Genetic and expression deregulation of immunoregulatory genes in rheumatoid arthritis

Molecular Biology Reports - Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases globally, and is an important public health concern, associating with early death and systemic...     

Distributed medical image analysis and diagnosis through crowd-sourced games: a malaria case study

In this work we investigate whether the innate visual recognition and learning capabilities of untrained humans can be used in conducting reliable microscopic analysis of biomedical samples toward diagnosis. For this purpose, we designed entertaining digital games that are interfaced with artificial learning and processing back-ends to demonstrate that in the case of binary medical diagnostics decisions (e.g., infected vs. uninfected), with the use of crowd-sourced games it is possible to approach the accuracy of medical experts in making such diagnoses. Specifically, using non-expert gamers we report diagnosis of malaria infected red blood cells with an accuracy that is within 1.25% of the diagnostics decisions made by a trained medical professional.     

Frequency and associated factors for care giving among elderly patients visiting a teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective

To study frequency and associated factors for care giving among elderly patients visiting a teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methodology

A cross sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted at the Community Health Centre (CHC), Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) Karachi, Pakistan from September to November 2009. All individuals, visiting the CHC and aged 65 years or above were interviewed after taking written informed consent.

Results

A total of 400 elderly completed the interview. Majority were females, 65–69 years age, More than half of the individuals ie: 227 (85%) had received Care Giver experience for assistance and among these 195(72%) had care provided by an immediate family member. A large proportion of them stated that their Care Givers managed to provide less than four hours in a day for care giving. Around 37% showed substantial improvement in their relationship with the care givers. About 70% of the respondents stated that the care provided by the Care Giver improved their quality of life.

Conclusion

Elderly care is provided by majority of the family members resulting in increased satisfaction level, however small number still not satisfied due to unfulfilled need of these older people. This demands that efforts should be made to strengthen the family support by increasing awareness regarding elderly care and arranging support system by the government.     

Exclusive predation of sea turtle hatchlings by juvenile blacktip reef sharks Carcharhinus melanopterus at a turtle nesting site in Malaysia

This study reports the discovery of the exclusive predation of sea turtle hatchlings by several juvenile blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) in Chagar Hutang bay on Redang Island, Malaysia, in the South China Sea. Three dead specimens of C. melanopterus were retrieved from ghost nets, and the entire digestive tracts of these sharks solely contained the partially digested bodies of sea turtle hatchlings, with no evidence of the remains of any other prey. Thus, juvenile C. melanopterus may opportunistically feed primarily on turtle hatchlings during times when hatchling abundance is high.     

How deep is deep enough? Analysis of sea turtle eggs nest relocation procedure at Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary

Sea turtle eggs incubation involves natural and artificial incubation of eggs, and indeed the depth will be varied and presumably affect the development of hatchlings. For nest relocation, the researcher needs to decide on the depth to incubate the eggs. Sea turtle eggs clutches may vary between 40 and 120 eggs for the green turtle, thus using a single value as the standard procedure might affect the quality of hatchlings. Here we quantify the dimension of the natural (in-situ) nest constructed by the nester and the artificial (ex-situ) built by our ranger during nest relocation. We suggest a linear regression calculation of Y = 0.2366X + 59.3267, better predict a more accurate nest depth based on the number of eggs to imitate the natural nest.     

Snapin mediates incretin action and augments glucose-dependent insulin secretion

Impaired insulin secretion contributes to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Treatment with the incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) potentiates insulin secretion and improves metabolic control in humans with T2DM. GLP-1 receptor-mediated signaling leading to insulin secretion occurs via cyclic AMP stimulated protein kinase A (PKA)- as well as guanine nucleotide exchange factor-mediated pathways. However, how these two pathways integrate and coordinate insulin secretion remains poorly understood. Here we show that these incretin-stimulated pathways converge at the level of snapin, and that PKA-dependent phosphorylation of snapin increases interaction among insulin secretory vesicle-associated proteins, thereby potentiating glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). In diabetic islets with impaired GSIS, snapin phosphorylation is reduced, and expression of a snapin mutant, which mimics site-specific phosphorylation, restores GSIS. Thus, snapin is a critical node in GSIS regulation and provides a potential therapeutic target to improve β cell function in T2DM.     

Evaluation of farmers' attitude and perception toward production risk: Lessons from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province,Pakistan

The variations in farming risk are classified into three key categories: market liberalization, natural disasters such as floods or drought, and climate change. This study aims at filling the existing research gap by the assessment of risk attitude and risk perceptions toward various types of risks. Primary data of 600 respondents were collected through a structured questionnaire in four flood-prone districts namely Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, and Nowshera of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan. Equally Likely Certainty Equivalent and risk matrix techniques were utilized in determining the risk attitude and risk perceptions among the farmers. A probit regression model was used to analyze the relationships among dependent and independent variables. Findings of the study show that majority of the farmers were risk-averse, and floods, high input prices, crop diseases, and excessive precipitation were the main risks perceived by the farmers. Results of the probit regression model indicated that age, education level, farm location, off-farm income, and access to market information were the main factors that affect the farmers' risk attitude and perceptions. The research offers essential findings that can be used by policy-makers in the farming sector and researchers to understand risk attitude and perceptions of farmers empirically.