How specific is the immune response to malaria in adults living in endemic areas?

It is documented that people living in malaria endemic areas acquire immunity against malaria afterrepeated infections. Studies involving passive transfer of IgG from immune adults to the nonimmunesubjects have shown that circulating antibodies play an important role, and that immuneadults possess protective antibodies, which susceptible malaria patients do not. Through a differentialimmunoscreen, we have identified several novel cDNA clones, which react exclusively andyet extensively with immune sera samples. Specific antisera raised against the immunoclones inhibitthe growth of parasites in culture. The clones studied so far turn out to be novel conserved Plasmodiumgenes. In order to study the response of sera of adults from malaria endemic areas of Indiaand Africa to these immunogens, we carried out ELISA assays using these immunopeptides, otherP. falciparum specific antigens, peptides, antigens from other infections such as mycobacterial infectionsand other proteins such as BSA. Children from the same areas and normal healthy urbanpeople showed very little activity to each of these categories. A large percentage of adults from endemicareas responded positively to all the malarial immunogens tested. However, the same personsalso showed high response to other antigens and proteins as well. The implications of theseresults are reported in this paper

The relation between childhood maltreatment and psychosis in patients with schizophrenia and non-psychiatric controls

Several lines of evidence suggest that childhood maltreatment is associated with an increased risk for both psychotic disorders and subclinical psychotic-like experiences in the general population. Few studies, however, have sought to examine whether the strength of this relationship is comparable across patient and non-patient groups. The present study sought to compare the strength of the association between childhood maltreatment and self-reported psychotic symptoms in 447 healthy adult volunteers and 184 stable outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Strong positive correlations between childhood maltreatment and self-reported symptoms were observed in both groups. Although patients scored significantly higher than controls on both history of childhood maltreatment and self-reported symptoms, the strength of the relationship did not differ between groups. These data provide strong support for etiological continuity between subclinical psychotic symptoms and psychotic disorders. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Response of nigella (Nigella sativa L) variety NRCSS AN 1 to different agro-tech- niques

A field study was conducted during the winter seasons of 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 to studythe response of nigella (Nigella sativa L.) variety NRCSS AN-1 to different agro-techniquesunder semi-arid conditions. The yield attributes viz. number of capsules/plant, number ofseeds/capsule and 1000 seed weight were significantly high when crop was sown on 15 Octoberfollowed by 1 October sowing. Significantly higher seed yield of 8.84 q/ha was recordedwhen crop was sown on 15 October. The seed yield of 7.86 q/ha was significantly higherwith row spacing of 30 cm. The plant height and number of branches/plant were more atseed rate of 7 and 8 kg/ha and were noticed significantly high as compared to seed ratetreatment of 9 kg/ha. However, the seed yield attributes and seed yield (8.24 q/ha) weresignificantly high at seed rate of 8 kg/ha. The fertilizer dose of 50 kg N, 25 kg P2O5 and 20 kgK2O /ha was found optimum and produced higher seed yield of 7.87 q/ha. The days to 50%flowering was not affected considerably with different treatments. The essential oil contentincreased significantly when crop was sown at wider spacing of 40 cm and with applicationof fertilizer dose of 50 kg N, 25 kg P2O5 and 20 kg K2O /ha. &nbsp

Relationships between hyperinsulinaemia, magnesium, vitamin D, thrombosis and COVID-19: rationale for clinical management

Risk factors for COVID-19 patients with poorer outcomes include pre-existing conditions: obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart failure, hypertension, low oxygen saturation capacity, cancer, elevated: ferritin, C reactive protein (CRP) and D-dimer. A common denominator, hyperinsulinaemia, provides a plausible mechanism of action, underlying CVD, hypertension and strokes, all conditions typified with thrombi. The underlying science provides a theoretical management algorithm for the frontline practitioners. Vitamin D activation requires magnesium. Hyperinsulinaemia promotes: magnesium depletion via increased renal excretion, reduced intracellular levels, lowers vitamin D status via sequestration into adipocytes and hydroxylation activation inhibition. Hyperinsulinaemia mediates thrombi development via: fibrinolysis inhibition, anticoagulation production dysregulation, increasing reactive oxygen species, decreased antioxidant capacity via nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide depletion, haem oxidation and catabolism, producing carbon monoxide, increasing deep vein thrombosis risk and pulmonary emboli. Increased haem-synthesis demand upregulates carbon dioxide production, decreasing oxygen saturation capacity. Hyperinsulinaemia decreases cholesterol sulfurylation to cholesterol sulfate, as low vitamin D regulation due to magnesium depletion and/or vitamin D sequestration and/or diminished activation capacity decreases sulfotransferase enzyme SULT2B1b activity, consequently decreasing plasma membrane negative charge between red blood cells, platelets and endothelial cells, thus increasing agglutination and thrombosis. Patients with COVID-19 admitted with hyperglycaemia and/or hyperinsulinaemia should be placed on a restricted refined carbohydrate diet, with limited use of intravenous dextrose solutions. Degree/level of restriction is determined by serial testing of blood glucose, insulin and ketones. Supplemental magnesium, vitamin D and zinc should be administered. By implementing refined carbohydrate restriction, three primary risk factors, hyperinsulinaemia, hyperglycaemia and hypertension, that increase inflammation, coagulation and thrombosis risk are rapidly managed

MATRICS cognitive consensus battery (MCCB) performance in children, adolescents, and young adults

Background: Neurodevelopmental models of schizophrenia suggest that cognitive deficits may be observed during childhood and adolescence, long before the onset of psychotic symptoms. Elucidating the trajectory of normal cognitive development during childhood and adolescence may therefore provide a basis for identifying specific abnormalities related to the development of schizophrenia. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), which was designed for use in clinical trials targeting cognitive deficits most common in schizophrenia, may provide a mechanism to understand this trajectory. To date, however, there is no performance data for the MCCB in healthy children and adolescents. The present study sought to establish performance data for the MCCB in healthy children, adolescents, and young adults. Methods: The MCCB was administered to a community sample of 190 healthy subjects between the ages of 8 and 23 years. All MCCB domain scores were converted to T-scores using sample means and standard deviations and were compared for significant performance differences between sex and age strata. Results: Analyses revealed age effects following quadratic trends in all MCCB domains, which is consistent with research showing a leveling off of childhood cognitive improvement upon approaching late adolescence. Sex effects after controlling for age only presented for one MCCB domain, with males exhibiting well-known spatial reasoning advantages. Conclusions: Utilizing this performance data may aid future research seeking to elucidate specific deficits that may be predictive of later development of SZ. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Cost-effectiveness of magnetic resonance imaging in cervical clearance of obtunded blunt trauma after a normal computed tomographic finding

© 2018 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. IMPORTANCE Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) continues to be performed for cervical clearance of obtunded blunt trauma, despite poor evidence regarding its utility after a normal computed tomographic (CT) finding. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the utility and cost-effectiveness of MRI vs no follow-up after a normal cervical CT finding in patients with obtunded blunt trauma. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS This cost-effectiveness analysis evaluated an average patient aged 40 years with blunt trauma from an institutional practice. The analysis used a Markov decision model over a lifetime horizon from a societal perspective with variables from systematic reviews and meta-analyses and reimbursement rates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, National Spinal Cord Injury Database, and other large published studies. Data were collected from the most recent literature available. INTERVENTIONS No follow-up vs MRI follow-up after a normal cervical CT finding. RESULTS In the base case of a 40-year-old patient, the cost of MRI follow-up was $14 185 with a health benefit of 24.02 quality-adjusted life-years (QALY); the cost of no follow-up was$1059 with a health benefit of 24.11 QALY, and thus no follow-up was the dominant strategy. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed no follow-up to be the better strategy in all 10 000 iterations. No follow-up was the better strategy when the negative predictive value of the initial CT was relatively high (\u3e98%) or the risk of an injury treated with a cervical collar turning into a permanent neurologic deficit was higher than 25% or when the risk of a missed injury turning into a neurologic deficit was less than 58%. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI were varied simultaneously in a 2-way sensitivity analysis, and no follow-up remained the optimal strategy. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Magnetic resonance imaging had a lower health benefit and a higher cost compared with no follow-up after a normal CT finding in patients with obtunded blunt trauma to the cervical spine, a finding that does not support the use of MRI in this group of patients. The conclusion is robust in sensitivity analyses varying key variables in the model. More literature on these key variables is needed before MRI can be considered to be beneficial in the evaluation of obtunded blunt trauma

Changing Behaviour: Successful Environmental Programmes in the Workplace

There is an increasing focus on improving the pro-environmental attitudes, behaviour and habits of individuals whether at home, in education, traveling, shopping or in the workplace. This article focuses on the workplace by conducting a multi-disciplinary literature review of research that has examined the influence of organisation-based behaviour change initiatives. The review includes only research evidence that measured actual environmental performance (e.g. energy use) rather than solely using self-reported methods (e.g. questionnaires). The authors develop an ‘Employee Pro-Environmental Behaviour’ (e-PEB) framework that contains individual, group, organisational and contextual factors that have predictive relevance across different behaviours and organisations. The review shows that the strongest predictors are environmental awareness, performance feedback, financial incentives, environmental infrastructure management support and training. A key finding from this review is that attitude change is not necessarily a pre-requisite for behaviour change in the workplace

Classification of chickpea growing environments to control genotype by environment interaction

Cluster analysis was used as a tool to classify chickpea growing environments. Data on time to flowering (days) and seed yield (kg ha-1) for two chickpea international yield trials developed by ICARDA and ICRISAT, and conducted by cooperating scientists during 1985–86 and 1986–87 were used for this study. The GENSTAT hierarchical, agglomerative clustering programme was employed with correlation coefficient as the distance measure and single linkage as the clustering strategy. Results revealed that by characterization of locations, the genotype x location interaction within a cluster/zone was minimized. From the classification, it appears that selection for performance at Tel Hadya-the main research station at ICARDA in Syria—should be relevant to much of Syria, the drier areas of Algeria and parts of the Iberian Peninsula. In absence of sufficient data and high degree of season-to-season variability in weather patterns it was not possible to indicate other key sites which could provide an opportunity for selection of materials for specific adaptation in a group of environments or a zon