Predictor of Metabolic Syndrome: A community study from Urban Delhi, India

The aim of the present study is to assess and compare the presence of metabolic syndrome using IDF and Modified NCEP ATPIII criteria among Sunni Muslim of Delhi and to determine the optimal cut off values of different parameters for the detection of metabolic syndrome. A total of, 406 individuals (125 men, 281women) aged 35-65 years were recruited. Anthropometric, blood pressure and laboratory investigations were performed following the standard protocols. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves of waist circumference, serum triglycerides, High density lipoprotein cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and fasting blood glucose were created for the determination of the metabolic syndrome and the area under curve (AUC) was evaluated to determine the predictive efficiency of each variable of metabolic syndrome. The cut off values of each parameter with corresponding sensitivity, specificity, Youden index and likelihood ratios were estimated.  The overall metabolic syndrome assessed through Modified NCEP ATP III was 75.12% while through IDF criterion it was 75.36%. Majority of the participants were equally identified by both definitions. The metabolic syndrome was higher in women as compare to men using both the criteria. The area under curve (AUC) shows that serum triglycerides have highest predictive ability for metabolic syndrome in modified NCEP ATP III and IDF. The population specific cut off values of different variable to detect metabolic syndrome was formed. Although these result may not apply to rest of Indian population due to multi ethnicity but similar studies with large sample size to find the cut off values of parameter for metabolic syndrome is needed for better detection and prevention. 

Manifestation of malnutrition among Sunni Muslim Girls of Delhi (6-12 years)

Background: Obesity and undernutrition are the opposite extremes on the scale of adiposity, both of which are the manifestation of malnutrition .Childhood obesity are a global epidemic involving both developed and developing countries. It is a state of over-nutrition with long term complications such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease and type-2 diabetes. Underweight is the result of under nutrition and conceptualized in term of thinness which is also an important problem among children of developing countries like India, leading to reduction in growth and development of every body organ especially the Central Nervous System. Long term under-nutrition causes failure in linear growth (height) of the child. Objective: To assess the nutritional status among Sunni Muslim girls based on recently developed body mass index (BMI) cutoff points for children and adolescents. Methods The study subjects were selected form educational institutes of Delhi, India. A total of 370 girls aged 6-12 years were measured and included in the present study. Height and weight were measured and BMI was computed using standard formula. New age and sex specific international cutoff points were utilized to assess nutritional status. Result: In general the mean BMI increased with increasing age. The overall prevalence of thinness, normal weight and overweight were 38.37%, 50% and 11.62% respectively. Present study finds the nutritional stress among girls as evident from the thinness/underweight prevalent among them

Association of salivary pH in patients with dental caries and periodontal disease

Background: The aims of the study was to find out the prevalence of dental caries in healthy and periodontal disease and its association with salivary pH.Methods: A total of 80 healthy subjects reporting to the department of periodontology were selected. They were divided into four groups (clinically healthy gingival, chronic generalized gingivitis, chronic generalized periodontitis, and aggressive periodontitis) with 20 subjects in each. Periodontal parameters; decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index and salivary pH were recorded. Unstimulated whole saliva was collected according to Navazesh method. The pH of saliva was immediately measrued using a single electrode digital pH meter.Results: Based on statistical test it was seen that caries prevalence and DMFT was found out to be least in aggressive periodontitis group, along with least mean pH value, as compared to the other 3 groups, p<0.05.Conclusions: The low prevalence of caries in aggressive periodontitis can be attributed to the low pH of saliva. Salivary pH plays a vital role in the formation of microbial film, which in turn has a significant role in the pathogenesis of both dental caries and periodontitis

Egg-derived anti-SARS-CoV-2 Immunoglobulin Y (IgY) with broad variant activity as intranasal prophylaxis against COVID-19

UNLABELLED: COVID-19 emergency use authorizations and approvals for vaccines were achieved in record time. However, there remains a need to develop additional safe, effective, easy-to-produce, and inexpensive prevention to reduce the risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection. This need is due to difficulties in vaccine manufacturing and distribution, vaccine hesitancy, and, critically, the increased prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 variants with greater contagiousness or reduced sensitivity to immunity. Antibodies from eggs of hens (immunoglobulin Y; IgY) that were administered the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were developed for use as nasal drops to capture the virus on the nasal mucosa. Although initially raised against the 2019 novel coronavirus index strain (2019-nCoV), these anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgY surprisingly had indistinguishable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay binding against variants of concern that have emerged, including Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2), and Omicron (B.1.1.529). This is different from sera of immunized or convalescent patients. Culture neutralization titers against available Alpha, Beta, and Delta were also indistinguishable from the index SARS-CoV-2 strain. Efforts to develop these IgY for clinical use demonstrated that the intranasal anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgY preparation showed no binding (cross-reactivity) to a variety of human tissues and had an excellent safety profile in rats following 28-day intranasal delivery of the formulated IgY. A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase 1 study evaluating single-ascending and multiple doses of anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgY administered intranasally for 14 days in 48 healthy adults also demonstrated an excellent safety and tolerability profile, and no evidence of systemic absorption. As these antiviral IgY have broad selectivity against many variants of concern, are fast to produce, and are a low-cost product, their use as prophylaxis to reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral transmission warrants further evaluation. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04567810, identifier NCT04567810

Prevalence of Bourbon and Heartland viruses in field collected ticks at an environmental field station in St. Louis County, Missouri, USA

Heartland and Bourbon viruses are pathogenic tick-borne viruses putatively transmitted by Amblyomma americanum, an abundant tick species in Missouri. To assess the prevalence of these viruses in ticks, we collected 2778 ticks from eight sampling sites at Tyson Research Center, an environmental field station within St. Louis County and close to the City of St. Louis, from May - July in 2019 and 2021. Ticks were pooled according to life stage and sex, grouped by year and sampling site to create 355 pools and screened by RT-qPCR for Bourbon and Heartland viruses. Overall, 14 (3.9%) and 27 (7.6%) of the pools were positive for Bourbon virus and Heartland virus respectively. In 2019, 11 and 23 pools were positive for Bourbon and Heartland viruses respectively. These positives pools were of males, females and nymphs. In 2021, there were 4 virus positive pools out of which 3 were positive for both viruses and were comprised of females and nymphs. Five out of the 8 sampling sites were positive for at least one virus. This included a site that was positive for both viruses in both years. Detection of these viruses in an area close to a relatively large metropolis presents a greater public health threat than previously thought

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron virus causes attenuated disease in mice and hamsters

The recent emergence of B.1.1.529, the Omicron varian

3 -Consumer perception towards Integrated Marketing Communication tools in FMCG sector‖

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Gingival crevicular fluid resistin levels in chronic periodontitis with type 2 diabetes before and after non-surgical periodontal therapy: A clinico-biochemical study

Aim: Periodontitis and diabetes mellitus share a bidirectional relationship. Resistin is an adipocytokine shown to be associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Hence, the present study aims to estimate the effect of non-surgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) on GCF resistin levels in healthy individuals with gingivitis and well controlled diabetics with periodontitis, and correlate the same with HbA1c levels of the diabetic subjects. Materials and Methods: The present study was a comparative interventional trial set in Department of Periodontics, the Oxford Dental College, Bangalore. Forty subjects participated in the study and were divided into two groups; group I (healthy individuals with gingivitis) and group II (diabetic individuals with mild to moderate periodontitis). Periodontal parameters were assessed and GCF was collected and analysed for resistin before and 3 months after NSPT. Statistical Analysis: All the analysis was done using SPSS version 18. A P value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A significant difference was observed in GCF resistin concentrations between the two groups at baseline, wherein group II had significantly higher values. Following NSPT, there was a significant reduction in GCF resistin concentrations in both the groups, however intergroup comparison showed no difference in the amount of reduction. When all samples were analysed together, no significant correlation could be found between resistin and the parameters assessed. Conclusion: Resistin levels are increased in diabetes related periodontitis. However, post treatment a similar response can be seen between healthy and well controlled diabetics. Hence, resistin can be used as an inflammatory biomarker for diabetes related periodontal disease

Occupational Hand Eczema among Cement users in Nepal

Background: Occupational dermatitis among cement workers is a major occupational health concern and skin contact with cement has been associated with contact dermatitis, which ranges from cement burns to cumulative irritant contact dermatitis. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and severity of occupational cement contact dermatitis amongst cement workers in Nepal which is the first of its kind. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study amongst patients in construction site and hardware shops within the Kathmandu valley were selected. A structured questionnaire was used to evaluate the demographic data and work-related activities of these cement workers. A complete skin examination was conducted and skin manifestations were assessed by a dermatologist. The data collected was compiled and appropriate statistical tools was used to find out the significance of variables. Result: Out of the total number of workers screened 164/377 (43.50%) had hand contact dermatitis. There were males 148(90.2%) and females16 (9.8%) and the age ranged from 15-51 years ( mean 27.41± 7.68 years).The duration of the disease ranged from 1-360 months (median 36months (IQR=60).The most common site of lesion was palms (62.8%) followed by tip of the fingers in 39.0% patients and the most common morphology of the lesion was erythema seen in 59.1% followed by scaling seen in 51.8 % patients. Conclusion: The issue of contact and irritant hand eczema amongst cement workers in Nepal has had a considerable morbidity. Identification of these patients with adequate treatment, test of the suspected allergens and counseling could further help the patients involved