Functional and molecular characterization of hyposensitive underactive bladder tissue and urine in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat

Background: The functional and molecular alterations of nerve growth factor (NGF) and Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and its receptors were studied in bladder and urine in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methodology/Principal Findings: Diabetes mellitus was induced with a single dose of 45 mg/kg STZ Intraperitoneally (i.p) in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Continuous cystometrogram were performed on control rats and STZ treated rats at week 4 or 12 under urethane anesthesia. Bladder was then harvested for histology, expression of EP receptors and NGF by western blotting, PGE2 levels by ELISA, and detection of apoptosis by TUNEL staining. In addition, 4-hr urine was collected from all groups for urine levels of PGE2, and NGF assay. DM induced progressive increase of bladder weight, urine production, intercontraction interval (ICI) and residual urine in a time dependent fashion. Upregulation of Prostaglandin E receptor (EP)1 and EP3 receptors and downregulation of NGF expression, increase in urine NGF and decrease levels of urine PGE2 at week 12 was observed. The decrease in ICI by intravesical instillation of PGE2 was by 51% in control rats and 31.4% in DM group at week 12. Conclusions/Significance: DM induced hyposensitive underactive bladder which is characterized by increased inflammatory reaction, apoptosis, urine NGF levels, upregulation of EP1 and EP3 receptors and decreased bladder NGF and urine PGE2. The data suggest that EP3 receptor are potential targets in the treatment of diabetes induced underactive bladder. © 2014 Nirmal et al

Replication and Meta-Analysis of GWAS Identified Susceptibility Loci in Kawasaki Disease Confirm the Importance of B Lymphoid Tyrosine Kinase (BLK) in Disease Susceptibility

10.1371/journal.pone.0072037PLoS ONE88-POLN

A Genome-Wide Characterization of MicroRNA Genes in Maize

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that play essential roles in plant growth, development, and stress response. We conducted a genome-wide survey of maize miRNA genes, characterizing their structure, expression, and evolution. Computational approaches based on homology and secondary structure modeling identified 150 high-confidence genes within 26 miRNA families. For 25 families, expression was verified by deep-sequencing of small RNA libraries that were prepared from an assortment of maize tissues. PCR–RACE amplification of 68 miRNA transcript precursors, representing 18 families conserved across several plant species, showed that splice variation and the use of alternative transcriptional start and stop sites is common within this class of genes. Comparison of sequence variation data from diverse maize inbred lines versus teosinte accessions suggest that the mature miRNAs are under strong purifying selection while the flanking sequences evolve equivalently to other genes. Since maize is derived from an ancient tetraploid, the effect of whole-genome duplication on miRNA evolution was examined. We found that, like protein-coding genes, duplicated miRNA genes underwent extensive gene-loss, with ∼35% of ancestral sites retained as duplicate homoeologous miRNA genes. This number is higher than that observed with protein-coding genes. A search for putative miRNA targets indicated bias towards genes in regulatory and metabolic pathways. As maize is one of the principal models for plant growth and development, this study will serve as a foundation for future research into the functional roles of miRNA genes

Developing a policy to reduce the salt content of food consumed outside the home in Malaysia: protocol of a qualitative study.

INTRODUCTION: Current salt intake in Malaysia is high. The existing national salt reduction policy has faced slow progress and does not yet include measures to address the out of home sector. Dishes consumed in the out of home sector are a known leading contributor to daily salt intake. This study aims to develop a salt reduction strategy, tailored to the out of home sector in Malaysia. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a qualitative analysis of stakeholder views towards salt reduction. Participants will be recruited from five zones of Malaysia (Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern regions and East Malaysia), including policy-makers, non-governmental organisations, food industries, school canteen operators, street food vendors and consumers, to participate in focus group discussions or in-depth interviews. Interviews will be transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Barriers will be identified and used to develop a tailored salt reduction strategy. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval has been obtained from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Research Ethics Committee (UKM PPI/1118/JEP-2020-524), the Malaysian National Medical Research Ethics Committee (NMRR-20-1387-55481 (IIR)) and Queen Mary University of London Research Ethics Committee (QMERC2020/37) . Results will be presented orally and in report form and made available to the relevant ministries for example, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Trade to encourage adoption of strategy as policy. The findings of this study will be disseminated through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications and webinars

Barriers, enablers and perceptions on dietary salt reduction in the out-of-home sectors: A scoping review

In this review, we have investigated the perceptions, barriers, and enabling factors that were responsible for a dietary salt reduction in the out-of-home sectors. For this purpose, we examined different knowledge databases such as Google Scholar, Ebscohost, MEDLINE (PubMed), Ovid, and Cochrane Library for research articles from September to December 2020. The inclusion criteria for the research articles were that they had to be published in English and had to be a qualitative or quantitative study that was conducted after 2010. These studies also had to report the various enablers, barriers, and perceptions regarding salt reduction in the out-of-home sectors. After implementing the inclusion criteria, we successfully screened a total of 440 studies, out of which 65 articles fulfilled all the criteria. The perceived barriers that hindered salt reduction among the out-of-home sectors included lack of menu and food variabilities, loss of sales due to salt reduction, lack of technical skills for implementing the salt reduction processes for cooking or reformulation, and an absence of environmental and systemic support for reducing the salt concentration. Furthermore, the enablers for salt reduction included the intervention programs, easy accessibility to salt substitutes, salt intake measurement, educational availability, and a gradual reduction in the salt levels. With regards to the behavior or perceptions, the effect of organizational and individual characteristics on their salt intake were reported. The majority of the people were not aware of their salt intake or the effect of salt on their health. These people also believed that low salt food was recognized as tasteless. In conclusion, the enablers, barriers, and perceptions regarding salt reduction in the out-ofhome sectors were multifaceted. Therefore, for the implementation of the strategies, policies, and initiatives for addressing the barriers, the policymakers need to encourage a multisectoral collaboration for reducing the salt intake in the population

Perceptions, barriers and enablers of salt reduction in Malaysian out-of-home sectors (MySaltOH): from the point of view of policy-makers and food industries.

BACKGROUND: High salt intake is a major cause of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The out-of-home sectors have been identified as one of the contributors of high salt intake in the population. The National Salt Reduction Policy of Malaysia was initiated in 2015; however, out-of-home sectors are yet to be emphasized and perception by policy-makers and the food industries towards salt reduction are yet unknown. This study aimed to determine the perceptions, barriers and enablers towards salt reduction in the out-of-home sector in Malaysia, as well as among policy-makers and the food industries. METHODS: This is a qualitative study via semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDI) and focus group discussions (FGD) involving several stakeholders consisting of policy-makers from five ministries, five nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and food science/food technology researchers from five regions (West, North, East, and South Peninsular and East Malaysia/Borneo), as well as the food industries. The IDI and FGD sessions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically using Nvivo software version 12. RESULTS: All participants agreed that salt intake in Malaysia is high and leads to hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Lack of awareness, poor eating culture and behaviour and frequent eating out were among the causes of high salt intake. Awareness campaigns and education, sodium content labelling and product reformulation were strategies that have been implemented by the government; whilst for the food industries, some of them have tried to reduce salt and labelled the sodium content on their food products. However, there were several barriers including perceived poor consumer acceptance, lack of knowledge and resources, and challenges in reformulation, as well as unavailability of guidelines and salt targets. Hence, several enablers have been suggested, which include prioritizing the salt reduction strategy, creating more awareness, collaboration and engagement, research and technology particularly for reformulation and shelf-life stability, incentives and salt tax. CONCLUSIONS: Salt reduction efforts of the out-of-home sector in Malaysia could be achieved through several measures or enablers that can overcome the barriers currently faced by stakeholders, especially policy-makers, food industries and the consumers themselves. This study will benefit the policy-makers to improve the salt reduction policy of out-of-home sectors and highlight the concerns among the food industries on the policy

Does Pre-hospital Endotracheal Intubation Improve Survival in Adults with Non-traumatic Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest? A Systematic Review

Introduction: Endotracheal intubation (ETI) is currently considered superior to supraglottic airway devices (SGA) for survival and other outcomes among adults with non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to determine if the research supports this conclusion by conducting a systematic review. Methods: We searched the MEDLINE, Scopus and CINAHL databases for studies published between January 1, 1980, and 30 April 30, 2013, which compared pre-hospital use of ETI with SGA for outcomes of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC); survival to hospital admission; survival to hospital discharge; and favorable neurological or functional status. We selected studies using pre-specified criteria. Included studies were independently screened for quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We did not pool results because of study variability. Study outcomes were extracted and results presented as summed odds ratios with 95% CI. Results: We identified five eligible studies: one quasi-randomized controlled trial and four cohort studies, involving 303,348 patients in total. Only three of the five studies reported a higher proportion of ROSC with ETI versus SGA with no difference reported in the remaining two. None found significant differences between ETI and SGA for survival to hospital admission or discharge. One study reported better functional status at discharge for ETI versus SGA. Two studies reported no significant difference for favorable neurological status between ETI and SGA. Conclusion: Current evidence does not conclusively support the superiority of ETI over SGA for multiple outcomes among adults with OHCA. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(7):-0.

Does Pre-hospital Endotracheal Intubation Improve Survival in Adults with Non-traumatic Out-of-hospital Cardiac Arrest? A Systematic Review

Introduction: Endotracheal intubation (ETI) is currently considered superior to supraglottic airway devices (SGA) for survival and other outcomes among adults with non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). We aimed to determine if the research supports this conclusion by conducting a systematic review. Methods: We searched the MEDLINE, Scopus and CINAHL databases for studies published between January 1, 1980, and 30 April 30, 2013, which compared pre-hospital use of ETI with SGA for outcomes of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC); survival to hospital admission; survival to hospital discharge; and favorable neurological or functional status. We selected studies using pre-specified criteria. Included studies were independently screened for quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We did not pool results because of study variability. Study outcomes were extracted and results presented as summed odds ratios with 95% CI. Results: We identified five eligible studies: one quasi-randomized controlled trial and four cohort studies, involving 303,348 patients in total. Only three of the five studies reported a higher proportion of ROSC with ETI versus SGA with no difference reported in the remaining two. None found significant differences between ETI and SGA for survival to hospital admission or discharge. One study reported better functional status at discharge for ETI versus SGA. Two studies reported no significant difference for favorable neurological status between ETI and SGA. Conclusion: Current evidence does not conclusively support the superiority of ETI over SGA for multiple outcomes among adults with OHCA. [West J Emerg Med. 2014;15(7):-0.