Evaluation of acute oral toxicity study of essential oils (Eos) from Pogostemon benghalensis and P. cablin in Wistar rats

The use of crude herbal decoctions in the traditional treatment of diseases is a common practice.  Pogostemon benghalensis and P. cablin are commonly used for treatment of diverse categories of diseases such as infectious and non-infectious disease. Native people use the crude decoctions as bactericidal, antimalarial, anti-leshimania, anti-diarrheal and insecticidal activities. Its safety profile is not yet elucidated and therefore, this study was to analyze the acute toxicity of essential oils (Eos) from P. benghalensis and P. cablin as medicinal. Methods include acute toxicity study using male and female Wistar albino rats with single oral dose and followed up to 14 days as per the guidelines of OECD. Visual observations were carried regularly during the experimental period while body weight was measured weekly. Organ weight, clinical chemistry and hematology data were collected on the 7th and 14th days. Results were presented as mean ± standard deviation. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was carried. Oral administration of Eos from P. benghalensis and P. cablin revealed no treatment-related mortality in female rats up to the dose of 5000 mg/kg. In acute toxicity studies, no remarkable treatment related anomalies were observed compared to negative controls. Food consumption, body weight, organ weight, hematology did not showed sound variation between controls and treatment groups. However, creatinine, triglycerides, and monocytes were lower in the treated groups in 7th day as compared to control groups. No significant variations between male and female groups in relative organ weight, hematology were noticed. In conclusion, the Eos from P. benghalensis and P. cablin showed LD50 > 3000 mg/kg in acute toxicity studies. Keywords: Pogostemon benghalensis, P. cablin, traditional medicine, safety, plant medicine, adverse effect, acute oral toxicit

Menstrual hygiene practices and related infections among adolescent girls of an urban poor locality

Background: Hygienic practices during menstruation are of considerable importance, as it has a health impact in terms of increased vulnerability to infections. Menstrual hygiene management is a special problem for adolescent girls, particularly when attending school due to limited or lack of access to safe sanitary pads and good sanitary facilities. Government of India under RMNCH+A programme, introduced priority intervention for menstrual hygiene to prevent hygiene related infections.Objectives: (1) To assess the knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. (2) To assess the menstrual hygiene practices & related infections among the adolescent girls.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 330 adolescent girls who had attained menarche and residents of an urban poor locality Yarab Nagar, which comes under the field practice area of KIMS, Bangalore. Data regarding socio demographic details and menstrual hygiene practices was obtained in a pre- designed, semi structured proforma. All the subjects were examined for any related infections from a trained female doctor. The data was analysed in Microsoft Excel using mean & percentages.Results: The mean age of the study subjects was 13.63 ± 5.76 years. Majority i.e., 306 (92.7%) of them used sanitary pads; whereas, 24 (7.3%) used old clothes as an absorbent during menstruation. Similarly, 98% cleaned the external genitalia with water during menstruation. The common infections related to menstruation were contact dermatitis (7.2%), candidiasis (5.4%) & UTI (3.5%).Conclusion: The knowledge and practice regarding menstrual hygiene was inadequate among the adolescent girls; and this inadequate hygienic practices has led to infections

Infant-Feeding Practice and Its Association to Nutritional Status of Under-5 Children Research

Background: A proper infant-feeding practice is essential for child’s survival, growth and development. Nearly half of all deaths in under-5 children are attributable to improper nutrition, which translates into unnecessary loss of 3 million young lives a year. The prevalence of malnutrition among children in India is among the highest in the world and the most common reason for malnutrition is improper feeding practices. Objectives: (1). To find out the infant-feeding practices in an urban poor locality. (2). To find the association between infant-feeding practices and nutritional status of under-5 children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by probability proportion to population size technique in an urban poor locality. Detailed information was obtained from mothers of 1–5 year children regarding sociodemographic characteristics, infant-feeding practices, and utilization of ICDS. Anthropometric factors like weight and height were measured and plotted on WHO growth chart and mid-arm circumference was measured. Analysis was done by computing percentage for categorical data and descriptive statistics for continuous data. Results: The study included 216 children belonging to 1–5 years. Among the study subjects, 95.1% were given colostrum, 49.5% exclusively breast fed, 49.1% weaned at 6 months and 58.3% were given all food items at 1 year. 92.5% of the children were immunized till date. The study revealed that 31.1% children were underweight, 33.7% were stunted and 16.6% were wasted as per the WHO growth chart. Conclusion: Under-nutrition is still a significant health problem, which is associated with improper infantfeeding practices.

Functional and molecular characterization of hyposensitive underactive bladder tissue and urine in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rat

Background: The functional and molecular alterations of nerve growth factor (NGF) and Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and its receptors were studied in bladder and urine in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Methodology/Principal Findings: Diabetes mellitus was induced with a single dose of 45 mg/kg STZ Intraperitoneally (i.p) in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Continuous cystometrogram were performed on control rats and STZ treated rats at week 4 or 12 under urethane anesthesia. Bladder was then harvested for histology, expression of EP receptors and NGF by western blotting, PGE2 levels by ELISA, and detection of apoptosis by TUNEL staining. In addition, 4-hr urine was collected from all groups for urine levels of PGE2, and NGF assay. DM induced progressive increase of bladder weight, urine production, intercontraction interval (ICI) and residual urine in a time dependent fashion. Upregulation of Prostaglandin E receptor (EP)1 and EP3 receptors and downregulation of NGF expression, increase in urine NGF and decrease levels of urine PGE2 at week 12 was observed. The decrease in ICI by intravesical instillation of PGE2 was by 51% in control rats and 31.4% in DM group at week 12. Conclusions/Significance: DM induced hyposensitive underactive bladder which is characterized by increased inflammatory reaction, apoptosis, urine NGF levels, upregulation of EP1 and EP3 receptors and decreased bladder NGF and urine PGE2. The data suggest that EP3 receptor are potential targets in the treatment of diabetes induced underactive bladder. © 2014 Nirmal et al

Reconciling research and implementation in micro health insurance experiments in India: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Microinsurance or Community-Based Health Insurance is a promising healthcare financing mechanism, which is increasingly applied to aid rural poor persons in low-income countries. Robust empirical evidence on the causal relations between Community-Based Health Insurance and healthcare utilisation, financial protection and other areas is scarce and necessary. This paper contains a discussion of the research design of three Cluster Randomised Controlled Trials in India to measure the impact of Community-Based Health Insurance on several outcomes.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Each trial sets up a Community-Based Health Insurance scheme among a group of micro-finance affiliate families. Villages are grouped into clusters which are congruous with pre-existing social groupings. These clusters are randomly assigned to one of three waves of implementation, ensuring the entire population is offered Community-Based Health Insurance by the end of the experiment. Each wave of treatment is preceded by a round of mixed methods evaluation, with quantitative, qualitative and spatial evidence on impact collected. Improving upon practices in published Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial literature, we detail how research design decisions have ensured that both the households offered insurance and the implementers of the Community-Based Health Insurance scheme operate in an environment replicating a non-experimental implementation.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>When a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial involves randomizing within a community, generating adequate and valid conclusions requires that the research design must be made congruous with social structures within the target population, to ensure that such trials are conducted in an implementing environment which is a suitable analogue to that of a non-experimental implementing environment.</p

Electron-beam-assisted superplastic shaping of nanoscale amorphous silica

At room temperature, glasses are known to be brittle and fracture upon deformation. Zheng et al. show that, by exposing amorphous silica nanostructures to a low-intensity electron beam, it is possible to achieve dramatic shape changes, including a superplastic elongation of 200% for nanowires

Genome Sequencing Reveals Widespread Virulence Gene Exchange among Human Neisseria Species

Commensal bacteria comprise a large part of the microbial world, playing important roles in human development, health and disease. However, little is known about the genomic content of commensals or how related they are to their pathogenic counterparts. The genus Neisseria, containing both commensal and pathogenic species, provides an excellent opportunity to study these issues. We undertook a comprehensive sequencing and analysis of human commensal and pathogenic Neisseria genomes. Commensals have an extensive repertoire of virulence alleles, a large fraction of which has been exchanged among Neisseria species. Commensals also have the genetic capacity to donate DNA to, and take up DNA from, other Neisseria. Our findings strongly suggest that commensal Neisseria serve as reservoirs of virulence alleles, and that they engage extensively in genetic exchange

Impact of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination on postoperative mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection

There is little evidence around the potentially protective role of previous Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on postoperative mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Prior BCG vaccination did not protect SARS-CoV-2 infected patients against postoperative pulmonary complications and 30-day mortality

Worldwide trends in underweight and obesity from 1990 to 2022: a pooled analysis of 3663 population-representative studies with 222 million children, adolescents, and adults

Background Underweight and obesity are associated with adverse health outcomes throughout the life course. We estimated the individual and combined prevalence of underweight or thinness and obesity, and their changes, from 1990 to 2022 for adults and school-aged children and adolescents in 200 countries and territories. Methods We used data from 3663 population-based studies with 222 million participants that measured height and weight in representative samples of the general population. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in the prevalence of different BMI categories, separately for adults (age ≥20 years) and school-aged children and adolescents (age 5–19 years), from 1990 to 2022 for 200 countries and territories. For adults, we report the individual and combined prevalence of underweight (BMI &lt;18·5 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). For school&#x2;aged children and adolescents, we report thinness (BMI &lt;2 SD below the median of the WHO growth reference) and obesity (BMI &gt;2 SD above the median). Findings From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity in adults decreased in 11 countries (6%) for women and 17 (9%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 that the observed changes were true decreases. The combined prevalence increased in 162 countries (81%) for women and 140 countries (70%) for men with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. In 2022, the combined prevalence of underweight and obesity was highest in island nations in the Caribbean and Polynesia and Micronesia, and countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Obesity prevalence was higher than underweight with posterior probability of at least 0·80 in 177 countries (89%) for women and 145 (73%) for men in 2022, whereas the converse was true in 16 countries (8%) for women, and 39 (20%) for men. From 1990 to 2022, the combined prevalence of thinness and obesity decreased among girls in five countries (3%) and among boys in 15 countries (8%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80, and increased among girls in 140 countries (70%) and boys in 137 countries (69%) with a posterior probability of at least 0·80. The countries with highest combined prevalence of thinness and obesity in school-aged children and adolescents in 2022 were in Polynesia and Micronesia and the Caribbean for both sexes, and Chile and Qatar for boys. Combined prevalence was also high in some countries in south Asia, such as India and Pakistan, where thinness remained prevalent despite having declined. In 2022, obesity in school-aged children and adolescents was more prevalent than thinness with a posterior probability of at least 0·80 among girls in 133 countries (67%) and boys in 125 countries (63%), whereas the converse was true in 35 countries (18%) and 42 countries (21%), respectively. In almost all countries for both adults and school-aged children and adolescents, the increases in double burden were driven by increases in obesity, and decreases in double burden by declining underweight or thinness. Interpretation The combined burden of underweight and obesity has increased in most countries, driven by an increase in obesity, while underweight and thinness remain prevalent in south Asia and parts of Africa. A healthy nutrition transition that enhances access to nutritious foods is needed to address the remaining burden of underweight while curbing and reversing the increase in obesit