Cord blood Vitamin D levels in newborns and its correlation with anthropometric indices of baby: A cross-sectional study

Objectives: The objectives were to study the cord blood Vitamin D levels in term neonates and the association of Vitamin D deficiency with birth weight and crown-heel length. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in the department of pediatrics at the tertiary care center. All term singleton infants were included in the study. A detailed history from the mothers was taken, and complete anthropometric assessment of babies was done. Cord blood was collected, transported, and analyzed for Vitamin D levels. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: A total of 202 children were enrolled. The median cord Vitamin D level was 16.0 ng/dl (interquartile range 13–18.8 ng/dl). Deficiency of Vitamin D was noted in 162 babies (80.6%) and insufficiency in 26 (13%) neonates. A total of 92.6% (151) of Vitamin D-deficient babies were low birth weight (LBW) (p<0.001) and 96.5% (157) of babies of the Vitamin D-deficient babies had crown-heel length <50 cm (p<0.001). Conclusion: Majority of the studied newborns were deficient in Vitamin D, and a positive correlation was found between Vitamin D deficiency and LBW and decreased crown-heel length

Beneficial Effect of Oryzanol on Transient Middle Artery Occlusion Induced Ischemic Stroke in Atherosclerotic Rats. Improvement in Behavioural and Biochemical Parameters

The present study was designed to determine the beneficial effect of oryzanol treatment in the ischemic stroke in atherosclerotic rats. Atherosclerosis was induced in rats using high fat diet (containing 20% ground nut oil, 0.5% cholesterol, 1% cholic acid) for 32 days. Ischemic stroke was induced in the atherosclerotic rat (AT rats) on 33rd day using tMCAO model. In the oryzanol treatment group, oryzanol (100 mg/kg, po) was administered on the very first day (day rats were fed with high fat diet), ischemic stroke was induced on 33rd day and oryzanol treatment was continued after the induction of ischemia from 34th day to 40th day. The neurological score was determined for 7days with gap of 24 hrs between the testing procedure. Rats were sacrificed followed by the blood collection and excision of whole brain for the determination of various parameters including brain damage (infarct volume, brain hemisphere weight difference, and Na+-K+-ATPase activity) and oxidative stress parameter (SOD activity, reduced GSH level, MDA level, nitrite level and LDH level). It was observed that ischemia-reperfusion (IR rats) in atherosclerotic rats increased the neurological score, increase in infarct volume, brain hemisphere weight difference and reduced activity of Na+-K+-ATPase. Further IR rats showed the decreased activity of SOD activity and GSH, whereas the level of MDA, nitrite and LDH activity was found to be increased in the atherosclerotic-IR rats. Further it was observed that the oryzanol treatment in the atherosclerotic counteracted the high fat induced rise in the TG, LDL, and VLDL level and increased the level of HDL in the treated animals. Further the administration of oryzanol improved the neurological score, reduce the infarct volume, brain hemisphere weight difference and improve the activity of Na+-K+-ATPase. Oryzanol treatment further improved the SOD activity, increased the level of GSH, reduced the level of MDA, nitrite and LDH activity in atherosclerotic-IR rat

EFFECT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID ON MENTAL HEALTH IN HOSPITALIZED STABLE COVID-19 PATIENTS: A PRE-POST RESEARCH DESIGN

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is known to affect mental health of sufferers. Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a mental health service for individuals in crisis, which can be provided to anyone regardless of age and it does not require mental health expertise. Its effect on mental health issues of COVID-19 patients has not been studied effectively. The present study aimed to assess the psychological impact and effect of PFA on mental health in stable COVID-19 hospitalized patients. Subjects and methods: This was an interventional study with a pre-post research design in a tertiary government teaching hospital in eastern India. 93 stable patients who were admitted in a period of a month with COVID-19 were included in the study after obtaining appropriate consent. They were provided PFA (both structured individual and group sessions) by trained nurses. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress scale (DASS-21) was used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress in the patients before and after intervention. Results: The mean age of study population which comprised of 68.8% males was 56.2 ± 13.7 years. Median scores for depression, anxiety and stress were 4, 6 and 6 on admission and 0, 2 and 2 respectively before discharge after intervention (P<0.001). 13%, 25.9% and 8.6% were the combined percentages scores of patients with varying levels of depression, anxiety and stress at the time of admission which were reduced to 4.3% (P=0.046), 5.4% (P=0.001), 2.2% (P=0.03) respectively before discharge after intervention within one week. Conclusion: PFA may be a cost-effective intervention in stable COVID-19 admitted patients who had depression, anxiety, and stress

Preparation and evaluation of the ZnO NP-Ampicillin/Sulbactam nanoantibiotic: Optimization of formulation variables using RSM coupled GA method and antibacterial activities

Nanoparticles (NPs) possessing antibacterial activity represent an effective way of overcoming bacterial resistance. In the present work, we report a novel formulation of a nanoantibiotic formed using Ampicillin/sulbactam (Ams) and a zinc oxide nanoparticle (ZnO NP). ‘ZnO NP–Ams’ nanoantibiotic formulation is optimized using response surface methodology coupled genetic algorithm approach. The optimized formulation of nanoantibiotic (ZnO NP: 49.9 μg/mL; Ams: 33.6 μg/mL; incubation time: 27 h) demonstrated 15% enhanced activity compared to the unoptimized formulation against K. pneumoniae. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation was directly proportional to the interaction time of nanoantibiotic and K. pneumoniae after the initial lag phase of ~18 h as evident from 2'-7'-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate assay. A low minimum inhibitory concentration (6.25 μg/mL) of nanoantibiotic formulation reveals that even a low concentration of nanoantibiotic can prove to be effective against K. pneumoniae. The importance of nanoantibiotic formulation is also evident by the fact that the 100 μg/mL of Ams and 25 μg of ZnO NP was required individually to inhibit the growth of K. pneumonia, whereas only 6.25 μg/mL of optimized nanoantibiotic formulation (ZnO NP and Ams in the ratio of 49.9: 33.6 in μg/mL and conjugation time of 27 h) was needed for the same

A homogeneous bioluminescent immunoassay for parallel characterization of binding between a panel of antibodies and a family of Fcγ receptors

Abstract Fc engineering efforts are increasingly being employed to modulate interaction of antibodies with variety of Fc receptors in an effort to improve the efficacy and safety of the therapeutic antibodies. Among the various Fc receptors, Fc gamma receptors (FcγRs) present on variety of immune cells are especially relevant since they can activate multiple effector functions including antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP). Depending on the desired mechanism of action (MOA) of the antibody, interactions between Fc domain of the antibody and FcγR (denoted as Fc/FcγR) may need to be enhanced or abolished. Therefore, during the antibody discovery process, biochemical methods are routinely used to measure the affinities of Fc/FcγR interactions. To enable such screening, we developed a plate based, simple to use, homogeneous immunoassays for six FcγRs by leveraging a luminescent protein complementation technology (NanoBiT). An added advantage of the NanoBiT immunoassays is their solution-based format, which minimizes well known surface related artifacts associated with traditional biosensor platforms (e.g., surface plasmon resonance and biolayer interferometry). With NanoBiT FcγRs assays, we demonstrate that assays are specific, report IgG subclass specific affinities and detect modulation in Fc/FcγR interactions in response to the changes in the Fc domain. We subsequently screen a panel of therapeutic antibodies including seven monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and four polyclonal intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) products and highlight the advantages of parallel screening method for developing new antibody therapies