and track changes in seroprevalence with fewer resources than household-based surveys. We conducted parallel facility and community-based cross-sectional serological surveys in two districts in India, Kanpur Nagar District, Uttar Pradesh, and Palghar District, Maharashtra, before and after a measles-rubella supplemental immunization activity (MR-SIA) from 2018 to 2019. Anonymized residual specimens from children 9 months to younger than 15 years of age were collected from public and private diagnostic laboratories and public hospitals and tested for IgG antibodies to measles and rubella viruses. Significant increases in seroprevalence were observed following the MR SIA using the facility-based specimens. Younger children whose specimens were tested at a public facility in Kanpur Nagar District had significantly lower rubella seroprevalence prior to the SIA compared to those attending a private hospital, but this difference was not observed following the SIA. Similar increases in rubella seroprevalence were observed in facility-based and community-based serosurveys following the MR SIA, but trends in measles seroprevalence were inconsistent between the two specimen sources. Despite challenges with representativeness and limited metadata, residual specimens can be useful in estimating seroprevalence and assessing trends through facility-based sentinel surveillance.

The study was conducted on indigenous Tharparkar cow (Bos indicus) to evaluate FSH stimulation on follicular attributes, oocyte recovery and morpho-molecular developmental competence parameters concerning oocyte quality. A total of 20 OPU sessions were performed, which included 10 sessions in each FSH stimulated at the dose of 130 µg divided into four sub-doses and non-stimulated. Findings on the size of follicles having ≥6 mm showed a significantly higher, however an opposite trend was observed in the case of smaller sized follicle (<6 mm) between stimulated and non-stimulated respectively. The stimulated cows had a significantly higher number as well as the percentage of oocytes of Grade A, having a diameter ≥120 µm and BCB+VE as compared to the non-stimulated cows. The relative mRNA expression profile of GDF9, BMP15, PCNA and BCL-2 genes was higher and BAX was lower in the FSH-stimulated cow. These results indicated that FSH stimulation before OPU in Bos indicus cows has a significant impact on follicle size, oocyte yield, recovery, and their quality with respect to COC’s, diameter and BCB+VE oocytes. Further, a significant increase in the relative mRNA expression levels of GDF9, BMP15 and PCNA genes in the FSH-stimulated group suggests that FSH plays a key role in modulating the expression of these important candidate genes and thus influencing oocyte quality. The higher mRNA expression of BCL-2 genes and concomitantly lower expression of BAX gene in FSH Stimulated cows indicates the protective role of these genes and preventing programmed cell death and thus promoting cell survival, quality and embryo development.

Twelve lacustrine sediment samples from a relict lake in the Kalla Glacier valley were co-dated using AMS radiocarbon (14C) and infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating methods. In general, the radiocarbon ages of bulk organic matter were older by a minimum of 1500 years compared to (age depth) modeled luminescence ages after fading corrections. This is observed for the first time in the lake sediments of High Himalayan Crystalline zone. A combination of lipid n-alkane data, Raman spectra and geochemical proxies suggested that this was due to ancient organic carbon (OCancient) that is a mixture of pre-aged (OCpre-aged) and petrogenic (OCpetro) organic carbon within older glacial moraine debris that served as sediment source to the lake. Raman spectra suggest the presence of moderate to highly graphitized OCpetro in all the profile samples. The OCpetro contributed 0.064 ± 0.032% to the sediment and the lake stored 2.5 ± 0.7 Gg OCpetro at variable rates during the last 16 kyr, with the mean burial flux 160 kg OCpetro yr−1. This study implies (1) employing another independent dating method in addition to radiocarbon method using bulk sediment organic matter, if the carbon content is low, to observe any discrepancy, and (2) a need to investigate on the fate of OCpetro as many such small lakes become relict in this region.

Semen sexing is among one of the most remarkable inventions of the past few decades in the field of reproductive biotechnology. The urge to produce offspring of a desired sex has remained since traditional times. Researchers have tried many methods for accurate semen sexing, but only the flow cytometry method has proved to be effective for commercial utilization. However, there were always concerns about the effects of sexed semen, especially on fertility and the rate of genetic gain. Some concerns were genuine because of factors such as low semen dosage in sexed semen straws and damage to sperm during the sorting process. Various researchers have conducted numerous studies to find out the effect of sexed semen on fertility and, in this article, we reflect on their findings. Initially, there were comparatively much lower conception rates (∼70% of conventional semen) but, with refinement in technology, this gap is bridging and the use of sexed semen will increase over time. Concerning genetic gain with use of sexed semen, a positive effect on rate of genetic progress with the use of sexed semen has been observed based on various simulation studies, although there has been a mild increase in inbreeding.

In the third week of September 2022, an outbreak of measles was reported from a slum in Eastern Mumbai, India. We sought to investigate whether failure to vaccinate or vaccine failure was the cause. We constructed an epidemic curve, drew a spot map, and calculated the attack rate and case-fatality ratio. We calculated vaccine effectiveness (VE) for one and two doses of measles vaccine in an unmatched case–control study and did stratified analysis by sex, availability of vaccination card, and migrant status. We identified 358 cases and four deaths with a 11.3% attack rate and 1.1% case fatality, both being highest among 0–24-month-old boys. The epidemic curve suggested a propagated mode of spread. The VE for two doses was 64% (95% confidence interval (CI): 23–73%) among under-5-year-old children and 70% (95% CI: 28–88%) among 5–15-year-old children. Failure to vaccinate, consequent to the COVID-19 pandemic, and vaccine hesitancy might have led to the accumulation of susceptible children in the community. Additionally, the occurrence of case-patients among vaccinated suggests reduced VE, which needs further investigation into humoral and cell-mediated immunity as well as contributory factors including nutritional status. Outbreak response immunization to complete immunization of missed and dropout children was carried out to control the outbreak.

In this paper, two second-order electronically tunable bandpass filters are presented. The filters are implemented in microstrip technology using barium–strontium–titanate (BST) varactors and digitally tunable capacitors (DTC) for tuning the frequency response of the bandpass filters. The filter realized using BST varactors has a 35% tuning range from 900 MHz to 1.275 GHz with an insertion loss variation from 3.1 to 2.6 dB. The absolute bandwidth is nearly constant over the entire tuning range, varying from 64 to 72 MHz (around ±5% variation). The filter realized using DTCs also has a 36% tuning range from 850 MHz to 1.225 GHz with an insertion loss variation from 3.1 to 1.5 dB. The absolute bandwidth is constant over the tuning range, varying from 88 to 98 MHz (around ±5% variation). The bandpass filters are tuned using a single control signal. The tunable bandpass filters are proposed for use in reconfigurable radios.

In the current investigation, a two-stage hybridization model has been used for the motion planning of humanoids in complex environmental conditions using regression analysis and the firefly algorithm. In the first step, sensory outputs are fed to the regression model, and an initial turning angle (ITA) is obtained. In the second step, the ITA is again fed as input to the firefly model along with other required inputs, and the final turning angle (FTA) is obtained. The FTA serves as the guiding parameter for the humanoids to reach their desired destinations. The developed motion planning scheme has been implemented on NAO humanoid robots in simulation and experimental platforms. A Petri-Net control strategy has been integrated along with the hybrid scheme while negotiating multiple humanoids in a common platform. The results obtained from the motion planning analysis in simulation and experimental arenas are compared against each other in terms of selected navigational parameters and observed satisfactory agreements. Finally, the proposed hybrid controller is also tested against another standard navigational model and substantial enhancement in the performance has been noticed.

In the present paper, filamentous structure formation, associated turbulent spectrum, and density cavity formation phenomena have been investigated for low-β plasma $\left(\beta \ll m_e/m_i\right)$ applicable to the auroral region. A set of dimensionless equations governing the dynamics of three dimensionally propagating inertial Alfvén wave (3D-IAW) and perpendicularly propagating magnetosonic wave (PMSW) has been developed. Ponderomotive force due to 3D-IAW has been included in the dynamics of the PMSW. Numerical simulation has been performed to study the nonlinear coupling of these two waves. From the obtained results, we found that the field intensity localization takes place which may further lead to the additional dissipation/turbulence process for particle heating and acceleration in space plasma. The associated turbulent spectrum is obtained with scaling nearly k−4.28 at smaller scales (in the dissipation range). Relevance of the obtained results with the observations reported by various spacecrafts such as Hawkeye and Heos 2 has been discussed. Also, density fluctuations (depletion) of ∼0.10 n0 are calculated, which are consistent with the FAST spacecraft observation reported.

Human activity recognition (HAR) is an emerging challenge among researchers. HAR has many possible uses in various fields, including healthcare, sports, and security. Furthermore, there are only a few publicly accessible datasets for classifying and recognizing physical activity in the literature, and these datasets comprise fewer activities. We created and compared our dataset with available datasets, that is, NTU-RGBD, UP-FALL, UR-Fall, WISDM, and UCI HAR. The proposed dataset consists of seven activities: eating, exercise, handshake, situps, vomiting, headache, and walking. The activities were collected from 20 people between the ages of 25 and 40 years using Kinect V2 sensor at 30 FPS. For classification, we use deep learning architectures based on convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM). Additionally, we developed a novel hybrid deep learning model by combining a CNN, a bidirectional LSTM unit, and a fully connected layer for activity identification. The suggested model builds unique guided features using the preprocessed skeleton coordinates and their distinctive geometrical and kinematic aspects. Results from the experiment are contrasted with the performance of stand-alone CNNs, LSTMs, and ConvLSTM. The proposed model’s accuracy of 99.5% surpasses that of CNN, LSTM, and ConvLSTM, which have accuracy rates of 95.76%, 97%, and 98.89%, respectively. Our proposed technique is invariant of stance, speed, individual, clothes, etc. The proposed dataset sample is accessible to the general public.

The difficulty of diagnosing prostate cancer (PC) with the available biomarkers frequently leads to over-diagnosis and overtreatment of PC, underscoring the need for novel molecular signatures. The purpose of this review is to provide a summary of the currently available cellular metabolomics for PC molecular signatures. A comprehensive search on PubMed was conducted to find studies published between January 2004 and August 2022 that reported biomarkers for PC detection, development, aggressiveness, recurrence and treatment response. Although potential studies have reported the presence of distinguishing molecules that can distinguish between benign and cancerous prostate tissue. However, there are few studies looking into signature molecules linked to disease development, therapy response or tumour recurrence. The majority of these studies use high-dimensional datasets, and the number of potential metabolites investigated frequently exceeds the size of the available samples. In light of this, pre-analytical, statistical, methodological and confounding factors such as antiandrogen therapy (NAT) may also be linked to the identified chemometric multivariate differences between PC and relevant control samples in the datasets. Despite the methodological and procedural challenges, a range of methodological groups and processes have consistently identified a number of signature metabolites and pathways that appear to imply a substantial involvement in the cellular metabolomics of PC for tumour formation and recurrence.

The knowledge of genetic parameters of performance traits is crucial for any breeding programme in dairy animals. The present study was conducted to use a Bayesian approach for estimation of genetic parameters of production and reproduction traits in Jersey crossbred cattle. Data of Jersey crossbred cattle maintained at Eastern Regional Station, National Dairy Research Institute, West Bengal spread over a span of 41 years were utilized. The marginal posterior medians of heritability for 305-day milk yield (305MY), total milk yield (TMY), peak yield (PY), lactation length (LL), calving interval (CI), total milk yield per day of lactation length (TMY/LL) and total milk yield per day of calving interval (TMY/CI) were 0.31 ± 0.07, 0.29 ± 0.07, 0.27 ± 0.06, 0.16 ± 0.05, 0.15 ± 0.05, 0.29 ± 0.06, 0.27 ± 0.06, respectively. Moderate heritability estimates for 305MY, TMY, PY and production efficiency traits indicate the presence of adequate additive genetic variance in these traits to respond to selection combined with better herd management. Repeatability estimates for 305MY, TMY, PY, LL, CI, TMY/LL and TMY/CI were 0.57 ± 0.08, 0.58 ± 0.08, 0.51 ± 0.07, 0.34 ± 0.06, 0.31 ± 0.06, 0.54 ± 0.07 and 0.49 ± 0.07, respectively. Repeatability estimates for 305MY, TMY and PY were high in the current study, suggesting the use of first lactation records for early evaluation of Jersey crossbred cattle for future selection. Genetic correlations varied from 0.21 to 0.97 and maximum genetic correlation was observed between 305MY and TMY indicating that consideration of 305MY instead of TMY in breeding programmes would suffice. Positive genetic correlations of CI with 305MY and TMY indicated the antagonistic association between production and reproduction traits.

Prostate cancer (PC) presents great challenges in early diagnosis and often leads to unnecessary invasive procedures as well as over diagnosis and treatment, thus highlighting the need for promising early diagnostic biomarkers. The aim of this review is to provide an up-to-date summary of chronologically existing metabolomics PC biomarkers, their potential to improve clinical PC diagnosis and to reduce the proliferation and monitoring of PC. The systematic research was conducted on PubMed in accordance with PRISMA guidelines to report PC biomarkers. The majority of the studies distinguished malignant from benign prostate and few explored the biomarkers associated with the progression of PC. The present review summarises the primary outcomes of most significant studies to extend our knowledge of PC metabolomics biomarkers. We observed divergent inter-laboratory technical procedures employing different statistical approaches produced abundant information regarding PC metabolites perturbation. Since PC metabolomics is still in its early phase, it is vital that we dig out the most specific, sensitive and accurate metabolic signatures and conduct more studies with milestone findings with comparable sample sizes to validate and corroborate the findings.

In this paper, a compact super wideband annular ring antenna using 45° clock-wise square patch inclusions for super high frequency and polarization diversity applications is proposed. The inclusions consist of a combination of squares and circles into one another in the inner area of a main annular ring radiator. The antenna uses a partial ground plane having a stair-type defected ground structure, is designed on an FR-4 substrate, and has a total size of 25 × 26 × 1.6 mm3 (0.17λ × 0.18λ). The design was fabricated and experimental results fairly agreed with simulations and resulted in an antenna with an operating frequency from 2.07 to 30 GHz; that is, a large fractional bandwidth of 174.2$\%$ with a bandwidth (BW) ratio of 14.5:1 and a high BW dimension ratio, BW per unit electrical length of 5693, and a measured peak gain of 8 dBi with an average gain of 5 dBi for the overall operating frequency. For the polarization diversity, a 4 × 4 multiple input-multiple output configuration is additionally presented, offering an effective isolation of ≥ 22.5 dB between ports and corroborated by measurements.

Maize and Imperata cylindrica have been utilized globally as a pollen source for induction of haploids in wheat through chromosome elimination technique. Pollen parents with a higher haploid induction rate are desired for recovering the high frequency of haploids in wheat and related species. The present investigation was carried out with the aim to assess haploid induction efficiency of diverse germplasm of maize and I. cylindrica in different generations of intra and intergeneric crosses of hexaploid and tetraploid wheat and triticale-wheat derivatives. Crosses of twenty-six lines (female) with each of two I. cylindrica and twenty-one maize genotypes (testers) were evaluated for four haploid induction parameters viz., pseudoseed formation frequency (PFF), embryo formation frequency (EFF), haploid regeneration frequency (HRF) and haploid formation frequency (HFF). I. cylindrica outperformed maize in haploid induction rate with a frequency of embryos formed with I. cylindrica (18.39%) were significantly higher as compared to maize (4.08%). In the case of I. cylindrica genotype Ic-ye identified best with mean EFF of 30.55, 14.48 and 25.43% for hexaploids, tetraploids and triticale × wheat derivatives, respectively whereas in the case of maize genotype HPMC-60 performed best with EFF of 12.61% for hexaploids, HPMC-58 (12.58%) for tetraploids and HPMC-16 for triticale × wheat derivatives with EFF of 8.91%. I. cylindrica genotype Ic-ye and maize genotypes HPMC-14, HPMC-53, HPMC-60, HPMC-64 with significantly positive GCA for haploid induction parameters may be utilized as efficient pollen parents for recovering higher frequency of haploids in wheat.

This narrative review article aims to update knowledge on the neuropsychiatric complications of nitrous oxide use and low vitamin B12. We consider common forms and uses of nitrous oxide (N2O) and review its mechanism of action, and then explore the potential impacts of use. In particular, neuropsychiatric effects mediated by low vitamin B12 are considered and the correct interpretation of laboratory results explored. This is of particular importance as where vitamin B12 is inactivated by chronic nitrous oxide use, blood test levels of vitamin B12 may not reflect the quantity of functional B12 in patients.

We report a familial cluster of 24 individuals infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). The index case had a travel history and spent 24 days in the house before being tested and was asymptomatic. Physical overcrowding in the house provided a favourable environment for intra-cluster infection transmission. Restriction of movement of family members due to countrywide lockdown limited the spread in community. Among the infected, only four individuals developed symptoms. The complete genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 was retrieved using next-generation sequencing from eight clinical samples which demonstrated a 99.99% similarity with reference to Wuhan strain and the phylogenetic analysis demonstrated a distinct cluster, lying in the B.6.6 pangolin lineage.