Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Leukemia’s: Experience from a Cancer Center in India

There has been a surge in haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in India recently. However, there is a paucity of data on haploidentical HSCT from India. The report is an analysis of data of haploidentical HSCT performed at our center. Analysis of patients with acute leukemia or chronic myeloid leukemia who underwent haploidentical HSCT during 2014–2019 was performed. The graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was post-transplant Cyclophosphamide with Mycophenolate-mofetil and Cyclosporine. All patients were transfused peripheral blood stem cells from donors. Overall survival (OS) was calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. Twenty-one patients underwent haploidentical HSCT. Fourteen-patients were males. The median age of patients was 15 years. Fludarabine with total body irradiation was the most common conditioning regimen (n = 15, 71.4%). The median duration for neutrophil and platelet engraftment was 14 days. Cumulative incidence of acute and chronic GVHD was 19%, and 38% respectively. The median follow-up was 26 months and the two-year OS was 38%. Twelve (57%) patients died during the study period, 8 patients (38%) died from transplant-related mortality (TRM), and 4 from disease relapse. Sepsis was the cause of death in six of the eight TRM. Nine out of 21 patients (42.8%) are leukemia-free on follow-up. Haploidentical HSCT is a promising modality of treatment in patients who have no suitable matched donors. Though the TRM remains high, good disease control was achieved in 42.8% of patients. Multi-drug resistant bacterial infection remains a challenge in performing haploidentical HSCT in developing countries.     

A modified olanzapine-based anti-emetic regimen for the control of nausea and vomiting in patients receiving weekly cisplatin

International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy - Background There is limited data on specific antiemetic protocols for control of chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting (CINV) caused by weekly cisplatin...     

Identification of Polybacterial Communities in Patients with Postoperative,Posttraumatic, and Endogenous Endophthalmitis through 16S rRNA Gene Libraries

Endophthalmitis is a potential vision-threatening complication following surgical procedures (postoperative endophthalmitis [POE]), trauma (posttraumatic endophthalmitis [PTE]), and bacteremic seeding of the eye from a distant infection site (endogenous endophthalmitis [EE]). Several studies have revealed the polybacterial characteristics of endophthalmitis, which make the administration of antibiotics to treat the disease challenging. However, until now, the polybacterial communities of POE, PTE, and EE have not been precisely studied. Hence, the present study was designed to identify the bacterial community of endophthalmitis through 16S rRNA gene libraries. Of the 40 intraocular samples tested, 30 libraries were constructed with bacterial nested-PCR-positive samples. The obtained recombinant clones were screened through amplified rRNA gene restriction analysis (ARDRA) to identify unique clones. The multiple types of ARDRA patterns (P = 0.345) and diverse bacterial sequences (P = 0.277) within the libraries revealed the polybacterial nature of infection in POE, PTE, and EE. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on polybacterial infection in EE. Gram-positive bacteria, including Bacillus spp. (n = 19), Streptococcus spp. (n = 18), Staphylococcus spp. (n = 6), Exiguobacterium spp. (n = 3), Gemella spp. (n = 2), Enterococcus spp. (n = 2), a Lysinibacillus sp. (n = 1), a Clostridium sp. (n = 1), and a Nocardia sp. (n = 1), and Gram-negative bacteria, including Serratia spp. (n = 18), Pseudomonas spp. (n = 10), Enterobacter spp. (n = 8), Acinetobacter spp. (n = 3), Pantoea spp. (n = 3), a Haemophilus sp. (n = 1), and a Massilia sp. (n = 1), were identified. Interestingly, among them, 10 bacterial species were not previously reported to be associated with endophthalmitis or other ocular infections. Besides, the presence of 4 unidentifiable clones suggests the possibility of novel organisms that might cause eye infections. Therefore, it is recommended that, in addition to the polybacterial nature of POE, PTE, and EE infections, the spectrum of the pathogenic bacterial community identified in this work should be considered while administering antibiotic therapy in suspected endophthalmitis cases.     

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles for the control of mosquito vectors of malaria, filariasis, and dengue

A biological method was used to synthesize stable silver nanoparticles that were tested as mosquito larvicides against Aedes aegypti, Anopheles stephensi, and Culex quinquefasciatus. Annona squamosa leaf broth (5%) reduced aqueous 1?mM AgNO? to stable silver nanoparticles with an average size of 450?nm. The structure and percentage of synthesized nanoparticles was characterized by using ultraviolet spectrophotometry, X-Ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy methods. The median lethal concentrations (LC??) of silver nanoparticles that killed fourth instars of Ae. aegypti, Cx. quinquefasciatus, and An. stephensi were 0.30, 0.41, and 2.12 ppm, respectively. Adult longevity (days) in male and female mosquitoes exposed as larvae to 0.1 ppm silver nanoparticles was reduced by ~30% (p<0.05), whereas the number of eggs laid by females exposed as larvae to 0.1 ppm silver nanoparticles decreased by 36% (p<0.05).     

The rapid response and high sensitivity of a ruthenium-doped copper ferrite thin film (Ru–CuFe2O4) sensor

A sensor displaying a rapid response and high sensitivity was developed by following a simple route. Ionic defects in this sensor were explored using X-ray diffraction analysis. In general, such defects arise from a mismatch of ionic radii, which actually improves the sensing performance. SEM and TEM images of the currently produced particles demonstrated negligible agglomeration, which greatly enhanced the flow of water molecules through the particles. The current sensor showed a rapid response to changes in humidity. Its sensing performance was classified into three different ranges of humidity. Of these humidity ranges, the sensor showed the highest sensitivity (8.84 MΩ per %RH) at low relative humidity (10–20% RH). Furthermore, the sensitivity fall off as the RH was increased from 20 to 99%. The sensor showed a rapid response time of 20 s. Also, the sensor showed 92.98% reproducibility and few effects of aging.

A sensor displaying a rapid response and high sensitivity was developed by following a simple route.