Search results for: infectious disease

Authors: Snigdha Sahai, Devaki Chikkavenkatappa Yellappa

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This study outlines approaches for testing and validating stochastic models used in epidemiology, focusing on the integration and functional testing of simulation code. It details methods for combining simple functions into comprehensive simulations, distinguishing between deterministic and stochastic components, and applying tests to ensure robustness. Techniques include isolating stochastic elements, utilizing large sample sizes for validation, and handling special cases. Practical examples are provided using R code to demonstrate integration testing, handling of incorrect inputs, and special cases. The study emphasizes the importance of both functional and defensive programming to enhance code reliability and user-friendliness.

Keywords: computational epidemiology, epidemiology, public health, infectious disease modeling, statistical analysis, health data analysis, disease transmission dynamics, predictive modeling in health, population health modeling, quantitative public health, random sampling simulations, randomized numerical analysis, simulation-based analysis, variance-based simulations, algorithmic disease simulation, computational public health strategies, epidemiological surveillance, disease pattern analysis, epidemic risk assessment, population-based health strategies, preventive healthcare models, infection dynamics in populations, contagion spread prediction models, survival analysis techniques, epidemiological data mining, host-pathogen interaction models, risk assessment algorithms for disease spread, decision-support systems in epidemiology, macro-level health impact simulations, socioeconomic determinants in disease spread, data-driven decision making in public health, quantitative impact assessment of health policies, biostatistical methods in population health, probability-driven health outcome predictions

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Authors: Zakirul Islam, Yugo Kumokawa, Quoc Thinh Tran, Motoki Kubo

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Clubroot is a disease of cruciferous plant caused by soil born pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae and can significantly limit the production through rapid spreading. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of cultivation practices (chemical and organic soils) on clubroot disease development in Brassica rapa. Disease index and root bacterial composition were investigated for both chemical and organic soils. The bacterial biomass and diversity in organic soil were higher than those in chemical soil. Disease severity was distinct for two different cultivation methods. The number of endophytic bacteria decreased in the infected root for both soils. The increased number of endophytic bacterial number led to reduce the proliferation of pathogen spore inside the root and thus reduced the disease severity in organic plants.

Keywords: clubroot disease, bacterial biomass, root infection, disease index, chemical cultivation, organic cultivation

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Authors: Fathia Ehmouda Zaid, Reim Abudelnbi

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Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Patients and method: Cross-section study (68) patients diagnosed as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), who visited the outpatient clinic of rheumatology, these patients were interviewed with a structured questionnaire about their past and current clinically for presence of Cardiovascular disease in systemic lupus and use SLEDAI, specific tests [ECG –ECHO –CXRAY] the data are analyzed statistically by Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated and statistical significance was defined as P< 0.05,during period (2013-2014). Objective: Estimation Cardiovascular disease manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus, correlation with disease activity, morbidity, and mortality. Result: (68) Patients diagnosed as systemic lupus erythematosus' age range from (18-48 years), M=(13±29Y), Sex were female 66/68 (97.1%), male 2/68 (2.9%),duration of disease range[1-15year], M =[7±8y], we found Cardiovascular disease manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus 32/68 (47.1%), correlation with disease activity use SLEDAI,(r= 476** p=0.000),Morbidity,(r= .554**; p=0.000) and mortality (r=.181; p=.139), Cardiovascular disease manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus are pericarditis 8/68 (11.8%), pericardial effusion 6/68 (8.8%), myocarditis 4/68 (5.9 %), valvular lesions (endocarditis) 1/68 (1.5%), pulmonary hypertension (PAH) 12/68 (17.6%), coronary artery disease 1/68 (1.5%), none of patients have conduction abnormalities involvement. Correlation with disease activity use SLEDAI, pericarditis (r= .210, p=.086), pericardial effusion (r= 0.079, p=.520), myocarditis (r= 272*, p=.027), valvular lesions (endocarditis) (r= .112, p= .362), pulmonary hypertension (PAH) (r= .257*, p=.035) and coronary artery disease (r=.075, p=.544) correlation between cardiovascular disease manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus and specific organ involvement we found Mucocutaneous (r=.091 p= .459), musculoskeletal (MSK) (r=.110 p=.373), Renal disease (r=.278*, p=.022), neurologic disease (r=.085, p=.489) and Hematologic disease (r=-.264*, p=.030). Conclusion: Cardiovascular manifestation is more frequent symptoms with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is 47 % correlation with disease activity and morbidity but not with mortality. Recommendations: Focus research to evaluation and an adequate assessment of cardiovascular complications on the morbidity and mortality of the patients with SLE are still required.

Keywords: cardiovascular disease, systemic lupus erythematosus, disease activity, mortality

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Authors: Berrin Şentürk

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In this study, due to the recurrence of bovine tuberculosis, in the same areas, the risk factors for the disease were determined and evaluated at the local level. This study was carried out in 32 farms where the disease was detected in the district and center of Samsun province in 2014. Predetermined risk factors, such as farm, environmental and economic risks, were investigated with the survey method. It was predetermined that risks in the three groups are similar to the risk variables of the disease on the global scale. These risk factors that increase the susceptibility of the infection must be understood by the herd owners. The risk-based contagious disease management system approach should be applied for bovine tuberculosis by farmers, animal health professionals and public and private sector decision makers.

Keywords: bovine tuberculosis, disease management, control, outbreak, risk analysis

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Authors: Siddharth Soni, Gourav Kumar Pandey, Sneha Kumari, Dev Mani Pandey, Koel Mukherjee

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The silkworm Bombyx mori is a commercially important insect, but a major roadblock in silk production are silkworm diseases. Flacherie is one of the diseases of the silkworm, that affects the midgut of the 4th and 5th instar larvae and eventually makes them lethargic, stop feeding and finally result in their death. The concerned disease is a result of bacterial and viral infection and in some instances a combination of both. The present study aims to identify and study the expression level of genes in the flacherie condition. For the said work, total RNA was isolated from the infected larvae at their most probable infectious instar and cDNA was synthesized using Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). This cDNA was then used to amplify disease relalted genes whose expression levels were checked using quantitaive PCR (qPCR) using the double delta Ct method. Cry toxin receptors like APN and BtR-175, ROS mediator Dual Oxidase are few proteins whose genes were overexpressed. Interestingly, pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) C-type lectins' genes were found to be downregulated. The results explain about the strong expression of genes that can distinguish the concerned protein in the midgut of diseased silkworm and thereby aiding knowledge in the field of inhibitor designing research.

Keywords: Bombyx mori, flacherie disease, inhibitor designing, up and down regulation

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Authors: H. Parameshwar Naik, Shripad Kulkarni

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Powdery mildew is a serious disease among the fungal in high humid areas with varied temperature conditions. In recent days disease becomes very severe due to uncertain weather conditions and unique character of the disease is, it produces white mycelia growth on upper and lower leaf surfaces and in severe conditions it leads to defoliation. Results of the experiment revealed that sowing of crop in the I fortnight (FN) of July recorded the minimum mean disease severity (7.96 %) followed by crop sown in II FN of July (13.19 %) as against the crop sown in II FN of August (41.44 %) and I FN of September (33.78 %) and the I fortnight of October (33.77 %). In the first date of sowing infection started at 45 DAS and progressed till 73 DAS and it was up to 14.66 Percent and in second date of sowing disease progressed up to 22.66 percent and in the third date of sowing, it was up to 59.35 percent. Afterward, the disease started earlier and progressed up to 66.15 percent and in sixth and seventh date of sowing disease progressed up to 43.15 percent and 59.85 percent respectively. Disease progress is very fast after 45 days after sowing and highest disease incidence was noticed at 73 DAS irrespective of dates of sowing. From the results of the present study, it is very clear that disease development will be very high if crop sown in between 1st fortnight of August and the 1st fortnight of September.

Keywords: cucumber, India, Karnataka, powdery mildew

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Authors: Ananthakrishna L. R., Ramesh D., Kumar Wodeyar, Kotresh A. M., Gururaj P. M.

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Malnad Gidda is the indigenous recognized cattle breed of Shivamogga District of Karnataka state, India is known for its disease resistance to many of the infectious diseases. There are 25 LRR (Leucine Rich Repeats) identified in bovine (Bos indicus) TLR9. The amino acid sequence of LRR is deduced to nucleotide sequence in BLASTx bioinformatic online tools. LRR2 to LRR10 are involved in pathogen recognition and binding in human TLR9 which showed a higher degree of nucleotide variations with respect to disease resistance to various pathogens. Hence, primers were designed to amplify the flanking sequences of LRR2 to LRR10, to discover the nucleotide variations if any, in Malnad Gidda breed of Cattle which is associated with disease resistance. The DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of ten Malnad Gidda cattle. A desired and specific amplification product of 0.8 kb was obtained at an annealing temperature of 56.6ᵒC. All the PCR products were sequenced on both sides by gene-specific primers. The sequences were compared with TLR9 sequence of cross breed cattle obtained from NCBI data bank. The sequence analysis between Malnad Gidda and crossbreed cattle revealed no nucleotide variations in the region LRR2 to LRR9 which shows the conserved in pathogen binding domain (LRR) of TLR9.

Keywords: leucine rich repeats, Malnad Gidda, cross breed, TLR9

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Authors: A. Dadda, D. Khelef, K. Ait-Oudia, R. Kaidi

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Neonatal calf diarrhea is the most important disease of neonatal calves and results in the greatest economic losses due to disease in this age group in both dairy and beef calves. The objectives of the present study were to estimate the morbidity and the mortality of neonatal diarrhea in dairy calves also to determine aetiology and risk factors were caused diarrhea in dairy veal under 60 days old. A total of 324 claves, housed in 30 dairy breeding were followed during two velage season from January to Juan 2013. The total mortality was 5,9% and was significantly higher in calves had less than 15 days of age. The incidence rate of diarrhea was 31,5% and peaked in the first two weeks after velage. The main causes were breeding controls, defect of passive immunity, old of calf, production season, and nutrient of pregnant cattle, veal’s housing and infectious agents. ELISA test on 22 fecal samples revealed that the 31, 82% of dairy breeding were infected, by cryptosporidium parvum in 13, 6% of study population, E.Coli F5 in 9% and Rotavirus with rate of 4, 5%.

Keywords: diarrhoea, neonatal, mortality, aetiology, risk factors, incidence

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Authors: Agi Sunday

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A descriptive analysis of reported cases of sickle cell disease and the level of awareness about genetic counselling in 30 hospitals were carried out. Additionally, 150 individuals between ages 16-45 were randomly selected for evaluation of genetic counselling awareness. The main tools for this study were questionnaires which were taken to hospitals, and individuals completed the others. The numbers of reported cases of sickle cell disease recorded in private, public and teaching hospitals were 14 and 57; 143 and 89; 272 and 57 for the periods of 1995-2000 and 2001-2005, respectively. A general informal genetic counselling took place mostly in the hospitals visited. 122 (86%) individuals had the knowledge of genetic disease and only 43 (30.3%) individuals have been exposed to genetic counselling. 64% of individuals agreed that genetic counselling would help in the prevention of genetic disease.

Keywords: sickle disease, genetic counseling, genetic testing, advocacy

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Authors: Ibrahim M. S. Shnawa, Naeem R. R. Algebory

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The procedure for the assessment of the urinary mucosal cryoglobulin (UMCG) is being reviewed, testified and evaluated. The major features of UMCG are rather similar to that of serum cryoglobulin. Such evident similarities are forming the reality for the existence of the UMCG. There were seven characterizing criteria useable for the identification for UMCG. Upon matching them to the Irish criteria for serum cryoglobulin, some modifications are being proposed to the 16th standards that has been formulated and built as an Irish criterion. The existence of UMCG is being reported for the first time in human chronic infectious bacterial disease.

Keywords: urinary, mucosal, cryoglubulin, standard immunofixation

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Authors: Aneta Nitsch-Osuch, Sylwia Dyk, Izabela Gołebiak

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Background. Since 2014 the pertussis vaccine is recommended to Polish health care workers who have close contacts with infants. Although this recommendation is implemented into the National Immunization Programme, its realization has remained unknown. The Purpose: The aim of the study, conducted at the department of Social Medicine and Public Health (Medical University of Warsaw, Poland), was to describe a perception, knowledge and coverage rates regarding pertussis vaccination among nursing staff. According to the authors' knowledge, it was the first study related to this topic in our country. Material and Methods: A total number of 543 nurses who work at pediatric or neonatal wards was included into the study (501 women and 42 men), average age was 47 years. All nurses were asked to fulfill the anonymous survey, previously validated. Results: 1. Coverage rates: The analysis of results revealed that only 4% of responders reported they were vaccinated with Tdpa within past 10 years, while 8% declared they would plan the vaccine in the future. 35% of responders would consider the Tdpa vaccine whether there is some kind of the reimbursement. 2. Perception and knowledge of the disease and vaccination: The majority (82%) of nurses did not recognize pertussis as a re-emerging infectious disease. 54% of them believed that obligatory vaccinations in the childhood protect against the disease and the protection is a life-long one. Only 15% of nurses considered pertussis as a possible nosocomial infection. The current epidemiology of the disease was known to 6% of responders, while 24% of them were familiar with pertussis vaccination schedules for infants, children and adolescents, but only 9% of responders knew that adults older than 19 years are recommended to be vaccinated with Tdpa every 10 years. Many nurses (82%) would expect more educational activities related to pertussis and methods of its prophylaxis. Conclusions: The pertussis vaccine coverage rate among Polish nurses is extremely low. This is a result of not enough knowledge about the disease and its prevention. Educational activities addressed to health care workers and reimbursement of the pertussis vaccine are required to improve awareness and increase of vaccine coverage rates in the future.

Keywords: coverage, nurse, pertussis, vaccine

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Authors: Nino G. Vepkhvadze, Tea Enukidze

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Every year the number of countries around the world face the risk of the spread of infectious diseases that bring significant ecological and social-economic damage. Hence, the importance of food product safety is emphasized that is the issue of interest for many countries. To solve them, it’s necessary to conduct preventive measures against the diseases, have accurate diagnostic results, leadership, and management. The Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) disease is caused by a morbillivirus closely related to the rinderpest virus. PPR is a transboundary disease as it emerges and evolves, considered as one of the top most damaging animal diseases. The disease imposed a serious threat to sheep-breeding when the farms of sheep, goats are significantly growing within the country. In January 2016, PPR was detected in Georgia. Up to present the origin of the virus, the age relationship of affected ruminants and the distribution of PPRV in Georgia remains unclear. Due to the nature of PPR, and breeding practices in the country, reemerging of the disease in Georgia is highly likely. The purpose of the studies is to provide laboratories with efficient tools allowing the early detection of PPR emergence and re-emergences. This study is being accomplished under the Biological Threat Reduction Program project with the support of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The purpose of the studies is to investigate the samples and identify areas at high risk of the disease. Georgia has a high density of small ruminant herds bred as free-ranging, close to international borders. Kakheti region, Eastern Georgia, will be considered as area of high priority for PPR surveillance. For this reason, in 2019, in Kakheti region investigated n=484 sheep and goat serum and blood samples from the same animals, utilized serology and molecular biology methods. All samples were negative by RT-PCR, and n=6 sheep samples were seropositive by ELISA-Ab. Future efforts will be concentrated in areas where the risk of PPR might be high such as international bordering regions of Georgia. For diagnostics, it is important to integrate the PPRV knowledge with epidemiological data. Based on these diagnostics, the relevant agencies will be able to control the disease surveillance.

Keywords: animal disease, especially dangerous pathogen, laboratory diagnostics, virus

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Authors: Josselyn Mata Calidonio, Arianna I. Maddox, Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli

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Rapid diagnostics are critical infectious disease tools that are designed to detect a known biomarker using antibodies specific to that biomarker. However, a way to detect unknown viruses has not yet been achieved in a paper test format. We describe here a route to make an adaptable paper immunoassay that can detect an unknown biomarker, demonstrating it on SARS-CoV-2 variants. The immunoassay repurposes cross-reactive antibodies raised against the alpha variant. Gold nanoparticles of two different colors conjugated to two different antibodies create a colorimetric signal, and machine learning of the resulting colorimetric pattern is used to train the assay to discriminate between variants of alpha and Omicron BA.5. By using principal component analysis, the colorimetric test patterns can pick up and discriminate an unknown that it has not encountered before, Omicron BA.1. The test has an accuracy of 100% and a potential calculated discriminatory power of 900. We show that it can be used adaptively and that it can be used to pick up emerging variants without the need to raise new antibodies.

Keywords: adaptive immunoassay, detecting unknown viruses, gold nanoparticles, paper immunoassay, repurposing antibodies

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Shraddha Gopal, Jayam Lazarus

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Aims: To study the referral practice and impact of DAT-scan in the diagnosis or exclusion of Parkinson’s disease. Settings and Designs: A retrospective study Materials and methods: A retrospective study of the results of 60 patients who were referred for a DAT scan over a period of 2 years from the Department of Neurology at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS trust. The reason for DAT scan referral was noted under 5 categories against Parkinson’s disease; drug-induced Parkinson’s, essential tremors, diagnostic dilemma, not responding to Parkinson’s treatment, and others. We assessed the number of patients who were diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease against the number of patients in whom Parkinson’s disease was excluded or an alternative diagnosis was made. Statistical methods: Microsoft Excel was used for data collection and statistical analysis, Results: 30 of the 60 scans were performed to confirm the diagnosis of early Parkinson’s disease, 13 were done to differentiate essential tremors from Parkinsonism, 6 were performed to exclude drug-induced Parkinsonism, 5 were done to look for alternative diagnosis as the patients were not responding to anti-Parkinson medication and 6 indications were outside the recommended guidelines. 55% of cases were confirmed with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. 43.33% had Parkinson’s disease excluded. 33 of the 60 scans showed bilateral abnormalities and confirmed the clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Conclusion: DAT scan provides valuable information in confirming Parkinson’s disease in 55% of patients along with excluding the diagnosis in 43.33% of patients aiding an alternative diagnosis.

Keywords: DATSCAN, Parkinson's disease, diagnosis, essential tremors

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Authors: Mohamed Anwar Hammad, Khaled Mohamed Al Akhali, Yasmin Elsobky

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Board certification is a voluntary process that confirms a pharmacist's capability, competency, education, skills, and proficiency beyond what is essential for licensure. This analysis was intended to investigate the prevalence of board-certified pharmacists in the Arab countries and compare the Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS) between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. A cross-sectional study was conducted. The data were mined from the BPS website. Data were managed by IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 and presented as descriptive statistics. Of 36918 Board certified pharmacists (BCPs) until February 2018, only 4038 (10.9%) were from the outside United States of America. From 4038 BCPs, about 1782 (44.1%) were from Arab nations. Egypt has the top prevalence of the BPS among the Arab countries 937 (52.6%) BCPs. However, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia comes in the second position 442 (24.8%). Pharmacotherapy (BCPS), nutrition support pharmacy (BCNSP), critical care pharmacy (BCCCP) and oncology pharmacy (BCOP) are the highest specialties by 1474 (82.7%), 114 (6.4%), 61 (3.42%) and 60 (3.37%) respectively, while, infectious diseases pharmacy (AQID), cardiology pharmacy (AQCD) and nuclear pharmacy (BCNP) are the lowest prevalence of specialties by 7 (0.4%), 6 (0.3%) and 1 (0.06%) respectively. Added qualifications were canceled and became a new specialty in BPS as the rest of the specialties. Both infectious diseases and cardiology specialties exams are not conducted yet all over the world from the beginning of 2018. Egypt has the second prevalence 937 (2.54%), before Canada 920 (2.49%) and after United States of America 32880 (89.06%) in the worldwide in terms of BCPs. In conclusion the BCPS is the uppermost specialty; however, there is still a need for all the other specialties. In a short period, BCCCP jumped to the third position. Cardiology and infectious disease will be new specialties. Egyptian pharmacists are in the top of Arab countries, and 2nd in worldwide BCPs.

Keywords: AQCD, AQID, Arab countries, BCACP, BCCCP, BCGP, BCNP, BCNSP, BCOP, BCPPS, BCPS, BCPP, Board of Pharmacy Specialties (BPS), Canada, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, USA

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Authors: Isaac Makundi, Kazuo Nishigaki

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The Tsushima leopard cat (TLC) Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus, designated a National Natural Monument of Japan, inhabits Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. TLC is considered a subspecies of P. bengalensis, and lives only on Tsushima Island. TLCs are threatened by various infectious diseases. Feline leukemia virus (FeLV) causes a serious infectious disease with a poor prognosis in cats. Therefore, the transmission of FeLV from Tsushima domestic cats (TDCs) to TLCs may threaten the TLC population. We investigated the FeLV infection status of both TDCs and TLCs on Tsushima Island by screening blood samples for FeLV p27 antigen and using PCR to amplify the full-length FeLV env gene. The prevalence of FeLV was 6.4% in TDCs and 0% in TLCs. We also demonstrated that the virus can replicate in the cells of TLCs, suggesting its potential cross-species transmission. The viruses in TDCs were classified as genotype I/clade 3, which is prevalent on a nearby island, based on previous studies of FeLV genotypes and FeLV epidemiology. The FeLV viruses identified on Tsushima Island can be further divided into two lineages within genotype I/clade 3, which are geographically separated in Kamijima and Shimojima, indicating that FeLV may have been transmitted to Tsushima Island at least twice. Monitoring FeLV infection in the TDC and TLC populations is highly recommended as part of the TLC surveillance and management strategy.

Keywords: epidemiology, Feline leukemia virus, Tsushima Island, wildlife management

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Shukla, Govind Singh, Prabhat Pant Shahzad Ahmad

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Background: Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder with a genetic predisposition, and CD40 plays a pathogenic role in various autoimmune diseases. A single nucleotide polymorphism at position –1 of the Kozak sequence of the 5 untranslated regions of the CD40 gene of exon 1 has been reported to be associated with the development of Graves’ Disease. Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether CD40 gene polymorphism confers susceptibility to Graves’ disease in the Kumaon region. CD40 gene polymorphisms were studied in Graves’ Disease patients (n=50) and healthy control subjects without anti-thyroid autoantibodies or a family history of autoimmune disorders (n=50). Material and Method: CD40 gene polymorphisms were studied in fifty Graves’ Disease patients and fifty healthy control subjects. All samples were collected from STG Hospital, Haldwani, Nainital. A C/T polymorphism at position –1 of the CD40 gene was measured using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results: There was no significant difference in allele or genotype frequency of the CD40 SNP between Graves’ Disease and control subjects. There was a significant decrease in the TT genotype frequency in the Graves’ Disease patients who developed Graves’ Disease after 40 years old than those under 40 years of age. These data suggest that the SNP of the CD40 gene is associated with susceptibility to the later onset of Graves’ Disease. Conclusion: The CD40 gene was a different susceptibility gene for Graves’ Disease within certain families because it was both linked and associated with Graves’ Disease.

Keywords: autoimmune diseases, pathogenesis, diagnosis, therapy

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Authors: Joao Paulo Matheus, Renan Fangel

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Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, inflammatory, systemic and progressive disease that affects the synovial joints bilaterally, causing definitive orthopedic damage. It has a higher prevalence in postmenopausal female patients. It is a disabling disease that causes joint deformities that may compromise the functionality of the affected segment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of low-intensity therapeutic laser on the perception of pain and quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This is a randomized clinical study involving 6 women with a mean age of 56.8+6.3 years. Exclusion criteria: patients with acute pain, chronic infectious disease, underlying acute or chronic underlying disease. An AsGaAl laser with 808nm wavelength, 100mW power, beam output area of 0.028cm2, power density of 3.57W/cm2 was used. The laser was applied at pre-defined points in the interphalangeal and metacarpophalangeal joints, totaling 24 points, 2 times a week, for 4 weeks, totaling 8 sessions. The Pain Inventory (IBD) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were used for the analysis of pain and for the WHOQOL-bref quality of life assessment. There was no statistical difference between the onset (5.67±2.66) and the final (4.67±3.78) of treatments (p=0.70). There was also no statistical difference between the beginning (5.67±2.66) and the final (4.67±3.78) of the treatments in the VAS analysis (p=0.68). The overall mean quality of life obtained by the questionnaire at the start of treatment was 42.3±7.6, while at the end of treatment it was 58.5±7.6 (p=0.01) and the domains of the questionnaire with significant differences were: psychological domain 42.9±6.8 and 66.7±12.9 (p=0.004), social domain 39.9±5.7 and 68.1±6.3 (p=0,0005) and environmental domain 36.3±7.3 and 56.3±12.5 (p=0.003). It can be concluded that the low-intensity therapeutic laser did not produce significant changes in the painful period of rheumatoid arthritis patients. However, there was an improvement in patients' quality of life in the psychological, social and environmental aspects.

Keywords: laser therapy, pain, quality of life, rheumatoid arthritis

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Authors: Mohammed M. Mahdy Tawfeek

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Objective: The aim of this work is to compare the outcome of photoactivated chromophore for keratitis-cross linking (PACK-CXL) window absorption (WA) alone with combined PACK-CXL WA and standard anti-microbial therapy (SAT) for the treatment of infectious keratitis. Patients and Methods: This is a randomized prospective comparative clinical trial. Thirty eyes with clinically suspected infectious keratitis were randomly assigned into two equal groups of 15 eyes each: Group (A) was treated by PACK-CXL WA alone and group (B) was treated by PACK-CXL WA combined with SAT. Identification of organisms was made by lab study before treatment. Corneal healing was evaluated by corneal examination and anterior segment OCT (AS-OCT). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and the study was approved by the research ethics committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University. The work has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki) for studies involving humans. Results: Complete healing and resolution (Successful treatment) were observed in 10 eyes (66.7%) of a group (A) and 14 eyes (93.3%) of group (B) and failure was observed in 5 eyes (33.3%) of a group (A) and one eye (6.67%) of group (B). They were statistically significant (P =0.042 and 0.003) in a comparison between both groups regarding success and failure of treatment, respectively. Complete corneal healing was reported in the third month postoperatively in 10 eyes (66.7%) of group (A) and 14 eyes (93.3%) of group (B). Complications were absent in 12 patients (80%) in group (A) and 14 patients (93.3%) of group (B); however, perforation and impending perforation were found in 3 patients of group (A) and only one patient of group (B). Conclusion: PACK-CXL is a promising, non-invasive treatment option for infectious keratitis, especially when performed with the window absorption (WA) technique, either alone or combined with SAT. It has a synergistic effect with a standard antimicrobial treatment that gives good outcome results in the treatment of infectious keratitis. Also, it avoids the antibiotics resistance that has become rapidly spreading worldwide.

Keywords: corneal cross linking, infectious keratitis, PACK-CXL, window absorption

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Authors: Pármenas Costa Macedo do Nascimento

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Periodontal disease is the most common disease in the oral cavity of felines. It starts with the accumulation of bacteria on the tooth surface supporting the tissues of the periodontal tissue, namely gums, alveolar bone, cementum, and periodontal ligament. The main clinical symptom observed by the owner is bad breath, which may lead to local and systemic consequences depending on the stage of periodontal disease, such as bleeding and bone loss. Therefore, the study is important to educate tutors to take better care of the felines oral health in order to try to prevent the disease. For this epidemiological study, the target population has been felines, located on the outskirts of Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, with a geographic area of 155.68 km², with no defined breed, from October 1st to 10th, 2021, whose samples has been randomly selected, with a detailed profile. The variables of interest for this study have been: absence or presence of periodontal disease, gender, age (delimited by age group), and condition (domiciled or homeless). Using a sample of 40 felines from 4 districts of the east side of Manaus chosen at random, an oral exam has been made to identify the studied disease. The animal's apparent age, condition, sex, and presence or absence of periodontal disease has been noted. It has been observed that 70% (28/40) of them had periodontal disease, mostly females, aged between 0 and 5 years and domiciled, totaling 30% (12/40).

Keywords: felines, oral cavity, oral exam, periodontal disease

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Authors: A. Al Yousef, A. Toulon, L. Petit, S. Fraitag, F. Ruemmele, S. Hadj-Rabia, C. Bodemer

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Cutaneous Crohn’s disease (CCD) refers to an extremely rare granulomatous inflammation of the skin that is non-contiguous to the bowel tract. These cutaneous lesions can occur prior to, concurrent with, or after the gastrointestinal manifestations. In adults, CCD most frequently occurs in the setting of well-documented intestinal disease. Only 20% of cases occur prior to its development. Review of CCD in children, reveals that 86% of cases (24 of 28) occurring in patients without a known diagnosis of intestinal Crohn’s disease. Overall, the genitalia was the most commonly involved location, representing 21 of the 28 cases with 16 vulvar and 5 penile/scrotal lesions.

Keywords: Crohn’s disease, cutaneous manifestations, children, atypical axillary involvement

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Authors: Hsiang-Yu Yuan, Marc Baguelin, Kin O. Kwok, Nimalan Arinaminpathy, Edwin Leeuwen, Steven Riley

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Traditional syndromic surveillance for influenza has substantial public health value in characterizing epidemics. Because the relationship between syndromic incidence and the true infection events can vary from one population to another and from one year to another, recent studies rely on combining serological test results with syndromic data from traditional surveillance into epidemic models to make inference on epidemiological processes of influenza. However, despite the widespread availability of serological data, epidemic models have thus far not explicitly represented antibody titre levels and their correspondence with immunity. Most studies use dichotomized data with a threshold (Typically, a titre of 1:40 was used) to define individuals as likely recently infected and likely immune and further estimate the cumulative incidence. Underestimation of Influenza attack rate could be resulted from the dichotomized data. In order to improve the use of serosurveillance data, here, a refinement of the concept of the stratified immunity within an epidemic model for influenza transmission was proposed, such that all individual antibody titre levels were enumerated explicitly and mapped onto a variable scale of susceptibility in different age groups. Haemagglutination inhibition titres from 523 individuals and 465 individuals during pre- and post-pandemic phase of the 2009 pandemic in Hong Kong were collected. The model was fitted to serological data in age-structured population using Bayesian framework and was able to reproduce key features of the epidemics. The effects of age-specific antibody boosting and protection were explored in greater detail. RB was defined to be the effective reproductive number in the presence of stratified immunity and its temporal dynamics was compared to the traditional epidemic model using use dichotomized seropositivity data. Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) was used to measure the fitness of the model to serological data with different mechanisms of the serological response. The results demonstrated that the differential antibody response with age was present (ΔDIC = -7.0). The age-specific mixing patterns with children specific transmissibility, rather than pre-existing immunity, was most likely to explain the high serological attack rates in children and low serological attack rates in elderly (ΔDIC = -38.5). Our results suggested that the disease dynamics and herd immunity of a population could be described more accurately for influenza when the distribution of immunity was explicitly represented, rather than relying only on the dichotomous states 'susceptible' and 'immune' defined by the threshold titre (1:40) (ΔDIC = -11.5). During the outbreak, RB declined slowly from 1.22[1.16-1.28] in the first four months after 1st May. RB dropped rapidly below to 1 during September and October, which was consistent to the observed epidemic peak time in the late September. One of the most important challenges for infectious disease control is to monitor disease transmissibility in real time with statistics such as the effective reproduction number. Once early estimates of antibody boosting and protection are obtained, disease dynamics can be reconstructed, which are valuable for infectious disease prevention and control.

Keywords: effective reproductive number, epidemic model, influenza epidemic dynamics, stratified immunity

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Authors: Subramaniam Iyer

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The most common disease that is pertaining to all human beings is heart-related. The reasons for coronary artery disease are due to lifestyle and eating habits. Due to this, many people mentally become sick, feeling that soon they will die due to their heart problems. This results in stress and anxiety, which has become common amongst all the Indians. Medicines are the commonest curative remedy in India, but it is proposed through this article some remedies through yoga. This article does not guarantee a 100% result, but it is a preventive remedy for coronary artery disease. Yoga is giving a new lease of life to many, so to tackle chronic diseases, it provides remedies that will be lifelong. It is brought to many people by Patanjali. Yoga will provide support to patients having coronary artery disease through its various relevant postures (asanas), which can be done very easily. Yoga does not send a message that if you do it regularly, you will be relieved from a particular disease. If it is performed every day, it will add vital energy for a smooth life, even if you are suffering from any chronic disease. In this article, we will be providing 6 postures (asanas), which can be performed at any time in the day, but the early morning will always be preferred (empty stomach) to get a good result. Secondly, these postures must be implemented after due consultation with your physician. If your physician disapproves, don’t do these postures as it will be harmful to your body.

Keywords: coronary artery, yoga, disease, remedy, medicine

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Authors: Habu Musa, Nusaibah Binti Syd Ali

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Oil palm industries particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia are being devastated by Ganoderma disease caused by Ganoderma spp. To date, this disease has been causing serious oil palm yield losses and collapse of oil palm trees, thus affecting its contribution to the producer’s economy. Research on sustainable and eco-friendly remedy to counter Ganoderma disease is on the upsurge to avoid the current control measures via synthetic fungicides. Trichoderma species have been the most studied and valued microbes as biological control agents in an effort to combat a wide range of plant diseases sustainably. Therefore, in this current study, the potential of Trichoderma spp. (Trichoderma asperellum, Trichoderma harzianum, and Trichoderma virens) as a consortium approach was evaluated as biological control agents against Ganoderma disease on oil palm. The consortium of Trichoderma spp. applied found to be the most effective treatment in suppressing Ganoderma disease with 83.03% and 89.16% from the foliar and bole symptoms respectively. Besides, it exhibited tremendous enhancement in the oil palm seedling vegetative growth parameters. Also, it had highly induced significant activity of peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase and total phenolic content was recorded in the consortium treatment compared to the control treatment. Disease development was slower in the seedlings treated with consortium of Trichoderma spp. compared to the positive control, which exhibited with the highest percentage of disease severity.

Keywords: biological control, ganoderma disease, trichoderma, disease severity

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Authors: Sina Mahdavi

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Background and Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune disease of the CNS that affects the myelination process in the central nervous system (CNS). Complex interactions of various "environmental or infectious" factors may act as triggers in autoimmunity and disease progression. The association between viral infections, especially human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) and MS is one potential cause that is not well understood. This study aims to summarize the available data on HERV infection in MS disease progression. Materials and Methods: For this study, the keywords "Multiple sclerosis", "Human endogenous retrovirus", and "central nervous system" in the databases PubMed, Google Scholar, Sid, and MagIran between 2016 and 2022 were searched and 14 articles chosen, studied, and analyzed. Results: In the leptomeningeal cells of MS patients, a retrovirus-like element associated with reverse transcriptase (RT) activity called multiple sclerosis-associated retroviruses (MSRV) has been identified. HERVs are expressed in the human CNS despite mechanisms to suppress their expression. External factors, especially viral infections such as influenza virus, Epstein-Barr virus, and herpes simplex virus type 1, can activate HERV gene expression. The MSRV coat protein is activated by activating TLR4 at the brain surface, particularly in oligodendroglial progenitor cells and macrophages, leading to immune cascades followed by the downregulation of myelin protein expression. The HERV-K18 envelope gene (env) acts as a superantigen and induces inflammatory responses in patients with MS. Conclusion: There is a high expression of endogenous retroviruses during the course of MS, which indicates the relationship between HERV and MS, that this virus can play a role in the development of MS by creating an inflammatory state. Therefore, measures to modulate the expression of endogenous retroviruses may be effective in reducing inflammatory processes in demyelinated areas of MS patients.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, human endogenous retrovirus, central nervous system, MSRV

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Authors: Peri Harish Kumar, Sai Sharan Dwarka, Tajbinder Singh Bains, Suneet John Joseph, Chaitanya Kiran, Sambhu Dutta, Sarah Makram, Mohamed Sayed Zaazouee, Alaa Ahmed Elshanbary

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Objective: To identify cancer and non-cancer causes of death in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients over different time periods after diagnosis and to compare the mortality risk of each cause in HCC patients with the general population. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, data of 67,637 HCC patients from 1975 to 2016 were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. We investigated the association between different causes of death and the following variables: age, race, tumor stage at diagnosis, and treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy); each according to the periods of <1 year, 1-5 years, 5-10 years, and >10 years following the diagnosis. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for cancer and non-cancer deaths in each of the mentioned periods following diagnosis. Results: Data of 67,637 patients, of whom 50,571 patients died during the follow-up period, were analyzed. Most deaths were due to HCC itself (35,535, 70.3%), followed by other cancers (3,983, 7.9%). Common causes of non-cancer mortality included infectious and parasitic diseases including HIV (2,823 patients, SMR=105.68, 95% CI: 101.82-109.65), chronic liver disease (2,719 patients, SMR=76.56, 95% CI: 73.71,79.5), and heart diseases (1,265 patients, SMR=2.26, 95% CI: 2.14-2.39), with higher mortality risk in HCC patients than in the general population. Conclusion: Cancers stand for most deaths in patients with HCC. Besides, infectious, and parasitic diseases including HIV represent the commonest non-cancer cause of mortality.

Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, seer, causes of death, mortality

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Authors: Mjellma Rexhepi, Blerta Rexhepi Kelmendi, Blana Krasniqi, Shaip Krasniqi

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Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes inflammation of the joints which can be so severe that can cause not only deformities but also impairment of function that limits movement. This also contributes to the pain that accompanies this disease. This remains a problematic and challenging disease of modern medicine because treatment is still symptomatic. The main purpose of drug treatment is to reduce the activity of the disease, achieve remission, avoid disability and death. The etiology of the disease is idiopathic, but can also be linked to genetic, nongenetic factors such as hormonal, environmental or infectious. Current scientific evidence shows that vitamin D plays an important role in immune regulation mechanisms. Lack of this vitamin has been linked to loss of immune tolerance and the appearance of autoimmune processes, including rheumatoid arthritis. The purpose of the work was to define Vitamin D in patients hospitalized with rheumatoid arthritis in University Clinical Center of Kosova, as a basis of their connection with lifestyle and physical inactivity. The sample for the work was selected from patients with criteria met for rheumatoid arthritis who were hospitalized at the tertiary level of health care in Kosova. During the work have been investigated 100 consecutive patients fulfilling diagnostic criteria for rheumatoid arthritis, whereas in addition to the general characteristics are also determined the values of vitamin D at the beginning of hospitalization. The average age of the sample analyzed was 50.9±5.7 years old, with an average duration of rheumatoid arthritis disease 7.8±3.4 years. At the beginning of hospitalization, before treatment was initiated, the average value of vitamin D was 15.86±3.43, which according to current reference values is classified into the category of insufficient values. Correlating the duration of the disease, from the time of diagnosis to the day of hospitalization, on one side and the level of vitamin D on the other side, the negative correlation of a lower degree derived (r =-0.1). Physical activity affects the concentration of vitamin D in the blood through increased metabolism of fat and the release of vitamin D and its metabolites from adipose tissue. To now it is evident that physical activity is also accompanied by higher levels of vitamin D. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, vitamin D levels were low compared to normal. Future works should be oriented toward investigating in detail the bone structure, quality of life and pain in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. More detailed scientific projects, with larger numbers of participants, should be designed for the future to clarify more possible mechanisms as factors related to this phenomenon such as inactivity, lifestyle and the duration of the disease, as well as the importance of keeping vitamin D values at normal limits.

Keywords: hospitalization, lifestyle, rheumatoid arthritis, vitamin D

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Authors: Kajori Banerjee, Laxmi Kant Dwivedi

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India is a part of the ongoing globalization, contemporary convergence, industrialization and technical advancement that is taking place world-wide. Some of the manifestations of this evolution is rapid demographic, socio-economic, epidemiological and health transition. There has been a considerable increase in non-communicable diseases due to change in lifestyle. This study aims to assess the direction of burden of disease and compare the pressure of infectious diseases against cardio-vascular, endocrine, metabolic and nutritional diseases. The change in prevalence in a ten-year period (2004-2014) is further decomposed to determine the net contribution of various socio-economic and demographic covariates. The present study uses the recent 71st (2014) and 60th (2004) rounds of National Sample Survey. The pressure of infectious diseases against cardio-vascular (CVD), endocrine, metabolic and nutritional (EMN) diseases during 2004-2014 is calculated by Prevalence Rates (PR), Hospitalization Rates (HR) and Case Fatality Rates (CFR). The prevalence of non-communicable diseases are further used as a dependent variable in a logit regression to find the effect of various social, economic and demographic factors on the chances of suffering from the particular disease. Multivariate decomposition technique further assists in determining the net contribution of socio-economic and demographic covariates. This paper upholds evidences of stagnation of the burden of communicable diseases (CD) and rapid increase in the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) uniformly for all population sub-groups in India. CFR for CVD has increased drastically in 2004-2014. Logit regression indicates the chances of suffering from CVD and EMN is significantly higher among the urban residents, older ages, females, widowed/ divorced and separated individuals. Decomposition displays ample proof that improvement in quality of life markers like education, urbanization, longevity of life has positively contributed in increasing the NCD prevalence rate. In India’s current epidemiological phase, compression theory of morbidity is in action as a significant rise in the probability of contracting the NCDs over the time period among older ages is observed. Age is found to play a vital contributor in increasing the probability of having CVD and EMN over the study decade 2004-2014 in the nationally representative sample of National Sample Survey.

Keywords: cardio-vascular disease, case-fatality rate, communicable diseases, hospitalization rate, multivariate decomposition, non-communicable diseases, prevalence rate

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Authors: Asho Ali

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Tuberculosis is a disease of grave concern which infects one-third of the global population. The high incidence of tuberculosis is further compounded by the increasing emergence of drug resistant strains including multi drug resistant (MDR). Global incidence MDR-TB is ~4%. Molecular epidemiological studies, based on the assumption that patients infected with clustered strains are epidemiologically linked, have helped understand the transmission dynamics of disease. It has also helped to investigate the basis of variation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains, differences in transmission, and severity of disease or drug resistance mechanisms from across the globe. This has helped in developing strategies for the treatment and prevention of the disease including MDR.

Keywords: Mycobcaterium tuberculosis, molecular epidemiology, drug resistance, disease

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Authors: Jyoti Pandey, Rajiv Kumar Bhatt

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In the absence of proper sanitation, people suffered from high levels of infectious diseases leading to high incidences of morbidity and mortality. This directly affected the ability of a country to maintain an efficient economy and implied great personal suffering among infected individuals and their families. This paper aims to estimate the catastrophic expenditure of households in terms of direct and indirect losses which a person has to face due to the illness of WASH diseases; the severity of the scenario is answered by finding out the impoverishment effect. We used the primary data survey for the objective outlined. Descriptive and analytical research types are used. The survey is done with the questionnaire formulated precisely, taking care of the inclusion of all the variables and probable outcomes. A total of 300 households is covered under this study. In order to pursue the objectives outlined, multistage random sampling of households is used. In this study, the cost of illness approach is followed for accessing economic impact. The study brought out the attention that a significant portion of the total consumption expenditure is going lost for the treatment of water and sanitation related diseases. The infectious and water vector-borne disease can be checked by providing sufficient required sanitation facility, and that 2.02% loss in income can be gained if the mechanisms of the pathogen is checked.

Keywords: water, sanitation, impoverishment, catastrophic expenditure

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