Incidence of Tuberculosis as a Opportunistic Infection in Patients with HIV Getting Combined Anti Retroviral Therapy

Introduction: The risk of active Tuberculosis increases after HIV seroconversion. It progressively increases with declining immunity. Tuberculosis (TB) epidemics in HIV has led to a dramatic upsurge in global TB incidence, resulting in remarkable increase in morbidity and mortality. Many clinical studies had shown that TB is one of the commonest opportunistic infection. This study is conducted to see the incidence of tuberculosis as an opportunistic infection in patients with HIV getting combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) Materials and Methods: This was a hospital based cross-sectional comparative study. Five hundred patients with HIV who are getting cART were enrolled in the study. Results: Analysis of individuals with HIV in our study amongst the 500 patients 266 (53.2%) were males and the remaining 234 (46.68%) were females. Amongst these HIV patients 48(18.04%) males and 17(7.26%) females had tuberculosis. 65(13%) of patients were TB/HIV co-infected. 2(4.1%) of these male TB/HIV patients had cervical gland TB. Conclusion: The incidence of tuberculosis in HIV infected individuals is high. TB is the commonest opportunistic infection (OIs) in people living with HIV/AIDS. Males are predominant gender to have TB/HIV co-infection.

Carnosine Inhibits the Proliferation of Human Cervical Gland Carcinoma Cells Through Inhibiting Both Mitochondrial Bioenergetics and Glycolysis Pathways and Retarding Cell Cycle Progression

Carnosine has been demonstrated to play an antitumorigenic role in certain types of cancer. However, its underlying mechanism is unclear. In this study, the roles of carnosine in cell proliferation and its underlying mechanism were investigated in the cultured human cervical gland carcinoma cells HeLa and cervical squamous carcinoma cells SiHa. The results showed that carnosine exerted a significant inhibitory effect on the proliferation of HeLa cells, whereas its inhibitory action on the proliferation of SiHa cells was much weaker. Carnosine decreased the ATP content through inhibiting both mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis pathways in cultured HeLa cells but not SiHa cells. Carnosine reduced the activities of isocitrate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase in TCA (tricarboxylic acid) cycle and the activities of mitochondrial electron transport chain complex I, II, III, and IV in HeLa cells but not SiHa cells. Carnosine also decreased the mRNA and protein expression levels of ClpP, which plays a key role in maintaining the mitochondrial function in HeLa cells. In addition, carnosine induced G1 arrest by inhibiting the G1-S phase transition in both HeLa and SiHa cells. Taken together, these findings suggest that carnosine has a strong inhibitory action on the proliferation of human cervical gland carcinoma cells rather than cervical squamous carcinoma cells. Mitochondrial bioenergetics and glycolysis pathways and cell cycle may be involved in the carnosine action on the cell proliferation in cultured human cervical gland carcinoma cells HeLa.

Predicting onset of labor from echogenicity of the cervical gland area on vaginal ultrasonography at term

On vaginal ultrasonography, cervical gland area (CGA) gradually disappears with advancing gestation. This is attributed in part to the echogenicity of the CGA becoming equal to that of the cervical stroma. The present study aimed to assess the usefulness of echogenicity in the CGA at term for predicting the time of spontaneous onset of labor.The ratio of mean grayscale level (MGL) in the CGA to that in the cervical stroma (CGA/stroma MGL ratio) was estimated as an index of echogenicity in the CGA in women after 36 weeks of gestation (n=190). Using this ratio, time until onset of labor was predicted among women between 37 and 38 weeks (n=104).CGA/stroma MGL ratio increased with advancing gestation, decreasing cervical length (CL), and increasing Bishop score. Univariate logistic analysis indicated that a combination of CL<20 mm and CGA/stroma MGL ratio ≥100% predicted onset of labor within a week [odds ratio (OR), 22.2; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.4–202.0] was even better than short CL alone (OR, 6.8; 95%CI, 1.7–26.7; P=0.006). Stepwise logistic analysis identified that this combination was an only independent predictor (OR, 20.8; 95%CI, 2.3–188.5; P=0.007).The combination of CGA/stroma MGL ratio ≥100% and short CL may offer a useful predictor of onset of labor.