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Background Uremic pruritus has an impact on the quality of life and sleep of hemodialysis patients, but the majority of cases go unreported and untreated unless severe, due to a lack of awareness. The purpose of this study is to determine the prevalence, associated factors, and impact on health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) and sleep in hemodialysis patients. Methodology A single-center observational study of 3 months wherein 120 adults on maintenance hemodialysis were included. Baseline characteristics, dialysis-related factors, and lab parameters influencing uremic pruritus were recorded. Those with uremic pruritus completed “12-item pruritus severity scale (12-PSS)”, “SKINDEX10”, and “Itch-MOS” questionnaires to evaluate severity, impact on HR-QOL, and sleep respectively. Results Sixty seven over one hundred twenty (55.83%) patients had pruritus and majority were mild (40.83%) as per 12-PSS. Those with pruritus (n=67) had a mean age of 56.5±11.3 years, most were males (82%), chronic glomerulonephritis (29.1%) was the commonest cause of end-stage kidney disease, 3 active smokers, and 4 seropositive. 65(97%) patients were on twice-weekly dialysis, 36/67 had Conclusion The majority of patients on maintenance hemodialysis experience uremic pruritus. None of the clinical characteristics, dialysis-related factors, and laboratory parameters affected uremic pruritus. Uremic pruritus patients had the worst HR-QOL & their sleep quality significantly declined as pruritus severity escalated. Trial registration number and date of registration Study approval was obtained from Institutional Research Committee and Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC 642/2021). Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) registration (CTRI/2022/01/039143) was also obtained.

The 3.9-Mbp draft genome sequence of Arthrobacter sp. strain 260, which was isolated from a uranium tailings management facility, is reported. The sequence may help determine the bioremediation potential of this strain and facilitate further research aimed at a better understanding of the hypertolerance of this genus to extreme conditions.

The 4.8-Mbp draft genome sequence of Polaromonas eurypsychrophila AER18D-145, isolated from a uranium tailings management facility, is reported. The sequence may provide insights into the mechanisms of the hypertolerance of this strain to extreme conditions and help determine its potential for bioremediation applications.

Legionella pneumophilais a natural inhabitant of water systems. From there, it can be transmitted to humans by aerosolization resulting in severe pneumonia. Most large outbreaks are caused by cooling towers contaminated withL. pneumophila. The resident microbiota of the cooling tower is a key determinant for the colonization and growth ofL. pneumophila. The genusPseudomonascorrelates negatively with the presence ofL. pneumophila, but it is not clear which species is responsible. Therefore, we identified thePseudomonasspecies inhabiting 14 cooling towers using aPseudomonas-specific 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing strategy. Cooling towers free ofL. pneumophilacontained a high relative abundance of members from thePseudomonas alcaliphila/oleovoransphylogenetic cluster.In vitro,P. alcaliphilaJCM 10630 inhibited the growth ofL. pneumophilaon agar plates. Analysis of theP. alcaliphilagenome revealed the presence of a genes cluster predicted to produce toxoflavin.L. pneumophilagrowth was inhibited by pure toxoflavin and by extract fromP. alcaliphilaculture found to contain toxoflavin by LC-ESI-MS. In addition, toxoflavin inhibits growth ofVermameoba vermiformis, a host cell ofL. pneumophila. Our study indicates thatP. alcaliphilamay be important to restrict growth ofL. pneumophilain water systems through the production of toxoflavin. A sufficiently high concentration is likely not achieved in the bulk water but might have a local inhibitory effect such as in biofilm.

Legionella pneumophila is a natural inhabitant of water systems. From there, it can be transmitted to humans by aerosolization resulting in severe pneumonia. Most large outbreaks are caused by cooling towers colonized with L. pneumophila. The resident microbiota of the cooling tower is a key determinant for the colonization and growth of L. pneumophila. In our preceding study, the genus Pseudomonas correlated negatively with the presence of L. pneumophila in cooling towers, but it was not clear which species was responsible. Therefore, we identified the Pseudomonas species inhabiting 14 cooling towers using a Pseudomonas-specific 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing strategy. We found that cooling towers that are free of L. pneumophila contained a high relative abundance of members from the Pseudomonas alcaliphila/oleovorans phylogenetic cluster. P. alcaliphila JCM 10630 inhibited the growth of L. pneumophila on agar plates. Analysis of the P. alcaliphila genome revealed the presence of a gene cluster predicted to produce toxoflavin. L. pneumophila growth was inhibited by pure toxoflavin and by extracts from P. alcaliphila culture found to contain toxoflavin by liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. In addition, toxoflavin inhibits the growth of Vermameoba vermiformis, a host cell of L. pneumophila. Our study indicates that P. alcaliphila may be important to restrict growth of L. pneumophila in water systems through the production of toxoflavin. A sufficiently high concentration of toxoflavin is likely not achieved in the bulk water but might have a local inhibitory effect such as near or in biofilms.

The 3.9-Mbp draft genome sequence of Arthrobacter sp. strain 260, which was isolated from a uranium tailings management facility, is reported. The sequence may help determine the bioremediation potential of this strain and facilitate further research aimed at a better understanding of the hypertolerance of this genus to extreme conditions.

The 3.9-Mbp draft genome sequence of Arthrobacter sp. strain 260, which was isolated from a uranium tailings management facility, is reported. The sequence may help determine the bioremediation potential of this strain and facilitate further research aimed at a better understanding of the hypertolerance of this genus to extreme conditions.

Three phase bone scan is performed routinely to identify bone and joint abnormalities in patients with suspected acute osteomyelitis with or without septic arthritis. However, abnormalities detected on bone scan may not always represent disease. We present two cases where the use of traditional medicine by the patients creates unusual pitfalls and artifacts. In addition it highlights the clinical relevance of SPECT-CT in differentiating uncommon artifacts.

Additional file 5: Document DS1. Description of metabolic features in Brevundimonas SPF441.

Additional file 4: Figure S1. Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) of cooling towers showing clustering of eukaryotic community according to DOC levels using ANOSIM to evaluate dissimilarity between communities (R = 0.817041, P < 0.001).

Additional file 3: Table S3. Characteristics of Cooling Tower Samples.

Salmonella Enteritidis is a non-typhoidal serovar of great public health significance worldwide. The RpoE sigma factor and CpxRA two-component system are the major regulators of the extracytoplasmic stress response. In this study, we found that the CpxR has highly significant, but opposite effects on the auto-aggregation and swarming motility of S. Enteritidis. Auto-aggregation was negatively affected in the ∆cpxR mutant, whereas the same mutant significantly out-performed its wild-type counterpart with respect to swarming motility, indicating that the CpxR plays a role in biofilm-associated phenotypes. Indeed, biofilm-related assays showed that the CpxR is of critical importance in biofilm development under both static (microtiter plate) and dynamic (flow cell) media flow conditions. In contrast, the RpoE sigma factor showed no significant role in biofilm development under dynamic conditions. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the cpxR mutation negatively affected the constitutive expression of the operons critical for biosynthesis of O-antigen and adherence, but positively affected the expression of virulence genes critical for Salmonella-mediated endocytosis. Conversely, CpxR induced the expression of curli csgAB and fimbrial stdAC operons only during biofilm development and flagellar motAB and fliL operons exclusively during the planktonic phase, indicating a responsive biofilm-associated loop of the CpxR regulator.

An experimental investigation on dry sliding wear behaviour was carried out on G-E composite filled with TiO2 and graphite powder. The conventional test was performed initially in order to identify the significance of all the parameters on Specific Wear rate. The Central composite Design and response surface method was utilized to obtain optimized results and to study the influence of control factors and their interactive effect on wear. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) along with response surface method was used. It was seen that applied load and sliding distance had more influence on Specific Wear rate than sliding velocity. It has been noticed that the SW rate was decreasing with the increasing weight percentage of filler further Scanning electron microscope was used to analyze the worn-out surfaces of composite specimens. The morphology of the worn surface clarifies the occurrence of micro cracking and ploughing actions during wear.

The genetic basis for biofilm formation among nontyphoidal salmonellae (NTS) remains poorly understood. This draft genome submission provides initial insights on the genetic differences between biofilm-forming and non-biofilm-forming clinical and environmental NTS serovars.

Security is one of the basic needs of a system. New methods of providing security need to be found. To overcome all the security issues in current protocol, a new protocol is defined. The protocol makes use of visual cryptography technique by which images can be used as password. Here, we use the visual secret sharing scheme to protect the data that cannot afford getting hacked. Authentication is a very important, as it prevents unauthorized person from accessing the confidential file and protects it by allowing only authorized members to use it. We authenticate the user by assigning image password using the visual secret sharing scheme. This protocol is best suited for a file which can be used by more than one user at a time with equal rights. It prevents only one user using it without other user members knowing about it. Here, access to the confidential file is not given even if a small part of the password is incorrect.

The emergence of multidrug resistance in bacteria has reached alarming levels. To solve this growing problem, discovery of novel cellular targets or pathways important for antimicrobial resistance is urgently needed. In this study, we explored how the alternative sigma factor, RpoE, protects Escherichia coli O157 against the toxic effects of the polycationic antimicrobial agent, chlorhexidine (CHX). Susceptibility of this organism to CHX was found to directly correlate to the growth rate, with the faster replicating wild-type being more susceptible to CHX than its more slowly replicating ΔrpoE O157 mutant. Once the wild-type and rpoE mutant strains had undergone growth arrest (entered the stationary growth phase), their resistance to CHX became entirely dependent on the functionality of RpoE. The RpoE regulon plays a critical role in maintaining the integrity of the asymmetric lipid bilayer of E. coli, thereby preventing the intracellular accumulation of CHX. Finally, using a single-cell, high-resolution, synchrotron-based approach, we discovered a subpopulation of the rpoE mutant strain with no detectable intracellular CHX, a predominant characteristic of the wild-type CHX-resistant population. This finding reveals a role of phenotypic heterogeneity in antimicrobial resistance.

Background: In India, tobacco consumption is responsible for one of the highest rates of oral cancer in the world, the annual oral cancer incidence is steadily increasing among young tobacco users. Studies have documented efforts taken by physicians, doctors and even dentists, in the form of individual or group counseling to curb tobacco use in smoke or smokeless form. However, which one is more effective, still remains an unanswered question. The aim of the study was to compare the effectiveness of individual and group counseling for cessation of the tobacco habit amongst industrial workers in Pune and to compare quit rates. Materials and methods: An interventional study design was selected for 150 industrial workers which were stratified randomly into three groups (control, individual and group counseling groups) and interventions were provided to individual and group counseling groups over a period of six months, which were then compared with the control group that received brief intervention at the start of the study. Results: There was significant difference in the quit rates of the participants in the individual counseling group (ICG) and group counseling group (GCG) when compared at 6 months with the control counseling group (CCG). In the individual counseling group was 6% while in group counseling group it was 7.5% after six months of counseling. Conclusions: No conclusion could be drawn whether individual or group counseling were better interms of quit rates. Individual and group counseling groups were definitely better than the control group when compared at 3 and 6 months, respectively.

Electronic cigarettes (EC), a proxy to conventional cigarettes, gained popularity on the basis of its own advocacy, marketing and large scale publicity. Sometimes marketed as an adjunct to quitting or a substitute for cigarettes, its popularity rose. However, its sale in the global markets was subjected to prejudice. Reasons cited by the regulatory bodies for its ouster were the toxic contents it contained. Some countries preferred to ban them while some have legalised them. However, the manufacturers have claimed that it does have the potential to help smokers quit or at least replace the conventional cigarettes which cause millions of death globally. Research is hence needed to prove the efficacy and utility of this device for welfare of people who are looking for better options than puffing cigarettes.