Relationship between ABO Blood Groups and Lipid Profile Level in Healthy Adult Residents in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria

A multitude of risk factors are responsible for development of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and association of cardiovascular disease risk factors with the ABO blood antigens is increasingly being reported. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the relationship between ABO blood groups and lipoprotein profiles of apparently 150 healthy adult patients attending Braithwaite Memorial Specialist Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria following due consent to participate in the study. The serum TC, HDL-C, LDL-C and VLDL-C levels were determined by standard methods. ABO blood grouping was carried out by standard tile technique. Results show that the mean of the TC and LDL-C of most of the subjects in all the blood groups appeared desirable (< 5.81 mmol/L and < 3.37 mmol/L) respectively in both males and females. HDL-C was deficient in all blood groups both in males and females while the triglycerides level in the subjects was desirable (< 2.83 mmol/L). While significant variation (p<0.05) was observed between the means of the blood groups in the females, no such variation was seen the males. Strong positive correlations were observed between the lipoproteins in blood group B, AB and O females. As a result of the fact the rate of prevalence of CVD in our population is increasing, it is recommended that diagnosis, management and treatment of CVD in Nigeria should take into consideration the blood group status of the subjects.Key Words: Lipoproteins, Blood groups, cardiovascular diseases, triglyceride

Genomic alterations and possible druggable mutations in carcinoma of unknown primary (CUP).

Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP) is a heterogeneous and metastatic disease where the primary site of origin is undetectable. Currently, chemotherapy is the only state-of-art treatment option for CUP patients. The molecular profiling of the tumour, particularly mutation detection, offers a new treatment approach for CUP in a personalized fashion using targeted agents. We analyzed the mutation and copy number alterations profile of 1709 CUP samples deposited in the AACR Project Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange (GENIE) cohort and explored potentially druggable mutations. We identified 52 significant mutated genes (SMGs) among CUP samples, in which 13 (25%) of SMGs were potentially targetable with either drugs are approved for the know primary tumour or undergoing clinical trials. The most variants detected were TP53 (43%), KRAS (19.90%), KMT2D (12.60%), and CDKN2A (10.30%). Additionally, using pan-cancer analysis, we found similar variants of TERT promoter in CUP and NSCLC samples, suggesting that these mutations may serve as a diagnostic marker for identifying the primary tumour in CUP. Taken together, the mutation profiling analysis of the CUP tumours may open a new way of identifying druggable targets and consequently administrating appropriate treatment in a personalized manner

Novel molecular targets in gastric adenocarcinoma.

Gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. A high mortality rate and resistance to treatment protocols due to a heterogeneous molecular pathogenesis has made discovering the key etiologic molecular alterations of the utmost importance. The remarkable role played by epigenetic modifications in repressing or activating many cancer-related genes and forming new epigenetic signatures can affect cancer initiation and progression. Hence, targeting the key epigenetic drivers could potentially attenuate cancer progression. MLLs, ARID1A and EZH2 are among the major epigenetic players that are frequently mutated in GACs. In this paper, we have proposed the existence of a network between these proteins that, together with PCAF and KDM6A, control the 3D chromatin structure and regulate the expression of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) and oncogenes in GAC. Therefore, we suggest that manipulating the expression of EZH2, PCAF, and KDM6A or their downstream targets may reduce the cancerous phenotype in GAC

Detection of Heparin in the Salivary Gland and Midgut of Aedes togoi

Mosquitoes secrete saliva that contains biological substances, including anticoagulants that counteract a host's hemostatic response and prevent blood clotting during blood feeding. This study aimed to detect heparin, an anticoagulant in Aedes togoi using an immunohistochemical detection method, in the salivary canal, salivary gland, and midgut of male and female mosquitoes. Comparisons showed that female mosquitoes contained higher concentrations of heparin than male mosquitoes. On average, the level of heparin was higher in blood-fed female mosquitoes than in non-blood-fed female mosquitoes. Heparin concentrations were higher in the midgut than in the salivary gland. This indicates presence of heparin in tissues of A. togoi.X111Ysciescopu

An Exploration of the Practices of Locational Flexibility in Developing Economies: Insights from the Nigerian Higher Education Sector

Purpose This study explores the practices of locational flexibility in the Nigerian higher education sector. It examines the realities of remotely organising and managing academics' teaching and administrative workload, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach Relying on the interpretative paradigm, the dataset consists of semi-structured interviews with 92 professionals in the Nigerian higher educational institution (HEI) sector drawn from private and public federal government-owned and regional (otherwise known as state government) tertiary institutions. Findings The study highlights the practices of locational flexibility across the Nigerian higher education sector. Therefore, it underscores the notions of locational flexibility from the perspective of Nigerian academics. It reveals a paucity in the range and usage of locational flexibility options across the Nigerian higher education sector, as well as the factors shaping its implementation and utilisation. Ultimately, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the findings reveal that locational flexibility is predominantly environmentally induced. Originality/value This study focused on a salient topic that explores the practices of locational flexibility, particularly in an underresearched context of developing economies, specifically Nigeria. Moreover, the study contributes to the scarce literature on locational flexibility. Additionally, unlike previous studies that are mostly preoccupied with the meaning of the concept and the importance of the practice to employees' work-life balance, organisational flexibility, and overall operational performance, this study underpins the practices, utilisation and barriers to implementing locational flexibility

Correlation Between Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha and Proteinuria in Type-2 Diabetic Patients

Introduction: Diabetic Nephropathy (DN) is the single most common cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in many countries. Inflammation is a potential factor in the development and progression of DN and recent data indicate that diabetes includes an inflammatory component which may contribute to diabetic complications. Methods: This study was conducted at Ain Shams University Hospital on 95 patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus complicated with retinopathy and fifteen age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Diabetic patients were divided into 4 groups according to the degree of proteinuria. Serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), urine TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured in all subjects. Correlations between these inflammatory parameters and degree of proteinuria, duration of diabetes and degree of glycemic control were examined. Results: Levels of the three inflammatory parameters were significantly higher in diabetic patients when compared to control subjects, and they were positively correlated to urinary protein excretion. There was significant positive correlation between serum and urine TNF-α and duration of diabetes, as well as between serum TNF-α and glycemic control. Serum and urine TNF-α remained as independent predictors of urine protein excretion in diabetic patients with overt proteinuria after forward stepwise multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: Serum and urine TNF-α and CRP levels are significantly elevated in this group of diabetic patients, and correlate positively with severity of proteinuria. This suggests a significant role for TNF-α in the pathogenesis and progression of renal injury in diabetes mellitus. Keywards: Diabetic nephropathy; Proteinuria; Tumor necrosis factor-

Machine learning reveals mesenchymal breast carcinoma cell adaptation in response to matrix stiffness.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its reverse process, mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET), are believed to play key roles in facilitating the metastatic cascade. Metastatic lesions often exhibit a similar epithelial-like state to that of the primary tumour, in particular, by forming carcinoma cell clusters via E-cadherin-mediated junctional complexes. However, the factors enabling mesenchymal-like micrometastatic cells to resume growth and reacquire an epithelial phenotype in the target organ microenvironment remain elusive. In this study, we developed a workflow using image-based cell profiling and machine learning to examine morphological, contextual and molecular states of individual breast carcinoma cells (MDA-MB-231). MDA-MB-231 heterogeneous response to the host organ microenvironment was modelled by substrates with controllable stiffness varying from 0.2kPa (soft tissues) to 64kPa (bone tissues). We identified 3 distinct morphological cell types (morphs) varying from compact round-shaped to flattened irregular-shaped cells with lamellipodia, predominantly populating 2-kPa and >16kPa substrates, respectively. These observations were accompanied by significant changes in E-cadherin and vimentin expression. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the bone-mimicking substrate (64kPa) induced multicellular cluster formation accompanied by E-cadherin cell surface localisation. MDA-MB-231 cells responded to different substrate stiffness by morphological adaptation, changes in proliferation rate and cytoskeleton markers, and cluster formation on bone-mimicking substrate. Our results suggest that the stiffest microenvironment can induce MET

Gain studies of 1.3-μm dilute nitride HELLISH-VCSOA for optical communications

The hot electron light emitting and lasing in semiconductor heterostructure-vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (HELLISH-VCSOA) device is based on Ga0.35In0.65 N0.02As0.08/GaAs material for operation in the 1.3-μm window of the optical communications. The device has undoped distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). Therefore, problems such as those associated with refractive index contrast and current injection, which are common with doped DBRs in conventional VCSOAs, are avoided. The gain versus applied electric field curves are measured at different wavelengths using a tunable laser as the source signal. The highest gain is obtained for the 1.3-μm wavelength when an electric field in excess of 2 kV/cm is applied along the layers of the device

Diagnosis and Reporting of Follicular-Patterned Thyroid Lesions by Fine Needle Aspiration

Over the past 3 decades, fine needle aspiration (FNA) has developed as the most accurate and cost-effective initial method for guiding the clinical management of patients with thyroid nodules. Thyroid FNA specimens containing follicular-patterned lesions are the most commonly encountered and include various forms of benign thyroid nodules, follicular carcinomas, and the follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Based primarily upon the cytoarchitectural pattern, FNA is used as a screening test for follicular-patterned lesions to identify the majority of patients with benign nodules who can be managed without surgical intervention. The terminology and reporting of thyroid FNA results have been problematic due to significant variation between laboratories, but the recent multidisciplinary NCI Thyroid FNA State of the Science Conference has provided a seven-tiered diagnostic solution. A key element of this approach is the category “atypical cells of undetermined significance” (ACUS) which is used for those aspirates which cannot be easily classified as benign, suspicious, or malignant. Lesions in this category represent approximately 3–6% of thyroid FNAs and have a risk of malignancy intermediate between the “benign” category and the “suspicious for a follicular neoplasm” category. The recommended follow-up for an ACUS diagnosis is clinical correlation and in most cases, repeat FNA sampling