Storing Drinking-water in Copper pots Kills Contaminating Diarrhoeagenic Bacteria

Microbially-unsafe water is still a major concern in most developing countries. Although many water-purification methods exist, these are expensive and beyond the reach of many people, especially in rural areas. Ayurveda recommends the use of copper for storing drinking-water. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of copper pot on microbially-contaminated drinking-water. The antibacterial effect of copper pot against important diarrhoeagenic bacteria, including Vibrio cholerae O1, Shigella flexneri 2a, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, enteropathogenic E. coli, Salmonella enterica Typhi, and Salmonella Paratyphi is reported. When drinking-water (pH 7.83±0.4; source: ground) was contaminated with 500 CFU/mL of the above bacteria and stored in copper pots for 16 hours at room temperature, no bacteria could be recovered on the culture medium. Recovery failed even after resuscitation in enrichment broth, followed by plating on selective media, indicating loss of culturability. This is the first report on the effect of copper on S. flexneri 2a, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Salmonella Paratyphi. After 16 hours, there was a slight increase in the pH of water from 7.83 to 7.93 in the copper pots while the other physicochemical parameters remained unchanged. Copper content (177±16 ppb) in water stored in copper pots was well within the permissible limits of the World Health Organization. Copper holds promise as a point-of-use solution for microbial purification of drinking-water, especially in developing countries

Inverse relationship between serum high density lipoprotein and negative syndrome in antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia

Background: Recent literature suggests a role for apolipoprotein L (apoL) aberrations in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. ApoL is almost exclusively associated with apolipoprotein A-I in high-density lipoproteins (HDLs). The objective of this study was to examine the correlation between symptom scores and serum HDL in antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 60 antipsychotic-naive schizophrenia patients were systematically examined for their symptom scores, with good inter-rater reliability. Concurrently, an overnight fasting serum lipid profile from these patients was assessed. Results: Serum HDL had a significant inverse correlation with a total negative syndrome score (ρ=−0.43; p=0.001). Conclusions: The study observation supports the potential role for HDL abnormalities in the genesis of negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Clin Chem Lab Med 2010;48:95–8.Peer Reviewe

Protocol for magnetic resonance imaging acquisition, quality assurance, and quality check for the Accelerator program for Discovery in Brain disorders using Stem cells

Objective: The Accelerator program for Discovery in Brain disorders using Stem cells (ADBS) is a longitudinal study on five cohorts of patients with major psychiatric disorders from genetically high-risk families, their unaffected first-degree relatives, and healthy subjects. We describe the ADBS protocols for acquisition, quality assurance (QA), and quality check (QC) for multimodal magnetic resonance brain imaging studies. Methods: We describe the acquisition and QC protocols for structural, functional, and diffusion images. For QA, we acquire proton density and functional images on phantoms, along with repeated scans on human volunteer. We describe the analysis of phantom data and test–retest reliability of volumetric and diffusion measures. Results: Analysis of acquired phantom data shows linearity of proton density signal with increasing proton fraction, and an overall stability of various spatial and temporal QA measures. Examination of dice coefficient and statistical analyses of coefficient of variation in test–retest data on the human volunteer showed consistency of volumetric and diffusivity measures at whole-brain, regional, and voxel-level. Conclusion: The described acquisition and QA–QC procedures can yield consistent and reliable quantitative measures. It is expected that this longitudinal neuroimaging dataset will, upon its release, serve the scientific community well and pave the way for interesting discoveries

Storing Drinking-water in Copper pots Kills Contaminating Diarrhoeagenic Bacteria

Microbially-unsafe water is still a major concern in most developing countries. Although many water-purification methods exist, these are expensive and beyond the reach of many people, especially in rural areas. Ayurveda recommends the use of copper for storing drinking-water. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of copper pot on microbially-contaminated drinking-water. The antibacterial effect of copper pot against important diarrhoeagenic bacteria, including Vibrio cholerae O1, Shigella flexneri 2a, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli , enteropathogenic E. coli , Salmonella enterica Typhi, and Salmonella Paratyphi is reported. When drinking-water (pH 7.83\ub10.4; source: ground) was contaminated with 500 CFU/mL of the above bacteria and stored in copper pots for 16 hours at room temperature, no bacteria could be recovered on the culture medium. Recovery failed even after resuscitation in enrichment broth, followed by plating on selective media, indicating loss of culturability. This is the first report on the effect of copper on S. flexneri 2a, enteropathogenic E. coli, and Salmonella Paratyphi. After 16 hours, there was a slight increase in the pH of water from 7.83 to 7.93 in the copper pots while the other physicochemical parameters remained unchanged. Copper content (177\ub116 ppb) in water stored in copper pots was well within the permissible limits of the World Health Organization. Copper holds promise as a point-of-use solution for microbial purification of drinking-water, especially in developing countries

Emotion Processing Deficit in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder: A Potential Endophenotype

Background: Emotion processing deficits have been described in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and are considered one of the core cognitive abnormalities in BD with endophenotype potential. However, the literature on specific impairments in emotion processing cognitive strategies (directive/cortical/higher versus intuitive/limbic/lower) in euthymic adult BD patients and healthy first-degree relatives/high-risk (HR) subjects in comparison with healthy controls (HCs) is sparse. Methods: We examined facial emotion recognition deficits (FERD) in BD (N = 30), HR (N = 21), and HC (N = 30) matched for age (years), years of education, and sex using computer-administered face emotions–Matching And Labeling Task (eMALT). Results: The three groups were significantly different based on labeling accuracy scores for fear and anger (FA) (P \u3c 0.001) and sad and disgust (SD) (P \u3c 0.001). On post-hoc analysis, HR subjects exhibited a significant deficit in the labeling accuracy of FA facial emotions (P \u3c 0.001) compared to HC. The BD group was found to have significant differences in all FA (P = 0.004) and SD (P = 0.003) emotion matching as well as FA (P = 0.001) and SD (P \u3c 0.001) emotion labeling accuracy scores. Conclusions: BD in remission exhibits FERD in general, whereas specific labeling deficits of fear and anger emotions, indicating impaired directive higher order aspect of emotion processing, were demonstrated in HR subjects. This appears to be a potential endophenotype. These deficits could underlie the pathogenesis in BD, with possible frontolimbic circuitry impairment. They may have potential implications in functional recovery and prognosis of BD

Retinal vascular tortuosity in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

\u3cp\u3eThe micro-vasculature of retina and brain share common morphological, physiological, and pathological properties. Retina being easily accessible, retinal vascular examination provides an indirect assessment of cerebral vasculature. Considering the high prevalence of vascular morbidity in SCZ and BD a few studies have examined retinal vascular caliber and have reported increased retinal venular caliber in schizophrenia (SCZ). Retinal vascular tortuosity could serve as a better structural measure than caliber as it is static and less susceptible to pulse period variations. However, to date, no study has examined retinal vascular tortuosity in SCZ and bipolar disorder (BD). Hence, we examined retinal vascular tortuosity in comparison with healthy volunteers (HV). We included 255 subjects (78 HV, 79 SCZ, and 86 BD) in the age range of 18 to 50 years. Trained personnel acquired images using a non-mydriatic fundus camera. To measure the average retinal arteriolar tortuosity index (RATI) and retinal venular tortuosity index (RVTI), we used a previously validated, semi-automatic algorithm. The results showed significant differences across the three groups in RATI but not in RVTI; both BD and SCZ had significantly increased RATI compared to HV. There was also a significant difference between SCZ and BD, with BD having higher RATI. If shown to be of predictive utility in future longitudinal studies, it has the potential to identify patients at risk of development of adverse vascular events. As retinal vascular imaging is non-invasive and inexpensive, it could serve as a proxy marker and window to cerebral vasculature.\u3c/p\u3

Evidence-based guidelines and secondary meta-analysis for the use of transcranial direct current stimulation in neurological and psychiatric disorders

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation has shown promising clinical results, leading to increased demand for an evidence-based review on its clinical effects. Objective: We convened a team of transcranial direct current stimulation experts to conduct a systematic review of clinical trials with more than 1 session of stimulation testing: pain, Parkinson’s disease motor function and cognition, stroke motor function and language, epilepsy, major depressive disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome, schizophrenia, and drug addiction. Methods: Experts were asked to conduct this systematic review according to the search methodology from PRISMA guidelines. Recommendations on efficacy were categorized into Levels A (definitely effective), B (probably effective), C (possibly effective), or no recommendation. We assessed risk of bias for all included studies to confirm whether results were driven by potentially biased studies. Results: Although most of the clinical trials have been designed as proof-of-concept trials, some of the indications analyzed in this review can be considered as definitely effective (Level A), such as depression, and probably effective (Level B), such as neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, migraine, post-operative patient-controlled analgesia and pain, Parkinson’s disease (motor and cognition), stroke (motor), epilepsy, schizophrenia, and alcohol addiction. Assessment of bias showed that most of the studies had low risk of biases, and sensitivity analysis for bias did not change these results. Effect sizes vary from 0.01 to 0.70 and were significant in about 8 conditions, with the largest effect size being in postoperative acute pain and smaller in stroke motor recovery (nonsignificant when combined with robotic therapy). Conclusion: All recommendations listed here are based on current published PubMed-indexed data. Despite high levels of evidence in some conditions, it must be underscored that effect sizes and duration of effects are often limited; thus, real clinical impact needs to be further determined with different study designs

Brain structural covariance networks in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a graph analysis from the ENIGMA Consortium.

Brain structural covariance networks reflect covariation in morphology of different brain areas and are thought to reflect common trajectories in brain development and maturation. Large-scale investigation of structural covariance networks in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may provide clues to the pathophysiology of this neurodevelopmental disorder. Using T1-weighted MRI scans acquired from 1616 individuals with OCD and 1463 healthy controls across 37 datasets participating in the ENIGMA-OCD Working Group, we calculated intra-individual brain structural covariance networks (using the bilaterally-averaged values of 33 cortical surface areas, 33 cortical thickness values, and six subcortical volumes), in which edge weights were proportional to the similarity between two brain morphological features in terms of deviation from healthy controls (i.e. z-score transformed). Global networks were characterized using measures of network segregation (clustering and modularity), network integration (global efficiency), and their balance (small-worldness), and their community membership was assessed. Hub profiling of regional networks was undertaken using measures of betweenness, closeness, and eigenvector centrality. Individually calculated network measures were integrated across the 37 datasets using a meta-analytical approach. These network measures were summated across the network density range of K = 0.10-0.25 per participant, and were integrated across the 37 datasets using a meta-analytical approach. Compared with healthy controls, at a global level, the structural covariance networks of OCD showed lower clustering (P < 0.0001), lower modularity (P < 0.0001), and lower small-worldness (P = 0.017). Detection of community membership emphasized lower network segregation in OCD compared to healthy controls. At the regional level, there were lower (rank-transformed) centrality values in OCD for volume of caudate nucleus and thalamus, and surface area of paracentral cortex, indicative of altered distribution of brain hubs. Centrality of cingulate and orbito-frontal as well as other brain areas was associated with OCD illness duration, suggesting greater involvement of these brain areas with illness chronicity. In summary, the findings of this study, the largest brain structural covariance study of OCD to date, point to a less segregated organization of structural covariance networks in OCD, and reorganization of brain hubs. The segregation findings suggest a possible signature of altered brain morphometry in OCD, while the hub findings point to OCD-related alterations in trajectories of brain development and maturation, particularly in cingulate and orbitofrontal regions