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Background Cell-mediated immunity (CMI), or specifically T-cell-mediated immunity, is proven to remain largely preserved against the variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), including Omicron. The persistence of cell-mediated immune response in individuals longitudinally followed up for an extended period remains largely unelucidated. To address this, the current study was planned to study whether the effect of cell-mediated immunity persists after an extended period of convalescence or vaccination. Methods Whole blood specimens of 150 selected participants were collected and tested for Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) response. Ex vivo SARS-CoV-2-specific interferon-gamma Enzyme-linked Immunospot (IFN-γ ELISpot) assay was carried out to determine the levels of virus-specific IFN-γ producing cells in individual samples. Findings Out of all the samples tested for anti-SARS-CoV-2 T-cell-mediated IFN-γ response, 78.4% of samples were positive. The median (interquartile range) spots forming units (SFU) per million levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific IFN-γ producing cells of the vaccinated and diagnosed participants was 336 (138-474) while those who were vaccinated but did not have the disease diagnosis was 18 (0-102); the difference between the groups was statistically significant. Since almost all the participants were vaccinated, a similar pattern of significance was observed when the diagnosed and the never-diagnosed participants were compared, irrespective of their vaccination status. Interpretations Cell-mediated immunity against SARS-CoV-2 persisted, irrespective of age and sex of the participant, for more than six months of previous exposure. Participants who had a history of diagnosed COVID-19 infection had better T-cell response compared to those who had never been diagnosed, in spite of being vaccinated.
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INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic and progressive metabolic disorder. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there is "an apparent epidemic of diabetes, which is strongly related to lifestyle and economic change." Objective of the study was to assess the quality of life of people living with type 2 diabetes mellitus and factors associated with quality of life. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 215 patients with diabetes mellitus. Quality of life was assessed using a generic instrument SF 36. The data was analyzed using SPSS, version 24.0. An independent t test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare the means of each domain of quality of life within groups of various independent variables. RESULTS: The mean age of respondents was 52.5 ± 11.0 years. The majority (87.4%) of the patients were married, Hindu by religion (88.8%), and belonged to upper socio economic class (28.8%). The mean duration since diagnosis of diabetes was 7.82 ± 6.0 years, and 80.4 percent of patients were on oral hypoglycemic agents. Hypertension was found to be the most common (24.6%) comorbidity. Age, education, socioeconomic status, duration of diabetes, type of treatment, complication of diabetes, comorbidities, and body mass index (BMI) were found to be significantly associated with various domains of SF-36. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes has an adverse effect on quality of life of patients with diabetes. The most affected domain in male and female patients was vitality domain followed by general health domain of quality of life.
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INTRODUCTION: Anemia is a common public health problem among children, adolescent girls, women in reproductive age groups, pregnant and lactating women, with an estimated prevalence of 50.3% among pregnant women according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4. Iron deficiency is regarded as the most common cause of anemia among pregnant women globally and in India. This study was aimed to estimate the prevalence of compliance to iron folic acid (IFA) tablets among pregnant mothers attending ante-natal care (ANC) clinic in a Sub-district hospital (SDH) situated in north India and the various factors associated with non-compliance to IFA tablets. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional facility-based study was conducted among pregnant women attending the ANC clinic at SDH, Ballabgarh. A pretested, semi-structured interview schedule was used to obtain socio-demographic data, information related to IFA therapy that they receive, their compliance and the factors that are related to missing of the doses. Data were entered using Epicollect 5 software and Stata version 13.0 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 484 pregnant women were enrolled in our study. More than 3/4th (77.1%) of the pregnant women were compliant to IFA tablet supplement given to them. The compliance was more in the study participants belonging to older age groups, lower socio-economic status and those with hemoglobin levels >11 gm/dl. The most common reason for non-compliance was found to be "forgetfulness" (63.0%) followed by "side effects" (49.5%). CONCLUSION: Compliance with IFA tablets was better among pregnant women who were non anemic and those with good compliance to IFA tablets had better hemoglobin levels.
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CONTEXT: Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death globally, with low- and middle-income countries being affected disproportionately. By 2020, it is projected that there will be 25 million deaths from CVD worldwide, 19 million of which would be from middle- and low-income countries. AIMS: The aim of this study was to estimate the 10-year risk of cardiovascular events among adults aged ≥40 years in a rural population of Lucknow district using the World Health Organization (WHO)/International Society of Hypertension (ISH) risk prediction charts for SEAR-D region. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a community based cross-sectional study, conducted from September 2017 to August 2018, in the rural areas of Lucknow district. METHODS AND MATERIAL: This study was conducted on 397 subjects aged ≥40 years. The two sets of the WHO/ISH risk prediction charts, with and without cholesterol, for WHO SEAR-D region were used in the study. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS, version 23 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Using the risk assessment tools, with and without cholesterol, 78.5 and 76.8%, respectively, of the study population were in the 10-year cardiovascular risk category of <10% risk, while 11.2 and 10.4%, respectively, were in the category of ≥20% risk. Risk categories were found to be concordant in 86.3% of the population. CONCLUSIONS: The WHO/ISH risk prediction charts can be used at low-cost resource setting as a tool to predict CVD risk among asymptomatic individuals, thus, helping in early detection and prevention of CVDs in resource-scarce settings.