Assessment of Iron Overload in Homozygous and Heterozygous Beta Thalassemic Children below 5 Years of Age

Background: Thalassemia is a genetic disease having 3-7% carrier rate in Indians. It is transfusion dependent anemia having high risk of iron overloading. A clinical symptom of iron overload becomes detectable in second decade causing progressive liver, heart and endocrine glands damage. There is a need to assess iron overload in thalassemics below 5 years of age to protect them from complications at later age of life. Aims and objectives: Present study was undertaken to estimate serum iron status and evaluate serum transferrin saturation in both homozygous & heterozygous form of thalassemia as an index of iron overload among children of one to five years of age. Materials and Methods: Clinically diagnosed thirty cases of β thalassemia major & thirty cases of β thalassemia minor having severe anemia, hepatospleenomegaly and between 1 year to 5 years of age were included in study group and same age matched healthy controls were included in the study. RBC indices and HbA, HbA2 and HbF were estimated along with serum iron & serum Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) and serum transferrin levels. Results: Significant difference was observed in hemoglobin levels between control and both beta thalassemia groups. Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) and Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin (MCH) values were reduced. Hemoglobin electrophoresis showed the elevated levels of HbF and HbA2 in both beta thalassemia groups. Among serum iron parameters, serum iron, TIBC and transferrin saturation were elevated whereas serum transferrin levels were low in thalassemia major in children below 5 years of age. Conclusion: Although clinical symptoms of iron overload have been absent in thalassemic children below five years of age, biochemical iron overloading has started at much lower age which is of great concern

Blood-brain barrier-associated pericytes internalize and clear aggregated amyloid-β42 by LRP1-dependent apolipoprotein E isoform-specific mechanism

Table S1. Demographic and clinical features of human subjects used in this study. Figure S1. Aβ deposition in microvessels in AD patients and APPSw/0 mice. Figure S2. Biochemical analysis of Aβ42 aggregates. Figure S3. Cy3-Aβ42 cellular uptake in wild type mouse brain slices within 30 min. Figure S4. Pericyte coverages in Lrp1lox/lox and Lrp1lox/lox; Cspg4-Cre mice. Figure S5.. LRP1 and apoE suppression with siRNA. (DOCX 1454 kb

Effect of Ethephon Stimulation on Downward Tapping in Latex Production Metabolism on Upward Tapping in PB 217 Clone of Hevea Brasiliensis

In Hevea brasiliensis, Ethephon is used as an exogenous stimulant of latex production. In downward tapping, it has been shown that its misuse has negative consequences on the metabolism of the latex cells of the tree. However, little is known about the impact of this downward tapping practice on latex-producing metabolism in upward tapping. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of stimulation in downward tapping on the latex-producing metabolism in clones PB 217, when the trees are subsequently tapped up. Study was carried out by monitoring the evolution of biochemical parameters of latex and rubber production. From this study, it was found during the last two years of downward tapping that in PB 217 clone, the optimal metabolism of latex production was obtained with 13 Ethephon stimulations per year. When subsequent tapping is done upward, the stimulation frequencies of the trees greater than 4 times per year in downward tapping have a negative impact on the latex-producing metabolism in PB 217 clone of Hevea brasiliensis. However, in cumulative production over the 10 years of downward tapping added to the 2 years of upward tapping, it is the frequency of 13 stimulations per year in downward tapping which is the highest

A review on Ayurveda dietetics for Amlapitta (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease) by different Ayurveda classical texts

Amlapitta could be a commonly experienced illness of Annavaha Srotasa (gastrointestinal system) depicted in different classical Ayurvedic writings that affects people of all ages, genders, regions, and climates. The 21st century is regarded as the modern era due to which bygone eating habits and life style is totally changed. Indulgence of food articles such as over processed, under processed and incompatible dietary preparations are the root cause of most of the non-communicable disorders now a days. Ritucharya (a seasonal regime) and Dinacharya (a diurnal regime) were some of the dos and don'ts mentioned by Acharyas. In addition to being an integral part of the regimen of good health, the Ayurvedic teachings of Acharyas also included Pathya (healthy) and Apathaya (unhealthy) as a component in the treatment of diseases. This highlights the significance of Pathya (healthy) and Apathya (unhealthy) in Ayurveda.  So, it is the pressing priority to know the Pathyas (wholesome) and Apathyas (unwholesome) of Amlapitta explained by different Acharyas

An analysis of Psychological Issues during Menopause and its integrative management

Menopause is indeed a normal physiological stage in a woman's life, typically occurring in the late 40s to early 50s, although the exact timing can vary from person to person. This transitional phase is frequently associated with a spectrum of physical, mental and cognitive symptoms. During the menopausal transition, many women commonly encounter physical symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, irregular menstruation, sleep disturbances, depletion of bone health, weight gain and a decrease in sexual desire. Additionally, this phase can contribute to fluctuating hormone levels which can precipitate mental issues like mood swings, anger and irritability, heightened anxiety, loss of self-esteem, loss of confidence, low mood and feelings of sadness or depression. Memory and cognitive changes like forgetfulness and difficulty in concentration are often reported during menopause, sometimes referred to as "brain fog" or "menopausal cognitive impairment." For some, these symptoms serve as early indicators of the onset of this life transition. Integrative management of mental health problems during menopause involves a holistic approach that combines conventional medical treatments with complementary and alternative therapies to address both the physical and emotional aspects of menopausal symptoms. It includes stress reduction techniques, lifestyle modifications, counselling and psychotherapy, dietary supplements, internal- external medications and regular health care check-ups. Many women consider menopause as inherently a negative experience as it comes with various challenges and symptoms. Seeking medical advice and support can help women navigate this transition more smoothly and positively

P-glycoprotein deficiency at the blood-brain barrier increases amyloid-β deposition in an Alzheimer disease mouse model

Accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) within extracellular spaces of the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer disease (AD). In sporadic, late-onset AD, there is little evidence for increased Aβ production, suggesting that decreased elimination from the brain may contribute to elevated levels of Aβ and plaque formation. Efflux transport of Aβ across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) contributes to Aβ removal from the brain. P-glycoprotein (Pgp) is highly expressed on the luminal surface of brain capillary endothelial cells and contributes to the BBB. In Pgp-null mice, we show that [(125)I]Aβ(40) and [(125)I]Aβ(42) microinjected into the CNS clear at half the rate that they do in WT mice. When amyloid precursor protein–transgenic (APP-transgenic) mice were administered a Pgp inhibitor, Aβ levels within the brain interstitial fluid significantly increased within hours of treatment. Furthermore, APP-transgenic, Pgp-null mice had increased levels of brain Aβ and enhanced Aβ deposition compared with APP-transgenic, Pgp WT mice. These data establish a direct link between Pgp and Aβ metabolism in vivo and suggest that Pgp activity at the BBB could affect risk for developing AD as well as provide a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target

Godan: A Study of Social Realism

With the publication of Godan, Premchand surmounted the summit of success. Godan spurs great amount introspection, which is crucial in order to come to terms with such disturbing themes as travails of the soul of the poor Indian farmers and abject poverty. The inclusion of these problems imparts a universal appeal to his novels. Godan is not a tale of misery but it is also a realistic representation of rural India. The novelist indicts Sanskritised Brahminical religion. The main thrust of Godan is to arouse the humanitarian attitude in man so that society learns to move on the path of socialism and a happy world. The novel presents a synthesis of art and society, man and his age. The novelist has expressed his views on religion, caste, social set-up and community in realistic manner

Women Mental Health w.s.r. to Premenstrual Syndrome - An Online Survey

Introduction: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a psycho neuroendocrine disorder of unknown aetiology. Prevalence of PMS is 47.8% in world-wide and in India it is 43%. It is mainly affecting mental health of the women, and quality of life of the women so this research was planned to explore the severity of the premenstrual syndrome and to evaluate the impact of PMS on Women mental health. Materials & Methods: Among 160 females, 130 females enrolled in the study based on criteria. The data was collected through Google form which was prepared based on PSST (premenstrual Symptom Screening Tool) Scale. Results: One hundred and twenty-two participants reported at least three somatic and two affective symptoms. 34.7% participants mentioned that PMS affects their quality of life. 30.3% participants reported mild, 24.6% female reported moderate, 10.7% reported severe and 7.4 % stated very severe. PMS significantly having relation with occupation, stress, and physical exercise. 57% participants reported that they are stressed due to any personal/ occupational issues. The participants who are doing regular exercise/ yoga are having less severity of symptoms compared to other participants. Discussion: This study reveals that PMS is common in almost all females but degree of severity differs. It affects both mental and physical health and also quality of life of the women. By this study additional thing we found that women who practice yoga, Pranayama, any physical exercise have less severity of premenstrual symptoms

Audio-visual training for improved grounding in video-text LLMs

Recent advances in multimodal LLMs, have led to several video-text models being proposed for critical video-related tasks. However, most of the previous works support visual input only, essentially muting the audio signal in the video. Few models that support both audio and visual input, are not explicitly trained on audio data. Hence, the effect of audio towards video understanding is largely unexplored. To this end, we propose a model architecture that handles audio-visual inputs explicitly. We train our model with both audio and visual data from a video instruction-tuning dataset. Comparison with vision-only baselines, and other audio-visual models showcase that training on audio data indeed leads to improved grounding of responses. For better evaluation of audio-visual models, we also release a human-annotated benchmark dataset, with audio-aware question-answer pairs