Modeling Human Cardiac Arrhythmias: Insights from Zebrafish

Cardiac arrhythmia, or irregular heart rhythm, is associated with morbidity and mortality and is described as one of the most important future public health challenges. Therefore, developing new models of cardiac arrhythmia is critical for understanding disease mechanisms, determining genetic underpinnings, and developing new therapeutic strategies. In the last few decades, the zebrafish has emerged as an attractive model to reproduce in vivo human cardiac pathologies, including arrhythmias. Here, we highlight the contribution of zebrafish to the field and discuss the available cardiac arrhythmia models. Further, we outline techniques to assess potential heart rhythm defects in larval and adult zebrafish. As genetic tools in zebrafish continue to bloom, this model will be crucial for functional genomics studies and to develop personalized anti-arrhythmic therapies.

STATUS OF SANITATION FACILITIES AND ITS IMPACTS ON HEALTH IN MAINPURI CITY OF UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA

Nearly 60 million people in urban areas lack access to improved sanitation arrangements, and more than two-thirds of wastewater is let out untreated into the environment, polluting land and water bodies. Urban sanitation in India faces many challenges. To respond to these environmental and public health challenges, urban India will need to address the full cycle of sanitation, i.e., universal access to toilets, with safe collection, conveyance and treatment of human excreta. There has been a significant increase in waste generation because of rapid population growth and economic development. Thus, waste management and sanitation became major environmental and health problem. In rainy season condition gets worse. This paper outlines these concerns, and highlights the need for focusing on access to water and the full cycle of sanitation for the urban poor, as fundamental to addressing the sanitation challenge. In this paper an attempt has been made to identify the sanitation related risk factors and its relationship with associated diseases in Mainpuri city. The study is based on primary sources of data collected through household surveys in Mainpuri city. Households belong to different income groups. The total sample size consists of 1836 households. The result showed that the sanitation condition and associated diseases or living standards and health conditions are related to each other. In this paper typhoid fever, cholera, malaria, etc. diseases were observed. The lower income group households are most vulnerable. They suffer most because of their poor sanitation conditions.

Indirect prevention and treatment of depression: An emerging paradigm?

Background Although depression is one of the main public health challenges of our time, the uptake of interventions aimed at the prevention and treatment is low to modest. New approaches are needed to reduce the disease burden of depression. Method Indirect prevention and treatment may be one method to increase uptake of services. Indirect interventions aim at problems related to depression but with lower stigma and prevent or treat depression indirectly. This paper describes the approach, the empirical support and limitations. Results A growing number of studies focus on indirect prevention and treatment. Several studies have examining the possibilities to prevent and treat depression through interventions aimed at insomnia. Several other studies focus on indirect interventions aimed at for example stress and perfectionism. Digital ‘suites’ of interventions may focus on daily problems of for example students or the workplace and offer a broad range of indirect interventions in specific settings. Conclusion Indirect prevention and treatment may be a new approach to increase uptake and reduce the disease burden of depression.

Cirque Experience Psycho- Education in Prevention of Substance Abuse among Adolescents

Many unhealthy behaviors often begin during adolescence and represent major public health challenges. Substance abuse has a major impact on individuals, families, and communities, as its effects are cumulative, contributing to costly social, physical, and mental health problems. Psycho-education refers to the method of educating individuals who are faced with substance abuse disorders, co-occurring mental health disorders. It provides a more thorough understanding of the nature of addiction and the disease model.

Anti-Pathogenic Properties of the Combination of a T3SS Inhibitory Halogenated Pyrrolidone with C-30 Furanone

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the current public health challenges to be solved. The World Health Organization (WHO) has urgently called for the development of strategies to expand the increasingly limited antimicrobial arsenal. The development of anti-virulence therapies is a viable option to counteract bacterial infections with the possibility of reducing the generation of resistance. Here we report on the chemical structures of pyrrolidones DEXT 1–4 (previously identified as furan derivatives) and their anti-virulence activity on Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. DEXT 1–4 were shown to inhibit biofilm formation, swarming motility, and secretion of ExoU and ExoT effector proteins. Also, the anti-pathogenic property of DEXT-3 alone or in combination with furanone C-30 (quorum sensing inhibitor) or MBX-1641 (type III secretion system inhibitor) was analyzed in a model of necrosis induced by P. aeruginosa PA14. All treatments reduced necrosis; however, only the combination of C-30 50 µM with DEXT-3 100 µM showed significant inhibition of bacterial growth in the inoculation area and systemic dispersion. In conclusion, pyrrolidones DEXT 1–4 are chemical structures capable of reducing the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa and with the potential for the development of anti-virulence combination therapies.

Exceptions to the rule: Why does resistance evolution not undermine antibiotic therapy in all bacterial infections?

Antibiotic resistance poses one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century. Yet not all pathogens are equally affected by resistance evolution. Why? Here we examine what underlies variation in antibiotic resistance across human bacterial pathogens and the drugs used to treat them. We document the observed prevalence of antibiotic resistance for ′pathogen x drug′ combinations across 57 different human bacterial pathogens and 53 antibiotics from 15 drug classes used to treat them. Using AIC-based model selection we analyze 14 different traits of bacteria and antibiotics that are believed to be important in resistance evolution. Using these data, we identify the traits that best explain observed variation in resistance evolution. Our results show that nosocomial pathogens and indirectly transmitted pathogens are significantly associated with increased prevalence of resistance whereas zoonotic pathogens, specifically those with wild animal reservoirs, are associated with reduced prevalence of resistance. We found partial support for associations between drug resistance and gram classification, human microbiome reservoirs, horizontal gene transfer, and documented human-to human transfer. Global drug use, time since drug discovery, mechanism of drug action, and environmental reservoirs did not emerge as statistically robust predictors of drug resistance in our analyses. To the best of our knowledge this work is the first systematic analysis of resistance across such a wide range of human bacterial pathogens, encompassing the vast majority of common bacterial pathogens. Insights from our study may help guide public health policies and future studies on resistance control.

Active Aging and Public Health: Evidence, Implications, and Opportunities

By 2050, 20% of the world's population will be over the age of 65 years, with projections that 80% of older adults will be living in low- to middle-income countries. Physical inactivity and sedentary time are particularly high in older adults, presenting unique public health challenges. In this article, we first review evidence that points to multiple beneficial outcomes of active aging, including better physical function, cognitive function, mental health, social health, and sleep and suggest the need to shift the research focus from chronic disease outcomes to more relevant outcomes that affect independence and quality of life. Second, we review the critical role of age-friendly environments in facilitating active aging equitably across different countries and cultures. Finally, we consider emerging opportunities related to social engagement and technology-enabled mobility that can facilitate active aging. In all these contexts, it is a priority to understand and address diversity within the global aging population. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 43 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

African countries established COVID-19 testing in one month: Here’s how they did it

Background: As a novel and deadly acute respiratory syndrome, which later became known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), spread beyond China in late January 2020, there were no laboratories in Africa that could test for the disease. However, in early March, just over a month later, 42 African countries had developed the expertise and resources to perform COVID-19 testing. Our goal was to document this public health success story, learn from it, and use it to inform future public health action.Intervention: Three groups were primarily responsible for establishing COVID-19 testing capacity in Africa. The first group comprised early test manufacturers who reacted with incredible speed and ingenuity early in the pandemic, such as the German company TIB MolBiol that developed a molecular test for COVID-19 before the SARS-CoV-2 genome sequence was available. The second group included private and public donors such as the Jack Ma Foundation, and the last were the coordinators of the rollout, such as the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Lessons learnt: The first lesson was that speed is critical, especially during a crisis. It was also demonstrated that being a predictable and transparent trusted institution opens doors and improves effectiveness. Africa CDC, which was only three years old, was able to secure significant resources from external partners and rapidly build substantial testing capacity within Africa because it is a trusted institution.Recommendations: Low- and middle-income countries must build local trusted institutions to better prepare for public health challenges.