Study of Inhibitor of DNA binding 3 (ID3) immunohistochemical marker in Burkitt lymphoma

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To assess the frequency of ID3 mutation in Burkitt lymphoma by using immunohistochemical surrogate during January 2012 to December 2018. 2. To compare the clinicopathologic parameters of ID3 positive and negative Burkitt lymphoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ours is a retrospective observational study. We analysed the clinicopathologic features of BL diagnosed on bone marrow and lymph nodes in our institute over 7 years. A total of 59 cases were analysed for all the clinicopathological features of BL and blocks were available in only 46 cases. Of the 59 cases, 46 were lymph node biopsies and 13 were bone marrow biopsies. The study data were summarized using descriptive statistics. Pearson’s Chi square and Fisher’s exact test were used to evaluate associations between categorical variables using SPSS software to assess any statistical significance. RESULTS: ID3 immunohistochemistry was done in 46/59 cases. There were 20 ID3 positive and 26 ID3 negative BL cases. The calculated frequency of ID3 mutation in our population was 56.52%. The median age of patients in ID3 negative group was 8 years with male predominance. There was no statistically significant association between the histomorphological and immunohistochemical features of BL between ID3 positive and negative cases except for bone marrow involvement (P=0.432), perinodal extension (P=0.039) and the proportion of BCL6 positive cells (P=<0.009). The sensitivity and specificity could not be computed owing to the small subset of cases in the comparison group

Cervical growth in a young woman: a case report

Genital tuberculosis, a silent killer of menstrual function and fertility potential is common in developing countries like India. Cervical TB is extremely rare and it accounts for 0.1-0.65% of all the cases of tuberculosis and 5-24% of all the genital tuberculosis cases. The clinical presentation of genitourinary tuberculosis is variable in nature and it can also be asymptomatic. Here, we are reporting a rare case of cervical tuberculosis clinically masquerading as cervical malignancy presenting with secondary amenorrhoea

A study to assess the awareness and knowledge about the maternal nutrition and complications encountered by the antenatal mothers in the rural population

Background: Nutrition plays a vital role in life. Good nutrition is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle. A healthy pregnancy diet will promote your baby's growth and development. The purpose of this study was to highlight the knowledge, attitude and practices of pregnant women regarding the healthy diet, psychological support, regular visits, danger signs and complications during pregnancy among mothers who visit our hospital along with different socio demographic factors.Methods: This study was conducted on 350 antenatal women from January 2016 to February 2017 at Tamil Nadu, India. A 24 point- 15 minutes’ questionnaire was designed about the knowledge, attitude and practice about the nutrition, danger signs and complications in pregnancy.Results: Around 98% of women were very clear that nutrition is necessary in pregnancy and 53% of them told that the quantity of food intake should be increased. Major source of knowledge about the nutrition was obtained from the family members (81%). The common danger sign was abdominal pain (61%) followed by bleeding per vaginum (22%). About 77% of mothers had an idea that minimum of 6-10 visit should be there in their antenatal period.Conclusions: This study emphasizes that health professionals should concentrate more in the nutritional values and the antenatal classes should be taken regarding the role of adequate nutrition, constituents and sources of balanced diet and the consequences of over and under nutrition

MREM-IUP - A MultiRegressor Based Ensemble Model for Assessing the Internet Addiction in Youth Using Physical and Behavioural Indicators

The rising prevalence of internet use among adolescents has led to increased research on Problematic Internet Usage (PUI), a behavioral issue linked to negative impacts on mental and physical health. Existing assessment tools for PUI often lack precision, overlooking key factors like physical activity levels. This study proposes a Multi-Regressor Ensemble Model for Internet Usage Prediction (MREM-IUP) to predict PUI severity in adolescents by integrating physical activity data, demographics, and behavioral assessments. Using a rich dataset from the HealthyBrain Network, our model combines advanced machine learning algorithms—LightGBM, XGBoost, CatBoost, and TabNet—within a Voting Regressor to predict the Severity Impairment Index (SII). Our model achieved an optimized Quadratic Weighted Kappa (QWK) score of 0.92, indicating high accuracy in predicting PUI severity. Additionally, significant correlations were found between low physical activity levels and higher PUI scores, highlighting physical fitness as a potential protective factor. The proposed model offers a novel, data-driven approach to assessing PUI, with potential applications in developing targeted interventions that promote healthier online habits among youth

MAP4K4 controlled integrin β1 activation and c-Met endocytosis are associated with invasive behavior of medulloblastoma cells

Local tissue infiltration of Medulloblastoma (MB) tumor cells precedes metastatic disease but little is still known about intrinsic regulation of migration and invasion in these cells. We found that MAP4K4, a pro-migratory Ser/Thr kinase, is overexpressed in 30% of primary MB tumors and that increased expression is particularly associated with the frequently metastatic SHH β subtype. MAP4K4 is a driver of migration and invasion downstream of c-Met, which is transcriptionally up-regulated in SHH MB. Consistently, depletion of MAP4K4 in MB tumor cells restricts HGF-driven matrix invasion in vitro and brain tissue infiltration ex vivo. We show that these pro-migratory functions of MAP4K4 involve the activation of the integrin β-1 adhesion receptor and are associated with increased endocytic uptake. The consequent enhanced recycling of c-Met caused by MAP4K4 results in the accumulation of activated c-Met in cytosolic vesicles, which is required for sustained signaling and downstream pathway activation. The parallel increase of c-Met and MAP4K4 expression in SHH MB could predict an increased potential of these tumors to infiltrate brain tissue and cause metastatic disease. Molecular targeting of the underlying accelerated endocytosis and receptor recycling could represent a novel approach to block pro-migratory effector functions of MAP4K4 in metastatic cancers

TGF-β Determines the Pro-migratory Potential of bFGF Signaling in Medulloblastoma

The microenvironment shapes cell behavior and determines metastatic outcomes of tumors. We addressed how microenvironmental cues control tumor cell invasion in pediatric medulloblastoma (MB). We show that bFGF promotes MB tumor cell invasion through FGF receptor (FGFR) in vitro and that blockade of FGFR represses brain tissue infiltration in vivo. TGF-β regulates pro-migratory bFGF function in a context-dependent manner. Under low bFGF, the non-canonical TGF-β pathway causes ROCK activation and cortical translocation of ERK1/2, which antagonizes FGFR signaling by inactivating FGFR substrate 2 (FRS2), and promotes a contractile, non-motile phenotype. Under high bFGF, negative-feedback regulation of FRS2 by bFGF-induced ERK1/2 causes repression of the FGFR pathway. Under these conditions, TGF-β counters inactivation of FRS2 and restores pro-migratory signaling. These findings pinpoint coincidence detection of bFGF and TGF-β signaling by FRS2 as a mechanism that controls tumor cell invasion. Thus, targeting FRS2 represents an emerging strategy to abrogate aberrant FGFR signaling

Prevalence of developmental defects of enamel in children visiting a university hospital in Chennai - a retrospective study

The developmental defects of the enamel (DDE) may be the alternation of enamel that may affect an area of one surface or may be widespread affecting all the surface of the teeth. Early diagnosis of developmental defects of the enamel can prevent the child from having an impact on oral health. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of developmental defects of enamel in children visiting a university hospital in the Chennai population. This was a retrospective study done under a University setting. It was seen that 334 patients had Developmental Defects of Enamel. The data was collected from June 2019 to March 2020. The data was tabulated and entered in excel and the data was analysed using SPSS package software. The overall prevalence of the DDE was found to be 47%. The most common deformity was Hypoplasia (24.3%) and the least common deformity was Molar Incisal Demineralisation and Amelogenesis Imperfecta (0.9%). The most common tooth affected was maxillary left central incisor (5.1%) and the least common deformity was found in mandibular right first premolar and primary dentition (0.3%). There was a statistically significant association between DDE and buccal surface of teeth. It indicates the need for educating the population about the risk factors for the DDE