Investigation of geo-spatial hotspots for the occurrence of tuberculosis in Almora district, India, using GIS and spatial scan statistic

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization has declared tuberculosis a global emergency in 1993. It has been estimated that one third of the world population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis. The emergence of TB/HIV co-infection poses an additional challenge for the control of tuberculosis throughout the world. The World Health Organization is supporting many developing countries to eradicate tuberculosis. It is an agony that one fifth of the tuberculosis patients worldwide are in India. The eradication of tuberculosis is the greatest public health challenge for this developing country. The aim of the present population based study on Mycobacterium tuberculosis is to test a large set of tuberculosis cases for the presence of statistically significant geographical clusters. A spatial scan statistic is used to identify purely spatial and space-time clusters of tuberculosis. RESULTS: Significant (p < 0.05 for primary clusters and p < 0.1 for secondary clusters) high rate spatial and space-time clusters were identified in three areas of the district. CONCLUSION: There is sufficient evidence about the existence of statistically significant tuberculosis clusters in Almora district of Uttaranchal, India. The spatial scan statistics methodology used in this study has a potential use in surveillance of tuberculosis for detecting the true clusters of the disease

Circulating microRNAs and treatment response in the Phase II SWOG S0925 study for patients with new metastatic hormone‐sensitive prostate cancer

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141181/1/pros23452.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141181/2/pros23452_am.pd

Lycopene: total-scale literature landscape analysis of a valuable nutraceutical with numerous potential applications in the promotion of human and animal health

Lycopene intake from tomatoes and other food sources has multiple potential health benefits. This report aimed to evaluate the current research literature on lycopene concerning human and animal health. The electronic Web of Science Core Collection database was searched with (lycopene*) AND (health* OR illness* OR disease* OR medic* OR pharma* OR drug* OR therap*). The resulted 3972 papers were analyzed with the aid of bibliometric software. Besides the United States, the lycopene papers received global contributions, particularly from China, Italy, India, and Spain. Examples of frequently mentioned chemicals/chemical classes were carotenoid, beta carotene, alpha carotene, beta cryptoxanthin, and alpha tocopherol. Examples of frequently mentioned medical conditions were prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. Published scientific articles reveal the diverse potential of lycopene in prompting human and animal health, and the knowledge on the bioactivities of this phytoche(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hypertension and sleep apnea: The Deadly Duo

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is one of the most common cause of the secondary cause of consistent raised blood pressure. Evidence, consistently demonstrates that sleep apnea is a major modifiable risk factor of hypertension. Resistant hypertension has a strong correlation with OSA. There needs to be a strong emphasis for the effective therapeutic strategies to simultaneously improve the management of OSA and hypertension

Embedded class solutions compatible for physical compact stars in general relativity

We have explored a family of new solutions satisfying Einstein’s field equations and Karmarkar condition. We have assumed an anisotropic stress-tensor with no net electric charge. Interestingly, the new solutions yield zero values of all the physical quantities for all even integer $n > 0$. However, for all $n >0$ ($n \neq$ even numbers) they yield physically possible solutions. We have tuned the solution for neutron star Vela X-1 so that the solutions matches the observed mass and radius. For the same star we have extensively discussed the behavior of the solutions. The solutions yield a stiffer equation of state for larger values of n since the adiabatic index increases and speed of sound approaches the speed of light. It is also found that the solution is physically possible for Vela X-1 if $1.8 \leq n < 7$ (with $n\neq 2,4,6$). All the solutions for $n \geq 7$ violates the causality condition and all the solutions with $0 < n < 1.8$ lead to complex values of transverse sound speed $v_{t}$. The range of well-behaved n depends on the mass and radius of compact stars

Are patients with primary hypothyroidism in India receiving appropriate thyroxine replacement? An observational study

Background: A large proportion of patients worldwide under treatment for hypothyroidism with thyroxine show suboptimal Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) values. There is a paucity of Indian data on ′out-of-range′ TSH values in patients with primary hypothyroidism receiving levothyroxine treatment. Aim: To assess the percentage of primary hypothyroid patients with abnormal thyroid function despite being prescribed levothyroxine for at least 2 m. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, single visit, observational study in adult patients with primary hypothyroidism on treatment with levothyroxine for at least 2m was undertaken across 10 cities in India. Compliance to thyroxine therapy was assessed by interviewing the subjects and their quality of life was assessed by administering the SF-36 questionnaire. A random blood sample (5ml) was drawn from the study subjects during the same visit for assessing serum TSH levels. TSH levels were correlated with the current dose of levothyroxine. Results: A total of 1950 subjects (mean age 41.4 ± 11.17 years; female 81.2%, male 18.8%) with primary hypothyroidism were enrolled in the study. Of the 1925 subjects in whom TSH values were available, 808 (41.97%) were under-treated (TSH > 4 mIU/L) and 243 (12.62%) were over-treated (TSH < 0.4mIU/L). The mean dose of thyroxine in this study was 1.23 μg/kg/day (±0.85). Majority of subjects (90.79%) were compliant/moderately compliant to thyroxine therapy. Age and autoimmune hypothyroidism were the factors that had significant impact on serum TSH. Subjects with abnormal TSH had significantly lower scores for role limitation due to emotional problems (P = 0.0278) and due to physical health (P = 0.0763). Conclusion: This study concluded that around half (54%) of known hypothyroid subjects had out-of-range serum TSH despite being treated with levothyroxine for at least 2m. The mean daily dose of thyroxine (1.23 μg/kg ± 0.85) was less than the recommended full replacement dose