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India reported outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in poultry in the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh (February- April 2006); Manipur (July 2007); West Bengal (January 2008) and Tripura (April 2008). The role of migratory birds in the transmission of the HPAI H5N1 remains a subject of debate. Avian Influenza (AI) surveillance in wild migratory, wild resident, domestic birds and poultry was undertaken by National Institute of Virology (NIV) jointly with Ela Foundation, Pune, India during 2006-07. A total of 1968 faecal specimens (1369 droppings from wild migratory and wild resident birds; 474 droppings from poultry and 125 cloacal swabs from chickens and ducks) were collected. These samples representing 10 avian families of wild migratory birds, four families of wild resident birds totalling 36 species, were from eight districts of Maharashtra covering 20 water bodies and two districts of Manipur. The samples were screened for AI viruses by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), real-time PCR and were processed for virus isolation in embryonated chicken eggs and cell culture. Two samples from wild ducks were positive for viruses other than AI, newcastle disease virus (NDV) and infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). During the study period no sample was positive for Influenza A viruses, Influenza A (H5N1) or any other strain of HPAI by RT-PCR and virus isolation. In view of the recent HPAI H5N1 outbreaks in poultry in India, continued and more widespread AI surveillance is necessary to elucidate the role of wild migratory, resident, domestic birds and poultry in the transmission of AI viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe2O3 of particle sizes ranging from 120 to 20 nm has been prepared by the ball-milling process using different milling hour. X-ray diffraction technique and transmission electron microscopy have been used for determining the average particle sizes of the prepared samples. Direct optical band gap for the unmilled and the ball-milled samples has been calculated from the optical absorption data. A red shift in the band gap due to the reduction of particle size has been observed. The coincidence Doppler broadening of the electron positron annihilation γ-radiation spectroscopy has been employed to identify the nature of defects generated due to the ball-milling process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sintering and grain growth of nano-crystalline undoped ZnO has been studied in detail over a wide range of temperature and holding time. Below 800°C, sintering of over 70% theoretical density is not observed, irrespective of particle size. At 900°C for 6h, the nano-crystalline sample sinters to 99% of theoretical density whereas the density for as received sample is 93% of theoretical density. However, at 1300°C or higher, the densification is found to be much faster and after a few hours becomes independent of holding time. Grain growth studies reveal a similar feature of attaining saturation over holding time. The average saturated grain size is found to be ∼1.5 and ∼2.2μm at 800 and 900°C, respectively, while at 1300°C or higher, it is in between 12 and 13μm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) is presently developing an Isotope Separator On-Line (ISOL) post-accelerator type of Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facility. The facility is planned around the existing room temperature cyclotron as the primary accelerator and RFQ and LINAC as the post-accelerators for the ion beams. The following report presents the beam dynamics design of the first three LINAC cavities to accelerate RIBs up to about 400keV/u along with the results of the RF structure studies on the cold model of the first LINAC tank. The mechanical engineering design aspects of the first LINAC tank have also been discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) facility, now under construction at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), Kolkata, is based on the use of the well-known Isotope Separator On-Line (ISOL) technique in which the radioactive nuclei are produced by nuclear reactions with the primary beam in selected thick targets. The present article deals with the various aspects of a thick target design for the production of RIB using compound nuclear reactions with proton and alpha particle beams from the VEC cyclotron. The design involves, to start with, an optimum choice of the target compounds necessary for the production of various RIBs of interest, which satisfy a number of selection criteria. The requirements that a target should be mechanically stable, highly permeable and has a short diffusion length for radioactive atoms, limit the choice of target forms to a few. In our design, we have worked out in detail the prospect of using fibrous and composite targets like carbon fiber as backing matrix for deposition of several selected target compounds. The performance of the composite target system has been tested in beam. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Design of a gas-jet coupled ECR ion source is presented. This will be used for online production of 1 + ion beams of radioactive atoms at the VECC-RIB facility. Gas-jet containing nuclear reaction products attached to aerosols will be radially injected in the plasma chamber through a skimmer. The design involves optimization of magnetic field configuration, microwave injection, skimmer geometry and extraction system. Option for radial injection of rf for plasma ion deposition in off-line mode also has been incorporated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative study of fission of actinides, especially 238U, by proton and bremsstrahlung photon is performed. The relative mass distribution of 238U fission fragments has been explored theoretically for both proton- and photon-induced fission. The integrated yield along with charge distribution of the products are calculated to find the neutron richness in comparison with the nuclei produced by the r process in nucleosynthesis. Some r-process nuclei in the intermediate-mass range for symmetric fission mode are found to be produced almost two orders of magnitude more for proton-induced fission than for photofission, although the rest of the neutron-rich nuclei in the asymmetric mode are produced in comparable proportion for both processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, different genotypes of human adenoviruses are associated with outbreaks of acute respiratory infection (ARI) though such evidence is lacking from India. In the present study, we report a sudden increase in the positivity of respiratory adenovirus among hospitalized children with ARI from Kolkata and the surrounding districts of West Bengal, India, from December 2022 to date. A sharp rise in the positivity rate of respiratory adenovirus was found which ranged from 22.1% in early December 2022 to 52.6% in mid-March 2023. The overall positivity was 40.4% during the period and children in the 2 to <5 years (51.0%) age group were mostly affected. Single infection with adenovirus was found in 72.4% of cases while co-infection with rhinovirus was the maximum (9.4%). Around 97.5% of positive cases required hospitalization. Cough, breathlessness, and wheeze were the most common clinical features among positive patients. Phylogenetic analysis of the hexon and fiber gene of all the sequenced strains revealed HAdV-B 7/3 recombination with more than 99% homology within themselves. This report of a respiratory adenovirus outbreak in West Bengal, India causing severe illness in the pediatric population underscores the need for regular monitoring of the circulating strains., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Influenza A viruses (IAV) are fast-evolving pathogens with a very high mutation rate (2.0 × 10 -6 to 2.0 × 10 -4 ) compared to the influenza B (IBV) and influenza C (ICV) viruses. Generally, the tropical regions are considered as the reservoir for the IAV's genetic and antigenic evolutionary modification to be reintroduced into the temperate region. Therefore, in connection to the above facts, the present study emphasized on the evolutionary dynamic of the pandemic-2009 H1N1 (pdmH1N1) influenza virus in India. A total of Ninety-two whole genome sequences of pdmH1N1 viruses circulating in India during the 2009 post-pandemic era were analysed. The temporal signal of the study, indicating strict molecular clock evolutionary process and the overall substitution rate is 2.21 × 10 -3 /site/year. We are using the nonparametric Bayesian Skygrid coalescent model to estimates the effective past population dynamic or size over time. The study exhibits a strong relation between the genetic distances and collection dates of the Indian pdmH1N1 strain. The skygrid plot represents the highest exponential growth of IAV in rainy and winter seasons. All the genes of Indian pdmH1N1 were under purifying selective pressure. The Bayesian time-imprinted phylogenetic tree represents the following clade distributions in the country within the last 10 years; I) clade 6, 6C, and 7 were co-circulating between the 2011 to 2012 flu season; II) the clade 6B was introduced into circulation in the late seasons of 2012; III) lastly, the clade 6B remain existing in the circulation and segregated into subclade 6B.1 with five different subgroup (6B.1A, 6B.1A.1, 6B.1A.5a, 6B.1A.5a.2, 6B.1A.7). The recent circulating strain of Indian H1N1 strain represent the insertion of basic-amino acid arginine (R) in the cleavage site (325/K-R) of HA protein and amino acid mutation (314/I-M) on the lateral head surface domain of NA protein. Moreover, the study indicates the sporadic presence of the oseltamivir-resistant (275/H-Y) H1N1 variant in circulation. The present study suggests the purifying selective pressure and stochastic ecological factors for the existence and adaptation of a certain clade 6B in the host populations and additional information on the emergence of mutated strains in the circulation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major problem and an immediate alternative to antibiotics is the need of the hour. Research on the possible alternative products to tackle bacterial infections is ongoing worldwide. One of the most promising alternatives to antibiotics is the use of bacteriophages (phage) or phage-driven antibacterial drugs to cure bacterial infections caused by AMR bacteria. Phage-driven proteins, including holins, endolysins, and exopolysaccharides, have shown great potential in the development of antibacterial drugs. Likewise, phage virion proteins (PVPs) might also play an important role in the development of antibacterial drugs. Here, we have developed a machine learning-based prediction method to predict PVPs using phage protein sequences. We have employed well-known basic and ensemble machine learning methods with protein sequence composition features for the prediction of PVPs. We found that the gradient boosting classifier (GBC) method achieved the best accuracy of 80% on the training dataset and an accuracy of 83% on the independent dataset. The performance on the independent dataset is better than other existing methods. A user-friendly web server developed by us is freely available to all users for the prediction of PVPs from phage protein sequences. The web server might facilitate the large-scale prediction of PVPs and hypothesis-driven experimental study design.

Introduction: Advocacy for the provision of public health resources, including vaccine for the prevention of acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) among older adults in India, needs evidence on costs and benefits. Using a cohort of community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and older in India, we estimated the cost of ARI episode and its determinants., Methods: We enrolled 6016 participants in Ballabgarh, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune from July 2018 to March 2020. They were followed up weekly to identify ARI and classified them as acute upper respiratory illness (AURI) or pneumonia based on clinical features based on British Thoracic Society guidelines. All pneumonia and 20% of AURI cases were asked about the cost incurred on medical consultation, investigation, medications, transportation, food and lodging. The cost of services at public facilities was supplemented by WHO-Choosing Interventions that are Cost-Effective(CHOICE) estimates for 2019. Indirect costs incurred by the affected participant and their caregivers were estimated using human capital approach. We used generalised linear model with log link and gamma family to identify the average marginal effect of key determinants of the total cost of ARI., Results: We included 2648 AURI and 1081 pneumonia episodes. Only 47% (range 36%-60%) of the participants with pneumonia sought care. The mean cost of AURI episode was US$13.9, while that of pneumonia episode was US$25.6, with indirect costs comprising three-fourths of the total. The cost was higher among older men by US$3.4 (95% CI: 1.4 to 5.3), those with comorbidities by US$4.3 (95% CI: 2.8 to 5.7) and those who sought care by US$17.2 (95% CI: 15.1 to 19.2) but not by influenza status. The mean per capita annual cost of respiratory illness was US$29.5., Conclusion: Given the high community disease and cost burden of ARI, intensifying public health interventions to prevent and mitigate ARI among this fast-growing older adult population in India is warranted.

Bacterial infections continue to jeopardize human and animal health, impacting millions of lives by causing significant deaths every year. The use of antibiotics remains the primary choice of therapy and has only been partly successful in reducing the disease burden due to the evolving nature of resistant microbes. Widespread and inappropriate use of antibiotics resulted in the development of antibiotic-resistant microbial species provoking substantial economic burdens. The most promising way to resolve the issue of antibiotic resistance is the use of bacterial viruses called bacteriophages to treat microbial infections. Earlier reports on experimental bacteriophage therapy showed successful patient outcomes, and many clinical trials of such clinical bacteriophages have already been investigated in many western countries. In this review, we are focusing on the advantages as well as drawbacks of bacteriophage therapy to use it as an alternative to antibiotics for microbial infections, together with its current success status. There is also a need to extensively study the past, present, and future outlook of phage therapy in comparison to presently available antimicrobial agents and especially immunological response by the host after phage administration. Our aim is to highlight the fast-promoting field of bacteriophage therapy and provocations that lie ahead as the world is gradually moving aside from complete dependence on antimicrobial agents., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Cholera continues to be a major burden for developing nations, especially where sanitation, quality of water supply, and hospitalization have remained an issue. Recently, growing antimicrobial-resistant strains of Vibrio cholerae underscores alternative therapeutic strategies for cholera. Bacteriophage therapy is considered one of the best alternatives for antibiotic treatment. For the identification of potential therapeutic phages for cholera, we have introduced a comprehensive comparative analysis of whole-genome sequences of 86 Vibrio cholerae phages. We have witnessed extensive variation in genome size (ranging from 33 to 148 kbp), GC (G + C) content (varies from 34.5 to 50.8%), and the number of proteins (ranging from 15 to 232). We have identified nine clusters and three singletons using BLASTn, confirmed by nucleotide dot plot and sequence identity. A high degree of sequence and functional similarities in both the genomic and proteomic levels have been observed within the clusters. Evolutionary analysis confirms that phages are conserved within the clusters but diverse between the clusters. For each therapeutic phage, the top 2 closest phages have been identified using a system biology approach and proposed as potential therapeutic phages for cholera. This method can be applied for the classification of the newly isolated Vibrio cholerae phage. Furthermore, this systematic approach might be useful as a model for screening potential therapeutic phages for other bacterial diseases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Barman, Chakrabarti and Dutta.)

Purpose: We describe here a multicentric community-dwelling cohort of older adults ( > 60 years of age) established to estimate incidence, study risk factors, healthcare utilisation and economic burden associated with influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in India., Participants: The four sites of this cohort are in northern (Ballabgarh), southern (Chennai), eastern (Kolkata) and western (Pune) parts of India. We enrolled 5336 participants across 4220 households and began surveillance in July 2018 for viral respiratory infections with additional participants enrolled annually. Trained field workers collected data about individual-level and household-level risk factors at enrolment and quarterly assessed frailty and grip strength. Trained nurses surveilled weekly to identify acute respiratory infections (ARI) and clinically assessed individuals to diagnose acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) as per protocol. Nasal and oropharyngeal swabs are collected from all ALRI cases and one-fifth of the other ARI cases for laboratory testing. Cost data of the episode are collected using the WHO approach for estimating the economic burden of seasonal influenza. Handheld tablets with Open Data Kit platform were used for data collection., Findings to Date: The attrition of 352 participants due to migration and deaths was offset by enrolling 680 new entrants in the second year. All four sites reported negligible influenza vaccination uptake (0.1%-0.4%), low health insurance coverage (0.4%-22%) and high tobacco use (19%-52%). Ballabgarh had the highest proportion (54.4%) of households in the richest wealth quintile, but reported high solid fuel use (92%). Frailty levels were highest in Kolkata (11.3%) and lowest in Pune (6.8%). The Chennai cohort had highest self-reported morbidity (90.1%)., Future Plans: The findings of this cohort will be used to inform prioritisation of strategies for influenza and RSV control for older adults in India. We also plan to conduct epidemiological studies of SARS-CoV-2 using this platform., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is considered as the most dreaded disease that has spread all over the world in the recent past. Despite its outbreak in December 2019-January 2020, a few continents and countries such as India started to experience a significant number of COVID-19-positive cases from March 2020. GISAID clade variation analysis in the period March 2020-February 2021 (period I) and March 2021-first week of April 2021 (period II) showed a rapid variation of SARS-CoV-2 in all continents and India over time. Studying the relationship of patient age or gender with viral clades in these two periods revealed that the population under 10 years of age was the least affected, whereas the 11-60-year-old population was the most affected, irrespective of patient gender and ethnicity. In the first wave, India registered quite a low number of COVID-19-positive cases/million people, but the scenario unexpectedly changed in the second wave, when even over 400,000 confirmed cases/day were reported. Lineage analysis in India showed the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, i.e., B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.2, during April-May 2021, which might be one of the key reasons for the sudden upsurge of confirmed cases/day. Furthermore, the emergence of the new variants contributed to the shift in infection spread by the G clade of SARS-CoV-2 from 46% in period II to 82.34% by the end of May 2021. Along with the management of the emergence of new variants, few factors viz., lockdown and vaccination were also accountable for controlling the upsurge of new COVID-19 cases throughout the country. Collectively, a comparative analysis of the scenario of the first wave with that of the second wave would suggest policymakers the way to prepare for better management of COVID-19 recurrence or its severity in India and other countries.

In this experimental work we report our findings about a cascade ( Ξ ) transition 5 S 1/2 →5 P 3/2 →5 D 3/2 of both 85,87 R b atoms under different laser detuning combinations. The relative power levels of two individual lasers are adjusted under a counter-propagating configuration so that the system exhibits Autler-Townes splitting (ATS). However, the ATS, which is otherwise difficult to detect in a room-temperature alkali vapor cell offering large Doppler background, is well resolved here by using a combination of modulation transfer and phase-sensitive detection techniques. The results show that the AT components clearly indicate the hyperfine structure of 5 D 3/2 level for 87 R b isotope. For 85 R b , the resolution of ATS is limited by the relatively closer proximity of 5 D 3/2 hyperfine components. The results are also verified through blue fluorescence detection by monitoring the 5 D 3/2 →6 P 3/2 →5 S 1/2 non-degenerate decay arm. The technique is easy to implement and is able to reveal the hyperfine structure of the excited levels. However, the technique is not a good choice when an excited level with dense hyperfine structure is targeted.

PB1-F2 is a multifunctional protein and contributes to the pathogenicity of influenza A viruses. PB1-F2 is known to have strain and cell specific functions. In this study we have investigated the apoptotic and inflammatory responses of PB1-F2 protein from influenza viruses of diverse pathogenicities in A549 lung epithelial cells. Overexpression of PB1-F2 resulted in apoptosis and heightened inflammatory response in A549 cells. Comparison revealed that the response varied with each subtype. PB1-F2 protein from highly pathogenic H5N1 virus induced least apoptosis but maximum inflammatory response. Results indicated that apoptosis was mediated through death receptor ligands TNF α and TRAIL via Caspase 8 activation. Significant induction of cytokines/chemokines CXCL10, CCL5, CCL2, IFN α , and IL-6 was noted in A549 cells transfected with PB1-F2 gene construct of 2008 West Bengal H5N1 virus (H5N1-WB). On the contrary, PB1-F2 construct from 2007 highly pathogenic H5N1 isolate (H5N1-M) with truncated N-terminal region did not evoke as exuberant inflammatory response as the other H5N1-WB with full length PB1-F2, signifying the importance of N-terminal region of PB1-F2. Sequence analysis revealed that PB1-F2 proteins derived from different influenza viruses varied at multiple amino acid positions. The secondary structure prediction showed each of the PB1-F2 proteins had distinct helix-loop-helix structure. Thus, our data substantiate the notion that the contribution of PB1-F2 to influenza pathogenicity is greatly strain specific and involves multiple host factors. This data demonstrates that PB1-F2 protein of influenza A virus, when expressed independently is minimally apoptotic and strongly influences the early host response in A549 cells.

Radioactive ion beams of 111 In (indium-111, half-life 2.8 days) have been produced using the plasma sputtering method in an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre RIB facility. Indium isotopes were first produced by bombarding a natural silver target with a 32 MeV, 40 μA alpha particle beam from the K-130 cyclotron. After radio-chemical separation, about 25 mCi In-chloride was deposited on an aluminum electrode and inserted in the plasma chamber of the ECR. Indium ions produced by ion induced sputtering in the plasma were extracted from the ion source, isotopically separated, and a pure 111 In beam was measured at the focal plane of the separator. The measured 111 In beam intensity was 2.67 × 10 5 particles/s for a beam energy of 5 keV.

High-fat diet (HFD) elevates circulatory fatty acids and influences glucose and fat metabolism. Azelaic acid (AzA), a naturally occurring α,ω-dicarboxylic acid in wheat, rye, barley, oat seeds and sorghum, has been reported to exert antidiabetic effects in HFD-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) C57BL/6J mice. The present study was undertaken to identify the genes that are differentially modulated by treatment with AzA in HFD-fed mice. Mice were fed HFD for 10 weeks and subjected to intragastric administration of 80 mg/kg body weight (BW) of AzA daily along with HFD from 11 to 15 weeks. Lipid profile, adipokines and cytokines were examined in the plasma/liver of mice. Whole genome profiling was performed in the liver of mice using microarray and validated by qRT-PCR, Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses. HFD intake resulted in significantly elevated lipids (except high-density lipoproteins), resistin, tumour necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-6 with marked reduction in adiponectin. Administration of AzA to HFD-fed mice significantly restored the lipids, adipokines and cytokines to near normal. Transcript profiling revealed that HFD intake activated the genes involved in stress response, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis. Treatment with AzA caused increased expression of genes involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, receptor-mediated signalling, transcription, protein modification and insulin signal transduction. AzA activates insulin signal molecules leading to insulin sensitivity. The ability of AzA to modulate the expression of these genes supports the notion that AzA is a promising drug candidate for the treatment of insulin resistance associated with T2DM.

Background: To understand the molecular mechanism of host responses to highly pathogenic avian influenza virus infection and to get an insight into the means through which virus overcomes host defense mechanism, we studied global gene expression response of human lung carcinoma cells (A549) at early and late stages of infection with highly pathogenic avian Influenza A (H5N1) virus and compared it with a reverse genetics modified recombinant A (H5N1) vaccine virus using microarray platform., Results: The response was studied at time points 4, 8, 16 and 24 hours post infection (hpi). Gene ontology analysis revealed that the genes affected by both the viruses were qualitatively similar but quantitatively different. Significant differences were observed in the expression of genes involved in apoptosis and immune responses, specifically at 16 hpi., Conclusion: We conclude that subtle differences in the ability to induce specific host responses like apoptotic mechanism and immune responses make the highly pathogenic viruses more virulent.

Influenza surveillance in different wild bird populations is critical for understanding the persistence, transmission and evolution of these viruses. Avian influenza (AI) surveillance was undertaken in wild migratory and resident birds during the period 2007-2008, in view of the outbreaks of highly pathogenic AI (HPAI) H5N1 in poultry in India since 2006. In this study, we present the whole genome sequence data along with the genetic and virological characterization of an Influenza A(H11N1) virus isolated from wild aquatic bird for the first time from India. The virus was low pathogenicity and phylogenetic analysis revealed that it was distinct from reported H11N1 viruses. The hemagglutinin (HA) gene showed maximum similarity with A/semipalmatedsandpiper/Delaware/2109/2000 (H11N6) and A/shorebird/Delaware/236/2003(H11N9) while the neuraminidase (NA) gene showed maximum similarity with A/duck/Mongolia/540/2001(H1N1). The virus thus possessed an HA gene of the American lineage. The NA and other six genes were of the Eurasian lineage and showed closer relatedness to non-H11 viruses. Such a genetic reassortment is unique and interesting, though the pathways leading to its emergence and its future persistence in the avian reservoir is yet to be fully established.