Deaf-friendly research – conducting research using an electronic questionnaire

A non-exclusive approach in conducting survey-based research which assumes the participation of people with disabilities is one of the important ethical aspects of the research process. The use of the tool, which has been designed in accordance with the universal user-oriented design, makes it possible for people with disabilities to take an active part in surveys. This means that they can present their attitudes and express opinions within the conducted surveys. The aim of the article is to present the issue of conducting surveys using an electronic questionnaire among deaf people, modelled on the Avatar PJM project. People with a hearing impairment, whose first or primary language used for communication is a sign language, should be given a questionnaire in an appropriate form enabling them to complete it easily. The discussed project presents a proposal to construct a questionnaire using the LimeSurvey software. The questionnaire has been adapted to the needs and expectations of the recipient group. The presented solution for designing a user-friendly research tool can be used in other types of research in this group of respondents (e.g. industrial or educational research) or can become an inspiration for further research in this field.

Protective activity of specific transfer factor against Salmonella typhimurium infection

Specific transfer factor (TF) extracted from spleens of sensitized and non-sensitized guinea pigs to study the efficacy of transfer of cellular immunity specific for salmonella . Two groups each of five guinea pigs were used for in vivo TF preparation. The First group was inoculated with 1 ml of aromatic dependent Salmonella typhimurium SL 1479 vaccine at a dose of 10' cfu/ml intramuscularly twice at two weeks intervals. The second group was injected with trypticase soy broth similarly . These two groups used as a donor for TF, and TFn respectively. Twenty one recipient guinea pigs were divided into three groups, the first group was TF at a dose of 1 ml equivalent to 5X10 cell intramuscularly three times/2 days intervals, Similarly the second group was given TF, where as the third group was given PBS- Cell mediated immunity in recipient animal was evaluated by delayed type hypersensitivity - skin test, Macrophage migration inhibition test (MIF) and then challenged with virulent Salmonella typhimurium. The TFt recipient group induced skin test and showed migration indices less than 0.8 and overcome the challenge organism. Contrary to TFn & PBS recipient groups which did not show any response for skin test and given migration indices more than 0.8 and did not show resistance for virulent Salmonella typhimurium .

IMMUNOPATHOLOGICAL EFFECT OF SENSITIZED TRANSFER FACTOR ON THE ORGANS OF WHITE MICE AGAINST SALMONELLA TYPHI CHALLENGE INFECTION.

In an experimental study to evaluate the immunopathological effect of transfer factor on the reticuloendothelial organs of white mice and their protection against their challenge infection with Salmonella typhi. The results of this study were showed the followings: 1. Transfer factor recipient group: it was showed an early granulomatous lesions in the liver. Reactive hyperplasia in the T cell regions of the spleen and mediastinal lymph node. The early granulomas were persisted during 7th day and slightly regressed on 14th day postinoculation. 2. Infected group with S. typhi: It was showed a multifocal microabscesses consisted of aggregates of neutrophils in the focal area of necrosis, which was evident during 7th day and gradually transform into granulomas on 14th day postinoculation. 3. Transfer factor recipient and challenge infection group: It was showed well developed granulomatous reactions, which indicate an emergence of cellular immunity (delayed type hypersensitivity reaction). These granulomas were more evident on 7th day and slightly regressed on 14th day postinoculation; providing a transfer factor role in tissue reaction and termination of infection.

Early Adverse Events between mRNA and Adenovirus-Vectored COVID-19 Vaccines in Healthcare Workers

Mass vaccination campaigns are important to control the COVID-19 pandemic, however, adverse events (AEs) contribute to vaccine hesitancy. To investigate and compare early AEs between the BNT162b2 mRNA and AZD1222 adenovirus-vectored vaccines, recipients completed daily surveys about local and systemic reactions for 7 days after each dose, respectively. A total of 80 and 1440 healthcare workers received two doses of BNT162b2 and a first dose of AZD1222 vaccines. Any AEs were reported by 52.5% of recipients after the first dose of BNT162b2, by 76.2% after the second dose of BNT162b2, and by 90.9% after the first dose of AZD1222 (p < 0.001). Younger vaccinees had more AEs after the second dose of BNT162b2 and first dose of AZD1222. Sex based differences were only observed in the AZD1222 recipient group. No incidence of anaphylaxis or neurologic AEs were observed. In conclusion, early AEs were mostly mild to moderate in severity and generally transient in both BNT162b2 and AZD1222 groups. Sufficient explanation of the expected AEs of the vaccine would be helpful for wider vaccination.

INDUCED SPAWNING AND LARVAL DEVELOPMENT OF VIETNAMESE KOI, Anabas testudineus (Bloch, 1792), USING SALMON GONADOTROPIN RELEASING HORMONE ANALOGUE (S-GnRHA)

The present research work has been carried out to obtain evidence on breeding and embryonic growth of A. testudineus by using S-GnRHa. Fish were injected with three different doses (0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 mL/kg body weight) of synthetic hormone S-GnRHa each with three replications, where male brood fish received half of the doses of female. The fecundity of A. testudineus was ranged from 47,227 to 77,561 during the study period and except control group all the hormone received group ovulated within 12 hours of hormone injection. Among all groups, the highest fertilization rate (89.33%), highest hatching rate (79.5%) as well as highest survival rate (67.0%) was obtained at 0.5 mL/kg body weight hormone dose recipient group. The fertilized egg’s diameter was recorded as 77.59 ± 3.50 µm. The first cleavage had appeared within 18-25 min of fertilization and eventually the morula, blastula, and gastrula stages were observed at 3:10 h, 4 h, and 5:30 h, respectively after fertilization. Larvae with distinguished head, body form and tail appendage spotted between 17-22 h and the larvae started hatching at 19 h after fertilization. The average length of larvae accounted as 105.41 ± 3.73 µm. The findings of present study revealed that 0.5 mL/kg S-GnRHa could be efficient dose for successful induced breeding of A. testudineus.

Long-Term Outcomes of Kidney Transplants from Older/Marginal Donors: A Cohort Study

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> To safely expand the donor pool, we introduced a strategy of biopsy-guided selection and allocation to single or dual transplantation of kidneys from donors &#x3e;60 years old or with hypertension, diabetes, and/or proteinuria (older/marginal donors). Here, we evaluated the long-term performance of this approach in everyday clinical practice. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In this single-center cohort study, we compared outcomes of 98 patients who received one or two biopsy-evaluated grafts from older/marginal donors (“recipients”) and 198 patients who received nonhistologically assessed single graft from ideal donors (“reference-recipients”) from October 2004 to December 2015 at the Bergamo Transplant Center (Italy). <b><i>Results:</i></b> Older/marginal donors and their recipients were 27.9 and 19.3 years older than ideal donors and their reference-recipients, respectively. KDPI/KDRI and donor serum creatinine were higher and cold ischemia time longer in the recipient group. During a median follow-up of 51.9 (interquartile range 23.1–88.6) months, 11.2% of recipients died, 7.1% lost their graft, and 16.3% had biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR) versus 3.5, 7.6, and 17.7%, respectively, of reference-recipients. Overall death-censored graft failure (rate ratio 0.78 [95% CI 0.33–2.08]), 5-year death-censored graft survival (94.3% [87.8–100.0] vs. 94.2% [90.5–98.0]), BPAR incidence (rate ratio 0.87 [0.49–1.62]), and yearly measured glomerular filtration rate decline (1.18 ± 3.27 vs. 0.68 ± 2.42 mL/min/1.73 m², <i>p</i> = 0.37) were similar between recipients and reference-recipients, respectively. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> Biopsy-guided selection and allocation of kidneys from older/marginal donors can safely increase transplant activity in clinical practice without affecting long-term outcomes. This may help manage the growing gap between organ demand and supply without affecting long-term recipient and graft outcomes.

Effect of a new type of drug supplement on epileptic seizure induced by pilocarpine and the amount of nitric oxide produced by vascular epithelial cells as a trigger for migraine headache

The present study aims to investigate the effect of a new type of dietary supplement on epileptic seizure induced by pilocarpine and the amount of nitric oxide produced by vascular epithelial cells as a trigger for migraine headache. New healthy and live drug supplement were synthesized by a green route. This organic biomaterial was named NBS. Concentrations of the drug supplement were prepared by dissolving dry powder in saline phosphate-buffered. In recent years, NO has been suggested as one of the factors involved in migraine headache. Nitrite concentration was also measured as an indicator of nitric oxide production by Griess method. In order to induce seizure, on 25th day after birth, each puppy was injected into control and treatment groups with healthy and live diet in 150 mg/ kg subcutaneously. The behavior of each rat was recorded by a digital camera and two observers. It can be stated that this supplement causes a significant reduction in the level of 5% concentration of nitric oxide compared to the control group (p≤0.05). Also, 15 mg/ kg of the Dapsone increases the duration of seizure from medication to onset of seizure, while, using the new NBS healthy and live diet significantly increases this time compared to the Dapsone recipient group. The new healthy and nutritious drug can significantly reduce the incidence of migraine headaches and would prevent the onset of a seizure.

The adverse events of haematopoietic stem cell transplantation are associated with gene polymorphism within human leukocyte antigen region

Adverse reactions may still occur in some patients after receiving haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), even when choosing a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched donor. The adverse reactions of transplantation include disease relapse, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), mortality and CMV infection. However, only the relapse was discussed in our previous study. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the correlation between the gene polymorphisms within the HLA region and the adverse reactions of post-HSCT in patients with acute leukaemia (n = 176), where 72 patients were diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukaemia (ALL) and 104 were acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms were divided into three models: donor, recipient, and donor-recipient pairs and the data of ALL and AML were analysed individually. Based on the results, we found 16 SNPs associated with the survival rates, the risk of CMV infection, or the grade of GVHD in either donor, recipient, or donor-recipient matching models. In the ALL group, the rs209132 of TRIM27 in the donor group was related to CMV infection (p = 0.021), the rs213210 of RING1 in the recipient group was associated with serious GVHD (p = 0.003), and the rs2227956 of HSPA1L in the recipient group correlated with CMV infection (p = 0.001). In the AML group, the rs3130048 of BAG6 in the donor-recipient pairs group was associated with serious GVHD (p = 0.048). Moreover, these SNPs were further associated with the duration time of survival after transplantation. These results could be applied to select the best donor in HSCT.

Health Insurance Status Is Related to Risk of Mortality and Hospitalization in Korean Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

<b><i>Background:</i></b> There has been an increasing incidence of hemodialysis (HD) due to old age and comorbid condition such as diabetes. In general, socioeconomic status (SES) is known as one of the most important risk factors for patient mortality and morbidity. Whether low SES is associated with poorer outcome in HD patients is controversial. This study was performed to evaluate the association of health insurance status as a proxy indicator for SES upon mortality and hospitalization in maintenance HD patients. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We used HD-quality assessment data from the year of 2015 for collecting demographic and clinical data. The subjects were classified into Medical Aid (MA) recipients (low SES) and National Health Insurance (NHI) beneficiary (high SES). We analyzed mortality and hospitalization risk based on health insurance status using Cox proportional hazard model. A total of 35,454 adult HD patients ≥18 years old who received HD treatment more than twice weekly were included in the analysis. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The ratio between MA recipient and NHI beneficiary was 76.7 versus 23.3%. The MA recipient group demonstrated younger age and lower proportion of female, diabetes, hypertension, and cerebrovascular accidents compared to the NHI beneficiary group. After adjusting for age, gender, comorbidity, and laboratory parameters, the MA recipient group showed a significantly higher mortality risk compared to the NHI beneficiary group (hazard ratio 1.073 [1.009–1.14], <i>p</i> = 0.025). The MA recipient group was also an independent risk factor for hospitalization after adjusting for age, gender, comorbidities, and laboratory parameters (hazard ratio 1.142 [1.108–1.178], <i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Low SES as measured by health insurance status was associated with an increased risk of patient mortality and hospitalization in Korean maintenance HD patients.

In-hospital outcomes after percutaneous coronary interventions in cardiac allograft recipients

Introduction: The average age and survival of heart transplant recipients have improved significantly over the last 10 years. In these long-term survivors, coronary allograft vasculopathy is one of the most common causes of death. There is a paucity of large-data research highlighting the short-term outcomes of percutaneous coronary interventions in cardiac allograft recipients. Methods: We compared the in-hospital outcomes of heart transplant recipient and non-transplant recipients following percutaneous coronary intervention using data from the National inpatient sample (NIS). All adult patients (age ⩾ 18 years) who had percutaneous coronary intervention in the index admissions from January of 2005 to December of 2014 were included in the analysis. They were then divided into two groups based on their heart transplant status. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes were stroke, cardiac arrest, duration of hospitalization, and total hospital charges. Logistic regression models were used to compare in-hospital outcomes between the two groups. Results: Of 1,316,528 patients who had percutaneous coronary intervention, 618 (0.05%) were heart transplant recipients and 1,315,910 (99.95%) were not. The heart transplant recipient group was significantly younger with lower rates of obesity and peripheral vascular disease but higher rate of chronic kidney disease, iron deficiency anemia, and chronic liver disease. There was significantly higher in-hospital mortality in transplant recipients below 65 years of age (adjusted odds ration = 2.3, p value < 0.0001). Subjects in the heart transplant recipient group also had longer hospital stays ( p value = 0.002). Conclusion: Heart transplant recipients younger than 65 years had higher in-hospital mortality. Subjects in the heart transplant recipient group were also younger and had longer duration of hospitalization than the non-transplant cohorts.