The role of mucin-educated platelet activation in tumor invasiveness: An unfolding concern in the realm of cancer biology

Metastasis is a complex and well-coordinated phenotypic transformation of cancer cells governed by aberrant genetic and molecular pathways. It has been approved as the most consistent cause of cancer death. With emerging insight into the genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics, progress has been made and reasonably large number of molecular pathways of metastasis has been forwarded, but our understanding of precise underlying molecular mechanisms remains largely scarce. It has been well-known for around a decade and more that platelets are intriguingly contributing to the cancer metastasis. However, it is only recently that cancer cells can activate platelets have started to become apparent. Surprisingly, platelets in response to cancer cell activation, supported by research observations, allow cancer cells to escape immune removal, prolong survival in vascular compartment, increased cellular adhesion and develop new cellular niches which eventually help to favor cancer metastasis. Although a widely acknowledged plausible explanation that cancer cells activate platelets to facilitate in their distant spread, the description of this remains to be confirmed. In recent years, mucins, heavily glycosylated peptide structure, have been introduced to be released by several types of cancer cells. They account for poor prognosis in wide array of malignancies, because of their significant ability to induce metastatic process. The mechanism responsible for their increased metastatic propensity remains uncharacterized, but recent work suggested the role of cancer expressed mucins in initiating platelet thrombus. The association of cancer yield mucins, platelets and metastasis therefore suggests a pressing need to explore novel molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets thereafter

Preliminary findings of a study on the practice of self-medication of antibiotics among the practicing nurses of a tertiary care hospital

Objectives: Antibiotic resistance is indeed a global concern. It is of significant concern especially in the low-middle income countries because of the ease of accessibility, affordability, and absence of regulations pertaining to the dispensing of non-prescription antibiotics. This study aims to estimate the frequency and factors associated with the self-medication of antibiotics found among the practicing nurses.Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan from July 2016 to August 2016.Results: Of the 48 recruited nurses, 60.4% (29/48) were practicing self-medication of antibiotics. There were slightly more male nurses (17/29) than their female counterparts. The most frequently used antibiotic was Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid, which was reported by 72.4% (21/29) of the nurses. The most prominent factor urging the nurses for practicing self-medication of antibiotics was their perceived knowledge of antibiotics, as was the case with 72.4% (21/29) of the nurses. Fever (79.3%) and sore throat (65.5%) were the two most frequent health problems that prompted the nurses to practice antibiotics self-medication. An earlier experience of the use of antibiotics was reported by 51.7% (15/29) of the nurses. Only 20.7% (6/29) of the nurses completed the entire antibiotic course. The adverse effects of antibiotics were encountered by 41.4% (12/29) of the nurses, which included diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting.Conclusions: The self-medication of antibiotics is a frequent practice found among the practicing nurses in Karachi. It is a pressing concern and needs considerable attention from the healthcare authorities

Persistence of post-COVID lung parenchymal abnormalities during the three-month follow-up

Introduction: COVID-19-associated pulmonary sequalae have been increasingly reported after recovery from acute infection. Therefore, we aim to explore the charactersitics of persistent lung parenchymal abnormalities in patients with COVID-19.Material and methods: An observational study was conducted in patients with post-COVID lung parenchymal abnormalities from April till September 2020. Patients ≥18 years of age with COVID-19 who were diagnosed as post-COVID lung parenchymal abnormality based on respiratory symptoms and HRCT chest imaging after the recovery of acute infection. Data was recorded on a structured pro forma, and descriptive analysis was performed using Stata version 12.1.Results: A total of 30 patients with post-COVID lung parenchymal abnormalities were identified. The mean age of patients was 59.1 (SD 12.6), and 27 (90.0%) were males. Four HRCT patterns of lung parenchymal abnormalities were seen; organizing pneumonia in 10 (33.3%), nonspecific interstitial pneumonitis in 17 (56.7%), usual interstitial pneumonitis in 12 (40.0%) and probable usual interstitial pneumonitis in 14 (46.7%). Diffuse involvement was found in 15 (50.0%) patients, while peripheral predominance in 15 (50.0%), and other significant findings were seen in 8 (26.7%) patients. All individuals were treated with corticosteroids. The case fatality rate was 16.7%. Amongst the survivors, 32.0% recovered completely, 36.0% improved, while 32.0% of the patients had static or progressive disease.Conclusion: This is the first study from Southeast Asia that identified post-COVID lung parenchymal abnormalities in patients who had no pre-existing lung disease highlighting the importance of timely recognition and treatment of this entity that might lead to fatal outcome

Digital Twin Concept, Method and Technical Framework for Smart Meters

Smart meters connect smart grid electricity suppliers and users. Smart meters have become a research hotspot as smart grid applications like demand response, power theft prevention, power quality monitoring, peak valley time of use prices, and peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading have grown. But, as the carriers of these functions, smart meters have technical problems such as limited computing resources, difficulty in upgrading, and high costs, which to some extent restrict the further development of smart grid applications. To address these issues, this study offers a container-based digital twin (CDT) approach for smart meters, which not only increases the user-facing computing resources of smart meters but also simplifies and lowers the overall cost and technical complexity of meter changes. In order to further validate the effectiveness of this method in real-time applications on the smart grid user side, this article tested and analyzed the communication performance of the digital twin system in three areas: remote application services, peer-to-peer transactions, and real-time user request services. The experimental results show that the CDT method proposed in this paper meets the basic requirements of smart grid user-side applications for real-time communication. The container is deployed in the cloud, and the average time required to complete 100 P2P communications using our smart meter structure is less than 2.4 seconds, while the average time required for existing smart meter structures to complete the same number of P2P communications is 208 seconds. Finally, applications, the future development direction of the digital twin method, and technology architecture are projected

Pakistan developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) society: Addressing the \u27DO\u27 component of DOHaD

Adverse intrauterine environment could serve as an important stimulus for postnatal altered health status and for increased susceptibility to long-term non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The notion is now recognized as the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), which was first proposed by Sir David Barker. Since then, several scientific disciplines have strived to measure the magnitude of the early fetal programming and later risk of diseases. Pakistan, with striking figures of morbidity and mortality from NCDs, is currently tackling with double burden of diseases and requires planned efforts to counteract the threat of NCDs. Considering the growing needs and available evidences, Pakistan DOHaD Society was officially instigated in September 2016. The Society aims to explicitly address the association of life in utero with future health and disease and to endorse early screening and interventions to reduce the burden of NCDs, mental health issues and learning disorders along the life course. It has shown significant progress toward investigating the influence of adverse in utero environment such as diabetes, maternal under-nutrition and pre-eclampsia on fetal programming under two major research lines, that is, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular programming. The Society has been successful in disseminating its research findings through several esteemed international scientific conferences. Pakistan DOHaD Society encourages scientific community for collaborative research aimed at improving the quality of life during early childhood, adolescence and adulthood through provision of appropriate pre-pregnancy and antenatal interventions targeted to address at-risk in utero conditions