Probability Mapping to Determine the Spatial Risk Pattern of Acute Gastroenteritis in Coimbatore District,India, Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Background:

Maps show well the spatial configuration of information. Considerable effort is devoted to the development of geographical information systems (GIS) that increase understanding of public health problems and in particular to collaborate efforts among clinicians, epidemiologists, ecologists, and geographers to map and forecast disease risk.

Objectives:

Small populations tend to give rise to the most extreme disease rates, even if the actual rates are similar across the areas. Such situations will follow the decision-maker''s attention on these areas when they scrutinize the map for decision making or resource allocation. As an alternative, maps can be prepared using P-values (probabilistic values).

Materials and Methods:

The statistical significance of rates rather than the rates themselves are used to map the results. The incidence rates calculated for each village from 2000 to 2009 is used to estimate λ, the expected number of cases in the study area. The obtained results are mapped using Arc GIS 10.0.

Results:

The likelihood of infections from low to high is depicted in the map and it is observed that five villages namely, Odanthurai, Coimbatore Corporation, Ikkaraiboluvampatti, Puliakulam, and Pollachi Corporation are more likely to have significantly high incidences.

Conclusion:

In the probability map, some of the areas with exceptionally high or low rates disappear. These are typically small unpopulated areas, whose rates are unstable due to the small numbers problem. The probability map shows more specific regions of relative risks and expected outcomes.     

Quantum dot-sensitized O-linked heptazine polymer photocatalyst for the metal-free visible light hydrogen generation

Metal-free organic polymer photocatalysts have attracted dramatic attention in the field of visible light-induced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Herein, we showed a polymeric O-linked heptazine polymer (OLHP) decorated with S, N co-doped graphene quantum dots (S,N-GQDs) as a photosensitizer to generate hydrogen upon quantum dot sensitization. Both of these heptazine-based systems show effective photosensitization with strong π–π interactions and enhanced photocatalytic H₂ generation (24 times) as metal-free systems. Electrochemical impedance and optical measurements show effective charge transfer kinetics with decreased charge recombination, which is responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activity. As a result, a significant high apparent quantum yield (AQY) with highest value of 10.2% was obtained for our photocatalyst OLHP/S,N-GQD10.

A polymeric O-linked heptazine polymer (OLHP) decorated with S, N co-doped graphene quantum dots (S,N-GQDs) as a photosensitizer to utilize visible light (λ > 420 nm) for hydrogen generation.     

Point-of-Care Blood Glucose Testing for Diabetes Care in Hospitalized Patients: An Evidence-Based Review

Glycemic control in hospitalized patients with diabetes requires accurate near-patient glucose monitoring systems. In the past decade, point-of-care blood glucose monitoring devices have become the mainstay of near-patient glucose monitoring in hospitals across the world. In this article, we focus on its history, accuracy, clinical use, and cost-effectiveness. Point-of-care devices have evolved from 1.2 kg instruments with no informatics to handheld lightweight portable devices with advanced connectivity features. Their accuracy however remains a subject of debate, and new standards for their approval have now been issued by both the International Organization for Standardization and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. While their cost-effectiveness remains to be proved, their clinical value for managing inpatients with diabetes remains unchallenged. This evidence-based review provides an overall view of its use in the hospital setting.     

The CD47-signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPa) interaction is a therapeutic target for human solid tumors

CD47, a "don't eat me" signal for phagocytic cells, is expressed on the surface of all human solid tumor cells. Analysis of patient tumor and matched adjacent normal (nontumor) tissue revealed that CD47 is overexpressed on cancer cells. CD47 mRNA expression levels correlated with a decreased probability of survival for multiple types of cancer. CD47 is a ligand for SIRPα, a protein expressed on macrophages and dendritic cells. In vitro, blockade of CD47 signaling using targeted monoclonal antibodies enabled macrophage phagocytosis of tumor cells that were otherwise protected. Administration of anti-CD47 antibodies inhibited tumor growth in orthotopic immunodeficient mouse xenotransplantation models established with patient tumor cells and increased the survival of the mice over time. Anti-CD47 antibody therapy initiated on larger tumors inhibited tumor growth and prevented or treated metastasis, but initiation of the therapy on smaller tumors was potentially curative. The safety and efficacy of targeting CD47 was further tested and validated in immune competent hosts using an orthotopic mouse breast cancer model. These results suggest all human solid tumor cells require CD47 expression to suppress phagocytic innate immune surveillance and elimination. These data, taken together with similar findings with other human neoplasms, show that CD47 is a commonly expressed molecule on all cancers, its function to block phagocytosis is known, and blockade of its function leads to tumor cell phagocytosis and elimination. CD47 is therefore a validated target for cancer therapies.     

Chemical activation of a high-affinity glutamate transporter in human erythrocytes and its implications for malaria-parasite-induced glutamate uptake

Human erythrocytes have a low basal permeability to L-glutamate and are not known to have a functional glutamate transporter. Here, treatment of human erythrocytes with arsenite was shown to induce the uptake of L-glutamate and D-aspartate, but not that of D-glutamate or L-alanine. The majority of the arsenite-induced L-glutamate influx was via a high-affinity, Na(+)-dependent system showing characteristics of members of the "excitatory amino acid transporter" (EAAT) family. Western blots and immunofluorescence assays revealed the presence of a member of this family, EAAT3, on the erythrocyte membrane. Erythrocytes infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum take up glutamate from the extracellular environment. Although the majority of uptake is via a low-affinity Na(+)-independent pathway there is, in addition, a high-affinity uptake component, raising the possibility that the parasite activates the host cell glutamate transporter.     

Evidence That Alpha-9 Human Papillomavirus Infections are a Major Etiologic Factor for Oropharyngeal Carcinoma in Black South Africans

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, most commonly genotype 16 of the alpha-9 family, is implicated in the etiology of a subset of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSC) worldwide. Data are scarce regarding OPSC in South Africans, and three prior studies suggest no significant etiologic role for HPV. We aimed to investigate for evidence of HPV etiology in OPSCs from black South Africans by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methodologies with determination of HPV subtype by sequencing, in situ hybridization (ISH), and p16^INK4a immunohistochemistry (IHC), as a surrogate marker for an HPV-driven tumor. It was hypothesized that HPV-driven tumors would be positive by PCR plus IHC and/or ISH whereas OPSCs with HPV background infections (HPV-passenger) would be positive by PCR alone. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues from 51 OPSCs collected between 2005 and 2010 from 41 patients were analyzed for HPV by GP5+6+ PCR (targeting the HPV L1 region), pU-1M/pU-2R PCR (targeting the HPV E6/E7 region) and HPV-31 specific PCR (targeting the E5 region), chromogenic ISH, and p16^INK4a IHC. All cases positive by PCR were subject to sequencing to determine HPV genotype. The patient mean age was 58.0 years and 88 % were male. Of the 51 evaluable tumors, 48 (94.1 %) were positive for HPV DNA by PCR: 25 (49.1 %) met criteria for an HPV-driven tumor, 23 (45.1 %) for HPV-passenger, and 3 (5.9 %) were HPV-unrelated. Sequencing of the PCR-positive cases revealed the following genotypes: combined HPV-16 and 31 (41.7 %), HPV-31 (25.0 %), HPV-16 (22.9 %), combined HPV-16 and 18 (6.3 %), and a single case each of HPV 18 and HPV 33. Studies via ISH were negative in all cases. In accordance with worldwide trends but contrary to prior South African data, HPV likely plays an etiologic role in a significant subset (at least 49.1 %) of OPSC in black South Africans. We found that the alpha-9 HPV family, particularly HPV-16 and 31 either in combination or separately, to predominate in our sample tumors. The use of multiple PCR primers increased sensitivity of viral detection, and a HPV-31 specific primer confirmed the presence of this genotype in many samples. Further studies including HPV E6/E7 mRNA assays are needed to better elucidate the pathogenic role of HPV in black South African OPSCs.