Satisfaction among patients seeking services at an urban health training center during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Delhi, India.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges to the provision of routine health services. As we continue providing non-COVID services, it is essential that the community perceives them to be satisfactory and safe to ensure optimum uptake. The objective of the study was to determine the satisfaction and perceived safety among patients availing services at an urban health training center (UHTC) during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Delhi. Methods: UHTC, Aliganj caters to a population of over 6000, in an urbanized village of South Delhi. A pre-designed, semi-structured questionnaire incorporating the North Indian OPD Satisfaction Scale along with questions on sociodemographic details and perception of safety was used. Systematic random sampling was used to select the patients from the study population which included those above 18 years attending UHTC from November-December 2020. Exit interviews were done by a trained independent interviewer to reduce bias. Data were analyzed in SPSS using Chi-square and Fisher's Exact tests. Results: Out of 218 patients, 161 (73.7%) were satisfied, 174 (79.8%) felt safe to visit UHTC during the pandemic and 143 (65.6%) felt both satisfied and safe. Patients were dissatisfied with screening for COVID-19 (29.5%), amenities (47.1%), cleanliness (51.8%), and waiting and registration (62.9%). Conclusion: The majority of patients were satisfied and found the UHTC services safe. A large proportion of patients found location, doctor-patient interaction, and COVID-appropriate behavior at the center to be satisfactory, but there was scope to improve waiting and registration, cleanliness, and effectiveness of screening for COVID.

Dissecting miRNA facilitated physiology and function in human breast cancer for therapeutic intervention.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key epigenomic regulators of biological processes in animals and plants. These small non coding RNAs form a complex networks that regulate cellular function and development. MiRNAs prevent translation by either inactivation or inducing degradation of mRNA, a major concern in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Aberrant regulation of gene expression by miRNAs is frequently observed in cancer. Overexpression of various 'oncomiRs' and silencing of tumor suppressor miRNAs are associated with various types of human cancers, although overall downregulation of miRNA expression is reported as a hallmark of cancer. Modulations of the total pool of cellular miRNA by alteration in genetic and epigenetic factors associated with the biogenesis of miRNA machinery. It also depends on the availability of cellular miRNAs from its store in the organelles which affect tumor development and cancer progression. Here, we have dissected the roles and pathways of various miRNAs during normal cellular and molecular functions as well as during breast cancer progression. Recent research works and prevailing views implicate that there are two major types of miRNAs; (i) intracellular miRNAs and (ii) extracellular miRNAs. Concept, that the functions of intracellular miRNAs are driven by cellular organelles in mammalian cells. Extracellular miRNAs function in cell-cell communication in extracellular spaces and distance cells through circulation. A detailed understanding of organelle driven miRNA function and the precise role of extracellular miRNAs, pre- and post-therapeutic implications of miRNAs in this scenario would open several avenues for further understanding of miRNA function and can be better exploited for the treatment of breast cancers.

Aberrant functional connectivity in Papez circuit correlates with memory performance in cognitively intact middle-aged APOE4 carriers.

The main objective of this study is to detect the early changes in resting-state Papez circuit functional connectivity using the hippocampus as the seed, and to determine the associations between altered functional connectivity (FC) and the episodic memory performance in cognitively intact middle-aged apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) carriers who are at risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Forty-six cognitively intact, middle-aged participants, including 20 APOE4 carriers and 26 age-, sex-, and education-matched noncarriers were studied. The resting-state FC of the hippocampus (HFC) was compared between APOE4 carriers and noncarriers. APOE4 carriers showed significantly decreased FC in brain areas that involve learning and memory functions, including the frontal, cingulate, thalamus and basal ganglia regions. Multiple linear regression analysis showed significant correlations between HFC and the episodic memory performance. Conjunction analysis between neural correlates of memory and altered HFC showed the overlapping regions, especially the subcortical regions such as thalamus, caudate nucleus, and cingulate cortices involved in the Papez circuit. Thus, changes in connectivity in the Papez circuit may be used as an early risk detection for AD.