INFLUENCE OF INTESTINAL SURFACTANT LIKE PARTICLES ON DIFFERENTIAL ACTIVATION OF SECONDARY SIGNALING MOLECULES DURING SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM INFECTION

Interaction between the enteric pathogen Salmonella typhimurium and the luminal surface of the intestine provoke an acute inflammatory response mediated in part by various inflammatory molecules. Surfactant-like particles (SLP) are known to cover the surface of the intestinal epithelium, act as lubricants and/or as a vehicle to deliver digestive enzymes to the luminal fluid. Recently we have shown that SLP plays an important protective role during microbial insult. The data suggested that SLP-induced diet prevents the damage of intestinal villi caused by S. typhimurium infection. The present study was designed to assess the role of SLP on secondary signaling molecules during S. typhimurium infection. The Peyer's patch, intraepithelial and lamina propria mononuclear cells were analyzed under various conditions for secondary signaling molecules, including calcium, inositol triphosphate and protein kinase C. SLP-induced diet along with infection showed significant variation in these secondary signaling molecules, particularly in Peyer's patches, as compared to infection group alone. In addition, the cells isolated from the infected group upon incubation in vitro with SLP also showed a considerable variation of these molecules. These results suggested an important influence of SLP on secondary signaling molecules and, in turn, could be important in overall immune modulation during infection. Salmonella are known to cause disease in humans, animals and birds worldwide. Over 1.4 million cases of salmonellosis (gastroenteritis) per year occur in the U.S.A. and other industrialized countries. Countries with poor sanitation have a much higher incidence of salmonellosis. The disruption of epithelial barrier integrity by Salmonella has pathological consequences. Intestinal epithelium secretes surfactant-like particles (SLP); these particles have the ability to cover the surface of the cell in the intestinal lumen. They are known to have ability in binding of uropathogenic Escherichia coli and in protecting the disruption of intestinal villi. The present study provides further evidence for its role in regulating secondary signaling molecules and overall immune response. SLP induced by dietary fat enhanced the resistance to intestinal infections, as it possibly decreases the colonization and translocation of S. typhimurium . The SLP and microbe interaction may thus represent a delicate balance between symbiosis and pathogenesis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79314/1/j.1745-4565.2010.00219.x.pd

An Improved Method for High Quality Metagenomics DNA Extraction from Human and Environmental Samples

To explore the natural microbial community of any ecosystems by high-resolution molecular approaches including next generation sequencing, it is extremely important to develop a sensitive and reproducible DNA extraction method that facilitate isolation of microbial DNA of sufficient purity and quantity from culturable and uncultured microbial species living in that environment. Proper lysis of heterogeneous community microbial cells without damaging their genomes is a major challenge. In this study, we have developed an improved method for extraction of community DNA from different environmental and human origin samples. We introduced a combination of physical, chemical and mechanical lysis methods for proper lysis of microbial inhabitants. The community microbial DNA was precipitated by using salt and organic solvent. Both the quality and quantity of isolated DNA was compared with the existing methodologies and the supremacy of our method was confirmed. Maximum recovery of genomic DNA in the absence of substantial amount of impurities made the method convenient for nucleic acid extraction. The nucleic acids obtained using this method are suitable for different downstream applications. This improved method has been named as the THSTI method to depict the Institute where the method was developed

Derivation and validation of a novel risk assessment tool to identify children aged 2-59 months at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality in 20 countries

INTRODUCTION: Existing risk assessment tools to identify children at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality have shown suboptimal discriminatory value during external validation. Our objective was to derive and validate a novel risk assessment tool to identify children aged 2-59 months at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality across various settings. METHODS: We used primary, baseline, patient-level data from 11 studies, including children evaluated for pneumonia in 20 low-income and middle-income countries. Patients with complete data were included in a logistic regression model to assess the association of candidate variables with the outcome hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality. Adjusted log coefficients were calculated for each candidate variable and assigned weighted points to derive the Pneumonia Research Partnership to Assess WHO Recommendations (PREPARE) risk assessment tool. We used bootstrapped selection with 200 repetitions to internally validate the PREPARE risk assessment tool. RESULTS: A total of 27 388 children were included in the analysis (mean age 14.0 months, pneumonia-related case fatality ratio 3.1%). The PREPARE risk assessment tool included patient age, sex, weight-for-age z-score, body temperature, respiratory rate, unconsciousness or decreased level of consciousness, convulsions, cyanosis and hypoxaemia at baseline. The PREPARE risk assessment tool had good discriminatory value when internally validated (area under the curve 0.83, 95% CI 0.81 to 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: The PREPARE risk assessment tool had good discriminatory ability for identifying children at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality in a large, geographically diverse dataset. After external validation, this tool may be implemented in various settings to identify children at risk of hospitalised pneumonia-related mortality

A prospective study of maternal, fetal and neonatal deaths in low- and middle-income countries

To quantify maternal, fetal and neonatal mortality in low- and middle-income countries, to identify when deaths occur and to identify relationships between maternal deaths and stillbirths and neonatal deaths

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good