The proliferation of large-scale DNA-sequencing projects in recent years has driven a search for alternative methods to reduce time and cost. Here we describe a scalable, highly parallel sequencing ...system with raw throughput significantly greater than that of state-of-the-art capillary electrophoresis instruments. The apparatus uses a novel fibre-optic slide of individual wells and is able to sequence 25 million bases, at 99% or better accuracy, in one four-hour run. To achieve an approximately 100-fold increase in throughput over current Sanger sequencing technology, we have developed an emulsion method for DNA amplification and an instrument for sequencing by synthesis using a pyrosequencing protocol optimized for solid support and picolitre-scale volumes. Here we show the utility, throughput, accuracy and robustness of this system by shotgun sequencing and de novo assembly of the Mycoplasma genitalium genome with 96% coverage at 99.96% accuracy in one run of the machine.
Hunting and butchering of wild non-human primates infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) is thought to have sparked the HIV pandemic. Although SIV and other primate retroviruses infect ...laboratory workers and zoo workers, zoonotic retrovirus transmission has not been documented in natural settings. We investigated zoonotic infection in individuals living in central Africa.
We obtained behavioural data, plasma samples, and peripheral blood lymphocytes from individuals living in rural villages in Cameroon. We did serological testing, PCR, and sequence analysis to obtain evidence of retrovirus infection.
Zoonotic infections with simian foamy virus (SFV), a retrovirus endemic in most Old World primates, were identified in people living in central African forests who reported direct contact with blood and body fluids of wild non-human primates. Ten (1%) of 1099 individuals had antibodies to SFV. Sequence analysis from these individuals revealed three geographically-independent human SFV infections, each of which was acquired from a distinct non-human primate lineage: De Brazza's guenon (Cercopithecus neglectus), mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx), and gorilla (Gorilla gorilla), two of which (De Brazza's guenon and mandrill) are naturally infected with SIV.
Our findings show that retroviruses are actively crossing into human populations, and demonstrate that people in central Africa are currently infected with SFV. Contact with non-human primates, such as happens during hunting and butchering, can play a part in the emergence of human retroviruses and the reduction of primate bushmeat hunting has the potential to decrease the frequency of disease emergence.
Ki-67 (MIB-1) immunostaining to quantify the proliferative index of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) has been recommended (especially for small biopsies). However, this has a number of challenges with ...nonrepresentative Ki-67 index due to interference by Ki-67 immunoreactive proliferating lymphocytes infiltrating the tumor and also some proliferating stromal cells including endothelial cells in the background. Our pilot project showed that dual-color immunostaining with inclusion of leukocyte common antigen (LCA) (Ki-67: nuclear brown; LCA: cytoplasmic red) can facilitate the weeding out of lymphocyte interference. We analyzed the results with 23 surgical cases of pancreatic NETs. This was followed by poststudy examination of 11 cases of endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration of the pancreatic NETs (PanNETs) to evaluate the findings of the study. Dual-color immunostaining for Ki-67 with LCA increased the precision of quantifying Ki-67 index, due to ability to exclude LCA immunoreactive lymphocytes. Other nontumor Ki-67 immunoreactive cells such as endothelial and stromal cells could be distinguished morphologically. Digital methods were also attempted, but this approach could not distinguish infiltrating lymphocytes and other cells in sections resulting in erroneous results. This study demonstrated that grading of PanNET can be performed with increased precision with dual-color Ki-67 immunostaining protocol standardized in this study. As evaluated on a few cytopathology cases, this protocol is especially useful for the evaluation of small biopsies and cell block sections of fine-needle aspiration biopsy material where 50 high-power fields cannot be evaluated but have >500 tumor cell nuclei.
Persons occupationally exposed to nonhuman primates (NHPs) can be persistently infected with simian foamy virus (SFV). The clinical significance and person-to-person transmissibility of zoonotic SFV ...infection is unclear. Seven SFV-infected men responded to annual structured interviews and provided whole blood, oral, and urogenital specimens for study. Wives were tested for SFV infection. Proviral DNA was consistently detected by PCR in PBMCs of infected men and inconsistently in oral or urogenital samples. SFV was infrequently cultured from their PBMCs and throat swabs. Despite this and a long period of intimate exposure (median 20 years), wives were SFV negative. Most participants reported nonspecific symptoms and diseases common to aging. However, one of two persons with mild thrombocytopenia had clinically asymptomatic nonprogressive, monoclonal natural killer cell lymphocytosis of unclear relationship to SFV. All participants worked with NHPs before 1988 using mucocutaneous protection inconsistently; 57% described percutaneous injuries involving the infecting NHP species. SFV likely transmits to humans through both percutaneous and mucocutaneous exposures to NHP body fluids. Limited follow-up has not identified SFV-associated illness and secondary transmission among humans.
Aims: The aims of this study are to determine the prevalence and type of tobacco use among dental students and to identify the factors that influence them to initiate tobacco use. Subjects and ...Methods: Dental students at two dental colleges affiliated to State Health University of Kerala answered a 20-item questionnaire during Jan-Feb 2015 that investigated their smoking habits and knowledge about the risk factors of smoking habits. The questions were based on the modified Global Health Professional Students Survey (GHPSS) by WHO. Some additional questions were also added from Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) by WHO to meet the objective of this study. Result: Current smoking was reported by 17% of the participants. None of the participants smoked more than half a packet of cigarette. More students from families with at least one tobacco user were using tobacco than those from families with no members using tobacco (51.2 versus 37.0%, respectively). The majority of dental students (92%) considered education on tobacco use cessation to be the responsibility of dentists/doctors. Conclusion: One of the main aims of this study was to shed light on the knowledge and attitudes of dental students on tobacco use cessation. Fairly high number of participants reported receiving inadequate information on tobacco cessation during their studies. Dental students should be taught and encouraged early on to routinely discuss with smokers the impacts of smoking on health.
There is a worldwide increase in the incidence of stroke in young adults, with major regional and ethnic differences. Advancing knowledge of ethnic and regional variation in causes and outcomes will ...be beneficial in implementation of regional health care services. We studied the global distribution of risk factors, causes, and 3-month mortality of young patients with ischemic stroke, by performing a patient data meta-analysis from different cohorts worldwide.
We performed a pooled analysis of individual patient data from cohort studies that included consecutive patients with ischemic stroke aged 18-50 years. We studied differences in prevalence of risk factors and causes of ischemic stroke between different ethnic and racial groups, geographic regions, and countries with different income levels. We investigated differences in 3-month mortality by mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression.
We included 17,663 patients from 32 cohorts in 29 countries. Hypertension and diabetes were most prevalent in Black (hypertension, 52.1%; diabetes, 20.7%) and Asian patients (hypertension 46.1%, diabetes, 20.9%). Large vessel atherosclerosis and small vessel disease were more often the cause of stroke in high-income countries (HICs; both
< 0.001), whereas "other determined stroke" and "undetermined stroke" were higher in low and middle-income countries (LMICs; both
< 0.001). Patients in LMICs were younger, had less vascular risk factors, and despite this, more often died within 3 months than those from HICs (odds ratio 2.49; 95% confidence interval 1.42-4.36).
Ethnoracial and regional differences in risk factors and causes of stroke at young age provide an understanding of ethnic and racial and regional differences in incidence of ischemic stroke. Our results also highlight the dissimilarities in outcome after stroke in young adults that exist between LMICs and HICs, which should serve as call to action to improve health care facilities in LMICs.
The word forensic, defined by Clark, is derived from the Latin word "
," which means "
." Odontology refers to the study of teeth. Even though the scope of forensic odontology is well established ...among dental professionals, its practical application lies largely in the hands of medicolegal professionals. The interaction between the above mentioned two communities is highly crucial for the proper application of forensic odontology in medicolegal issues.
The main aim of this study is to analyze the knowledge, attitude, and practice of forensic odontology among medical practitioners in central Kerala since they are the connecting link between victims and the forensic odontologists.
A total of 200 medical practitioners had participated in the study, and the response rate was 100%. The study indicated that medical practitioners who are having an experience of above 15 years had more knowledge regarding forensic odontology when compared with those below 15 years of experience. However, the awareness of modern technologies in forensic odontology and latest techniques to register dental markings were found to be more prevalent among doctors with less than 15 years of experience.
Background: Microbial contamination of cosmetics products is of incredible significance since it will not only cause significant health hazardous but also act as a potential source of infections. ...Contamination will cause spoilage of the item and when pathogenic they become a genuine threat for its users. Aim: To evaluate the bacterial contamination in regularly used lipsticks. Objectives: To identify the pathogenic organism present in the lipsticks.To understand the potential complications of the organisms identified. Comparing the microbial count in used and new lipsticks.
Objective: Tuberculosis, known in short as TB, is considered to be a global crisis caused by Myco bacterium tuberculosis, and which continues to be a serious challenge to public health world wide ...especially in the developing countries. A serious problem related to tuberculosis is the development of drug resistant strains.
Methods: Present study describes the synthesis of eight novel derivatives of 1,3,4-thiadiazole derivatives and in vitro evaluation of their anti tubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37 Rv strain by alamar blue assay. Pyrazinamide and Streptomycin were the standards, used for the evaluation.
Results: Among the eight compounds synthesized one derivative was found to be active against the strain tested. All the other derivatives tested exhibited negligible activity against the strain.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that novel 1, 3, 4-thiadiazole derivatives can be developed as novel agents in the fight against TB.
PDF
