The complexity of basophobia and aging: covariates and consequences.

OBJECTIVE: The study aim is to determine the drug-induced incidence of basophobia, falls, its' related variables and the consequences among older adults. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was adopted with 210 older adult samples. The tool consisted of 6 sections: a standardized, semi-structured questionnaire and physical examination. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Among the study participants, 49% had falls or near falls and 51% had basophobia in the past 6 months. As per final simultaneous regression analysis model of the study, the covariates to activity avoidance were age (ß=-0.129, CI=-0.087 to -0.019), having >5 chronic diseases (ß=-0.086, CI=-1.41 to -1.182), depressive symptoms (ß=-0.09, CI=-0.089 to -0.189), vision impairment (ß=-0.075, CI=-1.28 to -1.56), basophobia (ß=-0.26, CI=-0.059 to -0.415), taking regular antihypertensives (ß=-0.096, CI= -1.21 to -1.56), oral hypoglycemics and insulin (ß=-0.17, CI=-0.442 to -0.971) and sedatives and tranquilizers (ß=-0.37, CI=-1.32 to -1.73). Use of antihypertensives (p<0.001), oral hypoglycemics and insulin (p<0.01), sedatives and tranquilizers (p<0.001) were strongly associated with fall related to activity avoidance. CONCLUSIONS: The result of this current study suggests that the falls, basophobia and its related activity avoidance among elderly may set in a "vicious cycle" of falls, basophobia, and the numerous negative outcomes such as functional impairment, a decrease in quality of life, and hospitalization. Preventive strategies such as tittering dosage, home- and community -based exercises, cognitive behavioral therapy, yoga, meditation and sleep hygiene may be the choice to break this vicious cycle.

Validation of real-time polymerase chain reaction versus conventional polymerase chain reaction for diagnosis of brucellosis in cattle sera.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Different polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques have and are still being used for the direct detection of Brucella DNA in serum samples of different animal species and humans without being validated or properly validated, resulting in discrepancies. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the TaqMan Real-Time-PCR (RT-PCR) targeting the bcsp31 gene versus conventional PCR for the accurate diagnosis of brucellosis at the genus level in cattle sera. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and eighty-four serum samples were collected from bacteriologically positive and negative cows with ages ranging from 1 to 5 years old at some infected private farms in the Nile Delta under quarantine measures as well as brucellosis free farms. These samples were classified into four groups after serological diagnosis and investigated by TaqMan RT-PCR and conventional PCR targeting the IS711 gene for Brucella DNA detection. The diagnostic performance characteristics of both PCR techniques were estimated considering the bacteriological results as a gold standard. RESULTS: TaqMan RT-PCR revealed superiority over conventional PCR; it was able to detect Brucella DNA in 95% (67/70) and 89% (25/28) of the cattle sera samples belonging to Group 1 (serologically and bacteriologically positive) and Group 2 (serologically negative but bacteriologically positive), respectively. On evaluating the diagnostic performance, TaqMan RT-PCR showed superior diagnostic sensitivity (93.9%), diagnostic specificity (88.4%), performance index (182.3), almost perfect kappa agreement (0.825±0.042), strong positive correlation (r=0.826), high accuracy based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and area under the ROC curve (0.911) at p<0.05 and CI of 95%. CONCLUSION: A cattle serum sample is not the metric of choice for targeting Brucella genomic DNA by conventional PCR. The time-saving and rapid TaqMan RT-PCR method revealed a better diagnostic performance in the detection of Brucella DNA in cattle sera. Such performance offered by TaqMan RT-PCR may be considered a step toward the possibility of using such technology in the direct differentiation between Brucella-infected and -vaccinated cattle immunized by smooth vaccines from cattle sera using primers specific for such vaccines.