Iron deficiency and anemia in vegetarian mothers and their newborns

Blood haemoglobin, serum iron, iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation and ferritin levels were determined in two groups of mothers as well as their cords—strict vegetarians (lactovegetarians) and non-vegetarians (omnivores), closely comparable in age, weight, parity and gestation period but differing in their diet and food habits. All these parameters, except total iron binding capacity, were found to be significantly lower in vegetarian mothers and their cords as compared to nonvegetarian mothers and their cords, respectively, despite receiving supplemental iron for six months. Further, there was a greater incidence of anemia and iron deficiency in mothers consuming only vegetarian diet. Moreover, a significant correlation existed between mother's ferritin to cord ferritin confirming that maternal iron deficiency does affect neonatal iron status. All these observations suggest that strict vegetarian mothers as well as their newborns have a greater incidence and risk of anemia and iron deficiency.     

Studies of biochemical parameters in breast cancer with and without metastasis

The study includes 102 confirmed cases of carcinoma breast with and without metastasis and 25 healthy non-pregnant females. They were evaluated for blood levels of Ferritin, GSH, LDH, ALP, GGT and Hb before and 21 days after mastectomy. A significant increase (p<0.001) was observed in ferritin, LDH and GSH levels in cancer patients without metastasis in comparison to normal control subjects. Patients with metastasis had further elevated (p<0.001) levels of Ferritin, ALP and GGT as compared to non-metastatic patients. Mastectomy in both the cases i.e. with and without metastasis resulted in non-significant decrease in all the biochemical parameters suggesting that longer follow up could confirm post surgery decrease in the biochemical parameters. The results of the study suggest cost effective, usefulness of Ferritin, ALP, GGT and GSH/Hb ratio in differentiating breast cancer patients with and without metastasis which can be assayed in smaller laboratories.     

A biologically active constituent of withania somnifera (ashwagandha) with antistress activity

In Ayurvedic medicine,Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) is well known for its anti-stress activity. A passive rat experimental model, where the animals are subjected to multiple stress of cold, hypoxia, restraint (C-H-R) has been developed to evaluate adaptogenic properties of various fractions of W. somnifera root extracts. We have carried out extraction of roots of W. somnifera with water and further isolated one of the active constituents called compound X and also tested its anti-stress activity in C-H-R model. The effect of administration of W. somnifera water suspension (360 mg/Kg bw) and compound X (20mg/Kg bw) on the fall and recovery of colonic temperature was noted. There was an increase of ≈38% and ≈54% in the time taken to attain T_rec 23°C by rats given a single dose of fresh aqueous suspension and biologically active constituent (Compound X) respectively, where as decrease in the recovery time to attain T_rec 37°C is ≈13% and ≈33% respectively, as compared to control group. It is clear that rats treated with the fresh aqueous suspension and compound X ofWithania somnifera, could withstand the multiple stress of C-H-R better than control group.     

Microalbuminuria in Obese Young and Middle Aged Population: A Potential Marker of Cardiovascular Risk

Microalbuminuria is an established cardiovascular risk indicator in diabetes, hypertension and the general population. There is lack of information on MAU in healthy obese Indian adults and an ongoing debate whether obese adults deserve targeted identification and clinical intervention for MAU and prediabetes. We aimed to screen the healthy obese, young (group I) and middle aged (group II) adults for prevalence of MAU and prediabetes and study its association with Framingham risk score. The study included 50 healthy obese young (20–30 years) and middle aged adults (31–50 years), attending the outpatient clinic of Dept. of Medicine for a duration of 2 months (July–August). The patients were screened for fasting blood sugar, lipid profile and MAU. Of the total patients 28 % had MAU, 32.14 % of which had prediabetes and 33.33 % had diabetes whereas 10 % were normoglycemic. The group I patients had 50 % cases of MAU and group II had 25 % patients with MAU. Group II 63.63 % pre-diabetics. The values of MAU obtained were correlated with age, gender, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, FBS, waist to hip ratio using Pearson’s Coefficient (p < 0.05). The 10 year CVD risk calculated using FRS in subjects with MAU was higher as compared to those without MAU. Thus we conclude that Indian, young and middle aged obese adults to be at a risk of prediabetes, MAU and CV risk warranting their routine screening for better clinical outcomes.     

反复张力下V形切口圆条的表面裂纹的疲劳扩展

研究目的：在相同的反复张力下,研究V形切口圆条表面裂纹的疲劳扩展规律。研究方法：1.构建V形切口圆条模型（图1）,基于线性二次元将模型表面离散成一个个网格点（图2）;2.以AZ-6A-T5镁合金为例,利用J积分计算应力强度因数,利用NASGRO裂纹增长率模拟裂纹的疲劳扩展;3.通过研究不同的裂纹纵横比和对应的应力强度因数之间的相关性来研究裂纹的扩展。重要结论：1.在裂纹扩展时裂纹纵横比的初始值对断裂形状的发展有重要影响;2.裂纹纵横比对疲劳负荷寿命的作用比缺口半径更加明显;3.当裂纹前缘演变成一条直线形时可观察到不稳定的裂纹扩展;4.裂纹深度一定时,断裂纵横比越小,疲劳负荷寿命越短;5.当裂纹纵横比为0.6-0.7时,出现了不稳定的裂纹扩展。     

On-chip microelectrode impedance analysis of mammalian cell viability during biomanufacturing

The characterization of cell viability is a challenging task in applied biotechnology, as no clear definition of cell death exists. Cell death is accompanied with a change in the electrical properties of the membrane as well as the cell interior. Therefore, changes in the physiology of cells can be characterized by monitoring of their dielectric properties. We correlated the dielectric properties of industrially used mammalian cells, sedimented over interdigitated microelectrodes, to the AC signal response across the chip. The voltage waveforms across the electrodes were processed to obtain the circuit impedance, which was used to quantify the changes in cell viability. We observed an initial decrease in impedance, after which it remained nearly constant. The results were compared with data from the dye exclusion viability test, the cell specific oxygen uptake rate, and the online viable cell density data from capacitance probes. The microelectrode technique was found to be sensitive to physiological changes taking place inside the cells before their membrane integrity is compromised. Such accurate determination of the metabolic status during this initial period, which turned out to be less well captured in the dye exclusion tests, may be essential for several biotechnology operations.     

Metabolic Issues in Schizophrenic Patients Receiving Antipsychotic Treatment

Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder with a complex pathophysiology and requires treatment that includes long term administration of antipsychotics that is said to be associated with metabolic syndrome. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of seven different antipsychotics prescribed to schizophrenic patients, on development of metabolic syndrome in the patients. A total of 210 patients with schizophrenia (30 patients in each drug therapy group) were recruited according to ICD-10 criteria and were assigned to receive the drug for 16 weeks. Measurement of anthropometric (body weight, waist circumference, blood pressure) and biochemical parameters (glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, triglycerides, LDL, HDL) was done and the patients were subjected to ATP-III defined criteria for metabolic syndrome. Patients undergoing treatment with olanzapine were more prone to metabolic syndrome as the drug induces weight gain after 16 weeks of treatment. It also induces dyslipidemia (P < 0.001) and hyperglycemia (P < 0.01). Clozapine was found to be second most potent drug in inducing metabolic syndrome as the weight in clozapine treated patients increased after 16 weeks, along with a significant increase in glycemic (P < 0.001) and lipid parameters (P < 0.01). Aripriazole and amisulphride are comparatively safer drugs as their role in inducing metabolic abnormalities in schizophrenic patients was insignificant, although the impact of long term administration of these drugs needs to be explored. It is clear from the study that antipsychotic treatment induces metabolic syndrome so, it becomes important that the metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors should be surveillance regularly in schizophrenic patients undergoing antipsychotic treatment.     

Alkaline Phosphatase: An Overview

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP; E.C.3.I.3.1.) is an ubiquitous membrane-bound glycoprotein that catalyzes the hydrolysis of phosphate monoesters at basic pH values. Alkaline phosphatase is divided into four isozymes depending upon the site of tissue expression that are Intestinal ALP, Placental ALP, Germ cell ALP and tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase or liver/bone/kidney (L/B/K) ALP. The intestinal and placental ALP loci are located near the end of long arm of chromosome 2 and L/B/K ALP is located near the end of the short arm of chromosome 1. Although ALPs are present in many mammalian tissues and have been studied for the last several years still little is known about them. The bone isoenzyme may be involved in mammalian bone calcification and the intestinal isoenzyme is thought to play a role in the transport of phosphate into epithelial cells of the intestine. In this review, we tried to provide an overview about the various forms, structure and functions of alkaline phosphatase with special focus on liver/bone/kidney alkaline phosphatase.     

Interleukin-6 Perpetrator of the COVID-19 Cytokine Storm

COVID-19 has emerged as a global pandemic. It is mainly manifested as pneumonia which may deteriorate into severe respiratory failure. The major hallmark of the disease is the systemic inflammatory immune response characterized by Cytokine Storm (CS). CS is marked by elevated levels of inflammatory cytokines, mainly interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-10, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ). Of these, IL-6 is found to be significantly associated with higher mortality. IL-6 is also a robust marker for predicting disease prognosis and deterioration of clinical profile. In this review, the pivotal role played by IL-6 in the immuno-pathology of COVID-19 has been illustrated. The role of IL-6 as a pleiotropic cytokine executing both pro and anti-inflammatory activities has been reviewed. ADAM 10, a metalloproteinase switches the anti-inflammatory pathway of IL-6 to pro inflammatory hence blocking the action of ADAM 10 could be a new therapeutic strategy to mitigate the proinflammatory action of IL-6. Furthermore, we explore the role of anti-IL6 agents, IL-6 receptor antibodies which were being used for autoimmune diseases but now are being repurposed for the therapy of COVID-19.     

Doctoral students’ experiences of nondisclosure with their dissertation chair

We examined doctoral students’ experiences of nondisclosure with their dissertation chairs. Using a hermeneutic phenomenology design, we analyzed two individual interviews of 10 doctoral students. We identified the following three themes: (a) the professional dynamics in the relationship, (b) the interpersonal and cultural dynamics in the relationship, and (c) prioritization of completing the dissertation. Implications for doctoral students and dissertation chairs are discussed.