Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2013 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 7 Articles
To investigate effects of zinc (Zn) supplementation on immune response, haematology and serum biochemical constituents, 90 weaned female Sprague Dawley rats (93.83 ± 1.308g body weight) were randomly allotted to 5 dietary treatments (6 replicates/treatment, 3 rats/replicate). The dietary treatments were basal diet (BD) formulated with purified ingredients without zinc and BD supplemented with 12, 24, 36 and 48 ppm Zn with zinc carbonate and were fed the respective diets for 16 weeks. The alkaline phosphatase activity was higher (P<0.01) in zinc supplemented rats compared to rats fed BD. Zinc supplementation had no effect on Hb concentration, lymphocyte, monocyte, granulocyte, MCV, MCH and MCHC percentage. The RBC and WBC count depressed at 48 ppm Zn supplementation compared to other groups. Zinc supplementation at 24 to 48 ppm enhanced (P<0.05) the serum total protein concentration compared to control. Serum globulin concentration was higher (P<0.05) in zinc supplemented rats compared to unsupplemented ones and the concentration of zinc supplementation had no affect on globulin content in serum. The serum glucose (P<0.01) and cholesterol (P<0.05) concentration higher in rats fed BD and its concentration decreased with Zn supplementation and lowest concentration observed with 12ppm. Zinc supplemented rats had higher (P<0.01) humoral immune response compared to unsupplemented rats with non-significant difference among Zn supplemented (12-48 ppm Zn) rats. The cell mediated immunity (CMI) assed as delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) response was higher (P<0.05) in 36 ppm Zn supplemented rats, while response at 12, 24 and 48 ppm Zn supplementation was comparable to BD fed rats....
Background: Capilia TB is a simple immunochromatographic assay based on the detection of MPB64 antigen\r\nspecifically secreted by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC). Capilia TB was evaluated for rapid identification\r\nof MTC from BACTEC MGIT 960 and BACTEC 9120 systems in Kampala, Uganda. Since most studies have mainly dealt\r\nwith respiratory samples, the performance of Capilia TB on blood culture samples was also evaluated.\r\nMethods: One thousand samples from pulmonary and disseminated tuberculosis (TB) suspects admitted to the JCRC\r\nclinic and the TB wards at Old Mulago hospital in Kampala, Uganda, were cultured in automated BACTEC MGIT 960 and\r\nBACTEC 9120 blood culture systems. BACTEC-positive samples were screened for purity by sub-culturing on blood agar\r\nplates. Two hundred and fifty three (253) samples with Acid fast bacilli (AFB, 174 BACTEC MGIT 960 and 79 BACTEC\r\n9120 blood cultures) were analyzed for presence of MTC using Capilia TB and in-house PCR assays.\r\nResults: The overall Sensitivity, Specificity, Positive and Negative Predictive values, and Kappa statistic for Capilia TB\r\nassay for identification of MTC were 98.4%, 97.6%, 97.7%, 98.4% and 0.96, respectively. Initially, the performance of\r\nin-house PCR on BACTEC 9120 blood cultures was poor (Sensitivity, Specificity, PPV, NPV and Kappa statistic of\r\n100%, 29.3%,7%, 100% and 0.04, respectively) but improved upon sub-culturing on solid medium (Middlebrook\r\n7H10) to 100%, 95.6%, 98.2%, 100% and 0.98, respectively. In contrast, the Sensitivity and Specificity of Capilia TB\r\nassay was 98.4% and 97.9%, respectively, both with BACTEC blood cultures and Middlebrook 7H10 cultured\r\nsamples, revealing that Capilia was better than in-house PCR for identification of MTC in blood cultures.\r\nAdditionally, Capilia TB was cheaper than in-house PCR for individual samples ($2.03 vs. $12.59, respectively), and\r\nwas easier to perform with a shorter turnaround time (20 min vs. 480 min, respectively).\r\nConclusion: Capilia TB assay is faster and cheaper than in-house PCR for rapid identification of MTC from BACTEC\r\nMGIT 960 and BACTEC 9120 culture systems in real-time testing of AFB positive cultures....
Background: Indeterminate results are a recognised limitation of interferon-c release assays (IGRA) in the diagnosis of latent\r\ntuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) and TB disease, especially in children. We investigated whether age and common comorbidities\r\nwere associated with IGRA performance in an unselected cohort of resettled refugees.\r\nMethods: A retrospective cross-sectional study of refugees presenting for their post-resettlement health assessment during\r\n2006 and 2007. Refugees were investigated for prevalent infectious diseases, including TB, and for common nutritional\r\ndeficiencies and haematological abnormalities as part of standard clinical screening protocols. Tuberculosis screening was\r\nperformed by IGRA; QuantiFERON-TB Gold in 2006 and QuantiFERON-TBGold In-Tube in 2007.\r\nResults: Complete data were available on 1130 refugees, of whom 573 (51%) were children less than 17 years and 1041\r\n(92%) were from sub-Saharan Africa. All individuals were HIV negative. A definitive IGRA result was obtained in 1004 (89%)\r\nrefugees, 264 (26%) of which were positive; 256 (97%) had LTBI and 8 (3%) had TB disease. An indeterminate IGRA result was\r\nobtained in 126 (11%) refugees (all failed positive mitogen control). In multivariate analysis, younger age (linear OR = 0.93\r\n[95% CI 0.91ââ?¬â??0.95], P,0.001), iron deficiency anaemia (2.69 [1.51ââ?¬â??4.80], P = 0.001), malaria infection (3.04 [1.51ââ?¬â??6.09],\r\nP = 0.002), and helminth infection (2.26 [1.48ââ?¬â??3.46], P,0.001), but not vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency, were associated\r\nwith an indeterminate IGRA result.\r\nConclusions: Younger age and a number of common co-morbidities are significantly and independently associated with\r\nindeterminate IGRA results in resettled predominantly African refugees....
Praeruptorin D (PD), a major pyranocoumarin isolated from Radix Peucedani,\r\nexhibited antitumor and anti-inflammatory activities. The aim of this study was to\r\ninvestigate the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of PD in rats following intravenous\r\n(i.v.) administration. The levels of PD in plasma and tissues were measured by a simple\r\nand sensitive reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method.\r\nThe biosamples were treated by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) with methyl tert-butyl ether\r\n(MTBE) and osthole was used as the internal standard (IS). The chromatographic\r\nseparation was accomplished on a reversed-phase C18 column using methanol-water\r\n(75:25, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min and ultraviolet detection wave\r\nlength was set at 323 nm. The results demonstrate that this method has excellent specificity,\r\nlinearity, precision, accuracy and recovery. The pharmacokinetic study found that PD fitted\r\nwell into a two-compartment model with a fast distribution phase and a relative slow\r\nelimination phase. Tissue distribution showed that the highest concentration was observed\r\nin the lung, followed by heart, liver and kidney. Furthermore, PD can also be detected in the\r\nbrain, which indicated that PD could cross the blood-brain barrier after i.v. administration....
Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is commonly used to increase the exibility of plastics\r\nin industrial products. However, several plasticizers have been illegally used as clouding\r\nagents to increase dispersion of aqueous matrix in beverages. This study thus develops a\r\nrapid and validated analytical method by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with\r\ntandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) for the evaluation of pharmacokinetics of DBP\r\nin free moving rats. The UPLC-MS/MS system equipped with positive electrospray\r\nionization (ESI) source in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode was used to monitor\r\nm/z 279.25148.93 transitions for DBP. The limit of quantication for DBP in rat plasma\r\nand feces was 0.05 �µg/mL and 0.125 �µg/g, respectively. The pharmacokinetic results\r\ndemonstrate that DBP appeared to have a two-compartment model in the rats; the area\r\nunder concentration versus time (AUC) was 57.8 �± 5.93 min g/mL and the distribution\r\nand elimination half-life (t1/2, and t1/2,) were 5.77 �± 1.14 and 217 �± 131 min, respectively,\r\nafter DBP administration (30 mg/kg, i.v.). About 0.18% of the administered dose was\r\nrecovered from the feces within 48 h. The pharmacokinetic behavior demonstrated that\r\nDBP was quickly degraded within 2 h, suggesting a rapid metabolism low fecal cumulative\r\nexcretion in the rat....
Plasma and brain cholinesterase activities were determined in three wild bird species to assess their exposure to organophosphate\r\nand carbamate insecticides which are used in agriculture and public health. In the present study, we used an electrometric method for\r\nmeasurement of cholinesterase activities in the plasma and whole brain of three indigenous wild birds commonly found in northern\r\nIraq. The birds used were apparently healthy adults of both sexes (8 birds/species, comprising 3ââ?¬â??5 from each sex) of quail (Coturnix\r\ncoturnix), collard dove (Streptopelia decaocto) and rock dove (Columba livia gaddi), which were captured in Mosul, Iraq. The mean\r\nrespective cholinesterase activities (? pH/30 minutes) in the plasma and whole brain of the birds were as follows: quail (0.96 and\r\n0.29), collard dove (0.97and 0.82) and rock dove (1.44 and 1.42). We examined the potential susceptibility of the plasma or whole\r\nbrain cholinesterases to inhibition by selected insecticides. The technique of in vitro cholinesterase inhibition for 10 minutes by the\r\norganophosphate insecticides dichlorvos, malathion and monocrotophos (0.5 and 1.0 Ã?µM) and the carbamate insecticide carbaryl\r\n(5 and10 Ã?µM) in the enzyme reaction mixtures showed significant inhibition of plasma and whole brain cholinesterase activities to\r\nvarious extents. The data further support and add to the reported cholinesterase activities determined electrometrically in wild birds\r\nin northern Iraq. The plasma and whole brain cholinesterases of the birds are highly susceptible to inhibition by organophosphate\r\nand carbamate insecticides as determined by the described electrometric method, and the results further suggest the usefulness of\r\nthe method in biomonitoring wild bird cholinesterases....
Introduction. In iron overload status, excess iron deposits in reticuloendothelial cells and tissues and can be detected using\r\nPrussian blue staining. The aim of this paper was to investigate the relationship between siderocyte numbers and plasma\r\nferritin levels (a practically standard marker of iron overload) in the blood of the splenectomized and nonsplenectomized �Ÿ-\r\nthalassemia/HbE patients, who are at risk of iron overload.Methods. EDTA blood samples from 64 patients with 35 splenectomized\r\nand 29 nonsplenectomized �Ÿ-thalassemia/HbE patients, who received regular blood transfusions, and 20 normal individuals were\r\ninvestigated for siderocyte numbers, plasma ferritin levels, and complete blood counts. Results. The average percent siderocytes\r\nin splenectomized and nonsplenectomized �Ÿ-thalassemia/HbE patients were 11.5% and 0.08%, respectively, and plasma ferritin\r\nlevels of 2,332 �µg/L and 1,279 �µg/L, respectively. Percent siderocytes showed a good correlation with plasma ferritin levels only in\r\nsplenectomized patients (r = 0.69, P < 0.001). A receiver operating curve analysis from splenectomized patientsâ�� data indicated\r\nthat siderocytes at 3% cut-off are the best predictor for plasma ferritin level =1,000 �µg/L with 92.9% sensitivity and 42.9%\r\nspecificity. Conclusion. Circulating siderocyte numbers can be used as a screening test for the assessment of the iron overload\r\nin splenectomized �Ÿ-thalassemia/HbE patients in the place where serum ferritin is not available....
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