SMALL POWER ENGINE FUELED WITH BIOGAS

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Malaria associated symptoms in pregnant women followed-up in Benin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is generally agreed that in high transmission areas, pregnant women have acquired a partial immunity to malaria and when infected they present few or no symptoms. However, longitudinal cohort studies investigating the clinical presentation of malaria infection in pregnant women in stable endemic areas are lacking, and the few studies exploring this issue are unconclusive.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A prospective cohort of women followed monthly during pregnancy was conducted in three rural dispensaries in Benin from August 2008 to September 2010. The presence of symptoms suggestive of malaria infection in 982 women during antenatal visits (ANV), unscheduled visits and delivery were analysed. A multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the association between symptoms and a positive thick blood smear (TBS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>During routine ANVs, headache was the only symptom associated with a higher risk of positive TBS (aOR = 1.9; p < 0.001). On the occasion of unscheduled visits, fever (aOR = 5.2; p < 0.001), headache (aOR = 2.1; p = 0.004) and shivering (aOR = 3.1; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with a malaria infection and almost 90% of infected women presented at least one of these symptoms. Two thirds of symptomatic malaria infections during unscheduled visits occurred in late pregnancy and long after the last intermittent preventive treatment dose (IPTp).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The majority of pregnant women were symptomless during routine visits when infected with malaria in an endemic stable area. The only suggestive sign of malaria (fever) was associated with malaria only on the occasion of unscheduled visits. The prevention of malaria in pregnancy could be improved by reassessing the design of IPTp, i.e. by determining an optimal number of doses and time of administration of anti-malarial drugs.</p

Association between LRP5 polymorphism and bone mineral density: a Bayesian meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 5 gene (LRP5) was identified to be linked to the variation in BMD in high bone mass pedigrees. Subsequent population-based studies of the association between the LRP5 gene and BMD have yielded conflicting results. The present study was aimed at examining the association between LRP5 gene and BMD by using meta-analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic electronic search of literature was conducted to identify all published studies in English on the association between LRP5 gene and osteoporosis-related phenotypes, including bone mineral density and fracture. BMD data were summarized from individual studies by LRP5 genotype, and a synthesis of data was performed with random-effects meta-analyses. After excluding studies on animal and review papers, there were 19 studies for the synthesis. Among these studies, 10 studies used the rs3736228 (A1330V) polymorphism and reported BMD values.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 10 eligible studies comprised 16,705 individuals, with the majority being women (n = 8444), aged between 18 – 81 years. The overall distribution of genotype frequencies was: AA, 68%, AV and VV, 32%. However, the genotype frequency varied significantly within as well as between ethnic populations. On random-effects meta-analysis, lumbar spine BMD among individuals with the AA genotype was on average 0.018 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.012 to 0.023) g/cm²higher than those with either AV or VV genotype. Similarly, femoral neck BMD among carriers of the AA genotype was 0.011 (95%CI: 0.004 to 0.017) g/cm²higher than those without the genotype. While there was no significant heterogeneity in the association between the A1330V polymorphism and lumbar spine BMD (p = 0.55), the association was heterogeneous for femoral neck BMD (p = 0.05). The probability that the difference is greater than one standard deviation was 0.34 for femoral neck BMD and 0.54 for lumbar spine BMD.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that there is a modest effect of the A1330V polymorphism on BMD in the general population, and that the modest association may limit its clinical use.</p

Global, regional, and national incidence of six major immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: findings from the global burden of disease study 2019

Background The causes for immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are diverse and the incidence trends of IMIDs from specific causes are rarely studied. The study aims to investigate the pattern and trend of IMIDs from 1990 to 2019. Methods We collected detailed information on six major causes of IMIDs, including asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and atopic dermatitis, between 1990 and 2019, derived from the Global Burden of Disease study in 2019. The average annual percent change (AAPC) in number of incidents and age standardized incidence rate (ASR) on IMIDs, by sex, age, region, and causes, were calculated to quantify the temporal trends. Findings In 2019, rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, asthma, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease accounted 1.59%, 36.17%, 54.71%, 0.09%, 6.84%, 0.60% of overall new IMIDs cases, respectively. The ASR of IMIDs showed substantial regional and global variation with the highest in High SDI region, High-income North America, and United States of America. Throughout human lifespan, the age distribution of incident cases from six IMIDs was quite different. Globally, incident cases of IMIDs increased with an AAPC of 0.68 and the ASR decreased with an AAPC of −0.34 from 1990 to 2019. The incident cases increased across six IMIDs, the ASR of rheumatoid arthritis increased (0.21, 95% CI 0.18, 0.25), while the ASR of asthma (AAPC = −0.41), inflammatory bowel disease (AAPC = −0.72), multiple sclerosis (AAPC = −0.26), psoriasis (AAPC = −0.77), and atopic dermatitis (AAPC = −0.15) decreased. The ASR of overall and six individual IMID increased with SDI at regional and global level. Countries with higher ASR in 1990 experienced a more rapid decrease in ASR. Interpretation The incidence patterns of IMIDs varied considerably across the world. Innovative prevention and integrative management strategy are urgently needed to mitigate the increasing ASR of rheumatoid arthritis and upsurging new cases of other five IMIDs, respectively. Funding The Global Burden of Disease Study is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The project funded by Scientific Research Fund of Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital (2022QN38)

Gadolinium and Platinum in Tandem: Real-time Multi-Modal Monitoring of Drug Delivery by MRI and Fluorescence Imaging

International audienceA novel dual-imaging cisplatin-carrying molecular cargo capable of performing simultaneous optical and MR imaging is reported herein. This long-lasting MRI contrast agent (r1 relaxivity of 23.4 mM-1s-1 at 3T, 25 oC) is a photo-activated cisplatin prodrug (PtGdL) which enables real-time monitoring of anti-cancer efficacy. PtGdL is a model for monitoring the drug delivery and anti-cancer efficacy by MRI with a much longer retention time (24 hours) in several organs such as renal cortex and spleen than GdDOTA and its motif control GdL. Upon complete release of cisplatin, all PtGdL is converted to GdL enabling subsequent MRI analyses of therapy efficacy within its reasonably short clearance time of 4 hours. There is also responsive fluorescence enhancement for monitoring by photon-excitation

Fcγ受容体発現細胞を用いたデング熱流行期前の健康人血清中におけるデングウイルス感染増強抗体の解析

Background: Antibodies are critical responses to protect the host from dengue virus(DENV) infection. Antibodies target DENV by two pathologic mechanisms: virus neutralization and infection enhancement. In dengue patients, the absence of neutralizing activity in the presence of FcγR implies that infection-enhancing activity hampers the neutralizing activity of antibodies, which could potentially lead to symptomatic presentations and severe clinical outcomes. Methods: A total of 100 pair serum samples from adult healthy volunteers were obtained during the dengue season in Ha Noi in 2015 for evaluation of neutralizing and infection-enhancing activity. Additionally, 20 serum samples from acute secondary DENV infection patients were also used as the patient group in this study. PRNT was performed on BHK cells and FcγR-expressing BHK cell lines for all serum samples. Results: Out of 100 residents, positive neutralizing antibodies (N.A) were found in 44.23 and 76.92% for DENV-1; 38.46 and 75% for DENV-2; 19.23 and 15.38% for DENV-3; and 1.92 and 9.62% for DENV-4 for pre and post-dengue season respectively. The percentage of post-exposure residents having positive responses against single, two, or more than three DENV serotypes were 38.46, 44.23 and 15.38%, respectively. A total of 34 residents were DENV seropositive before the dengue season and these individuals demonstrated further elevation of IgG antibodies after the dengue season. At the end of the season, 18 residents were confirmed to be new asymptomatic DENV infection cases. In both groups, N.A titers determined on BHK cells were higher than that on FcγR-expressing BHK cells. In heterotypic N.A responses, N.A titers to the infecting serotype from the samples obtained from pre-exposure group were significantly higher than those of the patient group. However, fold enhancement to the infecting serotypes from the samples in the pre-exposure group was substantially lower as compared to that of the patient group. Conclusion: Before and after the dengue season, serum samples from healthy volunteers demonstrated high levels of neutralizing antibodies and low or absence of infection-enhancement activity. The results suggest that while infection-enhancement activity hampers neutralizing activity of antibodies, high levels of DENV neutralizing antibodies set a critical threshold in facilitating the prevention of disease progression.長崎大学学位論文 学位記番号:博(医歯薬)甲第1058号 学位授与年月日:平成30年3月20日Author: Minh Huong Phu Ly, Meng Ling MoiEmail author, Thi Bich Hau Vu, Mya Myat Ngwe Tun, Todd Saunders, Cam Nhat Nguyen, Anh Kieu Thi Nguyen, Hung Manh Nguyen, Than Huu Dao, Do Quyen Pham, Thi Thu Thuy Nguyen, Thi Quynh Mai Le, Futoshi Hasebe and Kouichi MoritaCitation: BMC Infectious Diseases, 18, 31; 2018Nagasaki University (長崎大学)課程博