What Do Safety Data Sheets for Artificial Stone Products Tell Us About Composition? A Comparative Analysis with Physicochemical Data

Artifcial stone (AS) is a composite material that has seen widespread use in construction, particularly for kitchen benchtops. However, fabrication processes with AS have been associated with serious lung disease. Safety data sheets (SDSs) aim to provide important information pertaining to composition and health risks. In the case of a complex mixture, SDSs may be problematic in terms of specifc information on overall health risks. To assess this issue, we compared empirically determined mineral, metallic, and organic resin content of 25 individual AS products across six suppliers, with the corresponding SDS information. X-ray diffraction was used to quantitate the mineralogical components of AS samples, and X-ray fuorescence was used to estimate the metallic components. Organic material (resin content) was estimated using weight loss during calcination. Although the resin content for all AS samples was within the SDS-reported ranges, there was considerable variability in the crystalline silica content when comparing with supplier’s SDS. Potentially toxicologically relevant metallic and mineral constituents were not reported. Some supplier SDSs were found to provide more information than others. Only one of the six suppliers provided crystalline mineral content other than silica, and only two suppliers provided any information about metals. There remains a limited understanding of lung pathogenesis from AS, and this study highlights the need for more comprehensive and standardized SDS information for risk assessment and management.Chellan Kumarasamy, Dino Pisaniello, Sharyn Gaskin, and Tony Hal

Hyperlipidaemia in HIV-infected patients on lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy in resource-limited settings

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an emerging concern for HIV-infected patients. Hyperlipidemia is a risk factor for CVD and a complication of protease-inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy, but little is known about its incidence and risk factors in treated patients in resource-limited settings (RLS)

Prioritising prevention strategies for patients in antiretroviral treatment programmes in resource-limited settings

Expanded access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) offers opportunities to strengthen HIV prevention in resource-limited settings. We invited 27 ART programmes from urban settings in Africa, Asia and South America to participate in a survey, with the aim to examine what preventive services had been integrated in ART programmes. Twenty-two programmes participated; eight (36%) from South Africa, two from Brazil, two from Zambia and one each from Argentina, India, Thailand, Botswana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Morocco, Uganda and Zimbabwe and one occupational programme of a brewery company included five countries (Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi). Twenty-one sites (96%) provided health education and social support, and 18 (82%) provided HIV testing and counselling. All sites encouraged disclosure of HIV infection to spouses and partners, but only 11 (50%) had a protocol for partner notification. Twenty-one sites (96%) supplied male condoms, seven (32%) female condoms and 20 (91%) provided prophylactic ART for the prevention of mother-to child transmission. Seven sites (33%) regularly screened for sexually transmitted infections (STI). Twelve sites (55%) were involved in activities aimed at women or adolescents, and 10 sites (46%) in activities aimed at serodiscordant couples. Stigma and discrimination, gender roles and funding constraints were perceived as the main obstacles to effective prevention in ART programmes. We conclude that preventive services in ART programmes in lower income countries focus on health education and the provision of social support and male condoms. Strategies that might be equally or more important in this setting, including partner notification, prompt diagnosis and treatment of STI and reduction of stigma in the community, have not been implemented widely

Raltegravir in second-line antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings (SELECT): a randomised, phase 3, non-inferiority study

For second-line antiretroviral therapy, WHO recommends a boosted protease inhibitor plus nucleoside or nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs). However, concerns about toxicity and cross-resistance motivated a search for regimens that do not contain NRTIs. We aimed to assess whether boosted lopinavir plus raltegravir would be non-inferior to boosted lopinavir plus NRTIs for virological suppression in resource-limited settings

Sperm mitochondrial membrane potential and motility pattern in the Holstein bull semen positive for heparin binding proteins

Present study was aimed to evaluate sperm motility and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in relation to the presence of heparin binding proteins (HBPs) in semen. Semen was collected from 17 Holstein Friesian breeding bulls. Seminal plasma and sperm membrane proteins were isolated by precipitation method; HBPs were isolated using heparin-sepharose affinity chromatography. SDS-PAGE was performed and bulls were categorized into 3 groups based on presence/absence of 24 and 30 kDa HBPs. Computer-assisted semen analysis revealed that fresh ejaculates of bulls positive for 30 kDa HBP had 4.24 and 14.18% of higher total motile sperm than semen with 24 kDa and negative for HBPs. Semen with 30 and 24 kDa had 18.72 and 12.34% of higher number of sperm with progressive motility and velocity than semen devoid of HBPs. Simultaneous assessment of plasma membrane integrity (PMI) and MMP by fluorescence staining revealed that post-thaw sperm of semen with 30 kDa HBP had 6.28 and 12.79% of higher intact PMI. Further, sperm of semen with 30 kDa HBP had 4.61 and 10.50% of higher MMP, which had travelled an extra distance of 9.71 and 4.95 mm through cervical mucus than semen with 24 kDa and devoid of HBPs. The mucus penetration distance showed a strong positive correlation with high MMP, PMI, sperm motility and velocity. It is to be concluded that HBPs were able to sustain higher percentage of motile sperm with progressive motility and MMP which was depicted by more mucus penetration distance

The presence of heparin binding proteins and their impact on semen quality of Holstein Friesian bulls

Present study was designed to evaluate the semen quality of breeding bulls positive for 24 and 30 kDa heparin binding proteins (HBPs) in the semen. Seventeen Holstein Friesian breeding bulls were screened for 24 and 30 kDa HBPs in semen by heparin-sepharose affinity chromatography and SDS-PAGE, and grouped into three based on presence/absence of HBPs. In vitro characteristics of spermatozoa were assessed by standard analysis of sperm abnormalities, functional membrane integrity, acrosome integrity and sperm chromatin integrity in fresh and frozen- thawed semen. Bulls positive for 30 kDa had lowest sperm abnormalities and sperm chromatin fragmentation than bulls positive for 24 kDa and without HBPs in the fresh ejaculates. Further, fresh semen positive for 30 kDa had 8.76% of higher active plasma membrane with 7.63% intact acrosome. The process of cryopreservation of semen increased sperm abnormalities, acrosome damage and chromatin fragmentation in all the semen samples irrespective of presence/absence of HBPs. However, semen samples positive for 24 and 30 kDa HBPs were able to sustain lower percentage of post-thaw sperm abnormalities with higher chromatin integrity in comparison to semen devoid of HBPs. Moreover, semen with 24 and 30 kDa HBPs had higher post-thaw intact acrosome with active plasma membrane than negative semen. The results concluded that bulls positive for 30 kDa had 12.43 and 28.37 percentages of better semen quality than bulls with 24 kDa and devoid of HBPs

IL10 variant g.5311A is associated with Visceral Leishmaniasis in Indian population

Background: Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a multifactorial disease, where the host genetics play a significant role in determining the disease outcome. The immunological role of anti-inflammatory cytokine, Interleukin 10 (IL10), has been well-documented in parasite infections and considered as a key regulatory cytokine for VL. Although VL patients in India display high level of IL10 in blood serum, no genetic study has been conducted to assess the VL susceptibility/resistance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the role of IL10 variations in Indian VL; and to estimate the distribution of disease associated allele in diverse Indian populations. Methodology: All the exons and exon-intron boundaries of IL10 were sequenced in 184 VL patients along with 172 ethnically matched controls from VL endemic region of India. Result and Discussion: Our analysis revealed four variations; rs1518111 (2195 A>G, intron), rs1554286 (2607 C>T, intron), rs3024496 (4976 T>C, 3’ UTR) and rs3024498 (5311 A>G, 3’ UTR). Of these, a variant g.5311A is significantly associated with VL (χ2 = 18.87; p = 0.00001). In silico approaches have shown that a putative micro RNA binding site (miR-4321) is lost in rs3024498 mRNA. Further, analysis of the above four variations in 1138 individuals from 34 ethnic populations, representing different social and linguistic groups who are inhabited in different geographical regions of India, showed variable frequency. Interestingly, we have found, majority of the tribal populations have low frequency of VL (‘A’ of rs3024498); and high frequency of leprosy (‘T’ of rs1554286), and Behcet’s (‘A’ of rs1518111) associated alleles, whereas these were vice versa in castes. Our findings suggest that majority of tribal populations of India carry the protected/less severe allele against VL, while risk/more severe allele for leprosy and Behcet’s disease. This study has potential implications in counseling and management of VL and other infectious diseases

Risk and prognostic significance of tuberculosis in patients from The TREAT Asia HIV Observational Database

10.1186/1471-2334-9-46BMC Infectious Diseases94