Plant-derived protease inhibitors (PIs) are a promising defensin for crop improvement and insect pest management. Although agronomist made significant efforts in utilizing PIs for managing insect pests, the potentials of PIs are still obscured. Insect ability to compensate nutrient starvation induced by dietary PI feeding using different strategies, that is, overexpression of PI-sensitive protease, expression of PI-insensitive proteases, degradation of PI, has made this innumerable collection of PIs worthless. A practical challenge for agronomist is to identify potent PI candidates, to limit insect compensatory responses and to elucidate insect compensatory and resistance mechanisms activated upon herbivory. This knowledge could be further efficiently utilized to identify potential targets for RNAi-mediated pest control. These vital genes of insects could be functionally annotated using the advanced gene-editing technique, CRISPR/Cas9. Contemporary research is exploiting different in silico and modern molecular biology techniques to utilize PIs in controlling insect pests efficiently. This review is structured to update recent advancements in this field, along with its chronological background.

Influenza A and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) has been recognized as a major cause of acute respiratory tract infection. H1N1 is one of the subtypes of influenza A, pandemic worldwide in July 2009, causing 18,449 deaths globally. To investigate the prevalence and clinical manifestation of the influenza A, H1N1pdm09, and RSV. Throat/nasal swab collected from the patients of all age group either outpatients/inpatients having respiratory illness from 2 to 5 days. The clinical data were recorded in a predesigned questionnaire. RNA was extracted and analyzed by real time PCR at a tertiary care center, 2009-2014. Total 4,352 samples tested for influenza A and H1N1. Out of 4,352, 32.2% (median positivity 21%; range 16-41% during 6 years) were positive for influenza A and 19% were H1N1 (median positivity 16.7%; range 8.7-23% during 6 years). Total 1653 samples were analyzed for RSV from 2011 to 2014, 12% were RSV positive (median positivity 11.35%; range 10-16.3% during 4 years). Pharyngitis, dyspnea were frequent symptoms in influenza A and H1N1 (P < 0.005) whereas bronchiolitis and pneumonia were commonly present in RSV (P < 0.005). The positivity of influenza A and H1N1 was higher in age-group 21-30, whereas RSV in infant and children. H1N1 and RSV were co-circulated and have common clinical symptoms particularly in lower age group. Therefore, laboratory confirmation is necessary for further disease prognosis. Age was an important risk factor that affects the positivity of influenza A, H1N1, and RSV. Different clinical manifestation of H1N1 and RSV will be helpful for early and accurate diagnosis. J. Med. Virol. 89:49-54, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Laboratory abnormalities associated with MAS are not uncommon in active SoJIA. Soluble CD25 > 7500 pg/mL may be a marker to detect children with subclinical MAS.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding RNA that modulate the expression of multiple target genes at the post-transcriptional level. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in pre-miRNAs can alter miRNA expression, and polymorphism in target molecules can affect binding to target mRNA. Studies have shown an association between miR-146a gene polymorphism and autoimmune diseases. A target for miR-146a is IRAK1. We studied the SNPs of miRNA-146 and IRAK1 to see their association with susceptibility to juvenile idiopathic arthritis-enthesitis-related arthritis (JIA-ERA). One hundred and fifty patients with JIA-ERA (ILAR criteria) were included in the study. A total of 216 blood donors (201 male) with a mean age of 30.5 years served as controls. miR-146a (rs2910164) and its target IRAK1 (rs1059703) at exon-12 region and IRAK1 (rs3027898) at 3'UTR polymorphisms were analyzed using PCR-RFLP method. Among 150 patients, 133 were males and the mean age at onset of disease was 11 (4-16) years, mean disease duration was 4.5 (0.3-12) years. Twenty-two had uveitis and 21 had positive family history of spondyloarthropathy, 73 had enthesitis, 75 had inflammatory back pain, and all had arthritis. HLA B27 was present in 116 patients. Genotype frequency of miR-146a gene was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in healthy controls. The genotype frequency for miR-146a was different in controls and patients [GG (51.85 vs. 50.0 %), GC (42.13 vs. 37.29 %) and CC (6.02 vs. 12.71 %), OR = 2.18; 95 % CI 1.02-4.68; p value = 0.0418]. The allele frequencies of IRAK1 (rs1059703) and IRAK1 (rs3027898) in males and genotype frequency in females were similar in controls and patients. The C allele of IRAK1 (rs1059703) was in linkage disequilibrium with T allele of IRAK1 (rs3027898). The CC genotype of the miR-146a rs2910164 polymorphism was significantly associated with the susceptibility to JIA-ERA.

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