Hospital-based surveillance of enteric parasites in Kolkata

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diarrhoea is the second leading cause of illness and death in developing countries and the second commonest cause of death due to infectious diseases among children under five in such countries. Parasites, as well as bacterial and viral pathogens, are important causes of diarrhoea. However, parasitic infections are sometimes overlooked, leading after a period of time to an uncertain aetiology. In this paper we report the prevalence of <it>Giardia lamblia</it>, <it>Entamoeba histolytica </it>and <it>Cryptosporidium </it>sp. in and around Kolkata.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>A hospital-based laboratory surveillance study was conducted among the patients admitted between November 2007 and October 2008 to the Infectious Diseases (ID) Hospital (Population = 1103) with diarrhoeal complaints. Of the 1103 samples collected, 147 were positive for <it>Giardia lamblia</it>, 84 for <it>Cryptosporidium </it>sp. and 51 for <it>Entamoeba histolytica</it>. For all these parasites there was a high rate of mixed infection with common enteric viruses and bacteria such as Rotavirus, <it>Vibrio cholerae </it>and <it>Shigella </it>sp. There were also cases of co-infection with all other diarrheogenic pathogens. The age group ≥ 5 years had the highest prevalence of parasites whereas the age group >5 – 10 years was predominantly infected with <it>Giardia lamblia </it>(p =< 0.001; Odds ratio (OR) = 3.937; 95% Confidence interval (CI) = 1.862 – 8.326) and with all parasites (p = 0.040; OR = 2.043; 95% CI = 1.033 – 4.039). The age group >10 – 20 years could also be considered at risk for <it>G. lamblia </it>(p = 0.009; OR = 2.231; 95% CI = 1.223 – 4.067). Month-wise occurrence data showed an endemic presence of <it>G. lamblia </it>whereas <it>Cryptosporidium </it>sp. and <it>E. histolytica </it>occurred sporadically. The GIS study revealed that parasites were more prevalent in areas such as Tangra, Tiljala and Rajarhat, which are mainly slum areas. Because most of the population surveyed was in the lower income group, consumption of contaminated water and food could be the major underlying cause of parasitic infestations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study provides important information on the occurrence and distribution of three important intestinal parasites and indicates their diarrheogenic capacity in Kolkata and surrounding areas.</p

Emerging trends in the etiology of enteric pathogens as evidenced from an active surveillance of hospitalized diarrhoeal patients in Kolkata, India

Background: This study was conducted to determine the etiology of diarrhoea in a hospital setting in Kolkata. Active surveillance was conducted for 2 years on two random days per week by enrolling every fifth diarrhoeal patient admitted to the Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital in Kolkata. Results: Most of the patients (76.1%) had acute watery diarrhoea in association with vomiting (77.7%) and some dehydration (92%). Vibrio cholerae O1, Rotavirus and Giardia lamblia were the important causes of diarrhoea. Among Shigella spp, S. flexneri 2a and 3a serotypes were most predominantly isolated. Enteric viruses, EPEC and EAEC were common in children <5 year age group. Atypical EPEC was comparatively higher than the typical EPEC. Multidrug resistance was common among V. cholerae O1 and Shigella spp including tetracycline and ciprofloxacin. Polymicrobial infections were common in all age groups and 27.9% of the diarrhoea patients had no potential pathogen. Conclusions: Increase in V. cholerae O1 infection among <2 years age group, resistance of V. cholerae O1 to tetracycline, rise of untypable S. flexnerii, higher proportion of atypical EPEC and G. lamblia and polymicrobial etiology are some of the emerging trends observed in this diarrhoeal disease surveillance

ATHENA detector proposal - a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

ATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity.This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges

ATHENA detector proposal — a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

ATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity. This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&amp;D required to meet those challenges

Determination of halogen in copolymers by dye-partition technique and calculation of r<SUB>1</SUB> therefrom

Halogen-bearing polymers have been prepared by copolymerization of monomers (M1) such as styrene, methyl methacrylate, methyl acrylate, and vinyl acetate with traces of chlorine-bearing monomers (M2) such as allyl chloride and tetrachloroethylene at varying M1:M2 ratios in the 100:1 composition range. The halogen atoms in the copolymers were transformed to quaternary pyridinium halide groups by quaternization with pyridine. The copolymer compositions and the monomer reactivity ratio r1 were determined by the estimation of the quaternary halide groups in the copolymers by the dye-partition technique, with aqueous disulfine blue VN150 in 0.01M hydrochloric acid as the dye reagent

Comprehensive strain and band gap analysis of PA-MBE grown AlGaN/GaN heterostructures on sapphire with ultra thin buffer

In this work, cluster tool (CT) Plasma Assisted Molecular Beam Epitaxy (PA-MBE) grown AlGaN/GaN heterostructure on c-plane (0 0 0 1) sapphire (Al2O3) were investigated by High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD), Room Temperature Raman Spectroscopy (RTRS), and Room Temperature Photoluminescence (RTPL). The effects of strain and doping on GaN and AlGaN layers were investigated thoroughly. The out-of-plane (‘c’) and in-plane (‘a’) lattice parameters were measured from RTRS analysis and as well as reciprocal space mapping (RSM) from HRXRD scan of (002) and (105) plane. The in-plane (out-of plane) strain of the samples were found to be −2.5 × 10−3(1 × 10−3), and −1.7 × 10−3(2 × 10−3) in GaN layer and 5.1 × 10−3 (−3.3 × 10−3), and 8.8 × 10−3(−1.3 × 10−3) in AlGaN layer, respectively. In addition, the band structures of AlGaN/GaN interface were estimated by both theoretical (based on elastic theory) and experimental observations of the RTPL spectrum

Quenching of the Excitonic Emission of ZnO Quantum Dots Due to Auger-Assisted Hole Transfer to CdS Quantum Dots

The charge-transfer mechanism in quantum dot (QD) donor–acceptor systems is still poorly understood. Here, we utilize steady-state and time-resolved emission spectroscopy to study photoinduced hole transfer from ZnO to CdS QDs. The observed quenching of the excitonic emission (both intensity and lifetime of ZnO QDs) in the presence of CdS QDs is attributed to the hole transfer from excited ZnO to CdS QDs. We have demonstrated that the variation of the hole-transfer rate with the driving force does not follow the conventional Marcus model but rather fits with a new Auger-assisted transfer mechanism, where the excess energy is used for electronic excitation. Moreover, we have evidenced the consequences of the hole transfer through the measurement of the enhanced photoconductivity of the film made of the blend of ZnO and CdS QDs

Cytotoxicity of Senecio in macrophages is mediated via its induction of oxidative stress

In Arunachal Pradesh and other sub-Himalayan areas of India, accidental consumption of Senecio plants by yaks is often fatal as the plant contains toxic alkaloids like Seneciophylline. The present investigation was undertaken to demonstrate the pro-oxidant effects of an ethanolic extract of Seneciochrysanthemoides (S-EtOH). S-EtOH impaired viability in macrophages, the IC50 being 13.8 ± 1.11 μg/mL. The effect of S-EtOH (1 μg/mL) on generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in macrophages was measured by flow cytometry using 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA) where it caused a significant increase in the mean fluorescence channel (MFC) from 8.55 ± 0.03 to 47.32 ± 2.25 (p < 0.001). S-EtOH also effected a 3.8-fold increase in extracellular nitric oxide (NO) generation from 4.90 ± 0.72 μM to 18.79 ± 0.32 μM (p < 0.001), a 2.2-fold increase in intracellular NO production, the MFC increasing from 14.95 ± 0.48 to 33.34 ± 1.66 (p < 0.001), and concomitantly depleted non protein thiols as analyzed by flow cytometry using mercury orange, with a reduction in MFC from 632.5 ± 49.44 to 407.4 ± 12.61 (p < 0.01). Additionally, S-EtOH (14 μg/mL, 24 h) caused apoptosis as evident by increased Annexin V binding and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP DNA nick end labeling. Taken together, the cytotoxicity of S-EtOH can be partly attributed to its capacity to inflict oxidative damage via generation of both reactive oxygen and nitrogen species culminating in apoptosis

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Not AvailableCrossbred cattle in some sectors of the world have a significant role in enhancing milk production thereby enhancing the per capita milk availability as a human food source. However, there are certain constraints associated with crossbred animals, such as disease susceptibility, increased reproductive problems, repeat breeding and poor seminal quality. The semen of crossbred bulls has a poor freezing capacity, increased cryo-damage, poor mass cell motility, greater percentages of dead/abnormal sperm and poor initial and post freeze cell motility. The rejection rate of crossbred bulls for cryostorage of semen has been reported to be as great as 50% as a result of unacceptable semen quality. The identification of superior bulls using molecular technologies is needed which necessitates identification of the genes having a role in sperm function. The present study was, therefore, conducted to gain information on identification and expression of genes having a role in sperm motility in crossbred bulls. The gene transcripts in bulls with sperm of superior and inferior quality were profiled in Vrindavani crossbred cattle by microarray analyses and the results were verified by real time-quantitative PCR. Microarray analyses revealed 19,454 genes which were differentially expressed. At a two-fold cut off, 305 genes were differentially (P < 0.01) expressed with 160 genes upregulated and 145 genes down regulated. Some of the upregulated candidate genes were further validated by RT-qPCR. These genes had a four to 16 fold upregulation in sperm with inferior motility as compared to sperm of crossbred bulls with superior motility.Not Availabl