Ki-67 expression in astrocytomas

Objective: To apply immunohistochemical marker Ki-67 and to check it’s expression in various types of Astrocytomas according to their grades. Methodology: The cross sectional study was conducted in Pathology department, Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic), Islamabad  from July to December 2015. All patients having diagnosis of astrocytomas grade II, III and IV on histopathology were included in the study. Microscopic examinations were carried out for accurate diagnosis and grading of astrocytomas. Immunohistochemical staining for Ki-67 was done and the percentage of cells with positive Ki-67 nuclear staining was determined. Quotients (positively stained tumor cells/totally counted tumor cells) were calculated as percentage and rounded to nearest integer. Result: A total of 212 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 40.16 ± 12.763 years (Range 20 to 76 years). Majority of the patients (32%) were in age range of 30-40 years. In this study, 110 of 212 patients (51.9%) were males while 102 patients (48.1%) were females. Among the three types of Astrocytomas, Glioblastoma multiforme (WHO grade IV) was the most common variant. Overall Ki-67 staining was positive in 168 of 212 specimens (79.2%) and most commonly was in Glioblastoma multiforme WHO grade IV being 96.3%.  Stratification of Ki-67 expression in tumors was also done according to age and gender of cases. P-value was found significant after stratification (P <0.05) Conclusion: Ki-67 staining was positive in 79.2% cases of Astrocytomas and most commonly (96.3%) positivity was in Glioblastoma multiforme WHO grade IV. Increasing values of Ki-67 are associated with increasing grade of malignancy

Job Embeddedness: Factors and Barriers of Persons with Disabilities

Addressing the employment problems facing persons with disabilities (PWDs) is complicated as it depends on the presence of certain core values of others such as non-discrimination, in order to recognise their capabilities. PWDs can engage in many economic activities in Pakistan, however, in general, the employment rate for PWDs is relatively low. Qualitative research was used to ascertain insight into a central phenomenon. Data was collected through interviews and observation from five different workplaces through purposive sampling, and a thematic analysis technique was used to analyse the data. The participants were 50 years or less and were mainly men who had worked with people with disabilities for 2-5 years The study revealed that the major issue of employers was their perception that PWDs were less productive than those employees without a disability.  The study reported that the responsibility to create a positive image and to think inclusively about PWD’s working capabilities was the responsibility of the persons with disabilities

Chloramphenicol Loaded Microemulsions: Development, Characterization and Stability

This study aimed to formulate and characterize microemulsions containing chloramphenicol. Microemulsions represent highly biocompatible drug delivery systems due to their potential for increased absorption as well as high solubilization capacity. MEs were composed of Oleic acid, non-ionic surfactants tween 20/60, 1-propanol and phosphate buffer. The optimum weight ratios of components and MEs areas were determined by pseudo-ternary phase diagram. All formulations were physically characterized by centrifugation, pH, refractive index, conductivity, viscosity, surface tension and partition coefficient. The specific residence site of chloramphenicol was detected by 1H NMR study. It was uncovered that drug is entrapped between the oxyethylene groups of hydrophilic shell of MEs. So, the drug was screened from bulk water and its stability was enhanced. Thus, all characterizations have suggested that formulated MEs have potential for ocular application, being able to use as efficient drug carrier for ocular drug delivery

Ki-67 expression in astrocytomas

Objective: To apply immunohistochemical marker Ki-67 and to check it’s expression in various types of Astrocytomas according to their grades. Methodology: The cross sectional study was conducted in Pathology department, Federal Government Services Hospital (Polyclinic), Islamabad  from July to December 2015. All patients having diagnosis of astrocytomas grade II, III and IV on histopathology were included in the study. Microscopic examinations were carried out for accurate diagnosis and grading of astrocytomas. Immunohistochemical staining for Ki-67 was done and the percentage of cells with positive Ki-67 nuclear staining was determined. Quotients (positively stained tumor cells/totally counted tumor cells) were calculated as percentage and rounded to nearest integer. Result: A total of 212 patients were included in the study. The mean age of the patients was 40.16 ± 12.763 years (Range 20 to 76 years). Majority of the patients (32%) were in age range of 30-40 years. In this study, 110 of 212 patients (51.9%) were males while 102 patients (48.1%) were females. Among the three types of Astrocytomas, Glioblastoma multiforme (WHO grade IV) was the most common variant. Overall Ki-67 staining was positive in 168 of 212 specimens (79.2%) and most commonly was in Glioblastoma multiforme WHO grade IV being 96.3%.  Stratification of Ki-67 expression in tumors was also done according to age and gender of cases. P-value was found significant after stratification (P <0.05) Conclusion: Ki-67 staining was positive in 79.2% cases of Astrocytomas and most commonly (96.3%) positivity was in Glioblastoma multiforme WHO grade IV. Increasing values of Ki-67 are associated with increasing grade of malignancy

In-silico analysis of non-synonymous-SNPs of STEAP2: To provoke the progression of prostate cancer

As a novel biomarker from the STEAP family, STEAP2 encodes six transmembrane epithelial antigens to prostate cancer. The overexpression of STEAP2 is predicted as the second most common cancer in the world that is responsible for male cancer-related deaths. Nonsynonymous SNPs are important group of SNPs which lead to alternations in encoded polypeptides. Changes in the amino acid sequence of gene products can lead to abnormal tissue function. The present study firstly sorted out those SNPs which exist in the coding region of STEAP2 and evaluated their impact through computational tools. Secondly, the three-dimensional structure of STEAP2 was formed through I-TASSER and validated by different software. Genomic data has been retrieved from the 1000 Genome project and Ensembl and subsequently analysed using computational tools. Out of 177 non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (nsSNPs) within the coding region, 42 mis-sense SNPs have been predicted as deleterious by all analyses. Our research shows a welldesigned computational methodology to inspect the prostate cancer associated nsSNPs. It can be concluded that these nsSNPs can play their role in the up-regulation of STEAP2 which further leads to progression of prostate cancer. It can benefit scientists in the handling of cancerassociated diseases related to STEAP2 through developing novel drug therapies

L'Auto-vélo : automobilisme, cyclisme, athlétisme, yachting, aérostation, escrime, hippisme / dir. Henri Desgranges

21 février 19031903/02/21 (A4,N860)

MOESM6 of Structural and functional annotation of hypothetical proteins of human adenovirus: prioritizing the novel drug targets

Additional file 6: Table S6. This table presents ligand binding sites prediction of hypothetical proteins of human adenovirus

Electrolyte Abnormalities Associated With the Use of Atezolizumab - A Systematic Review

Background and objectives: In recent years, immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) particularly atezolizumab is on the rise in treating advanced malignancies. With its increased clinical use, various electrolyte abnormalities have been reported in the literature. In this review, we have addressed the question of significant electrolyte abnormalities associated with atezolizumab. Materials and methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we performed a thorough literature search in four databases including PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Clinicaltrials.gov. We included only randomized controlled trials from 2010 till March 2021. After a comprehensive screening of 1587 articles, we selected 14 articles for our review and tabulated the results. Following MeSH terms were used: electrolyte abnormalities , immune checkpoint inhibitors , atezolizumab . Results: Non-small cell lung cancer (n = 1270) and metastatic urothelial carcinoma (n = 1164) were the most common malignancies among 3160 patients. The most common electrolyte abnormality was hypomagnesemia (4.7%). Hyponatremia, hypophosphatemia, hypercalcemia and hypokalemia were found in 2.3%, 0.63%, 0.25% and 0.06% patients respectively. For patients taking atezolizumab, hypomagnesemia was most frequently found in non-small cell lung carcinoma patients (9.4%), while urothelial metastatic carcinoma patients most commonly had hyponatremia (5.15%). Hypokalemia though insignificant was observed only in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (2.85%). Conclusion: Since the use of atezolizumab is on the rise for the treatment of various cancers, more studies need to be conducted to better understand its safety and toxicity profile

Design of a novel multiple epitope-based vaccine: An immunoinformatics approach to combat SARS-CoV-2 strains.

From PubMed via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-08-16, revised 2021-04-12, accepted 2021-04-22Publication status: aheadofprintSince the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, the virus has infected more than 153 million individuals across the world due to its human-to-human transmission. The USA is the most affected country having more than 32-million cases till date. Sudden high fever, pneumonia and organ failure have been observed in infected individuals. In the current situation of emerging viral disease, there is no specific vaccine, or any therapeutics available for SARS-CoV-2, thus there is a dire need to design a potential vaccine to combat the virus by developing immunity in the population. The purpose of present study was to develop a potential vaccine by targeting B and T-cell epitopes using bioinformatics approaches. B- and T-cell epitopes are predicted from novel M protein-SARS-CoV-2 for the development of a unique multiple epitope vaccine by applying bioinformatics approaches. These epitopes were analyzed and selected for their immunogenicity, antigenicity scores, and toxicity in correspondence to their ability to trigger immune response. In combination to epitopes, best multi-epitope of potential immunogenic property was constructed. The epitopes were joined using EAAAK, AAY and GPGPG linkers. The constructed vaccine showed good results of worldwide population coverage and promising immune response. This constructed vaccine was subjected to in-silico immune simulations by C-ImmSim. Chimeric protein construct was cloned into PET28a (+) vector for expression study in Escherichia coli using snapgene. This vaccine design proved effective in various computer-based immune response analysis as well as showed good population coverage. This study is solely dependent on developing M protein-based vaccine, and these in silico findings would be a breakthrough in the development of an effective vaccine to eradicate SARS-CoV-2 globally. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.