Inhaled hypertonic saline for cystic fibrosis: reviewing the potential evidence for modulation of neutrophil signalling and function.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a multisystem disorder with significantly shortened life expectancy. The major cause of mortality and morbidity is lung disease with increasing pulmonary exacerbations and decline in lung function predicting significantly poorer outcomes. The pathogenesis of lung disease in CF is characterised in part by decreased airway surface liquid volume and subsequent failure of normal mucociliary clearance. This leads to accumulation of viscous mucus in the CF airway, providing an ideal environment for bacterial pathogens to grow and colonise, propagating airway inflammation in CF. The use of nebulised hypertonic saline (HTS) treatments has been shown to improve mucus clearance in CF and impact positively upon exacerbations, quality of life, and lung function. Several mechanisms of HTS likely improve outcome, resulting in clinically relevant enhancement in disease parameters related to increase in mucociliary clearance. There is increasing evidence to suggest that HTS is also beneficial through its anti-inflammatory properties and its ability to reduce bacterial activity and biofilm formation. This review will first describe the use of HTS in treatment of CF focusing on its efficacy and tolerability. The emphasis will then change to the potential benefits of aerosolized HTS for the attenuation of receptor mediated neutrophil functions, including down-regulation of oxidative burst activity, adhesion molecule expression, and the suppression of neutrophil degranulation of proteolytic enzymes

Macrophage activation syndrome complicating adult-onset still's disease: A diagnostic challenge

We report the case of a young man who presented with high-spiking fever, erosive arthritis, and generalized lymphadenopathy. He was diagnosed as adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD), and his clinical course was complicated by reactive macrophage activation syndrome (MAS). The sudden precipitous drop in leukocyte and platelet counts proved a valuable clue to the diagnosis of MAS in the setting of AOSD. The new American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism classification criteria for reactive MAS complicating systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis were applied in this patient. When MAS is associated with AOSD, treatment could be challenging. We managed this patient successfully with a combination of systemic corticosteroids and cyclosporine in the acute phase

Epiphyllous algae of Trentepohlia Martius in Southwestern Ghats, India, including one new species and three new records

Altogether eight species of epiphyllous green algae, Trentepohlia were discovered from the rural and semi-urban areas of Southwestern Ghats by field observations and in-vitro culture investigations. The species found were T. abietina (Flotow & Kutzing) Hansgirg, T. rigidula (J. Muller) Hariot, T. annulata, F. Brand, T. aurea (L.) Martius, T. chapmanii Rindi & Lopez-Bautista, T. dialepta (Nylander) Hariot, T. arborum (C. Agardh) Hariot, and T. gaviensis Binoy T.T., Bhagya M.V. & V.P. Thomas sp.nov. They were isolated and observed from the leaves of fourteen host plants. All the species were seen in the areas exposed to full sunlight. Trentepohlia rigidula and Trentepohlia abietina were also observed from the in vitro culture in Bolds Basal Medium (BBM). Three of the species, T. abietina, T. rigidula, and T. chapmanii and were the new records from Kerala; whereas T. dialepta, T. annulata, T. aurea, and T. arborum have been reported in earlier studies. A new species of Trentepohlia is compared with its closely related T. sundarbanensis (G.G. Satpati & R. Pal), T. arborum (C.Ag.) Hariot and T. abietina (Flotow & Kutzing) Hansgirg and is also described in the present study. So far, the diversity of Trentepohlia in tropical regions, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas of Kerala was quite unknown. The present investigation indicated that the Southwestern Ghats region of Kerala represents a major habitat zone of epiphyllous algae, particularly Trentepohlia which demands further extensive investigations in the area to explore the complete report of the entire diversity of algae

Response of letter to the editor on Procalcitonin: a promising diagnostic marker for sepsis and antibiotic therapy

Abstract In a letter to the editor, Raineri SM et al. have given an insight of another dimension of procalcitonin (PCT) use as a diagnostic tool in invasive candidiasis. But based on our preliminary information, PCT is reported as unconventional modes of diagnosis approach which yet to prove its stand-alone biomarker properties for invasive candidiasis

Effect of lyophilization on HRP–antibody conjugation: an enhanced antibody labeling technology

Abstract Objective Immunoassay usually deal with the antibody labeling with various reporter molecules, one such useful reporter molecule is horseradish peroxidase (HRPO). Conjugating enzyme with antibody without losing its enzymatic activity is a challenging task. Our aim is to modify existing classical method of conjugating antibodies with HRP to enhance immunoassay techniques with better sensitivity. We used chemicals such as sodium meta periodate to generate aldehyde group by oxidation of carbohydrate moieties on HRPO. The activated form of HRPO is lyophilized and then mixed with 1 mg/ml concentration of antibodies to be conjugate. Results After confirming chemical modification of conjugates via UV-Spec and SDS-PAGE independent molecules were used for conjugation and HRP–antibody conjugate. Finally, enzymatic activity of HRP–antibody conjugate was confirmed by performing direct ELISA. Functional properties were analyzed using ELISA with dilution of 1:5000, whereas the conjugate prepared by existing method of conjugation worked with as low dilution of 1:25 with a p value highly significant (< 0.001) for classical verses modified method of conjugation preparation. Collectively, this study showed the enhanced ability of antibody to bind more number of HRPO with an additional step of lyophilization in the regular conjugation protocol. Future exploration are necessary on wide range of IgG antibodies

Optimal PI-Controller-Based Hybrid Energy Storage System in DC Microgrid

Power availability from renewable energy sources (RES) is unpredictable, and must be managed effectively for better utilization. The role that a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) plays is vital in this context. Renewable energy sources along with hybrid energy storage systems can provide better power management in a DC microgrid environment. In this paper, the optimal PI-controller-based hybrid energy storage system for a DC microgrid is proposed for the effective utilization of renewable power. In this model, the proposed optimal PI controller is developed using the particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach. A 72 W DC microgrid system is considered in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed optimal PI controller. The proposed model is implemented using the MATLAB/SIMULINK platform. To show the effectiveness of the proposed model, the results are validated with a conventional PI-controller-based hybrid energy storage system