Impact of educational session on knowledge and attitude towards antimicrobial prescribing and awareness about antimicrobial resistance among undergraduate medical, dental and nursing students: a comparative study

Background: Educational interventions targeting undergraduate medical students provide a great opportunity to strengthen the efforts to promote rational prescribing and to decrease antimicrobial resistance. A better understanding of knowledge and beliefs of students about issues of antimicrobial use and resistance, and analysing the improvement after educational session, can assist in devising an effectively tailored educational intervention. The objective of this study was to comparison of knowledge and attitude about antimicrobial prescribing and awareness about resistance amongst medical, dental and nursing undergraduates before and after an educational session on antimicrobial use and resistance.Methods: A pre-validated questionnaire on knowledge and attitude about antimicrobial use and resistance was distributed to second year medical (80), dental (61) and nursing (37) students before and after an educational session. Results obtained were compared within and between the groups by using paired t-test and one-way ANOVA respectively. P-value<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: All groups showed statistically significant improvement in knowledge and attitude scores following the session on antimicrobial use and resistance (P<0.001). Post-session attitude scores of medical students were better than that of dental and was statistically significant (P=0.006). The pre-session evaluation showed that medical students had better knowledge and attitude about antimicrobial use and resistance as compared to dental (P<0.001) and nursing students(P<0.001).Conclusions: Significant improvement in attitude and basic knowledge following an educational session about antimicrobial prescribing and awareness about antimicrobial resistance in undergraduate students suggest establishment of special course on rational prescription of antimicrobials in undergraduate curriculum

Epitope identification of rabies virus nucleoprotein using immunoinformatics approach

Abstract Background Rabies is a deadly and preventable disease. The nucleoprotein of rabies virus has been found to have group-specific antigenic determinants. The rabies virus nucleoprotein can shield dogs and mice from the lethal infection. Early diagnosis of rabies is crucial for the prevention of rabies. Methods In this study, B-cell epitopes of the nucleoprotein gene of the rabies virus were identified, and the characteristics of the epitopes were analyzed using various bioinformatics tools, such as the immune epitope database\u27s Bepipred Major Histocompatibility Complex II (IEDB MHC II) prediction tool, NetCTL 1.2, Vaxijen v20, AllerTOP v2.0 server. Results Fourteen epitopes were predicted in the nucleoprotein sequence of the rabies virus. We observed that B-cell epitopes have a high affinity for binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) II. Notably, the selected strain\u27s conserved region yielded a total of thirty weak binders and eight strong binders, all exhibiting a binding affinity with allele H-2-IAb. The study also ventured into antigenicity, allergenicity, and toxicity predictions. Three of the ten peptides were identified as potential allergens, while the remaining seven were classified as non-allergens. Interestingly, none of the peptides were found to be toxic. Conclusion B cells are a critical component of adaptive immunity, producing neutralizing antibodies, and are crucial in blocking viral entry and attachment. Henceforth, epitopes identified in this study can be utilized to produce monoclonal antibodies or vaccines for therapeutic purposes. The discovered epitope is a functional potential repertoire for developing serodiagnostic tests and epitope-based peptide vaccines

Measurement of 92Mo(n,α)89Zr and 97Mo(n,p)97Nb reactions at the neutron energy 13.52 MeV with covariance analysis

218-222The cross sections have been estimated for the Nuclear reactions 92Mo(n,α)89Zr and 97Mo(n,p)97Nb produced in Purnima neutron generator at neutron energy of 13.52±0.0045 MeV using activation analysis and off-line γ -ray spectrometric techniques. 27Al(n,α)24Na has been used as a monitor reaction. The covariance analysis for these cross sections has been carried out by taking into consideration of partial uncertainties of different attributes and correlations between the attributes. The cross section values of the present study have been compared with EXFOR, ENDF data of various libraries and theoretical data of TALYS-1.8 code

Heat and mass transfer analysis of MHD peristaltic flow through a complaint porous channel with variable thermal conductivity

CITATION: Vaidya, H. et al. 2020. Heat and mass transfer analysis of MHD peristaltic flow through a complaint porous channel with variable thermal conductivity. Physica Scripta, 95:045219, doi:10.1088/1402-4896/ab681a.The original publication is available at https://iopscience.iop.orgThe MHD peristaltic motion of Bingham fluid through a uniform channel is examined under the influence of long wavelength and small Reynolds number. The impact of variable thermal conductivity, convective heat transfer, porous boundaries, and wall properties are considered. The semi-analytical technique is utilized to solve the governing nonlinear temperature equation. The effects of different parameters on the physiological quantities of interest are captured with the assistance of MATLAB programming. The assessment reveals that an ascent in a magnetic parameter reduces the velocity field. Further, an increment in the estimation of variable thermal conductivity upgrades the temperature profiles. Besides, the trapped bolus is a function of a porous parameter, and an increase in porous parameter will have the proportional increment in the other parameter.https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1402-4896/ab681aPublisher's versio

93Nb(n,2n) 92mNb, 93Nb(n,α) 90mY and 92Mo(n,p) 92mNb Reactions at 14.78 MeV and Covariance Analysis

The cross sections for the 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb, 93Nb(n,α)90mY and the 92Mo(n,p)92mNb reactions have been measured with respect to the 197Au(n,2n)196Au monitor reaction at the incident neutron energy of 14.78 ± 0.19 MeV by employing methods of activation and off-line γ-ray spectrometry. The covariance analysis was carried out by taking into consideration of partial uncertainties in different attributes and correlation among the attributes. The present data have been compared with the literature data available in EXFOR, evaluated data of different libraries and theoretical values based on TALYS-1.8 code

A weak group inverse for rectangular matrices

[EN] In this paper, we extend the notion of weak group inverse to rectangular matrices (called WweightedWGinverse) by using the weighted core EP inverse recently investigated. This new generalized inverse also generalizes the well-known weighted group inverse given by Cline and Greville. In addition, we give several representations of the W-weighted WG inverse, and derive some characterizations and properties.First author was partially supported by UNRC (Grant PPI 18/C472) and CONICET (Grant PIP 112-201501-00433CO). Third author was partially supported by Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad of Spain (Grants DGI MTM2013-43678-P and Red de Excelencia MTM2017-90682-REDT).Ferreyra, DE.; Orquera, V.; Thome, N. (2019). A weak group inverse for rectangular matrices. Revista de la Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales Serie A Matemáticas. 113(4):3727-3740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13398-019-00674-9S372737401134Ben-Israel, A., Greville, T.N.E.: Generalized Inverses: Theory and Applications, 2nd edn. Springer, New York (2003)Baksalary, O.M., Trenkler, G.: Core inverse of matrices. Linear Multilinear Algebra 58, 681–697 (2010)Baksalary, O.M., Trenkler, G.: On a generalized core inverse. Appl. Math. Comput. 236, 450–457 (2014)Bajodah, A.H.: Servo-constraint generalized inverse dynamics for robot manipulator control design. Int. J. Robot. Autom. 25, (2010). https://doi.org/10.2316/Journal.206.2016.1.206-3291Campbell, S.L., Meyer Jr., C.D.: Generalized Inverses of Linear transformations. SIAM, Philadelphia (2009)Cline, R.E., Greville, T.N.E.: A Drazin inverse for rectangular matrices. Linear Algebra Appl. 29, 53–62 (1980)Dajić, A., Koliha, J.J.: The weighted g-Drazin inverse for operators. J. Aust. Math. Soc. 2, 163–181 (2007)Doty, K.L., Melchiorri, C., Bonivento, C.: A theory of generalized inverses applied to robotics. Int. J. Rob. Res. 12, 1–19 (1993)Drazin, M.P.: Pseudo-inverses in associate rings and semirings. Am. Math. Mon. 65, 506–514 (1958)Ferreyra, D.E., Levis, F.E., Thome, N.: Revisiting of the core EP inverse and its extension to rectangular matrices. Quaest. Math. 41, 265–281 (2018)Ferreyra, D.E., Levis, F.E., Thome, N.: Maximal classes of matrices determining generalized inverses. Appl. Math. Comput. 333, 42–52 (2018)Gigola, S., Lebtahi, L., Thome, N.: The inverse eigenvalue problem for a Hermitian reflexive matrix and the optimization problem. J. Comput. Appl. Math. 291, 449–457 (2016)Hartwig, R.E.: The weighted $$*$$ ∗ -core-nilpotent decomposition. Linear Algebra Appl. 211, 101–111 (1994)Kirkland, S.J., Neumann, M.: Group inverses of M-matrices and their applications. Chapman and Hall/CRC, London (2013)Malik, S., Thome, N.: On a new generalized inverse for matrices of an arbitrary index. Appl. Math. Comput. 226, 575–580 (2014)Male $${{\check{\rm s}}}$$ s ˇ ević, B., Obradović, R., Banjac, B., Jovović, I., Makragić, M.: Application of polynomial texture mapping in process of digitalization of cultural heritage. arXiv:1312.6935 (2013). Accessed 14 June 2018Manjunatha Prasad, K., Mohana, K.S.: Core EP inverse. Linear Multilinear Algebra 62, 792–802 (2014)Mehdipour, M., Salemi, A.: On a new generalized inverse of matrices. Linear Multilinear Algebra 66, 1046–1053 (2018)Meng, L.S.: The DMP inverse for rectangular matrices. Filomat 31, 6015–6019 (2017)Mosić, D.: The CMP inverse for rectangular matrices. Aequaetiones Math. 92, 649–659 (2018)Penrose, R.: A generalized inverse for matrices. Proc. Cambrid. Philos. Soc. 51, 406–413 (1955)Soleimani, F., Stanimirović, P.S., Soleymani, F.: Some matrix iterations for computing generalized inverses and balancing chemical equations. Algorithms 8, 982–998 (2015)Xiao, G.Z., Shen, B.Z., Wu, C.K., Wong, C.S.: Some spectral techniques in coding theory. Discrete Math. 87, 181–186 (1991)Wang, H.: Core-EP decomposition and its applications. Linear Algebra Appl. 508, 289–300 (2016)Wang, H., Chen, J.: Weak group inverse. Open Math. 16, 1218–1232 (2018)Wei, Y.: A characterization for the $$W$$ W -weighted Drazin inverse and a Crammer rule for the $$W$$ W -weighted Drazin inverse solution. Appl. Math. Comput. 125, 303–310 (2002

Whole genome analysis of linezolid resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae reveals resistance and compensatory mutations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Several mutations were present in the genome of <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>linezolid-resistant strains but the role of several of these mutations had not been experimentally tested. To analyze the role of these mutations, we reconstituted resistance by serial whole genome transformation of a novel resistant isolate into two strains with sensitive background. We sequenced the parent mutant and two independent transformants exhibiting similar minimum inhibitory concentration to linezolid.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparative genomic analyses revealed that transformants acquired G2576T transversions in every gene copy of 23S rRNA and that the number of altered copies correlated with the level of linezolid resistance and cross-resistance to florfenicol and chloramphenicol. One of the transformants also acquired a mutation present in the parent mutant leading to the overexpression of an ABC transporter (spr1021). The acquisition of these mutations conferred a fitness cost however, which was further enhanced by the acquisition of a mutation in a RNA methyltransferase implicated in resistance. Interestingly, the fitness of the transformants could be restored in part by the acquisition of altered copies of the L3 and L16 ribosomal proteins and by mutations leading to the overexpression of the spr1887 ABC transporter that were present in the original linezolid-resistant mutant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results demonstrate the usefulness of whole genome approaches at detecting major determinants of resistance as well as compensatory mutations that alleviate the fitness cost associated with resistance.</p

Identification and Differentiation of the Twenty Six Bluetongue Virus Serotypes by RT–PCR Amplification of the Serotype-Specific Genome Segment 2

Bluetongue (BT) is an arthropod-borne viral disease, which primarily affects ruminants in tropical and temperate regions of the world. Twenty six bluetongue virus (BTV) serotypes have been recognised worldwide, including nine from Europe and fifteen in the United States. Identification of BTV serotype is important for vaccination programmes and for BTV epidemiology studies. Traditional typing methods (virus isolation and serum or virus neutralisation tests (SNT or VNT)) are slow (taking weeks, depend on availability of reference virus-strains or antisera) and can be inconclusive. Nucleotide sequence analyses and phylogenetic comparisons of genome segment 2 (Seg-2) encoding BTV outer-capsid protein VP2 (the primary determinant of virus serotype) were completed for reference strains of BTV-1 to 26, as well as multiple additional isolates from different geographic and temporal origins. The resulting Seg-2 database has been used to develop rapid (within 24 h) and reliable RT–PCR-based typing assays for each BTV type. Multiple primer-pairs (at least three designed for each serotype) were widely tested, providing an initial identification of serotype by amplification of a cDNA product of the expected size. Serotype was confirmed by sequencing of the cDNA amplicons and phylogenetic comparisons to previously characterised reference strains. The results from RT-PCR and sequencing were in perfect agreement with VNT for reference strains of all 26 BTV serotypes, as well as the field isolates tested. The serotype-specific primers showed no cross-amplification with reference strains of the remaining 25 serotypes, or multiple other isolates of the more closely related heterologous BTV types. The primers and RT–PCR assays developed in this study provide a rapid, sensitive and reliable method for the identification and differentiation of the twenty-six BTV serotypes, and will be updated periodically to maintain their relevance to current BTV distribution and epidemiology (http://www.reoviridae.org/dsRNA_virus_proteins/ReoID/rt-pcr-primers.htm)