Serum alpha-2-macroglobulin, antitrypsin and antichymotrypsin activities in patients receiving treatment with cyclosporine

Cyclosporine has been reported to function as an inhibitor of the chymotrypsin like activity of proteasome. We hypothesized that the administration of an exogenous proteinase inhibitor may affect the activities of the naturally occurring serum anti proteinases. The aim of this study was to observe the pattern of alteration of serum alpha 2 macroglobulin (AMG), alpha 1- antitrypsin (AT) and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) activities in renal transplant patients receiving the immunosuppressive drug, cyclosporine. Patients (97) who had received a single renal allograft were inducted into the study. Subjects were on a twice-daily dosage of cyclosporine capsules. Trough (Co) and two-hour post dose (C 2) cyclosporine levels were regularly estimated and all patients had stable creatinine levels. In 5 newly transplanted patients, antiproteinase activities were estimated weekly over a 4-week period as their cyclosporine doses were gradually tapered. Average serum activities of ACT and AMG in the transplant group were significantly less than in the control group (p<0.002 and p<0.003 respectively). AT and ACT activities fell gradually over 4 weeks. AMG activities showed a biphasic pattern, initially falling by almost 50% in the second week, increasing marginally in the third week and decreasing to less than 50% of the activities observed in the first week. Serum antiproteinase activities of serum alpha 2 macroglobulin (AMG), alpha 1-antitrypsin (AT) and alpha 1-antichymotrypsin (ACT) were found to be altered in renal transplant patients receiving cyclosporine.     

Academic motivation in children with dyslexia

The authors' purpose was to determine which form of therapeutic aid may influence academic approach and avoidance motivation in children with dyslexia. There were 165 children with dyslexia assessed with the use of ”I and my school” questionnaire. The authors considered the children's previous therapeutic experience and on its basis they were divided into three groups. Children receiving systematic therapeutic treatment display a significantly higher level of academic approach motivation as compared to those from the two other groups. Those children also manifest a lower level of academic avoidance motivation compared to those receiving no form of specialist treatment. Girls, regardless of their therapeutic experience, demonstrate a higher level of approach motivation; boys, on the other hand, display a higher level of avoidance motivation. The study shows that the quality of provided therapeutic aid affects emotional-motivational sphere of children with dyslexia. Systematic therapeutic aid increases academic approach motivation and reduces avoidance motivation.     

Targeting phonological representations can help in the early stages of reading in a non‐dominant language

It is not known whether children who are struggling with reading in a non‐dominant language will respond better to a phonological intervention or to one that addresses oral proficiency. Multilingual seven‐to nine‐year‐olds showing reading difficulty in a non‐dominant language, English, were given a three‐week intervention in phonological skills or in language proficiency and were compared with two control groups (one with reading difficulties and one with no reading difficulties) who received a non‐language based intervention. The group receiving the explicit phonological instructions showed significantly better gain in reading and spelling measures than the language proficiency and reading difficulties control group, but did not reach the levels of the noreading‐difficulty group. The phonological intervention was particularly effective for children with the lowest single‐word reading scores. We suggest that the intervention helped to catalyse the fine‐tuning of the phonological domain, making phonological representations optimally available for decoding, phonological manipulations and literacy development.     

Question paper generation through progressive model and difficulty calculation on the Promexa Mobile Application

Education and Information Technologies - Mobile learning has been increased in past years and has attracted the interests of academicians and educators in the past many years especially in higher...     

Evaluation by medical students of the educational value of multi‐material and multi‐colored three‐dimensional printed models of the upper limb for anatomical education

For centuries, cadaveric material has been the cornerstone of anatomical education. For reasons of changes in curriculum emphasis, cost, availability, expertise, and ethical concerns, several medical schools have replaced wet cadaveric specimens with plastinated prosections, plastic models, imaging, and digital models. Discussions about the qualities and limitations of these alternative teaching resources are on‐going. We hypothesize that three‐dimensional printed (3DP) models can replace or indeed enhance existing resources for anatomical education. A novel multi‐colored and multi‐material 3DP model of the upper limb was developed based on a plastinated upper limb prosection, capturing muscles, nerves, arteries and bones with a spatial resolution of ～1 mm. This study aims to examine the educational value of the 3DP model from the learner's point of view. Students (n = 15) compared the developed 3DP models with the plastinated prosections, and provided their views on their learning experience using 3DP models using a survey and focus group discussion. Anatomical features in 3DP models were rated as accurate by all students. Several positive aspects of 3DP models were highlighted, such as the color coding by tissue type, flexibility and that less care was needed in the handling and examination of the specimen than plastinated specimens which facilitated the appreciation of relations between the anatomical structures. However, students reported that anatomical features in 3DP models are less realistic compared to the plastinated specimens. Multi‐colored, multi‐material 3DP models are a valuable resource for anatomical education and an excellent adjunct to wet cadaveric or plastinated prosections. Anat Sci Educ 11: 54–64. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Cardiac troponin-T and CK-MB (mass) levels in cardiac and non cardiac disease

Serum cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and CKMB (mass) were analysed in three groups of patients. The first group (n=32) were patients with acute coronary syndromes including myocardial infarction. The second group (n=35)were patients with hypertension. The third group (n=24) were patients who had succumbed to non cardiac diseases. In all 3 groups, cardiac troponin T was elevated when compared with controls (p<0.001). However, CKMB elevation was not significant in all groups. CKMB levels correlated well with troponin T levels only when CKMB was greater than 50 ng/ml (r=1.00). Small elevations of troponin T identifies minimal cardiac necrosis and patients can benefit from early invasive therapy.     

Immunization with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Wuchereria bancrofti</Emphasis> Glutathione-S-transferase Elicits a Mixed Th1/Th2 Type of Protective Immune Response Against Filarial Infection in Mastomys

Lymphatic filariasis is a mosquito borne parasitic infection and can severely affect the normal working ability of an individual. Currently there is no vaccine available to prevent this infection and the development of a potential vaccine could effectively support the on-going mass drug administration program by World Health Organization (WHO). Filarial parasites have complex mechanisms to modulate the host immune responses against them. The glutathione-S-transferases (GST) are the important enzymes effectively involved to counteract the oxidative free radicals produced by the host. In the present study, we have shown that the mastomys which are fully permissible rodents for Brugia malayi when immunized with Wuchereria bancrofti recombinant GST (rWbGST) could induce 65.5 % in situ cytotoxicity against B. malayi infective (L₃) larvae. There was a balanced Th1/Th2 immune response in the vaccinated animals, characterized by higher levels of WbGST-specific IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies and pronounced IFN-γ, IL-10 and IL-4 cytokines production by the spleen cells.     

Diagnostic potential of fractionatedMycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra excretory-secretory (EST-DE1) antigen in pulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is emerging as a major public health problem in developing and developed world. Early and precise diagnosis is of prime importance in successful control of infection. Indirect ELISA with penicillinase as marker was developed using purifiedM. tuberculosis excretory-secretory (EST-DE₁) antigen for detecting IgG antibodies in pulmonary tuberculosis. The assay System gave a overall sensitivity of 82% for both smear positive and smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis cases with a specificity of 84%. The positive and negative predictive values were 75% and 88% respectivaly. Further studies with EST-DE₁ antigen revealed that, it contains two of the active antigen fractions of Mtb EST antigen i.e. Mtb EST-4 (56–68 KDa) and Mtb EST-6 (37–45 KDa), as demonstrated by inhibition ELISA. Reactivity with monoclonal antibodies HGT 3a showed the presence of 38 KDa molecule in EST-DE₁ antigen.     

Evaluation of sevafilachek immunoassays and rapid ICT-filariasis test for detection of bancroftian filariasis

A comparative analysis was made on the utility of SEVAFILACHEK-stick based immunoassays and commercially available ICT-filariasis test to detect active infection in different groups of bancroftian filariasis. The SEVAFILACHEK immunoassays were found to be useful to detect filarial infection in microfilaraemia and in a significant number of clinical filarial cases with acute, chronic and occult clinical manifestations. In the clinical cases, microfilariae are not usually detected in peripheral circulation. Employing SEVAFILACHEK assays 6 and 5 of the 7 samples of patients with chronic filarial disease, and 6 and 5 of 6 microfilaraemic cases gave positivity for filarial IgG antibodies and antigen respectively. Four of the 6 occult filarial samples were positive for antibodies and antigen. Filarial antigen was detected by ICT-filariasis test in blood samples of all the 6 microfilariaemic cases, 1 chronic filarial and 2 occult filarial samples. The main advantage of ICT assay is its rapid format and convenience for field use.     

Rotation sequence to report humerothoracic kinematics during 3D motion involving large horizontal component: application to the tennis forehand drive

The aim of this study was to examine the respective aptitudes of three rotation sequences (Y_tX_f′Y_h′′, Z_tX_f′Y_h′′, and X_tZ_f′Y_h′′) to effectively describe the orientation of the humerus relative to the thorax during a movement involving a large horizontal abduction/adduction component: the tennis forehand drive. An optoelectronic system was used to record the movements of eight elite male players, each performing ten forehand drives. The occurrences of gimbal lock, phase angle discontinuity and incoherency in the time course of the three angles defining humerothoracic rotation were examined for each rotation sequence. Our results demonstrated that no single sequence effectively describes humerothoracic motion without discontinuities throughout the forehand motion. The humerothoracic joint angles can nevertheless be described without singularities when considering the backswing/forward-swing and the follow-through phases separately. Our findings stress that the sequence choice may have implications for the report and interpretation of 3D joint kinematics during large shoulder range of motion. Consequently, the use of Euler/Cardan angles to represent 3D orientation of the humerothoracic joint in sport tasks requires the evaluation of the rotation sequence regarding singularity occurrence before analysing the kinematic data, especially when the task involves a large shoulder range of motion in the horizontal plane.