Preservation and Handling Practices of Household Drinking Water in Ahmedabad city with special reference to Bacterial Contamination and Diarrheal Episode in Children: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Safe drinking water is essential for healthy human life. Presence of coliform organism, E. coli in particular, has been found to be the most specific bacteriological indicator of faecal contamination. Studying their preservation and handling practices of household drinking water, its contamination and diarrheal episodes in children is very necessary for hygiene promotion intervention. Methods: This crosssectional study was conducted at urban field practice area of community medicine department B.J.M.C, Ahmedabad in year 2020-2021. Total 168 Drinking water samples were collected from each household and tested at microbiology department. Information regarding household characteristics, preservation and handling practices of drinking water were gathered from mother using pre-tested and pre-designed proforma. Data were entered in Microsoft excel and analysed using Epi-info Software. Result: Out of 168 households studied, 165(98.2%) households used matka / earthen pot and 161(95.8%) used narrow necked covered container to preserve drinking water. Only in 10 (5.8%) households‘ water was filtered with folded cotton cloth at the time of collection. 101 (60%) water containers did have tap while 67 (39.8%) didn‘t have it. 4/168 (2.3%) samples were bacteriologically not acceptable for drinking purpose. Conclusion: Narrow necked coveredmatka (earthen pot) was the most commonly used container to preserve drinking water. Though prevalence of bacterial contamination and ADD episodes in under five child were low due to pre-treated piped water supply, diarrhoeal morbidity is more in household where broad necked, non tapped containers used. Education of mother has positive impact on preservation and handling practices of drinking water

CT colonography for synchronous colorectal lesions in patients with colorectal cancer: initial experience.

AIM To assess accuracy of CT colonography (CTC) in identifying synchronous lesions in patients with colorectal carcinoma. METHODS This study included 174 consecutive patients undergoing CTC as part of staging or primary investigation where a colorectal cancer was diagnosed between 2004 and 2007. Prone unenhanced and portal phase enhanced supine series with air or CO(2) distension were acquired using 4- or 16-slice CT (Toshiba) and read by 2D +/- 3D formats. Synchronous lesions were classified according to American College of Radiology's (ACR) polyp classification. Segmental gold standard was flexible sigmoidoscopy/colonoscopy within 1 year and/or histology of colonic resection supplemented by follow-up. Nine patients without gold standard were excluded. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were calculated on a per polyp, per patient and per segment basis and discrepancies analysed. RESULTS Direct comparable data were available for 764/990 colonic segments from 165 patients. Of 41 (C2-C4) synchronous lesions on "gold standard", 33 were correctly identified on virtual colonoscopy (VC), overall per polyp sensitivity was 80.5%, with detection rates of 20/24 C3 (83.3%) and 3/3 C4 (100%) with per patient and per segment specificity of 95.4% and 99.2%, respectively. CONCLUSION CTC is an accurate technique to assess for significant synchronous lesions in patients with colorectal cancer and is applicable for total pre-operative colonic visualisation

The NF90/NF45 Complex Participates in DNA Break Repair via Nonhomologous End Joining ▿ †

Nuclear factor 90 (NF90), an RNA-binding protein implicated in the regulation of gene expression, exists as a heterodimeric complex with NF45. We previously reported that depletion of the NF90/NF45 complex results in a multinucleated phenotype. Time-lapse microscopy revealed that binucleated cells arise by incomplete abscission of progeny cells followed by fusion. Multinucleate cells arose through aberrant division of binucleated cells and displayed abnormal metaphase plates and anaphase chromatin bridges suggestive of DNA repair defects. NF90 and NF45 are known to interact with the DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK), which is involved in telomere maintenance and DNA repair by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). We hypothesized that NF90 modulates the activity of DNA-PK. In an in vitro NHEJ assay system, DNA end joining was reduced by NF90/NF45 immunodepletion or by RNA digestion to an extent similar to that for catalytic subunit DNA-PKcs immunodepletion. In vivo, NF90/NF45-depleted cells displayed increased γ-histone 2A.X foci, indicative of an accumulation of double-strand DNA breaks (DSBs), and increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation consistent with decreased DSB repair. Further, NF90/NF45 knockdown reduced end-joining activity in vivo. These results identify the NF90/NF45 complex as a regulator of DNA damage repair mediated by DNA-PK and suggest that structured RNA may modulate this process