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.     

Sensation seeking and intercultural communication competence: A model test

Following findings from previous studies, the present study further explores the relationship between sensation seeking and intercultural communicative behaviours, specifically by investigating the relationship between sensation seeking and intercultural communication competence and re-testing a model introduced in a previous study. It was hypothesised that: (1) when mediated by variables associated positively associated with intercultural communication competence, there is a positive relationship between sensation seeking and intercultural communication competence, and (2) even in the presence of variables that are positively associated with intercultural communication competence, there is a negative relationship between ethnocentrism and intercultural communication competence. Survey data were gathered from participants (N = 231) and structural equation modelling was performed. The results supported both hypotheses, as well as findings from previous studies. The implications are discussed.     

GTR component of planetary precession

Even as the theory of relativity is more than a hundred years old, it is not within easy reach of undergraduate students. These students have an insatiable urge to learn more about it even if the full machinery of the tools required to study the same is not within their comfortable reach. The recent detection of gravitational waves has only augmented their enthusiasm about the General Theory of Relativity (GTR), developed just over a hundred years now, encapsulated in Einstein’s Field Equations. The GTR provided a consistent formulation of the theory of gravity, removed the anomalies in the Newtonian model, and predicted spectacular natural phenomena which eventual experiments have testified to. This pedagogical article retraces some of the major milestones that led to the GTR and presents a simple numerical simulation of the GTR advance of the perihelion of planetary motion about the sun.     

Digitally Inspired Thinking: Can Social Media Lead to Deep Learning in Higher Education?

In this study, students from a variety of disciplines, who were enrolled in six courses that incorporate the use of social media, were surveyed to evaluate their perception of how the integration of social-media tools supports deep approaches to learning. Students reported that social media supports deep learning both directly and indirectly, makes learning easier, promotes long-term retention of content, and fosters a more engaging and enjoyable learning environment. These findings suggest that integration of social media into college courses can support deep approaches to learning.     

Bade logon ki tarah: pregnant and poor in the city

Abstract

This paper shores up the overdetermined web of fear-desire-helplessness-aspiration that impinges on the birthing experiences of women at the economic periphery of urbanity, i.e. the urban poor, positioned at the borders of the urban and its outside, affluence and its lack. The urban poor (pregnant) woman, by dint of being physically located in the city remains unable to be part of the state healthcare network in rural areas; at the same time she is marked by an inability to purchase healthcare from high-end urban private providers. Consequently, she is positioned in an in-between space of access and care, aspirations and resistance, occasionally getting (even physically) trapped in a limbo between the hospital/institution and its outside. For this woman, the materiality of the hospital symbolises development-modernity; in accessing the hospital, the urban poor woman accesses an ontology that is “like the well-off people,” the “legitimate” claimants of the city. Between her dreams of approximating the space of urbanity and development, and an experience of being pushed back to the city's periphery—locationally and metaphorically, the urban poor woman gets inscribed by conflicting and counterpoised experiences of birthing, which is what this paper maps.     

Wearable devices and healthcare: Data sharing and privacy

Wearable devices introduce many new capabilities to the delivery of healthcare. But wearables also pose grave privacy risks. Furthermore, information overload gets in the way of informed consent by the patient. To better protect American patients in an increasingly digital world, the U.S. Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). This article examines the adequacy of HIPAA vis-à-vis issues raised by wearable technologies in the Internet of Things environment and identifies policy gaps and factors that drive health data exposure. It presents a 2 × 2 Partnership-Identity Exposure Matrix, illustrates implications in four different contexts, and provides recommendations for improving privacy protection.     

PAI-1 Study in Thalassemia Major Patients Receiving Multiple Blood Transfusion

Thalassemia is a congenital hemolytic disease which is treated by repeated blood transfusion. Chronic iron overload is currently considered to be the primary cause of mortality in β-thalassemia, mainly due to the induction of left-sided cardiac failure. Iron overload results from a number of mechanisms associated with the disease itself. In addition to chronic iron overload thalassemic patients are more prone for procoagulant status which in turn lead to clinical thrombotic events. The hypercoagulable state in thalassemia is due to multiple elements, a combination of which is often the drive behind a clinical thromboembolic events. PAI-1 study was done in thalassemia major patients receiving multiple blood transfusion as a marker for procoagulant status. Total of 30 thalassemic patients on repeated blood transfusion was included in the study and total of 30 healthy age and sex matched controls were included in the study. It was also found that there was significant differences between cases and controls. The mean level of PAI 1 in controls was 3047 ± 414 pg/ml, the value in cases was 3683 ± 358 pg/ml. The level was significantly increased (p < 0.05) in the cases compared to controls. PAI-1 levels were also compared with the total number of blood transfusion which correlates well.     

Serodiagnosis of tuberculosis using two ELISA systems

Serodiagnosis by ELISA has been widely explored over the years, in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Two ELISA systems were evaluated for detection of mycobacterial antibodies in pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis. The two test assays explored were ERBA LISA (TB IgG) test (Anda Biologicals) which uses A60 antigen complex found in the cytosol of typical and atypical mycobacteria, and SEVA TB (IgG) ELISA, which uses a 31 kDa, glycoprotein antigen purified fromM. tb H₃₇Ra culture filtrate. Sera from 98 proven tuberculosis [pulmonary TB (48), tuberculous lymphadenopathy (30), tuberculous meningitis (15) & genitourinary TB (5)] were studied along with 32 healthy controls. The overall positivity obtained using ERBA LISA (TB IgG) test and SEVA TB (IgG) ELISA test was 72.9% and 91.6% in pulmonary tuberculosis, 43.3% and 76.6% in tuberculous lymphadenopathy respectively. The sensitivity of ERBA LISA test in tuberculous meningitis and genito-urinary TB was significantly low (26.6% & 40% respectively) compared to sensitivity obtained using SEVA TB ELISA (86.6% & 60% respectively) with overall specificity of 60% and 87.5%. Thus SEVA TB IgG ELISA test was found to be more sensitive than ERBA LISA in detecting IgG antibodies in tuberculous sera, in particular in extra pulmonary tuberculosis cases.