Types and risk factors of violence experienced by people living with HIV, Pakistan: A cross-sectional study

Background: In Pakistan, data are lacking on the violence experienced by people living with HIV.Aims: This study determined the prevalence and risk factors of violence (physical, psychological and sexual) in people living with HIV in Karachi, Pakistan.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in 2016 of people living with HIV attending clinics of Bridge Consultants Foundation, a community-based care provider. Date were collected using an interview-based questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to assess the risk factors for violence with adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) presented.Results: The sample included 250 people living with HIV; 183 were men, 60 were women and 7 were transgender. The mean (standard deviation) age of the participants was 30 (6.5) years. The prevalence rates of psychological, sexual and physical violence were 79.6%, 74.8% and 64.4%, respectively. More women experienced physical violence than men (76.2% versus 60.7%). Psychological violence was associated with injecting drug use (aOR = 2.64, 95% CI: 1.27-5.50) and being married (aOR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.24-0.90). Marriage (aOR = 2.30, 95% CI: 1.27-4.16) and having an HIV-positive partner (aOR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.09-3.92) were risk factors for sexual violence. Physical violence was associated with young age (aOR = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.91-0.99) and having an HIV-positive partner (aOR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.10-4.26).Conclusion: Violence is an important public health problem affecting people living with HIV in Pakistan. This issue needs to be addressed by the government and nongovernmental organizations

794 Evaluating disability in adult burn injury patients treated at a tertiary-care burn unit in Karachi, Pakistan: a longitudinal study using who disability assessment schedule II

Abstract Background Disability after burn injury is not assessed in the context of Pakistan. This study assesses disability among adult burn injury patients presenting to a burn unit in Karachi, Pakistan. Methods This longitudinal study was conducted at a burn centre is Karachi, Pakistan. Adult patients(\u3e18 years) who were discharge after 24-hour admission were enrolled from August 2014–March 2015. Baseline assessment before discharge and follow-up at 2,6 and 12 weeks after discharge via telephone was done using 12-item WHODAS 2.0 (5 -point likert-scale; 1 = none; 2 = mild; 3 = moderate; 4 = severe; and 5 = extreme) related to cognition, mobility, self-care, getting along, life activities and participation. The score range was 12–60 with higher score being worse. Ethical approval was taken from collaborating and participating sites. Results Of the 59 eligible patients, 53 completed all follow-ups. There were 69.8% males. Mean age of all patients was 36.8 ± 14.0 years, 71.7% were married and 17.0% had no/informal education. About half the patients were breadwinners. More than half of burn incidents occurred at home. Flame burns (50.9%) and scalds (17%) were the most common type of burns. The average surface area burnt was 43.0 ± 14.2%. The mean-scores for all patients at baseline, 2-week, 6-week and 12-week were 13.9 ± 4.9, 35.3 ± 13.8, 26.8 ± 11.9 and 20.1 ± 9.1, respectively. The mean-scores for males were lower than that of females for the four assessments (Males: 13.5 ± 1.8, 34.2 ± 14.1, 25.3 ± 10.7, 19.2 ± 8.4 and females: 16.1 ± 8.5, 37.3 ± 13.3, 30.5 ± 14.4, 22.1 ± 10.6). The two-week score was higher for those with \u3e15% burn(36.7 ± 13.9) compared to those with ≤15% burn(34.6 ± 14.2) while the score were similar at 12-week follow-up. Conclusions This analysis shows that the burn injury patients tend to recover from their injury over a period of 12 weeks after discharge. Future work should focus on larger group of patients and long term follow-up at one and two years after burn injury

Burn injury characteristics: findings from Pakistan national emergency department surveillance study

Background: Burn injury is an important yet under-researched area in Pakistan. The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics and associated outcomes of burn injury patients presenting to major emergency departments in Pakistan. Methods: Pakistan National Emergency Department Surveillance (Pak-NEDS) was a pilot active surveillance conducted between November 2010 and March 2011. Information related to patient demographics, mode of arrival, cause of burn injury, and outcomes was analyzed for this paper. Data were entered using Epi Info and analyzed using SPSS v.20. Ethical approval was obtained from all participating sites. Results: There were 403 burn injury patients in Pak-NEDS, with a male to female ratio 2:1. About 48.9% of the burn injury patients (n = 199) were between 10 - 29 years of age. There was no statistically significant difference between unintentional and intentional burn injury patients except for body part injured (p-value 0.004) and ED disposition (p-value 0.025). Among 21 patients who died, most were between 40 - 49 years of age (61.9%) and suffered from fire burns (81%). Conclusion: Burn injuries are a burden on emergency rooms in Pakistan. We were able to demonstrate the significant burden of burn injuries that is not addressed by specialized burn centers

Heterologous expression and enhanced production of β-1,4-glucanase of Bacillus halodurans C-125 in Escherichia coli

Background: Recombinant DNA technology enables us to produce proteins with desired properties and insubstantial amount for industrial applications. Endo-1, 4-β-glucanases (Egl) is one of the major enzyme involved in degradation of cellulose, an important component of plant cell wall. The present study was aimed at enhancing the production of endo-1, 4-β-glucanases (Egl) of Bacillus halodurans in Escherichia coli. Results: A putative Egl gene of Bacillus Halodurans was expressed in E. coli by cloning in pET 22b (+). On induction with isopropyl-b-d-1-thiogalactopyranoside, the enzyme expression reached upto ~20% of the cell protein producing 29.2 mg/liter culture. An increase in cell density to 12 in auto-inducing LB medium (absorbance at 600 nm) enhanced β-glucanase production up to 5.4 fold. The molecular mass of the enzyme was determined to be 39 KDa, which is nearly the same as the calculated value. Protein sequence was analyzed by CDD, Pfam, I TASSER, COACH, PROCHECK Servers and putative amino acids involved in the formation of catalytic, substrate and metal binding domains were identified. Phylogenetic analysis of the β-glucanases of B. halodurans was performed and position of Egl among other members of the genus Bacillus producing endo-glucanases was determined. Temperature and pH optima of the enzyme were found to be 60°C and 8.0, respectively, under the assay conditions. Conclusion: Production of endo-1, 4 β-glucanase enzymes from B. halodurans increased several folds when cloned in pET vector and expressed in E. coli. To our knowledge, this is the first report of high-level expression and characterization of an endo-1, 4 β-glucanases from B. halodurans.How to cite: Zeeshan N, Naz S, Naz S et al. Heterologous expression and enhanced production of β-1,4-glucanase of Bacillus halodurans C-125 in E. coli. Electron J Biotechnol 2018;34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2018.05.001. Keywords: Bacillus halodurans, Cellulases, Cellulose hydrolysis, Degradation of cellulose, Endo-1, 4-β-glucanases, Expression analysis, Heterologous expression, In silico protein characterization, IPTG, pET expression system, Plant cell wal

Bioactivity analysis of the Ta (V) doped SiO2–CaO–Na2O–P2O5 ceramics prepared by solid state sintering method

The main objective of the study was to control the degradation rate of material at a higher degradation rate improving the chemical stability of the material. Ta is known to have good chemical resistance, biocompatibility and show no adverse biological response. In the present study, SiO2–Na2O–CaO–P2O5 bioceramics with different Ta2O5 contents was prepared by solid state sintering method at 1000 °C. The as-sintered ceramics were subjected to immersion studies in stimulated body fluid (SBF) for 21 days under static condition and characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and AAS. The findings of the research indicate that the addition of Ta2O5 controlled degradability, and all samples showed sufficient bioactivity

Investigation of Structural, Magnetic, and Optical Properties of ZnO Codoped with Co and Cd

Co and Cd have been codoped in ZnO using a simple solid state reaction technique to synthesize dilute magnetic oxide semiconductors of composition Zn0.9Co0.1−xCdxO (x = 0.0-0.1 with an increment of 0.02). Hexagonal wurtzite structure has been obtained for samples up to x = 0.06, using X-ray diffractometry. However, at x = 0.08 and 0.1, secondary peak of CdO is observed. Raman spectra of the samples have been obtained in 200–800 cm−1 range. UV-VIS spectrophotometer is used to study the optical properties, which shows that band gap energy decreases with the increase in Cd concentration. A weak ferromagnetic behavior was evident which decreased further by adding Cd in the series. Room temperature resistivity measurements performed using four-point probe technique showed that their values lie in the semiconductor range. Structural morphology of the samples has been investigated by a scanning electron microscope and grain size has been determined. Raman spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the successful incorporation of Co and Cd ions into the host ZnO lattice