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Cureus May 2024Beta-thalassemia is one of the most common inherited hematological diseases caused by more than 350 mutations in the β-globin gene (HBB). Beta-thalassemia carrier or...
Beta-thalassemia is one of the most common inherited hematological diseases caused by more than 350 mutations in the β-globin gene (HBB). Beta-thalassemia carrier or trait is associated with defects in one allele of the HBB gene. The majority of beta-thalassemia trait cases remain concealed in society and remain unnoticed as they are mostly asymptomatic or present with mild symptoms of anemia. There is a 25% chance of having children with beta-thalassemia major and a 50% chance of having carrier babies when two people with beta-thalassemia trait are married. Hence, it is important to identify the individuals with beta-thalassemia trait and provide counseling to understand the risks of pregnancy and its outcome. Aim To study the identification of beta-thalassemia trait cases along with their clinical findings and hematological correlation. Materials and methods Study Design This was a retrospective study conducted at Saveetha Medical College and Hospital for a period of four years from January 2020 to December 2023. Inclusion Criteria Age group more than 18 years, antenatal mother, cases of anemia who were refractory to iron treatment, and screening of family members in the positive cases of beta-thalassemia trait. Exclusion Criteria History of blood transfusion within three months was excluded. A total number of 837 cases were screened to rule out the presence of beta-thalassemia trait/hemoglobin (Hb) variants. A 2 mL of intravenous blood samples were collected in an ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) vacutainer tube and processed in a Sysmex XN 1000 (Hyogo, Japan: Sysmex Corporation) automated hematology analyzer. The hematological parameters were analyzed. Statistical Analysis The study included both descriptive and analytical characteristics. Mean and standard deviation (SD) were calculated for all the hematological parameters. Beta-thalassemia trait was diagnosed with an HbA2 level of more than 4.0% through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Results Among the 837 samples studied for HPLC screening, 74 (8.8%) cases were found to have beta-thalassemia trait. The age group included was from 18 years to 56 years. Of 74 cases studied, 32(43%) were females and 42(57%) were males. Among the 74 cases studied, the Mentzer index <13 was seen in 58 (78%) cases and the Mentzer index >13 was seen in 16 cases (22%). Thirty-four cases (46%) of beta-thalassemia traits presented to the hospital with a history of fever for evaluation and antenatal screening accounted for 19 cases (26%). The mean red blood cell (RBC) count was 5.5 million/cu.mm; mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was 63.8 fL; mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) was 19.6 pg; red cell distribution width coefficient of variation (RDW-CV) was 17.8%. Among the 74 cases studied, 37(46%) cases had an Hb of more than 11 g/dL, 22 cases had mild anemia, 12 cases had moderate anemia, and three cases had severe anemia. Conclusion This study concluded that regular monitoring of the Mentzer index along with HPLC analysis is an effective approach in identifying beta-thalassemia trait cases and further providing genetic counseling among the couples that will help in reducing high-risk pregnancy and the birth of a child with thalassemia major.
PubMed: 38919232
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.61093 -
Acta Chimica Slovenica May 2024Three new copper(II) complexes, [CuClL] (1), [CuBrL]n (2) and [CuL(NCS)]n (3), derived from the Schiff base 2,4-dichloro-6-((2-pyrrolidin-1-ylethylimino)methyl)phenol...
Three new copper(II) complexes, [CuClL] (1), [CuBrL]n (2) and [CuL(NCS)]n (3), derived from the Schiff base 2,4-dichloro-6-((2-pyrrolidin-1-ylethylimino)methyl)phenol (HL) have been prepared and characterized by spectroscopy methods, as well as single crystal X-ray determination. The Cu atom in complex 1 is in square planar coordination, and those in complexes 2 and 3 are in square pyramidal coordination. The Schiff base ligand coordinates to the Cu atoms through phenolate oxygen, imino nitrogen and pyrrolidine nitrogen. The antibacterial activities of the Schiff base and the three copper complexes have been assayed on the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and the yeast Candida parapsilosis.
PubMed: 38919098
DOI: 10.17344/acsi.2024.8707 -
Poultry Science Jun 2024This study was conducted to investigate the protective effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA) on inflammatory responses and intestinal health of lipopolysaccharide...
This study was conducted to investigate the protective effects of chlorogenic acid (CGA) on inflammatory responses and intestinal health of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged broilers. One hundred and forty-four 1-day-old male broiler chicks were divided into 3 groups with 6 replicates of 8 birds each. The groups were as follows: 1) Control group: birds fed a basal diet; 2) LPS group: LPS-challenged birds fed a basal diet; 3) CGA group: LPS-challenged birds fed a CGA-supplemented diet. The LPS was intraperitoneally administered at a dose of 1 mg/kg of body weight. CGA increased the weight gain and feed intake of LPS-challenged birds by 37.05% and 24.29%, respectively (P < 0.05). CGA also alleviated LPS-induced inflammation, as evidenced by lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the serum and jejunum (tumor necrosis factor-α, interferon-γ, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6), and the decreased myeloperoxidase activity in the jejunum (P < 0.05). These effects were accompanied by a decrease in the mRNA abundance of toll-like receptor 4 and myeloid differentiation factor 88 and an inhibition of nuclear factor kappa-B translocation in the jejunum (P < 0.05). CGA reduced circulating diamine oxidase activity and levels of D-lactate and endotoxin, and positively regulated the expression of jejunal claudin-3 and zonula occludens-1 in LPS-challenged broilers (P < 0.05). Compared to the LPS group, CGA reduced the apoptotic rate of epithelial cells and cytochrome c concentration in the jejunum, and normalized the expression of genes responsible for proliferation and apoptosis in jejunal epithelial cells, including cysteine aspartate-specific protease-9, B cell lymphoma-2, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (P < 0.05). Furthermore, CGA normalized the altered phosphorylation of protein kinase B and glycogen synthase kinase-3β, as well as the translocation of nuclear β-catenin in the jejunum of LPS-challenged broilers (P < 0.05). These results suggested that CGA supplementation improved growth performance, alleviated inflammation, and helped maintain intestinal integrity and barrier function in LPS-challenged broilers, possibly through the regulation of the toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa-B and protein kinase B/Wnt/β-catenin pathways.
PubMed: 38917604
DOI: 10.1016/j.psj.2024.103949 -
Journal of the American Chemical Society Jun 2024Despite recent advances in porous organic molecular crystals, the engineering of dual-pore systems within the intermolecular voids remains a significant challenge. In...
Despite recent advances in porous organic molecular crystals, the engineering of dual-pore systems within the intermolecular voids remains a significant challenge. In this study, we have achieved the crystallization-induced social self-sorting of "quasi-racemic" dialdehydes into a macrocyclic imine. X-ray crystallographic analysis unambiguously characterizes the resulting structure as incorporating two quasi-racemate pairs with four diamine molecules. Notably, different alkyl substituents on the quasi-racemates afford two types of one-dimensional pores within the macrocyclic imine crystal. The different adsorption properties of these pores were substantiated through adsorption experiments. An intriguing helical arrangement of guest molecules was observed within one of the pores. This study provides pioneering evidence that the social self-sorting of quasi-racemates offers a new methodology for creating dual-functional supramolecular materials.
PubMed: 38916517
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c01654 -
Pilot and Feasibility Studies Jun 2024Dental caries remains a significant problem in England, affecting 11% of 3-year-olds and 23% of 5-year-olds. While current approaches have been extensively investigated,...
BACKGROUND
Dental caries remains a significant problem in England, affecting 11% of 3-year-olds and 23% of 5-year-olds. While current approaches have been extensively investigated, their ability to (1) control pain and infection; (2) prevent hospital admissions, and (3) be implemented within the National Health Service (NHS) contractual arrangements, remains unsatisfactory. Silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is an alternative, non-invasive approach that has proven efficacy in arresting caries progression in primary teeth, principally from studies conducted outside of Europe. Its use in primary dental care in the UK is limited, despite the acknowledged need. The clinical and cost-effectiveness of SDF has not been compared to usual care in the UK. Before a pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT) can be conducted to compare SDF to usual care for caries management in young children, there are several uncertainties that require investigation. This study aims to establish whether such an RCT is feasible.
METHODS
This mixed-method parallel design study is a feasibility study with an embedded process evaluation, to compare SDF with usual treatment in primary dental care in the UK. It will be individually randomised, with 13 dentists and therapists, in 8 different dental primary care sites with a sample size of 80 child participants aged 1-8 years old. The aim will be to recruit ten participants per site with equal arm allocation. Follow-up will be for 1 year. The study will inform whether an RCT is feasible by resolving several key uncertainties. The acceptability and implementation of SDF and the research processes will be explored. Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement representatives will be involved throughout recruitment and retention strategies, participant documentation, analysis, engagement and dissemination.
DISCUSSION
The ability to conduct an RCT will be evaluated. If feasible, this RCT has the potential to evaluate the effectiveness of a non-invasive approach for the management of untreated caries in young children. A feasibility study also offers the opportunity to consider factors associated with the implementation of SDF at an early stage through a process evaluation that will inform the definitive trial and an implementation strategy for SDF by identifying relevant barriers and facilitators.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06092151. Date: 19/10/2023.
PubMed: 38915111
DOI: 10.1186/s40814-024-01519-y -
ACS Synthetic Biology Jun 2024Metabolically engineered microbial consortia can contribute as a promising production platform for the supply of polyamide monomers. To date, the biosynthesis of...
Metabolically engineered microbial consortia can contribute as a promising production platform for the supply of polyamide monomers. To date, the biosynthesis of long-chain α,ω-diamines from -alkanes is challenging because of the inert nature of -alkanes and the complexity of the overall synthesis pathway. We combined an engineered module with modules to obtain a mixed strain microbial consortium that could catalyze an efficient biotransformation of -alkanes into corresponding α,ω-diamines. The engineered strain was constructed (YALI10) wherein the two genes responsible for β-oxidation and the five genes responsible for the overoxidation of fatty aldehydes were deleted. This newly constructed YALI10 strain expressing transaminase (TA) could produce 0.2 mM 1,12-dodecanediamine (40.1 mg/L) from 10 mM -dodecane. The microbial consortia comprising engineered strains for the oxidation of -alkanes (O) and an amination module (A) expressing an aldehyde reductase (AHR) and transaminase (TA) improved the production of 1,12-diamine up to 1.95 mM (391 mg/L) from 10 mM -dodecane. Finally, combining the reduction module (R) expressing a carboxylic acid reductase (CAR) and an sfp phosphopantetheinyl transferase with O and A further improved the production of 1,12-diamine by catalyzing the reduction of undesired 1,12-diacids into 1,12-diols, which further undergo amination to give 1,12-diamine as the target product. This newly constructed mixed strain consortium comprising three modules in one pot gave 4.1 mM (41%; 816 mg/L) 1,12-diaminododecane from 10 mM -dodecane. The whole-cell consortia reported herein present an elegant "greener" alternative for the biosynthesis of various α,ω-diamines (C8, C10, C12, and C14) from corresponding -alkanes.
PubMed: 38912892
DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00273 -
Acta Oncologica (Stockholm, Sweden) Jun 2024The delineation of intraprostatic lesions is vital for correct delivery of focal radiotherapy boost in patients with prostate cancer (PC). Errors in the delineation... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
BACKGROUND
The delineation of intraprostatic lesions is vital for correct delivery of focal radiotherapy boost in patients with prostate cancer (PC). Errors in the delineation could translate into reduced tumour control and potentially increase the side effects. The purpose of this study is to compare PET-based delineation methods with histopathology.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study population consisted of 15 patients with confirmed high-risk PC intended for prostatectomy. [68Ga]-PSMA-PET/MR was performed prior to surgery. Prostate lesions identified in histopathology were transferred to the in vivo [68Ga]-PSMA-PET/MR coordinate system. Four radiation oncologists manually delineated intraprostatic lesions based on PET data. Various semi-automatic segmentation methods were employed, including absolute and relative thresholds, adaptive threshold, and multi-level Otsu threshold.
RESULTS
The gross tumour volumes (GTVs) delineated by the oncologists showed a moderate level of interobserver agreement with Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.68. In comparison with histopathology, manual delineations exhibited the highest median DSC and the lowest false discovery rate (FDR) among all approaches. Among semi-automatic approaches, GTVs generated using standardized uptake value (SUV) thresholds above 4 (SUV > 4) demonstrated the highest median DSC (0.41), with 0.51 median lesion coverage ratio, FDR of 0.66 and the 95th percentile of the Hausdorff distance (HD95%) of 8.22 mm.
INTERPRETATION
Manual delineations showed a moderate level of interobserver agreement. Compared to histopathology, manual delineations and SUV > 4 exhibited the highest DSC and the lowest HD95% values. The methods that resulted in a high lesion coverage were associated with a large overestimation of the size of the lesions.
Topics: Humans; Male; Prostatic Neoplasms; Gallium Radioisotopes; Tumor Burden; Gallium Isotopes; Positron-Emission Tomography; Aged; Prostatectomy; Middle Aged; Radiopharmaceuticals; Oligopeptides; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Edetic Acid
PubMed: 38912830
DOI: 10.2340/1651-226X.2024.39041 -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Jun 2024In this study, ethylene diamine-coated reduced graphene oxide-supported silver composite (Ag/rGO-ED) was synthesized and used as an efficient catalyst for the...
In this study, ethylene diamine-coated reduced graphene oxide-supported silver composite (Ag/rGO-ED) was synthesized and used as an efficient catalyst for the decolorization of methylene blue (MB) in the presence of NaBH. The morphology of the obtained material was elucidated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The influences of four parameters (MB concentration (mg/L), NaBH amount (mM), catalyst amount (g/L), and contact time (s)) on the decolorization process were appraised and optimized via response surface methodology (RSM). For the decolorization of MB, the optimum solutions were obtained as C of 32.49 mg/L, NaBH amount of 152.89 mM, catalyst amount of 0.83 g/L, and 101.39 s contact time with MB decolorization efficiency of 97.73%. MB, a pollutant in wastewater, was decolorized rapidly by Ag/rGO-ED with an efficiency of approximately 97%. The exploration of kinetics and thermodynamics was another major emphasis of the work. The activation energy (E) and rate constant (k) for the decolorization of MB were obtained as 37.9 kJ/mol and 0.0135 s, respectively. The obtained results show that the catalyst, a new composite material in the literature, is promising for decolorization of wastewater.
PubMed: 38909322
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-33986-4 -
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Jun 2024Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have gained considerable interest as candidate photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. In this work, we synthesized...
Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have gained considerable interest as candidate photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. In this work, we synthesized β-keto-enamine-based COFs (TpPa-X, TpDB, and TpDTP) to explore the relations between structures and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. COFs were divided into two groups: (1) TpPa-X with different substituents attached to the TpPa backbone and (2) COFs featuring diamine linkers of varied lengths (TpDB and TpDTP). Experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that moderate hydrophobicity is favorable for the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution process, and acceptable contact angles are anticipated to range from 65° to 80°. Naturally, there are comprehensive factors that affect photocatalytic reactions, and the regulation of different backbones and substituents can considerably affect the performance of COFs for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution in terms of electronic structure, specific surface area, surface wettability, carrier separation efficiency, and hydrogen dissociation energy. Results show that TpPa-Cl (TpPa-X, X = Cl) demonstrates the highest photocatalytic activity, approximately 14.51 mmol gh, with an apparent quantum efficiency of 4.62 % at 420 nm. This work provides guidance for designing efficient COF-based photocatalysts.
PubMed: 38908283
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.06.087 -
Journal of Dentistry Jun 2024This qualitative systematic review and meta-aggregation aimed to synthesise evidence regarding perceptions of patients, practitioners, and stakeholders on the use of... (Review)
Review
Perspectives of patients, dental professionals, and stakeholders on the use of silver diamine fluoride for the management of dental caries: A qualitative systematic review.
OBJECTIVES
This qualitative systematic review and meta-aggregation aimed to synthesise evidence regarding perceptions of patients, practitioners, and stakeholders on the use of Silver Diamine Fluoride (SDF) for the management of dental caries.
DATA
This review was reported in alignment with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023390301) and the Joanna Briggs Systematic Reviews register.
SOURCES
References were retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EMBASE using a pre-established search strategy.
STUDY SELECTION
Qualitative and mixed-methods studies examining perspectives of patients, practitioners, and/or stakeholders on the use of SDF were included. The initial search identified 650 articles eligible for inclusion, out of which 14 articles were included in the review. Reviewers synthesised findings and generated 11 distinct categories grouped into three synthesised findings: 1) Clinical use; 2) Staining; 3) Facilitators and barriers.
CONCLUSIONS
Practitioners and patients viewed SDF as a therapeutic option with multiple benefits. While aesthetic concerns may be a barrier to some groups, the acceptance of the treatment was influenced by other factors, such as trusting professional advice.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Patient education is key for increased SDF acceptance. This systematic review can assist clinicians in addressing concerns regarding SDF therapy. Findings have the potential to inform policy decisions that address oral health inequities through patient-centred health care models.
PubMed: 38906452
DOI: 10.1016/j.jdent.2024.105145