Genus Cosmarium Corda from Thrissur Kole lands, Kerala

The present investigation deals with sixty eight taxa of Cosmarium Corda collected from the Kole lands of Thrissur, Kerala. The Kole lands constitute part of Vembanad-Kol, which is declared as one of the Ramsar sites of Kerala. All the taxa are systematically described with illustrations and their distribution in India. Of these, six taxa are first time reported from India and twenty nine taxa are new additions to the algal flora of Kerala. C. geminatum Lund. var. ornatum Behre, C. indentatum Gronbl. var. ellipticum Scott & Gronbl., C. pseudoconnatum Nordst. var. constictum West, C. quadrifarium Lund., C. quadriverrucosum West & West var. undulatum Scott & Prescott and C. subturgidum (Turn.) Schmidle are the new additions to the desmid flora of India

Preparation and Characterization of Kynurenic Acid Occluded in Sol-Gel Silica and SBA-15 Silica as Release Reservoirs

Kynurenic acid (KYNA) may have important therapeutic effects in neurological disorders; however, its use as a neuroprotective agent is restricted due to its very limited ability to cross the blood brain barrier (BBB). For this reason, we are looking for new alternatives for KYNA to reach the brain; one of them is using drug delivery systems. To obtain KYNA release reservoirs, KYNA molecules were hosted in two different silica materials. The different KYNA-silica materials were characterized by means of several physical techniques. The spectroscopic studies showed that KYNA molecules remained unchanged once hosted in silica materials. The surface area values of KYNA-silica samples were substantially lower than those for pure silica materials due to the addition of the drug. The electronic micrographs showed that the sol-gel KYNA-silica material consisted of aggregates of nanoparticles around 50 nm in size. On the other hand, the typical SBA-15 hexagonal arrangement was observed, even when hosting KYNA molecules. KYNA release profiles, carried out during approximately 300 hours, showed a first stage of fast drug release followed by a slow release phase. The experimental values fitted to the Peppas equation indicate that the release mechanism was controlled by Fickian diffusion

A prospective prostate cancer screening programme for men with pathogenic variants in mismatch repair genes (IMPACT): initial results from an international prospective study.

Funder: Victorian Cancer AgencyFunder: NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research CentreFunder: Cancer Research UKFunder: Cancer Council TasmaniaFunder: Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIFunder: Cancer AustraliaFunder: NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research CentreFunder: Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el CáncerFunder: Cancer Council South AustraliaFunder: Swedish Cancer SocietyFunder: NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research CentreFunder: Institut Català de la SalutFunder: Cancer Council VictoriaFunder: Prostate Cancer Foundation of AustraliaFunder: National Institutes of HealthBACKGROUND: Lynch syndrome is a rare familial cancer syndrome caused by pathogenic variants in the mismatch repair genes MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, or PMS2, that cause predisposition to various cancers, predominantly colorectal and endometrial cancer. Data are emerging that pathogenic variants in mismatch repair genes increase the risk of early-onset aggressive prostate cancer. The IMPACT study is prospectively assessing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening in men with germline mismatch repair pathogenic variants. Here, we report the usefulness of PSA screening, prostate cancer incidence, and tumour characteristics after the first screening round in men with and without these germline pathogenic variants. METHODS: The IMPACT study is an international, prospective study. Men aged 40-69 years without a previous prostate cancer diagnosis and with a known germline pathogenic variant in the MLH1, MSH2, or MSH6 gene, and age-matched male controls who tested negative for a familial pathogenic variant in these genes were recruited from 34 genetic and urology clinics in eight countries, and underwent a baseline PSA screening. Men who had a PSA level higher than 3·0 ng/mL were offered a transrectal, ultrasound-guided, prostate biopsy and a histopathological analysis was done. All participants are undergoing a minimum of 5 years' annual screening. The primary endpoint was to determine the incidence, stage, and pathology of screening-detected prostate cancer in carriers of pathogenic variants compared with non-carrier controls. We used Fisher's exact test to compare the number of cases, cancer incidence, and positive predictive values of the PSA cutoff and biopsy between carriers and non-carriers and the differences between disease types (ie, cancer vs no cancer, clinically significant cancer vs no cancer). We assessed screening outcomes and tumour characteristics by pathogenic variant status. Here we present results from the first round of PSA screening in the IMPACT study. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00261456, and is now closed to accrual. FINDINGS: Between Sept 28, 2012, and March 1, 2020, 828 men were recruited (644 carriers of mismatch repair pathogenic variants [204 carriers of MLH1, 305 carriers of MSH2, and 135 carriers of MSH6] and 184 non-carrier controls [65 non-carriers of MLH1, 76 non-carriers of MSH2, and 43 non-carriers of MSH6]), and in order to boost the sample size for the non-carrier control groups, we randomly selected 134 non-carriers from the BRCA1 and BRCA2 cohort of the IMPACT study, who were included in all three non-carrier cohorts. Men were predominantly of European ancestry (899 [93%] of 953 with available data), with a mean age of 52·8 years (SD 8·3). Within the first screening round, 56 (6%) men had a PSA concentration of more than 3·0 ng/mL and 35 (4%) biopsies were done. The overall incidence of prostate cancer was 1·9% (18 of 962; 95% CI 1·1-2·9). The incidence among MSH2 carriers was 4·3% (13 of 305; 95% CI 2·3-7·2), MSH2 non-carrier controls was 0·5% (one of 210; 0·0-2·6), MSH6 carriers was 3·0% (four of 135; 0·8-7·4), and none were detected among the MLH1 carriers, MLH1 non-carrier controls, and MSH6 non-carrier controls. Prostate cancer incidence, using a PSA threshold of higher than 3·0 ng/mL, was higher in MSH2 carriers than in MSH2 non-carrier controls (4·3% vs 0·5%; p=0·011) and MSH6 carriers than MSH6 non-carrier controls (3·0% vs 0%; p=0·034). The overall positive predictive value of biopsy using a PSA threshold of 3·0 ng/mL was 51·4% (95% CI 34·0-68·6), and the overall positive predictive value of a PSA threshold of 3·0 ng/mL was 32·1% (20·3-46·0). INTERPRETATION: After the first screening round, carriers of MSH2 and MSH6 pathogenic variants had a higher incidence of prostate cancer compared with age-matched non-carrier controls. These findings support the use of targeted PSA screening in these men to identify those with clinically significant prostate cancer. Further annual screening rounds will need to confirm these findings. FUNDING: Cancer Research UK, The Ronald and Rita McAulay Foundation, the National Institute for Health Research support to Biomedical Research Centres (The Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust; Oxford; Manchester and the Cambridge Clinical Research Centre), Mr and Mrs Jack Baker, the Cancer Council of Tasmania, Cancer Australia, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Cancer Council of Victoria, Cancer Council of South Australia, the Victorian Cancer Agency, Cancer Australia, Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), the Institut Català de la Salut, Autonomous Government of Catalonia, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute, Swedish Cancer Society, General Hospital in Malmö Foundation for Combating Cancer

Diabetes and hypertension screening in Zandspruit, Johannesburg 2012–2014

Background: Hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) affect millions of individuals in South Africa and are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Given the substantial public health and socio-economic burden South Africa faces due to the rising rates of chronic diseases, prevention strategies with community engagement may play a vital role in controlling these diseases and their associated sequelae.Objectives and methods: Project HOPE, an implementing partner of the Lilly Non Communicable Disease (NCD) Partnership programme in South Africa, conducted screening days and home visits as part of a non-communicable disease awareness campaign in the Zandspruit suburb of western Johannesburg (lower income, informal settlement). Standardised assessment tools were used, which included glucose and blood pressure measurement.Results: Of 7607 participants screened, 2773/7470 (37.1%) of those with blood pressure values could be classified as hypertensive with systolic blood pressure (BP) ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 90 mmHg. Of the 7607 glucose screened individuals, 630 (8.3%) had referable random capillary glucose levels ≥ 7.8 mmol/l. There was a clear gradient of increased prevalence over age and body mass index (BMI) categories.Conclusions: In this urban low-income suburb hypertension was common with hyperglycaemia less so. The number of participants returning to the clinic for confirmation of diagnoses was less than optimal and highlights the problem of community- based screening

Efficacy of Electroconvulsive Therapy for Comorbid Frontotemporal Dementia with Bipolar Disorder

Challenges encountered in the diagnosis and treatment of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are further confounded when presented with comorbid psychiatric disorder. Here we report a case of progressive FTD in a patient with a long history of bipolar affective disorder (BAD) 1, depressed type. We also report beneficial effects of electroconvulsive therapy and its potential application in similar comorbid disorders

Dual emitting carbon nanoparticles for tunable white light emission

Eco-friendly, biomass derived single component luminescent materials with dual emission bands hold immense potential in white light emitting devices (WLED). Compared to WLED fabricated from different color emitting carbon nanoparticles, self-reabsorption and degradation will be negligible in single system white light emitting materials which guarantees stability in long run. Herein, we report a facile, inexpensive and sustainable direct thermal decomposition method to synthesize carbon nanoparticles with dual emission bands. Addition of PVP could efficiently enhance the red emission band of carbon nanoparticles. The excitation dependent broad blue-green emission and excitation independent narrow red emission helps to obtain white light emitting carbon nanoparticles. Upon change in excitation wavelength from 410 nm to 370 nm, white light emissions are obtained with tunable CCT value from 2648 K to 8980 K respectively. By virtue of this tunable warm to cool white light emission, single system WLED can be designed suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications