Pregnancy With Severe Valve Disease in Low-Resource Populations.

A 32-year-old pregnant woman from a remote area presented with chest pain and was diagnosed with critical aortic stenosis. Her care was managed by a multidisciplinary team with virtual consultations arranged until her admission. She successfully delivered with all necessary backup facilities in place to manage potential complications.

Immune profiles of MCP-1 with M tb antigens and recombinant cytokines stimulation in tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tb), which is recognized by macrophages and produces inflammatory cytokines, and chemokines at the site of infection. The present study was proposed to understand the interaction of M tb antigens, cytokines, and chemokines. We have evaluated the chemokine MCP-1 levels and its expression in PBMCs stimulated with M tb antigens Ag85A, ESAT6 and recombinant cytokines rhTNF-α, rhIFN-γ, rhTGF-β, and rhIL-10 in active pulmonary TB (APTB) patients, household contacts (HHC) at 0 months, 6 months and healthy controls (HC).

Influence of genetic variants and mRNA expression of interleukin IL17A gene in asthma susceptibility.

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disease characterized by coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, overproduction of mucus, and expiratory airflow limitation, which affects >300 million people worldwide. It is triggered by the dynamic interplay of genetic factors and environmental exposure. Th17 cells are an emerging subset of CD4+ T cells, which secrete IL-17A.

Toll-like receptor 2 polymorphisms and their effect on the immune response to ESAT-6, Pam3CSK4 TLR2 agonist in pulmonary tuberculosis patients and household contacts.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a pivotal role in organizing the effective immune response through inducing the pro-inflammatory cytokines for control of tuberculosis infection and TLR polymorphisms are associated with altered cytokine levels have been described. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to confirm whether TLR2 (C2029T, G2258A) polymorphisms effects the cytokine production in PTB patients and Household contacts (HHC), healthy controls (HC). The polymorphisms were performed by amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (ARMS) & Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) in 336 subjects.

The Response of the Menstrual Cycle to Initiation of Hormonal Therapy in Transgender Men.

Transition from female to male gender after initiation of hormonal therapy involves both phenotypic and physiological changes. The response to treatment can vary widely from person to person. In this study, we looked at the response of the menstrual cycle after the initiation of testosterone therapy and we wished to determine the time period and dose of testosterone leading to the cessation of menses in transgender men.

T cell exhaustion and Interleukin 2 downregulation.

T cells reactive to tumor antigens and viral antigens lose their reactivity when exposed to the antigen-rich environment of a larger tumor bed or viral load. Such non-responsive T cells are termed exhausted. T cell exhaustion affects both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells.

Hypercalcemic crisis: a clinical review.

Hypercalcemia is a common metabolic perturbation. However, hypercalcemic crisis is an unusual endocrine emergency, with little clinical scientific data to support therapeutic strategy. We review the relevant scientific English literature on the topic and review current management strategies after conducting a PubMed, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar search for articles published between 1930 and June 2014 using specific keywords: "hypercalcemic crisis," "hyperparathyroid crisis," "parathyroid storm," "severe primary hyperparathyroidism," "acute hyperparathyroidism," and "severe hypercalcemia" for articles pertaining to the diagnosis, epidemiology, clinical presentation, and treatment strategies.

Effects of chronic low level radiation in the population residing in the high level natural radiation area in Kerala, India: employing heritable DNA mutation studies.

To study the effect of chronic low level radiation, 4040 meiosis were screened at eight microsatellite and five minisatellite (2485 and 1555 meiosis respectively) marker loci in people residing in high and normal level natural radiation areas of Kerala. Variants in the repeat length of allele were considered as mutants. Mutation rates (expressed as the number of mutations observed in the total number of meiosis) were 6.

Sgo1 is required for co-segregation of sister chromatids during achiasmate meiosis I.

The reduction of chromosome number during meiosis is achieved by two successive rounds of chromosome segregation, called meiosis I and meiosis II. While meiosis II is similar to mitosis in that sister kinetochores are bi-oriented and segregate to opposite poles, recombined homologous chromosomes segregate during the first meiotic division. Formation of chiasmata, mono-orientation of sister kinetochores and protection of centromeric cohesion are three major features of meiosis I chromosomes which ensure the reductional nature of chromosome segregation.

Genetic polymorphism of six DNA loci in six population groups of India.

The genetic profile based on autosomal markers, four microsatellite DNA markers (D8S315, FES, D8S592, and D2S1328) and two minisatellite DNA markers (TPMT and PDGFA), were analyzed in six endogamous populations to examine the effect of geographic and linguistic affiliation on the genetic affinities among the groups. The six populations are from three different states of India and are linguistically different. Marathas from western India speak Marathi, an Indo-European language.

Simultaneous extraction of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from human blood.

A method of simultaneous isolation of nuclear DNA (nDNA) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from human blood has been proposed by improvising Lahiri's method of isolation of nuclear DNA. The approach presented here provides selectively enriched fractions and eliminates the need for two different methods or separate reagent sets for the extraction of nDNA and mtDNA. It employs an initial nuclear/ cytoplasm partitioning, followed by the similar procedural steps for the two fractions separately.

Allele frequency distribution of D8S592 (STR) and PDGFA (VNTR) among five endogamous population groups of India.

Allele frequency distribution have been analyzed at D8S592 (short tandem repeat) and PDGFA (variable number of tandem repeat) among five distinct endogamous groups of India namely Ezhavas, Nayers, Arayas, Vishwakarma and Muslims. Muslims are religio-ethnic group while other populations mentioned above belong to distinct section of Hindu religion. All these populations are from Kollam district of Kerala in Southern India and speak Malayalam, an Indo-Dravidian language.

Distribution of allele frequencies for two tetranucleotide repeats (FES and D2S1328) among five Indian population groups.

The distribution of allele frequencies have been analyzed at two short tandem repeat (STR) loci FES and D2S1328 among five anthropologically distinct ethnic groups of India namely Ezhavas, Nairs, Arayas, Vishwakarma and Muslims. Muslims are religio-ethnic group while other populations mentioned above belong to distinct section of Hindu religion. All these populations are from Kollam district of Kerala in South India and speak Malayalam, an Indo-Dravidian language.