Does BCG Or MMR Or Routine Vaccination Coverage Protect Against COVID Infection And Mortality In India?

Background: The routine vaccinations and acquired immunity by other viral infections were believed to be acting as a protective factor against severe COVID-19  outbreaks in some countries. This study is overviewing the relationship of routine BCG, MMR vaccinations and reported MMR disease outbreak with reported COVID-19 infection across the Indian states. Methods: The data on vaccination coverage and respiratory disease infection was obtained from Universal immunization program and Integrated disease surveillance project reports. spearman rank Correlation has been used to assess the relationship of routine vaccination and COVID-19 infection. Results: The result did not find any relationship of routine vaccination with BCG and MMR or exposure to MMR infection on COVID-19 infections in India. Conclusion: The exposure to BCG or MMR vaccination did not have a non specific protection against COVID-19 infection. The results imply that a larger proportion of the Indian population is still vulnerable to COVID-19 infection

EVALUATION OF SERUM TOLL-LIKE RECEPTOR 4 AND NUCLEAR FACTOR-ΚBP65 PROTEINS IN ORAL SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA

Objective: The present study is aimed to estimate the serum toll-like receptor 4 (sTLR 4) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 proteins in patients of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Methods: The study was performed in prospective cases of 22 OSCC patients, 10 oral epithelial dysplasia patients, 8 control with chewing habits, and 4 control patients. The estimation of sTLR 4 and NF-κBp65 proteins was done by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. The Pearson correlation test was performed to find out the relationship between these two proteins. Results: There was an increase in the sTLR 4 protein level in study groups OSCC, oral premalignant disorders, control with chewing habits, and control habits such as 1.31 ng/ml±1.06 ng/ml, 1.99 ng/ml±0.98 ng/ml, and 2.11 ng/ml±0.61 ng/ml, respectively, when comparable (p=0.008) to control patients with 0.60 ng/ml±0.24 ng/ml. However, in the case of serum level NF-κBp65 protein all the study groups including the control showed same values. The Pearson correlation test showed significant relationship (rpearson=0.91, [p<0.0005]) of these two proteins only in the OSCC patients. Conclusion: It can be concluded that serum levels of TLR 4 are increased in OSCC patients, but there was no variation seen for the NF-κBp65 protein. There is a strong interrelationship exist between the serum levels of TLR 4 and NF-κBp65 proteins in the OSCC patients only

Bayesian structural equation modeling for post treatment health related quality of life among tuberculosis patients

BACKGROUND: The use of Bayesian Structural Equation Model (BSEM) to evaluate the impact of TB on self-reported health related quality of life (HRQoL) of TB patients has been not studied. OBJECTIVE: To identify the factors that contribute to the HRQoL of TB patients using BSEM. METHODS: This is a latent variable modeling with Bayesian approach using secondary data. HRQoL data collected after one year from newly diagnosed 436 TB patients who were registered and successfully completed treatment at Government health facilities in Tiruvallur district, south India under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) were used for this analysis. In this study, the four independent latent variables such as physical well–being (PW = PW1-7), mental well-being (MW = MW1-7), social well-being (SW = SW1-4) and habits were considered. The BSEM was constructed using Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for identifying the factors that contribute to the HRQoL of TB patients who completed treatment. RESULTS: Bayesian estimates were obtained using 46,300 observations after convergence and the standardized structural regression estimate of PW, MW, SW on HRQoL were 0.377 (p<0.001), 0.543 (p<0.001) and 0.208 (p<0.001) respectively. The latent variables PW, MW and SW were significantly associated with HRQoL of TB patients. The age was found to be significantly negatively associated with HRQoL of TB patients. CONCLUSIONS: The current study demonstrated the application of BSEM in evaluating HRQoL. This methodology may be used to study precise estimates of HRQoL of TB patients in different time points

Time Elapsed from Onset of Symptoms to Antituberculosis Treatment in Children with Central Nervous System Tuberculosis in a Tertiary Hospital in South India: A Mixed‑Methods Pilot Study

A pilot study with a mixed‑methods design was conducted to estimate the time for tuberculosis (TB) treatment initiation and associated factors among children with central nervous system‑TB (CNS‑TB). A total of 38 children were enrolled for the quantitative component, and 20 in‑depth interviews were conducted. The median duration (interquartile range) from onset of symptoms to treatment initiation was 23 (11, 55) days. About 44% and 31% of the children presented with Stage II and Stage III of CNS‑TB, respectively. The major reasons for delay were symptoms not taken seriously (50%) and too many referrals (21%). About 89% of the families went into catastrophic health expenditure due to the disease. The treatment delay may be due to both patient delay and health system delay. Tailoring approaches to target the pediatric population could further improve early detection and treatment initiation of CNS‑TB

Role of a Putative Alkylhydroperoxidase Rv2159c in the Oxidative Stress Response and Virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis, is one of the leading infectious agents worldwide with a high rate of mortality. Following aerosol inhalation, M. tuberculosis primarily infects the alveolar macrophages, which results in a host immune response that gradually activates various antimicrobial mechanisms, including the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), within the phagocytes to neutralize the bacteria. OxyR is the master regulator of oxidative stress response in several bacterial species. However, due to the absence of a functional oxyR locus in M. tuberculosis, the peroxidase stress is controlled by alkylhydroperoxidases. M. tuberculosis expresses alkylhydroperoxide reductase to counteract the toxic effects of ROS. In the current study, we report the functional characterization of an orthologue of alkylhydroperoxidase family member, Rv2159c, a conserved protein with putative peroxidase activity, during stress response and virulence of M. tuberculosis. We generated a gene knockout mutant of M. tuberculosis Rv2159c (MtbΔ2159) by specialized transduction. The MtbΔ2159 was sensitive to oxidative stress and exposure to toxic transition metals. In a human monocyte (THP-1) cell infection model, MtbΔ2159 showed reduced uptake and intracellular survival and increased expression of pro-inflammatory molecules, including IL-1β, IP-10, and MIP-1α, compared to the wild type M. tuberculosis and Rv2159c-complemented MtbΔ2159 strains. Similarly, in a guinea pig model of pulmonary infection, MtbΔ2159 displayed growth attenuation in the lungs, compared to the wild type M. tuberculosis and Rv2159c-complemented MtbΔ2159 strains. Our study suggests that Rv2159c has a significant role in maintaining the cellular homeostasis during stress and virulence of M. tuberculosis