Seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C among blood donors at a tertiary care hospital in North India

Background: The prevalence of transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs), in blood transfusion services are a major problem across blood banks and hospitals in the world. In, India, the effort to provide safe transfusion to patients is a heightened problem for various reasons. In this study, seroprevalence of Transfusion transmitted infections such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) was investigated in a pool of blood donors.Methods: The data collection was carried out for a period of two years from, January 2017 to December 2018, and total sample size of donors was 38,142. We studied the frequency, gender wise distribution, donor (first time vs repeat) wise distribution and yearly trend of seroprevalence of TTIs in blood units donated at our hospital.Results: A total of 37,457 (98.2%) males and 685 (1.79%) females donated blood during the study period. The results suggest that among the blood donors, the prevalence of HCV was highest (0.77%) followed by HBV (0.46%) and HIV (0.13%). Seropositivity was found to be more in first-time donors (0.83%) as compared to repeat-donors (0.52%). Seropositivity was found to be more among males (1.35%) than females (0.01%). The discussion suggests underlying reasons for the results along-with future direction of research.Conclusions: The need of the hour is to encourage repeat voluntary blood donors in order to maintain safe supply of blood and its components to donors. Efforts should be made to include females in the blood donor pool by increasing awareness and through dedicated efforts to improve female health and nutrition

A comprehensive review of new innovations in dental implant imaging techniques

Background: Over the past three decades, dentistry has undergone considerable development in all of its branches. The need for more accurate diagnostic methods have become inevitable with these progresses. Advanced imaging methods such as computed tomography, cone beam computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging have also found space in modern dentistry from the traditional intra-oral periapical X-rays. Aim: This paper is intended to explore recent developments in imaging technology and its applications in various dental disciplines. Conclusion: The three - dimensional visualization has made the complex cranio-facial structures more available for analysis and early and precise diagnosis of deep rooted lesions. Clinical Significance: Moving from analog to digital radiography has not only made the process easier and quicker, but has also enabled image storage, manipulation (brightness/contrast, cropping of images, etc.) and recovery

Bio Pharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) Class IV Drug Nanoparticles: Quantum Leap to Improve Their Therapeutic Index

Purpose: Biopharmaceutics classification system (BCS) class IV compounds, exhibits least oral bioavailability, low solubility and intestinal permeability among all pharmaceutical classes of drugs. Thus, these drugs need more compatible and efficient delivery system. Since, their solubility in various medium, remains a limitation so, polymeric nano coacervates based drug loading with modified approach for them may prove to be a solution ahead. Therefore, in present study Chitosan is opted for encapsulating the BCS class IV drug (Hydrochlorothiazide) to attain better stability, enhanced permeability and lower toxicity. Methods: For this study, Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) was opted for formulating chitosan based nano-coacervate system. Results: Optimized HCTZ nanocoacervates exhibited the average particle size of 91.39 ± 0.75 nm with Poly-dispersity index score of 0.159 ± 0.01, indicating homogeneity of colloidal solution. Zeta potential and encapsulation efficiency of HCTZ nanocoacervates were recorded as -18.9 ± 0.8 mV and 76.69 ± 0.82 % respectively. Further, from TEM and SEM evaluation the average particle size for the same were found in conformity (35-50 nm), with almost spherical morphology. Also, the EDX (Electron Dispersive X-ray) spectrometry and FT – IR analysis of optimized formulation indicated the balanced chemical composition and interaction between the polymeric molecules. The HCTZ nano coacervates showed the linear diffusion profile through the dialysis membrane. Conclusion: We can conclude from the present study that the optimized HCTZ nano coacervates may prove to be a suitable potential option for effective delivery of BCS class IV drugs

An Application Of Services Based Modelling Paradigm To The Hydrologic Domain Using Ewater Source

The traditional paradigm for the deployment of hydrological models involves the capturing and testing of model concepts and numerical consistency for robustness and accuracy, which is then distributed as binary files with or without source code. The model software is then populated with data and parameters and run locally within the modeller’s organisation, often on their own desktop. This modelling workflow is used by many organisations; however, there are several limitations and potential issues. Once the software is outside the developer’s organisation they rely on the modeller to apply updates and bug fixes in a timely manner, and to correctly describe the model version used for reporting. The developer also loses control of the quality and suitability of the input data for a particular application of the model. With more prevalent access to high bandwidth internet and flexible computing infrastructure there is an increased opportunity to better control model access through the exposure of modelling functionality through web services. As well as giving the developer tighter control over model versioning and IP, it also allows closer coupling of the model to both data sources and computational resources, which is especially beneficial to multi-run use cases such as uncertainty analysis and calibration, where the ability to easily scale to many model instances is of most value. The eWater Source modelling system is an important use case for Australia’s hydrologic community, and provides a rich array of functionality. Source is especially suited to the services modelling paradigm as it has project load times much greater than simulation runtimes, the services based approach allows the hiding of these load times by keeping the project in memory for each instance of a Source Server. This paper investigates the use of a Source service interface for providing hydrological modelling web services

Variable Immunogenic Potential of Wheat: Prospective for Selection of Innocuous Varieties for Celiac Disease Patients via in vitro Approach

Celiac Disease (CD) is a multifactorial, autoimmune enteropathy activated by cereal proteins in genetically predisposed individuals carrying HLA DQ2/8 genes. A heterogenous gene combination of the cereal prolamins is documented in different wheat genotypes, which is suggestive of their variable immunogenic potential. In the current study, four wheat varieties (C591, C273, 9D, and K78) identified via in silico analysis were analyzed for immunogenicity by measuring T-cell proliferation rate and levels of inflammatory cytokines (Interferon-γ and Tumor Necrosis Factor-α). Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells and biopsy derived T-cell lines isolated from four CD patients in complete remission and two controls were stimulated and cultured in the presence of tissue transglutaminase activated pepsin-trypsin (PT) digest of total gliadin extract from test varieties. The immunogenicity was compared with PBW 621, one of the widely cultivated wheat varieties. Phytohaemagglutinin-p was taken as positive control, along with unstimulated cells as negative control. Rate of cell proliferation (0.318, 0.482; 0.369, 0.337), concentration of IFN- γ (107.4, 99.2; 117.9, 99.7 pg/ml), and TNF- α (453.8, 514.2; 463.8, 514.2 pg/ml) was minimum in cultures supplemented with wheat antigen from C273, when compared with other test varieties and unstimulated cells. Significant difference in toxicity levels among different wheat genotypes to stimulate celiac mucosal T-cells and PBMC's was observed; where C273 manifested least immunogenic response amongst the test varieties analyzed

Spectroscopic studies of copper and carbon ion irradiated polypropylene

The samples of polypropylene (PP) have been irradiated with 120 MeV 64Cu9+ and 70 MeV 12C5+ ion beams, with the fluence ranging from 1 × 1013 to 1 × 1011 ions/-cm–2. UV-VIS and FTIR techniques have been used to study the chemical and optical properties of these irradiated polymers. UV spectra revealed that the optical-gap energy decreases by 54 % with copper ion irradiation at the fluence of 1 × 1013 ions/cm2, whereas at the same fluence, carbon beam decreases the optical-gap energy by 20%. FTIR analysis of ion irradiated samples revealed the presence of –OH, C = O and C = C bonds. Alkyne formation has been observed only in the case of copper ion irradiation.Ravinder Singh, Kawaljeet Singh Samra, Ramneek Kumar and Lakhwant Singh* Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar-143 005, Punjab, India E-mail : [email protected] of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar-143 005, Punjab, Indi

Studies on the molecular mechanisms involved in apoptosis triggered by Canine Distemper Virus (CDV)

525-544Apoptosis is a form of natural or stress induced cell death that plays a pivotal role in many cellular processes. Virus induced apoptosis is of significant importance since many viruses/viral proteins have been reported to induces apoptosis in different cell types. The present study was carried out to identify genes and pathways to explain the mechanisms involved in CDV induced apoptosis. For this, HCT-15 cells were infected with CDV-SH, a Snyder Hill strain of canine distemper virus, at different time points. Viability and apoptosis studies were performed using MTT and TUNEL assays, respectively. The qPCR arrays were custom designed to study the expression profile of apoptotic genes in HCT-15 cells after 6, 12, 24 and 48 h of CDV infection. Results showed viability of cells as 100%, 88.18%, 78.34% and 74.62% at 6, 12, 24 and 48 h after infection. Expression studies revealed increased expression of TNF-, TRAIL, Calpain, IFN- and RIG-1 genes and downregulation of 21 genes in all the groups. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) showed activation of apoptosis signaling pathway in CDV infected HCT-15 cells. Immuno-cytochemistry studies using antibodies against apoptotic protein (caspase- 8, caspase-9, caspase-3, MAVS, IRF-3, cytochrome C, MKK7) showed only basal level of expression indicating no dysregulation in the expression of these genes which was in consistence with the qPCR array results. In qPCR & IPA analysis, although up-regulation of caspase 8, 9 and 3 was not observed, we hypothesized that CDV induced apoptosis in HCT-15 cell line might have occurred through caspase independent pathways (like Calpain or other molecule mediated