Exposure to human and bovine noroviruses in a birth cohort in southern India from 2002 to 2006

Human and bovine norovirus virus-like particles were used to evaluate antibodies in Indian children at ages 6 and 36 months and their mothers. Antibodies to genogroup II viruses were acquired early and were more prevalent than antibodies to genogroup I. Low levels of IgG antibodies against bovine noroviruses indicate possible zoonotic transmission

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Determine the Mother and Child Health Care in Madurai District, Tamil Nadu

The present study attempt to describe the determinants of mother and child healthcare in Madurai District. To assess whether the exogenous constructs are highly correlated to each other and to identify the type of mediation exists in a model. The information was collected from the mother(s) lives in 13 blocks of Madurai district. The data collected for the year 2017-2018 and each block, 50 mothers were selected (13X50) and totally 650 samples were collected by random sampling method and they are the respondents of this study. The questions are related to their socio-economic status, attitude towards antenatal healthcare providers, healthcare utilization, child care, health problems, and psychological conditions. This information was transformed and confirmatory factor analysis was performed using SPSS software. Further, for the interpretation and findings, factor analysis, discriminant validity, path analysis with structural equation model (SEM) (direct relationship) and bootstrap approach (indirect relationship) was carried out by using AMOS software to validate the type of mediation found in this study. Hence, this study analyses the relationship of selected variables with mother and child care of women in the study area.</jats:p

Solidification of Tilted-Lamellar Eutectic Grains with a Crystal Mosaicity: A Numerical Simulation Approach

International audienceIn regular binary eutectic alloys, the shape of two-phase solidification microstructures varies be- tween neighboring eutectic grains. This occurs in particular in alloys that present special orientation relationships (ORs) between the two kinds of crystals. In practice, eutectic grains most often present spatial variations of the crystal orientation of a few degrees. The consequences of this “mosaicity” on the growth dynamics are not clear. We present the first steps of a numerical investigation (boundary-integral method) of the dynamics of the so-called locked-lamellar patterns in the pres- ence of a mosaicity. Realistic alloy parameters were used. We simulated a few pairs of lamellae (periodic boundary conditions) with a smoothly modulated anisotropy of the interphase boundaries in the solid. The pattern evolves then toward a steady-state regime with a uniform lamellar tilt angle, but a spatial modulation of the lamella width

Upregulation of Oxidative Stress Related Genes in a Chronic Kidney Disease Attributed to Specific Geographical Locations of Sri Lanka

Objective. To infer the influence of internal and external oxidative stress in chronic kidney disease patients of unknown etiology (CKDu) in Sri Lanka, by analyzing expression of genes related directly or indirectly to oxidative stress: glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC), glutathione S-transferase mu 1 (GSTM1), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF23), and NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3). Methods. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was carried out for the selected populations: CKDu patients (n=43), chronic kidney disease patients (CKD; n=14), healthy individuals from a CKDu endemic area (GHI; n=9), and nonendemic area (KHI; n=16). Fold changes were quantified relative to KHI. Results. GCLC had greater than threefold upregulation in all three study groups, with a maximum of 7.27-fold upregulation in GHI (p=0.000). GSTM1 was not expressed in 25.6% of CKDu and 42.9% of CKD patients, but CKDu patients expressing GSTM1 showed upregulation of 2.60-fold (p<0.05). Upregulation of FGF23 and NLRP3 genes in CKD and CKDu was observed (p<0.01), with greater fold changes in CKD. Conclusion. Results suggest higher influence of external sources of oxidative stress in CKDu, possibly owing to environmental conditions