Trends Journal of Sciences Research
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Detection and Diagnostic Accuracy of Rapid Urine Lipoarabinomannan Lateral-Flow Assay in Pulmonary Tuberculosis patients in Nigeria
Get PDFBackground: Tuberculosis (TB) is a public health challenge in both developed and developing countries. Early diagnosis is essential in preventing the further spread of the disease, but the control programs are currently facing a number of constraints and fewer than 25% of all tuberculosis cases especially childhood cases are detected. We aimed to evaluate diagnostic accuracy of a commercially available qualitative immunoassay for the detection of lipoarabinomannan (LAM) antigen of Mycobacteria in human urine by comparing its sensitivity and specificity in TB patients with the AFB and GeneXpert in individuals with presumptive tuberculosis cases.Methods: A cross-sectional study that consecutively enrolled 53 eligible TB adults’ patients attending TB Centre, Mangu, Plateau State from February to March 2017. We applied the LAM test on urine collected as a spot and early morning sample. Diagnostic accuracy was analyzed for a microbiological TB reference standard based on Gene Xpert MTB/RIF results and for a composite reference standard including clinical data. Performance of sputum smear microscopy (AFB) was included for comparison. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 41.0±17.0 years.) The male proportion was 36(68.0%) and female was 17(32.0%). The patients with HIV-1 Co-infection were 9(23.8%). Of the 53 patients, the positive testing rate of TB using LAM test was 11 (20.8 %). The proportion of those who tested positive using Gene Xpert was 9(17.0%) and AFB was 33(62.2%), and the sensitivity and specificity were 33.3% and 93.2%, respectively. Negative and positive predictive values were 87.23% and 50.0%, diagnostic accuracy was 83.02%. Conclusion: The study showed great sensitivity of urine LAM test suggesting it could be useful as point of care diagnostic test for presumptive TB cases. Its high negative predictive value suggests a role in screening out uninfected patients; though GeneXpert had superior sensitivity, but the ease of the LAM test holds operational advantage as a screening method, however larger studies are needed to further determine diagnostic accuracy
Effectiviness of Volar Static Hand-Wrist Orthesis in Stroke Patients: orthesis in stroke patients
No full textObjective: To evaluate the volar static hand-wrist orthoses, upper extremity motor development, manual dexterity and independence in daily life activities in stroke patients. Methods: Forty patients were prospectively randomized to use a volar splint or no splint (control group). All patients were included in a 6-week rehabilitation programme. Fugl-Meyer Assessment was used for clinical motor assessment, the Modified Ashworth Scale was employed for spasticity, the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT) was used for evaluating fine motor dexterity, and the Barthel index was employed for functional evaluation Results: Only a significant difference was found in the Modified Ashworth finger flexor values in Group 1 patients between hospitalisation and week 3 and week 6 but other scales were not significantly different among the groups. Conclusions: Volar static hand-wrist orthoses were shown to be particularly effective on finger flexors with exercise therapy in reducing muscle tone, and also beneficial exercise programmes in post-stroke rehabilitation.
 
The Effects of Rosemary Extract on Spermatogenesis and Sexual Hormones of Mice under Heat Stress
Get PDFHeat stress can affect reproduction potential as an environmental factor. This Study was carried out to investigate the effects of rosemary extract on spermatogenesis and sexual hormones of laboratory mice under heat stress. 50 male mature mice were examined in five groups including a control group and four experimental groups [0, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg of rosemary extract]. Samples were kept under heat stress four hours a day and received the extract doses for 30 days. At the end of the experiment, the amount of testosterone, LH, and FSH hormones plus the number of spermatogenic cells were measured. Obtained data were analyzed using the SPSS program. Heat stress in zero doses reduced testosterone, LH, and FSH significantly whereas rosemary extract increased testosterone and LH in 200 and 400 doses and FSH in 100,200, and 400 doses. Primary spermatocytes were decreased in zero doses significantly but increased significantly in other experimental groups [p<0.05]. In general, Heat stress reduces male sex hormones and spermatogenic cells but rosemary extract compensated this reduction dose-dependently and improved sexual potential under heat stress
Lifestyle Management Still Relevant, Despite Genetics Advancement, in Non-Communicable Diseases Risks: A Perspective
Get PDFGenotype and lifestyle factors have been implicated as the causes of non-communicable diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and chronic respiratory disease. Lifestyle factors constitute physical activity, smoking, alcohol intake and dietary habits. These factors alongside genetic factors have been studied over the past years on their relationships with non-communicable diseases. This review examined and compared the strengths of the two factors, lifestyle and genotype, in causing non-communicable diseases. A search was done online, predominantly with PubMed, to identify articles that contained the keywords, lifestyle, diet, exercise, genotype, gene, non-communicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes. For diabetes, the results of this review showed that management of lifestyle factors can be used to prevent type 2 diabetes among genetically predisposed persons. Cancers studies have suggested that a Mediterranean diet is associated with lower cancer risk for both genetically susceptible people and non-susceptible individuals. Similar findings were gotten for cardiovascular diseases and chronic respiratory diseases. The results suggest a strong impact of lifestyle-related factors as a cause of non-communicable diseases though genetic factors cannot be underestimated. With good management of lifestyle factors, non-communicable diseases can be prevented and the risks reduced even among genetically high-risk individuals.
 
Effect of the Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment on DMEM for the Proliferation and Differentiation of Human Bone Osteosarcoma Cells to Improve Bone Health
Get PDFThe bone health is an important part of healthy-life and longevity in current situation due to huge toxins and contaminants in the environment and food chain. Considering the importance of bone health in the modern era, the present study was undertaken to investigate the effect of the Consciousness Energy Healing (The Trivedi Effect®) Treatment on Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) in which the human bone osteosarcoma cells - MG-63 (ATCC® CRL-1427™) was grown for the assessment of bone cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro. The study parameters were assessed using cell viability by MTT assay, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and collagen synthesis on bone health using ELISA-based assay. The cell viability was significantly increased by 24% in the Biofield Energy Treated group supplemented with 10% charcoal-dextran with fetal bovine serum (CD-FBS) (G3) compared to the untreated cells group (G1). The level of ALP was significantly increased by 72% in the G3 group compared to the G1 group. Additionally, the level of collagen synthesis was significantly (p?0.001) increased by 19% in the G3 group compared to the G1 group. The overall results demonstrated that the Biofield Energy Treated DMEM has the potential for bone mineralization and bone cells growth as evident via increased levels of collagen and ALP. Therefore, the Biofield Energy Healing (The Trivedi Effect®) Treatment could be useful as a bone health promoter for various bone-related disorders like low bone density, osteogenesis imperfecta, and osteoporosis, etc
Relationship between Cholesterol Levels and Suicide Attempts in Chronic Psychosis: Cholesterol Levels and Suicide Attempts in Chronic Psychosis
No full textObjective:
Suicide is the most common cause of premature death of schizophrenia. This study investigated the relationship between cholesterol levels and suicidal behaviour in chronic psychosis
Methods:
The study group consisted of 109 schizophrenia, schizoaffective and other non affectice psychosis defined by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-V) criteria. Lifetime suicide attempts of patients were retrospectively screened. The patients were divided into two groups with and without suicide. Serum cholesterol levels were compared between two groups. Results:The mean total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL and LDL levels were 163.8 mg /dl,150.8 mg /dl,40.8 mg /dl and 132.4 mg/dl, respectively in the study group while they were 197.1 mg / dl, 194 mg / dl, 44.9 mg / dl and 124.2 mg/dl, respectively in the control group. Total cholesterol levels were significantly lower than patients with suicidal attempts compared with the patients with no suicidal attemps (p=0,03). No association was found between suicidal attempt and HDL cholesterol (p=0,24), triglyceride (p=0,193), and LDL(p=0,45). Conclusion:This result supports the hypothesis of association low plasma cholesterol levels and suicidal behavior in psychosi
Expression Profiles Analysis Identification and Interaction of Key Genes and Micrornas in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Get PDFBackground. Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common malignant tumors, with rapid development and high malignancy. MicroRNAs have been reported to play important roles in hepatocellular carcinoma progression.
Aim. To identify the key genes and miRNAs in HCC, and to explore their potential molecular mechanisms.
Methods. Gene expression profiles of GSE15471 (mRNA profile) and GSE57555 (miRNA profile) were downloaded from gene expression omnibus, which were analysed using R software and bioconductor packages. The gene ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichments of DEGs were performed using the DAVID database, and the protein–protein interaction networks of the DEGs were constructed from the STRING database. In addition, targets of differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted by the online resource miRDB.
Result. In total, 191 differentially expressed genes were identified, including 142 upregulated and 49 downregulated genes. Functional analysis revealed that these DEGs were associates with wound healing, endodermal cell-cell adhesion, activation of MAPK activity and negative regulation of cell proliferation. In addition, we identified five DEMs, which were upregulated and downregulated. hsa-miR-122-5p may target the PDK4, and hsa-miR-21-5p probably targets SPOCK1 and PAIP2B.
Conclusions. We applied integrated bioinformatics to identify key pathogenic genes involved in hepatocellular carcinoma and provide new clues for further studies of hepatocellular carcinoma
Missing Value Estimation in a Nested-Factorial Design with Three Factors
Get PDFWhen faced with unbalanced data, it is often necessary to estimate the necessary missingvalues before the application of the analysis of variance technique. Previous studies have shownthat dierent designs require dierent missing value estimators. With the introduction of somerelatively new statistical designs, it has become expedient to derive missing value estimatorsfor such designs. In this study, least squares estimators of missing values in a three-factornested-factorial design are derived. Properties of the estimators are equally determined. Anumerical example is given to show the application of the theoretical results obtained in thispaper. Our empirical results establish the appropriateness of the missing value estimationmethod presented in this study
Proline Formation (produce) in the Bacteria: under KCl stress
Get PDFSalinity is one of the important abiotic stress affecting microorganism growth and productivity. To survive these stresses most organisms have to stress-adaptation mechanisms. It's one of these things proline. We did not find any similar studies with P. aeruginosa and E. faecalis in our studies. The highest value for proline production at 30 °C 100 rpm was in E. faecalis 11,074 U/ml and in E. coli 6,833 U/ml. The highest proline production in LB medium containing 37 °C 100 rpm KCl was found to be in E. faecalis 14,604 U/ml and in E. coli 6,557 U/ml. However, there are studies with E. coli. This experiment revealed that the extracellular proline concentration is proportionally linked to the KCl stress. We should first mention that studies similar to those we were less common in the literature. We did not find any similar studies with P. aeruginosa and E. faecalis in our studies
Fish and Rat as Models to Assess Environmental Toxicity of Silver Nanoparticles: Fish and rat as models
No full textNano-sized particles of less than 100 nm in diameter are attracting the scientific community due to their wide range of new applications in various fields including biophysics, material and medical sciences. Nanoparticles of noble metals such as silver have been found to reveal significantly distinct physical, chemical and biological properties from their bulk counterparts. As industrial production of nano-sized particles is increasing day by day, their dissemination in natural environments is also at an increase. This is leading to substantial water and soil pollution. Finding the adverse effects of such nano-sized particles on different faunal species is thus of utmost importance. In the present paper, toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on fish and rat models have been presented so as to have a view about the type of the damage posed by them. This study will not only add to the existing knowledge about the toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on faunal species but also help in formulating future pollution controlling programs