Network-Based Approach and IVI Methodologies, a Combined Data Investigation Identified Probable Key Genes in Cardiovascular Disease and Chronic Kidney Disease

In fact, the risk of dying from CVD is significant when compared to the risk of developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Moreover, patients with severe CKD are often excluded from randomized controlled trials, making evidence-based therapy of comorbidities like CVD complicated. Thus, the goal of this study was to use an integrated bioinformatics approach to not only uncover Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs), their associated functions, and pathways but also give a glimpse of how these two conditions are related at the molecular level. We started with GEO2R/R program (version 3.6.3, 64 bit) to get DEGs by comparing gene expression microarray data from CVD and CKD. Thereafter, the online STRING version 11.1 program was used to look for any correlations between all these common and/or overlapping DEGs, and the results were visualized using Cytoscape (version 3.8.0). Further, we used MCODE, a cytoscape plugin, and identified a total of 15 modules/clusters of the primary network. Interestingly, 10 of these modules contained our genes of interest (key genes). Out of these 10 modules that consist of 19 key genes (11 downregulated and 8 up-regulated), Module 1 (RPL13, RPLP0, RPS24, and RPS2) and module 5 (MYC, COX7B, and SOCS3) had the highest number of these genes. Then we used ClueGO to add a layer of GO terms with pathways to get a functionally ordered network. Finally, to identify the most influential nodes, we employed a novel technique called Integrated Value of Influence (IVI) by combining the network's most critical topological attributes. This method suggests that the nodes with many connections (calculated by hubness score) and high spreading potential (the spreader nodes are intended to have the most impact on the information flow in the network) are the most influential or essential nodes in a network. Thus, based on IVI values, hubness score, and spreading score, top 20 nodes were extracted, in which RPS27A non-seed gene and RPS2, a seed gene, came out to be the important node in the network.

A Saudi Arabian Public Health Perspective of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a global health challenge due to its spreading potential. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) faces a challenge in the spread of tuberculosis from migrant workers, but the foremost threat is the huge number of pilgrims who travel to visit sacred sites of the Islamic world located in the holy cities of Makkah and Al Madina. Pilgrims visit throughout the year but especially in the months of Ramadan and Zul-Hijah. The rise of resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an established global phenomenon that makes such large congregations likely hotspots in the dissemination and spread of disease at a global level. Although very stringent and effective measures exist, the threat remains due to the ever-changing dynamics of this highly pathogenic disease. This overview primarily highlights the current public health challenges posed by this disease to the Saudi health system, which needs to be highlighted not only to the concerned authorities of KSA, but also to the concerned global quarters since the pilgrims and migrants come from all parts of the world with a majority coming from high tuberculosis-burdened countries.

Development and Standardization of Neem and Aloe Vera based Herbal hand wash using Low Cost Indigenous Technology

Hand-washing is an important practice for healthcare in home and daily life preparations. Herbal based hand wash preparations are the most promising hand wash with natural antimicrobial effect. The present study was aimed to development and standardization of herbal hand wash with natural ingredients. In this study, two types of herbal hand wash were formulated with Neem and Aloe vera methanol extract. The herbal hand-wash A and herbal hand wash B, containing plant extract and other natural herbal ingredients in different compositions of ingredients. Herbal hand wash formulations were further evaluated for some parameters such as odor, color, pH, viscosity, foam height, foam retention and spreading potential. The quality of hand wash formulation was evaluated by skin irritation test, greasiness grittiness and homogeneity. The results indicated that all the developed formulations of hand wash A and B were in acceptable limits. The results of present study proved that the effective herbal hand wash were developed successfully by incorporating the herbal extracts using low cost indigenous technologies for better effect.

Persuasive linguistic tricks in social media marketing communication—The memetic approach

The paper reports the results of a study into the use of linguistic cues defined as Persuasive Linguistic Tricks (PLT) in social media (SM) marketing communication. It was assumed that the content shared on Social Networking Sites (SNS) could be perceived as specific sets of meanings (memeplexes), where a single component, also PLT, may function as their part. Following an original typology of PLT, created based on an emotional factor, the research focused on whether and how the number of positive, neutral and negative PLT used in Facebook posts impacted the behaviour of content recipients. These activities, including liking, commenting and sharing, are strictly connected with post spreading and range. The data analysis focused on 167 Facebook posts shared by five leading Polish travel agencies and 1911 responding comments. The quantitative content analysis method and Spearman’s correlation tests were used. A relationship was observed between the number of emotionally positive and neutral PLT and the increase in the range of content with these PLT. The use of PLT by post recipients was also observed in their comments. This phenomenon is possibly related to the memetic nature of PLT. From the perspective of marketing messages, the obtained results contribute to and guide the textual content-building with a high spreading potential owing to the memetic capability of PLT. Further elaborations were made on the assumption for the evolutionary approach in social media content transfer and its processing.

SARS-CoV-2 VOCs Immune Evasion from Previously Elicited Neutralizing Antibodies Is Mainly Driven by Lower Cross-Reactivity Due to Spike RBD Electrostatic Surface Changes

<div> <div> <div> <p>Leveraging structural data and computer modelling techniques, we investigated the variation in the binding free-energy (𝛥𝛥𝐺) profile of VOCs and VOIs SARS-CoV-2 lineages with hACE2 and with a dataset of known human nAbs. In agreement with the available experimental data, our results show only a marginal impact of VOC RBD amino acid changes to hACE2 affinity. On the other hand, we found that VOCs RBDs have a significant unfavorable 𝛥𝛥𝐺 to nAbs that can be related to changes in the electrostatic potential surface profiles, hence identifying the molecular and thermodynamical components behind SARS-CoV-2 antibody evasion. In addition, our data suggests that a close attention should be given to lineage P.3, as it likely holds a high spreading potential in a human population with rising immunity. In summary, the current observed higher transmission of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs is likely associated with a partial or complete failure of the antibody recognition and neutralization in individuals previously exposed to SARS-CoV-2 non-VOC variants. These results have key implications on i. the basic understanding of VOCs emergence and maintenance; ii. on the rational design of antibody-based therapeutics; iii. vaccine efficacy and updates; and iv. may be exploited to rapidly screen immune scape worrisome lineages. </p> </div> </div> </div>

SARS-CoV-2 VOCs Immune Evasion from Previously Elicited Neutralizing Antibodies Is Mainly Driven by Lower Cross-Reactivity Due to Spike RBD Electrostatic Surface Changes

<div> <div> <div> <p>Leveraging structural data and computer modelling techniques, we investigated the variation in the binding free-energy (𝛥𝛥𝐺) profile of VOCs and VOIs SARS-CoV-2 lineages with hACE2 and with a dataset of known human nAbs. In agreement with the available experimental data, our results show only a marginal impact of VOC RBD amino acid changes to hACE2 affinity. On the other hand, we found that VOCs RBDs have a significant unfavorable 𝛥𝛥𝐺 to nAbs that can be related to changes in the electrostatic potential surface profiles, hence identifying the molecular and thermodynamical components behind SARS-CoV-2 antibody evasion. In addition, our data suggests that a close attention should be given to lineage P.3, as it likely holds a high spreading potential in a human population with rising immunity. In summary, the current observed higher transmission of SARS-CoV-2 VOCs is likely associated with a partial or complete failure of the antibody recognition and neutralization in individuals previously exposed to SARS-CoV-2 non-VOC variants. These results have key implications on i. the basic understanding of VOCs emergence and maintenance; ii. on the rational design of antibody-based therapeutics; iii. vaccine efficacy and updates; and iv. may be exploited to rapidly screen immune scape worrisome lineages. </p> </div> </div> </div>

Estimating the spreading and dominance of SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01 (lineage B.1.1.7) across Europe

We develop a two strain, age-structured, compartmental model to assess the spreading potential of the B.1.1.7 variant across several European metropolitan areas and countries. The model accounts for B.1.1.7 introductions from the UK and different locations, as well as local mitigation policies in the time period 2020/09 − 2021/02. In the case of an increase of transmissibility of 50%, the B.1.1.7 variant has the potential to become dominant in all investigated areas by the end of March 2021.

Distribution and Occurrence of Vairimorpha plodiae (Opisthokonta: Microspora) in the Indian Meal Moth, Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) Populations: An Extensive Field Study

The Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is one of the most important stored product pests. Fumigation plays a significant role in the management of insect pests in stored-products. However, the use of fumigants is problematic because of their effects on the environment and high costs. Entomopathogenic organisms are environmentally friendly control agents and suppress pest populations under natural conditions. In this study, distribution and occurrence of a microsporidian pathogen, Vairimorpha plodiae (Opisthokonta: Microspora) in the populations of P. interpunctella from 12 localities representing Turkey between 2019 and 2020 are presented for the first time by confirming its effectiveness on natural populations. The presence of the microsporidian pathogen was found in 11 of 12 (91.7%) populations. In total, 863 of 3,044 samples were infected by the pathogen. Infection mean was 28.4% for all populations. Our results showed that V. plodiae infection reached to a considerably high prevalence (88.77%) in P. interpunctella populations and varied from 5.1 to 88.7% between the populations. In addition, microsporidia infections have been identified throughout Turkey. We found that V. plodiae can infect all life stages of P. interpunctella. Totally, 623 (28.5%) of 2187 larvae, 14 (37.8%) of 37 pupae, 226 (27%) of 820 adults were found to be infected by the pathogen. There were considerable differences between the dead and living larvae. The microsporidian infection was found in 26 (11.6%) of 225 living larvae, whereas it was found in 595 (30.5%) of 1,952 dead larvae. These results confirm that the microsporidia pathogen has a high spreading potential in P. interpunctella populations and can be a natural biological suppression factor on pest populations.