Compensatory payments and vasectomy acceptance in urban Sri Lanka

The effects of different levels of compensatory payment for vasectomy on sterilization acceptance were examined in 496 vasectomized men in urban Sri Lanka. The results indicate that compensatory payments significantly enhanced the participation of economically poor men in vasectomy programs, especially those who had already achieved a large family size. The proportion of poor acceptors (those with a monthly income of Rs 1000 or less) increased with higher levels of payment; the acceptor's level of education was negatively correlated with the compensation amount, and the mean age of the youngest child was higher among those who received higher payments. 60% of vasectomy acceptors reported using contraception immediately before the vasectomy, suggesting a high level of motivation not to have another child. Respondents cited high effectiveness, no extra expense, and no side effects for their wives as the main reasons for selecting vasectomy over other means of contraception, regardless of the amount of payment received. Only 5% said cash payment was an important reason for choosing vasectomy, and this response did not vary significantly by level of payment. There was no influence of payment level on postoperative complications or satisfaction. While compensatory payments significantly enhanced the participation of poor men in vasectomy programs, they were not effective in attracting poorer men with few children or those whose last child was relatively young. Overall, this study's findings suggest that the decision to provide compensatory payments and how much to provide should be based on economic and political factors, not on the grounds that higher compensatory payments have led to the recruitment of ineligible men or that the promotion of vasectomy has been at the expense of a loss in the quality of services provided.     

Intestinal ammonia metabolism in ethanolic rats

Repeated treatment of ethanol for 5 consecutive days has produced significant biochemical changes in the small intestine of the rat. The LDH and SDH were inhibited leading to deficient energy output from the glycolytic pathway and the Krebs cycle. The changes in ammonia metabolic profiles of intestine and blood indicate the presence of hyperammonemia. Enzymatic reactions associated with urea production and the levels of urea were increased. GS activity decreased explaining low levels of glutamine. These studies implicate PNC in producing hyperammonemia during ethanol treatment.     

Studies on the existence of a pathway in liver and muscle for the conversion of glucose into glycogen without glucose 6-phosphate as an intermediate

Mixtures of (14)C-labelled glucose plus pyruvate were incubated either with rat diaphragm or slices of rat liver. Incorporation of glucose carbon into glycogen was compared with its incorporation into glucose 6-phosphate relative to the incorporation of pyruvate carbon into these metabolic products. There was no preferential incorporation of glucose carbon relative to pyruvate carbon into glycogen compared with glucose 6-phosphate in the liver slices, but there was in diaphragm. On the assumption that glucose 6-phosphate is a necessary intermediate in the conversion of pyruvate carbon into glycogen, this is evidence for the existence in muscle, but not in liver, of more than one pool of glucose 6-phosphate or of a pathway from glucose to glycogen without glucose 6-phosphate as an intermediate. Galactose carbon, relative to pyruvate carbon, was preferentially incorporated into liver glycogen, so that a substrate converted in liver into glycogen without glucose 6-phosphate as an intermediate could be detected by this approach.     

Lipophilic O-antigens in Rhodospirillum tenue.

Lipopolysaccharides of eight wild-type strains of the phototrophic bacterium Rhodospirillum tenue have been analyzed. All of the lipopolysaccharides are highly lipophilic. The compositions of preparations obtained by the phenol-water or by the phenol-chloroform-petroleum ether procedure are very similar. The polysaccharide moiety, obtained by mild acid hydrolysis of lipopolysaccharide, consists mainly of aldoheptoses: L-glycero-D-mannoheptose is present in all strains, whereas D-glycero-D-mannoheptose is an additional constituent in some strains. Galactosaminuronic acid and two unknown ninhydrin-positive components were detected in the lipopolysaccharides of six strains. Spermidine and putrescine are present in large amounts in a salt-like linkage in the lipopolysaccharides from three strains. 2-Keto-3-deoxyoctonate forms the linkage between the polysaccharide moiety and lipid A. The lipid A fraction contains all the glucosamine and all the D-arabinose present in the lipopolysaccharide. D-Arabinose is an invariable constituent of the lipid A from the Rhodopseudomonas tenue lipopolysaccharides investigated. The principal fatty acids are beta-hydroxycapric, myristic, and palmitic acids. The isolated R. tenue lipopolysaccharides (O-antigens) react with rabbit antisera prepared against homologous cells. The titers in passive hemagglutination are low, similar to those found with enterobacterial R-lipopolysaccharides. R. tenue O-antigens containing only L-glycero-D-mannoheptose and those containing both the L- and D-epimers of glycero-D-mannoheptose could not be differentiated by serological means.     

Some neurochemical consequences of repeated ethanol loading in rat brain

Neurochemical consequences of repeated ethanol treatment on energy and ammonia metabolism were studied in different regions of rat brain. Energy production was decreased as indicated by lowered lactate dehydrogenase and succinate dehydrogenase activities with possible lacticacidimia. Transamination of alanine and aspartate increased while the deamination of glutamate decreased in all the regions of brain. The deamination of AMP was slightly elevated in cerebral cortex and brain stem while it was inhibited in cerebellum. Ammonia levels were persistently high, despite stepped up glutamine synthesis and ureogenesis. The synergistic action of ammonia during ethanol intoxication is envisaged.     

Role of exogenous ascorbic acid in tissue status of ascorbic acid-2-sulphate in guinea pigs.

Guinea pigs were given ascorbic acid orally in two doses; a low and a high dose. The tissue levels of ascorbic acid-2-sulphate was estimated in these animals after 15 days of feeding and a subsequent deprivation period of 15 days. The specific activity of the enzymes ascorbic acid sulphotransferase and ascorbic acid-2-sulphate sulphohydrolase was studied. During higher ascorbic acid intake, the activity of ascorbic acid sulphotransferase was increased, whereas ascorbic acid-2-sulphate sulphohydrolase showed a decreased activity. But when ascorbic acid intake was lowered or ceased, the activity of the above enzymes showed a reverse pattern. Possible reasons for the lack of antiscorbutic activity of ascorbic acid-2-sulphate in guinea pigs is discussed.     

Innate immunity orchestrates the mobilization and homing of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells by engaging purinergic signaling—an update

Purinergic Signalling - Bone marrow (BM) as an active hematopoietic organ is highly sensitive to changes in body microenvironments and responds to external physical stimuli from the surrounding...     

The genome of the gymnosperm Picea glauca encodes a single Nucleobase Cation Symporter 1 (PgNCS1) that displays a broad yet unique solute specificity profile

Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC) - The Picea glauca genome contains a locus that encodes for a nucleobase cation symporter 1 (PgNCS1). As a gymnosperm, P. glauca belongs to a key...     

LED-Fluorescence Microscopy for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis under Programmatic Conditions in India

Background

Light-emitting diode fluorescence microscopy (LED-FM) has been shown to be more sensitive than conventional bright field microscopy using Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain in detecting sputum smear positive tuberculosis in controlled laboratory conditions. In 2012, Auramine O staining based LED-FM replaced conventional ZN microscopy in 200 designated microscopy centres (DMC) of medical colleges operating in collaboration with India’s Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme. We aimed to assess the impact of introduction of LED-FM services on sputum smear positive case detection under program conditions.

Methods

This was a before and after comparison study. In 15 randomly selected medical college DMCs, all presumptive TB patients who underwent sputum smear examination in the years 2011 (before LED-FM) and 2012 (after LED-FM) were compared. An additional 15 comparable DMCs that implemented conventional ZN sputum smear microscopy were also selected for comparison between 2011 and 2012.

Results

The proportion of presumptive TB patients (PTP)found sputum smear positive increased by 30%- from 13.6% (3432/25159) in 2011 to 17.8% (4706/26426) in 2012 (P value <0.01) in the sites that implemented LED-FM microscopy, whereas in DMCs where the ZN staining procedure is followed the proportion of sputum smear positive had remained unchanged (13.0%versus 12.6%;P value0.31).

Conclusion

Use of LED-FM significantly increased the proportion of smear positive cases among presumptive TB patients under routine program conditions in high workload laboratories. The study provides operational evidence needed to scale-up the use of LED-FM in similar settings in India and beyond.