The National Summit on Preconception Care: A Summary of Concepts and Recommendations

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and 35 partner organizations have engaged in developing an agenda for Preconception Health. A summit was held in June 2005 to discuss the current state of knowledge regarding preconception care and convene a select panel to develop recommendations and action steps for improving the health of women, children, and families through advances in clinical care, public health, and community action. A Select Panel on Preconception Care, convened by CDC, deliberated critical related issues and created refined definition of preconception care. The panel also developed a strategic plan with goals, recommendations, and action steps for improving preconception health. The recommendations and action steps are specific to the implementation of health behavior, access, consumer demand, research, and surveillance activities for monitoring and improving the health of women, children and families. The outcome of the deliberations is the CDC publication of detailed recommendations and action steps in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report series, Recommendations and Reports.

     

Preconception Care for Improving Perinatal Outcomes: The Time to Act

Maternal and Child Health Journal -     

Pelvic granulocytic sarcoma

 Granulocytic sarcoma is an uncommon extraskeletal tumor most frequently associated with leukemia. We present a case of bone location with unusual pattern in a patient with no evidence of myeloproliferative disorder at presentation or follow-up.     

Erythrodermic bullous pemphigoid

We report a case of erythrodermic type of bullous pemphigoid which is a rare variant of bullous pemphigoid. Our patient had a peculiar clinical presentation with bullae, erosions and extensive erythrodermic areas, and distinct direct immunofluorescent findings which included linear IgG and C3 deposits in the basement membrane and also IgG in the intercellular spaces. Very high levels of serum IgE were also detected in our patient.     

Immunochemical characterization of cytochrome P-450 isozymes responsible for benzene oxidation in the rat liver

The contribution of cytochrome P-450 isozymes to benzene metabolismin liver microsomes from fed, fasted, pyrazole-, pbenobarbital(PB)- and ethanol-treated rats and in respective isocaloriccontrols was investigated using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs).Clone 1-7-1 mAb did not inhibit benzene metabolism, whereasclone 2-66-3 inhibited only in PB-induced microsomes at a highconcentration of benzene (6.26 mM), and clone 1-91-3 mAb inhibitedbenzene metabolism in all cases. The degree of inhibition wasas follows: fed isocaloric control PB < fasted < pyrazole ethanol. The pattern of inhibition was similar with clone 1-91-3for low (0.23 mM) and high concentrations of benzene, exceptin PB-induced mkrosomes. Western blot analysis showed that clone1-7-1 mAb did not bind any liver mkrosomal protein in the regionof cytochrome P-450s, whereas with clone 2-66-3 a clear-cutband was seen only in liver microsomes from PB-treated rats,with clone 1-98-1, a band was detected in mkrosomes from alltreated groups, in the following order: PB = isocaloric control< fed < fasted < pyrazole < ethanol. These resultsindicate that (i) cytochromes P-450b,e and P-450J contributeto benzene metabolism in rat liver; (ii) the former has a lowaffinity to benzene and is induced by PB; and (iii) P-450J hasa high affinity to benzene and is induced by 1-day fasting,pyrazole and ethanol, but decreased by PB treatment.     

Evaluating the Influence of Elevated Temperature on Compressive Strength of Date-Palm-Fiber-Reinforced Concrete Using Response Surface Methodology

Due to its availability and affordable processing, date palm fiber (DPF) is among the natural and sustainable fibers used in cementitious composites. Furthermore, DPF is an agricultural, organic, and fibrous material that when subjected to higher temperature can easily degrade and cause reduction in strength. Therefore, the influence of elevated temperatures on the unit weight and strengths of DPF-reinforced concrete needs to be examined. Under this investigation, DPF is used in proportions of 0–3% weight of binder to produce a DPF-reinforced concrete. Silica fume was utilized as a supplemental cementitious material (SCM) in various amounts of 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% by weight to enhance the heat resistance of the DPF-reinforced concrete. The concrete was then heated to various elevated temperatures for an hour at 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, and 800 °C. After being exposed to high temperatures, the weight loss and the compressive and relative strengths were examined. The weight loss of DPF-reinforced concrete escalated with increments in temperature and DPF content. The compressive and relative strengths of the concrete improved when heated up to 400 °C, irrespective of the DPF and silica fume contents. The heat resistance of the concrete was enhanced with the replacement of up to 10% cement with silica fume when heated to a temperature up to 400 °C, where there were enhancements in compressive and relative strengths. However, at 800 °C, silica fume caused a significant decline in strength. The developed models for predicting the weight loss and the compressive and relative strengths of the DPF-reinforced concrete under high temperature using RSM have a very high degree of correlation and predictability. The models were said to have an average error of less than 6% when validated experimentally. The optimum DPF-reinforced concrete mix under high temperature was achieved by adding 1% DPF by weight of binder materials, replacing 12.14% of the cement using silica fume, and subjecting the concrete to a temperature of 317 °C. The optimization result has a very high desirability of 91.3%.     

Enhanced healing efficacy of an optimized gabapentin-melittin nanoconjugate gel-loaded formulation in excised wounds of diabetic rats

The present study aimed to design and optimize, a nanoconjugate of gabapentin (GPN)-melittin (MLT) and to evaluate its healing activity in rat diabetic wounds. To explore the wound healing potency of GPN-MLT nanoconjugate, an in vivo study was carried out. Diabetic rats were subjected to excision wounds and received daily topical treatment with conventional formulations of GPN, MLT, GPN-MLT nanoconjugate and a marketed formula. The outcome of the in vivo study showed an expedited wound contraction in GPN-MLT-treated animals. This was confirmed histologically. The nanoconjugate formula exhibited antioxidant activities as evidenced by preventing malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzymatic exhaustion. Further, the nanoconjugate showed superior anti-inflammatory activity as it inhibited the expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). This is in addition to enhancement of proliferation as indicated by increased expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGF- β), vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and platelet-derived growth factor receptor-β (PDGFRB). Also, nanoconjugate enhanced hydroxyproline concentration and mRNA expression of collagen type 1 alpha 1 (Col 1A1). In conclusion, a GPN-MLT nanoconjugate was optimized with respect to particle size. Analysis of pharmacokinetic attributes showed the mean particle size of optimized nanoconjugate as 156.9 nm. The nanoconjugate exhibited potent wound healing activities in diabetic rats. This, at least partly, involve enhanced antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, proliferative and pro-collagen activities. This may help to develop novel formulae that could accelerate wound healing in diabetes.