Ambiguous genitalia with positive reproductive outcome: a case report

Ambiguous genitalia are an uncommon phenotypic manifestation of the urogenital system that may indicate the presence of a life-threatening underlying disease. The development of normal male or female external genitalia is a consequence of a series of genetic and physiological processes beginning with sex determination and proceeding through internal and external reproductive structure differentiation following the genesis of a zygote. While the failure to progress normally through the stages of sex determination and differentiation is referred to as a disorder of sex development (DSD), not everyone with DSD has ambiguous genitalia. As a result, it is critical to ascertain the etiology as soon as feasible when uncertainty is noticed. The purpose of this case study is to highlight the favorable reproductive result associated with ambiguous genitalia

Anticancer role of antidiabetic drug Metformin in ovarian cancer cells

Purpose: Epithelial ovarian cancer is the most common ovarian cancer and has life threatening implications. Despite the progress in surgical and therapeutic strategies, resistance to chemotherapy is still a major concern. Chemotherapeutic agents cause cytotoxicity, primarily by the induction of apoptosis. The status of p53 is a key factor in determining the efficacy of apoptotic signaling. p53 is the most commonly mutated tumor suppressor gene in ovarian cancer. Metformin (an antidiabetic drug) has shown putative effects in many solid tumors. Hence we aimed to study the role of metformin in p53 mutated cancer cells.Methods: SKOV3 and OAW42 ovarian cancer cell line were used. The cancer cells were treated with metformin. MTT, Flow cytometry and Western blotting were used to characterize the effects of the different treatments.Results: Metformin treatment leads to cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1, S and G2/M phase of the cell cycle in SKOV3 and OAW42 respectively. Moreover, there was upregulation of Bax and downregulation of Bcl-2 protein and increased apoptosis in SKOV3 and OAW42 ovarian cancer cells.Conclusion: These findings support the potential of metformin to be used as chemoadjuvant and reflects its ability to sensitize cancer cells to apoptosis independent of p53 status

BIOANALYTICAL METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF HCG (HUMAN CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN)

Objective: To develop and validate simple, rapid, specific, accurate and precise bioanalytical method for determination of the HCG (Human Chorionic Gonadotropin) by RP-HPLC method by using human urine.Methods: The chromatographic separation was performed using Phenom enex C18 (250 x 4.6 mm, 5μ, 300 °A) column. Mobile phase composed of sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 0.05M) and acetonitrile (87.5:12.5 % v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min. Detection was carried out using UV detector at 215 nm. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as an internal standard (ISTD) and extraction was carried out using protein precipitation method. The method was validated as per USFDA guidelines.Results: The method was linear over the concentration range of 0.37 to 48.4 µg/ml. and correlation coefficient (R2) was found to be 0.9983 and the Lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was 0.37 µg/ml. Recovery was found more than 94.0% for HCG. The % CV for interday and intraday precision was found to be less than Ë‚1%.Conclusion: A simple, rapid, specific, accurate and precise analytical method was developed and validated by using human urine.Â

IgG4-related disease: a review with an Indian perspective

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a recently discovered (2003) complex disease, manifesting in various organs with symptoms mimicking other diseases. Progression of the disease leads to organ failure and hence early diagnosis is an urgent requirement in these patients. There is scarcity in reporting of IgG4-RD globally and in India. The aim of the study was to generate awareness on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and practice trends for IgG4-RD in India and globally, and to aid Indian physicians in early diagnosis of IgG4-RD in patients. Additionally, the evidence currently available in the Indian subpopulation has been evaluated. A preliminary literature search was performed using the PubMed database with the keywords including ‘IgG4-related disease’ in the title and abstract to obtain the relevant data. In total, PubMed identified 2071 publications comprising world-wide studies published in the English language before 30 April 2021. Studies were filtered region-wise by adding ‘India’ to the search strategy and total 60 publications were identified. The relative newness of IgG4-RD and the ensuing paucity in literature limits diagnosis by clinicians. Awareness of the disease among Indian clinicians would improve understanding of the disease and development of a country-specific consensus-based management guideline might lead to better prognosis in Indian patients with IgG4-RD

4-Dimensional printing: exploring current and future capabilities in biomedical and healthcare systems—a Concise review

4-Dimensional Printing (4DP) is the latest concept in the pharmacy and biomedical segment with enormous potential in dosage from personalization and medication designing, which adopts time as the fourth dimension, giving printed structures the flexibility to modify their morphology. It can be defined as the fabrication in morphology with the help of smart/intelligent materials like polymers that permit the final object to alter its properties, shape, or function in response to external stimuli such as heat, light, pH, and moisture. The applications of 4DP in biomedicines and healthcare are explored with a focus on tissue engineering, artificial organs, drug delivery, pharmaceutical and biomedical field, etc. In the medical treatments and pharmaceutical field 4DP is paving the way with unlimited potential applications; however, its mainstream use in healthcare and medical treatments is highly dependent on future developments and thorough research findings. Therefore, previous innovations with smart materials are likely to act as precursors of 4DP in many industries. This review highlights the most recent applications of 4DP technology and smart materials in biomedical and healthcare fields which can show a better perspective of 4DP applications in the future. However, in view of the existing limitations, major challenges of this technology must be addressed along with some suggestions for future research. We believe that the application of proper regulatory constraints with 4DP technology would pave the way for the next technological revolution in the biomedical and healthcare sectors

Nanoparticle Induced Cell Magneto-Rotation: Monitoring Morphology, Stress and Drug Sensitivity of a Suspended Single Cancer Cell

Single cell analysis has allowed critical discoveries in drug testing, immunobiology and stem cell research. In addition, a change from two to three dimensional growth conditions radically affects cell behavior. This already resulted in new observations on gene expression and communication networks and in better predictions of cell responses to their environment. However, it is still difficult to study the size and shape of single cells that are freely suspended, where morphological changes are highly significant. Described here is a new method for quantitative real time monitoring of cell size and morphology, on single live suspended cancer cells, unconfined in three dimensions. The precision is comparable to that of the best optical microscopes, but, in contrast, there is no need for confining the cell to the imaging plane. The here first introduced cell magnetorotation (CM) method is made possible by nanoparticle induced cell magnetization. By using a rotating magnetic field, the magnetically labeled cell is actively rotated, and the rotational period is measured in real-time. A change in morphology induces a change in the rotational period of the suspended cell (e.g. when the cell gets bigger it rotates slower). The ability to monitor, in real time, cell swelling or death, at the single cell level, is demonstrated. This method could thus be used for multiplexed real time single cell morphology analysis, with implications for drug testing, drug discovery, genomics and three-dimensional culturing

Modelling and simulation techniques for supporting healthcare decision making : a selection framework

The development of this workbook has been led by a team of researchers from five UK universities with a grant from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). They are investigating the use of modelling and simulation in healthcare as part of the RIGHT (Research Into Global Healthcare Tools) project. The workbook was developed following an extensive review of literature on the application of modelling and simulation in healthcare and other safety- critical industries, supplemented by the team’s extensive expertise of modelling and simulation in healthcare. In order to produce this summary guide, thousands of articles were categorised according to the techniques used, when they were used, and with what resources.peer-reviewe