Bartholin gland cyst and abscess: an updated scenario

Bartholin glands are greater vestibular glands and are located on either side of the vaginal opening. They are mainly homologous to the bulbourethral or cowper’s gland in males. These two pea-sized glands secrets mucus which is essential for vaginal lubrication. Bartholin gland cysts are one of the most frequent fluid-filled masses developing in the vulval area. They may develop as cysts first without symptoms, but if left untreated, they can be infectious and can lead to surgical corrections. The incidence rate of Bartholin gland cysts and abscesses is 0.5 per 1000 people per year. In women, it mainly affects aging between 35 and 50 years. The cysts formed due to blockage of the Bartholin gland duct, which further causes retention and cystic dilation. Mainly, the disease happens due to sexually transmitted infections. Needle aspiration, incision, and drainage are the easiest and most reliable treatment options, but they are not carried out due to their high recurrence rate. This Bartholin gland cyst can interfere with the quality of life as the person can suffer discomfort in walking, difficulty in sitting and walking, and discomfort during intercourse. Most of the Bartholin’s gland cysts are also caused by the microorganisms that infect the perineal area. However, Bartholin’s cyst occurs in nulliparous women of childbearing age. Women in the reproductive age group should get counselling regarding the disease to take better precautionary measures to tackle the condition

Methods to discover and validate biofluid-based biomarkers in neurodegenerative dementias

Neurodegenerative dementias are progressive diseases that cause neuronal network breakdown in different brain regions often because of accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain extracellular matrix, such as amyloids, or inside neurons or other cell types of the brain. Several diagnostic protein biomarkers in body fluids are being used and implemented, such as for Alzheimer's disease. However, there is still a lack of biomarkers for co-pathologies and other causes of dementia. Such biofluid-based biomarkers enable precision medicine approaches for diagnosis and treatment, allow to learn more about underlying disease processes, and facilitate the development of patient inclusion and evaluation tools in clinical trials. When designing studies to discover novel biofluid-based biomarkers, choice of technology is an important starting point. But there are so many technologies to choose among. To address this, we here review the technologies that are currently available in research settings and, in some cases, in clinical laboratory practice. This presents a form of lexicon on each technology addressing its use in research and clinics, its strengths and limitations, and a future perspective

Methods to discover and validate biofluid-based biomarkers in neurodegenerative dementias

Neurodegenerative dementias are progressive diseases that cause neuronal network breakdown in different brain regions often because of accumulation of misfolded proteins in the brain extracellular matrix, such as amyloids or inside neurons or other cell types of the brain. Several diagnostic protein biomarkers in body fluids are being used and implemented, such as for Alzheimer\xe2\x80\x99s disease. However, there is still a lack of biomarkers for co-pathologies and other causes of dementia. Such biofluid-based biomarkers enable precision medicine approaches for diagnosis and treatment, allow to learn more about underlying disease processes, and facilitate the development of patient inclusion and evaluation tools in clinical trials. When designing studies to discover novel biofluid-based biomarkers, choice of technology is an important starting point. But there are so many technologies to choose among. To address this, we here review the technologies that are currently available in research settings and, in some cases, in clinical laboratory practice. This presents a form of lexicon on each technology addressing its use in research and clinics, its strengths and limitations, and a future perspective

WATER RIGHTS AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY: EVIDENCE FROM INDIA

There is growing concern in the world to better manage water resources in order to sustain increased water demands. This heightened demand can be most importantly attributed to a rapid population growth and heightened development measures in the world. One way this has been tackled since centuries is by allocating water amongst the riparian parties. This dissertation examines a specific sector where water allocations are particularly vital, namely that of agriculture. I focus my analyses on two important basins in India, and attempt to estimate the causal effects of water allocations on agricultural productivity. In my first chapter, I specifically look at the 1976 Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal that reallocated the rights of three Indian states (Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) over the Krishna River in the South of India. I exploit district-time variation in access to water to obtain causal effects of water reallocation on crop output and yield. I find that on average, the decision reduces district output by 7.7 percent and yield by 5.5 percent. I also find suggestive evidence that the decision amplified the reduction in productivity during drought periods; total production experiences an 8 percent decline and yield drops by 7.4 percent (however, the estimates are not statistically significant). The weak negative net effects of the decision are comprised of productivity gains for the most downstream state, Andhra Pradesh, that are more than offset by the productivity losses for the upstream states Maharashtra and Karnataka. The negative impacts for Maharashtra, which are especially pronounced during periods of drought, are significant at conventional levels of significance.Thus, the 1976 reallocation of state rights over water from the Krishna Basin was redistributive and weakly reduced overall efficiency. To assess if the same results are present in other basins, I look at the Cauvery Basin, also in the South of India, in my second chapter. I evaluate the effects of the 1991 Interim Order by the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal on agricultural productivity in the riparian states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu by implementing a difference-in-differences strategy. On average, the decision does not significantly affect agricultural productivity. However, I find that output declines significantly during drought periods; total production falls by 24 percent (significant at the 5 percent level of significance) and yield reduces by 14.5 percent. I vary my analyses by states to investigate as to who bears incidence of the decision. Surprisingly, I find that both states experience losses during drought periods, but Tamil Nadu’s losses are much higher than that of Karnataka’s. The estimation results suggest an efficiency loss in the region and that the harmful effects of drought are amplified after the decision.Economics, Department o

Synaptic biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid associate differentially with classical neuronal biomarkers in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia

Background: Loss of synaptic functionality has been recently identified as an early-stage indicator of neurological diseases. Consequently, monitoring changes in synaptic protein levels may be relevant for observing disease evolution or treatment responses in patients. Here, we have studied the relationship between fluid biomarkers of neurodegeneration and synaptic dysfunction in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Methods: The exploratory cohort consisted of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples (n = 60) from patients diagnosed with AD (n = 20), FTD (n = 20), and SCD (n = 20) from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort. We developed two novel immunoassays for the synaptic proteins synaptosomal-associated protein-25 (SNAP25) and vesicle-associated membrane protein-2 (VAMP2). We measured the levels of these biomarkers in CSF, in addition to neuronal pentraxin-2 (NPTX2), glutamate ionotropic receptor-4 (GluR4), and neurogranin (Ng) for this cohort. All in-house immunoassays were validated and analytically qualified prior to clinical application. CSF neurogranin (Ng) was measured using a commercially available ELISA. Results: This pilot study indicated that SNAP25, VAMP2, and Ng may not be specific biomarkers for AD as their levels were significantly elevated in patients with both AD and FTD compared to SCD. Moreover, the strength of the correlations between synaptic proteins was lower in the AD and FTD clinical groups compared to SCD. SNAP25, VAMP2, and Ng correlated strongly with each other as well as with total Tau (Tau) and phosphorylated Tau (PTau) in all three clinical groups. However, this correlation was weakened or absent with NPTX2 and GluR4. None of the synaptic proteins correlated to neurofilament light (NfL) in any clinical group. Conclusion: The correlation of the synaptic biomarkers with CSF Tau and PTau but the lack thereof with NfL implies that distinct pathological pathways may be involved in synaptic versus axonal degeneration. Our results reflect the diversity of synaptic pathology in neurodegenerative dementias

A Novel Neurofilament Light Chain ELISA Validated in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Subjective Cognitive Decline, and the Evaluation of Candidate Proteins for Immunoassay Calibration

Neurofilament light chain (Nf-L) is a well-known biomarker for axonal damage; however, the corresponding circulating Nf-L analyte in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is poorly characterized. We therefore isolated new monoclonal antibodies against synthetic peptides, and these monoclonals were characterized for their specificity on brain-specific intermediate filament proteins. Two highly specific antibodies, ADx206 and ADx209, were analytically validated for CSF applications according to well-established criteria. Interestingly, using three different sources of purified Nf-L proteins, a significant impact on interpolated concentrations was observed. With a lower limit of analytical sensitivity of 100 pg/mL using bovine Nf-L as the calibrator, we were able to quantify the Nf-L analyte in each sample, and these Nf-L concentrations were highly correlated to the Uman diagnostics assay (Spearman rho = 0.97, p < 0.001). In the clinical diagnostic groups, the new Nf-L ELISA could discriminate patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 20) from those with frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTD, n = 20) and control samples with subjective cognitive decline (SCD, n = 20). Hence-forth, this novel Nf-L ELISA with well-defined specificity and epitopes can be used to enhance our understanding of harmonizing the use of Nf-L as a clinically relevant marker for neurodegeneration in CSF

Additional file 1 of The use of synaptic biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid to differentiate behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia from primary psychiatric disorders and Alzheimer’s disease

Additional file 1: Supplementary Figure 1. Correlation matrix of the fluid biomarkers to cognitive test performance and social test scores in patients with bvFTD, PPD, AD, and controls. The associations are shown as Pearson’s partial correlations, controlling for age. bvFTD: behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, PPD: primary psychiatric disorders, AD: Alzheimer’s disease, NfL: neurofilament light, SNAP25: synaptosomal associated protein 25, Ng: neurogranin, NPTX2: neuronal pentraxin 2, GluR4: Glutamate receptor 4, MMSE: mini-mental state examination, FTLD-CDR: frontotemporal lobe dementia- cognitive dementia rating. Panel bvFTD_PPD: NfL, NPTX2, Panel bvFTD_AD: NfL, SNAP25, Ng, GluR4 (both differential diagnostic panels selected using backward logistic regression models).*p <0.05, **p <0.01, ***p <0.00