Risk of prostate cancer and its correlation with different biochemical parameters in non diabetic men

Background: It has been hypothesized that men with long term diabetes have a lower risk of prostate cancer then non-diabetic men. Whether diabetes influences level of biomarkers such as prostate specific antigen (PSA), which is involved in the detection of prostate cancer is, unknown. In view of the aforementioned controversial literature, it was decided to evaluate this relation-ship in non-diabetic men. We evaluated the correlation between fasting glucose, prostate specific antigen and different biochemical lipid profile parameters with serum uric acid and serum creatinine in non-diabetic male between age group 40-61 years.Methods: Association between fasting serum glucose , different lipid parameters, serum uric acid, serum creatinine and prostate specific antigen in 83 non-diabetic males aged 40 to 61years were studied retrospectively. Glucose and lipid parameters and serum creatinine, serum uric acid were measured on fully automated analyser using standard reagent kits. Serum prostate specific antigen was measured by TOSOH-AIA-360, immunoassay method.Results: Correlations between different biochemical parameters were determined. Prostate specific antigen were negatively correlated with HDL (r= -0.22, p= 0.03) in age group 40-61 years. At the same fasting blood sugar were correlated positively(r= 0.34, p= 0.02 ) with prostate specific antigen in age group 51-60 years , but not in age group 40-50 years.Conclusion: We concluded that serum HDL (high density lipoprotein) was negatively associated and FBS (fasting blood sugar) was positively associated with risk of prostate cancer. We also suggest that in men of this age group a low HDL level should not be ignored while assessing prostate cancer risk especially if accompanied with an elevated FBS level even in the upper normal range.

Development of cost-effective protocol for preparation of dehydrated paneer (Indian cottage cheese) using freeze drying

[EN] Nowadays, there is high consumer demand in the market for simple to prepare, convenient, healthy and natural foods. Paneer or Indian cottage cheese is an acid and heat coagulated milk product which serves as a rich source of animal proteins for the vegetarians. Due to high moisture content (58-60 %), it is highly perishable in nature. Drying of paneer would undoubtedly extend the shelf life of paneer and also help in value-addition of paneer. Dehydrated paneer would find numerous ways to be use. Drying of paneer by conventional methods poses threats including case-hardening and non-uniform incomplete drying, poor rehydration characteristics, longer drying time, yellow discoloration and oiling off during drying. Freeze drying remains the best in retaining the quality of dried food products. Though it is highly expensive due to high processing and operation costs. The present study focuses on developing cost-effective protocol for freeze-drying of paneer. Efforts have been made by use of pre-treatments prior subjecting to freeze drying. The dehydrated product would be shelf-stable and can be rehydrated to its original state having flavor and texture comparable to the fresh form. Moreover, the final product after rehydration would be more fresh and softer than its frozen counterparts. The developed product would be easily kept well for few years at room temperature without any addition of preservatives.Sharma, S.; Nema, PH.; Emanuel, N.; Singha, S. (2018). Development of cost-effective protocol for preparation of dehydrated paneer (Indian cottage cheese) using freeze drying. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1727-1734. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7720OCS1727173

Pharmaceutical acetylation can modulate the amyloidogenicity of human serum albumin

Human serum albumin (HSA) is an abundant carrier protein present in the blood plasma manifesting affinity for drugs and ligands. The bindings of several drugs can cause changes in the structural conformation of HSA that may affect its function. HSA is also known to in vitro form amyloid-like aggregates with fibrillar morphology as observed under TEM. Earlier, we showed that the HSA amyloid-like aggregates display self-seeding potential and detergent stability and the dimers of HSA, which are preferable for clinical applications due to their longer circulatory life, can also form amyloid-like aggregates. As aspirin, a commonly prescribed drug, was previously documented to acetylate HSA at one of its lysine residues, here, we examined if acetylation has any effect on the in vitro amyloid-like aggregation of HSA. We show that HSA acetylated in vitro using acetylsalicylic acid manifests relatively reduced levels of amyloid-specific properties such as turbidity, thioflavin-T-positive aggregation, -sheet content and stability against an ionic detergent. Also, TEM imaging shows that the acetylated HSA forms relatively less aggregates and with smaller sizeswhereas the aggregates of HSA are more abundant and larger in sizes with fibrillar morphology which further support that acetylation can attenuate the amyloid-like aggregation of HSA

Advances in Adoptive Cellular Therapy (ACT)

Adoptive T cell therapy (ACT) is getting acknowledged as the Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) in many countries and it has evolved as one of the newest regimens to treat cancer. Developed gradually by the basic understanding of cells, involved in innate and adaptive immunity, ACT has emerged as one of the successful immunotherapies in recent times. It broadly includes various cell types such as stem cells, T cells, dendritic cells and Natural Killer cells. By the applications of genetic engineering and advanced cell culture techniques, these cells from patients’ blood, can be manipulated to train them for better efficacy against specific tumor cells. However, only some cells’ subsets have shown promising regression for certain cancer cells types. To understand the reason behind this, technical knowledge about the tumor antigens presentation, tumor microenvironment (TME), hosts’ immune responses and possible issues in the manufacturing of adoptive cellular material for infusion in patients are being explored further. This chapter brings together development of immune cells from basic research to clinical use, newer approaches which have been taken to address the resistance of ACT and future promises of this therapy

Molecular surveillance of insecticide resistance in Phlebotomus argentipes targeted by indoor residual spraying for visceral leishmaniasis elimination in India

Molecular surveillance of resistance is an increasingly important part of vector borne disease control programmes that utilise insecticides. The visceral leishmaniasis (VL) elimination programme in India uses indoor residual spraying (IRS) with the pyrethroid, alpha-cypermethrin to control Phlebotomus argentipes the vector of Leishmania donovani, the causative agent of VL. Prior long-term use of DDT may have selected for knockdown resistance (kdr) mutants (1014F and S) at the shared DDT and pyrethroid target site, which are common in India and can also cause pyrethroid cross-resistance. We monitored the frequency of these marker mutations over five years from 2017–2021 in sentinel sites in eight districts of north-eastern India covered by IRS. Frequencies varied markedly among the districts, though finer scale variation, among villages within districts, was limited. A pronounced and highly significant increase in resistance-associated genotypes occurred between 2017 and 2018, but with relative stability thereafter, and some reversion toward more susceptible genotypes in 2021. Analyses linked IRS with mutant frequencies suggesting an advantage to more resistant genotypes, especially when pyrethroid was under-sprayed in IRS. However, this advantage did not translate into sustained allele frequency changes over the study period, potentially because of a relatively greater net advantage under field conditions for a wild-type/mutant genotype than projected from laboratory studies and/or high costs of the most resistant genotype. Further work is required to improve calibration of each 1014 genotype with resistance, preferably using operationally relevant measures. The lack of change in resistance mechanism over the span of the study period, coupled with available bioassay data suggesting susceptibility, suggests that resistance has yet to emerge despite intensive IRS. Nevertheless, the advantage of resistance-associated genotypes with IRS and under spraying, suggest that measures to continue monitoring and improvement of spray quality are vital, and consideration of future alternatives to pyrethroids for IRS would be advisable

Impact of IRS: Four-years of entomological surveillance of the Indian Visceral Leishmaniases elimination programme

BACKGROUND In 2005, Bangladesh, India and Nepal agreed to eliminate visceral leishmaniasis (VL) as a public health problem. The approach to this was through improved case detection and treatment, and controlling transmission by the sand fly vector Phlebotomus argentipes, with indoor residual spraying (IRS) of insecticide. Initially, India applied DDT with stirrup pumps for IRS, however, this did not reduce transmission. After 2015 onwards, the pyrethroid alpha-cypermethrin was applied with compression pumps, and entomological surveillance was initiated in 2016. METHODS Eight sentinel sites were established in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. IRS coverage was monitored by household survey, quality of insecticide application was measured by HPLC, presence and abundance of the VL vector was monitored by CDC light traps, insecticide resistance was measured with WHO diagnostic assays and case incidence was determined from the VL case register KAMIS. RESULTS Complete treatment of houses with IRS increased across all sites from 57% in 2016 to 70% of houses in 2019, rising to >80% if partial house IRS coverage is included (except West Bengal). The quality of insecticide application has improved compared to previous studies, average doses of insecticide on filters papers ranged from 1.52 times the target dose of 25mg/m2 alpha-cypermethrin in 2019 to 1.67 times in 2018. Resistance to DDT has continued to increase, but the vector was not resistant to carbamates, organophosphates or pyrethroids. The annual and seasonal abundance of P. argentipes declined between 2016 to 2019 with an overall infection rate of 0.03%. This was associated with a decline in VL incidence for the blocks represented by the sentinel sites from 1.16 per 10,000 population in 2016 to 0.51 per 10,000 in 2019. CONCLUSION Through effective case detection and management reducing the infection reservoirs for P. argentipes in the human population combined with IRS keeping P. argentipes abundance and infectivity low has reduced VL transmission. This combination of effective case management and vector control has now brought India within reach of the VL elimination targets

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe