Pulmonary function and fuel use: A population survey

Background

In the backdrop of conflicting reports (some studies reported adverse outcomes of biomass fuel use whereas few studies reported absence of any association between adverse health effect and fuel use, may be due to presence of large number of confounding variables) on the respiratory health effects of biomass fuel use, this cross sectional survey was undertaken to understand the role of fuel use on pulmonary function.

Method

This study was conducted in a village of western India involving 369 randomly selected adult subjects (165 male and 204 female). All the subjects were interviewed and were subjected to pulmonary function test. Analysis of covariance was performed to compare the levels of different pulmonary function test parameters in relation to different fuel use taking care of the role of possible confounding factors.

Results

This study showed that biomass fuel use (especially wood) is an important factor for deterioration of pulmonary function (particularly in female). FEV₁ (p < .05), FEV₁ % (p < .01), PEFR (p < .05) and FEF_25–75 (p < .01) values were significantly lower in biomass fuel using females than nonusers. Comparison of only biomass fuel use vs. only LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) use and only wood vs. only LPG use has showed that LPG is a safer fuel so far as deterioration of pulmonary function is concerned. This study observes some deterioration of pulmonary function in the male subjects also, who came from biomass fuel using families.

Conclusion

This study concluded that traditional biomass fuels like wood have adverse effects on pulmonary function.     

Systems biological approach to investigate the lack of familial link between Down's Syndrome & Neural Tube Disorders

Systems Biology involves the study of the interactions of biological systems and ultimately their functions. Down''s syndrome (DS) is one of the most common genetic disorders which are caused by complete, or occasionally partial, triplication of chromosome 21, characterized by cognitive and language dysfunction coupled with sensory and neuromotor deficits. Neural Tube Disorders (NTDs) are a group of congenital malformations of the central nervous system and neighboring structures related to defective neural tube closure during the first trimester of pregnancy usually occurring between days 18-29 of gestation. Several studies in the past have provided considerable evidence that abnormal folate and methyl metabolism are associated with onset of DS & NTDs. There is a possible common etiological pathway for both NTDs and Down''s syndrome. But, various research studies over the years have indicated very little evidence for familial link between the two disorders. Our research aimed at the gene expression profiling of microarray datasets pertaining to the two disorders to identify genes whose expression levels are significantly altered in these conditions. The genes which were 1.5 fold unregulated and having a p-value <0.05 were filtered out and gene interaction network were constructed for both NTDs and DS. The top ranked dense clique for both the disorders were recognized and over representation analysis was carried out for each of the constituent genes. The comprehensive manual analysis of these genes yields a hypothetical understanding of the lack of familial link between DS and NTDs. There were no genes involved with folic acid present in the dense cliques. Only – CBL, EGFR genes were commonly present, which makes the allelic variants of these genes – good candidates for future studies regarding the familial link between DS and NTDs.

Abbreviations

NTD - Neural Tube Disorders, DS - Down''s Syndrome, MTHFR - Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, MTRR– 5 - methyltetrahydrofolate-homocysteine methyltransferase reductase.     

Evaluation of Gambierdiscus survival after exposure to ballast water

The dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus was exposed to ballast water from a trans-oceanic vessel, and maintained at a variety of temperatures in the dark to determine if viability would be maintained. Logarithmically growing Gambierdiscus inocula were admixed (1:6, vol:vol) with ballast water, maintained in the dark at 22.6 °C, 24.6 °C, 26.8 °C and 29.0 °C and assessed for numerical abundance over six days. Calculated growth rates from the biomass time series showed no indication that ballast water negatively impacted Gambierdiscus viability; accompanying microscopic inspections supported this conclusion. Filtration of large volumes of collected ballast water failed to show the presence of any Gambierdiscus cells contained therein. Recovery and microscopic examination of the experimental inocula after 10 weeks in the dark, failed to show cyst development at any temperature regime. This examination of ballast water showed no evidence of cytotoxicity to Gambierdiscus spp.     

BAsE-Seq: a method for obtaining long viral haplotypes from short sequence reads

Epidemiologists aim to inform the design of public health interventions with evidence on the evolution, emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Sequencing of pathogen genomes, together with date, location, clinical manifestation and other relevant data about sample origins, can contribute to describing nearly every aspect of transmission dynamics, including local transmission and global spread. The analyses of these data have implications for all levels of clinical and public health practice, from institutional infection control to policies for surveillance, prevention and treatment. This review highlights the range of epidemiological questions that can be addressed from the combination of genome sequence and traditional ‘line lists’ (tables of epidemiological data where each line includes demographic and clinical features of infected individuals). We identify opportunities for these data to inform interventions that reduce disease incidence and prevalence. By considering current limitations of, and challenges to, interpreting these data, we aim to outline a research agenda to accelerate the genomics-driven transformation in public health microbiology.     

PHOSPHATE‐LIMITED GROWTH OF PAVLOVA LUTHERI (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE) IN CONTINUOUS CULTURE: DETERMINATION OF GROWTH‐RATE‐LIMITING SUBSTRATE CONCENTRATIONS WITH A SENSITIVE BIOASSAY PROCEDURE1

The relationship between steady‐state growth rate and phosphate concentration was studied for the marine prymnesiophyte Pavlova lutheri (Droop) J. C. Green grown in a chemostat at 22°C under continuous irradiance. A bioassay procedure involving short‐term uptake of 10 picomolar spikes of ³³P‐labeled phosphate was used to estimate the concentration of phosphate in the growth chamber. The relationship between growth rate and phosphate was well described by a simple rectangular hyperbola with a half‐saturation constant of 2.6 nM. The cells were able to take up micromolar spikes of phosphate at rates two to three orders of magnitude higher than steady‐state uptake rates. The kinetics of short‐term uptake displayed Holling type III behavior, suggesting that P. lutheri may have multiple uptake systems with different half‐saturation constants. Chl a:C ratios were linearly related to growth rate and similar to values previously reported for P. lutheri under nitrate‐limited conditions. C:N ratios, also linearly related to growth rate, were consistently lower than values reported for P. lutheri under nitrate‐limited conditions, a result presumably reflecting luxury assimilation of nitrogen under phosphate‐limited conditions. C:P ratios were linearly related to growth rate in a manner consistent with the Droop equation for growth rate versus cellular P:C ratio.     

Tolerability and efficacy of single dose albendazole,diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) or co-administration of albendazole with DEC in the clearance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Wuchereria bancrofti</Emphasis>in asymptomatic microfilaraemic volunteers in Pondicherry,South India: a hospital-based study

Background  

The tolerability and efficacy of single dose albendazole (400 mg), diethylcarbamazine citrate (DEC) (6 mg/kg bodyweight) or co-administration of albendazole (400 mg) + DEC (6 mg/kg bodyweight) was studied in 54 asymptomatic Wuchereria bancrofti microfilaraemic volunteers in a double blind hospital-based clinical study.