Towards a shared method to classify contaminated territories in the case of an accidental nuclear event: the PRIME project

The analysis of the management of the accidentally radioactive contaminated areas such as those around Chernobyl nuclear power plant highlights the fact that the current spatial classification methods hardly help in recovering proper use of the contaminated territory. The cause is mainly to be searched for in the traditional construction of risks assessment methods; these methods rest on criteria defined by institutional experts, which are not applicable in practise because they are not shared by all the stakeholders involved in the management of the contaminated territories. Opposite such top-down tentative management, local efforts supported by Non-Governmental Organizations to restore life in the contaminated area seem to be more fruitful but very time and resources consuming and limited to the specific areas where they are experimented. The aim of the PRIME project, in progress at the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, is to mix the advantages of both approaches in building a multicriteria decision tool based on the territorial specificities. The criteria of the method are chosen and weighted with representatives of the territory’s stakeholders (decision makers, local actors and experts) to warrant that all the points of view are taken into account and to enable the risk managers to choose the appropriate strategy in case of an accident involving radioactive substances. The area chosen for the pilot study is a 50 km radius territory around the nuclear sites of Tricastin-Pierrelatte in the lower valley of Rhône (France). One of the exploration questions of the PRIME project is whether a multicriteria method may be an appropriate tool to treat the data and make them visible and accessible for all the stakeholders

Multi-standards metadata cataloguing tools for Ocean Observatories

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Water quality assessment of selected domestic water sources in Dutsinma Town, Katsina State

Dutsinma town is the administrative headquarters of Dutsinma Local Government. The town is witnessing rapid urban expansion with increasing demand in water use, without expansion in the existing water facilities. The research assessed water quality of selected water sources in Dutsinma town. Five (5) categories of water sources (well, tap water vendors, dam, and borehole) were sampled, in which two samples from each of the water sources were collected in clean sterilized plastic bottles in the rainy season and taken for laboratory analysis. Furthermore, field interview was conducted to supplement the water sample information. The World Health Organization standard (WHO) and the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) for domestic water quality assessment were adopted in the study. ANOVA-F (One way) was adopted in testing the hypothesis. The results indicated that the major sources of water contamination are from urbanization effects such as irrigation/ farming activities around the dam, dumping of refuse in drainage channels, and exposed wells respectively. There is no significant variation in the water quality of selected domestic water sources in Dutsinma town. Laboratory analyses of water samples from the different sources reveals that tap water has pH value (4.61) which is acidic while the rest are within the approved standard. Dam had the lowest electrical conductivity (50.25μ/cm) and 56.15mg/l for total dissolve solute. Nitrate ion appears relatively lower in tap water (0.70mg/l), and sulphate was generally low. Water sourced through water vendors had the lowest chloride (37.28mg/l), and relatively low magnesium concentration in most of the water sources. However, calcium concentration appears lower for all water sources when compared to the WHO and SON standards for water quality. Copper concentration is within tolerable limits with the lowest being 0.27mg/l for both dam and tap sources. However, lead ion appears higher than the approved WHO and SON standard for water quality in all the sources except that of water vendors which is 0.04mg/l. It is therefore recommended that periodic monitoring of water quality, effective waste management system to improve the general water quality in the town, and further research on lead elements was among some of the key recommendations made.Keywords: Water quality, Water demand, Dutsinma town, Standards, World Health Organization (WHO), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON

Clinical outcomes following surgical management of brain abscess in a tertiary care centre: retrospective analysis of 56 cases

Background: Despite the advent of newer antibiotics and surgical strategies, the overall outcome and quality of life issues in Brain Abscess (BA) patients remain a continuous challenge for the neurosurgical community.Methods: Fifty-six patients with BA are analyzed retrospectively, that treated between January 2014 and June 2019, according to age, the clinical symptoms, etiologic factors, infecting organisms, prognostic factors, localization, diagnostic and treatment methods and outcome.Results: In acute cases, common clinical features were headache, fever, vomiting, focal deficit and seizure. In chronic abscesses, common clinical features were mild to moderate headache and progressive focal deficit. In 12(21.42%) patients had adjacent localized sinus, middle ear infection. In 27(48.21%) patients no primary source of infection was identified, predisposing factors included post neurosurgery (8.92%), post penetrating injury (3.57%), and congenital heart disease, infective endocarditis, sinusitis. The frontal lobe involved in 28.5% cases, temporal lobe and cerebellum are next to be involved. Burr hole aspiration in 29(51.78%) cases, a craniotomy was done in 15(26.78%) cases. Pus culture was negative in 36 (64.28%) cases. Mortality was noted in 2(3.57%) cases. Complete resolution of the abscess with complete recovery of preoperative neuro-deficit was seen in 71.42% cases and recovery with major neuro-deficit was observed in 16.07% cases. The best outcome was seen with a better Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) on admission.Conclusions: BA, when surgery is required, should be done on an emergency basis. BA treated with burr hole aspiration shows excellent clinical and radiological response. A craniotomy is required in selected cases and is a primary procedure in cerebellar, postoperative and posttraumatic abscesses. Broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy should be administered for a period of minimum 6 weeks to prevent relapse

Therapeutic approaches to drug targets in atherosclerosis

AbstractNon-communicable diseases such as cancer, atherosclerosis and diabetes are responsible for major social and health burden as millions of people are dying every year. Out of which, atherosclerosis is the leading cause of deaths worldwide. The lipid abnormality is one of the major modifiable risk factors for atherosclerosis. Both genetic and environmental components are associated with the development of atherosclerotic plaques. Immune and inflammatory mediators have a complex role in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Understanding of all these processes will help to invent a range of new biomarkers and novel treatment modalities targeting various cellular events in acute and chronic inflammation that are accountable for atherosclerosis. Several biochemical pathways, receptors and enzymes are involved in the development of atherosclerosis that would be possible targets for improving strategies for disease diagnosis and management. Earlier anti-inflammatory or lipid-lowering treatments could be useful for alleviating morbidity and mortality of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. However, novel drug targets like endoglin receptor, PPARα, squalene synthase, thyroid hormone analogues, scavenger receptor and thyroid hormone analogues are more powerful to control the process of atherosclerosis. Therefore, the review briefly focuses on different novel targets that act at the starting stage of the plaque form to the thrombus formation in the atherosclerosis

Critical role of somatostatin receptor 2 in the vulnerability of the central noradrenergic system: new aspects on Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease and other age-related neurodegenerative disorders are associated with deterioration of the noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC), a probable trigger for mood and memory dysfunction. LC noradrenergic neurons exhibit particularly high levels of somatostatin binding sites. This is noteworthy since cortical and hypothalamic somatostatin content is reduced in neurodegenerative pathologies. Yet a possible role of a somatostatin signal deficit in the maintenance of noradrenergic projections remains unknown. Here, we deployed tissue microarrays, immunohistochemistry, quantitative morphometry and mRNA profiling in a cohort of Alzheimer's and age-matched control brains in combination with genetic models of somatostatin receptor deficiency to establish causality between defunct somatostatin signalling and noradrenergic neurodegeneration. In Alzheimer's disease, we found significantly reduced somatostatin protein expression in the temporal cortex, with aberrant clustering and bulging of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive afferents. As such, somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) mRNA was highly expressed in the human LC, with its levels significantly decreasing from Braak stages III/IV and onwards, i.e., a process preceding advanced Alzheimer's pathology. The loss of SSTR2 transcripts in the LC neurons appeared selective, since tyrosine hydroxylase, dopamine beta-hydroxylase, galanin or galanin receptor 3 mRNAs remained unchanged. We modeled these pathogenic changes in Sstr2 -/- mice and, unlike in Sstr1 -/- or Sstr4 -/- genotypes, they showed selective, global and progressive degeneration of their central noradrenergic projections. However, neuronal perikarya in the LC were found intact until late adulthood (<8 months) in Sstr2 -/- mice. In contrast, the noradrenergic neurons in the superior cervical ganglion lacked SSTR2 and, as expected, the sympathetic innervation of the head region did not show any signs of degeneration. Our results indicate that SSTR2-mediated signaling is integral to the maintenance of central noradrenergic projections at the system level, and that early loss of somatostatin receptor 2 function may be associated with the selective vulnerability of the noradrenergic system in Alzheimer's disease

Priprava i vrednovanje biorazgradljivih implantata s kontroliranim oslobađanjem za postoperativnu primjenu

Biodegradable implants of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride for post operative site delivery were prepared using glyceryl monostearate and different concentrations of polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) glycerol and Tween 80 as erosion enhancers by compression and molding technique. Formulations were subjected to in vitro drug release by the USP dissolution method, while promising formulations were subjected to in vitro drug release by the agar gel method and also to stability studies. It was observed that glyceryl monostearate formed hydrophobic matrix and delayed the drug delivery. Antibiotic release profile was controlled by using different combinations of erosion enhancers. The formulation prepared by compression method showed more delayed release as compared to formulations prepared by molding method.Biorazgradljivi implantati ciprofloksacin hidroklorida za postoperativnu primjenu pripravljeni su pomoću gliceril monostearata (GMS) i različitih koncentracija polietilen glikola (PEG 6000), glicerola i Tween 80 kao promotora erozije metodom kompresije i lijevanja. Oslobađanje ljekovite tvari iz pripravaka praćeno je in vitro prema USP metodi. Pripravci koji su dali dobre rezultate ispitani su i in vitro metodom s agarom te su podvrgnuti testovima stabilnosti. Primijećeno je da gliceril monostearat tvori hidrofobni matriks i usporava oslobađanje lijeka. Koristeći različite kombinacije promotora erozije postignuto je kontrolirano oslobađanje antibiotika. Oslobađanje iz implantata dobivenih metodom kompresije sporije je od implantata dobivenih metodom lijevanja

Avian Influenza H9N2 Seroprevalence among Poultry Workers in Pune, India, 2010

Avian influenza (AI) H9N2 has been reported from poultry in India. A seroepidemiological study was undertaken among poultry workers to understand the prevalence of antibodies against AI H9N2 in Pune, Maharashtra, India. A total of 338 poultry workers were sampled. Serum samples were tested for presence of antibodies against AI H9N2 virus by hemagglutination inhibition (HI) and microneutralization (MN) assays. A total of 249 baseline sera from general population from Pune were tested for antibodies against AI H9N2 and were negative by HI assay using ≥40 cut-off antibody titre. Overall 21 subjects (21/338 = 6.2%) were positive for antibodies against AI H9N2 by either HI or MN assays using ≥40 cut-off antibody titre. A total of 4.7% and 3.8% poultry workers were positive for antibodies against AI H9N2 by HI and MN assay respectively using 40 as cut-off antibody titre. This is the first report of seroprevalence of antibodies against AI H9N2 among poultry workers in India

Dog anti-rabies vaccination coverage in Jos South LGA of Plateau State, Nigeria CI Odita1, IS Tekki2*, DG Moses3, JI Barde3, KO Egwu3,

Domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a well-known companion of man, is the main reservoir host of rabies virus and source of infection to humans in 95% cases in Africa. Vaccination of dogs against rabies is the most effective way of controlling the disease. WHO recommends that annual vaccination coverage of dog populations should be 70% and above for effective control of rabies. However, vaccination coverage of dogs is very low in most African countries, including Nigeria, where the global burden of the disease is highest next to Asia. The aim of this study was to determine and compare rabies vaccination coverage of dog population in Jos South Local Government area (LGA), Plateau State, Nigeria, using two survey approaches. Data on vaccination profile of rabid suspected dogs in Jos South LGA, were retrieved from records of cases presented to the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, Nigeria, for confirmatory diagnosis from 2011 to 2016. Field data on demography and vaccination profile of owned domestic dogs were also obtained by face to face interview with dog owners in the LGA using structured questionnaire. Vaccination coverage of 4.9% and 19.7% were obtained for record and field surveys respectively, for sample estimates. Although average vaccination coverage was estimated as 12.4%, the true population vaccination coverage could be between 12% and 18%, (95% CI). The P-value (0.000) for association between survey approach and true vaccination coverage of dog populations in Jos South LGA was significant. Consequently, evaluation of regular vaccination by active survey is key to achieving WHO recommended vaccination coverage. Nigeria can only align with the world rabies elimination target of 2030 set by the WHO, OIE and FAO by active disease surveillance and enforcement of responsible dog ownership.Keywords: Domestic dog, Jos South LGA, Rabies, Surveillance, Vaccinatio

Fully human agonist antibodies to TrkB using autocrine cell-based selection from a combinatorial antibody library

The diverse physiological roles of the neurotrophin family have long prompted exploration of their potential as therapeutic agents for nerve injury and neurodegenerative diseases. To date, clinical trials of one family member, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), have disappointingly failed to meet desired endpoints. Contributing to these failures is the fact that BDNF is pharmaceutically a nonideal biologic drug candidate. It is a highly charged, yet is a net hydrophobic molecule with a low molecular weight that confers a short t1/2 in man. To circumvent these shortcomings of BDNF as a drug candidate, we have employed a function-based cellular screening assay to select activating antibodies of the BDNF receptor TrkB from a combinatorial human short-chain variable fragment antibody library. We report here the successful selection of several potent TrkB agonist antibodies and detailed biochemical and physiological characterization of one such antibody, ZEB85. By using a human TrkB reporter cell line and BDNF-responsive GABAergic neurons derived from human ES cells, we demonstrate that ZEB85 is a full agonist of TrkB, comparable in potency to BDNF toward human neurons in activation of TrkB phosphorylation, canonical signal transduction, and mRNA transcriptional regulation