Association of ABO blood group with severe falciparum malaria in adults: case control study and meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Erythrocyte-associated antigenic polymorphisms or their absence have perhaps evolved in the human population to protect against malarial infection. Studies in various populations consistently demonstrate that blood group 'O' confers resistance against severe falciparum infection. In India, Odisha state has one of the highest incidences of <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>infection and contributes to the highest number of deaths by falciparum malaria. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between ABO blood group and severe malaria in an adult population at the tertiary care centre in Odisha.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 353 <it>P. falciparum </it>infected subjects and 174 healthy controls were screened for ABO blood group. Falciparum-infected individuals were categorized as severe malaria and uncomplicated malaria. Severe malaria was further clinically phenotyped into cerebral malaria, non-cerebral severe malaria and multi-organ dysfunction. A meta-analysis was performed to assess the role of ABO blood group in severe malaria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Frequency of blood group 'B' was significantly higher in patients with severe malaria compared to the uncomplicated cases (P < 0.0001; OR = 4.09) and healthy controls (P < 0.0001; OR = 2.79). Irrespective of the level of clinical severity, blood group 'B' was significantly associated with cerebral malaria (P < 0.0001; OR = 5.95), multi-organ dysfunction (P < 0.0001; OR = 4.81) and non-cerebral severe malaria patients (P = 0.001; OR = 3.02) compared to the uncomplicated category. Prevalence of 'O' group in uncomplicated malaria (P < 0.0001; OR = 2.81) and healthy controls (P = 0.0003; OR = 2.16) was significantly high compared to severe malaria. Meta-analysis of previous studies, including the current one, highlighted the protective nature of blood group 'O' to severe malaria (P = 0.01). On the other hand, carriers of blood group 'A' (P = 0.04) and 'AB' (P = 0.04) were susceptible to malaria severity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Results of the current study indicate that blood group 'O' is associated with reduced and 'B' blood group with increased risk of development of severe malaria in Odisha, India. Meta-analysis also supports the protective nature of blood group 'O' from severe falciparum infection.</p

Multilingual Neural Machine Translation System for Indic to Indic Languages

This paper gives an Indic-to-Indic (IL-IL) MNMT baseline model for 11 ILs implemented on the Samanantar corpus and analyzed on the Flores-200 corpus. All the models are evaluated using the BLEU score. In addition, the languages are classified under three groups namely East Indo- Aryan (EI), Dravidian (DR), and West Indo-Aryan (WI). The effect of language relatedness on MNMT model efficiency is studied. Owing to the presence of large corpora from English (EN) to ILs, MNMT IL-IL models using EN as a pivot are also built and examined. To achieve this, English- Indic (EN-IL) models are also developed, with and without the usage of related languages. Results reveal that using related languages is beneficial for the WI group only, while it is detrimental for the EI group and shows an inconclusive effect on the DR group, but it is useful for EN-IL models. Thus, related language groups are used to develop pivot MNMT models. Furthermore, the IL corpora are transliterated from the corresponding scripts to a modified ITRANS script, and the best MNMT models from the previous approaches are built on the transliterated corpus. It is observed that the usage of pivot models greatly improves MNMT baselines with AS-TA achieving the minimum BLEU score and PA-HI achieving the maximum score. Among languages, AS, ML, and TA achieve the lowest BLEU score, whereas HI, PA, and GU perform the best. Transliteration also helps the models with few exceptions. The best increment of scores is observed in ML, TA, and BN and the worst average increment is observed in KN, HI, and PA, across all languages. The best model obtained is the PA-HI language pair trained on PAWI transliterated corpus which gives 24.29 BLEU.Comment: 38 pages, 2 figure

Properties and physiological effects of dietary fiber-enriched meat products: a review

Meat is a rich source of high biological proteins, vitamins, and minerals, but it is devoid of dietary fiber, an essential non-digestible carbohydrate component such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, polysaccharides, and oligosaccharides. Dietary fibers are basically obtained from various cereals, legumes, fruits, vegetables, and their by-products and have numerous nutritional, functional, and health-benefiting properties. So, these fibers can be added to meat products to enhance their physicochemical properties, chemical composition, textural properties, and organoleptic qualities, as well as biological activities in controlling various lifestyle ailments such as obesity, certain cancers, type-II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and bowel disorders. These dietary fibers can also be used in meat products as an efficient extender/binder/filler to reduce the cost of production by increasing the cooking yield as well as by reducing the lean meat content and also as a fat replacer to minimize unhealthy fat content in the developed meat products. So, growing interest has been observed among meat processors, researchers, and scientists in exploring various new sources of dietary fibers for developing dietary fiber-enriched meat products in recent years. In the present review, various novel sources of dietary fibers, their physiological effects, their use in meat products, and their impact on various physicochemical, functional, and sensory attributes have been focused

MBL-2 POLYMORPHISMS (CODON 54 AND Y-221X) AND LOW MBL LEVELS ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SUSCEPTIBILITY TO MULTI ORGAN DYSFUNCTION IN P. FALCIPARUM MALARIA IN ODISHA , INDIA

BackgroundMannose binding lectin, a plasma protein protects host from virus, bacteria and parasites. Deficiency in MBL levels has been associated with susceptibility to various infectious diseases including P. falciparum malaria. Common MBL polymorphisms in promoter and coding regions are associated with decrease in plasma MBL levels or production of deformed MBL, respectively. In the present study, we hypothesized that MBL2 variants and plasma MBL levels could be associated with different clinical phenotypes of severe P. falciparum malaria.MethodsA hospital based study was conducted in eastern Odisha, India which is endemic to P. falciparum malaria. Common MBL-2 polymorphisms (codon 54, H-550L and Y-221X) were typed in 336 cases of severe malaria (SM) [94 cerebral malaria (CM), 120 multi-organ dysfunction (MOD), 122 non-cerebral severe malaria (NCSM)] and 131 un-complicated malaria patients (UM). Plasma MBL levels were quantified by ELISA.ResultsSevere malaria patients displayed lower plasma levels of MBL compared to uncomplicated falciparum malaria. Furthermore,on categorization of severe malaria patients into various subtypes, plasma MBL levels were very low in MOD patients compared to other categories. Higher frequency of AB genotype and allele B was observed in MOD compared to UM (AB genotype: P=0.006; B allele: P=0.008). In addition, prevalence of YX genotype of MBL Y-221X polymorphism was also statistically more frequent in MOD case than UM (P=0.009).ConclusionsThe observations of the present study reveal that MBL-2polymorphisms (codon 54 and Y-221X) and lower plasma MBL levels are associated with increased susceptibility to multi organ dysfunctions in P. falciparum malaria

A simple method for evaluation of the uptake of isoflurane and its comparison with the square root of time model

Background: The square root of time (SqRT) model had been used to predict the uptake of volatile agents. Methods: We studied the rate of uptake of isoflurane in 10 patients using liquid isoflurane infusion through syringe pump into the closed circuit. The infusion rates were titrated to maintain a constant end tidal concentration of isoflurane of 1.5%. The predicted uptake values were also calculated from the square root principle and compared with the derived uptake. Results: The observed rate of uptake was higher than predicted from the Lowe and Ernst equation (P<0.001). There exists considerable inter-individual variability in uptake pharmacokinetics and it showed statistically significant correlation with ideal body weight, body weight (P<0.01), body surface area, and body weight 3/4 from 30 min of start of isoflurane infusion (P<0.05). Conclusion: SqRT model is inaccurate in predicting isoflurane uptake and underestimates it during closed circuit anaesthesia

An Experimental Study on Assessment of Pavement Interlayer Bond Strength

It is a common practice to apply a tack coat usually in the form of bituminous emulsion over an existing bituminous surface before laying another bituminous layer. The boundary between these two consecutive bituminous layers is the layer interface and the pavement stress distribution is highly influenced by the adhesion conditions at this interface. Poor adhesion causes adverse effects on the structural strength of the pavement system. A number of premature failures such as slippage failure and delamination failures result thus defeating the construction objectives. In the absence of a standard method and apparatus to address this field problem, an attempt has been made in this study to develop a simple testing arrangement to be used in a laboratory to determine the interlayer bond strength. Normal Marshall procedure has been used to prepare the specimens consisting of two different types of bituminous materials in lower and upper part of the same specimen. It is observed within the scope of study that Cationic rapid setting (CRS-1) emulsion applied at 0.25 Kg/m2 offers the best results of interlayer bond strength

Efficacy of Dexmedetomidine as an Adjuvant to Local Anesthetic Agent in Scalp Block and Scalp Infiltration to Control Postcraniotomy Pain: A Double-Blind Randomized Trial

Context: Scalp infiltration and scalp block are being used to manage postcraniotomy pain. Dexmedetomidine has been successfully used as an adjuvant in regional anesthesia. The study was intended to compare whether addition of dexmedetomidine prolonged the duration of analgesia as well as to compare the two techniques. Aims: The primary objective was to assess whether addition of dexmedetomidine to bupivacaine prolonged the duration of analgesia. The secondary objective was to compare between scalp nerve block and scalp infiltration as techniques for pain relief. Settings and Design: The randomized control study was conducted in a tertiary care center from November 2013 to October 2014. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status I–II patients, aged 18–70 years undergoing elective craniotomy were included. Patients were randomized into three groups of 50 patients, i.e., Group BI (bupivacaine infiltration), Group BDI (bupivacaine and dexmedetomidine infiltration), and Group BDNB (bupivacaine and dexmedetomidine scalp nerve block). Patient's pain score, pain-free interval, rescue analgesic requirement, and hemodynamic and respiratory parameters were noted for 48 h. Patients were followed up at 1 and 3 months to assess postcraniotomy pain. Results: Pain-free period was significantly longer in Group BDNB than Groups BDI and BI (P < 0.0001) and pain control was better in dexmedetomidine containing groups than in bupivacaine group (BI) (P < 0.0001). The rescue analgesic requirement was significantly lower in Group BDNB and Group BDI compared to Group BI. Conclusion: The addition of dexmedetomidine (1 µg/kg) to bupivacaine prolonged the pain-free period. Scalp nerve block is a superior technique than scalp infiltration

Complement Receptor 1 Variants Confer Protection from Severe Malaria in Odisha, India

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>In <em>Plasmodium falciparum</em> infection, complement receptor-1 (CR1) on erythrocyte’s surface and ABO blood group play important roles in formation of rosettes which are presumed to be contributory in the pathogenesis of severe malaria. Although several studies have attempted to determine the association of CR1 polymorphisms with severe malaria, observations remain inconsistent. Therefore, a case control study and meta-analysis was performed to address this issue.</p> <h3>Methods</h3><p>Common CR1 polymorphisms (intron 27 and exon 22) and blood group were typed in 353 cases of severe malaria (SM) [97 cerebral malaria (CM), 129 multi-organ dysfunction (MOD), 127 non-cerebral severe malaria (NCSM)], 141 un-complicated malaria and 100 healthy controls from an endemic region of Odisha, India. Relevant publications for meta-analysis were searched from the database.</p> <h3>Results</h3><p>The homozygous polymorphisms of CR1 intron 27 and exon 22 (TT and GG) and alleles (T and G) that are associated with low expression of CR1 on red blood cells, conferred significant protection against CM, MOD and malaria deaths. Combined analysis showed significant association of blood group B/intron 27-AA/exon 22-AA with susceptibility to SM (CM and MOD). Meta-analysis revealed that the CR1 exon 22 low expression polymorphism is significantly associated with protection against severe malaria.</p> <h3>Conclusions</h3><p>The results of the present study demonstrate that common CR1 variants significantly protect against severe malaria in an endemic area.</p> </div

Forest plots of CR1 intron 27 polymorphism in association to severe malaria.

<p>Meta-analysis was performed including previous reports and current study by comprehensive meta-analysis software. Random or fixed model of meta-analysis was employed for calculation of the combined effect of all studies. Forest plots evaluating resistance/risk factor of different models to severe malaria are shown.</p