Bos taurus (A-2) urine assisted bioactive cobalt oxide anchored ZnO: a novel nanoscale approach.

In this study, a novel synthetic method for cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanoparticles using Bos taurus (A-2) urine as a reducing agent was developed. In addition to this ZnO nanorods were produced hydrothermally and a nanocomposite is formed through a solid-state reaction. The synthesized materials were characterized through modern characterization techniques such as XRD, FE-SEM with EDS, DLS, zeta potential, FT-IR, Raman spectroscopic analysis, and TGA with DSC. The free radical destructive activity was determined using two different methods viz. ABTS and DPPH. The potential for BSA denaturation in vitro, which is measured in comparison to heat-induced denaturation of egg albumin and results in anti-inflammatory effects of nanomaterial was studied. All synthesized nanomaterials have excellent antibacterial properties, particularly against Salmonella typhi and Staphylococcus aureus. The composite exhibits excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in comparison to pure nanomaterials. This reveals that these nanomaterials are advantageous in medicine and drug administration.

Biogenic synthesis of silver anchored ZnO nanorods as nano catalyst for organic transformation reactions and dye degradation.

In this study, we are reporting biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles and hydrothermal synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles. Using convenient mechanical milling methods, nanocomposites with superior photocatalytic and catalytic properties are synthesized. Herein, we have adopted a green, eco-friendly, and economical route for the synthesis of Ag nanoparticles using Zingiber officinalae rhizome extract in an aqueous solution. The synthesized materials were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, XRD, SEM & FE-SEM, FT-IR, Raman, and a particle size analyzer with zeta potential analysis. The photocatalytic activities of Ag, ZnO and their composites were studied by observing the degradation of methylene blue and crystal violet dyes under natural sunlight. Then the catalytic efficacies of synthesized nanoparticles for various organic transformation reactions were studied. Ag-ZnO nanocomposites were predicted to have improved photocatalytic activity and organic transformation reactions, allowing them to be used in environmental remediation applications.

Evaluation of Differences in Metabolic and Immunologic Markers and Cardiovascular Risk in HIV-1 Patients / Evaluación de la relación entre marcadores metabólicos, inmunológicos y de riesgo cardiovascular en pacientes con VIH-1 / Avaliação da relação entre marcadores metabólicos, imunológicos e de risco cardiovascular em pacientes com HIV-1

Introduction:hiv infection induces an exacerbated chronic inflammatory response, which triggers met-abolic disorders and cardiovascular diseases; however, there are individuals, known as hiv controllers, who do not have typical progression markers. As cardiovascular risk tests are not accurate on hiv-1 infected patients, the study of metabolic and inflammatory parameters in individuals with different patterns of progression could contribute to the definition of predictors of cardiovascular disease in this population. The aim of this study was to compare hiv controllers and hiv progressors (with and without antiretroviral therapy) as well as with healthy controls in order to explore differences and correlations in metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers associated with cardiovascular risk. Materials and methods:This was a cross-sectional analytical study which included 63 individuals infected with hiv-1 classified as hiv controllers or progressors (with or without antiretroviral therapy), and a healthy control group. The following parameters were determined: carotid intima-media thickness (cimt); cardiovascular risk scores; lipid profile, fasting glucose, high-sensitivity crp, D-dimer, sCD14, sCD163, il-6, and il-18. Data were compared with Anova or Kruskal­Wallis, and correlations were evaluated by the Spearman coef-ficient. Results: While there were no significant differences in Framingham, dad or cimt values, hiv con-trollers exhibited lower triglycerides levels when compared with hiv progressors. No differences were observed in markers, such as high-sensitivity crp, il-6, il-18, and sCD163, among the groups. The median hdl value was higher in hiv progressors on antiretroviral therapy, and cimt in hiv controllers was nega-tively correlated with sCD14. Conclusion:hiv controllers have a different cardiovascular profile than hivprogressors according to their values in metabolic and immunological biomarkers

Introducción: la infección por vih-1 induce una respuesta inflamatoria crónica exacerbada que desencadena alteraciones metabólicas y cardiovasculares; sin embargo, algunos individuos "controladores" no presentan los marcadores de progresión típicos. Dado que las pruebas que evaluan el riesgo cardiovascular carecen de precisión en pacientes con vih-1, el estudio de parámetros inflamatorios en individuos con diferente progresión podría aportar a la definición de predictores de enfermedad cardiovascular en esta población. El objetivo es explorar diferencias y correlaciones en biomarcadores metabólicos e inflamatorios asociados con riesgo cardiovascular, comparando individuos controladores y progresores con y sin terapia antiviral. Materiales y métodos: estudio analítico transversal con 63 individuos infectados por vih-1, clasificados en controladores y progresores (con terapia antiviral y sin esta), y controles sanos. Se midió el grosor de la íntima media carotidea (cimt), puntajes de riesgo cardiovascular y cuantificación de perfil lipídico, glucemia en ayunas, pcr ultrasensible, dímero D, sCD14, sCD163, il-6 e il-18. Se realizó comparación por Anova o Kruskal-Wallis y correlación por coeficiente de Spearman. Resultados: no hubo diferencias significativas en índices de Framingham, dad o cimt, pero los individuos controladores presen-taron menores valores de triglicéridos, comparados con los progresores. No se observaron diferencias en pcr ultrasensible, il-6, il-18, y sCD163, entre los grupos estudiados. La mediana del hdl fue mayor en los progresores con terapia antiviral y el cimt en los controladores se correlacionó negativamente con sCD14. Conclusión: los individuos controladores presentan un perfil cardiovascular diferente a los individuos progresores, de acuerdo con los biomarcadores metabólicos e inmunológicos evaluados

Introdução: a infecção pelo hiv-1 induz resposta inflamatória crônica exacerbada, que desencadeia alte-rações metabólicas e doenças cardiovasculares; no entanto, existem indivíduos, chamados controlado-res, que não possuem os marcadores de progressão típicos. Tendo em vista que os testes que avaliam o risco cardiovascular carecem de precisão em pacientes com hiv-1, o estudo de parâmetros metabólicos e inflamatórios em indivíduos com diferentes padrões de progressão pode contribuir para a definição de preditores de doença cardiovascular nessa população. O objetivo é explorar diferenças e correlações em biomarcadores metabólicos e inflamatórios associados ao risco cardiovascular, comparando indiví-duos controladores e progressores submetidos ou não à terapia antiviral. Materiais e métodos: Estudo analítico transversal que incluiu 63 indivíduos infectados pelo hiv-1, classificados como controladores e progressores (com e sem terapia antiviral), além de grupos controle saudáveis. Realizou-se a medição da espessura da íntima média da carótida (cimt), pontuações de risco cardiovascular; e quantificação do perfil lipídico, glicemia em jejum, pcr ultrassensível, dímero d, sCD14, sCD163, il-6 e il-18. A comparação foi feita por Anova ou teste de Kruskal-Wallis e a correlação pelo coeficiente de Spearman. Resultados.Embora não tenha havido diferenças significativas nos índices de Framingham, dad ou cimt, os indivíduos controladores apresentaram valores de triglicerídeos mais baixos, em comparação com os progressores. Não foram observadas diferenças em marcadores como pcr ultrassensível, il-6, il-18 e sCD163, entre os grupos estudados. O hdl médio foi maior em indivíduos progressores em terapia antiviral, e o cimtem indivíduos controladores foi negativamente correlacionado com o sCD14. Conclusão: os indivíduos controladores apresentam um perfil cardiovascular diferente dos indivíduos progressores, de acordo com os biomarcadores metabólicos e imunológicos avaliados

Quality of life and fear of cancer recurrence in T1 colorectal cancer patients treated with endoscopic or surgical tumor resection.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To optimize therapeutic decision-making in early invasive colorectal cancer (T1 CRC) patients, it is important to elicit the patient's perspective next to considering medical outcome. Because empirical data on patient-reported impact of different treatment options are lacking, we evaluated patients' quality of life, perceived time to recovery, and fear of cancer recurrence after endoscopic or surgical treatment for T1 CRC. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we selected patients with histologically confirmed T1 CRC who participated in the Dutch Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and received endoscopic or surgical treatment between January 2014 and July 2017. Quality of life was measured using the European Organization for Research and Treatment 30-item Core Quality of Life Questionnaire and the 5-level EuroQoL 5-dimension questionnaire. We used the Cancer Worry Scale (CWS) to evaluate patients' fear of cancer recurrence. A question on perceived time to recovery after treatment was also included in the set of questionnaires sent to patients. RESULTS: Of all 119 eligible patients, 92.4% responded to the questionnaire (endoscopy group, 55/62; surgery group, 55/57). Compared with the surgery group, perceived time to recovery was on average 3 months shorter in endoscopically treated patients after adjustment for confounders (19.9 days vs 111.3 days; P = .001). The 2 treatment groups were comparable with regard to global quality of life, functioning domains, and symptom severity scores. Moreover, patients in the endoscopy group did not report more fear of cancer recurrence than those in the surgery group (CWS score, 0-40; endoscopy 7.6 vs surgery 9.7; P = .140). CONCLUSIONS: From the patient's perspective, endoscopic treatment provides a quicker recovery than surgery, without provoking more fear of cancer recurrence or any deterioration in quality of life. These results contribute to the shared therapeutic decision-making process of clinicians and T1 CRC patients.

Expansion of Tumor-Infiltrating CD8+ T cells Expressing PD-1 Improves the Efficacy of Adoptive T-cell Therapy.

Recent studies have found that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) expressing PD-1 can recognize autologous tumor cells, suggesting that cells derived from PD-1+ TILs can be used in adoptive T-cell therapy (ACT). However, no study thus far has evaluated the antitumor activity of PD-1-selected TILs in vivo In two mouse models of solid tumors, we show that PD-1 allows identification and isolation of tumor-specific TILs without previous knowledge of their antigen specificities. Importantly, despite the high proportion of tumor-reactive T cells present in bulk CD8 TILs before expansion, only T-cell products derived from sorted PD-1+, but not from PD-1- or bulk CD8 TILs, specifically recognized tumor cells. The fold expansion of PD-1+ CD8 TILs was 10 times lower than that of PD-1- cells, suggesting that outgrowth of PD-1- cells was the limiting factor in the tumor specificity of cells derived from bulk CD8 TILs. The highly differentiated state of PD-1+ cells was likely the main cause hampering ex vivo expansion of this subset. Moreover, PD-1 precisely identified marrow-infiltrating, myeloma-specific T cells in a mouse model of multiple myeloma. In vivo, only cells expanded from PD-1+ CD8 TILs contained tumor progression, and their efficacy was enhanced by PDL-1 blockade. Overall, our data provide a rationale for the use of PD-1-selected TILs in ACT. Cancer Res; 77(13); 3672-84. ©2017 AACR.

Biomarcadores inmunológicos de riesgo cardiovascular en la infección por el virus de inmunodeficiencia humana-1 / Immune biomarkers of cardiovascular risk in HIV-1 infection

Resumen La infección por el virus de inmunodeficiencia humana-1 se ha consolidado como una epidemia mundial. La masificación de la terapia antirretroviral altamente activa ha traído consigo un aumento importante en la expectativa de vida de los pacientes seropositivos, pero también serias preocupaciones por la aparición de diferentes comorbilidades; entre las cuales se destaca la enfermedad cardiovascular como la tercera causa de mortalidad no asociada al síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida en estos pacientes. Este artículo muestra una revisión actualizada de los biomarcadores de la enfermedad cardiovascular en pacientes infectados con el virus de inmunodeficiencia humana-1, e incluye los marcadores inmunológicos que han sido identificados más recientemente. Ante la ausencia de una estrategia para estimar el riesgo de eventos cardiovasculares validada en esta población, se discute el potencial clínico y la investigación que poseen dichos biomarcadores.

Abstract Infection with human immunodeficiency virus-1 has consolidated as a global epidemic. The growing use of highly active antiretroviral therapy has brought an important increase in life expectancy of HIV-positive patients, but also serious concerns about the onset of multiple comorbidities. Cardiovascular disease stands out amongst them as the third cause of mortality that is not associated to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in these patients. This article shows an updated review of biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in patients living with human immunodeficiency virus-1, and includes the most recently identified immune markers. Given the absence of a strategy to assess the risk of cardiovascular events validated for this population group, clinical potential an research options of these biomarkers are discussed.

Benefits and costs of intensive lifestyle modification programs for symptomatic coronary disease in Medicare beneficiaries.

BACKGROUND: This study reports outcomes of a Medicare-sponsored demonstration of two intensive lifestyle modification programs (LMPs) in patients with symptomatic coronary heart disease: the Cardiac Wellness Program of the Benson-Henry Mind Body Institute (MBMI) and the Dr Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease® (Ornish). METHODS: This multisite demonstration, conducted between 2000 and 2008, enrolled Medicare beneficiaries who had had an acute myocardial infarction or a cardiac procedure within the preceding 12 months or had stable angina pectoris. Health and economic outcomes are compared with matched controls who had received either traditional or no cardiac rehabilitation following similar cardiac events. Each program included a 1-year active intervention of exercise, diet, small-group support, and stress reduction. Medicare claims were used to examine 3-year outcomes. The analysis includes 461 elderly, fee-for-service, Medicare participants and 1,795 controls. RESULTS: Cardiac and non-cardiac hospitalization rates were lower in participants than controls in each program and were statistically significant in MBMI (P < .01). Program costs of $3,801 and $4,441 per participant for the MBMI and Ornish Programs, respectively, were offset by reduced health care costs yielding non-significant three-year net savings per participant of about $3,500 in MBMI and $1,000 in Ornish. A trend towards lower mortality compared with controls was observed in MBMI participants (P = .07). CONCLUSIONS: Intensive, year-long LMPs reduced hospitalization rates and suggest reduced Medicare costs in elderly beneficiaries with symptomatic coronary heart disease.

Bladder drainage during labor: a randomized controlled trial.

AIM: To compare two bladder draining methods during labor on time to delivery, cost and nursing preference. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This trial randomized 139 women with singleton pregnancies in active labor or undergoing induction of labor. Eligibility required an anticipated vaginal delivery with a clinical indication for bladder catheterization (epidural). Participants were randomly assigned to either indwelling or intermittent catheterization. The primary outcome was time to delivery; secondary outcomes were nurse preference, cost and route of delivery. A sample size of 138 women would be needed for 80% power to detect a 30 min difference in the time to delivery interval with a 0.05 alpha error. RESULTS: Outcome data was available for 138 patients (72 indwelling and 66 intermittent). The time to delivery was similar among the two groups (13.8 h for indwelling and 14.4 h for intermittent). Route of delivery and cost estimate was similar in both groups; however, nurses preferred the indwelling method. CONCLUSION: Indwelling catheterization is recommended as the standard method for bladder drainage in laboring women with epidural.

Tumor-specific p53 sequences in blood and peritoneal fluid of women with epithelial ovarian cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Free tumor DNA in body fluids may be an important biomarker. We tested whether tumor-specific mutated p53 DNA can be detected in blood and peritoneal fluid from women with epithelial ovarian cancer. STUDY DESIGN: Sequencing of tumor DNA identified somatic p53 mutations. Free DNA from matched blood or peritoneal fluid was evaluated for the tumor-specific p53 mutation using a ligase detection reaction. RESULTS: Sixty-nine of 137 tumors (50%) had p53 mutations. Plasma or serum from 21 (30%) of the 69 informative cases contained the tumor-specific p53 mutation. Circulating tumor was an independent predictor of decreased survival in multivariate analysis (P=.02). We detected tumor DNA in peritoneal fluid in 28 of 30 (93%) cases, including all 6 cases with negative cytology. CONCLUSION: One third of women with ovarian cancer have circulating tumor DNA and an associated reduced survival. Free tumor DNA can be detected in the majority of peritoneal fluid samples.

Red palm oil for combating vitamin A deficiency.

Red palm oil (Elaeis guineensis,RPO) is nutritionally rich and unique in comparison with other edible oils as it has a high content of b-carotene (400 ppm).It is the ideal choice for combating vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. The Modified Relative Dose Response test was conducted to assess the vitamin A status of school children fed RPO in the form of a sweet snack supplying the RDA (2400 µg) of b-carotene for two months. A significant increase was seen in serum retinol levels from 0.86 ± 0.14 to 1.89 ± 0.23 µmol/L, comparable with a control group fed oral vitamin A drops daily whose retinol levels increased from 0.74 ± 0.09 to 1.94 ± 0.21µmol/L. The dehydroretinol/ retinol ratio (DR/R) decreased from 0.073 ± 0.025 to 0.023 ± 0.003 in a RPO group and from 0.095 ± 0.023 to 0.023 ± 0.004 in the vitamin A group, indicating saturation of liver reserves of retinol, the cut-off point for inadequate status being > 0.03. In another study, school children fed RPO snacks for one month were compared with massive vitamin A dosed groups. Serum retinol level increased significantly in both groups. Serum b-carotene increased from 0.06 ± 0.002 to 0.21 ± 0.01 µmol/L in the RPO group, but remained the same in a control group. A third study indicated that RPO can afford protection for as long as six months, similar to massive vitamin A doses. School children fed RPO snack for one month as per the RDA, maintained normal levels even after six months of cessation of supplementation. Children fed 50 % of RDA from RPO snack also maintained normal levels (>0.7µ mol/L) at the end of six months of supplementation. Hence, periodic bouts of RPO feeding twice or thrice a year may help in maintaining adequate vitamin A status throughout the year. Hence RPO has great promise in maintaining the nutritional well-being of the population.