A case control study on behavioural risk factors of anaemia among pregnant women delivered at a tertiary care hospital in Haryana

Background: Anaemia in pregnancy (AIP) is one of the most common preventable causes of maternal morbidity and poor prenatal outcome. World Health Organization (WHO) has accepted up to 11 gm/dl as the normal hemoglobin (Hb) level in pregnancy. In Haryana state, the prevalence of anaemia among pregnant women is 50.2% in urban areas and 58.1% in rural areas. Pregnant women are predominantly susceptible to nutritional deficiencies because of the increased metabolic demands imposed by pregnancy and its related factors. The aim and objective of the study was to determine the behavioural factors associated with anaemia among pregnant women delivering at a tertiary care hospital in Haryana.Methods: This hospital-based case control study was carried out in BPS Government Medical College for Women, Khanpur Kalan, Sonipat (Haryana). Study was conducted for one year. One hundred sixty-eight pregnant women were enrolled for study. Inclusion criteria for cases and controls was age of 18 years and above and residents of Sonepat district. Analysis was performed by using R statistical software.Results: The majority 57 (67.9%) of cases and 49 (58.3%) of controls were in age group of 18-24 years. Among different behavioral risk factors studied, not using bed nets, not wearing shoes consistently, eating pica and no use of the other drugs during pregnancy were significantly associated with anemia during pregnancy. However, on Multivariable Logistic regression analysis, the major behavioral risk factors for anemia were not using bed net during pregnancy (AOR: 1.83, 95% CI: 0.68-5.01), and not wearing shoes consistently during pregnancy (AOR: 2.77, 95% CI: 0.83-10.01). The odds of getting anaemia in pregnant mothers who reported pica during their pregnancy was AOR = 2.85 (CI: 0.90 – 10.01) than odds of mothers who did not report pica during their pregnancy.Conclusions: Consistent use of bed net, wearing shoes and not consuming pica prevent anaemia during pregnancy.

Are Financial Development and Financial Stability Complements or Substitutes in Poverty Reduction?

This paper studies the association between financial development, financial stability, and poverty for a sample of 136 developed and developing countries over the period 1995-2018. Most of the existing studies in this literature have focused on financial development. Few recent studies have looked at the effects of financial stability. However, none of the existing studies has looked at the interaction effect of the two on poverty. Our contribution to this literature is manifold. First and foremost, we investigate whether financial development and financial stability are substitutes or complement in reducing poverty and find evidence in favour of the former: financial development has greater effects on poverty alleviation in a more fragile financial system and vice-versa. Second, using two different measures of financial stability, we show that financial stability is associated with lower levels of poverty. And, finally, while previous studies have presumed that the effect of financial development on poverty is homogeneous at various levels of poverty, we show that financial development and financial stability both have heterogeneous effects on poverty depending on the level of poverty considered

A "NOTCH" deeper into the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) program in breast cancer

Notch signaling is a primitive signaling pathway having various roles in the normal origin and development of each multicellular organisms. Therefore, any aberration in the pathway will inevitably lead to deadly outcomes such as cancer. It has now been more than two decades since Notch was acknowledged as an oncogene in mouse mammary tumor virus-infected mice. Since that discovery, activated Notch signaling and consequent up-regulation of tumor-promoting Notch target genes have been observed in human breast cancer. Moreover, consistent over-expression of Notch ligands and receptors has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis in human breast cancer. Notch regulates a number of key processes during breast carcinogenesis, of which, one key phenomenon is epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT). EMT is a key process for large-scale cell movement during morphogenesis at the time of embryonic development. Cancer cells aided by transcription factors usurp this developmental program to execute the multi-step process of tumorigenesis and metastasis. In this review, we recapitulate recent progress in breast cancer research that has provided new perceptions into the molecular mechanisms behind Notch-mediated EMT regulation during breast tumorigenesis

Nanoparticulate RNA delivery systems in cancer

Background: Drug delivery system is a common practice in cancer treatment. RNA interference-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing holds promise as an approach to knockdown in the expression of target genes responsible for cancer cell growth and metastasis. RNA interference (RNAi) can be achieved by delivering small interfering RNA (siRNA) and short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to target cells. Since neither interfering RNAs can be delivered in naked form due to poor stability, an efficient delivery system is required that protects, guides, and delivers the siRNA and shRNA to target cells as part of cancer therapy (chemotherapy). Recent findings: In this review, a discussion is presented about the different types of drug delivery system used to deliver siRNA and shRNA, together with an overview of the potential benefits associated with this sophisticated biomolecular therapy. Improved understanding of the different approaches used in nanoparticle (NP) fabrication, along with an enhanced appreciation of the biochemical properties of siRNA/shRNA, will assist in developing improved drug delivery strategies in basic and clinical research. Conclusion: These novel delivery techniques are able to solve the problems that form an inevitable part of delivering genes in more efficient manner and as part of more effective treatment protocols. The present review concludes that the nanoparticulate RNA delivery system has great possibility for cancer treatment along with several other proposed methods. Several NPs or nanocarriers are already in use, but the methods proposed here could fulfill the missing gap in cancer research. It is the future technology, which unravels the mystery of resolving genomic diseases that is, especially genomic instability and its signaling cascades

Systems Genetics of Hepatic Metabolome Reveals Octopamine as a Target for Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Treatment.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is often associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. To disentangle etiological relationships between these conditions and identify genetically-determined metabolites involved in NAFLD processes, we mapped 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomic and disease-related phenotypes in a mouse F2 cross derived from strains showing resistance (BALB/c) and increased susceptibility (129S6) to these diseases. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis based on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes identified diet responsive QTLs in F2 mice fed control or high fat diet (HFD). In HFD fed F2 mice we mapped on chromosome 18 a QTL regulating liver micro- and macrovesicular steatosis and inflammation, independently from glucose intolerance and adiposity, which was linked to chromosome 4. Linkage analysis of liver metabolomic profiling data identified a QTL for octopamine, which co-localised with the QTL for liver histopathology in the cross. Functional relationship between these two QTLs was validated in vivo in mice chronically treated with octopamine, which exhibited reduction in liver histopathology and metabolic benefits, underlining its role as a mechanistic biomarker of fatty liver with potential therapeutic applications

Epidural Interventions in the Management of Chronic Spinal Pain: American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) Comprehensive Evidence-Based Guidelines.

BACKGROUND: Chronic spinal pain is the most prevalent chronic disease with employment of multiple modes of interventional techniques including epidural interventions. Multiple randomized controlled trials (RCTs), observational studies, systematic reviews, and guidelines have been published. The recent review of the utilization patterns and expenditures show that there has been a decline in utilization of epidural injections with decrease in inflation adjusted costs from 2009 to 2018. The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) published guidelines for interventional techniques in 2013, and guidelines for facet joint interventions in 2020. Consequently, these guidelines have been prepared to update previously existing guidelines. OBJECTIVE: To provide evidence-based guidance in performing therapeutic epidural procedures, including caudal, interlaminar in lumbar, cervical, and thoracic spinal regions, transforaminal in lumbar spine, and percutaneous adhesiolysis in the lumbar spine. METHODS: The methodology utilized included the development of objective and key questions with utilization of trustworthy standards. The literature pertaining to all aspects of epidural interventions was viewed with best evidence synthesis of available literature and recommendations were provided. RESULTS: In preparation of the guidelines, extensive literature review was performed. In addition to review of multiple manuscripts in reference to utilization, expenditures, anatomical and pathophysiological considerations, pharmacological and harmful effects of drugs and procedures, for evidence synthesis we have included 47 systematic reviews and 43 RCTs covering all epidural interventions to meet the objectives.The evidence recommendations are as follows: Disc herniation: Based on relevant, high-quality fluoroscopically guided epidural injections, with or without steroids, and results of previous systematic reviews, the evidence is Level I for caudal epidural injections, lumbar interlaminar epidural injections, lumbar transforaminal epidural injections, and cervical interlaminar epidural injections with strong recommendation for long-term effectiveness.The evidence for percutaneous adhesiolysis in managing disc herniation based on one high-quality, placebo-controlled RCT is Level II with moderate to strong recommendation for long-term improvement in patients nonresponsive to conservative management and fluoroscopically guided epidural injections. For thoracic disc herniation, based on one relevant, high-quality RCT of thoracic epidural with fluoroscopic guidance, with or without steroids, the evidence is Level II with moderate to strong recommendation for long-term effectiveness.Spinal stenosis: The evidence based on one high-quality RCT in each category the evidence is Level III to II for fluoroscopically guided caudal epidural injections with moderate to strong recommendation and Level II for fluoroscopically guided lumbar and cervical interlaminar epidural injections with moderate to strong recommendation for long-term effectiveness.The evidence for lumbar transforaminal epidural injections is Level IV to III with moderate recommendation with fluoroscopically guided lumbar transforaminal epidural injections for long-term improvement. The evidence for percutaneous adhesiolysis in lumbar stenosis based on relevant, moderate to high quality RCTs, observational studies, and systematic reviews is Level II with moderate to strong recommendation for long-term improvement after failure of conservative management and fluoroscopically guided epidural injections. Axial discogenic pain: The evidence for axial discogenic pain without facet joint pain or sacroiliac joint pain in the lumbar and cervical spine with fluoroscopically guided caudal, lumbar and cervical interlaminar epidural injections, based on one relevant high quality RCT in each category is Level II with moderate to strong recommendation for long-term improvement, with or without steroids. Post-surgery syndrome: The evidence for lumbar and cervical post-surgery syndrome based on one relevant, high-quality RCT with fluoroscopic guidance for caudal and cervical interlaminar epidural injections, with or without steroids, is Level II with moderate to strong recommendation for long-term improvement. For percutaneous adhesiolysis, based on multiple moderate to high-quality RCTs and systematic reviews, the evidence is Level I with strong recommendation for long-term improvement after failure of conservative management and fluoroscopically guided epidural injections. LIMITATIONS: The limitations of these guidelines include a continued paucity of high-quality studies for some techniques and various conditions including spinal stenosis, post-surgery syndrome, and discogenic pain. CONCLUSIONS: These epidural intervention guidelines including percutaneous adhesiolysis were prepared with a comprehensive review of the literature with methodologic quality assessment and determination of level of evidence with strength of recommendations

Predicting Success In Undergraduate Parallel Programming Via Probabilistic Causality Analysis

We employ probabilistic causality analysis to study the performance data of 301 students from the upper-level undergraduate parallel programming class at the University of Central Florida. To our surprise, we discover that good performance in our lower-level undergraduate programming CS-1 and CS-II classes is not a significant causal factor that contributed to good performance in our parallel programming class. On the other hand, good performance in systems classes like Operating Systems, Information Security, Computer Architecture, Object Oriented Software and Systems Software coupled with good performance in theoretical classes like Introduction to Discrete Structures, Artificial Intelligence and Discrete Structures-II are strong indicators of good performance in our upper-level undergraduate parallel programming class. We believe that such causal analysis may be useful in identifying whether parallel and distributed computing concepts have effectively penetrated the lower-level computer science classes at an institution