Umbrella review of musculoskeletal injury burden in dancers: implication for practice and research.

BACKGROUND: Dancers are susceptible to injury. Nevertheless, injury epidemiology research in dancers is inconsistent. Furthermore, ballet dancing has dominated the huge body of reviews analyzing the epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries in a variety of artistic dance forms, making it challenging to acquire a thorough, comprehensive, and understandable reporting of the available data. PURPOSE: The overview and reanalysis of dancers' musculoskeletal pain and injury load across artistic dance forms. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. METHODS: A search was conducted online for literature written in English using PubMed and Google Scholar (2012-2021). The data gathered was then analyzed using predetermined qualifying criteria. RESULTS: 12 reviews were determined to be qualified, the majority of which had moderate to low confidence and raised concerns about bias based on JBI-URARI and ROBIS. The prevalence of dance-related musculoskeletal injuries ranged from 26% to 84% in any artistic dancers and 42% to 343% in ballet dancers. The incidence was less than 5 per 1000 dance hours in both groups, with lower extremities and back being the commonly reported sites. Reviews themselves stated that the quality of the reviews was often poor. Due to the study's heterogeneity and methodological inconsistency, data pooling and meta-analysis were not possible. CONCLUSION: The current review emphasizes the gaps and restrictions in the dance epidemiology literature that make it challenging to quantify and report a single overall injury rate for dancers. These results underline the need for better primary investigations and evidence synthesis. As injury epidemiology is a critical component of the overall injury-prevention puzzle, there is a need for standardization in future research, particularly with active and prospective injury surveillance, injury classification, injury evaluation, and injury reporting. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Systematic Review, Level III.

Musculoskeletal Pain and Injury in Indian Classical Dancers: A Systematic Review.

The majority of current research on dance injuries has been on ballet, leaving a void in recent data on musculoskeletal injuries in Indian classical [IC] dance. The prevalence of injuries among IC dancers remains unclear, stressing the importance of injury epidemiology research for improved diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and injury burden reduction. Through a thorough examination of published literature, this study sought to critically evaluate existing research on the epidemiology of musculoskeletal pain and injury in IC dancers. Using Google Scholar and PubMed, a systematic evaluation of the online literature published in English was carried out from inception up to December 31, 2021 following PRISMA guidelines. For studies estimating injury prevalence, the Joanna Briggs Institute Prevalence Critical Appraisal Tool and the Risk of Bias Tool (RoBT) were used to evaluate the studies' quality. Of 3,917 studies identified, 6 studies, all cross-sectional, of low quality, with a high risk of bias, and featuring young Bharatanatyam and Kathak dancers, were determined to be admissible. Because of the studies' heterogeneity, severe study limitations, and methodological variability, a meta-analysis could not be carried out. The evidence from the current review is severely constrained, lacking generalizability to IC dancers as a whole and Bharatanatyam in particular. Since injury epidemiology is essential to the whole injury-prevention puzzle, there is a need for standardization in future research, particularly with active and prospective injury surveillance, injury assessment, and injury reporting.

The machine learning and geostatistical approach for assessment of arsenic contamination levels using physicochemical properties of water.

Arsenic contamination in groundwater due to natural or anthropogenic sources is responsible for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks to humans and the ecosystem. The physicochemical properties of groundwater in the study area were determined in the laboratory using the samples collected across the Varanasi region of Uttar Pradesh, India. This paper analyses the physicochemical properties of water using machine learning, descriptive statistics, geostatistical and spatial analysis. Pearson correlation was used for feature selection and highly correlated features were selected for model creation. Hydrochemical facies of the study area were analyzed and the hyperparameters of machine learning models, i.e., multilayer perceptron, random forest (RF), naïve Bayes, and decision tree were optimized before training and testing the groundwater samples as high (1) or low (0) arsenic contamination levels based on the WHO 10 µg/L guideline value. The overall performance of the models was compared based on accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity value. Among all models, the RF algorithm outclasses other classifiers, as it has a high accuracy of 92.30%, a sensitivity of 100%, and a specificity of 75%. The accuracy result was compared to prior research, and the machine learning model may be used to continually monitor the amount of arsenic pollution in groundwater.

True peristaltic recovery is uncommon following treatment, particularly endoscopic dilation for achalasia cardia, though pseudo-recovery often occurs.

BACKGROUND: Relieving esophagogastric junction (EGJ) obstruction has been the focus of treatment for achalasia cardia. The recovery of peristalsis has been an elusive goal. Studies analyzing post-intervention peristaltic recovery have several limitations such as the use of conventional manometry or lack of standard definitions of peristalsis. Accordingly, we undertook this study to analyze frequency and pattern of peristaltic recovery following treatment for achalasia cardia on high-resolution manometry (HRM) and standard Chicago definition of peristalsis. METHODS: Pre and post-intervention HRM records of 71 treatment-naive patients diagnosed as achalasia cardia were retrospectively analyzed. Records with pre and post-intervention HRM on different systems (e.g. solid state and water perfusion) and those with inadequate information were excluded. All HRMs were interpreted as per Chicago classification version 3.0. After pneumatic dilation (PD) or laparoscopic Heller's myotomy (LHM), pseudorecovery of peristalsis was defined as any contraction at least 3 cm in length along 20 mmHg isobaric contour with a distal latency of less than 4.5 seconds. True recovery and premature contractions were defined by standard Chicago classification v3.0 criteria. RESULTS: Change in diagnosis was observed in 38 of 71 (53.5%) patients after intervention. While pseudo-peristaltic recovery occurred in 11 of 71 (15.5%) patients, only three (4.2%) had a true recovery. Another nine (12.7%) patients showed new premature contractions. CONCLUSION: True peristaltic recovery is uncommon in achalasia cardia following intervention, particularly PD. Pseudo-peristaltic recovery is more common. Further research is warranted on this issue.

Twenty-four-hour pH metry alone is inferior to additional impedance monitoring in the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease, particularly in presence of reduced gastric acid secretion.

BACKGROUND: Current gold standard for the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is 24-hour pH metry though it fails to detect non-acidic reflux. The sensitivity of 24-hour pH metry alone (both catheter-based and Bravo capsule) is questionable, especially if gastric acid secretion is low due to reduced parietal cell mass, Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric atrophy and antisecretory therapy. Accordingly, we analyzed the diagnostic ability of 24-hour pH metry as compared to impedance monitoring in relation to the gastric pH without antisecretory therapy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from 150 patients with suspected GERD undergoing a 24-hour pH impedance study was done. RESULTS: Among 150 patients with symptoms suggestive of GERD, 106 (70.6%) had confirmed GERD diagnosed either by 24-hour pH metry alone (10 [9.4%]), impedance monitoring alone (49 [46.2%]) or both (47 [44.3%]). Abnormal reflux of acidic and non-acidic gastric contents was detected by 24-hour pH metry and 24-hour impedance monitoring in 57/106 (53.7%) and 96/106 (90.5%) of patients, respectively (p < .00001). Patients with GERD diagnosed by 24-hour impedance monitoring had a higher mean gastric pH (2.9 [median 1.3, IQR 5.3]) than those diagnosed by 24-hour pH metry (2.1 [median 1.4, IQR 2.6]) or both (1.6 [median 1.2, IQR 2.1]) (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Twenty-four-hour impedance monitoring detects GERD more often than 24-hour pH metry. Patients with higher mean gastric pH leading to non-acidic reflux were more often diagnosed by 24-hour impedance monitoring than 24-hour pH metry. Thus, 24-hour pH metry alone is inferior to additional impedance monitoring in the diagnosis of GERD, particularly in presence of reduced gastric acid secretion.

Correlation of various methods of hematopoietic progenitor cell estimation with standard flowcytometric CD34 enumeration.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Enumeration of hematopoietic progenitor cell (HPC) is vital to decide the time to initiate harvest (TTIH) and adequacy of harvest dose (AOHD). Standard of care used for HPC enumeration is flowcytometric CD34+ enumeration, but it is expensive, time-consuming and requires skilled staff to perform the test. Alternatively, HPC-count by advanced automated cell analyzer is cheaper, quicker, and easy-to-perform test. Our objective was to find a correlation of HPC count with CD34+ enumeration in leukapheresis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational, prospective study was conducted in the year 2018-2019. A total of 126 samples were included in the study, the peripheral blood (PB) group comprised of 42samples and apheresis group of 84 samples. The samples were simultaneously tested for CD34+ expression and complete blood count which included the HPC count, white blood cells (WBC) count and multinational corporation (MNC) count and correlation analysis was performed with CD34+ flowcytometric count. The cut-off of PB HPC count for the target dose of 5 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg was established using Receiver Operator Curve. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient (r) of HPC with CD34+ count was 0.617 and 0.699 for PB group and apheresis group sample respectively, which was statistically significant. The correlation with MNC and WBC count was not very significant. A cut-off value of PB HPC was established to be 66 HPC/µl with a positive predictive value of 94.12%. The cost of CD34 + flow cytometric enumeration was six times that of HPC enumeration by analyzer. CONCLUSION: The HPC count is a cheaper, rapid and easy test and can be clinically applied to predict TTIH and AOHD but requires more studies to validate its efficacy in clinical use.

Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Nutritional Anemia in Children: Recommendations of the Joint Committee of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Chapter and Pediatric and Adolescent Nutrition Society of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics.

JUSTIFICATION: Anemia in children is a significant public health problem in our country. Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18 provides evidence that more than 50% of childhood anemia is due to an underlying nutritional deficiency. The National Family Health Survey-5 has reported an increase in the prevalence of anemia in the under-five age group from 59% to 67.1% over the last 5 years. Clearly, the existing public health programs to decrease the prevalence of anemia have not shown the desired results. Hence, there is a need to develop nationally acceptable guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of nutritional anemia. OBJECTIVE: To review the available literature and collate evidence-based observations to formulate guidelines for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of nutritional anemia in children. PROCESS: These guidelines have been developed by the experts from the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Chapter and the Pediatric and Adolescent Nutrition (PAN) Society of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP). Key areas were identified as: epidemiology, nomenclature and definitions, etiology and diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia (IDA), treatment of IDA, etiology and diagnosis of vitamin B12 and/or folic acid deficiency, treatment of vitamin B12 and/or folic acid deficiency anemia and prevention of nutritional anemia. Each of these key areas were reviewed by at least 2 to 3 experts. Four virtual meetings were held in November, 2021 and all the key issues were deliberated upon. Based on review and inputs received during meetings, draft recommendations were prepared. After this, a writing group was constituted which prepared the draft guidelines. The draft was circulated and approved by all the expert group members. RECOMMENDATIONS: We recommend use of World Health Organization (WHO) cut-off hemoglobin levels to define anemia in children and adolescents. Most cases suspected to have IDA can be started on treatment based on a compatible history, physical examination and hemogram report. Serum ferritin assay is recommended for the confirmation of the diagnosis of IDA. Most cases of IDA can be managed with oral iron therapy using 2-3 mg/kg elemental iron daily. The presence of macro-ovalocytes and hypersegmented neutrophils, along with an elevated mean corpuscular volume (MCV), should raise the suspicion of underlying vitamin B12 (cobalamin) or folic acid deficiency. Estimation of serum vitamin B12 and folate level are advisable in children with macrocytic anemia prior to starting treatment. When serum vitamin B12 and folate levels are unavailable, patients should be treated using both drugs. Vitamin B12 should preferably be started 10-14 days ahead of oral folic acid to avoid precipitating neurological symptoms. Children with macrocytic anemia in whom a quick response to treatment is required, such as those with pancytopenia, severe anemia, developmental delay and infantile tremor syndrome, should be managed using parenteral vitamin B12. Children with vitamin B12 deficiency having mild or moderate anemia may be managed using oral vitamin B12 preparations. After completing therapy for nutritional anemia, all infants and children should be advised to continue prophylactic iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation as prescribed under Anemia Mukt Bharat guidelines. For prevention of anemia, in addition to age-appropriate IFA prophylaxis, routine screening of infants for anemia at 9 months during immunization visit is recommended.

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: A case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Though small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is known in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the data on it are scanty and have limitations. METHODS: Data on IBD patients undergoing glucose hydrogen breath test (GHBT) were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the frequency and risk factors of SIBO in IBD compared to 66 healthy controls. RESULTS: Patients with IBD (n=86; 45 ulcerative colitis [UC] and 41 Crohn's disease [CD]) more often had SIBO on GHBT than the healthy subjects (16/86 [18.6%] vs. 1/66 [1.5%]; p=0.002). SIBO was commoner among patients with CD than UC (14/41 [34.1%] vs. 2/45 [4.4%]; p=0.001). The frequency of SIBO among UC patients was comparable to healthy subjects (2/45 [4.4%] vs. 1/66 [1.5%]; p=not significant [NS]). Patients with CD than those with UC had higher values of maximum breath hydrogen and a greater area under the curve for breath hydrogen. Other factors associated with SIBO included female gender (11/16 [68.8%] with vs. 21/70 [30%] without SIBO; p=0.003), and having undergone surgery (8/16 [50%] vs. 6/70 [8.6%]; p=0.0002). SIBO patients had lower levels of total serum protein and albumin than those without SIBO (6.2 ± 1.5 g/dL vs. 7.0 ± 0.9 g/dL, respectively; p=0.009 and 3.5 ± 0.9 g/dL vs. 4.0 ± 0.6 g/dL, respectively; p=0.02). CD, female gender, and surgery for IBD tended to be the independent factors associated with SIBO among IBD patients on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with IBD, particularly CD, female, and those having undergone surgery, have a higher risk of SIBO than the healthy controls.

Reference interval of platelet counts and other platelet indices in apparently healthy blood donors in North India according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines: Need to redefine the platelet count cutoffs for repeat plateletpheresis donation?

BACKGROUND: In clinical practice, laboratory results are of great importance for the diagnosis and treatment. Reference intervals of different parameters aid health-care professionals in the interpretation of results. There are very few studies on reference intervals from India. This prospective study was conducted to determine the reference intervals for platelet count (PLT) and PLT indices; mean PLT volume (MPV), PLT distribution width (PDW), and PLT large cell ratio (P-LCR). These values can be obtained as a part of a routine complete blood count (CBC) and have diagnostic and prognostic significance in certain diseases. PLT count is an important criterion for the selection of donors for repeat plateletpheresis donation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixteen hundred and thirty-four first-time healthy volunteer plateletpheresis donors were enrolled for the study. CBC was done, values of PLT, MPV, PDW, and P-LCR were noted, and the results were analyzed. The 95% of the reference distribution was estimated using the 2.5th and 97.5th percentiles following Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Adverse donor reactions, if any and quality parameters of single donor PLTs (SDP) were also studied. RESULTS: Reference range values of PLT, MPV, PDW, and P-LCR were 137,825-355,175/µl, 8.1-13.9/fl, 9.1-22.5/fl, and 11.7%-52.9%, respectively, and compared well with other published studies from India. It was observed that reference values of PLT count obtained in the study were lower than reference values that are currently used in most laboratories (150,000-450,000/µl) in India. CONCLUSION: Based on our results, we are of the opinion that the PLT count cutoffs for repeat plateletpheresis donation may need to be revised downwards for our country which would also mitigate the scarcity of apheresis donors.

Electroencephalogram versus Magnetic Resonance Imaging Brain as the Initial Investigation of Choice in Neurologically Normal Children with First Afebrile Seizure in India.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To compare the rates of clinically relevant information provided by electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain in first afebrile seizure (FAS) in children. METHODS: In this prospective randomized controlled trial, neurologically normal children between the age of 2 and 14 years, presenting with first episode of unprovoked, afebrile generalized or partial seizures, were included. Enrolled patients were randomized into two groups. After stabilization, initial workup and management, group I-patients underwent an EEG followed by MRI, whereas group II-patients underwent an initial MRI brain followed by an EEG. The patients were followed up after results of both the investigations and then every 3 months for seizure recurrence. The primary outcome was the proportion of investigations, providing clinically relevant information. The secondary outcomes were to determine the etiological diagnosis of FAS and record adverse events associated with EEG and MRI. RESULTS: Out of 170 enrolled patients, 52 patients (61.2%) in initial EEG group and 53 patients (70.6%) in initial MRI group had abnormal results on first investigation. An etiological diagnosis could not be made in any patient in initial EEG group. Neuroimaging revealed an etiological diagnosis in 53 patients (70.6%) in initial MRI group. Inflammatory granuloma was found to be the most common cause of FAS, followed by idiopathic epilepsy. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study done in neurologically normal children with FAS showed a high diagnostic yield with an initial MRI. We recommend MRI brain to be considered as the initial investigation for evaluation of FAS in children.

Safety profile of D-penicillamine: a comprehensive pharmacovigilance analysis by FDA adverse event reporting system.

BACKGROUND: D-penicillamine (D-pen) is a copper-chelating drug and has immune-modulatory properties. D-pen is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Wilson's disease, and kidney stones (cystinuria). However, associated adverse events (AEs) of D-pen treatment are frequent and often serious. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the safety profile of D-pen is urgently needed. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We identified and analyzed AEs associated with D-pen between April-1970 to July-2020 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) databases and calculated the reported odds ratio (ROR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) using the disproportionality analysis. RESULTS: A total of 9,150,234 AEs related to drugs were reported in the FAERS database, of which 542 were related to D-Pen. We report that D-pen was associated with dystonia (ROR: 20.52; 95%CI: 12.46-33.80), drug hypersensitivity (ROR: 5.42; 95%CI: 3.72-7.90), pancytopenia (ROR: 10.20; 95%CI: 5.61-18.56), joint swelling (ROR: 9.07; 95%CI: 5.51-14.94), renal-impairment (ROR: 6.68; 95%CI: 3.67-12.15), dysphagia (ROR: 5.05; 95%CI: 2.76-8.89), aggravation of condition (ROR: 4.16; 95%CI: 2.60-6.67), congestive cardiac failure (ROR: 4.04; 95%CI: 2.22-7.35), peripheral edema (ROR: 3.77; 95%CI: 2.17-6.55), tremor (ROR: 3.46; 95%CI: 2.00-6.01), pyrexia (ROR: 3.46; 95%CI: 2.00-6.01), and gait disturbance (ROR: 2.41; 95%CI: 1.29-4.52). CONCLUSIONS: Patients taking D-pen require close monitoring of renal function, blood counts, immunity, liver, cardiac function, and neurological function. D-pen suppresses immune system which maximizes the risk of infection.

Knee Arthroplasty and Gait: Effect on Level Walking-An Overview.

BACKGROUND: Knee arthroplasty (KA) aims to restore normal gait, correct joint alignment, improve the quality of life and activities of daily living, and provide pain relief. Hence, the main purpose of this overview was to summarise data from published reviews exploring gait changes during unaided level walking post-KA, thereby providing for recommendations for future practice and research. METHOD: A systematic review of review (RoR) for articles published in English and since 2010, was conducted online using PubMed and Google Scholar, as per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Metaanalyses guidelines. Predefined eligibility criteria were applied, and the data thus compiled were analysed. Study quality was assessed using AMSTAR-2 checklist. RESULT: A total of 5 systematic reviews and meta-analysis consisting of 58 primary studies were included in the review. Based on the very limited evidence, it appears that though gait does not normalize post-KA, there seems to be an improvement in spatiotemporal gait parameters over mid to long term with some decline in gains over long term. Further reviews also suggest no benefits with unicompartmental KA in comparison to healthy controls or total KA patients. Further quality of the study was found to be of critically low confidence based on the AMSTAR-2 scale, suggesting that the results should be interpreted with great caution. CONCLUSION: The overview highlights the knowledge gap and limitations in gait assessment research post-KA with existing heterogeneity in methods and reporting amidst other factors within primary studies, establishing the need for further research. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43465-020-00342-w.

Effect of Phosphorus Application on Arsenic Species Accumulation and Co-Deposition of Polyphenols in Rice Grain: Phyto and Food Safety Evaluation.

The present study was aimed at exploring the effect of soil application of different concentrations of orthophosphate (P) (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 mg kg-1) on rice agronomic and yield parameters, arsenic (As) species accumulation, and polyphenol levels in the grain of rice grown under As spiked soil (10 mg kg-1). The contents of As species (As(V), As (III), MMA and DMA) and polyphenols in rice grain samples were estimated using LC-ICP-MS and LC-MS/MS, respectively. P treatments significantly reduced the toxic effects of As on agronomic parameters such as root weight and length, shoot and spike length, straw, and grain yield. Among the treatments studied, only the treatment of 30 mg kg-1 P helps to decrease the elevated levels of As (V), As (III), and DMA in rice grains due to As application. The study revealed that 30 mg kg-1 was the optimal P application amount to minimize AS accumulation in rice grains and As-linked toxicity on agronomic parameters and chlorophyll biosynthesis. Furthermore, the levels of trans-ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, and apigenin-7-glucoside increased in response to accumulation of As in the rice grain. In conclusion, the precise use of phosphorus may help to mitigate arsenic linked phytotoxicity and enhance the food safety aspect of rice grain.

Estimation of real-infection and immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in Indian populations

Infection born by Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has swept the world within a time of a few months. It has created a devastating effect on humanity with social and economic depression. Europe and America were the hardest hit continents. India has also lost lives, making the country fourth most deadly worldwide. However, the infection and death rate per million and the case fatality ratio in India were substantially lower than in many developed nations. Several factors have been proposed including genetics. One of the important facts is that a large chunk of Indian population is asymptomatic to the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, the real infection in India is much higher than the reported number of cases. Therefore, the majority of people are already immune in the country. To understand the dynamics of real infection as well as the level of immunity against SARS-CoV-2, we have performed antibody testing (serosurveillance) in the urban region of fourteen Indian districts encompassing six states. In our survey, the seroprevalence frequency varied between 0.01-0.48, suggesting high variability of viral transmission between states. We also found out that the cases reported by the government were several fold lower than the real incidence of infection. This discrepancy is mainly driven by the higher number of asymptomatic cases. Overall, we suggest that with the high level of immunity developed against SARS-CoV-2 in the majority of the districts, the case fatality rate of second wave in India will be minor than first wave.

Proteotoxicity: A Fatal Consequence of Environmental Pollutants-Induced Impairments in Protein Clearance Machinery.

A tightly regulated protein quality control (PQC) system maintains a healthy balance between correctly folded and misfolded protein species. This PQC system work with the help of a complex network comprised of molecular chaperones and proteostasis. Any intruder, especially environmental pollutants, disrupt the PQC network and lead to PQCs disruption, thus generating damaged and infectious protein. These misfolded/unfolded proteins are linked to several diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and cataracts. Numerous studies on proteins misfolding and disruption of PQCs by environmental pollutants highlight the necessity of detailed knowledge. This review represents the PQCs network and environmental pollutants' impact on the PQC network, especially through the protein clearance system.

Differential gene expression in duodenum of colored broiler chicken divergently selected for residual feed intake.

Feed constitutes about 70% of the total expenditure of poultry production. Maximizing the feed efficiency in juvenile period is essential to achieve low production cost. The efficiency of feed utilization was measured by RFI (residual feed intake) by calculating the difference between an individual animal's observed and its expected feed intake. The expression of genes influencing low and high RFI is required to know the basic molecular mechanism influencing feed efficiency. The present study aimed to estimate the RFI (0-5 week) in a population of indigenously developed colored broiler sire line chicken. The duodenum sample of high and low-RFI broiler chicken was used for microarray analysis. Duodenum exhibited 1030 differentially expressed genes after analysis. Out of total DEGs, 461 genes were downregulated and 569 were upregulated. The fold change of differentiallly expressed genes varies from - 162.6 to 1549.28. A subset of genes was validated by qRT-PCR and results were correlated well with microarray data. In functional annotation study of DEGs, 89 biological processes, 30 cellular components, and 29 molecular functions were identified. Study of the important differentially expressed genes and the related molecular pathways in the population may hold the potential for future breeding strategies for augmenting feed efficiency.

Enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in polyaromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated soils: a major challenge for environmental health.

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely spread ecological contaminants. Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are present with mobile genetic elements (MGE) in the bacteria. There are molecular evidences that PAHs may induce the development of ARGs in contaminated soils. Also, the abundance of ARGs related to tetracycline, sulfonamides, aminoglycosides, ampicillin, and fluoroquinolones is high in PAH-contaminated environments. Genes encoding the efflux pump are located in the MGE and, along with class 1 integrons, have a significant role as a connecting link between PAH contamination and enrichment of ARGs. The horizontal gene transfer mechanisms further make this interaction more dynamic. Therefore, necessary steps to control ARGs into the environment and risk management plan of PAHs should be enforced. In this review, influence of PAH on evolution of ARGs in the contaminated soil, and its spread in the environment, has been described. The co-occurrence of antibiotic resistance and PAH degradation abilities in bacterial isolates has raised the concerns. Also, presence of ARGs in the microbiome of PAH-contaminated soil has been discussed as environmental hotspots for ARG spread. In addition to this, the possible links of molecular interactions between ARGs and PAHs, and their effect on environmental health has been explored.

Return to play after spondylolysis: An overview.

Spondylolysis is increasingly associated with specific sports, timely and effective management of which underpins successful return to sports. Hence, the main purpose of this systematic review of reviews [RoR] is to summarize data from published reviews exploring the return to play in athletes with spondylolysis managed conservatively or surgically, thereby providing for recommendations for future practice and research. A systematic review of review of articles published in English and since 2015 was conducted online using PubMed and Google Scholar, as per Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. Predefined eligibility criteria were applied, and the data thus compiled were analyzed. Study quality was assessed using the AMSTAR-2 checklist. A total of 7 systematic reviews and meta-analysis consisting of 51 primary studies were included in the review. The result of this RoR highlights the knowledge gap and limitations in RTP research post spondylolysis with existing heterogeneity in methods and reporting amid other factors within primary studies. Further quality of the study was found to be of low to critically low confidence based on the AMSTAR-2 scale, suggesting that the results should be interpreted with great caution. Though both conservative and surgical approaches increase the percentage of athletes returning to play, the evidence remains largely limited and inconclusive as to which is better. However, it appears that surgical interventions give those who failed a trial of conservative approach, a better shot at return to play. There is a need for further high-quality, appropriately powered, well-designed, multicentered studies, and also for consensus regarding "returning to play" definition and outcome measures.

Paradigm shift in antibiotic-resistome of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil.

The increasing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms in both clinical and environmental samples is of great concern for public health. In the present study, environmental samples from seven different sites, heavily contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons has been examined for the antimicrobial resistome through metagenomic approach. The soil samples were found to be contaminated with high concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (average 45 g/kg), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (average ∑16PAH = 280 mg/kg), and heavy metals, which shapes the microbial community and their function. Proteobacteria was found to be predominant phylum in the contaminated habitat with the highest diversity (55.91%) followed by Actinobacteria (9.86%). Although the taxonomical abundance of the non-contaminated sample was not significantly different from contaminated samples, the functional abundance of genes related to antibiotic resistance was found to be higher up to 2 fold in contaminated samples. The comparative metagenomic analysis revealed a higher abundance of different antibiotic resistance genes, especially genes for fluoroquinolones was found to be higher up to 10 fold in contaminated samples. Moreover, the study has shown a significant difference in total functional diversity and abundance, mainly genes for aromatic compound metabolism and genes for phages, mobile genetic elements. These higher abundances of well recognized antibiotic resistance genes, multidrug efflux pumps, and integrons, suggest that the petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites can act as reservoirs for development of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). From this study, a significant link between the presence of petroleum hydrocarbon and the development of antibiotic resistance in the microbiome of contaminated habitat has been established.

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in South Asian countries: molecular evolutionary model based phylogenetic and mutation analysis.

The on-going coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a very high number of infections and deaths around the globe. The absence of vaccine/drugs to counter COVID-19 has scrambled scientific communities to repurpose available medicines/vaccines. As the virus is known to mutate, using the whole genome sequences, the transmission dynamics and molecular evolutionary models were evaluated for South Asian countries to determine the evolutionary rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Phylogenetic analyses were done using the data available on National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). Different nucleotide substitution models and molecular evolutionary models were analyzed to see how SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted in the populations. Models for the viral 'S' and 'N' protein from selected strains were constructed, validated, and analyzed to determine the mutations and discover the potential therapeutics against this deadly viral disease. We found that the Hasegawa-Kishino-Yano (HKY) nucleotide substitution model was the best model with the lowest Bayesian information criterion (BIC) scores. Molecular clock RelTime analysis showed the evolutionary rate of SARS-CoV-2 substitutions in the genome was at 95% confidence interval, and heterogeneity was observed. Several mutations in the viral S-protein were found with one in the receptor-binding domain concerning SARS-CoV-2/Wuhan-1/S-Protein. Nucleocapsid protein also showed mutations in the strains from India and Sri Lanka. Our analysis suggests that SARS-CoV-2 is evolving at a diverse rate. The mutation leading to substitution in the nucleotide sequence occurred in the genome during the transmission of COVID-19 among individuals in the South Asian countries.