Celiac disease: increasing awareness for a better life

The purpose of this study was to determine the awareness and knowledge of Celiac Disease/Gluten Intolerance (CD/GI), among clients of a medical facility in the southern portion of the United States. A researcher-designed awareness/knowledge instrument was used to study a random sample of clients of a medical facility. Data were collected from 404 clients at the medical facility. Data collected included whether or not participants were aware of the disease, a 30-item knowledge instrument, and their demographic characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four identifiable subscales in the knowledge instrument: Symptomology, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Interaction with Other Conditions and Overall Knowledge Score. Multiple Regression analysis was used to determine the amount of variance in the knowledge subscales explained by the demographic characteristics. Results showed that a majority of the participants (53.2%) was unaware of CD/GI. The majority of participants did not know or inaccurately responded to 18 of the 30 statements in the knowledge of CD/GI instrument. Variables related to Awareness included Ethnicity, Marital Status, Highest Level of Education, Annual Family Income, and Physical Examination by their Primary Care Physician (PCP). Variables related to one or more knowledge subscales were Gender, Whether or Not Participants had Children, Highest Level of Education, Physical Examination by their PCP, and Distance Traveled from Home to Medical Facility. The variances explained in the knowledge subscale scores and the overall knowledge score from selected demographic variables ranged from 18.2%-22.4%. It was concluded from the study that there is a lack of awareness and minimal knowledge of CD/GI among the clients of the medical facility. Also, knowledge of CD/GI is a multi-factor concept which offers future research and application opportunities. Recommendations included research on designing and implementing more robust knowledge assessment instruments, education and publicity programs to increase awareness of CD/GI among the general public and enabling physicians to improve their diagnostic skills. The study was considered significant because the results could enable medical and health professionals and nonprofit organizations to direct their education and research efforts to address the many issues that arise from the disease, from heightening awareness, to amelioration, to treatment, to drug therapy

Gab Adapter Proteins as Therapeutic Targets for Hematologic Disease

The Grb-2 associated binder (Gab) family of scaffolding/adaptor/docking proteins is a group of three molecules with significant roles in cytokine receptor signaling. Gabs possess structural motifs for phosphorylation-dependent receptor recruitment, Grb2 binding, and activation of downstream signaling pathways through p85 and SHP-2. In addition, Gabs participate in hematopoiesis and regulation of immune response which can be aberrantly activated in cancer and inflammation. The multifunctionality of Gab adapters might suggest that they would be too difficult to consider as candidates for “targeted” therapy. However, the one drug/one target approach is giving way to the concept of one drug/multiple target approach since few cancers are addicted to a single signaling molecule for survival and combination drug therapies can be problematic. In this paper, we cover recent findings on Gab multi-functionality, binding partners, and their role in hematological malignancy and examine the concept of Gab-targeted therapy

In Vitro Conservation of Twenty-Three Overexploited Medicinal Plants Belonging to the Indian Sub Continent

Twenty-three pharmaceutically important plants, namely, Elaeocarpus spharicus, Rheum emodi, Indigofera tinctoria, Picrorrhiza kurroa, Bergenia ciliata, Lavandula officinalis, Valeriana wallichii, Coleus forskohlii, Gentiana kurroo, Saussurea lappa, Stevia rebaudiana, Acorus calamus, Pyrethrum cinerariaefolium, Aloe vera, Bacopa monnieri, Salvia sclarea, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Swertia cordata, Psoralea corylifolia, Jurinea mollis, Ocimum sanctum, Paris polyphylla, and Papaver somniferum, which are at the verge of being endangered due to their overexploitation and collection from the wild, were successfully established in vitro. Collections were made from the different biodiversity zones of India including Western Himalaya, Northeast Himalaya, Gangetic plain, Western Ghats, Semiarid Zone, and Central Highlands. Aseptic cultures were raised at the morphogenic level of callus, suspension, axillary shoot, multiple shoot, and rooted plants. Synseeds were also produced from highly proliferating shoot cultures of Bacopa monnieri, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Stevia rebaudiana, Valeriana wallichii, Gentiana kurroo, Lavandula officinalis, and Papaver somniferum. In vitro flowering was observed in Papaver somniferum, Psoralea corylifolia, and Ocimum sanctum shoots cultures. Out of 23 plants, 18 plants were successfully hardened under glasshouse conditions

Healthy Eyes : Ayurvedic Perspective

Ayurveda is the traditional and ancient Indian system of health science. Its name literally means science of life. Ayurvedic knowledge was originated in India more than 5000 years ago and it is often called the " Mother of all healing". It has eight branches which deals with the different parts of body. Among them, Shalakya Tantra is an important branch of Ayurveda dealing with the diseases situated above clavicle, including the disorders of eye, ear, nose, throat, dental, head and neck. In this branch, the prime importance is given to Netra as it is considered Pradhana among all Indriyas. Importance of vision has been explained in Samhitas - A person who desires for a long life must take care of his eyes throughout life as for a blind man there is no difference between day and night henceforth even though he has wealth, he will not be able to enjoy the life so protection of eye sight is the top most priority in life. Netra being the most important Indriya among all the Indriyas, it is very necessary to maintain its health. Creating awareness among the people regarding the concepts of Dinacharya, Kriyakalpas use, Chakshushya drugs, healthy food habits, regular exercises and Pranayam can immensely decrease prevelance of eye disorders

Early alveolar macrophage response and IL-1R-dependent T cell priming determine transmissibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains

Funding Information: The work was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health grants U19AI111276 and U01AI065663 to R.R.R., R.D., J.J.E. and P.S., and NIAID training grant T32AI125185 to A.L. The study sponsors were not involved in the study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s).Mechanisms underlying variability in transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains remain undefined. By characterizing high and low transmission strains of M.tuberculosis in mice, we show here that high transmission M.tuberculosis strain induce rapid IL-1R-dependent alveolar macrophage migration from the alveolar space into the interstitium and that this action is key to subsequent temporal events of early dissemination of bacteria to the lymph nodes, Th1 priming, granulomatous response and bacterial control. In contrast, IL-1R-dependent alveolar macrophage migration and early dissemination of bacteria to lymph nodes is significantly impeded in infection with low transmission M.tuberculosis strain; these events promote the development of Th17 immunity, fostering neutrophilic inflammation and increased bacterial replication. Our results suggest that by inducing granulomas with the potential to develop into cavitary lesions that aids bacterial escape into the airways, high transmission M.tuberculosis strain is poised for greater transmissibility. These findings implicate bacterial heterogeneity as an important modifier of TB disease manifestations and transmission.publishersversionpublishe

Transmission phenotype of mycobacterium tuberculosis strains is mechanistically linked to induction of distinct pulmonary pathology

In a study of household contacts (HHC), households were categorized into High (HT) and Low (LT) transmission groups based on the proportion of HHC with a positive tuberculin skin test. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains from HT and LT index cases of the households were designated Mtb-HT and Mtb-LT, respectively. We found that C3HeB/FeJ mice infected with Mtb-LT strains exhibited significantly higher bacterial burden compared to Mtb-HT strains and also developed diffused inflammatory lung pathology. In stark contrast, a significant number of mice infected with Mtb-HT strains developed caseating granulomas, a lesion type with high potential to cavitate. None of the Mtb-HT infected animals developed diffused inflammatory lung pathology. A link was observed between increased in vitro replication of Mtb-LT strains and their ability to induce significantly high lipid droplet formation in macrophages. These results support that distinct early interactions of Mtb-HT and Mtb-LT strains with macrophages and subsequent differential trajectories in pathological disease may be the mechanism underlying their transmission potential.publishersversionpublishe

Leveraging high-resolution 7-tesla MRI to derive quantitative metrics for the trigeminal nerve and subnuclei of limbic structures in trigeminal neuralgia

Background: Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) is a chronic neurological disease that is strongly associated with neurovascular compression (NVC) of the trigeminal nerve near its root entry zone. The trigeminal nerve at the site of NVC has been extensively studied but limbic structures that are potentially involved in TN have not been adequately characterized. Specifically, the hippocampus is a stress-sensitive region which may be structurally impacted by chronic TN pain. As the center of the emotion-related network, the amygdala is closely related to stress regulation and may be associated with TN pain as well. The thalamus, which is involved in the trigeminal sensory pathway and nociception, may play a role in pain processing of TN. The objective of this study was to assess structural alterations in the trigeminal nerve and subregions of the hippocampus, amygdala, and thalamus in TN patients using ultra-high field MRI and examine quantitative differences in these structures compared with healthy controls. Methods: Thirteen TN patients and 13 matched controls were scanned at 7-Tesla MRI with high resolution, T1- weighted imaging. Nerve cross sectional area (CSA) was measured and an automated algorithm was used to segment hippocampal, amygdaloid, and thalamic subregions. Nerve CSA and limbic structure subnuclei volumes were compared between TN patients and controls. Results: CSA of the posterior cisternal nerve on the symptomatic side was smaller in patients (3.75mm2) compared with side-matched controls (5.77mm2, p = 0.006). In TN patients, basal subnucleus amygdala volume (0.347mm3) was reduced on the symptomatic side compared with controls (0.401mm3, p = 0.025) and the paralaminar subnucleus volume (0.04mm3) was also reduced on the symptomatic side compared with controls (0.05mm3, p = 0.009). The central lateral thalamic subnucleus was larger in TN patients on both the symptomatic side (0.033mm3) and asymptomatic side (0.035mm3), compared with the corresponding sides in controls (0.025mm3 on both sides, p = 0.048 and p = 0.003 respectively). The inferior and lateral pulvinar thalamic subnuclei were both reduced in TN patients on the symptomatic side (0.2mm3 and 0.17mm3 respectively) compared to controls (0.23mm3, p = 0.04 and 0.18 mm3, p = 0.04 respectively). No significant findings were found in the hippocampal subfields analyzed. Conclusions: These findings, generated through a highly sensitive 7 T MRI protocol, provide compelling support for the theory that TN neurobiology is a complex amalgamation of local structural changes within the trigeminal nerve and structural alterations in subnuclei of limbic structures directly and indirectly involved in nociception and pain processing

Global respiratory syncytial virus–related infant community deaths

Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a leading cause of pediatric death, with >99% of mortality occurring in low- and lower middle-income countries. At least half of RSV-related deaths are estimated to occur in the community, but clinical characteristics of this group of children remain poorly characterized. Methods The RSV Global Online Mortality Database (RSV GOLD), a global registry of under-5 children who have died with RSV-related illness, describes clinical characteristics of children dying of RSV through global data sharing. RSV GOLD acts as a collaborative platform for global deaths, including community mortality studies described in this supplement. We aimed to compare the age distribution of infant deaths <6 months occurring in the community with in-hospital. Results We studied 829 RSV-related deaths <1 year of age from 38 developing countries, including 166 community deaths from 12 countries. There were 629 deaths that occurred <6 months, of which 156 (25%) occurred in the community. Among infants who died before 6 months of age, median age at death in the community (1.5 months; IQR: 0.8−3.3) was lower than in-hospital (2.4 months; IQR: 1.5−4.0; P < .0001). The proportion of neonatal deaths was higher in the community (29%, 46/156) than in-hospital (12%, 57/473, P < 0.0001). Conclusions We observed that children in the community die at a younger age. We expect that maternal vaccination or immunoprophylaxis against RSV will have a larger impact on RSV-related mortality in the community than in-hospital. This case series of RSV-related community deaths, made possible through global data sharing, allowed us to assess the potential impact of future RSV vaccines

Work Participation Rates in Madhya Pradesh : Comparison of Estimates based on Census and NSSO

This study estimates the work participation rates in Madhya Pradesh (including Chhatisgarh, prior to 2000) using both Census data and NSSO for relevant periods and compares these trends in the same with all-India trends for the corresponding period.work participation rate, Madhya Pradsh, NSSO, Census, Economics, Labour

Current and future status of herbal medicines

Nature always stands as a golden mark to exemplify the outstanding phenomena of symbiosis. In the western world, as the people are becoming aware of the potency and side effect of synthetic drugs, there is an increasing interest in the natural product remedies with a basic approach towards the nature. Throughout the history of mankind, many infectious diseases have been treated with herbals. A number of scientific investigations have highlighted the importance and the contribution of many plant families i.e. Asteraceae, Liliaceae, Apocynaceae, Solanaceae, Caesalpinaceae, Rutaceae, Piperaceae, Sapotaceae used as medicinal plants. Medicinal plants play a vital role for the development of new drugs. The bioactive extract should be standardized on the basis of active compound. The bioactive extract should undergo safety studies. Almost, 70% modern medicines in India are derived from natural products. Medicinal plants play a central role not only as traditional medicines but also as trade commodities, meeting the demand of distant markets. India has a very small share (1.6%) of this ever-growing global market. To compete with the growing market, there is urgency to expeditiously utilize and scientifically validate more medicinally useful plants. [Veterinary World 2008; 1(11.000): 347-350