Prevalence of obesity in students with specific learning disorder in a metropolitan city of India

Background: Obesity is common in urban school children. Learning disability (LD) prevalence is also growing, primarily in cities. Objective: The objective of this study is to find the prevalence of obesity in students with specific LD (SLD). Materials and Methods: This observational cross-sectional study carried out at a tertiary care center attached to a medical college in Maharashtra, after obtaining permission from the institutional ethics committee. Consecutive 150 students with SLD between the ages of 8 and 18 years were studied over 18 months. Obesity was classified as per body mass index. Descriptive statistics and subgroup analysis were done by unpaired t-test. Results: Prevalence of obesity in students with SLD was 22.7% without genderpredisposition and family history correlation. Of total students with SLD, 44 (29.3%) had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) without any association with the obesity. Conclusions: Family history, ADHD, gender, other medical conditions, and drug history have no correlation with regard to obesity in SLD. There is a further requirement of research with large population control size

SYNTHESIS, COMPUTER AIDED SCREENING AND PHARMACOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF 2/3-SUBSTITUTED-6(4-METHYLPHENYL)-4,5-DIHYDROPYRIDAZIN3(2H)-ONES, AND PYRIDAZINE SUBSTITUTED TRIAZINE

The present research work involved synthesis of some novel pyridazine derivatives and evaluation of their analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities in experimental animals to obtain safer non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Friedal craft acylation reaction of succinic anhydride with toluene in the presence of anhydrous aluminum chloride gave 4-(4-methylphenyl)-4-oxo-butanoic acid (1). The aryl propionic acid 1 on reaction with phenyl hydrazine and hydrazine hydrate yielded the pyridazinone derivative 2 and 3, respectively. Reaction of the compound 3 with phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3) produced the corresponding chloropyridazine derivative 4. A 4-hydroxymethyl derivative of dihydropyridazinone (5) was synthesized by condensing 3 with methanol and formaldehyde (HCHO). The compound 5 on further treatment with guanidine hydrochloride in ethanol gave the pyridazino-triazine (6). The synthesized compounds were investigated for their analgesic activity in mice and anti-inflammatory activity in Wistar albino rats. The molecular, pharmacokinetic and toxicity properties of the synthesized compounds were calculated by Molinspiration and Osiris property explorer software. The results of in-vivo anti-inflammatory studies revealed that the compound. 4 showed maximum inhibition in paw edema volume followed by compound no. 3 while the compound no. 4 exhibited excellent  peripheral analgesic activity (74%) followed by the compound no. 5. Compound no. 4 and 5 also showed good central analgesic effect increased the reaction time to 90 minutes. All the title compounds except compound 5 are predicted to be safe by Osiris online software and are likely to have good oral bioavailability as they obey Lipinski’s rule of five for drug likeness

Role of Tobacco Consumption Habits in the Causation of Precancerous Lesions: A Cross Sectional Study

Oral carcinoma is quite common and increasing trend in India and worldwide. Smoking and smokeless tobacco both are increasing worldwide. The common oral precancerous lesions are oral leukoplakia, erythroplakia, nicotina palati and oral sub mucous fibrosis (OSMF). Screening is best tool to find out such lesions. The current study is conducted to know the prevalence of tobacco consumption and also to examine oral cavity of tobacco consumer to detect precancerous lesions among the staff. Method: The present study was cross sectional study carried out tertiary care hospital staff. The study was conducted over a period of 6 month from May 2017 to October 2017. Ethical clearance for study was obtained from Institutional Ethical Committee. The staff members of class 3 and class 4 of hospital were taken as a study participants involving both of sex and who provided written informed consent. Sample of 120 staff members were enrolled for the study from provided sampling frame with the use of random sampling method. Study participants with previous history of hospital admission for any systemic illness, immunodeficiency or immunosuppressive patients, and participants who already diagnosed to have malignant cancer lesions in any part of body were excluded. Result: Of 120 study participants, 40% were belongs to 31 – 40 years of age group and majority were male (80%) and belonged to Hindu (90.83%) religion. The prevalence of tobacco consumption in any of form is 85%; of them 43.33% used smokeless tobacco and 10.83% used to with smoking and 30.83% had both forms of tobacco. Oral Sub Mucosal Fibrosis (OSMF) was the most common (70.58%) precancerous lesion found in the present study, followed by leukoplakia (16.67%). Conclusion: Current study revealed the high prevalence. There is urgent need to plan de-addiction at various level. Also those having the precancerous lesion need to warn and treat accordingly

Morphological and molecular documentation of Jellyfish Rhopilema hispidum (Vanhöffen, 1888) (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomatidae) from Mumbai coast, India

246-249Identification of jellyfish species is challenging, even for taxonomic experts, due to their fragile forms and complex, morphologically-distinct life-history stages. DNA barcoding along with the morphological characters would complement the species identification. In the present study, a jellyfish collected from the Juhu beach, Mumbai coast, Maharashtra, India was identified based on the morphology and molecular markers. Visual morphological characters indicate that the specimen belongs to the genus Rhopilema. The partial gene of nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 was amplified, sequenced and subjected to similarity analysis with the NCBI GenBank database. The analysis showed a similarity of 99 % with the reported Rhopilema hispidum and confirmed the species identity. In the Neighbour-joining tree, the present study specimen is clustered with R. hispidum reported from Malaysia

Morphological and molecular documentation of Jellyfish Rhopilema hispidum (Vanhöffen, 1888) (Scyphozoa: Rhizostomatidae) from Mumbai coast, India

Identification of jellyfish species is challenging, even for taxonomic experts, due to their fragile forms and complex, morphologically-distinct life-history stages. DNA barcoding along with the morphological characters would complement the species identification. In the present study, a jellyfish collected from the Juhu beach, Mumbai coast, Maharashtra, India was identified based on the morphology and molecular markers. Visual morphological characters indicate that the specimen belongs to the genus Rhopilema. The partial gene of nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 was amplified, sequenced and subjected to similarity analysis with the NCBI GenBank database. The analysis showed a similarity of 99 % with the reported Rhopilema hispidum and confirmed the species identity. In the Neighbour-joining tree, the present study specimen is clustered with R. hispidum reported from Malaysia

Recurrent transcriptional responses in AML and MDS patients treated with decitabine

The molecular events responsible for decitabine responses in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia patients are poorly understood. Decitabine has a short serum half-life and limited stability in tissue culture. Therefore, theoretical pharmacologic differences may exist between patient molecular changes in vitro and the consequences of in vivo treatment. To systematically identify the global genomic and transcriptomic alterations induced by decitabine in vivo, we evaluated primary bone marrow samples that were collected during patient treatment and applied whole-genome bisulfite sequencing, RNA-sequencing, and single-cell RNA sequencing. Decitabine induced global, reversible hypomethylation after 10 days of therapy in all patients, which was associated with induction of interferon-induced pathways, the expression of endogenous retroviral elements, and inhibition of erythroid-related transcripts, recapitulating many effects seen previously in in vitro studies. However, at relapse after decitabine treatment, interferon-induced transcripts remained elevated relative to day 0, but erythroid-related transcripts now were more highly expressed than at day 0. Clinical responses were not correlated with epigenetic or transcriptional signatures, although sample size and interpatient variance restricted the statistical power required for capturing smaller effects. Collectively, these data define global hypomethylation by decitabine and find that erythroid-related pathways may be relevant because they are inhibited by therapy and reverse at relapse

Formulations and evaluation of Cyclodextrin complexed Ceadroxil loaded nanosponges

Cefadroxil (CFD) is a broad spectrum antibiotic that acts against an extensive variety of bacteria, including Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The major drawback of orally administered drug like cefadroxil is its shorter half life of 1.2 hrs. The goal of the study is to prolong the drug release, producing a desired blood serum level, reduction in drug toxicity and improving the patient compliance by prolonging the dosing intervals. Cyclodextrin-based nanosponges (NS) are a novel class of cross-linked derivatives of cyclodextrins. They have been used to increase the solubility of poorly soluble actives, to protect the labile groups and control the release. This study aimed at formulating complexes of CFDwith three types of β-cyclodextrin NS obtained with different cross-linking ratio (viz. 1:2, 1:4 and 1:8 on molar basis with the cross-linker) to protect the lactone ring from hydrolysis and to prolong the release kinetics of CFD. Crystalline (F1:2, F1:4 and F1:8) and paracrystalline NS formulations were prepared. XRPD, DSC and FTIR studies confirmed the interactions of CFDwith NS. XRPD showed that the crystallinity of CFD decreased after loading. CFD was loaded as much as 21%, 37% and 13% w/w in F1:2 , F1:4 and F1:8, respectively while the paracrystalline NS formulations gave a loading of about 10% w/w or lower. The particle sizes of the loaded NS formulations were between 450 and 600 nm with low polydispersity indices. The zeta potentials were sufficiently high (-20 to -25 mV) to obtain a stable colloidal nanosuspension. The in vitro studies indicated a slow and prolonged CFD release over a period of 24 h. The NS formulations protected the lactone ring of CFD after their incubation in physiological conditions at 37°C for 24 h with a 80% w/w of intact lactone ring when compared to only around 20% w/w of plain CFD

Novel SSR Markers from BAC-End Sequences, DArT Arrays and a Comprehensive Genetic Map with 1,291 Marker Loci for Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is the third most important cool season food legume, cultivated in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. The goal of this study was to develop novel molecular markers such as microsatellite or simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC)-end sequences (BESs) and diversity arrays technology (DArT) markers, and to construct a high-density genetic map based on recombinant inbred line (RIL) population ICC 4958 (C. arietinum)×PI 489777 (C. reticulatum). A BAC-library comprising 55,680 clones was constructed and 46,270 BESs were generated. Mining of these BESs provided 6,845 SSRs, and primer pairs were designed for 1,344 SSRs. In parallel, DArT arrays with ca. 15,000 clones were developed, and 5,397 clones were found polymorphic among 94 genotypes tested. Screening of newly developed BES-SSR markers and DArT arrays on the parental genotypes of the RIL mapping population showed polymorphism with 253 BES-SSR markers and 675 DArT markers. Segregation data obtained for these polymorphic markers and 494 markers data compiled from published reports or collaborators were used for constructing the genetic map. As a result, a comprehensive genetic map comprising 1,291 markers on eight linkage groups (LGs) spanning a total of 845.56 cM distance was developed (http://cmap.icrisat.ac.in/cmap/sm/cp/thudi/). The number of markers per linkage group ranged from 68 (LG 8) to 218 (LG 3) with an average inter-marker distance of 0.65 cM. While the developed resource of molecular markers will be useful for genetic diversity, genetic mapping and molecular breeding applications, the comprehensive genetic map with integrated BES-SSR markers will facilitate its anchoring to the physical map (under construction) to accelerate map-based cloning of genes in chickpea and comparative genome evolution studies in legumes

Effectiveness of unani regimen in protecting high risk population from COVID -19: A pilot study

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally. COVID-19 presents varied clinical features. The present study focuses on number of patients turning COVID-19 positive, change in Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ) and WHO quality of life- Bref (WHO Qol – BREF) scales after taking intervention. This open labelled, double arm, controlled, interventional, clinical trial was conducted on high-risk individuals i.e., those residing with a COVID-19 positive member in the identified quarantine area. This twin armed study was conducted on asymptomatic individuals exposed to COVID -19. The test group were prescribed Unani poly-herbal decoction together with Unani formulations Khamira Marwareed and Tiryaq e Arba whereas the control group was not on any intervention. The duration of intervention was 20 days; follow ups were planned on day 10 and day 20. Of the 81 participants enrolled, none of the patients turned COVID-19 positive. However, 13.58% (n=11) developed COVID like symptoms and 70 patients completed the study. The mean age of the participants was 41.42±16.9 years; however, majority of the participants were 18-28 years male with Damvi (Sanguine) temperament. The quality of life of the intervention group improved significantly however, the immune status in both the groups increased with P <0.001. The Unani prophylactic regimen provides a 62% (relative risk reduction) protection against COVID -19. This pilot study paves for a study on a larger population. No adverse effects were observed during the study. Absence of biochemical investigations were limitations to the study