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Background Electroconvulsive seizure therapy is often used in both treatment-resistant and geriatric depression. However, preclinical studies identifying targets of chronic electroconvulsive seizure (ECS) are predominantly focused on animal models in young adulthood. Given that putative transcriptional, neurogenic, and neuroplastic mechanisms implicated in the behavioral effects of chronic ECS themselves exhibit age-dependent modulation, it remains unknown whether the molecular and cellular targets of chronic ECS vary with age. Methods We subjected young adult (2–3 months) and middle-aged (12–13 months), male Sprague Dawley rats to sham or chronic ECS and assessed for despair-like behavior, hippocampal gene expression, hippocampal neurogenesis, and neuroplastic changes in the extracellular matrix, reelin, and perineuronal net numbers. Results Chronic ECS reduced despair-like behavior at both ages, accompanied by overlapping and unique changes in activity-dependent and trophic factor gene expression. Although chronic ECS had a similar impact on quiescent neural progenitor numbers at both ages, the eventual increase in hippocampal progenitor proliferation was substantially higher in young adulthood. We noted a decline in reelin⁺ cell numbers following chronic ECS only in young adulthood. In contrast, an age-invariant, robust dissolution of perineuronal net numbers that encapsulate parvalbumin⁺ neurons in the hippocampus were observed following chronic ECS. Conclusion Our findings indicate that age is a key variable in determining the nature of chronic ECS-evoked molecular and cellular changes in the hippocampus. This raises the intriguing possibility that chronic ECS may recruit distinct, as well as overlapping, mechanisms to drive antidepressant-like behavioral changes in an age-dependent manner.

The destruction created by cyclones depends upon their intensity. Ocean wind is the crucial parameter to understand and forecast the intensity of cyclones. During cyclones, due to dynamic ocean conditions and the limited data availability, a neural network with the regularization approach is used to retrieve cyclonic wind (CW) speed. Several optimization algorithms are compared to get a robust neural network. The Bayesian regularization with the Levenberg–Marquardt optimized network (BNN) is found suitable to develop the geophysical model to retrieve CW speed using Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) measurements. To select the suitable observables for BNN, sensitivity analysis of CYGNSS observables is carried out. The root-mean-square difference between retrieved CW speed and the airborne radiometer data is found to be 4.35 ms − 1, which is smaller than the value quoted in the literature for CYGNSS CW speed. Further, a rigorous analysis is also done to find out the effect of the rain on the retrieved wind speed. Independent validation of our approach is carried out using Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) radiometer high-wind data with a special case of category-5 cyclone Lorenzo. The results support that the proposed algorithm agrees well with the SMAP CW data.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been identified as a leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in young children and elderly. It is an enveloped negative-sense RNA virus belonging to Genus Orthopneumovirus. The clinical features of RSV infection range from mild upper-respiratory-tract illnesses or otitis media to severe lower-respiratory-tract illnesses. Current estimates show that about 33.1 million episodes of RSV-acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) occurred in young children in 2015, of these majority that is, about 30 million RSV-ALRI episodes occurred in low-middle-income countries. In India, the rates of RSV detection in various hospital- and community-based studies mostly done in children vary from 5% to 54% and from 8% to 15%, respectively. Globally, RSV epidemics start in the South moving to the North. In India, RSV mainly peaks in winter in North India and some correlation with low temperature has been observed. Different genotypes of Group A (GA2, GA5, NA1 and ON1) and Group B (GB2, SAB4 and BA) have been described from India. The burden of RSV globally has kept it a high priority for vaccine development. After nearly 50 years of attempts, there is still no licensed vaccine and challenges to obtain a safe and effective vaccine is still facing the scientific community. The data in this review have been extracted from PubMed using the keywords RSV and Epidemiology and India. The data have been synthesised by the authors.

The objective of this paper is to explore the use of Galileo ionosphere model for Indian Regional Navigation Satellite system (IRNSS) L5 frequency users to provide better ionosphere error correction. In this direction, we have proposed an algorithm to estimate Galileo-type ionosphere coefficients using IRNSS reference receivers’ data which can be broadcasted for IRNSS L5 frequency users. The performance evaluation of the proposed method is carried out with the existing minimum root mean square (MRMS) method of computing coefficients for IRNSS measurements. A rigorous statistical analysis shows that the slant delay determined using proposed method provides better ionosphere error correction with root mean square difference varies from 1.2 to 1.7 m than MRMS method with respect to IRNSS measurements. Our results show that the error difference between delay from IRNSS and proposed method is least than MRMS method and method using solar radio flux as an input.

For ionosphere point of view, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is a unique regional navigation system. It operates at L5 and S frequency and the service area covers ionosphere equatorial anomaly region (IEA). Over IEA region, ionosphere is very dynamic and unpredictable as compare to the other part of the globe. Therefore, existing ionosphere models provide more modelling errors when used for IRNSS. The objective of the paper is to provide better ionosphere model for IRNSS single frequency user receivers at L5 frequency than existing models. For this purpose, data ingestion technique is used on IRNSS reference receiver measurements. Using multi-station data approach, model optimisation parameter is estimated. Results show that data ingestion in base model improves the ionosphere error correction by more than 15% for IRNSS during estimation period. The prediction period results are compared with GPS broadcast and NeQuick ionosphere model.

An attempt has been made to derive sea ice freeboard from Ka-band Altimeter (SARAL/AltiKa) over Arctic region for 15 March–15 April 2013 (spring) and 15 September–15 October 2013 (autumn). A waveform template matching technique is employed for classification of leads and floe pixels. The estimated sea ice freeboards were found in close agreement with “Operation IceBridge quick look” freeboards (RMSD = 0.30 m). The differences between the two freeboards were largely due to snow layer over sea ice (R = 0.8). The estimated freeboards were of the order of 0.08–0.15 m during the two seasons.

Radar altimetry provides an important geophysical parameter, backscatter coefficient (σ0), which is useful in studying target surface characteristics. Ku-band (Oceansat-2 scatterometer- OSCAT) and Ka-band (SARAL-AltiKa altimeter) data are concurrently used to characterize polar surface features over the Antarctic region. Maximum-likelihood classification has been employed to classify combined data set (AltiKa and OSCAT) for discrimination among sea ice, open water, and ice sheet (interior and exterior). The sea ice region obtained using the current approach has been compared with sea ice boundary derived from passive microwave data.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by abnormal expansion of CAG repeats in the gene encoding huntingtin. Mutant huntingtin undergoes proteolytic processing and its N-terminal fragment containing polyglutamine repeat accumulates as inclusion not only in nucleus but also in cytoplasm and neuronal processes. Here, we demonstrate that removal of ubiquitin ligase Ube3a selectively from HD mice brain resulted in accelerated disease phenotype and shorter lifespan in comparison with HD mice. The deficiency of Ube3a in HD mice brain also caused significant increase in global aggregates load, and these aggregates were less ubiquitinated when compared with age-matched HD mice. These Ube3a-maternal deficient HD mice also showed drastic reduction of DARPP-32, a dopamine-regulated phoshphoprotein in their striatum. These results emphasize the crucial role of Ube3a in the progression of HD and its immense potential as therapeutic target.

An attempt is made to understand the long-term variability of SST using NOAA optimum interpolation SST data for the period (1982–2011) in the Southern Ocean. This dataset has been used (i) to study the interannual variability in SST anomaly and (ii) to carry out regression analysis to compute linear trend in the annual averaged Southern Ocean SST. It is observed that summer season exhibits more variability than winter. Moreover, El Nino/La Nina events apparently play a critical role in the variability of Southern Ocean SST. Thus, higher SST anomalies were observed in El Nino years (e.g., 1983), while cooler anomalies were seen during La Nina years (e.g., 1985). In addition, the eastern and western sides of Antarctica experience episodes of warm and cold SST. Western parts of the Southern Ocean experienced higher anomalies during 1992, 1993, and 1994, while the eastern part experienced positive anomalies in 1997, 1998, 2002, and 2003. The paper also highlights the different regions of the Southern Ocean showing statistically significant positive/negative trends in the variability of interannual average SST. However, in general, the Southern Ocean as a whole is showing a weak interannual cooling trend in SST.

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused due to deletions or loss-of-function mutations in maternally inherited UBE3A. Ube3a functions as an ubiquitin ligase as well as a transcriptional coactivator of steroid hormone receptors. However, the mechanisms by which maternal Ube3a deficiency gives rise to phenotypic features of AS are not clear. We report here that Ube3a regulates glucocorticoid receptor (GR) transactivation and GR signaling pathway is disrupted in Ube3a-maternal-deficient mice brain. The expression of several GR-dependent genes is down-regulated in multiple brain regions of Ube3a-maternal-deficient mice. AS mice show significantly higher level of blood corticosterone, selective loss of GR and reduced number of parvalbumin-positive inhibitory interneurons in their hippocampus that could ultimately lead to increased stress. These mice also exhibit increased anxiety-like behavior, which could be due to chronic stress. Altogether, our findings suggest that chronic stress due to altered GR signaling might lead to anxiety-like behavior in a mouse of model of AS.

Cells are equipped with an efficient quality control system to selectively eliminate abnormally folded and damaged proteins. Initially the cell tries to refold the unfolded proteins with the help of molecular chaperones, and failure to refold leads to their degradation by the ubiquitin proteasome system. But how this proteolytic machinery recognizes the abnormally folded proteins is poorly understood. Here, we report that E6-AP, a HECT domain family ubiquitin ligase implicated in Angelman syndrome, interacts with the substrate binding domain of Hsp70/Hsc70 chaperones and promotes the degradation of chaperone bound substrates. The expression of E6-AP was dramatically induced under a variety of stresses, and overexpression of E6-AP was found to protect against endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced cell death. The inhibition of proteasome function not only increases the expression of E6-AP but also causes its redistribution around microtubule-organizing center, a subcellular structure for the degradation of the cytoplasmic misfolded proteins. E6-AP is also recruited to aggresomes containing the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator or expanded polyglutamine proteins. Finally, we demonstrate that E6-AP ubiquitinates misfolded luciferase that is bound by Hsp70. Our results suggest that E6-AP functions as a cellular quality control ubiquitin ligase and, therefore, can be implicated not only in the pathogenesis of Angelman syndrome but also in the biology of neurodegenerative disorders involving protein aggregation.

To investigate whether the variable forms of putative iron deposition seen with susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) will lead to a set of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesion characteristics different than that seen in conventional MR imaging.Twenty-seven clinically definite MS patients underwent brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging including: pre- and postcontrast T1-weighted imaging, T2-weighted imaging, FLAIR, and SWI at 1.5 T, 3 T, and 4 T. MS lesions were identified separately in each imaging sequence. Lesions identified in SWI were reevaluated for their iron content using the SWI filtered phase images.There were a variety of new lesion characteristics identified by SWI, and these were classified into six types. A total of 75 lesions were seen only with conventional imaging, 143 only with SWI, and 204 by both. From the iron quantification measurements, a moderate linear correlation between signal intensity and iron content (phase) was established.The amount of iron deposition in the brain may serve as a surrogate biomarker for different MS lesion characteristics. SWI showed many lesions missed by conventional methods and six different lesion characteristics. SWI was particularly effective at recognizing the presence of iron in MS lesions and in the basal ganglia and pulvinar thalamus.

Introduction: Hydatid disease is a parasitic infection caused by Echinococcus granulosus. The disease is found most commonly in the liver and lungs, but no organ is immune. Patients with hydatid cysts at unusual locations present with atypical presentations and pose a diagnostic dilemma. Case presentation: A 25-year-old woman presented with complaints of pain in the lower abdomen. Ultrasonography revealed cystic disease of the ovary. An exploratory laparotomy was done and the ovary with the cyst was removed. The diagnosis of hydatid cyst was confirmed on histopathology. Conclusion: Primary involvement of the pelvic organs, especially the ovary, is very rare in hydatid disease. A high index of suspicion is required in order to make a correct diagnosis pre-operatively to prevent spillage of the cyst contents during surgery.

Hospital associated infections (HAIs) are major causes of death and increased morbidity. Lack of sufficient knowledge is likely to affect the desirable performance of healthcare workers. A questionnaire based evalua- tion on the efficacy of training on the knowledge of infection control practices (ICP) was conducted among 80 nurses covering 4 areas viz hand hygiene, care bundles, biomedical waste management (BMWM) and general infection control practices (GICP). There was wide variation in the pre training level of knowledge in terms of average score of correct response with minimum level in the area of GICP (mean ± SD as 2.70 ± 1.47) and maximum for BMWM (mean ± SD as 4.86 ± 1.02). There was significant improvement in the level of knowledge in all the areas of ICP following the training with nearly 90% of the participants responding correctly to 50% or more of the questions regardless of the area. The improvement was most marked in the area of GICP. The present study suggest the need for an ongoing educational programs on prevention and control of infection for healthcare workers. Over 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from HAIs with 5- 10% of patients ad- mitted to modern hospitals in the developed world acquiring one or more of these infections. The risk of HAI in developing countries is 2- 20 times higher than in developed countries, 2 the magnitude of the problem in terms of expenditure and human suffering being enormous. It has been estimated that more than 40% of these infections are preventable under routine working conditions can be sig- nificant. 3,4

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder caused by abnormal expansion of glutamine repeats in the protein huntingtin. In HD brain, mutant huntingtin undergoes proteolytic processing, and its N-terminal fragment containing poly-glutamine repeats accumulate as insoluble aggregates leading to the defect in cellular protein quality control system and heat shock response (HSR). Here we demonstrate that the defective HSR in the brain is due to the down-regulation of heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) in both mice and fly models of HD. Interestingly, treatment of dexamethasone (a synthetic glucocorticoid) to HD mice or flies significantly increased the expression and transactivation of HSF1 and induction of HSR and these effects are mediated through the down-regulation of HSP90. Dexamethasone treatment also significantly decreased the aggregate load and transient recovery of HD-related behavioural phenotypes in both disease models. These results suggest that dexamethasone could be a potential therapeutic molecule for the treatment of HD and related poly-glutamine disorders.

Despite being curable reproductive tract infections (RTIs) including sexually transmitted infections continue to be a major health problem in developing countries. The present study was undertaken to know the prevalence of trichomoniasis, vaginal candidiasis, genital herpes, chlamydiasis, and actinomycosis in rural and urban women of Haryana by using wet mount, PAP smear, and fluorescent microscopic examination. Patients suspected of suffering from bacterial vaginosis were given treatment and were not included in the study. RTIs were seen in 16.6% of urban and 28.7% of rural women. The highest prevalence seen was that of trichomoniasis in both rural (24.2%) and urban (15.7%) women, followed by candidiasis (4.2% in rural and 0.6% in urban women), genital herpes (0.3% in rural and 0.2% in urban women), and chlamydiasis (0.02% in rural and 0.05% in urban women). Pelvic actinomycosis was seen in 1.4% of rural and 0.06% of urban women using intrauterine contraceptive devices. Mixed infection of Trichomonas vaginalis with Candida spp. was seen in 6.3% of rural women only. It is desirable to have a baseline profile of the prevalence of various agents causing RTIs in a particular geographic area and population which will help in better syndromic management of the patients.

Macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) antibiotics especially clindamycin is frequently used to treat skin and soft tissue infections due to methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, widespread use of these antibiotics has led to an increase in resistance against these antimicrobials especially clindamycin, thus necessitating the need to detect such resistance on routine basis using a simple D test. A total of 130 Staphylococcus aureus isolates were subjected to D test, out of which 12 were found to have inducible clindamycin resistance, of which 7 were MRSA and 5 were MSSA. Clinical laboratories should routinely perform D test to guide clinicians about inducible clindamycin resistance to prevent misuse of antibiotics.

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Huntington disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive, psychiatric, and motor symptoms. The disease is caused by abnormal expansion of CAG repeats in the gene encoding huntingtin, but how mutant huntingtin leads to early cognitive deficits in HD is poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the ubiquitin ligase Ube3a, which is implicated in synaptic plasticity and involved in the clearance of misfolded polyglutamine protein, is strongly recruited to the mutant huntingtin nuclear aggregates, resulting in significant loss of its functional pool in different regions of HD mouse brain. Interestingly, Arc, one of the substrates of Ube3a linked with synaptic plasticity, is also associated with nuclear aggregates, although its synaptic level is increased in the hippocampus and cortex of HD mouse brain. Different regions of HD mouse brain also exhibit decreased levels of AMPA receptors and various pre- and postsynaptic proteins, which could be due to the partial loss of function of Ube3a. Transient expression of mutant huntingtin in mouse primary cortical neurons further demonstrates recruitment of Ube3a into mutant huntingtin aggregates, increased accumulation of Arc, and decreased numbers of GluR1 puncta in the neuronal processes. Altogether, our results suggest that the loss of function of Ube3a might be associated with the synaptic abnormalities observed in HD.

Case: We are presenting a 50-year-old patient of pulmonary tuberculosis, on anti-tuberculosis therapy (ATT) for last 2 months who presented with fever, cough, breathlessness, anorexia, and weight loss. The case was found to be HIV reactive. His sputum sample showed Candida albicans and Pneumocystis jirovecii. Fluconazole and cotrimoxazole + sulphamethoxazole were added. The index case did not respond to the treatment and his clinical condition started to deteriorate and he developed headache, vomiting, and dysphagia. Repeat sputum sample and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showed Cryptococcus neoformans which was found to be sensitive to Amphotericin B. Amphotericin B was added to the treatment and patient clinically responded to treatment. In conclusion, emphasis should be given to correct etiological identification, allowing appropriate treatment and decreasing the morbidity and mortality in these patients as concomitant opportunistic infections may cause diagnostic problems.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is known to be a major cause of lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in children. We studied 75 children who had been hospitalized for community-acquired LRTIs for the detection of M. pneumoniae by serological analysis and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify a 277-base pair region of 16S rDNA gene of M. pneumoniae applied to throat swab specimens. Serological and/or PCR positive results diagnosed M. pneumoniae infection in 23 (30.7%) patients.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae is known to be the chief causative organism for community-acquired non-lobar pneumonia in children of 5–15 years of age. M. pneumoniae as an aetiological agent for pneumonia among neonates and infants has rarely been reported. We report here a case of persistent pneumonia due to M. pneumoniae in a 3-week-old neonate.

Monitoring of antimicrobial resistance pattern and bacterial profile of uropathogens can help clinicians choose empiric therapy for urinary tract infections. Therefore, the present study was carried out to establish current antimicrobial resistance pattern and its correlation with various demographic parameters. A hospital based prospective observational study was conducted from October 2014 to May 2015 to find out the causative organisms of urinary tract infections and to determine antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the uropathogens. Mid-stream “clean catch” urine samples from 500 clinically-suspected cases of urinary tract infections were processed bacteriologically using standard procedures. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the uropathogens showing significant count was performed by using Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method and results interpreted according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Of 500 urine samples, significant growth of bacteria was detected in 95(19%) of samples. Among the 95 positive samples, Escherichia coli (44.2%) was the most common uropathogen, followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (17.8%), Proteus mirabilis (7.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (7.4%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (7.4%), Acinetobacter baumanii (5.3%), Citrobacter spp. (4.2%), S. saprophyticus (4.2%) and Enterococcus faecalis (2.1%). All the isolates showed maximum resistance to ampicillin and co-trimoxazole and least resistance to nitrofurantoin, amikacin, imipenem and vancomycin. Among E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates, 30.9% and 29.4% respectively were suggestive of ESBL production. Among S. aureus, 18.4% were found to be Methicillin Resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Many pathogens have shown resistance to antibiotics which have been sensitive earlier and were considered for the treatment of UTIs such as co-trimoxazole and nalidixic acid. So, regular monitoring of antibiotic resistance is required to establish reliable information about the most effective empirical antibiotic treatment of UTIs.

Telemedicine allows medical doctors and specialized skilled experts to provide services to patients who are in remote locations using advanced telecommunications. This paper presents a taxonomy that systematically classifies various telemedicine efforts worldwide using five major dimensions: application purpose, application area, environmental setting, communication infrastructure, and delivery options. To identify relationships and patterns between these different dimensions telemedicine programs survey data from the Telemedicine Information Exchange (TIE) was analyzed using multiple regression and path analysis. Major findings indicate that interactive video is the most preferred modality. Store-and-forward technology is preferred for ophthalmology, radiology, and pathology. However, a negative correlation exists between store-and-forward and interactive video with mental health application. The study also indicates that the Internet is still not the dominant communications infrastructure when it comes to telemedicine. We showed that these dimensions can capture almost all efforts in telemedicine and also help program planners to understand the issues in telemedicine deployment. Our findings indicate that the taxonomy is useful for categorizing and comparing existing programs, and can be used for planning future programs.

This is a prospective study to determine the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus ap- parently healthy asymptomatic pregnant women who were attending the antenatal clinic. The information regarding their socio-demographic status and behavioral characteristics and obstetric history was recorded. The blood samples was collected after obtaining informed written consent from the patients, who were tested for the HIV antibodies (as per NACO guidelines), HBsAg (rapid test) and anti HCV antibodies (rapid test). The overall prevalence of the three sexually transmitted infections studied was 1.15 % only with the highest prevalence of hepatitis B virus (0.7 %), followed by HIV (0.2 %), and hepatitis C virus (0.25 %). No woman tested positive for multiple infections. All the infections were more common in illiterate and multigravida women of low socio- economic status. Studies have revealed that the hepatitis viruses may actually increase the rate of progression to AIDS, impair immune reconstitution, increase the risk of hepatotoxic- ity from antiretroviral treatment and lower overall level of CD4 count. 5 Coinfection of HIV with HCV is however more common than with HBV and more serious in terms of morbidity. 6 Sero- prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV is reported to be more common in developing countries. However, the prevalence of these infec- tions in pregnant women may differ in geographically disparate regions. The present study was undertaken to determine the current prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV in asymptomatic preg- nant women of a predominantly rural area of Haryana.

Zika virus a member of Flaviviridae family was an obscure virus till recently when it has suddenly become a global public health emergency. The virus is closely related to Spondweni virus and is transmitted through Aedes aegypti mosquito. It was isolated for the first time in Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 from rhesus monkeys. Zika virus infection is mostly asymptomatic and did not attract much attention till 2015, but now it appears that Zika virus may be causing microcephaly and other CNS disorders in babies in Brazil and other countries and WHO has deemed it a “Public health emergency of international concern”. Real time reverse transcriptase PCR remains the mainstay of diagnosis. Currently no treatment or vaccine is available for the virus. Prevention of mosquito bites remains the only alternative to prevent Zika virus infection.