A cross-sectional study of determinants and impact of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices on nutritional status and common illnesses among infants in urban slum

Background: The present research was carried out with an objective to study various breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices its effect on nutritional status of children and association with common illness like diarrhea and ARI.Methods: This cross sectional observational study was conducted on infant registered in under five-clinic at an urban health center in urban slum. A semi structured questionnaire was used to study the current breast feeding and infant feeding practices among mothers of the study subjects. The analysis was done using Microsoft Excel.Results: There was universal breastfeeding with almost all children having ever been breastfed. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months was not practiced as only about 37.72% of infants were exclusively breastfed for six months. Factors associated with sub-optimal infant and young child feeding practices in these settings include mother’s education level, lack of knowledge of proper feeding practices, lower socioeconomic status, and frequent illness. Noncompliance with proper exclusive breast-feeding practices was associated with more chances of having diarrhoea and acute respiratory illness among infants.Conclusions: The study indicates poor adherence to WHO recommendations for breastfeeding and infant feeding practices leading to more chances of falling ill with common illnesses

Cord blood transplantation recapitulates fetal ontogeny with a distinct molecular signature that supports CD4+ T-cell reconstitution

Omission of in vivo T-cell depletion promotes rapid, thymic-independent CD4+-biased T-cell recovery after cord blood transplant. This enhanced T-cell reconstitution differs from that seen after stem cell transplant from other stem cell sources, but the mechanism is not known. Here, we demonstrate that the transcription profile of naive CD4+ T cells from cord blood and that of lymphocytes reconstituting after cord blood transplantation is similar to the transcription profile of fetal CD4+ T cells. This profile is distinct to that of naive CD4+ T cells from peripheral blood and that of lymphocytes reconstituting after T-replete bone marrow transplantation. The transcription profile of reconstituting naive CD4+ T cells from cord blood transplant recipients was upregulated in the T-cell receptor (TCR) signaling pathway and its transcription factor activator protein-1 (AP-1). Furthermore, a small molecule inhibitor of AP-1 proportionally inhibited cord blood CD4+ T-cell proliferation (P < .05). Together, these findings suggest that reconstituting cord blood CD4+ T cells reflect the properties of fetal ontogenesis, and enhanced TCR signaling is responsible for the rapid restoration of the unique CD4+ T-cell biased adaptive immunity after cord blood transplantation

Autoimmune diseases and pregnancy: analysis of a series of cases

BACKGROUND: An autoimmune disease is characterized by tissue damage, caused by self-reactivity of different effector mechanisms of the immune system, namely antibodies and T cells. All autoimmune diseases, to some extent, have implications for fertility and obstetrics. Currently, due to available treatments and specialised care for pregnant women with autoimmune disease, the prognosis for both mother and child has improved significantly. However these pregnancies are always high risk. The purpose of this study is to analyse the fertility/pregnancy process of women with systemic and organ-specific autoimmune diseases and assess pathological and treatment implications. METHODS: The authors performed an analysis of the clinical records and relevant obstetric history of five patients representing five distinct autoimmune pathological scenarios, selected from Autoimmune Disease Consultation at the Hospital of Braga, and reviewed the literature. RESULTS: The five clinical cases are the following: Case 1-28 years old with systemic lupus erythematosus, and clinical remission of the disease, under medication with hydroxychloroquine, prednisolone and acetylsalicylic acid, with incomplete miscarriage at 7 weeks of gestation without signs of thrombosis. Case 2-44 years old with history of two late miscarriages, a single preterm delivery (33 weeks) and multiple thrombotic events over the years, was diagnosed with antiphospholipid syndrome after acute myocardial infarction. Case 3-31 years old with polymyositis, treated with azathioprine for 3 years with complete remission of the disease, took the informed decision to get pregnant after medical consultation and full weaning from azathioprine, and gave birth to a healthy term new-born. Case 4-38 years old pregnant woman developed Behcet's syndrome during the final 15 weeks of gestation and with disease exacerbation after delivery. Case 5-36 years old with autoimmune thyroiditis diagnosed during her first pregnancy, with difficult control over the thyroid function over the years and first trimester miscarriage, suffered a second miscarriage despite clinical stability and antibody regression. CONCLUSIONS: As described in literature, the authors found a strong association between autoimmune disease and obstetric complications, especially with systemic lupus erythematosus, antiphospholipid syndrome and autoimmune thyroiditis

Case Report - Acquired Pure Red Cell Aplasia in a Child

Primary acquired pure red cell aplasia is a rare occurrence in childhood. An eleven-year old boy presented to us with pallor, which required multiple packed red cell transfusions. He did not have hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice or lymphadenopathy. Bone marrow examination revealed the diagnosis of pure red cell aplasia. All possible investigations were done to exclude secondary causes of pure red cell aplasia. No secondary cause was found on investigations. Rheumatoid factor and anti-nuclear antibodies were positive. He was started on oral steroids, to which he did not respond. He was then given cyclosporine A. Response to cyclosporine was dramatic and the child now does not require any transfusions

Acquired pure red cell aplasia in a child.

Primary acquired pure red cell aplasia is a rare occurrence in childhood. An eleven-year old boy presented to us with pallor, which required multiple packed red cell transfusions. He did not have hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice or lymphadenopathy. Bone marrow examination revealed the diagnosis of pure red cell aplasia. All possible investigations were done to exclude secondary causes of pure red cell aplasia. No secondary cause was found on investigations. Rheumatoid factor and anti-nuclear antibodies were positive. He was started on oral steroids, to which he did not respond. He was then given cyclosporine A. Response to cyclosporine was dramatic and the child now does not require any transfusions

Acquired pure red cell aplasia in a child

Primary acquired pure red cell aplasia is a rare occurrence in childhood. An eleven-year old boy presented to us with pallor, which required multiple packed red cell transfusions. He did not have hepatosplenomegaly, jaundice or lymphadenopathy. Bone marrow examination revealed the diagnosis of pure red cell aplasia. All possible investigations were done to exclude secondary causes of pure red cell aplasia. No secondary cause was found on investigations. Rheumatoid factor and anti-nuclear antibodies were positive. He was started on oral steroids, to which he did not respond. He was then given cyclosporine A. Response to cyclosporine was dramatic and the child now does not require any transfusions

Co-morbidities associated with Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Tertiary Care Hospital of central India

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is emerging as an important cause of liver disease. Over the past decades, it has become increasingly clear that nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are now the number one cause of liver disease all over the world. Objectives: To study co-morbidities associated with Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Methods: 108 Persons with Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease diagnosed by USG irrespective of age admitted in hospital from September. 2014 to August 2015 were enrolled in this study after applying inclusion and exclusion criterion. The comparison of qualitative data was done using chi-square test using SPSS 16 Version. Results: 89.13% of female patients had raised SGOT levels when compared to males (58.06%) and this difference was found to be statistically significant. The proportion of elevated levels of SGPT was more among female (89.13%) study subjects when compared to male subjects (59.68%) and this difference was statistically significant. The proportion of female study subjects with metabolic syndrome (82.61%) was more when compared with male study subjects (75.81%) and this difference was not found to be statistically significant. Conclusion: As noticed by this study, NAFLD were predominantly asymptomatic. Screening to be done in high risk patients so that progression to cirrhosis and Hepatocellular carcinoma can be prevented

Management of adenovirus infection in patients after haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: State-of-the-art and real-life current approach: A position statement on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Working Party of the European Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation

The important insights gained over the past years in diagnosis and treatment of invasive adenoviral infections provide new paradigms for the monitoring and clinical management of these life-threatening complications. A meeting was held to discuss and subsequently disseminate the current advances in our understanding of the aetiology/pathogenesis and future treatment options facilitating effective control or prevention of adenovirus-related diseases in the allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplant setting. Invited experts in the field discussed recent progress with leading members of the Infectious Diseases Working Party of the European Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation at the \u201cState-of-the-art\u201d Meeting in Poznan, Poland, in October 2017. In this review article, the panel of experts presents a concise summary of the current evidence based on published data from the last 15&nbsp;years and on recent achievements resulting from real-life practice. The present position statement reflects an expert opinion on current approaches to clinical management of adenovirus infections in patients undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplant and provides graded recommendations of the panel for diagnostic approaches and preemptive therapy reflecting the present state of knowledge

Deformation twinning in zircaloy 2

Fully recrystallised zircaloy 2 samples were subjected to different degrees of uniaxial compression. Grains of high Taylor factors showed {10 (1) over bar2} deformation twins, noticeable up to 13-16% compression. Twinning strongly affected the crystallographic texture and also brought in clear differences in stored energy and residual stress between the suspected parent and product grains/orientations of twinning. At later stages of deformation, where presence of twinning was insignificant, aforementioned heterogeneity was further supplemented by heterogeneity in microstructure-clear presence of fragmenting and non-fragmenting grains. Direct observations on twin fraction, twin deviation and twin continuity had shown an apparent peak in twinning by similar to 7.5% compression, an observation explainable through a simple model of twin decay by in grain misorientation development