Longevity of lobsters is linked to ubiquitous telomerase expression

AbstractMammals have high growth rates in embryonic and juvenile phases and no growth in adult and senescent phases. We analyzed telomerase activity in a fundamentally different animal which grows indeterminately. Lobsters (Homarus americanus) grow throughout their life and the occurrence of senescence is slow. A modified TRAP assay was developed and the lobster telomeric repeat sequence TTAGG was determined. We detected telomerase activities which were dependent on RNA and protein components, required dGTP, dATP and dTTP, but not dCTP. Telomerase products with a five nucleotide periodicity were generated. High telomerase activities were detected in all lobster organs. We conclude that telomerase activation is a conserved mechanism for maintaining long-term cell proliferation capacity and preventing senescence, not only in cellular models or embryonic life stages but also in adult multicellular organisms

A prospective study on drug utilization pattern of anti-diabetic drugs in a tertiary care teaching hospital of eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder with common denominator of hyperglycemia, arising from a variety of pathogenic mechanisms. The aim of the study was to evaluate the drug utilization pattern of anti-diabetic drugs in diabetic patients and observe adverse drug events (ADEs) associated with anti-diabetic therapy in a prospective way.Methods: A prospective study was carried out in diabetic patients visiting the Departments of General Medicine in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Demographic data, drug utilization pattern and ADEs due to Anti-diabetic drugs were summarized.Results: In the present study, 153 (54%) of the 282 diabetic patients were males and 129 (46%) were females. Majority of patients were in the age group of 51-60 years (31.20%) and most of the patients (31.56%) had a diabetic history of 11-15 years. Metformin was the most commonly prescribed drug (64.89%). Majority of the patients (36.87%) were on multidrug therapy. Co-morbid condition was found in 232 patients (82.26%) where hypertension (22.69%) being the most common co-morbid condition. 32 ADRs were observed with Nausea being the most common ADR reported.Conclusions: The present study helps to find out current prescribing pattern of oral diabetic medications with different co-morbidities with respect to diagnosis, cost of treatment and it also highlight the need for comprehensive management of diabetic patients, including life style changes, dietary control, hypoglycemic agents, cardiovascular prevention, treatment of complications and co-morbidity. Therefore, through the existing prescribing patterns, attempts can be made to improve the quality and efficiency of drug therapy

Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma in children with histomorphological review

Rhabdomyosarcomas (RMS) are aggressive malignant neoplasm of mesenchymal origin, related to skeletal muscle lineage. These are the most common soft tissue tumors in children. The diagnosis is made by microscopic analysis and ancillary techniques like immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, cytogenetics and molecular biology. We encountered a case of a 03 years old child who presented with a tender, reddish, soft swelling over cheek for three weeks. The FNAC was reported as a small round cell tumor, Probably Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumor (PNET). The biopsy of tumor revealed a small round cell tumor with an alveolar pattern. Tumor giant cells were absent and mitotic figures were infrequent. Hence, differentials of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma and PNET were rendered. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) demonstrated desmin positivity. Thus, a final diagnosis of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma was offered

The Influence of HLA on HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Impairment in Anhui, China

HLA-DR*04 was identified as a predictor of HIV-Associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND), low CD4 T-cell responses to HIV, and low plasma HIV RNA levels in a U.S. cohort. We hypothesized that low CD4 T-cell activation leads to poor immune control of HIV in the CNS, predisposing to HAND, but also provided fewer target (activated CD4 T-cells) for HIV replication. To assess the consistency of these HLA Class II associations in a new cohort and extend analysis to HLA Class I, HLA types, neurocognitive, and virologic status were examined in a cohort of former plasma donors in China.178 HIV infected individuals in Anhui China, were HLA typed and underwent neurocognitive evaluations (using locally standardized norms), neuromedical, treatment and virologic assessments at baseline and at 12 months.HLA DR*04 was associated with a higher rate of baseline neurocognitive impairment (p = 0.04), neurocognitive decline (p = 0.04), and lower levels of HIV RNA in plasma (p = 0.05). HLA Class I alleles (B*27,57,58,A*03,33) that specify a CD8 T-cell response to conserved HIV sequences were neuroprotective, associated with less impairment at baseline (p = 0.037), at month 012 (p = 0.013) and less neurocognitive decline (p = 0.023) in the interval. Consistent with the theory that effective CD8 T-cell responses require CD4 T-cell support, the HLA DR*04 allele reduced the neuroprotective effect of the Class I alleles. The presence of HLA-DR*04 and the Alzheimer associated allele ApoE4 in the same individual had a synergistic negative effect on cognition (p = 0.003).Despite major background differences between U.S. and Anhui China cohorts, HLA DR*04 predicted neurocognitive impairment and lower plasma HIV RNA levels in both populations. HLA Class I alleles associated with CD8 T-cell control of HIV were associated with protection from HAND, but protection was reduced in the presence of HLA-DR*04

Correction to:Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: statement from an international collaborative (Intensive Care Medicine, (2021), 47, 3, (265-281), 10.1007/s00134-020-06341-7)

The article “Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: statement from an international collaborative”, written by Domínguez-Gil, B., Ascher, N., Capron, A.M. et al. was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on 21 February 2021 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 25 March 2021 to © The Author(s) 2021 and the article is forthwith distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution this article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. The original article has been corrected

Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: statement from an international collaborative.

A decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment (WLST) is derived by a conclusion that further treatment will not enable a patient to survive or will not produce a functional outcome with acceptable quality of life that the patient and the treating team regard as beneficial. Although many hospitalized patients die under such circumstances, controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death (cDCDD) programs have been developed only in a reduced number of countries. This International Collaborative Statement aims at expanding cDCDD in the world to help countries progress towards self-sufficiency in transplantation and offer more patients the opportunity of organ donation. The Statement addresses three fundamental aspects of the cDCDD pathway. First, it describes the process of determining a prognosis that justifies the WLST, a decision that should be prior to and independent of any consideration of organ donation and in which transplant professionals must not participate. Second, the Statement establishes the permanent cessation of circulation to the brain as the standard to determine death by circulatory criteria. Death may be declared after an elapsed observation period of 5 min without circulation to the brain, which confirms that the absence of circulation to the brain is permanent. Finally, the Statement highlights the value of perfusion repair for increasing the success of cDCDD organ transplantation. cDCDD protocols may utilize either in situ or ex situ perfusion consistent with the practice of each country. Methods to accomplish the in situ normothermic reperfusion of organs must preclude the restoration of brain perfusion to not invalidate the determination of death

Expanding controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death: statement from an international collaborative

Abstract: A decision to withdraw life-sustaining treatment (WLST) is derived by a conclusion that further treatment will not enable a patient to survive or will not produce a functional outcome with acceptable quality of life that the patient and the treating team regard as beneficial. Although many hospitalized patients die under such circumstances, controlled donation after the circulatory determination of death (cDCDD) programs have been developed only in a reduced number of countries. This International Collaborative Statement aims at expanding cDCDD in the world to help countries progress towards self-sufficiency in transplantation and offer more patients the opportunity of organ donation. The Statement addresses three fundamental aspects of the cDCDD pathway. First, it describes the process of determining a prognosis that justifies the WLST, a decision that should be prior to and independent of any consideration of organ donation and in which transplant professionals must not participate. Second, the Statement establishes the permanent cessation of circulation to the brain as the standard to determine death by circulatory criteria. Death may be declared after an elapsed observation period of 5 min without circulation to the brain, which confirms that the absence of circulation to the brain is permanent. Finally, the Statement highlights the value of perfusion repair for increasing the success of cDCDD organ transplantation. cDCDD protocols may utilize either in situ or ex situ perfusion consistent with the practice of each country. Methods to accomplish the in situ normothermic reperfusion of organs must preclude the restoration of brain perfusion to not invalidate the determination of death

Neurodevelopmental disorders in children aged 2-9 years: Population-based burden estimates across five regions in India.

BACKGROUND: Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) compromise the development and attainment of full social and economic potential at individual, family, community, and country levels. Paucity of data on NDDs slows down policy and programmatic action in most developing countries despite perceived high burden. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We assessed 3,964 children (with almost equal number of boys and girls distributed in 2-<6 and 6-9 year age categories) identified from five geographically diverse populations in India using cluster sampling technique (probability proportionate to population size). These were from the North-Central, i.e., Palwal (N = 998; all rural, 16.4% non-Hindu, 25.3% from scheduled caste/tribe [SC-ST] [these are considered underserved communities who are eligible for affirmative action]); North, i.e., Kangra (N = 997; 91.6% rural, 3.7% non-Hindu, 25.3% SC-ST); East, i.e., Dhenkanal (N = 981; 89.8% rural, 1.2% non-Hindu, 38.0% SC-ST); South, i.e., Hyderabad (N = 495; all urban, 25.7% non-Hindu, 27.3% SC-ST) and West, i.e., North Goa (N = 493; 68.0% rural, 11.4% non-Hindu, 18.5% SC-ST). All children were assessed for vision impairment (VI), epilepsy (Epi), neuromotor impairments including cerebral palsy (NMI-CP), hearing impairment (HI), speech and language disorders, autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), and intellectual disability (ID). Furthermore, 6-9-year-old children were also assessed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders (LDs). We standardized sample characteristics as per Census of India 2011 to arrive at district level and all-sites-pooled estimates. Site-specific prevalence of any of seven NDDs in 2-<6 year olds ranged from 2.9% (95% CI 1.6-5.5) to 18.7% (95% CI 14.7-23.6), and for any of nine NDDs in the 6-9-year-old children, from 6.5% (95% CI 4.6-9.1) to 18.5% (95% CI 15.3-22.3). Two or more NDDs were present in 0.4% (95% CI 0.1-1.7) to 4.3% (95% CI 2.2-8.2) in the younger age category and 0.7% (95% CI 0.2-2.0) to 5.3% (95% CI 3.3-8.2) in the older age category. All-site-pooled estimates for NDDs were 9.2% (95% CI 7.5-11.2) and 13.6% (95% CI 11.3-16.2) in children of 2-<6 and 6-9 year age categories, respectively, without significant difference according to gender, rural/urban residence, or religion; almost one-fifth of these children had more than one NDD. The pooled estimates for prevalence increased by up to three percentage points when these were adjusted for national rates of stunting or low birth weight (LBW). HI, ID, speech and language disorders, Epi, and LDs were the common NDDs across sites. Upon risk modelling, noninstitutional delivery, history of perinatal asphyxia, neonatal illness, postnatal neurological/brain infections, stunting, LBW/prematurity, and older age category (6-9 year) were significantly associated with NDDs. The study sample was underrepresentative of stunting and LBW and had a 15.6% refusal. These factors could be contributing to underestimation of the true NDD burden in our population. CONCLUSIONS: The study identifies NDDs in children aged 2-9 years as a significant public health burden for India. HI was higher than and ASD prevalence comparable to the published global literature. Most risk factors of NDDs were modifiable and amenable to public health interventions

Design of a wideband square slot bandpass frequency-selective surface using phase range analysis

Abstract: This article presents the design of a wideband bandpass frequency-selective sur- face (FSS). The structure is designed using the analysis of the generalized scat- tering matrix (GSM)-based transmission phase range. A relationship between the transmission phase range and the bandpass fractional bandwidth (FBW) is developed. The analysis reveals that the FBW of the FSS unit-cell is proportional to the phase range. Based on the interpretation of results, a design curve has been drawn, and using this curve, a simple square slot FSS on a low-cost FR-4 substrate has been fabricated and measured. Using the design curve, a 53% FBW has been predicted. The simulated results show a 52% FBW with the 3.52-GHz center frequency (f o). The response for the transverse electric (TE) and trans- verse magnetic (TM) modes has been measured. The structure has a bandpass FBW equal to 50% and 53.3% in TE and TM modes, respectively. The method pre- sented in this article may be used to increase the bandpass response of different FSS topologies

Jatropha Curcas : a bio diesel plant in reclamation of silica mining area

A silica mining area ,in Vindhayn hills of Allahabad District in Uttar Pradesh, India, is severely degraded due to open cast silica mining. This continuous process of opencast mining has scarred the landscape, disrupted ecosystems and destroyed microbial communities of the area. Apart from these unsightly impacts, the degraded environments created in the aftermath of opencast mining often cannot support biomass development. Over the long term, opencast mining reduces forest productivity, damages aquatic and atmospheric ecosystems and sometimes leads to substantial alterations in microclimates. Such changes, in turn, carry adverse economic and social impacts for nearby communities whose residents depend on the region’s natural resources for large portions of their incomes. Therefore there is an urgent need to reclaim these abandoned areas by using such plants, which can easily establish themselves in such adverse conditions and also support the economy of the local people. Jatropha curcas has been found most suitable for the purpose, especially due to the use of its seed oil as bio diesel and its resistant nature. It can be grown on such lands, which are largely unproductive for the time being, and are located in poverty stricken areas. The present study is on the performance of different provenances of Jatropha in silica mining area of Vindhayn hills, India. For this, total twenty-three provenances were collected from different parts of India. Their seedlings were raised in nursery. The growth performance of these provenances of Jatropha was recorded in nursery. After that, the field trial of these seedlings was carried out in the silica mining area. The growth performance was recorded. The provenance with best performance may further be recommended for the reclamation of such areas under similar agro climatic conditions and through Jatropha plantations, three major objectives, viz. wasteland reclamation, production of eco-friendly bio fuel, and socio-economic development of degraded areas can be achieved simultaneously.Non UBCUnreviewedOthe