Use of MTT Assay for Proliferation of U937 Cell Line and its Inter-rater Reliability - Best Taken with a Grain of Salt.

Background Biomedical research frequently employs immortal human cell lines to study various physiological and pathological topics of interest. An important problem that is often ignored is the question of reliability of observations made while using a particular assay on cell lines, especially MTT Assay. Recent studies have questioned its reliability by highlighting the diverse intracellular environmental factors that affect accuracy of MTT assay results. Objective To assess the inter-rater reliability of MTT assay while observing the differential effect of addition of fetal bovine serum to the culture medium on proliferation of U937 cell line using Intraclass correlation coefficient. Method U937 cell suspension prepared by the tutor to maintain uniformity of immortalized cell line was used. Four trainee investigators who participated in the study underwent rigorous training in pipetting and plating methods for four consecutive days prior to start of the experiment. Each trainee investigator followed the same protocol and all procedures were conducted simultaneously. At the end of the experiment, inter observer reliability was calculated. Result Interrater reliability calculated by using intra class correlation coefficient with two way mixed effect model was found to be poor (p = 0.173). For growth with 10% fetal bovine serum, inter-rater reliability was 0.258 for each item and 0.58 for the average of the triplicates, whereas for 0% fetal bovine serum it was 0.374 for each item and 0.70 for average of the values (p=0.104). Conclusion Though MTT assay is considered the gold standard test for assessment of cell proliferation and viability, the inter-rater reliability of this assay might be poor and needs further investigation.

Effect of Music Tempo on Pattern Reversal Visual Evoked Potential in Young Adults-Multisensory Stochastic Resonance: A Pilot Study.

Stochastic resonance (SR) is a phenomenon in which an intermediate level of noise enhances the response of a weak input signal. This phenomenon is experimentally used for rehabilitation and treatment of visuomotor disorders associated with low amplitude and higher latency P100 VEPs. We presupposed that shortly it will be possible to develop and design new devices that enable multisensory SR in the audio-visual modality for human sensorimotor enhancement and rehabilitation purposes. This study was newer in which the auditory noise was used in the form of song of different tempos and their amplitude and latency of P100 PRVEP (pattern reversal visual evoked potential) was compared. Whether the different tempos song may affects the PRVEP. This study was conducted on 57 healthy volunteers in AIIMS Bhopal. The subjects were placed in front of a computer displaying a checkerboard 8x8 size. Electrodes were pasted on their scalp. The average latencies and amplitudes of the PRVEP were recorded at resting, then with the stimulus of acoustic noise in the form of low and high tempo song. The PRVEP were recorded for each event. We found that low- and high-tempo songs do not affect the latency component of PRVEP, while it significantly affects amplitude. Music therapy can help with vision rehabilitation, especially in patients with low amplitude PRVEP. A more significant number of samples for further study in this field in multisensory SR with visual evoked potentials (VEP) are necessary. We can also conclude that a sound-free environment is essential during VEP recording.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Techniques of Face-mask Usage and Hand Hygiene among COVID-19 Positive Individuals at a COVID Care Centre in Central India: A Cross-sectional Comparative Study.

Most of the published reports of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) surveys with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic are on healthy population or selective groups. We hypothesised that knowledge gap regarding COVID-appropriate behaviour (face-mask use technique and hand hygiene) was responsible for the spread of COVID-19 infection. The participants of our study were unique in the sense that they were already afflicted with COVID-19 infection before getting enrolled in the study. We conducted an online questionnaire-based survey among the COVID-19 positive patients admitted at the district COVID Care Centre at Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, India to study the KAP of COVID-appropriate behaviour of individuals already afflicted with COVID-19. Two-hundred COVID-19 positive patients were approached, out of which 175 consented and participated in the survey, a response rate of >85.0%. The average knowledge score was 3.21±1.85 (out of 5). The average attitude score was 9.51±4.94 (out of 35). The average practice score was 12.4 (out of 72). Knowledge, attitude as well as practice scores were higher for the participants who were young (18 to 37 years of age), had higher education (university) and those with higher monthly income (>?10,000 per month). No significant difference was noted in these scores based on gender, and on the place of residence (rural vs. urban). Positive correlation was noted using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient for the practice of COVID-appropriate behaviour with higher knowledge and attitude scores. Overall, the KAP scores of our study participants were poor. Low knowledge scores were associated with still lower attitude scores for COVID-appropriate behaviour. The strong positive correlation was noted between knowledge, attitude and practice. The results of this KAP survey suggest the need to improve dissemination of knowledge and suitable modification of messaging strategies to improve attitude as well as practice of COVID-appropriate behaviour among the population.