Interaction of Metal-Based Nanoparticles with Proteins: Relation to Structure, Function and Amyloid Forming Propensity of Lysozyme and α-Lactalbumin

Metal nanoparticles (NPs) such as gold (AuNP), silver (AgNP), and zinc oxide (ZnONP) demonstrate variety of applications including drug delivery, imaging, nanomedicine, and sensing. However, many of their applications involve biological systems, which might trigger their interaction with various biomolecules such as proteins. Proteins are highly sensitive to various stresses and ligand interaction due to the intimate correlation of their structure with biological function. Moreover, it is also a well-known fact that protein misfolding and aggregation process is the prime cause of a number of neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, Prion disease, etc. The interaction of NP with the proteins can cause the change of structure as well as the function of proteins and can generate a new identity such as ‘nanoparticle-protein’ complex. Here, in our present study, we investigated the interaction of two small homologous proteins: bovine α-lactalbumin (BLA) and hen egg white lysozyme (HEWL) with three different nanoparticles (AuNP, AgNP, ZnONP) in vitro. The structure, function, stability and amyloid forming propensity of the proteins were studied during the interaction with three different NPs using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. We synthesized NPs by chemical as well as semi-green methods using non-toxic materials such as starch, PEG, and NaOH with precursor salts with a size of below 20 nm. Moreover, we synthesized the self-assembly of ZnONP of an average size of 163 nm. The NPs were further characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) as well as dynamic light scattering (DLS) zeta sizer for the analysis of size and shape and stability of NP....

Tuberculosis in pregnancy

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the oldest diseases known to affect human being. In 2012, out of the estimated global annual incidenceof 8.6 million TB cases, 2.3 million were estimated to have occurred in India. The disease is responsible for killing more women ofreproductive age than all the combined causes of maternal mortality. The exact incidence of TB in pregnancy is not readily availablein many countries due to a lot of confounding factors. It is, however, expected that the incidence of TB among pregnant womenwould be as high as in the general population, with possibly higher incidence in developing countries. Pregnancy has no positiveor negative impact on TB. The clinical presentation of TB is similar to nonpregnant woman but the diagnosis is often delayeddue to nonspecific early symptoms and has similar constitutional symptoms like malaise and fatigueness found in pregnancy. Thebacteriological diagnosis sample should be processed for tests such as ZN-stain, light-emitting diode microscopy, Gene-Xpert,and gold standard test culture. Treatment of non-multi-drug resistance (MDR) patients should be treated by the same regimen asnonpregnant patients except the use of Streptomycin. The most of the second-line anti-TB drugs are teratogenic and so expectedmother with MDR-TB should be advised to terminate the pregnancy

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding drug allergy among healthcare providers in Eastern India

Background: Drug allergy (DA) or hypersensitivity is an immunologically mediated reaction producing stereotype symptoms which is challenging for health care providers (HCP). Objective of current study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of drug allergy among healthcare providers in eastern India. Methods: A 25-item self-administered DA questionnaire was developed and applied in our study. The questionnaire covered 3 domains: knowledge, attitudes, and practice patterns. From July 2020 to September 2020, HCPs participated in the cross-sectional study. Results: A total of 237 HCPs participated in the study, and all questionnaires were analysed. Among the respondents, 226 (95.4%) were nurses, 9 (3.8%) were doctors and 2 (0.8%) were pharmacists. The majority of HCPs agreed that drug-induced immediate allergic reactions were IgE mediated 225 (94.9%), occur within 6 hours of drug administration (89.9%), and epinephrine was the first choice for drug-induced anaphylaxis (76.8%). 97.9% HCPs agreed that penicillin skin test was valuable to predict the allergic reaction. More than 80% of the respondents would take patients’ allergic history before drug administration, while 75.5% agreed that they recognize and manage drug allergy timely when it occurs. Conclusions: Drug allergy was often diagnosed and managed inadequately, regardless of practice location, employment status and speciality in eastern India. The HCPs demonstrated a low level of knowledge regarding DA. Advanced education is urgently needed for better understanding and filling the gaps that exist in the knowledge and clinical practice of DA

Unusual cause of chest pain: Thoracic aorta calcification

A 40-year-old woman treated for pulmonary tuberculosis presented with chest pain which was aggravated with exertion without radiation. Chest X-ray shows widening of mediastinum, old healed, and calcified parenchymal lesion. Computed tomography scan showed annular calcification of aorta (solar eclipse sign) with significant narrowing of aorta. The patient responded well with vasodilator nifedipine, and almost 75% reduction in symptoms was seen after 1 month of the treatment

A clinico-radiological and pathological profile of lung cancer patients presented to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Patna)

Background: Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The clinicopathologicalprofile of lung cancer has shown marked regional and geographical variation. Majority of the patients have locallyadvanced or disseminated disease at presentation and are not candidates for surgery. Objective: The aim of this study was toevaluate the clinico-radiological and pathological profile of lung cancer patients and difference in histopathology betweensmoker and non-smoker. We also assessed yield of the various diagnostic procedures used for confirmation of lung cancer.Materials and Methods: A total of 30 patients diagnosed between May 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016. The completedemographic profile, smoking status, clinical, radiological, and diagnostic details were recorded in the study. Data were enteredand analyzed using SPSS software. Results: A total of 30 patients (19 male and 11 female) included in our study with mean age of55.26 years. Cough (80%) and dyspnea (80%) were the most common symptom and mass (86%), pleural effusion (53.3%) was themost common radiological presentation of patients. Clubbing and hemoptysis both was found only in 8 out of 30 (26%) patients.Adenocarcinoma (46.6%) was the most common histopathological type followed by squamous cell carcinoma (16.6%) and smallcell carcinoma (13.3%). The majority of patients (60%) presented in Stage 4. Computed tomography guided biopsy had better yieldin compare to ultrasonography guided (80% vs. 70.8%). Bronchoscopic procedure had lowest yield (38.8%). Conclusion: Theclinicopathological profile of lung cancer has changed in last few years, especially in the increase in adenocarcinoma incidence,and now it is the most common cause in both smokers and non-smoker

Utilization pattern of antibiotics and drug related problems in the orthopedic department at a tertiary care hospital: a prospective study

Background: Antibiotics are generally prescribed for both prophylactically and to treat ongoing infections in the orthopedic department. Assessment of prescribing pattern at regular interval is essential to avoid inappropriate use of drugs. Objectives: To know the utilization pattern of antibiotics and drug related problems like adverse drug reactions (ADR) and drug-drug interactions (DDI) in hospitalized patients. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among hospitalized patients using WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical/Defined Daily Dose (ATC/DDD) methodology for one month duration in orthopedic department at a tertiary hospital. Standard data collection forms were used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing the data. Results: Out of 196, most of patients (72.96%) were male and most of patients (34.69%) were from the age group 21-30 years. A total of 782 drugs were prescribed during study period and among them 262 were antibiotics. None of the drugs were prescribed in generic name. Ceftriaxone (33.58%) was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic. Average cost of drug therapy per patient was NPR 3125.7. DDD/100 bed-days were highest for Cefixime (27.9).  A total of 233 ADRs were suspected in 64 patients (32.6%). Thrombophlebitis (26.2%) was the commonest ADR. Potential DDI were found in 51 patients (26.02%). The most common interacting pairs were Cefuroxime and Rabeprazole (15 encounters). Conclusion: Generic prescribing is urgently needed for cost minimization. The prevalence rate of ADR occurrence and DDI was high. The study finding benefits the hospital policy makers to formulate and address policies for rational use of antibiotics. Keywords: Adverse Drug Reactions; Antibiotics; Cost; Drug Utilization; Drug-Drug interactio

Outcome of Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre based care for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition in Uttar Pradesh, India: Cross sectional Study

Background and Aim: Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for the facility-based management of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The present study was conducted in two such centres in Uttar Pradesh, India to understand the epidemiological and clinical profile of admitted children and their outcome of treatment. Materials and Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Nutritional Rehabilitation centres at Lucknow and Barabanki district hospitals. All Children aged one to fifty-nine months admitted to these centres from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019 were included in the study. Results: Around 28% infants diagnosed with SAM were less than 6 months of age. Majority (64.9%) of the admitted children were discharged with more than 15% of weight at admission, 28.9% were non-responders, 6.2% were defaulters and there were no deaths during the study period. Referrals directly from the community were seen in only 25.8% cases. Conclusion: Considering that around one-fourth of the children were discharged without adequate weight gain, measures to promote follow up should be given more focus. Referral from community level should be strengthened and more attention should be given for prevention of malnutrition in infants less than 6 months

INVESTIGATION OF DIVERSITY IN MUROPHYTES IN THE CAMPUS OF UNIVERSITY IN GORAKHPUR, INDIA

ABSTRACT: The present study was conducted during November 2011 to October 2012 for investigation of diversity in murophytes of DDU Gorakhpur University campus. A total of 56 murophytic plants species have been recorded, out of which 52 plants species belonging to 41 genera under 21 families also, only 4 species was represented by Pteridophytes belonging to 3 families. No species of Gymnosperms was observed as murophytes in the University campus. The leading murophytic family of University campus were Asteraceae (9 species), Poaceae (9 species), Cyperaceae (4 species), Amaranthaseae (4 species), Moraceae (4 species), and Scrophulariaceae (2 species). The majority 19 family of Dicotyledonous and 2 monocotyledonus family were found. Seasonal analysis shows that 17 (30.35%), 18 (32.14%) and 5 (8.92%) plants species were recorded in rainy, winter and summer season respectively on the wall of university campus. At the same time 6 (10.71%) plants species were found to be common during both rainy and winter season. However 10 (17.85%) murophytic species were recorded throughout the year on the wall of University campus. Thus the study reveals that the Asteraceae, Poaceae, Moraceae, Scrophulariaceae and Amaranthaceae family exclusively by the most dominant families of the DDU Gorakhpur University campus

Bilateral cavitary lung adenocarcinoma in a young lady: A rare case report with review of literature

A mucinous variant of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma is described as a rare variant of invasive adenocarcinoma and is characterized radiologically by consolidation, groundglass opacity, and nodules. Here, we report the case of a young lady with multiple cavitary disease presented with respiratory failure and mimicking as tuberculosis, pneumonia, vasculitis but initial laboratory investigations and bronchoscopy couldn’t clinch the diagnosis. Later on, CT-guided biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of mucinous bronchoalveolar carcinoma.  Immunohistochemistry for TTF-1, EGFR, ALK, ROS mutation had been sent but the patient requested to discharge, have been put on EGFR inhibitor Gefitinib 250 mg once a day considering adenocarcinoma, female, Asian origin but couldn’t turn-up to review further details. The clinician should be aware of the cavitary presentation of adenocarcinoma of lung even in younger patients where the most common differential is tuberculosis

Chemical vapor deposited graphene-based quasi-solid-state ultrathin and flexible sodium-ion supercapacitor

Flexible electronic devices find wide application in wearable electronics and foldable gadgets. This article reports chemical vapor deposited (CVD) few-layers graphene for a solid-state flexible supercapacitor device. Raman spectroscopy analysis reveals up to five layers in the graphene samples. Polyvinyl alcohol-Na2SO4 hydrogel membrane is used as a gel polymer electrolyte (GPE). 50 nm thick silver (Ag) deposited on polyethylene tere­phthalate (PET) through E-beam deposition served as the flexible current collector for the device. Galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) executed on the fabricated device to ana­lyze its electrochemical performance yielded a specific areal capacitance of 15.3 mF cm-2 at 0.05 mA cm-2 current density. The obtained power density of the fabricated device is 0.53 µWh cm-2 at a power density of 25 µW cm-2