Determinants of quality of life in HIV-infected patients receiving highly active antiretroviral treatment at a medical college ART center in Kolkata, India.

Health-related quality of life (QOL) has become a high priority of long-term management of HIV-infected individuals. The newly diagnosed HIV cases were assessed to obtain sociodemographic and clinical findings. Eyesenk Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) for HIV-infected patients, and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to get data regarding personality traits, QOL, and depression scores.

Amphotericin B regulates the host immune response in visceral leishmaniasis: reciprocal regulation of protein kinase C isoforms.

Objectives: Treatment of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is marked by the failure of pentavalent antimonials which has brought amphotericin B (AmpB) to the forefront. In this study we have focused on signaling pathway regulating AmpB triggered effector response.

Methods: AmpB triggered effector response in the form of free radicals and proinflammatory cytokines was determined by FACS, colorimetric estimation or Real-Time PCR (RT-PCR).

IL-10- and TGF-beta-mediated susceptibility in kala-azar and post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis: the significance of amphotericin B in the control of Leishmania donovani infection in India.

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar is known to be associated with a mixed Th1-Th2 response, and effective host defense requires the induction of IFN-gamma and IL-12. We address the role of the differential decline of IL-10 and TGF-beta in response to sodium antimony gluconate (SAG) and amphotericin B (AmB), the therapeutic success of SAG and AmB in Indian VL, and the significance of IL-10 and TGF-beta in the development and progression of post-kazla-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). In the active disease, PBMC from VL patients showed suppressed Ag-specific lymphoproliferation, IFN-gamma and IL-12 production, and elevation of IL-10 and TGF-beta.

First report in India of HIV transmission through artificial insemination.

A case of HIV-1 transmission through artificial inseminations from infertility clinics in Kolkata, is reported.

Characterization of immunoglobulin G and its subclass response to Indian kala-azar infection before and after chemotherapy.

Serologic parameters of kala-azar were evaluated by Western blot analysis. Sera from kala-azar patients with confirmed diagnoses were screened for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG subclass-specific reactivity against Leishmania donovani membrane antigen (LAg). Heterogeneous LAg-specific IgG reactivity with numerous proteins with molecular masses ranging from 18 to 190 kDa was observed.