Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most important animal diseases of economic significance globally. It is a highly infectious and contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals including sheep ...and goat. For sero-diagnosis of FMD, recombinant antigen-based assays are considered as alternatives to conventional approaches such as the liquid phase blocking ELISA (LPBE). The early interventions towards control measures cannot be implemented unless the disease gets promptly diagnosed. It is relatively difficult to clinically diagnose FMD in goat due to the usual milder form or unapparent nature of symptoms. Under such situations where clinical samples are not available, demonstration of infection-specific FMD virus (FMDV) antibodies in serum sample may help identifying the animals exposed to the virus in retrospect. Antibody to 3AB nonstructural protein (NSP) has been considered to be the most reliable indicator for FMD diagnosis. The current study extended the earlier designed recombinant 3AB3 protein-based indirect ELISA originally validated on bovine serum samples to testing serum samples of goat. The performance of the indirect ELISA was validated using internationally accepted PrioCHECK® FMDV NS kit. The overall diagnostic sensitivity (DSn) of the indirect ELISA was estimated to be 95.52% (619/648), while the diagnostic specificity (DSp) on naïve and vaccinated animals varied at 98.06% (557/568) and 94.15% (435/462), respectively. In India, where FMD is prevalent and the goat population is so high, this 'in-house' optimized assay can be considered to be an adjunct in sero-epidemiological investigation of FMD in goat.Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is one of the most important animal diseases of economic significance globally. It is a highly infectious and contagious disease of cloven-hoofed animals including sheep and goat. For sero-diagnosis of FMD, recombinant antigen-based assays are considered as alternatives to conventional approaches such as the liquid phase blocking ELISA (LPBE). The early interventions towards control measures cannot be implemented unless the disease gets promptly diagnosed. It is relatively difficult to clinically diagnose FMD in goat due to the usual milder form or unapparent nature of symptoms. Under such situations where clinical samples are not available, demonstration of infection-specific FMD virus (FMDV) antibodies in serum sample may help identifying the animals exposed to the virus in retrospect. Antibody to 3AB nonstructural protein (NSP) has been considered to be the most reliable indicator for FMD diagnosis. The current study extended the earlier designed recombinant 3AB3 protein-based indirect ELISA originally validated on bovine serum samples to testing serum samples of goat. The performance of the indirect ELISA was validated using internationally accepted PrioCHECK® FMDV NS kit. The overall diagnostic sensitivity (DSn) of the indirect ELISA was estimated to be 95.52% (619/648), while the diagnostic specificity (DSp) on naïve and vaccinated animals varied at 98.06% (557/568) and 94.15% (435/462), respectively. In India, where FMD is prevalent and the goat population is so high, this 'in-house' optimized assay can be considered to be an adjunct in sero-epidemiological investigation of FMD in goat.
Distressing effects on animal and human health with lethal progression, being used as bioweapon and shared features with non-pathogenic bacteria demands sensitive, specific, safe, cost effective and ...rapid detection methods for anthrax causing organisms. Conventional microbiology based diagnostics for anthrax are time consuming and need sophisticated equipment, while molecular diagnostics require less time and labor. The Loop mediated isothermal amplification assay (LAMP) is rapid, sensitive and specific assay and requires no specialized equipment. In the present study, we developed a LAMP assay for rapid as well as specific detection of Bacillus anthracis. The optimized assay produced positive results with the Sterne strain and one field isolate of B. anthracis and, negative results with other bacteria of the same and different genera within 2 h. Sensitivity was 500 fg of total DNA of B. anthracis, which was 100 times more sensitive than conventional PCR. The present study also demonstrated that the simple method of total DNA extraction by repeated boiling and freezing will not adversely affect the LAMP results. In conclusion, the optimized LAMP assay is a promising tool for the specific, sensitive, less time-consuming diagnosis for anthrax causing bacteria and also, for detecting the virulence of suspected B. anthracis cultures.
•Optimized a specific LAMP-PCR for B. anthracis.•Sensitivity was 500 fg and 50 pg of DNA with and without loop primers respectively.•Promising diagnostic tool for anthrax in an easy, time and cost-effective manner.•Can also be applied for testing the virulence of suspected cultures.
Summary
Foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) is an important transboundary disease with substantial economic impacts. Although between‐herd transmission of the disease has been well studied, studies focusing ...on within‐herd transmission using farm‐level outbreak data are rare. The aim of this study was to estimate parameters associated with within‐herd transmission, host physiological factors and FMD virus (FMDV) persistence using data collected from an outbreak that occurred at a large, organized dairy farm in India. Of 1,836 regularly vaccinated, adult dairy cattle, 222 had clinical signs of FMD over a 39‐day period. Assuming homogenous mixing, a frequency‐dependent compartmental model of disease transmission was built. The transmission coefficient and basic reproductive number were estimated to be between 16.2–18.4 and 67–88, respectively. Non‐pregnant animals were more likely to manifest clinical signs of FMD as compared to pregnant cattle. Based on oropharyngeal fluid (probang) sampling and FMDV‐specific RT‐PCR, four of 36 longitudinally sampled animals (14%) were persistently infected carriers 10.5 months post‐outbreak. There was no statistical difference between subclinical and clinically infected animals in the duration of the carrier state. However, prevalence of NSP‐ELISA antibodies differed significantly between subclinical and clinically infected animals 12 months after the outbreak with 83% seroprevalence amongst clinically infected cattle compared to 69% of subclinical animals. This study further elucidates within‐herd FMD transmission dynamics during the acute‐phase and characterizes duration of FMDV persistence and seroprevalence of FMD under natural conditions in an endemic setting.
Summary
The goal of this study was to characterize the properties and duration of the foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) carrier state and associated serological responses subsequent to vaccination and ...naturally occurring infection at two farms in northern India. Despite previous vaccination of cattle in these herds, clinical signs of FMD occurred in October 2013 within a subset of animals at the farms containing juvenile‐yearling heifers and steers (Farm A) and adult dairy cattle (Farm B). Subsequent to the outbreak, FMD virus (FMDV) asymptomatic carriers were identified in both herds by seroreactivity to FMDV non‐structural proteins and detection of FMDV genomic RNA in oropharyngeal fluid. Carriers’ seroreactivity and FMDV genome detection status were subsequently monitored monthly for 23 months. The mean extinction time of the carrier state was 13.1 ± 0.2 months, with extinction having occurred significantly faster amongst adult dairy cattle at Farm B compared to younger animals at Farm A. The rate of decrease in the proportion of carrier animals was calculated to be 0.07 per month. Seroprevalence against FMDV non‐structural proteins decreased over the course of the study period, but was found to increase transiently following repeated vaccinations. These data provide novel insights into viral and host factors associated with the FMDV carrier state under natural conditions. The findings reported herein may be relevant to field veterinarians and governmental regulatory entities engaged in FMD response and control measures.
The research paper presents implementation of a fuzzy rule and membership function-based fuzzy-aided PID controller for automatic generation control (AGC) in multiarea nonlinear power system. At the ...initial stage of this proposed work, a three-area nine-unit installed interconnected network is considered for developing different dynamic responses in response to AGC analysis. A modified approach named modified sine cosine algorithm (M-SCA) is proposed for tuning the gain parameters of the above-proposed fuzzy controller to produce close optimum gain values. The proposed modified algorithm is developed from its original sine cosine algorithm by improving and updating few equations which is capable of making the balance between exploration and exploitation levels of this algorithm and improving the updating quality of iteration. To impose supremacy of M-SCA technique, it is examined through convergence curves and its performance is compared with host sine cosine algorithm, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization algorithm. For controller supremacy analysis, the performance of the proposed fuzzy-aided PID controller is compared with conventional I, PI, and PID controllers, and it has been revealed that proposed M-SCA-tuned fuzzy-aided PID controller exhibits better performances through different deviated responses for AGC analysis. To demonstrate most standard and supremacy of proposed approaches, finally these are tested through a five-area ten-unit system considering some physical nonlinear constraints like generation rate constraint, governor dead band, boiler dynamics and time delay. At the final observation level, the proposed fuzzy controller has gone through different sensitivity analyses with variation of different system parametric conditions and different load conditions.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate HHV-6 and PVB19 infection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and immunofluorescent assay (IFA) in the myocardium of pediatric patients with dilated ...cardiomyopathy (DCM) and the impact of viral persistence in the cardiac allograft after heart transplantation (HT).
Methods: Multiplex droplet digital PCR was used to analyze the prevalence of viral sequences in myocardial samples from 48 pediatric DCM patients and 10 control subjects. Of the 48 DCM patients, 44 underwent HT. After HT, consecutive endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) samples were analyzed for the presence of PVB19 and HHV-6 antigens using IFA and the patients were evaluated for rejections, coronary vasculopathy, and graft loss.
Results: Of the 48 DCM patients, 14 had positive viral PCR results in explanted/autopsy hearts. Among them, PVB19 was found in 8/48, HHV6 in 4/48, both PVB19 and HHV6 in 1/48, and enterovirus in one, but no adenovirus was found. The EMB samples obtained after HT were positive for PVB19 and HHV-6 in 7/44 and 3/44 cases, respectively. Viral presence in both the explanted heart and the cardiac allograft was demonstrated in 4 patients, 3 of whom were positive for PVB19, and one of whom was positive for HHV-6 pretransplant. Coronary vasculopathy and graft loss were more common in patients with PVB19-positive myocardial tissues versus those who were PVB19-negative.
Conclusions: There is an association between PVB19 and HHV-6 infection and DCM in children. The study suggests the persistence of PVB19 and HHV-6 in the host can lead to subsequent viral reactivation in the transplanted heart, even in those recipients who do not have active myocarditis. PVB19 in the cardiac allograft tended toward higher adverse post-HT events.
The axial crushing response of fibre metal laminates (FML), in particular GLARE top-hat structures, has been investigated using experimental and numerical techniques, which are reported in this ...paper. Crushing performance (crush force, energy absorption) was evaluated for formed GLARE top-hat structures as an analogue for an energy absorbing aircraft sub-floor structure. A numerical simulation methodology was established which could accurately predict the crushing performance of GLARE top hat structures using commercial explicit finite element (FE) analysis tool LS-DYNA. Material characterisation at coupon level was conducted to measure the appropriate material properties required for the model to achieve good predictability. The successful demonstration of GLARE energy absorbing structures widens options to enhance crashworthiness; numerous applications of such GLARE structures could be envisaged, including reinforcement of aircraft sub-floors.
The crushing modes of GLARE top-hat structures were found to be complex, exhibiting mixed-mode failure which was a combination of the individual constituent failure modes. The metallic layers plastically deformed by folding and tearing while the composite layer failed with a wide range of failure patterns i.e. splaying, delamination and cracking. The top hat structures, most importantly, crushed in a stable progressive manner making them suitable for energy absorbing (EA) applications. The GLARE top hat structure’s crushing response is superior to its bare metal equivalent.
Given the complexity of the FML crushing process, there is tremendous scope for optimisation of the laminate parameters to maximise energy absorption. The good agreement obtained between the numerical and experimental results highlights the benefits of using simulation to predict the overall crashworthiness of FMLs.
Acetaminophen (N-acetyl-para-aminophenol (APAP)) toxicity causes acute liver failure by inducing centrilobular hepatic damage as a consequence of mitochondrial oxidative stress. Sterile inflammation, ...triggered by hepatic damage, facilitates gut bacterial translocation leading to systemic inflammation; TLR4-mediated activation by LPS has been shown to have a critical role in APAP-mediated hepatotoxicity. In this study, we demonstrate significant protection mediated by chitohexaose (Chtx) in mice challenged with a lethal dose of APAP (400 mg/kg b.w.). Decreased mortality by Chtx was associated with reduced hepatic damage, increased peritoneal migration of neutrophils, decreased mRNA expression of IL-1β as well as inhibition of inflammasome activation in liver. Further, an alternate mouse model of co-administration of a sublethal doses of APAP (200 mg/kg b.w.) and LPS (5 mg/kg b.w.) operating synergistically and mediating complete mortality was developed. Overwhelming inflammation, characterized by increased inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β and so on) in liver as well as in circulation and mortality was demonstrable in this model. Also, Chtx administration mediated significant reversal of mortality in APAP+LPS co-administered mice, which was associated with reduced IL-1β in liver and plasma cytokines in this model. In conclusion, Chtx being a small molecular weight linear carbohydrate offers promise for clinical management of liver failure associated with APAP overdose.
An experimental evaluation of the crushing behaviour of pressurised composite tubes is presented, with the intent to develop a variable load energy absorbing system. The influence of plug triggering ...radius on the energy absorption characteristics was determined. Seven different trigger radii were tested from 0mm (sharp corner) to 6mm. Experiments were performed under quasi-static (5mm/min) and low speed (900mm/min) conditions. It was found that there was a strong negative, yet nonlinear, correlation between the plug radius and the steady state crushing force of the tubes. The overall energy absorption of the composite tube specimens tested at higher crushing speed was slightly higher than those specimens tested at a lower rate.
Internal pressurisation is presented as a method to vary the crushing force of the tubes. A novel sealing-crushing system was demonstrated to achieve a simultaneously crushing and pressurised tube. The tubes were then axially crushed at two internal pressure levels: 9 bar and 18 bar. It was found that the force due to internal pressure did contribute to the crushing force of the tubes and was a significant proportion of the unpressurised crush force (up to 60% in one case). The potential for an adaptable composite crushing element under a range of impact energy scenarios was also demonstrated for the development of a proposed variable load energy absorber for realistic crash conditions.
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