Payal Das

Background: Dietary changes and habits influence risk and prognosis of head and neck cancer (HNC). Diet assessment is part of cancer management; however, related research remain poorly understood. This bibliometric study aimed to evaluate publication trends, key contributors, and thematic focus of diet assessment in HNC. Methodology: Scopus database was searched systematically using keywords related to HNC and dietary assessment tools in title, abstract, and keywords of relevant articles. Only peer-reviewed original studies were included; grey literature and unrelated articles were excluded. Data were analysed using Bibliometrix (RStudio) and VOSviewer to explore publication trends, research focus, co-authorship networks, top countries, institutions, authors journals, and emerging keywords. Results: From 1975 to 2025, 587 documents from 257 journals were retrieved. Research output increased after 2000, peaking in 2021. Nutrients, Head and Neck, and Supportive Care in Cancer were major publishing venues. USA, Italy, and China led in publication output. Conclusion: Diet assessment in HNC is on emphasis in recent decades. Research evolved from identifying risk factors to clinical oncology. Despite its high disease burden, India lags in publication output. More collaboration is required between different income-level countries for creating culturally and regionally adapted diet assessments. Research remains scarce on emerging lifestyle risks.

India experienced the second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infection from April 3 to June 10, 2021. During the second wave, Delta variant B.1617.2 emerged as the predominant strain, spiking cases from 12.5 million to 29.3 million (cumulative) by the end of the surge in India. Vaccines against COVID-19 are a potent tool to control and end the pandemic in addition to other control measures. India rolled out its vaccination programme on January 16, 2021, initially with two vaccines that were given emergency authorization–Covaxin (BBV152) and Covishield (ChAdOx1 nCoV- 19). Vaccination was initially started for the elderly (60+) and front-line workers and then gradually opened to different age groups. The second wave hit when vaccination was picking up pace in India. There were instances of vaccinated people (fully and partially) getting infected, and reinfections were also reported. We undertook a survey of staff (front line health care workers and supporting) of 15 medical colleges and research institutes across India to assess the vaccination coverage, incidence of breakthrough infections, and reinfections among them from June 2 to July 10, 2021. A total of 1876 staff participated, and 1484 forms were selected for analysis after removing duplicates and erroneous entries (n = 392). We found that among the respondents at the time of response, 17.6% were unvaccinated, 19.8% were partially vaccinated (received the first dose), and 62.5% were fully vaccinated (received both doses). Incidence of breakthrough infections was 8.7% among the 801 individuals (70/801) tested at least 14 days after the 2nd dose of vaccine. Eight participants reported reinfection in the overall infected group and reinfection incidence rate was 5.1%. Out of (N = 349) infected individuals 243 (69.6%) were unvaccinated and 106 (30.3%) were vaccinated. Our findings reveal the protective effect of vaccination and its role as an essential tool in the struggle against this pandemic.

We describe the epidemiological characteristics and associated risk factors of those presenting at a large testing centre for SARS-CoV-2 infection. This is a retrospective record review of individuals who underwent SARS-CoV-2 testing by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) at a high-throughput national-level government facility located in the north of India. Samples collected from 6 April to 31 December 2020 are included in this work and represent four highly populous regions. Additionally, there was a prospective follow-up of 1729 cases through telephone interviews from 25 May 2020 to 20 June 2020. Descriptive analysis has been performed for profiling clinic-epidemiological aspects of suspect cases. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was undertaken to determine risk factors that are associated with SARS-CoV-2 test positivity and symptom status. A total of 125 600 participants' details have been included in this report. The mean (s.d.) age of the participants was 33.1 (±15.3) years and 66% were male. Among these tested, 9515 (7.6%) were positive for COVID-19. A large proportion of positive cases were asymptomatic. In symptomatic positive cases, the commonest symptoms were cough and fever. Increasing age (groups 20–59 and ≥60 years compared to age group less than 5 years), male sex, history of international travel, symptoms for SARS-CoV-2, and participants from Delhi and Madhya Pradesh were positively associated with SARS-CoV-2 test positivity. Having co-morbidity, risk behaviours and intra-familial positivity were associated with a positive odds ratio for exhibiting SARS-CoV-2 symptoms. Intensified testing and isolation of cases, identification of both asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals and additional care of those with co-morbidities and risk behaviours will all be collectively important for disease containment in India. Reasons for differentials in testing between men and women remain an important area for in-depth study. The increased deployment of vaccines is likely to impact the trajectory of COVID-19 in the coming time, and therefore our data will serve as a comparative resource as India experiences the second wave of infection in light of newer variants that are likely to accelerate disease spread.

Background: Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing is an important segment of the Indian pharma industry. India ranks third in terms of volume of medicines produced, and is a major global supplier of generic medicines. However, India depends heavily on the import of several raw materials used to produce some of these medicines. Main Body: This paper highlights how the situation emerged, as well as the various steps taken by the government to reduce import dependency and promote domestic manufacturing of APIs. Through various consultations with government officials, policy analysts and academicians, and interactions with key industry experts, the paper also highlights the public health perspectives of such dependence, especially regarding the secure access to essential medicines. India needs a conducive ecosystem to capitalize on the full potential of its API manufacturing capabilities, which may require some short-term and some mid/long-term interventions. Conclusions: It concludes by providing certain short-, medium- and long-term recommendations in the policy, fiscal and technology domains, to promote API independence. It also summarizes the various steps taken by the government in moving towards domestic manufacturing of APIs.

To counter the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, each country must design sustainable control plans given the inherent disparities in wealth and healthcare systems. Most malaria-endemic countries run well-entrenched malaria control programs via their established frameworks for diagnosis, case management, treatment and overall surveillance. We propose that the malaria control infrastructures can be partially co-opted for launching sustainable COVID-19 mitigation plans.

Extracellular enzymes produced from Streptomyces have the potential to replace toxic chemicals that are being used in various industries. The endorsement of this replacement has not received a better platform in developing countries. In this review, we have discussed the impact of chemicals and conventional practices on environmental health, and the role of extracellular enzymes to replace these practices. Burning of fossil fuels and agriculture residue is a global issue, but the production of biofuel using extracellular enzymes may be the single key to solve all these issues. We have discussed the replacement of hazardous chemicals with the use of xylanase, cellulase, and pectinase in food industries. In paper industries, delignification was done by the chemical treatment, but xylanase and laccase have the efficient potential to remove the lignin from pulp. In textile industries, the conventional method includes the chemicals which affect the nervous system and other organs. The use of xylanase, cellulase, and pectinase in different processes can give a safe and environment-friendly option to textile industries. Hazardous chemical pesticides can be replaced by the use of chitinase as an insecticide and fungicide in agricultural practices.

Most countries around the world have responded promptly to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) challenge by adopting considered and scientifically guided strategies for its containment. However, the situation is more complex for nations where malaria is endemic, as they now have the additional burden of COVID-19. In such nations, the healthcare systems are either in the preparatory or containment phase of the current pandemic. This enforced, sudden, and sharp public health refocus is likely to result in the disruption of annual malaria control activities such as distribution of insecticide-impregnated bed nets, indoor residual spraying of insecticide, maintenance of malaria surveillance, and mass provision of antimalarial drugs. Nonetheless, we feel that the best facets of COVID-19 public health management can become new guiding principles in malaria-endemic countries to improve malaria control and hasten malaria elimination. Redirection against malaria of the best public health initiatives used in COVID-19 containment could fast-track the global goal of a malaria-free world. Such public health advancement could be one positive outcome from the scourge of COVID-19.

Streptomyces sp. strain 130 possesses multiple uncharacterized extracellular enzyme producing genes. Enzymes from these genes may fulfil the intense demand of stable and effective extracellular enzymes in various industries. Taxonomy of Streptomyces sp. strain 130 was validated by FAME analysis. Strain 130 was screened for the presence of chitinase producing genes of family 18 and 19 using SC1F/SC2R and F19F2/F19R primer sets respectively. Whole genome sequencing was done using Illumina Next Seq 500 system. In the analysis of draft genome of Streptomyces sp. strain 130, the genome size was found to be 7.1 Mb. Blastn and NCBI-conserved domain search tool were used to find similarity percentage with genes in existing database and enzyme family respectively. Ten chitinase, six xylanase and one cellulase producing genes were present in draft genome. Among the ten chitinase producing genes, two were belonging to GH19 family and other eight to GH18 family chitinase. Six out of ten chitinase producing genes were uncharacterized and one belonged to family GH18_PF-ChiA (PF-ChiA is a chitinase found in the hyperthermophilic archaea, prokaryotes). In case of xylanase, four out of six (GH9, 43, 10 and 11 enzyme family) were not showing nucleotide based similarity with any characterized gene. The study of reported genome sequence will help us to identify gene sequence of characterized and uncharacterized extracellular enzyme producing genes. Cloning of each gene and enzyme activity assay of their products will reveal the activity and stability at different variables; and resulting products may have huge applications at industrial scale.

Journal of Vector Borne Diseases, Official publication of National Institute of Malaria Research on behalf of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

Microbial extracellular chitinases are used in agriculture as effective biocontrol agents and in waste degradation, pharmaceutical and food industry. Actinomycetes are widely tapped group for production of extracellular chitinases. In the present study, approximately 260 actinomycetes were isolated from various ecological habitats was subjected to primary analyses and screened for production of chitinase by plate assay method. Diameter of zones of hydrolysis ranged from 8 to 16 mm. Based on the results, isolates 130, 194, 184, NRRLB 24916 (Streptomyces mexicanus) and NRRLB 16746 (Streptomyces albidoflavus, positive control) were selected for secondary screening and purification. Enzyme activity was estimated in crude cell free extract and partially purified samples. Activity ranged from 7.16 to 14.12 IU/ml (in crude extracts) and 12.1 to 23.10 IU/ml (in partially purified samples). In case of highest chitinase producing isolate 130, effect of various fermentation conditions (pH, temperature and substrate concentration) was studied in crude extract. Furthermore, complete purification of isolate 130 was done by column chromatography and the activity in purified fraction was found to be 32.12 IU/ml. The Km and Vmax values of the purified fractions for isolate 130 were 2.11 µg/ml/min and 53.11mg/ml respectively. This shows that the enzyme has high affinity for the substrate. SDS gel electrophoresis of the purified fraction showed presence of single band of approximately 65 to 70 kDa. Analyses of purified chitinase were done using MS/MS technique. N-terminal sequence corresponded to chitinase, the gene encodes a protein of 453 amino acid residues. Comparison of deduced amino acid sequence to other chitinases in the database indicated that enzyme showed 70% similarity with chitinase from Streptomyces plicatus and belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 18. Homology modeling showed that the enzyme was folded into a domain of (α/β)8 barrel structure. Identification of secondary structure was done by CD spectroscopy. Isolate 130 was capable of degrading biodegradable wastes such as crustacean shells. Key words: Actinomycetes, extracellular chitinase, primary screening, secondary screening, purification, MS/MS analyses, homology modelling, protein structure, biodegradation.