A sports career: why not?

“It does not matter how many times you get knocked down,but how many times you get up” – Vince Lombardi, famous American football coach

Azathioprine favourably influences the course of malaria

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Azathioprine triggers suicidal erythrocyte death or eryptosis, characterized by cell shrinkage and exposure of phosphatidylserine at the erythrocyte surface. Eryptosis may accelerate the clearance of <it>Plasmodium</it>-infected erythrocytes. The present study thus explored whether azathioprine influences eryptosis of <it>Plasmodium</it>-infected erythrocytes, development of parasitaemia and thus the course of malaria.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Human erythrocytes were infected <it>in vitro </it>with <it>Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) </it>(strain BinH) in the absence and presence of azathioprine (0.001 – 10 μM), parasitaemia determined utilizing Syto16, phosphatidylserine exposure estimated from annexin V-binding and cell volume from forward scatter in FACS analysis. Mice were infected with <it>Plasmodium berghei (P. berghei) </it>ANKA by injecting parasitized murine erythrocytes (1 × 10⁶) intraperitoneally. Where indicated azathioprine (5 mg/kg b.w.) was administered subcutaneously from the eighth day of infection.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>In vitro </it>infection of human erythrocytes with <it>P. falciparum </it>increased annexin V-binding and initially decreased forward scatter, effects significantly augmented by azathioprine. At higher concentrations azathioprine significantly decreased intraerythrocytic DNA/RNA content (≥ 1 μM) and <it>in vitro </it>parasitaemia (≥ 1 μM). Administration of azathioprine significantly decreased the parasitaemia of circulating erythrocytes and increased the survival of <it>P. berghei</it>-infected mice (from 0% to 77% 22 days after infection).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Azathioprine inhibits intraerythrocytic growth of <it>P. falciparum</it>, enhances suicidal death of infected erythrocytes, decreases parasitaemia and fosters host survival during malaria.</p

Obesity: An overview on its current perspectives and treatment options

Obesity is a multi-factorial disorder, which is often associated with many other significant diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases, osteoarthritis and certain cancers. The management of obesity will therefore require a comprehensive range of strategies focussing on those with existing weight problems and also on those at high risk of developing obesity. Hence, prevention of obesity during childhood should be considered a priority, as there is a risk of persistence to adulthood. This article highlights various preventive aspects and treatment procedures of obesity with special emphasis on the latest research manifolds

A sports career: why not?

“It does not matter how many times you get knocked down,but how many times you get up” – Vince Lombardi, famous American football coach

Effect of host glass on the optical absorption properties of Nd3+Nd^{3+}, Sm3+Sm^{3+}, and Dy3+Dy^{3+} in lead borate glasses

The effect of host glass composition on the optical absorption spectra of $Nd^{3+}$, $Sm^{3+}$, and $Dy^{3+}$ in lead borate glasses, with PbO contents varying from 30 to 70 mol %, has been analyzed using Judd-Ofelt theory and the compositional dependence has been determined for the hypersensitive bands. Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters $\Omega_t$ (t=2,4,6), and the radiative transition probabilities. The variation of $\Omega_2$ with PbO content has been attributed to changes in the asymmetry of the ligand field at the rare-earth (R) site due to the structural changes and to changes in R-O covalency, whereas the variation of $\Omega_6$ has been related to the variation in R-O covalency. The radiative transition probabilities of the rare-earth ions are large in lead borate glasses suggesting their suitability for laser applications

Comparative study on ELISA, CLIA and rapid diagnostic test in detecting HCV infection in blood donor at a tertiary care center

Background: The prevalence of blood screening assays for hepatitis C infection among blood donors remains comparatively low in line with WHO guidelines, especially when compared to developing nations. Various methodologies, such as ELISA, immunochromatography assays, RIBA, HCV RNA PCR, and CLIA, are employed to detect anti-HCV IgG antibodies in all patients with HCV infection. However, there is a significant scarcity of comparative data available regarding the evaluation of HCV infection screening among CLIA, ELISA, and RDT methods in their ability to detect anti-HCV antibodies effectively. This gap in knowledge highlights the need for further research and analysis in this critical area of healthcare. In this study we evaluate the technical performance between ELISA, CLIA and RDT in detection of HCV infection. Materials and method: A cross-sectional study was carried out, involving 70 blood donor samples. Subsequently, the samples were subjected to screening for Anti-HCV antibodies using three different methods: RDT, CLIA, and ELISA. The results obtained from these screenings were duly recorded. Results:  Among the 70 patients included in the study, 63 (90%) were male, and 7 (10%) were female. The following performance metrics were calculated for each method where CLIA shows 100% sensitivity, Specificity 98%, PPV 100%, NPV 98.9%, Accuracy 100%, Kappa coefficient 0.932, p-value <0.001, in case of ELISA: Sensitivity 97.6%, Specificity 99.2%, PPV 100%, NPV 97.1%, Accuracy 99%, Kappa coefficient 0.97, p-value <0.001. followed by RDT: Sensitivity 89%, Specificity 87.9%, PPV 100%, NPV 90.2%, Accuracy 96%, Kappa coefficient 0.59, p-value <0.001. These results provide valuable insights into the performance of each method in screening for HCV antibodies, with CLIA and ELISA demonstrating higher sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy compared to RDT. Conclusion: In conclusion, the study suggests that the CLIA screening method for detecting HCV infections is considered superior to both ELISA and RDT in a Tertiary care center

Construction of cooling rig and investigation of cooling sensitivity for aluminum crash alloy

The work presented in this master thesis deal with the issue of quenching, investigation regarding different cooling rates and its effect on the material properties of aluminum alloy in the 6xxx series used for crash purposes in cars, such as crash boxes, beams and other crash relevant parts. Precipitation of Mg2Si due to different cooling rates affects the material properties such as crash performance, thus the aluminum alloy used is sensitive to different cooling rates. In order to perform tests with different cooling rates a cooling rig was constructed. In order to evaluate the different cooling rates both mechanical testing such as tensile test and 3-point bending test and compression test were performed. Also analyses with scanning electron microscope/energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were performed to estimate grain boundary decoration of Mg2Si due to the different cooling rates. Furthermore LOM analyses were performed to evaluate if the experimental setup had any effect on material properties such as grain size. The constructed cooling rig produced different cooling rates with reliable repeatability as intended. Cooling rates between 130 ̊C/s and 20 ̊C/s were accomplished. Mg2Si occurred in all investigated test samples with various amounts. Higher cooling rates decreases the precipitation of Mg2Si to the grain boundaries, higher cooling rates also increased the bending angle achieved from the 3-point bending test. Furthermore, extensive solution heat treatment at elevated temperatures leads to grain growth.