The Potential Role of Infections in Attention- Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD is a behavioral disorder which mostly affects children in the age group of six to eleven years. The disorder affects boys more than girls. Although difficult to assess in infancy and toddlerhood, signs of ADHD may begin to appear as early as age of two or three, but the symptom picture changes as adolescence approaches. Many symptoms, particularly hyperactivity, diminish in early adulthood. However, impulsivity and inattention problems remain with upto 50% of ADHD individuals through their adult life. Recently there have been studies on correlation between ADHD and bacterial and viral infections in brain. This review focuses on possible role of various viruses and certain bacterias in development of ADHD in children.

Multicenter evaluation of individual donor nucleic acid testing (NAT) for simultaneous detection of human immunodeficiency virus -1 & hepatitis B & C viruses in Indian blood donors.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: India has a high prevalence of HIV-1, hapatitis C and B virus (HCV and HBV) in the blood donors but has yet to implement nucleic acid testing (NAT) in blood screening. We undertook a multicentre evaluation of blood donor testing by NAT for simultaneous detection of HIV-1, HBV and HCV in a single tube and also to determine the feasibility of NAT implementation in India's low volume setting. METHODS: A total of 12,224 unlinked samples along with their serological results were obtained from representative eight blood banks in India and were individually manually tested by the Procleix Ultrio Assay (Chiron Corp. Emeryville, CA) for simultaneous detection of HIV-1, HCV, and HBV. RESULTS: Of the 12,224 samples tested, 209 (1.71%) were seroreactive. One hundred thirty three samples (1.09%) were reactive by Ultrio assay, 84 samples were seroreactive but NAT non reactive. There were eight NAT yield cases: 1 HIV, 1 HIV-HCV co-infection, and 6 HBV. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Our observed NAT yield for all three viruses was 1 in 1528 (0.065%). We estimate NAT could interdict 3272 infectious donations a year among our approximate 5 million annual donations.