The Impacts of Biotechnology on Biodiversity in Global Health: A Case Study on Avian Influenza in Bangladesh

Biodiversity is the variability of between genetics, species, or ecosystems of living organisms within a specific region. Biodiversity is essential for sustaining healthy living networks and systems because it allows for a variety of food sources, medicine, and biological control, while also playing a significant role in atmospheric regulation, nutrient cycling, and pollination. Loss of biodiversity and ecosystem change increases the risk of the emergence or spreading of infectious diseases and global pandemics such as the Avian Influenza (AI H5N1). Biotechnology is one solution for reducing, and ultimately eliminating, the transmission of avian influenza. Traditional methods of treating infected animals, such as common vaccines, are temporary solutions that have no effect on the biodiversity of an ecosystem. Methods in animal biotechnology such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer, and in vitro fertilization have led to developments of cheaper, safer, and more effective vaccines. Livestock that have been treated for H5N1, as well as those that are healthy and have never been infected have proven to increase the diversity, leading to the elimination of specific issues. Similar effects are attainable if these animal biotechnology methods were to be used on poultry infected with the avian influenza virus

IS THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION BETWEEN AGE, SEX, BMI, CLINICAL AND ENDOSCOPIC FINDINGS IN DYSPEPSIA?

Introduction: Dyspepsia is a common complaint in clinical practice and is present in various clinical dilemmas. Though dyspeptic patient show wide spectrum of symptoms, some are found to have structural cause and others have functional cause. Aim: The aim of the study was to correlate clinical and endoscopic findings in patient with dyspepsia: and also assess correlation of H. Pylori infection with endoscopic findings. Method: The prospective observational study was conducted at tertiary care centre from July 2015 to September 2017 on total 114 cases presented with dyspepsia after considering specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. A detailed history was taken and clinical examination was carried out. All patients underwent oesophagogastroduodeno (OGD) scopy. Two endoscopic mucosal biopsies were taken from the antrum and body of the stomach for rapid urease test (RUT). Results: No correlation was observed between prevalence of dyspepsia and age, sex or body mass index (BMI). In majority of patients clinically suspected findings were confirmed on endoscopy. Majority of patients were found to have structural findings on endoscopy. In most of the subjects with positive endoscopy findings in stomach and/or duodenum had H. pylori infection. Demographic factors like smoking, alcohol, excessive consumption of coffee or tea, NSAIDs or aspirin use were found to have influencing effects on prevalence of dyspepsia. Conclusion: Structural dyspepsia is more common in our study than functional dyspepsia. Significant correlation was observed between clinical and endoscopic findings in patient with dyspepsia. Keywords: Dyspepsia; Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy; H. pylori; Gastroesophageal reflux disease

IS THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT CORRELATION BETWEEN AGE, SEX, BMI, CLINICAL AND ENDOSCOPIC FINDINGS IN DYSPEPSIA?

Introduction: Dyspepsia is a common complaint in clinical practice and is present in various clinical dilemmas. Though dyspeptic patient show wide spectrum of symptoms, some are found to have structural cause and others have functional cause. Aim: The aim of the study was to correlate clinical and endoscopic findings in patient with dyspepsia: and also assess correlation of H. Pylori infection with endoscopic findings. Method: The prospective observational study was conducted at tertiary care centre from July 2015 to September 2017 on total 114 cases presented with dyspepsia after considering specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. A detailed history was taken and clinical examination was carried out. All patients underwent oesophagogastroduodeno (OGD) scopy. Two endoscopic mucosal biopsies were taken from the antrum and body of the stomach for rapid urease test (RUT). Results: No correlation was observed between prevalence of dyspepsia and age, sex or body mass index (BMI). In majority of patients clinically suspected findings were confirmed on endoscopy. Majority of patients were found to have structural findings on endoscopy. In most of the subjects with positive endoscopy findings in stomach and/or duodenum had H. pylori infection. Demographic factors like smoking, alcohol, excessive consumption of coffee or tea, NSAIDs or aspirin use were found to have influencing effects on prevalence of dyspepsia. Conclusion: Structural dyspepsia is more common in our study than functional dyspepsia. Significant correlation was observed between clinical and endoscopic findings in patient with dyspepsia. Keywords: Dyspepsia; Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy; H. pylori; Gastroesophageal reflux disease

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF SUSTAINED-RELEASE PELLETS OF LORNOXICAM

Objective: The aim of the study was to develop sustained release pellets of lornoxicam using Eudragit RLPO and Eudragit RSPO to reduce the dosing frequency. Methods: The sustained release pellets of lornoxicam were prepared by extrusion–spheronization technique using Eudragit RLPO and Eudragit RSPO as release retardant polymers and microcrystalline cellulose as spheronizing agent. A 32 Full factorial design was applied to investigate the combined effect of the two independent variables i.e. concentration of Eudragit RLPO (X1) and concentration of Eudragit RSPO (X2) on the dependent variables, In vitro drug release at 1h (Y1), In vitro drug release at 4 h (Y2) and In vitro drug release at 12 h. (Y3). Results: The optimized formulation (F0) show in vitro drug release 11.24±1.21 %, 43.69±1.28 %, 82.69±1.74 % and 100.24±1.56 % at 1 h, 4 h, 12 h and 24 h respectively. Drug excipients compatibility study by FTIR showed no interaction between drug and excipients. Eudragit RLPO and Eudragit RSPO had a significant effect on in vitro drug release. Conclusion: From all parameters and experimental design evaluation, it was concluded that the drug release rate decreased with an increase the concentration of Eudragit RLPO and Eudragit RSPO. SEM Photomicrograph of pellets revealed that the surface was rough and the pellets were spherical shaped in nature. The in vitro release kinetics revealed higuchi model is followed and drug release is by anamolous diffusion

Application of High-Throughput Screening Raman Spectroscopy (HTS-RS) for Label-Free Identification and Molecular Characterization of Pollen

Pollen studies play a critical role in various fields of science. In the last couple of decades, replacement of manual identification of pollen by image-based methods using pollen morphological features was a great leap forward, but challenges for pollen with similar morphology remain, and additional approaches are required. Spectroscopy approaches for identification of pollen, such as Raman spectroscopy has potential benefits over traditional methods, due to the investigation of the intrinsic molecular composition of a sample. However, current Raman-based characterization of pollen is complex and time-consuming, resulting in low throughput and limiting the statistical significance of the acquired data. Previously demonstrated high-throughput screening Raman spectroscopy (HTS-RS) eliminates the complexity as well as human interaction by incorporation full automation of the data acquisition process. Here, we present a customization of HTS-RS for pollen identification, enabling sampling of a large number of pollen in comparison to other state-of-the-art Raman pollen investigations. We show that using Raman spectra we are able to provide a preliminary estimation of pollen types based on growth habits using hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) as well as good taxonomy of 37 different Pollen using principal component analysis-support vector machine (PCA-SVM) with good accuracy even for the pollen specimens sharing similar morphological features. Our results suggest that HTS-RS platform meets the demands for automated pollen detection making it an alternative method for research concerning pollen

Exercise Echocardiography in Asymptomatic HCM Exercise Capacity, and Not LV Outflow Tract Gradient Predicts Long-Term Outcomes

ObjectivesThis study sought to assess long-term outcomes in asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who underwent exercise echocardiography, without invasive therapies for relief of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction.BackgroundMany HCM patients present with LVOT obstruction, mitral regurgitation (MR), and diastolic dysfunction, often requiring invasive therapies for symptomatic relief. However, a significant proportion of truly asymptomatic patients can be closely monitored. In HCM patients, exercise echocardiography has been shown to be a useful assessment of functional capacity and risk stratification.MethodsWe included 426 HCM patients (44 ± 14 years; 78% men) undergoing exercise echocardiography, excluding hypertensive heart disease of elderly, ejection fraction <50% and invasive therapy (myectomy or alcohol ablation) during follow-up. Clinical, echocardiographic (LV thickness, LVOT gradient, and MR) and exercise variables (percent of age-sex predicted metabolic equivalents [METs] and heart rate recovery [HRR] at 1 min post-exercise) were recorded. A composite endpoint of death, appropriate internal defibrillator discharge, and admission for congestive heart failure was recorded.ResultsPatients were asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic on history, but 82% of patients achieved <100% of age-sex predicted METs, and 43% had ≥II+ post-stress MR. The mean LV septal thickness, post-exercise LVOT gradient, and HRR were 2.0 ± 0.5 cm, 62 ± 47 mm Hg, and 31 ± 14 beats/min, respectively. During a mean follow-up of 8.7 ± 3 years, there were 52 events (12%). Patients achieving >100% of age-sex predicted METs had 1% event rate versus 12% in those achieving <85%. On stepwise multivariate survival analysis, percent of age-sex predicted METs (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.76; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.64 to 0.90), abnormal HRR (HR: 0.89; 95% CI: 0.82 to 0.97), and atrial fibrillation (HR: 2.73; 95% CI: 1.30 to 5.74) (overall, p < 0.001) independently predicted outcomes.ConclusionsIn asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic HCM patients, exercise stress testing provides excellent risk stratification, with a low event rate in patients achieving >100% of predicted METs

Relationship Between Operator Volume and Adverse Outcome in Contemporary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Practice An Analysis of a Quality-Controlled Multicenter Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Clinical Database

ObjectivesThe aim of our study was to evaluate the volume-outcome relationship in a large, quality-controlled, contemporary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) database.BackgroundWhether the relationship between physician volume of PCI and outcomes still exists in the era of coronary stents is unclear.MethodsData on 18,504 consecutive PCIs performed by 165 operators in calendar year 2002 were prospectively collected in a regional consortium. Operators' volume was divided into quintiles (1 to 33, 34 to 89, 90 to 139, 140 to 206, and 207 to 582 procedures/year). The primary end point was a composite of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including death, coronary artery bypass grafting, stroke or transient ischemic attack, myocardial infarction, and repeat PCI at the same site during the index hospital stay.ResultsThe unadjusted MACE rate was significantly higher in quintiles one and two of operator volume when compared with quintile five (7.38% and 6.13% vs. 4.15%, p = 0.002 and p = 0.0001, respectively). A similar trend was observed for in-hospital death. After adjustment for comorbidities, patients treated by low volume operators had a 63% increased odds of MACE (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.29 to 2.06, p < 0.0001 for quintile [Q]1; adjusted OR 1.63, 95% CI 1.34 to 1.90, p < 0.0001 for Q2 vs. Q5), but not of in-hospital death. Overall, high volume operators had better outcomes than low volume operators in low-risk and high-risk patients.ConclusionsAlthough the relationship between operator volume and in-hospital mortality is no longer significant, the relationship between volume and any adverse outcome is still present. Technological advancements have not yet completely offset the influence of procedural volume on proficiency of PCIs

Host suppression and bioinformatics for sequence-based characterization of unknown pathogens.

Bioweapons and emerging infectious diseases pose formidable and growing threats to our national security. Rapid advances in biotechnology and the increasing efficiency of global transportation networks virtually guarantee that the United States will face potentially devastating infectious disease outbreaks caused by novel ('unknown') pathogens either intentionally or accidentally introduced into the population. Unfortunately, our nation's biodefense and public health infrastructure is primarily designed to handle previously characterized ('known') pathogens. While modern DNA assays can identify known pathogens quickly, identifying unknown pathogens currently depends upon slow, classical microbiological methods of isolation and culture that can take weeks to produce actionable information. In many scenarios that delay would be costly, in terms of casualties and economic damage; indeed, it can mean the difference between a manageable public health incident and a full-blown epidemic. To close this gap in our nation's biodefense capability, we will develop, validate, and optimize a system to extract nucleic acids from unknown pathogens present in clinical samples drawn from infected patients. This system will extract nucleic acids from a clinical sample, amplify pathogen and specific host response nucleic acid sequences. These sequences will then be suitable for ultra-high-throughput sequencing (UHTS) carried out by a third party. The data generated from UHTS will then be processed through a new data assimilation and Bioinformatic analysis pipeline that will allow us to characterize an unknown pathogen in hours to days instead of weeks to months. Our methods will require no a priori knowledge of the pathogen, and no isolation or culturing; therefore it will circumvent many of the major roadblocks confronting a clinical microbiologist or virologist when presented with an unknown or engineered pathogen