Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment (TPT) is a powerful tool for preventing the TB infection from developing into active TB disease, and has recently been expanded to all household contacts of TB cases ...in India. This study employs a mixed-methods approach to conduct a situational analysis of the initial phase of TPT implementation among household contacts of pulmonary TB patients in three districts of Delhi, India. It was completed using a checklist based assessments, care cascade data, and qualitative analysis. Our observations indicated that organizational structure and planning were established, but implementation of TPT was suboptimal with issues in drug availability and procurement, budget, human resources, and training. Awareness and motivation, and shorter regimen, telephonic assessment, and collaboration with NGOs emerged as enablers. Apprehension about taking TPT, erratic drug supply, long duration of treatment, side effects, overburden, large population, INH resistance, data entry issues, and private provider reluctance emerged as barriers. The study revealed potential solutions for optimizing TPT implementation. It is evident that, while progress has been made in TPT implementation, there is room for improvement and refinement across various domains.
Spina bifida aperta (SBA), one of the most common congenital malformations, causes various neurological disorders. Pain is a common complaint of patients with SBA. However, little is known about the ...neuropathology of SBA-related pain. Because loss of g-aminobutyric acid GABAergic neurons in the spinal cord dorsal horn is associated with pain, we hypothesised the existence of crosstalk between SBA-related pain and alterations in GABAergic transmission in the spinal cord. Therefore, we investigated the kinetics of GABAergic transmission in the spinal cord dorsal horn in a chicken model of SBA. Neonatal chicks with SBA exhibited various pain-like behaviours, such as an increased number of vocalisations with elevated intensity (loudness) and frequency (pitch), reduced mobility, difficulty with locomotion, and escape reactions. Furthermore, the chicks with SBA did not respond to standard toe-pinching, indicating disruption of the spinal cord sensorimotor networks. These behavioural observations were concomitant with loss of GABAergic transmission in the spinal cord dorsal horn. We also found apoptosis of GABAergic neurons in the superficial dorsal horn in the early neonatal period, although cellular abnormalisation and propagation of neurodegenerative signals were evident at middle to advanced gestational stages. In conclusion, ablation of GABAergic neurons induced alterations in spinal cord neuronal networks, providing novel insights into the pathophysiology of SBA-related pain-like complications.
In Bangladesh, anthrax, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is considered an endemic disease affecting ruminants with sporadic zoonotic occurrences in humans. Due to the lack of knowledge ...about risks from an incorrect removal of infected carcasses, the disease is not properly monitored, and because of the socio-economic conditions, the situation is under-reported and under-diagnosed. For sensitive species, anthrax represents a fatal outcome with sudden death and sometimes bleeding from natural orifices. The most common source of infection for ruminants is ingestion of spores during grazing in contaminated pastures or through grass and water contaminated with anthrax spores. Domestic cattle, sheep and goats can also become infected through contaminated bone meal (used as feed) originating from anthrax-infected carcasses. The present investigation was conducted to isolate B. anthracis organisms from 169 samples (73 soil, 1 tissue, 4 bone and 91 bone meal samples) collected from 12 different districts of Bangladesh. The sampling was carried out from 2012 to 2015. Twelve samples resulted positive for B. anthracis. Biomolecular analyses were conducted starting from the Canonical Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (CanSNP) to analyze the phylogenetic origin of strains. The analysis of genotype, obtained through the Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) with the analysis of 15 Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR), demonstrated four different genotypes: two of them were previously identified in the district of Sirajganj. The sub-genotyping, conducted with Single Nucleotide Repeats analysis, revealed the presence of eight subgenotypes. The data of the present study concluded that there was no observed correlation between imported cattle feed and anthrax occurrence in Bangladesh and that the remarkable genetic variations of B. anthracis were found in the soil of numerous outbreaks in this country.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Introduction: Although the Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group of India (DIPSI) criterion is recommended by the Government of India guidelines, there is lack of consensus on a universal criterion for ...diagnosis of gestational diabetes. This has led to a wide variation of pregnant women being diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). The WHO 1999 and International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria are widely used globally and in India as well. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of DIPSI criteria in comparison to WHO 1999 and IADPSG criteria for diagnosis of GDM. Materials and Methods: A community-based study was conducted for a period of 1 year. Oral glucose tolerance test was done on 506 pregnant women identified through house-to-house survey. The proportion of GDM cases by WHO, IADPSG, and DIPSI criteria was calculated. The diagnostic accuracy of DIPSI criteria was assessed by calculating sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values taking WHO and IADSPG criteria as gold standard. Results: The prevalence of GDM was 14.2% by WHO criteria, 13% by DIPSI criteria, and 27.3% by IADPSG criteria; 10.3% were diagnosed by all the three criteria. The sensitivity and specificity of DIPSI criteria when the WHO criteria was taken as the gold standard was found to be 86.1% and 99.08%. The sensitivity and specificity of DIPSI criteria when the IADPSG criteria was taken as gold standard was found to be 44.93% and 98.91%, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of GDM is found to be much higher by IADPSG criteria as compared to the WHO and DIPSI criteria. The single-step approach DIPSI criteria have good diagnostic accuracy and can be used in epidemiological studies and are feasible for diagnosis of GDM in primary care settings.
Spina bifida aperta (SBA), one of the most common congenital malformations, causes lifelong neurological complications, particularly in terms of motor dysfunction. Fetuses with SBA exhibit voluntary ...leg movements
and during early neonatal life, but these disappear within the first few weeks after birth. However, the pathophysiological sequence underlying such motor dysfunction remains unclear. Additionally, because important insights have yet to be obtained from human cases, an appropriate animal model is essential. Here, we investigated the neuropathological mechanisms of progression of SBA-like motor dysfunctions in a neural tube surgery-induced chicken model of SBA at different pathogenesis points ranging from embryonic to posthatch ages. We found that chicks with SBA-like features lose voluntary leg movements and subsequently exhibit lower-limb paralysis within the first 2 weeks after hatching, coinciding with the synaptic change-induced disruption of spinal motor networks at the site of the SBA lesion in the lumbosacral region. Such synaptic changes reduced the ratio of inhibitory-to-excitatory inputs to motor neurons and were associated with a drastic loss of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic inputs and upregulation of the cholinergic activities of motor neurons. Furthermore, most of the neurons in ventral horns, which appeared to be suffering from excitotoxicity during the early postnatal days, underwent apoptosis. However, the triggers of cellular abnormalization and neurodegenerative signaling were evident in the middle- to late-gestational stages, probably attributable to the amniotic fluid-induced
milieu. In conclusion, we found that early neonatal loss of neurons in the ventral horn of exposed spinal cord affords novel insights into the pathophysiology of SBA-like leg dysfunction.
Optimum configuration of a micromixer with two-layer crossing microstructure was performed using mixing analysis, surrogate modeling, along with an optimization algorithm. Mixing performance was used ...to determine the optimum designs at Reynolds number 40. A surrogate modeling method based on a radial basis neural network (RBNN) was used to approximate the value of the objective function. The optimization study was carried out with three design variables; viz., the ratio of the main channel thickness to the pitch length (H/PI), the ratio of the thickness of the diagonal channel to the pitch length (W/PI), and the ratio of the depth of the channel to the pitch length (d/PI). Through a primary parametric study, the design space was constrained. The design points surrounded by the design constraints were chosen using a well-known technique called Latin hypercube sampling (LHS). The optimal design confirmed a 32.0% enhancement of the mixing index as compared to the reference design.
We aimed to explore coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) risk perception and prevention practices among people living in high- and low-population density areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 623 ...patients with confirmed COVID-19 agreed to participate in the survey. Additionally, we purposively selected 14 participants from diverse economic and occupational groups and conducted qualitative interviews for them accordingly. Approximately 70% of the respondents had low socioeconomic status. Among the 623 respondents, 146 were from low-density areas, and 477 were from high-density areas. The findings showed that study participants perceived COVID-19 as a punishment from the Almighty, especially for non-Muslims, and were not concerned about its severity. They also believed that coronavirus would not survive in hot temperatures or negatively impact Bangladeshis. This study revealed that people were reluctant to undergo COVID-19 testing. Family members hid if anyone tested positive for COVID-19 or did not adhere to institutional isolation. The findings showed that participants were not concerned about COVID-19 and believed that coronavirus would not have a devastating impact on Bangladeshis; thus, they were reluctant to follow prevention measures and undergo testing. Tailored interventions for specific targeted groups would be relevant in mitigating the prevailing misconceptions.
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•The Nb4AlC3 MAX phase compound is mechanically stable under the applied pressure (from 0 Gpa to 100 GPa).•The Nb4AlC3 compound show transitions from brittle to ductile after 40 Gpa ...pressure.•The average reflectivity of this compound is more than 60% for the studied pressure range which makes it a favorable material for reducing solar heat.•In terms of thermal properties, Nb4AlC3 compound has potential to be used as thermal barrier coating (TBC) material under pressure.
This article discusses the physical properties of the Nb4AlC3 MAX phase compound under the influence of pressure ranging from 0 to 100 GPa via the calculation of structural, mechanical, thermal, and optoelectrical properties by utilizing the density functional theory (DFT). Under the studied pressure range, the phase Nb4AlC3 is mechanically stable and various elastic moduli show a linear increase with pressure; while the machinability and dry lubricity show opposite cases. Nb4AlC3 shows brittle nature up to 20 GPa pressure, and after 20 GPa, Nb4AlC3 transits to ductile, and then the ductility increases with the further increase of pressure. Metallic feature is ensured from the band structure and density of states calculations as the valence band cross the Fermi level. The average reflectivity is more than 60% (from 0 to 100 GPa) which makes a capable solar heating reducing agent. The Debye temperature, minimum thermal conductivity, and melting point of the Nb4AlC3 compound have a linear increase response with pressure and the application of this compound as favorable thermal barrier coating (TBC) material.
A modified QuEChERS method was developed for the simultaneous analysis of tylosin (Tyl) and metronidazole (MNZ) residues in shrimp samples using LC-ESI-MS/MS. The sample extraction procedure was ...based on modified QuEChERS, and the cleanup method was dispersive solid-phase extraction (dSPE). Octadecyl (C18) and primary secondary amine (PSA) sorbents were used in the dSPE cleanup. Analyte chromatographic separations were carried out using a ZORBAX RRHD Eclipse Plus C18 (100 × 2.1 mm, particle size 1.8 μm) column. The mobile phase consisted of dilluting 0.1% of formic acid with water and acetonitrile. The analyte was identified with multiple reaction monitoring and positive electrospray ionization. The analyte showed good linearity in the range of 0.5–50 μg/L for both analytes, and correlation coefficients (R
2
) were 0.9997 and 0.9998 for Tyl and MNZ, respectively. For the recovery study, three different concentration levels were spiked in triplicate. The recovery obtained a good result in the range of 81–85 % for Tyl with relative standard deviation (RSD) ≤ ± 4.9% and in the range of 85–88% for MNZ with RSD ≤ ± 4.07 %. The limit of detection (LOD) was estimated at 0.4 μg/kg for Tyl and 0.3 μg/kg for MNZ, and the limit of quantification (LOQ) was estimated at 1 μg/kg for Tyl and 0.9 μg/kg for MNZ. The linearity and recovery study showed that the method is validated and can be used to determine the Tyl and MNZ residues in shrimp. Finally, the method was applied to 25 real samples, which were collected from local markets and super shops in Dhaka and Khulna districts of Bangladesh, and only traces of Tyl were detected in one sample. This method is suitable for the regular analysis of Tyl and MNZ antibiotic residues in shrimp samples and can be used to ensure food safety in Bangladesh.
The three quadrivalent dengue-virus vaccines have shown high efficacy in participants who are seropositive.2–4,6,7 The NIH vaccine (Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil) showed efficacy for dengue ...virus type 1 (DENV-1) and dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2), which were reported to be circulating during the study period in Brazil.6 Efficacy data could not be generated for dengue virus type 3 (DENV-3) and dengue virus type 4 (DENV-4). Only 22–28% of children in this age group remained seropositive for DENV-1, DENV-3, and DENV-4 after 3 years of follow-up compared with 69% seropositivity for DENV-2,10 which is a concern. Phase 3 trial designs also need to standardise hospitalisation criteria for virologically confirmed dengue across study sites to avoid any effects on efficacy data, as was observed for TAK-003 in Sri Lanka.4 Overall, phase 3 trials of dengue-virus vaccines in India might provide further impetus for efforts to control the spread of dengue virus to new regions and to strategise reducing the disease burden in endemic countries.
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