Acanthamoeba is a free-living protist pathogen, capable of causing a blinding keratitis and fatal granulomatous encephalitis. The factors that contribute to Acanthamoeba infections include parasite ...biology, genetic diversity, environmental spread and host susceptibility, and are highlighted together with potential therapeutic and preventative measures. The use of Acanthamoeba in the study of cellular differentiation mechanisms, motility and phagocytosis, bacterial pathogenesis and evolutionary processes makes it an attractive model organism. There is a significant emphasis on Acanthamoeba as a Trojan horse of other microbes including viral, bacterial, protists and yeast pathogens.
Free-living amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are causal agents of a severe sight-threatening infection of the cornea known as Acanthamoeba keratitis. Moreover, the number of reported cases worldwide ...is increasing year after year, mostly in contact lens wearers, although cases have also been reported in non-contact lens wearers. Interestingly, Acanthamoeba keratitis has remained significant, despite our advances in antimicrobial chemotherapy and supportive care. In part, this is due to an incomplete understanding of the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of the disease, diagnostic delays and problems associated with chemotherapeutic interventions. In view of the devastating nature of this disease, here we present our current understanding of Acanthamoeba keratitis and molecular mechanisms associated with the disease, as well as virulence traits of Acanthamoeba that may be potential targets for improved diagnosis, therapeutic interventions and/or for the development of preventative measures. Novel molecular approaches such as proteomics, RNAi and a consensus in the diagnostic approaches for a suspected case of Acanthamoeba keratitis are proposed and reviewed based on data which have been compiled after years of working on this amoebic organism using many different techniques and listening to many experts in this field at conferences, workshops and international meetings. Altogether, this review may serve as the milestone for developing an effective solution for the prevention, control and treatment of Acanthamoeba infections.
Les amibes à vie libre du genre Acanthamoeba sont les agents causant une infection sévère de la cornée, dangereuse pour la vue, appelée kératite à Acanthamoeba. De plus, le nombre de cas signalés à travers le monde est en augmentation année après année, principalement chez les porteurs de lentilles de contact, bien que des cas de kératite à Acanthamoeba aient également été signalés chez les non-porteurs de lentilles. Fait intéressant, la kératite à Acanthamoeba est restée significative, en dépit de nos progrès dans la chimiothérapie antimicrobienne et les soins de soutien. En partie, cela est dû à une compréhension incomplète de la pathogenèse et la physiopathologie de la maladie, aux retards du diagnostic et aux problèmes associés aux interventions chimiothérapeutiques. Compte tenu de la nature dévastatrice de cette maladie, nous présentons ici notre compréhension actuelle de la kératite à Acanthamoeba et des mécanismes moléculaires associés à la maladie, ainsi que les traits de virulence de Acanthamoeba qui peuvent être des cibles potentielles pour l’amélioration du diagnostic, les interventions thérapeutiques et/ou pour l’élaboration de mesures préventives. Des approches moléculaires comme la protéomique, l’ARNi et des approches consensuelles de diagnostic pour un cas suspecté de kératite à Acanthamoeba sont proposées et examinées sur la base des données qui ont été compilées après des années de travail sur cet organisme amibien, utilisant de nombreuses techniques différentes et l’écoute de nombreux experts sur ce domaine à des conférences, ateliers et réunions internationales. Au total, cette étude peut servir de jalon pour développer une solution efficace pour la prévention, le contrôle et le traitement des infections à Acanthamoeba.
The staggering rise in global temperature and abrupt change of climate are the responses of nature alerting humanity to limit the emissions of hazardous gases and adopt environmentally-benign life ...style. The present study explores empirically whether any changes in environmental policy stringency (EPSI), political risk (PR), and the interaction term of EPSI*PR result in any alteration of consumption-based carbon emissions (CBCE) of the 24 advanced OECD economies over the period of 1990–2020. Prior to the empirical estimations, various diagnostic tests are employed. The empirical techniques include, panel cointegration check, Cross-sectional Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lags (CS-ARDL), and Dumitrescu & Hurlin panel causality test. The findings confirm that imports, gross domestic product, and stringency of environment policies activate CBCE in short-run. Whereas, a unit improvement in political risk and its interaction with environmental policy stringency give rise to 0.231 MtCO2 of CBCE in long run. Interestingly, the squared term of environmental policy stringency effectively tackles such emissions. Based on the findings, we conclude that the present environment related policies of OECD member states does not effectively limit CBCE. In order to achieve genuine emissions reduction goals, the selected nations should restructure their environment related policies by prioritizing increments in environmental policy stringency along with minimizing the risks involved in the political system.
•The present environmental policies of OECD nations are not targeting consumption-based emissions.•The Lower the political risk, the minor the consumption-based carbon emissions.•Lower political risk along with efficient environmental policies curb such emissions.•Interestingly, augmenting the current environmental policies tackles the emissions.
This study explores the effect of the amounts of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on the ecological footprint in the presence of energy consumption and economic growth ...using US data from 1970 to 2015. We use the Zivot-Andrews unit root method to check the stationary properties of data series, along with structural breaks and employ an Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model to estimate the short-run and long-run elasticities among the variables. Our findings suggest that economic growth and energy consumption have negative relationships with the ecological footprint. Natural resources and human capital are helpful in curtailing ecological footprint, as is foreign direct investment (FDI). The results of Granger causality show bidirectional causality between energy consumption and the ecological footprint and between economic growth and the ecological footprint, while unidirectional causality runs from natural resources to the ecological footprint and from human capital to natural resources. The US must attract more FDI and human capital from other countries to ensure that established companies and new firms can innovate swiftly in support of the quality of life and sustainable development.
This study examines the impact of natural resources, human capital, and foreign direct investment on ecological footprint in the United States. Display omitted
•This study analyzes the impact of human capital, natural resources and foreign direct investment on ecological footprint.•Study is done for United State of America (USA) during the period of 1970–2015.•ARDL approach is used to examine the long and short-run elasticities.•Human capital and natural resources abundance reduce ecological footprint.•Economic growth and energy consumption increase the ecological footprint.
In this study, we proposed a cricket talent identification model based on fuzzy optimization that employs the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). To ...evaluate the performance of the model, we used a primary dataset (n = 56) collected from four different schools in J&K UT, India. Our model demonstrated high accuracy, precision, and recall with an accuracy of 92.8%, precision of 96%, and recall of 88%. The model also achieved a low miss rate of 11% and an F1-score of 92.3%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to identify cricket talent using this methodology, which overcomes many limitations of conventional AHP-based models. By deriving an exact priority vector from the fuzzy comparison matrix for the criteria, our model eliminates the need for further procedures of defuzzification, making it more efficient and accurate. A comparative analysis of results gained from using Gaussian fuzzy numbers is also provided. Our study demonstrates the feasibility and potential of using fuzzy optimization techniques for cricket talent identification.
First discovered in 1899, Naegleria fowleri is a protist pathogen, known to infect the central nervous system and produce primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. The most distressing aspect is that the ...fatality rate has remained more than 95%, despite our advances in antimicrobial chemotherapy and supportive care. Although rare worldwide, most cases have been reported in the United States, Australia, and Europe (France). A large number of cases in developing countries go unnoticed. In particular, religious, recreational, and cultural practices such as ritual ablution and/or purifications, Ayurveda, and the use of neti pots for nasal irrigation can contribute to this devastating infection. With increasing water scarcity and public reliance on water storage, here we debate the need for increased awareness of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis and the associated risk factors, particularly in developing countries.
Abstract
Acanthamoeba
is an opportunistic protozoan that is widely distributed in the environment and is well recognized to produce serious human infections, including a blinding keratitis and a ...fatal encephalitis. This review presents our current understanding of the burden of
Acanthamoeba
infections on human health, their pathogenesis and pathophysiology, and molecular mechanisms associated with the disease, as well as virulence traits of
Acanthamoeba
that may be targets for therapeutic interventions and/or the development of preventative measures.
This paper investigates the incompressible mixed convection flow of electrically conductive micropolar fluid with a thermal non-equilibrium condition that passes through the vertical circular (pipe) ...porous medium. The extension of the non-Darcy-Brinkman-Forchheimer model is considered to formulate the governing non-linear system of differential equations for the problem. Furthermore, the rigorous impact of different parameters such as thermal conductivity ratio
, inter-phase heat transfer coefficient
, Darcy number
, Grashof number
, Eringen micro-polar parameter
, Hartmann number
, solid-heat generation
, and fluid heat generation parameter
on velocity profile
, micro-rotational (angular velocity)
, temperature of solid
and fluid
has been investigated by using the computational strength of artificial intelligence based Elman neural networks (ENN) and Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm (LMA). We have compared the solutions calculated by the designed ENN-LM algorithm with the Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA), Chebyshev spectral collocation method (CSCM), particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, and Runge-Kutta method. The convergence rate and stability of the ENN-LM technique show that it can be applied to solving complex models involving partial and fractional differential equations.
...carbohydrates affecting agents are potential drug targets against cysts. Galactocerebrosides are typically found in neural tissue, while glucocerebrosides are found in other tissues. ...in the ...human body, glucose is changed into galactose in order to enable the mammary glands to secrete lactose. The abundance of galactose found in cyst walls suggest the presence of various compounds, which might be completely unknown as well. ...the galactose component of Acanthamoeba cysts should be subjected to thorough spectroscopic and chromatographic identification so that further understanding of the possible pathways could be developed, which will lead to novel drug targets. ...isolation and structural analysis of complex glycosides present in cyst walls by spectroscopic techniques guarantees further understanding of resistant Acanthamoeba cysts.
Chemical kinetics is a branch of chemistry that is founded on understanding chemical reaction rates. Chemical kinetics relates many aspects of cosmology, geology, and even in some cases of, ...psychology. There is a need for mathematical modelling of these chemical reactions. Therefore, the present research is based on chemical kinetics-based modelling and dynamics of enzyme processes. This research looks at the two-step substrate-enzyme reversible response. In the two step-reversible reactions, substrate combines with enzymes which is further converted into products with two steps. The model is displayed through the flow chart, which is then transformed into ODEs. The Atangana-Baleanu time-fractional operator and the Mittag-Leffler kernel are used to convert the original set of highly nonlinear coupled integer order ordinary differential equations into a fractional-order model. Additionally, it is shown that the solution to the investigated fractional model is unique, limited, and may be represented by its response velocity. A numerical scheme, also known as the Atangana-Toufik method, based on Newton polynomial interpolation technique via MATLAB software, is adopted to find the graphical results. The dynamics of reaction against different reaction rates are presented through various figures. It is observed that the forward reaction rates increase the reaction speed while backward reaction rates reduce it.
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