The Possibility of Using Endophytic Micromycetes for Increasing Plant Metal Resistance

The aim of this research was to study the effect of inoculation with the Cylindrocarpon magnusianum endotrophic micromycete on the physiological and biochemical parameters of tomato test plants under the action of heavy metal salts. The plants were inoculated with the fungus culture (control population) and populations of this fungus preliminarily adapted to the action of the stress factor. Then, inoculated plants were grown under control conditions and on substrates with different concentrations of heavy metal salts (zinc, copper, lead and chromium). After the plants were inoculated with the control population of the C. magnusianum fungus, a stimulating effect increasing the plants’ resistance to the action of the heavy metal salts was not detected. When the plants were inoculated with adapted populations of the C. magnusianum fungus, adaptive reactions of the plants associated with the content of photosynthetic pigments in the leaves and the formation of plant biomass were significantly manifested. Under these conditions, a more intense development of fungal infection in plant roots was observed in contrast to the use of the control fungal population. These findings therefore demonstrated an effective partnership between the C. magnusianum fungus and the root system of plants under extreme conditions for plant life. Keywords: Cylindrocarpon magnusianum, micromycetes, heavy metals, inoculation, biochemical indicators

Determinant Factors of Stunting in Under-Five Children

BACKGROUND: The high rate of stunting cases is a serious nutritious problem that still persists in Indonesia. The problem is potentially impactful on the quality of the country’s human resources. AIM: This present study aimed to analyze the determinant factors of stunting cases in 24–59-month-old children in the working area of Puskesmas or Community Health Center in Kota Tengah, Gorontalo. METHOD: The case-control survey analytical research involved a case population of 34 people and a control population of 34 people. All the participants were 24–59 months old. All case populations were treated as the research subject, while the control population was calculated based on the formula. A simple random sampling technique was employed to acquire the sample in the control group. The study involved independent variables of birth length, birth weight, provision of exclusive breastfeeding, and the number of siblings. Meanwhile, the dependent variable was the stunting cases in 24–59-month-old children. The data were analyzed by Chi-square (χ2) and multiple logistic regression statistical tests. RESULTS: The bivariate analysis that used the Chi-square suggested that the birth length (0.001) < (0.05), birth weight (0.003) < (0.05), and provision of exclusive breastfeeding (0.000) < (0.05) were the factors of stunting cases. Meanwhile, parity (1.72) > (0.05) was not a factor of stunting. Moreover, the multivariate analysis involving multiple logistic regression tests indicated that the provision of exclusive breastfeeding (0.006) served as the determinant factor of stunting cases. CONCLUSIONS: The provision of exclusive breastfeeding is the most significant determinant factor of stunting cases.

Engaging Private Health Care Providers to Identify Individuals with TB in Nepal

In Nepal, 47% of individuals who fell ill with TB were not reported to the National TB Program in 2018. Approximately 60% of persons with TB initially seek care in the private sector. From November 2018 to January 2020, we implemented an active case finding intervention in the Parsa and Dhanusha districts targeting private provider facilities. To evaluate the impact of the intervention, we reported on crude intervention results. We further compared case notification during the implementation to baseline and control population (Bara and Siraha) notifications. We screened 203,332 individuals; 11,266 (5.5%) were identified as presumptive for TB and 8077 (71.7%) were tested for TB. Approximately 8% had a TB diagnosis, of whom 383 (56.2%) were bacteriologically confirmed (Bac+). In total, 653 (95.7%) individuals were initiated on treatment at DOTS facilities. For the intervention districts, there was a 17%increase for bacteriologically positive TB and 10% for all forms TB compared to baseline. In comparison, the change in notifications in the control population were 4% for bacteriologically positive, and −2% all forms. Through engagement of private sector facilities, our intervention was able to increase the number of individuals identified with TB by over 10% in the Parsa and Dhanusha districts.

De novo variants in CACNA1E found in patients with intellectual disability, developmental regression and social cognition deficit but no seizures

Background De novo variants in the voltage-gated calcium channel subunit α1 E gene (CACNA1E) have been described as causative of epileptic encephalopathy with contractures, macrocephaly and dyskinesias. Methods Following the observation of an index patient with developmental delay and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without seizures who had a de novo deleterious CACNA1E variant, we screened GeneMatcher for other individuals with CACNA1E variants and neurodevelopmental phenotypes without epilepsy. The spectrum of pathogenic CACNA1E variants was compared to the mutational landscape of variants in the gnomAD control population database. Results We identified seven unrelated individuals with intellectual disability, developmental regression and ASD-like behavioral profile, and notably without epilepsy, who had de novo heterozygous putatively pathogenic variants in CACNA1E. Age of onset of clinical manifestation, presence or absence of regression and degree of severity were variable, and no clear-cut genotype–phenotype association could be recognized. The analysis of disease-associated variants and their comparison to benign variants from the control population allowed for the identification of regions in the CACNA1E protein that seem to be intolerant to substitutions and thus more likely to harbor pathogenic variants. As in a few reported cases with CACNA1E variants and epilepsy, one patient showed a positive clinical behavioral response to topiramate, a specific calcium channel modulator. Limitations The significance of our study is limited by the absence of functional experiments of the effect of identified variants, the small sample size and the lack of systematic ASD assessment in all participants. Moreover, topiramate was given to one patient only and for a short period of time. Conclusions Our results indicate that CACNA1E variants may result in neurodevelopmental disorders without epilepsy and expand the mutational and phenotypic spectrum of this gene. CACNA1E deserves to be included in gene panels for non-specific developmental disorders, including ASD, and not limited to patients with seizures, to improve diagnostic recognition and explore the possible efficacy of topiramate.

Downregulation of RyR and NCX in the neonatal rat ventricular myocyte modulates cytosolic [Ca2+]

Calcium (Ca2+) is necessary for cardiac muscle contraction. RyR, NCX, and SERCA are key regulatory protein channels for cytosolic Ca2+ in the cardiomyocyte. Expression levels of these proteins are a function of development and disease. We investigated how downregulation by siRNAs of RyR and NCX affected expression levels of complimentary proteins their corresponding intracellular Ca2+ transients. We compared the experimentally observed Ca2+ transients to those predicted by mathematical models. Experimental results show RyR downregulation decreased SERCA and increased NCX protein levels. The associated Ca2+ transient had decreased amplitude, increased time-to-peak (TTP), time-to-50% (T50), and time-to-90% (T90) Ca2+ removal with respect to the control population. NCX downregulation increased SERCA production without significant changes in RyR expression levels. The corresponding Ca2+ transient increased amplitude, no change in TTP and T50 Ca2+ removal, but increased T90 Ca2+ removal with respect to the control population. Computational models that accurately predict the observed experimental data suggest compensatory changes occurring in the expression levels as well as biochemical activity of the regulatory proteins.

Blood Groups of Recipients of COVID-19 Convalescent plasma

Introduction/Objective COVID -19 Convalescent plasma therapy (CCP) is under an FDA Emergency Use Authorization to treat hospitalized patients with COVID-19. However, being ill enough to require hospitalization for COVID-19 is a negative outcome. There is also contradictory literature on whether ABO blood group is associated with worse outcomes with COVID-19 disease. Therefore, we share a regional Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) experience comparing the blood groups of patients intended to receive CCP to a control group of patients positive for SARS-CoV-2. Methods/Case Report A retrospective review of all patients who had CCP ordered in the year 2020 was performed to identify the blood group of these patients, which was compared to a control population of positive patients early in the pandemic (March 17th, 2020 to May 20th, 2020). Results (if a Case Study enter NA) A total of 15 patients had CCP ordered as part of their care with an age range of 56-85 (average 69.7) years of age, entirely male composition, and a racial breakdown of 13 African Americans (86.7%), 1 Caucasian American (6.7%), and 1 Asian American (6.7%). The blood group distribution amongst these 15 patients for CCP was 1 AB+ (6.7%), 5 A+ (33.3%), 4 B+ (26.7%), and 5 O+ (33.3%). The unrelated control population consisted of 81 SARS-CoV-2 positive patients whose blood groups were distributed as 3 group AB (3.7%), 21 group A (25.9%), 15 group B (18.5%), and 42 group O (51.8%). A Chi squared test did not show a statistically significant difference between the two groups in ABO composition. Conclusion The ABO proportions of patients for whom CCP was ordered compared to the control group was not statistically significant. This provides support to the literature arguing that ABO may not be related to worse outcomes such as hospitalization or need for CCP transfusion.

Trends in all-cause mortality of atrial fibrillation in hospitalized patients in Sweden between 1995–2008

Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrythmia. Both its incidence and prevalence increased significantly during the last decades. AF is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Purpose The aim of this study was to describe and evaluate the trends of all-cause mortality in patients first-ever hospitalized for AF, and the effect of age, sex, stroke risk, and education level on mortality over time. Methods In this observational retrospective cohort study, we enrolled the patients who were hospitalized primarily and for the first time because of AF between 1st January 1995 and 31st December 2004. In regard to the date of the index admission patients were divided into four cohorts and they were followed up to five years. Patients were compared with an age and sex matched control population. All data were collected from Swedish national registries. Kaplan-Meier plots and Cox regression with trend analysis were used for statistical evaluation. Results In total 64 489 AF patients (mean age 72±10.1 year) were included in this study. The control group comprised 116 893 individuals. 81.9% of the women and 58.5% of the men were older than 65 years of age. 65.5% of women and 58.5% of the men had a stroke risk of CHADS2-VA2Sc ≥2. We found a significantly decreasing trend of the relative risk for all-cause mortality in AF patients over time: trend HR: 0.94 (95% CI: 0.92–0.96, p&lt;0.001) in women and trend HR: 0.91 (95% CI: 0.89–0.93 p&lt;0.001) in men. The mortality trends between AF patients and their controls did not show significant difference: trend HR: 0.99 (95% CI: 0.96–1.02, p=0.59) in women and trend HR: 1.00 (95% CI: 0.97–1.03, p=0.98) in men. The subpopulation analysis showed that the mortality risk remained unchanged over the time in women aged 18–69 years (trend HR: 0.91 – 95% CI: 0.82–1.02, p=0.099), in patients with low stroke risk (trend HR: 1.08 – 95% CI: 0.92–1.26, p=0.36 in women and trend HR: 0.95 – 95% CI: 0.87–1.05, p=0.30 in men) and in patients with post-secondary level of education (trend HR: 0.93 – 95% CI 0.83–1.04, p=0.23 in women and trend HR: 1.04 – 95% CI: 0.96–1.12, p=0.32 in men). Conclusion The all-cause mortality risk of the AF hospitalized patients was higher compared to control population and had a decreasing tendency during the time of the study. However, this trend is not significantly different from the control population. We found unchanged mortality trend in younger patients, in those with lower stroke risk, and in patients with higher education level. FUNDunding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Validating the Balance of Semi-Professional Dancers by Use of the Jenaer-Standing-Stability-Score (JESS-Score)

Introduction Postural control plays a central role in dance performance. The most dance styles contain manifold balance requirements. However, the data available on balance performance in dance is meagre. The dancers’ balancing ability depends on different components, which are still not totally understood. It can be assumed that standing stability as well as balance and therefore the test results of dancers are better than those of the recently published norm values. The aim of the study is to compare and verify the published standard values of the Jenaer-Standing-Stability-Score (JESS-Score). Material and Methods 24 dancers were included and measured with the first version of the recently published JESS-Score. 11 items include the assessment of mobility, sensorimotor skills, posture control and strength endurance. The dancers average test results are compared to the norm population. Results The dancers reached the norm or were even better concerning the tested items of the JESS-Score. Conclusion Standing stability and balance are basic requirements for dancing. The components measured by the JESS-Score are clearly involved in the equilibrium performance. Moreover, it shows the applicability of the JESS-Score norm values to a healthy, but untrained control population.

A Multi-Faceted Approach to Tuberculosis Active Case Finding among Remote Riverine Communities in Southern Nigeria

Nigeria accounts for 11% of the worldwide gap between estimated and reported individuals with tuberculosis (TB). Hard-to-reach communities on the Southern Nigeria coast experience many difficulties accessing TB services. We implemented an active case finding (ACF) intervention in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states utilizing three approaches: house-to-house/tent-to-tent screening, community outreach and contact investigation. To evaluate the impact, we compared TB notifications in intervention areas to baseline and control population notifications, as well as to expected notifications based on historical trends. We also gathered field notes from discussions with community volunteers who provided insights on their perspectives of the intervention. A total of 509,768 individuals were screened of which 12,247 (2.4%) had TB symptoms and 11,824 (96.5%) were tested. In total, 1015 (8.6%) of those identified as presumptive had confirmed TB—98.2% initiated treatment. Following implementation, TB notifications in intervention areas increased by 112.9% compared to baseline and increased by 138.3% when compared to expected notifications based on historical trends. In contrast, control population notifications increased by 101% and 49.1%, respectively. Community volunteers indicated a preference for community outreach activities. Multi-faceted, community-based interventions in Nigeria’s coastal areas successfully increase TB detection for communities with poor access to health services.