Testudines of India: A Review on Diversity, Threats and Conservation Initiatives

The present review is a collection of the available literature resources related to Testudines of India. Different aspects of diversity studies pertaining to turtles in India is presented in this review along with threats and conservation initiatives in different parts of India in different timeline

Intraspecific Variation in Shell Morphometry of Bellamya Dissimilis (Mueller, 1774) (Architaenioglossa: Viviparidae) from Three Different Lakes of Bangalore Urban District

Gastropda is the largest class in the phylum mollusca comprising of shelled organisms. Most gastropodan snails and clams are filter feeders and play an important role in the freshwater ecosystems by maintaining the water system clean. The present study is in relation to the fresh water snail, Bellamya dissimilis (= Idiopoma dissimilisis) commonly found in freshwater streams, ponds, stagnant water etc. It is native to India; Myanmar; Sri Lanka; Thailand (Map 1 from IUCN Redlist v2013.2) and reported from different parts of India (punenvis.nic.in; higharcs.org)

The influence of alloying on the stacking fault energy of gold from density functional theory calculations

The generalized stacking fault (SFE) energy curves of pure gold (Au) and its binary alloys with transition metals are determined from density functional theory (DFT). Alloy elements Ag, Al, Cu, Ni, Ti, Zr, Zn, In, Ga, Sn, Mn, Cd, Sn, Ta and Cr are substituted into Au at concentrations up to 4%. A comparison of various proposed methodologies to calculate SFEs is given. The intrinsic SFE decreases for all alloying elements from its value for pure Au, but SFE energies (both stable and unstable) vary strongly with the distance of the alloying element from the stacking fault region, and with alloy concentration. The compositional dependence of the SFE on the volume change associated with alloying element is determined. This work demonstrates that the SFE is strongly influenced by misfit strain caused by the alloying elements. Moreover, the computed generalized SFE curves provide information valuable to developing an understanding of the deformation behavior of Au and Au-alloys

Studies on Certain Serum Metabolites in non Pregnant and Pregnant Bannur Ewes

Abstract A study was undertaken with the objective of making an insight in to the changes with respect to the level of certain metabolites in non pregnant and pregnant Bannur ewes which are indicative of their nutritional status and physiological well being. Eighteen Bannur ewes maintained under identical managemental conditions in a semi-intensive rearing farm which were of two to four years of age are categorized in to three groups, comprising of six animals in each group, such as non pregnant (Group I), early pregnant (Group II, at 20 to 35 days of pregnancy) and late pregnant (Group III, at 105 to 120 days of pregnancy) ewes based upon ultrasound imaging technique. The metabolites such as serum levels of β-hydroxybutyrate, glucose, total protein, blood urea nitrogen and lipid profile components were determined at 0, 7 and 15 th day of sample collection. The biochemical parameters did not vary significantly (P>0.05) between the groups except for the glucose levels which were significantly (P<0.05) lower in Group III compared to Group I and Group II. It was concluded that, all the parameters studied in Bannur breed of ewes during non pregnancy, early pregnancy and late pregnancy were within the normal reference range described for sheep and it was suggestive that none of the ewes in the present study suffered from any kind of metabolic disorders

Resource profile and user guide of the Polygenic Index Repository

Polygenic indexes (PGIs) are DNA-based predictors. Their value for research in many scientific disciplines is growing rapidly. As a resource for researchers, we used a consistent methodology to construct PGIs for 47 phenotypes in 11 datasets. To maximize the PGIs’ prediction accuracies, we constructed them using genome-wide association studies — some not previously published — from multiple data sources, including 23andMe and UK Biobank. We present a theoretical framework to help interpret analyses involving PGIs. A key insight is that a PGI can be understood as an unbiased but noisy measure of a latent variable we call the ‘additive SNP factor’. Regressions in which the true regressor is this factor but the PGI is used as its proxy therefore suffer from errors-in-variables bias. We derive an estimator that corrects for the bias, illustrate the correction, and make a Python tool for implementing it publicly available

Prolonged tenofovir treatment of macaques infected with K65R reverse transcriptase mutants of SIV results in the development of antiviral immune responses that control virus replication after drug withdrawal

Abstract Background: We reported previously that while prolonged tenofovir monotherapy of macaques infected with virulent simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) resulted invariably in the emergence of viral mutants with reduced in vitro drug susceptibility and a K65R mutation in reverse transcriptase, some animals controlled virus replication for years. Transient CD8+ cell depletion or short-term tenofovir interruption within 1 to 5 years of treatment demonstrated that a combination of CD8+ cell-mediated immune responses and continued tenofovir therapy was required for sustained suppression of viremia. We report here follow-up data on 5 such animals that received tenofovir for 8 to 14 years. Results: Although one animal had a gradual increase in viremia from 3 years onwards, the other 4 tenofovir-treated animals maintained undetectable viremia with occasional viral blips (≤ 300 RNA copies/ml plasma). When tenofovir was withdrawn after 8 to 10 years from three animals with undetectable viremia, the pattern of occasional episodes of low viremia (≤ 3600 RNA/ml plasma) continued throughout the 10-month follow-up period. These animals had low virus levels in lymphoid tissues, and evidence of multiple SIV-specific immune responses. Conclusion: Under certain conditions (i.e., prolonged antiviral therapy initiated early after infection; viral mutants with reduced drug susceptibility) a virus-host balance characterized by strong immunologic control of virus replication can be achieved. Although further research is needed to translate these findings into clinical applications, these observations provide hope for a functional cure of HIV infection via immunotherapeutic strategies that boost antiviral immunity and reduce the need for continuous antiretroviral therapy

Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals

Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12–16% of EA variance and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases. Direct effects (i.e., controlling for parental PGIs) explain roughly half the PGI’s magnitude of association with EA and other phenotypes. The correlation between mate-pair PGIs is far too large to be consistent with phenotypic assortment alone, implying additional assortment on PGI-associated factors. In an additional GWAS of dominance deviations from the additive model, we identify no genome-wide-significant SNPs, and a separate X-chromosome additive GWAS identifies 57.Peer reviewe

Polygenic prediction of educational attainment within and between families from genome-wide association analyses in 3 million individuals

We conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of educational attainment (EA) in a sample of ~3 million individuals and identify 3,952 approximately uncorrelated genome-wide-significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). A genome-wide polygenic predictor, or polygenic index (PGI), explains 12-16% of EA variance and contributes to risk prediction for ten diseases. Direct effects (i.e., controlling for parental PGIs) explain roughly half the PGI's magnitude of association with EA and other phenotypes. The correlation between mate-pair PGIs is far too large to be consistent with phenotypic assortment alone, implying additional assortment on PGI-associated factors. In an additional GWAS of dominance deviations from the additive model, we identify no genome-wide-significant SNPs, and a separate X-chromosome additive GWAS identifies 57

Omicron COVID-19 immune correlates analysis of a third dose of mRNA-1273 in the COVE trial

In the phase 3 Coronavirus Efficacy (COVE) trial (NCT04470427), post-dose two Ancestral Spike-specific binding (bAb) and neutralizing (nAb) antibodies were shown to be correlates of risk (CoR) and of protection against Ancestral-lineage COVID-19 in SARS-CoV-2 naive participants. In the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron era, Omicron subvariants with varying degrees of immune escape now dominate, seropositivity rates are high, and booster doses are administered, raising questions on whether and how these developments affect the bAb and nAb correlates. To address these questions, we assess post-boost BA.1 Spike-specific bAbs and nAbs as CoRs and as correlates of booster efficacy in COVE. For naive individuals, bAbs and nAbs inversely correlate with Omicron COVID-19: hazard ratios (HR) per 10-fold marker increase (95% confidence interval) are 0.16 (0.03, 0.79) and 0.31 (0.10, 0.96), respectively. In non-naive individuals the analogous results are similar: 0.15 (0.04, 0.63) and 0.28 (0.07, 1.08). For naive individuals, three vs two-dose booster efficacy correlates with predicted nAb titer at exposure, with estimates -8% (-126%, 48%), 50% (25%, 67%), and 74% (49%, 87%), at 56, 251, and 891 Arbitrary Units/ml. These results support the continued use of antibody as a surrogate endpoint