Prevalence of periodontitis in chronic heart failure patients and its relationship with NT-ProBNP: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Periodontal disease has been associated with chronic heart failure (CHF) and may be an indicator of high risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. To date, only few studies have been done and none from India regarding the association of periodontal disease in heart failure patients. So, this study was done to assess the prevalence of periodontitis in CHF patients and its correlation with N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT- ProBNP).

Prevalence of pediatric and adolescent epilepsy in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Epilepsy is a widespread neurological disorder that affects millions of people worldwide, with a large proportion of cases emerging in childhood. Many children with epilepsy in low and middle-income countries, such as India, encounter obstacles to care despite effective treatments, which add to the treatment gap.

Methodology: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines.

The Ratio of Key Metabolic Transcripts Is a Predictive Biomarker of Breast Cancer Metastasis to the Lung.

Unlabelled: Understanding the rewired metabolism underlying organ-specific metastasis in breast cancer could help identify strategies to improve the treatment and prevention of metastatic disease. Here, we used a systems biology approach to compare metabolic fluxes used by parental breast cancer cells and their brain- and lung-homing derivatives. Divergent lineages had distinct, heritable metabolic fluxes.

Loss of PBRM1 Alters Promoter Histone Modifications and Activates ALDH1A1 to Drive Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Unlabelled: Subunits of SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes are frequently mutated in human malignancies. The PBAF complex is composed of multiple subunits, including the tumor-suppressor protein PBRM1 (BAF180), as well as ARID2 (BAF200), that are unique to this SWI/SNF complex. PBRM1 is mutated in various cancers, with a high mutation frequency in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

Optimizing the future: how mathematical models inform treatment schedules for cancer.

For decades, mathematical models have influenced how we schedule chemotherapeutics. More recently, mathematical models have leveraged lessons from ecology, evolution, and game theory to advance predictions of optimal treatment schedules, often in a personalized medicine manner. We discuss both established and emerging therapeutic strategies that deviate from canonical standard-of-care regimens, and how mathematical models have contributed to the design of such schedules.

Optimal Strategy and Benefit of Pulsed Therapy Depend On Tumor Heterogeneity and Aggressiveness at Time of Treatment Initiation.

Therapeutic resistance is a fundamental obstacle in cancer treatment. Tumors that initially respond to treatment may have a preexisting resistant subclone or acquire resistance during treatment, making relapse theoretically inevitable. Here, we investigate treatment strategies that may delay relapse using mathematical modeling.

Listening in on the conversation between the human gut microbiome and its host.

The gut microbiome is an ecosystem. Natural selection favored microbes fit for the gut, which can utilize and convert molecules produced by the host for their own benefit. But natural selection also favored the host's mechanisms to sense and respond to the microbial ecosystem for its own benefit.

Key factors to facilitate locally driven family planning programming: a qualitative analysis of urban stakeholder perspectives in Africa and Asia.

Background: There has been greater recognition of the importance of country ownership in global health and development. However, operationalising country ownership to ensure the scale up and sustainability of proven interventions remains elusive at best. To address this challenge, we undertook a thematic analysis of interviews collected from representatives of local governments, public health systems, and communities in poor urban areas of East Africa, Francophone West Africa, India, and Nigeria, supported by The Challenge Initiative (TCI), aiming to rapidly and sustainably scale up evidence-based reproductive health and family planning solutions.

Predictors of Clinical Outcomes in Adult COVID-19 Patients Admitted to a Tertiary Care Hospital in India: an analytical cross-sectional study.

Background: The outbreak ofsevere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has resulted inexponential rise in the number of patients getting hospitalised with corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a paucity of data from South East Asian Region related to the predictors of clinical outcomes in these patients. This formed the basis of conducting our study.

Revitalising community engagement and surveillance challenges for strengthening dengue control in Jodhpur, Western Rajasthan, India - A mixed method study.

Objectives: Dengue continues to remain a public health problem in many regions of the world. This study focuses on addressing the community level barriers and opportunities using a health education intervention model to aid in dengue control.

Methods: In-depth interviews of frontline workers were conducted to understand potential barriers during surveillance.

Awareness, medication adherence, and diet pattern among hypertensive patients attending teaching institution in western Rajasthan, India.

Background And Objectives: Hypertension is an important disease of public health concern. Awareness and medication adherence with diet modification have an important effect on the control of blood pressure and its associated morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the awareness of hypertension, medication adherence, and dietary pattern in hypertensive population of western Rajasthan.

Leflunomide triggers synthetic lethality in PTEN-deficient prostate cancer.

Background: The loss of PTEN function presents in up to 50% of late-stage prostate cancers, and is therefore a potential target for therapeutics. PTEN-deficient cells depend on de novo pyrimidine synthesis, a feature that can present a vulnerability.

Methods: We utilized in vitro growth assays and in vivo xenograft models to test the effect of de novo pyrimidine synthesis inhibition on prostate cell lines.

PTEN interacts with the transcription machinery on chromatin and regulates RNA polymerase II-mediated transcription.

Regulation of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)-mediated transcription controls cellular phenotypes such as cancer. Phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN), one of the most commonly altered tumor suppressors in cancer, affects transcription via its role in antagonizing the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Using co-immunoprecipitations and proximal ligation assays we provide evidence that PTEN interacts with AFF4, RNAPII, CDK9, cyclin T1, XPB and CDK7.

Diversification and Evolution of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus faecium during Intestinal Domination.

Vancomycin-resistant (VRE) is a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections. This is particularly true in immunocompromised patients, where the damage to the microbiota caused by antibiotics can lead to VRE domination of the intestine, increasing a patient's risk for bloodstream infection. In previous studies we observed that the intestinal domination by VRE of patients hospitalized to receive allogeneic bone marrow transplantation can persist for weeks, but little is known about subspecies diversification and evolution during prolonged domination.

PTEN Regulates Glutamine Flux to Pyrimidine Synthesis and Sensitivity to Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase Inhibition.

Metabolic changes induced by oncogenic drivers of cancer contribute to tumor growth and are attractive targets for cancer treatment. Here, we found that increased growth of -mutant cells was dependent on glutamine flux through the pyrimidine synthesis pathway, which created sensitivity to the inhibition of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase, a rate-limiting enzyme for pyrimidine ring synthesis. S-phase -mutant cells showed increased numbers of replication forks, and inhibitors of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase led to chromosome breaks and cell death due to inadequate ATR activation and DNA damage at replication forks.

Comparison of ICD implantation in obese and nonobese patients.

Background: Implantable defibrillator (ICD) therapy improves mortality in patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. Obese patients pose challenges during ICD implantation and may have an increased risk of procedure-related complications. The comparison of acute procedural success and safety of ICD implantation in obese and nonobese patients has not been previously reported.

Stabilizing proteins from sequence statistics: the interplay of conservation and correlation in triosephosphate isomerase stability.

Understanding the determinants of protein stability remains one of protein science's greatest challenges. There are still no computational solutions that calculate the stability effects of even point mutations with sufficient reliability for practical use. Amino acid substitutions rarely increase the stability of native proteins; hence, large libraries and high-throughput screens or selections are needed to stabilize proteins using directed evolution.

The diagnostic value of the facial features of Marfan syndrome.

Purpose: We examined the prevalence of known facial features of Marfan syndrome (MFS)-dolicocephaly, malar hypoplasia, enophthalmos, retrognathia, and down-slanting palpebral fissures-and the diagnostic utility (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, predictive values, and likelihood ratios) of using them for screening and diagnosis.

Methods: Frontal and lateral photographs of 76 subjects with MFS (average age 18.3 years) and of 76 age- and gender-matched controls were obtained, randomized, and compiled into an online survey.

Potent inhibition of rhabdoid tumor cells by combination of flavopiridol and 4OH-tamoxifen.

Background: Rhabdoid Tumors (RTs) are highly aggressive pediatric malignancies with poor prognosis. There are currently no standard or effective treatments for RTs in part because treatments are not designed to specifically target these tumors. Our previous studies indicated that targeting the cyclin/cdk pathway is a novel therapeutic strategy for RTs and that a pan-cdk inhibitor, flavopiridol, inhibits RT growth.

Neuroprotective effect of BDNF in young and aged 6-OHDA treated rat model of Parkinson disease.

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been shown to exert trophic effects on dopaminergic neurons against 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in young rat. Since the degeneration of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons that occurs in Parkinson's disease is more often than not confined to elderly individuals, it is of interest to determine whether the effects of BDNF against 6 hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in young rats can be extended to aged animals. 6-hydroxydopamine was stereotaxically injected into the striatum of young (3-months) and aged (24-months) rats, which were treated two hours earlier with BDNF.

Physician behaviour for antimicrobial prescribing for paediatric upper respiratory tract infections: a survey in general practice in Trinidad, West Indies.

Background: Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are among the most frequent reasons for physician office visits in paediatrics. Despite their predominant viral aetiology, URTIs continue to be treated with antimicrobials. We explored general practitioners' (GPs) prescribing behaviour for antimicrobials in children (< or = 16 years) with URTIs in Trinidad, using the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a reference.