A cross-sectional study on determinants of indoor air pollution and its perceived impact among the residents of urban field practice area of AMCH, Salem, Tamil Nadu.

Background: Over the past 20 years, indoor air pollution (IAP) has received much attention as the quality of the indoor air is affected a lot. IAP means the presence of substances which are redundant in the indoor air at concentrations toxic to health. Very few studies have addressed the determinants of indoor air pollutants in places like urban slum areas in Tamil Nadu. To reduce this research gap, this study has been undertaken. Aim: To study the determinants of IAP and its perceived impact on health. Settings and Design: This was a community-based cross-sectional study. Complete information from 440 households consisting of 1606 individuals was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire. Materials and Methods: Residents of an urban field practice area of Annapoorana Medical College and Hospitals (AMCH) were the study participants. The study period was from April 19 to March 2020. The study area was an urban field practice area around Department of Community Medicine, Karungalpatty, AMCH. Frequency, proportions, and Spearman test were used to find out the significance between various household environmental conditions and the respiratory diseases using Epi Info software. Results: Results showed that 52.3% of the participants were using incense sticks at home in the evening during pooja and 17.7% of the houses were using mosquito coil in the evening and at night. Also, 29.5% houses reported overcrowding and 66.4% of the houses were not having chimney or exhaust. Results also showed that 71.4% households were practicing opening their windows while cooking. One hundred and fifty-two (34.5%) female respondents had perceived the symptoms like dizziness (12.3%), eye irritation (10.2%), difficulty in breathing (4.5%), dry cough (3.06%), running nose (1.4%), and nasal congestion (1.1%) due to IAP. Among under-five respondents, 1.6% reported having acute respiratory infections in the last 15 days and 10.5% reported the same in the last 1 year 10.5%.

BRCA1 regulation on ß-hCG: a mechanism for tumorigenicity in BRCA1 defective breast cancer.

Human chorionic gonadotropin ß (ß-hCG) has been implicated in breast tumorigenesis. However, the role of this hormone is highly controversial as certain studies suggest it has anti-tumor properties while others have found it to be pro-tumorigenic. To unveil the truth, we have analyzed the expression of ß-hCG in breast cancer. We identified for the first time that ß-hCG expression is linked to BRCA1 status and its overexpression is seen in BRCA1 mutated breast cancer cells, BRCA1 conditional knockout mouse breast cancer tissues and BRCA1 floxed basal cell carcinoma (BCC) tissues. An analysis of three large, transcriptomic data sets from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) expression profile confirmed the inverse correlation between BRCA1 and ß-hCG in human breast cancer. Using ChIP and luciferase assays, we also demonstrated that the cancer cells with wild-type but not mutant BRCA1 directly repress the expression of ß-hCG by binding to its promoter. Further, ß-hCG promotes migration and invasion predominantly in BRCA1 mutant breast cancer cells. Interestingly, stable overexpression of ß-hCG in BRCA1 mutant but not wild-type breast cancer cells results in the formation of spheres even on monolayer cultures. The cells of these spheres show high expression of both EMT and stem cell markers. Since ß-hCG belongs to a cysteine knot family of proteins like TGFß and TGFß signaling is deregulated in BRCA1 defective tumors, we checked whether ß-hCG can mediate signaling through TGFßRII in BRCA1 mutated cells. We found for the first time that ß-hCG can bind and phosphorylate TGFßRII, irrespective of LHCGR status and induce proliferation in BRCA1 defective cells. Our results confirmed that there exists a transcriptional regulation of BRCA1 on ß-hCG and BRCA1 mutation promotes ß-hCG mediated tumorigenesis through TGFßRII signaling. Thus inhibiting ß-hCG-TGFßRII could prove an effective treatment strategy for BRCA1 mutated tumors.

Value of Quantitative assessment of Myeloid Nuclear Differentiation Antigen expression and other flow cytometric parameters in the diagnosis of Myelodysplastic syndrome.

INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) based on morphology is particularly difficult in low-grade MDS. Thus, the role of myeloid nuclear differentiation antigen (MNDA) and other flow cytometric (FCM) parameters in MDS was evaluated. METHODS: Bone marrow aspirates (BMA) collected from 52 patients with unexplained persistent cytopenias were divided into three groups: (i) proven MDS (n = 12) based on morphology and/or cytogenetics; (ii) suspected MDS (n = 6), noncontributory morphology, and cytogenetics; and (iii) non-MDS (n = 34). Sixteen control BMA were studied. Cases were analyzed for MNDA expression (on granulocytes, blasts, monocytes, and lymphocytes) and for seven quantitative parameters: CD34(+) myeloblasts % in nucleated cells, CD34(+) B-cell progenitor% in CD34(+) cells, lymphocyte/myeloblast CD45 MFI ratio, granulocyte/lymphocyte SSC peak channel ratio and the proportion of CD34(+) myeloblasts expressing CD15, CD11b, and CD56. A score of 1 was given to each parameter beyond the cutoff, and score ≥3 was considered FCM positive. RESULTS: MNDA expression on granulocytes and blasts was significantly lower in proven MDS and suspected MDS vs. non-MDS. Quantitative FCM parameters successfully distinguished MDS and suspected MDS from non-MDS. CONCLUSION: MNDA expression is an independent marker for the evaluation of dyspoiesis and may be added to the standard panel for quantitative assessment by FCM.

Experimental and mathematical modeling studies on Cr(VI) reduction by CRB, SRB and IRB, individually and in combination.

Cr(VI) reduction studies were carried out with chromium reducing bacteria (CRB), sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB) and iron reducing bacteria (IRB), individually and in combination. Biokinetic parameters such as maximum specific growth rate (micro(max)), half saturation constant (K(s)), yield coefficient (Y(T)) and inhibition coefficient (K(i)) for individual cultures were evaluated. A mathematical model was proposed for simulating the chromium reduction, COD utilization and biomass growth, by individual cultures as well as by a combination of two or three different cultures, for different initial Cr(VI), SO(4)(2-) and Fe(III) concentrations. The biokinetic parameters evaluated from one set of experiments for individual cultures were utilized in all the validation studies. The performance of the mathematical model in terms of the dimensionless modified coefficient of efficiency (E) indicated that the proposed model simulates the system behavior very well.

Unilateral atrophoderma vermiculatum.

Atrophoderma vermiculatum is an autosomal dominant disorder with small pitted scars over cheek and forehead. A 25-year-old male had multiple 1-2 mm sized pitted scars with ridges producing a reticulated honeycomb appearance on the left cheek since childhood. The lesions were unilateral and there was no other family member with similar lesions.

Atrichia with Cysts and Papules.

A robust, intelligent male aged 32 years had atrichia with cystic lesions. Scanty hairs were present at birth on the scalp and were shed in the course of a few weeks. Multiple papular and cystic swelling started appearing 10 years back and 'were seen over the shoulders, axihae and the elbows. Nails although normal were racquet shaped while the teeth were normal. The mode of inheritance of this rare condition has not yet been established.